The Butterfly Girl: A Star is Born

Nothing to Hide

[Apollo]

During the late hours of the night, Apollo shot up in his bed, clutching his chest and breathing heavily. He struggled to recognize his own bed, his own room. It took his eyes longer to adjust in the darkness, but when he realized he was safe in his own room, it brought him some comfort. But his heart was still pounding inside his chest. He couldn't seem to catch his breath. The tiny feathers in his large wings were ruffled and he pulled his long hair to the side, exposing his neck and back, trying to cool himself down.He stared at nothing in particular, unable to focus on anything. The memories of the nightmare cycling through his mind.

Everything he saw. Everything he felt...

It's okay... it's okay... you're okay... everything's fine... it was just a nightmare... it was all just a nightmare... none of it was real... it's not real, he told himself. But he still struggled to shake the images from his mind. Trying to convince himself it wasn't real wasn't enough. He took a deep breath in and sighed loudly. But it wasn't enough. He looked over to his window, getting up and moving his hands behind the blinds to open it and let the cool air come in. But he kept the blinds closed. Immediately, the cold air flowing into his room made him feel a lot better and his heart more steady. He sat back down on his bed, just letting the air cool him. But he still couldn't stop thinking about what he saw. It wasn't enough.

He couldn't seem to calm himself down.

Apollo looked over at his phone resting on the nightstand beside him, still charging. He picked it up and laid back down, holding his phone in a slightly uncomfortable position as the battery wasn't full yet, so he couldn't unplug the cord. If he couldn't calm himself down, he might as well try to distract himself. At least, for a little while. It ususally helps...

The sudden brightness of the phone blinking to life blinded him briefly and he frantically tapped the screen until he was able to adjust it and opened a social media app, quickly looking through photos and videos, hoping there might be something funny or cute to push the nightmare out of his mind just long enough until he could go back to sleep. But that didn't come for a long time. Hours in fact. When he finally checked the time many videos later, it was nearly five in the morning. Apollo sighed and rubbed his face, guessing he should probably try to get back to sleep. He turned his phone off and set it back down, before rolling over to the side and trying to close his eyes.

He woke up hours later just as the sunlight was pouring in through his blinds. But he didn't exactly sleep... more like he was drifting in and out of consciousness. He felt even more tired waking up, admitting defeat that he couldn't get any real sleep. And if he couldn't sleep, he might as well be awake.

Apollo rolled around in his bed before getting up, only to hear a crackling sound that startled him. He looked down to see that part of his bedsheets had been... partially frozen over. And found a couple feathers stuck to them as well. Apollo groaned as he facepalmed. His powers must've gotten out of control when he had that nightmare.....

That's the third time this month...

Apollo cursed himself as he dragged all the blankets off his bed and threw them into the garage by the washing machine. He'll clean them later. For now, he hoped maybe making himself a good breakfast might make him less tired.

Sophia came downstairs a while later, dressed in her signature blanket cape and was about to head to the couch, but when Apollo offered to make breakfast for her, she turned around and planted herself on a barstool, letting her head rest against the counter and bearing the expression of a sleepy puppy struggling to keep it's eyes open.

Apollo asked if Sophia slept well. She said she was fine. She closed her window at one point because the air got chilly. Apollo said he didn't sleep well and opened his window. Sophia just went, "Mmh..." thinking it was a sympathetic response, but it failed to come across as sympathetic.

As Apollo moved through the kitchen, a thought suddenly came to him and he turned back around to Sophia.

"Hey, um... I know we said we were gonna start doing some training, but... I just remembered... I didn't get to show everyone-"

"Oh, that's right! You haven't done that yet?"

"Nope."

"Ah... okay, yeah. We have to tell them before we move forward."

"I know, I know... I mean, they kinda already know, but like... they don't— you know what I mean, I'll explain everything to them later."

A long while later, the twins came by to tell them that Teri had finally come back, eager to start their first day of training now that she had her schedule figured out. And then asked if they could get a quick bite to eat. Sophia offered to make something for them, letting Apollo go upstairs to get dressed. While he was excited to see Teri again and start training, he still felt tired. He told himself he'd try to take it easy today. Once they were ready, everyone headed out to the tree house.

Everyone greeted Teri as she appeared and Apollo brought up something he wanted to announce before everyone got carried away with a different topic. Everyone sat down by the tree as Apollo stood in front of them, unsure of where to start.

"So... you all know about Sophia's crystal. She's had it before we were even friends, and it's been with her ever since."

Everyone nodded.

"Well, I don't have a magic crystal weapon... as much as I'd really like one, but... there is something else I have. Sophie already knows this, and I know you've all seen this before, but... I've never actually been able to tell you about it until now. Because if we're all going to take this training thing seriously, you all deserve to know. And I know, after everything we've all been through, it's just been one big reveal after another, but I promise you, no more surprises, no more secrets. There's no point in hiding anything anymore."

Everyone nodded, with a more serious expression this time. Apollo took a deep breath in and exhaled loudly.

"Okay, so... don't freak out when you see this, but... ever since I was born, I've had... these powers..." Apollo trailed off as he raised one of his arms up and tried to focus. His fingers curled outwards and there was a bright flash as his entire hand ignited, startling Teri and the twins. Sophia was the only one unfazed. The bright flames grew to Apollo's fingertips and was steadily growing down his arm, but he managed to keep it centered down to his wrist.

"So you really do have magic!" the twins exclaimed.

"...What?"

"See? I told you it was real. I saw him do that the first time we met. I wasn't sure if it was real either!" Teri added excitedly. Sophia looked at them confusedly as Apollo chuckled.

"No, no, it's— it's not magic. At least... I'm not entirely sure what it is exactly."

"Well... technically, it kinda is?" Sophia chimed in, shrugging her shoulders.

"Okay, sure... I guess it might technically be magic. But I don't really think of it as magic. It's just... a power... that I'm able to control. Since Sophie and I... don't really know... what we are or even if we have parents, we're not sure how much of... what we are is just... stuff we were born with, or... something else. I like to think I was born with this. But as to... how? I have no idea."

"So... you can make fire. Is that all?" Teri asked.

"Not just that. I can control it. I can... manipulate it." Apollo explained, demonstrating as he spoke. He turned his arm around, the fire sticking straigh up. He condensed it into a balll in his palm before shrinking it further to his fingers until the flames balanced on the ends of his fingertips, similar to a thin candle flame. He hovered his other hand above the flame, appearing as though he were picking it up and holding it in his other hand. The rest of his arm ignited and everyone, minus Sophia, watched in awe before Apollo extinguished himself entirely.

"That's so incredible..." the twins muttered.

"Yeah, well... that's not all..." said Apollo as he scratched the back of his head.

Keeping the same arm raised, the smoke that had once been fire started to drift downwards instead of upwards. His fingers turned blue and soon, so did the rest of his arm. A faint crackling sound could be heard as white frost could be seen growing outwards and Apollo made them drip down, forming icicles on his fingers. A cold mist formed around his arm, but it disappeared before it could touch the ground.

Everyone continued to be amazed.

Apollo crunched the icicles in his hands and started packing the ice together like a snowball before looking up at Sophia.

"Hey, Sophie."

"What? ... Wait, no!"

"Catch!"

Apollo threw the snowball towards Sophia, missing on purpose as the snowball hit the tree behind her and exploded as the tiny particles melted into the dirt. Everyone laughed.

"I'm sorry, I had to do that. I used to do that all the time when we were kids."

"Wait, let me try! Let me try! I bet I can catch it!" one of the twins said excitedly.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, yeah! I just wanna see!"

"Okay..."

Apollo quickly made another snowball and tossed it lightly to the twins' open hands where it fell to pieces upon impact.

"Woah! Wow, that's is cold!"

Everyone laughed again.

"So... you can manipulate fire... and ice?" Teri questioned. Apollo nodded.

"Yeah, pretty much. I could do both if I wanted to, but it's easier to use them seperately. Wait, wait, check this out..."

Apollo ignited one arm and froze over the other, until he smashed his hands together and a great puff of smoke exploded outwards as the two elements collided and swapped to Apollo's other arms.

"Woah..." Teri and the twins said together.

With that demonstration over, Apollo sat down and continued talking about his powers. He couldn't really recall when they... started. But it was sometime around after he and Sophia met. At first, they used to just play around, but when things were getting more serious and the Shadovians started showing up, Apollo had to learn to use his powers more defensively. Without burning down the entire forest, of course...

Sophia's crystal sword was easy enough to handle, but Apollo's powers... took a little more getting used to. He and Sophia began to notice that his powers would often act out on their own without him even realizing it. it started out small at first... singed walls and floors, and other close calls of accidentally burning stuff down. Or making the air around him turn cold and freeze, sometimes turning his own drinks into flavored blocks of ice. Or having ice growing on the walls and floors and having to scramble to get towels so when it melted, there wouldn't be giant puddles everywhere. And it only got worse when they started school. It was hard enough having to hide wings over large, loose clothing for six hours a day. But keeping powerful abilities like that under control to avoid suspicion... That was... a lot.

Apollo shared stories of other incidents. How he and Sophia had the same classes in the beginning, but that only lasted about two months and they were later separated due to a scheduling error that happened throughout the entire school. Without Sophia around for reassurance, it was harder for Apollo to keep his powers contained. Whenever he was stressed or frustrated, you could almost see the steam rolling off of his knuckles. Someone in his class actually wondered if the heater got turned on because the room was so warm, to the point where Apollo was worried he might accidentally set off the fire alarm. But whenever he felt anxious or nervous, the air around him got colder. His feet would often get stuck to the ground and he had to crush the ice around him into a puddle before anyone noticed. (And hoped no one would slip on it later.)

Back at home where he could vent and relax, simply letting off some steam was more... literal than he anticipated. He and Sophia have lost track over how many game controllers spontaneously combusted during a tough match. Or the amount of blankets, clothes and anything else made of fabric that would get frozen over, melt and get soaked, then needing to get washed and dried. It wasn't until they finally got out of school and the outbursts finally stopped, did Apollo feel more relaxed and in control of his powers. but he still worries his powers might be uncontainable if he gets too overwhelmed and cause some real damage that not even Sophia could help cover. If it wasn't for her, he would've gotten in a lot more trouble way sooner. He's never been more grateful to have her around as he knows he can always rely on her for just about anything.

He wanted to make Teri and the twins aware of this in case something like that ever happened again and they understood. All that matters is as long as he didn't cause a forest fire or a blizzard in the middle of summer, keeping his abilities under control shouldn't be... too difficult. But right now, finally sharing all of this with Teri and the twins actually made him feel a lot better.

The twins started asking him more questions, but Apollo noticed Teri frowning and looking off to the side.

"Hey, Teri. You okay?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah. It's just..." Teri trailed off and everyone looked at her. She took a deep breath before standing up.

"Actually, there is something else you deserve to know about me to. Since there's no point in hiding anything between us..."

Everyone looked at her confusedly before she asked everyone to gather over to the pond, close to the water. They could all see the nervous look on Teri's face.

"Okay, I'm not sure how well this is going to work out of water, but..." Teri muttered to herself. "I know I said I want to train and learn more about how to use my Mother's weapon, but... I actually have a power myself..."

Teri began to demonstrate as she spoke, hovering her hands above the pond before moving them around and to everyone's surprise, the water beneath her began to react. Bubbling and swirling.

"My Mother... has this power..... and when I was born, she passed it on to me. It's a bit different to use... when you're already underwater..... Sorry, I'm trying to focus..... and it was difficult for me to learn at first because I didn't really... understand it. And I wasn't able to practice as much as I probably should have... but maybe... this time... I might be able to put it to good use..."

Everyone watched quietly as a stream of droplets started rising out of the pond and formed into a sphere within Teri's hands until it became a sizable orb. She took a step back, trying to stay concentrated as she began forming the water into different shapes, a grin grew on her face the longer it stayed in the air, wheras everyone else's jaws hung wide open.

"Teri... are you seriously telling us... that you have the ability to control water?" Apollo questioned. Teri nodded confidently.

"Yep. I mean... I dont' know... to what extent. I haven't had much practice, but maybe this time... we can find out where my own limits stand."

For the rest of the afternoon, Apollo and Teri played around with their powers. Testing new ways to combine their abilities. And it made Apollo even more relieved to know what that if his fire abilities got out of control, Teri would be able to put out the heat in a moments notice. Sophia and the twins were yelling out suggestions excitedly, watching happily in awe. Until Sophia got an idea and pulled Apollo to the side, saying there might be a certian cartoon show they could watch as it would be great inspiration and maybe even give them some new ideas as to how to use their powers better. Apollo knew exactly what she was talking about, but wasn't sure if Teri and the twins would be able to comprehend TV just yet. Sophia rebutted that they could just try showing them certain clips and scenes first and if they wanted to see more, they could watch the whole thing.

Back at the house later that evening, everyone was gathered in the living room, munching on snacks with their eyes glued to the TV. Neither Apollo or Sophia told them that they had already watched this show before. But they could tell by the end of the first episode, they were hooked.