The Last Celestial

Mother, I Can Fly

His flight to the Caribbean Islands had been scheduled for a few weeks now. Oh how much he missed the boy as he was the one who raised him after all. He had been anticipating this since his schedule cleared up. He bought Andrew's favorite snacks and got him novelty items of his favorite movie characters. All in all, he has a box filled of souvenirs exclusively for the young man.

However, something came up. What he thought was a solo flight---became a ride for two.

Out of the blue, Tahani decided to tag along.

There's a lot of things that Dah knows about his mother, he wondered aimlessly as he seats beside her on the car seat. One, she is highly intelligent and she's one out of 100 Female Keeper's to be appointed as the Elder in the family instead of their Husband. Two, from Dah's memory his mother was not the loving and caring type of person. Instead, their father is the one who caters to their needs and gives them most of the physical affection they need. But she. on the other hand leaned to discipline, excellence and loyalty to the association. From the moment that he and his siblings were born, these virtues were instilled to them. Three, she's good at making things out of nothing, like making a healing potion out of a tree sap. And four, his mother was never the type of person to be so interested in another person's life except their own circle. Which is why he is up and wondering why his mother flew hundreds of miles just to see the boy.

"I just don't understand why you want to meet him so badly, Mama." Dah uttered in frustration as they reach the house where the boy is staying at along with his guardian. "Sometimes I wish I can try and figure you out."

Tahani sighed and smiled at the thought of how similar Dah is to his father. "Well, have fun with that, my son. I've been married to your Dad for 27 good years and he still ask me that question." Was her answer. She unlocked the door and stepped out of the car.

Dah on the other hand followed her immediately, but before he closed the car door---he grabbed the box full of snacks and treats from the United States, all of Andrews favorites.

Tahani was waiting by the door as she watched her son carry a box load of treats. "I can see why some of the Elder Keeper's say that the boy is close to you..." She joked as she stares at her son adjust and move the heavy box as he waits for the door  to open. "You pester him with so much snacks and treats."

The young man laughed and it was borderline due to sincere happiness and the fact that he's having so much trouble with the snacks he packed, the luggage that he's carrying, and that he's the one who's knocking at the door as his mother stares at him with judge-i eyes.

"Can you at least help me with these, Ma?"

"No." Was Tahani's immediate reply. "If it's yours, then you carry it."

The similarity between his mother and Timothy made Dah's eyes roll. "Gosh, you are just like Timothy, Mama. Either you're mean or you're nice. There's no in between. The first time we met after a decade he almost slammed the door to my face."

Tahani giggled and looked down at her pathetic and lighthearted son. "I suppose you get along with him well, then?" She teased. But Dah is right, they have been standing on the door, and yet no one is answering. Isn't the boy supposed to be here? Tahani thought.

"No one is at home?"

Dah shrugged his shoulders and wondered about it as well. "Maybe they're on the training ground?" He mused loudly.

"Right..." Tahani answered. "Well, where is this training ground?" She asked impatiently. "And my son, I thought you have a key."

=========================

The human body wasn't made to contain, control, conduct and maintain high amounts of fire---but somehow Andrew's body was different. That's what Timothy thought as he stares at the boy who's screaming in pain as he tries to release more and more fire from his feet.

"Watch it." Was his loud warning when he saw the young man loose balance momentarily.

It's impressive how much effort this boy can do once he puts his mind into it. But still, the boy can sometimes be too eager and end up hurting himself. On his right hand was a whistle, which he often uses when the boy needs to stop.

He remembered the first day of their training, he noticed that Andrew can also draw fire from every part of his body. But once concentrated on one area, the amount of fire that the boy can summon is greater and it ignites much faster. After that he trained the boy to unleash fire from the soles of his feet to see if he could fly. But it only ended with Andrew's face landing on the sand.

He also noticed how fast Andrews burns, cuts and wounds would heal. After training he looks like he's beaten to a pulp. The next morning, the boy looks fresh and new. Like nothing has ever happened. Unlike him, whenever fire sparks badly and touched any part of him---it'll take days for him to heal and recover like any normal human being.

There is one constant thing during the training though, that drawing out fire is extremely painful. But the boy did not give up even after his face was field with cuts and bruises and his hands and feet would be filled with burns and boils. Whenever he falls his eyes stings from the sand, but he simply shrugged it off. Timothy said, if he tried enough he could be like the super heroes they watch together. He wanted to fly. And so he tried, and tried and tried... until he could.

For the first month, Andrew can only last three seconds in the air. On the second month, he could stay up there for a minute.

On the third month, he could last for 15 minutes until he completely burns down and lose consciousness and end up falling and hitting a tree. If he's lucky... he'll end up on the grass fields with a few cuts and scratches.

Now they have been training for almost a half a year. Timothy's skin is dark from exposure to the sun, yet Andrew's skin remained as pale as a ghost. He noticed that Andrew's body grew faster than regular boys his age, and because of this the boy eats triple the amount of food boys his age would. Andrew is only 17, yet his built is of an adult male. His muscles is slightly defined and his mind matured as well.

He learns quickly, and easily picks up from his mistakes so that he knows how to correct them. And now with his hard work, he easily fly 30 minutes in the air using half of his power alone.

"You're doing a great job, Kiddo." Timothy screamed as loud as he could so that Andrew could hear him. The boy slowly descended, slowly putting off the fire from the soles on his feet so that he could land softly. What fascinates him every time is how the sand underneath him combines and turns into a mirror.

"Thanks, Tim." Andrew responded with a bright smile on his face.

Timothy sighed in relief. He covered his line of sight with his fore arm, the sun was too bright against his eyes. Maybe he needs to invest for sunglasses when they've gone to the market. He looked at Andrew who was standing beside him and smiled back at the boy---who is now a young man. "Training is over..." He announced, looking dead tired and all. "...let's go home. This time you cook dinner."

==================

On their way home, Timothy noticed that not only were the lights on but he could also hear faint sounds coming from the kitchen as well.

He stopped Andrew who was walking beside him. "Wait." The older male warned strictly. "Let me go inside first."

Andrew's brows furrowed. "But I'm the one with the cool super pow---"

Timothy hushed him before he could say anything. He then continued to tiptoe his way to the house, then he picked up the brass knuckles he hid under a shallow lump of soil. Before he grabbed the knob, he turned to Andrew and signaled for the younger one to stay silent. The young man simply made raspberry noises and scratched his head while thinking 'If your old ass gets beat up, then don't blame it on me.'

After silently counting to three, he quickly opened the door while screaming. And when he saw that it was only Dah and Tahani inside the house, all adrenaline rush on his body faded away.

"Damn..." Was his disappointed reaction. His arm which was flailing in the wind before flopped on his side. "It's just you guys..."

Andrew laughed behind him when he saw the scene. What a warm feeling, he thought. He ran inside the house and gave a quick hug to Dah. And he is quite happy, mainly because he doesn't have to cook dinner anymore.