~~~(POV: Dannon Mayer)~~~

~~~(Location: Mayer Ranch, Umatilla County, Oregon)~~~

~~~(Date, Time, Year: April 27th, 4:08 PM PST, 2022)~~~

~~~(Current Age: 21 Years)~~~

Nicole and Cassie haven't said much since returning to my ranch. They've already burned through one cup of coffee, and Mom has made a second pot. She's busy with that, using it as an excuse to leave us alone to talk.

Their eyes keep bouncing between my eyes and the area between the ground and me. Floating in front of them like this must be a bit unnerving.

I don't know if I should say anything to start what Nicole wants to discuss. I can only assume it concerns how long I've kept this secret and why I never told her.

The girl in question sets her coffee cup on the table before the couch and places her hands on her lap. Adopting a thoughtful expression. Thinking about what to ask me first. I'm hoping it isn't anything too deep.

I haven't done any deep research about my people. That's still something I've yet to do.

"There were so many things I wanted to say to you... Never knowing why you dropped me out of your life... I thought I'd never know why, but now I do..."

As the words leave Nicole. There is pain and regret. She avoids my eyes and tries to keep her emotions in check as best she can. Cassie closes her eyes and takes in Nicole's words. I know Cassie has questions of her own.

"No matter how much I want to be mad at you... I can't... No one in the world has gone through what you've gone through... How could I possibly understand that?"

She's taken on a more somber and solemn tone. Emphasizing she's understanding my situation.

"I can understand and accept that you didn't want to tell an emotional high school girl the truth about you... It's a secret no one at that age should be burdened with."

She's matured more than I ever thought...

"What I want to know... Is what happened to you that made you push me away..."

As Nicole continues to talk, I see the subtle changes in Cassie's features. She's in pain too. Nicole wasn't the only one I hurt, and I can see that.

Nicole turns her eyes to me as she asks that question, and Cassie opens her own. It's a little eerie how, in tandem, the two of them always were; they're like sisters from different families. I always admired that about them.

"The whole story is really long..."

This time, they both give me hard looks. Conveying now isn't the time to dodge anything. There isn't a reason to anymore.

"Okay... When my powers first manifested, it came with strength and invulnerability... I was around three or four years old. I didn't understand it at the time. As I got older, things started to change."

They're leaning forward in their spots on the couch, and all I can do is continue speaking. I don't know how well they'll take it. But it's inevitable.

"Powers that I didn't know I had started to manifest. The second among the ones that appeared is why I pushed you two away from me..."

I still remember that day... It was extreme... The first was X-ray vision. That was the first ability that manifested during puberty, but the second...

That changed everything...

As I look toward the kitchen for a brief moment, I see Mom hanging over the sink. She remembers it, too...

~~~(POV: Eloise Mayer)~~~

~~~(Location: Mayer Ranch, Umatilla County, Oregon)~~~

~~~(Date, Time, Year: June 9th, 3:12 AM PST, 2013)~~~

~~~(Current Age: 29 Years)~~~

"AAAAAAGGGHHHHHH!!!!"

The screams of my little boy force my eyes open in an instant. The covers and blankets are thrown off me as I leave my bed. As I open the door to my room, I watch Dannon stumble down the hall toward the stairs.

His hands are covering his eyes as he does. From what I can see, there is a faint red light around his eye sockets. I rush down the hall toward my baby boy.

"Dannon, wha-!!"

"STAY AWAY!!! MOVE!!"

I jump in fear from the serious and pain-filled tone in his voice. All I can do is move out of the way as he tries to find his way to the stairs.

Instead of doing nothing, I make my way up from behind him. I help guide him to the stairs, and we descend. He heads straight for the door and pushes the door off its hinges. He stumbles and falls onto the porch.

He's never fallen before...

I rush out the door toward him, and I'm about to reach out to him.

"NO!! STAY BACK!!"

I jump again as he holds out one of his hands; that's when I see his closed eyes. The red glow has intensified. 

He lifts himself up and rushes with hasten steps toward an open area connected to the backyard. I keep close behind him.

"Baby... Please... Tell me what's going on... I can he-!"

"DON'T GET ANY CLOSER!!!"

He breaks through the fence and falls to his knees... Holding his eyes...

"Uuuugghh..."

Groans of pain and discomfort cause my heart to wilt and wither. I've never seen him like this before... He's never shown me pain before...

His hands fall from his eyes, and that's when I see their steaming...

Then, a hot, bright red light launches forth from his eyes.

"RAAAAAAAGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!"

I fall on my back as the sheer heat from the light forces me to retreat. I watch as Dannon turns his head in different directions. Scared and confused.

I squint to see better, and two large, powerful lasers are being released from his eyes. First, it was X-ray vision...

Now, it's this...

The two streams of heat and power melt through the ground wherever he looks. I watch as rocks and dirt are reduced to molten liquid, only to disappear completely from the heat they're being hit with.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!"

His scream of pain worsens, and all I can do is cry the tears that a Mom sheds when their child is hurt.

The two beams of energy carve paths through the dirt and air. After a second, he falls on his back and shuts his eyes. 

"Uagh!! Uaahhh!!"

He releases a mixture of groans and growls of pain and struggle. Now that the heat and power from the beams are gone, my eyes widen as I see him lying in a puddle of molten rock, dirt, and minerals...

I sit up and start moving toward him... The red glow still surrounds his eye sockets. His eyelids glow with a deeper heat that I can't comprehend. I don't know what I'm supposed to do here. I have to try something...

"Sweetie... I need you to listen to me, okay..."

My tone is soft and gentle. Doing my best not to be the cause of anything else. Seeing the boy I raised in this state is hard for me. My son is in so much pain.

I can't get any closer since he's lying in a miniature lava pool. I watch as he jitters his head in confusion. Doing his best not to look in my direction.

"Take a deep breath... Focus only on my voice... Remember that Christmas when it snowed all night when you were a kid... You ran outside and made snow angels all day... You said you loved the cool snow on you..."

His breathing starts to even out, and he becomes calmer. The only thing I can think of doing is getting his mind off what's happening. Maybe getting his mind to think about something cool will stop what's happening.

"I want you to remember that feeling... Can you do that for me, sweetie..."

As the seconds pass, he listens to my voice alone. The red glow starts to disappear from his eye sockets. His sounds of pain and discomfort come to an end.

I watch him cautiously open his eyes as the seconds pass. Looking at the sky.

No longer shooting fire from his eyes...

He stands up and covers himself with his hands. The heat and molten material have burned away his clothes. I pull off my robe over my pajamas and lightly toss it to him. He puts it on and steps out of the cooling material his feet are in.

I hold out my arms for him, and my little boy doesn't waste a second falling into them. Completely exhausted. I take a closer look, and he's gently snoring.

He's as big as me now... He's gotten so heavy...

~~~(POV: Dannon Mayer)~~~

~~~(Location: Mayer Ranch, Umatilla County, Oregon)~~~

~~~(Date, Time, Year: June 9th, 3:02 AM PST, 2013)~~~

~~~(Current Age: 12 Years)~~~

My eyes flutter open as I wake up with a massive migraine. I turn my head and look at the clock beside my bed. Telling me it's a little past three in the morning. I stand up and stumble to my dresser, where the mirror is.

The migraine is spreading to my eyes...

As I look into the mirror, a red glow begins to take over. I instinctively close my eyes, both knowing and not knowing what's coming. These last two days have been constant migraines.

The heat begins to build in my eyes...

"What the fuck..."

Everything happening to me... I don't fucking understand... I know I'm from another planet... But I'm not a damn Kryptonian...

They're from comic books... I'm real...

The heat only continues to build, and it's actually starting to hurt. I stumble to the door of my room, and I open it. As I enter the hallway, a massive increase in the heat comes. Pain assaults my senses.

"AAAAAAGGGHHHHHH!!!!"

As the cry of pain leaves my lips, I hear the door to Mom's room open. I can't see her right now. I feel her taking steps in my direction.

"Dannon, wha-!"

"STAY AWAY!!! MOVE!!"

I don't let her finish asking me what's wrong with me. I try to find my way to the stairs, and after a second of struggling, I make it. As I'm about to go down, I feel Mom place her hands under my arms to help me.

I'd tell her to back off if I could right now, but the pain is too much. We reach the bottom of the stairs, and I know the door is right before me. Instead of wasting time, I push the door off its hinges, and it falls.

After a few steps outside, the heat inside my eyes makes me dizzy, and I fall. The sensation of Mom's rushing footsteps behind me pulls me back to reality.

"NO!! STAY BACK!!"

I don't want her getting caught up in what's happening to me. I know the farm like the back of my hand, and I rush to an area I know to be empty. 

"Baby... Please... Tell me what's going on... I can he-!"

"DON'T GET ANY CLOSER!!!"

She's doing her best to be helpful with this, but my instincts tell me that something I don't want her here for is about to happen. I fall to my knees, and my willpower to keep my eyes closed falls.

"Uuuugghh..."

The hands to cover my eyes find their way to my sides. I've never felt something this hot before. I have to open my eyes. I have to release the heat. I feel like my head is gonna explode if I don't.

It feels like an eternity to open my eyes, but as I do. The pain intensifies, and all I see is the world in a red hue.

"RAAAAAAAGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!"

Everywhere I look in this red world is being destroyed. I look in different directions, trying to control what's happening to me, but everywhere I look is obliterated by my eyes.

The heat and pain worsen as time passes, and no matter what I do to make it stop. It doesn't work. I carve deep wounds in the earth with my eyes and burn the oxygen and carbon in the air wherever I look.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!"

I fall on my back and shut my eyes. The only idea I can come up with to stop whatever is happening to me. As I roil in pain from the increasing migraine, all hope I have to stop what's happening to me starts to leave me.

"Uagh!! Uaahhh!!"

I don't know how much longer I can keep my eyes shut. The heat wants out so badly, and I can't stop it.

But that's when I hear her...

"Sweetie... I need you to listen to me, okay..."

Mom's gentle and calming voice drowns out the pain I'm feeling. She's still here... After everything that's happening to me... Even though I could kill her... She's still by my side, trying to help me through this...

I can't help jittering my head in fear of looking in her direction. Fighting against my desire to look in her direction for help. Knowing it'd be the last I see her.

"Take a deep breath... Focus only on my voice... Remember that Christmas when it snowed all night when you were a kid... You ran outside and made snow angels all day... You said you loved the cool snow on you..."

Cool snow... I do remember... Extreme hots and colds don't normally affect me... But I can still feel them, just not harmed by them... I love the feeling of snow... It doesn't snow that often in Northeastern Oregon... That's why the time it happened means so much to me...

"I want you to remember that feeling... Can you do that for me, sweetie..."

All I can do in this moment of vulnerability is listen to my Mom... I focus on those memories... The sensation of snow on my skin and clothes... Soaking through after a few minutes...

The more I think about it, the less the heat assaults my eyes...

After a couple of seconds, the heat is completely gone. I'm lying on my back now... Wanting to see if everything is alright, I open my eyes and look at the night sky... The red hue is gone, and so is the heat.

I stand up after a few seconds, and that's when I see I'm standing in a pool of liquid metals and rocks. My clothes are completely gone. I cover myself with my hands and look at Mom. She undoes her robe, and her bunny pajamas make an appearance.

She tosses me her robe, and I put it on. Stepping out of the cooling pool of molten heat, I step toward her. The second step tells me it's time I need to sleep.

My world goes dark as I fall toward Mom. Her arms open as I do, and darkness takes me.

~~~(POV: Dannon Mayer)~~~

~~~(Location: Mayer Ranch, Umatilla County, Oregon)~~~

~~~(Date, Time, Year: April 27th, 4:32 PM PST, 2022)~~~

~~~(Current Age: 21 Years)~~~

"I woke up after a few hours of sleep. Mom told me what happened. To me, it was unfathomably hot and red. Everywhere I looked, it was destroyed or melted. She told me she saw lasers coming from my eyes."

The eyes of Nicole and Cassie are wide as I conclude the story of the manifestation of my most violent and deadly power. It's that day I couldn't trust myself. Not until I knew all my abilities had appeared.

So, I pushed them out of my life until I knew I wouldn't hurt them.

I look toward the kitchen and see Mom drying her eyes with some tissues. That was a hard day for her, too, just in a different way than me.