A/N This story is inspired by another fanfic called Only Son by TfpWolfGirl in AO3. That story is SUPER AMAZING and TOTALLY worth reading! It was so good that I keep rereading it, and no matter how many times I read it, it always makes my day better!
Hope you enjoy!
X
A 2-year old Ezra looked up at his mother with curiosity, his reddish-brown eyes wide and innocent as she held out a pair sapphire blue contact lenses in her hands.
"Here you go, my dear," Mira took one out with her finger. "This will only hurt a bit, but don't worry. I'll be right here,"
"And so will I," Ezra's father Ephraim held him gently but firmly to keep him still. "I'll be right here for you too, Ezra,"
Poor Ezra had no idea what his parents meant until his mother placed the lenses on him. He began to cry, the plastic stinging his eyeballs the moment they were placed on. He felt himself being wrapped in an embrace and looked up to see both of his parents hugging him tightly.
"I'm so sorry, sweetie," Mira ran her fingers down her son's cheeks, wiping the tears staining the soft skin. "but these will help you in the future. I promise,"
"You must NEVER take them off, no matter the cause," Ephraim sternly spoke. "It might put you in danger, understood?"
Ezra did not, but for the sake of his parents, he nodded and began to yawn, tired after his little fit. Mira smiled and carried him gently to his crib, placing him down gently on the mattress before placing the blanket on him.
"Goodnight, dear," she whispered.
Ezra watched her leave with droopy eyes then he slowly closed them. The moment he did, however, the lenses began to sting again, which caused to cry out loud because of the pain.
Immediately, Mira ran back and cradled her crying child.
"Oh, Ezra, what's the matter?"
"Owie," Ezra pointed to his tearful eyes.
"Do the lenses hurt?" Mira asked, and the boy nodded, making her sigh. "Oh, I'm sorry, Ezra, but we can't take it off. I promise that, sooner or later, you'll be used to your lenses. Besides, you look beautiful with your new sapphire eyes,"
"Huh?" Ezra tilted his head, confused.
Mira smiled and held him in front of a mirror. Ezra's eyes widened as he saw his sapphire lenses sparkling in the darkness.
"See? It's beautiful,"
Ezra frowned, disagreeing before he began to fuss. "Owie! Owie!"
"Oh, Ezra," Mira let out a sigh and held him up to face. "You NEED those lenses, so you'll be out of danger. Just… bare with them, please,"
"Mira? What's going on?" Ephraim soon entered the room, holding a sealed holo-letter in his hand.
"It's Ezra," Mira replied, frustrated. "He says that the lenses hurt,"
"It should hurt. They are contact lenses, after all," Ephraim shook his head and crossed his arms. "He just isn't used to them. When he is, that's when he'll start to appreciate them. Besides, we have holo-mail from THEM,"
"Oh, alright," Mira set Ezra back down on his crib. "Get some rest, Ezra. We'll be back to check on you soon,"
With that, they left the room. Ezra began to cry again, bawling his eyes out as he waved his arms and legs around. An hour passed, and he was still crying, the stinging pain of the lenses worsening as he teared, but it was so unbearable that he couldn't stop. The second hour passed, and another, but neither of his parents came back to check on him, leaving him to cry the pain out until fell asleep.
X
"Alright, sweetie, come to Mommy," Mira called out to her son as they sat on the mat.
"Mama, owie," Ezra whimpered as he wiped his eyes, hissing at the contact lenses that had been there for nearly two weeks. "Mama, me owie,"
"It's okay, dear," Mira shrugged off the problem and held out her arms. "Just walk to me, and I'll catch you if you fall,"
Ezra pouted before slowly standing up then he wobbly began to walk. He was halfway across the mat when his lenses started to itch and sting again. Angry and in pain, he proceeded to rub his eyes harder, causing him to lose balance and stumble backwards.
"Ezra, look out!" Mira warned, but by then, it was too late.
Ezra had bumped onto a tall shelf and had fallen on his bottom as the shelf began to wobble until a blue chest that had golden linings and a red circle with two brown fangs facing down fell and hit Ezra on the head before landing on the floor beside him.
"Owie, Mama…" Ezra soon teared, rubbing his eyes hard with a hiss. "Head 'n eye owies…"
"Oh, my poor baby," Mira picked her son up and kissed his forehead. "Don't worry, baby. It was an accident,"
"Mm…" Ezra was still whimpering in pain as his hands were pried from his face then he looked down to see the bright blue chest still on the floor. "Mama, wha dat?"
"Hmm?" Mira glanced down and gasped. "Oh my!"
She placed Ezra down on the couch and headed over to pick up the chest then she placed it back on the top of the shelf. Ezra tilted his head in confusion as one of his hand continuously rubbed his eye.
"Mama, wha dat?" he asked.
"It's nothing!" Mira quickly picked up the child and proceeded to walk away from the shelf. "Just pretend it never existed, alright, sweetie? It's a VERY special chest that should NEVER be opened by anyone. Understood?"
"Yes, Mama…" Ezra sighed as he looked at the chest one last time before being taken to another room.
X
2 years had passed. Ezra could barely sleep with his lenses on. He couldn't remove them either with his bare hands since they were too small to grab. Since he could barely sleep, he was always tired, causing him to barely eat and barely run around to play, no matter how much his parents ate with him or tried to play with him. He would always seat down to read, but his sapphire lenses also made it difficult for him to see.
He wanted his parents to take them off, but they didn't listen. They usually changed the topic to distract him, and it worked, but soon after, his eyes would hurt, and it would remind him about his lenses.
Due to his malnutrition, he remained thin and smaller than anyone else near his age. His parents had noticed it, but they couldn't take the lenses off. No matter how much he begged, they just couldn't, or else the Empire would find out, and Lothal will pay the price.
The people around them had taken notice of the lenses, yet they didn't know that they were lenses. They thought the boy was naturally blue-eyed because of his parents, much to the relief of Mira and Ephraim.
As for his sapphire blue hair…
"NO!" Ezra squirmed on his chair as Ephraim held him down, and Mira held up a bowl of black hair dye. "I don't wanna!"
"Ezra, hold still!" Mira scowled, placing the bowl down on the table before picking up a big paint brush.
"Can't we use a black spray paint instead of hair dye?" Ephraim questioned while he tried his best to hold down their struggling son.
"We could, but I'm afraid it might cause an asthma attack since I don't have a gas mask small enough for him," Mira sighed and gently took a handful of her son's hair.
"I LOVE MY HAIR!" Ezra yelled out, tears pricking by the sides of his eyes. "I DON'T WANT NEW HAIR!"
"We NEED to change your hair color, sweetie," Ephraim urged, suppressing his frustration. "People think that your hair has been dyed blue for a long time, and they want to see a natural HUMAN hair color,"
"But I DON'T WANNA!" Ezra whined.
Mira shook her head in despair, putting the paint brush down then she took a ponytail and a comb. She combed her son's blue locks and tied it up into a bun then she quickly grabbed the brush, dipped in the hair dye and painted his hair with black.
"NO!" Ezra began to cry. "MOMMY, STOP!"
"Almost done, sweetie," Mira reassured him gently as she stroked deeper into the scalp.
"Just a little more color, and you'll be good as new, Ezra," Ephraim wiped his son's tears. "Trust us, son. This is what's best for you. Trust us,"
Ezra didn't say a word. He merely shut his eyes tightly, no matter how much his contact lenses stung as he trembled while his mother finished painting.
"There, done!" Mira smiled and placed the brush down. "Now, let's leave it to dry,"
"Or we can dry it quickly," Ephraim stood up to take out a small heater.
"Are you sure, Ephraim?" Mira's eyebrows furrowed as the heater was activated above the boy. "I don't think it's a good idea to dry it with a heater, much less keep the heater so close to Ezra,"
"It will be fine, trust me, dear," Ephraim waved her off before activating the heater and placing it directly above the child.
The heat radiation made Ezra tremble as he began to feel dizzy. He hyperventilated, the heat getting into his brain while he felt his eyes started to drop. Mira was alarmed when she saw this.
"Ephraim, that's too much heat radiation!"
"I can't lower it down any further!" Ephraim noticed the boy's reaction too and was currently fidgeting with the buttons and levers on the heater. "It's already in the lowest level!"
"The 'lowest level'?! It's getting hotter by the minute, and Ezra's going to faint!"
"Mommy… Daddy…" Ezra managed to say before his eyes completely closed, and he fell forward.
"EZRA!"
X
Ezra woke up with his vision blurry and his head spinning. His body was trembling as he sat up from what-he-can-assume-was his bed while he held his aching head and whimpered in pain. He then looked around before his eyes widened when he realized that he was alone.
"M-Mommy…? D-Daddy…?"
No response came. Not even a whisper.
Ezra sighed and got off his bed. He went to the door, but as he did, he got a glance of himself on his bedroom mirror. He came to a stop and went closer to look at his new appearance.
His once reddish-brown eyes were still sapphire blue because of the irritating, painful and blurry contact lenses he was forced to keep on. His body was thin while his height was short, as if he was still 2 years old. His once sapphire blue hair, on the other hand, had mixed with the black hair dye, turning it midnight blue.
Ezra began to cry, falling to his knees as he placed his hands on his face. His tears rolled down and stained his cheeks, but he didn't care as he curled up into a ball, hugging his knees to his chest.
"Ezra…?" the sound of footsteps soon got his attention, and he looked up to see Mira and Ephraim enter. "Oh, our baby, what's wrong?"
Ezra didn't respond. Instead, he cried even louder before he ran to his bed and landed face-first onto his pillows. He didn't bother when his tears stained his bed, nor did he care when he felt his parents sit beside him and stroke his back.
"Ezra, what's the matter?" Mira asked softly.
Ezra looked up at her with tears. "You… You no love me,"
"What? No, no, no, dear!" Mira cradled her little 4-year old into her arms. "What ever made you think that?"
"You change my eyes an' my hair," Ezra sniffled, squirming in his mother's embrace as if she was a stranger.
"Oh, Ezra," Ephraim stroked his son's new hair and kissed his forehead. "We love you with all our hearts. We just… well, we needed to change your appearance to make you look… well, normal,"
"Me not normal?" The news didn't made Ezra feel any better. In fact, it seemed to make him think worse about himself.
"Ephraim!" Mira elbowed her husband on the stomach with a scowl before turning back to their child. "No, Ezra, that's… that's not what we meant. You see, when you were born, you were… uh, different. Really… really different. Lothal might be open to anyone and everyone, but… when compared to us, they seem to comment that… well, you know…"
Ezra tilted his head. No, he did NOT know, and he still did NOT get why they had to change him to look like… them.
"Ezra, you seemed like a strange mess compared to us," Ephraim spoke with a shrug. "They thought you kept dying your hair blue, and that your eyes weren't normal since both me and your mother are naturally blue-eyed, even if your aunt, uncle and cousins from your mother's side are mostly brown-eyed,"
"We just… want you as normal as we are in the eyes of everyone," Mira concluded before leaning in to kiss her son's cheek.
"I… Okay…" Ezra looked down and away from them. He wanted to believe them, but there was this… ringing… a sort-of music that was making him doubt their words, but they were his parents, after all.
They would never keep secrets from him, would they?