Nicki POV
"WAKE UP!"
Something smacked me in the face and I shot up on my pile of blankets. Michael stood over me, glaring down as snow flakes gently fell onto my face.
"Get your lazy butt up, baka."
"It's so early!!!" I whined.
"You idiot. It's like, ten a.m.."
I sheepishly sat up and looked around at the rest of my friends who were also up.
"Don't tell me that I'm the last one to get up."
They all nodded at me and I get up, the protein and granola bars sliding off my face that Michael had so generously gifted me, not. We all cleaned up what little we had then set on our way. The mood was cheery despite the chilly atmosphere. It'd dropped down in temperature already and it was a bit cold to Rachel and Michael. To me though, I was fine. Luke told me that his powers allowed him to withstand very very cold weather as well as frostbite. Taking this into consideration of having both fire powers and the ice powers, I reasoned that I was probably feeling the effects of both. So to me and Luke, as I mentioned before, it was fine.
That wasn't the case for Michael.
He wasn't as warmly dressed as we were, in fact only wearing a flimsy jacket, a t-shirt and torn jeans. The rest of us at least had coats. I offered to him my coat but he shot me a glare and told me to shut up and save it for my girlfriend. I was a bit confused by his comment since I didn't even have one. Luke and Rachel explained it to me that when a girl is cold and you either like her or are dating her, you offer her your jacket usually. I didn't honestly get that. I mean, if someone was cold, you'd want to help them... right? Michael tells me that I'm too innocent. Anyways, the way that Michael kept shivering and looking about ready to faint wasn't helping my nerves. I just wanted to hug him and just warm him. Of course, I realized that if I tried to do that, that I'd probably get beaten up. And honestly speaking, I quite like my face.
"Sooooooo, where's this uh place where my brother is?" I asked, trying to make conversation.
"S-Some a-aband-doned wareh-house," He managed to say through chattering teeth.
"How'd you find him?"
"I know-w p-peop-ple, d-d-dork-k," He stammered.
"When will you ever stop calling me that?"
"Whenever y-you stop-p b-b-being so-o-o d-d-d-d-d-dorky!"
I laughed at that and he even grinned a bit.
"Uh, so... where'd you learn to shoot a gun?" Luke asked cautiously.
"D-Did it for n-necessit-ty," He muttered. "H-Have to d-defend yourself out th-there."
"Okay, but I said where'd you learn to shoot a gun? Not why," Luke deadpanned.
Michael shot him a glare and Luke shrank away. So with that, silence settled over the entire group. Michael leaned against a nearby wall, looking as if he was about to both faint.
"Michael, are you alright?"
"Y-yeah... I just... bit... c-cold..." He murmured weakly.
"Okay, that's it. You're wearing my coat and you are not going to fight it because if you won't wear it willingly, I'm going to tape it onto you," I threatened.
Michael made a weak swipe at me in protest but gave up as I helped him tug on my coat. The wind was cool, but not so unbearable I couldn't deal with it. Michael though stumbled a bit as we began to walk and I threw his arm around my shoulder. He leaned heavily onto me.
"C-Cold... cold..." he mumbled.
"Hey, let's take a rest. We can hold out for the rest of the day until we get Michael to warm up," Rachel said firmly.
Michael now was almost limp. I was basically dragging him until Luke offered to have Michael piggy back him. Michael actually didn't complain and got onto Luke's back. 'Michael wasn't that heavy though. Having him piggyback Luke isn't necessary,' I thought to myself. 'Not that I'm jealous! He's a boy Nicki. A boy. You're not gay you're not gay you're not gay you're not gay!'
"In here!"
Rachel waves us over to a small run down house. We all ducked inside. Now, snow was coming down in sheets and pelting us. If I wasn't cold, now I was.
"Michael, you still with us?" Luke said as we walked inside.
"Uh," Michael grunted out.
"Let's take that as a no?" I joked.
We then gently laid Michael down onto all of our coats, covering him up. He grabbed my wrist.
"W-Wait..."
I stopped, Rachel and Luke giving me weird looks. Michael looked up.
"M-My.. powers... fire powers... they do this... have to... rest..." His grip loosened and slipped off my wrist limply. "Sorry... couldn't... get... to your... brother."
With that, he completely passed out. We all just traded shrugs of confusion before attempting to make a fire. Luke and I spoke in soft voices since Rachel told us she was going to rest a bit too.
"So we know that Michael has fire powers. What else?" I said.
"Yeah, we only know about those but I have a question."
"Shoot," I said with a nod.
"If he has fire powers, then how'd you get them? Don't you have to come in contact with that person and don't they have to give them to you... willingly? Or without you knowing?"
I pursed my lips, thinking about his comment. 'What he just said is true. After all, I did bump into Luke at our first meeting but I never absorbed his ice powers until he let me absorb it. That was the same with Rachel.'
"He did touch me once, but I never felt that surge of warmth I usually feel."
"Are you absolutely sure you don't know who Michael actually is?" Luke said with a frown.
"Of course I am! If I'd met him, I'd surely remember," I declared.
"Dude, you can't even remember what homework is due the next day," Luke joked.
I winced. Touché.
"But... if I'd met someone so brave and scary as that, I think I'd definitely remember him," I muttered. "After all, Michael didn't recognize me at all as well. That must mean that we haven't met each other!"
"But Nicki, how do you logically explain how you got those fire powers?" Luke said impatiently.
"Well, I can't. Unlike you, I'm not logical. I don't always have an explanation for everything, okay?" I snapped harshly. "All I know is that I've never ever ever met Michael, let alone anyone like Michael. Maybe he was just delirious and told us wrong about his powers."
"That's not logical though!" Luke said frustratedly, obviously thinking I was idiotic or something.
"Not everything has a logical explanation. How do you explain that we have powers?" I asked him sarcastically. "I mean, if everyone on Earth had powers, that would make sense. Why is it that only us four have powers?"
"Genetic mutation," Luke mumbled.
I snorted.
"Luke, think about it. Even genetic mutation couldn't cause something like this."
"How do you know that?"
"Oh, actually I don't."
"Exactly."
We just sat in silence for a few seconds.
"Well, I think we need to talk about this later. Right now though, let's just watch the fire for a while," I said sullenly. "Take a nap or something Luke."
"Nah, you go on. After all, if you're going to see your brother again tomorrow, don't you want to be well rested?" Luke said.
"Very good point, my friend. I'll take you up on that offer actually to take a snooze. Keep the fire going."
"Aye aye, captain," He joked.
I threw him a smile.
"You're a good friend."
"Don't get sappy dude," he said with a scrunched up nose.
I laughed.
"Fine then. See you."
I curled up on my side, back to the fire and dived into my own thoughts. Everything just seemed so convoluted and confusing. Why do I have powers? Why do any of us have powers? Luke did have a point on wanting an explanation. Getting answers might help all of us. But the one thing I'd love to know... is why and how I got Michael's powers.'