Chapter Sixteen

As Aaron finally got himself some sleep, he awoke to the sounds of bursting and popping electricity. The comfortable surface underneath him, was nothing but a couch, but because of how tired he was, it suddenly felt like a cloud. He was a weightless baby placed upon a weightless, comfortable, cloud. How good his sleep was, how long it had been since the last time, he felt so good. He crawled himself down from the tall bunk bed, he'd gotten the top, and carefully used the top ladder to get down. Once he was down, his feet back on the ground, he took in all the sights about him. He was in a bedroom. Lots of anime posters along the walls, and action figures, placed on every shelf and cover he stared at. He felt throbbing pain in the side of his head, as he moved strands of small pieces of his white dyed hair, out of his face. He left the anime infested room, and walked along the floor, from the bedroom, and into the living room. The living room seemed normal enough. A normal setting, which was just a couch in the middle, followed by a few chairs, and a bookshelf filled with books.

He didn't care that much to check the titles of those books. Probably worried to find nothing but manga, which was reading anime. He stopped half way into the room when he caught a glimpse of the girl. Nia, he remembered. She looked extremely upset. Crying, with tears sliding down her cheeks, as she had her hand rose into the air, directed at two dark shadowed out pictures. One a man, the other a woman.

Aaron was sure she was trying to destroy them, but the abilities she was doing, clearly wasn't able to do that. The lighting from her hands came out as a pale white color. Which Aaron concluded to be nothing but cold wind. So, as he stared, he was sure the wind wouldn't be strong enough to destroy the pictures, so as he tried to respect her privacy, he turned around, and tried to head back into the bedroom.

''Hey! Come here a minuet!'' Nia shouted, as her eyes found him, just before he could flee. Aaron bowed his head, as he turned back around. Meeting Nia's bright blue eyes, as he obeyed her wishes, and came towards her. She sniffled softly, before wiping her nose. As she reached her hands out to hold his, Aaron's eyes shifted in confusion.

''What're you doing?'' He asked.

''Nothing, just be quiet.'' She hissed. As he watched her fingers rub up and down the side of his wrist, before he could say anything to what she was doing, he suddenly felt his wrist cramp up, as his fingers twisted, and burned from the sudden new wave of pain. As pain filled his face, Nia took advantage of it rather quickly, and before Aaron could justify what ever was going to happen to him, he was automatically sent to his knees, after Nia's foot aimed straight towards his stomach. Then she grabbed his arm, and turned it towards the wall, where the pictures hung.

Aaron was sure she was crazy, as he tried to focus on reclaiming his body, but the pain he felt was suddenly to great to concentrate. Red lighting stormed and formed all around his body. With his eyes wide, and the emotion of sudden anger spreading through his veins, a powerful ball of red burning flames, shot out through his hand. Which destroyed the pictures in under three seconds. Leftover pieces of shredded paper, lined the floor.

Nia let out a heavy sigh, as she let go of his hand, proceeding back to where she sat on the couch. Relived and rather peaceful now. Aaron who was still confused, held pressure against his stomach, with his eyes still filled with fury towards her. As his jaw hung loosely open.

''What the hell was that!'' He barked.

''Calm down, and don't swear at me like that!'' Nia ordered. ''This is my house, and no guest of mine is allowed to curse! I warn you now, but mess up again, and I'm getting the soap!'' Aaron groaned softly, as he got an image of soap being put down his throat. A cruel and unusual punishment, one he remembered to clearly.

''Okay, sorry...but what did you just do to me? How are you able to control me like that?'' He questioned.

''You seemed to have forgotten, the power you own, belongs to me. I have had better practice, and I am fully aware on how to control it. And how to set it off? You see? When I transfered my power to you, I only gave you two percent of it. As you probably have guessed, my power works differently than yours. As you were once a cold one, which I'm guessing is someone who has the power over ice and cold things. I am a Spark. And my home was once, The Spark Nation. Which was home to people like me! Me as a spark, means I am able to control five different types of lighting. Red, and blue, which were transferred to you, which means you possess fire and ice. And I am left with green and white. Which is air and earth. Sadly, I don't have much experience with either of them, sad as though, fire was my favorite.....''

''What does any of that mean?'' Aaron asked, confusion and questions filling his brain.

''It means I keep parts of my power, while you have the rest. Five, spread out to the both of us. We each have two. I've learned with red and blue, red is triggered by anger. So, in theory, I just had to make you angry, to trigger the red lighting. Which seems to have bee successful!'' Nia shouted, a happy smile appearing on her face, sadly hiding and washing away the sudden stained tears all along her face.

''Don't tell me you have to freeze me, in order to trigger the blue one...'' Aaron prayed.

''In theory? I have no idea about that one, I usually don't like using that one, cause it gives me brain freeze afterwards.'' Nia replied. ''Blue isn't common for me, although, I really like red.''

''I can see that.....so? If you don't mind me asking, why did you get me to destroy those pictures?''

''They were just people I don't like, that's all. No biggie...Plus I could see you, watching me struggle....As you were able to see, Air and I aren't really close. I don't like using other lightings, not most of the time...''

''Red, favorite, others stink, got it....'' Aaron remembered. ''I'll make sure to see the red one from now on...I don't think I'll be able to keep these powers huh?''

''How are you going to get home, if you don't? Don't you want to be a cold one again?'' Asked Nia. Aaron's eyes suddenly saddened as he thought about going back home. Suddenly he was overwhelmed with doubt and emotional pain. He wasn't sure what it was that was causing him so much triggering emotional pain, but the thought of leaving, made his heart break. Which was very unusual, considering Earth wasn't his home, and all his loved ones were back in Nation Valley.

Edward, his mom, and Alec. Which he still hoped was back home.

''Don't you want to go back?'' Nia repeated.

''I'm not sure what I want. I originally came here, to get my boyfriend, but I recently figured out he was never here. I honestly have no idea where he ended up...I wish I could figure it out, just to have the worry go away...'' He whispered. ''Its just, without my powers, this is the happiest I've ever been.''

''But no one you know is here! If I had the chance to return home, I'd go back.'' Hissed Nia.

''Say? Why aren't you?''

''Why aren't I what?'' Nia questioned curiously, as she welcomed Aaron to come sit with her.

''Why haven't you gone home yet? Given by your powers, I can see you weren't born here, and from what you told me, you have a home. Spark Nation? Right?'' He asked.

''I can't....'' She swallowed.

''Were you banished? I hear that's a really big thing on my planet. So many banished people here, I had no idea about. That man I was fighting, actually came from my planet. Caused to much pain to my people, the king, banished him here. Along with many others, when I get back, I'll have to address that.''

''No.....I was never banished.....I just don't have a home anymore...A few months ago, we were taken over....Taken over by a nation we thought be our allies. The Wind Nation. Users who control the wind, and anything to do with the weather. They killed my people, and imprisoned, then killed my family. I was the only survivor. I was able to flee to Earth, while their backs were turned. Lucky for me, I managed to get my powers working, and struggled to train as much as I could, to get stronger, and be ready for the day, when they realize where I've been.''

''That's awful, Nia. I'm so sorry....I guess the place we love the most, truly can't be all safe.''

''Well, surely you have something to worry about on your planet? I'm sure you aren't the only ones living there? Right?'' She asked.

''Your right, the only other species we have to live with, our vampires. Blood sucking creatures, who wish to feed from us. They'll keep their prisoners alive, and feed upon them till every last drop of blood is consumed, then look for another target. Right now, the king has taken great time in keeping them at bay. But I fear one day, we'll be overpowered.'' Aaron spat.

''Vampires don't seem so strong? From what I'm guessing about your nation, your people sound really strong. Cold controls ice, warm controls fire, with one fireball, you could turn them to ash? Couldn't you?''

''I guess so....But not all of us aren't skilled enough to control our powers. Most of us are still young, many of my people are children. Others, are old. Not trained properly. I wouldn't know the first thing to do, to control the vampires, if they suddenly got so hungry, they decided to attack us....But I'd never know, because my powers are gone. Disappeared a few weeks ago, without explanation.''

''What do you think happened to them? Could they have been stolen?''

''Doubt it. Earth is just filled with humans, none are capable of stealing powers. Even if that were the case, they'd never even know I was here. I look human enough, and I'm doing a pretty good job at blending in....seems highly unlikely...'' Aaron explained. ''Has to be something wrong with me, like internally. I had some pretty bad back pain before they completely vanished. I always thought that had something to do with it.....''

''How old are you, Aaron? When I first saw you, I thought you looked pretty young...So how old are you truly?''

''Why are you asking that? Has your impression of me suddenly changed? And if so, how come?''

''Its just a question, do you not like being asked your age?'' Nia wondered, worried she'd said something wrong.

''Not usually. I'm not one to care about age. I don't think age truly matters, at least it doesn't on my planet. There, thanks to being born a cold one, I'm instantly immortal, so I'll never age. However, here, with your borrowed power, I'm gonna guess, you aren't immortal. And are probably aging? Yes?'' He asked.

Nia replied with a slow nod. ''I'm sixteen going on seventeen.'' She smiled.

''Lucky you, I'm nineteen going on twenty. How awful it is, when you realize you're getting old.'' He hissed.

''Well, it would seem as though your aging is starting to get the drop on you! Seeing as your air has already started turning white! Makes you seem really old, when you take away from your face!'' Nia shouted. Aaron dropped to a frown, as the comment hit him straight in the heart. Never had he gotten a insult regarding the color of his hair. His hair was naturally white to begin with, but suddenly complications, forced him to keep reapplying bleach, to keep the color. For, the color had come from his father. Which at a young age, he loved so much.

Which is why now as an adult, he offend asked himself, why he kept retouching it. The color was a representative of the person he hated truly the most.

''Its not that my age is catching up to me, I am truly nineteen years old, like I was never turned immortal, I was born like that. But even though I can never die from old age, my body still grows, as does my face. So I'm not stuck at a young age. Trust me, being immature forever, isn't something I wish for. My hair is naturally white, but not as bright as how it is now....A few years old, there were some complications, and I had to start bleach dying, to get it to return to white.'' Aaron rubbed the back of his neck, in embarrassment as he was forced to relive those complications. How he prayed he wouldn't get asked what they were, and lucky enough, Nia didn't seem at all interested in them. So the subject was dropped.

''What should we do now?'' She asked.

''I don't know, thought you might've have something planned..'' He replied.

''Nope, I was looking at you, old man....'' She taunted.

''I told you already! I'm not old, my hair is just white! Lay off!'' He snapped, which only cause Nia to want to laugh more.

''How about we laugh at your old man? I'm sure you aren't living alone here, you have to have a mom or dad here, right?'' Nia's sudden happy expression changed completely, once Aaron's words hit her. It was clear to him, he shouldn't have said that.

''I'm gonna turn in now....Don't want to be overtired...'' She whispered, as she rose from her spot on the couch. As Aaron remained quiet, he couldn't help but feel upset. Upset for her. Not even a tiny bit of anger formed inside him. Normally, he'd be upset, meaning he'd be anger, the person was offended, for he didn't always understand what it was, he'd say to offend them. But now, he was seeing it all so clearly. He fucked up, by bringing up her parents. And as awful as he felt, he didn't go after her. He knew it was better not too.

Although, there was something he could to maybe cheer her up. As he got off the couch, slipping down onto his hands and knees, he started to pick up, and place into his palm, all the pieces of ripped up destroyed paper, from the two pictures, which were a lot since there wasn't just a single, and they were both pretty big.

Although, just as he was half way finished, a scream, followed by grunts, and moans from outside, altered him. He wasn't sure what was wrong at first, but wasted no time, trying to find out. He escaped through the door of the house he was in, and went down the few couple of stairs. Once he made it down them, he was off, down the back alleyway, as it made further sense to him, how he and Nia had gotten to her home so quickly. Her house was a few buildings down from the alleyway.

Turning the corner, he took in the scene. How he wished he hadn't though.

Blood....

So much of it...painted the payment a whole different color......

And as his eyes found the person responsible, his flames skyrocketed, as the entire alleyway, caught it all, in seconds...