Burning Slow

The 31st

"f**k, it's so cold." Nick rubbed his hands together in hopes of getting to warm them up. "Hey, we also should have had Kenneth make us some thick jackets!" He pressed the button on his earpiece.

"Don't yell, idiot." Astraea replied to him, cringing at his booming voice.

"Fine, fine." He rolled his eyes even though he knew nobody could see him. "How long are we supposed to stay here anyway?"

"As long as we have to."  Ember sighed. "Nat, you good there? Nothing unusual?"

"Nothing yet." Nathan replied. "And I told you to stop calling me by that nickname."

"Everyone don't let your guard down." Ember continued, ignoring Nathan's previous remark. "We'll wait for this bastard to show up."

"Yes, boss." Nick answered in a military tone, even saluting to nothing for added effect.

-

"Kenneth, can you make those thick jackets now?"  Everybody heard James' teeth chattering on their line.

"I could try but what about the sizes?" Kenneth asked.

"Just make everything the same size just make it as thick as possible. The thicker, the better."  Jacob shuddered.

"On it. Nick, be on standby."

"Roger."

Kenneth worked on the jackets as fast as he possible could, his hands shaking from the cold.

"Nick, they're ready." Kenneth panted as he slipped on his cream colored jacket.

"Alright. I'm coming."

In a second, Nick appeared in front of Kenneth, accepting the eight jackets that he made. All colors according to their powers.

"Woah, why do you look so tired?" Nick peeked from underneath the mountain of thick jackets, seeing a panting Kenneth.

"It's too cold here. I can't even catch up with my own powers, bro."

"Ah s**t. That'll be a problem then." Nick muttered under his breath. "Anyways, I'll update everyone if I also get tired. See you later, bro." Kenneth nodded before Nick disappeared.

He visited everyone, distributing the jackets. White for James, grey for Jacob, black for Rocco, a checkered patterned jacket for Nathan, blue for Grace, purple for Astraea, yellow for Ember and dark blue for him.

By the time he's gone back to the spot he was assigned to, he was already out of breath.

"Guys, we have," Nick panted, "a problem." He spoke into his earpiece.

"What is it?" Grace's voice came in.

"Don't use your power too much."  Nick coughed. "Our powers don't go too well, it doesn't cooperate well with the cold."

"Nathan, you still good? Jacob?" Grace's voice was laced purely with worry.

"I'm still good." Jacob answered.

"Okay. Nathan?" Grace repeated.

"Nathan?" Astraea also called when they heard no response from the man.

"Guys, I'm running out of juice. I can't keep this up." The man they've been calling responded after a couple of minutes.

"Nick, get me and Ember to Nathan." Grace ordered.

"Be there in a sec."

"Our powers just aren't equipped for this weather, Grace." Ember argued. "If Nathan keeps this up, he's going to be sucked dry and he'll never-"

"-be able to use his powers again. I know." Grace continued in a low whisper. "But if you do it... you might die."

"What?!" Nick exclaimed." What's she going to do?"

"Oh my god, we totally forgot about Nick." Ember face-palmed.

"Well, he's already here. We don't have much choice, do we?" Nathan panted.

"Look, I'll explain after this. For now, go back to your spot." Nick reluctantly nodded before following orders.

"We really don't have a choice, now do we?" Ember asked Grace after a moment. "We can't let Nathan never be able to use his powers again."

"You do know that I really can't heal you because of her, right?"

"Yes, Grace, I know."

"Then promise me that you'll live." Nathan choked out as he struggled to stand.

"I promise." Ember nodded, repeating the words as they hugged.

"I'll just focus on keeping it a bit warmer in other areas now, right?"

"Yes, and Ember will keep track of us." Grace confirmed. "Now, let me just heal you." She got down on her knees, placing her hands on Nathan who previously collapsed from too much power consumption.

"Nick, you can get us now." Ember called.

Once everybody was back in their designated spots, a strong breeze flew through everybody, making the place colder than it had ever been.

"No one will use their powers unless important, alright." Nathan announced. "By this point, I'm going to decrease the temperature in our spots and we'll wait for whoever will show up. No tourists will be coming to any of our spots right now. The news should be broadcasting unprecedented amounts of snowing which would make it unsafe for anybody to be here. Including us. Now our powers will try to protect us as it had always done. We just have to wait now, guys."

-

"She's here." Ember calmly told everyone. "Rocco, she's with you."

"They're a girl?"

"Nick, bring us to Rocco now."

"On it."

"Faith..." Grace's voice faded into the wind, her eyes shaking as she felt the presence with them.

"Where is she?" Rocco asked.

"Everyone stop moving!" Grace yelled.

"What? Why?" James asked as he stopped moving, along with everyone else.

Nathan walked closer to Grace, leaning into her ear.

"She's here, isn't she?" He whispered.

She nodded, staring at Nathan's eyes and all he was fear and he didn't know what to do. "I don't want to go." Her voice shook as she spoke.

"Graceee." A sinister voice was carried by the wind. Everybody feeling a chill creep up their spine at the sound of the voice.

In only seconds, a figure emerged from the snow storm.

The figure was almost as tall as Alex with hair as black as ebony, striking red eyes in the white setting and complexion as dark as Grace's. What didn't make sense though was that she was wearing revealing skin tight clothes that weren't fit for the weather and she was dirty all over except for her silky straight black hair, and all of that perfectly matched the sinister smile on her face.

Ember froze in her spot, her whole body shaking at the familiar face. 

The others were also frozen in their spots, as if her presence alone was able to paralyze them.

"Faith..."

"Why hello, Sister."