Nature's Comeback

7- The Water boy & the Fire Girl

Neer and Ahana sat on the grass, looking at the temporary waterfall, created by Neer, as they waited for the local villager to complete working on their bike. The bike was a piece of shit but it was something they had worked hard to buy. Even if the bike kept on giving up on them at random times; they couldn't give up on that hard earned second hand bike.

"Stop this waterfall now. Don't use up all your energy on kindness. We still need it to find another place," Ahana advised with a scowl on her face.

"It's fine. Anyways it doesn't take too much energy to create water. At least not as much as it needs to make it disappear," Neer replied as he rested his head on Ahana's shoulder.

"True," Ahana agreed, before sighing at their fate. She abruptly stood up, making Neer shout in pain, because of the sudden jerk in his neck.

"Seriously, what is the use of giving us power, if their battery keeps on getting low? If a power is provided, then at least make it limitless," Ahana ranted as she paced to and fro in frustration.

More than the fear of getting exposed, they had been leaving their hideouts because of their need for the energy source. It was getting more and more tiring as years passed by.

Neer clutched his side of the neck, which was still hurting, before looking up at his pacing twin.

"To be honest, I don't think it's all on powers. You know even before we got powers, we kept getting sick every now and then," Neer spoke while patting the grass beside him, urging her to come and sit.

Ahana huffed but did what he asked. As soon as she sat, Neer continued, "Remember, the doctor even joked that the immunity of both of us combined summed up to the immunity of an average human being."

"Yeah, I do," Ahana sighed, before getting angry again, "I have heard of twins who share some organs, but who the hell shares immunity levels."

"See the brighter side. At least you get to share it with me and not someone you hate," Neer said cheekily.

"Someone I hate," Ahana pondered, "That would be the entire world," she said chuckling.

"How can you not like anyone?" He asked while laughing.

"Because they aren't you," Ahana shrugged, while a small sweet smile played on both of their lips.

Soon their bike was repaired, and they started their journey.

"Weren't you trying to reach the peak of the mountain?" Neer asked, while sitting behind Ahana who was now going through the roads, they had climbed up.

"Nah! We need to find another place. There's no water here," Ahana answered as she rode the bike at full speed.

Upon reaching the base of the mountain, they saw everyone running around in a frenzy with so much luggage. Few buses and tempos had also gathered.

Ahana stopped the bike and Neer got down. Stopping a man, he asked what was going on.

"Many people came running from that research building. Their artificial reservoir has bursted. Plus there is live current flowing in that water. In no time, that water will come flowing towards us. So, we all are evacuating the villages. You too leave this area fast." patting Neer's arm, that man got on the bus.

"How much water would an artificial reservoir contain?" Ahana questioned out loud to no one in particular.

"Apparently too much to drown all these small villages in it," Neer answered.

Looking at her with puppy eyes, he requested, "That water will destroy everything. Shall we go and help?"

Ahana snorted, "You and your kindness."

"Should I take it as a yes?" Neer asked in a hopeful tone.

"What will you do? You can control water but what about electricity?" Ahana questioned back.

"If water is gone, then the current won't spread. Plus I think they weren't able to switch off the main current because of water too," Neer speculated.

"So if water is gone, the current will be taken care of in no time," Ahana completed Neer's explanation.

Looking at his pleading face, Ahana sighed and started the bike, while gesturing to him to get on it wordlessly.

"Yes!" Neer cheered happily, before sitting behind her.

Ahana started the bike and followed Neer's instructions who guided her through the roads where he felt the strongest essence of water.

Their bike came to an abrupt stop, causing Neer to clash on Ahana's back.

"Wha—" Neer stopped in mid-sentence when he noticed that not only that building contained human beings, it was also caught on fire.

"Shit!" He cursed.

"Shit indeed," came Ahana's response.

They had thought that everybody had already run out of this research building.

Neer shouted in shock when he saw Ahana diverting the bike away from the scene.

"What are you doing? We can't leave these people to die," Neer spoke in a desperate tone.

"Weren't you the one who was always scared of getting exposed? Helping them means digging our own grave," Ahana scowled.

"But...they will...they will die," Neer stuttered.

Ahana sighed looking at her twin. She knew that Neer would never forgive her or himself if they left people to die when they could have helped them. After all, Neer was the person who had jumped into the river just to save her, that too when he was just a ten year old and didn't know swimming.

Ten year old Ahana was waiting for her twin at their hideout, an unused barn of a fellow villager. She sniffed as some unusual smell reached her nose, but then shrugged it off thinking she was just imagining things.

It wasn't long before the barn had caught fire, with little Ahana trapped inside.

Ahana screamed for help, but unfortunately no one was nearby at that moment. Neer who was on his way to meet Ahana saw the dreaded scene.

Promising to come back, he ran towards his home. Not finding any elder, Neer ran towards the bathroom to fill up the buckets. Unfortunately, the taps didn't work. There wasn't any drop of water in the house either.

It was then he remembered about the shortage of water and the reason why there wasn't anyone in their village. They all had gone to the river that was three hours away to get some water. There was a river in their village as well, but unfortunately it was not allowed to go there as the river was known to pull everything inside.

Not having any option, and only having the mind to save his sister, Neer ran towards that hazardous river with buckets. True to its nature, the river pulled him in.

Neer was drowning and Ahana was caught in fire. After lots of screaming and gasping, they both gave up, thinking it was their end.

However, fate had something else in their mind. Instead of their death, it was the birth of their powers.

Neer became the water boy and Ahana, the fire girl.

Shrugging off the memories of the past, Ahana looked at her kind brother.

"It's a given that we will be exposed once we go to help them. What will we do then?" She asked, wanting to know if Neer had a back up plan.

"We can always run away," Neer answered in a sheepish tone.

Ahana chuckled, but nodded, making Neer sigh in relief.

"We can always run away," She repeated his words, before they ran off towards their doom.