Nature's Comeback

47- A strong facade

Ahana and Neer were running towards Gyaan's village when Ahana suddenly skidded to a stop.

"Not there, in our village," Ahana shouted, making Neer stop as well.

"Wha...how?" Along with being confused, Neer was also scared. Going back and saving Avan was one thing but going back towards their village...it wasn't something he could digest.

Ahana ran her hand through her hair in frustration, "The essence of fire is strong there."

"But why would they go there? It makes no sense," Neer complained.

They stood between the two roads, one that took them to their past and another where they had left the researchers.

"AVAN."

The scream broke them out of their stupor. Leaving all their thoughts behind, they ran towards the direction of scream and found a barely conscious Avan in Payal's arm.

"Avan," Ahana whispered in fright, seeing his condition from afar.

"Ahana, our house," Neer pointed towards their house that had turned blackish after being burned.

Didi, help, fire. Ahana finally understood the meaning of these broken words. Avan wasn't in danger. It was their home, he had been trying to protect.

"Neer, go and check the condition of the house and its residents," Ahana refrained from calling them parents, "I will come after checking up on Avan."

Neer wanted to protest as the fire was her territory but then he saw Ahana's face, and wordlessly followed her order.

☯☯☯☯☯

"Help, Ahana Didi, help," Avan muttered in a subconscious state.

Payal cried while holding Avan dearly.

"Gosh! He is continuously muttering her name. If only we could contact her," Sarah said with a sigh. The house and Avan, both would be fine if the twins hadn't left.

"Ahana Didi, your parents—" Avan tried to send the message again. Although he wasn't in stable condition, he still wanted to try.

Ahana's sudden presence shocked everyone else. She came out of nowhere and sat close to Payal.

"Avan, Avan stop. I am here."

"I got your message Avan. You did it."

Ahana comforted him continuously. While others were confused about how Ahana was here and what message she was talking about, they remained quiet. There would be a lot of time later to get the answers.

"I did it," Avan whispered with a wobbly smile before completely losing consciousness.

Payal and Sameera screamed in panic but Gyaan reassured her that he was just asleep. "Avan will be okay after getting back his energy. He just overdid himself, he is okay otherwise."

Ahana sighed in relief upon hearing Gyaan's reassurance. Although she didn't scream like Payal and Sameera, her heart had stopped for a second upon seeing his state.

"How...how did you find us?" Sarika asked Ahana after everyone had calmed down a little.

"Don't ask me how, but Avan called me. I received a message of him calling us for help and we just ran."

"Oh shit! Your parents," Gyaan exclaimed, remembering that they had to save them too.

"Let's go," Ahana muttered in a hard tone, without any emotions. Her eyes softened when she turned back and looked at Avan, "Kiddo be safe. I owe you a large debt that I need to repay."

On the way, Gyaan informed her about the current position of the house and her parents.

"I will take care of the fire but for strength, I will need help."

Hearing her, Gyaan immediately called Tej and Aakash.

"Stay back," Ahana warned, "the shelf may fall on this side. So don't enter until I tell you to."

"Careful, the knob is hot," Aakash shouted, caressing his burned palm.

Ahana rolled her eyes, royally ignoring his shouts and opened the door with ease.

"How?" Aakash's mouth was hung open and the same was the condition of the people who were on the other side.

"Kick the shelf with your legs. Make sure your skin doesn't touch it. Even if I have made the fire disappear, the shelf is still hot," Ahana instructed as the three guys went to remove the shelf and open the entrance.

In the trance of watching water flow from the buckets, no one had seen Neer standing behind them. Reyansh looked back and sure enough there he was.

Neer stopped the water flow, knowing that Ahana could take over and rounded the house to enter it from the entrance.

"Kids go back to your parents. Tej, take them out safely," Gyaan guided, before moving towards the stunned lady.

"Aha...Ahana," she pointed towards the girl who snapped her fingers and everything that had been on fire, stopped burning.

"No. A monster," Ahana deadpanned.

Her mother held her palms near her mouth and cried upon looking at her daughter.

"Aunty," Dhara rushed towards her, when the lady's legs gave out.

Dhara squatted down on the floor and hugged her aunt as she weeped. "My...daughter," she cried more, pointing towards the rigid Ahana.

"Gyaan, we don't have time. The house will collapse soon, pick them up and come out. There's no need to die for strangers," Neer spat out, while standing at the room's door.

"Neer," Gyaan said in a scolding tone.

Hearing his name, the lady's eyes moved towards her son who immediately turned his face away.

"My children," she cried as Gyaan came to help her up.

"No, not your children. Monsters!! Only Monsters, whom you threw out of your life," Neer thundered.

No one who had met Neer before could believe that the sweet, calm boy could look so dangerous.

"Dhara," her aunt cried some more in anguish.

Dhara wanted to comfort her but she needed to get them to safety first.

She held her aunt's shoulder and coaxed her gently to get up and walk out of the house.

"They are here. We will talk to them after getting out of this house. Come."

Tej, Aakash and Gyaan picked up the twin's father.

"He is okay, just unconscious," Gyaan informed the twins.

"We didn't ask," Ahana muttered with a roll of her eyes.

"Your eyes did," Gyaan answered simply, causing Ahana to huff.

The twins silently walked behind, stealing glances at their parents.

Twins were so angry that they didn't want to speak with their parents. They hated their parents so much that seeing their faces brought them agony. Twins despised their parents.

Well, all these were the things they told themselves everyday. It was necessary to curse their parents for them to live through their days. If they didn't hate them, it would be difficult to even breathe for a single day.

In reality, they missed them. Twins longed for the comfort of their parents. The truth was that the twins didn't hate their parents, they hated themselves for still loving them. Despite everything that had happened, the twins still cared about their parents.