As Long As I Have You // A. Ghale

Preservation

"I can't tell you what Jalendu means to Kyrat, what it meant to Mohan. He's proud of you, you know that? We're taking the temple, we're cleansing Bhadra,  and we're relighting the people with the power of Kyra." Sabal informs Ajay, looking him in the eyes. When Sabal spoke, he didn't waste his breath on unimportant things. He was focused on one thing and one thing only.

"I'm going to secure the temple." Ajay tells Sabal ands walks out of the hut. I follow suit and began to plan out the entrance to the temple, without getting caught. This was going to be a challenge, but I trusted Ajay to make the right calls. I knew that he'd be sure of himself when it came to choices.

"It's Sabal, Yuma and Pagan have been robbing Kyrat for years of our relics of Jalendu. I don't want the army taking away anything that belongs to our people. Take care of their boats before you attack. Make sure none of them can escape." Sabal radios us, I could see soldiers panning the surrounding lake with binoculars.

Ajay and I head to the temple, loaded weapons laying under ourselves. Ajay drove the boat halfway across. the lake and then we decided to bail and swim the rest of the way, as to not be seen by the forces. We didn't need any reinforcements to withhold us from getting the temple.

We successfully defuse all bombs on the premises and have a plan to get the soldiers out if the temple...an ambush. Theoretically, the plan was great, perfect almost.

"Take this you fuckers!" I screamed and threw my fists into the air, picking up my SMG and wiping out soldiers with a single bullet each. I could hear Ajay laugh at me from behind, clearly amused by my tactics. But, they work, so what can I say?

After a few rounds of soldiers, and a few moments of pure silence, we decide that the reinforcements have came to an end. I can't say I was happy, shooting the bad guys with a badass gun was actually kind of fun. It'd be a cool story to tell Hurk next time I see him.

"Sabal, it's done. We have the temple." Ajay radios Sabal, and we gather our things and head back to the shoreline. We were tired to say the least, the sun was going down and the water had cooled down.

"Good work, praise Kyra! I thought for sure that Amita would get there first, she can't stand between the gods and our people." Sabal radios in, and I thought about what he had said. Amita and Sabal are constantly at each others throats. I never could understand why they cant work together for the greater good, but some people aren't made to work with other. Amita likes things her way, or the highway. Sabal wants things to repeat, like a record on repeat. I could see the angles from both sides.

"We will have you ordained, I swear it. You will become Tarun Matara. God be praised, we are almost free now." We hear Sabal talking to Bhadra just outside the temple, and we turned. around before boarding our boat.

"Brother, I just wanted to thank you. And thank you too, Delilah. This moment, right here, you will never forget. I promise you, nobody will forget the son of Mohan when this is finally over. You father would be proud." Sabal tells Ajay, looking at him in a fatherly way.

I had always felt bad for Ajay, he never got the chance to have a father in his life. His own father was murdered by his mother. I couldn't imagine what must be going through Ajay's mind.

"Ajay, you can talk to me about things. You can, and I will always listen." He looks over air me in the boat, and turns the engine off. We sit there for a minute, just sitting atop the water and feeling the slow waves hit the sides of the boat. I could see the moon reflect in Ajay's brown eyes, looking like a painting that should have been hung in a museum.

I lean in towards him, as if on instinct, Ajay pulls my head towards his and kisses my lips. Full of passion, his lips were warm, soft and had a gentle touch to them that made it even better.