•Chapter-15• Aim
Khushi was feeling happy. Well, happier than the last few weeks. A free emotion of excitement and glee was wrapped around her. She never imagined history lessons to be this fun. But maybe it was Saesha magic or maybe it was just her own interest in it making it all seem so interesting.
Rulers, Millennium old rulers, who thought the scientist's discoveries were right. But not in a way they thought when all the burning lava cooled down, water came to earth, then atmosphere, the first form of life came from inorganic components. Single-cell organisms were the first form of life and everything else came from them. The cycle of evolution and what scientists might have done and given to get a closer look at everything. It took millennium for the earth to become suitable for Homo sapiens also known as humans.
And the people she is living with right now belong from clans older than the earth itself. Heck, she belongs to a clan older than the earth itself. It feels odd. She is the last royal of the Samiran Clan. The last air controller with Royal blood flowing through her veins. It seems odd. She is royalty. Even though she doesn't feel like one.
But it again brings her to the history conserved in this house. Books on about everything. The joy of first life on earth to bloody wars. Everything.
The curse of remembering stayed with them.
And on a personal note, she felt the gods were harsh. The rulers didnt deserve that much punishment. Hell, her clan's crown prince was good and even Siddhant's best friend and supporter. He deserved better. Well, maybe that's why she is still a Royal. Even when she is born out of mate bond, the power flowing through her is so pure, so powerful, so raw.
Didn't Saesha tell her that from all the things that differentiate the Royals from commoners? The most powerful gift was that the royals could change into any being of their kingdoms while the commoners could into only one.
As the royal of Air clan what she can change into? Can she become the large sparkly butterfly-like thing Saesha showed her in the book? She'll love to be a butterfly or maybe one of those air dragons thing. Prithvi — the eagle, didn't look quite pleased with her thoughts.
Maybe she should ask Arjun bhaiya since he is older than her and calling him just Arjun feels wrong. So, maybe she could ask him about this and his affinity is towards air too. So, in which animals, birds, species he can shift?
Knock. Knock. Knock.
"Come in, " Khushi said eyeing the clock warily. It was already past ten in the night.
"Hey, You weren't sleeping, right?" The sheepish question of L...Riya, Khushi corrected in her mind made her beam. It has been ages since she had any conversation with just Riya. She was always busy.
"No, absolutely, not"
Khushi shrugged beckoning Riya to come and sit with her.
"So, how was your day? " Riya asked her sitting on the bed.
"Good. Saesha told me some of the basic histories of the clans. The Royals powers and the mate bond. Isn't it amazing?" Khushi asked Riya beaming with glee.
To her, the mate bond was the most awesome thing around. The first time the mates see each other. They get to know everything about each other. Everything that happened to them. Their feelings about everything. There is nothing secret between two mates. They can block the bond but the day the bond is renewed. They'll know everything and the mates kinda know when their bond is blocked or muted. No secrets whatsoever. She liked this notion. No secrets mean no misunderstandings, right.
"It's not as awesome as you think it is, " Riya let out not meeting Khushi's eyes. The whole business wasn't as wonderful as Khushi thought, Riya knew that. Well, with her mate's first thought in her mind being
"No, it can't be. I can't love her, "
Riya knew the dark side of the bonds quite well. The difference between choice and no, choice.
"Why?" Khushi's confused frown gave away how bewildered she was feeling with Riya's declaration.
"Nothing, leave it, " Riya shrugged the topic off. Khushi won't ever have to face the dark side. And lingering on this topic will do no one any good. The girl has faced a lot already. No need to burden her with the bad in good concept.
"But" Khushi started but let go. On one hand, she wanted to know what Riya meant, on the other hand, she doesn't want to probe the girl on a topic she clearly didn't want to elaborate on. After all, none of them had probed her to let it all out.
"So, how was your day?" Kyushu asked instead.
"Fine, hectic as always" Riya shrugged. They were going after an organ trafficking racket and then there were other cases too. So, it was mixed chaos. They never have the luxury to handle just one case at a time. They are just loaded with cases after cases. Few they solve, few remained unsolved forever.
Again, not a topic she wants to discuss with Khushi.
"I have something for you, " Riya informed Khushi with a small smile playing on her lips.
"Really, " Khushi blurted surprised. Her eyes holding an equal amount of confusion and curiosity.
"Hmmm, " Riya just hummed handling the album to her.
Khushi threw her a questioning look. Not knowing, how this album counted to her?
"Open it, " Riya ushered and Khushi did.
Her fingers froze on the first page of the album.
It had a picture of a woman in uniform. A familiar woman. Khushi didn't know when her eyes brimmed with emotions. The pic turned blurry but she couldn't tear her eyes away from it.
It was her mom after all. Her mom in an avatar she hadn't ever seen her. Heck, she had only seen one pic of her mom and had it memorized to the tiniest details. Extremely carefully she turned the pages of the album. She didn't want to let even a little harm come to the album.
There was her mum with three men laughing. They were in a restaurant. A get together maybe. She will never know the stories behind these pictures.
There were many pics of her mom in the album. All of them with her friends. Friends she'll never know but her favorite was her mom dancing. She seemed happy. She seemed free. She seemed so beautiful, so kind, so good, and Khushi didn't know her at all.
She didn't know anything about her mom.
"Thank you, " Khushi croaked softly not tearing her eyes away from her laughing mom. Her own mom in a mystery for her.
"Mention not, her friends were more than happy to provide the pics to me, " Riya shrugged noticing Khushi's eyes stuck on the IPS Batch photo. The Batch of 1975.
"Her friends?" Khushi questioned startled.
"Yes, her batchmates. Some college friends and all, "
"Oh!!" Khushi mumbled, of course, her mom went to college. She was an IPS officer after all. Not at all like her. Never thought about studies. How much she had disappointed her mother already? Her mom was the stellar example of an empowered self-sufficient woman and what her daughter is?
A dependant, aimless, friendless, educationless, careerless, crybaby. What a stellar CV?
"What...what did she study?" Khushi felt highly ashamed asking this to Riya. What kind of daughter didn't know her own mother's education qualification?
"As far as I'm aware she did Ph.D. in criminal psychology, " Riya answered honestly.
"Oh, " Khushi mumbled almost dejectedly. Yes, her mom will be definitely disappointed with her.
"And I'm sorry, I can't still find anything on your father. It's like everyone who knew about your parents are dead, " Riya told Khushi remorsefully.
Khushi just nodded. Maybe her father is ashamed of what she became. Maybe it's better this way. She doesn't think she can handle the disappointment in his eyes.
Silence enveloped them again.
Khushi continued staring at her mom's pic.
Riya looked between Khushi and Prithvi deciding how to begin. She decided to be direct.
"Do you want Devyani Raizada and her minions punished for what they did to you?" Riya asked Khushi seriously.
Khushi felt as if someone had dropped a thunderbolt on her. For the last few days, she tried pretending everything was normal. Nothing happened with her. Everything was fine yet it wasn't.
She is just pretending it hadn't happened. But it had.
It had.
And she was helpless.
She just nodded her head in positive.
"How?" Riya asked Khushi. She was pushing she knew. But she had too.
"F.I.R, " Khushi mumbled throwing Riya an accusing glare. Riya was the cop right. She knew the procedures better than her then why was she asking such silly questions?
"What if I said this isn't the right way?" Riya said flatly.
"Then what do you want me to do blast them off the planet but there's a tiny miscalculation in the whole thing I can't use my powers on bloody humans, "
Khushi hated the way she reacted. Hated the way she spoke humans. It felt like she isn't one of them. It's like she had accepted she isn't a human. She hated the way she snapped at Riya but she couldn't help it. She is feeling angry, frustrated, and hurt.
Why is Riya bringing them up?
She doesn't want to talk about them.
She doesn't want to think about them.
They make her angry.
They make something boil in her.
They enhance her blood lust.
Riya stared right into her eyes. Her eyes turning a deep violet and suddenly Khushi was feeling calm again. There was anger but not the blood lust.
"What I meant to say is it's not the right way, Khushi. In that way, you could get just Shyam punished and the chance for that is also less than 20 percent. I know, you're not the first girl they tormented neither the first that survived. There have been many but justice never had been done. Reports changed, witness disappeared, even the sperm samples disappeared or changed. Someone else got framed, someone else got jailed. Never the real culprits. They'll turn the whole case upside down. Make you the culprit, the villain and even if we succeeded only Shyam and those men will be jailed. We don't have any proofs proving that Bela baby is Devyani Raizada. She'll know you're alive and we will lose our advantage. She will never let her secret out. She has been in this business before you were even born, " Riya said in a business-like manner. She didn't sound affected by Khushi's outburst. It was just another case for her. Another from the list of gruesome cases the public isn't informed about.
"I'm...I'm sorry, " Khushi mumbled feeling ashamed of her outburst. Riya is looking after her. Riya is talking all this thoroughly for Khushi's own benefit. Riya is protecting her.
"It's fine, I know it's hard. Some want justice. Some want to forget it ever happened. They don't fight. They don't report it. They hide it, " Riya shrugged truly unaffected by this. She'll never understand why someone doesn't want justice? But she guesses all humans have different coping mechanisms, a different attitude towards everything.
"What should I do then?" Khushi asked Riya. She knew just one thing she can't let them go unpunished. They need to be punished for what they did to her. Her mom.
"I have an idea but it won't be easy but it could help, " Riya said her eyes locked on Khushi's. It was risky.
"I'll do it, " Khushi agreed not even asking what it was? She'll do anything that will have those devils punished.
"Khushi listen to me first. It won't be easy. Bela baby has been in this business for years. She is deep waters fish, " Riya cautioned.
"Well, we will dry the whole water then, " Khushi shrugged. The blood lust was back. She wants them dead. She is certain about that.
"Let's avoid the casualties of crossfire bit, " Riya smiled her eyes a deep shade of violet.
"As you say, " Khushi admitted remembering the vivid dream when she first gained consciousness. The destruction her rage caused, the death her hurricanes caused and her soul screaming and questioning "was it necessary, "
Control the power. Don't let it control you.
Aren't all of them telling her the same?
But innocents always die in the crossfire.
"I think you should know about Devyani aka Bela baby before anything else, " Riya asserted.
Khushi nodded.
Devyani was 14 when she was sold into the quicksand of prostitution by her own father. And there she was quick to learn the art of looking after herself. The girls that protested, tried to escape were killed or tortured. So at a young age, Devyani understood to survive and live well, she needs to do what they asked her to do. She didn't try to escape. She became a docile doll who used her body as her greatest weapon and asset. There she met back then's the greatest gangster. The ruler of the underworld, Shaukeen. Shaukeen was bestowed with Devyani at first sight. He wanted to possess her for his own means. He bought her from the brothel. She had her first close-up with the world of crime in his mansion. Shaukeen was involved in about every illegal activity out there, drugs, human trafficking, assassination, smuggling, kidnapping. Shaukeen used Devyani in delivering things. Police didn't doubt polite high-class well-dressed ladies and Devyani was living a dream life. A better life.
She had incredible food, she could eat anything she wanted whenever she wanted. She had expensive dresses and jewelry. Life was perfect. What if she was with a man double her age? He loved her, gifted her exotic things. She has power and money. She didn't care about anything else. She survived. She is living well. She is breathing. Only this mattered to her with passing time Shaukeen got more and more impressed with Devyani and her cleverness. She was beautiful, clever, and helpful in his criminal activities.
But as fate had been, every ruler falls. Shaukeen got arrested. His men encountered. But Bella Baby's reign began. She became the first Queen of the underworld. Preserving and growing Shaukeen's empire and never getting caught. Shaukeen returned from prison. They had a love story. A beautiful criminal sort of love story but still a love story. The world burned in ashes. People cried and died. And they had their happily ever after.
They had three sons. The eldest a businessman, the middle a doctor, and the youngest next crime lord.
"Your mother burned down Bela's empire to shamble. She killed the crime lord and Bela killed her." Riya said and Khushi shuddered remembering how they killed her mother.
"You know people often mistake them as fools. Villains aren't they are clever too. Sometimes too clever for their own good. Devyani was too clever. She never let anyone suspect her. She was the ruler yet nothing contained her name. Even now, she made the world think Aryaman is her heir. He isn't. He is the scapegoat. The bone is thrown our way to lead us astray from the target. Her real heir, we don't know. Who is Sikander? We don't know. And I didn't even know she was Bela baby before you. She is shrewd, too shrewd. So, shrewd that we lose all our informers to her, I'm tired gathering of their dead bodies " Riya's tone clearly displayed the anger and pain she felt. She was there in that house yet unaware of the true culprit. Her assignment was a failure. Aryaman wasn't involved. Hell, he didn't know anything about that world. She was so close yet so far from her target.
"Why, why did she, traffic girls? Wasn't she forced into this too? Don't she know the pain then why? Why would she? And why doesn't anyone investigate the deaths?" Khushi asked Riya her head swirling with questions and anger. How many lives had been destroyed? For a single family's happiness. Why can't people learn to co-exist? Why is there so much greed around them?
"That's the thing about people who plunge into darkness. They change. Victims become both Villains and Heros. It's all about choices. Some decide to help others, make sure no one else suffered their faith. Others decide to be a part of that world and look after themselves. Devyani was one of them that place made her a survivor looking after her interests only. Her love is for her blood. She doesn't care if the world burns. After all, the world didn't save her, " Riya finished with a dark smirk and Khushi felt sick.
How can someone think like this? How can someone not ponder about the blood of innocence? How can someone sleep after snatching someone's life? Doesn't their soul scream in guilt and agony?
"No, they kill their own souls first. There's no guilt, no remorse, no loss then, " Riya said sadly. She couldn't sleep for days after her first encounter. It was for good yet she took a life and her consciousness just won't let her forget that.
"So, what are we going to do? How are we going to punish them? I want to destroy her whole empire, " Khushi said firmly. She will end what her mom started even if it's the last thing she did. She will end the whole empire of crime.
"And you'll, it's risky but you've advantages none of us had before. You know the queen, you are immune to drugs and your senses are better than all her lackeys combined, " Riya smirked in triumph.
"So, what I need to do?" Khushi asked Riya. She wasn't seeking revenge. She is fighting for justice and there's a difference.
"Well, you're going to learn first. Get your powers under your control, know how to use your surroundings to your advantage, and then we will place our course of action. Mission free Birds, " Riya smiled.
"Free birds?" Khushi asked confused. Well, she wanted it to be something like the endgame.
"Yes, there are about thousands of birds still captured. Our main motive will be rescuing them and knowing their location and then annihilation, " Riya said in a knowing way like she had thought over everything.
"Okay, I'll learn everything soon then, " Khushi promised.
She'll try to learn everything as fast as possible. She had a mission to accomplish and delays will cost lives. And she'll accomplish the mission her mother started. She'll end the whole empire of Bela baby.
"That's my girl, now sleep it's late. You will have lessons early in the morning, " Riya reminded Khushi.
Khushi nodded and wished Riya a good night.
"Good night, dear, " Riya wished softly leaving Khushi's room. She was certain. She did what she wanted too. She gave Khushi a reason. An aim.
An Aim to run after.
An Aim to get better for.
An Aim to be the protector she is meant to be.
~to be contined~
Heya, everyone.
What's up?
Sorry, this chapter took ages to come right. Tell me if I'm giving way too much science bits. I'll stop with that btw I think I didn't make it quite clear the story in the last part happened way before the earth was even formed. And so, those characters won't be mentioned much. It was just history to know about the origin of the clans.
The story will revolve around just Rawte's and Raizada's. And Raizada's will come in the scene again when the mission begins. This means when Khushi finally has control over her power. So, till then we won't learn about what happened in their family and how the months passed for them.
Now, the coming chapters will have these characters being repeated again and again.
Iresh - he is the eldest Rawte and sometimes will be addressed as Jyestha or Samrat also.
Dhriti- she is Iresh's wife.
Kanil- he is the second Rawte and will be called Nil, sometimes.
Saesha- she is Nil's wife and will be called Esha sometimes.
Arjun- the third rawte brother and will be called juno or Arju sometimes.
Riya- Arjun's wife and will be called Ri sometimes.
Siddhant - the fourth Rawte brother and will be called Sid.
Aashvi: wife of Sid and may be addressed as Aashi.
Arnav- the last rawte brother and will be addressed as Nav.
Khushi- well, she is Khushi. The main protagonist.
So, that's the people you'll be seeing and reading about in the upcoming chapters. And guys, please it's a request from my side. A genuine request, please don't jump chapters as all the chapters are linked with each other.
The questions of one chapter will be answered in the next and if you jump chapters then you won't get what's the talk is all about. For you'll miss some details. So, I can just request you to read all the chapters as they're interlinked.
And the Raizada's are in their home in Bhubaneswar while Khushi, as ordered by dadi, had been disposed of away from Bhubaneswar by Shyam and co in the middle of a jungle. Where she had been found by Sid, again, I'm using quite a bit of creative liberty in making an imaginary wildlife reserve and some islands surrounding it.
So, I hope I've cleared some doubts and confusion.
Thank you for reading this story.
I'll see you with the next update soon.
It'll be on the first day of training.
So ya we'll be dealing with the power stuff.
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