Huffing, sighing, groaning, grumbling; they all somehow reached the forest. However, their destination was still far away. They had to walk a lot more if they wanted to reach the part of the forest which was free of humans.

"How are we going to walk past them?" Sameera whispered, looking at the woodcutters.

She turned towards her group, who was kneeling and hiding behind a huge rock with her.

"They are everywhere," Ahana muttered, as she moved her head in all directions to see if any path was clear.

"We will have to wait until night to start our journey again," Gyaan said, before making himself comfortable. "It's going to take a long time."

"How are we going to walk in the forest at night? There's no streetlight, and I don't think the moonlight would be really helpful," Sameera questioned.

"You are forgetting my existence," Ahana said, winking at Sameera.

"Oh yeah! How can I forget we have a living source of light with us?" Sameera laughed softly.

"Can't we just create our rainbow in the sky and walk on it to reach the destination?" Neer asked.

Gyaan bit his lips, contemplating on Neer's idea, before shaking his head sadly. "It won't work here. It was possible to use the rainbow and go undetected before because of the layer caused by the city's pollution. There's little to no pollution here, so we might get found out."

Neer let out a huge exhale, before saying, "Let's just wait then."

They all waited carefully, moving stealthily from one rock to another when someone came near, until the dawn came and those men left.

"Looks like we don't have to wait until tonight," Ahana said, stretching her arms as she stood up.

Others too stood up, patting their clothes to remove the dust, before agreeing and resuming their journey.

They moved across the tall trees, and disheveled path, putting all their trust on Gyaan's ability to remember the way. If it was upto the elements, they would have been roaming in circles in the same area for the whole day. Everything just seemed one and the same.

"Are we there yet?" Ahana asked for the 100th time.

"I am really confused about who is the child in our group," Gyaan muttered, tired of her constant questions.

"Have we lost our way?" Ahana asked yet another question, she had been asking for the past two hours.

"No, we are on the right path. Just a little more, and we will reach," Gyaan answered.

"You said that ten minutes ago," Ahana said.

"Then stop asking me the same question every ten minutes," Gyaan shouted, throwing his hands in the air.

The other three chuckled at their bickering. Their banter provided them with a huge amount of entertainment, which made the journey a little easier.

Hearing the chuckles, Ahana smirked, before starting yet another bickering session with Gyaan. Gyaan took a huge breath, taking all the energy he could to fight once again with Ahana.

They all were hurt by the back-stabbing, but it was clear that Neer and Avan had taken on more emotional damage as their hearts were broken ruthlessly by the ones they loved. Sameera too was in the same condition since she returned after trying and making a call with Ravi. She might have said that the call didn't go through, but her eyes seemed to say otherwise.

Those three tried their best to seem normal, but whenever the conversations ceased, sadness took over the silence.

Ahana and Gyaan couldn't take away the pain of the other three, but they were trying their best to sprinkle some amount of happiness in the whole pot of sadness.

★★★★★

The air had gotten chilly, the trees were a little dispersed in the area, making a small clearing of sorts. Stars were shining brightly, a scene too rare for them as they had all but disappeared in the city.

"Are we there yet?" Ahana asked Gyaan again, readying herself for another bickering session, but the answer that came was, "We are."

"Really?" Ahana questioned, her eyes widened with shock. Their troublesome journey had finally come to an end.

"Yes, really. We are away from human civilization," Gyaan said, earning excited yells from everybody.

Avan and Neer jumped and whooped their arms in the air in excitement, while the women had huge smiles on their faces.

"However," Gyaan started, putting a halt in their celebration, "we still need to find a water source."

As expected everyone groaned in unison.

"Let's just rest for tonight. We can find that tomorrow," Neer suggested. "We haven't been really able to sleep since we got out of that laboratory."

"Well, we haven't been able to sleep," Gyaan said, pointing towards Sameera, Avan, and himself, and stressing on the we, "While you two had your beauty sleep in that alleyway," he taunted.

"Fainting doesn't equal to sleeping," Ahana deadpanned.

"Now now, stop fighting over nothing. We are in a safe place after so long, let's just enjoy it while it lasts," Sameera said, coming in between the two fighting kids.

"How will we sleep directly on the ground? Avan asked, looking at the ground, filled with leaves, sandy soil and pebbles.

"We will clear off the pebbles, but other than that we really do not have any equipment that would help us sleep comfortably," Gyaan replied honestly.

"We can spread the sarees as bedsheets," Sameera suggested.

"No, don't do that. We already don't have much clothes. Let's not waste them like this," Neer said.

The clothes they were wearing had already gone dirty. They needed to preserve the good ones as long as they could.

"Yes, don't worry. We can sleep as it is on the ground. I was just asking," Avan said, showing them his toothy smile. He didn't want others to feel sad or incapable because of him. "But can I use one of the clothing items as a blanket? It is too cold here," he asked hesitantly, rubbing his hands to create some warmth.

"Of course, you can," they all said in unison, smiling warmly at the child.

"Shall we start a bonfire? It might even ward off the animals and we will be able to sleep safely and warmly," Neer suggested.

"Let's do that," Gyaan agreed.

Gyaan and Neer ventured off to find the logs to burn, while the other three cleared out the patch of ground so they didn't get pricked by stones while sleeping.

The fire Ahana had created worked well to give them some warmth, but after a while it wasn't just enough. The air was too chilly. Moreover, they were sleeping directly on the cold ground.

Except Ahana, everyone was shivering badly.

"This won't work," Ahana said, sitting up.

"What...can...we...do?" Neer asked, as his teeth chattering in the cold.

"The same thing we did in the chilly nights in our childhood," Ahana answered, before gesturing to him to come closer with her palms.

He hugged her tightly, taking in the much needed warmth from the fire girl.

"Let's do it like this," Ahana started, clapping her hands to earn everyone's attention.

Looking at Avan, she said, "Kiddo, you sleep on top of me," before turning to others, "Sameera, sleep on my right side; Neer you on my left side. And Gyaan...,"

"Hmm?"

"...you can simply die in the cold."

Gyaan snorted after hearing her words.

"Hey!" Sameera swatted Ahana's shoulders, before scolding, "No joking about death."

"Sorry," Ahana apologized, but sticked out her tongue at Gyaan, letting him know she wasn't at all sorry.

"Jokes aside, what are we going to do about him? I can't really let him sleep beside my sister," Neer said. He was worried about Gyaan, but he was more worried about the fact that Gyaan was a guy. Letting him sleep near Ahana was a total no-no.

Gyaan saw that their shivering was almost gone and chattering of their teeth too stopped. If he needed to survive, Gyaan needed Ahana's help. But how could he take that help, without looking like a creep.

"Neer, stop being so overprotective," Ahana muttered, "Do you really think he can survive if he attempts something with me? I would burn his ass," she said with a smirk, before looking over Gyaan, "Come near."

"Are...you...sure?" He asked, although he wished to run towards her in an instant.

"Come," Ahana ordered, forwarding her hand to him.

He clasped her hand tightly, sighing in relief as some warmth passed through him.

"How are we all going to sleep? If I sleep on the left, Sameera on the right, and Avan on the top, then there's really no space for Gyaan.

"And it's not like we can cut you up and take one-one part of yours with us," Neer asked to Ahana, earning an annoyed glare from her at his pathetic joke.

"Please don't cut Didi," Avan exclaimed, his eyes widened in panic.

"No one is cutting me. Neer bhaiya has gone mad," Ahana comforted Avan, hugging him tightly, before glaring yet again at Neer.

Neer just raised his hands in surrender to avoid getting pummeled by everyone.

"I have an idea," Sameera muttered suddenly, earning everyone's attention.

"Remember the drawing of the sun, how its rays go upwards in different directions, let's sleep like that. Ahana will sleep vertically in the middle as if she is the sun. And we will sleep in different directions, with just one part of our body touching hers."

Liking the idea, they followed Sameera's advice.

Sameera slept horizontally, holding Ahana's one leg. And Neer did the same on the opposite side with her other leg. Avan placed his head on Ahana's stomach, turning it into a pillow, while the rest of his body lay on the ground.

Gyaan slept holding her palm, knowing it was the safest part of her body he could touch, without making it uncomfortable for her.

Ahana had thought she would feel like she was back in chains, as she was going to get immobile with every one if them holding her. But surprisingly, their touch felt comforting like a weighted blanket, lulling her into a peaceful sleep.