Neer let out a huge sigh, before standing up and joining the other elements. Ahana, who had been comforting him until now, was confused by his sudden action, but stood up nonetheless.
"I am really sorry," Neer apologized in a hoarse voice to the other three members, "Because of me, you all are also caught in this mess."
"It's not your fault," Sameera said, looking at him with comforting eyes. "You loved, and loving is not a crime. Maybe one day we will find out the reason behind why all this happened; Why the person who was supposed to love you did this to you. Or maybe we would never receive the closure. But in any case, please never forget that you had no hand in whatever happened. You are not the culprit of this situation."
"Sameera aunty is right. Culprit is the one who is forcing my mom, Maanvi didi and our other loved ones to go against us. None of us are at fault," Avan said, patting Neer's palm in comfort as he couldn't reach up to pat his shoulder.
Ahana inhaled sharply, and instantly grabbed Neer's other arm, before he could break Avan's false hope in his sadness.
Neer gave Avan a sad smile, before nodding and ruffling his hair in response.
"We have to get out of here soon," Gyaan said suddenly, earning everyone's attention. "The empty alleyway might have been a safe place for us during the day, but there is no other dangerous place than this at night. Shady people will come lurking here soon."
"I understand where you are going with this," Neer said, eyeing Ahana, Sameera and Avan, who were at the most risk by staying in open at night, "but we can just ward them off by our powers."
Neer couldn't understand why Gyaan was worried. Their energies were more or less back and they all had powers. No one could even come near them, not when they were alert.
"No we can't," Gyaan answered, causing Sameera and Neer to furrow their eyebrows in confusion.
"We cannot use our powers from now on. Not before any public," Gyaan explained.
"Oh yeah!" Neer said in realization, "those people might let others know about our whereabouts later. Although, we can just leave the place after beating the shit out of them."
"No it's not about where we are. We can't let them know that we are still alive," Ahana said, confusing the other three even more.
"Didi, what do you mean?" Avan asked in a confused tone, while looking at others to see if they understood.
"Soon there will be the news of us being dead. The chapter of us being vicious villains will get closed," Gyaan informed, raising more questions instead of quenching their curiosity.
"That's where we went," Ahana spoke up, answering Neer's questions that she was stalling till now, "to plant the evidence of our death."
"Damn!"
Neer was shocked, proud, and guilty all at once. He stupidly doubted Gyaan's intentions with Ahana and also troubled Ahana because of it.
"Then...then my parents and Ayaan would also think I am dead," Avan whispered to himself.
"For now. But once everything calms down and everyone else forgets about our existence we will come back," Ahana said, kneeling in front of Avan to assure him as much as she could. However, I also told him the reality, "It might take some time though."
Avan wiped off the tears that had gathered in his eyes, before nodding in understanding. They had no choice but to go into hiding. Not only to save themselves, but also to save his parents who were being controlled by some bad person to say wrong things about elements.
"Do you think the bad person would leave my parents and other researchers alone if he/she thinks we are dead?" Avan asked innocently.
Gyaan noticed Ahana was too shocked by the question, so he answered instead, "Of course. And for that we need to be really cautious. The truth about us shouldn't come out, no matter what happens."
Avan understood the seriousness and promised to be careful, before running back to his Sameera aunty.
"Ahana wait," Gyaan called out, when he saw her standing up to leave.
Ahana stopped, but didn't turn her face.
"Why are you avoiding me?" He asked.
"I am not," Ahana answered in a plain tone, before going to move away.
"Seriously? You think I wouldn't notice you flinching away when I knelt beside you to speak with Avan. Or the times where you helped me with the explanations without looking at my face for even once."
"You are just imagining things," she muttered, before trying to walk away again, only to be pulled back.
"Face me, Dammit!" Gyaan said, pulling her with such a force that her body turned and her hands landed on his chest.
Ahana moved back instantly. Gyaan was expecting a glare from her, but all he got was a silent girl staring at the ground.
"I am sorry, okay. I shouldn't have spoken like that about Neer, that too at the time when he was unconscious, and you were scared out of your mind for him."
"Why are you sorry? Why apologize when you were right all along?" Ahana muttered, still looking at the ground, kicking the soil with her foot.
"I wasn't. Well I was...but only for the first half. While you were right for the second half. So we should just tie it off, right? It was half-half."
"Half-half?" Ahana questioned with a frown on her face, making Gyaan sigh in relief. Not for the frown, but for finally looking at him.
"Well?" Ahana asked, waving her palm in front of his face, to bring him out of his thoughts.
"Where was I?" Gyaan asked in confusion, but spoke up soon, before Ahana could kill him with her looks, "You see I was right about the fact that the video wasn't tampered. While you were correct that Neer wouldn't harm somebody no matter the circumstances."
"Oh that way," Ahana muttered, finally understanding his weird terminology.
"Yes, that way. So now if everything is clear, can we just let this go and talk normally?" Gyaan asked in a hopeful tone.
Ahana snorted, before asking, "When have we ever talked normally?"
Gyaan laughed, "Thinking about it now, that's true."
Setting off the issue with Gyaan, Ahana bid him bye and they both went different ways. Gyaan went to Sameera who was speaking with Avan, to try and think of a solution for the future, while Ahana walked towards her twin, who was sitting alone, staring quietly at the stars.
She sat down beside him, and her head on his shoulder, before watching the sky as well.
Neer spoke after a few minutes of star gazing. His quiet and sad voice covered the silence of the night.
"Why did we agree to help the researchers two years ago? Neither we would have joined them, nor would I have met Maanvi along the way.
"The trust, the love, the bond, the friendship; they all gave us so much in these two years only to snatch it back so ruthlessly.
"We were alone before, and we are alone now. Then why does it feel lonelier than before?
"We had somehow patched the wounds our parents had given us. But now it feels that the heart is broken beyond repair. The heart has now turned into multiple broken pieces that can't be glued together. We were already broken, but now it feels that we are Shattered!"
A few tears fell from Ahana's eyes. She had been trying to stay strong for so long, but Neer's words brought up everything she was trying to hide.
"We should have never joined the team. Life was best when it was just us two against the world. We were better off on our own," Neer said, plucking out the grass blades.
"Don't say that. Our heart must have broken down, but we can still live with those shattered pieces. Anyways whatever we have lost now was never ours two years ago," Ahana said, making Neer look at her.
Both of their eyes were filled with tears, but somehow Ahana's eyes still had the sparkle.
"What are you saying?" Neer asked, desperately wanting to know what was the thing that was making the always pessimistic Ahana still feel positive about life.
"Think about it Neer, these friendships, love, a family like bond; did we have all these two years ago? Nope. So if we compare it to our life before, we haven't really lost anything," Ahana said, saying the same words Neer had uttered, but with a completely different meaning.
"No, let's consider those two years as a no profit no loss kind of thing. But..."
"But?" Neer asked when he saw Ahana suddenly looking at him softly.
"But we received some beautiful gems along that journey," she said, looking at Gyaan, Sameera and Avan who were patiently waiting for the twins to join them.
"We aren't alone, Neer. This time we have a whole family with us. A family of people who are just like us."