StarGaze

Celestials

"Are..you all right, Thomas?" Pinky asked.

"Ah yes, he is fine. And you are?" Raghav asked, getting up from the ground, trying to make himself feel easy in Thomas's body.

"Well, Thomas named me Pinky. You are clearly not him, so you can name me something else." Pinky said.

"Oh, no need for that bullshit. So, you must be the female that tree brought with him." Raghav said, laying out his hand.

"Yes, so you are the Namiha." The girl said, pleased as she shook hands with the being belonging to a higher species than her.

"Yeah, I prefer to be called Raghav. Anyway, so what do you want?" Raghav asked, finally taking a look around the table and figuring out why he was feeling so drunk.

"I want to be around you. The tree of life said that I had to look around the earth and confirm that they are not planning an attack on our planet. And to achieve that goal, I had to become your shadow." Pinky said.

"Uhh...yeah whatever. And what difference does it make if you confirm that Earth is not in hostile mode, at least not for now?" Raghav asked suspiciously.

"Well, on Mars, all conscious beings are synced into some collective consciousnesses. We call them the tree of lives. There are five such trees on the whole planet, with four covering a quarter of the population each and the last one is the biggest of them all. He could be considered as the headquarters, but more like a backup if you ask me." Pinky said quickly.

"And I guess the one behind Thomas's office wall is the fifth one?" Raghav asked.

"Yes, good guess. And if all goes according to plan, we will go back to our planet and sync my memories with everyone else, changing their perception of Earth and forcing them to take a more...gentle...approach towards humanity." Pinky said.

"Just hold on a second, will ya?" Raghav said, feeling a buzz in the back of Thomas's thick skull.

"Well, you finished your first phase of hell too quickly, Tom. Let's see, you have already met Veda, so let's turn the pages to something romantic, shall we?" Raghav said mischievously.

“Tell me what the f**k is going on?” Thomas said after reaching Amanda’s safe house.

“Just sit down and calm yourself. Then I’ll tell you everything.” Amanda said, taken aback by Thomas’ behavior.

“I’m calm. I’m always calm. I need to know or I’m leaving.” Thomas said, frowning.

“Go then. What’s stopping you? And do tell me, where do you plan to go?” Amanda fired back.

She expected that he would cool down on hearing this and she’ll be in charge. But Thomas was smart. After all, he had more experience than any person alive.

“That’s none of your business. I would rather be among strangers than with someone who lied to me. Don’t follow me!” Thomas said and walked out of the flat towards the apartment lift.

Amanda stood there for some time. All of a sudden, she realized something and walked up to the lift. The door was almost closed and Thomas was looking down at the floor. Amanda blocked the closing door with her hand and stood in front of him. Thomas didn’t say anything, he just looked into her eyes. He wanted to yell and curse. But her eyes incapacitated him. The deepness of those brown eyes was drowning him. Then, slowly the distance vanished and the dim light and the dead silence witnessed their first kiss. It was pure, with no selfishness or lies. It was one of nature’s best gifts to mankind- impulse.

The drive of the moment made Thomas forget everything; his duty, his plans, his hate, the lies she told him, everything. For the first time in decades, he just wanted to live in the moment.

“Stay,” Amanda said after they finally separated after a few seconds. Thomas didn’t argue.

After ten minutes, Thomas was sitting on the couch, cursing himself. He knew he couldn’t love anyone, not because he was not capable, but because of the reason that even a slight affection to anyone from him either brought them death or heartbreak when he left. Then why couldn’t he tell this to Amanda? But of course, she already knows it. Still, she is willing to take the risk. Then again, she’s only a kid whereas he is far mature. He must understand.

But he can’t. One look at Amanda’s face, only one look, and he forget all of his logic. Finally, he decided to leave it up to fate. If she’s willing to set her life on fire for him, who is he to stop her?

He was thinking about this when Amanda arrived with a cup of coffee for him. She was happy as if it was nothing and she used to do it regularly. Thomas was a little hurt.

“So the man in the overcoat, huh?” Amanda asked.

Thomas couldn’t react at once.

“Wh…ah yes. Th…the man in the overcoat, who is he?” Thomas asked, trying to get back into character.

“Look. What I’m about to tell you is extremely confidential. I’m only telling you this because I think you and we share a common cause.” Amanda said, looking straight into Thomas’ soul through his eyes. This made him a little uncomfortable.

“Who do you mean by us?” Thomas asked. He was aware of what she was talking about, but still, he wanted her to confirm it.

“The Iron Hand of Redland City. It is a league of few chosen people who were wronged by the Chakra in one way or another. We are the few of the many oppressed who decided to break the Chakra and thus ending the cycle of power in this city. The man in the overcoat is Veda, our bravest and best warrior. His face was burnt as a child when he accidentally shattered the glass of Madhav’s house while playing cricket. When he was only 15, his father committed suicide because he couldn’t pay Chakra’s debt, and his men used to beat him on the road in front of his neighbors. His mother was a heart patient, and she suffered from a stroke as soon as she heard about her husband’s death. That day, he swore that he would train himself hard enough so that he can be the reason for the breaking of the Chakra one day. When I told him that you killed Chandra a few days ago, he developed a huge respect for you and that’s the reason he saved you that day at Madhav’s weed fiasco.” Amanda explained.

“I see. So I’m an inspiration, huh?” Thomas smiled.

“This is not a joke. Have you seen what it’s like out there? There are numerous murders each day, but no police to report to; several kidnappings, but no courts to stop them. This is NOT a joke.” Amanda hissed.

“Yeah, whatever. I’m here to do my job, I don’t give a rat’s ass about this city.” Thomas said carelessly and sipped his coffee.

“f**k you, Thomas White. I thought of all people, you would understand.” Amanda said sarcastically, hoping to hurt Thomas’ ego.

“And why did you think such a radical thought? If I may ask.” Thomas asked, smiling.

“Because you have seen a lot of suffering through your years,” Amanda said, looking away.

“Yeah, well the thing you should know honey is that repeated show of violence does not make you sympathetic, it makes you tolerant. I’m not sick of injustice or violence, I’m used to it.” Thomas said.

“Oh, and you think that’s a good thing?” Amanda taunted.

“It’s a thing. I never said it was a good thing.” Thomas said plainly.

“So you'll not help us? Is that it?” Amanda asked.

“I’ll do my job. If it helps you, I have no problem. But I’ll not step out of my path to do anything for your ‘cause’.” Thomas said while finishing his coffee.

“That’s very mean and selfi…” Amanda was saying when a voice interrupted her.

“That’ll work.” A man said from behind Thomas.

Thomas turned around in amazement and witnessed the seven-foot-tall giant come out of the shadows. The same dusty overcoat and hat, scarf on the face, and carrying a pistol in his right hand. Thomas looked at him for a second and then took his original position.

“Come on, make yourself at home,” Thomas said casually. He was feeling a good vibe after decades and he wanted to soak it all inside him.

“This IS his home,” Amanda said.

Thomas ignored her and continued sipping his coffee. Veda was a little hurt by Thomas’ ignorance towards him. After all, he had spent hours to impress Thomas by his grand entry. Anyway, he sat on the sofa, in front of Thomas. Thomas was looking at the ceiling.

“Nice revolver you got there. R8 platinum edition, right?” Thomas said, still staring at the ceiling.

“Yes. I got it from a drug dealer recently.” Veda said.

“Is he alive now?” Thomas asked. A smile broke out on his face.

“What do you think?” Veda smiled back.

“I think you’re clever with words, which means you're not stupid, which means I can’t trust you,” Thomas said, looking straight in Veda’s eyes, or what was left of them.

“Fair enough. So what now?” Veda asked while looking at Amanda. She was standing at the window, searching for any potential threats on the street.

“How long has your organization been operational?” Thomas asked.

“We have been around for seven years now,” Veda said.

“Then it is safe to assume that you know everything about the Chakra?” Thomas asked.

Chakra nodded in affirmation.

“Good. Because I need to know everything that the common people don’t know. About their businesses, political connections, strongholds, and most of all, their vulnerabilities.” Thomas said.

“Okay. So their most prominent trade is in…” Veda started but was interrupted by Thomas.

“Not now. Let me get some rest. You got any vodka around here?” Thomas said carelessly.

“Uhh…..yeah, sure sure. Hey Amanda, you mind getting us a bottle and glasses?” Veda said.

Amanda didn’t answer. She continued looking out of the window for a few more seconds before abruptly going into the kitchen.

“Something’s wrong. She seems off today.” Veda said as he got up and paced across the room.

Thomas didn’t answer. He just stared at the kitchen door, waiting for Amanda to come out so that he could have a long look at her face. But when she did come out, Thomas looked away. His heart hadn’t pumped this fast in even the most dangerous firefights.

After half an hour of drinking, Veda decided to go to sleep, leaving Thomas and Amanda alone in the room. Both of them had hardly said a word in the past thirty minutes and felt really uneasy when Veda got up to leave.

Thomas had a few more shots before he spoke.

“So…you long have you been working in that hotel?” he asked.

“Three years. Why?” Amanda asked, looking at the floor. Her voice was a little deep. Thomas couldn’t help but notice the way a few strands of her hair touched her cheeks. The faint lighting in the room made it difficult to observe her face, but he was sure that a drop escaped from her right eye.

Thomas couldn’t help it anymore. He leaned forward and gently pushed the strands of hair behind her ear. Amanda didn’t move.

“Hey, I’ll be fine. I didn’t survive for almost two centuries just to get killed by a couple of thugs.” He said softly.

“What happens after you finish the mission? Will, they let you stay here?” Amanda said. She pushed away Thomas’ hand and went to the window. Thomas could hear a soft sob.

After a minute of thinking and staring at the wall, Thomas got up and went to the window. He was standing right behind Amanda. After a moment of hesitation, he grabbed her hands from behind and whispered in her ear.

“My immortality has taught me that you don’t need centuries to really live, you just need a moment. For decades, I was lost; torturing and killing people, sometimes guilty and sometimes innocent. I was alive but not really living. I had no fear of death because I didn’t have a reason to live. But now I’m afraid, and I love it. Let’s not ruin today for what might happen tomorrow. Hold my hand and take over the moment with me.” Thomas said.

Amanda trembled and a teardrop fell on Thomas’ hand. She turned around, the lights faded and the darkness witnessed how love changed the monster into a man.

"Wow, look at him. Forging a bond with the rebels, hoping to take down The Chakra with their help. Of course, he didn't know that they were working for The Chakra. That is a tale for centuries." Raghav said and laughed.

"So...you were saying?" Raghav asked Pinky, hoping to get something valuable out of her while Thomas paid the price for attempting to banish a celestial.