Birth of the Queen

Chapter Ten: Loss

Tristan P.O.V.

The next morning Pri didn’t seem to remember last day’s incidents. Bridge was absent. She remembered being punished but she didn’t even remember the part where we walked home. She kept saying that she walked home alone yesterday. I was shocked. I realized that I would need the help of the Council. One week passed, Pri had grown more silent than usual. I thought she was busy with her homework. Later, I realized that was not the case. Her birthday was close. So, I thought I would give her a surprise. On her birthday, I went to her house and rang the doorbell. Her father opened the door and welcomed me, “Go upstairs, son. Your friends are upstairs.” I didn’t understand which friend he was talking about but I smiled at him and walked upstairs and saw two girls whom I knew to be Pri’s middle-school friends. There was one boy whom I did not expect at all. Adam. He was one of the boys who asked me for Pri’s number and I told him she didn’t have one. He was one of the goody two shoes of our school. Pri was laughing with them. She was wearing a yellow dress. She looked…beautiful. For the first time, I realized she was actually pretty. She wasn’t beautiful in the conventional senses but she had an aura that attracted people in a very different way. Her eyes fell on me and she jumped out of her seat and rushed towards me and hugged me. I was taken by surprise. She hugged me once before when I told her about my habit of cutting myself and before she made me promise that I wouldn’t repeat such things. Adam was eyeing us  but I didn’t care. I hugged her back. The feeling of peace was back within me. I didn’t want to break off but she did. I gave her the book I bought for her and a letter. Adam asked, “Is that a card, Pri?” She giggled, “I don’t think so” and she winked at me. I couldn’t help but smile at her playful attitude. Prita’s father bought her a cell for her 17th birthday. She needed one, really.

The day went by with lots of pictures and food. I wasn’t one to make friends but hey, Pri considered them as friends, so I had no problem. Adam really was a decent guy. Only thing about him that bugged me a little was he kept staring at Pri. Well, at least, he wasn’t like those hyenas in our school. Moreover, I had to do something about Pri’s powers. She didn’t know what she was and neither did I. I said goodbye to Pri early and was about to leave when Adam called me, “Hey, Tristan. Wait up.” I stopped and looked at his grinning face. He looked happy. He said in a jolly voice, “Hey, man. Let’s go together.” I thought it wouldn’t hurt so I smiled and nodded. He continued while walking, “Man! I got Pri’s number.” Pri? Did he just call her Pri? Had they become that much close? But I decided to let it pass for the time-being. I asked, trying to sound as normal as possible, “Really? Does she have a service in the cell yet?” He looked at me in surprise and chuckled, “What? You didn’t know?” I looked at him with a blank expression. He said, feeling a little proud, “Well, she told me yesterday in Biology class. Her father bought a service.” I was surprised. He continued, “You don’t have Biology. Right?” I shook my head. Suddenly, I felt that I should have taken Biology. Meanwhile, Adam was talking relentlessly, “hey, I have to ask you something. Would it be okay for you if I ask her out?” I stopped. I never thought that guys could actually ask her out on a date. I said, “No.” He chuckled, a bit nervous, “Is it okay?” I said, “Yes.” He was excited, “Thanks, man.” He said in a hurry, “That would be my bus.” I didn’t realize we had come to the bus stop. I took my leave and started towards the Council building. I had to meet them. On my way, I thought about Pri. How could she not mention Adam at all? Did she really like him? Anyway, if they really went out I wouldn’t know what she would do to him if anything went wrong. I decided if they really went out I would follow her. I would have to do it for Pri. I reached the Council and made an emergency request to meet them. But I was kicked out. This time, I yelled at the managers and ended up hitting one of them in the face. That didn’t help much, rather I was banned from the building premise for a year. I pleaded and tried to tell them that it was about the Eterna and she lost control, but the Council was too busy to listen. What could be more important than the Eterna? f**k the council, I thought. I had to tell Pri what she was. If she knew she would be aware. I made my mind that I would tell her next day.

The next day was like the days before. Pri didn’t speak much. I decided to ask her what was going on. During lunch time, she did something she had never done before. Some girls called her to sit with them and she left saying, “I have to discuss some Biology project with them.” I didn’t stop her but after a while, I saw Adam joining them. I saw her hitting his arm and laughing with him. Okay, that was new. After school, I was waiting for her, then she came with Adam and Dia, one of her classmates, and said, “Tris, Adam wants to come with us.” She looked happy, so I couldn’t deny. I nodded and all the way, she kept talking and giggling with them. I felt like I had been forgotten. The other girl left midway but Adam said, “Come on. I wanna walk you to your house.” She smiled and nodded. She looked at me and said, “Tris, you should go. Adam is walking me home. So..” I didn’t let her finish, “Why?” She gave an awkward chuckle, “What?” She told me to leave with her eyes. I pretended not to understand. I grabbed her hand and started walking while saying, “I’ve been doing this for months now. He can leave.” She jerked her hand back and looked at me with a frown. I stopped. Adam was silent this whole time. Now, he said with a smile, “It’s okay, Pri. I’ll leave. We can do that some other time.” With that, he left. Pri started walking, taking long steps. I walked fast and tried to stop her. But, she was too stubborn. I shouted, “Pri, stop.” She didn’t listen. I grabbed her hand from behind and stopped her by force. She looked angry. “What do you think you’re doing?” she asked. I could feel her body heat up. I tried to soothe her with my calm voice, “Nothing. You don’t know him that well. Moreover, I always walk with you.” She scoffed, “this. This is the problem.” I couldn’t understand what she was trying to say. She went on saying, “I have a very few friends, Tris. You could have been friends with them too, but you didn’t.” I was getting confused, I asked, “What do you mean?” She sighed and continued, “Listen, these people are my project partners. We’re going to be seniors next year. So, I need to make some connections.” I was more confused now, so I asked, “What’s your point?” she said, looking into my eyes, “You have to understand that I have other friends too. You’re my best friend, but you’re not my only friend.” That day, I understood I was not her only person, yet she was mine.

Days passed and I tried to keep up with her friends. One day, she lost control again. This time, she was about to burn a girl in front of the whole school. And, she again remembered nothing. And, neither did the others. This time something strange happened. I wasn’t the one who stopped the fire from her hands. It was something else. Till date, I don’t know who or what sent the water jet. But it sure saved her and the other girl. Moreover, last time, I was there with her when it happened but this time, I was in class. I rushed out when I heard people screaming her name and she had fainted. I could see the traces of fire and the water jet was still pouring, drenching everyone there. When it stopped, nobody remembered nothing. I was scared when I saw Pri’s limp form. It looked like that her soul had left her. I performed whatever soul-healing I had learnt during training. While transferring and repairing, I felt that we had many parts of our soul common, and in some, we were differing. I couldn’t understand which parts were these. After that incident, I felt that something in Pri was missing. I found out from others that she was quarrelling with that girl over something in her class. And everybody remembered it like this, that Pri got very angry because the other girl called her a slut. She slapped her. And then, they said that the other girl left. I figured that wasn’t quite the case. She must have lost control after the slap. One thing that surprised me was that the girl stopped coming to school and it was like she had disappeared because nobody had no new about her. I tried to connect the dots. I didn’t care about the fact before when Bridge disappeared because I thought he was having rehab session for his kleptomania. I started to doubt that anyone who had a clash with Pri was disappearing. That was not good. What did she actually do to them? Clearly, she didn’t know. I had to find out. Meanwhile, I needed to protect her and protect others from her.

I thought hard and as I had no help from the council or anyone, for that matter, I decided to prevent her from getting too close to anyone. Two days later I told her, when she was walking with Adam to her Biology class, “Pri, can I talk to you for a sec?” she gestured Adam to go on and said with a smile, “What is it, Tris?” I sighed inside and brought myself to say, “You can’t talk to Adam anymore. Not only Adam but also any of your group mates.” For a while, she looked at me in surprise, then she frowned, “What? Why? Is there something wrong?” I said to her in a hushed voice, “Listen, I can’t tell you the reason now. But do as I say. Okay? It’s for your own good and theirs too.” She looked at me with confusion and asked, “But, why?” I said, “Just don’t do it.” She sighed and left for class. After that day, she met up with her friends less. I thought she understood but one day I realized everything was over. She called me to her house and said, “Tristan, I need to tell you something.” My heart fluttered. What was so important that she had to call me to her house? She looked at me and said, plainly, “Tristan, I think you’re trying to control my life.” I felt like someone had slapped me out of the blue. What was she saying? I didn’t realize how long we sat in silence until her mother came in asking, “What are my babies doing?” She looked at her mother and said sternly, “Ma, we’re discussing something. It’s important.” She laughed and asked, “Well, I won’t disturb you but do you want some snacks?” Before I could say anything Pri said, “No. We aren’t hungry.” I was surprised at her harshness. Her mother gave an awkward chuckle and asked, “Is there something wrong?” Her eyes started to blaze and she yelled, “I told you we aren’t hungry.” I could feel the heat rising around her. A wild tornado was brewing somewhere. I could hear its roar. The earth was shaking. I had never seen or felt something like that before. Fire started to rise from the place where her mother stood. I screamed, “Pri. Pri. Pri, stop.” She wasn’t herself anymore. She kept her eyes fixed on her mother. I jumped out and pulled her mother away from that room. I went back to Pri and shook her violently. I could feel heat rise up my body. It never happened before. I didn’t know what to do. I hugged her tightly. I was burning. I felt like my skin would fall off. I screamed in pain but didn’t let her go. I didn’t know what happened after that because both of us fainted. when I woke up I found myself on my bed. I didn’t know how I got there. I dialed Pri’s number and she answered. She yelled, “I told you to come to my house. Where were you? Did you fall asleep?” She forgot the whole incident. I managed to calm her down a little and hung up. I knew what I had to do. Until I got to connect any higher council member, I needed to keep her away from everyone. Otherwise, she would end up hurting anyone.

This turned out to be extremely hard. I figured that people really liked her and she wouldn’t listen and whatever I said to her, she kept losing control and ended up trying to burn me. As we came to the end of the first year of high school, I decided to drive people away from her. I started connecting with the boys. I told everyone that she was crazy and had deep set anger issues and she used to go to a rehab for that. These shallow punks eventually believed it. News spread all over the school. When senior year started, Pri didn’t know what was going on, so she came to school with her usual mood. But, everyone stopped talking to her. She didn’t understand at first. She asked me several times what was going on. I just said, “Ignore these idiots.” One day, at Biology class, everyone threw erasers and papers at her and she came out running and crying. One day, some punks threw trash on her. I wanted to smash their heads but I stopped myself because she had to get away from people. She locked herself in her house for a long time because whenever she walked inside the school, everybody called her, “Loony”. I went to her house and used to give her class notes. Only Adam kept contact with her. I really didn’t understand what that boy was made of. So, I decided to tell him myself. I called him and tried to convince him, “Hey, Man. I need to talk to you about Pri. You should stay away from her. You know, She isn’t normal.” Adam was angry, he said, “I know what you keep telling people. That’s not true. I know her. Now, hang up and don’t come near her ever.” I was shocked. After this, Adam made sure I didn’t come near Pri. He threatened me that if I talked to Pri after she started school he would tell her who said those things about her. I didn’t know what to say. I was afraid I would lose her forever.  So, I agreed. When Pri resumed classes, Adam used to walk her home. I followed them silently. None of them knew. Pri couldn’t understand what could have happened that her best friend would stop talking to her. I didn’t answer her calls and wouldn’t talk to her in school. I avoided her completely. To convince her that I was not in her life anymore, I started dating. A girl named Abby. She wasn’t exactly a bad person but she wasn’t Pri. Pri was trying to be happy whenever Abby talked to her. but, I knew she wasn’t. I took no notice of her whenever I would go to fetch Abby. It took a lot from me to do that. I couldn’t sleep. I could barely eat anything. I felt like someone had ripped my life out of my body.

One day, she came to my house with one of her old school friends. She was crying, which I hadn’t seen much through these months. I could barely stop my tears from falling. She asked, crying, “What did I do? Why are you doing this to me?” I said, as harshly as possible, “Pri, go away.” She pleaded, “I need you, Tris.” I grabbed her hand roughly and threw her out saying, “Get out. Don’t come near me before you become a decent human being.” I shut the door on her face. My heart broke that day, in a way, it never healed.  I felt like a monster. Ever night, until the day I met Pri again after five years, was same. I woke up sweating. I hadn’t had a proper sleep since that day. After I threw her out, she became a mess. She wouldn’t talk. She stopped responding in classes. Every time she saw me she looked like she would have a breakdown. Only thing that was good was that she didn’t lose control anymore. I waited for the year to be over as that would mean I would be allowed to meet the council. Two months before the end of senior year, she came to know from someone that I talked about her mother being manipulative. That was a lie. I would never say something like that. But she believed it because all of my recent behaviors matched with that. Even our jokes which were very light became toxic to her. I once jokingly said, “Is your ma trying to get us married or what?” She used to laugh at that and now, it became one of the toxic things I had done to her. One thing that surprised me was that she never inquired about this from me. Later, I realized that she had given up on our friendship; she had given up on me. I couldn’t bear that. I couldn’t live with that. Her staying away from me did a lot of damage to me. we shared parts of our souls, so I needed her. So, after senior year, before the end of my punishment from the Council, I met Pri. I told her that I had broken up with Abby. But, Pri wasn’t interested at all. I could see the change in her eyes. She was hurt but she looked more mature than before. I lost her. She had stopped smiling. She had dark circles around her eyes. She denied talking to me. I would have forced her to stay that day if I knew I wouldn’t be able to see her for five years.

Next day, I went to meet the Council. I entered the ballroom and the same high members were there. The man from before asked, “How are you doing with the Eterna?” I said, hurriedly, “That’s why I wanted to meet you. She used to lose control. I didn’t know what to do.” I took a short breath and continued, “But, it’s quite normal now. Only thing is I got far away from her. I can’t protect her with so much distance between us.” He asked with a hard face, “How long has it been since she showed her powers?” I said, “About an year. Well…” But I couldn’t finish. The man grabbed my neck and yelled, “You, fool! You tried to suppress the powers of Eterna? How dare you?” I choked. He let go and I said coughing, “I didn’t know.” He seemed have calmed down. He said, “You did what you did. You’re useless. You had one job and you couldn’t even do that. From now on, you’ll stay inside this building. You’ll train until you’re ready.” He left without waiting for me to reply. I asked loudly, “No. I need to see her.” A man wearing blue cloak said, “No. you won’t be allowed.” I cried, “No. Please.” They didn’t listen to my plea. I was crying and screaming. The oldest among them came to me and grabbed my shoulder. he looked a lot less angry than his colleagues. He said, more like whispered, “I understand. Bear with this. For her. You’ll be able to protect her better after you train. Trust us.” He patted my shoulder and left. After that day, I stayed inside for five years, training. My only motivation was when I would meet Pri, I would apologize and never let her go. But when I came back after five years to bring her back to the institute, I saw her with other friends. She seemed happy. I was glad but a little hurt too because she was happy without me. I realized I couldn’t reach her anymore. So, I did what I thought to be best. I kidnapped her lanky friend Rome. That guy was something else. I was surprised to see him closely. He had the same magnetic soul as Pri. With my current knowledge and power, I knew that right away. I realized he wasn’t a human though he didn’t know that. It made me sad to hurt him, to hurt such a good soul. But I had to. For Pri. I was so happy to meet her but clearly, she didn’t have the same feeling. She hated me. No, she despised me. but I didn’t care. I had to keep her safe. I failed once, but I wouldn’t fail again. With her rapidly changing life, she must understand her position. Nadia promised she would help me. We met in the institute. I found out my father married her mother. My mother knew that, only I didn’t. She had stuck with me ever since. She promised she would help me for our friendship. I agreed. A little help wouldn’t hurt. Moreover, the stupid Azkan soldiers the Council sent with me were useless. I didn’t feel bad burning them but Roman was never my target. But he had to. He denied to leave Pri. I sacrificed so many things for her. I wouldn’t mind sacrificing more for her, even if it required killing other people. I would’ve really ended up killing him if that lame Erion guy hadn’t shown up. What was his deal really? But I was kind of thankful to him because he stopped the fire from devouring innocent life, even if he delayed my mission. I needed to know. If he was here to hurt Pri, I won’t hesitate to kill him, though.

Walking out of Pri’s house, five years after all of these, I could only think of one thing. Those who hurt Pri in the past and those who hurt her now will die a horrible death. Nobody should touch her. Nobody should harm the Eterna.