The Midnight Shuttle

Chapter 13 : Black

The battle was over.

At least...

The battle against Begu Ganjang.

The enormous demon collapsed with a thunderous crash, its severed head rolling across the cracked concrete before dissolving into black ash. One by one, the twisted creatures that had flooded the warehouse let out piercing screams and scattered into the darkness, disappearing as quickly as they had come.

Silence slowly reclaimed the ruined building, leaving only the sound of heavy breathing behind. Doctor Adi knelt beside Harsawi, checking his pulse once again before releasing a long, exhausted sigh.

"He's stable."

Relief briefly crossed his face.

"He'll survive."

Aditia barely heard him. His eyes remained fixed on Alya.

She lay on the floor, bound tightly by the enormous black serpent Malik had summoned. The creature coiled around her body without loosening its grip, while Alya struggled in vain to break free. She never looked toward Aditia. Not once.

The silence between them felt heavier than the battle itself.

Doctor Adi glanced at Malik, who wiped the dark blood from his massive sword before resting it across his shoulder.

"It's finished," Doctor Adi said quietly.

Malik shook his head.

"No."

His voice was calm.

"The demon is gone. But the consequences remain."

Those words struck Aditia harder than anything else that had happened that day.

Consequences.

He had trusted Alya, defended her, believed every tear she shed—now...

Every memory felt like another knife twisting deeper into his chest.

Malik walked past him without slowing.

"Ayi wants to see you."

Aditia looked up. "What for?"

"I don't know," Malik said, meeting his eyes for the first time. "But if she asked for you immediately... then this isn't the end."

Aditia instinctively glanced back at Alya. For a fleeting moment, their eyes finally met. There was no apology, no regret—only a quiet smile that Aditia could no longer understand.

He looked away first, then followed Malik out of the ruined warehouse without another word.

...

By the time they reached Ayi Mahogra's apartment, night had fallen, and Aditia stepped inside without saying a word, his body exhausted and his heart feeling even heavier.

"Aditia."

Ayi Mahogra greeted him from the living room.

She was already seated on the sofa, a cup of black coffee resting in her hands as though she had been expecting him.

Malik entered behind Aditia, placing his enormous sword against the wall before returning to his ordinary appearance.

"My dear," he said, looking at his wife, "have the other Kharisma Jagat arrived at the eastern front?"

Ayi nodded calmly. "They're already in position."

She turned back to Aditia. "Would you like something to eat?"

He slowly shook his head. "No, thank you."

Silence settled over the room.

Finally, Aditia lifted his eyes. "Why?" His voice was hoarse. "Why didn't you tell me from the beginning? You knew. You knew what Alya was planning."

Ayi quietly set her coffee on the table. "Would you have believed me?"

The question left Aditia speechless. He lowered his head, covering his face with both hands. "I... I don't know."

A faint smile appeared on Ayi's face. "You trusted me because of your father. Because of his journals. Not because your own heart trusted my judgment."

She leaned forward slightly. "If I had simply told you Alya's heart had already chosen darkness..." She paused. "Would you really have believed me?"

Aditia remained silent. He already knew the answer. No. He wouldn't have. Not after everything he and Alya had been through.

Ayi looked at him with sympathy rather than triumph. "Love has a way of blinding even the kindest people. I was afraid you would become one of them."

She folded her hands on her lap. "So... I chose to let you see the truth with your own eyes."

The room fell silent once more.

Only then did Aditia begin to understand.

Everything... every step, every conversation, every impossible risk they had taken that day... had been part of Ayi Mahogra's plan from the very beginning.

"It was all planned from the very beginning," Ayi Mahogra said quietly before taking another sip of her coffee. There was no pride in her voice, only relief that the plan had succeeded despite the countless risks they had taken.

Aditia slowly raised his head.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"Everything," Ayi replied, holding his gaze. "Every step you took today."

She leaned back against the sofa.

"The money you demanded from Harsawi wasn't for you. It was transferred to my account exactly as I instructed."

Aditia frowned.

"So... that was part of your plan too?" he asked.

Ayi nodded.

"Every single detail."

She continued calmly, "Doctor Adi injected Harsawi with a precise dose of potassium chloride. His heart stopped exactly as we expected, but only for a short time."

Aditia's eyes widened.

"So... Harsawi wasn't really dead?"

"No," Ayi replied calmly. "He was clinically dead."

She paused before continuing.

"Doctor Adi had less than three minutes to bring him back. If his heart didn't start beating again before then..."

She lowered her eyes.

"...his brain would have suffered irreversible damage."

Aditia's expression stiffened.

"So Doctor Adi... risked everything."

"He did," Ayi answered. "If he had failed, he was prepared to surrender himself to the police."

Silence filled the apartment.

For the first time, Aditia realized how much every one of them had risked for his sake.

Ayi looked at him gently.

"I arranged everything... for only one reason."

She let the words linger before finishing.

"I wanted you to see the real Alya."

Aditia lowered his head again, his hands trembling.

"I still don't understand."

"After everything Harsawi did to her... after watching her own family destroyed..."

"Why would she willingly choose the same path?"

The question hung heavily in the room.

Even Malik remained silent.

For a long moment...

No one answered.

Ayi Mahogra was the first to break the silence, her voice calm yet firm as she folded her hands on her lap.

"Because power doesn't corrupt everyone, Adit," she said quietly. "It simply reveals what has always been hidden inside a person's heart."

Aditia slowly looked up, confusion lingering in his eyes.

"You mean..."

Ayi nodded.

"Begu Ganjang never forced Alya to become like her father," she explained. "It only offered her the same temptation—wealth, power, control."

She paused briefly before continuing.

"A spirit is neither completely good nor completely evil. Its nature depends largely on the person who commands it."

"If its master seeks compassion, it may become a force that protects," she added. "But if its master desires only greed, it will gladly become an instrument of destruction."

Aditia stared blankly at the floor.

"So... Alya chose this herself."

"Yes," Ayi answered without hesitation. "No one forced her. No one manipulated her. She made that decision with a clear mind."

The answer struck harder than any blade.

Aditia had spent so long convincing himself that Alya was another victim—that somewhere beneath her fear was the woman he had fallen in love with.

Now...

That belief had shattered completely.

"I wanted to be wrong," Ayi admitted softly. "I truly hoped she would speak the oath I taught her."

She glanced down at the untouched cup of coffee in front of her.

"But the moment she changed even a single word, I knew her choice had already been made long before today."

Aditia closed his eyes.

For the first time since leaving the warehouse, he allowed the tears to fall—not because Alya had betrayed him, but because the future he had dreamed of with her had never truly existed.

Aditia wiped the tears from his face before forcing himself to ask the question that had been tormenting him ever since the battle ended.

"Then why?" His voice was barely audible. "After watching her own father s*******r her family... after seeing everything Begu Ganjang took from her... why would she willingly become the same kind of person?"

Ayi Mahogra let out a slow breath. "Because she wanted everything her father had." She looked directly into Aditia's eyes. "Wealth. Power. And a life that seemed almost endless."

Aditia remained frozen.

Ayi continued calmly. "Yes, she suffered. She spent years running from Begu Ganjang. But never forget where she came from. Her father practiced black magic. Her mother did as well. So did the generations before them." She paused for a moment. "That darkness had surrounded her since the day she was born."

The room fell silent again.

Ayi folded her hands before speaking once more. "There's something else you need to understand. If Alya had truly been an innocent woman who wanted nothing more than freedom... she would have died years ago."

Aditia frowned. "I don't understand."

"Someone who survives Begu Ganjang for that many years isn't simply lucky," Ayi said, her voice steady. "They survive because they're clever. Because they're willing to deceive. And because, sooner or later... they learn to think exactly like the monster chasing them."

She lowered her gaze. "At first, Alya wanted nothing but to escape. But after discovering her father's secret... after seeing the wealth he possessed... after learning why he lived the life he did... she stopped dreaming about freedom. She began dreaming about taking his place."

Aditia's breathing grew heavier. "So... she planned all of this."

"Yes," Ayi answered without hesitation. "Long before she met you."

Aditia lowered his head once more. "So she really is... that cruel?"

Ayi didn't answer immediately. Instead, she asked quietly, "You heard the promise she made to Begu Ganjang. She willingly offered the lives of her own descendants in exchange for another pact." She held Aditia's gaze. "After hearing that... do you still have any doubts?"

Aditia lowered his eyes and let out a weary breath, his voice barely steady as he admitted that he had wanted to believe there was still something good left inside Alya. Ayi’s expression softened at his words. She rose from the sofa and walked to the window, gazing out at the quiet city before speaking gently, reminding him that his heart could not keep chasing someone who had already chosen another path. When she turned back to face him, her tone remained calm but firm as she told him that until she was certain he had accepted that truth, he would not be leaving the apartment.

Aditia looked up in surprise, but Ayi continued without hesitation. He needed time to recover. He should rest for a few days, and when he was ready, he could return to his old work. The room fell silent again, the weight of her words settling between them.

After a long pause, another question surfaced in Aditia’s mind. He asked whether Alya had been the one who killed Bude Pecel. Ayi immediately shook her head. That tragedy had been caused by Begu Ganjang, and Alya had nothing to do with it. She hesitated for a moment before adding that she wasn’t sure Alya would have cared even if she had known.

The words stung. Even now, Aditia wanted to defend Alya, but he found no strength left to do so.

Ayi then mentioned something else—the money Harsawi had transferred. They would return it little by little. Aditia looked at her in surprise, but she explained that Harsawi would likely need a long time to recover, and his body might never fully heal from what had happened. As for Alya, whether she deserved it or not, she would still need money to survive. They would help only when it was truly necessary.

Aditia slowly nodded, murmuring his thanks. A faint smile appeared on Ayi’s face as she tried to lighten the mood, mentioning that she had made grilled chicken and that Malik had insisted on cooking Aditia’s favorite. For the first time that night, the corner of Aditia’s lips almost lifted—almost.

Just as Ayi began setting the dinner table, his phone vibrated. The screen lit up with Dita’s name. Aditia answered immediately, calling out to her, but for a moment there was only silence. Then a soft giggle echoed through the speaker.

“Hihihihi…”

Aditia’s smile vanished. That wasn’t Dita.

A woman’s voice whispered from the other end of the call, “Hello… Adit…”

His blood ran cold. He called Dita’s name again and again, but the line suddenly went dead. Aditia shot to his feet, panic breaking through his composure as he called out to Ayi, his voice trembling for the first time that day.

“Dita’s in danger!”