Chapter 8 - Captured Wings

Bwahaha! So many questions! Who's Angelica? Is Khushi and Diya the same person? Was Khushi married to Shyam? Should I kill you with anticipation or actually answer one of these questions in this chapter? Hmmmm...

P.S. There's a lot of mention of government databases which I've picked up from watching too much Criminal Minds and was influenced by my love for the character of Penelope Garcia in it - she basically forms up Aman's character. I don't know how the system in India works so just assume the system works like that in Criminal Minds ;). 

~

This is why it hurts the way it hurts. You have too many words in your head. There are too many ways to describe the way you feel. You will never have the luxury of a dull ache. You must suffer through the intricacy of feeling too much . 

- Iain Thomas, I Wrote This For You

~

"ARNAV! NO ARNAV! NOOOO!"

He halted in his tracks, his every muscle tensing, his eyes widening, for a second he thought he may not be able to move.

"Please! Please! He can't be. This can't happen!"

He turned around suddenly, taking large steps towards her as she seemed to whimper in her sleep, twisting and turning, her small hands clenched around the sheets.

He felt himself fall to his knees just then, his legs giving way, watching her contorting feature all the while. Everything slowly falling into place. Why he was so drawn to her, her eyes, her actions...

"Nayak," Aman's words, why they had been so familiar. Mahesh Nayak, Chutki's father, that had been Chuki's surname...

He stayed there for a moment, rooted to the spot, his limbs refusing to respond to his brains instructions. The emotions, the dilemma, the heart ache, the unbelievable reality of the situation seemed to crippled him, cripple his every sense. He couldn't understand it, refused to believe it. Chutki, she was here, in front of him, in the flesh. He had known that she was alive, that she was somewhere being taken care of, he had felt it in his every pore. The day they had discovered the bodies and hers wasn't there he had known that she wouldn't have died, that she would have survived but he had refused to go there, to visit a past that he desperately wanted to run away from. But life was such an ordeal, just when you thought you had ran as far away as possible it would flash itself in front of you and take you back down that sodden lane of memories. 

"Chutki," he heard himself whisper, involuntary drops of tears making their way down his cheeks, momentarily blurring his view. His feelings were too tormented, too scattered for him to explain. The dull ache of not knowing her for all these years, the throb of seeing her again after so long, of protecting her without knowing who she was then finally finding out. The guilt of not looking for her when she still called out his name in her sleep. 

"Arnav," her words still rang through his ears, her cries, her tiny little whimpers. And then he felt the pain course through him, the guilt, the desire, the love, the memories, their sorrow, their anguish, their loss, his loss, her loss, their lives all etched into this painful cycle of loosing and finding. 

"I just want to know your name," her timid voice, her adamant gaze; she had known, she had found out that he was her Arnav. He felt himself fall completely onto the floor now, his fingers pulling at strands of his hair. Damn it! So had he! He had known too! The moment he had seen her, wrapped in red, her hazel dazzling eyes robbing him off of his sleep, his hands tight on her arm as he pulled her away, his heart had known all along and he had been so stupid. Never had he been so drawn to anyone, she had a pull on his every nerve, every muscle and he had been left so confused when really his heart had known all along. He leaned over then suddenly, letting his fingers lightly brush against the soft skin of her arm, needing to know that she was real, that this wasn't some sort of distant dream. He noticed then that she had calmed down, her hands clasped together, she had had a nightmare and for once he was glad she had. "Khushi," he whispered this time, that's why he hadn't been able to find her on the few occasions he had tried, because they had finally given her a name. 

He moved his hand away again, his fingers still unwilling to let go, they carried with them the urge to touch her, to never let go, to interlock his fingers through hers and keep them in that embrace forever. He wanted to take her into his arms, kiss away her every worry to listen to her for days on end, watch the features of her face as it changed from word to word, the tiny changing intensities of the light that sparked in her eyes every time she spoke. But for now he had to make sure, although he knew it he had to make sure.

****

"Aman?" 

Aman sat up on his bed, feeling around for the light switch, "urghhh!" He groaned into the phone then remembering that he had a lamp hit that instead, throwing his room into brightness. He commenced to blinking several times, the sudden light too bright for his eyes whilst Arnav made faces at the groaning and clattering that seemed to be coming through the speaker. 

"Aman? Are you awake?" He questioned then, making a face.

"Yes I am now!" Aman exclaimed, "and there better be a good enough explanation for waking me up!" He moaned, his voice still laced with sleep. 

"Oh shut up! Can you get to your computer please I need you to search something for me now," he instructed, impatience getting the better of him. 

"Now?" Aman questioned raising an eyebrow, "are you like demented? Is this about this Khushi chick? Listen I know you're nocturnal but I'm not," he continued to moan as he made his way over to the monitors, almost tripping over the clatter that NK had left behind on the floor. 

"Oh god Aman! Just do it! I need this checked whilst it's fresh on my mind!" Arnav exclaimed.

"Fine okay what is it?" He questioned then, tapping the screens on. 

"Okay I want the records for a Chutki Nayak, born on 15th of July 1989, birth certificate, notes, anything that you can find," he instructed as Aman raised an eyebrow in response. 

"Nayak but that's..."

"I know," Arnav cut it, "just do it," he stated sighing loudly. 

"But who's Chutki?" Aman questioned, not at all impressed by blank instructions.

"You'll find out, just check will you?" Arnav stated again, his brows knitting together in annoyance. 

"It's loading! Hold on!" Aman exclaimed, equally annoyed. "Okay it's here, Chutki Nayak, date of birth 15th of July 1989, she has a temporary name," he read through as he scrolled through her details. 

Arnav listened intently, taking a mental note of all the details. 

"Daughter of Mahesh Nayak and Manyati Nayak. Hold on there's a note at the end of it, there was a name change at the age of twelve but no mention of what it was changed too," he then added, his brows scrunching together. "What does that mean? Is that even allowed?" Aman questioned. 

Arnav tried to make sense of that for a few seconds, his features moulding into an equal expression of confusion, "no it isn't. Hold on!" He stopped Aman then, hitting onto another idea, "check if it's blocked off for official use somewhere, like a high security log-in," he instructed then, sure that that would be the case. 

"Wait what like witness protection?" Aman enquired, catching on quickly. 

"Yes exactly that."

"Okay hold on," he said whilst scrolling his way down, "oh wait there it is... Shit Arnav who is this?"

"Why?" Arnav questioned instantly, feeling his heart constrict. 

"No because," Aman gulped not quite sure how to put it, "this girl was believed to be dead at the age of twelve but no remains of her body were found and was therefore declared missing. She is the only witness to the Mallik murders who was assumed to have survived then later was declared dead as they could not find her," he read out, pronouncing each word slowly. "The Mallik murders? The ones in Lucknow?"

"Yes those ones Aman," Arnav attempted to mask his voice which was shrouded in pain at the mere mention, "but is there?"

"Yes there's an official access log-in underneath, but I can't get through and I don't want to hack into that," he mumbled, skeptical about hacking into that sort of government data, the very type he protected. 

Arnav nodded understanding his plight, "okay try my log-in, you might be able to get through," Arnav suggested, he was higher up in rank and therefore had a wider range of access.

"Aah right true but I still don't understand what this deal is and how you know, but anyway," he sighed into the phone quickly typing in Arnav's log-in. "And bam! We're in! Good one boss!" He smiled to himself. 

Arnav rolled his eyes not impressed with his constant use of boss, "alright good. Now what does it say," the impatience was clear in his voice. He listened for a while, unnerved by the silence from the other end. "Aman? Aman? Are you there?"

Aman heard Arnav's voice but he found it difficult to respond, to awaken his voice. His eyes were wide, his fingers frozen on the keyboard, his breathing deep and loud. 

"Aman! Answer god damn it! Are you there?" Arnav screamed, becoming worried now. 

"Uh yeh yeh, I mean oh my god. Shit shit shit shit!" Aman exclaimed. 

"What is it?" Arnav's voice was urgent, fearing a new kind of worse. 

"Arnav how did you. I mean what the? I mean how?" Aman shouted, unable to believe his own eyes.

"Just tell me what the hell is wrong Aman?" Arnav growled through gritted teeth. 

"It's the government protected note," Aman finally began, composing his frantic thoughts for a minute, "Per... Person placed under witness protection, adoptive parents... Shashi Gupta and Garima Gupta... Re-located to Delhi... Person given new identity; new date of birth, 21st of August 1989, new name...Khushi Kumari Gupta," Aman finished off exhaling deeply. Shit had just got real!

Arnav breathed a sigh of relief, letting his eyes close for a moment. He felt his heart beat increase, playing out to an old familiar rhythm, his muscles felt numb, a small tingling sensation climbing up his spine. He had been right, his heart, his senses had been right and for once fate was being nice. It had brought them back in front of each other again. He leaned against the glass door and let his body slowly slide down to the floor, what was he supposed to do now? What would he tell her? That he was the Arnav whose name she called out in her sleep? Her childhood best friend? Who had left her to die whilst he had been saved? That he hadn't properly tried to find her? And what would she think of him? He was a changed man, he was no longer the person she had known. Would she still like him? Would he be able to handle it if she didn't? Damn it! He punched the ground unable to take it anymore, gritting his teeth and letting the fury take over. Why was life so cruel? He felt his whole body shake from the torrent of emotions coursing through him, he let his warm tears slowly graze down his face. For once in so many years he didn't know what to do.

In the end it came to that one question; would he tell her? Could he risk her life like that? And then he remembered, Aman's words echoed through his ears,

"Shyam wants her."

She was already under threat, from Shyam Manohar Jha and he would have to protect her, he couldn't let the man just have his way with Khushi, no not with his Chutki. And then he had to get to the bottom of this Diya fiasco too, which didn't seem to make any sense.

He stood up slowly, his mind made, he needed to tell her, forget about the consequences and just tell her who he was. Above all, he had to protect her. He began to walk towards the room, his thoughts haywire, attempting to form  a coherent sentence, see in his head how it would play out at least when suddenly his phone vibrated in his pocket. He took it out, sighing on seeing Aman's name. He'd ended the call so abruptly, he picked it up, thinking it may be Aman trying to drill him for answers again but what he heard threw him off completely.

"Arnav!" Aman's voice was urgent on the other end. "Arnav! We need you here man!" Aman exclaimed into the phone whilst furiously typing away at the keyboard, bringing up different windows in the monitoring, looking for anything else that he could have missed.

"What? What do you mean you need me there?" Arnav questioned back, not in the least pleased with such instructions without proper explanations.

"Arnav I really don't have the time for long winded explanations," Aman's words were rushed, a clear indication that something serious was definitely going down, "I've put through for a chopper, it should reach you in twenty minutes. I've got everything ready down this end, NK's gathering up the guys and he'll brief them once he's gathered everyone. I'll stay here at your place, looking through things to see if anything new crops up but we ned you here, now!" He finished off finally, taking a deep breath in to calm himself, his fingers halting on the keyboard only for a split second then resuming there frantic ways once more.

Arnav's brows scrunched together and he took a minute to actually process the long speel that Aman had just gone through, a dull throbbing began at the back of his head as a result of it. He closed his eyes for a second, trying to make further sense of it, missing out on some sort of key detail here. Chopper, twenty minutes, briefing?

"Arnav? Arnav?" Aman tried from the other side, moving the mike closer to his mouth whilst Arnav snapped out of his thoughts.

"Yeh I'm here, trying to make sense of the fucking shopping list that you just narrated out to me!" Arnav exclaimed, clearly not impressed. "Aman! Chopper, the guys getting briefed, you need me there, I get that," he stated icily, "but what the fuck is actually going on?" He questioned through gritted teeth.

"Oh shit!" Aman exclaimed as his fingers stopped typing once more and he leaned back in his chair, his hands on his temples, "damn it Arnav, too much coffee and last minute plans," Aman fumed. "Anyway, the crate that you told me to keep a watch on will be at the docks in," he checked his watch, pressing the tiny button at the top corner to see his count down, "exactly 1 hour and 47 minutes."

"What?!" Arnav exclaimed, his eyes blazing with fury, "are you fucking kidding me Aman? You were supposed to keep a tight watch on those things!"

"I know I know, but I gave the job to NK. I had a god awful headache from listening to that asshole Aakash cringe fest with his fiancee Payal. Seriously Arnav! It was puke worthy!" He complained as Arnav nodded to himself, calming down by a fraction.

"Okay fine, twenty minutes, get everything rounded up, get my rifle done. Send me a map of the place, container numbers, the ship number, where it'll anchor, everything." Arnav instructed into the phone, already anticipating his plan of action.

"Alright done!" Aman smiled pressing a button just as it beeped through to Arnav's phone.

"Great, I'll have a look on the ride back, I'll be getting off at the house. I need to erm," Arnav paused for a moment, needing to form his words properly.

"Got it," Aman stated immediately, "Khushi, she's not safe with Shyam roaming about and I'll let you tell me whatever you aren't right now once this is done," Aman warned Arnav as Arnav smirked back, amused by Aman's ability to just know things even amidst all this chaos. "I've asked HP to get a room ready so all sorted ma dear now just get your ass down here before NK busts a vein!" Aman instructed smiling to himself.

"Okay 18 minutes!" And with that Arnav clicked the phone off.

---

Arnav's steps were slightly hesitant as he approached Khushi, not really wanting to wake her up as she lay peacefully in sleep. He watched her for a few seconds, kneeling down on the floor, the slow rise and fall of her chest, the shadow that her long lashes threw on her cheeks. A tendril of hair bothered her slightly as it floated around in the dull wind and his fingers went out to tuck it back behind her ear when he stopped himself, and closed his eyes momentarily to re-arrange his thoughts.

He placed his hand on her shoulder, shaking her with the gentlest of motions. Her eyes fluttered then opened, instantly forming into squints at the brightness from the lamp. She watched him for a second, not quite sure what was going on then as understanding dawned on her and as she realised exactly where she was and who she was with she immediately sat up, drawing away from his touch. She watched as the slightest wave of hurt flitted across his face only to be replaced by his emotionless mask. He arranged a smile on his face quickly, keeping up his pretence for now, for now was not the time or the right place for him to tell her all that he wanted to.

"We need to get out of here. Something err," his voice was husky and gentle as he attempted to choose his words wisely, not wanting to alarm her. "Something urgent's come up and I need to be somewhere."

He watched her large dove-like eyes as she stared at him completely bewildered, he smiled at her again, trying to put her at ease. "I assure you you'll be safe, safer than you would've been at your buajis or at home in Delhi," he tried again, "I just need to get this done so you'll have to be a bit patient with me," he reassured her then continued to kneel on the floor, taking a note of all the different emotions that flickered across her face.

She nodded finally, giving in and fixed the dupatta around her neck, gulping she nodded again, not sure what was going on but agreeing anyway. She felt she no longer had a choice, a lot of things were happening that she no longer understood but she was no stranger to being left out of the bigger picture. All her life she had been running away from one thing or another, fleeing from that life changing day, running away from lucknow, running away from the people that knew she was alive, running away from her past and now she was running away from unknown men. She looked into his molten chocolate eyes for a few more seconds, those eyes that now invaded her dreams, the eyes of a man that looked too familiar to someone she had known so long ago, the eyes of a man that she wished was the same person that she had known all those years ago. And more than anything looking into them she knew that she could trust him, she saw truth in them and she hoped she was making the right choice.

"Where are we going?" She finally asked, her voice quiet.

This time he wasn't surprised, she had always been brave this way, instead he questioned himself again as to why he hadn't realised earlier.

"My house, the chopper will be here in about five minutes and I've made sure you'll be alright there. Once we get there I'll be off for about an hour or two but I promise to come back and get you," his words were still gentle and that surprised her ever so slightly. Where was the man that had been so harsh to her only a few hours ago?

He stood up and started walking towards the door then turned back around again on hearing the distant sound of whipping blades. "It's here, I'll give you a minute to get ready, we need to go now."

----

Her hands scrunched the fabric of her dupatta as she watched the large helicopter land, swaying the trees and blowing around leaves in it's wake. What could be this urgent that they would require a helicopter? She didn't understand but she knew asking questions was futile and she didn't want to get on his bad side again. It was unusual for her but every time that thin smile spread across his lips it sent her heart fluttering, his husky voice seemed to awaken her heartbeat and send it soaring and she was afraid to lose that. His hand went around hers and she looked at it suddenly taken aback but he didn't notice as he pulled on her to follow him. She continued to watch him blankly as he helped her into the chopper then got in himself next to her.

"Alright Mohan we're ready to go!" He yelled through the sound of rotating blades.

~

I've never needed

and never truly wanted

until this moment.

- Tyle Knott Gregson

~

Okay I've ended a tad bit early, this chapter was supposed to cover more but it's absolutely HUGE! So going to cut it there :P. But next chapter should be up soonish! And look out for a whole lot of action! And a cute Arshi moment? ;) ;) xx

P.S. As you may have noticed already I'm in love with Aman's character. There is a whole lot of him in A Sprinkle of Stardust (for those of you that are familiar with it) but he was always behind the scenes and this time I wanted him in a more important character. I still haven't answered the Diya story but Arnav's realisation took up this chapter. I have however left clues so see if you can guess through them ;).