Rain (The Quest Trilogy-Book Two) (42 page)

“I do. For some people, life is a gift. For others, death.”

“Exactly.”

A single claw on his chest began to glow. Rain held it up. It crumbled to dust.

“See? I told you. I collected a wisdom.”

“Then why are we still here?”

Rain sighed. Now that he had allowed himself to think again, the floodgates of his memories had burst open. The pretty girl was Earth, she loved him. He had friends … Heart, Angel, Destiny, and Rainbow. He missed them. There was a father figure too: Subodh.

How was the old man’s healing coming along? Did he need any help? Rain absently touched the back of his head. He couldn’t believe it. He actually missed the old man’s blows. Rain smiled. The movement felt strange, alien.

How long had it been since he had last smiled? Earth made him smile. She made him very happy.

Rain drew out a small mirror from his belt and stared at his reflection. He looked like he had aged twenty years in the last eight months. His skin was burnt. His face appeared weary. His hair was unkempt and disheveled and a thick beard now covered his once-clean jaw line. Rain put the mirror down and stared at his hands and feet. Blisters. Everywhere.

Rain picked up a handful of sand.

“Thank- you for healing me …” he whispered, kissing the handful of sand.

“Is it time for us to leave?” asked his Geeya.

Rain let the sand slip through his fingers and stood up. “It’s time for us to leave.” he announced quietly.

The speed with which he was pulled out of his Quest knocked Rain off his feet. In the span of two heartbeats, he was standing in a familiar mountainous forest again.

Rain could hear the gushing of the stream. His feet took him towards it of their own accord. There, ahead of him, hardly ten steps away from where he stood, was Earth. She was washing a small pile of clothes, looking sad and lost. She had lost weight again and appeared pale and wan.

To Rain, the effect of seeing her again after all these days was like being hit by a baseball bat. Life exploded in his chest and blood pulsed through every pore and vein with renewed vigor. His sleeping senses were suddenly alive and every bit of his being ached to hold her in his arms once more.

But Rain didn’t move. He was filled with doubts and misgivings.

What all had taken place in his absence? Did she still harbor the same feelings towards him? Did she even remember him anymore?

Rain’s stomach twisted with nervousness and longing. Ahead of him, Earth abruptly stopped washing the clothes. She rinsed her hands quickly in the stream and put a hand in her pocket. Out came a small, red heart, glowing and throbbing.  Earth stared at the little object in her hands and a tear escaped her eye. She wiped the tear and kissed the heart, and then pressed it close to her own.

Waves of emotion crashed down Rain’s body. If ever he had needed proof that Earth still loved him, then this was it. He took a few cautious steps forward. Just enough to come into her view and draw her attention.

Earth looked up and froze. Rain could see the look of fear and suspicion cross her face. He should have shaved before making an appearance. She obviously didn’t recognize him.

Rain took another step forward. Saw her eyes lock on to his. Saw the recognition dawn in them, along with shock.

Earth’s hands flew to her mouth, and she rose to her feet slowly.

“Rain …” she whispered.

He opened his arms wide and Earth came flying into them, splashing her way across the stream. His arms closed around her, enveloping her in a hug so tight that Rain was sure they would be welded together if the temperature was just right.

“Rain! Where have you been?!” sobbed Earth. “How I have missed you! How I have yearned for you to smile at me again!”

Rain couldn’t speak. The lump in his throat wouldn’t let him. So he held her tighter still. Earth gasped for air, and Rain loosened his hold a bit.

“No. Keep holding me tight. Don’t ever let go.”

“I’ll never let go.” growled Rain, through the thick knot of emotions.

Earth drew back a little to show him the tiny heart in her palm that was still throbbing and glowing.

“This is the only thing that helped me survive all this time you were gone. I would be feeling hopeless and lost without you and every now and then, this would start to throb … and I would know … that you are alive. That you are thinking of me …”

“Forgive me … I have caused you pain.” said Rain gruffly.

“I deserved it. I caused you pain, too.” said Earth, burying her face in his chest.

“Never say that. You don’t deserve pain.”

This time Earth remained silent, letting her tears rain down his chest while he cradled her in his arms. She hit his chest lightly with her fist after a while, still sniffling.

“Why won’t you make it rain now, when I need it to hide my tears?”

“I don’t want to miss a second of this, that’s why.”

He pulled her away a little, so he could see her face. “What did you do all this while? Have you been okay? You look so weak.”

“I finished collecting all of my element stones. I now have only my Master Quest left.”

Rain put her head back on his chest and stroked a hand through her silky hair.

Earth sighed softly. “You can let go of me now.”

Rain kissed her on the forehead. “No.”

“Um … you
should
let go of me now.”

“Why should I?” said Rain, speaking against her forehead.

“Because you need a bath.”

Rain smiled. “No, I don’t.”

“And, you need a shave.”

“No, I don’t.”

“And, you need to change your clothes.” said Earth, trying to wriggle free. His arms wouldn’t budge.

“No, I don’t. All I need is you.”

Earth stopped squirming and relaxed against his chest once more.

“I need you, too.” She said softly.

“No, what
you
need is to eat more food.”

Earth gave a little giggle. “All right. I’ll eat more food if you shave and take a bath.”

“Only if the shave and bath are given to me by you.” countered Rain.

“You drive a hard bargain!”

“It’s all or nothing. Take it or leave it.”

“I’ll take it.”

“Good girl!”

“So will you let go of me now?”

“I
have
let go of you.”

“You have?”

Then why was she still stuck to him? Earth looked down and her cheeks flushed with embarrassment. Vines had sprouted from the ground binding the two of them together firmly.

“Just say you want to stay in my arms, and stay there.” teased Rain.

Earth looked down, willing the vines to snap away and the vines let them loose. She had barely taken a step back when his arms went around her waist pulling her to him once more.

“What now?” asked Earth.

“I love you.” said Rain softly.

Earth placed a hand on his cheek.

“I love you, too.”

Rain took hold of the hand on his cheek and brought it forward to plant a light kiss on it.

“You’d think the rules would at least allow us to kiss properly!” grumbled Earth, half jokingly.

“I could give you a quick peck. That doesn’t seem to do any harm.” grinned Rain.

“I wouldn’t allow that.”

“Why? I thought you wanted to be kissed.”

“I do. But not so briefly. If you kissed me now, I would never let it end.”

Rain buried his face in her hair, sighing with contentment. “Who would have thought? My girlfriend, a dominatrix.”

Earth gave him another soft blow on the chest. “Who would have thought? My boyfriend, a desperado.”

Rain laughed. “Truce!”

“Accepted.”

Earth led Rain by the hand to the very rock on which she had sat when first confessing her feelings to him.

“Please remove all your …”

“Already?!” interrupted Rain mischievously.

“Please let me finish! All your personal grooming items from your belt!”

Rain pulled out his shaving cream, blade, mirror, scissors and hair brush. Then he settled down while Earth went about shaving his face.

Once the beard and moustache were done away with, Earth proceeded to give Rain a new haircut.

“There! Now don’t you look dapper!”

Rain admired his reflection in the mirror Earth was holding up for him.

“This is great! Now you’ll give me a bath?” he asked eagerly.

“You’re not serious?!”

“Hey, you agreed to the deal.”

“Come on, Rain. Have mercy. I’m human too!”

Rain stood up and stretched. “Okay … if you put it that way…”

Earth rolled her eyes and bent down to clean up the mess around him. She turned around to find his pants lying discarded next to her. Oh well, she shrugged, at least he still had on his boxers.

Just then, the boxers came flying towards her and landed on top of the pants. Earth stared at the little garment that could cause so much trouble when it was off.

She heard Rain chuckle softly behind her, and a furious blush crept up her cheeks.

She waited until she heard the water splash, signaling his descent into the stream, keeping her eyes firmly lowered until then.

“Do you need these washed?” she asked, without looking up. 

“If you don’t mind.” said Rain, wading into the stream.

“I’ll do it. You’ll need some fresh clothes too, I presume?”

“Yeah. You’ll find them in my backpack.”

“I’ll get them.” said Earth, getting up and almost running away from the scene.

Ten minutes later, Angel and Heart came jogging towards the stream, holding Rain’s clothes and a fresh towel undoubtedly pulled out of Angel’s belt.

“Rain! You’re back, buddy!” boomed Angel happily.

“Brother Rain! I came as soon as Earth told me you were here!”

Rain frowned.

“What the hell are you two doing here?” he craned his neck to see behind Angel and Heart. “Where’s Earth?”

“She told us you needed some fresh clothes, so we brought them for you.” said Angel.

“Well, I appreciate it. Just leave them on the rock there.”

Angel kept the clothes on the rock, and then he and Heart sat down on the bank of the stream, facing Rain.

“Do you mind?!” said Rain, looking incredulously at the two smiling faces.

“What? It’s nothing I haven’t seen before.” said Angel.

“Yes, brother Rain. I cannot wait to hear how you fared in your last Quest. You simply must tell me!”

Rain let out an irritated huff and looked skywards. A huge cloud came to a halt directly above Angel and Heart and they jumped to their feet.

“We understand if you would like to talk about it later.” said Heart, hastily.

“Jeez! You could have just said you needed some privacy.” grumbled Angel.

The two of them headed back towards the camp.

Rain waited until they were some distance away, and then let the cloud open up above them. He watched the two of them cover their heads with their hands and beat a hasty retreat.

“That’s for coming here in place of Earth.” he muttered to himself.

*****

“Did you have a good night’s sleep?” asked Angel, looking pointedly at Rain. He had electric blue streaks running through his hair. Beside him sat Rainbow, her hair streaked similarly.

“For the part that I did sleep, the best!” said Rain with a wink.

“We thought the two of you were never going to stop whispering to each other.” said Rainbow.

“Happens.” said Rain, with a shrug.

“And did you have a filling breakfast?” asked Earth, taking the empty bowl out of Rain’s hands.

“That wasn’t a filling breakfast. That was a killing breakfast! I thought you would never stop feeding me!”

“A young man needs his strength.” giggled Earth, coming to sit next to him.

“What are you doing?!” said Rain indignantly.

Earth froze halfway between sitting down and standing. “What’s wrong?”

Rain lifted her up and sat her down on his lap. “This is where you’re supposed to sit, always!”

“Rain … leggo!” said Earth, futilely trying to break free of his grasp. “Rain, they’re all
looking
!” she hissed in his ear.

“Yes. At my future wife.” nodded Rain.

Earth gave up. “Rain, you’re impossible.”

“No, no. I’m very possible. You should try me.” insisted Rain.

Heart laughed. “Glad to see you haven’t changed, brother Rain.” said Heart.

He was sitting across from Rain, with Destiny’s head on his lap, stroking a hand through her hair.

Rain looked up and smiled. “Where’s Subodh? I haven’t seen him since yesterday.”

“He left about a month ago. Said his work here was done and he needed to move on. He asked us if we would like to join him, but we preferred to stay. So he went off alone.”

Rain turned to Rainbow. “Catch anymore Rainbows?”

“Naah. My total haul is four rainbows. At least I know what to do with them now.”

“How did you find out?”

“When Angel and I discovered the hidden meaning behind our core names, it happened then. I just knew.”

“What can you do with a rainbow?”

“Control it.” said Rainbow, with a shrug of her shoulders.

“Er … okay.” said Rain, exchanging an amused glance with Earth. Rainbow would just be Rainbow.

The sound of a large crash echoed through the air and everyone jumped to their feet.

“What was that?”  asked Rainbow.

“Sshh …” said Rain, holding a finger to his lips, his ears pricked for anything more.

“Can you hear that?” he whispered to Earth.

Earth nodded. “What do you think that weird sound is?”

They could hear snaps, crackles and hisses.

“It seems to be getting closer.” said Rain.

There was the sound of another crash.

“Trees! Falling!” exclaimed Earth.

“Let’s stand closer, everybody.” ordered Rain.

They all collected at the centre of the field, Rain at their forefront and Angel and Heart flanking him on each side in the shape of a ‘V’. The girls were pushed into the inside of this protective formation.

Rain listened keenly to the alien sounds.