đź’” The Contract Groom
The battlefield had descended into madness.
Rain.
Gunfire.
Screams.
Broken vehicles burning beneath the storm.
The transformed operatives no longer obeyed anyone.
Not the Circle.
Not Professor Veer.
Not even survival instinct.
One attacked blindly through bullets.
Another tore at his own skin while screaming violently.
The unstable serum had completely corrupted their minds.
But Aryan noticed none of it.
Because his eyes remained locked on the figure standing near the dark forest road.
Silent.
Still.
Watching him.
Lightning flashed across the stormy night.
For a fraction of a second—
the silver pendant around the stranger's neck became visible again.
And another memory exploded inside his mind.
A small girl laughing while running through a garden.
Tiny hands holding his tightly.
Two matching pendants swinging under sunlight.
"Promise we'll never separate."
His breathing became uneven.
Impossible.
That girl was supposed to be dead.
"Aryan!" Sasmita shouted from behind cover.
But he barely heard her.
The figure slowly stepped backward into the darkness.
As if inviting him to follow.
And without realizing it—
Aryan moved.
Ravan saw instantly.
"No!"
But Aryan was already walking toward the forest road.
Past the burning vehicles.
Past the chaos.
Past the war itself.
Professor Veer noticed too.
And for the first time tonight—
genuine shock crossed his face.
"…She survived?"
Sriyansh looked sharply toward him.
"Who?"
Veer remained silent.
But his expression had already revealed enough.
This mattered.
A lot.
Sasmita immediately ran after Aryan through the rain.
"Wait!"
But Aryan kept moving forward like someone trapped inside a memory.
The figure disappeared deeper between the trees.
Only flashes of black clothing visible through lightning.
Then suddenly—
another memory returned fully.
A hidden underground room.
A little girl sitting beside him while both solved puzzles on a digital screen.
Scientists observing through glass.
One of them whispering—
"Subject Two responds emotionally only to Aryan."
Subject Two.
Aryan stopped walking instantly.
No…
The realization hit like ice through his veins.
That girl—
was part of the project too.
Behind him, Sasmita finally reached him and grabbed his arm.
"What's happening?"
Aryan looked toward the forest silently.
Eyes filled with disbelief.
"There was another child."
Thunder cracked violently overhead.
Sasmita frowned.
"What?"
Before Aryan could answer—
a soft voice suddenly echoed from the darkness ahead.
"You remembered."
Both froze instantly.
The figure stepped slowly out from between the trees.
A young woman.
Long rain-soaked black hair.
Sharp eyes.
Cold calm expression.
And around her neck—
the silver pendant glowed faintly beneath lightning.
Aryan stared at her silently.
Because despite the years—
he recognized her immediately.
"…Mira."
The girl smiled faintly.
Not warmly.
Almost sadly.
"You're late, Aryan."
Sasmita's instincts screamed instantly.
Something about this woman felt dangerous.
Too calm.
Too controlled.
Then she noticed the scars near Mira's wrist.
Injection marks.
Old ones.
Project Aryan.
Aryan stepped closer slowly.
Still unable to fully process reality.
"I thought you died."
Mira looked at him quietly for a few seconds.
Rain sliding down her face.
"I almost did."
Another painful silence followed.
Behind them, distant gunfire still echoed near the road.
But here—
inside the dark forest—
everything felt strangely isolated.
Like the world itself had paused.
Sasmita moved slightly closer to Aryan protectively.
"Who is she exactly?"
Mira's eyes shifted toward Sasmita instantly.
Sharp.
Observant.
"The Black Cat."
Sasmita's body stiffened.
"You know me?"
"I know about everyone connected to Aryan."
Her answer came calmly.
Too calmly.
Aryan looked confused now.
"How are you alive?"
Mira's expression darkened slightly.
"Because they couldn't control me."
Another memory surfaced.
Young Mira screaming while scientists restrained her.
Machines malfunctioning around her.
Lights exploding.
A scientist shouting—
"Her emotional response is destabilizing the system!"
Aryan's chest tightened.
"What did they do to you?"
For the first time—
emotion appeared in Mira's eyes.
Pain.
"The same thing they did to you."
Lightning flashed again.
"But unlike you…"
A faint pause.
"…I remembered everything."
Those words changed everything instantly.
Aryan stared at her silently.
Because if Mira remembered all these years—
then she knew truths even he didn't.
Back near the battlefield—
Professor Veer suddenly looked disturbed.
"We need to leave," he said sharply.
Nandu noticed immediately.
"Afraid of her?"
Veer's jaw tightened slightly.
"She was never stable."
Sriyansh frowned.
"What does that mean?"
Veer looked toward the forest darkly.
"It means if Mira joins Aryan…"
A pause.
"…the Circle loses control completely."
And deep inside the storm-covered forest—
the two surviving children of Project Aryan finally stood face to face again after years of separation.