From all sides, bullets roared—
The ground was soaked in a flood of red. Cries cut through the air, some silenced, some never ending. People ran, stumbled, fell, mothers protected their children. And bodies fell like broken hopes.

Noors breath tore as she reached the entrance of Jallianwala Bagh, tears endlessly flowing from her eyes. She stood at the entrance , the same one her father once pointed at, "yaha log sapne sajate hai, Noor"

[People come here to dream for a future]

But, today there were no dreams

Just bodies.

Just blood.

Each telling the tale of loss — A crimson flood.

Britishers left, but the bullets still echoed through the high brick walls. There was no escape— gates had been sealed. Men, women, unarmed, unaware, lay scattered like fallen leaves, except these leaves bleed.

Noor stumbled forward, her eyes wide and heart pounding in her chest.

"Babaa!" She screamed "Babaa!!" Even louder this time.

And then she saw it —
the well.

The same well that once quenched the thirst of weary farmers, now overflowed with bodies. Dozens of people had jumped in, desperate to escape the bullets raining down from General Dyer's rifles. Mothers had leapt clutching their babies, hoping for water instead of death, only to meet the same fate.

Noor ran toward it, horror seizing her limbs.

"Baba!" she cried again, her voice raw. She looked into the crowd -- bloodied, broken, motionless, scanning every face, every form, for one she loved most.

She slipped in the mud... no, not mud. Blood.
The ground was slick with it. Her hands were stained. Her dupatta, soaked. Her anklet snapped as she fell, but she didn't care.

"Baba!"

Her voice cracked, drowned beneath the chaos.

A man ran past her, shot in the back.
Another fell right beside her, his eyes still open.

She could barely breathe.

Where was he?

Where was her father?

She turned and saw the wall, riddled with bullet holes. Dozens had been shot while trying to climb over it. Their fingers still gripped the bricks.

She clutched her chest, tears mixing with sweat and dust and fear. Arthur's voice echoed somewhere far behind her, calling her name.

But Noor wasn't Noor anymore.

She was grief.
She was fury.
She was a scream caught in a silent throat.

Noor stumbled forward, half-crawling now through the maze of bodies.

"Baba..."

The ground tilted. Her limbs trembled. She pushed past bloodied turbans, torn shawls, shattered bangles. The smell of burnt gunpowder clung to the air like a curse.

And then—

A hand.

Trembling, weak, fingers twitching.

Her eyes locked onto it.

"Baba!" she gasped, crawling toward the crumpled figure lying just beyond the well's shadow.

There he was.

Dev Durgwati.

His white kurta soaked in red. His turban gone. Chest rising and falling barely like a flame flickering against a storm.

Noor dropped to her knees beside him, cupping his face with shaking hands.

"Baba! Baba, aankhein kholo!"

[Babaa! Open your eyes!]

His eyelids fluttered. Slowly. Painfully.

"Noor..." His voice was a whisper, wind in dry leaves. A trace of a smile touched his lips. "Meri Noor... tu theek hai?"

[Noor... my Noor are you alright?]

She nodded through her tears, pressing her forehead to his.

"Main theek hoon, main yahan hoon... aap kuch mat boliye... sab theek ho jayega..."

[I'm fine, I'm here please don't say anything... everything will be fine]

But even as she said it, she knew it was a lie.

He lifted a trembling hand and placed it over hers. His fingers were cold, sticky with blood.

"Tujhme... himmat hai," he murmured. "Tere andar poori roshni hai... duniya andheri lag rahi hai par tu roshni banegi, Noor... vaada kar..."

[You have all the strength, all the light within you... the world may look dark but you... you will be the light. Promise me...]

Her throat clenched. "Baba, bas chup rahiye... main maa ko— main madad laati hoon— aakien khole rakhiye abhi hume ghar bhi jana hai."

[Please stay quiet, I'll call maa, I'll get help]

"Ruk ja," he whispered. "Yeh waqt hai... kehne ka..."

[Wait, its time to speak...]

She held his hand tighter. "Kya kehna hai, Baba?"

[What do you want to say baba?]

His eyes met hers — filled with love, with pride, and that quiet knowing only the dying carry.

"Ghar? Mere liye ghar toh ek azad Hindusthan mein hoga Noor. 
Pinjre me band parinda udhna bhul sakta hai... lekin aasman kabhi nhi bhulta voh uska hai... Azaadi ke liye ladna... darrna nahi... kabhi nahi..."

[Home? My home can only be in a free Hindusthan. A bird in a cage may forget how to fly, but the sky never forgets it belongs there... you have to fight for freedom Noor... don't be scared... ever]

And then...

The light in his eyes flickered.

His hand loosened.

Noor froze.

A moment passed.

Then another.

"Baba?" she whispered, shaking him. "Baba...?"

The sun beat down. The guns had stopped.
But in Noor's world, everything still roared.

She collapsed over him, sobs tearing from her throat. Her father — her hero, her anchor was gone.
"Noor!"

A voice.

Arthur.

He ran into the clearing, panting, his boots splashing through puddles of blood and trampled shoes. He stopped when he saw her — a girl cloaked in grief, kneeling in a red-soaked kurti beside a fallen man.

And when he recognized the body...

His heart dropped.

Dev Durgwati.

Arthur stepped forward. Quiet. Careful. Like the moment might shatter if he moved too fast.

He dropped to his knees beside her.

Noor didn't turn.

Didn't blink.

Her face was blank, her lips parted slightly, blood staining her cheek. Her hands were still holding her father's, unwilling to let go even now.

Arthur looked at her... really looked.

The light in her eyes was gone.

He wanted to say something. Anything.

But what did you say to a girl who had just watched the sky fall?

Then—

"NOOR!"

A sharp cry tore through the broken air.

Parvati.

Her eyes found Dev in a heartbeat. Her world stopped.

She collapsed beside him with a choked gasp, her palms pressing against his chest like she could summon back the heartbeat. "Dev... Dev! Utho!" she cried, her voice crumbling. "Tumne kaha tha jaldi lautoge... tumne kaha tha..."

[Dev! Dev... wake up you said you'll come back early.]

The silence roared louder than any gunfire.

Tears streamed down her face, mixing with the blood and dust on her cheeks. She bent over his chest, sobbing now, her forehead against his ribs, as if trying to wake him with the weight of her grief.

"Dev... mujhe akele kaise chhod gaye...?"
"Tum toh kehte the, Noor ke bina reh nahi sakte... ab usi ko akela chhod diya, Dev?"  Her voice cracked open like dry earth. "Kaise... kaise kar liya tumne yeh sab? Kaise so gaye itni aasani se... jab mujhe toh abhi jeena bhi nahi aata bina tumhare..."

[Dev! How Can you leave me alone? You can't you can't live without Noor, how did you leave her? How can you go so easily when I don't even know how to live without you!]

Her hands fisted into his kurta, pulling him toward her, like if she held on tight enough, he would come back. Her bangles clinked against his still body, and the sound felt too alive for this moment—too cruel.

She turned to Noor, panic wild in her eyes. "Noor, kuch toh bolo! Tumne dekha na, woh—woh theek toh honge na?"

[Noor! Say something you saw right? He will be fine right?]

Noor didn't answer.

She simply leaned into her mother's arms like a doll no longer capable of holding herself up.

Parvati clutched her tight, rocking her back and forth as if they were back in some quiet kitchen, and this was just a nightmare.

"Hum yaha nhi reh sakte" Parvati whispered, half to herself. "Yeh jagah... yeh jagah zeher ban gayi hai."

[We can't stay here! This place has become posion]

She rose, dragging Noor to her feet, though Noor's legs barely moving

And just like that, they left, stumbling through the chaos, a mother dragging a daughter who had lost the one thing anchoring her to the world.

Arthur remained behind.

Alone.

He was one of them... at least by blood. And yet, standing here, he had never felt more foreign to his own name."

He looked down at Dev Durgwati one last time, eyes heavy with guilt, loss, and something deeper, something he couldn't name.That's when he saw it.
A single payal, half-buried in the dirt, stained with ash and blood.

Noor's.

He picked it up gently, rubbing the dirt off with his thumb. The tiny silver bells gave a faint, tragic chime.

Arthur closed his fist around it, pressing it to his heart

He closed his eyes.

Then whispered one final promise into the dusk.

I will always be here, Noor... chahe tum mujhe kabhi wapas na dekho."

[I'll always be here Noor, even if you never look back at me...]
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