Thief's Theme: A Love Story
Chapter Fourteen

Sharia is speechless at the sight before her. Inside she’s screaming at herself repeatedly in the most wicked of voices. ‘This can’t be real! This can’t be!’ Say the voices, loud in her head, thick with denial. Suddenly she gets paranoid and starts looking around to see what exactly is this white mass. ‘What’s in here?’ She wonders. As far as she can tell, it was nothingness, just…white. At this moment, the figure turns around and waves, speaking as he does.

“Hey.” Says Ji nonchalantly.

“Hey? I thought you were…” She rages initially before calming down and stepping forward to give him a big hug, wrapping her arms around him as tight as she can, intent on never letting go. Ji returns the hug as he somehow knows exactly what she thought about him due to her reaction to seeing him. He knows that normally she’d be happy to see him, but never this happy. Also her words from earlier tip him off. After what feels like an eternity, in a good way, Sharia finally pulls back from the hug a bit as she asks the question that’s nagging her mind. “Where are we?” Ji shrugs as he answers.

“A white hole.” He says. “Can’t be penetrated from the outside by…well anything. Matter can escape once it’s inside though. Think of like an anti-black hole.” He explains.

“Oh.” She says in comprehension. “Then how did I—?”

“Because I let you.” He answers with a smile, not at all bothered by her deeply distorted voice. She nods in understanding before she speaks once more.

“It’s so bleak, colorless.” She says softly, hinting something to her returned friend.

“Yeah.” He whispers back as he gets the clue and lets light in so they can see their surroundings, the scenic field that they always loved as kids.

“How?” She asks, but his shushes her, putting his finger to her mask.

“Your turn.” He says, causing her to nod and remove her mask and her robes. “There it is. The beautiful face I was missing all this time.” He finishes, causing her to blush.

“I missed you too, Ji.” She replies, finally using her normal voice.

“Ah, and the melodic voice too.” He says, teasing her. This causes her to smile as she finally has him back. Back from his adventures in outer space, back from death.

“You know Sharia, despite me being a thief…between the two of us, it’s you who’s stolen from me.” He begins softly. Sharia looks taken aback as she tries to think of what he could be talking about. She hates stealing. She’d never…she trails off and instead realizes he’s playing a game of sorts and decides to play along.

“Really? And what have I stolen from you, Ji?” She questions with a soft tone as well. Sᴇaʀch Thᴇ ꜰindNʘvel.ɴet website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

“Just one thing: my heart.” He replies with a smile. “And I want to do the same to you.” He says as he stops and thinks about it. “But not like that.” He corrects himself seeing as he’s an actual thief and his words can be misinterpreted. “I don’t want your actual heart, and I don’t to…steal it per say, but I want you to feel for me, like I do for you.” He explains as he grabs her hands and holds them to his lips. She blushes hard as she takes in his words, her heart jumping as she hears words that are like music to her ears. All of the numbness, all of the pain is gone and now it is replaced by only elation!

“Ohiji Olezuo.” She begins in a doting tone. “Of course I feel the same way. I always have I guess, I just never…”She trails off not knowing how to say it. His smile lets her know that she doesn’t have to.

“You know it’s supposed to rain today Shar.” He says suddenly, almost changing the subject. “But I stole the rain from the clouds, so we could have this moment in this perfect weather. Sharia looks at him, bewildered by such an action. Keeper Elite or not, stealing rain from the clouds just didn’t make sense. “Let me show you.” He says as he opens his right hand and the clouds suddenly get gray and rain showers come down. She looks up in awe, never having seen anything like this before first hand and wonders aloud as she looks around.

“Is this some kind of illusion?” She speaks under her breath? Apparently, Ji hears her though as he shakes his head and lets the rain through the white hole, as the water hits them both.

“Just say when.” He commands her. She nods as she thinks about everything for a while, how crazy it is to have Ji back and to finally see…what he does up close. It’s so amazing that she doesn’t even care about getting wet. Eager to test something, she speaks.

“When.” And it all stops immediately, the rain and the effect of the rain on her hair and her clothes, as she’s no longer wet.

“No matter how honored I am that you got wet for me, I did you a solid and took the rain back in totality, from the sky and from your body.” He explains, causing her to blush at the innuendo he purposely put in there. At the same time, she’s in awe of his…abilities. She didn’t know what to think when she heard that he’d stolen Las Vegas or Hawaii or China or Antarctica, or even when he stole all money and weapons from the planet. She just kind of assumed he’d performed a very intricate job of some sorts, and nothing really made sense to her even when they explained it. During her entire time in the Keeper’s organization, she always wondered how Ji qualified as something they would hunt, an aberration, an anomaly who broke the rules of reality. But now, after seeing that, she understands.

“Are you a god Ji? Or some kind of supernatural being? The things you do…they don’t make sense.” She asks out loud, causing Ji to shake his head.

“No, I’m just a thief Shar. And really good at it.” He explains. “Watch.” He commands as he points up to a cloud. “Look at that cloud.” He says. Sharia’s eyes follow as she does what he says. “Now blink.” He says. She does, and suddenly the cloud’s gone. “Now continue staring in that spot.” He instructs her. She nods and complies, staring hard as suddenly the cloud appears again. “Voila!” He says with a grin.

“That…that’s amazing.” She says, in awe.

“I am the Greatest Thief in the Universe, remember?” He reminds her with a cocky tone. “I can take or put back anything I want. I don’t believe in limits Shar, and have long stolen them from myself, so nothing is impossible.” He says as he looks down at her. “Especially with you by my side.” He all-but-whispers the last part, taking in her appearance as he basks in her presence, a presence he longed for the entire year he was gone. “The light of the sun pales in comparison to your beauty, to your brilliance, Sharia. And I’ll prove it.” He says softly as suddenly everything turns dark on the entire planet. Sharia is wowed by the display and touched by his words as she looks lovingly into Ji’s eyes, somehow still able to see him.

“Anything that I want is mine.” He explains. “Or yours should you request it.”

“And with all of this, you’ve never taken anything from me? Anything at all?” She asks, remembering his previous words and promise towards her. He shakes his head no.

“Death, pain, suffering, the ability to be harmed. Sadness, despair, maybe your own personal limits. These are the only things I’d ever take from you.” He describes in a low voice as she nods in understanding. “But I haven’t. Not until you say when.” He whispers as he gets close, within millimeters of her lips. Sharia closes her eyes and leans in when BANG! Suddenly lightning hits, descending from the heavens themselves as both are hit. Ji is fine, unharmed from the attack as he stole his own mortality from himself long ago, but Sharia is not. Despite being a Keeper Elite and immune to most forms of damage, she still hurt from the lightning attack, and badly at that. Ji’s mind is numb as he tries to think on what could’ve happened. ‘We were in a white hole! Nothing can penetrate that! Only the gods themselves…’ His thoughts trail off as he realizes what’s happened. Like the Keepers before them, the gods were after him. ‘If they want me, then they’ll get me.’ He thinks as he cradles Sharia in his arms, worried about her health. In an instant, a beam of light shoots down from the sky and brings Ji to the heavens themselves, with Sharia in his arms.

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