Chapter Text
“Cold”. This was the first thought that went through Aru’s head. The second was “Did Mom seriously take my blanket to wake me up again?”
“Mooooom, I told you” said Aru, stretching with her eyes still closed, “I’ll be up in a-” Aru opened her eyes “-minute…?”
Stars. Space. She was floating in the void of space. Only, it couldn’t be space, because then Aru would be dead.
“What in the frickin’ world?” Aru said. She was so confused. She was in space, or, not-space, in her Iron Man pajamas. This made no sense. Not in the slightest. “Maybe this is a dream” she muttered, “Maybe one of Sheela’s dreams, she’s always thinking about weird stuff. Yeah, yeah, totally.”
Aru was slowly lowered to an invisible platform that glowed silver where she landed on it, the mystery material cool against her bare toes. Unsure what to do, she began walking across this endless starry void, looking for one of her soul sisters.
“Mini!” she called, “Brynne! Sheela, Nikita!” No responses, just cold, endless silence.
“This is really freaking me out,” Aru thought. She stopped walking, holding her position in this endless void, trying to find any landmark, but… there was just nothing.
“This is the end” a void whispered in Aru’s head, jolting her.
“W-what?” she said, whipping her head around.
“This is all that will be left in the end” the voice whispered again, “because you will fail, you all will fail.”
“Hey!” Aru shouted, “Whoever you are, that’s rude! Also, you haven’t even met us! My sisters and I can beat anything.”
The voice giggled, and Aru could feel it sink deeper into her mind. “Oh, little Pandava sister” it said, “You but not your sisters. Who are you without them?” Images of past doubt swirled in her mind, scenes of the past. “The daughter of a monster” a flash of her biological father, the Sleeper, “who let her father die” him dying in front of her at Kara’s hand.
“A failure of a student” her standing over Boo before he flew away “who got her mentor killed” the single pigeon feather that lies on her nightstand.
“The only sister” a flash of the other Pandavas, standing at the gate of the labyrinth that held the nectar, “left behind” her leaving in the taxi, leaving them to fight and die by themselves.
“Shut up” Aru muttered, bringing up her hands to cover her ears “shut up, shut up, shut up, that isn’t true.”
“It’s it?” the voice whispered just a bit louder, “Or are you just a liar?”
“No,” said Aru, “not anymore.”
“Just how sure are you?” the voice questioned, and that’s when Aru had enough.
“I told you to shut up,” said Aru, “and clearly, you don’t know me or my sisters. Yes I’ve made mistakes-” she winces as the mental image of Boo, “-but that doesn’t make me a bad Pandava or a failure, it just means I’m learning.”
“And what makes you so sure?” the voice asked, but it didn’t seem malicious, it seemed… curious.
“Because the people I care about told me,” said Aru, a small smile forming on her face, “and who am I to ignore what they have to say? They're a lot smarter than me in that respect.”
Silence, from the voice, then “That is a good answer” is says, and then it seems to take a breath, a wooshing sound filling Aru’s ears, before-
“It’s nice to meet you, Arudahati Shah.”
Aru jumps and turns around. Behind her stands a tall, pale woman with flowing black hair and glowing skin. She wears a simple white dress and when Aru looks to her face, her head is tilted to the side a bit with a small smile on her face.
“I believe I am supposed to apologize for my initial introduction” she said, closing her pale blue eyes and giving her head a small shake, “I did not mean to cause harm, I just had to be sure your will is as strong as they said it was.”
“Y-yeah” said Aru, staring at her while thinking “holy heck she’s pretty” before shaking herself, “Not the time Shah!”
“Why are you here?” she asked, taking a step forward.
The smile leaves the woman’s face, and she looks at Aru with mild pain. “Because I need your help” she murmurs, “we all do.”
“Who is “we”?” Aru questions, “Who are you?”
The woman smiles. “You will find out soon enough” she says, “But before then, you will have a mission.”
“The Potatoes can handle anything” Aru guarantees, but the woman shakes her head again.
“You but not you sisters” she repeated, “this mission will require you to go without them.”
Aru felt her face fall. Without her sisters? She knew she was strong without them, but a mission? Alone?
As if sensing Aru’s thoughts, the woman shakes her head. “Not alone” she says, “you will have help.”
“Help from who?” Aru asks, and the woman’s original smile returns to her face.
“That” she says, giving a wave of her hand, “Is for you to find out.”
The moment she waves her hand, Aru is thrust through the floor, shooting down through space. As she does, images fill her eyes almost faster than she can comprehend them.
The first-
-A boy with black hair, white streak cutting through in the front. His sea green eyes shimmer as he gazes at a girl with blonde hair, his bright orange t-shirt covered by the dark blue hooded jacket-
-the second-
-a girl with dark black eyes and hair in a braid, a warm tan on her skin. She wears a dark purple t-shirt and a red scarf. She sits with many other girls around a campfire, laughing as stories are shared-
-the third-
-a boy with dirty blonde hair parted down the middle. His skin is almost as pale as his gray eyes, he holds a gold sword and yells a loud war cry as he runs into battle-
-the fourth-
-a pair of children stand side by side. Even though they look nothing alike, they are siblings. The older is a boy with tan and dark brown hair and eyes, in his hands a sword and a metallic staff. The younger is a girl with blonde hair that looks like caramel flowing over her shoulders as a purple streak cuts through the front. Her skin is pale and she holds a tall, white staff, colorful energy pouring out as she whispers words of power-
-the fifth-
-a young asian girl holds a flute to her mouth, warm skin tone and brown eyes complimenting her black hair. She wears it in a low bun, the music from her instrument bringing joy to the younger girl that listens to it-
-the sixth-
-a girl with dark skin, brown eyes, and a long black braid. A crescent shaped scar rests on the back of neck, and another scar shaped like a snake on her upper arm. She lays on the ground, gazing up with confusion at the moonless sky-
-the seventh-
-a boy with dark brown hair and eyes, a limp in his step as he uses a silver cane to walk. His skin tone is warm, and a fiery aura surrounds him, like he’s just waiting to burn. A man walks beside him, telling him something that clearly upsets him-
-the eighth-
-a girl with brown hair and blue eyes, a golden rope tied to her hip. She wears large red boots that she kicks nervously as an only woman speaks to her soft tones-
-the ninth, the last “how do I know that”-
-a skinny boy with brown hair and dark eyes unties an apron from around his waist, waving as the last few customers leave. As he rests he gazes at a pale scar across his palm, accentuated by his olive complexion. He turns his gaze to look out the window, up at the sky, almost like he can tell something is wrong-
-“Here is your first hint” the woman’s voice whispers-
-“Our only companions were once the stars, we could only look on from afar.”
Aru blacks out, then wakes up.
-
Aru wakes up with a gasp, launching herself upright and clutching a hand to her chest, breathing heavily. It feels impossible to get any air into her lungs.
“Aru?!” came her mom's voice. Dr. Krithika Shah burst through the door, worry evident on her face, “I heard you scream, what happened?”
Aru can’t answer. She takes a glance at her mom’s face, then does the only reasonable thing.
She turns over and throws up on the floor.