Chapter Text
As he drifted through the void of the ghost zone, Danny clutched his abdomen. The world around him seemed indistinct. The reveal of his identity to his parents had ended spectacularly badly, which he should’ve expected; it was par for the course after all. Instead, he had ended up strapped to a table in his parents' lab, but luckily, Jazz had come home early from her classes and patched him up enough to escape through the portal. As Danny floated there waiting for the second half of his death, he heard a voice.
“My dearest child, what did they do to you?” A strange ghost entered his view; she was blue and dressed in what appeared to be some sort of sari. “This was not what was meant to happen Little Ghost. It is not yet time for you to leave, I will send you to a friend.” while she spoke, Danny’s vision faded.
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Arjun peered down at the strange boy. The boy was covered in blood and was wearing unusual clothing. To make things stranger, Arjun had just passed this spot a short time ago, having seen nothing, only to double back due to having forgotten something. discovering the boy instead, Arjun decided to take the strange boy with him.
Arjun carried the boy back to the city.
As Arjun passed through the gate into the city, a few people gave him and the boy some strange looks. “Arjun! What do you have there?” Balram called out to him.
“I found a boy, he seems injured” he called back
“Are you certain he’s still alive? He looks stiff as a board.”
“He’s breathing is he not, besides I need practice treating wounds if I am to be a physician."
“Fair enough, but Sora will not be happy if you get blood everywhere again.”
“It sounds like you are offering to help me carry him Balram.”
“I suppose i could if you could convince Sora to make some kheer” He said, relentingly moving to take the boy from Arjun.
“I think I could arrange that” the men continued down the road laughing.
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Setting down the boy on the mat, he sent Balram away and moved to look for the jamansi and honey. He then set a pot on the stove to boil water. He then moved to check the boy’s wounds, finding them much worse than expected. It was surprising that the boy was even still alive; it was likely due to the somewhat meager attempt to patch the wound.
The wound ran the entire length of his chest and had three lines intersecting beneath his sternum, one crossing his stomach and two starting at his shoulders. There were also several clean cuts through a couple of his ribs. The wound resembled a torture technique that Arjun had heard of in his youth from a northern country. The size of the wound was astonishing, considering the boy was still alive, he should have lost way more blood than he seemingly had.
While the water cooled, he gave the boy some tea made from the jamansi, hoping the anesthetic would keep the boy unconscious. Once the water was cooled, he dipped a cloth and cleaned the wounds. He then sterilized a needle to stitch the boy closed and put honey and a poultice on the stitches, and covered the wounds with wrappings.
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By the time Arjun had finished treating the wounds the sky was dark and he was exhausted. He left the room looking for sora.
Arjun found sora by the hearth sitting with his motherl, roasting some small birds and root vegetables, as he moved to rest beside her she spoke “I heard you brought home a project”
“I found a boy on the trail, it looks as if he were tortured by a northerner, its a wonder he has survived as long as he did”
“What will you do with him once he is healed?”
“I am not certain”
“theres nothing wrong with having the favor of Rama Kushna” They sat in silence for a beat “what is the boy’s condition”
“He is alive I can not say for sure If he will survive long”
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Arjun woke with a start. There was noise coming from the other room, Arjun crept out of bed grabbing a knife from the table. Moving closer to the doorway he stopped and listened for a beat and he heard a weak voice calling out “water” lowering the knife arjun walked in to find the boy having crawled several feet away from his resting place. Arjun lifted the boy back to his mat propping him up with several pillows.
“You should not be moving in your condition boy”
“Water …please”
Arjun not recognizing the language thought for a beat for what the boy could be asking for, he then moved to find the jimansi tea he had made earlier and brought it to the boy “Drink” he said gently. The boy stared blankly before drinking from the vessel, Arjun turned to return the vessel to the shelf but was stopped by the boy grabbing his sleeve.
“Please stay” the boy said.
Arjun freeing himself from the boy’s grasp set the vessel down and removed the pillows propping the boy up. He looked to the boys face and said “you must sleep, it is late”. Arjun left the room returning to Sora’s side in bed. As he lay there he listened to the noises in the house he could hear the boy’s sobbing mixed with the noises of the insects outside.
Arjun sat up looking to the door to the room where the boy was, listening to the him cry. He stood and grabbed a pillow and walked to the room setting down the pillow he sat leaning against the wall watching the boy. He realised that the sound of the boy had stopped, he had cried himself to sleep. Reaching out he brushed the boys dark hair away from his face noticing a streak of stark white hair that had been hidden by the rest of his hair. “What shall i do with you” he sighed.