A Series of Aru Shah Oneshots

Love and War - Part 1

 A/N Requested by @Wildchild_0730 . This takes place  around the time of book 5. I'm too lazy to make the beginning better, so we'll just pretend it's as good as everything else. I spent a fair bit of time on this, so I hope you all like it! There is a part 2, let me know if you want to see it! 

TW // Death, blood

Aru raised Vajra but she knew it was too late.

The demon's sword stabbed her.

The pain was indescribable. Every time she tried to breathe her lungs wouldn't cooperate. Her mouth worked wordlessly. For once, nothing came to her to say.

The demon advanced, a satisfied grin on his face. He knew she had no hope left.

And then a familiar scimitar skewered him from behind.

The demon looked down at himself, surprised, and fell backwards onto the blade.

Aiden Acharya shoved him forwards, retrieving his scimitar. His hair was mussed and his clothes torn. He looked briefly victorious until his eyes met Aru's and promptly widened in horror.

Aru smiled weakly at him and collapsed.

"No, no, no," Aiden said. His face hovered over hers but it became more blurred by the second. "You're not dying on me, Shah. Don't you dare."

Aru gripped his hand, hard, as if he could anchor her to the world, and managed to speak. "This was going to happen anyway. Arjuna was fated to die on the battlefield."

"You're not him! You're Aru Shah. My Shah." Tears swam in his dark eyes.

The world was fading in and out for Aru. Dimly she could hear the sounds of battle, but it might have been on another world. She was heading for one now.

"Aiden, I..." She was overcome by a fit of coughing.

"Don't talk," Aiden whispered. "Save your energy."

"Too late," Aru rasped, her voice barely above a murmur. Something warm trickled from her mouth. "Goodbye, Aiden. I'll see you in the next life."

"Goodbye, Shah." Aiden hesitated, squeezing his eyes shut, and then opened them again. A tear dripped down his cheek and landed on hers.

Their gazes locked. She thought she heard him say, I love you. But her mind was detaching from the earth and flying skyward.

In Aiden's dark eyes she saw the whole of the shifting universe, clouded with galaxies and dreams and nightmares. For a moment she saw one star shine brighter than the rest. And then, as it faded from view, she followed.

- - -

A war was going on around them but all Aiden could focus on Aru.

"Stay with me, Shah...I love you." The words slipped out before he could stop them. "I love you," he repeated softly.

Her eyes met his but the light inside them was fading, and then, like a star blinking out of existence, gone. Her chest stilled.

Something rose in Aiden's chest but lodged in his throat. "Shah," he choked. "Don't leave me. Wake up. Wake up!"

Aru's face was still, cold, expressionless. Utterly nothing like she had been in life. So she really was...

"Dead," Aiden whispered. "Dead. She's dead and it's all your fault!"

He was screaming the last words but they were lost in the sounds of war. Aiden felt that if someone had tried to engage him in combat at that moment, he would lose complete control.

Memories surfaced in his mind. Aru's face spun in his mind--half-smile, half-smirk, warm mischievous brown eyes, laughing at a joke no one else seemed to hear.

Arjuna was fated to die on the battlefield. But he was saved...by Uloopi. By love.

Aiden gripped Aru's hand tightly, willing her to come back to life. And suddenly, inexplicably, their minds seemed to meld.

Aiden was looking Aru's memories from her perspective. He watched as Krithika Shah went on yet another business trip after saying an absent goodbye to her daughter. He watched her light the lamp and felt the nauseating, crushing guilt as she realized what she'd done. He saw her going through her family photo albums, desperately searching for a picture of the father she'd never known. He saw her face crumbling as she saw the Sleeper fail in his journey to save himself from his destiny, and saw her grief as she faced him in Aranyani's grove.

There's more to come back to, Aiden thought, hoping desperately that she could hear him. There's more than misery here. You have us. We need you. I need you. Please, Shah. Come back for us. Come back for me.

There was a sensation of being and nonexistence and something pulling--and then Aiden's eyes shot open.

The battle still raged around them. But the only thing Aiden cared about was that Aru was looking back at him, eyes wide.

They stared at each other for a few seconds. Aru opened her mouth, shut it, and opened it again. "Wasn't I just..." she started.

"Did I just..." he said at the same time.

They looked at each other again, and then both started laughing.

Aiden wiped away a tear. "Did that really happen? Are you really here?"

Aru felt along her side, where the wound had closed. "Looks like it." Her smile was as bright as the sun.

Aiden engulfed her in a bear hug, not caring that her blood was soaking into his hoodie. "Never, ever scare me like that again, Shah."

"How did you even save me?"

Aiden pulled back and smiled awkwardly. "Uh, well, you were right about Arjuna being supposed to die on the battlefield. But you forgot about the one who rescued him."

Understanding dawned in Aru's eyes. "Queen Uloopi. She used..."

"Her love," Aiden finished. He looked down, embarrassed.

Aru blushed. "Wait. So you love me or you like like--"

Aiden's face felt like it was on fire. "Yes, I like like you. Sorry. I know you don't--" he rambled.

Aru held up a hand. "As much as I'd like to continue this conversation about whatever-we-are, we've got a war to win. So let's save it for later."

"Right!" Aiden was glad for a change in subject. He helped her to her feet.

Aru opened her hand and Vajra came skidding back to her palm. There was that old determined glint in her eye that he loved. "Ready?"

Aiden drew his scimitars and held them out. "Light 'em up, Shah."