Travelling Worlds to Save Us (A Karna-Arjun story)

Unfixable

Pov: Arjun from the world of darkness

Arjun spoke without pausing to draw breath as Madhav steered their chariot towards the battlefield, because he had to tell Madhav every bizarre thing that had happened last night. Madhav listened with an indulgent smile playing on his lips, exclaiming at the right moments.

"Also, Madhav--Takshak was saying something about sitting on Karna's arrow."

Krishna's eyes narrowed thoughtfully.

"You know, Madhav," said Arjun suddenly. "I just realized in both worlds the people, though massively different, are at least both present...Only you were absent from that world."

Krishna smiled. "That is because the world of light does not need a saviour."

*****************

"Madhav, is this war really necessary?"

"You know it is."

"But can't we--?"

"No, Parth. I thought I had managed to impress that upon you before the war began."

Arjun looked away.

"You know," said Krishna with a smile. "I discoursed upon the Gita to you with a great deal of hope. No mortal has ever been enlightened by it, but I thought you both needed it and were worthy of it. Not to mention the enormous amount of energy I spent repeating it to you."

His eyes twinkled. Arjun found himself grinning back.

"You having second thoughts at the end of the war defeats the purpose, really."

"Sorry," said Arjun. "I won't--I don't have second thoughts anymore. I will do what is required."

Madhav reached out to grasp his hand before the conches blew, indicating the start of battle that day.

Arjun was struck by how much he had missed his friend. He recalled the moment he had learnt that he was stuck in a world where Madhav did not exist. He remembered the emptiness he had felt--the black hollowness inside him.

I will not let him down, he resolved.

****************

But when the time finally came, when Karna's curses caught up with him--when the wheel of his chariot was stuck in the mud, indicating that the moment of his death was here--and when after having exchanged a barrage of celestial weapons, Arjun saw the opportunity, he hesitated.

"Parth," said Krishna. "Go for the kill now."

"Madhav--"

"You heard me!"

"Madhav, he is down from his chariot--let us wait for him to take the wheel out--"

"He is not weakened because his wheel is stuck," said Krishna in a commanding voice that told Arjun he meant business. "His wheel is stuck because his time has come. You are simply to carry out that part of destiny."

"I can't, Madhav, please."

"Parth," roared Madhav. "This is not the time to back out from a war you are an integral part of! You cannot win the war till the King of Anga is slain!"

"He's--he's my--"

"It does not matter he is your brother. He was part of your wife Draupadi's persecution. He was part of the unfair attack on your son Abhimanyu. He is your enemy side's most lethal weapon."

"He cut his armour and earrings from his body just to get to--just to get to his brother, Madhav," pleaded Arjun.

"That was not him."

"But it could have been," shouted Arjun desperately. "If Maa had not abandoned him, it could have been him!"

"Why did you return, Parth?" Krishna asked.

"R-return?"

"You could have stayed on in that world. The good world. The paradise. Where there was no war. Where you and your cousins were on good terms, where everyone was alive, Bhisma, Dronacharya...where you had five loving brothers. But you chose to return, Arjun. Why did you choose to return to this hell?"

Arjun fought tears as Madhav's gaze fixed on him, unforgiving, unmerciful.

"Because you know you cannot run from your duty. You do not want to run from your duty. You chose to return for your duty. SHOOT HIM NOW."

"No, Madhav," whispered Arjun. "I did not choose to return for my duty. You, of all people, should know exactly what I returned for." 

A sob escaped him as he raised his bow. 

"I will always prefer a world with you, Madhav. Even if it means war. Even if it means my--my son dying. Even if it means--" He shook with agony. "--even if it means killing my own brother, I will always prefer a world with you than any paradise.

"By returning to this world, if I am required to--if I am required to--"

Arjun's eyes met Karna's across the battlefield.

I am so sorry, he said.

I forgive you, Karna replied.

"--if I am required to do this, I will."

He let loose the anjalika weapon.

***************

Conches blew and triumph raged up and down the Pandava camp, but Arjun's screams were not of triumph, but of anguish tearing him apart.

His army could not tell the difference.

Raw joy and raw sorrow sounded much the same, anyway.

***************

Pov: Lord Krishna

Krishna put his firm arms around Arjun as he screamed.

Their army probably thought it was a hug of congratulations. They would not know their victorious warrior needed comfort.

"Parth," Madhav murmured.

"What did you make me do, Madhav?"

"What you had to. I already told you, did I not, Parth? Humans are the weapons to execute destiny."

"I hate your destiny."

Krishna thought back to all the devastation they had witnessed and all the devastation they were yet to witness. Abhimanyu's death and Arjun's agony stood out the vividest.

"I hate it, too," he said.

Every time Krishna had aided the running of a fearsome story of destiny, he feared Arjun would finally give up his trust in him, because every time destiny had only brought him anguish.

But every time, after destiny had played its cruel part, Madhav was the one Arjun turned to for comfort.

***************

Rubbing Arjun's back and mumbling how it was going to be all right, Krishna realized he had seen the exact same scene playing at dawn earlier today.

Whichever world be it, Arjun felt every emotion too strongly; the heights of joy were highest for him and the depths of sorrow deepest. In every universe, he needed a pair of arms to assuage him and keep him sane.

***************

What Karna was to Arjun in the world of light, Madhav was to Parth in the world of darkness.

***************

A/N: This story is officially over and it is difficult to quantify what it meant to me and how difficult it was to end it this way. But this was what felt right in the context.

Only the epilogue is left now.

Love, Neha.