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

Frantic

Pov: Karna from the world of light

In the gloom, the forest stretched out, unending, in all four directions.

Whichever direction Karna took a step towards, he immediately felt he was going opposite. Even assuming Arjun was in this timeline, which he had to believe in, he could be anywhere.

He had come to 'fix' things. Karna wished he had bothered to ask him yesterday night how he had meant to fix things. It might have given him an idea, at least, about where he would have headed.

Would he venture into the Pandava camp, knowing there was another Arjun there?

Would he venture into the Kaurava camp, knowing everyone hated him there? Would he even be safe there?

Look at the way the Pandava camp had viewed Karna. He would not put it past Bheem to have hit him for intruding into their camp. Would Duryodhan--?

Karna pushed the terrifying thought away and headed for the direction he believed to house the Kaurava camp.

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

Arjun's charioteer in this world, whom Arjun had called Madhav, appeared beside him out of thin air. Karna supposed he had not truly appeared out of thin air, but that was what his frenzied eyes showed him.

"King of Anga, have you spoken to Arjun?"

The question was more than a little startling from the way Yudhishthir and the others had spoken to him earlier.

"Why would I speak to Arjun?" asked Karna.

"He was going to meet you," said Madhav. "Or at least, he claimed so."

The gloom all around instantly lightened around Karna. 

Madhav's Arjun would never claim he wanted to meet him--only his Arjun would. Which meant he was here, in this timeline--

Trying to fix things by trying to reason with Karna of this universe--which would, of course, be futile--and may end up getting him hurt.

"Shocking," Karna told Madhav. "Where did he head?"

"I am not very sure," said Madhav unhelpfully. "In fact, why he would want to speak to you at all is a mystery. Do you have any possible suggestion?"

"N-none."

"Tomorrow, you will be fighting my friend to kill." Madhav looked into his eyes intently. 

Karna tried to keep his expression neutral.

"And today he wishes to talk to you?"

"I have no explanation to that," said Karna in the cold sort of voice he expected he would use on his arch-rival's charioteer during war. Though he had a feeling that this person was a lot more than just a charioteer. "Why don't you ask him?"

"I would, if I could find him."

"He is competent enough to protect himself." Karna spoke out loud, possibly to convince himself. "He will be all right."

"Tomorrow, too?" Madhav grinned with a hint of amusement.

"I suppose so," said Karna stiffly.

"You accept defeat so easily, King of Anga?" His companion's eyes were thoughtful. "Not like you at all."

"I am not accepting defeat." Karna sent a worried glance at the sky. It told him he had been here two hours already; it was not very long till dawn. Five hours, at best.

They had to get out of this world before tomorrow's battle started. Otherwise, anything could go wrong.

Unbidden thoughts of one of them being pulled into the battlefield chilled him.

"Madhav?" he said hesitantly; Madhav's expression said he was not supposed to address him by this name. "Do you have no idea where Arjun could have--"

Sahadev and Draupadi came up. 

"No, he is not there inside," the former told Madhav. "Have you--?" His eyes fell on Karna.

Karna tried to melt into the shadows. Sahadev and Draupadi looked askance at Madhav, possibly due to his choice of companion.

"Not yet," said Madhav.

"How many times do we have to tell him to stop disappearing without informing anyone?" said Draupadi.

Her exasperation was so exactly the same as in their world when they had discovered Arjun missing that Karna could not help a smile.

Sahadev gave him a mistrustful glance and caught Draupadi's hand to pull her away.

"Since he doesn't listen to Madhav, he wouldn't listen to any of us."

The way they held hands while walking away made Karna's jaw drop. Surely brothers and sisters did not hold their hands in that way.

Wide-eyed, he saw Sahadev put his arm around Arjun's wife before they vanished into the camp.

Horror drenched Karna.

What kind of a world was this? Where brothers killed each other, treated their brother's wife like their own or called her a harlot? Where cousins attempted to disrobe their cousin's wife and her husband or brother-in-laws did not protest? Where cousins fought a war so violent that the very air stank of blood?

Karna would never, never forgive Arjun for dragging them into this. He was worse than Takshak. He was so stupid he deserved to be chained inside the palace and never allowed to--

"Remember your curses, Suryaputra," said Madhav quietly.

"What?"

"Every curse you have received over your lifetime. They might add up someday when you require them not to. They might make my friend's task easier."

Karna recalled the way they had seen his death: the chariot wheel getting stuck in the mud. Could that be a curse?

How did that matter, anyway?

Why would he not be allowed to stop thinking of how tomorrow Arjun and Karna were to fight each other to death? Was that all everyone cared about?

"I will remember," said Karna, turning away.

"If you happen to come across Arjun, do tell him I was looking for him, won't you?"

If I happen to come across Arjun, I will slap him and then I will drag him over to the portal north of the Pandava camp.

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

A familiar figure was skulking around the Kaurava camp. 

"Karna?"

"Duryodhan," said Karna, with a smile that came naturally.

"You should not have stopped me."

"I--I should not have--?"

"You should have let me kill Arjun," said Duryodhan softly. 

Karna tried to keep his gaze steady, but his hands shook, for he had just realized his fears to have been justified. Duryodhan had needed stopping from killing Arjun...

He had to get to Arjun. He had to get to Arjun now.

"That Vasudev cannot be trusted not to make him win tomorrow by treacherous means. You remember Jayadratha's death? He hid the sun. He hid the sun."

"Of course," said Karna quickly.

"He has already tricked you into squandering Indradev's weapon on Ghatotkach. If Vasudev Krishna resorts to underhand means tomorrow--"

Duryodhan put a fierce hand on Karna's shoulder and his eyes were a bit too bright.

"--you know what would happen?" asked Duryodhan.

"I know," said Karna.

He did not know who Vasudev Krishna was, but he had a feeling it was none other than Madhav. It appeared common knowledge that he would go to any lengths to protect Arjun.

Karna had never felt warmer towards a stranger. It helped calm his nerves a little.

"And I cannot accept that," said Duryodhan. His eyes had a faraway gaze into the dark horizon. "I cannot accept that."