The Bend in the Road (A Karna-Arjun what-if story)

Some sorts of things

Karna's pov

Arjun's immediate reaction was jumping out of his skin.

"A--a walk?" he stammered.

"Yes, I mean..."

It had taken Karna an enormous amount of courage to finally approach his brother after watching him prowl alone for over an hour. When there was a risk of rejection, even the simplest of gestures became daunting. 

As Arjun looked at him, baffled, Karna was quite convinced for a while that he would refuse. They had not been on talking terms for two days now; and even before that, they had only had occasional bursts of camaraderie against decades of loathing.

But that was when neither of them knew of their shared blood.

And Arjun was beyond despair at that point. It was etched on every line of his tearstained face. Tomorrow, he would have to defeat the grandfather he loved along with his dearest friend giving him the cold shoulder.

An older brother, in this situation, would refuse to wait for a reply and simply drag their miserable younger brother for a walk.

So that was what Karna did.

***

Arjun provided no resistance and obligingly went along. Karna kept a hold on his arm nevertheless.

"Where are we going, Angaraj?"

"Nowhere," said Karna. "Anywhere away from the camp."

"But why?"

"Because you need to stop thinking of tomorrow and pushing yourself deeper into this horrible state. Come on, try to think of something else."

"That is not possible," said Arjun harshly. "Today is the last day I can think of Pitamah--after we have met tomorrow, I cannot think of him again, because I know he would never hurt me." His voice broke on the last bit.

Arjun was not good at hiding emotions; he never had been. And today, when he was feeling each emotion so magnified, he certainly could not hide it.

"Thinking on and on is not helping anything, Arjun," he said. "Not your grandfather, nor you."

"You have no idea, Angaraj," said Arjun.

"About what?"

"What it feels like to fight him on the field."

Karna suddenly wanted to put his arm around Arjun, to comfort him in any way he could. But coming from him, it would probably only make Arjun clam up again, and defeat the whole purpose.

He decided against it and chose to speak instead.

"You're wrong. I do know how it would feel to face someone you love, someone you consider family in the war. I know I might have to face Duryodhan someday, and I have no idea what I would do about it."

"You have avoided him fine so far," said Arjun. "I hope you can manage that till the end." He sounded genuine.

"Yes, well, on the up side, Vasudev does not sit on my chariot to manipulate me emotionally, as he does with you."

"Angaraj!" Arjun sounded outraged.

"On the down side," Karna went on, ignoring Arjun's protest, "he can issue me threats of death and destruction, which he cannot do with you."

"Madhav can never lead to destruction," said Arjun. "His path might involve deaths, but in the end, it would lead to a nicer future."

How touching to see the faith you have in your devil of a friend, thought Karna, but refrained from saying it out loud. Arjun would not stand anyone trash-talking Vasudev, even if he was the one who was compelling him to kill his grandfather.