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

The quest of persuasion

Karna's pov

Over the walk, Karna kept wondering if he should apologize to Arjun for the biased promise he had given his mother. But his brother had appeared so hurt about it earlier, he decided to keep it for later. He did not want to spoil the quiet peace of walking arm in arm with one of his little brothers, possibly his favourite one, with the others alongside them.

The five brothers he had been entitled to. The five brothers his mother had deprived him of.

As they neared the opposition camp, Arjun pulled away from Karna, who hoped he had not done anything wrong, and hoped even more that these walks someday became their normal.

"Our best wishes go with you, Angaraj," said Sahadev, adding, "I mean, jyesht."

"Thank you," said Karna nervously.

Vasudev's wink, surprisingly, boosted his confidence. He bid them all farewell and slipped into the Kaurava camp, heart in his mouth.

This was too much suspense to take in one day, honestly. But what else would he expect, being stuck between two sets of warring cousins?

***

"I do not know you," was how Duryodhan greeted him.

"Um," said Karna. "What exactly are you trying to say?"

"I do not know you," said Duryodhan fiercely. "I have forgotten you, too, like you've forgotten me."

Heavens grant me patience, thought Karna.

"All right, sit down," he said. "Listen--"

"You come here after days--" shouted Duryodhan.

"Two days, actually," said Karna.

"--and tell me to sit down and listen to you? What, do you not have better company back at your camp? Those--those Pandavas and their brother-in-law, and that treacherous Vasudev--they would be waiting for you, would they not?"

Karna thought it wise to avoid mentioning that all of the mentioned people were in fact waiting outside the Kaurava camp presently.

"I am here to put an end to it, Duryodhan," said Karna. "Please calm down and listen for a bit. I will start with the, er, disturbing news. Well, one of them, anyway."

Duryodhan grudgingly led him over to sit, and for the second time that day, Karna spoke of the awful truth of his birth.

"The Pandavas," said Duryodhan. "They are your brothers? Yudhishthir is your brother? Arjun is your brother?"

"Imagine the irony," agreed Karna.

Duryodhan went into denial first; when he started to believe in it, anguish soaked into every bit of him.

Karna scooted closer to him, but he shrank back.

"They are your brothers," he said. "My enemies are your brothers."

He dissolved into silent tears.

Duryodhan, who never did anything silently. All his expressions of happiness or grief, love or hatred, were always too loud, too open.

His silent tears broke Karna's heart.

"Why are you so upset?" he asked. "I mean--I know it is not a very happy news, but it is nothing that horrible--"

"That is why you sided with them?" asked Duryodhan. "Because you could not...fight your brothers?"

"No," said Karna in horror. "No, I did not side with them--Vasudev forced me to side with them, Duryodhan."