Aru Shah Oneshots (requests!)

[4] • The Daughter of Gauri

☆☆☆Aru☆☆☆

Aru crossed her arms and pursed her lips as Brynne spread out sheets of paper on the small dining table.

"So far, we know there's gonna be a great Infinity War and all the bad guys we beat are gonna gang up on us." Aru leaned on the wall. "Life as we know it is about to end."

Brynne paused. "Yeah, you summarized that pretty well." She sighed. "But we don't know the details."

Aru shrugged. "Seems pretty fine to me so far," she said. "We've already beat all of them, so we're prepared. We just need to know when, where, and..." she started pacing around the room. Her brain explored several scenarios, planning, and trying out every possible outcome. As the reincarnation of Arjun, the mighty archer, it was natural for her brain to work this way.

A new drawing caught her eye. It was a drawing of a girl, her mouth open in a scream. It looked like the light was being sucked out of her by a dark entity with the bottom half of a snake. But the girl---

"When did you draw that?" Aru asked, trying to hide the panic in her tone. Only last night she'd seen something eerily similar to Brynne's drawing.

"This morning. Why?"

Aru tried to slow her breathing. Her pulse thudded in her ears and her palms were clammy. "Dude, I know who that is," she gasped, pointing a shaking finger at the girl in the drawing. She looked up at the asura girl with ragged breathing. "That's me."

Brynne's eyes widened. "What? How could you be sure---?"

The daughter paced across the room, clenching and unclenching her hands. "It all makes sense now." She described the vision she got last night. Aru explained how Brynne's image perfectly summed up what she dreamt last night.

☾☆☼✧   •

Aru panted as she tore past trees and shrubs. A thorn grazed her in the arm, but she kept running.

Thwip!

An arrow buzzed past Aru's ear, hitting a nearby owl. The poor bird screamed and fell to the ground. Aru choked back a sob.

The trees around her started to grow into hideous shapes, twisting and contorting. The stars vanished from the sky, and Night poured into the forest.

"I tried stopping Gauri, my dear child. It is in your hands, now," the goddess Ratri's voice echoed.

No, pleaded Aru. Not now. 

Thwip! A second arrow fired, and this time, it met its mark square in Aru's chest. She choked. She looked back at who shot the arrow, but all she could see was a large man. 

The bottom half of his body sprouted a snake's tail, while the other half was of a human man. His amethyst crown glinted cunningly as he laughed heartily.

Aru's vision spiraled, and she couldn't focus on anything. The pain in her chest spread to her throat, to her stomach, to her legs. She collapsed near a rock as small light tendrils escaped her wound. The pain was excruciating. She screamed her throat dry as the dark entity above rumbled in laughter.

 • ✧☼☆☽

Aru shook out of her thoughts. "Guys, come here. We found something." Aru motioned with her hands to come quickly.

Aiden was already standing up when she called him, and he was making his way over to Aru's side. Hira, on the other hand, stepped forward somewhat reluctantly, inching close to Brynne, who slung her arm around the smaller girl's shoulder.

Aiden flinched nervously at the illustrations splayed out on the table. His freezing finger brushed Aru's hand at her side. She scrunched her eyebrows. They hadn't been this close to each other in years. The first time Aru and Aiden met after so long was when he was hunting her down. Aru took Aiden's hand from under the table and laced her fingers through his. This seemed to calm the young man, as his tense muscles relaxed, and he slumped a bit.

Brynne's words shook Aru back to the present. "Here are the pictures."

Brynne huffed and crossed her arms while Hira hovered closely by her side. Aiden nodded at Aru's side, his palm clammy. He held on to Aru's hand so tightly she was afraid he was going to twist it right off. Yet, his voice didn't show any of his nervousness. "Uh, Bee? What are those pictures about?"

Aru and Brynne filled their friends in on what they'd found, careful not to leave any details out.

Aiden's eyes got wider and wider with every sentence she spoke. His grip on Aru's hand got tighter, and his eyebrows floated to his hairline. "Wait." He tugged Aru closer just an inch. "That's you?" he asked with wild eyes, looking at Brynne's newest drawings. He pointed to the girl's body slumped on the rock under the dark entity.

When Aiden said it, Aru hadn't realized the concrete truth. That girl in her visions was Aru. That was her. Her soul was going to leave her body as she lay powerless and lifeless under the mercy of Takshaka. The fact that this was going to happen---that it was real, and not some silly nightmare---scared Aru, and she stepped closer to the young man.

"Yep," she confirmed breathlessly. "That's me."