Aru Shah Oneshots (requests!)

[8] • Mindlink

Hello! I'm back! Finals season is just not it...

☆☆☆Mini☆☆☆

Mini stared at the whiteboard with her eyes almost glazing over with boredom. She tapped her pencil restlessly on her thigh and puffed a strand of hair from her face. She always thought becoming a doctor would be exciting, but it was just hours upon hours of memorization. The only part that appealed to her was the procedures she'd get to do on live patients twice a month. Today, thankfully, was one of those days. In a few hours, Mini and her class would be taken to the lab for a frontal lobe surgery procedure.

Mini absent-mindedly doodled on the edge of her notebook. She used to be such a good student: she was at the top of her class, the first to shout out answers, always coming to class early, and staying late. Then, somewhere into the middle of her second year in med school, Mini decided to take it slow and be a slightly less enthusiastic version of her freshman-year self. Now it was her third year at Columbia University, and Mini resorted to being an average student, doing the bare minimum to get past every day.

She picked up her pencil from the edge of her page to look at what she'd drawn: a small girl wielding a bow and arrow. The arrowhead was shaped peculiarly, though. It was crescent-shaped and long, aimed straight at another girl's chest. The second girl had long, braided hair and was running from the first girl.

Hmph, Mini thought. Weird. Her thoughts were never violent, but drawing the weapon seemed thought-provoking to Mini. This sorta reminds me of...

The Otherworld.

Mini was now twenty-three. That meant it had been nearly seven years since she last visited the Otherworld. It had been seven years since she was off slaying demons, going on quests, and meeting deities. Yet here she was, the mighty daughter of Death, in med school, trying not to die of boredom. How ironic.

Her middle-and-high school life had been so lively---life-threatening, sure---and as much as she'd like a break from making forcefields with her magic staff, Mini wanted nothing more than to open a portal again and step into the Night Bazaar and smell the spices and look at the people. Just one more time.

Talk to her sisters just one more time. 

"Where are we?" a voice called.

Mini looked up, bouncing back to reality. "Lecture hall," she mumbled to no one in particular. 

The girl next to her---Rebecca---straightened her back and looked at Mini strangely. "I'm sorry, did you say something?" She cocked her head so her long brown curls danced as they collided with one another.

Mini was just more confused. "Didn't someone ask where we were..?"

Rebecca shook her head. "No... I don't think so. Though, I have a question and I'm too scared to ask the professor about it. Do you think you can help, Yamini?"

Mini exhaled deeply. That was weird. I could have sworn someone said something. Instead, Mini simply said, "I'm confused, too. You should probably ask someone else." She rested her head on her arm. There was no point in listening to the lecture now. She could just ask the professor after class the next day. It didn't matter.

"I don't think it's safe here. We should probably go," another voice echoed.

Mini shot up in her seat. She looked around her for the source of the voice but couldn't find anything.

"I'm not leaving without information on where they are or what this goofy man wants with us, Aru," the first voice echoed.

Mini nearly slipped off her chair. Aru? Aru was her soul sister and a fellow Pandava. She was Mini's best friend until... well, whatever happened to her. Two years ago she completely disappeared, not before going on a wild killing spree. She was wanted in twelve states and four countries. It was as if something in her snapped.