Prevail and Rise

7 - This Is So Fake. Like, Literally, Everyone Knows! It's N- Hold up. WHAT TH-

The fake Sleeper Soldiers stalked through the crowd. Some damn test this is Aru thought, retracting Vajra into a bracelet. She reached for the daggers in her boots.

Aru's twin daggers, Hearth and Hope, were Aru's oldest weapon. She had them since she was 6, a year before she had been given a blessing from Indra (Vajra). The year she'd joined Kara and Suyodhana in the scheme.

Aru held them tight in her fists. She took a deep breath and stared at the fake Sleeper Soldiers.

"Where's the Princess!" The one in the front said. Surprisingly, their voices were disoriented. It sounded almost the same as the ones that Kara had made.

Okay, so maybe it wasn't that fake.

The one in the front had familar uniform, yellow streaks along the hood... was that supposed to be Aru?!?

They were taking this wayyyyy too far.

"Where is the Princess?" The fake Lightning repeated. Aru looked at Kara, who jutted her chin towards the fake Sleeper Soldiers. But I'm not a Princess Aru sent the message with her eyes. Kara looked around, and then looked at Aru.

Right. She was a Princess now.

Aru took a step forward, only to be stopped by Mini. "What are you doing?" Mini breathed. "I got this, don't worry," Aru whispered. Mini narrowed her eyes "I'll come with you,". "Stay hidden," Aru decided. Mini nodded.

Aru walked through the crowd, people clearing a path after seeing the look on her face. She spun Hearth around her right hand, like someone would spin a pen.

"Quite rude to interrupt, don't you think? I was just reminiscing," Aru pouted, gripping the hilt of her dagger. "What do you want?" She said, pulling out a nearby chair and sitting in it, one leg on top of the other.

"Aru, isn't it-"

"It's Arundhati to you." Aru cut the fake off, glaring at them. "Right, of course," they said, holding their hands up. Aru threw Hope into the air. The fake watched the dagger fall back into Aru's hand. Aru stood up, pushing the chair back. "I'll ask you one more time, what do you want?" Aru repeated. Even she could hear the warning in her voice.

"Destroy this tyranny. Really is simple," The fake Lightning said. Okay, that was some pretty good acting. "Nothing about that is simple," Aru lied. She threw Hope up in the air again. She caught the dagger by the flat of the blade and flipped the hilt into her palm. Just have to get the timing right, Aru thought.

A scream rang out from behind Aru. She whirled around. Another masked figure had stepped out of the crowd, holding a knife to a small boy's neck. Aru's eyes widened as she recognized the boy.

Rohan.

She kept herself from shouting out. "Okay, le-let's all just be smart." Aru was not happy to find her voice shaky "Although for you that must be hard" she gritted though her teeth. Her grip tightened on Hearth and Hope. Vajra crackled, but Aru subtly shook her hand.

This was not feeling like an act anymore.

There were children looking at her, horrified, soldiers looking for her confirmation. Where was Mini?

She felt a tap on her shoulder. She whirled around, expecting to see the fake Lightning. And she saw not disappointed. "Let him go." Aru resisted the urge to punch that fake.

"And what if I don't?" The fake Lightning cocked their head "What if I tell my wonderful henchman here to just slice through his neck?"

"Just let him go. He has nothing to do with this," Aru negotiated. "Not so confident now, are you," The fake said.

Aru hadn't known what took over her, but the next thing she knew, the fake Lightning was on the floor, unmasked, with a bloody nose, and Aru holding her dagger against their neck.

"One move and your leader's dead,"

~~~~~~~~~~~~
I swear, I have no idea what's going on with my due dates anymore. Or my goals. My goals are practically dead. And school. Don't even get me started on school.

Change in plans here. I'm going to be updating every Wednesday(except the upcoming one) and Saturday.

Yay!

~V