Aru Shah and the Soul Trident

1K special/extra

Brynne, noticing it too, softly spoke up. "Aiden? Are you alright?" He didn't move. All he did was simply stare at Aru's serene, yet troubled unconscious face. Mini's heart nearly broke into two. She had come to adore Aiden as a brother, and seeing him like this nearly made her want to cry too. But she wouldn't. For Aru. What would Aru want her to do? That single line is what she thought of every time she was in trouble.

Right now, Aru would want Mini to be strong. To lead the group. Mini had the soul of Yudhistira, the leader of the original Pandavas. She had to step up.

"Aiden, lay Aru on the ground. Brynne, can you please go and check on Rudy? Make sure he doesn't fall asleep." Aiden and Brynne wordlessly complied with her requests. Brynne went over to the tree that Rudy was huddled against, and Aiden lowered Aru to the ground gently.

Mini sniffed, trying to hold back a torrent of snot and tears. She took a deep breath and let her medical mind take over. She put a hand to Aru's neck. Good, her pulse was nice and steady. Next, Mini bent down and put her ear against Aru's chest, and her heartbeat was stable. Then, she put her finger near Aru's nostrils, and felt a steady gust of air being blown in and out. Mini let out a huge sigh of relief.

"Is- is she gonna be okay?" Aiden asked her quietly, breaking the silence. Mini studied his face. His eyes were wide with worry and he also seemed to be clenching his teeth.

Mini was about to make a comment about how clenching or grinding his teeth could be bad for him and could lead to some pretty serious dental issues, but she stopped herself. He seemed to be incredibly worried about Aru, and she guessed that telling him about dental diseases wouldn't make him feel better.

"When will she wake up?" He asked, his voice slightly cracking with worry. Mini suspected that his feelings for Aru ran a little deeper than just friendly ones. He had acted nearly the same way, maybe even worse, when Aru had gone missing for two months. Mini shook her head. Now was not the time to be thinking about her sister's love life.

"I don't know," she finally admitted, answering his question after a while. "Her pulse and breathing are pretty normal, so she isn't really in any danger, at least for now." Then, she furrowed her eyebrows. "Although, that may change depending on how long she's out for."

"How's Aru?!" Brynne yelled from where she and Rudy were at.

"She's fine for now," Mini called back. Then, she turned to Aiden. "We should go back to our campsite for now. Can you carry Aru?" He nodded, and without another word, he slung one hand under her knees and one under her arms and lifted her up. After making sure Aru's head was secure in his arm, she rushed over to Rudy. Although it was hard to see with the faint moonlight around them, he seemed pretty pale and his head wound was still bleeding

"Rudy, can you stand up?" she asked softly. He shook his head and gave her a goofy grin. "I dunno why but everything is reallyyy blurry. Like, I can barely see your face, Mini."

Brynne looked at Mini. "I'm no medical expert, but I don't think that's a good sign." Mini nodded and chewed her lip nervously.

She sighed and pushed her glasses up her nose as they started to slide down. "Do you mind carrying him? All the bandages are in my backpack at the campsite, so I can't really do anything without them."

"Sure." In a flash, she turned into a large, blue horse. Put him on my back. You can climb on too and support him.

Mini nodded. She somehow hoisted Rudy up on horse-Brynne and clambered up herself. She felt her face flush as she wrapped her hands around Rudy's waist in order to keep him from falling.

"Okay, let's move." Mini ordered.

 Brynne neighed, and started to trot forward in a very slow pace, trying to not jostle Mini and Rudy. Mini motioned Aiden to catch up, and they started to head back to the campsite.