Shattered Relations | Aru Shah AU |

XV

ARU
Aru had heard the phrase, "Silence can be deafening" before, but she'd never truly appreciated it until that moment.

The gap between them seemed like a canyon, the silence piercing, and, neither of them spoke, as if breaking the silence would hurt them both.

Finally, Kara uttered one word: "Aru?"

She managed to convey shock, worry, and disbelief in those two syllables.

Aru stared at her sister, her own disbelief wrapping around her like a lead blanket.

Kara hadn't changed at all in the year she had been gone. Her hair remained the same length, her eyes remained the same shade of gold, her height remained solidly half a foot above Aru. But Aru could see why Mini saw similarities between their looks. Before, Aru had thought that she and Kara looked very different, but now, Aru could see that they shared the same nose, the same crinkle in the brow, and the same steely, determined look in their eyes.

Kara looked older than she should have been. It was as if she had aged ten years in the whole year she had disappeared.

"You're—you're alive?" Aru's voice cracked in her pain, her dulled anger.

Kara slowly left her chair, and went towards Aru, as if in a trance.

"You're okay! Oh, thank God—" Kara didn't finish her sentence, before corralling her into a hug.

"I missed you, Aru." Her voice was muffled, as she pressed a kiss to her forehead.

Aru's eyes prickled with unshed tears. One year's worth of grief, pain, and anger that she had worked so hard to hide escaped through the cracks in the shell of the girl she had once been.

She lifted her arms, and hugged her tighter, choking out words between her sobs.

"Why–did–you?" She asked, before pulling away from her.

"It's a long story," she whispered, her voice apologetic.

"I don't care. We were devastated! Dad—dad refused to talk to anyone! He'd lost his wife, and then his daughter! I forced myself to not think about you, do you have any idea about the amount of pain you've caused us?!" Aru's disbelief was slowly shedding to reveal another layer of armour she'd donned: anger.

Kara recoiled, hurt shimmering in her eyes.

"Aru," she said quietly. "I wanted to come back. I really did. But people were after me. How could I have let you and Dad get caught in the crossfire?"

Aru took a deep breath, Aiden's and Brynne's theories coming back to her.

"It was Supermundus, wasn't it?" Aru's voice was now low, strained.

Kara's eyebrows skyrocketed in her surprise.

"How did you—?"

"Let's have a chat about our least favorite organization."

————

To say that Kara was nervous was an understatement.

Neither of them had spoken, as they made their way to the girls' apartment.

"You're going to meet my friends." Aru said tentatively.

Kara smiled, and said, "It's been a week since your school started, I bet. You've already made friends?"

Aru nodded. "It's amazing how discovering a dead body can strengthen bonds of friendship."