Shattered Relations | Aru Shah AU |

XXII

ARU
In the distance, Aru heard somebody scream. 

"LET— US— GO!" 

"MY FATHER WILL HEAR ABOUT THIS—"

Mini choked like she'd swallowed something vile. Fear crept up on Aru, worse than before, and now with a vengeance. 

"That's— that's Rudy and Brynne!" Mini choked out. 

Aru turned her glare on Kara, hate and anger seeping in. In the moment she'd seen her sister for who she was, she'd disowned her, and said, angrily, "You'd better not hurt them." 

Kara looked conflicted, but Lenguine, who was looking outside, grinned. "Have they got their evidence?" 

Kara nodded morosely. "Yes. But we're supposed to let them go, aren't we? I mean... they gave us the evidence, that laptop, so it's only fair that we send them on their way." 

Lenguine's face twisted into a scowl. "And have them risk spreading all our names? No thanks." 

He pointed his gun at Mini once more, who squeezed her eyes shut. Kara took a step back, her face frozen in horror, and, for one terrifying moment, Aru felt sympathy for her sister. 

That sympathy was squandered, however, when Kara left the room, slamming the door behind her. 

Coward. Aru thought spitefully. She's a coward. 

A muted, quiet voice floated through, before pausing. Kara walked in, briskly, and said to Lenguine, "We need to talk." 

Lenguine's scowl deepened. "About what?" 

"The shipment that was supposed to come in on the 23rd," she replied, her voice strained. 

"The Dormitator is already furious that we screwed it up, and now we need to do Damage Control," she continued, her voice still strained. 

"Now?" he asked, his eyes flitting to them. 

"Yes," she said, forcefully. 

Lenguine cast a suspicious glance towards them. Kara arched an eyebrow. "If you think they'll escape, you'll be wrong. They're just stupid kids." 

The words stung, but Aru dragged her gaze downwards... Kara had hooked one foot behind other, tapping her foot rhythmically against the creaking wooden floor. 

A memory itched at the back of her head. 

A tell. Kara had an obvious one... she tapped her foot against the ground, in the same rhythm. 

Lies. It's all a lie, that tinny voice whispered in her brain, and she shut her eyes again, silence seeping into the room, punctuated only by Nate's quiet sobs. 

————

Aru Shah had never expected to die at age eighteen. In the presumed last few minutes of her life, she found herself counting every jump in her pulse, every ragged breath she took, and every tear that slipped down her cheek. 

She didn't want to die. That childish demand rang through her head, again and again, the words muddling and growing louder in her head.

She grew hyper-aware of the sounds around her, from Mini's quick breathing, to Nate's quiet crying.

Somewhere, in the distance, she heard birds calling, but soon enough, the birdcalls were drowned out by something louder... sirens.

Sirens, she thought to herself. Sirens, the sounds getting closer.

Hope flared through her, a warm feeling spreading through her chest and reaching her toes.

"Aru..." Mini said, quietly, "You don't think—?"

"I don't know," Aru said, carefully keeping her voice neutral.

She waited, and the sirens grew louder and louder.

The door burst open, and Lenguine staggered in, his face sweaty, but terrifyingly furious.

Aru felt sick, worried that either her or Mini would be at the receiving end of his fury, but thankfully, it was neither of them.

He grabbed Nate by his collar, and hissed, furiously, "What have you done?!"

Nate didn't say anything, which was why Lenguine threw him to the ground.

"Come on," he said, pointing his gun at them.

He knelt down, and untied their wrists and feet.

"No funny business." The both of them nodded, and raised their hands, like, I surrender.

Miserably, they shuffled outside, as Aru's heart pounded. With each step she took, the hope inside her dwindled, as the same recurring thought bounced around her head: Maybe I am going to die here. 

Silence fell, until... "Stop," a familiar voice commanded. 

Aru stiffened, and quickly turned her head. Officer Opal's aim was steady, and her words were angry. 

"Let them go." Her voice was pure ice. 

A shriek, as Lenguine grabbed Mini, and dug his gun in her back. 

"Let her go," she repeated, undoing the safety of her gun.

"You try to shoot me, you shoot her," he hissed. A deranged light entered his eyes, and Opal dragged Aru back, away from his reach.

Moments stretched into minutes, and a silent standoff ensued.

More officers filed in, behind them, with snipers and guns.

No... don't, she thought, and it was like her throat had been cemented together. The words she thought couldn't reach her lips, but she knew something bad was going to happen. One of them was going to die then. She knew it in her heart.

————

If you trap a person with a weapon and a hostage, they'll panic, and something bad will happen. Something bloody will follow.

Enough blood had been spilled. Hell, Leslie's blood was still on her.

She couldn't let her friend die. 

She tried to take a step forward, to placate the man with the gun, but instantly, two officers began dragging her out of the way, and... it was now when everything went wrong.

The only thing Aru remembered was the echo of two gunshots, one from a sniper, the other from that wretched man's gun.

————