TPQ (Aru Shah) One Shots

Tears

There was no doubt that the war had taken its toll on all the Potatoes, but Aru seemed impacted more than the rest.

Maybe it was because she lost her father and sister in one day.

The nights were heavy for her, she couldn't handle the grief and as she closed her eyes, all she could see was the faces of the two people she'd lost.

The time read 2:37 in the morning, but Aru stayed up, clutching the necklace Suyodhana had worn and the little book of Emily Dickinson's poems as tears ran down her face.

It hurt.

She remembered the times she fought over clothes and movies with Kara, and the one time she'd hugged her father.

He was warm. Aru thought, as she tightly grasped the necklace.

She recalled all the memories that were harshly pried away from Suyodhana, making him the monster he became.

Well, he was a monster to everyone else.

But to Aru, he'd always been her dad.

From the minute she found out, to the second he died, Aru had loved Suyodhana, even if he'd harmed many beings who didn't deserve it.

She thought she would've grown to hate him for all the terrible things he'd done, but Aru never did. After all, how could you hate your dad?

She started to imagine what life would've been like if things didn't go the way they had.

For starters, Suyodhana would still be alive and well, and Aru knew he would've been a wonderful father. She imagined how he'd celebrate her birthday with her, or share her obsession with Lord of the Rings.

But then she looked at the photo on her desk.

It was a little picture frame, with a gold rim. The picture was of the Potatoes at Lullwater Park, around a year ago when Brynne's uncles took them to have fun and get them away from the "we-are-thirteen-year-old-heroes-that-must-save-the-world" stuff.

Aru found herself smiling at the picture.

If none of this happened, she would've never found her sisters.

She would've never met Brynne, and would never have gotten the chance to enjoy her delicious cooking. Aru would've never bumped into Mini, her best friend, who always had her back no matter what happened. She would've never met the twins, Nikita and Sheela, who she loved dearly and she never would've met Aiden, who proved to be the love of her life.

But Aru couldn't help but miss him and Kara.

She ran her fingers across the beads of the necklace and the little blue book which had now been stained with tears.

She loved them.

And she will continue to love them. Forever. 

AN -- this was short, but I know Aru must've suffered so much after the war. All of them did, but I personally can't imagine loosing my dad like that