Broken - ARU SHAH FANFIC

Monster

Aru's POV

I sat in the corner of the room, my knees to my chest. I was in the sleeper's house, In the city of gold. Aka the place of my torture. It all made sense now. The sleepers plan to embrace my dark side had worked. From the swirl of blue in my eye to the monster that whispered in my head now. The monster had taken over me. he controlled me now. He controlled the shadows inside me.  Every time I used to fight him, He would push me down, deeper and deeper. The potatoes had tried countless times to reach me, but the monster wouldn't let them. It was the same monster who had taken over dad, made him the sleeper. Now I was the sleeper. I don't know what his plan could be, but I knew he was going to strike today. The monster will hurt people, and I would be useless to stop it. I had already failed. The black diadem felt heavy on my head. Its metal freezing cold. I stood up, though the movements were not controlled by me. The monster whispered in my head," come, Aru, we have work to do"

*A short time skip to Night bazaar*

I stood in the night bazaar in front of Mini, Rudy, Brynne, Hira, Nikita, Sheela and Aiden. The night bazaar had been evacuated; they must have known I was coming. I looked at the potatoes, their eyes showed concern and worry, but their jaws were set with determination. I secretly prayed they would defeat me. I spoke," Surrender now and you may not get hurt. Trust me you do not want to know what I could do to you." A voice responded " Never." The voice was Aiden's. My heart clenched when I looked at him. I knew he was hurt when I put up that wall between us, Before I melted into the shadows and appeared back at the sleeper's house. " So be it" I raised my hand, shadows weaving through the night bazaar, the shadows picked up a stall and threw it right at the potatoes, I struggled against the control of the monster. They could not get hurt. The potatoes spread out, all of them running in different directions. Arrows made out of shadows shot out from my hands. I fought for control and managed to make the arrows miss by an inch. Protectiveness for my friends, my family fuelled me. The monster was just about to make me shoot an arrow towards Mini when I felt ropes wrap around my ankles and wrists. I fell to the ground. The monster made me struggle against the ropes and I tried to stop the monster.  Aiden walked towards me and kneeled. He looked at me right in the eye and took out a circlet of hair. A circlet of my hair to be precise. The same circlet of hair I had given them before I put the necklace around the sleeper. Aiden focused on it and images came into view. It was memories of me joking around with the potatoes, laughing with them, having fun with them. It was meant as a parting gift so that they knew that I loved them, That I enjoyed every moment with them. I had asked Aryani to enchant it, so it could only be opened when the potatoes were ready. As the memories rolled by, I heard Aiden say," This is you Aru. This will always be you. We know you were tortured; we know what the sleeper did to you. This monster does not control you; this monster is not you" The memories ended and I realised I had stopped struggling. but then the monster took control, and this time he came back stronger than ever. I felt shadows move inside me, building up momentum and then they exploded. A wave of shadows erupted from me, tearing apart the ropes and blasting Aiden square in the chest. Brynne screamed and ran to him, followed by the rest of the potatoes. Aiden lay unconscious on the ground. My eyes widened. What had I done? I lost all sense of reality and the monster took absolute control.  guilt-wracked through me. pushing me down, down, down. Aiden's words flooded my mind, ' this is not who you are' This is not who I am. I had a chance of helping Aiden. I remembered my father's words, ' I will name her Arundhati. For the morning star, so that my daughter will always be a light in the dark' I will be a light in the dark. my father had succumbed to the monster but I will not. I focused on good thoughts, happy memories. I focused on all the good things about me. I focused on the proud smile my mother would give me, the way mini would spout out random facts, When Brynne tried to prank me, Rudy's ignorance about the human world, Nikita's sarcastic remarks, Sheela's timid behaviour and finally Aiden. The way my heart fluttered whenever he smiled at me, the way he would always fiddle with Shadowfax, and the sound of his laugh. I pushed my way through the darkness. Golden light surrounded me, cutting through the shadows. I pushed against the darkness with all might, I had to make it to Aiden. The light grew brighter around me, surrounding the night bazaar. The light grew and grew and grew and---

I fell to the ground with a thud. My mind was foggy. I saw Aiden unconscious in front of me and I snapped back to reality. The night bazaar was in ruins in around me, and the potatoes where nowhere to be seen. I had a feeling that they were safe. but right now, my only focus was Aiden. I ran over and knelt beside him. His face was pale, and his veins were black. He was completely still. My eyes widened and the thought that I had done this to him filled me with guilt. I took a deep breath, I can do this, I have to this. I placed my hand over his heart and focused. I imagined drawing the shadows back into me and concentrated on that image. I could not let Aiden die. Shadows snaked up my arms and I drew the shadows from Aiden and into me. As I did, colour started returning to his cheeks. I concentrated even harder. Slowly I had taken all the shadows from him. I looked at his face expectantly. His eyes slowly fluttered open and fell on me. " Shah?" he asked. A choked sob escaped my lips and a tear ran down my cheek. I moved closer to him and entwined my hand with his, holding on like I would never let go. A small smile spread on across Aiden's face. " you're back." I slowly nodded, not trusting my voice. I felt exhaustion and fatigue come over me, but I couldn't help smiling even as the world faded into darkness.