Karna and his Brothers in an Alternate Universe

Every stumbling tread

DAY 1 OF KURUKSHETRA WAR

When Karna had come out to meet the returning soldiers, the Pandava and Kaurava armies were crossing each other. There was silence in both the camps due to the huge number of deaths, but the Pandava camp seemed more consumed in grief. Later, he was to discover that Uttar, the brother of Arjun's daughter-in-law, had been one of the first casualties of the war.

Karna waved as he spotted Duryodhan and Dushasan. As they exchanged slaps of the back and accounts of the day's battle, Karna's eyes fell on Arjun and his celestial charioteer just as Arjun looked in his direction.

Arjun smiled.

Karna almost looked behind him to see who he was smiling at, but Arjun's eyes were unmistakably fixed upon him.

Karna flashed him the briefest of nervous smiles and turned away, but not before he caught Vasudev's narrow-eyed expression turning from Karna to Arjun.

****************

It was quite normal for warriors to take a round walking around their camp after sundown. Karna did not realize he had not set out for the normal reason till he found that his footsteps had, on their own accord, traced the path to the banyan tree he and Arjun had sat underneath last night.

It was an outside chance; there was no possible reason his brother would come here tonight. He had fought a whole day, and if he did take a walk, what were the odds of him coming across this very stretch, this very tree?

But he did.

DAY 2 OF KURUKSHETRA WAR

The second day of war, much like the first, had ended on a stalemate. Neither the Kauravas' commander Bhisma nor the Pandavas appeared to fight with their souls; they held back; there was no result.

"Parth," Krishna's quick voice stopped Arjun after dinner as he was about to step out.

"Y-yes?"

"Are you going to meet the King of Anga again, like you have done for the past two nights?"

Arjun sent a horrified glance around; then relaxed as he noted Bheem's absence. Nakul was there, though; he raised his eyebrows.

"Do you two duel at night because he cannot be part of the war, jyesht?" he asked.

"No," said Arjun, frowning. "I just--we just--"

"Do not forget he is on the enemy side, Parth," said Krishna, his eyes full of sympathy. "Blood does not matter in this case."

"I cannot possibly forget that he is on the enemy side, Madhav," said Arjun, his voice coming out a plea. "I don't even like him that much, it's simply--"

"I know," said Krishna, with a nod that seemed sarcastic.

Nakul smothered a chortle. "Can I accompany you today, jyesht?"

Arjun grinned so wide that Krishna let them pass without any further omen.

******************

"Greetings, King of Anga," said Nakul, the picture of politeness as he and Arjun reached the banyan tree Karna was settled under.

He looked up, frowning, and appeared still more confused as he saw who had addressed him. But he recovered quickly enough to stand up.

"Greetings, Nakul." Karna looked at Arjun uncertainly.

Arjun shrugged, but as a tailing Krishna noticed, he was still grinning.

"He wanted to accompany me for some reason, King of Anga," said Arjun in a deceptively formal tone. "It could have something to do with the fact that if you are my brother, you are also Nakul's brother."