When he told Madhav of his decision, of who his choice of person to speak to from beyond the grave was, the man just smiled knowingly at him.

It was a little annoying sometimes, how he seemed to anticipate everything.

Arjun simply asked, "When? And where?"

"Well, the when can be adjusted based to the time it takes for you to reach the where." Madhav replied.

"And that 'where' is?" Arjun asked, suddenly with a terrible foreboding.

"I think you can guess." His best friend said sadly.

"You cannot possibly mean that I have to go to the exact site of his death." Arjun said, with mounting horror.

Did that mean he would have to stand at the exact place where he had killed his unarmed brother?

And what if he had chosen someone else? Would he have had to step to the exact place within the battlefield where Abhimanyu had been slaughtered?(Arjun didn't even know that location.) The exact place where he had forced his Pitamaha to lie on that terrible bed of arrows?!

"No!" Madhav exclaimed, with a wince. "No, that would be too cruel. But.... I believe there must be some proximity to the initial place of death. The edges of Syamantapanchaka should suffice, I think."

Arjun sighed deeply.

Of course, if he were to talk to his brother, well... There were other people who deserved far more the chance to talk to him. Vrishaketu and the Angarani. And while he wasn't certain how much the rest of his brothers may or may not care for it, Jyesht Yudhishtir would very much desire to speak to him as well..... As well as their mother....

He asked Madhav just that. If he could have other people with him on the journey.

Madhav sighed. 

"The exceptions I make for you, Parth...... Very well. I will do my best. But only if you can be absolutely certain that Angaraaj Karna's spirit would very much want to speak to those people as well."

Arjun almost snorted. Well obviously.

But he supposed this would probably exclude his mother and Jyesht from it.

"Alright." Arjun said. "Alright, but I still can't believe how this could possibly be real!"

Now..... how was he to make his nephew and elder sister-in-law believe that this was real?! Because it might very easily come across as a very horrible, taunting joke.

He didn't think Panchali or Bhrata Bheem would approve of it. Then an argument could start about it with Jyesht Yudhishtir and Mata, supporting him. But then they would want to come and Mata may be terribly hurt by the fact the Madhav said only those other than him who he was sure the Angaraj would definitely want to see could be there and Arjun was pretty certain.... that the man at the very least, did not want to see their mother again. And he couldn't very well take his brother and then refuse to take his mother.

Of course, there was the fact that his late brother's spirit would probably not want to see his killer either but.... well. 

If he could even let Vrishaketu and Angarani Vrushali have a last conversation with him...... Arjun would manage to satisfy himself with simply standing back and observing from a distance, no matter how much he yearned to talk to the man who might have loved him and who he might have loved in another world.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Vrishaketu walked into his mother's quarters in the afternoon, after hours of roaming around in the gardens with Uttara and Lakshamanaa Di and to his surprise, saw Rajkumar Arjun sitting on a couch opposite her and they both looked like they were having quite a pleasant conversation.

"Oh, Vrishu, Arjun said he had something to tell us both." His mother said cheerfully.

He barely managed to stop himself from telling her not to use that nickname in front of Rajkumar Arjun because that would only seem more childish.

 He sat down next to his mother.

"What is it?"

Rajkumar Arjun no longer looked very happy and smiley. He looked rather uncomfortable, in fact.

"Right so, I actually have no idea how to say this without sounding either mad or insulting."

"You've said plenty of things that could technically be considered mad or insulting, before." Vrishaketu said dryly, only to be glared at by his mother.

The man sighed, and then chuckled softly.

"That is true, but in this case, well.... I'm having a hard time believing this myself...."

He looked into Vrishaketu's eyes.

"If it ends up happening the way it should, I can assure you it will be the greatest birthday present you will ever receive in your life from now to your death."

Vrishaketu raised his eyebrows.

"That's..... very presumptous of you, isn't it?"

"No, it's not." Prince Arjun said immediately. "But if something ends up going wrong on accident..."

"Just tell us." His mother said, sort of fondly. "Or is it a surprise?"

Fondly? When did his mother get fond of Rajkumar Arjun? Well, Vrishaketu supposed, that might end up happening when someone had saved your life.

 "I'm wondering if I should keep it a surprise, now." he said. "But then you two would have to trust me to take you somewhere. Alone. Just the three of us. And I suppose a charioteer."

"What are you talking about?"

"If something ends up going wrong, it will be less of a heartache. But would you two trust me to take you to take you to Syamantapanchaka?"

Silence.

"You want to take us near Kurukshetra?!" Vrishaketu exclaimed, stunned.

Rajkumar Arjun winced.

"I thought it better to tell you the location before you decide."

"What--" Vrishaketu said, starting to get angry, "What, could possibly explain us going to Kurukshetra with you?! And you said it would be some sort of a gift?!"

His mother however, was not looking angry or even incredulous. She simply looked at the man with piercing eyes--the ones that made Vrishaketu feel like she could read his feelings right by looking at him.

"Tell us everything." She simply commanded.

Rajkumar Arjun swallowed.

"I will once again state that this is rather unbelievable but I am actually being serious."

"I do not care." His mother stated firmly. "I would rather know what we are stepping into, before we do so."

He took a deep breath.

"Madhav told me that there was a possibility that..... he could provide me the opportunity to talk to someone who....... died in the war and--"

"What?!" Vrishaketu exclaimed. "That's--that's not possible!"

"I know it sounds utterly ludicrous." The older man said, sighing. "But at this point I have stopped questioning Madhav. I don't know if this will work but given that it's Madhav.... it just might."

If he thought too much about the logistics of it, Vrishaketu's mind might actually explode. So he didn't. Not even when he desperately wished that he could have that same opportunity.

Taking a deep breath to calm himself, he asked, "So... good for you? You can get to talk to one of your loved ones, I suppose? What does that have to do with us?"

Prince Arjun just stared at them.

Suddenly, his mother gasped.

"No..... you wouldn't....that's not possible--why would you--?"

"Why would he what?"

"Would you like to take a guess at which person I requested to call?" The man asked, wryly.

Vrishaketu was about to exclaim how on earth he was supposed to know, but going by his mother's reaction--no. No. That--

"Why?" He asked, in shock. "Why would you call my father instead of literally, any of your loved ones?!"

Rajkumar Arjun wouldn't meet either of their eyes.

"I have so many things I wish to say to all the people I love, that I could not possibly choose whom to call. And besides..... they are all aware of how much I love them. But.... in all my life, I have never known Angaraaj Karna properly. I have only ever spoken to him with mutual hostility at worst and indifference at best. I would like one opportunity to be able to speak properly with--" He swallowed hard, voice cracking, "--with my eldest brother."

Vrishaketu realised that his mouth had been hanging slightly open and closed it with a snap. He had never before, actually heard Rajkumar Arjun refer to himself as... his father's brother.

(It suddenly did not feel as repugnant as he might have expected.)

It must have been life altering for him too, after all, even though not to the extent that it had been for them.

"And I couldn't..." the man continued, "I couldn't possibly accept an opportunity to talk to him without taking you both with me. Given that it's him that I wish to call, you are the ones with the most right to this opportunity."

There seemed to be a distant ringing sound in his ears. Vrishaketu couldn't--couldn't believe that-- that he might be able to speak to his father for a last time. It was--it was inconceivable.

You couldn't just speak to a dead man, no matter how much you wished to. But apparently, they might be able to?!

Suddenly out of nowhere, the morning of the seventeenth day dawned in his mind again.

His Pitashree had looked resplendent. Every inch the King and Maharathi that he was, the Commander-in-Chief of their army. He had made his speech to the soldiers, promising them the destruction of the Pandava Army--something he delivered completely.  But something had seemed wrong. He hadn't realised what it might have been then, but now..... he thought his father might have known that it would be the last Sunrise he would witness on the Earth.

He had just embraced his father and eldest brother one last time and then everything was just the blur of battle. Then when Surya Dev had finally sunk below the horizon, he had been the only one still left alive.

And now.... now he might.... he might get the chance to to see his father again. He didn't know if finding any closure was possible but..... who else could say that they might even have such an opportunity?

They had all been quiet too long. He looked at his mother. Her eyes were brimming with tears and he remembered with a hard pang that he might have lost her that day too.

"Of course, we will come with you." Vrushali said, and her voice shook slightly. She took a deep breath to steady herself.

"But what will you tell your brothers? Your mother?"

Oh. 

Travelling near the dreaded Kurukshetra with Rajkumar Arjun might yet be acceptable, despite everything but..... with all the other Pandavas?! With Rajmata Kunti?! It left a bad taste in his mouth just thinking about it.

And he did not think his father would appreciate being crowded by so many people at once. Especially those who had been his enemies. But he couldn't exactly say the to Rajkumar Arjun, given that he was the reason they were even being afforded this opportunity. 

His choice, he thought wonderingly.

"They're not coming." The man said, surprisingly enough, looking right into his eyes. "I will tell them of course, where we are going, but... they can't come."

Vrishaketu raised his eyebrows but didn't question him. What did it matter? What did any of it matter? He might be able to see his father again. Somehow, by some miracle.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

He had been mostly right in his estimations of his brothers' reactions. Jyesht Yudhishtir was the only one who was perhaps, almost as desperate as him to speak to their... eldest brother. 

(Gods, even trying to think of the Angaraaj as such in his own mind was difficult and seemed to make his heart break all over again, each time.)

But Jyesht had understood Madhav's terms. He had been unhappy of course, but he had understood. 

Bhrata Bheem tried to pretend that he didn't care about it at all, that any talk of their eldest brother hardly mattered to him, but Arjun saw through it. He might be the one who felt least regret about everything that turned out the way it did with Angaraj Karna, but he knew that he at least felt regret about the way he had insulted his birth. But Arjun had been right in thinking that he mostly didn't approve of it. He didn't say out loud that Arjun really should have used this opportunity to talk to literally anyone else, but he could see it in his eyes.

(At least Arjun had managed to convince him with those patented little brother eyes that he not have to be the one to tell Panchali about it.)

Nakul and Sahadev took the news gracefully enough, despite the clear signs of interest on their face.

Arjun did not want to be the one to tell their mother this. In fact, all five brothers agreed, that they should probably just keep this a secret from their mother.

Because everything involving their mother and Angaraj Karna was just..... None of them could think of it for very long without all kinds of complicated emotions rising to the fore of their minds and it was almost certainly true that the man's spirit would not want to see her again.

After all of that... it was finally time to leave for Syamantapanchaka. The only other time Arjun had ever felt this afraid in his life was before the War.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The chariot ride had been silent. None of them knew what to say. The whole thing felt surreal. Arjun himself was still struggling to accept this as possible and he had full faith in Madhav. He had no idea what Vrishaketu and Angarani would be feeling.

Madhav had told them to reach there a few hours before Sunrise. And then.... they had to wait.

Arjun requested their charioteer to leave and not return before Sunrise because word of this really did not need to get out.

Vrishaketu had got out of the chariot and had been pacing around for more than half an hour now. Vrushali was complete rigid.

Arjun could feel terror and anticipation both building up in his chest in equal measures.

They were just a few miles away from Kurukshetra. It was a quiet night, with only the sound of the cricket's chirping accompanying them. Perhaps he was imagining it, but the smell of death and fire still seemed to permeate the air. Even the cloying sweet scent of decay seemed to accompany them.

He wondered what would happen. Surely, such an unbelievable event would have a truly unbelievable beginning as well?

His stomach was in knots and eventually even the Angarani had got down from the chariot to join her son, when it happened.

There was a spectacular flash of light, almost blinding. It was as if the Sun himself had come down--Ah.

Once the light subsided, Arjun heard twin gasps of shock and cries of, "Baba?!" and "Radheya!" and the sound of running footsteps. He had still not been able to force himself to took up, terrified of what he would see.

But once he did, he couldn't look away.

The face that was so similar to Vrishaketu's, the face that had haunted his nightmares since the war, was now just several feet away from him.

Angaraj was not looking at him, of course. He had his eyes fixed on his wife and child, eyes creased with both immense happiness and sadness at the same time. 

From his ears, once again hung the Kundals that had adorned them for the most of his life. His body exuded an other worldly glow and for a moment Arjun was afraid that Vrishaketu's arms would pass right through him.

But no. He slammed against his father's spirit(?)  in a tight embrace. They were the same height now, with the Angaraj standing perhaps just a hair taller.

Eventually Vrishaketu took a step backwards, allowing his mother to take his place.

Arjun knew he should certainly look away, because these were going to be very private moments but his eyes seemed to be glued to the scene.

As much as Madhav had said this would be possible, it had still seemed ridiculous. But now, here stood the spirit--the surprisingly solid spirit--of Karna.

He was glad simply knowing that he had been able to give Vrishaketu and Angarani Vrushali this little bit of closure. 

Arjun couldn't hear what they were saying to each other, only see that all three of them were clinging tightly to each other.

Instead, he focused on Angaraj Karna's face. His... His eldest brother's face.

His beautiful golden eyes flitted constantly between his two beloved people in front of him, his lips murmuring something.

Lips, which looked exactly like Arjun's.

He blinked in shock several times, trying to focus again and see if he was mistaken, but no, his eyes worked just as well as ever.

Suddenly Arjun was scanning the man as well as he could from this distance, trying to look for any other similarities with him or his other two older brothers.

The-the nose! It resembled Jyesth Yudhishtir's own aquiline one. The eyebrows were quite as bushy as Bhrata Bheem's.

Suddenly he remembered something Jyesht Yudhishtir had said and his eyes flitted to Angaraj Karna's bare feet. And indeed, they looked.... surprisingly delicate for those of a warrior. They truly seemed like simply bigger versions of Mata Kunti's.

Arjun was aghast. How had--how had none of them ever-ever  noticed any similarities between themselves and Angaraj Karna?! How had they been so oblivious? How had everyone been so oblivious, so blind?!?!

It would have been so clear to see, if they had only looked.

But then again, nobody could have expected that the man of 'low caste' that Duryodhan had befriended out of the blue would turn out to be the rightful heir to the throne of Aryavarta and all of their eldest brother.

They had all been blinded by prejudice, by hatred for each other. And now, it was far too late.

Even now, anger and rage momentarily reared it's head in his chest, for the disgusting insult to his wife but it was soon extinguished, because well.... what more punishment could there be, than death?

And as it was said, it was easier to forgive the dead than the living.

Arjun didn't know how long he sat in that chariot, staring at his eldest brother--because there was no ignoring it now, not when he could see the evidence of it with his own eyes--from a distance, trying to catalogue each of the expressions on his face, the ones he had never seen--love, happiness, protectiveness, an open kind of grief--one not shown to outsiders. Without even exchanging a word, it was as if he was observing a different side of Angaraaj Karna.

It should have been, in another world--Bhrata Karna. .....Jyesht even.

It must have been more than two hours by his estimation, when it seemed to Arjun that Goodbyes had begun to be said. Vrishaketu seemed understandably desperate to keep holding on at first but his father must have said something to calm him down. 

Arjun did turn away finally, when it seemed that the man(spirit?) might lean down to kiss his wife.

Once again, his stomach started to tie itself in knots. Because... this must mean....

And indeed when he looked up, this time, his eyes met those sharp, golden ones.

Arjun almost staggered backwards at the intensity of them. It should not have been possible for a dead man's eyes to look like that and yet.

This was Madhav's miracle, he supposed, because despite the other worldly sheen to his body, for the moment, Karna looked very alive.

When Angarani Vrushali and Vrishaketu finally, painfully, managed to let go of him, Karna beckoned him forwards.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I know. I KNOW. It's mean of me to cut it off before the actual Karna-Arjun conversation takes place but that will be next chapter! This has exceeded 3000 words and I could not have possibly fit the whole interaction here.

Now, on one hand, there was no way Arjun would not take Vrushali and Vrishaketu with him if he was to see Karna. There was no way Vrishaketu would ever forgive him for that if he had found out later.

But I also did NOT want to write Karna interacting with any of the other Pandavas, let alone Kunti. That's not really the point of the story.

Well, I hope I have managed to get all the emotions across well! As always, any constructive criticism is appreciated as long as you're not rude!

Lol, I feel like it's kinda obvious that I wrote different sections of the story at very different times lol. If anything feels too redundant or out of place cuz of that, please let me know!

Also, can't believe we're so close to the end. Just a few more chaps and an epilogue left!

I hope that because I've been very patient with building all the relationships and kept everything as slowburn and emotionally realistic as possible, the bit of fastness in the storytelling seems natural now that we have come close to the end.

Anyways, don't forget to vote and comment if you like it!