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Chapter Text

Uddhav's friend threw open the door of a musty room in the basement of the university building. The room was lined with old wooden cabinets with what seemed like thousands of old books. Piles of papers of all sorts were scattered around the room. Uddhav hastily moved around some of them, and cleared three chairs. His friend took one of them and plonked it on the other side of the desk. Durga squeezed Vasudha's hand tightly. Vasudha squeezed back and gave her a small smile.

Uddhav's friend was arranging some papers and pens, seemingly to take notes. Uddhav smiled at Vasudha. "Alright, we're ready for you." He seemed to be waiting for Durga to leave.

"Hold on, I'm not going anywhere." Durga started saying, before realizing that she should probably try a more tactful approach. "I mean— you don't mind if I also stay, do you?" She smiled at Uddhav and his friend. Judging on the looks on their faces, her smile wasn't very convincing. Vasudha squeezed her hand again, trying to reassure her.

"It's fine." Uddhav's friend said. "But if you interrupt the proceedings, we'll have to ask you to leave. It's very important that we get all the information we can."

"Of course." She tried smiling again. This one seemed to go over better than the other one.

Madhavan gave Uddhav a quick peck on his lips. "I'll wait outside, then." Udhhav smiled at him. "Don't wander too far." Madhavan grinned, and left.

Durga looked around for another chair which she could declutter to sit down. There was one with a thick, leather-bound tome on it, but when she started to move towards it, Uddhav intercepted her. "Uh, um. Don't— uh, here!" He quickly moved a huge stack of papers off another, more rickety looking chair. "Use this one."

Durga looked at it dubiously. The chair looked at if it would crumble into dust at any second. "It's fine, I've sat on that one. It won't break." Uddhav reassured her.

Durga moved towards the rickety chair, but she didn't want to let go of Vasudha. She pulled on Vasudha's hand. Vasudha just smiled and walked over with her.

"Why are you dragging her along? That's not really a two person— ow." Uddhav's friend started saying something, but Uddhav smacked him gently on his shoulders to shut him up. He replied, "Just let them be, man."

Now the main challenge was to pick up the chair, but without letting go of Vasudha's hand. Durga tried lifting it with one hand, but for a fragile looking thing, it was surprisingly heavy. She looked back at Vasudha. Vasudha had a look on her face that was simultaneously fond and exasperated.

"Um." Durga said. "How about you pick it up from the other side?"

Vasudha snorted in laughter. "Or you could let go of my hand for the time it takes to pick up the chair and bring it over to the table?"

"That's not possible." Durga replied stubbornly. "Now help me, please. Let's just get this over with." Vasudha shook her head in amusement, but obliged. Somehow, they awkwardly dragged the second chair over and settled themselves down. Vasudha's palm in hers was getting sweaty, but Durga didn't care. Uddhav's friend was rustling his papers impatiently, but Uddhav was smiling at them, so Durga ignored his friend and smiled at Uddhav.

"We're ready." She said.

Uddhav nodded at his friend, who pulled a form with an official-looking letterhead on it. "So, this is my friend and colleague SCK Sharma. We're... I guess the official term is parisearchers, but basically we study supernatural phenomena associated with—"

"So like paranormal investigators. From horror movies." Durga interrupted. SCK Sharma looked very annoyed at that, for some reason. Uddhav just sighed.

"No, those are different. We're academics— we document and study these phenomena, we don't necessarily do... uh, exorcisms, for lack of a better word. Anyway. We're just going to ask you a few questions about your possession experience, your association with the entity— the pari— inside you, and, uh, hopefully provide some answers to questions you might have had. Sounds good?" Uddhav looked at Vasudha. She nodded, then cleared her throat and replied, "Yeah."

"Okay, so first off, we'll just ask you some routine demographic questions. We ask these to all our— uh, all the people we interview, but we won't use your answers in a way that exposes your identity. All right?"

Vasudha nodded again. "That just means my information is just for your records, right?"

"Yes and no." Uddhav replied. "Mostly it means that the information we collect will never be released to the public— but we try to understand if demographic factors such as age, gender, birth date, location, etc. influence the kind of possession experience you had. We try to collect as detailed information as we can, so that—" He suddenly stopped, as SCK cleared his throat pointedly. "Ahem. Anyway, I'll explain to you how we do our analysis later. For now, let's get to the questions."

"All right." Vasudha replied.

"First off, can you tell me your name?" Uddhav asked. SCK's pen was poised over the form in front of him.

"Vasudha Salunke."

"Your age?" SCK was noting down the information as Uddhav asked.

"I'm, uh, I'm 31 years old." Vasudha had to pause a little before answering that one. Durga squeezed her hand gently.

"Where do you live?" Uddhav asked. Before Vasudha could answer that, Durga interrupted again. "Why don't you just hand him your Aadhar Card, and he can copy all that stuff from there."

SCK scowled at that and opened his mouth to say something, when Uddhav raised a hand to forestall him. He sighed again and pinched the bridge of his nose. "That's a good suggestion, Durga, but please stop interrupting us. It'll just take longer for us to get done. We really need Vasudha to answer these questions."

Durga was about to point out that she was only being helpful, and if they wanted to be so efficient, they should just take her suggestions, when the pressure of Vasudha's hand in hers stopped her. She just sighed, and nodded. "Hm." Vasudha was awkwardly digging into her pants pocket with one hand to get her wallet out. She managed it and slid her Aadhar Card over the table at SCK, who took it grumpily and began noting down the information on the form in front of him. Durga looked at Vasudha, who raised her eyebrows in response.

"You doing okay?" Durga muttered. Vasudha nodded. "And the voice in your head?" Durga indicated with a nod of her head. "Okay. Seems amused by everything. Isn't saying much."

SCK was done with the Aadhar card, and handed it back to Vasudha. She put it back in her wallet. Uddhav looked down the list of questions, and continued. "Since when have you been... possessed? Be as exact as you can be. Year, Day, Time of day..."

"Uh..." Vasudha thought for a bit. Durga wanted to answer for her so badly. She would never forget the day of the accident, June 16. She fidgeted in her seat, waiting for Vasudha to reply.

"My best guess is June 13th, 20XX. Time... uh... it was just before sunset, so like... 7-7:30 pm? Sorry, I can't be more exact than that." Durga was surprised by her answer. Then she realized— of course. The actual possession would have happened a few days before the accident. Vasudha must be describing the time she heard the voice for the first time. Or maybe, the weird Aarti. Vasu was really taking this seriously, trying to help them as best as they can.

Uddhav was going down methodically down the list of questions. He had a lot of questions about the possession itself. Where did it happen? What exactly were you doing? Who else was with you? What exactly were they doing? Vasudha was answering as calmly and thoroughly as she could, but Durga could tell that she was getting more and more nervous. The grip of her hand in Durga's was tightening. Durga was getting really fed up with this. Did they have to ask all these questions? Who cared what that stupid guy who came up with the idea to go to that random roadside temple was up to these days. And if they wanted to know so badly, they could just track him down and ask him themselves. They didn't have to put Vasudha through this nonsense. She glared at Uddhav and his friend. Uddhav squirmed a little at her glare, which pleased her.

"Okay, let's get to the actual possession." Uddhav looked through his papers. "Uh... so tell us about this pari."

"What do you want to know?" Vasudha replied.

"Anything and everything you can tell us. I mean, we don't even know the name it is known by in the historical record. If we find that out, we can cross-reference it with our records."

Vasudha went silent again, but this time her gaze was unfocused, in the way Durga recognized it was when the voice in her head was talking to her. Uddhav and SCK seemed to have noticed it too, they were looking very intently at Vasudha. SCK was noting something down furiously. Durga wanted nothing more than to take the heat off of her in this moment. She blurted out, "The voice in her head, he likes gossip."

Everyone, including Vasudha, was looking at her now.

Uddhav asked, "Can you talk to this pari too? Do you hear its voice in your head?"

Durga frowned. "No, but Vasu tells me what he is saying, and I think he can hear what I'm saying? At least, he seems to react to what I say. Uh. I mean, that's what Vasu tells me. I don't hear him directly."

SCK replied, "If you don't hear it directly, then we can't really use the information you have. First hand accounts from the subject are much more valuable." He crossed out something on his sheet with a frown. Durga scowled. So what if she couldn't hear the voice in Vasu's head? She wasn't lying about her observations. Uddhav shifted in his seat again, and interjected, "What he means to say is, if Vasudha is the only one who can hear the pari, then she will have much more information about it than you, so it's easier and better for us if we get it from her directly."

SCK cut in with, "Also, you promised not to interrupt if we let you stay here."

Vasudha gently rubbed Durga's arm with her other hand. "You did promise, darling. It's okay, I can answer these questions." She looked at Uddhav and replied, "The— uh, pari in my head was just saying, he wasn't aware there was a historical record about him. That seemed to make him happy."

Uddhav nodded. SCK was writing things down again. "How does the pari communicate with you? Is it like talking to a person, in full sentences? Or is it more through emotions, feelings, desires?"

Vasudha looked uncertain about that. "Uh, usually it's just my thoughts? I have thoughts, and he can— see them, and responds to them in the same way? I don't know about— uh, what was that you said about feelings and desires? Can the pari influence those?"

Uddhav looked up at Vasudha, then glanced at Durga, carefully considering how to answer. SCK said, "Sometimes, pari can influence your emotions to elicit some response that they want. We have also found that certain pari also… prefer certain emotions, and might try to influence you in that direction. Have you noticed that you felt any emotion more often or more strongly since your possession?"

Vasudha looked even more uncertain. Durga chimed in with, "I haven't noticed anything like that. Uh, I mean, any changes in her personality. Since I knew her both before and after the possession."

SCK ignored Durga and pointedly asked Vasudha, "Have you noticed anything like that?"

Vasudha looked at Durga, then looked at her lap. "Not— not as such. But the voice in my head… I think it's the pari saying this, and not my own thoughts. He's saying that I had a sense of adventure and a desire to prove myself. That's why he picked me. To— to possess, I mean." Uddhav raised his eyebrows at that, and looked at SCK, who was rapidly writing on a different piece of paper. SCK slid a paper out at Uddhav, and pointed at something, both of them discussing something excitedly in low voices.

Durga squeezed Vasudha's hand. Having to talk about that experience… it wasn't easy on Vasudha. She didn't show it usually, but Durga knew that she wasn't comfortable with having a random voice commenting on her life at all times. Even if it came with some sweet benefits, like surviving bike accidents. She nudged her chair closer to Vasudha's, and pressed her whole arm against Vasudha's body. Vasudha immediately leaned into her touch.

Uddhav finally looked up from their little conversation. "Uh, um. We're just excited because we don't have a lot of insights into how pari choose their hosts. But we don't want to overwhelm you with questions, so we'll ask some more basic stuff before we get into it." Vasudha swallowed, and nodded. Uddhav continued, "Okay. Were there any physical effects from your possession? Any changes to your body?"

"Yeah, a pretty big one." Vasudha replied. "It let me survive a bike accident right after the possession." Both Uddhav and SCK looked very excited at that. SCK leaned forward in his chair. "A bike accident? What happened, exactly? Can you tell us about it?"

Vasudha nodded. "Um… I also don't really know how it exactly happened. This was right after the possession — I told you about the bike trip. It was during that trip. I was really disturbed because I was suddenly hearing a different voice in my head. I mean, not really a different voice, just — just some of my thoughts were different. And… I was distracted by the voice, and, uh— I missed a turn in the road and went over a cliff." She took a deep breath, and closed her eyes. Durga glared at Uddhav and SCK. This interview could not get done soon enough, according to her.

Uddhav shifted in his chair again, and interrupted Vasudha. "Uh, um. That's okay, you can tell us later how uh— how it exactly happened. If you can't recall right now." SCK interrupted him. "Wait, what? It's important that we know." He lowered his voice, so that Durga could no longer hear exactly what he was saying. Uddhav replied, his voice equally low. She looked over at Vasudha.

Vasudha's eyes were still closed, and she looked like she was concentrating intently on something. Durga nudged her. Vasudha's eyes jerked open, and she looked questioningly at Durga. But before Durga could ask her what she was thinking, she was interrupted by SCK. "OK, let's move on to the next question."

The next few questions were all about changes to Vasudha's appearance. Some of them were really specific, and Durga wondered how come they ended up on the list. Like, why was there a question about randomly getting a giant snake tattoo on your back? Was that a thing that commonly happened? Some of them seemed to be made up on the spot, since they were all specific to Vasudha's invulnerability. Did she get cuts and scrapes anymore? What about sore muscles from exercising? Vasudha was patiently answering everything, but Durga was getting fed up with these hyper-specific questions.

Uddhav shifted in his seat and glanced at Durga, as he looked at the next question on the list. "Um. Does the— uh, does it interfere with any of your— does it cause a problem during your— alone time with someone?"

"Uh, I didn't understand." Vasudha looked at Durga. "I mean, like Durga said earlier, he likes gossip, and I don't really have a lot of gossip to tell him about. So he talks to Durga for that. Through me, I mean. Like I tell Durga what he is saying, and he can hear what she replies."

"Um, no, not like that." Uddhav looked at Durga as well. "I meant, like, when you— uh, when you get intimate."

SCK interrupted. "He's asking if it interferes when you have sex."

Before Vasudha could say anything, Durga exploded. "Why the hell would you ask that?? Why would it — What's wrong with you?" She yanked her hand out of Vasudha's and stood up abruptly. Uddhav looked away from her, clearly uncomfortable. Even SCK was taken aback by her outburst. Nobody spoke for a few seconds. Durga took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down. Vasudha gently rubbed Durga's arm with her hand.

Then, SCK said, somewhat coldly, "If you're going to keep interrupting us, maybe you should step out for a while." At that, Uddhav just rested his head on the table with a soft thunk.

Durga was incensed by that. What, she should step out so they would continue to ask weird, specific, and invasive questions to her girlfriend? She opened her mouth to argue, when Vasudha tugged on her hand. She was also standing up now.

"Maybe we can all take a break." She suggested. "I need to drink some water anyway, I'm parched." Without waiting for SCK or Uddhav to reply, she pulled Durga out of the room. Durga went with her reluctantly, but not before she threw one last glare over her shoulder at the duo remaining in the room.

They were barely out of earshot of the room when Durga began fuming under her breath. "What do these guys think they are? Some sort of police? Detectives? Why do they need to ask so many questions? And what sort of questions are these anyway?"

"Calm down." Vasudha was steering Durga with a hand on her elbow. "They're asking me those questions, not you, why are you getting so worked up? It's okay, I trust Uddhav and his friend. They are researchers no? They have to ask all that for their research."

Durga didn't reply, just watched as the doors illuminated by the flickering tubelights passed them by. Vasudha led her to the staircase at the end of the corridor, and pushed the heavy door open. "Come on, let's see if we can find a water filter around here. I really need to drink water."

Durga gave her a smug smile, then pulled a small plastic bottle of water from the backpack slung over her shoulders. "I came prepared. As always."

Vasudha smiled fondly at her. "Of course you did. I should have known." She opened the top and downed half of it in a gulp. "Ugh, how long has it been sitting in there?" She made a face at the taste.

Durga laughed awkwardly. "Uh, I don't remember. Sorry. I don't replace it that often."

"It's probably fine, don't worry." Vasudha handed the bottle and its top to Durga, who took a much smaller sip. The water was indeed warm and stale, but it did its job of quenching her thirst. She closed the bottle and put it back in her backpack. When she was done, Vasudha said, "Come, let's take a walk, stretch our legs before I go back."

"Yes, let's— what do you mean, before you go back." Durga narrowed her eyes at Vasudha. "I'm coming with you."

Vasudha sighed. Durga scowled at her. "Do you not want me in there?"

"No! No, of course not. That's not it." Vasudha started walking slowly. "It's just that— I think, them asking me questions is bothering you more than it's bothering me. I can handle it, you don't have to worry so much." But Durga noticed that she was fiddling with her braid with her other hand.

"It is bothering you! I can tell." Durga insisted. "Don't pretend in front of me. I know it's not easy for you to talk about… it. The, the pari in your head. You don't have to do it if you don't want to."

Vasudha took a deep breath. "Okay, fine. Yes, it's bothering me. But I think I need to do it anyway. Something has happened— they're asking us all these questions for a reason. I think… I should help them with that."

"What do you mean, something has happened?" Durga asked. "You just said now, they are researchers. I think they're just satisfying their curiosities." She glared at the wall.

Vasudha looked thoughtful. "I'm not so sure about that. Something about this whole thing— I mean, why would they have called us in so urgently if it was just their research?" She stopped walking for a second. "What if it's something to do with Madhavan's sister?"

Durga looked skeptically at her. "People get hospitalized for any number of mundane reasons." But her heart wasn't in the argument. After all, Vasudha's accident was caused by a supernatural encounter as well. Vasudha smiled at her knowingly, as if she could see the gears in Durga's head turn.

"And besides, if I answer their questions, maybe I'll get some answers in return. Such as the emotions thing." Vasudha said the last part a bit louder, as if to make very sure the voice in her head knew she was talking about it.

Durga sighed. "If you're sure you'll be fine."

Vasudha smiled at her, a little nervously. "I'll be fine. Don't worry."

"I'm never not going to worry." Durga insisted. "I'll always worry. But I know that you can handle it. And if you really need me, I'll be right outside. I won't go anywhere."

Chapter Text

Durga barged into the hospital room like an elephant charging into a still lake, ignoring the protests of the nurse on duty.

Vasudha raised her eyebrow at her. She was calmly sitting on the bed, reading a book.

"Vasu! You're— you're okay!" Durga grabbed her in a hug and squeezed hard. "Ouch!" Vasudha squealed. "Don't— please sit down before you break a bone." But Durga wasn't listening. Letting go of her, she drew back to look Vasudha over carefully. Her hands were still on her shoulders.

"Does it hurt anywhere? Where does it hurt?" She asked frantically. Vasudha placed her hands on Durga's arms. "It doesn't hurt, I swear I'm fine, there's not a scratch on me."

"But— the bike! I saw it! You couldn't even sell it for parts!" Durga was not really in a listening mood. "And I swear something looks different about you." She started scrutinising Vasudha again.

Vasudha squirmed a little under her gaze. "Listen— about that. There's something I need to talk to you about, if you just sit down for a moment—"

"Do you have jaundice?!!" Durga shouted over Vasudha.

Vasudha stopped trying to explain and gaped in amazement. "Jaun— why would I get jaundice because of a bike accident?"

"Well, why do you look yellower?" Durga demanded. "And your arms… they feel different too." She ran her hands down Vasudha's shoulders, down her arms. "Is this a symptom of jaundice?"

"Do you even know what jaundice is? Also, what do you mean I look yellower?" Vasudha tried to look around for a mirror.

"Yeah, it's when your body turns yellow and shit. It's something to do with the liver, oh my god, what if something is wrong with your liver?"

Vasudha shook Durga's shoulders hard. "Nothing is wrong with my liver! Nothing is wrong with me. They're just keeping me in here for observation, but they told me they will let me go soon."

"Something is up with you, I am certain of it." Durga abruptly got off the bed, and began pacing back and forth in the room. "You— they— do you even know how scared I've been for the past day? Do you have any idea—"

"Yes, I am so sorry about that, but if you just—" Vasudha tried to stop the oncoming tirade, but it was like a hermit crab trying to dam the ocean.

"And when I saw the bike— it was—" Durga abruptly looked away. Vasudha tried to take this opportunity to interject. "Yes, yes, listen, just let me—"

But Durga was not willing to let up. "And now I come here and you're fine? Except you inexplicably have jaundice—"

"Okay, will you please stop saying jaundice—"

"And your arms feel weird… and your ears! I swear you weren't wearing these earrings before—"

"I will explain it to you if you just shut up and LISTEN FOR A SECOND!!" Vasudha had finally had enough.

Durga was taken aback. Vasudha very rarely spoke so forcefully with her. She simply opened and closed her mouth like a fish for a couple seconds. Vasudha had to stifle a laugh at that. She hurriedly rearranged her face into a neutral expression before Durga could notice.

"Go on." Durga said, much softer than before. "I'm listening."

Vasudha took a deep breath, then fidgeted with her hands. "I'm… You might not believe me. It's a pretty wild story."

Durga scoffed. "I'll believe anything you have to say to me. I trust you completely, you know this."

"Yes, but…" Vasudha looked away. "Do you… Have you ever had a supernatural encounter?"

"You mean like, ghosts?" Durga's brow furrowed. "I didn't know you were into that stuff now."

"No, not… well. I'm not sure what exactly it was. Or. What exactly it is."

"What are you talking about? What is 'it'?" Durga made air quotes around the word. Vasudha sighed. "Come here, sit down next to me." She made grabby hands at Durga, who immediately crowded close to her. The small cot was rather cramped for both of them, but neither of them minded.

"You know how Akshay in the biker group likes to do a little prayer thing before we start the trip?" Vasudha was staring at her hands. She imagined she could feel the strange presence in her head, even thought it was silent. Her thoughts felt like her own.

"Yeah…" Durga looked unsure where she was going with this.

"Okay so, we stopped to do that at this tiny little roadside temple, I don't even know what temple it was, but he said it was an effective one, whatever that means. I was just standing at the back, to be polite, you know. And then… when the guy was doing that smoke wafting thing with the Aarti… I think— I think that something was weird about that smoke."

"Okay? What does this have to do with the accident?" Durga looked carefully at Vasudha again. "Did you hit your head in the accident? Can you get smoke inhalation or something from Aarti smoke?"

"I told you, I'm fine!" Vasudha snapped back. "Or well, physically. It— The voice in my head." Vasudha said abruptly. "I started hearing some… some thoughts in my head? They don't feel like my thoughts. And the only thing that happened before it was the stupid prayer, I don't know…"

Durga just looked at her, her eyes wide, as if trying to make sense of what she was hearing. She held Vasudha's hands tightly. Vasudha abruptly buried her face in Durga's shoulder. She screwed her eyes shut, trying to draw comfort from Durga's arms around her.

"I know I'm not making a lot of sense right now." She mumbled into Durga's shoulder. She felt Durga just patting her back, uncharacteristically silent. "Just… just tell me what happened." Durga finally replied. "With the bike. And the accident."

"It happened so fast— I wasn't paying attention on a sharp turn on a road on the cliff-side, and me and the bike… we went over the railing. It was a pretty steep drop too. I don't know what happened— I just remember being at the bottom of the cliff, completely unhurt." Vasudha had not raised her face from Durga's shoulder.

"How…" Durga was still patting Vasudha's back. "How is that possible?"

"I— it happened because of the voice, I'm sure of it." Vasudha tried to concentrate, to recall the unsettling feeling she got, the feeling of arguing with something that was not quite there but yet it was. She tried to gather her words, to explain what she meant, but without the voice talking like it had before the accident, it was hard to believe what had happened. Even if she had lived it.

"I started hearing some weird thoughts, it felt like I was arguing with myself. I was so caught up in the argument, I wasn't paying as much attention to the road as I should have been…"

"Are you— do you—" Durga paused. "Do you need to talk to a doctor about this? Like a therapist?"

"No!" Vasudha exclaimed. She pulled away from Durga, so she could show her that she was serious. "I mean, not that I'm against it. But I'm pretty sure they won't be able to explain what happened. They're not going to believe me if I tell them a voice in my head made me invulnerable. Wow, even saying it out loud makes me feel stupid." She looked far away into the distance.

"You're not stupid." Durga replied reflexively. Vasudha giggled a little at that.

"It just… it sounds too hard to believe. I don't know if I believe it myself. But the bike…" Vasudha said. "There's no other explanation for that. For what happened."

"Whatever is going on, we'll figure it out. Together." Durga pulled Vasudha in for a hug. Vasudha melted in her arms, as usual.

She closed her eyes and concentrated on Durga's arms around her. They were going to be all right, Durga believed her, as Vasudha knew she would. Weird voice in the head be damned. Though, she supposed, she should really be thankful to the voice, since it had saved her life.

I really am grateful, she thought. Just… please, don't do anything like that again. It was very scary. She tried to concentrate, but she couldn't feel any thoughts that weren't her own, that were the voice.

They stayed like that for a while, before Durga pulled away slightly to get her phone out of her pocket with one hand and started typing something.

"What're you looking at?" Vasudha peeked over her shoulder. She caught the words 'liver injury' before Durga exited the tab and clicked on a new one. This one seemed to be some sort of research article.

"See!" Durga exclaimed triumphantly, shoving her phone in Vasudha's face. Vasudha leaned back and let her eyes focus on the screen. On the screen, the title of the article said, "Screening and management of major bile leak after blunt liver trauma".

Vasudha rolled her eyes at Durga. "I can't believe you're still onto the jaundice thing. It's like you didn't listen to a word of what I said."

Durga was a little abashed. "I mean, I'm still processing it. It's hard to wrap my head around… it." She focused on the task at hand. "But I was right! Bike accidents can totally cause jaundice."

Vasudha had to smile at that. When Durga was convinced she was right, there was no stopping her. She wasn't going to give up that easily, though. "Sure, but you're missing the fact that I wasn't even hurt. There was no 'blunt liver trauma', or whatever. You just don't want to agree that it's an insane conclusion to come to in the first place."

Durga just pursed her lips stubbornly and replied, "But I didn't know that. There could have been." She suddenly went quiet, her expression horrified. The weight of what she said hung between them. There could have been blunt liver trauma. If not for a supernatural intervention, Vasudha wouldn't be here.

That was a scary thought. Vasudha should be scared right now. So why was she suddenly feeling vindicated, as though she had just been proven right? Was this still even about their conversation? She suddenly realized, horrified, the feeling was not her own.

See, I am just helping, the thought in her head said. We can have so many adventures together. It'll be fun!

Vasudha squashed that thought. Right now, it was more important to focus on what was real. The fear that Durga had, that she should also be feeling. Would be feeling, if the weird smug voice wasn't around. She gently shook Durga's hands holding her own. "Hey, look at me." She said softly. "I'm here. I'm fine. Nothing happened to me."

Durga's eyes were shining with tears. She sniffed and said, "Something did happen to you. And I know you're physically fine, but…" She looked away and wiped roughly at her face with one of her hands before turning back to look at Vasudha. "If something happened to you, I wouldn't be able to bear it. I won't."

Nothing's going to happen, the voice in her head said. I'll keep us safe. Vasudha wasn't so sure about that. It had kept her safe once, but at what cost?

"What's happening?" Durga demanded. "What are you thinking?"

Vasudha hesitated. But looking at Durga's expression, she spoke. "The voice. It said nothing was going to happen to me. That it would keep me safe."

Durga glared at Vasudha, in a way that Vasudha knew she was glaring at the voice. "It better."

The voice was amused in her head. I like her, it said. She has fire. I can see why you love her so much.

"Shut up, you weirdo." Vasudha muttered.

"What?" Durga asked.

"No—not you! It's the voice." Vasudha looked away. Having the voice comment on everything was getting on her nerves once again. She tried to take a deep breath to calm herself down.

"What's the voice saying?" Durga was nothing if not persistent.

"Stop asking me that!" Vasudha snapped at her. The moment the words left her lips, she immediately regretted shouting at Durga like that. Durga was silent, just looking at her. Her eyes were suspiciously moist.

"I'm sorry— I'm sorry!" Vasudha quickly replied. "I— I don't know why I said that, I shouldn't have— mmph." Her lips were suddenly occupied as Durga leaned forward and kissed her. Vasudha closed her eyes and deepened the kiss. For a few blissful seconds, there was nothing else in the world.

Before they could get too occupied, Durga broke apart from her. "I'm sorry too." She muttered. "I just— I can't stand not knowing. What you're going through."

Vasudha smiled softly. "I know. I understand. It's going to take some adjustment for both of us, I can imagine."