Chapter Text
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His mother was humming the ending of the song.....
With one last look at the moonlit sky, he closed his eyes.
And The pain faded away.
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Bheem was fuming.
"Tomorrow, Duryodhan will be declared as the crown prince. I am sure."
"That is why they insulted brother Arjun. Since they couldn't beat him in competence, they took to humiliation, so that we are unable to say anything in the court tomorrow."
Yudhisthir sighed.
"What will we argue about, Nakul?"
Nakul went quiet for a moment, and then spoke,
"That you have the right to be the crown prince, brother."
Bheem and Sahdev nodded along.
"No. Only lord Indra gets to decide how much rain a place deserves. All creatures have to abide by that decision."
Sahdev looked confused. Yudhisthir smiled and continued,
"A king's right is similar to that."
"But brother...."
Sahdev spoke up.
"If, for some reason, for a particular time period, a person is declared as a king, that doesn't mean he can own that kingdom forever."
Yudhisthir nodded and walked towards him.
"Lord Indra is immortal and so are his powers and rights. We however, are all humans. It's true that no one gets to rule a kingdom forever. That is why it is tradition that Whoever is bestowed with the throne gets to be rightful king for that particular time."
Sahdev nodded in understanding.
"And what if someone wins that kingdom through his might and competence?
He will be considered as the new king then, won't he?"
Bheem raised his fist,
"We will get this kingdom through our might, brother. We will battle it out if we must!
We also cannot forget how Arjun was insulted in front of everyone."
"Who exactly will you fight with Bheem?"
Yudhisthir's tone was stern.
"With your family members? With your grandfather? With your uncle Dhitrashtra? With your uncle Vidur or with your own cousins?
No Bheem. You cannot even think about a battle.
Whatever the king decides tomorrow, we will have to abide by that."
With that, he turned and left.
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Somewhere in the palace, a person woke up screaming.
He couldn't breathe.
He couldn't see.
He couldn't feel anything.
Was this the afterlife?
And then he felt a sharp pain explode in his chest. He tried to move, to touch the wound, but nothing seemed to work.
And then he was drowning.
His whole body hurt. Eventually The pain became unbearable.
He felt his conscious fade within the darkness, and he welcomed it with open arms.
And then there was nothing.
He covered his mouth to muffle his screams and tried to control his breathing.
That did not help at all.
The room was illuminated by the light of diyas. But he couldn't recognize the place. Where was he?
And then he realized that he still couldn't breathe properly. His chest still hurt.
He removed the sheets (sheets? Why was he in a bed?) and looked down.
Oh.
There was a dagger sticking out from his chest.
That's what made breathing so difficult.
He grabbed it's sliver handle and then, his head began to spin........
He was hugging Abhimanyu.
But then he stabbed him.
Bheem jumping in front of his son to protect him. But it was useless.
Ghatotkach was dead.
He almost chopped Sahdev's head off.
His mother crying at their fate.
His chariot getting stuck.
Vasudev preaching to him.
His brother aiming towards him. His form was perfect. And so was his aim.
He was dying.
His mother was crying. His brothers were crying. The pain of the wound was starting to numb.
His mother was singing to him.
He knew that song from a deeply buried memory.
He closed his eyes.
Karna jumped from the bed and threw up.
He was supposed to be dead. Why is he here?
And where exactly was he?
Is this hell?
He still couldn't breathe properly. That dagger was still wedged in his chest.
He looked around and grabbed a piece of cloth from a chair nearby.
And then wrapping it around his hand, he grabbed the handle again.
There were no flashbacks this time.
Good.
And then griting his teeth, he pulled the dagger.
It came out and the pain instantly doubled.
He bit his hand to prevent screaming out loud.
He could feel blood trickle down from the wound.
Black spots danced in front of his eyes.
He tried to stay awake, but the pain, combined with the fact that his body was rapidly losing a lot of blood made it very hard.
And before he knew it, the darkness had claimed it once again, bringing sweet relief with it.