Vrishaketu had been having a bad feeling about the whole thing. Not for any particular reason, just..... he had been uncomfortable. But since his mother had assured him that everything would be fine, he had relented.

He had been pacing around restlessly in his grandparents' chambers for the past half an hour while his grandmother knitted something and his grandfather read a book, both of them used to his tendency to worry incessantly.

As it turned out however, terrifyingly his worry was not incessant this time because soldiers burst into the quarters without even knocking, which was practically unheard of.

"Your highness!" One of them panted. "The Queen of Anga has been abducted."

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"No." Arjun breathed, horrified. This could not have happened. It could not have happened.

Jyesht fell upon his throne with a thump.

"We requested her to do this puja for us. And now she has been abducted." Yudhishtir buried his face in his hands.

"We need to get her back, obviously." Sahadev said.

"Yes, obviously, but without causing a war!" Jyesht exclaimed. "We can't afford another war, even on a small scale."

'What will I tell Vrishaketu?' was the only thought in Arjun's mind.

"The sages said that Anushalva wanted Vasudev." Bhrata Bheem said and Arjun's head snapped up. 

"Should we request aid from him then?" Nakul asked.

"No!" Arjun exclaimed. "We cannot possibly involve Madhav in this."

"And why not?" Came a hard voice. 

Arjun whirled around to see that Vrishaketu had somehow noiselessly and without being declared, slunk into their private discussion chambers.

His arms were crossed across his chest, his eyes were red and his mouth was set in an angry line.

"Vrishaketu--"

"My mother was in that temple because you requested her to perform the puja for your Ashwamedha. How can you do anything but your best to attempt to get her back?!"

"We will do our best to get her back--" Jyesht began, but Arjun cut him off.

"We will not just do our best. We will get her back."

"And yet you refuse to ask your friend for help. Why?" 

Vrishaketu stepped much closer to Arjun and since the last growth spurt he'd had over the past few months had made him reach his father's height, Arjun had to look up just a little bit to meet his eyes. Arjun got the feeling that was what the boy had been aiming for anyway. Despite everything, he couldn't help but feel slightly amused at this action. Regardless, he held firm.

"We cannot involve Madhav in this." Arjun said, resolute. "We can hardly ask him to hand himself over on a platter--"

"We are not going to be requesting him to do any such thing!" Vrishaketu exclaimed. "That man basically won you the war. Are you saying he can't take on this King and rescue my mother?"

"I'm saying that there is no need to involve him."

"Wha-- how do you propose we get my mother out then, since we cannot wage a war?!" Vrishaketu asked, with a desperate edge to his voice, his hands suddenly shooting forwards to grab onto Arjun's shoulders.

He blinked, startled. 

"I  will go get her." Arjun said.

"Arjun," Yudhishtir said, "Avoiding battle means you can't go there and challenge Anushalva for a fight."

"I know that. I'm going to sneak into his palace and break her out." 

The idea only formed in his head as he spoke it out. There was complete silence.

"What." Jyesht said, blankly. 

"Sneak in?!" Bhrata Bheem exclaimed. "You've never sneaked in anywhere in your life!"

That was true. Even during their exile, when they were hiding their true identities, there had been no sneaking anywhere to break anyone out.

"There is no other way." Arjun said, because there was no way he would ever involve Madhav in this. How could he ever even consider going up to Madhav and asking him to hand himself over?! Yes, Arjun knew he was the Lord of Universe and could easily deal with Anushalva but it would be shameful to even request such a thing after he had already done so much for all of them and when this situation was entirely their fault.

"Arjun, think again." Jyesht Yudhishtir said again. "It goes against your code of honour to sneak in somewhere and attack behind one's back. Are you truly willing to do that?"

Arjun swallowed. Thought of how upset Vrishaketu was. Of how this whole situation was their fault. And the answer was obvious.

"Yes."

"I'll go with you." Vrishaketu said immediately.

They all turned to look at him incredulously.

"It's a stealth mission." Nakul said. "It won't be stealth if there are too many people."

"There won't be too many people!" The boy exclaimed. "Only two."

"Vrishaketu--"

"My mother has been kidnapped and you think I'm going to sit and do nothing?" He glared at all of them, though given his red eyes and blotchy face, it probably didn't have the effect he was intending.

"My boy, what could you do that Arjun can't?" Jyesht asked and Arjun immediately winced at the wording. Sure enough, Vrishaketu got even redder in the face.

"I'm not your boy!" He shouted. "And while I can't do anything more that Rajkumar Arjun, I can at least help!"

And then he whirled on Arjun.

"You will let me come, won't you?" And Arjun felt his heart break again at the forlorn look on his face.

Arjun gingerly put a hand on Vrishaketu's shoulder and taking it as a good sign that he was not immediately shrugged off, he gently tried to guide Vrishaketu out of the chambers. To his surprise, Vrishaketu let himself be steered along.

Once they were in the corridors and out of the earshot of any guards or servants, Arjun placed his other hand on Vrishaketu's shoulder as well and looked up into his eyes.

The boy looked back at him sullenly. 

"You're not going to let me come, are you?"

Arjun didn't answer directly. Instead, he took a leap of faith.

"Can you trust me?" He asked.

"What?" Vrishaketu whispered, eyes wide.

"That's why you want to come with me, don't you? Because you don't fully trust me to be able to save your mother?"

Vrishaketu looked away and shrugged Arjun's hands off. But just as Arjun felt the disappointment creep in, the boy met his eyes again and bit his lips.

"I do know," he began haltingly, "that now that my Pitashree is--gone,"  he choked out, "You are the greatest warrior there is."

Arjun almost felt his heart stop in his chest. It had clearly taken Vrishaketu great effort to say it, to mention his father's death and then praise Arjun's battle prowess in the same statement instead of criticizing him--but he had done it.

Arjun swallowed hard, feeling a sting in his eyes.

"So you do trust me to save your mother?"

"Ye-es." He said hesitantly and Arjun's heart did a little flip. "I just think it's stupid that you're not taking your friend's help." Vrishaketu said instead.

"I didn't know you thought so highly of Madhav."

"Highly?!" He shrieked in rage and Arjun almost took a step back. "He mind controlled my father during the battle to make him forget about his weapons and then he encouraged you to kill him. How could I ever think highly of him?! I hate him!"

Arjun immediately felt his hackles rise. Nothing Vrishaketu said was a lie or inherently disrespectful but hearing anyone speaking about hating Madhav.... especially someone who he had come to care about.... it was hard. He couldn't even understand how it was possible. But one thing stuck out to him.

"If you.... if you.." Gods, he couldn't even say the word 'hate' in regards to Madhav, "If you don't like him, then why are you so desperate that I take him? You know very well that no one will be turning him over to Anushalva. And I can easily deal with whatever that despicable kidnapper throws at me."

"What if he uses my mother as a hostage?" The boy exclaimed. "You won't be able to do anything then and you both will caught. What would be the point then? We all know that Vasudev Krishna has special powers though, so he would have no problem. We don't need both of you captured."

The boy's concern about his mother being used as a hostage was valid. But he was simply not even going to let such a situation arise, where Angarani Vrushali could be held hostage in the first place.

In fact, Arjun might have felt offended at Vrishaketu's lack of confidence in his abilities if not for the fact that Vrishaketu had praised his prowess in battle moments ago and that fact that he heard the undercurrent of what sounded like... concern, in the boy's voice.

"Are you worried about me as well?" Arjun asked.

Vrishaketu huffed incredulously.

"How did you arrive at that conclusion?!"

"Is that why you wanted to come with me as well? Since apparently you do trust me to save your mother?"

"Now you're just being ridiculous!"

"So you're not worried about me then?"

"No!" But the way the boy wouldn't meet his eyes was suspicious.

"I'm going to pretend you are, though." he said, having to hold back a smile despite the situation.

Vrishaketu gaped at him.

"You--you can't--"

Arjun stepped forward and placed his hands on the boy's shoulders again, causing him to quiet down.

"I will get your mother home Vrishaketu. I have to anyway. We can't have your own mother be absent at your birthday in two weeks!"

"How do you know when my birthday is?" The boy asked softly.

"I asked Uttara." Arjun said.

"Alright." Vrishaketu replied. "I'm believing you."

There was another reason he didn't want to involve Madhav, Arjun supposed. He had to do this alone to show Vrishaketu that he could be trusted to protect him and his mother, to take care of them. Arjun never wanted to see fear of himself in Vrishaketu's eyes again.

So, I know you all probably got used to the longer chapters once my updates slowed down but I really can't add anything else to this chapter. And gods was this so hard to write. Anyway, You probably won't be hearing from me for very long now, so leaving on a note with Arjun and Vrishaketu's relationship definitely towards improvement.

I'll probably not be writing for several months now, so please don't ask me to update. As much as I am flattered by you all wanting to read my writing, I simply do not have the time right now.

Did I get Vrushali kidnapped just to attempt to forward Arjun and Vrishaketu's relationship. Yes.

Am I trying to keep Madhav out of this because I am terrified to write him? Also yes.

Do I also have to include Madhav at some point before the final act? ALSO yes.

I had initially planned to include Krishna in this segment but I feel like I'm chickening out because I DON'T KNOW HOW TO WRITE HIMMMM. And I definitely don't want to mischaracterise him.

Like I said, this chap was very tough to write so I hope I managed to write it somewhat ok. I feel like it's not flowing properly somehow. Initially I had planned to include an Arjun-Vrishaketu hug at the end but it seemed too rushed. Now's not the time. I do have a plan for when the hug will happen though.

I wrote different segments of this chapters at totally different times and I feel like it shows and I'm not sure I've been able to tie it together while editing. Are the emotions coming across okay? If you guys feel like changing any part and improve the flow, please feel free to leave suggestions.

If you DID like the chapter, don't forget to leave votes and comments!