Panchaali felt as though the time had stopped, she could no longer make out what was the time, was it day Or night. Or even the fact that whether she was alive or not. The only thing she knew was that she was in pain, that she hurt, that she was all alone in the cold cell. That there was no one with her.

"Arya." She thought again about them, her Vrikodar's jokes, Nakul's teasing, Sahadev's silent companionship, Yudhisthir's wise words, and Arjun's flirting. She missed it all, she missed them all, she felt so cold, she sat in the corner with her back against the wall, her feet were pulled to her chest as she had her hands wrapped around them, her forehead resting on her knees.

Her lips were dry as she felt parched, she sighed as she closed her eyes and tried to sleep. She knew soon her aryas would be here.

****

Pandavas sneaked into the palace of Panchaal, through the secret door. Their eyes moved around faster as they tried to assess the enemies around. On their way in each corridor they killed many soldiers.

Bheem wrapped his hands around the neck of another soldier, the man tried to fight back but before he could even move Vrikodar snapped his neck, and dropped the body of the man like a sack of potatoes.

"We need to get divided. Some of us need to go and free the Royal Family and Panchaali." Yudhisthir suggested, the others nodded, "I and Sahadev will go and free Panchaali."Nakul volunteered. "Good, you two are good at ayurveda. We will first go in vedhshala and make sure that no one is there, if there is someone we will kill them. Once you get Panchaali, get her to the Vedhshala and treat her." Arjun ordered as the twins nodded, Arjun along with Bheem and Yudhisthir left.

Nakul and Sahadev rushed down to the dungeon where the prisons were, killing every soldier on their way. The pushed the door open and were assaulted by various smells, their eyes watered, as they rushed in, this is where that animal had kept their girl? Here in this hell?

The fury burned brighter as the two rushed in, the soon released the Royal Family and directed them to go help their brothers. Their attacks were now more ruthless as they imagined that their girl was staying here, hurt and suffering.

Nakul kicked the soldier on the face, he went flying back. Sahadev moved swiftly as he punched a man in the throat making him choke on his own blood and die. Their eyes were red, they looked feral, they moved with a precision and swiftness, ending the life of every person they came across.

They froze as they heard a very soft whimper, "Arya." It was soft but was enough to make them freeze, they rushed to the cell from where they heard the whimpering.

Nakul and Sahadev gasped as a sharp pain reverberated through their chest as they saw their wife. She sat on the floor, looking so weak, all the fight left them as they were suddenly assaulted them with a weakness that had their weapons fell on the floor with a thump, they kicked the door open, the door hit the wall with a loud thud, they rushed in.

"Panchaali!" The two of them shouted her name, pain lacing their words as they fell on their knees in front of her. All their strength had left them.

Her heart thunder in her chest, they were here, oh god her aryas were here! She thought as she raised her head. Nakul and Sahadev's eyes widened as they looked at her, she had bruises on her face.

A sob left her mouth as her eyes met theirs, the twins couldn't hold back as they wrapped their arms around her and pulled her to their chest. They froze as Panchaali gasped in fear, they felt wetness on their hands.

Their heart hammered loudly, they knew what it was that stained their hands but their mind refused to believe it. They pulled back, a look of dread marred on their faces as they looked down at themselves, their wife's blood stained them, it was everywhere.

The twins felt as though their souls had just died, pain like never before threatened to choke them to death. This was absolute torture, they felt like they were in hell, bring given one of the most excoriating punishment, for a sin they never did. Tears rolled down their cheeks, as their souls screamed in agony, they wanted to kill someone and that someone was not here.

"Shhhhh butterfly I am going to pick you up. I'm so sorry we left you Princess, I am so so so sorry priye. I'm so sorry. " Nakul begged for her forgiveness as tears continued to flow down his cheeks, with every moment the agony of his soul just increased.

"Oh my little flower, we are so very sorry. You had to deal with all this. What have we done?! We shouldn't have left her behind! We are so very sorry, so sorry my little flower, we are really very sorry. " Sahadev pleaded, tears tracing down his cheeks as he sobbed, guilt weighed heavy on his soul.

"Arya please don't apologise. You did nothing wrong arya. Nothing wrong." She said, her words so soft and so delicate. Her words did nothing to sooth their fears, Nakul picked her up delicately, his hands soaking in her blood, he kissed her forehead and so did Sahadev.

Sahadev picked up their weapons as both of them moved to the vedhshala. Once they reached there, they laid her down on one of the softest bed, blood stained it's white sheets, making the twins eyes fill with tears once again. She didn't deserve this, she didn't deserve any of it. Their one carelessness had bitten them hard.

They noticed that she had lost consciousness, may it was for better. The two of them got to work, Nakul began to prepare the medicines with all the herbs while Sahadev began to undress her.

In his life he had treated people who were injured worse than Panchaali yet never his hands shook, never was there a paralysing fear that they felt now. His hands shook as he cut open her saree, all her underclothes. He put a blanket on her, his gaze completely professional as he assessed her.

What he saw made his knees weak, he wanted to sit and cry or better yet die. There were deep gashes on her stomach, her shoulders, her back and her thighs. Skin from there was hanging, he moved back in shock, he stumbled before he fell down. Tears rolling down his cheeks, as he shouted and screamed in agony.

A loud scream left his mouth, it was filled with so much pain and agony that Nakul turned to look at his brother, the one who was the most calm and collected was now breaking apart on the floor.

Nakul turned to gaze at his wife, his eyes travelled to her face, there were some bruises that he knew. Her neck was perfectly fine, her chest was covered by a long and thick strip of blanket, his eyes travelled down to her stomach, the gashes there had him shocked, he moved back, no voice left his mouth. Her hips to mid thigh was another strip of thick and long blanket but the thighs and shoulders had him shocked.

The gashes were deep, blood was dripping down, her beautiful white skin was green, blue and yellow as various bruises marred her body. The strips of her flash hanged from various parts making Nakul loose his mind.

He whipped her with the double hook whip? Not even best of the warriors could stand it, that animal dared to hurt her with a double hooked whip! Oh his poor girl. The shock was too much for him, his mind reverberating with pain and guilt. His poor girl,oh god. He broke down,he was completely shattered. They were considered to be the strongest warriors of the world yet in this moment they felt the weakest. They wanted to die.

Bheem's gada fell from his hand as he heard Sahadev's scream of pain, it had so much agony in it that it shook his soul. Panchaali, her name came to his mind causing him to panic, he turned around and ran towards the vedhshala.

Yudhisthir and Arjun just froze as they heard the agonised scream of their brother,the pain it reflected had their hands and feet turn cold as their blood froze. "Panchaali!" They screamed her name and rushed to the vedhshala.

At the door the three pandavas froze, their heart shattering, their souls just vanished. Arjun and Bheem walked to her bed their heads shaking as they refused to believe what they saw. Yudhisthir closed the door and locked it, this was a very private moment for their family.

His hands were shaking as he looked around, he was completely defeated just as his brothers. Their innocent girl was tortured in such an inhuman way.

The five pandavas broke completely, they were shattered. Destroyed. There was just no other way to describe it, their hearts were gone,they felt as though they had died.

Yudhisthir took a deep breath, he can't break now. He needs to be strong,he needs to be strong for his family. He needs to be strong for her. His Malini needed him, needed them all.

He moved in front of all of them, "it's not the time to break, we need to be strong. We need to be strong for her. We need to fight, we need to punish that animal who had done this to her. Nakul, Sahadev get up! She's already in too much pain, we need to heal her, make it better for her. How do you think she would feel if she saw us breaking down like this? What do you think will happen? We need to be her strength not her weakness." Yudhisthir's words had them all looking at their brother,they knew he was right.

They sighed defeated as they all stood up. Nakul and Sahadev got to their work, their hands shook as they treated her, tears stained their cheeks as they cleaned the blood. As they worked the other three pandavas left the room to search for the monster who was responsible for her suffering.

***

Harshavardhan's screams filled the room. His blood dripped everywhere, there was no part of his body that wasn't bleeding. He couldn't move, "How dare you touch my wife?!" Bheem screamed, fury lacing his words, the anger in them had Harshavardhan whimpering, Bheem pulled back his gada and brought it down hard on his palm, the sickening sound of the bones crushing filled the room, Harshavardhan screamed like a banshee.

"Please please please let me go!" He shouted as he cried hysterically. "You have done a grave mistake by hurting the one person that is the very reason of our existence." Yudhisthir's voice rang in the silence of the room, Arjun pulled back the whip and brought it down hard on the back of the man, he screamed loud, the room filled with the smell of piss.

"Already pissed your pants in two minutes? Have you seen what you have done to her? You have marred her beautiful body forever! Because of you she would be constantly reminded of the hell that she has been through. Because of you my Panchaali would feel sad every time she looks at herself in the mirror. You moron you have no idea what you have done. How badly you have harmed her." Arjun shouted as he kicked him hard. The man chocked, and coughed up blood.

He kept on screaming and shouting, the pandavas showed no mercy. One hit after another. Once he could no longer move the pandavas moved back, away from him, leaving him.

Harshavardhan regretted ever seeing Panchaali, ever think about her, regret was the only thing he felt as he took his last breath. . .

*****

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