Gasps feel the corridors of the palace as the servants watch the twins run towards their private floor. Their hearts freeze as they hear their brothers scream a name with so much pain, that it shatters their heart.

"PANCHAALI!" The pandavas screamed,  the twins kick the door open. Nakul's heart sunk as he saw the blood soaked bed, she looked like a corpse, her breathing almost non existent. Tears traced down his cheeks as he looked at their baby crying in Yudhisthir's arms.

He shook his head, he'll be damned if he let something happen to her. He fisted his hand as he looked at his bleeding wife, "No! You better wake up! You promised me that when I return I will be returning to you, healthy and happy! Wake up Panchaali!" He shouted pain and fury lacing his words, he ran towards her and his twin followed.

Sahadev's couldn't stop his tears, but there was the fire of determination burning in his chest, that willed that he would save her. Return her back to him,  she had to return she didn't have a choice. She was his! His damn it, no one can take her away from him not even Yum Dev. 

He rushed to aid his twin, his mind reeling with all the knowledge."We are the sons of Ashwini Kumars and dying in front of us is not something we will let you do! You better fight this battle with us, do you understand Panchaali?!!  This is your husband's order fight the death with us."  Sahadev shouted, never in his life had he raised his voice on his wife, he had always given her whatever she wished but if she wished death today he refused! He refused every word of it with every cell in his body. She was his, he had made her his, she was his
ardhang! (other half of one's body and soul)

Time passed as the pandavas got themselves together, they clean the baby and put him to sleep. Arjun watched his younger twins run back and forth, his hand holding tightly on his wife's, he refused to leave her hand, to loose touch with her. He shut his eyes and he could see her smiling face, the look she would give him during their practices of archery, her eyes always filled with love.

He shook his head as her smile came flashing to his mind, the love in her eyes. The way her cheeks would turn a light shade of pink as she blushed and the way she would look at him through her lashes.

"Hey beautiful, I know I call you sleeping beauty but that doesn't mean you dare to sleep forever. We need you little one, I need you. Wake up!" His voice broke as he began to cry, his body shook with every sob, he was breaking slowly but surely.

Nakul and Sahadev sat next to her looking helplessly at their wife, they had done all they could but nothing seemed to work. Not at all. Tears were blurring their eyes as they looked at her.

Nakul's tears traced down her cheeks faster as he looked at his wife, he recalled the smile she would give him when he sat angry at everyone. She would calm him, every time.

His Draupadi would calm him, his Malini. The one with whom he had sworn to spend his life happily and now she lay here, on the verge of death and he couldn't do anything.

Yudhisthir's tears traced the path of his cheeks and fell on her feet. Her smiling face flashed in front of his smile, she was the dharm of Dharmraj, how would he live without her? He would be nothing but a corpse.

The memory when he met his Malini again after years flashed in front of Sahadev, he could still remember that smile, the one that gave him the strength to live, to survive. His life. His wife and living without her was no option for him.

Bheem sat quiet, today he had lost the ability to say or feel anything. One after another her images were playing in his mind, the only thing that was keeping him sane; her smiling face.

The pandavas bristled as the air charged with an energy, filling it. Their eyes widened as they looked at Dharmraj Yumdev standing there in the air, the pandavas bowed as they chocked on their sobs. They shook their heads as they looked at their wife and back to the kaal that was there to take her away from them, forever. The fire of determination burned brighter, no one can separate them not even death.

The five stood up in between their wife and her death. "Move Pandu putro!" He shouted, his hand tightening on his pashan that he used to take the life. Arjun joined his hand as he stepped ahead.

"Let my wife go Yamraj or take us with you." He pleaded as he looked up at the god of death, "That's not possible Arjun! Now move out of my way!" He ordered as he moved his hand back ready to hit his target and take her life.

"Pitashree take us with you. I know it would be wrong to ask you to let my wife go but you can surely take us with you." Yudhisthir said as he joined his hand, "My son that's not possible, step aside. You all have great deeds to do, hence I can't take you."  He explained trying to make the pandavas understand but they shook their heads. "A woman is a man's other half, she is ours. The left side of a man is believed to be woman's, hence the heart is a little to the left giving a man feelings,  a woman's part. She is our ardhang, without her we would just be walking deads. There are no Pandavas without Panchaali." Sahadev's voice rang with honesty, as he looked up at the god of death.

"Let me do my job!" Yumdev shouted as he threw the pashan towards the unconscious Panchaali. Bheem's hand wrapped around it stopping it in between, "Touching my Panchaali with the deed to take her away from us? I will destroy you!" He shouted, his voice ringing with menace as he glared at everyone around him. He gritted his teeth as he tightened his grip on pashan.

"Panchaali will die!" Yumraj's voice rang throughout the room making the pandavas burn with a fury that threatened to consume their sanity. Arjun's hand lowered as his jaw set looking up at Yumdev. "No one dares to separate us Yumdev." He shouted, the fury ringing in his voice.

Arjun moved towards his gandiv and picked it up. "Savdhan Yumdev!" He shouted as he pulled the string of his gandiv, an arrow appeared as he took the aim at Yumdev.

"You maybe the god of death but separating Paarth from his Panchaali is something that you can't accomplish." Arjun shouted as he stood like an impenetrable wall between his wife and her death. "You can't save her Arjun." Yumdev shouted as he glared at the man in front of him.

"We are pandavas Yumdev, we maybe in five different bodies, but we are one and Panchaali? She is our soul. And to reach her you need to kill us!" Shouted Nakul as he tightened his hand on the hilt of his sword. "We have loved her with our souls, have always stood by her side and just because you are here you can't separate us. Take us together or leaves us." Bheem screamed, his eyes red. Nothing mattered to him anymore, the only one that kept him sane was on her death bed and he would be damned before he let her go.

"She's Arjun's  Shaurya, Dharmraj's Dharm, Bheem's Strength and the Twins Love. You are not just trying to take away a soul,you are asking to take our very soul. So why leave us here? Take us with you too." Yudhisthir said as he looked at Yumdev, he was his father but she was his wife, he had promised to be with her through anything and he would keep his promise, he would be through anything with her even death.

"You took my mata Madri, I said nothing. You took away my father but  I still said nothing. But not now, now  you are trying to take my soul, the very essence of my being. The reason I wake up everyday Yumdev! Not her!" Sahadev shouted as he looked at Yamraj as he fisted his hand, he no longer cared about the consequences without Panchaali nothing scared him, the one thing he feared the most was losing his wife and that had already happened, or would happen but he would fight for the chance to die with her .

Without Panchaali life had no meaning to Pandavas, it never did. What did it matter that by doing this they were earning the most painful death? After all it would be better than to live without her. . .

***

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