Dwarikapuri, A day ago

"I can't believe you! You promised the Pandavas your eternal support, you have been guiding them to this specific moment and then you suddenly decide that it isn't feasible anymore?"

Satyabhama's furious rant followed the Lord of Dwarka into his chamber as the nimble footed lady strode behind her strangely stoic husband. 

"What even happened? My Lord, I am asking you something! Are you even listening to me?"

"I am tired Bhamae, can we please postpone the discussion till tomorrow morning at least?", Krishna muttered exhausted as he removed his heavy gold gilded crown freeing his long curly tresses on his haggard yet handsome face. 

His enraged wife though, true to her kind yet abrasive nature, was less than pleased to let her beloved rest for even a second before he assured her that his momentous yet ridiculous declaration was nothing but a part of an elaborate scheme. 

After all, Keshava hardly ever did anything with one straight motive even if it appeared to be extreme at times. 

"And Arjun? Please tell me what I heard was just an overhyped rumour", she let out huffing, crossing her arms against her chest, as was her signature move, when she was pissed at him. 

"What did you hear?", Krishna asked subdued. 

"You said... you will never see him again?"

"That... is true. I have forsaken Parth," Krishna winced hearing his wife's loud gasp. 

"Swami.." her voice was a whisper "you did not.. you could not. You broke the bond?", she asked, a paling horror seeping past her bubbling anger finally. 

Krishna was like a sentinel against the backdrop of Dwarka's serene night sky, his dark complexion almost blending into the inky expanse of the canvas holding onto long burnt out celestial bodies. 

Satyabhama felt tears sting her eyes as her husband's indicative silence seemed to suck the very air out of the room. 

"Why... what was his crime? What great a sin, my friend has committed, that warranted you ripping his heart out of his chest?"

It was through his admittedly cosmic power which helped the divine flute player to not react to the savage pain, which tore into his own chest at Satyabhama's anguished words, bespoke of a truth which he was trying so very hard, not to recollect. 

Yet it all came uninhibited with a sadistic glee in front of him. 

Arjun's handsome face blanching like drying cement.

Those extraordinarily expressive eyes which had always swirled cerulean with so much affection, whenever they had ever met his own jade ones, had been like the reflective surface of a crystal lake yesterday. 

Showing his chosen God, the way the latter had grounded his heart to dust. 

The near unbearable pain of the bond snapping had almost brought the divine incarnation of the Preserver to his veritable knees. 

He remembered Daruka, stopping the chariot abruptly to turn and beseech him to drink some water at least, as he remained seated, gritting his teeth against the broiling, scathing, barbaric devastation that the breaking of the bond had wrought upon his person. 

But Satya's question, spat with a hint of her usual brand of sarcasm was wrapped in a fear so potent that Krishna remained helpless and inanimate. 

He could hardly explain anything at the moment. 

"Satya! That is enough. Let our Lord rest awhile before you launch at him with your questions", Rukmini's soft yet stern voice filtered in the chamber before his younger wife could carry on with her tirade. 

Krishna's chief queen, Dwarikeshwari, appeared in front of them like a messiah. 

The Vidharban princess was looking at her Lord with that characteristically understanding yet intelligent gaze as her co wife wiped the tears which had mutinously escaped her eyes hastily. 

"Sorry Jiji, I know you have never approved of my inquisitiveness but this is more than plain curiosity. I know our husband never does anything without putting a head splitting amount of conniving complexity into it, but this time, the collateral damage is too great to ignore."

Satyabhama's red rimmed eyes gave one last glare filled with disapproval and heartache at her husband before she joined her hands almost mockingly towards Rukmini and stormed off the room. 

Krishna seemed to have somehow shrunk into the corner by then. Something which was so utterly atypical of him that had she been in better spirits, it would have scared Satrajiti a little. 

"Forgive her curtness. You know how tempestuous she is", Rukmini smiled gently and Krishna found himself gravitating towards his first wife with almost cat soft steps. 

She always radiated such sombre positivity and wisdom that it was instantly soothing. 

"I deserved that. At least she has the gumption to shout at me when required. You are, as usual, way too kind to me, my darling", Krishna wrapped his arms around her wraith like waist and Rukmini rested her head against his muscled chest, sighing. 

"Are you alright?"

Rukmini's simple question finally cracked the careful control Madhusudhana had over himself and a sob mixed into a loathsome chuckle erupted out of his throat like a shooting arrow finally leaving an overstretched bow. 

"Only you would ask something like that, of me right now. I very nearly killed my best friend Rukmini! And his only fault was to love me too much. How alright do you think I am?"

Her small hand rubbed in tender circles on the exposed part of his chest in a hope to help him with the pain even as the anguish dripping from his words brought tears to her own eyes. 

"Everything will be as it is fated, my love. I trust you completely", she whispered against his skin.

"Like Parth had trusted me. Completely. Blindly. Look where that has brought him today."

The self derision in Krishna's tone shook something up in his usually composed wife's core. She had never ever heard such a derogatory tone in her husband's voice, that also for himself. Not even when he had been forced into exiling her to the forests when she was pregnant. 

The memories of a million years prior swam in front of her eyes. 

She steeled her heart, knowing that consolations would fall into empty ears right now. 

"Having faith in you has never brought anyone anything other than eternal bliss. You have never let your loved ones down, and you never will. Have faith in yourself my lord, or else all will be lost. If Vishnu cannot keep his own belief, how can his devotees hope to do the same?"

"Wise words as ever, Shree. I will endeavour to keep your trust always. Yet, I must beg you to let me have this moment of self loathing or else I fear my heart might burst. There is nowhere and no one to point the finger at, right now."

Rukmini's answering sigh was acceptance enough and Krishna found his wandering eyes stop at the far end of the room where a fluttering blue fabric was draped at the corner of his dresser. 

A single tear rolled down Govinda's stubbled cheek as a long forgotten memory sparked into life in his very room. 

----------------

"Uff! Madhav! Can you ever sit still at one place?"

"But Paaaarrrrthhhhh.."

"No."

"It is a great idea!"

"No."

"But even Baldau agreed to it! And Kalindi will be so impressed! Think about it at least", the Lord of the Yadavas whined in a manner completely unbecoming of a man of his stature. 

At least the third Kuntiputra thought so. 

Arjun sighed and dropped the seventeenth angavastram which he had scourged from the multi-coloured lot kept inside the new trunk full of expensive silks which Rukmini had bought specially for the occasion. 

He looked up from where he was kneeling on the floor in front of his best friend, who was literally pouting down at him like a two year old who had been refused more sweets. 

Sometimes he was inclined to agree with the people who scoffed and proclaimed that the rumours of Krishna's apparent divinity was greatly exaggerated. 

For how can a literal God behave so childlike?

"For last time Krishna, we are not trapping Chandradeva in your mandap. Trust me, Kalindi Bhabishree is already starstruck enough by you, I mean the lady went through years of penance to get married to you."

Krishna smiled dreamily, no doubt thinking about his beautiful fiancé. 

"Though I will never know why..", the dusky prince of Indraprastha whispered exasperated as Krishna's unruly curls, escaped the bejewelled peacock studded headgear which the former had so painstakingly arranged, yet again. 

The man would just not sit still. 

"What was that?", Krishna asked suspiciously. 

"Nothing.. just, please try not to ruin the rest of your dress. I just can't find the perfect combination for this dark blue silk you have chosen to wear, all of a sudden. What was wrong with the turmeric one?"

"Parth! It is my marriage. I can't wear the same colours I wear all the time. I need to look the best!", Krishna uttered moodily. 

Arjun grinned toothily at his friend and pulled out a bright parrot green angavastram and put it around his friend's broad muscled shoulders. 

"You look beautiful in whatever you wear my friend. No one will be looking at your clothes anyways."

'Cause when they see your eyes, they wouldn't be able to move their vision to anywhere else for even a minute, for even an inch', Arjun thought distracted. 

Nah, the green was hurting his eyes.

He took it off unceremoniously and threw it somewhere behind him, to add to the ever increasing pandemonium of paraphernalia spread everywhere in Krishna's chambers. 

Why had he even agreed to get the groom ready? 

It was all Satya's fault. The little fiend knew that he wouldn't be able to say no to Krishna's puppy eyes. So she made the latter ask him. 

"Parthhhhh.... come on! It will be so bright and lovely with Chandradeva there.."

Anddd they were back. 

"Madhav. I know you have emotionally blackmailed Dau into agreeing with your ridiculous plan but I actually like my ears where they are. If I let you go ahead with your antics or God forbid, help you then Rukmini bhabishree will tear my ears out."

"Hmmph! You are no fun!", Krishna looked aside, pissed off now and Arjun felt fondness blossom in his chest instantly. 

"And a scaredy cat too!", he added which only made the Pandava stifle a giggle of his own. 

"I am a cautious cat", Arjun replied which made Krishna blurt out a bark of laughter before he smothered it intentionally to try and get back to his angry state. 

Suddenly a stroke of genius struck Arjun and he scrambled up from where he was searching for more silks and practically ran across the room to open his own trunk. He nearly dived inside much to Krishna's silent amusement and stated searching for something with vigour.

"Parth what are you---"

"Ahhhaa! Got it!"

Arjun pulled out a sky blue fabric. It was a finely spun muslin silk which he had received as part of the spoils of the conquests he had carried out for Indraprastha's Rajsuya yagna. 

The massively successful conquests which had earned him the title of Dhananjaya. 

It was new and unused and was a perfect combination for the dark prussian of Krishna's dhoti. He pulled it around his friend's swarthy torso and let it hang from his wiry arms. Satisfaction warred with pleasure as the outfit came up with flourish and the Dark Lord stood up and twirled in front of the mirror.

"Well, Parth, don't let it go to your head, but Nakul is wrong. You are quite the connoisseur of fashion, it seems", Krishna purred teasingly making a flush crawl on Savyasachi's high cheekbones. 

"Oh shut up! Thank God, you are ready at least. Lets go now, before Satya comes and drags us out by the ear."

And as it on cue, the two friends chuckled hearing Satyabhama yell their names in a completely unladylike manner and so loud that the entire city may have heard it. 

Later Krishna would burst out in delighted laughter when moonlight so bright would radiate from the top of his mandap that everyone would get blinded by it. The silvery streaks of glittered illusion would wrap itself like twinkling diamonds all along Govinda's dark skin, like garlands spun of stars. 

He would turn joyously and catch Arjun's mischievous gaze and the prince, his mighty Gandhiva hanging from one muscled shoulder, would wink at him. 

Rukmini would only sigh and turn her eyes towards the heavens as a smile would form on her pink lips, hearing everyone's impressed claps reverberate in the incense heavy air of Dwarikapuri. 

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Now that his memory had been refreshed Krishna couldn't stop the kaleidoscope of significant moments he had shared with his curly haired cousin, to start playing like a fever dream in front of his eyes. 

--------------------------------------

"Parth, come on!"

"...."

"Arjun."

"Kiriti."

"Savyasachi?"

"Ahh, ok.. Vijaya.. you like that one. No?"

"Krishna? I like this one."

Krishna sighed and looked down on his friend's curly haired head as the latter kept washing his feet with his legendary single minded focus, mute to all of his various entreaties of calling him by his several names. 

His multihued eyes pleadingly sought out Yudhishtira, who only pressed his lips slightly in something akin to sympathy as he dutifully stood beside his younger brother who kept barking short commands at all of his brothers in intervals. 

To bring water and medicines. 

"Arre, it is just a little scratch aft--"

Arjun's head whipped up and his prussian eyes bored into Krishna's with such a ferocious intensity, almost daring him to continue in that cavalier tone, that the latter swallowed back the rest of his words. 

Panchali, the ungrateful girl, seemed rather amused at his predicament and Krishna glared at his beloved sakhi who only grinned back at him, showing her row of pearly white teeth. 

Krishna resigned himself to his impromptu doctor's ministrations and winced a little as the latter pulled out what looked like a monster sized thorn from the sole of his right foot. 

"Ouch!", he exclaimed dramatically making the rest of the four Pandavas and their wife roll their eyes to the high heavens, a move which Krishna thought was rather rude. 

"Stop whining like a baby!", Arjun finally snapped at him as he stemmed the blood flow by his dove white angavastram. 

"But it hurttttt...", Krishna whined more loudly. 

"You should have thought of that before deciding to jump into an untilled field before I could clean it off, the forest remains", Arjun retorted sharply.

"But I was helping Bhrata Bheem with the cleaning. He was also doing it, so I thought I could do it too", Krishna pouted. 

"Bhrata Bheem's skin is made of a rhino's hide. Nothing pricks him."

Bheem's offended 'hey!' went ignored with flourish as Arjun wrapped up Krishna's foot firmly with a generous piece, torn off his angavastram. 

"Parth I...", Krishna stopped short as the sunlight glinted off what was definitely a tear dripping down Arjun's jaw to splash unobtrusively on his own wrapped foot. His eyes had been hidden by the curtain of his unruly mass of inky hair till then. 

"Oh Parth... come on...it is not so bad", the dark skinned Lord of the Universe, whispered softly, his hand mussing up his favourite cousin's hair in affection. 

"I hate when you get hurt. I hate it!", Arjun's voice wobbled slightly as he washed off the debris stuck to his left foot too, handsome face drawn in a fierce scowl, in a way, to hide the evidence of the liquid collected in his silver eyes.

Krishna felt a pang deep in his chest and quickly dragged his adored prince in the cage of his mighty arms and hugged the life out of him. 

"I hate it when you cry Parth. Don't please", his words were muffled in that fragrant hair. 

He felt Arjun's lips curl against the skin of his shoulder and his arms wrapped tentatively around his back in an nonverbal acceptance of his apologies. 

While the rest of the Pandavas teased them for their overt display of fondness mercilessly and Draupadi very comically, lamented rather loudly that her husband seemed more wont to hug Krishna than her. 

------------------------------

And now, he himself was the reason for his friend's tears. 

Krishna found himself being dragged to the bed as Rukmini laid him down rather gently, handling him with the care she usually reserved for their children. He closed his eyes on her soft insistence, unwilling to cause his wife more pain, even if he knew, sleep would elude him despite the bone churning tiredness. 

Another memory came viciously sweeping up his mind, not considerate of his emotional state at all. 

----------------------------

"Charudeh! No!"

Ideally, Krishna knew that no one in the three worlds was capable of defeating his older brother, let alone the entire Narayani Sena and the whole squadron of Yadava warriors led by Satyaki and Kritavarma. 

He knew that with the unmitigated power at his disposal he could have ensured that very outcome without even lifting a finger, yet in that one moment, Krishna was no warrior, no supernatural entity, no God. 

He was just a father. 

A father who had just seen his baby boy being flung to the ground with the force of a battering elephant. His ears ringing with his child's petrified scream which ended in a horrifying silence painting the floor a macabre crimson. 

The panicked haze fogging his brain broke through his entire body into an earth shattering scream which was potent enough to blow the eardrums off everyone within vicinity to smithereens. 

Distraught with the apparent death of his son, Krishna crumbled to the ground on his knees, burying his tear stained face in his hands. 

In his violent grief he hardly saw the demon, Nikumbha as he prepared to launch his powerful spear right at him. 

"Kahna! Kahna get up! It was an illusion! Charu is alive!"

Balarama's panicked words fell on deaf ears as the King of Dwarka struggled in the midst of a million asuras who had descended on the mighty Yadava, like a pack of bloodthirsty hyenas. 

"Madhav! Watch out!"

Arjun's frantic yell sounded very close to his ears all of a sudden which indicated that the Pandava had run all across the battlefield within a few seconds, from where he had been fighting at the very end on the opposite side. 

"Madh--", his voice tapered to a grunt. 

Krishna removed his hands from his face and caught Arjun who had tumbled into him, collapsing under the massive impact from the demon king's spear.

Arjun, who had shielded him bodily. 

"Parth! What have you done!", Krishna yelled in part shock and part terror. 

Cradled in his friend's strangely quivering arms, Arjun blinked sluggishly and strained his neck a little to look up at the massive, pure gold gilded shaft protruding from his very unprotected chest.

"Oh... that hurt", he muttered petulantly, as if complaining of hitting his toe against a wall.

"Of course it would, you unthinking idiot!"

Arjun's mumble of 'I'm not an idiot', when unheard as Krishna turned his face towards his assailant. 

The Rakshasa King, whose momentary jubilance at having overpowered the indestructible Savyasachi dissolved in utter terror on seeing the glare that the Lord of the Yadavas threw on him. 

Krishna's mind had blanked completely. 

All he could see was the scarlet blood of his best friend staining his hands and pooling with a merciless vengeance all around his broken body. 

It is said that though the Preserver's wrath is difficult to incite, but once provoked, no one except the Destroyer Himself has the power to withstand it. 

Parashurama had cleansed the earth clear of the Kshatriyas, a solid twenty one times while Narasimha in his maddened rage had almost levelled the universe before they both had been fortunately appeased. 

Lord Krishna, was one of His more benign and loving incarnations. No one had ever seen the mischievous, butter loving, flute playing, peacock feather clad self proclaimed King of the cowherds, this enraged. 

Not even when he killed his maternal uncle, Kansa. 

The heavens started to tremble as Vasudeva's famous armament, the divine discus rumoured to be Lord Vishnu's preferred weapon - Sudarshan chakra materialised in his index finger.

Krishna deposited his wounded charge to Balarama and Satyaki who had come running towards the duo by then, launched from his place and started running towards the petrified demon. 

The Narayani sena stopped their battle, transfixed and the asuras froze dumbstruck as the chakra seemed to progressively increase in size.

"My God, he will kill us all!"

"Run! Run! Retreat!"

"My Lord have mercy!"

"Mahadeva be praised..."

Everyone sprinted away from his path as the Dark Lord caught the gigantic discus which was as big as a chariot's wheel with his full hand and propelled his body in a perfect arc to throw it in a single fluid yet immensely powerful move, at Nikumbha. 

It was with a blinding light of golden white with which the Sudarshan chakra severed the mighty Rakshasa's body like a ginormous sword into messy and painful pieces. It looked like the aim to cause maximum agony was deliberately engineered as Nikumbha kept screaming in bile inducing wails of utter agony. 

His soldiers scattered in fright and climbed over each other, crushing their own comrades in a mad scramble for survival. 

What if Krishna turns his discus at them next?

"My God...Madhav...", Arjuna breathed painfully as he scrambled to heave his bleeding body upright, ignoring Satyaki's vehement protests and pulled out the spear from his chest the next second. 

"Lie back down you little fool! The blood will choke you otherwise! You and Kahna will end up being the death of me someday!", Balarama growled at his errant ward even if his worried eyes took in his usually cheerful younger brother's untameable rage stricken expression.

Chastened into compliance, Arjun quickly laid himself down but kept staring at his friend through the blurred edges of a fast approaching darkness. 

"Kahna! For God's sake, enough! Kill him already... Arjun is losing blood. We'll have to hurry back!"

Balarama's exasperated voice followed the youngest Kaunteya into his unconsciousness and he thought he felt his Madhusudhana's gentle hands on his lax face the next moment.

"Parth...", a whisper and Arjun entered blessed oblivion. 

Getting speared, bloody damned hurt. 

----------------------

Krishna smiled ruefully remembering the mad dash they had made towards Dwarka's gates after that. 

The next few hours had been a chaotic blur. 

He remembered Rukmini's tears and Subhadra's anklets pealing, as she ran behind her comatose husband, practically bullying the vaidyas to be by his side while they worked tirelessly to revive him. 

He remembered Charu's annoyed squirming and little protests which went unheard as he smothered his son's face with kisses all the while crushing his little body to his own. 

He remembered Satyaki and Kritavarma's chagrined apologies when their completely inappropriate squabble had been broken by Revati bhabishree as she attended to Balarama's several injuries. 

He remembered being rather violently told to remove himself from Subhadra's chambers by the doctors as he kept hovering around them like a buzzed wasp, growling at every little moan of pain, Parth would involuntarily let out in his unconsciousness. 

Then he very vividly remember the first words he had spat rather unsolicited, when Arjun had finally opened his eyes, after an entire night of tireless vigil. 

"If you ever... I mean ever do something so stupid, ever again in your life, I will kill you myself and save us all the trouble."

"You wont. And you know, I will always do it."

"You wont. I forbid it. You are never allowed to do it."

"What? Protect you? Sorry Madhav, but I can't agree to this command."

"Parth for God's sake! I don't need your protection, why don't you understand!", Krishna had regretted his harsh words immediately and started to entreat his apology but his friend's tired yet cheerful face hadn't changed into hurt, like he had expected. 

"I know... you are not.. exactly mortal. And you probably don't need anyone's protection but... what I do... what I did wasn't impulsive. It was instinctual. I can't help it", Arjun's voice had wavered then, "And I won't ask forgiveness for something I cannot help."

Krishna had let his tears roll down his still dirt stained face then and gathered his wounded cousin in his arms with all the tenderness of holding a new babe. 

"Okay... okay have it your way.. you incorrigible brat", he had whispered against the kiss he had pressed on top of Arjun's head. 

The sweet chirping of the sparrows rang in the chambers signalling the advent of dawn making the dark skinned Yadava realise that he had been lost in his memories the entire night. 

Krishna gently detangled himself from Rukmini's still slumbering form and pushed himself up the bed with force. 

The sun was peeping from behind the heavy translucent blinds covering the balustrade and Krishna was loathed to remove them. 

'I know you can't, but I will still ask for your forgiveness Parth, for something that I can't help too.'

To be continued

A/N:- Did I get inspired by the very famous scenes from the Indo-Japanese animated movie, Ramayana - The Legend of Prince Rama ? Yes, you betcha I did. Also, a very long chapter as a gift for you sweet sweet people. 

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