The Inseparable Princes

92. A Ray of Hope

Shatrughna sat up with a start, grabbing at his sleeping wife's hand, which woke her up too.

"Shatru? What's wrong?" she asked sleepily, sitting up as well. He did not respond, and so, Shrutakeerti lit a few lamps so that there would be enough light for them to see. And when she saw him, he just looked scared. "Shatru! Tell me what's wrong!"

"I don't know what's wrong either." he said, turning away from the light. "But I do know that something is horribly wrong. I-I just feel like something's wrong, Keerti, I don't know!" Shrutakeerti wrapped her arms around him in an effort to pacify him, but his heart still was still racing, and he just looked extremely anxious. And frankly, now, Shrutakeerti did not feel very good about this event either.

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"L-Laksh, please look at me? Please?" cried Rama stroking his brother's hair. "If I've ever done something that has hurt you, forgive me for all off it. Please, Lakshman, I beg of you! Don't do this to me, please." He couldn't hold back his sobs this time. "What do you suppose is the purpose of my life is you lay on the ground this way, Laksh? I should have been there, by your side, to protect you! B-But I-I just let you get injured this t-this way. What kind of a brother am I, who couldn't even do anything to protect m-my Laksh?"

Can you imagine the scene of a few crores of monkeys, standing together in what looked like the biggest huddle of all time, and yet, not talking a single word? Pin drop silence. Nobody had the words to speak, not even Hanuman. Even Hanuman, who was just so heartbroken, looking at Rama and Lakshmana in the state they were, did not know how to pacify his Lord. That was just the only thing he wanted to do, but he did not even know how to do it. He felt guilty, almost, that he, whom everybody hailed as a true rescuer, wasn't even able to relieve his lord of the unimaginable grief he was having to endure.

Vibhishana was truly feeling guilty. What had he done? It was because of him that Lakshmana was in the state he was, he thought. He shouldn have been the one being killed, or fatally injured. His brother was initially planning to kill him, but because the son of Sumitra was trying to save him, and successfully did too, he was now the one who was laying unconscious on the ground, in between life and death.

"Lakshman!" began Rama sternly, wiping away his tears once again and straightening, as everybody looked at him curiously. "If you don't just come back now and stand up before me here, I will give up my life!" Suddenly, a lot of chatter was heard, and only one of them had the courage to voice it out.

"Prabhu," began Sugreeva, sitting down next to Rama, who had started tearing up all over again. "Please don't say such things. It's not right to do this. It's so uncharacteresric of you to lose hope!" he said, placing his hand on Rama's shoulder. "How can my Prabhu Shri Ram lose hope? It's impossible! No. My Lord, you can never lose hope this way. It's just - I don't know - it's just wrong!" he said, his brows furrowing. Rama just glanced at him before looking back down at his brother. "Prabhu? Please, please look at me. We'll find a way out, won't we?"

"Yes, we will! We surely will!" Hanuman piped up, trying to convince himself and everybody out there. But Rama seemed rather lost. He was just staring at his brother's still form, fresh tears filling his lotus eyes with every second that passed. He still couldn't take in the fact that his brother, his little Lakshmana wasn't responding to all of his desperate calls.

"How can my Laksh not respond to me, Raja Sugreev?" he asked innocently, turning to the Vanara King, whose heart broke when he saw Rama in that state. He didn't know how to respond, and he simply hung his head down. "Lakshman! I will follow you wherever you go now, even if it's to Yamaloka, the way you followed me into Dandaka so devotedly. It's not like only you'll keep following me and supporting me in every step of my life! I too have my rights and responsibilities towards you! And more than anything else, L-Laksh, I-I need you! M-My life is nothing without you, Lakshman! I-I'll die without you-" He just broke off, bursting into tortured sobs once again, as Lakshmana still lay unresponsive to the constant cries of his brother. "I-I-I c-cannot live without y-you, Lakshman, please just get up now!" He paused for a moment, not even trying to calm down this time, before somehow managing to hug his brother tightly without even touching the cloth that bandaged gash in his chest. "You know, Lakshman, Sita is waiting to see her son, her dear Lakshman. Don't you want to welcome her into our cottage once again? Or even better, don't you want to take her along to Ayodhya, our home? You want to, right?" Rama pretended like he had just heard a "Yes!" from his brother. "Then you can't be laying on the ground like this. Y-You need to get up now!" Nala quietly walked out of the huddle. If it wasn't bad enough for them to see Lakshmana unconscious, now they had just been reminded by an entirely devastated Rama that their Sita Maa would be just as shattered too.