A Broken Bond; Brothers

Someone to trust

3rd Person POV

Arjun slightly brushed the pages of the open book left on the study table scattered with loose papers, open ink bottles and stacks of books... dev's library... it's always been a huge mess, though he'd always say it was organized in just the right way for him.

Arjun smiled faintly as a tear fell from his eye landing on the page, memories of his younger brothers flashing before his eyes, sounds of their laughter, pranks, echoing in his head...

"Deva!! Nakul! I swear I'm not leaving you this time!! If I'm going down I'm taking you with me!"

"But bhaiya why?? What did we do?!"

"Yeah bhaiya! Kul and I are innocent!"

"Innocent?! Mata is gonna kill us for this"

"But you're there!! You'll save us! My amazing Bhaiya"

"Stop buttering me up with your words not gonna work!"

"Butter? But love butter bhaiya! I mean... we're your baby bros, right? You'll save us!"

"Nakul your puppy eyes aren't gonna work!"

"Exactly! You won't let anything happen to us! Right??"

"Fine! You win!! I'd have saved you anyhow..."

"Arjun..." Bheem whispered coming and sitting down beside his younger brother. Arjun wipes his eyes closing the book and tries to give him a reassuring smile.

Bheem shakes his head slightly pulling Arjun into a hug "Arjun you're strong... I know you're my strong Anuj, but you don't need to be strong around me. They'll find Nakul and dev, I know they will so don't cry we've been through everything together they can't leave us now."

"I know Bharat Shree... kul and dev can't die... they're ok! They have to be!" Arjun says hugging back.

"Yes, and they will be! Our baby brothers will be back in no time!"

"Jyesth..." Arjun whispers looking behind Bheem, eyebrows furrowing in worry as he watched the elder Pandav stand at the doors of dev's library, eyes teary.

"Jyesth what happened?! Did they find something??" Bheem asks getting up and approaching his elder brother.

Yudhisthira stayed silent tears falling from his eyes as he looked down.

"Jyesth what happened? You're scaring us!! Did they find Nakul and dev???" Arjun says shaking the elder Pandav slightly.

"T- they're gone..." Yudhisthira says barely above a whisper.

"What?"

"What do you mean they're gone?! Guards went to look! They'll find something!"

"They did... their...bodies were found in east forest area... by the cliffside...whoever took them from the fire most likely escaped after..." Yudhisthira says falling to his knees... "The soldiers that went to look for them after the fire came back with their stuff..."

"N- no... there has to be a misunderstanding! They can't be gone!!" Arjun says stumbling back, trying to find some hope, some way refusing to believe his brothers are truly gone.

"I- I failed..." Yudhisthira whispers shutting his eyes as a sob breaks his words.

"Jyesth you didn't fail!" Bheem says getting down and hugging his elder brother. "I'm sure Arjun is right! Maybe there's a misunderstanding! I- I mean what if it's not them! There has to be an explanation!"