The summer turned into autumn in Ayodhya. The season of maturity and knowledge into the season of death and change. Shatrughan had gone missing. Bharat and Ram were both storming through the corridors angrily, even at just age 7. Suddenly, they bumped into Maa Kaikeyi, who smiled as both of them scowled playfully up at her. "What is it? What has gotten you two so hot-headed that you are acting like darling Lakshman? Has something happened?" Ram crossed his arms and let Bharat do the speaking.

"Where is Shatru? We can't find him anywhere? He's not in the palace! He's not in the courtyard! He's not even in the kitchens! We're worried sick! He might be hurt, or something else!" Bharat shouted, stomping his foot. His mind was racing as Kaikeyi thought it over. Oh, couldn't his second mother hurry up a little bit! There she was, rubbing her chin in thought, and here they were, angry and urgent!

"Well, actually, I sent Shatrughan for the forest for my puja for you, Bharat!" she cried. Only the youngest, the purest of us, can go." She spoke no more, only walked away, as Ram and Bharat stared at each other in horror. Ram simply crossed his arms again, chubby cheeks pouting, but Bharat went completely, and uncharacteristically, ballistic.

"In the forest? IN THE FOREST?! He could be hurt, he could have been crushed under a rolling boulder or something! He could have been hit by a falling branch! He could have been hunted by tigers and panthers! Demons might attack him! What are we going to do? Ram bhaiyya, only you can tell me." Ram sighed deeply, rubbing his temples.

"Let's grab Laksh first, and then we should go! Shatrughan might be bleeding to death." The two raced towards the doorway of the twins', and wrenched it open, only to find a horrific sight. Blankets were strewn everywhere. Pots, made of ceramics, were scattered on the ground, and random things lay everywhere. A broken mirror, shattered into tiny shards. A small, torn white handkerchief. And then there was a fallen bowl, fruits and rice scattered across the ground. Ram growled, his senses suddenly increasing. "Where is Lakshman?" he spat.

"Let's not spend precious time wondering, bhaiyya, and let's go!" cried Bharat, tugging on his brother's arm. Usually, he was not so rash, but a missing Shatrughan got him extremely scared. Ever since they were babies, Shatrughan would always crawl annoyingly after him, and eventually, Bharat had gotten used to it. And then, one day, he didn't.

Flashback

"Maaa!" wailed a 2-year-old Bharat, pounding his fists on his mother's door. Kaikeyi opened it, rubbing her eyes, and staring at her toddler worriedly. Before she could ask the question, it slipped out of Bharat's mouth. "Wwwwwere? Shatrugaaan?" he cried, plopping down on the floor. Kaikeyi shook her head disbelievingly, before trying to interpret the words of Bharat, finally sighing in relief.

"But Bharat, you are wondering where Shatrughan is?" Bharat nodded adamantly, and crossed his chubby arms across his chest. "But I thought you hated him! You always were so annoyed by him, and you tried to get him off of your tail. You used to come running to me, hoping that I would lift you up, and when I did so to Shatrughan as well, you used to cry? Don't you remember, Bharat?"

But the boy pouted, and put his hands up and wailed for his brother again. And so, Kaikeyi lifted him up and took him to the twins' room. When they entered the room, they found a sniffling and sneezing Shatrughan and a Lakshman who was handing him tissue after tissue, looking bored. Ram also sat there, but was fast asleep right next to Lakshman. Sumitra looked up, smiling at the boy. "Aww, was Bharat missing his Ram bhaiyya?" she cooed.

"You won't believe this, Sumi. He was missing our natkhat Shatru! He just walked up to me, looking ready to have a tantrum, and you know he never has a tantrum! Usually that's Lakshman or sometimes Shatrughan." Sumitra nodded sheepishly, but Kaikeyi waved her off. "But apparently, he missed him! I was so surprised, I was about to have a heart attack!" Bharat had gotten quite tired of his mother talking useless gibberish, and pounded her arms, gesturing that he wanted to step off.

Kaikeyi let him, and he crawled to the bed, getting up and sitting next to the boy, taking his temperature. Shatrughan looked up to him, and beamed a slightly toothless smile. Wordlessly, Lakshman handed Bharat the tissues and fell asleep without a second wasted. Soon, Bharat and Shatrughan also fell asleep in each other's arms, and Kaikeyi wasted absolutely no time in calling Dasharath at this hilarious turn of events.

Present

"Come on, Bharat! We need to go!" cried Ram, grabbing his small bow and arrow. Bharat nodded, grasping a few sharp painting tools he used, and both of them ran out of the room, down the corridors, and out the courtyard, where they saw the thick, lush, green forest. With a start, Bharat remembered that forests represented change, and the unknown. "Okay, are you sure?" Ram asked, and Bharat squared his jaw, looking ready as ever.

"Shatru, and possibly even Laksh is in there. They could get hurt. If I wasn't ready, I would not be my father's son." And tentatively, the two elder sons of Dasharath walked into the forest. The first few steps were quiet and calm. The forest was thin on the outside, and there was ample space between the trees. The sunlight shone through the thick leaves in such a way that the ground looked green, and Bharat giggled.

The branches were thick, green, they were covered with leaves, and each sprouted a few flowers. "You know, the jungle doesn't seem too bad," murmured Bharat, wishing more than ever that he had brought a canvas and some paints. Ram glanced at him, silently agreeing, and wishing that perhaps, Shatrughan was not in here. But something else told him otherwise.

However, that thought soon disappeared. The trees began to increase in amount, and Bharat's smile disappeared as the friendly monkeys were snatched out of their perches in the trees. Crickets chirped though both of them knew it wasn't night. It did seem like night, however, as the sun was suddenly blocked out by the thickness of the leaves. Not even a single speck of light was able to penetrate the thick layers of leaves. With a caw, a raven flew further into the forest, beckoning them to follow.

Ram's grip tightened on his bow. The steady stream of running water that they could hear, it suddenly stopped. The chirps of the crickets soon stopped as well, and soon there was only a loud silence that could reach their ears. Silence that was unnatural. Raja Dasharath had always told his four sons that when he had seen it, the forest was teeming with life. He described the monkeys with wide eyes, and Shaturghan leaned forward. Bharat realized with a pang that Shatrughan was the one most excited about the forest. He must have ventured very deep indeed.

Ram's thoughts were more clouded however. Why would Lakshman have gone into the forest? He knew his brother, and he knew that the third prince was remarkably sensible and practical, and would not go anywhere without telling them. Suddenly, a breeze overtook them, and Ram's black hair flew behind him as he looked back. Bharat's light hair also seemed to shine, and their eyes darted towards each other.

In the ground, visibly, there were 2 pairs of footprints, one slightly larger than the other. Lakshman and Shatrughan. One pair seemed to be dragged, in fact, and Bharat guiltily felt sorrow that it was the smaller ones. Lakshman must have aided Shatrughan to walk so far. Ram took a deep breath as a few specks of blood spattered across the ground could be viewed as well. He heard an intake of breath besides himself, and was ready to hear Bharat's words.

When he didn't, he looked beside him. The eyes he met were red. Ram took a sharp intake of breath, and just as the clawed creature reached a hand out, Ram quickly grabbed an arrow and struck it. With an exhale, it's eyes closed, and the body dropped to the ground. Bharat squeaked from his other side, looking at him. "We were trained in combating monsters a bit by Papa, bhaiyya, but the twins were not."

Ram stumbled. "What if they're hurt?" Ram asked. "What if they're dead? What if they were attacked by a savage monster, and now they are dying slowly in bloody shreds?" Bharat immediately stalled, before swallowing hard. A new fog took over the area. Foggy wisp of clouds, and Ram looked around, vision suddenly cloudy. The footprints had disappeared, and Ram looked towards the trees after waiting a second. Two shadowy figures, both of a large build that the twins were not.

A fury suddenly was inspired in Ram. These were the ones who had attacked his brothers. These were the ones who had hurt them. Innocent Shatrughan, who followed Bharat around, lightened up their day. Who made sure that everyone smiled in the family. And Lakshman? The brave elder twin who followed him around blindly? Who was scared by nothing? These were the two who had taken Maa Sumitra's sons. Both of them.

"Come on," Ram hissed, blinded by fury. Bharat's eyes narrowed into little slivers, and he nodded. Both of them grabbed a branch of the tree, and with one glance at each other, they began to climb. Ram was the first one to the top, and jumped onto the platform, pulling Bharat up before he looked around. A dim light suddenly reached his eyes, and Ram covered them before removing his hand and squinting.

A shadow, a large one, approached. It was broad, and muscular, and Ram blinked for a moment. It held a long thing that Ram thought looked like a bow. On the other hand, it held another, long thin sort of item, perhaps an arrow. It looked like a fearsome warrior, but one plagued with guilt. Fire raged behind him. Leaves flew around him, fallen leaves of autumn. Ram paced towards it angrily. His mind gave no way to reason. It was clouded with emotion and anger. He did not hear Bharat pacing towards him, right behind him. He did not hear his desperate shouts, all he felt was anger. And then, it was gone.

Standing in front of him was Lakshman, same size, same age. Ram immediately looked towards where he had seen the shadow, but he saw nothing, no light, no shadow. Had he been imagining it, perhaps? But the images were vivid. He could remember them. He could replay them over and over and over again in his mind, and yet they were disappearing. He could not grasp onto them enough...and then they were gone. Had he seen them at all? Was it just a momentary hallucination?

Lakshman stared back at Ram with wide eyes. What he had seen just moments before was not his elder brother, but a king. A tall king, with long dark hair and a large, golden crown. He wore a necklace of chrysanthemum, the flower of perfection. Lakshman beamed. That must be his brother all grown up! But something troubled him. That brother seemed mistrusting. Like he did not believe anyone or anything. His brother crushed a red rose in the palm of his hand, and his eyes flamed.

Bharat looked beyond the silhouette of Lakshman, his eyes aching to see Shatrughan, and he did. It was a weary one. An adult one. A bloodied one. His eyes had dark circles, but his smile, innocent and ecstatic, returned upon the sight of his brother. He was tired, he was exhausted. A butterfly flew past his face and landed on his shoulder. His favorite color, white, was not visible anywhere on him. Bharat merely blinked helplessly, and standing in front of him again was a seven year old. "What?" Bharat hissed to himself, rubbing his eyes.

Shatrughan simply stared at Bharat. For a single moment, almost a fleeting appearance, he thought he saw Bharat wearing the king's crown. Then he wasn't. His spirit radiated hauntedness. Wind blew in his long hair, ran through it, and a loud beating of drums whose sound could be heard long after they had beat. And there was the relieved face of Bharat popped up again, and Shatrughan frowned.

The mistrustful, the haunted, the guilty, and the exhausted. A prophetic image of what was to become of the four princes. A haunting representation of the future, thirteen years in the past.

A/N- So I might have gotten a bit carried away. This was supposed to be a wish fulfillment for @n-i-t-h-y-a, with the prompt "Ram and Bharat are protective of Lakshman and Shatrughan respectively". That really is my bad. I accidentally filled this one with symbolism galore, and that was NOT part of my plan if you will believe me, it really wasn't. See if you can catch all of it.

Anyways, this will be my book after I finish my current multi-chapter one. A series of Ramayana one-shots. Don't expect any more right now, only after I finish my other one. Then only I will update this one daily. However, I did have a lot of fun writing this one, and occasionally, I might update this with a random one-shot I wrote just for fun, so make sure to keep your eye out!

Also, to @n-i-t-h-y-a, I am very sorry. I have done you very, very wrong. This chapter was supposed to be funny. How all of my fluff turns into angst, I shall really never quite know.

Also, no update tomorrow, that is why I gave you all a triple update today.