"Bhabhi! I can't carry the others kept here." Dhriti said wearing her jewelries as Draupadi walked around her room.

"These are the last few ones Dhriti. And how are you going to manage a lot more of them after you become the KulVadhu of Yuduvansh?" Draupadi laughed walking towards her sister-in-law as the younger one blushed.

"Have you met Subhadra?" Dhriti asked as they all walked towards where everyone was gathering, to welcome the Dau and his entire family.

"No, but I've heard her praises from both Dau and Govind." Draupadi smiled as a dasi placed an Arti thali in her hand.

"Oh coconut laddoos. Please." Dhriti said looking at them.

"Not now, later. When we'll go to you Mata Parvati's temple." Draupadi pulled her cheeks.

"Oh yes! We'll take Subhadra and Revati Bhabhi with us." Dhriti said walking towards where everyone else were standing.

All eyes were  on the entrance of the Palace where maids were showering fresh flower petals as the Royal Chariots of the Yadav family arrived at the gates.

"The one standing on the left of Dau is Revati Bhabhi and on his right is my dear Subhadra." Kanha said to Dhriti looking at them as Draupadi and Bhanumati walked with their thalis to welcome them.

"I can't wait to actually meet them." Dhriti smiled.

"Ofcourse! But don't forget me!" Joked Kanha as Dhriti moved to greet the 5 of them.

"Aayushman Bhava Putri." Vasudev smiled patting her head as Devki hugged her.

"Pranam Dau, Revati Bhabhi." She said touching their feet as Dau and Revati gladly smiled at her.

"Subhadra...." Dhriti spoke as both of them literally beamed at each other before Subhadra engulfed her in a huge huge, making everyone chuckle.

"You know I wanted to meet you ever since Kanha told me about you." Dhriti said as Subhadra smiled still hugging her as the other members entered the palace.

"I hope you're ready for everything I have in store for both of you." Subhadra said working towards Kanha.

"Should we be scared?" Kanha laughed making Subhadra frown.

"Don't trouble her Kanha." Dau smiled while Dhriti took Subhadra to her room, where Dasis we making sure everything was alright.

"Subhadra.... Aren't you tired? I think you should take some rest, I'll take you to the Gauri Temple in the evening." Dhriti said as they entered Subhadra's chambers.

"I'm absolutely not tired. Infact I'm so excited. Bhratashree promised me that I can spend my whole day with you all by myself, but I'll spare you today! Spend your time with Bhratashree. You'll have your haldi tomorrow, after that no one will let both of you meet until the wedding day." Subhadra giggled putting Dhriti in thoughts.

"Great! So we have the Haldi ceremony tomorrow." Dhriti smiled at her.

"Yes yes. Now where did you wanted to take me?" Subhadra asked picking up a jasmine garland as she tied it around Dhriti's braid.

"Bhratashree loves Jasmine. " Subhadra smiled both the girls walked towards Gauri Temple.

*At the same time*

"My poor sister! She thinks the only misery in her life are her cousins. How did she forget me." Alakshmi gave out an ugly laugh as she started retelling the story of Lakshmi and Alakshmi to the demon Kali.

"Lakshmi is Vishnu's Shakti and there's no way to defeat the Tridevs without cutting the way of Saraswati, Lakshmi and Parvati. " Kali got up.

"Mahadev and Narayan held me captive because I wanted to appear before SatYug. The attacked me with their mighty Trishul and Sudarshan Chakra. They did injustice to me." He further added.

"When the Dev Danav stood for the SamudraManthan, Lakshmi emerged from the Amrut while I emerged from the poison coming out from Vasuki's mouth. I was considered the opposite of Lakshmi in every aspect. I was jealous of her beauty, the wealth and prosperity she brought along with her. I envied Vishnu's love for her , her residence in Vaikunth. I still do, but no matter how much I tried, I always failed. But not this time." Alakshmi spoke.

"Right now, she's unaware of her incarnation. What's a better chance than this?"Kali laughed.

"Exactly, now she'll be going to the Gauri Temple. And why am I still here?" Alakshmi laughed as she took the form of a woman and left.

"You can't even near the shadow of my Priya, Alakshmi. Last time I pitied you, but not this time." Kanha sighed as he felt Arjun's present behind him.

"Madhav! What are you thinking about?" Arjun asked as walked toward him.

"Nothing Parth, just looking around." He smiled turning around.

"You know your lotus eyes can't hide anything. You looked stressed." Arjun said keeping a hand on his shoulder.

"Don't worry, we can get away with your worries. I heard Subhadra is taking Dhriti to Gauri Temple, now come I'll take you there as well." Arjun playfully smiled.

"So have you been eavesdropping my Subhadra?" Kanha smirked at Parth.

"Wh-what? No-no why are you saying Keshav. Whatever, I'm being the matchmaker so don't question me." Arjun stuttered.

"My match is already made. Infact I'm the matchmaker now." Kanha said reaching the temple but neither finding Dhriti nor Subhadra.

"What? Whose matchmaker?" Arjun asked curiosly.

"Why do you want to everything all at once dear Parth? Anyways where are both of them? Did you eavesdropped correctly?" Kanha laughed.

"First of all, I was not eavesdropping. And we should wait, they'll arrive. Dhriti comes here everyday." Arjun said walking around.

"So did you call Bhrata Arjun and Kanha as well?" Dhriti smirked as she turned towards Subhadra.

"Huh? No no bhabhi, I did not call these two. They might have heard us. I know." Subhadra crossed her arms making Dhriti smile as they walked towards them.

"Coincidence? Or.... Keeping an eye or something?" Dhriti smiled looking at both of them.

"Be it coincidence or not, we both shall get going, shouldn't we um Subhadra?" Arjun jumbled motioning something to Subhadra as she nodded.

"Yes yes ofcourse let's go." She giggled pushing Dhriti beside Kanha as the four of them laughed.

As Arjun and Subhadra walked through the beautiful front yard of the temple, the came across a woman, surrounded with peculiarity as her face was not familiar to either of them. She held an Arti thali in her hand, but it was empty. Her rough hair kept open as her black dress partly covered them. She had a smile plastered on her face, that looked more evil than the one Shakuni bore. Her eyes were completely focused on Dhriti and her every movement as she held the thali praying to her Mata Parvati with Kanha by her side.

Kanha moved closer towards Dhriti as he felt Alakshmi's disguised presence nearing his Priya.

"What happened Kanha? You look troubled." Dhriti asked looking at his expression.

"Oh nothing Priya. You continue with your pooja." He said patting her shoulder as Dhriti, unsatisfied with his answer, still nodded, starting the pooja.

Her diya blew off as soon as Alakshmi put her foot in the temple. Dhriti, thinking it was just a blow of strong wind, lit it up again. Kanha on the other hand understood the omen behind it but refused to look behind and directly confront her.

With every step Alakshmi took towards Dhriti, Kanha's concern grew towards the safety of his beloved. He tried to figure out a way to abandon Alakshmi forever from his and Dhriti's life as he finally arrived to conclusion, closing his eyes mumbling something.

Alakshmi stood right behind Dhriti as she Moved her hand to touch Dhriti's divine body.

"This! This is the revenge of every injustice happened to me and my life because of you and Narayan. I'm going to end it. Right now! Right here." Alakshmi's hand was inches apart from Dhriti when a thunder-like beam from Kanha's hand struck her, knocking her down as he turned behind.

The empty thali made a loud noise drawing Dhriti out of her thoughts about the pooja as she turned behind to look at the laying figure of Alakshmi in her original form.

"Hey Prabhu! Kanha, what is this? Who is she?" Dhriti asked without blinking as she saw so much of anger on Kanha's face for the first time.

"You.... didn't recognize me? Stay away from him. He's tricking you inside his trap sister. He's tricking you. He's elusive! " Alakshmi looked at Dhriti, horribly struggling to speak.

"Alakshmi!" Kanha spoke with pure rage as the Sudarshan Chakra appeared on his finger.

"Alakshmi?" Dhriti gasped looking at her.

"Narayan don't! Ending Alakshmi would be a greater problem. Alakshmi and Kali are the two reigning demons of KaliYug. Yours and Sakhi's incarnation in KaliYug will hold no importance if you end her right now." Saraswati explained as Kanha understood the fact.

"Alakshmi! Holding Gauri and Lakshmi as my witness, I curse you that, you would lose all your powers, your memories and would forget yourself until the start of Kali Yuga." Kanha raged as Alakshmi's body faded away from the material universe while the Sudarshan Chakra disappeared, calming Kanha down.

"Kanha!" Dhriti turned towards him holding both his hands in her as she looked at Kanha smiling at her.

"What was this Kanha? Kal Yug, Alakshmi..... What did she want from me?" Dhriti asked.

"With good comes evil as well. During the churning of the ocean, Lakshmi appeared from the Amrit while Alakshmi emerged from the poison.
She was opposite of Lakshmi in every single aspect. Later, King Bali tricked her into thinking that Lakshmi was the reason of her misery. Infuriated with her behavior towards Lakshmi, Narayan went on to punish her but ended up forgiving here on his beloved's request to spare her elder sister." Kanha explained intertwining his fingers with Dhriti's as they took a leave from the temple.

A blurred vision of the SamudraManthan appeared in front of Dhriti's eyes as her subconscious took over.

The dev Danavs standing opposite to each other, Narayan taking the Kurma avatar, Vasuki circling himself around the parvat to start the churning and Mahadev drinking the poison. Every detail flashed in front of her eyes.

"What meaning does these blurred visions hold Kanha?"  Dhriti asked zoning back to reality.

"They tell you the truth of reality, and sometimes a person's past." Kanha smirked knowing exactly what she meant.

"You had something common in both the visions in your mind. Am I right?" Kanha smiled.

"Absolutely right! both the visions were related to Mahalakshmi in one way or another, but peculiarly, I did not see Mahalakshmi and any of them. I just heard her, I did not see her. Although I wanted to." Dhriti explained as Kanha held her by her shoulders.

"Oh Priya! How do I explain? You are Mahalakshmi, Mahalakshmi resides in you. And how can you see your own self without a mirror?" He smiled at his thoughts.

"You know, after knowing what you don't know right now, you'll laugh on these little questions you ask." Kanha laughed.

"Ofcourse ofcourse! I'm waiting to unfold the 'ultimate truth'. " She giggled running away from his grip.

"Same! The point of our incarnation would get soo easy and on point with you on my side." He smiled before following her.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

"2nd Day of the Chitra Nakshatra is the most auspicious time for their marriage." Kripacharya informed the elders.

"Uh what about Kundali Dosh Kul Guru?" Shakuni asked trying to find a loop hole as Kunti glared at him.

"There are absolutely no negative traits in their Kundali. This is a sign of prosperity." Kripacharya said bringing as both Devki and Kunti internally rejoiced looking at each other.

"Then I think we can completely rely on all the women in the Palace to look after the preparations of all the pre wedding ceremonies?" Bhishma stood up.

"Yes Tatshree, we all will contribute in these tasks." Gandhari said as the three ladies looked at their respective daughter-in-laws for confirmation.

"Alright then! We can schedule the Haldi tomorrow. Inform all the workers in the Palace to make sure everything is looked after.
After the Haldi, we should hold a Mahadev-Parvari pooja for sustained happiness in their wedded life." Vidur smiled as everyone expressed their agreement.

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