"Dhaksha?" Aarya held my hand.
I slowly rose and took a look around.
"Where am I?" I asked.
"We are in our home," Aarya replied.
"We can't be here anymore," Yudhistra na walked.
"What are you saying? We can't say here anymore?" I rose to my feet.
"Yeah, Dhaksha. Hastinapur sent us a letter saying, we were still their slaves and they won't give us what we rightfully own." Yudhistra na sat down in a seat near me.
"Aarya, I knew this wanna gonna happen," Draupadi said.

"We are going to reject their letter. We are going to stay here." Bheem na walked in.
"We can't do that, Aarya." Draupadi walked towards him.
"She's right. It's not Duryan, who sent this letter. It was from Hastinapur. If we reject this letter, it's like going against Hastinapur, going against Bhishma
Pitmah. Do you all want that?" I said.
"You are right, Dhaksha," Aarya said.
"Are you suggesting to leave our place?" Yudhistra na asked.
"No, Aarya. I want you to kill all Kauravas. But not the entire Hastinapur to get our rightful kingdom," Draupadi said.
"Let's just ask Viratraji for help and stay there. I'm sure he'll help us." I said.
"Let's send a letter to Kauravas," Bheem na said."Write it, Dhaksha. This Vayuputra shall crush all 100 putras of Maharaj Dhritarashtra."
"Make it 101, Bhaiya. I would crush that Karna,  with my very own hand." Aarya said.

Why would you wanna crush your brother? Why is this universe cruel to Pandavas?

"We'll send one," Yudhistra na said.

~~~~~~~~

"Mata," Abhimanyu stepped inside.
"Yeah, my dear?" I said.
"What are we doing here at the Virat Kingdom? Aren't we supposed to crush my Pitashree's enemies?" he asked.
"You are so brave. Aren't you?" I smiled.
"Mamashree Krishna taught me that, my father's enemy are like my enemy. I was grown to fight beside my Pitashree and protect my brothers," he replied.
"Am I brave, Mata?"
"You are so brave, Abhi" I gave a pat on his head.
"Your Pitashree and his brothers have gone to Hastinapur to fight against the Kauravas. Let's see what's going to happen."
I uttered those words when I already knew the entire story.

"Sure Mata," he smiled at me.
"Maharani Dhaksha, Angaraj is here to see you," a soldier announces.

Angaraj?
"Make him sit in the front. I'll be right there."
"Why is Angaraj here to see you,  Mata?"Abhi asked.
"I don't know, my dear. Let me go talk to him."
"Be careful, Mata." he stopped me.
"Sure, my dear." I smiled at him.

I walked to the front, and I saw him standing near the trees.

"What happened, Angaraj?"
"When did I become Angaraj from Karna? After Agyatvas." he smiled and walked towards me.
"It's not like that. Tell me the reason for your visit?"
"Should I have any reason to visit my Sakhi?" he smiled.
"We sent you a letter. My Aarya wants to kill you. Why are you here? When you are supposed to fight back Arjuna Aarya?"
"I know it. Vayuputra wants to kill all 100 Kauravas?"
"101, " I corrected.

"Yeah. Including this Karna. 101," he smiled.
"What's going on Karna?"
"I don't know what to do, Sakhi. I wanna protect my myntran Duryodhana, I wanna fight against Arjuna and prove myself to the entire world. But what am I going to do with you on the other side?" he asked.

"It's all fate, Sakha." I walked towards the tree.
"Can I just take a break from all this and get back to living with my wives and spending time with my children, be a well-wisher for you putras?" he asked.

Oh, Karna. Why do you have to face all this?

"Sakha, you are my Putras's well-wisher. You gave away your Punya for them."
"Is it? Why does Mirthik see me as a some chanthru of him?" he said in softone.
"That's because of that incident and you're the
enemy of their father. What can I do?"
"I know, Dhaksha. You can't do anything. I can't do anything either," he said with a smile and his eyes filled with tears.

"Karnaa.."
" I visited you to say that. I've decided to accept this fate. I'm going to stand beside Duryodhana and fight for him as I promised. I'm going to promise you something too." he walked closer.
"What, Sakha?"

"I promise you that, I'm going to lose my weapon when I'm against your sons. This Karn shall
never go against my Sakhi's sons. They mean a lot to me." he said those golden words.

"Karna.."
"But, not with your Aarya," he finished.
I knew it.

"Karna, You're the strongest warrior, I've ever seen. You don't have to prove to anyone by killing him."

"Would you say stronger than Arjuna? No right? That's exactly what I wanna prove. Back then at the Swayamwara, you wouldn't know how much they embarrassed me." he said.
" I know, Sakha. Can you not forgive my Aarya?"
"Did he apologize for anything he did? I don't want your apology, Sakhi."
"You are on the wrong side, Karna. Can't you see it? Your Mythran's brother bet me back in the court of Hastinapur, Duruyan did a lot of dharma. Are you still going to support him?"

"Sakhi, I promised to be in the side of him. That's my Dharma. I can't go against it. Sometimes my blood boils to kill Dhushana and crush Duruyodhana as well. But my hands are tied because of my promise and the gratitude I have towards him for making me into this.  One can never go against Gratitude." He sobbed.

"What did you exactly get being Angaraj? Respect? Money? Right to fight against the royalty? You were born with respect and all the rights. If you didn't do this, you would have understood that earlier.

Surya Putra Karna.
"What are you talking about, Sakhi?"
"Listen, Karna, if you want to be loyal to your Duryan so be it. I'm protecting my Aarya and my family no matter what. I'm going to protect you too." I shouted.
"What did I do to get you as my Sakhi?" he asked.
"You can leave now, Angaraj" I walked away.
"Dhaksha," he held my wrist. "Maybe if I met you earlier, I wouldn't have gone to Duruyan craving for friendship, love and respect."
"All the best, Sakha." I took my hands off his grip and walked away.

~~~~~~~~
In Dwaraka

"My dear Draupadi and Subhadra, welcome back," Kanha stretched his hands.
"Did you even notice me?" I smirked at him.
"Oh, I didn't notice you, Dhaksha dear," he smiled.
"I'm going back, Kanha" I shouted.
"I was trying to play with you, Dhaksha" he laughed.
"So you forgot this sister?" Subhadra pouted. 
"Krishn has a lot of attention. What can I do?" he smiled.
Always so dramatic.
" I'm not being dramatic. That's the truth you know it," he replied.

"Where are my favourite sons?" he asked.
"They are with their brothers. They are practising together, Govindhare. They'll be here soon," Draupadi replied.
"Ah, I already miss them," he said.
"Get inside all of you. Have some milk. You know, Dwaraka has the best milk in the universe," he smiled.

As both Draupadi and Subadra walked inside, I stopped Kanha.

"What happened to my sister now?"
"Did you know that Bhishma Pitamah wants Pandavas to wage war against Hastinapur?
"Don't you know that this is going to happen? Why are you shocked, my dear?" He smiled.
"I don't wanna wage war, Kanha." I face to the other side.
"Here we go again. Dhaksha, you knew this was going to happen? Why are you talking as if you are not prepared for this?"

"I'm not prepared, Kanha. I can't do this anymore. Send me to my future. I can't handle this pain in my shoulders." I sobbed. "I knew that Abhimanyu was going to face his fate in the war. Still, I let him protect his brothers and fight in the war. Do you know, who's doing adharma above all? It's me, Vasudeva Krishna. I'm betraying my family." I sobbed.

"Didn't I tell you? You were born and sent here to change the fate, Dhakshyani? He uttered those mysterious words.

"What do you mean, Bhaiya?" I exclaimed.

To be continued
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