Its been a week since the victory of Pandavas and Pitamah Bhism has been wrecking havoc in the battlefield. On the second day Duryodhan accused Bhism of treachery and ever since he has been on a killing spree.

He killed the warriors mercilessly and no battle formation was able to give victory to the Pandavas. Sagarika tried to use all her knowledge of battle formations but everything failed in front of Bhism.

The tents were filled with wounded and injured soldiers. No matter how much the ladies tried they were being unable to save majority of the soldiers.

The body of Draupadi, Subhadra and Kunti ached by taking care of wounded soldiers. The hands of Uttara and Sudeshna were on the verge of giving up by crushing the herbs for medicines all day but they still pushed their limits. Sagarika was internally having a mental breakdown as she was running around all day overlooking everything but she didn’t cry. If Senapti-Bharya falls weak then what will the rest of the ladies do ? She has to stay strong.

The tents were filled with cold dead bodies of the soldiers and warriors, the only source of warmth was their funeral pyre. That too burned their hearts along with the soldiers. The crying of widows and orphaned children were heart breaking.

The 10th day of war had started and the ladies prayed for their victory today. They had a small hope as Shikhandini has returned after performing penance to yaksh and gaining his masculinity. Now he was called Shikhandi and was determined to kill Bhism at all.

It was a long day indeed but atlast the Pandavas emerged victorious today but none of them were happy as the price of this victory was too high.

Releasing hundreds of arrows, Arjun pierced Bhism in every part of his body. Indeed, there was not a two fingered breadth of space where there was not an arrow.

The Fall of the Pitamah Bhisma had saddened both Pandavas and the Kauravas. Even the allied kings were sad hearing that the most glorious warrior in the entire Aryavart had fallen like this.

Arjun with teared eyes entered Sagarika's tent and found her siting and staring at the empty corner of the tent. The fall of Bhism had affected her too, he was her Pitamah too and epitome of righteousness.

Sagarika looked at Arjun and saw his teared strained face. She gestured him to come inside, he ran up to her and fell on his knees with his head on her lap and started sobbing.

"Why did it have to be me ?" He cried. She kept a hand on his head.

"I pierced the body of my beloved and respected Pitamah with my own arrows." Arjun sobbed.

"It is the wish of Paramatma Arya, we are nothing but puppets in his world." Sagarika said caressing his hair.

"You know when I was little he used to...." Arjun told her his tales with Pitamah Bhism, how he used to play with him and how Pitamah shaped him into the man he is now.

"Now this war will not take as long to get over." Sagarika said.

"It better end soon, because I don't know how much more price do I have to pay now." Arjun said.

"If we didn't have the strength to pay it then Paramatma wouldn't have chosen us. We have to pay the price because nobody else can." Sagarika said.

"But is it necessary ?" Arjun asked looking at her. His tear filled, blurry eyes looking for an answer.

"Nothing in this world happens without a reason. Especially death." Sagarika said.

"What will be the reason so many deaths ?" Arjun said.

"One never knows, perhaps it's the deeds of past life or the deeds of this life. But one must remember it is the only way for salvation." Sagarika said.

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A/N
PITAMAH !!! ABHI AAPKI UMAR HI KYA THI ?!?! *sobs loudly*