Lakshman stared at the sky. It was so blue. It was so completely terrifyingly blue that he thought that he might be dreaming. It wasn't stormy gray, no, and he could barely see a cloud. He would have liked the look of a cloud, a small, white fluffy one, traveling across the sky, just one of many. It would have made him feel a little less alone, walking through the thick forest, searching...searching.

Normally, the clouds were gray. They were thick, wall clouds, heavy with rain. Maa Kaushalya often told the story of how, when he was born, hundred of stormy gray clouds had come to greet him. Lightning flashed from the skies, and farmers ran off of their land as rain seemed ready to fall. Once his first cry had rung into the air, immediately the clouds scattered, leading to fluffy white ones and blue skies. It was the first time in years that Ayodhya had seen a white cloud.

Lakshman always hated storms. He felt like they were his personal enemy. Ram bhaiyya didn't feel like he was anyone's enemy. He simply went along with his life. Bharat bhaiyya loved storms! He loved to sit at his window, take out his brushes, dip them in some blues and grays, and paint the most terrible storm there ever was! Sometimes, he would add some specks of red for a nice touch.

Shatrughan-Shatrughan hated them as well. It felt weird acknowledging that, acknowledging that they were similar indeed. Lakshman did not blame his sole younger brother for feeling unloved by him. He tried to show his love, truly, with caring glances, to trying to set him up with Shrutakirti, to celebrating when he was marrying. Shatrughan understood that, he realized that, Lakshman saw it in his eyes.

But that didn't stop his guilt. Thank goodness God had only given him one younger brother, Lakshman shuddered to think at the disaster that would have happened if he had more. It had been so many ages, so many eternities since he had been in the palace, wasn't it? Years, years upon years, now it had been five. Now he was just here, roaming through this forest, searching, searching, searching.

What was he searching for again? Lakshman blinked, looking around. That was right! He was out hunting! Sita bhabhi had banished him from the hut on a hunting trip, and he knew why. Of course! Occasionally, Ram bhaiyya and Sita bhabhi liked to have something that Shatrughan liked to call "a date". He knew it had to be something romantic, something all lovey dovey for the both of them. Lakshman shuddered.

He had gotten over it. Though he still loved Urmila, and missed her sometimes, his every thought and every feeling was not plagued by pining. He knew that hers were not either. There was plenty to do for her, back in the palace. And there was plenty for him to do here. Like hunting, for goodness sakes! He heard the rustle of leaves, and quickly whirled around, shooting his arrow randomly and managing to hit a deer. He breathed a sigh of relief and picked it up, placing it calmly under the tree, before plopping down himself, taking out a cloth, and wiping his sword and daggers off.

They always thought he took so long to hunt, long enough that they could have a date in the meantime. What Ram bhaiyya and Sita bhabhi did not know was that he did it on purpose, so that they could have their alone time. He had enough sense to know that he was most definitely not supposed to be there, but it felt right for him. He needed to be there, for his mother and his father. And he would try to make it as comfortable as possible for them.

Minutes, hours, passed, and finally, he heard the call. "Lakshman!" There it was. The loud shout that made his ears ring. "WHERE AAAARE YOU?" Shaking his head, Lakshman walked back with the deer on his arrow, calmly whistling, and wondering how powerful the invisible breeze was that it could rattle the tree branches, large and thick, upon where Jatayu sat, lightly slumbering.

Ram's heart raced as he couldn't hear a single thing. He turned back towards Sita, who shrugged. It was a nice date, they had talked about many things over lunch. They had talked about Bharat. Ram always wished that Bharat would take the throne, as it was rightfully his, second in line as he was. But no, Bharat had just taken his sandals, and claimed that he was going to put them where his feet would have rested.

Then they talked all about Shatrughan. If Bharat did not take the throne, surely a pair of sandals could not rule. So Shatrughan did in his place. Ram was astounded, and not in a good way, when the little boy was forcefully turned into a man. He looked completely lost. He looked mature, but in a forced way, and Ram could barely begin to see it. He had had to clench his eyes shut and turn the other way because he could not bear to.

Now Lakshman, third in line to the throne, had followed him. He had seen the twins in front of the fire. Laksh had given his younger brother a little pep talk about being king once everything was resolved between them. He could remember the words very clearly in his mind.

Flashback

"You! You were supposed to be king! Bhaiyya, I know, that Bharat will not take the throne! He might even not stay in the kingdom! I was never supposed to be king! Ram bhaiyya was the only one trained, then Bharat bhaiyya a little! They have the disposition to rule, not us! Even you, a little! But bhaiyya, not me! Not me!" Shatrughan pleaded, he cried, he wailed, but he knew that nothing could convince him.

Ram had been moved. He felt his resolve slowly slipping away from him at the cries and begs of his younger brother. He could never see Shatrughan cry. That was Ram's one weakness. He could not see Shatrughan cry. It would tear his heart. Though Ram's first loyalty was to his kingdom and people, he had grown up with three presences by his side. To see one in desperation and desolation, it made him want to scream.

"Shatru, I wish we could. But I would have made a terrible king nonetheless, you know? A terrible one! I would have been harsh, and mean, and rude, and constantly ready to go to war! I would have never been peaceful! No. Ram bhaiyya, he is the true king. And you are his regent. Remember, you are only sitting on a throne. And you know what? You will do that very well, Shatrughan, better than any of us have ever could. You are responsible. Bharat bhaiyya may leave Mandavi in despair. Look at me! I have forgotten my own wife! But you, you stay back in the kingdom, you keep your people happy. You have something to your name, Shatrughan, and that is responsibility."

Present

Ram had seen his family torn apart, and he couldn't stand it! But his face broke into a smile again once a completely clueless looking and whistling Lakshman walked in, holding a large deer with his thumb and forefinger. Sita laughed as he dropped it before waving, pretending that they had done absolutely nothing, and walking inside the hut to wash his hands. "Do you think he knows?" Ram asked bemusedly.

"Do I think so? Do I think so? Ram, Arya, Raghav, Dashrath Nandan, I know he knows! It's hilarious!" she burst into laughter, wiping away the mirth caused tears that collected at the corners of her brown eyes. "You can give it up now, Lakshman! Your act is over!" she called with amusement laden in her voice. "We know that you know! Frankly very embarrassing, but you held up your side quite well."

Lakshman walked back into the courtyard, brows furrowed and grumbling. "What gave it away?" he asked, looking down at himself. "Was it the promptness of my return? Hmm...did I make any sound? What gave it away?" He looked between them confusedly. "My acting was very good! Not as good as Shatru's, but he could steal something right under the nose of a soldier with his acting, so I'm not trying to meet that par."

Ram shook his head, still trying to collect himself. "No! No! Lakshman, I grew up with you! Sita has spent six years knowing you! You expect us to believe that you take three hours to hunt one deer?" Lakshman looked between them confusedly and Ram rolled his eyes. "Well that, and whenever you act suspicious and you know it, you start to whistle trying to remove all suspicion from yourself."

Ram and Sita both burst into laughter, leaving Lakshman to roll his eyes at the heavens. "Well, I admit defeat," he grumbled, turning away. "By the way, the scent of the flowers is very overpowering. It's killing me-achoo!" He wiped away his nose. "Achoo!" He paused for a second, quirking his eyebrow. "ACHOO!" A sudden breeze took over the hut, causing the thatched roof to fly away. "Appears that I'm just as allergic as Urmila," he mumbled to himself, shaking his head. "I'll have to replace that."

It appeared that replacing roofs took more time that Ram thought it would. He peered up at Lakshman, who was calmly placing the grass over the pillars as the sun set. "Um-Laksh?!" he called frantically. "How much longer is that going to take? Sita has all the food ready and everything!" When it appeared that Lakshman could not hear him, Ram grumbled. "Lakshman?!" he called again.

Suddenly, he heard a growl behind him, and turned around slowly. Sita squealed and ran inside the hut, bringing out Ram's bow. Ram's eyes turned wide open to see three bat-like creatures flying towards the hut, wind in their wings. He barely had time to process it, but his arms were already moving instinctively, grabbing an arrow from the quiver and releasing it from his bow. One down, two to go. Sita pelted fruits and berries at some of them, which successfully managed to direct them away from the hut, where they were getting missiles of vegetables and fruits tossed at them, to Ram.

The last arrow went through the last demon, and Ram's brain finally caught up to him. DEMONS! Then he looked down. Dead. He turned back around to Sita. "How-what-where?" He turned up to Lakshman, who had leapt down from the hut, seemingly not even having noticed what happened. "Lakshman, what took you so long?" Ram asked incredulously, hands waving in the air. Lakshman looked up.

"Bhaiyya, what you don't understand is that thatching a roof takes time, and patience, and a certain amount of skill that painting or drawing, or even fighting sometimes does not take! It takes concentration and focus and-" Ram pointed towards the ground in aghast, where the demons lay. Lakshman blinked. "Yes. As I was saying, it takes concentration and focus, which doesn't allow you to notice things like Sita bhabhi throwing fruit, and you releasing arrows without knowing you were." He bit his tongue. "Oops!"

A/N-I didn't know what to write. I just stared at a blank page for a few minutes, then randomly started to write. And I came out with this. Proper amount of fluff, humor, and some angst (that doesn't count as angst to some hardcore readers). I mean, this chapter has a bit of everything! Alright, I think this era will only have a couple more chapters. There were thousands of other things I could have done with it, but I'm not going to. It's a short era. Short and sweet.

Besides, I figure at this point that you all just want the actual story to progress without this many delays. God, I wonder what I'll do without this story. Once I'm done. I've basically covered the entire Ramayana! There's nothing else for me to write.