A bright light invaded Ram's eyes as he sat up from his cot. Stretching, he looked around the cabin, smiling over to where Bharat had already gotten up, and was sitting peacefully, and almost laughing at the twins' condition. Lakshman was stiff, arms folded, jaw clenched, and a frown upon his face even as he slept. Shatrughan had a lazy smile and was curled up in a little ball, rolling around his bed.

"Rise and shine..." teased Bharat in a sing-song voice. "Last day in Gurukul!" Ram froze. Last day? It couldn't be. He had spent so many years, six years of his life, in this place that he couldn't imagine one without it.

Shatrughan sat up rapidly. "Last day?! I didn't even plan anything! Oh gods, I have to plan a last prank, and a last meal, and a last goodbye, and-" he suddenly sat silent, smirking evilly as he crawled over to Lakshman's cot and looked right at him.

"Oh no, Laksh! Danger!" He cried, making his voice sound like it was from far away. Lakshman's eyes flew open, he pounced off his bed, drew a dagger that was attached to the side of his dhoti, and pushing Shatrughan right down on the bed, held it right over his heart.

"Oh, it's just you." Shrugging, Lakshman sheathed his dagger, crawled back into his bed, and went right back to sleep. Shatrughan stood, petrified as Bharat collapsed from laughter.

"He was about to murder me!" he squeaked, pointing to himself, then Lakshman. "Me! His twin. His priya!" Scowling, Shatrughan jumped right on top of Lakshman's back, which made the poor third prince sit up rapidly again, and throw him off.

"Shatru," he groaned. "Stop doing that." Shatrughan giggled. "Or what, what will you do?" Lakshman, almost dangerously slowly, walked out of his blankets, fixed Shatrughan with his death glare, and began to sharpen his dagger.

"So, as you all know, today is Ram, Bharat, Lakshman, and Shatrughan's last day here in the hermitage. I hope that we all say goodbye to them." Vishwamitra announced from right under the willow tree, before stepping down.

Seconds later, Lakshman was crushed in the arms of Shatrughan, who wept openly in front of the entire ashram.

"Oh Laksh. How I'll miss you! I don't even know what I'll do alone, in the palace, all day, without you glaring at me. Oh wait, you're coming along!" Shatrughan looked up with a fake surprise. Lakshman exhaled nasally.

"At this rate, Shatru, it'll be me prancing around the palace alone. Seeing as you'll be dead by my dagger." The twins glared at each other, a fight that only Lakshman could ever win. Bharat, ever the peacemaker, divided them up, however.

"Come on, guys. No fighting. We wouldn't want the ashram to remember you guys as the twins who always fought, now would we?" Bharat was now the target of both the twins' glares.

"No," Lakshman hissed. "We wouldn't want the ashram to remember us as twins at all." This statement was so 'Lakshman' that the entire hermitage burst into sorrowful tears, not being able to imagine a life without the brothers, who had slyly inched their way into their hearts. What would they do, Vishwamitra wondered, without Ram's constant respect, meditations, and excellence with archery? What would they do without Bharat's paintings, peacemaking, and calmness? What would they do without Lakshman's glares, fights, and persisting injuries? And what would they do without Shatrughan's lame jokes, pranks, and misbehavior?

Shatrughan found, quite joyfully, that everything he wanted was being given to him by emotional ashram helpers.

"Could I have another ladoo?" he asked jokingly during lunch, but lo-and behold, another ladoo was plopped on his plate with a sloppy kiss placed on his head.

"Might I skip theory class?" he asked hopefully, and the theory class teacher gestured him away, a single tear escaping from his eye.

"Is it possible for me to not do my meditating today?" he inquired to Guru Vishwamitra, and he just turned around, and gruffly nodded. "Do whatever you want, putra. It's your last day!" So Shatrughan decided to dance, sing, and plan pranks all day long.

"Could I borrow your dagger?" This was met with a distrustful smack from Lakshman, who knew how easily Shatrughan "lost" things, or "exchanged" things, or sold things that weren't even his. Shatrughan had planned prank after prank for the day, not intending to leave without a bang, and definitely hoping to get back at all those who "wronged" him, or had been mean to him over his stay in the hermitage.

On Daura and Riku, he dosed their food with a special herb that could cause diarrhea. It would take effect the day after, so Shatrughan was quite disappointed that he wouldn't be able to see it take action.

On the mean lady who taught penmanship, he gave her a set of quills that were so sharp that they cut through parchment, paper, wood, and if dipped into paint, would rot the entire ink.

On the boy who refused to make fair trades, and attempted to steal from him, Shatrughan drew a temporary mustache, sideburns, and beard on his face that could last for weeks.

On the boy who had "borrowed" his golden necklace in order to woo a girl and had never given it back, he had dyed his hair and face gold with some exquisite watered-down paint that Bharat had given him. Shatrughan obviously considered the day a successful one.

Lakshman spent his free time duelling anyone and everyone. Daura and Riku? Check, they were the easiest to defeat with a sword, it was as if they didn't even have any practice with duelling! Karan the classmate? Harder, as his defense was quite good, but his offensive angle was sloppy, messy, and quite easy to defend and counter. Karan's friend Ankur? Was the exact opposite of Karan, and Lakshman took advantage of it. Random demon who could spit poison that had flown into the hermitage? Had required him to go to the hospital wing due to an acid splattered arm but it was dead as well.

"Wow," Shatrughan gasped, hearing his twin's exploits with great excitement as the four brothers walked circles around the great old willow. "And you only went to the medic once! That's remarkable." Lakshman's eyes widened warningly just as the willow tree dropped another branch. Smack dab on his shoulder.

"Medic?!" shrieked Bharat, just as Lakshman, with a steadily tightening jawline, snapped the thick branch in half, wood splinters flying everywhere. Shatrughan took that as his cue to start running far, far, far, far away.

Bharat passed the time by painting every single thing he had seen in the hermitage. The breathtaking sunsets, the rustling leaves of the forest trees, the steady stream of the river. Races and duelling lessons, penmanship and theory classes. Shatrughan's pranks, their effects, their consequences, how he always managed to blame Lakshman. Lakshman glaring at everything, everyone, holding his shoulder which was bleeding, beating Daura and Riku in sword fighting, carrying Shatrughan past the finish line, helping Ram kill the giantess, unconscious after the ruby escapade.

Himself, being a peacemaker. Bharat was quite shrewd, and painted himself in all great situations, breaking up fights, doing great penmanship, defending his brothers from a demon, standing up to a monster (which never happened), carrying logs of firewood. He painted, and painted and painted and painted, using up all of his canvases, scraps of wood, and paints.

"Hey Laksh, make me some new paint brushes? I'll pay you!" Bharat got a set of brand new paintbrushes, canvases and paints minutes later, and continued painting, commissioning, and painting some more until his hand became sore. A few years later, Bharat, and in fact, the rest of the brothers would find these paintings very, very helpful (but I guess you'll just have to continue reading to find out how).

Ram, however, spent his day pressing Guru Vishwamitra's feet, attending his classes, doing his chores, and anything else that would be expected of him on a normal day. He felt like his last day shouldn't be spent frolicking, but thanking the ashram that had given him a home for the past six years in any way he could. He was still liable to check on his brothers however.

"How's that dislocated shoulder doing, Laksh?" Ram asked, popping into the medical center. The third prince held up a thumbs up right as the medic relocated it.

"AAAAAAAAAAAHH." he roared, sitting up. Shatrughan looked up guiltily, and Bharat swallowed queasily. "It's fine." Lakshman bit out, sitting up, and brushing some leftover wood dust off his legs. "Everything is fine."

That evening, all four brothers stared at the horizon where the sun set. The yellow-orange orb sunk into the shadows of the distant mountains almost reluctantly, as if it didn't wish to leave, its rays staying behind until the stars began to show.

"I haven't seen my mother in six years," whispered Bharat. "We haven't seen any of our parents in six years. We haven't seen the palace in six years." Shatrughan mumbled. "I'll have a nice, warm bed again."

Lakshman smiled. "I'll never have to carry firewood again. Maa will feed me her spicy rice again." Bharat chuckled.

"I'll have my luxury paint sets and quills again." They all turned to Ram. "What will you have again, bhaiyya?" asked Bharat innocently.

"I will have my entire, complete family, including the subjects, again. That is what I wish for." They all turned around to see the last purple of the day fade away into the clouds, and the silvery white moon illuminated their position as they all stared into the distance.

The End

A/N-The end. Thank you for reading. This is the last chapter of my story. This is going to be my very last Author's Note in this story, and I'm kind of tearing up now. Sniffle This is the end of my Wattpad story, as I did say "adventures they went on in childhood" in the description and this is about the end of their childhood.

In addition, I think it's a great place to stop....just kidding! I actually initially planned to end the story here, but I want to write Shatru-Kirti and Lakshmila now and so we will trek on. This is just the end of the "Gurukul Era". Next chapter, we will have another transitional chapter, and then we will go into the "Palace Post-Gurukul Era". This will be even more serious and possibly angsty than Gurukul. Worry not, there will be playful chapters and sections as well.

This story is going too fast. Honestly, we're only at, what 16 chapters, and we've already gone through childhood and Gurukul. I think I'd better start slowing down...By the way, is around 1000-2000 words a chapter good for you? I think it's a good amount to write for me, but in case you want less, please let me know. That can be easily arranged.

Shoutout to: MOI! I have passed 50 pages and 25,000 words on my Google Document. I am actually celebrating with a cake, in case anyone was wondering. Tiramisu.

BTW- I wrote this before I got 1000 views. Continue reading your bonus chapter at the crossing of a major milestone.