TW-Mentions of Suicide later in chapter. 

  Ram felt a certain obligation towards Sita 's sisters that he didn't feel for his own siblings at that time. A certain feeling to protect them from every argument they had with his brothers, even if it meant he had to side against the three boys he had grown up with. He didn't know why he felt this way. Was it a wish to prove himself to Sita ? Or make himself feel accepted?

"Come on, Mandavi. Let's try to hit that idiot Shatru with this egg, shall we?" Urmila mumbled, holding up a large, raw egg. Mandavi grinned widely, almost feral, and held up another one. They peeked over from the edge of the balcony, to where all four brothers were practicing archery, and the two sisters took their aim.

Splat! "Ouch!" cried Lakshman, wiping off the remnants of the egg disgustedly. He and Shatrughan had just switched spots, and so, unknowingly, since from behind, the twins looked exactly the same, Mandavi and Urmila had just hit Lakshman instead. He turned around and scowled, to where his soon-to-be wife and sister-in-law were both laughing.

"Oh my gosh! He looks so surprised!" shrieked Mandavi, through her heavy laughter. Suddenly, she choked, as Lakshman turned around, and Urmila hastily thumped her back. "Oh no," she mumbled. "Urmila, look!" Urmila shook her head and focused on if Mandavi was alright. "Urmila, look!" cried Mandavi, stomping her foot.

"Oh honestly, you're so stubborn..." she trailed off as she caught her to-be-husband's face, focused on where they were standing, with scowling eyes. "Oh no, is he upset that we hit his twin brother? I never thought he would be so protective! Let's go explain ourselves before he stupidly loses his temper." Mandavi smacked her forehead and pulled her back.

"Have you lost your mind? First of all, his temper is terrible, not even you could counter it, and second-" but before Mandavi could explain that it was Lakshman only that they had hit, Urmila had interrupted her. "I think I could match his temper easily! Come on."

And with that, she dragged a grudging and ominous Mandavi towards the courtyard where Lakshman was tracking their movements carefully. "What happened, got caught by an egg?" asked Urmila, snickering. "That's too bad." Lakshman scowled, and crossed his arms across his chest.

"Why would you throw an egg?" he asked in frustration, forgetting to include the part where it was he that had been hit and not Shatrughan. "Why would you do that? That hurt!" Urmila turned towards him and rolled her eyes. It couldn't have hurt too bad! Besides, how would he know? He hadn't even been hit. "Why would you do that?" he inquired again.

"Lakshman, they didn't throw the egg," Ram stated gently, cutting in. In his haste to defend his sisters-in-law, he didn't realize the obvious clues. "You can't go around accusing them like this! Besides, I'm sure everyone is fine," For he too had mixed up the twins, and thought Shatrughan was hurt.

"Shatrughan had been teasing them for days now, they had a motive to," At this point, Shatrughan was looking between them confusedly. Yes, he had been pranking the two sisters, but that was no reason to throw an egg at Lakshman! And since when did Ram bhaiyya not take Lakshman's side? He wouldn't have thought that was even possible! "Apologize, Laksh." Lakshman was very confused, and only slightly hurt, but would not ignore his brother's direct command, and did as he asked.

"What on Earth was that about?" asked Bharat as Ram offered to walk the two princesses back, and they agreed graciously, though Mandavi sent a worried look back at Lakshman who was staring at the blue sky, trying to make heads and tails of the situation. "It was Laksh that was hit without reason, so why should he apologize? What kind of reasoning is that? If you ask me, Ram bhaiyya has completely lost his mind, honestly, after this whole marriage extravaganza. Maybe he should take a break."

Shatrughan shook his head, and the three brothers walked back to their quarters, one brooding, one worrying, and the other figuring out how to get his revenge on the two girls who had attempted to prank his brother.

"Come on, come on!" hissed Mandavi, and both sisters snuck into the kitchen. The cook stared at them as they approached her, sweet smiles plastered across their faces. Unlike Shatrughan and Shrutakirti, the cook had a soft spot for Urmila and Mandavi, and didn't immediately smack them.

"Um madam? I think you should rest." Mandavi began. "We'll watch the food, and everything, why don't you lie down?" "Yes, yes!" Urmila piped up, nodding sadly. The cook showed some signs of declining, and Urmila took another trick out of her bag."You should rest, dear, you might feel sick soon, and then what will the Raja say?"

The cook was always very sensitive about the king, and nodded. "I have been feeling a little old lately." she stated. "Bless you, dears." And with that, clutching her back, the aging middle-aged cook walked off into the distance, ready to dream of her next cooking escapade.

Urmila walked forward and tasted the khichdi being made, shaking her head. "Needs some salt, Mandavi. Can you pass me the salt-shaker?" Mandavi nodded, and Urmila shook some in. Then, she smirked. "Come on Mandavi, let's add some more salt to dear Shatrughan's share. He always complained about how tasteless the food was." Mandavi patted her back, and they both emptied the salt into a separate bowl.

As night approached, they spoke to the waiters quietly. "Hey," hissed Mandavi. "Here's a gold coin. Give this bowl, with extra salt, to Shatrughan, okay?" The waiter nodded, accepting the pay and gripping onto the bowl as the princesses raced off to sit down. Lakshman stared at the conversing, his eyes narrowed. What could this be?

"Ah, finally!" cried Raja Janak joyfully. "Let's eat!" he clapped his hands, and waiters walked out of the open doors, holding up plates above their heads, making swirly strolls around the long table, before setting the platters without clatter.

Mountains of jasmine scented rice, and piles of flatbread rotis, rising higher than any tower. Bowls and bowls of mirchi peppers, which Lakshman eyed greedily, and large thalis of sambar. Savory and sweet, and everything in between. Shatrughan's waiter, with a curly mustache and everything, calmly handed his plate to Shatrughan and Mandavi and Urmila high-fived under the table.

However, when Shatrughan took his bite, he continued eating without care. "What?" hissed Mandavi. "That's an entire shaker of salt!" Meanwhile, Urmila was staring, horrified, at her betrothed's bowl. About to stop him, but she was too late as he took a bite, and immediately spat it out, gulping his entire glass of water in one gulp.

"Um-" he coughed. "A little too much salt, if you please." The waiter was always used to giving Lakshman the special meal, with extra spice. He had accidentally mixed up the twins. Lakshman coughed, and pointed towards Urmila and Mandavi.

"You two did this, didn't you?" he asked, biting off a chili pepper, and chewing it angrily while he observed her with narrowed eyes. Urmila was about to confess, to apologize, and explain her motive, but Ram quickly interrupted, thinking that it was unfair for Lakshman to blame his fiancee in his haste.

"I seriously doubt that it was Urmila, Laksh. Nor Mandavi. You are too fast in your judgment of others." The entire family quieted down. Ram had supported the two princesses over his brother? Had this ever happened? Based on Bharat and Shartughan's confused faces, no, it never had.

"But-" Lakshman tried to explain his route of thinking, but Ram would have none of it. "No, no, no! Lakshman, You mustn't be so quick. I don't believe you!" All three brothers gaped at him, as did Sita and Shrutakirti, both of whom were very confused. It could very well be Urmila and Mandavi, as Lakshman had thought, but Ram wasn't even allowing him to speak. Lakshman settled back in his chair again, trying to figure out who else it could be.

Meanwhile, both Mandavi and Urmila had mixed feelings. Mandavi was the only one who knew that they had hit Lakshman with that egg without meaning too, and thus felt guilty about the obvious divide and misunderstanding. On the other hand, she was glad that Ram bhaiyya was there so they wouldn't get caught. Urmila wanted desperately to comfort her husband, to listen to him. On the other hand, she wanted to prank Shatrughan, and had only managed it once so far. She would later learn that even that one time, she had missed him.

All this pranking continued, as they kept on missing Shatrughan, who had finally realized what was happening, and began to think that perhaps Lakshman was right; perhaps they should switch names. Shatrughan definitely had the luck. Ram continued to support Urmila, who was realizing that Lakshman was slowly distancing himself from her. This only increased her fire to finish the prank war.

One day, Ram went too far. Lakshman stormed off into the forest. His entire head was clouded, his surroundings hazy, his motives unclear. His brother had called him judgmental, short-tempered, and idotic in his thoughts. Lakshman couldn't stand it! He had tolerated it. He had listened to his brother. Not anymore. He wouldn't take it! He knew he was right, from the knowing looks that Urmila and Mandavi passed to each other, to how they always sometimes were in close proximity to each other.

But why was Ram bhaiyya defending them? Now he always called Urmila his dearest sibling, his sister, and Lakshman couldn't quite take that either. When had that sly little snake made it's way into Ram bhaiyya's heart and pushed him out? Was it that Ram bhaiyya didn't love him anymore? Lakshman stalled. Yes, that had to be it. He took a long, inhaling breath, and let it shudderily out. Ram bhaiyya simply didn't love him anymore. Lakshman's life was based on his brother's love, and if that didn't exist, then he didn't exist either.

Life was useless if his brother forgot about him, if his brother hated him, if his brother refused to listen to him. Ram bhaiyya never sat next to him anymore, nor hugged him. He didn't even practice the bow and arrow with him anymore! Lakshman faintly wondered what he had done to incur his brother's wrath, but quickly shut that idea down. Ram bhaiyya must have some reason to follow dharma and dispose of him as a brother. Lakshman blinked slowly, before rubbing his eyes, exhausted. If that was what his dearest brother wanted, for him to be disposed of, then he only needed to ask. Perhaps his brother was still too gracious to expect suicide of Lakshman. That didn't matter.

Lakshman didn't look back as he walked towards the river. Drowning certainly wasn't how he wanted to die, Lakshman had always wanted to go on the battlefield, or of old age, but it was the closest thing to remove his troublesome self from his bhaiyya's mind as soon as possible. Taking in a deep breath, he stood on the banks of the river, and stared at his rippling reflection. Maa Sumitra had such high hopes for him. She had called him the next great warrior. Lakshman wondered if she also thought of him as a burden. Then, he shook his head. 'That doesn't matter now,' he thought. Everything will be over now.

A/N- The two parts were originally supposed to be only one chapter, but I eventually realized that it was about 4,000 words and 7 pages in length, and I could easily divide it into two. So, I'm sorry guys, but self-preservation is important.

Thank you all for your time and patience. 2nd part will be updated tomorrow.