"Bhaiyya, I will die for you. I will die for them all. And if I do not die for them, I will fight for them. And if I cannot fight for them, then I will work for them. And if I cannot work for them, then I shall drown myself because I cannot live useless."

Once the twilight reached, once the sun began its steady fall, Ram pulled his bow down. That was enough for one day. Turning around, his black hair tickling the base of his neck, he strode towards the camp site proudly. Something, some weird feeling nagging his mind, popped up. No one, not Hanuman, Sugriv, not Lakshman, not even the enthusiastic Nal and Neel had walked up to greet him. Ram smiled. He truly was getting spoiled by them. They all must be tired after the long battle.

But as he neared the place where the tents would have reflected their light onto even the dark shadows, he was received with nothing but destruction. Those stretches of cloth they had brought from Kishkindha, were on the ground, strewn, torn, and dirty. 

Bars of wood portruded through the tears. Splinters and broken pieces littered the ground. It was as if what had once been a prosperous site had been ransacked and looted, and then left for Mother Nature to decompose.

Ram stopped abruptly. His face filled with shock as his eyes hooked onto ground 0. Somehow, he was alert of the presence of all the generals, surrounding the tent site, talking in hushed whispers, or avidly pulling it apart. The Leader of the monkey army wondered what had happened? Had there been a strong wind of some sort that had knocked it down? No, Lakshman's building was known to be reliable. What had happened? What could have possibly brought upon them this?

If Ram knew something, it was that standing was useless. He walked closer. Closer, even closer, and though his heart throbbed, unable to bear the sight, his mind filled with hope. Perhaps everyone had gotten out? Perhaps they were fine? Everything was okay, right? 

Ram's eyes snapped open, and he grasped Lakshman's arm, pulling him back from the rubble. "Lakshman, what? What happened? I-" he looked at Sugriv, then Hanuman. "Someone, tell me what happened?"

"Prabhu," Hanuman finally whispered. 'That vile Indrajit. He-he-he-" Pawanputra cut himself off, furiously rubbing the tears which spilled out of his eyes. "He was about to start another massacre, and we went out to encounter him, and he-he-" 

Something seemed to strangle the mighty monkey, and he fell silent. Silence was all it seemed Ram could encounter these days. Was it shock that brought upon this? Was it silent simmering? Or was it that such good men refused to speak about these unimaginable crimes?

Indrajit had struck again, it seemed. Ram, never one to lose hope, thought that it had finally disappeared. "Oh God. Someone should have-They were fine, right? I can't see any-" Sugriv shook his head, collapsing on the ground, rubbing his head, and Angad set a hand on his uncle's shoulders. Ram, Ram didn't know what he was expecting. Was he expecting there to be survivors? In this rubble? With such large debris?

What had he done to bring upon this? What did anyone do? They were all fighting for the same thing, right? Dharma, righteousness, truth. So why did it seem that adharma was winning here? Why did it seem as if evil was going to take the trophy? It couldn't be so. 

The Gods wouldn't allow such a preposterous thing to happen. First Sita, then Meghnad took these innocent vanars. Ram begged the Gods for answers now. He could not afford to emote anymore, for the future was bleak if he did so. He needed answers to the ever increasing flurry of questions. What would he take next? Was everything an illusion?

Ram's eyes flew open like he was possessed. "Illusion," He whispered. "Illusion! No wonder we can't find any bodies. No wonder it happened so suddenly. No wonder there are no signs of death, anywhere! No wonder Lakshman's building suddenly fell, the building which did not fall for thirteen years for us. How mysterious would all these things be otherwise? It all makes sense."

Before anyone could process what was happening, the site of destruction began to shine with some heavenly glow. The crumbled twigs and logs began to slowly piece together. The rips repaired themselves. All this glow, it flew from somewhere. They trailed their eyes across the path right to Ram's arrow. Their leader's face was taught with some sort of determination.

"Prabhu?" Nal whispered, but his question was cut off as Jal walked out. "JAL!" Without thinking twice, Nal raced towards his sister, arms held out. Jal was crushed in a hug, some sort of hug she had never gotten from her brother before. 

"Oh Jal, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. You're the best sister I could ever wish for. You're the most worth-filled thing I could ever have! Never scare me like that again! You meanie! Never again!" He slapped her cheek lightly before dancing around as he hugged onto her again. But then he let go, turning towards Ram. 

"Prabhu? How can the dead be rendered alive again?"

"It was all an illusion, don't you see?" Sugriv asked, breathless as he shook the hands of all the injured, who still sat in their cots. "Indrajit tricked us again! He tricked us again! It was all an-" He rubbed his forehead disbelievingly.

"Some of the buildings are still crumbled." Jambavan pointed out as he pulled Vibhishan out. "But the second layer of roofing probably protected everyone from actually getting crushed." he placed a clawed hand upon Lakshman's head.

"I can rebuild that in no time," Lakshman breathed, still staring at the half gone tenting in a face akin to child-like glee. "Give me five hours. You'll have a better tent than you've ever seen before!"

-----O------

"Someone has to deal with Meghnad." Sugriv growled as they sat outside. A few choice generals had been barred from the rebuilding escapade by Nal and Neel, who insisted that they'd be able to handle it. "He'll do this over and over again. Every time, he can devastate us with a new illusion. What if he does something much worse next time? No one will know what is true and what is not. For all we know, I am a spy disguised by his magic!"

Vibhishan nodded, pushing his green tea aside with a trembling hand. The porcelain cup crashed to the floor, shards pointing up and glistening in the moonlight. "Indrajit is our biggest enemy yet. It is a very complex maya he uses, one that sometimes, even the most advanced warrior cannot decipher. Anything and everything can be a disguise. We don't know what happens anymore."

Ram nodded. "Angad is the only one who has successfully faced him up to now. Then, he must have had the element of surprise. With the way he fights, I know that Indrajit will be a bigger adversary than before. And Angad will not be able to beat him as easily."

 Ram rubbed his eyes. "Vibhishan. Who do you suggest should fight Indrajit? Who should go against this newest enemy?" Then, Ram stroked his chin. "Or perhaps Indrajit is our oldest adversary."

Vibhishan looked around, his dark eyes flashing red. His weary face suddenly seemed decided as he eyed the building process. They met Sugriv's angered eyes, Angad's fiery ones, and eventually, the cold ice blue ones of Ram. There was only one option now. "I believe we have the man." Vibhishan said, gulping.

A dark figure approached him, forcing them to come to a pause. "Bhaiyya," Lakshman began, his face composed and poised, though his eyes seemed as if they were laughing all on their own. "Pardon for walking up and interrupting. The building of the tent is finished. With the extra help, we completed it a few hours early...." he trailed off once faced with the piercing gaze of Vibhishan.

-----O-----

It was thus decided. There was only one person going out to meet with Indrajit. With determined eyes, Ram put a hand on Lakshman's shoulders in front of the entire assembled army, crores and crores of monkeys surrounding the pair, and stared him in the eye. "You." he said, with such certainty that the very foundation of the world was shaken. "Only you can defeat Indrajit. And so you will go."

There was an echoing silence, and seconds passed by as they all waited with bated breath. All except Ram, who still stared at Lakshman. A breath was exhaled. For the first time, in a long time, Lakshman smiled at him. The corners of his eyes turned into crinkled crescents, and he wrapped a golden hand around Ram's, squeezing it hard. "Only I can defeat Indrajit," he repeated. "And I will."

The monkey army erupted into cheers, but to them both, there was only each other. Ram's pride, and Lakshman's spite. They would get Sita back. They would get Sita back if they had to give their everything. They would get Sita back if they were encountered with a thousand such illusions. Because that was all that mattered.

-----O-----

"Bhaiyya?" Lakshman whispered, knocking on the door leading to Ram's thinking chamber. Ram stood up from his chair. It was perhaps an hour before dawn, and Lakshman stood there as if something clung onto his soul. The veins in his arm seemed more pronounced than ever as he clenched his fist. "Bhaiyya?" he asked again, his voice uncertain. Ram stood up, setting his quill down, and walked towards his younger brother.

"Yes?" Ram asked.

"What if I lose?" Ram inhaled sharply. These were words that he never expected to hear. Not out of his Lakshman's mouth. Not out of the mouth of that confident man who stood beside him every day, not out of the product of that child who battled with two swords and glared at anyone who laughed at him. Not the Lakshman brimming with confidence who pounded his chest and wrestled in the mud. "What if I don't defeat Indrajit, bhaiyya? What then?"

Ram felt like rubbing his eyes, sitting Lakshman down, and talking to him for hours, but there was no time. Indrajit would return, and when he did, at the call of the rooster, Lakshman would be out there, ready to face him. He could only keep his brother for minutes before he had to leave. It was the final reckoning. There was no after. Indrajit had to be killed. If he wasn't, then the unthinkable would happen.

"There is no if, Lakshman." Ram began. He watched his younger brother's ears perk up. "There is no if. You will win. There is nothing else you can do. Indrajit is a murderer, a mass murderer. Look how many he has killed. Your only left purpose, in this war, is to kill Indrajit, Lakshman. He is your final foe, before Ravan. If you don't kill him, catastrophe will happen. If you don't kill him, adharma will flourish. If you don't kill him, Lakshman, then thousands, millions more will die. There is no if. You will. I know it."

Lakshman stared at him, and for a moment, Ram wondered if he had gone a little too hard on him. Then, Lakshman grinned. "I'd fight the world for you, bhaiyya, that and more. I would hold the weight of the Earth on my back. I would die for you, bhaiyya, but I will not come back without an enemy's head, because there is nothing worse than loss. I'll obey your every command, bhaiyya. If I do not return with the blood of Indrajit on my hands, then I'll not have returned at all."

"And you know that isn't possible, bhaiyya, because I promised myself I'd see your coronation, didn't I? It's the one thing I yearn to experience in my lifetime, and if I cannot, then my every purpose will have been left unfulfilled."

Lakshman stood up, and pulled Ram up too, from the cot. With widened eyes, Ram watched as Lakshman touched his feet one time. "This is my private promise to you, bhaiyya." And then, with one turn of his hair, Lakshman walked out of the room. Shivering with the power of his brother's words, Ram turned back around to gather himself as well, but jumped once Lakshman poked his head back in. 

"Oops!" he laughed. "I forgot my daggers!" He swiped the knives from the top of the cot and slid them into the pocket of his dhoti before running out once more. And Ram laughed, shaking his head.

------O-------

"That one's a nasty one." Angad hissed to Lakshman as he made to leave officially, to step into the battlefield mere moments before the first ray of dawn touched the skies. "He's a nasty fighter, and a rather unfair one too. Keep your head up, Lakshman bhaiyya. And Yeah-" Angad grinned. "Bring me a spoil of war, would ya'?"

Lakshman ruffled his hair before turning towards Ram. "I'll take your blessings before I leave, bhaiyya." He touched Ram's feet once more, before standing up, joining his hands together. "I'll come back victorious. Or I won't come back at all."

That won't be necessary. Ram thought. You will come back. There is nothing else you can do. There is nothing else that I'll take. There is nothing else that your bhabhi will take. Then he felt like laughing, Of course he would come back! There was no question. Lakshman would always be there! What kind of a thought was that?

Bonus Scene

"Do you know?" Neel whispered to Nal the night before. "It's never a good sign when Lakshman bhaiyya's building collapses. The last time that happened, Shri Ram was banished. The next time, he was fixing the roof, and then Surpanakha arrived, do you remember that? And then Sita bhabhi was kidnapped when he was working on the stairs of the cottage. Now this-" he gestured around.

"Do you know," Nal added. "That Lakshman bhaiyya always leaves behind the dagger he hurt Surpanakha with. He never goes to war with it. But today, he tucks it in the waistband of his dhoti, see?" He discreetly pointed to where Lakshman considered a glinting dagger before hastily tucking it in. "I do not know what shall happen tomorrow. But there is no question of something. Indrajit has a terrible sort of storm waiting for him on the battlefield."

A/N-Welcome to the Shakti Saga. Enjoy the ride. This ought to be fun. Tomorrow, Lakshman will get struck down, even if it takes me 10 pages to get to that point. I'll double update if that happens. I'm not doing this procrastination game any longer. Y'all deserve summa this funnnn! And I think Ramayana_lover might love the next chapter as well. Ahem ahem. Hack Hack. 

I think that even a non-Ramayan person would know what's about to happen. I made it pretty painfully obvious, lol.