Ram spent his time in the recent few days training, and telling Sugriv all about his plans.

"Okay, so what I plan to do is that Lakshman and I will stand in the trees while you fight Vali. Right as the fight starts, I will shoot him. Does that sound alright?" Sugriv nodded, having already seen Ram's prowess in aiming arrows; just a few days ago, Ram had aimed an arrow off of the peak of the Rishyamukha Mountain, where they now resided, and killed a deer that ventured a few feet out of the Chitrakoot.

The only thing Sugriv was scared of was fighting Vali. He had confided his worries to Hanuman multiple times, but it appeared that Hanuman had placed all of his loyalty and belief in Yuvraj Ram's abilities and conscience. "Raja Sugriv, if he can shoot an arrow off of a mountain and hit a deer in the Chitrakoot, he will be able to kill our enemy! I believe in him and his words. Place your trust too in Ram sir, and you won't go wrong, Raja Sugriv." And Sugriv cleared his throat, tried to silence his worries, and nod along to the prince.

Ram was not worried for anyone but Sita, and he spent one hour before bed thinking of Sita, as if he thought that even after only a few weeks of being separated from her, that the memories of her would disappear. But it was a real worry that plagued his mind, and Ram would spend the nights tossing and turning, not being able to make his fears disappear. He trained hard, harder, and harder, hoping that the quicker he worked, the quicker he would get Sita back.

Lakshman spent his time trying not to get to know the monkeys. For some reason, he thought that someday, he would be fighting alongside these very same monkeys, and it would be a sign of weakness to have been close to one. This backfired, however, because apparently, they all wanted to get to know him. One day, the monkey named Neel walked up to him, and held out a hand to shake, which Lakshman took half-heartedly, having already socialized with his maximum "1 new person per day". "I'm Neel!" cried the vanar excitedly. "We don't get many new people around here. I do what I can to entertain, of course, but it appears that Raja Sugriv does not agree with my techniques! I mean, who wants a boring old story when they can have a playscript, no?"

Lakshman cleared his throat, and turned away. "Nice to meet you. You remind me of my brother, Shatrughan." And then, to his very appallment, Neel seemed to have spread some word that Lakshman was a friendly sort of fellow, and that everyone should go and introduce themselves to him. Thankfully for Lakshman, however, after the initial few days, he found a hiding spot where he could just sharpen his arrows and plan battle strategies that would probably never be used in peace.

-----O-----

Ram exhaled, and studied Sugriv, Hanuman, and Lakshman, the three people-er, rather, friends, that would be accompanying him. Kill. He was about to kill. Ram closed his eyes, and nodded. Sugriv, looking in between the entire group; Ram, Lakshman and Hanuman, before walking out, roaring loudly. Ram exhaled sharply before readying his bow, and stringing his arrow. But as Vali came out, beating his chest, and also roaring, Ram's eyes widened.

They were like Lakshman and Shatrughan; he couldn't tell them apart from a distance! Ram's eyes moved between the two monkeys frantically, his heart beating at a rapid pace, but no breakthrough seemed to come to him. But the fight did not stop for him. Vali pounced at the confused Sugriv, who spared a quick glance back at the tree. Ram's arms went slack as he could only watch in horror.

The only (vague) description of Vali that Sugriv had provided him with was that he was humongous, hard to defeat, and muscular. He hadn't said that they were twins or anything, and so Ram had thought that it would be quite easy to tell them apart! Well, the thought hadn't even come to his mind that he wouldn't! Ram's breaths only quickened as the fight got more and more brutal. There was no way that he would be able to shoot his friend and not feel guilty later. Ram shut his eyes tightly.

"Lakshman?" he asked hopefully. "Who is who?" Lakshman winced as he watched the fight too. It wasn't very easy to tell them apart, but he thought that if he squinted just a little, he was able to see the sideburns on Sugriv that Vali did not have. Suddenly, Vali threw another fist, and Sugriv shouted out. "Bhaiyya, I think it might be the one that's sorely losing." Lakshman muttered, shaking his head.

Ram turned towards Hanuman, who was watching the fight while biting his nails nervously, his eyes darting between the two monkeys. "Hanuman, why don't you go there and take Sugriv out of this mess. We can talk later."

-----O----

"Died!" wailed Sugriv as the monkeys tried to put ice packs and herbal packs on his wounds. "That's what would have happened to me! I would have died! Was this all a plot, sir, just to get me killed? Tell me, why didn't you use the prowess in aiming and archery you showed me so confidently earlier? Why didn't you kill him? Were you intimidated? Was that it? I was going to die! You don't know what it feels like to have death leaning in and breathing on your face! It's horrid, I tell you!"

Ram sat back, brooding, his hand only tightening around his bow as he heard Sugriv's pitiful words, as he saw the blood that the other monkeys wiped away quickly. "I could not tell you apart, I confess." Sugriv looked up. "At such a distance, I was worried that I would shoot you. You do look different, but I'm afraid not so very different enough that I would be able to differentiate. And I did not want to kill my ally, now did I?'
Sugriv hummed as he thought, his wailing going away by Ram's decent reasoning. "That is true sir, and I can imagine, I must not lie. But how are we going to kill Vali and reclaim my throne and my wife and my kingdom, if you cannot differentiate between him and I from a distance? Have we reached a dead end of some sort, perhaps? I certainly cannot go fight him again, I would die this time, whether Hanuman was there or not!"

Ram hummed as well, leaning back, his mind racing. "Lakshman, why don't you go and make a flower garland?" Lakshman blinked. Flower garland? Did Ram bhaiyya perhaps want to marry someone else? There were not any human women around here, and he thought that only seconds ago, his Ram bhaiyya was completely miserable without his first wife! How did he change minds so quickly? Then, he felt like slapping his forehead. Of course!

"Yes," he said, before, in a flash, running off. He returned a few minutes later, calmly, with a large flower garland, which he handed to Ram before brushing off his hands on his dhoti. Urmila had taught him to make garlands when they had first met. He had snorted, but done as she said, and in return, she didn't bug him for a day. It was simple enough, Lakshman thought. Perhaps he should have done more, just to make her happy.

-----O-----

Vali snorted as he saw Sugriv's slightly limping state as he walked down the hill again. "Here comes the coward, to fight again, after only a few hours of hesitation? Wearing a flower necklace this time too, oh ho! What a development! His allies must have all felt that he was a sacrifice to God, no? He will die this time, the kingdom-snatcher, betrayer of my trust! This time, I won't go easy on him because he was, at some point, my beloved brother. Just you wait!" he cried in his deep, booming voice.

But behind him, his wife, Tara, was not so sure. She watched their fight yesterday. Sugriv was a coward indeed as Vali said. So why would he come from the Rishyamukha parvat (mountain), to fight? This time, he walked more confidently, though he was even more of an underdog due to his limp. Something indeed seemed off. "Vali, I would recommend not going today," she hissed, her eyes tracking the monkey's movements. "Something does not seem right to me, something is making my heart beat loudly."

Vali turned towards his wife, blazing eyes softening at her scared state. "Oh, don't worry Tara. It's alright! I'll go and fight, and this time I shall eliminate the threat to my rightful throne, and we shall all live in peace, peace that we have not had in years, that Sugriv will not come and assassinate me! You have confidence in me, don't you?" Tara nodded slowly. "Well, then I should be alright! Your confidence is all that matters to me!"

Tara shook her head uneasily. "I have confidence in you, Vali, and I always will! You're the most ferocious warrior on this planet, even making the mighty Ravan bow down!" Vali straightened up and puffed out his chest. "But I do not have confidence that Sugriv will fight morally. Something about his conduct puts me on edge! Sugriv is not one to fight you, because he is scared of death! So if he does fight you, he must know somehow that he won't die, and that is what scares me! How does he know!"

Vali laughed his baritone laugh, shook his head, and hugged Tara tightly. "Ah, don't worry! Pray for me, and I will be alright! I shall eliminate that threat with my bare hands!" And with that, Vali marched off into the field.

-----O----

It seemed like the fight was even more nasty this time, but Ram did not notice. He just focused on aiming, and his arrow pointed right to the larger monkey, the one without the necklace. He took in a deep breath. He was just about to kill Vali, defeater of Ravan, King of Kishkindha, brother of Sugriv. All to get his wife back. To get Sita back from Ravan. Ram took in a deep breath and let the arrow go, looking away as it hit Vali right in the chest.

-----O-----

Tara's shrieks echoed in the hills, in the city of Kishkindha. She sobbed over the body of her husband, who still moved around a little bit, before his bloodshot and bleak eyes met the ones of Ram, who sat down next to him so as to not tower over the fearsome warrior. Sugriv took a long deep breath, not being able to face the brother over whom once, he too, would have sobbed. Not being able to face the brother that he had just played a part in the murder of.

"You-your clan, is a known follower of dharma, isn't it?" Vali rasped, and Tara tried to get him to stop talking in a desperate attempt to preserve his life. Ram nodded immediately, swallowing hard, as if he knew what was coming, what accusation would escape from Vali's mouth that instant. "So why did you have to kill me in such a way? Why did you have to murder me from the sidelines? Is it not unrighteous to do so?"

Ram cleared his throat, and folded his hands. "My wife, Sita, was kidnapped. She was taken by the demon king, Ravan. I made a pact, an alliance, you see, with my friend Sugriv over here. If I should do as he says, and help him reclaim his throne, then he would help me find Sita and take her back to Ayodhya. The only way to reclaim his throne was to kill you, and I am afraid that I had no other option but to kill you in this manner."

Vali shook his head, rolling over as Angad, his son by Tara, also came running over, tears flowing freely out of his eyes as he shook his head at his father's bleeding body. "No, you did not answer my question. If you had come to me, told me of your plight, then I would have grabbed Ravan and held him at your mercy. I could have brought Sita to you in mere minutes! I could have prevented you from this. So I ask you again. Why did you kill me in such a manner if you knew that there was another way?"

Ram looked up at Lakshman helplessly, for it was true. Vali could have done exactly as he said. Why did Ram, indeed, do such a thing? Lakshman too sat down. He had heard of Vali's prowess in battle, even as a child. It didn't feel right to stand over the dying body of such a warrior. So he sat down, and he averted his eyes from the dying king, his wife, and his son. "I think we had to do such a thing because we said that we would only accept help from Sugriv. Now, you see, we were in a dilemma. If we accepted help from you, then how could we from Sugriv? We had no other choice."
This explanation seemed to satiate the dying monkey, and he turned his head over. "Angad," he whispered. "Come here, son." Angad walked over, taking his father's head in his hands. "You shall be the Yuvraj after Sugriv. Always uphold my honor, but more than anything, uphold yours. I have trained you to be a fearsome warrior, a good son, but be a good person, a good being in the eyes of God." Angad nodded. "Stay loyal to these two men, alright? Forget your prejudice against the killers of your father. They were wronged. They had no choice."

Angad nodded, and Vali turned his head to Sugriv.

"I regret that we were not able to reconcile, brother." he whispered, with his last breaths of air, and then the life was torn out of his eyes, his hands went limp and cold and the fire was finally extinguished in the heart of the warrior who made the mighty Ravan bow down and accept defeat. A fire that was thought to forever have kindling.

-----O-----

Tara finally stopped her tears, stopped her sobs, and regained her regality. The subjects of Vali welcomed Sugriv somberly, but with acceptance. Ruma ran into the arms of her husband, and Ram breathed a sigh. One good thing, in this aura of death, of destruction, of families being torn apart. Angad, Angad, son of Vali, seemed to be following his father's words to the fullest extent, but he still occasionally disappeared.

And then, one day, Tara went with him, and Angad disappeared no more.* Ram smiled. A mother's love could cure everything, could it not? But Vali was dead. Vali was dead, Sugriv was king, and they were one step closer to regaining Sita from the demon King Ravan.

*I know, I know. Lakshman consoles Angad. That's meant for a later chapter.

A/N-WOW. Again, one of the chapters I was not looking forward to writing this chapter, but I pushed through it, and we have this masterpecio masterpiece. So amazzzzing. Get the reference? Anyone? Ok. So, next chapter, again, not going to be a filler. Actually, I want to write a couple of chapters that are fillers, but I can't really think of anything. I think that once we reach Lanka, we'll have some of those for sure. But not for now. Which is sad. I'm thinking, what era do you think this is? Maybe it is the Post-Ravan Vanvass Era, but when is that going to end? I mean, like, all of the next couple hundred chapters will be about Ravan. Maybe once Sugriv *finally* sends his people out? Yes, that's possible, now isn't it? It's a shame. We've been going so slowly, and then suddenly, in the exciting parts, we're speeding up. Ah well.

I have written 100 chapters in this story. Da heck man?!?! Howwwww. Whyyyy. Wheeerrrreee. Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh. *dies off camera*