Empire of Righteousness

Chapter 46 : The Lost Feelings

Arjun was making his bed beside Bheem, when Sahadev's enthusiastic voice came to him.

"Putra Abhimanyu, you are here so late?" Nakul exclaims.

Abhimanyu joined his hands in respect but they could tell he didn't come here to exchange greetings.

"Putra, Abhimanyu. Do you want to say anything?" Arjun asks.

"Maa and my brothers never told me anything. Why we live alone without you all," Abhimanyu starts.

Pandavas looked at him silently. Abhimanyu wasn't emotional or anything rather he seemed like he was drained off energy.

"I always asked Maa about you Pitashree. I was the youngest. I wanted to be like Jyest bhrata whom people trust blindly. I wanted to be as reliable as bhrata Sutasoma. I wanted to be as compassionate as bhrata Satanika. I wanted to be as brave and strong warrior as bhrata Shrutakarma. I wanted to be as knowledgeable as bhrata Shrutasena,"

Pandavas tried to understand the reason behind his words but failed.

"But the emptiness of a father was very painful for me. I was so jealous of other children who had their father with them. Maa never told me why we don't stay with you. No matter how much I was being stubborn or how much I cried, she never did. For what? To protect the honor of my father in my eyes?" this time Abhimanyu's anger was felt by them.

"How could you stake my maa? She is a human not a property," Abhimanyu was stern to his words by his tears betrayed him.

"Putra..."

"No. Don't even try to say otherwise. Because no dharma can justify this. And now when we are happy with our Maa, you suddenly came. And you expect us to welcome you like nothing happened?" Abhimanyu asks.

"Putra, we are your offender. Your mother's offender," Yudhisthir spoke.

"Of course you are. But for what reason you are taking my maa away from me? Why does maa need to live in a forest?" Abhimanyu broke into tears.

Seeing him like that, Pandavas felt their hearts filled with guilt.

"When you weren't in our life to begin with, why did you come now? I don't want maa to live in forest," Abhimanyu says.

"Don't take maa with you. We need maa. Other than maa we don't have any shade over our head. Maa is our sheild. Our world revolves around our Maa. Don't take her," Abhimanyu pleads.

"Calm down," Arjun holds his shoulder.

"You don't feel the pain of your shade, your sheild going away from you. You don't know how I feel" Abhimanyu accuses.

"We know more than you know, Putra," Bheem says.

Abhimanyu looks at them confused.

"You maa is the sole reason of our life. She is our strength, our friend, our wife, our lover. Our one mistake made her whole life upside down. Putra, the 10 years your maa was away from us, we were as good as a corpse. Every breath felt painful, every day felt like hell. And now when she is coming with us, we are both sad and happy. Sad because you maa will leave in a forest. Happy because of her presence in our life again. Separating you from you maa was never our intention. Because you have more rights on your maa than us," Yudhisthir spoke.

Abhimanyu listened and he could feel the unconditional and deep love from his words.

"Will you punish my maa's offender?" Abhimanyu asks.

"Every single one of them will.be punished, Putra. We promise you," Arjun growls.

Abhimanyu smiles a bit finally. He looks at his father's face which was filled with determination. The willpower of bringing justice to his mother.