"Hahaha"

Arjun faked laughed and rolled his eyes. Arshia laughed harder and held her stomach tightly. They were dueling with swords and Arjun did quite a unique move which made everyone burst out laughing.

Arshia held in her laughter,after seeing Arjun's bitter expression,and nodded at him. She made her sword dissapear and gulped down a glass of water.

"Arshia, let's go. Abhimanyu must be awake by now" Subhadra informed, standing up from the swing.

Arshia nodded and ruffled Prativindhya's , Yudhishthir's and Draupadi's 3 year old son,hair.

Over the years, Draupadi beared 3 children. Prativindhya,son of Yudhishthir and the eldest. Sutasoma,son of Bheem and the second eldest. And third,Shatanika,son of Nakul and the youngest,as for now. She was, currently, pregnant with Sahadev's child and will be expecting him/her in 6 months.

Prativindhya was 3,Sutasoma was 2 and Shatanika will turn 2 in a matter of few weeks.

"Sutasoma,you ate a few minutes ago" Draupadi replied to Sutasoma's constant tantrums. "Let him eat Panchali!After all he is my son!" Bheem's voice boomed as he picked up Sutasoma and took his leave.

Arshia laughed at his tactics and gestured Draupadi to accompany her. Vrishaketu was accompanied by Prativindhya and Shatanika,who were walking just a bit behind him. Karna was walking behind the kids,still admiring the palace.

The Pandavas, execpt Bheem who had gone to feed Sutasoma and Arjun, walked along side the three ladies. Arjun walked beside Karna.

Turning his head at Karna,he saw his loving gaze on the three kids who walked infront of him. Arjun ripped his gaze off and looked at the kids.

"Pitashree Arjun,where are we going?" Prativindhya turned to look at Arjun. "Putra,to see Abhimanyu" Arjun replied back. Prativindhya nodded and shifted his gaze to look at Karna.

"Are you my father's brother?"

Karna froze. Arjun's mouth fell open.

No words came out of the elders mouth while Prativindhya and Shatanika waited for their answer.

"No,my mother is your father's dharma-sister" Vrishaketu replied turning the attention on him. "Dharma-sister? What's that?" A curious Shatanika questioned. "It means that they were actually not brother-sister but they consider each other as such" Shatanika nodded in acknowledgement.

"Let's go,we have to meet your elder brother" The two nodded and continued walking,while the adults walked behind them.

"Your son is matured at such a young age" Arjun said with genuine surprise in his voice. Karna smiled proudly looking at Vrishaketu. Arjun swiftly glanced at Karna and then back at Vrishaketu. He was still surprised how a child can look so much like their father.

.

Opening the huge door to enter a luxury chamber, Arshia's eyes soften at the sight of 5 year old Abhimanyu sitting on the ground and playing with his toys. He looked up to see quite a lot of new faces as he dropped his toys.

His eyes shined brighter than the moon does in the night sky,his small angavastra almost covered his whole body and he already had long hair. He looked so much like Subhadra.

"Abhimanyu,this is your aunt Arshia,Uncle Karna and Jyesth bhrata Vrishaketu" Arjun said casually. Everyone in the room except the kids and Arshia stared at him shocked as the words 'Uncle Karna' and 'Jyesth Bhrata Vrishaketu' rang in their ears. Arjun shrugged at everyone and went to Abhimanyu, ruffling his hair.

Abhimanyu bent down to seek Arshia's blessings. Arshia went on her knees and fixed his hair. She stared at his child-like lovely face. Abhimanyu went to Vrishaketu and when he tried to touch his feets, Vrishaketu stopped and hugged the child.

"Hello Abhimanyu" Vrishaketu greeted pulling away. Abhimanyu brightly smiled back. He shifted towards Karna and stared up at him. He bent down and sought his blessings as well.

Karna lifted the child up and hugged him gently. Abhimanyu wrapped his hands around Karna's neck and pulled away.

"Pitashree"

Abhimanyu blurted out looking at Karna.

The twins stared at each other shocked, Yudhishthir zoned out for a bit,Arjun had rather a proud smile on his face, Draupadi had a look of confusion and Subhadra was rather calm. Arshia's face radiated happiness while Vrishaketu shared the same.

Karna's eyes filled with tears but he tried his best to gulp the tears down.

"Pitashree,why are you crying?" Abhimanyu asked innocently wiping the lone tear that escaped Karna's eyes. "It's nothing,Putra Abhimanyu" Abhimanyu smiled brightly after hearing his words and hugged him with all his capacity.

Arshia's smiled and went to the two,gently patting Abhimanyu's hair. Abhimanyu,still hugging Karna,smiled at her. Vrishaketu walked to his family and looked up at his parents,a unknown feeling of pride washing over him. Karna looked at him and lifted him as well. The two kids looked at each other as admire shined through their eyes. Karna stared at the two kids in his arms and then at Arshia with a fatherly happiness in his eyes. Arshia nodded at him and gently caressed Abhimanyu's hair.

"Matashree Arshia" Abhimanyu called out and turned to her. He escaped Karna's arms and hugged Arshia.

"Why does it feel like I know your family for such a long time? Pitashree Karna, although no where related to me feels like my father. You feel like my mother although you are just my parents dharma-sister and it feels as if Bhrata Vrishaketu is really my Jyesth Bhrata" Abhimanyu mumbled.

"They are equal to your parents Abhimanyu" Subhadra softly said as Abhimanyu nodded at her.

"That's good and all but don't forget that I am your father after hanging around with Maharathi Karna!" Arjun fakely expressed his concern. Everyone laughed loudly.

Arjun moved his gaze at Karna and,for the first time,he saw Karna laughing so freely and carelessly. He smiled at himself and laughed along the others. He felt a hand on his arm as he turned to look at Subhadra.

"I admire your efforts for us to get comfortable with Maharathi Karna,Arya" Subhadra appreciated. "Maharathi Karna is a really admirable character. Looking at him now and studying him,one can tell he was so burdened with Duryodhana's friendship that he couldn't express his real self. But his safe place had always been Arshia and he finally realised what he did wrong and what's admirable that he is trying his best to fix his mistake.

And I realised,it was never our battle...it was his battle against the world. I am simply someone he wished to use to prove that he is the best"

. . .

Ayo..what did I write? Thank you! Enjoy reading! Vote.

(Thank you sooo much for 31.7K reads! Y'all are the best!)