A Promise Forged by Betrayal (Komuram Bheem)

(Ram Version)

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All he could see was open fields, so he kept running, pulling Malli onto his back when she started to slow. The earth beneath his feet was rough and wild and untouched. Never known the unnatural footsteps of the white people. It was only when his own vision started going double, and Malli begged him to stop that he slowed down. He kept going till they reached a covered alcove of trees, setting down his charge on a flat Rock before falling to sit by her side, head resting against her small knee. He felt her hands carding through his hair, grimy and covered with dirt as it were, loosening the curls. Tears sprang to his eyes, the events of the last few days finally hitting him. He took a heaving breath. Malli was here. Safe. With him. He could not break now, could not bear to see her cry anymore tears, or feel anymore fear. "Anna, are you ok?" She asked, voice still hoarse from where she had been crying.

Blinking rapidly, he tried to summon a smile. He mostly failed, but Malli was looking at him like she couldn't believe he was real, so what did it matter. He opened his arms, squeezing her when she fell into them. He started rubbing his hand across her back, offering a small comfort as she burrowed into him.

Her presence is a cool waterfall on his heart, which had been burned so much. Another hitch in his breath. Anna. Ram. Special Officer A. Rama Raju. The betrayal was seared into his bones. How dare he. Had any of their friendship been real? Had he known all along? Lacchu. Oh god, Lacchu had warned of a police officer. Was Lacchu the one Ram had been searching for so fervently? He ground his teeth to bite back the growl. He had pointed a gun at Malli. At a child. At the one who meant everything to Bheem. It must have been a lie. Bheem felt so stupid. He had trusted him so much he had given away his mission. Would he have successfully escaped with Malli that night if he had never found him? Never given him the antidote? Never revealed his truth? He gave him his sacred thread to protect him. Told him his friendship meant everything to him. Had Ram been laughing at him that whole time? Finally conceeding that they were not being chased anymore, he looked down to see Malli fast asleep against his chest. Leaning down, he pressed a kiss to the top of her head, taking in her scent. She had suffered how no child should suffer. But now she was back with him and they would go home, put all this behind them. Bheem only wished he could hide the whole village from the world. They were happy in their forest, living their own lives. Why did the rest of the world insist on knocking at their door. Eyes still burning with held back tears, bheem gazed in the direction they had come from. Was the traitor dead? But even as he thought it, his heart ached. He could have easily killed him, pinned down and bleeding as Ram was. Those dark brown eyes looking at him, accepting his fate, whatever punishment Bheem wished to give him. Could he have killed him? Physically yes. But could he have been the one to blow out the fire in those eyes? The one to make sure those hands never raised a whip against another? Or helped to comb through tangles to make him more presentable? The one to deny the world of a smile that crinkled the corners of a serious face, a smile that felt like a victory each time? He had run and he would continue to run till he reached home. He'd have to reunite with the others and find a way to sneak them away from this accursed city. And once home he would make sure something like never happened again. So long as he had breath in his lungs, and strength in his body, no one would hurt his people again. And no one would take advantage of his friendship again. They couldn't. Not if he locked away his heart to protect it. He would live by his duty. It would be enough.

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Let me know your thoughts!

(Also, the reason I kept the ‘Anna’ in despite going for more queer-coding in this piece is because at this point Bheem is going through so much emotional turmoil, he would stick to what he has known for the past few months.)