There is so much happening in the world right now with pandemic and war situations, humanity seems to be lost and it is 🥺 to find peace and hope when you are also helpless.
That being said, the FaRag friendship is one of the highlights of the show, and Farhad has clearly been a voice of conscience for Raghav, so thought of penning down something for them 🙏
This story is on account of Mental Health Awareness Month to remind us that everyone has a right to move on and be happy, especially if you have people around you that care about you 
The title is from a song that I heard recently in a video and loved instantly ~ Hold On (Chord Overstreet) with respect to losing family.
Hope you like it. Would appreciate any criticism and/or feedback, apart from continuing the story, that is not my cup of Masala Chai or Frappé, merci beaucoup for understanding! Also encourage my talented fellow forum members to continue it, incase you find that opportunity! 
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Plot: This is an AU story based in the MHRW zone, where Raghav and Farhad are childhood friends, who have been inseparable since the start. But at 15, Raghav falls into bad company and despite warnings from his parents, friends and well-wishers, he continues to be naive enough to trust those new folks, and Farhad and him have a mini-fallout of sorts for a while for 2 years or so. Now Raghav's house has been torched down by the crowd, Amma and 13-year old Keerti have gone to her relative's place for the time being. RR was refused the right to light the funeral pyre for Nana and Tammudu, attend their funeral or conduct any other rites and was asked to leave to join those at the Centre and is now estranged from them ~ whether it is temporary, permanent, he does not know at this point, but he is back to the ruins of his house because he does not know where else to go, and nothing else can ever give him more comfort than this place. Flicked off some beers off the truck because he just wants to drown in alcohol, he knows he is underage, but he does not know of any other means to cope. But when Raghav loses his family, Farhad is the first one to step forward and find the lost soul and get him back before he ruins himself completely. He is addressing him with his name, since Raghav has not yet grown in stature yet for him to call him Anna. Alternatively can be explained as: A family lost, a brother gained 🥺
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Raghav entered the empty house or what was left of it, surrounded by empty bottles and painful reminders.
He touched the wall and remembered how their family pictures used to hang there. The torn curtains, the instruments, the smell in the kitchen when Amma made his favorite food when they won medals, the fights the siblings had to decide who would sleep on the bed, sofa and the ground, all of those precious childhood moments all now shattered like the glass from the windows, few shards of which were stuck in his foot, but he was in too much of pain to remove it. The beer tasted awful and he wished he could stop, but stopping would just make him feel better and he didn't want to feel better right now. He didn't deserve it.
Besides, it was a special occasion. It wasn't every day a guy pretty much killed two of the most important people in his life. Even now the steady sound of the crazed crowd rang in his ears and he felt like screaming. Gone. Gone. Gone. Gone. Gone. His family was dead. All in one moment. Nana and Tammudu meeting God. Riding the highways in heaven. Teaching little ghost kids music. Scoring dates with angels. Amma and Keerti. The shame and disgust in those eyes when Amma looked at his face. The rage when Amma asked him to leave. The fear in Keerti's eyes when she lost her father and brothers all in one day. The question on her face on what crime her Anna had committed that was so large that their entire world was torn down in one day.
"I joined the wrong forces disregarding Nana and Amma’s advice, this is what I get! Nice lesson, what will happen next time I mess up, I end up causing harm Amma and Keerti now? Then they blow up what else is left of the house?", he muttered, choking down another long sip of beer. He was alone anyway, and now he didn't even have anything else left.
A lost soul with nothing to believe in. A guy walking around with a hole in him, not knowing how he felt about anything anymore. His closest friends had never seen it, but those pricks had.
I never saw that, abbayi. I mean if you would've just told me, I could've done something about it.
"You already did, Nana and Tammudu!" Somehow he managed to swallow the rest of the beer without puking.
"All that time!" He already had, and Raghav had been too damn stupid to see it until now. He moved to open another bottle of the stuff when the door swung open. Shit! It was probably the police, and here he was too drunk to move or come up with a good cover story. Great! He was going to jail today! He deserved that third degree torture he read in the newspapers about.
"Raghav."
Oh, yeah. Farhad. Leave it to his good old childhood buddy Farhad to follow a guy back to his empty house, or ruins of what is left now after being left here to deal with whatever was to happen. He didn't hear any squeaking or anything post that, so he guessed that he was alone. Whatever, it's not like one or both of them being here made any difference.
"Hiiiiiiiii!" he found himself yelling, waving the empty beer bottle above his head. "'I'm over heeere! In glassland!" Man, that was stupid, the tiny sober part of his brain taunted.
"You're drunk," said Farhad, stating the obvious. The bottle hit the floor with a thud.
"Am not! You're just all pointy." A laugh bubbled up in his chest, despite everything, and Raghav fell back against the couch and offered Farhad his bottle. "Soooo, lemme guess, not in the mood tonight?"
"Raghav, come back home with me." Farhad held out a hand. "Have a glass of water, get some sleep and in the morning, we'll think about what you can do next."
"Can't." Raghav hiccuped. "I killed my family. There is red in my ledger now, and I do not know how to wipe it out."
"It wasn't your fault alone." Farhad sat down, Raghav's head looked like a big fuzzy cactus on top of a stick. Or something like that. "The rioters killed them, the doctors couldn't reach in time save them. You didn't do anything wrong in that particular situation...you had no idea you were being framed in that conspiracy and this would happen..you prayed for them more than anyone!"
"But it all happened because of me! Because of my stupidity! That DEATH was meant for me." Tears poured down his cheeks, like something exploded and now his face was wet. "They took those blows there to get me back and then Nana crashed to the floor in front of my eyes, and then he broke his head and died and it was all cause of me! I killed them! I-I killed my little brother who had not even seen much of the world and had a future in front of him- who was-Nana, Amma, Keerti and Tammudu- were there for me even when I messed up bad, and...and I..."
He fell forward onto Farhad's lap, sobbing hysterically. Farhad's hands started running through his hair. Just like Amma did anytime Raghav was upset or mad or something like that, and that just made it hurt more. Everything hurt.
"Y-you know what the last thing he ever said to me was?" he managed through gasps. "Said if they would known I was bottling it up inside they would have done something. But you know what? You know what, bhai?" A laugh escaped him. "They already did! The whole...fricking...time! It was only my family that kept me going through everything."
"Raghav..." Farhad kept stroking his hair and Raghav couldn't even bother to tell him to stop. It felt too damn good.
"They did everything they could from keeping me away from bad influences. And what did I do to repay them? Got them killed in my pursuit for something better-," he muttered. His stomach lurched. "And they let me be myself! A-and sometimes, if I got upset or something he'd stay up, talk to me. D-did you know I started trying harder in life cause of them, sometimes? I wanted them to have a better life. One time, I-I got in home late, clearly not in my senses, and he did not tell me off, instead we had a big laugh about it. Like it was no big deal!" A fresh flood of tears broke and he dug his fists into Farhad's shirt. "And Tammudu he looked up to me for inspiration, he considered me his ideal, he will never laugh again, I'll never see him he'll never get to yell at me or tell me I could be something or joke with me or ride on Nana’s bike and it's all my fault!"
"Raghav..." Farhad sighed, those damn fingers of his still stroking. "Uncle knew what he was doing when he faced those people. He probably knew he'd crash, but your Nana had a family to save. But he still did it, cause even if he died, he would've died trying to do something good for you."
"No!" Raghav howled. "He wasn't supposed to die! Tammudu was not supposed to die! Cause I should've stayed away from that dratted Centre, it's all my-"
"Stop it." Farhad pulled him up, rocking him in his arms, and then gently took out the shards from his foot, bandaging it with his handkerchief and the pieces of the curtain he could get his hands on. "They wouldn't want you doing this to yourself. They would not want you to kill yourself."
"They’re gone. They can't tell me what to do anymore." Raghav burrowed further into the embrace, maybe it was the booze talking but Farhad felt warm and good and he never wanted him to let go. He could count all the people who cared for him right now on one hand and Farhad was the most important finger. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Nana and Tammudu, you loved me and I never told you what you meant to me and I got you killed. I'm sorry. It's my fault, I'm sorry, I'm sorry..." He repeated this over and over again, like a mantra.
"Let's get you to my home."
"No." Raghav sniffled. "It's his place. Used to be ours, it hurts to stay but I gotta stay."
"Why?"
"It is my fault they’re dead. I deserve it."
In the end, Farhad’s Ammi brought them back to their house. If she knew Raghav had been drinking, she didn't say anything; she rubbed his back while he puked, gave him a glass of water and then tucked the boys. Farhad sat beside him and didn't let go, and Raghav was glad for that.
God, Don't take them away from me, especially Farhad. And...take care of my family. Tell Nana and Tammudu I'm sorry, and I'm glad they did all that stuff for me.
"I'm sorry for everything Farhad. I am sorry I did not listen to you when I should have. And thank you for everything you have done for me and standing by me in this storm. I have lost a family and gained my brother today."
"Sleep, Raghav. We have to think about Jayati Jewels tomorrow. You still want to pursue that, right? In memory of your Nana and to respect your Amma's sacrifices so far?"
"Yes..yes.."
He fell asleep on the lower bunk, with Farhad on the upper bunk, keeping an eye out for him. He didn't have a nightmare that night.
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Hold On ~ Chord Overstreet
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