Precious Memories

Snow carried Taka to his room to sleep, clearly he was exhausted.

Placing him on the bed and making sure he was comfortable Snow went to begin the clean-up of the 'Mess' as Taka put it.

Fen jumped up and lay down on his chest. Her ears perked up listening to Taka's strong heartbeat and gentle breaths.

Finally sure that Taka was fine, she fell back to sleep returning to the pleasantness of her dreams.

Two days passed but Taka still slept.

During the time he was sleeping Snow had cleared the 'Mess' up and informed Taka's parents that he would be spending a few more days at the lab.

Snow and Emily were talking.

"Is the situation sorted?" inquired Emily.

"Don't worry, I've sorted it" Snow assured her.

"What do we do about the Joseph family?"

"Nothing, I doubt they will try anything....."

Snow paused to think.

"...The threat that Taka holds is too great for them to handle at the moment but the future is still uncertain."

A sigh of relief could be heard from Emily.

"We've got some breathing room at least. The things Taka asked for previously?"

"The tasks have almost been completed. He can contact people through me, save raising suspicion. Skipping grades should be easy for him but I'll look into it anyway and his new bank account has already been sorted by the accountants; on the orders of your father."

"Father's?" Emily asked in surprise.

"Hmm, I don't understand how but he seems to already know about Taka."

"How is that possible? Did you tell him about Taka?"

Snow just looked at her in astonishment.

"Emily, do you think I'm suicidal?"

"Huh?" it was now Emily's turn to be confused.

"Do you think I'm stupid enough to let your crazy experiment loving freak of a father know anything about Taka? Taka's a good kid..."

Snow thought for a second.

"...Or whatever he is, no way I'm letting your father get a hold of him, for Taka's safety as well as your fathers. You should understand what I mean after seeing what happened the last time someone provoked him."

Emily gulped and nodded in understanding.

Changing the subject Snow spoke.

"How's his condition?"

"Taka, you mean?"

"Yeah, obviously."

"He's stable but still no sign of him waking."

Emily hesitated.

"He appears to be in some kind of deep sleep, sort of like a coma but more like an animal's hibernation. I've never seen anything like it before."

Snow sighed.

"It's understandable he's in such a state, he pushed himself too far...Simply to protect us and the people here. But I know one thing for certain."

"And what's that?" Emily asked

"The people he was protecting, weren't us."

What Snow had said didn't make sense to Emily.

"What do you mean he wasn't protecting us? Who was he protecting then?"

"You don't get into the state he was in, simply to protect someone you've known for little over two days, understand?"

Emily nodded.

"My guess, he was protecting someone from a memory. Someone he couldn't protect when he needed too, but if that is true, then that raises more questions which we can't answer."

The words Snow had spoken left both of them with room for thought and questions unanswered.

-

Back in Taka's room.

-

Ever since Taka had fallen to sleep in Snow's arms, he'd fallen into the memories of his past life.

Flashbacks occurring one after the other but one memory kept reoccurring, almost as if trying to mentally torture him.

The loss of his sister, which was soon followed by the loss of his closest and best friend.

This memory took place one year after his father was killed. During the period his father's death was still being investigated. A short time before he joined the organization.

During this time his mother had also passed away.

Taking her own life, unable to get over the death of her most beloved.

With the death of their mother, he and his sister only had each other to rely upon.

Times were difficult.

His sister worked three jobs just to make sure they had somewhere to live and barely enough to eat.

At school, Taka was the smallest in his year due to his undernourishment.

Always alone, no one approaching him due to his situation.

Until one day.

A chance encounter in the schoolyard.

An encounter paved out by fate.

Changing his destiny and bestowing him with the faintest fragments of light in his always dark life.

His fragment of light.

His best friend.

Maya.

-

Now Maya was far from your average girl.

A true fighter by nature.

She was a few years older than Taka with a personality as radiant as a flame, brightening any room she went into with looks that only complimented them.

Her eyes as blue as the ocean.

Her hair, golden like rays of sunlight.

Maya was seemingly perfect, yet somehow still an outcast because of one main reason, she didn't take crap from anyone.

The complete opposite of Taka.

Standing next to each other Taka and Maya complemented each other in a way that could be described as perfect harmony.

The fateful day they met was one of Taka's most precious memories.

From that day forward they were inseparable; inside of school and out, always together.

Maya pretty much became a third member of the Everlast family.

Taka's life was happy; though still hard, with the addition of Maya he was happy.

Until one significant day when both his sister and Maya were ripped away from him.

At one of the jobs his sister worked, she had caught the eye of the CEO of the company. A disgustingly vulgar man who was rumored to get whatever he wanted no matter the cost.

Unfortunately for Taka, the thing that, the man wanted was his sister.

One day the three of them were walking home when they were ambushed by five men, with ski masks on. Being too small and too weak Taka couldn't do much but Maya and his sister fought back, hard. Especially Maya who was trying to get to him; to protect him.

The more Maya and his sister fought, the more the men became frustrated. Eventually, the men gave up on the task and decided to just shoot the pair of them to avoid possible issues in the future.

Maya and Taka's sister dropped to the floor, bleeding out.

Taka tried everything he could but was unable to save them.

He called the paramedics but he knew they wouldn't get there in time.

Minutes passed.

Both Maya and his sister died in his arms.

His only fragment of light ripped from him.

Heartache threatened to wrench his heart apart.

Tears falling.

Only one thought remaining in his head.

'I'm alone.'

'All of the people I care about are dead.'

After that day, Taka went through a change that stayed with him for the rest of his life.

Years later he found the name of the man who was responsible for the deaths of Maya and his sister.

Isaac Joseph.

-

Back to the present.

-

Another day had passed. At this point, Taka had slept for three days.

Emily was checking his vitals when a groan was heard.

The groan was soon followed by movement but the movement soon stopped.

A deep breath could be heard.

Taka's eyes slowly open.