A dark heave escaped her cracked lips as her eyes looked on madly. A shaky hand rose to her gritty hair, tangling it's gnarled fingers tightly in the strands. Another limb lifted to her dirty face, running down a muddy cheek, smearing the moisture there from her tear streaks. Her naked body was smothered in dirt and debris, a lone piece of worn rope still tied to her ankle. The silently sobbing woman pulled hard at her hair, ignoring the tearing sensation that followed after the action.
My jaw had yet to rise from whence it had fallen, and I stared in awe, my heart breaking for the woman I saw in front of me. She looked so lost, so alone, and so...broken. Any thoughts of sanity were lost with one look into her piercing blue eyes. Her hair was so drenched in mud that she could have been blond and nobody would know the difference. I slowly regained my posture, as I had been told to do so many times in my rigorous training. Normally, my master wouldn't allow a sign of sympathy leak from one of his students, but as I turned to him, he watched knowingly. I swallowed hard, turning back toward the woman, who was now cradling herself and sliding down the cave wall.
"Master?" I asked, still watching her, but speaking to the stoic man to my right. "What was your purpose in bringing me here, exactly?"
For a moment, he didn't speak. When greeted with silence like this, it typically indicates he just flat out isn't going to answer me, so I proceeded to step closer to the woman, who in return stared at me with those crazy baby blues. I shudder, reaching out a hand, but before I took another step closer, his voice broke the sounds of her crying.
"This is what they do... This is why we have to stop them." he answered, stepping ahead of me, approaching the trembling figure. She pulled back harshly, slamming into the rough rocky surface and I winced as I watched the crimson flow down her nude back. He paused, but removed his jacket soon after and draped it over her. She still shook, but gladly wrapped it around her tightly, burrowing her face into one of the sleeves and continued to sob. I bit my lip distastefully. "Without us, there will only be more like her. We have to stop them. We have no choice."
His voice dropped off into a whisper, as we continued to observe the broken woman in front of us, much like one would carefully watch an injured bird. At first it's sorrowful fascination, a sense of wonderment and numbness to their pain. But the actions of that injured bird speak louder than the words that it couldn't, indicating the torture going on unsaid. Then the humane whisper in the back of your head urges you to help, to make it better in anyway that you can. That's when the realist chunk of your self-conscious warns you that you honestly have no idea how to help, and all you can do is stand there and watch.
Helpless. I felt helpless.
"Master, how exactly is this going to help solve anything? This showing me a forgotten soul? I don't understand..." I said, tearing my gaze off the lady and turning it to my teacher, expecting an answer.
He cleared his throat, not looking at me, but regarding me with his posture. "I need you to understand. Any humanity out there on the battlefield is going to get you crushed. You're a strong asset to the cause." He silenced for a moment, pulling his cracked pocket watch out of his breast pocket. It stopped working years ago, but I concluded that the familiar action soothed him. "You're strong, but you're weak."
"Weak in what aspect?"
"You allow your emotions to override your thinking. You act on impulse. That's what gets you killed."
I shook my head, chuckling with disbelief. "You brought me here to see a forgotten just to tell me that? Did you think you were proving a point?" I laughed. "I've seen so many of my friends and comrades like this." I whipped back to the still sobbing woman, sneering subconsciously. "A random forgotten is nothing to me. I am dead on the inside."
"That's what you want to believe. But you and I both know that's not true. Not one bit." he sighed deeply, a rumbled floating through the echoes in the cave from his broad chest. "You need to understand. You need to learn that these things get in the way."
I snapped my head sideways, turning to him. "Excuse me? I have been doing just fine without your input, thank you."
"No, you have not." he boomed. "What happened just the other night, when you went back for that child? You nearly killed not only yourself, but your entire squad. We can't risk these things, Sakura!"
"What was I supposed to do?!" I shouted back, agitated. "Leave her to become one of them?" I jabbed a pointed finger in the woman's direction, her crying increasing in volume with the sound of our yelling. "How humane is that? Tell me!"
"It isn't! But that's what's keeping us alive." his voice dropped to a dangerous octave. "I think you're forgetting the point here."
"No, you're forgetting the sole purpose of our entire mission! Not only to stop the creeps, but to help those who need it." My hand shot out and gripped his wrist. I lowered my chin, staring at him with a hard expression, my bangs falling in my line of eyesight. "Who was it who said exactly that the moment we lose our humanity was the moment the world ends?"
His gaze tore from mine, blankly staring at the forgotten soul in front of us. "That was a long time ago. Things are different now." His voice had returned to it's normal intensity. "Things are worse."
"I won't forget." I let his hand fall limply to his side. "I'll never forget. I'll never give up hope." I walked closer to the woman, crouching in front of her, squinting to look into her blue orbs. The whites around her eyes were gray, but not black, and at that I sighed in relief. "She isn't completely gone, if we worked really hard at it, we could bring her back."
"Sakura." The gentle tone in his voice brought chills down my spine, causing me to shiver in discontentment.
I craned my neck to only slightly look his way. "Yes?"
"The real reason I brought you in here, is that...well...I thought you needed to see this before the war broke out, if it hasn't already."
"Well? What is it?"
He hesitated a moment, before taking in a deep breathe. "That forgotten soul is your mother."
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A/N: Omg, guys I'm so sorry! But now that show choir season is over, I have all my nights back! Which means...more stories! :D
I couldn't help myself with this story. Hopefully my procrastination doesn't get in the way? Haha. I kinda felt like going into creative mode. SERIOUSLY THOUGH. This is originally an original of mine, but I kinda changed it into fanfiction. Is ANYONE interested in reading the original, or should I just make it all fanfiction? If so, I could post it as that in a separate website if anyone is intrested? Just let me know please! Well, enjoy.