Fated Decisions

Chapter 1

A/n: Long time no see

I am back from my travels in Japan! Kate begins crying! Starts tantrum- I don't want to be back in the states... I want to go back and play in the land of anime and HOT Japanese guys! I miss being a gaijin (foreigner)...

This is a good thing for my faithful readers, however, it is quite sad for me. Although I enjoy the country of my birth- running around Tokyo was much more fun! I WANT to get back over there ASAP!

I didn't give up writing Taiora fics- FYI. I just never had the time to type them until now. So once some normality sets in, I should be able to return to a steady flow of updates! So look forward to at least three more fics from me.

To all my friends in the Taiora dept, animefreak5483 is BACK! And to any new comers to this little genre, welcome! I hope to amuse you for a time, so sit back, relax and enjoy the latest crack dream!

I also would like to do the standard disclaimer at this time-

Kate no owns, so you no sue ;)

What would you do if the fate of the world rested on a single decision you made? If you were forced to choose between something that meant the world to you or something the world considered above all else critical for the survival of mankind...

Having your normal mundane life interrupted by outside forces sure does add more complications into the equation. Being attacked and injured just because of what people think you will become, also takes a toll on the spirit. In a matter of a year, I lost and gained everything; only to now see it threatened and on the verge of being lost to me again. I both curse and thank an ancient prophecy... one that I would have never known, never would have been aware of any so called 'special' abilities I seem to possess if it weren't for a single fated day. Before I was forced to become involved, I was your everyday 22 year old guy doing nothing special with his life. A history major at a college got me no where, and a minor in classic military tactics did even less. So I could play a decent game of Stragego or Risk... but in life I was going no where. I was about to agree with my friends that my life wouldn't mean anything to anyone. However, soon strange occurrences led me to believe the opposite.

In the course of a few weeks before my twenty-second birthday, the frequency of accidents and close calls led me to believe it mattered to someone that I didn't last too much longer.

Somehow I escaped each building fire, shooting, even the fatal car crash that took my parents. It was that even that set everything in motion. Without knowing it, my possible future, no my very existence posed a threat to someone, something... What surprised me more was the extremes my unseen protectors were willing to go to in order to save one person...

I didn't know it at the time, but another person's parents were lost in the very same car crash. She truly became my source of strength in the days to come, her desire to end the deaths and avenge her parents made me work harder... if only for her. Knowing that these people fearlessly saved my life and even attempted to save my parents, I owed them more than my life. Without my knowing they had been watching and protecting me through all the chaos. However, the severity of the crash allowed me to finally see my protectors and the creatures stalking me for months. Sadly this would not be the last in our encounters. The mysterious creatures that came to my time in order to stop me from amounting to anything in the future would not be deterred by loss of life or any kind of setbacks.

Once I had something, someone I felt I needed to protect, even though she protected me much better than I could have possibly done for her, I knew there was no going back to my old life... my old life... it seems so far away, that day all this finally exploded into a full fledge fire.

They came out of no where as I drove my parents car over to the local grocery store. I had just returned home because of my birthday and graduation from college. Dinner was to be my favorite food... we were all out of a few special ingredients. Mom, Dad and I jumped into the family car for a quick spin to the store- a normal, dull ritual of shopping... that would not end as it usually did.

Out from behind a cloud a creature shaped like a humanoid landed on the hood of the car. Two more attacked from the sides as I lost control of the car. I don't remember much else... the black, almost liquid looking figures and their red piercing eyes will forever haunt my memories, much like everyone else's here.

As quickly as they came, three or more other figures appeared and the battle commenced. A blur of auburn hair was the last memory I have of that day... I was surrounded by a gentle, yet strong aura before the car exploded... killing both our parents and the attackers.

I awoke to find a new world existed... one where I did mean something to these people. I was some sort of a special being with a purpose. I still don't totally understand why myself, it is all because of some prophecy... even after reading the text myself I still don't know how they figure a college graduate from the 21st century could ever mean the survival of the world.

I try not to dwell on the topic; all I ever get are headaches and more questions. I understand that to the people of this time, my child and I seem to somehow save the world. We are able to rescue the human race and allow it to survive against the beings they term bugs...

My life is no longer mundane in any sense of the term. Waking up in a strange place where constant danger lurks sometimes has me wishing for the simplicity of my past life. However, there was one thing I would not trade for the world... as much as my old life ended, a new one began. I found a person I wanted to share myself with, a person that could love me as much as I loved her. My soul mate existed in this time, in this world... I would never trade the memories we created together, or of ones I still hope to have with her for all the easy years of life before...

To me, she is worth more than my existence. She has given me the strength to accomplish all I have; she alone has saved the world, not me. She is my world. So how can I possibly make a decision like this... why do I have to decide something that either way, I loose someone important to me?

The beginning...
The light of the midday sun shining on his face awoke a solitary sleeping man. His brown hair had become a mess as he slumbered for an unknown time on the single medical cot in a small room. Re-situating himself by rolling over to his side, the young man attempted to get comfortable and sleep once again. His body ached and he felt physically drained. Searching his memories, he had never felt this utterly weak ever in his life. The thin mattress he slept on gave him none of the comfort he sought to ease the ache. Shifting again in a last attempt at falling back asleep was rejected as a voice called out his name.

"Taichi Kamyia." The voice seemed to echo in both his surroundings and inside his head.

"I am glad you decided to join us back in the world of the living."

Rolling onto his back, Taichi opened his eyes slowly and looked over at the source of the voice. After his eyes adjusted to the lighting of the dim room and the brightness of the sun through the doorway, he noticed a man no older than himself standing casually looking at him.

"How... how do you know my name?" Was the first question that came to his lips as he sat up suddenly looking over his surroundings. Unfamiliar... he was worried.

"You will be surprised to know just how much more we know about you than just your name." Came the man's reply.

"Ya, well... I didn't ask you that." Tai responded not liking the man with blonde hair before him.

"And I wouldn't take that kind of tone with those who just saved your life." The blonde said walking closer to the cot near the center of the room.

"How do I know you weren't the ones trying to kill me?"

"You don't... sorry, you are going to have to trust us. If it means anything you'll find you're in one piece anyway." The blonde said picking up a new set of clothes from the floor. "We don't have much time to explain everything now. Please come with me."

"Come with you? Trust you?" Tai said standing up from his cot. The moment he was fully on his feet a rush of blood followed making him lose his balance and nearly fall over.

Ignoring the chuckle from the man watching him, Tai quickly got his bearings.

"You took quite a knock in the head. You should be thankful you survived anything."

"Thankful? Just where the hell are we? Where are my parents? Why was I attacked in the first place? And WHO the HELL are YOU?" The brown haired man questioned in an angry tone. It might be the queasy feeling in his stomach or the jolt of the crash, quite possibly the attitude of the man before him, but Tai was losing control of his anger really fast. Moving a step closer, Tai hoped to appear threatening or just serious to the other man, he wanted answers... and now.

"Well aren't we just Mr. Inquisitive here? But I suppose you do deserve some answers." The other man stopped for a moment wondering how he was going to break things to the one they had saved.

"My name is Yamamato Ishida, but people call me Matt. I am the leader of a group of special forces. You remember those blob like things that attacked you, right?" After getting a nod, he continued. "Those guys are an advanced race, well they like to consider themselves that.. to put it simply, they're aliens of sorts. Creatures, we don't really know for sure what they are- all we know is that they are close to wiping out the human race... an ancient text was discovered some time ago that led us to believe the only hope to beating this threat was to find and enlist the help of a man... together with his help we could beat them back and save mankind."

"I don't see where I fit in... no way." The meaning behind his words hit Tai hard. "You have got to be shitting me. I am a no body back home."

"You aren't as dumb as you look... and besides you are no where near your home. In fact you are about 150 years past your home time... we needed to get you out of there since the bugs, as we call them, have also found out about you."

"WHATཀ" The shock of hearing that he was an important person and nearly 150 years in the future caused Tai to sit back down on the cot. After a few moments of silence, Tai began laughing. "I get it now... Mike put you up to this... a birthday prank or something. My parents were also in on the joke, right? How did you pull off the crash? That was very real like, you had me fooled there for a minute."

The blonde looked down on Tai with a weird expression on his face. 'This was the man they saved; the man prophesied to save them all... was a lunatic?'

"So where's the party then? You have a hidden camera somewhere right?"

"I'm sorry, but you are mistaken. I hate to tell you this, but we weren't able to save your parents from the crash... but you are not alone in your grief... we lost two of our finest on this mission." The blonde continued all the while he prayed that they had made a mistake. 'How can this guy possibly save us?'

"Seriously, I'm famished. Let's eat and then I get to pick the movie."Tai's brown orbs looked up at the man before him. For some reason the joke wasn't ending- no one rushed in yelling 'happy birthday' and there was no cake in sight. The look on the blonde man's face also indicated an air of gravity to the situation.

"I'm sorry... there's no joke. We failed to save the other passengers in the automobile and we need your help, so can you just snap out of it now?" The blonde said moving closer to the man who was slowly figuring out that the situation was not a laughing matter. With one hand, Matt quickly slapped Tai across the face.

The sound was deafening to Taichi. Sobering he looked once again into the blue eyes of the man who had just slapped him. Matt felt bad looking down at the guy sitting on the cot. He did not envy the man before him. Tai's eyes seemed like they were pleading for assurance that everything was fine, and this was all somehow a joke.

"I'm... sorry. I wish things could be different, but nothing in this world is ever fair... all I know is that my world, our world needs you."

"Why me?" The brunette asked as tears welled in his large orbs. Fishing into his pocket Tai found the only thing he had left of his parents- a necklace his mother had asked him to hold because the latch broke. He shoved it back in, not wanting to think about them both being gone...

"I don't know what to tell you right now... once we get out of this temporary base, we can discuss things more. Right now, your life is in danger. If you want to survive, you will need to get up and follow me... and change clothes... you look too different, you're a sitting duck if they find us."

For the first time Tai realized the difference in clothing between the two. While he wore a pair of blue jeans and a now stained tee shirt, the other man was clad in tan, camouflage grays and browns. The weapon at his side added the ambiance that made him look like he came out of a war movie. A futuristic and scary movie...

Tai's choices at the moment seemed limited. Rationalizing that after saving him these people might not wish to cause him harm, for the moment, and following the blonde's orders would ensure that safely. All in all, Tai thought that going with the other man would be the only logical answer, what else could he possibly do if those... bugs were still out there after him.

Picking up the clothes, Tai stood and began to take his shirt off. Looking down at his bare stomach, he noticed a large white bandage. He found other sore spots also neatly patched up on his arms.

"It's just a few superficial scratches. Nothing serious... but we'll have the med team check you over later just to be safe." The blonde said as he turned around to give the other man some privacy as he changed.

The new clothed felt a little strange. However he had no time to voice his concern wearing military-like clothes before the other man opened the door and exited. The sun again entered the room in more force as the door was held open for him to exit as well. Shielding his eyes as he left the room, Tai had to readjust before he could see anything.

Looking around Tai could quickly tell he was no longer anywhere or anytime near his home. The buildings were made out of some weird metal like material; he had never dreamed of such sturdy, yet cold looking buildings. The air smelt of pollution and fumes as he attempted to closely follow Matt's lead.

The old streets they walked down were littered by debris and rubble from old stone buildings that were fading into decay. Metal fences were everywhere, separating everything from the path they now walked down. As they continued in silence, Tai could not stop comparing this time with his own.

"When did... I mean, how are..." Tai couldn't figure out which question he wanted to ask first.

"How did things get this bad?" The blonde spoke for the brown haired man. "That's the question with the simple answer." He sighed. "We humans are truly a stupid species... our ancestors didn't feel it was necessary to take care of the only home we have. Things only got worse as those creatures began to surface... some think its the bugs fault, others say that the bugs are the spirits of the Earth out to reclaim the wastelands we've created."

Silently Tai took in everything he could. As they continued onward, Tai noticed the buildings and lonely streets change. Moving past a grouping of head stone looking pillars, Taichi felt they were entering a sacred area. His suspicions were confirmed as a small congregation could be seen in the distance. Incense stixs could be seen burning in the distance, the perfumed air was a drastic change from the polluted air he breathed in back near the hut.

The people gathered were still in their military uniforms, some looked like they hadn't been able to change or relax after a battle. Many wept, others attempted to console them... but at the front of the crowd, a step or two closer to two larger stones a figure caught Tai's eye. Kneeling silently in prayer it almost looked like she was an angelic statue put there to bring comfort to those grieving.

Her auburn hair was in deep contrast to the mourning shade of black she wore. Her hair was tucked neatly into a bun, however a few strands seemed to escape and found freedom in the passing breeze... that was how he knew she was no statue.

Near her knees more candles and incense gave off a spiritual atmosphere. Her hands raised from a praying position at her waist to near her chin as she continued in her meditative state.

Tai forgot to breathe for a time and stopped walking with the other man. Instead he moved closer to the fence; his hands gripped the cold metal chain linked barrier that separated the way they were going from the cemetery area. He could not help look over towards the mourning group, but more importantly the girl... It was clear she lost someone important to her. However her face seemed at peace. Not a tear dropped from her closed eyes. He berated himself, he felt like such a voyager watching her pain and her silent strength.

He couldn't make out the words of condolences and sympathy from those behind the girl, but he knew what they would be telling her. From his location on the other side of the fence her figure looked so small in contrast to the large shrine. He was... transfixed. Not able to take his eyes off her for a moment, he was startled to see her actually move. Before Tai could even blink, the girl before the shrine turned her head slightly and opened her eyes.

The piercing crimson orbs burned into his mind in an instant. The inner fire and great strength from within struck him with just seeing her eyes. His mouth dropped open a bit as she looked him over. The unreadable expression confused Tai as he attention was once again distracted by a tap on the shoulder.

"Didn't I tell you to stay close?" The blonde asked a little annoyed after finding the man he was leading had stopped for a little sidetrack. "What did you... oh." The angry tone softened as he too saw the scene before them. Nodding to the grieving party, Matt went silent. Tai watched the blue eyes of the man soften as he looked at Tai's mysterious woman across the fence.

His eyes followed Matt's line of sight and saw the women nod as well before she turned back to her prayers. Tai couldn't help but feel a chill as she quickly gave him a visual once over before continuing with the meditation.

Tai was saddened at the cold feeling he got from the woman near the shrine. Turning to look at Matt, Tai could do nothing as the blonde continued walking.