The forever piece
Chapter 13: What was once forgotten

Splatter! A large mess of flesh mixed with organs lay at display in front of me. I catch sight of the golden hair and eyeballs with emerald green irises. The smell of copper stings my nose while my stomach turns inside out.

Again. And again. And again.

"Don't get married," Rings through my ears along with, "You know why."

I saved the workers at the paddy fields. I don't know what it is I have forgotten. What is it my mother wants from me. A week has gone by and the nightmares haven't gone away. Every time I close my eyes the pictures of my mother jumping off the cliff haunts me. I can't sleep and on top of that, Soul has been going at me more about calling off the engagement. The nightmares haven't reduced in their power, it's the opposite, and they have only increased in power. Now I see her body hitting the ground in front of me and I see her body splatter on the ground right in front of me.

The nightmares are driving me crazy. I don't know what to do and I'm getting paranoid. Every time Soul grabs my hand I immediately think he is going to take the ring form me. I can't let that happen. I'm not going to deny Soul the opportunity to get married just because of some nightmares. I'm determined I'm going to get married and I'm not going to back down. Never.

The lack of sleep is driving me crazy. It grows hard for me to focus and the only thing on my mind is what it is I have forgotten. The package that my mother send to my grandparents before she died was only pictures of my, papa and mama together as a family. There were all of her albums and a letter which said how much she loved her parents even though she made her chose between the love of her life or her duties. She said she wasn't sorry for leaving Japan, she is sorry that she couldn't have stayed in contact with her parents. In her letter she also writes about my sickness and how I grew to be her greatest inspiration and how much she would miss me.

Everything was there. All her feelings and thoughts. She liked to brag about what a kind young girl I was, just like she was. She wrote about my eyes being so large and green along with how pale my skin is. She writes that she knows I will grow up into a beautiful woman with the whole world all around me. She also wrote to Soul's satisfaction that I would find the greatest guy there is for me and that he would be the one. Just like mama was the one for my papa.

The pictures are currently hung up on the wall inside of the room where my mother's piano stands along with a stereo with all of her CDs. There is a picture of her on a shelf which I always put a flower in front of it. It feels like the perfect place to honor my mother's existence.

"Maka!" Soul yells at me. "Listen to me!"

"No!" I yell while I slap my hands over my ears. "I won't!"

Soul is trying to get me to understand that breaking off our engagement is the only possible way at the moment but I don't believe him. There is another way. I just have to remember what it is. Saving the workers at the paddy fields wasn't the answer so I will find what she really wanted me to do.

"You are suffering! We can't keep going like this! You can't keep going like this! You are a mess!" Soul grabs my shoulders and digs his nails into them. "We failed! The nightmares haven't gone away! She obviously doesn't want us to get married!"

I shake my head furiously. "No! I want to be engaged! Don't you dare break the engagement off!"

Soul growls and he pulls me into a tight hug. "You are suffering." He snarls through his teeth. "I'm not going to let you keep torturing yourself by being engage. Give. Me. My ring. Back."

I shake my head violently while I try to squirm my way out of his arms. "No! No! You aren't going to take it away from me!" In my struggle of escaping the prison of Soul's arms, I must have accidentally kicked him in his private area, or well, not so private area to me since I can touch it whenever. Anyway, he groans in pain and tumbles down to the ground while he grips his crutch. Normally I would have sprout apologies and helped him but with mu paranoid brain, my first instinct was to run away. So that is what I did. I turn on my heels and runs away from Soul. The first room that comes to my mind is the piano room.

"You know why." Rings in my ears. What is it I am supposed to know?! This is driving me crazy!

I slam the door shut behind me and I slide down the door. I can't take this anymore. I'm so tired. My limbs are screaming to get one night good night sleep. I would sacrifice an arm for a good night sleep.

"Maka!" I hear Soul screaming outside of the door.

My fingers gently massage my temples as I feel Soul banging on the door. Our home has turned into madness. Our fights, the nightmares. How are we supposed to function properly?

"Open the door!" Soul yells again and I feel the door bang against my back. "Come on Maka! Just open the door!"

We are falling apart.

"Maka!" I hear the door crack for each hit of Soul's fists.

I'm going mad.

"Maka!" Crack!

Everything is lost.

"Maka!" Crack! Crack! A large crack runs through the door.

"Maka!"

Wait a second. I gasp loudly and snap my head up toward the sound of my mother. I must have turned insane since I can see my mother standing in front of me. She smiles toward me and she is wearing the same white dress.

"Maka, my sweet little treasure." She smiles wide and she takes a seat on the bench in front of her piano. She smiles so wide she shows her perfectly white teeth, just like I remember them. "Come here darling." She pats the seat beside me and I can't help but take the seat next to her. Her elegant and very feminine fingers caress the keys of the piano. "Music has always been my passion as you know." Mama says while she presses down keys and a beautiful melody fills the room. "This was supposed to my last song dedicated to you Maka, but I never managed to finish it."

My eyes widen when they look at the sheet of paper on the piano. The song. The song she left behind. I was supposed to finish it. This must be what she meant with I already know why. She wants me to finish it before I get married.

"I'm going to finish it for you mama. I promise it will be the best song ever. I promise I will make you proud." I say while I look at her.

She smiles wide and she cups my cheeks. Even though she isn't playing the piano anymore, the music keeps filling the room with her sweet notes. "I know you will darling. I am already very proud of you." She kisses my forehead before she disappears into thin air. This time I'm not sad, I'm actually at peace. It might be because darkness creeps around me and I find myself falling asleep into a nightmare-free sleep. Looks like I didn't need to shave off my hair.

When I wake up, I swear I have never felt this well-rested before. My limbs aren't as heavy as they were and the bags underneath my eyes are gone. My eyes are no longer a desert and I can feel energy radiating form my body.

"You are awake." I turn toward my left and I find Soul sitting there on the edge of the bed. "You slept a little less than a day. I started to get worried for you."

I smile toward Soul and I sit up on the bed next to him. "I know what I have forgotten." I cup his cheeks. "That song mama left. That is what she wanted me to do. She didn't want me to travel to Japan, she wants me to finish it for her―" My eyes then catches the lack of sparkles on my left ring finger. My engagement ring isn't there. "You took my engagement ring?!"

Soul sighs and puts his hands over mine. "Listen, you were having nightmares and see how well you slept as soon as I took off the ring. You slept like a baby―"

"No!" I yell and rip my hands from his. "I slept well because I found what she wanted me to remember! That is why I slept so well!" I hold out my hand toward him. "Now give me back my ring! You aren't going to break it off when I still want to be engage! I haven't even done anything wrong for you to take it!"

Soul sighs again and pulls out the ring. It sparkles in the sun and I try to take it from him but he jerks it away from me. "You haven't done anything wrong but the nightmares were so bad!"

"I don't care!" I yell and I go after the ring again. "Give it back!" I use Soul's shoulder as leverage but I still can't reach it. "It is mine! Give it back!"

Soul rolls his eyes and he then hands me the ring. Quickly I grab it from him and put it on my finger. "Happy? But if you have one more nightmare I'm going to take it back."

I smile as I look down at my ring. I felt kind of bare without it. "I you won't because I won't have any more nightmares." I stand up from the bed and offer Soul my hand. "Come, you are going to help me making my mama's last piece the best piece ever. I need your help for this one."

Soul smirks wide and grabs my hand. "You got it. Is it the same piece you showed me when we found the testimony."

I nod excitedly as we walk inside of my mama's room where the piano is. Soul takes a seat on the bench in front of the piano and I sit next to him. "So, what are you going to do with it when we are done?"

What am I going to do? It is a very good question. My mother's ten years anniversary is coming. Maybe I could make something out of that. I could try to restore her identity on the internet by putting up her songs there for free. I know my mama would love to have everybody listen to her music without paying anything. With today's technology, it would be easy for even the poor to get their hands on her music. Then, maybe, I could sing her last song on her anniversary, but that would mean I would break my silence. Could I really do such a thing? I wouldn't be breaking it for selfish reasons, I would only sing the song and then I would be quite for the rest of the day. It would be perfect to dedicate the song on her anniversary but it would hurt me to break my silence but I know it is something I would have to do. The song is my mother's and she needs to hear it.

I smile while I caress the keys of the piano. "I'm going to sing it on her anniversary. You know it will be ten years since she passed away. We could make an event in order to celebrate her existence and give out her albums and songs for free."

Soul puts my hand over his. "You know we only have two months until her anniversary. It is kind of short time to make such a large event."

"You know Liz can make a huge party over a night. This won't be any trouble for her to make." I smile and Soul barks out a laugh.

"You are right!" Soul caresses my ring and he smiles gently. "What about you sing then? You know the last time you sung it was inside of the tour bus with me. You barely sung then and you wouldn't sing alone. How are you supposed to sing alone in front of people on your mother's anniversary? It is a challenge you know along with finishing the song."

I put my hand over his and squeeze his hand. "I know we can do it. I have you with me. What can go wrong?"

Soul chuckles and nods. "Alright. Fine. We will do it. I will check out this song while you can go and call Liz. We don't have that much time so we will have to use every free moment in order to get this song ready and get