The moon shown fully against the midnight canvas above East Liverpool with a few starts twinkling. The warm glow shined through a window in New Rad Castle, into the room where the small child, Toby was sleeping peacefully under the covers. He laid curled up with his head laying softly on a nice fluffy white pillow.
Following Kin quietly down a hallway toward the guest bedroom, was Connor and the rest of his friends. They quietly walked along as they came to the door of the room that was slightly opened. They all took deep breaths hoping that they wouldn't disturb the little boy.
Kin turned to them, and spoke softly. Connor, and his friends were very calm as they entered. "We must not wake young Toby and cause him to be scared." They all nodded in unison, and Kin turned back toward the door, and very lightly nudged it open with a hand.
Their feet softly touched the floor as they walked toward the bed. Kin spoke softly. "Now I need two of you to position yourselves on each side of the bed, two of you position yourselves at the head of the bed, and I will take the post at the front of the bed." They nodded.
Kaguya stood with Maia, Grave, and Luu Luu on one side while Claudia took one side with Alicia and Prim, and Vault sat at the head with Connor.
"Aww.. the precious dear looks so adorable sleeping." Claudia spoke softly as she watched him.
They all smiled warmly in agreement.
Kin took a calm breath. "Now, I need for you all to close your eyes, relax, and just listen to the silence. I will work my magic and we shall enter into young Toby's mind." They nodded and carefully closed their eyes inhaling softly.
Kin closed his eyes and concentrated as his hands started to light up with a warm white glow. "Alright everyone, keep your eyes closed and keep calm. Here we go." As the same warm white glow enveloped all of them.
Age: One Year Old
Slowly, Kin and the others opened their eyes to find themselves in a room with walled painted a baby blue with pear white carpeting, and an alabaster white wooden crib. In another corner of the room sat a wooden rocking chair. Above the crib was mobile with a small stuffed crescent moon, sun, and rainbow with two white clouds at the bottom of each end.
The Warriors all looked around the room wondering where they were when Claudia gently spoke up. "Well, it sure is clean and beautiful in here. Where exactly are we Kin?"
He looked at the crib which they were all surrounding and looked inside. "Take a look everyone." He said with a warm smile on his face.
The others looked inside the crib and d'awwwed at what they saw. Inside wrapped in a warm soft baby blue blanket was a very small boy who was sleeping soundly.
Prim carefully lowered her head inside the crib to take a closer look at the little creature. "Um.. Kin.. that is Toby isn't it?" Kin smiled warmly, and nodded.
Suddenly the small infant started to cry which caused the Warriors to jump a little. They saw the door of the room open immediately and an adult woman came in dressed in a pink robe, pair of long silken pajama pants, fluffy bedroom slippers, and she had a flowing blonde hair, and baby blue eyes.
She rushed to the side of the crib passing right through the Warriors and carefully reached into the crib to lift the crying child tenderly into her arms, and cradled him. "Shh.. it's okay Toby.. mommy is here." She carefully walked over to the rocking chair, and started to rock him very softly back and forth.
The Warriors very carefully walked up to the woman, and looked at how the infant calmed his crying as he looked up with a big smile at the woman who was holding him. Tears started to form in their eyes even Kin.
"Shhh.. that's it mommy's boy. No more tears, mommy's got you." She continued to rock him gently in her arms, and started to softly sing to him.
"Hush little one, please close your eyes
be not afraid of darkening, and looming skies.
I am here to chase away your deepest fears
if you cry I will wipe away all of your tears.
Hush little one, please dream happy dreams
let my voice flow to you like calm gentle streams.
Listen to my words and know that this is true
that I have been blessed, because I have you."
She smiled down at the infant who fell asleep in her arms as he leant down to his head over, so gently. "Mommy loves you Toby." She whispered softly as she carefully stood up from the rocking chair, and walked to the crib. She carefully lowered the sleeping child back into the crib wrapped him in the baby blue blanket. "Sweet dreams my baby boy." She gave him one more kiss on his forehead. She turned on a little night light, and quietly walked out the door leaving it cracked open. The Warriors wiped away their tears with their hands as they looked at the sleeping boy.
"This is young Toby's most precious memory. Being held in his mothers arms with her singing that lullaby to him." Kin spoke softly. "Close your eyes my friends, we shall visit another memory of his." They nodded and smiled down warmly one more time at the infant before closing their eyes. They were warmly enveloped in the white glow of Kin's magic.
Age: Four Years Old
As they opened their eyes they saw they found themselves in what appeared to be the identical room, but it looked completely different. Instead of baby blue painted walls, they were a deep royal blue, and there was a picture hanging on one wall with what appeared to the Warriors to be a man dressed in a red, blue, and yellow colored costume with a red 'S' in a red outlined shield with a yellow background on the upper part with the rest being blue. He had a red belt around the waist, matching blue pants, and red boots.
They moved their sights slowly around the room when they saw it had the same white carpet, but instead of a crib sitting in the center, there was a nice comfy looking bed up against the wall with a window above the headboard. The bed had an all blue bed sheet with a large sized symbol on it the same as they symbol on the picture of the man's costume. The bed was made out of finely smoothed wood that had a deep brown tint on it.
Connor spoke softly. "Hmm.. this appears to be Toby's room, but everything is different." The others nodded in agreement.
Kin spoked softly. "Yes Sir Connor, it is his room, and it is different this memory of him when he was four years old. This is his second favorite memory, let us watch."
They stood still as a little boy came running in jumping on the bed happily. He was wearing pajama pants that were all blue with the same little symbols they saw on the picture and on his bedsheets. He also wore a white top with short sleeves. He was followed by the same woman from his last memory.
"Easy there you little rascal." She giggled as she sat down on the edge of the bed next to the happy child.
He jumped down on his knees, and swung his legs over on the edge of the bed beside his mom. "Please mommy, show me what you got me for my birthday!" He asked happily.
She smiled happily at him, and nuzzled at his nose with hers. "Okay, okay. First, you have to close your eyes." She smiled.
"Yes mommy!" He giggled, and closed his eyes softly.
"That's mommy's boy." She reached into the pocket of her robe she was wearing and pulled out a little golden locket.
Claudia gasped. "Aww.. that is the little gem that I sewn into the little dear's outfit." She said softly as the others placed their hands up to quiet her kindly. She nodded and they turned their attention back to the two.
"Okay Toby, open your eyes." She said with a bright smile.
He opened his eyes and saw the golden locked in his mom's hands. "Ooh, mommy, it is pretty!" He smiled up happily at her as she gently handed it to him.
"Go ahead sweetie, open it." She clasped her hands together excitedly as he started to open it. She pointed at the picture on the right. "Toby, this is you when you was just a little baby. I had this picture taken as soon as the doctor gave you to me."
Toby teared up, and reached up wrapping his little arms around her neck tightly while holding the locket in a hand. "I love it mommy! I love you!" He softly cried into her long blonde hair.
She patted his back as she hugged him back. "I love you too sweetheart, I always will." She very gently pulled him away from the hug, and looked into his eyes gently raising the locket up between them. "When you look at this, you will know that I am always with you in your heart." She pointed at his heart with a finger. "Now time to get to bed sweetie."
He took the locket and carefully placed it around his neck. "Okay mommy." He climbed underneath his bed covers, and looked up at her with a big bright smile.
She bent over to kiss him on his forehead. "Know that I will always love you Toby, and I will never leave you." He smiled, and nodded softly. "Goodnight sweetheart, sleep tight, and sweet dreams my baby boy."
"Goodnight mommy, I love you!" He said one last time before he softly closed his eyes. She smiled at him, and quietly stood up from his bed, and walked over to turn his night light on, and walked out of his room leaving the door cracked open.
The Warriors wiped at their eyes again with their hands as tears started to form again. "Now my friends, time for us to move onto another, yet sad memory." Kin spoke solemnly.
They all nodded with a frown as they slowly closed their eyes. Once again they were enveloped with a warm white glow of Kin's magic.
Age: Five Years Old-Three months after Toby's mother passed away.
When they opened their eyes, they found themselves to be outside in a field that was occupied by what appeared to be different sizes of stones either in rectangular, spherical, squared, or a combination of either. Also, it seemed to be thickly clouded in the sky with rain coming down lightly. As they were looking around the haunting place they noticed they were standing in front of one stone that had some sort of writing on it.
"R.I.P Ashley Mason Beloved Wife and Mother 1994-2018"
Kaguya took a closer look and frowned immediately. "That is Toby's last name guys." They all looked closer and nodded sadly.
"My friends, this is called a cemetery, and these stones figures are called graves. This is where people who have passed on are buried." Kin said with a frown.
Suddenly they heard a voice yell out. "Hurry up son!" Then they saw the young boy walked toward them with a small bouquet of white roses. He had his head lowered as he stopped in front of the grave, and knelt down on both of his knees.
He started shaking with sobs. "I-I miss you m-mommy!" He set down the bouquet of flowers in front of the grave. "D-daddy let me come, and see you today. H-he started being mean to me, and calling me names." Tears streamed down on his face, and the Warriors wanted to just run to him, and embrace him.
"D-daddy says it is all my fault that you are gone. He says that if you weren't coming to pick me up, th-then you would still be here." He lowered his head, and shook harder.
The Warriors, even Kin looked on unable to contain their tears anymore.
"I-I am sorry mommy. I love you so much! I-I miss you!" He slowly reached up and gently grazed his little hand over her tombstone. He got up slowly from his knees, and walked back to his father and they left in his police cruiser.
Maia just sighed sadly while the others had their heads lowered sadly. "The poor little Toby. He really thinks it is his fault that his mom is gone."
Kin closed his eyes to subdue his tears as he looked at them. "Come my friends, there is one more memory left."
They nodded sadly, and closed their eyes for them to go. The warm white glow of Kin enveloped all for one last memory.
Age: Six Years Old-August 14, 2018 Two days after Toby's birthday and one year anniversary of Ashley's death
This time they found themselves inside the young boy's room once more but it seemed dark. They looked outside the window above his bed to see it was nightfall with the moon shining brightly in the night sky.
Suddenly they heard crying as they turned to see the small child running into his room shutting the door behind him, and running over to his bed jumping in. He buried his head in his pillow trembling with sobs, and screaming in his pillow. They looked on deeply scared for the little boy as he looked over to see the door open again.
A big burly man walked in heavily. "Stop your sniveling you little brat!" He walked over to Toby, and yanked him up without effort by the collar of his shirt. "Maybe your momma shit herself on purpose, so he couldn't look at your blubbering face again!"
"D-d-don't say that d-daddy, please!" He begged his father between sobs.
The bigger man took his hand, and smacked the little boy across the face. "Shut up! Now I am going to bed, and I don't want to hear your pathetic crying anymore! If I do I will come back in here and make you shut up myself!" He wiped at his mouth with his hand, and stomped out of the child's room.
"Why that punk! Let me at him!" Grave tried to dash out of the door when he felt somebody tugging at his armor, and it was Kaguya. "Let go Kaguya, let go! Let me at him!"
Kaguya tugged Grave back. "Grave, this is just a memory it won't do any good. I agree the bastard deserve a good thrashing but it is too late."
They all nodded as they turned toward the bed and saw the little boy sitting up on his bed with tears streaming down his face. He looked up out his window and clasped his hands together. Then they heard him start to speak with such a small and hurt tone.
Star Light Star Bright,
The first star I see tonight,
I wish I may, I wish I might,
Have the wish I wish tonight
I wish to live in a new home with a new family who will love me and never be mean to me. He finished his wish, and kissed his closed hands. He looked up at the bright full moon one more time, and whispered. "Goodnight mommy, I love you." He then climbed into his bed, and covered up tightly as he closed his eyes softly.
They started crying as Kin spoke softly. "It is time to go my friends. Close you eyes.:
They nodded as they closed their eyes. The usual warm white glow of Kin's magic enveloped them.
Back in New Rad Castle
They slowly opened their eyes as tears started to stream down their faces. They watched the small child as he slept.
"The poor poor dear. No wonder why he is the way he is. That ruffian of a father hurt the poor boy, so much." Claudia said tearfully as she reached up, and lightly stroked at Toby's side through the covers.
Prim carefully leaned her head down to the little boy's head, and whispered softly into his ear. "I am so sorry little one for the pain you have been through. I promise that me, and my friends will love you so much as your mommy did, and we will never let anybody harm you ever again." She kissed his cheek gently.
Kin smiled at the Warriors, and gently spoke. "My friends, let us leave, and let this little one sleep." They nodded as hey followed behind Kin.
Before they walked out of the door they said softly in unison. "We love you Toby." They all walked out of the room, and left the door opened slightly.