He's All I Have Now... (AMITA ROUTE)

Prologue

Given his time to think on it, Taro had absolutely no idea what he was going to do with his life now. As he watched his father, crippled and helpless in the hospital bed, he shed a tear. He couldn't go home to his mother without him, he reeled her in when she was in her own cloud or screaming at him for being a good for nothing orphan. "Dad," he said with a wavering in his voice, "please don't leave..."
"Awe come on, Taro... I can't stick around forever..." he sighs and reaches a hand up to Taro's cheek, staring with kind dying eyes. "You've grown to be such a handsome young man, T..."
Taro laughed, but his sobs and pain shine through as he held his father's hand in place. The heart monitor was complete background noise in this moment between the two.
"Taro, I need you to do me a favor..."
"Yeah, dad?"
"When they cremate me, I need you to take my ashes and put me in a locket..."
"Okay.."
"And," he chuckled, "bring me to Kyrat..."
"Kyrat?" Taro was confused. Why of all places the war-torn country?
"Your grandfather... he died up on the Himalayan mountains... I want to rest where he does now... I would love to see him again..." Bennett coughed and his heart rate slowed. Taro held his father's hand tightly. "It's alright, dad," he says sadly, "I'll bring you to Kyrat..."
"Before you leave to go home and get your stuff ready," he reaches for the bedside table, reaching for two polaroids. He hands them to his son, smiling ever so slightly. "Do you remember this day...? At the park?"
"Kind of... I was, like, seven though... isn't that woman your friend?"
"Yes," he chuckles, "and I want you to find her son," he points to a young boy next to little Taro in the second photo, looking fairly pissed that he, a young teen, was standing next to a toddler.
"I... think I remember him..."
"His name is Ajay Ghale... you must find him... he will be going to Kyrat as well..."
"Why?"
"Because it's his mother's dying wish, as it is mine... Taro, my son," he speaks barely over a whisper as the heart monitor starts to slow significantly, "bring me to the highest peak... and help Ajay bring his mother to Lakshmana... please..."
Taro, with a heavy heart, nods. His father had a small smile on his face, and stares at the ceiling.
"I'll see you soon, Ishwari..." and suddenly, he flatlined, and with that small smile on his face, he passed away. Taro felt tears in his eyes and he cried on his father's arm. The doctors rushed in and pulled the boy out, despite his fuss on needing to stay, and they tried reviving his father... to no avail, they called his death, and let Taro pay his respects before the people came to take him to the cremation process. Taro, bloodshot and puffy eyes, hugged his father's corpse, sobbing as his dark brown hair fell onto his father, sharp blue eyes filling with tears. Soon, his mother Dahlia came to pick him up from the hospital, unbeknownst to the plan. Taro held the locket his father bought him and waited until a week later, when he got the call that they had his father's ashes. He raced to the cemetery, as the rest of his family was there, and noticed a strikingly familiar man standing behind the rest. Taro proceeded to carefully set the ashes into the locket, as everyone else had done so with things such as bracelets, rings, and other sets of jewelry. The rest of his family believed that Bennett would come back if they had his ashes... but Taro knew better. He knew why his father told him to put him in a locket. Because he had his heart. And where his heart went, in his belief, he would be set to rest. The familiar man then disappeared, and Taro searched everywhere for him... until he found the man at a separate grave. As Taro approached it, and the man, he wondered who this was, and why he looked so familiar.
"You don't have to hide," the man spoke, "I know you're there."
Taro jumped at the sudden voice, and emerged from around the hill. He cautiously walked to the man, standing next to--but still a way's away--from him. "... is that your dad?"
"My mom, actually," he says.
"Oh," Taro gets a little closer to see who it was...
In loving memory,
Ishwari Ghale

Taro's eyes widen. "Ishwari...?" He then looks up to the man. There was a significant distance between the two's ages, and the man had dark, almost spiky hair, dark brown eyes, and fairly tanned skin. "You... you're her son..."
"... why are you looking at me like that?" He raises an eyebrow, confused.
"Sorry, sorry," Taro fumbles to grab the pictures, showing them to the man. "This is your mother, right? Next to her is my dad."
"Your father?" He took the picture, looking closely at it. As he flipped it over it said,
"Ishwari and I, after nine years" and sure enough, it was his mother, and the strange boy's father, standing under a tree, smiling. "Who... are you?" He looks down at the significantly shorter boy.
"My name is Taro Tanaka. We've met before, when we were really young," he showed the man the second photo, saying, "you're Ajay Ghale... right?"
The man, shocked, stared at the photo. It was definitely him, but the boy next to him... he handed the photos back. "How do you know my name? How do you know my mother?"
"My dad," he held up the locket and pointed to the man in the first picture, "he knew you're mom... Ishwari?"
"I don't know who you are or what you want, but you need to leave."
"What? Why?"
"Because you're really starting to freak me out."
"I'm not trying to. Look, my dad wanted me to take his ashes to the Himalayas, and he told me your mom wanted you to take her to Lakshmana, both of which are in Kyrat... please, I need you to trust me."
"Taro!" An older woman's voice called out.
"Coming!" He shouts back, looking to the man and handing him the photos. He also handed him a slip of paper with his number on it. "When you're done being all freaked out, call me when you're at the airport. My dad wants us to go together, why, I'm not sure, but I'm just doing what he says--"
"Taro, where are you?"
"Hang on, Gran!" He says, looking back to the man, "please, call me, we can help each other with our parents' wishes--"
"TARO TANAKA COME OUT NOW!"
"I'm coming, Grandma!"
"You should go," the man nods, "I'll call you when I'm there."
"Thank you, so much," and the boy disappeared behind the mountain. The man reached for his mother's urn next to the gravestone. "I really wish you were here to tell me if I really knew that kid..." he looked at the photos and the number. "... guess I'll call him." He shrugged and walked away from the headstone.

A few weeks later, Taro was quick to answer the phone. "Hello?"
"Jeez, that was fast," it was him.
"Hey, are you at the airport?"
"Actually," and there was a knock on the front door. Taro jumped up. "I'll get it!" He went as fast as he could down the stairs, opening the door.
Ajay stood, phone to his ear. "... I'm right outside." He hangs up.
"Hi! I didn't think you'd actually call, let alone come all the way out here to get me--"
"Taro, who is it?"
"Just a friend mom!" He starts speaking quieter this time. "So do you believe me?"
"Yeah... I kinda remember when we met. But I'm still confused on how our parents knew each other."
"Doesn't matter right now," Taro says, grabbing his backpack from the floor next to the door.
"You--"
"I get excited," he leaves the house, closing the door. "Let's go before my mom throws a--"
"Young man where are you going?" Can be heard through the door.
"Fit, time to go," he pulls Ajay along quickly.
"Hang on," he stops, and immediately the boy almost jerks back. "What, why?"
"There's literally a bus stop right here." He says, pointing to a sign that says "Bus Pickup."
"Oh." He laughs nervously. As the two waited, they made small talk, especially about each other's parents.
"I remember my dad told me this funny story about when he was in Kyrat. He had ended up being attacked by, uh... monkey? And he said a woman helped him untangle it from his hair. I can guess that was probably your mom, because he said after that they became best friends."
"Huh. Weird." Was all he had to say... man of few words. "But that is kind of funny."
Taro laughed a little giggle, as Ajay simply sensibly chuckled. Soon, the bus pulled up, and the two hopped on, all the way to the airport. Once they were on a plane and flew to the India airport, they took another bus to Kyrat.
"Well... here we go."