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

V

Previously...

"Woah, hey, easy..." the male chuckled, rubbing Taro's back. "It's alright."
"You're not leaving my side until I tell you to," Taro fusses, still hugging Ajay. He rolled his eyes with a smile. "Yes sir."

As they made their way to wherever the heck Sabal was taking them, Taro practically hawk-watched Ajay. Two close calls in one day was all he needed. Ajay didn't mind, though. Whatever kept him calm. As they approached the village, Ajay spoke up. "How did you know where to find us?"
"We noticed Pagan's choppers were nearby. He's never this far down south so we knew something was up. Lucky for you two, we were in the area when we got Dharpan's text..." At the mention of name, Taro's eyes grew sad. Ajay sighed a bit, patting Taro's back gently. Sabal has a small moment of silence before looking at the two. "We're here," he outstretched his arm, motioning to the somewhat busy village, "welcome to Banapur."
As Taro and Ajay looked to the village, a woman and young girl walked the rock-made steps to the three males. "Who is this?" The woman looks to Ajay, over Taro, and to Sabal. "Where's Dharpan?" Ajay took note of her avoiding to meet with Taro's eyes, but wouldn't acknowledge it to him because he didn't seem to notice. "Dharpan didn't make it..." Sabal seemed solemn for only a minute before introducing the two. "This is Taro Tanaka. And this is Ajay Ghale." Then he mumbled, "Mohan's son."
The woman shakes her head. "So you're telling me that Dharpan's dead?" She scoff-laughed, "and you brought me this." She waved to Ajay, referring to him. Now Taro noticed her rottenness. "Hey, we were trying to leave the building on our own, we weren't—"
Ajay cuts him off, "We didn't ask for any of this, we're just trying to get to Lakshmana—"
"We're in the middle of a fucking war," the woman sneers at Sabal, then turning around. "We don't have time for tourists." She calls before continuing through the village.
"What was I supposed to do, just leave them there?" Sabal shouts. He sighed, turning to the boys. "Im sorry. Amita's a bit touchy, I'll talk to her. As for Lakshmana... it sounds like it might be a temple or shrine, but if that's the case it's in the north. The north is guarded by Pagan, and we can't get you there, not yet..." he pats Ajay's shoulder. "Go and clear your head." Then he turns to Taro. "Come find me when you're ready."
And then they were left alone. Taro was still a bit annoyed with that Amita woman. "Jeez, could she have been any nastier to us?"
"She didn't seem to notice you."
"Really? How?"
"Well, you're short."
Taro swats at Ajay. "Shuddup, I'm average height, you guys are just giants!" They laugh and decide to look around the town. They met a few people, and one let them stay in a house that was empty that they owned. "For the son of Mohan, it would be a pleasure," they said as the two walked into the house.
As soon as the door was closed, Taro hummed. "A lot of people are calling you son of Mohan, why is that? Was he a family member? Your uncle, dad?"
"I guess so."
Taro quirked a brow. "You guess?"
"I never really knew my any of my relatives besides my mother. She only told me about this place a couple days before she died. She kept it to herself until that point. But she still refused to tell me about my father." Ajay sighed, a serious and slightly saddened tone washing over his face.
Taro felt sorry for him. He went to Ajay and hugged him. "It's okay."
The male blinked, chuckling. "I'm alright."
"Still... you need a hug."
"How do you know that?"
Taro shrugged, letting go. "I just know." He waved his hand. "C'mon, lets go look around." He set his bag down and walked back outside. Ajay followed, curious as to what they'd find.
After looking around for a while, they saw the same woman who approached them earlier. "What're they doing?" Taro asked. Ajay shrugged. The two head towards the girls. As they got closer, the one in the turquoise jacket said, "Sabal says I shouldn't be doing this."
"I'm teaching you to protect yourself." Then she looked towards the males. "Ah, it's the tourists."
Taro wanted to glare. "I'm Amita. This is Bhadra." She motions to the girl. Ajay and Taro wave. The woman leans to the girl, "keep working." She approached the boys, sighing. "Look, I overreacted back there. It's just... the war's been rough, we're losing fighters, work keeps piling up..."
"Is there anything we can do?" Ajay offered. "We owe the Golden Path for saving us. We want to help."
I don't, but okay then, Taro thought. But he knew he had to keep Ajay from dying so he'd go.
"Hm... sure." She smirked. "More one-man-job, but I suppose—"
"Ajay's a big boy, I think he can take care of himself. I'm gonna go look around." He tugged on Ajay's sleeve. "Don't kill yourself out there." He then walked away.
"Odd... well, there's a farm not too far from Banapur. Run by Kanan, an old woman. Packs of wolves keep eating her livestock..."

Meanwhile, Taro walked around. He noticed some new things he'd never seen before, even on the Rook Islands. He then felt something jump on his back. "Gah!" It was a Assam Masque monkey. "Oh... hey there, big guy."
It sort of screeched at him and ran towards a door. Taro followed. He then heard muffled screaming coming from behind it. There were plenty of sounds behind the door, but a man's cry of pain was the loudest. He decided to open the door.
There, he saw a Golden Path soldier, lying on a bed, crying out in agony. Sabal held his arm, shouting at the others that were in there. "Get him some morphine! And turn off that fucking radio!"
Taro had learned a bit of medical stuff from Dennis on the islands. "What happened to him?"
"He fell! Pagan's been flooding our airwaves with his propaganda bullshit! Enough is enough!" He sighed. "I told him to climb the old bell tower, liberate the transmission... except," he pressed on the man's arm and he screamed again. Taro blinked and looked around. When he saw some berries and a couple of gauzes, he grabbed the berries and smashed them up in his hand, then put them on the gauze. He noticed a candle and held the gauze over it for a bit to let the mushy berries melt a bit. "Lift his head." Sabal did as told, with the soldier crying out, and Taro placed the gauze on the back of his neck. "This should help a bit... mainly just soothe his neck and shoulders from pain..." he looked at the crippled man in bed. A bell tower, huh...?
"... I'll do it."
"What?"
"The bell tower. I'll liberate it."
"It's dangerous, and a very tricky climb. It's not heavily guarded but be careful..." Sabal sighed. "Promise me you won't fall."
"I won't. I promise." Taro walked out, closing the door. He went back to the house and grabbed his bag, beginning to head out. Shouldn't be too hard, it's old.