Part 3: Remembering the Forgotten Past

A month has passed since Adriana last spoke with Robert. She still worked her two jobs and still couldn't manage to save anything. Living in the colonies was much more expensive then she had thought, even more so now with the young Tai in her life. She had heard so many stories of how wonderful life in the colonies was, of how people could easily get jobs and live a happy and prosperous life, better then on Earth. She stared at the pot of spaghetti, it was ready. "I was so stupid to have thought all that crap, now I'm paying for it" she whispered to herself.

"Why don't we just leave this colony Adri?" Tai asked. He had been sitting at the table all morning long, helping Adriana with some of the cooking, now he was practicing his flute lesson.

"I wish it was that easy", she responded, "but it really costs a lot to just move around up here in the colony." She put the spaghetti in a large glass bowl and placed it in the center of the table as Tai continued to play the melody that they had come up with. It was soft and very clam sounding piece of music. He hit the wrong note, stopped for a moment and began the verse again. Adriana felt so peaceful and free every time she heard it. It was strange to think that they had actually made it up.

"Let's leave Adri." Tai pleaded abruptly putting down his flute. "I never had money before I meet you and I managed to get around this colony very well." Adriana opened the refrigerator and got a piece of cheese. In a bowl she began to grind it with her finger tips. "It's not that hard Adri," he continued, "I swear it's not!"

"Tai," she began softly, "you have to understand, Robert isn't exactly a clean business man, and he has people working for him all over this colony. If I even try to leave he'll have his thugs after me in less than a minute." She placed the grinded cheese next to the spaghetti, went to the coverts and took some plates and forks out. After setting the small rounded table she sat down quietly. She looked out the little kitchen window. It was raining. The winter season had ended, spring was just beginning. She continued to marvel at the artificial climate inside the colony, it was so real. "Anyways," she continued, "I don't have anywhere to go. I don't know anyone up here." She served the spaghetti as Tai cleaned and put his flute away.

They both ate quietly. There has to be a way to get away from that man, Tai thought to himself. He can't know everything that she does, maybe he knows her routine, but he can't possibly know everything. Thinking this gave him an idea. "Adri, we can leave without him knowing", he paused for a moment as Adriana looked at him inquisitively. "What if we just leave one day," he continued, "I mean, just pick up and vacate without telling anyone. Just disappear."

"Tai," she began almost annoyed at the thought, but was interrupted.

"The L3 Colony Cluster is composed of five huge colonies. If we can get off this colony to one of the colonies within this cluster and then take a shuttle to another Colony Cluster from there, we'll lose him. He won't be able to track us down". They both stared at each other for a moment. "Adri, I never told you before", Tai began again, "but I used to belong to a mercenary group before I meet you." Adriana's eyes widen, "The only thing I know about myself is that I was born on the earth. When I was still very young, the leader of my mercenary group took me in." He paused for a moment, looking down at his plate. "Ever since I've been with them, I've been taught to be a soldier and to fix mobile suits. I've been a soldier ever since I can remember". He looked up at her again. "We where designated to this colony about three weeks before I meet you, to help another group fight against the Alliance forces on this colony. I got separated from them on our last mission, about a week before I meet you. I know where they are, but I don't care... I like being here with you instead. That's why I haven't left you...I'd do anything to help you."

Adriana looked at Tai intensely. His green eyes were fixed on her the entire time he spoke. Not once did he flinch, something that she had never seen any child do. Most children would stare down at something or look in another direction while talking to an adult, but not Tai. Every time he spoke to any one, he would fix his eyes on them, never looking away. She began to think about what the young boy had said. The idea had never crossed her mind. No, she couldn't, Robert would find her no matter what. He was driven by money and would do anything to get what he wanted. And yet the idea was so simple. He couldn't possible have contacts with the other four colonies from the cluster, she thought. As the idea sank in more and more she realized that Tai could actually be right.

*-*-*-*-*

Trowa sat with Adriana half way up the bleachers. She had returned to the circus for the last three days to be with him. Being with her finally brought to rest many of his terrifying nightmares. The Zero System had helped him regain most of his memories, yet not all of it was recovered. Now, with Adri's help, everything made sense. He closed his eyes and tried hard to remember more. "I remember the shuttle station", he said softly, Adriana looked at him, "I remember a man walking up to me and taking me by force to a car".

Adriana gave a slight sigh. "Yes" she said in an unsteady voice, "Robert knew that we were planning to get away." She paused briefly, recalling that day that almost got her killed. "We had it all planned out," she continued, "I bought the tickets to get off the colony. You ditched school that day to meet up with me at the station. It was all perfect."

The images of that day were some of the few things that his amnesia had not taken form him, or that the Zero System had helped him remember. Maybe he could never forget them because they were so painful and frightening. Robert was waiting for them at the shuttle station; he already had Adri when he had gotten there and threatened to harm her if he didn't do what he was told. Robert took them back to the apartment. Once there, he had become violent. He beat Adriana while one of his men held him down; helplessly he cried and begged Robert to stop. He could still hear Adri's piercing cries and the men's laughs while she was being beaten. He could still see how Robert had brutally pounded down on her, the gestures of intense pain on her face. He remembered that slight moment when the man had let go of him and he managed to run out the door. The men followed him out, he could hear Adri yelling at him, but was unable to recall what she had so painfully screamed. The men had chased him straight out the building and down to the park. He managed to lose them in the crowd. Form the park he had ran full speed to a police department, but when they had gotten back to the apartment it was almost too late. Trowa felt a lump form in his throat. He could still see Adri's body on the floor, motionless and bathed in blood.

"They took you to the hospital," he said as he opened his eyes, "I think they said that you were going to die." Adriana nodded. They looked down to the center ring of the circus and watched as one of the trainers showed Lillian, Adriana's daughter, some commands for the elephant to perform tricks. The elephant on the other hand, rapped its trunk around her small head, curious of bright colored hair. That particular elephant was know to take the clowns' vivid colored wigs form them, but now seemed to be having trouble with the little girl. "They took me into an orphanage," he continued, "I didn't want to stay, so I left."

"I tried to look for you after I got out of the hospital" Adriana said softly. She had been in a comma for nearly a year after Robert had beaten her. She closed her eyes and began to recall all those days that she had spent looking for him after leaving the hospital. She had looked everywhere tirelessly, form the alley where she had once found the little nameless child burning trash to the restaurant where she had worked but was never able to find anything. After months of looking she began to believe that she would never see the little boy again. She began to cry. "I feared the worst had happened to you, all these years I had thought that Robert might have killed you. That you were gone and that's why I was never able to find you." Trowa tried the best he could to console her. After a moment of silence she looked up at him and wiped her tears away. "I'm just glad that you're alive," she said, "Tai Karlin is now Trowa Barton." She smiled at him.

*-*-*-*-*

The snow began to fall again in the colony. A little nameless boy walked the streets aimlessly. He was cold and hungry. But what could he do? He had nothing or no one to watch over him. The boy walked to a heavenly crowded street corner. He found himself a spot to stand in and put down the small case he was carrying and his backpack on the floor. He slowly opened the case, inside was a flute. When Adriana had first given it to him it was a bright gold color, now, the leaf was worn off, leaving it a tarnished silver color. His small hands slowly went over each piece before he put them together. This was all he had left, a flute and a melody. He felt his eyes tear up. "No," he said to himself, "I will not cry again. Nothing is ever accomplished with crying. crying didn't stop Robert." He put a Styrofoam cup on top of the case. He quietly looked around at the busy people. His olive green eyes followed a number of them as they passed by in a hurry. Finally, he began to play a soft, low, calm sounding piece of music. Soon, people began to toss change into the cup as they passed. "My feelings got Adriana killed. I never want to hurt anyone again. I will never again cry."

It only took the little boy four days to find the mercenary group that he had once traveled with. Being a soldier was all that he had known in life, he hated it, but it was all he could do.

The End

~ * ~ * ~ A/N: Alright then.... that is the end and I really don't have much to say about it... I hope you all enjoyed it and please R&R, (I love reading what others have to say about what I do).

P.S. Don't forget to read the other fic I have up.... ^.^
~Eeni (WhiteRabbit)