Morality controlled the world. Prisons, jails, courts, laws; these all existed because of morals and humanity.

To be one without morals meant to be a menace to the public, a danger. The children of the few without a human heart in them were always at risk of becoming like their parent or caretaker. Breaking a child's innocence was easier than snapping a twig. All it took was false love.

"You want to visit father?" Aila's eyes widened in surprise as she stared at her younger brother from across the table. Her hands, though they were flat on the surface of the table, were visibly shaking. "Are you insane? Have you been taking your meds and seeing a therapist?" She pressed, leaning back ever so slightly.

That simple act of subconscious fear his sister was feeling enough to make her lean away from him made Takashi feel as if what he was proposing was crazy. Was he losing his grip on reality? The longer he lived with the memories of his past that kept him chained down to a wooden chair full of nail marks and tear stains, the more he struggled to breathe and the heavier the weight of living became. Whether his sister believed him to be losing himself in this crummy life he had been born into didn't matter to him because either way he was going to go see his father; with or without her.

Takashi gently began to drum his closed fist on the table's surface trying to keep his nerves calm, "I've never been so sure about something in my life. I want to give the special person in my life everything I can and to love them with every fiber of my being but when I'm like this I can only give so much to them," His voice was pained, full of sadness and years of regret.

Aila narrowed her eyes at him for a brief moment before she gave a deep sigh. "Adam is that person I'm guessing?" She questioned before she rubbed little circles on the sides of her head with her fingers, "That boy is a smooth talker that's for sure. If I weren't married I probably would've fallen for him to as bad as it sounds but I can tell he truly cares about you, Taki."

Adam? Takashi furrowed his brows in confusion as he tried to understand what his sister was babbling on about. He understood that Adam spoke to Aila in order to get her number and to get shiro to meet up with him but why does she think he was with Adam?

"H-Hold on," Takashi stopped the gentle drumming in the table and rested his palms flat against the table before leaning forward, "I'm not talking about Adam?"

Aila rolled her eyes, "Oh, then did you mean the girl you purposely ignored on your phone?" She inquired, her brown gaze dropping to stare at the phone Takshi had left out without ever realizing it.

On the screen it showed the name 'Allura' with a few heart emojis near it. Takashi defensively placed the phone in his pocket and tried to act like his sister was wrong, "Sorry but I'm not ignoring her, I'm just delaying my response to her until there's a more convenient time to reply."

"False; Shi-shi is a liar," Aila leaned back and crossed her arms in annoyance.

Takashi felt his face beginning to heat up in anger as he stared at the woman across from him, "Did you seriously call me piss? How immature are you?"

"Not as immature as you since you're still ignoring the person you said you wanted to give your everything to."

Takashi glared at his sister and thought about kicking her shin out of spite but he didn't want to be thrown out of the café so soon. "Whatever," he grumbled and turned his gaze out the window to a small family taking a picture together.

"All I have to say in the matter is that whomever you choose to seek solace from during your lowest point; that is the person you truly love," Aila sighed and then looked out the window to people watch with Takashi. She seemed happy for a moment just being able to watch the parents hold their kids while another passerby snapped a quick photo for them. "Having children changes you in so many different ways. When I moved out I was lost, had no idea where to go but when I met my husband, I found my real home. When I had a child everything felt so surreal like it was just this strange thing that blessed me but the more I touched and held my child the more I realized that she was a piece of me that my husband and I had created together.

It was something ripped straight from a fairytale and there wasn't a single thing I wouldn't have done to protect her. I love her so much and I'm happy she's mine but what you don't hear about from parents is the fear that something tragic could strike and take your child from you. Not a day goes by when I'm not worried for my kids. I'm up all night wondering if they will be there when I open my eyes, I'm worried a stranger could yank them into their cars and take them away from me, I'm worried a drunken man may not realize that the traffic sign they think they see is actually one of my babies. Parenthood is scary but it is nothing compared to what I went through with our father."

Takashi looked at his sister and tilted his head, "Why are you telling me this?" He asked.

Aila shrugged slightly before she placed her face into her palms and sighed deeply, "Honestly, I have no clue. These things just make me angrier and angrier the more I think about it because these were the emotions mom was supposed to have towards us and yet she never showed them," She crossed her arms over her chest and stared at the table blankly. The ticking of the clock was faint in the background, barely audible over the stupid music and the conversions of other people around them but to Takashi, it was one of the loudest things. "I'll go with you, but only this once."

Takashi smiled and slowly stood up to hold his hand out to his sister, "Thank you Aila," he helped her stand up.

She stared at him, her eyes full of worry. "I'm doing this for the both of us Taki, you're not the only one who deals with memories hurting you and the people you love."

Takashi nodded and led her through the door daring not to say another word in case it made his sister change her mind. He needed her to be there with him whether he would admit it or not because deep down, he was still that same frightened kid his father took advantage of.

The prison was something ripped from a movie. The entire place had fences surrounding the main building with barbed wire on the top of it and guards stationed at different spots in the courtyard where Takashi and Aila could see prisoners doing their physical activity for the day. Takashi's grey eyes stayed on the watchtower, noting how the woman with the rifle watched them as they carefully parked next to the other cars.

The parking lot was just dirt. There wasn't anything else except for a hint of gravel that had been there ages ago. Aila pulled her keys out of the ignition and stared out the windshield to wave weakly at the prison guard who nodded at her.

"This place is gloomy and eerie..." She opened her door and used it to hoist her out of her van.

Takashi sighed a little and thanked Adam for everything the man had helped him achieve today; he got to meet his sister and now he was going to finally meet his father after so many years. The next step was nothing short of a frightening one. His hand hovered over the door handle as he looked down at it. His heart was beating in his chest a bit faster than normal and his palms were sweating. It took everything he had in order to close his eyes and shove the door open to step out into the warm Texas air.

"Ugh," Aila grimaced as she quickly began to shuffle across the dirt, "I almost stepped in chewed up gum!" She hopped up on one foot to check the bottom of her shoe, her eyebrows knitted together in disgust.

Takashi closed and checked to make sure the door was locked before he caught up to his older sister who looked like she was two seconds from throwing a tantrum. "It is just gum Lila," he sighed and placed a hand on her back hoping that being close to her would help calm his nerves.

Aila stamped her foot down and elbowed Takashi lightly, "I don't care if it is 'just gum'. It is disgusting and I shouldn't have to worry about stepping in it!" She raised her voice.

"Hey there pretty lady," A hoarse voice sounded accompanied by the clanking of someone pressing up against the chain-link fence nearby. Takashi looked over his shoulder to see an inmate with tattoos on his neck eyeing his sister, "Coming to see a lil bit of papi chulo? I can show you some right now if you can't wait," the man smiled showing gross, blackened teeth most likely from drug abuse.

Aila cringed as she looked at him, "I prefer my 'pimp daddies' to have teeth," She mocked and pulled on Takashi to walk a bit faster.

"Inmate, back to work!"

The inmate reluctantly walked away from the fence just as the two siblings stepped inside. The inside was actually... pleasant. There was a cute looking receptionist sitting at his desk with his glasses resting on top of his head while he read an old looking book. There were two couches facing one another near a painting of the Warden holding an award with a few other people as they celebrated her accomplishments and a table with magazines neatly stacked on it.

There was even an area for kids to play with little toys to keep themselves occupied while they waited to visit family. The glasses wearing receptionist perked up when he saw the two walk in, his brown eyes wide as he tried to look as if he had been working the entire time. "H-Hello and welcome! What can I do for you two today?" He asked politely, pulling his glasses down over his hooked nose in order to look at Aila.

Aila smiled at him and glanced around the room for a second, "Is it not visiting hours?" She asked, her voice was quiet.

The man nodded and pointed to the clock behind him, "Visiting hours are until five but it normally clears up around this time since parents don't like having their kids in prisons too late... also not many people visit here."

Aila smiled and fished in her pocket for her wallet in order to hand over her ID, "Well my brother and I are here for a short visit, could you help us with that?"

The man nodded and took Aila's ID, "Sure but I need the prisoner's name and date of birth," he turned to face his computer and began to tap away on the keyboard logging himself into the database.

Aila's smile faded as she replied, "He went through a name change when he was transferred here so I don't really know what it is unfortunately..."

"Nathaniel Burgess," Takashi sighed deeply as he provided the details the receptionist asked for, "March tenth, sixty-three."

The receptionist looked at Aila suspiciously as he keyed the information in before he handed back the woman's ID and then asked for Takashi's. "Are there any medical issues you want to let us know about?"

"My brother has PTSD," Aila answered as she tucked her ID away.

The receptionist handed Takashi his ID back and printed off two visitor badges, "Is this prisoner a relative?"

"He is our father."

The receptionist handed the passes to the siblings and pointed them to the guard standing next to a solid metal door with a magnetic lock on it, "Tim will show you the way to the room where you can talk to your father. Just understand that there will be a brief pat-down before you enter the room and there will be a delay in seeing him due to the fact that he is across the prison for work. Please, have a good day."

The receptionist seated himself and went back to his book as Takashi and Aila approached Tim. When the doors opened, everything in Takashi's body screamed for him to turn around and leave in that moment. It was as if the gates to hell had been opened up to him revealing all of his worst nightmares.

This was just the beginning of the end, wasn't it?

*******

Sorry for any weird grammar mistakes I was typing this on my phone and my phone likes to randomly put things into a sentence that doesnt really make sense like "I love bbsx cats" and yes that is actually a real text.

There will be one more part after this for Shiro and it is spaced out like this because
A) I dont have a lot of time to write
B) splitting it up into sections is easiest for me to do
And C) the next part will have a trigger warning for nonconsensual and all the stuff shiro would have a PTSD attack over.

My wrist is better, thank you to those of you who wished me luck in my recovery. My final checkup is Wednesday and hopefully I dont need to keep wearing a wrist brace anymore! I had my wisdom teeth taken out on the 13th so every day since then has been me passed out on my sofa or crying because I cant eat pizza.

How was your Valentine's day?

Make sure to take care of yourselves!

-anri