Determined

2.

Yohio

"Sir? Sir? Sir!" 

The blonde man woke with a loud noise, looking around frantically before his eyes landed on the middle-aged flight attended next to him. The woman next to him, a sleeping baby in her arms, gave him a strange look. Yohio smiled apologetically at the woman, though his heart was struck with a surge of a homesick feeling at the sight of the child.

He had two children back at home. They were rather young, only toddlers. Twins. Rin, the female twin, and Len, the male twin. Rin was always wanting to go outside and play and make new friends. She loved the outdoors. She was friends with a whole lot of people, and Yohio couldn't be prouder of her ability to get along with others and problem solve.

Len, on the other hand, was different from Rin. But that didn't mean Yohio was any less prouder of him. He was quiet and preferred to stay indoors, being a rather shy yet sweet and thoughtful boy. Unlike his sister, he didn't rush forth without a plan. He tried to think things through and see logic, which was quite surprising for a boy of Len's age. He didn't make many friends, but the ones he did make, he seemed to hold close to his heart.

"Will you please come with me for a moment? There seems to be an issue with your luggage that should be addressed to you personally." The flight attendant politely said. Yohio nodded and stood up from his seat, cracking his back once he stood. The majority of the plane ride had went by quietly, and only now has he gotten up. Needless to say, he felt relieved when he stood back up. He was about to follow the attendant to the back of the plane when the woman next to him tugged on his sleeve.

"Excuse me," She said, picking something up from the floor, her sleeping child in her other arm. "You dropped this." She handed it to Yohio. He smiled.

It was a family picture that was taken about a year ago. His wife, Riliane, smiled widely at the camera, carrying Len in her arms while Yohio carried Rin up on his shoulders. In total, they took about 10 pictures since they could never get it right. The first few times, someone wasn't ready. After that, Rin or Len kept blinking. Yohio also had to literally run to get in the picture and get Rin on his shoulders in time for the camera to go off. It was near impossible, but they did it.

Although Riliane was nearly forced to give one of the twins up for adoption due to not enough money to raise a family of four, Yohio and Riliane worked hard enough to earn enough money to keep them both. Riliane loved both Rin and Len so much that the thought of losing one of them brought her to tears for hours.

"Thank you." Yohio told the woman. She chuckled.

"Your kids are beautiful, you know. So is your wife." This caused Yohio's smile to grow wider. He could never stop talking about his family. They were his whole world, though he hated to be away so often. But he finally had a job that could support the whole family, and he couldn't give it away just yet.

"They are, aren't they?" He chuckled. "Thank you, again." The woman smiled at him and gave a small nod before Yohio turned to follow the flight attendant to wherever she was leading him. Once they were where the other passengers wouldn't be able to see them, she turned to look at him, hands behind her back.

"So, what's the iss-"

Before he could finish, someone hit him from behind, and everything went dark.

~*~

When he woke, he was on land. Yohio could see the night sky above him, stars scattered everywhere, the sight of trees towering over him and the flashing lights of an airplane far up in the sky making him more alarmed than he already was.

How...?

He heard hushed voices speaking off to the side quietly, as if they didn't want to be heard. Yohio sat up, observing his surroundings. It appeared he was in a sort of light forest, definitely somewhere far from civilization. Snow blanketed the ground and fell from the sky, covering the tree branches and shrubs nearby. There were no light sources that he could see, the only light being provided from the moon and stars above. The sky was much clearer than it would be in the city, and the sounds of cicadas chirping and the occasional howl of a wolf from the distance made him come to that conclusion.