A/N: Here is my newest idea for Ghost Hunt. I was thinking what it would be like if everyone lived in England and met a different way. But of course Mai will still be in trouble, that's just a given. Hope you like it.
Disclaimer: I don't own Ghost Hunt. Would I be writing fanfics if I did?
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"Please Martin. I really need you to help with this girl," an elderly man spoke to another. The man, Martin, sighed before replying.
"Why can't one of your proteges deal with her? You know I don't get involved with psychology patients Gerald," he said. The pair walked out onto the balcony as the retirement party raged inside. Martin leant on the railing while Gerald placed his back against it. A glass of champagne was held between the older mans thin fingers. He took a sip before speaking again.
"She isn't exactly a psychology case, Martin. She does have some trust issues but I have noticed she is very sensitive to things that want to hurt her. I think it might be bordering on latent sensitivity," he explained. Martin smiled whimsically as he swirled his own glass of champagne.
"That was a good one. You know that ESP cases fall to me," he stated with an amused tone. His own glass was emptied by a mouthful before he spoke again. "Even if she does have it, why do you want me to take this case? There are plenty of other researchers that would be willing to take her off your hands," he added. Gerald sighed before running a hand through his wiry hair.
"I know, but Mai needs someone who won't treat her like a science experiment," he said. Martin looked at him and gestured for him to continue. "You don't make a decision until all the facts are in. That means you won't just assume she's seeing things, or imagining things that aren't there. You will investigate everything until you can prove it false or true in your own eyes."
"Didn't you say you had only met the girl once? How can you be so sure she is what you say?" Martin countered. Gerald just shook his head.
"Fine. Never mind. I'll get someone else to do it," he said, defeated. He was about to walk back into the party when Martin stopped him.
"Give me her file and I'll see what I can do. I'll put her though some tests and see what comes up," he said. He really didn't want to take the case but Gerald was his friend. The aforementioned man smiled gratefully.
"I'll have it sent to your office tomorrow," he said before walking into the party.
'What have I gotten myself into this time?' Martin wondered silently.
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The next day, just as Gerald had said, a file appeared on Martins desk. He didn't look at it right away because, while he had agreed to look at it, he had other cases to work on.
When he did eventually open it, he began reading over what Gerald had written. Her name, age and birth date were there, but there wasn't anything about her family, friends or life at all. The older man had made a few notes about her behaviour and such but nothing that could help him find the girl. There wasn't even a photo of the girl in question.
Running a hand over his face, Martin placed the file in his bag and headed home.
When he stepped through the door of his home (cough mansion cough), the butler, Ruben was standing there waiting to greet him. His clothing was immaculate, as always, and his wrinkled face was stretched into his trademark smile.
"Ah Dr. Davis. Welcome home," the grey haired man said. Martin gladly returned it. He then took off his coat and handed it to Ruben.
"How many times do I have to tell you to call me Martin, Ruben?" he said.
"At least once more Dr. Davis," the other man replied. Martin just chuckled and began heading to his study. What he didn't notice was that the file Gerald had given him slipped out of his bag as he left.
Martin dropped his bag on the large wooden desk residing in his study before slumping down in his chair. He ran a hand through his short hair before a knock on his door drew his attention. It opened to reveal a woman, probably a few years younger than Martin, with silvery blonde hair. Her grey blue eyes were wrinkling around the edges, but they still shone with kindness and love.
She shuffled in with a huge smile.
"Guess who just got back from Japan?" she said teasingly. Martin rolled his eyes. Who else could it be?
"Would it be Madoka by any chance?" he said sarcastically. He knew who it was, but he might as well humour his wife for now. Luella giggled before shaking her head.
"It's Gene and Noll," she said. Martin ah-ed and Luella spoke again. "They said that there were some interesting cases of paranormal activity over there." Well he should hope so. That was why he had sent them after all. Although he would protest, Martin knew that his youngest adopted son, Oliver, actually wanted to go.
He was brought from his thoughts as his wife waved something before his face. And saying something too.
"Huh?" he asked dumbly. Luella just rolled her eyes.
"I said I ran into Ruben and he told me you dropped this when you got home," she said impatiently. He took the file and thanked her before cracking it open. He didn't notice that Luella was reading over his shoulder until she spoke.
"So what's this all about?" she asked.
"You remember Gerald Lucas?" at her nod he continued. "As you know, he's retiring and he asked if I'd look over this case." Luella focused on the file for a moment before looking back at her husband.
"But you don't deal with psychology cases," she said.
"That's what I said, but he commented that she might have ESP, so I agreed to look into it," Martin replied. Luella nodded silently. She knew her husband dealt with ESP cases frequently so it wasn't new to her.
"Dinner is served," Ruben suddenly said, poking his head into the study, startling the couple. Martin closed the file and placed it on his desk before heading out to the dinning hall with his wife in tow.
The pair entered to find two identical sets of stormy blue eyes watching them. Both sets dropped back to their meals once they had taken their seats though.
"So how was your trip boys?" Martin asked as a maid placed a plate of food down in front of him.
"Informative," one of the boys replied. The other sighed dramatically.
"It was great dad. Japan really is an interesting place," he said glaring at his brother who simply ignored him. Martin nodded.
"So what sort of cases did you come across over there Noll?" he asked the younger of the pair.
"The usual. Most of them were simple hoaxes or human caused poltergeists," Oliver replied business-like.
"And what about you Gene? Anything interesting happen to you?" Luella asked. The black haired boy swallowed his food before replying.
"Not really. Although I did fall down a well on one of our cases," he said easily. His mother looked horrified for a moment before he hastily spoke again. "But it wasn't that deep so it wasn't anything to worry about," he said trying to avert the obvious mothering he was about to receive. She seemed to let it go and Gene breathed a sigh of relief.
It didn't matter what they said, or did for that matter, Luella still saw both him and Noll as her little six year old boys. She was always worried about them getting hurt but when you worked with spirits and such like they and their father did, getting hurt was sometimes part of the job requirement. She had even been slightly reluctant to let them go to Japan on their own.
The older of the twins was brought from his musings when his mother made an interesting comment.
"Martin dear, you should ask the boys to help you with that new case you've got," she said, dropping a subtle hint. This had managed to catch the attention of not only Gene, but his brother as well.
"What new case?" Gene asked.
"A colleague of mine requested that I take a look at one of his patients. He thinks she might have ESP," Martin explained.
"History?" Oliver asked briskly. When his father shook his head, Noll stopped eating. "Well why does he think she has ESP then?"
"He says that she is very sensitive to things that want to hurt her," Martin replied. The table was quiet for a moment before Gene spoke.
"Well then when are you going to see her?" he asked. His father sighed and placed his fork down
"I don't know. Gerald didn't put a lot of information in her file. The only things in there are her name, age and birth date. No address, school, nothing," he replied. "It's almost like she lives on the world instead of in it."
"You could ask Gerald himself?" Luella offered. Martin nodded and made a mental note to do that when he got the chance. The meal continued on with light chatter flying back and forth. No-one even noticed when Lin, Martins assistant, entered to join them. Well, at least until Luella drew attention to him.
"There you are Lin. I was wondering when you were going to join us," she said. The Chinese man took a seat as another plate was brought out for him. This time though, his food was all vegetarian.
"I was speaking with Madoka about Gene and Oliver's return," he replied simply. Luella nodded and returned to her own food. Once again the table was silent.
Just then an overly chipper voice rang out through the house.
"Ruben! How are you?" it said. Noll sighed quietly as none other than Madoka Mori came almost bouncing into the dinning room. Luella greeted her with a smile as she took a seat beside a surprised looking Lin.
"What are you doing here?" he asked the pink haired woman. He had only gotten off the phone with her a few minutes ago. So how did she get here so fast?
"I was on my way over when you rang," she replied, picking at Lin's suddenly forgotten food. "I wanted to speak with Luella, but when you said the boys were back I decided to say hi to them too."
"Well it's good to see you again Madoka," Gene said. He could have sworn he heard his brother mutter something like "speak for yourself," but he just brushed it aside.
"Thank you Gene," Madoka replied. "And what about you Noll? Aren't you going to say hi?"
"I don't see why," he replied with a smirk. He noticed his mothers scowl but simply ignored it. Madoka huffed.
"Fine. Be that way," she said, mimicking a child perfectly. The dinner continued but the only chatter that was heard was from Madoka and Luella. When everybody had finished, Martin told the boys they would begin looking for this mystery girl tomorrow. He then bid everyone a good night and headed up to his room.
When his wife entered not ten minutes later, she found him already asleep. She smiled and shook her head before changing and sliding in beside him.
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The next day, just had Martin had said, Oliver, Gene and himself began looking for this Maiya Darcy.
"Judging by her last name I think it's safe to assume that she is of English descent. Darcy is a well known English surname after all," Noll said, reading over the file that his father had given him. "She's about sixteen years old, turning seventeen in..." he trailed off looking for her birth date. "Eight days." Gene nodded as he searched for the girl using the Internet.
He sighed and ran a hand over his face.
"You were right dad," Gene said to the older man, who was trying to get ahold of Gerald. "There is no trace of a Maiya Darcy in any hospitals records I could find, or school enrolments. It's almost like she's a ghost herself."
Martin almost cried out in triumph when Gerald finally answered his phone. They exchanged quick greetings before Martin got right down to it.
"We need your help," he said.
"Why? And who is 'we'?" Gerald replied.
"My sons Oliver and Gene are going to help me with this. And we need your help because we can't find that girl you wanted me to look at," Matin said in a huff. "According records, Maiya Darcy doesn't exist." A loud laugh came through the phone at that.
"Well of course you won't find anything on Maiya Darcy. She went back to using her mother's maiden name, Taniyama. Look for a Mai Taniyama. Mai doesn't use her full name unless it's important," Gerald explained. Martin stood there for a moment before relaying the information and new search parameters to Gene. He nodded and entered it in.
"Why is there so little info in the file Gerald?" Martin asked as Gene worked. The man sighed before answering.
"She didn't want me to put it in there and she refused to speak if I did," he said. Martin nodded until Gene motioned for him to come over. He stepped in behind his son and watched.
"Okay," Gene said after a moment. At his brother and fathers quizzical looks, Gene explained. "There are no results for a Mai Taniyama either." Martin sighed before Gerald said something else that caught his attention.
"Maybe she wasn't born here? Taniyama isn't a very English sounding name," Gerald mused. He then hastily bid Martin goodbye, saying his flight was just about to leave and he would speak with him later in the week. The man couldn't even get a word in before all he heard was the dial tone.
"Okay then," he said putting the phone back down.
"What did he say?" Oliver said.
"Gene can you search internationally? He said she might not have been born here," he asked his older son. Gene simply shook his head.
"I'd need the specific country. It's too open and too broad of a search to get any legitimate results," he replied. "We could get hundreds of results back and we don't even know what she looks like." Martin hung his head at that.
"If we can't find her, we can't test her," Oliver stated obviously. Gene glared at his brother.
"Thank you Captain Obvious," he said dryly.
Luella suddenly poked her head in the door.
"Any luck?" she asked. All three of them shook their heads. "Bummer." Glancing at the clock, Luella noticed it was already lunchtime.
"Come on you guys," she said cheerily, stepping fully into the room. "We are going out for lunch. I want to hear all about the boys trip and that will never happen if you lot are locked in here like hamsters." Madoka suddenly appeared beside them with a bright smile.
Oliver was willing to bet his life that this was all her idea when Lin suddenly materialised beside the pink haired woman. She was; after all, the only one who could get Lin to do anything when it came to socialising. The things that man did for love.
"We'll be right out," Martin said to appease his wife. Both Luella and Madoka beamed before leaving and dragging Lin with them.
"I'm not going," Oliver stated. Martin scowled lightly before Gene spoke.
"Okay. I'll just send mother in when you go to bed tonight. Then you can tell her everything by yourself," he said slyly. Oliver was silent for a moment before speaking.
"Let's go then," he said closing the file and standing from his seat. The three men made their way out to the main lobby and found Madoka, Lin and Luella waiting for them, just like they said.
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Lunch passed rather uneventfully as Gene and Noll, mostly Gene, recounted everything that had happened in Japan.
They all returned to the mansion and the three men once again set about trying to find this girl. And once again, they had no luck.
"I guess we won't be able to test her then. Noll and I have done everything we could think of and there is no trace of this girl," Gene said eventually. Reluctantly, Martin agreed as the brothers both yawned at the same time. He then told them to go to bed.
Gene and Noll bid their father good night as they headed to their rooms. Martin sighed and also made his way to bed. Glancing at the clock he noticed it was already 11 p.m. No wonder they were all tired. They had been at this for over 8 hours.
Once he had cleaned up, the older man slipped into the bed and was asleep within minutes.
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A/N: Well there is the first chapter of my newest story, Marked For Death. I decided to do a story with Gene still being alive. It will include all your favourites but it isn't exactly the same sort of setting. Enjoy. And don't forget to review.