Disclaimer: I pretty obviously do not own Ghost Hunt, nor do I own the Ghost Hunt characters contained within this fic. The title of this fic is taken from a beautiful song composed by Ludovico Einaudi. It's available on Spotify, if you're interested. The entire album that the song is from (Nightbook) is fantastic.

Author's Note: It's been a long time since I published any fanfiction, y'all. It feels good to be back. Please rate, review, favorite, and whatever else you want to do. I will try to update this fic regularly, as I already have the first 7 chapters finished (I think it will probably be about 20 chapters...though who knows what my brain will end up doing), so you should expect at least a chapter a week, if not more. I've rated this fic M, mostly so I can swear as much as I like and I don't have to worry about it getting to scandalous for the kiddies. If you feel this fic should have a different rating, please let me know.

SPOILER ALERT: This fic contains information that was discussed in the final issue of the Ghost Hunt manga. If you have not read the manga, be aware that some plot points from the final issue will be spoiled here. If this does not bother you, feel free to read ahead. If you have not read the manga, I strongly encourage you to do so!

And now, let us begin.

Chapter One

Her hair is longer than I remember it being. It's just past her shoulders now, the ends brushing against her pale collar bones. Her brown eyes seem softer now, more…knowledgeable somehow. She seems so sure of herself, though still just as feisty as ever.

She's smiling at me, and we're…we're laughing about something…

And then she starts screaming.

I always woke up around then, jolted out of sleep by a sound I'd never heard before in real life. Oh sure, I'd heard Mai scream before, quick yelps of alarm that (almost) always happened for good reason. But this was very, very different.

It had been about a year since I'd last seen Mai in person, and at least 6 months since I'd heard from her last. She'd decided to go to a school in the U.S., some school with an excellent psychology program that offered her a massive scholarship due to her grades (grades which I'm half convinced she got just to prove Naru wrong). We all encouraged her to go, especially since her English was getting so much better (as was my own, all thanks to John). I was sad to see her go, but she promised to write as often as possible, and to come back to visit when she could. Ayako, John and myself all told her we'd pay for her flights, of course.

By then we knew that Naru wasn't coming back. After finding his brother's body, it was hard for him to spend much time in Japan. I guess even crabby old robots can have a pretty emotional reaction to something like that. He'd tried to come back to do more research on psychic phenomenon with us, but you can tell when a dude's heart isn't into something. I think it was hard for him to be around us, too, since now we knew his whole back story. Naru and Lin went back to England, and Yasuhara took over SPR. Yasu still asked for our help every once in a while, but most of the cases these days seem to call for more research and less religion. Half the cases seem to be explained away by common, worldly phenomenon (like teenagers), and I'm happy to leave those cases to Yasu.
We all saw each other as often as we could, arranging lunches and dinners and whatever, all just to hang on to each other like life preservers in this massive, drifting world. Masako would come when she had free time, and Mai would come if she was on a holiday break at school.

We were happy.

But then Mai stopped writing. Not long after that, the dreams started.

"Takigawa, you've gone soft in your old age. Mai is fine. She probably just…outgrew us." Ayako sounded just as haughty and self-confident over the phone as she did in person. She was out visiting her parents in the country, so unfortunately we couldn't talk in person.

"But, Ayako, you should have heard her in this dream, it was horrifying." I paced the room as I spoke, clutching my cell phone in the clammy palm of my left hand. "This is the second time I've had this dream in the past week. That has to mean something."

Ayako sighed. "I'm telling you, you're overreacting. You're acting like a crazy person. Have you tried texting her, or calling her?"

"Uh…" I scratched my neck. "Well, no. I haven't yet, but it's really early over there, and she's probably not up yet, and-"

Ayako cut me off. "If you want, text her. Although your dream probably doesn't mean anything. You're probably just worried about little Mai. She's busy living her own life, she's not your responsibility anymore. You don't need to run in and save her from any monsters or evil ghosts."

She's not little anymore…I thought to myself, before quickly shaking my head and erasing that thought. "Um, I guess you're right, but I still-"

"Of course I'm right. Listen, I've got to go, it's time for brunch. My advice? Go out with some friends tonight, have a drink or two. It'll do you good to get your mind off of this recurring nightmare business."

"Okay, thanks, but-"

"Talk to you later, Monk!" *click*

I stared at the blank screen of my phone. "Thanks," I sighed. "Lot of help you gave."

I ran a shaking hand through my hair, trying to ignore the thick knot that still lay heavy in my gut. I walked to my bathroom and turned on the faucet, hoping that a splash of icy water would help me snap out of this funk. I cupped my hands under the stream of water, but as I closed my eyes, the sound of Mai's scream filled my ears again, a piercing cacophony that rattled my eardrums. The cold water slipped between my fingers, and I rested my elbows on the edge of the sink, breathing hard.

Keep it together, Takigawa.

I looked at my reflection. My eyes looked bloodshot, and there were dark circles under them that threatened to extend past my cheekbones.

This is ridiculous. You're overreacting. She's fine.

I rubbed my eyes, trying to forget the sound of the scream.

Ayako's right. I just need a good night out with some friends.

I went out to a bar with a few musician buddies later, some friends I hadn't seen in a while. By then, the dream seemed so distant that I nearly forgot about it. It felt good to be out of my apartment. I was just getting cooped up. Maybe Ayako did give some good advice for once…

I texted Mai (sadly, it wasn't the first time she was a victim of my drunken texts), though thankfully I was still sober enough to form coherent words.

HT: Hey, haven't heard from you in a while. Hope you're okay!

I hit send and headed to the bar for another round of drinks, feeling immensely better about the whole thing. That night, I stumbled drunkenly into my apartment, threw myself onto my bed, fully clothed, and passed out.

"Monk, it's so good to see you!"

Mai's voice sounds deeper than I remember, but then she is 20, so I shouldn't be surprised. We're outside somewhere…a school?

"It's where we first met! Or don't you remember?" She giggles. God, I love that sound. A soft wind blows through her hair, and I expect to smell something sweet, gardenias or strawberries or…is that…bleach? Why does her hair smell like-

A violent gust of wind blows her hair back, and suddenly her face twists in horror, her eyes focused just over my right shoulder.

"Monk, it's not safe, please, you need to leave before—"

She's cut off by her own hoarse scream, a guttural wail that seems to be sucked out of her throat by the wind.

The dream ended like a car crash, and I woke up into sudden silence.

A/N: Let me know what you think! I'm hoping to get chapter 2 up in a couple of days, and then, depending on how fast I can write/edit, I'm hoping to post at least one chapter a week. This chapter is relatively short, but most of them will be longer than this one. Thanks for taking the time to read this :)