Hi Crystal700 here. I just wanted to say that I'm editing the story starting with chapter one and going on from there. A lot of things are different but you may recognize some things. Anyway I hope you enjoy.

It was a normal night at SPR's office. Mai was sitting at her desk filing paperwork and fielding phone calls while her three bosses went over different case studies and possible job opportunities. Mai was tapping a pen on the desk as she read over an old file. As she read the accounts she ran her fingers through the fur from the black cat sitting in her lap.

Lifting her head to check the time she saw it was 10:30. She groaned as she lay her head back down and looked over at her array of photographs on her desk. One was her parents wedding photo, another one with all her friends, a third one of her and her boyfriend, and the last a picture of her and her best friend. The blonde had her arm slung around Mai's shoulder with a smile while Mai flipped the camera a peace sign.

She missed Marsha terribly; it'd been a month and a half since they last heard from her. She'd realized the girl had left her phone with everyone's information in a bag that'd been left behind. Without an address to send it to or another number everyone was left to wonder if she was alright. Did she find out who she was? Could she be in trouble?

She sighed again. It was no use to worry; there wasn't anything to do about it. Not that it stopped anyone from trying to contact her.

I hope she's okay.

"-ai, Mai, Mai!" a voice called into her ear making her jump up startling the cat.

"Finally!"

She turned her head up to see Lin, Naru, and Gene staring down at her.

"Mai get your coat we're going home." Naru announced.

She nodded her head as she placed Shadow on the desk where he sat down and stared intently at Gene who gulped and slinked a good distance away. Naru shook his head as Mai came back around with the tan overcoat wrapped around her. Picking up the cat she followed Lin out to the car.

Along with Marsha's disappearance Mai was made to stay with them. It's not that she minded, too much, but she liked her old work hours not the new ones set by her insomniac boyfriend. Falling against the window she stared outside as her personnel heater got comfortable on her lap.

After about twenty minutes they pulled into a two story condo. Mai didn't stop to remove her coat until she was in her room. Putting Shadow in his bed she flung it on the floor before stripping down and donning one of Marsha's old tee's and a pair of shorts. Flipping off the light she got under the covers and tried to fall asleep to no avail.

Shadow climbed out of his bed and stalked over to the edge of her queen sized bed before jumping up next to her. Pushing his way under her right arm he attempted to comfort her. She gave him a soft smile and rubbed his head soothing both of them. Her eyelids became heavy as she repeated the motion and were just about to close when someone knocked on the door.

"Mai?"

"Come in." she called allowing Naru to enter the room the light from the hall streaming in.

"Are you okay?" he asked walking over and sitting on the bed.

"I don't know." She answered continuing to pet Shadow who started purring.

"Is it Marsha?"

"Yeah." She replied.

"Mai, you-."

"I know all I can do is sit around and wait but that doesn't make it any easier." She said cutting him off. He'd been telling everyone the same thing after she'd been gone for three weeks.

"Then your aware how useless it is to you to worry, just know she's still very much alive." He reassured.

"I thought Gene couldn't feel anything because she closed off their link." She said sitting upright.

"She did but lately…it's been slipping." He confessed.

"And you're only telling me this now?" she demanded.

"Its not that often and only during when she'd be asleep so her powers are down regardless but it seems of late he's been feeling apprehensive and scared, almost like he's terrified."

"Was Shadow in the room?" she deadpanned.

"He wishes."

"Can he tell if she's hurt?"

"He can't tell. They disappear as quickly as they come."

"So she's purposely hiding her presence." Mai stated saddened as Shadow pushed his head into her side sensing her sorrow.

"Maybe, or she's afraid to put us in a danger." He said reassuringly.

"That sounds like her, trying to handle it by herself." She said.

"What I'm trying to say is don't worry about her too much. She's strong and is capable of handling things."

She stared at him dumbfounded for a moment and said,

"I think that's the first time I've ever heard you compliment someone without an insult."

He gave her a soft glare and she giggled leaning forward to kiss him lightly on the lips.

"Thank you Naru." She said.

"Your welcome." He said as he got up to leave.

She jumped forward and grabbed the sleeve of his work shirt. He turned to look at her and saw the conflicted emotions within her reflected through her eyes.

"Could…could you maybe…stay with me?" she asked quickly letting his sleeve go to look at the floor and blush one of her embarrassed blushes he loved so much.

He walked over to the door and she kept her head down thinking he was leaving but was pleasantly surprised as he closed the door and walked around to the other side of the bed. He unbuckled his pants and let them fall to the floor leaving him in his black shirt and boxers. Mai's blush grew darker and she directed her attention to the nightstand on her bedside as she turned her body away from him as he slipped in next to her.

Knowing how embarrassed she felt he leaned over and kissed the back of her head and whispered good night in her ear before turning on his side away from her and drifting into a peaceful rest. When she heard his even breath she turned over and moved up a little to look at his sleeping face. After a minute or so of staring she slid back down and got comfortable under the covers and drifting to sleep.

~Dream Sequence~

She was surrounded in a pitch black world. She couldn't smell or taste anything, but she could feel. She felt something sharp like glass or a knife's edge running over her skin. It bit down into her thighs, stomach, chest, arms, and shoulders. She opened her mouth to scream from the pain of it. Then it was gone.

It was then replaced with the feeling of nails being driven into her arms and legs followed by the yanking of her finger nails as though they were being torn off one by one. Her mouth was opened wide as teeth were pulled. Like before it lasted a few minutes before disappearing.

Next she found hard mallets smashing her knee caps, elbows, and pelvis. She was crying from the pain that filled every nerve in her system. Then she found her head being dunked underwater and held there as she fought to breath before being pulled out for breath and being pushed back under.

Next she was hanging upside down and she could feel whips slashing into her skin cutting her and the wounds bled down her body into her mouth, nose, and eyes. Her world was burned crimson and all she felt was pain.

In the next moment she was dropped to the ground where she laid waiting for what would come next. When nothing did she sat up and looked around. It was still a large black abyss with no end and no beginning.

Getting to her feet she turned all around looking everywhere trying to find some way out of the hell she was experiencing. Picking a random direction she ran. She only made it a few feet before her hands and feet spread apart and bound with invisible chains as a cacophony of voices descended on her ears.

"We're going to kill you one by one." "Let go!" "Don't hurt her!" "Mom!" "Run away!" "Get out of here!" "Hide!" "Don't look back!" "Dad!" "Why are you doing this to us?"

"NO!"

The scream echoed in her head as she sat up screaming for the voices to stop. The door busted open with Lin and Gene rushing in. Naru was up next to her rubbing her back as she panted trying to control her senses. Shadow was up on her shoulders licking her cheek in hopes of calming her down.

That scream…it sounded like Marsha.

"Mai?" Naru asked.

"I was dreaming." She said bringing her hand to cover her eyes as a few tears trickled out.

He took her hand and squeezed it as she sobbed. She could still feel the pain running under her skin like fire following a trail of oil it passed through but eventually burned out. When she finally stopped crying she was being cradled in Naru's arms as he calmed her further.

Her hand was fisted in his shirt so she rapidly let it go and just let him hold her.

"Did you two do the nasty in my bed?" Gene asked.

Mai became flustered and was off Naru, in the bathroom, and turning on the shower in the next minute.

"Gene." Lin said.

"She wasn't crying and seemed pretty calm to me."

"That's not what you should be worried about." Lin said stepping out of the room with the eldest twin staring after him questionably.

That's when he felt a cold breeze hit his back as two holes were starting to be dug into the back of his skull. He turned around and about shit a brick when he saw the look on his brother's face.

"C-come on now, i-it was a fair question." He stuttered as he inched toward the door.

As his brother advanced him he found the knob and was running for his life as Naru walked after him. Of course using his PK power he threw plenty of roadblocks in his brother's path until he could finally catch him.

(^_^)

Mai opened the door of the bathroom a crack and looked out. Finding no boys in sight she entered the bedroom with the bathrooms steam rolling in after her. The towel was wrapped around her body as Shadow wove his way around her ankles. She felt the cold prick at her flesh to create goose bumps as she rushed to find clothes. After ten minutes she finally picked out a pair of blue jeggings, a black t-shirt that said, I see dead people, over a white long sleeved shirt, and black converse high tops.

Picking up her coat from where she tossed it yesterday she tromped down the stairs with Shadow following after her. Walking to the dining table she found the boys doing their usual morning routine. Lin was drinking coffee and eating a bagel while reading the newspaper. Naru was drinking tea and eating toast spread with some jam. Gene was-

"Gene, what happened to your face!" she yelled panicked.

The boy had a black eye and a band aid on his cheek, his lip was split, his nose read, and his head had some ace bandages wrapped around it.

"Oh nothing, I just…fell! Yeah I fell." He said.

"Into what?"

"More like into whom." Lin muttered as Naru gave a small smile.

"Oh just an open door, don't worry about it I'll be fi-." He was cut off as a look of pure terror spread across his face.

Dropping his glass of orange juice that shattered on the floor he fell to his knees as he gripped the table.

"Gene." Naru said panicked and going to his brother as Lin stood up.

"It's Marsha." He said in between breaths the after effects leaving him stationary and breathless.

"Is she alright?" Mai asked.

"I don't know…she blocks the link sooner than I can determine where the fears coming from." He said as his brother helped him up.

"How hard can it be to tell?" she demanded.

"It can be any number of things. She's gotten this terrified before when it dealt with family…heck she's done it just when you were in trouble." He said.

"Oh…" she said feeling bad.

Of course she loved Marsha like she was a sister but she couldn't imagine how Gene felt. He loved her, though he hadn't openly admitted it, and it must be killing him knowing she was this scared. Going into the kitchen she grabbed some bread and threw it into the toaster. As she waited she got Shadow's breakfast together and put it on the floor. The cat raced in running over Gene's foot making the boy scream and jump up onto a chair.

"Nice job Gene. Were you trying to sound like a girl?" Naru teased.

"Shut up. Shadow actually likes you." Gene said as he huddled on the couch as Shadow ate his food contently.

Mai shook her head, yes Gene and Shadow refused to get along with each other or at least Gene refused to. She munched on her toast as Shadow finished eating and walked over to the stool where Gene was perched and looked up the boy. He began to circle his way in and around the stool before getting on his hind paws and placing them on one of the stool's bars in an attempt to get closer to Gene who shied away and was very near falling off the chair.

"Gene." Naru said.

"What?" he asked.

"Either man up and get off the chair or put on a skirt." He said to his brother.

"Pull out the skirt because I don't think he's ready to stop being afraid of the cat." Mai said as she grabbed Shadow's dish to wash along with hers and the boys'.

"Gene can you put aside your fear of the cat long enough to get your coat and shoes. We have to get to work." Lin said as he and Naru already had theirs on.

"Not until I know that devil cat isn't going to jump on me." He said.

Mai rolled her eyes and lifted Shadow into her arms. Gene scrambled off the chair slipped on his shoes and grabbed his jacket. Mai took that time to analyze the two brothers and saw that what people meant when they say your sense of style is sense of self.

Naru was dressed in his usual black shirt, slacks, and shoes. Gene wore his own pair of blue jeans, a red graphic t-shirt, and matching black converse. She smiled at them and followed them out to the car.

Once they got to the office Gene ran to the back room so he could close himself away as Mai put the cat down. The three rolled their eyes and parted ways. Mai sat at her desk and opened one of the files to read it over. After about an hour a bell jingled signaling the door was open. She perked her head up and saw the rest of the team walking through the door.

"There's my favorite girl!" Monk said as he walked over and pulled her into a bone crushing hug.

She was just starting having trouble breathing when Ayako smacked him over the head.

"You said you'd give her a hug not squeeze her to death!"

"I was just about to let go for your information."

"No you weren't! You looked like a pedophile that was going to wait until she passed out before you tossed her in the back of your van!"

"What? You crazy old hag! Why would I do that to Mai?"

"Did you just call me an old hag?"

As the two continued to bicker, Masako, Yasu, and John took the seats closest to Mai's desk. The air was filled with nothing but the fighting until Yasu spoke up and asked,

"Any word from Marsha?"

The two quickly stopped fighting and turned to her expectantly for an answer.

"No still nothing." Mai said as the feelings from the other day resurfaced and the silence resumed only broken by Shadow's meow as he padded around in confusion not knowing who to comfort.

"Guys I think we're sending Shadow into a panic." John said as he offered his hand out to the cat, who butted it with his wet nose and licked it with his ruff tongue.

"Alright…I'm going to go make some tea." Mai said getting up and forcing a small smile onto her face as she went to the kitchenette.

As the tea brewed she leaned on the counter her head resting in the palm of her left hand. She felt fur wrap itself around her ankles and looked down to see Shadow looking up at her expectantly. Reaching down she picked him up and placed him around her shoulders like he would sit on Marsha's as the tea finished.

Carrying the tray out to her friends she set it down and the phone rang.

"Lin, Naru, Gene, tea!" she called as she walked to the phone.

"Hello?" she answered not bothering to check the caller ID.

"Hey Mai, nice to hear your voice again."