Put some music on, relax, and here's the next chap!
Suggested music: Holding on and Letting go by Ross Copperman.
For those that have a favorite song to read to- tell me it! : ) Especially if it's from other parts of the world than Canada (my home).
o
What Desperation Does
CHAPITRE 2
FIREWORKS
O
The seconds ticked by.
'I'm in shock.' Mai mused distantly. Either way, she didn't want to move in the first place.
The disheveled brunette eventually was able to regulate her heartbeat to match the silent ticking from the clock on her wall. The light that had been peering in through her window had faded now.. How long had she been laying there wondering what to do next?
Tick. Th-thump.
Tick. Th-thump.
Mai couldn't go near a hospital, not when she didn't have enough energy to block out the visions. Logically, she knew that the walls, beds, linoleum floors and doctor coats were all white, but when Mai couldn't control the visions… They weren't.
Th-thump.
Every single thing would be drenched in scarlet. It was like walking into hell.
She also couldn't wrap her mind around the fact that Hikaru Kajimaru was also an astral-walker! Mai didn't even know it was possible to create dreamscapes. And was it him that had broken into her house? Why was he in her head in the first place?!
..Was he the one that hurt her this badly?..Why?..
'One thing at a time.' She took her last deep breath in, through the unpleasant feeling of betrayal that she was getting familiar with, and then drew her torso up slowly. The lacerations on her back tearing open again once they ripped away from the dried blood, and she had to gingerly push her long hair over one shoulder when it clung to the sensitive skin.
Another thought hit her. 'Will he come back?' She paused for a moment with wide, horrified eyes, then immediately blocked the unhelpful contemplation and reached for a nearby desk to prop her forearm on it and help lift herse-
OW!
"AH-!" Pain, like a giant throbbing white hot bonfire was all she knew for a moment, her mind must have shut down because she forgot she had legs and ended up back on the floor. 'Damn my stupid luck.' She breathed harshly in pain, hunching over and hiding herself with the long, protective strands. She didn't realize she was crying until tears dripped onto her trembling arms.
Her arms- she couldn't barely even see her skin color- they were just a mix of blue and dark purple bruises and handprints. What in the world happened?!
Naru.. Naru would make everything better, he would smile and the pain would go, she wanted Naru-
'No. Shut up, Mai.' She told herself sternly and forced herself up, wrapping her arms around her ribs to hold herself together. 'You will not, under any circumstance become one of those girls that are made hollow and useless by what she can't have. You can figure this out alone, stupid.'
And very much alone, with a calming mantra of 'shut up' and 'owie', she barricaded the door and took care of her injuries by herself.
A couple days later….
A sigh. "Madoka."
Grumble, grumble. Grumblegrumblegrumble.
"Madoka. You are being unbelievably noisy." Oh really? She hadn't known she was speaking her thoughts out loud.
However, the woman didn't answer as she continued pacing back and forth. Why wouldn't Mai answer her phone?
"Madoka-chan.. please don't worry but I have to go." Mai probably hadn't noticed how her voice trembled in fear through the whole sentence, or thought she wouldn't notice it. But she was a mother after all, and Mai was a horrible liar to begin with. "Madoka-chan.. please-"
"You huff like an ox when you're in thought."
Would Oliver not get the hint? She didn't want to answer; she wanted to worry in silence.
He was pissing her off, so was Lin, so was the mail man, and random birds- "DID YOU JUST COMPARE ME TO AN OX, OLIVER DAVIS."
Ayako used a loud cough to cover her snort.
"That's just how he shows his love." Takigawa deadpanned, looking pensively at a picture of John with a group of giggling African children hanging off him and wondering what to write back. "I mean, he used to call the love of his life-"
"When are you going back to Japan again?" Oliver deadpanned back.
"Oh, you guys didn't hear her!" Madoka finally exploded, not one to keep a secret herself. "She was- it's like she was scared.."
A tense silence passed over the room, and Takigawa wickedly noted Oliver's hand clenching around the file he was holding, feeling very justified for his Jou-chan; but Oliver was also the first one to turn away.
"If she were in trouble, she would call us." He dismissed it unfeelingly, but the sure nature that Oliver always carried made it seem like the most obvious thing in the world, and that somehow comforted the group. He was still turned away when he hesitantly added "So don't worry so much."
Madoka softly smiled and warmly regarded the child she had watched with her husband, become such a good, strong man-
"If anything happened it would be from her own idiocy, and at least that scenario would end up with her a little smarter. So therefore both scenarios are nothing to worry about." –but they forgot to teach him tact, of course.
"Mai would say she's not idiotic but misunderstood?" Bou defended with a smile of his own while picking up an envelope for Masako's card to Japan and John's to Africa.
"Well yes, Mai would have to say that wouldn't she." He finally turned towards them, and his eyes were as tense as they always were when someone would bring Mai up in the past half-year. "Now, if you all have enough time to gossip, you all obviously don't have enough work. Let me help you with that."
"I'm such an idiot." Mai sighed sleepily, pinching her thighs with thoroughly bandaged and gloved hands to keep herself awake.
The turtleneck was itching her too, but she had to wear it to hide the evidence of a rope that had stamped an annoying decoration around her throat. "Ok, let's try this again." Today was just a bad day overall.
She threw herself back into her homework, just like she had been doing for the past couple scared-sleepless days since the… She wanted to forget about that. Until she knew all the details at least; that was why she decided..
Mai wasn't going to hide from Kajimaru; she was still going to show up at the next training session to demand him to fill in the blanks of her amnesia and pretend she wasn't terrified. THEN of course, she was going to kick his butt around for a bit.
Then, she was going to get another supernatural teacher after reporting him because God, she really, very badly needed one- oh, the visions! She hadn't been able to block anything since that day. Nothing.
She stopped dreaming too.
Or at least, she dreamed only of black now. Dark, coffin, pitch-black.
Whatever she used to get out of that dream- that dark form of power that ravaged her body and tore her mind to shreds until she ran on instinct, it must have traumatized her spiritually because not only have her powers run more hectic than a team of teenagers on steroids, she couldn't control any of it.
Everything Kajimaru had taught her in the past 5 months.. It was gone. She knew theoretically how to do it but her growing powers would only respond to her half the time and spent all her energy. Her gut told her to just wait for her to heal psychically and her prized control would return, but Mai has never been patient.
And besides.. She would have chosen this, or things a million times more frustrating than this, any day over dying in that coffin.
She still remembered.. Still thought about how dark it was, about how cold the wood felt as she clawed helplessly at it-
She slammed her book shut, getting up to apologetically walk around a transparent, suicidal woman's body swinging from the ceiling from her neck and crying about a failed class, only to bump into a short blonde. "Mai-chan!"
They happily hugged, as happily as Mai could with those twitching legs swinging through her friends head repeatedly and she tried to look into her friends eyes and ignore, ignore, ignore it Mai! "How are you, Usagi-chan?" Mai smiled, self-consciously touching the bit of concealer on her cheekbone to make sure it was still there to cover the faint bruise.
"ME?! Where in the world have you been this past week! I wanted to tell you about how my date with-" She giggled and blushed so prettily that Mai smiled fondly. "Well, you know who, but your phone has been off."
Her phone! Oh gosh, Madoka was going to slaughter her for not calling back! "It- It hasn't been working. Walk me to work and tell me everything quickly!" she took her blushing friend by the shoulders and directed her away from the erm, now silent woman, not noticing the next weeping student she walked through by accident as he looked at a gun pensively.
AUGH! She had to find a way to temporarily block these until her powers were under her control again. Wards maybe?
She felt bad, but the freezing shiver up her spine wasn't something she wanted to deal with either, or the looks when she accidently resorted to speaking to the illusions. She was becoming the crazy girl at school.
Mai really had to stop going to the library.
"Can you believe that, Mai?" Usagi sighed happily to some rambling she hadn't heard. Mai, in the middle of the most stressful months of her life viewed relationships as a priority only above making sure to eat the red M&M's first, but replied out of respect for her friend.
"Are you meeting again?" Someone ran by her screaming, but Usagi didn't react so it must have been another vision. Mai shut her eyes momentarily, needing to breathe but unable to draw the suffering breath in. This was such a mess.
The corresponding killer happily passed by them a moment later with a machete in his gloved hands and licking blood off his lips as he ran- darn it she missed what Usagi said to her again.
"Um.. I know what you mean?" Mai said to appease the expectant look on the blonde's face. She felt like a weary 50 year old divorcee. Shouldn't she be excitedly gossiping like other normal 18 year olds..? Instead of watching people getting murdered?
Well, at least it would be a helpful trick if SPR grouped back together instead of fainting all over the place like she used to…
"Mai-chan." Usagi pulled Mai's fingers away from the clutch they had over her heart with such tenderness that the brunette almost cried.
She hadn't realized she had stopped in the middle of the hallway. She was so tired, work was going to be hard today because of that and she just wanted to run to her warm home that existed 15 years ago and into her mother's arms. "You're thinking about Ningo, aren't you." Usagi said completely seriously.
Ningo-? OH, she meant Naru!
Mai almost face palmed but didn't correct her. "I-I'm sorry Usagi-chan, I can't talk now because there's an errand I forgot I have to run before going to work, but I'll meet up with you for tea- no, for coffee later ok?"
She left directly after her friend agreed, to stop her from saying anything further.
Mai knew she was getting colder, pushing people away lately, ignoring her own feelings if she got too scared or lonely, but she had to. Because she couldn't afford not to or she'd unravel at the seams.
Ring. Ring. Ring.
"Come on Madoka-chan. Pick up!" The cell was on speaker mode and propped up beside the bathroom mirror she was looking into, alternating her hair from a ponytail to a bun to see which would look better with her waitress work uniform.
"Taniyama-san, you have 5 minutes!" Her boss shouted as she hurried passed the propped open door and Mai quickly wrapped her hair into a messy ponytail in response.
Ring. Ri-
"You better have had your phone lost Taniyama-san, because I will not sit here and believe that it was simply laziness that had me this worried for the past half a week." Madoka didn't even bother with the greetings and Mai rushed to bring the cell phone up to her mouth, fumbling and almost dropping it in between.
"Do you know how much I love you, Madoka-sama-"
"Hmph. Ok, I forgive you." Mai blinked, wow that was easy. Then her eyes were drawn to the makeup smudging off the bruise on her cheek. She sighed and took out a small makeup package from her bag and unzipped it to look for more concealer. "-If you come visit. All this worry just made everyone realize how much we miss you, Mai-chan." She emphasized on 'everyone'.
Mai took out more heavy-duty pain relieving pills too. Under her long sleeved shirt, her torso was as bandaged as an Egyptian mummy.
"I'm still in high school. I'd have to wait for summer." Like she had already said before. It was her customary response, making a note to herself to later make up an excuse to tell her in the summer.
Madoka sighed wearily and Mai truly felt bad in that moment for not calling her earlier. "Just please promise me you will eventually. I want Yumi to meet his Aunt, Mai."
The brunette surprised herself with the tears that pricked her eyes at that comment. "I promise you, Madoka-chan, I will be the best Aunt I can be and spoil him so much that you'll have to force me out of England for turning your son into another brat like Naru."
Madoka's bell laugh rang through the washroom and Mai truly relaxed. "Oh, goodness. I miss you guys." She said honestly.
"Taniyama-san, you're needed on the floor!" Her shy male coworker was peering in embarrassed, obviously bullied into going to the women's washroom to look for her.
"Thank you, Koji-san." Mai smiled, packing her things away with one hand and swinging the bag over her shoulder as she spoke into the phone. "I'm sorry, I'm just so busy-"
"We trust you to take care of yourself, Mai-chan. Just please, if you ever need help don't be shy to call us." The tone was so motherly, Mai felt lost and like she was doing everything wrong for a second.
No. She couldn't get them involved until she knew what she was even up against. And- and she couldn't afford England anyways. And she didn't want to make Oliver uncomfortable.
"I..Th-thanks." She reigned the emotions in as this was neither the time nor place for them, and feeling this longing wasn't going to do anything beneficial for her anyways. She had to be strong. "Same to all of you, and please pass on another hello to everyone and a kiss to Yumi."
"I will, sweetheart! Ja ne! And tell me who Koji-san is later!"
The phone's screen went black but she stared at it for a moment longer, feeling like she was in the wrong part of the world.
She shook her head from the silly (stupid, she bit vindictively) thoughts. She wasn't wanted anywhere else in the world but on the floor of this restaurant right now.
Anywhere else, and she would be disrupting other people's lives to make them take care of her.
The vomit.. She shuddered- it was- oh god- she could still smell it.
That must have been the worst shift in the history of all waitress shifts, since she was sure other waitresses didn't see the dead.
Not to mention being the only person clumsy enough to fall up the stairs, got traumatized by a stripper there for a bachelorette party, had a boot stolen-who would steal only one boot- and now walking in the frost in work flats, had to work around a vision of dead brawlers without looking like anything was different, fall up the stairs again, got groped by some drunks who thought it would be fun to sexually harass the crippled girl, got almost fired for threatening them and their entire families- and finally, for the grand finale to a truly bad day- stepped in vomit on the way out.
She shut her apartment door, quickly shoving the desk in its way to barricade it again, and then exhaustedly slumped onto the ground like a broken ragdoll.
She studied the pattern on her floor tiles with a fingertip, admitting that she wasn't as strong as she was trying to force herself to be, and had just maybe gotten a little more traumatized then she thought she had by Kajimaru; she couldn't stop flinching away from anyone reaching for her.
But- but at least her control was coming back- the visions were now blocked again and her living room was silent.
That didn't change that Mai was going to the training session tomorrow though.
Breathe in.
Breathe out- Breathe out damn it-
Her chocolate eyes snapped unseeingly open, something about this seemed familiar- this was something she had done before-
-"I'm disappointed, Taniyama-san." Whoever spoke was playing with the chair she was standing on tip-toes. Whimpering she tried to adjust her balance on it to stop the rope from digging in her throat further. "I'm just asking for you to answer this one question."
He tipped the chair backwards imperceptibly, just until her toes fumbled but didn't tip it, and she breathed in deeply- breathed in knowing it might be her last so she wouldn't let it out-
Air finally came out of her lungs in a shaky and nervous rush, terrified, but she ignored that. She had to ignore it.
In quiet shock, slowly and gently, she stood up, brushed her teeth and washed her face without looking at the mirror, turned on every light in the entire apartment, and gathered her covers to sleep in a huddled ball under her bed. She dreamt of black again.
"Ah!~ What a beautiful day!" A shower had done wonders for her this morning, but then again, so had pretending that she was a different person altogether with another life. "Oyaho, bird-san!" The brunette giggled at the screaming, ear-piercing crow.
Reveling in the sun for another minute, she steadily watched the swaying trees before shutting the window behind her and grabbing the keys off the counter on her way out. She had a lot to do today.
'I am a warrior goddess.' The scenery was a blur until the front gates of the tall building were looming in front of her. 'I am a- a weight lifter and have muscles that can crush a boulder.' Mai opened it with a wavering sigh. 'I am going to get answers from Kajimaru and I won't be scared of him anymore. This will be over before I know it.'
"Taniyama-san." The receptionist at the desk was looked directly at her, though Mai knew she was blind. "Congratulations on passing your field exam." The pretty woman smiled kindly.
She blinked, "Ohayo, Tsubaki-san! My wha-?"
"The commander is expecting you." She got up to walk around the desk and walked off- it took Mai a moment to realize she was supposed to fallow her and quickened to catch up, feeling sheepish.
'Good, then I will ask him for another teacher now.' She snuck a peak at the blanked-expression woman beside her. From what Mai remembered the woman can 'see' any part of a person's past by touching their skin.
"Do you have a question, Taniyama-san?" Tsubaki's humored voice made Mai straighten in surprise and she felt guilty for staring, but didn't really wonder how a blind woman could 'see' her. She just learned to accept everything she saw here after a while.
"Ah, gomen nasai… But what field test where you speaking of earlier?" She fallowed her into a room and sat on the dentist-like chair the receptionist motioned to.
"The astral-walking test." The dream..? It w as a test?! That torture was a test?
Taking her wide-eyed silence as acceptance the receptionist turned to rummage in a drawer and handed her perfectly folded white scrubs.
"Arigato! But may I ask what this is for?" She tried to tug the outfit out of the woman's hands but realized the girl wasn't letting go. "Um, Tsubaki-san.." She looked up to see the thoroughly shocked expression then back down to see their fingers brushing and let go cautiously.
"Taniyama-san. Please tell me the truth- how did you get out of the dream?"
She averted her eyes and hesitated at the memory. "I don't really know…" –how do you explain those dark talons that where hers but weren't- "It felt like I imagined myself looking at everything from a third point of view, then I kind of just.. Ripped it apart."
Tsubaki stared at her for a long moment. "Don't hold back details please, Taniyama-san. You didn't look as if you knew what was happening."
"I…" Tsubaki was a very blunt woman, but she was right. "At that moment.. The power I used didn't feel um.. Pure. It felt dark and sort of had a mind of its own. It- it really hurt."
Tsubaki abruptly left, mumbling something about how the commander really needed to come.
Mai sat still with a pounding heart before getting up to quickly change into the plain, white scrubs.
Nothing else to do but wait and not wanting her mind to race in nervousness, she busied herself with folding her sweater and fall tights, wringing her hands together, counted the tiles on the ceiling-
The door opened.
Mai wondered what she had done to achieve such an intense look from the man who walked in. Even his two body guards were looking at her with astonishment.
Her animal instinct reared its head and she tried to hide her need to fidget and squirm.
"Congratulations on passing your field exam, Taniyama-san." The man finally said, choosing each word carefully and stroking a small goatee. "You are now an agent, but it seems you are a special case."
The feeling intensified to the point it was suffocating- never mind another teacher she'd ask Madoka to get her another one instead- never mind what Kajimaru did, she didn't care and did not want to know- she was stupid for ever coming back-
"I never had the intention of joining." It seemed like it was the wrong thing to say, but Mai steeled herself. "I just needed help to.. to control everything.."
He blinked languidly, then coming to a decision, waved his hand as if he hadn't heard a word she just said. "Strap her down."
"No-!" Someone caught her around the waist when she tried to run and slammed her back onto the seat which swung back and allowed them to force her thrashing, throbbing body to lie down as they held her arms and buckled the straps attached to the chair. "Let me go!"
She could see Tsubaki sympathetically looking in then closing the door behind her as she left. The click of the lock rang through the room and she thrashed even harder watching her only way to leave blocked.
"Son of a-!" The first bodyguard swore and drew back as she bit him and the second dug his hand into her hair to pull hard and motion her wincing face towards the smirking captain.
"Hikaru always did have problems with your feisty attitude." He chuckled, tracing her bandaged arm up to her finger tips where he began unraveling them. "Seems like he did a number on you." He said dispassionately, as if he saw it happen every day.
Mai stayed silent, letting her best glare speak for itself.
"You do understand that you don't have a choice in the matter. The moment you came here, you belonged to me. We have destroyed lives before to make sure we get what we want, take that as a warning." He cut the bandage off at her elbow and rose smugly. "You are nothing but an ant beneath my boot."
The brunette couldn't help her temper. "You sick, conceited, delusional bastard-"
The first bodyguard beat her across the face, adding to her bruises and whipping her head so violently to the side the chair moved. She had to stay still for a dizzying moment where she didn't know left from right.
She grit her teeth. "And what exactly do agents do?"
"Anything. I. Want."
"And if I won't?" She finally found the energy to turn groggily turn back to him, but her eyes kept shifting in and out of focus.
He simply stuck a rather large needle into her arm, and her reality darkened into the black she was dreaming of lately.
The next moments were just blur after blur. Most of it was black. The beeping of her heart on a monitor was the only constant thing.
Sometimes she saw a violet-blue haze of eyes leaning above her. When that happened the only comfort was in pretending they were the same as Oliver's dark blue eyes, as glimmering and deep as the ocean, and she would lean into the hand caressing her face so wonderingly at that moment.
But when he whispered her name it was Hikaru's voice that came out and she would scream, scream for all she was worth until her vocal cords ripped and bled, without her mouth ever once opening.
Other times, she would come out of the black dream to find she was being injected again, and then she would faintly hear people discussing her body's reaction to whatever it was. If her body thrashed, or felt pain, she really didn't know. She couldn't feel anything, and that at least, she was grateful for.
She was so scared.
Asleep, but not relaxing for a moment.
She truly wanted Naru, and this time she didn't bother shoving the thought away. It was the only thing keeping her fractured, terrified mind together.
Would they hurt him if she didn't cooperate? No, no, she hadn't even uttered his name in the past 5 months. Her family was safe, thank Kami-sama they were away from her; someone who was too trusting and attracted bad things that affected everyone and forced them to look out for her as if she were some useless child.
Injection after injection pricked her skin, and she finally fell into black for a very long time.
"Rehabilitation commencing. October 20th, 0500 am." 20th?! But that was 2 weeks after the date she remembered-! "Stage 65 complete. Set up injection for the next trial."
The robotic voice of a doctor was the clearest that she had heard in a while and Mai found herself gradually becoming more and more aware- so she was fully aware of the thick needle that forced its way into the soft flesh of her stomach and stole her breath with-
With Pain-
-She couldn't- breathe-
Ice spread from the injection and took over her entire thrashing body.
This time the scream that she had screamed in her mind came out with a vengeance and she was sure it was loud enough to ring across all of Japan, her throat bled yet she screamed even harder than the moment before.
She felt as if she were back in the coffin- her body felt as if it were tearing in every direction, but instead of the talon arms just leaving her body, the miasma completely covered her this time, scorching every part it crept over.
Could they not see the shadow passing over the room?! Why were they just staring-?!
Another terrible scream broke out, her eyes unfocused but seeing all the evil everyone else in the room was ignoring.
"She is not reacting correctly." The robotic voice spoke again, a little more tense this time. "Call the commander in. Now!" Rushed footsteps.
Placing his notes down, the doctor watched as his subject deflated to the point where it seemed all life left her.
Then her eyes snapped open, pitch black with no white, and not at all human. She just stared up at the ceiling. He reached out a hand in curiosity to take her vitals, or stroke his subject's suddenly incredibly alluring lips-
"Don't!" The same tall, goateed man that started this all lumbered in; but Mai felt deathly calm. She did; however, watch him with loathing when he looked at her like he was about to play with a favorite new toy. "She's dangerous and unstable right now. Go call our president first!"
Mai ignored the man, looking off into the ceiling and tried to summon any feeling- hate, worry, panic.. Whatever they injected her with, she could barely hold on to what her name was.
"You are so beautiful." There was a disgusting, breathless whisper beside her, why had she thought he was so threatening before? "You will be the perfect weapon. And you are mine."
Something was trying to tell her to relax, to just listen, but at the same time something stronger was screaming at her to get away, that this was very, very wrong-
-But then again she hadn't realized how much pressure had been on her shoulders and mind since SPR broke up until it was gone. This empty void was better and she promised she would only relax for a moment before escaping and going back to reality- what was so important that she had to leave right this second anyway?
"Who is Naru, by the way?" Her black, alien eyes snapped to him. "Or Ayako? Madoka? That baby that kept flashing through your mind? Do they ring a bell." His eyes left hers to roam over her body, becoming excited once more. "You wanted a reason why you should work for us? Use them as one. We have tracers and mind readers- we'll fallow you until the end of the earth if we have to."
Why was he telling her this? She could barely remember her own name, much less random people. She just couldn't figure out why something in her chest was beating faster.
"Beautiful." He leaned closer, his fingers accidently brushed her arm and she saw- she saw everything he wanted her to do in that one second though she hadn't had that ability before-
"Get away from me." Her voice shuddered rashly. "I-I see you for what you are-"She choked in between memories. "I will never help you!"
His face shut down so fast, and her heart raced even faster; would he hold out on his threat? Would he kill them-?
The man smiled and she knew he had read her mind. His eyes were as empty as Hikaru's. She was so stupid to ever have been lead around by these people. This was all her fault. "No Mai love, we would torture them first." The brunette's body shook and his smile slowly slipped off as the heart monitor sky rocketed, then the power gauge, and the air pressure gauge of the room-
Her-
Mind-
Shattered.
BOOM!BOOM!BOOM!
The dark, talon arms she found, were controllable, her panic thrashed them onto everything she could reach and had the building falling around her.
She remembered everything- regaining it had made it all the more precious and she was crying silent tears as she phased through the straps and walked bare-footed to the struggling man half-propped up on the floor.
'Kill him.' Something whispered, and she clutched her head, choosing to run passed him instead, and passed the heavy door that exploded off its hinges. She wanted to feel her hand around his beating heart-
"Shut up!"
As she ran, the building exploded around her but she was present enough to only thoroughly destroy the workplace of this sickening company that kept her as a pin cushion, to stop them from doing it to others. However, she would never bring it completely down, too many people would die, and no matter who they were she could never do that.
'Wait! He said something about tracing me!' She backpedalled to Tsubaki's desk, and in the disordered mess of people running everywhere in the confusion, no one noticed her rummaging around the desk to finally come across her file.
She grabbed it, then, pausing to read a list of names that had her own at the bottom, she grabbed it too and Tsubaki's sweater and ran with her heart committing suicide in her throat.
The piercing alarm rang throughout the building, the room continuously flashed red over and over, and the hue rushing over her pale, bruised, trembling arms made everything all the more serious.
The alarm said they were coming for her- just like he promised.
The entire front foyer exploded after she fled- she honestly hoped she hadn't injured too many people, but her heart was just pounding so hard it was impossible to think straight, she functioned on instinct again shoving her way to the door and towards sunrays she hadn't seen in the two weeks when pitch-black was all she knew.
People were already pilling outside, watching parts of their building collapsing on itself in shock; but Mai didn't look back once.
The brunette hid her face with the long, disheveled strands of hair and kept her eyes to the floor as she squeezed through the crowd, slipping the sweater on and lifted the hood, clutching the files in a death grip until her knuckles turned white enough to tear through the skin.
Mai felt like her lungs were in the same vice-like grip.
The demolished building lay behind her, and it started a race to get to her apartment, pack her things, and leave.
By the time Mai slammed the door open and fumbled into her home, not bothering to close it this time, her bare feet were cut up enough to leave small bloody prints, and she hurriedly threw on socks without caring. She could deal with it later.
Ring.
Mai ignored it, running around the room in a flash of flitting chocolate hair strands. Everything in her desk was emptied into a duffle bag although it wasn't much; just a passport, midterm report card, wallet and photos, along with about half of her clothes, food and a couple water bottles.
Ring. Ring. Ring.
She ignored it.
'Faster! Go faster, Mai!' Her heart couldn't stop racing, paying more attention to her gut just made it worse- the instinct in her grew until it was suffocating. They were coming for her, they would put her back in that room and they would never let her go-
Ring. Ring.
"Oh my gosh!" She exasperatedly exclaimed, viciously wiped the tears off her face and reaching for the phone where Madoka's number flashed. She calmed down for a moment wondering what she would even say if she answered.
Without a second thought, she slid the screen open. "Moshi, moshi!" She greeted, turning to dart to every room and do a last check on anything important she might have missed.
"Mai-chan! How are you? It's been a while!" Really? Because it felt like she just spoke to her yesterday on the phone. That coma they put her in really screwed up her internal clock.
"Oh, I'm.."-A horrible, screwed up mess-"..Fine.." She finished vaguely, her voice still too soft from the disuse in the past weeks, yanking everything off her body except for the socks and leaving a trail of clothes behind her as she hurried into her bedroom.
'Sound casual damn it-' She licked her lips to try again. "What are you guys up to?"
"First off, everyone that was on SPR, save for you and Masako are here in the van with me!" Her heart squeezed in longing; she knew Madoka wasn't telling her this to dangle it in front of her face but… "We're going on a new case and missed you- what are you up to, Mai-chan?"
She barely heard the sentence, and since she was so distracted couldn't think of anything other than the direct truth. "I'm walking around naked."
She heard Madoka's choked laughter. "Young lady, you're on speaker!" Bou-san input loudly but it was lost in a mix of laughter from others- Ayako maybe? Yasuhara? Oh lord. She still had enough sanity in her to turn red to the tips of her toes.
"Well then, I should probably tell you I lied," She lied. Finally just going with the warmest outfit left over in her closet and throwing it on her bed, along with clean underwear she put on first.
"Is there a guy at your place Mai? Is that why you're-"
"Yasuhara, I really do miss you. Don't make me hate you now." Mai said threateningly. Pants went on along with a long-sleeved turtle neck and hooded, white sweater. "Wait- did you say everyone is there?" She suddenly felt as small as an ant-
Although, she had to remind herself it was the least of her worries and ran into the washroom as Madoka filled her in on the new case they were travelling to. She barely listened of course, especially when she caught her reflection in the mirror.
"What.. What did they do to me…?" She barely whispered, reaching a hand up and watching the woman reach to her as well and look back at her with pitch black monstrosities. She was so pale she could see the veins running through her temples. She was so pale, it made her eyelashes look like dark butterfly wings fluttering on her face as she blinked rapidly to expel the tears.
"Can you.. repeat that Mai?"
Oh &^%$#, she had forgotten they were on the phone, but at this point her throat was closing up.
"Oh gomen! Please continue! Sorry, I was telling something important to my... My study partner." Where were the scissors? She collapsed on her knees and opened all the drawers and made a pile of bandages, first aid material and tissues. Ah, scissors! There they were.
"Didn't you just say you were naked, Jou-chan?!" She rolled her eyes at the possessive tone and stood up with the scissors clutched in her hand.
"I also said I was joking around about that." She tried to pass off a girlish giggle when it felt like a fuzzy animal had curled up and died in her throat.
Madoka continued on after Ayako soundly slapped Takigawa and told him to stop harassing her. Mai propped the phone up against the mirror to listen to them on speaker while she grabbed her hair that Hikaru had always seen long and breathed in, squeezing her eyes shut and-
Snip. Snip. Snip.
It was done that easily, and she uncurled her fingers to watch the dirty, chocolate-colored hair fall all around her with a sad sigh. Well, it would grow back. And the Masako-style bob was actually pretty cute.
Leaving the always excitedly chattering Madoka, she bundled the pile of first-aid material in her arms then carefully rushed to the next room to drop it all into her bulging muffle bag and zip it shut.
Mai almost flew back to the washroom as she swung her coat over her shoulders, grabbed the phone, her bag and dashed out the door, locking it behind her firmly. 'Goodbye, home.'
As soon as it clicked, the sound echoed for a time-stopping moment and she knew- she just knew- she had taken too long.
"-And I forgot to mention- Mai, the case will be in a castle! It's Japanese styled!" She heard jumbles of 'Ah, the good old days at SPR.' in the background, and a discussion involving her clumsy-ness, but the phone wasn't as clear as before. Or maybe it was her since her brain was more muddled than ever.
'What do I do, what do I do?!'
"Your cases sound more fun than my study party! I can't wait to graduate and visit! I miss you all so much." Is that how happy and exuberant was done? Looking up and down the hall, she clutched her bag with trembling fingers. "I'm just- I'm just so happy for you guys-"
She was starting to panic, her words clumsy and wavering like her legs as she chose to run to the left as five strong auras at the bottom level took the stairs at the right side of the building.
"Mai? Are you alright, honey?" Ayako's voice came.
No, she was falling apart.
"Madoka, Ayako, I have to go, I'm so sorry- I have to run to class now- I'll call you tonight though, I promise." She said through soft sobs, not knowing if she just lied or not, unsure if she'd truly be able to get away. She was sure all the uncontrollable tears lately were a sign of a nervous breakdown- great, now she was crazy too. "I promise I will, just please stay safe." She hoped to God they knew how much she loved them, as those were her last words.
Madoka looked down at the phone that went dead in her hands and didn't look up at anyone else or even smile as she addressed the rest of the ghost hunters. "Do you hear what I mean now?" She said softly breaking the silence.
"Does anyone have Masako's number?" John said tensely. "You said she's still in Japan, correct?"
"I do." Oliver finally spoke, getting his phone out immediately.
Mai's heart. It was too fast.
Was this how heart attacks felt like? Didn't she have enough to worry about?
Ba-bum, ba-bump-
Each step was too slow and she urged herself faster- faster-
Perhaps also still under the affects of the drug- or whatever they injected her with, the same sly, slithering part of her whispered calmly and emotionlessly about everything to do with blood and nothing to do with humanity.
But even that voice went silent when she reached her objective only to find a couple dark vans parked haphazardly outside. With her powers on super drive and so sensitive in her panic, the psychic power she felt from them slammed into her rather than just simply sensing it, but either way she knew they were meant for her.
She ducked out of view, cradling her face in trembling hands and tried to think. She needed… A distraction.
Something flashy yet harmless. The idea she had would get all the psychic tracers off her back too.
Sending an ashamed apology to her landlord, her body snapped upright, as did the dark, destructive extensions of her mind.
Her pitch-black eyes shook, veins straining around them as they concentrated intensely on the ceiling around where her apartment should be-
BBBOOOOOOMMMM!
She lost her balance and collided against the wall as the floor rumbled. 'Ok, so maybe I overdid it.'
With a grimace she watched vine patterns crack a path loudly into the glass doors, and the alarm finally started just as the five auras heading upstairs began rushing down along with her neighbors.
She had to leave, now.
Blending in with a family running out, she slipped her hood on, squeezed past another astonished, loud crowd gathering around the building to gape at the scorching, obliterated hole burnt into it that used to be her home.
'I really hope I didn't forget anything..' She thought distantly, becoming part of the crowd for a second, self-consciously tugging the hood lower to shadow the top half of her grim face.
A couple gaping school girls beside her whipped out high tech phones and proceeded to snap pictures and she almost face palmed. Aren't they supposed to be running? 'People are so weird.'
The brunette shrugged, calming down with every step she took further away from that mess as she slipped into an alleyway.
Without stopping for anything she took a maze of busses plus a ferry to the other end of Japan where she would stay until she knew what to do.
Shibetsu, Hokkaido.
'Here I come.' She sighed impassively, barely believing this was happening at all. Oh well, she always wanted to see Japan's other island…
That night, as she drew shut all the curtains in a hotel room finally in Hokkaido and after a short overly happy conversation with Madoka to calm any worries she may have idiotically sprouted; Mai took a long look at her new high school papers and the name slot.
For now, she couldn't go by Mai Taniyama..
She finally grabbed the pen and registered under the name 'Usagi' to somehow apologize to her friend.
Mai will graduate this year damn it, even if it needed Herculean effort to do so. She would not let this affect her life and she would continue to push herself under the inspiration that her idol gave her.
Her idol being Oliver Davis, of course.
Fanning the embarrassed blush, she left the scattered items to have a very thorough shower and was relieved to meet warm chocolate orbs starring back at her in the mirror when she walked in. The injection must have worn off? Was that even from the injection?
'Not now.' She sighed, lowering her lashes and gently quieting the many questions. She was too tired for that right now.
At least she'd be able to blend into the crowd of high school-ers now! Be positive, Mai! Maybe she'd try out for cheerleading, be a normal teenager for once.
Absently, as she as she slipped out of her layers of clothes, she stretched her arm carelessly behind her to hang the sweater on the bathrooms hanger which she just couldn't seem to find-
She gawked at her poised arm as if she had turned to find a leprechaun dancing on it- or at least half of it, since the other half had phased through the wall and she hadn't even realized she had done it.
Ok… Or maybe instead of the cheerleader, she would be the secretive, crazy- cat-lady in the back corner of the classroom until she could control this… That way, hopefully, no one would notice if she slipped up…
OoO
The reviews were all so sweet! I was positively glowing when I read them; you are all just so kind! ;_; Thank you. Very much. I expected 1 at the most lol. I hope whoever's clicking into here enjoyed this, because it was so fun to write.
Since the moment I began thinking of creating this I had been dying to write the scene where she was rushing to pack all her belongings and get the hell out of there; poor Mai. I so ever do love torturing her!