Thank you for your feedback, and alerts, and blahblahblahhh. I'm probably going to get tired of saying this every chapter. xD I update fast, I know. Right now I don't have much to do. Dx Or more like I'm putting it all off. Agh. : / Anyways, enjoy. Hopefully this story will seem to make more sense soon~

Tell me how it feels,

To know that this is just my dream.

And it's your, reality.

Scarlet Letter part II - Halifax.

After the uneventful trudge to the quaint bed and breakfast style hotel Naru had checked them into, Mai was more than ready to take a hot shower and promptly pass out. Curiosity be damned.

However, she was unwilling to let go of one question at the moment...

"Why did the lady at the reception desk call you Tanaka-san?" She asked, doe eyes wide and seemingly unassuming. Yeah, right.

Naru rolled his eyes at Mai, albeit halfheartedly, given that he was just as, if not more tired than she was. "I thought Madoka already told you, I've been officially reported missing. It's not like I can walk around using the name Kazuya Shibuya, even if that is just an alias."

Mai had been about to ask another question, but Naru gave her a look that said 'can it, please.' And so, only because it had contained that slightly pleading expression, she did just that.

;

The room they were staying in was fairly large, and obviously expensive, though the westernized theme attempted to make it appear more cozy than brazen. Mai was gracious enough to warrant it attention, though not at the moment. Right now the best thing in her eyes was the fact that it had a huge, inviting shower, and two full sized beds.

"This is heaven~" She smiled widely, completely ignoring her former boss while she could, and taking off towards the bathroom.

"Taking a shower!"

Naru plopped down on his bed and grabbed the hotel phone, hoping to get the call he needed to make over with before his loud mouthed assistant returned.

One hour and numerous bouts of awkward silence later, Naru shut the book he'd been looking through and calmly stated he was going to try to get some rest, rudely adding that she looked like she needed some too. Mai resisted the urge to be sarcastic, giving him instead a small smile and inwardly hoping he would be more willing to answer her questions when he was well rested. She would add in a better mood, but when did that ever happen?

Fifteen minutes later, Mai felt herself nodding off after becoming extremely bored snooping through the book Naru had been reading from.

"Seriously.." She stated, drowsily. "What kind of guy reads about soul bonds in their spare time.."

It almost sounded cheesy..

A voice was calling her.

She knew that to be true, even as she lay asleep with no conscious recognition of such a voice. It was just a feeling, a perception. Or maybe a memory of what was yet to come.

Time was such a precious thing, but in the astral plane, time had no meaning except the little impressions left by the time spent in the human world. And while humans and souls often co-existed, they were completely different things.

"Mai..?"

His voice held a tenderness, now mixed with awe, that his twin's never had. Mai often wondered how she could've ever considered them the same, replaying old memories of a place that seemed so unreal, haunting in the shadows between fact and fiction.

"Gene." His name slipped out of her mouth naturally, as if she had known him for an eternity. And who knew, maybe she had, though not in the way most would consider 'knowing' someone. After all, she had always assumed him to be his twin, never having asked the ordinary questions people thought of when faced with a budding friendship, such as 'What's your favorite food?' or, 'Do you like music?' No, she didn't know him that way. More in a way that suggested a deeper bond, one that went beyond human life.

To death...

Mai's mouth twitched into a frown, taking the hand Gene had held out to her.

"I thought you were gone?" She looked down, embarrassed at how the question had come out a little more accusatory than she had wanted it to. "I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean it to sound like that..."

He grinned at her, loosening, but not letting go of her hand as he led her through the haze of white. Was it her imagination, or did his eyes not quite match up with his smile...

"What are you two doing?" Always. Why did that voice always have to cut into her thoughts at the worst moments? Mai turned towards the voice, ready to ask that exact question, though possibly in not such a polite way, when the oddness of the situation occurred to her.

Naru's voice was in her dream?

And there he stood as well. Tall, proud, and handsome as always. Though the arrogance in his stance couldn't keep the confusion out of his expression.

"Gene.." The downward turn of his mouth only elongated his beautiful face, while she was sure hers probably just made her look mentally challenged. Life was incredibly unfair.

Gene didn't even glance at Naru, though. His smile had faded as he took in Mai's face, and squeezed her hand gently. "Your power's grown, I see..."His voice sounded contemplative, resembling a tone she remembered usually only having heard when something serious, and possibly scary, was going on.

Gene's eyebrows knitted together as he took in the sight of Noll, who had apparently grown tired of being ignored and had stepped between the two, effectively ruining any semblance of closeness that had been previously held.

"Yes, that's pretty obvious." He muttered, glaring at Gene, taking his stand at the plate. "I'm more concerned at the moment on the reason why you're here. I've been getting dragged into these dreams for two weeks, now, and I've never once felt your presence. "

Mai's comprehensibility dropped measurably when she heard that statement, her mouth forming a question that died on her lips.

'He's...what? Two weeks?'

She dragged herself away from her thoughts as Gene answered his brother.

"I've been asleep." Gene answered, dryly. "Honestly, you never change, Noll." His voice was slightly mocking, but his gentle smile had returned. It was..truly breathtaking, but it didn't compare to what Mai felt, just watching the two of them together. The way they carried themselves, even, totally changed as they talked. The tension in Naru's posture faded away, the sadness in Gene's eyes dulled to a minimum.

The two had walked a little ways away now, every minute or so one of them, usually Gene, would look to check if Mai was still there. Mai didn't want to be nosy, but she figured, seeing as this was essentially her dream, the Gods couldn't look too down upon her if she listened in just a little...Right?

"-I don't care, Noll. You know you shouldn't have come."

It seemed she had started listening it at just the right time. The twins were engaged in what must have been a heated discussion, though Gene's tone wasn't as much angry as it was worried. She couldn't hear Naru as well as Gene for some reason, only catching glimpses of what he was saying. Like an out of area radio.

"-being ridiculous, I-"

"Mom is probably so pissed." Was the last thing Gene bit out, before noticing how close Mai had creeped on them. He shot Naru a pointed look, who in turn glanced over at Mai and sighed, as if he were witnessing the misgivings of an odd, but endearing child.

She wasn't sure if that was more, or less condescending than his normal attitude towards her.

"Mai. Was this the first time you've had a dream like this since I went back to England?" Naru asked simply, crossing his arms over his chest. He had that look on his face that told Mai he had probably already fore-sought the answer, but was asking just for re-affirm it. And stroke his ego.

"I think so.." She answered, tapping her finger on her chin. "Honestly, though, I can't really remember any of my dreams from the past month. It might sound odd, but it never really occurred to me, since it's never been that uncommon for me, except when we were on a case."

He nodded, satisfied with the answer and turned back to Gene. "You've been scolding me, but that's just to cover up your own miscalculations, isn't it? You know this is your fault, right?"

Gene flushed, his words coming out too fast and unorganized. Embarrassed, and possibly a bit annoyed, Gene looked so alike Mai that it was uncanny.

Mai placed her hands on her hips, curiosity getting the best of her. "Gene's fault? What? The fact that he's still here, or that now, you are too? And what were you two talking about before? I asked you why you were reported missing when we got to the hotel, but you wouldn't tell me. You just up and left without telling anyone, didn't you? Naru.."

"I imagine Mom and Dad didn't want him back here, what with my killer still on the loose and everything." Gene explained to Mai sympathetically, shooting another annoyed expression at Naru. "And they were right, you know. You could've just called Mai, instead of rushing over here. That's a lot more like something I would have done, isn't it, Noll?" He smirked, turning the condescending tone right back onto his brother.

"The headaches were getting to me." Naru attempted feebly, much to Mai's surprise. He avoided Mai's gaze, and instead looked over her shoulder. His eyes widened.

"Mai..Isn't that Urado's mansion?" Mai and Gene turned around, Mai's breath coming out in a gasp as she recognized the eery mansion in the distance of the hazy dreamworld. "Yeah..That's it alright. But why is it here? Didn't it burn down after we left?"

Naru and Gene shared a grim expression.

"You idiot." Was all Naru said, his signature phrase for once projected towards someone else than Mai.

Though, now that she thought about it, that fact didn't comfort her in the least bit.

"I think we should go towards it." Mai finally spoke amidst the silence and worried glances Gene kept giving her every couple seconds.

The previous annoyed look on Naru's face only deepened, though Mai was pretty sure he had anticipated one of them saying that.

"Not a good idea." His reply was short, as he was a bit preoccupied looking for something in the haze. "Noll, the exit's that way." Gene pointed left, a bored tone colouring his voice. Mai gazed at Gene, a helplessness dominating her usually illuminated brown eyes.

"So..We're going to leave him?" She was, for obvious reasons, reluctant to leave the spirit of the boy she hadn't seen in a month, especially in front of Urado's mansion.

"There isn't much else we can do at the moment. It's too dangerous to get near that mansion, if my theory's correct." 'Which it is.' Was soundlessly added on to Naru's matter of fact tone. Mai didn't know what his theory was, and although she was curious, at the moment she felt even more exhausted than she had before falling asleep, so she figured it was a wise decision to wait to ask questions until they were awake, and she no longer had to exert her ability. Which had apparently grown an enormous amount since the time Naru had been gone.

'What else is new..?' She thought, sighing and giving Gene a quick hug before walking over where Naru was. "Well...We'll see you soon..?" Mai asked, uncertainty clear in her lilting voice. Gene nodded, giving the two of them a smile and waving them off. Mai was sure she heard Naru say something to Gene as they walked away, but his voice had become harder to discern from fantasy to reality the closer they walked towards the 'exit'.

'What about mirrors..?'

Mai opened her eyes, met with the stagnant air of the hotel room.

"We have to talk."

EndChapter. c;