Sorry this is late...again. I don't have internet in my new place, so I have to hunt it down. Not to mention I still feel sick. BUT it's a fat chapter. ^.^ Enjoy

4

"Drugs are so scary because they give us a cheap imitation of what we all seek while dulling our ability to feel it. Peace, happiness, comfort, security, sometimes even just plain fun. And when it's over, we're down off that high, and the world is painted in shades of gray. No wonder it's so hard for addicts to get away or why overdosing is so common. Who'd want to fight for a world of gray if colors, followed by the end, is offered?

Best we never try the forbidden fruit in the first place. Because we all know where it really leads."

No. A boy looked back at me, lanky and slender in the stretched out sort of way boys get when they just hit puberty. In his eyes, I didn't see myself reflecting back, but I did see the room behind me, garish and bright. Yet his pupils were pinpricks and the blue of his eyes like granite. He wore mussed clothes I couldn't make out, and his sharp features foretold of an angular, but handsome man.

He didn't say anything. Just looked at me.

"What're you doing here?" I asked. After all, I hadn't seen him coming in, and I couldn't see how Father Brown would be okay with a kid just hanging out in frumpy clothes.

The boy opened his mouth. Instead of sound, thin, white-clear vomit spilled out.

I jumped back with a sickening lurch of my stomach only to find myself sitting up so quick I headbutt Takigawa in the face.

"AW!" He yelled, smacking his hand to his nose. "Damn!"

"Well, she's alive," said the professor as dry as whiskey.

I was about to tell Takigawa that his face hadn't felt all that great against my forehead so cowboy up, but more pressing matters took precedent.

"I'm gonna throw up."

They only had the time to register what I was saying before my granola bar breakfast came back up, with friends I didn't remember eating.

So much for the nice, scarlet rug.

"Is she having a seizure? Should we call a doctor?" asked Father Brown, all alarm, while Takigawa gagged and did his best to keep his own lunch down.

"I'm sorry," I whimpered through watering eyes.

Of course Professor Davis was unfazed. "Perhaps, but more likely she experienced a vision, given her clairvoyance. It has shown signs of having an effect outside of her dreams."

"Yeah, whatever, can we get this cleaned up?" Takigawa asked, pinching his nose.

Father Brown jumped up to go back into the catacombs, where I suppose a janitorial closet was. I meekly scooted far away from my puddle of sick, shivering with a cold sweat that had beaded over me.

Naru followed, probably not to keen to be around vomit anyways. "Did you see anything? You looked at that angel statue and passed out."

I just stopped myself from looking at said statue again. No need to see it twice. "I saw a boy. A boy replaced the statue. He was, like, 12 or something, you know that age they just hit puberty and look like string taffy?"

Naru crouched down to where I had huddled on the floor, hugging my legs to my chest. I didn't quite trust them to hold me up yet.

"He had really bright blue eyes, and when I asked what he was doing here because, well, you know, I didn't think this was a place some kid would be allowed to hang out in, he sort of dribble threw up all this white spit, I guess."

Naru frowned. "White spit? Like foam?"

"No, like…it kind of looked like Elmer's glue. You know, a little clearish but still white? When I jerked back I ended up sitting up instead and, well, mashing Takigawa's face."

On hearing his name, he said, "Yeah, and my nose is bleeding, thanks. Freaking iron skull…"

"Why were you hanging over me so close anyways?" I snapped.

"To see if you were breathing and stuff, duh! Sorry for trying to make sure you weren't having cardiac arrest or something."

"What else can you tell me about this boy?" Naru asked. "His clothes? His surroundings? Facial features?"

I gave him every detail I could remember while Takigawa pulled a sock from his foot to steam the bleeding from his nose. Father Brown rushed in soon after with a bottle of cleaner, several rags, and what looked like a handheld vacuum.

When I'd given him everything I could think of, Naru got up to investigate the statue that started this. I got to sit there and feel surreal that I just had a 'vision' and that it hadn't been all lights and heaven or weird Van Goh colorings, but nauseating and uncomfortable. Though, for the first time, I actually knew for a certainty that what Naru had been saying about me all along was true. I did have supernatural powers.

Then why wasn't I happy about that?

Shivering, I looked to where Father Brown was busily squirting and wiping.

"Shouldn't I do that?" I asked.

"Nah. Don't worry," said the Priest. "You're the one that's unwell."

"But this is supposed to be your nicest room and stuff."

"And it will continue to be once I've cleaned this up. Don't worry, Miss, you did fine."

I did fine? Hugging myself, I wondered if that really were true. What had I brought to the table that could help with the case anyways? A puking boy? With the reflection of all this gold and red in his eyes…

Naru held out his hand to me.

"Think you can get up?"

Now wishing I can get home as quick as possible so I could wash out the taste of vomit from my mouth and take a hot bath, I accepted his hand and he pulled me up. He didn't let go, however, and put his fingers to the inside of my wrist and closed his eyes.

"Heartbeat's normal," he said after a moment, then he put his other hand to my forehead. "Clammy, to be expected, but no high temperature. You should be alright."

"You mean you didn't think that before?" I asked as he pulled his hands away. My flesh where they had been cried out from the loss of warmth.

"Never hurts to check," he said. He looked askance at Takigawa, still dabbing his nose.

"If the camera is set up, we should set up a few in the catacombs. Mai, you head back and get one of the cots out and take a rest. I'll get you back to work when your color returns."

"That's unexpectedly nice of you," I said, making a show of squinting my eyes at him and crossing my arms.

I got that 'you're stupid' look for that. "Your shaking and you're so white you're almost purple. I'd say it's extra precaution, because you look like you'd drop the first camera I gave you."

Which may or may not be true, but it was still kind of a fuzzy moment to be told to get some rest by Professor Ice.

I stopped by Father Brown for a second to get directions, then I was on my way. The catacombs, even as modern as they, were a lot creepier on my own. I kept looking over my shoulder, wondering if I'd see that boy again. Because it hadn't seemed like a vision to me. It had seemed ultra real, in Technicolor. I didn't remember being unconscious or what. And that unnerved me. That something could reach in and switch me off without so much as a squeak from me. It was the equivalent of a buttload of invisible snipers hidden about me at all times ready to shot me with a moose tranquilizer at the drop of a dime.

The feeling lessened a bit as I made it up the steep staircase and into the sunlit chapel above. Past the altar and through the open air of the arches, I felt I could finally breathe deeply. It was warmer up here. Less claustrophobic.

Since my legs still shook and my stomach wasn't too happy for me, I took a seat in the front bench, which also happened to be bathed in noon or afternoon sunlight. I shuddered as the warm wood pressed through my clothes. I closed my eyes, trying to push that warmth to the shivering in my legs and arms, even bringing up my legs and spreading myself out to get to more sunlight.

Which left me staring straight up into a painting on a concave square of the ceiling, which was directly above the altar.

I didn't know enough to know who stood there, but a man did, dressed in billowing white and red robes, his hands spread out and people reaching, some of them even crawling, to get to him. Clouds and other embellishments I couldn't quite make out surrounded him. Cream and gold accented and embraced the mural.

Yes. It was beautiful, I thought. Beautiful in such a way that the gold and scarlet room below had somehow lost along the way. Even with the one or two crawlers on there. The people didn't look desperate, however. The expressions on their faces were…from what I could tell from this distance, euphoric.

"Wonder if that's him," I murmured to myself, even as I closed my eyes to feel the sunlight on my lids.

Next thing I knew, somebody was snapping their fingers in front of my face, waking me from my warm, half-formed dream where the mural had started to move and the people had finally reached the angelic man. They had been shaking his hands and hugging him like a celebrity.

The cool, glacier blue gaze of my professor stared down.

"I suppose you couldn't bring yourself to unfold a cot," he said.

I pouted at his bland displeasure. "The sun had been out, it was warm. I was freezing."

My stomach gurgled. Loudly.

I put an arm across it and sat up, face flushed.

"Well, we haven't had lunch," I said.

"We had some sandwiches while you slept," he said, which got me all sorts of left out puppy feelings. "I figured if I let you sleep, I'd be more likely to get more information that way. Stop looking at me like that, there's one left for you in the fridge."

I wrinkled my nose at him anyways. "You could have some sort of gooey pity feelings for the girl who just had her first whatever the hell that was and vomited all over class S carpet."

The corner of his mouth twitched, but nothing more. "Probably not the best thing to swear while you're in a church."

"They talk about hell all the time here. And just so you know, the only dream I had was about the mural up there sort of coming to life." I pointed up, and he followed my finger.

"How so?" he asked.

"Well, nobody was crawling, for one. They had just reached him, that's all." I yawned, rubbing my growling tummy. "Wasn't even that vivid."

I gave him a moment to look at it before deciding I didn't want to wait on him to lead me to my holy sandwich. I remembered where the kitchen was anyways.

On the other side of the wall, where the chapel ended and something more industrial began, Father Brown caught sight of me and sped up.

"How are you feeling?" he asked with that ever-present, easy smile.

"Like I could eat my own arm," I said. It came out rather darkly and his smile wavered. "Nothing like that. Sorry, I haven't…had that much experience in a chapel. I didn't mean anything bad."

He nodded, as though he had already figured that. "Well, kitchen is to the right just up here. There should be a bottle of milk and a subway sandwich almost as big as your arm. Hopefully, that will be satisfying enough."

And once I found it, it was. I found the clean, disconnected feeling of the industrial-like kitchen rather comfortable after walking through dead bodies and staring at paintings, so I sat on the counter by a warm window and munched away. Thank heavens I was nauseous anymore. Best not to think about it, just in case it called all that sick back home.

At some point, Takigawa poked his head in. His nose had stopped bleeding, that was good, even though it still looked red and a little swollen.

"Ah! There you are," he slid through, letting the door close behind him and almost skipped to me. "Thought you'd gone on and raided the sacrament cupboards without me. I hear they use those vanilla wafer things for it."

I rolled my eyes. "I like to think I have some sense of respect and reverence, which you should have, being the whole religious battery of ours." I hesitated. "Sorry about your nose."

"Sorry about your head," he said, flicking a fingertip out to brush over a part of my forehead I hadn't notice was sore. As soon as it came, his hand vanished, back into hoodie pockets. "You gonna be alright?"

"If I don't get tranqed by my so call clairvoyance, yeah." I swallowed what was in my mouth and chased it down with some milk.

"Yeah, that was kinda spooky. You just dropped. I was afraid you hit your head. Good thing you seemed to hit the rug, though, it was soft enough."

I shrugged. He watched me for a few seconds as I bit into the last fourth of my sandwich and chewed away.

"I still think we should take you to a doctor," he said, quietly.

"Na—the Professor seems to think I'm fine enough," I said around some lettuce.

"He's not a doctor though. Mai…you really did scare me there."

I met his serious gaze and swallowed, feeling a bit ashamed, which was dumb because I hadn't had any control over the whole passing out thing.

"I'm sorry. But I do feel fine. Fantastic now that I've gotten some food. Just seems like a bad dream."

"Has that ever happened to you before?"

I shook my head with another swallow of milk. Had milk always tasted this good? Dang.

He looked at me in concern for a moment longer, than shook it off and smiled.

"We're all gonna sleep in the same room tonight. How 'bout you push up your cot next to mine? I'll keep you nice and cozy all night."

I almost choked on my sandwich but managed to not react too violently and give him my best sardonic smile.

"Sorry, lover boy, but I doubt the prof would allow it."

"It's not like he's our chaperone. We're not kids. And I won't do anything because, well, he'll be in there. I have enough tact not to work my romance with a professor in the room." His smile widened. "Though, I might make an exception on your part if you're just extra cuddly."

"No." I said.

He blanched. "So quickly? Not even a moment of thought?"

I swallowed some more milk to wash away the need to cough before answering. "If you had been listening, dude, I said I had issues. One of those issues is trust. I ain't sliding into any guy's bed unless I know him like the back of my hand." Or rather, I knew he wouldn't be leaving my side anytime soon. Gal, I really was developing into that clingy kind of girl, wasn't I?

For a brief moment, I thought he might bring up our last case, where Naru and I had slept in the same bed in order to watch out for each other, since we had both been suicidal due to the haunting of the place.

But he must not have known about that, because he said, "Fine. I won't even touch you. You'll be in your own cot and everything. Just next to me?"

"You know the Prof will probably have me up all night watching the cameras anyways, right?"

That actually got him to deflate.

"Rain on my parade," he sighed. "Fine, can I hug you at least?"

"Where's all this need to be touchy coming from?" It was a bit alarming. At least I had finished my sandwich.

He hesitated for a moment, his smile weakening a bit.

"I'm not some kind of horn dog or…" he paused, sighing. "Look, you just…really scared me back there. Maybe I'm just being pathetic. So I…I kind of want to hold you until I know for sure you're not going to, I don't know, freeze up or die or something…"

He was looking at the floor at this point, and I would have too. But instead, I threw back what was left of my milk and licked my lips as I examined the gold gleam of sunlight in his hair. Something within me quivered.

Tossing my empty milk body into a nearby trash bin, I slid off the counter and awkwardly slipped my arms around his chest.

"Look, I can't remember the last time I hugged anybody," but he cut me off with a hard embrace, pressing me to a broad chest of warm hoodie and wrapping me in the smell of some kind of men's bodywash, which always smelled good. He also smelt of something nut like, like peanuts or baked pecans. It was a warm, heady sort of scent.

When I felt his cheek atop my head, I knew he wouldn't be letting go anytime soon.

It wasn't like I was anti-touching or anything. I just…hadn't had a lot of opportunities to be hugged or touched in any sort of intimate way. Even as my insides squirmed at the strange, awkwardness of it all, I had to admit that being hugged was, well, pretty nice. Especially after being so chilled by the chapel's basement.

Takigawa pulled away sooner than he thought he would.

"Thanks, and sorry if I made you uncomfortable," his face was a little flushed and he couldn't quite meet my eye.

"It's fine." And it was. I gave him my widest grin. "Hugs are kinda nice, I think. Maybe I'll ask for more."

That got him to smile. "I'll hold you anytime."

"If you're both done, we still have tests to run."

I stiffened and Takigawa let go of me like I was fire.

Standing in the doorway, having not made a sound of hinge or foot, was Professor Davis, expression cold an dry as ever, if a little exasperated.

For some reason, that made all my insides get all uncomfortable and squirmy. I didn't want him to see me being so close to Takigawa. What if he thought—but did it even matter?

No. Not really. Him and I were still negative two and ten, after all.

The prof jerked his chin over his shoulder, obviously expecting us to follow after him, and left. Takigawa and I wasted no time and he managed to catch the door before it closed completely.

"That guy needs to get laid," Takigawa muttered.

I had to smile at that.