Chibi-Kari: Wow. I got that out pretty fast, although it was harder than I thought it would be. It was hard writing these two characters together…they don't have much interaction normally, especially in my fics. I don't own, but I hope that everyone still in enjoys!

Alive Part 2

Chapter 6

Mai stumbled back from the steps. Her legs were shaking as she continued her backwards decent from the stairs. Her feet pounded heavily as she hit the sidewalk. Somewhere in her mind she knew she was about to fall into oncoming traffic, but her feet wouldn't stop no matter how hard she commanded them to. She couldn't control her body; she could barely hear or see the world around her. It was if she was covered in a film, obscuring but not completely taking away all her senses. All Mai could do was brace herself for what she hoped wouldn't be death by being run down in London.

Suddenly she stopped. Sound flooded back into her with the startling protest of a car horn. She could feel the air from the passing cab tousle her clothes and hair. It had been close. Looking to her right, she came face to face with Lin. His visible eye was widened as he kept a firm grip around her waist. They stayed glued firmly to the sidewalk for a moment. Mai almost leaning off the curb, Lin's arm the only thing keeping her off the main street. After a moment more, Lin tugged her onto the sidewalk, away from the cars barrelling down Marylebone Road.

Taking a shaky breath, Mai started to straighten out her clothes, "What are you doing out here, Lin?" Although her voice was shaking, she tried to play off the incident as if it hadn't happened. It was worth a shot. Lin was never the confrontational type…that was more Naru's speed.

"I believe the better question is what you are doing here." Lin's voice was a lot calmer than Mai's had been, but she knew that when he was measuring his words that he was truly angry. He would shout when Naru really pushed his buttons, but there were a few times when he was absolutely furious and she heard those deceptively calm tones. That was when Lin was really dangerous. Of course it had never really been directed at her before. The worst she had ever gotten from him was cold and unfeeling.

Of course being Mai, his anger just made her angry. She straightened her shoulders. He couldn't say where she came and went. She wasn't a little girl. "The library." She pointed just up the road to where the library was.

Lin didn't even bother looking towards where she pointed. "Hmm."

Without any notice, he grabbed her by the elbow and started pulling her down the street with him. She glanced at him nervously. Maybe he was bringing her to the library. They were going in that direction. Very quickly, she realized that was most definitely not happening. He continued to drag her down the road, crossing over Baker Street before pulling her into a decent sized pub. It was crowed, but not enough to make it hard to hear each other.

Lin called over to the bartender, "Pint of Carlsberg for me and a coke for her."

Mai felt her mouth fall slack. "You're drinking?" First of all it was early and second, she'd never seen Lin take a drink in his entire life.

Lin sighed and shook his head slightly. "We aren't on a case, it's after one, and I think I'm going to need it to listen to you."

Mai's eyes narrowed. What did he think he knew? Her story was solid and he couldn't have seen anything. Not that it was even his business.

The bartender placed the drinks in front of them and Lin spared a glance his way before turning to Mai. "Let's start with telling me why you were at an abandoned hospital."

Mai calmed herself. Lin couldn't know anything, but he was much more irritating and inquisitive now than when she knew him before. He never used to ask questions. He never tried to get in her business. Hell, she practically handed him the truth about what she was going to do for Gene on a silver plate and he pretended not to know a thing. "Going to the library…just like I said."

Lin's eyes narrowed and Mai started to question just how much he had seen. Could he have followed her? No. She was normally good about knowing that sort of thing. Instincts or something like that. "I don't take kindly to being lied to."

"Well it's a good thing I'm not lying, then." She leaned back in the booth and took a sip of her coke. Persistence was Naru's forte, never Lin's. Surely his whole personality couldn't have changed. She'd just have to stick to her deny plan. It wasn't like she was ever going to that God forsaken place again. She'd dealt with a lot in her life-before and after the bargain-but whatever was there terrified her.

"You do realize I'm not stupid, don't you Mai?" It was a simple question, but she could now tell he was more than fishing. He did know something and he was playing with her. If he wanted to say something he should just say it.

Mai ground her teeth harshly. She could feel the resentment bubbling up in her. Why did he care? He never cared before. He didn't care when they worked together. He didn't care when they left her alone in Japan. He didn't care at all. And now. Now that she saved Gene and has some interesting powers, he thinks he can just waltz in her life and care. She could take care of herself, despite what everyone thought. And he didn't know her. Despite thinking he did and spending the few outings and sessions with him; he would never know her. Know what she had been through. "I didn't know we were questioning your intelligence, just your listening skills."

Lin's hand slammed on the table and Mai couldn't stop herself from jumping in response. "You always thought you were sneakier than you ever were, but nonetheless, you go behind people's backs and do stupid things." Mai made to protest this, but Lin just continued. "You will let me finish. It's about time that someone told you this because no one else seems to want to. We've let you get away with acting like this for too long. Gene, because he wants to keep you by him. Noll, simply because he's trying his hardest to pay you back. Luella, Martin, Madoka, and everyone else, because they know you have a good heart and adore you for it. But someone needs to tell you that you'll get yourself killed one of these days." Lin brought his hand up to his brow and started to rub furiously.

Mai couldn't stop the guilt that was starting to push away the resentment. She had scared him. "I just got a little dizzy and lost my balance while going to the library. Really, Lin. Sorry I scared you."

Lin just closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "I was standing across the street when my shiki informed me you were standing by the hospital. I looked up and you had walked directly up the steps and had your hands on the door. Would you like to try again?"

"I thought the red brick was pretty? And I got dizzy because I looked straight up to see the top of the building?" Okay. So he knew a lot more than she thought. Hell, he obviously knew a lot more than he was even telling her now.

"How about you were attacked not dizzy?" Lin leaned forward and watched her closely. Something about this wasn't sitting well with him. Lying to him was normal, but to this extreme? She hadn't done that before.

Mai laughed. "I wasn't attacked. If there's one thing I'm good at knowing it's when I'm going to get attacked."

Lin stared at her silently for a moment. "You were attacked. My shiki aren't wrong about that. Something powerful sent you backwards."

Mai furrowed her brow as she shook her head defiantly. "No. I would have known."

"You were. Why didn't you stop once you got pushed?" Lin seemed just as confused as Mai felt.

"I wasn't pushed. I just." She tried to piece together the feelings in her head. "I just couldn't stop. I couldn't hear anything. I couldn't really see anything. I just couldn't stop. I knew there were cars, but I couldn't stop." The fear she felt standing there had returned. Mai tried to focus on her hands. There were shaking, yet she couldn't quite understand why. This all seemed so surreal, like it wasn't really happening. Not to her. "I-" She didn't know what to say.

"How did it feel?" Lin waited a moment, but Mai stayed silent. "What did you feel?" This was important. He knew Mai didn't make it a habit to just walk up to old buildings. Something must have been calling her. She was too untrained and much too powerful, so of course that would call to the darkness. Lin also knew she wasn't stupid, so whatever had called her there wasn't honest with its intentions at first or maybe at all and it was most certainly powerful. She did seem genuine in her confusion which meant that it was somehow able to hide it's actions. That made this entire situation extremely dangerous.

"Scared. Like nothing I've never felt before. When I was there...it was worse than Urado. I've-I've never been so scared, not even during the bargain." Mai's eyes still hadn't risen from her shaking hands.

Lin had to force himself to stay on the subject when he heard the word bargain. The only thing she could be referring to was Gene. He still didn't know how she did what she did, although he had asked once. Her lips were sealed on the subject. She didn't even respond when he had asked. The little he did know about it amounted to what Gene had told him and what he had heard from Lillian, a seer that was being trained under Dr. Davis. The first time she saw Mai was still etched into his mind. Lillian was a strong woman who had been and seen so much in her life that they were concerned she was growing callous. But that fear was wiped away the first time she laid her eyes on Mai. When Martin went to introduce the two, the woman broke down into tears mumbling about the water before turning and running down the hall. After that, she wouldn't be in the same room as Mai. But whatever the bargain and the water were, it wasn't what was important now. Whatever was in that hospital had lured Mai there once and with her luck, it would get her there again. He'd just have to keep her away. He promised himself that once he found her again he would take responsibility for her. "Calm down. It's okay. You're safe."

Mai's eyes locked with his, "Don't tell them what happened. Please. Gene won't let me out alone again. Everyone, they'll be so disappointed I did this. I won't go again."

It went against his better judgement, but she was really starting to panic. "Fine, but no more secrets from me." He certainly could tell that whatever was there had been enough to scare her off. It seemed that it showed its cards much too early.

Mai nodded. The deal would have to stand for now.

TBC