For Ms. Bat & ToxiNeena, who is about to have an awesome new story out that you should read.
"Mai! Slow down! You just woke up, you need to rest a little, or at least talk to Ayako first—" Takigawa huffed, nearly tripping over the edge of a rug as he struggled to keep up with Mai. She had emerged only moments before from her room, clearly coherent and alert, and muttering about Naru and danger and promises.
"No time!" She yelled back.
"Mai!" He caught up to her grabbing her arm. "What's going on?"
"I know!" Her eyes were feverish, but with a tint of clarity, as if she was a fortuneteller in a trance.
"You…what?"
"I know where Naru is."
His hand fell from her arm.
"Why the hell are we just standing here? Downstairs, now! Go, get the team ready! Go, go, go—!"
He jumped in front of her, bounding down the stairs to collect the team into some form of organized assembly. They could not have known, as they readied themselves with flashlights and prayers and John's quiet kiss to the cross, what surprises the night held in its arms.
The Kuriyami mansion floated above the cliffs, glittering like a golden, sugared orb in the darkness above the sonorous waves.
Shadowed figures walked along a spectacularly long crooked wooden staircase that clung to the cliff walls. The wind was strong that night as it pummeled and shook the stairs.
"Mai? Are you sure about this?" Ayako shouted up against the wind to Mai, who was leading the group down the steps.
"Gene said he was here." Mai called back, her knuckles straining white as she gripped the handrail.
"But you told us Gene said he was in the caves!"
"Yeah, he did, but this is the entrance, here!" She pointed ahead to where the stairs evened out in a small platform. The moon peeked out from behind a cloud and a stray beam lit up the cliffs, illuminating a large gaping hole in the face of the sheer rock. The group gathered tentatively in the front, darkness pooling at their feet from the maw of the cave entrance.
They were all dressed haphazardly, a product of having rushed together and organized a rescue mission in under ten minutes. Kasai wore the least conspicuous clothing he owned, jeans and a light button down shirt with the sleeves rolled up. His arms crossed solemnly, his curled hair blew in the wind. Miyu stood beside him in jeans, plain white shirt and a black cardigan, fiddling nervously with her hands, the wind brushing her dark hair across her anxious face.
"Ready?" Lin asked, his eyes darting through the group. All nodded. "Mai, Takigawa, Kurayami-san and Brown-san will enter the caves. If we are not back in exactly one hour, Masako, Ayako and I will send our strongest spells ahead of us before entering. With luck, we will find Naru by morning. We will proceed with cautious optimism, but I withhold all comforts. Tonight will be dangerous, there is no denying it. I doubt that whatever has Naru will be very cooperative to let him go. We must take it down with everything we've got."
With his ominous statement, the group solemnly prepared to part ways. Lin placed a comforting hand on Mai's shoulder. "I will send my shiki to protect you for as long as I can."
"Thank you…" She hugged him, a passage of trust from friend to friend, between the two who had the most to lose if Naru remained missing. Takigawa and Ayako shook hands, their eyes never leaving the other's, before he leaned forward and said something quietly in her ear, drowned out by the wind, and then he turned away and joined Mai at the mouth of the cave. John and Masako traded items, a rosary and fan, two items they held in the luckiest regard.
Kasai moved to follow them, but Miyu grabbed his arm.
"Kasai, I—don't go. Please. I have a bad feeling about this."
"Miyu, he's in danger because of me. I called them here. It's my responsibility to go—"
"No, you don't understand." She shook her head emphatically, her eyes tearing up. "There's something evil down there. It already got Hinata—Kasai, please…I—it can't take you too…" She wrapped her arms around him. He was surprised by how small they were. He set down his bag and brought her closer.
"Kasai, I—you know, I—"
"I know." He tightened his grip, and as he rested his chin on the top of her head and a draft of her scent passed by his nose, his eyes snapped open. How had it slipped his notice, in everything that had happened? How had he not appreciated the fact that every night she had come to his room to comfort him, not realized that he had always anticipated the moment that she laid her hand on his arm in sympathy, or that whenever Hinata passed by, and he smelled sunlight, it was really the smell of Miyu clinging to her? How could he not have seen—of course—
"Miyu, I—" He was cut off as she pushed her face to meet his. She tasted like what he imagined the moon and stars would, of something indescribable and pure, of something wonderful and shining and bright. She broke away first, words tumbling from her mouth.
"I know that was out of line, and I'll feel sorry later. I know I'm not Hinata, but I care about you a great deal and Kasai, if you don't come back, I swear I'll—" He pulled her to him, wanting to remember what the night—what she— tasted like. He had to, if he never got another chance.
"It's you, Miyu." He said, as it hit him, a sudden implosion of epiphany. "It's always been you…I just—I never realized..." His fingers ran over hers, her hands clenched in his. "I'll be back. You can take my word on it." He looked at her once more, his eyes scanning every inch of her face before he turned and entered the cave. She watched as the darkness swallowed him whole.
How cruel was it of fate that he realized his feelings for her on that destined night, not knowing of what, in just past an hour's time, would greet him.
Mai led the trio through the cave, walking as if she knew exactly where she was, where she was going. Lin's shiki, sent as protection, floated beside them, flying around their ankles and floating in the air. Although they were a welcomed presence, she ignored them. Her vision was narrow, she had only one goal, and one alone, and then she would think about what would happen after. Finding Naru was the one thing that mattered to her. She was cold and perhaps a bit scared, but as long as she found him, none of it mattered.
She knew he was alive. Something in her heart kept whispering to her that he was, pumping reassurance through her blood. The feeling of clarity she had earlier in the caves was back. She just hoped if her eyes did glow again, it wouldn't freak any of the group out too much.
They had walked through the first antechamber already. If she remembered correctly, they had passed through three before coming to the one that branched into four tunnels. Of course, that had been an entirely different section of the tunnels, but they couldn't be sure of where they had entered after the well flooded.
They all walked in silence, burdened by the uncertainties the night held. Suddenly, the path sloped downward drastically. Takigawa nearly tripped over himself to stop from tumbling down.
"Mai," Kasai said quietly. "Was this here before?"
She shook her head.
"Do you want to continue?" John asked. She nodded, staring down into blackness, before taking the first step and leading them down.
The trail evened out near the bottom, opening into a giant chamber. Lin's shiki flew into the room, floating in large blue-white orbs and illuminating a large, dark silhouette on the ground.
"Naru!" She rushed up to his prone form, turning him onto his back. He was too still. His face was too pale. "Naru, please, talk to me." He didn't respond, his face blank, an unconscious slate. She felt her heart turn inside itself. "Naru—" She placed her hands on his face.
His eyes snapped open at her touch and she gasped. His hand shot up and grabbed her wrist, his grip unnaturally tight and harsh.
"Naru, you—your eyes." She gaped as she stared into bright crimson eyes, mirrors of the ones she had seen in her dreams. The one that heralded the arrival of immeasurable pain, of immense suffering. Those eyes that were the very color of blood that would soon be spilt.
He looked at her with the curiosity of an animal that has seen something it does not comprehend, and, in the space of a heartbeat, he leapt at her, tackling her to the ground. She felt his hands scratch at her face before his long fingers closed around her throat.
"N-Naru, please—"
"Beg for your pitiful life." His voice was harsh, scratchy, unlike his own. The demon was using him as a puppet, a channel for its own actions.
She would not acquiesce. If this thing would kill her, she would not give it the satisfaction it wanted. She eased her grip on his collar and stared at him. His hands tightened. As she felt her throat close, she shut her eyes. She knew Naru was in there somewhere. She knew he was fighting. She had faith in him, that he'd win.
This was the way it had to be. This was it. No going back.
"MAI!"
Suddenly his weight was gone, thrown off her. Her eyes snapped open and she struggled for breath, choking and gasping. Takigawa had Naru pinned against the ground; the demon had failed to consider that Takigawa was larger and stronger than its host.
"John, now!" He shouted, struggling and sweating as Naru thrashed against him. John rushed forward, opening his Bible to a bookmarked page and he began to read.
"Exorcizo te, omnis spiritus immunde, in nomine Dei Patris omnipotentis, et in noimine Jesu Christi Filii ejus—" John pressed his cross to Naru's forehead and Naru arched up, scraping at the stone floor until his nails were bloody. His tongue clicked and thrust against his teeth in an unnatural way, as if something were trying to pry itself out of his body through his mouth.
"Domini et Judicis nostri, et in virtute Spiritus Sancti, ut descedas ab hoc plasmate Dei, quod Dominus noster ad templum sanctum suum vocare dignatus est, ut fiat templum Dei vivi—" Naru buried his bloodied fingers into Takigawa's arms. The monk shouted in pain, but held firm.
"—Et Spiritus Sanctus habitet in eo. Per eumdem Christum Dominum nostrum, qui venturus est judicare vivos et mortuos—" A vicious scream tore from Naru's throat, a shrill, high scream of agony from some other plane or some other time; the scream of evil as it's defeated, the sound of Satan's damning cry as he fell from Heaven.
"–Et saeculum per ignem." Naru collapsed, unconscious, and John sighed, wiping at the sweat on his face before crossing himself.
It had all been done and over with in under a minute. Lin had warned them it would be quick, but Mai was still thunderstruck. Her neck ached where Naru—no—the demon's hands had been wrapped around it, and her clothes were torn in places and bloody. If Naru had overreacted at her conditions before, she did not want him to see her now.
"It's okay. We'll rest for a moment. There's still time." John sighed, brushing back his blonde hair.
Mai nodded then crawled beside Naru, placing his head in her lap. She softly stroked his temple, brushing away at some of his hair that was matted with dirt and dried sweat. She hoped the storm was over, but at least for now she could rest.
Naru stared at the opposite wall, Mai's head resting on his shoulder. He had almost been too afraid to move her, to touch her, when he awoke in the night, for fear that the demon return any sort of connection he made.
She had given her mortality to him. He had watched, behind a transparent wall, someplace between himself and the demon, as she refused to fight, even as his hands tightened around her throat. Her eyes bore into him, snagged the deepest parts of his heart, and crushed every part of him. She would have let him kill her. She must've trusted him to overcome, to realize what he was doing, and she had been prepared to die if it was required.
She amazed him. Her trust was immeasurable, priceless, and her loyalty even more so. How could he have made himself so weak, so hospitable to the demon's needs, that he allow this to happen? She was so much better than him; his actions showed too obviously that he didn't trust her as she did him. He stared at the wall, his eyes hard, determined. This night had shown that he needed to change. He was going to trust her with all he had and he was going to prove that she had been right in trusting him. He refused to let the events of night happen again.
The image of her surrendering to him played over and over in his mind as he laid a hand on the side of her face. He felt unworthy, dirty, touching her. She was prepared to give her life for him, and although he would gladly do the same, he felt as if he had failed her. He had not protected her as he had resolved to before. In fact, he had done the opposite. He had attacked her. He had let a moment of blind jealousy control him, and it was all the demon had needed to control him. How could he call Gene his brother if he let petty, out of context remarks affect him so drastically? How could he have put Mai's life at stake for one comment?
He needed to be stronger than that.
"Can you move?" Takigawa asked as Mai and John finished dressing Naru's wounds. They had managed to fashion a handmade sling for him out of the materials in their bags, and it would have to do until they left the caves.
"Yes, I think so." He stood, Mai supporting one side, his good arm draped over her shoulders.
"The incline isn't too steep…" John surmised, looking upwards. "It will be a little difficult, but it is scalable. Mai, do you think you can help Naru up?"
She nodded, gripping his hand warmly. He stared at the scratch marks on her face, roughly the size of a human's.
Nearly half an hour later, they emerged from the caves to the cool, salty sea air. Miyu nearly knocked Kasai over as she hugged him and Ayako let go of the handrail, her hands red from holding onto it. Masako took the rosary from her pocket and traded it in for her beloved fan. Lin was already at Naru and Mai's side, helping him to sit down.
"Can we go back to the house now? I want to go to bed sometime tonight." Takigawa sighed with a tired smile.
"Of course." Kasai replied as he unattached himself from Miyu. "The quickest way is down the stairs and across the harbor. My father can send a shuttle to pick us up."
Takigawa teared up at the thought of not having to walk up the stairs.
The sands of the beach were pale underneath the moon as they reached the harbor. Past the bottom of the staircase, leading to the beach, was a tiny coppice of cherry blossoms and anemones, beautifully highlighted in the moonlight.
The group walked across the quiet beach, exhausted but content. The houses and huts along the beach were quiet, everyone asleep in the violet hours between night and morning. Naru gripped Mai's hand tightly, his bandage rough against her palm. The sea was calmer now, in that hour before dawn, the water as black and silky as the sky above. Fishing boats bobbed quietly in the harbor.
Suddenly, the moon was too bright, like the light encapsulated in the shock wave of an explosion.
"What's happening?" Someone called.
The wind stirred briefly then pitched itself into a hurricane, exploding and howling around them as it sent sand and ocean spray into the air. They were trapped in the eye of a hurricane, only one spot of the moon visible above them, everything around them a flurry of wetness and sand and chaos.
Then, as suddenly as it began, the hurricane ceased, retreating back into the water. The group lowered their arms from their faces.
"What the—"
The sky turned grey, the air pregnant with a sickly tint of yellow, of dust and pollen and debris.
Decadence greeted their eyes, all around them.
The dock was now a decrepit, collapsed pile of molded wood, the boats in the harbor half-sunken and bobbing in the water like pathetic, forgotten buoys. The houses were crumbling in various states of decay, with roofs caving in and walls with large gaping holes in the cement. Past the houses, leveled ground replaced the mansion on a hill, covered in long, collapsing skyscrapers in neat lines along abandoned, grey avenues. A voice spoke from the sky, deep and scratched.
"Welcome to hell."