14AmyChan: I felt bad for the cliffhanger on the last chapter, so I decided to at least try to update quickly
Naru: This chapter is shorter than the last.
14AmyChan: Thank you, captain obvious!
Mai: hey, that wasn't there before!
Naru: *his forehead reads "Captain Obvious" on it, in English*
Mai: What does it say?
Naru: *covers 14AmyChan's mouth* it says that Chan-san does not own Ghost Hunt.
14AmyChan: *plotting revenge*
Mai was lost, her emotions swirling about her like an active tornado. She felt as though she were being sucked in, suffocated. She was drowning in endless pleas for mercy. Unending cries for help.
Help us… please help us…! My crew…
It's not fair…!
Lend me your body; I want to tell my mother…!
Me first…!
I don't want to die yet…!
…cannot escape…!
…a woman has wronged me… make her pay…!
Mai hit her knees, hands pressed solidly on her ears, desperately attempting to tune out these extremely potent feelings and voices. Each as strong, each as powerful. Each having a tug on her mind and soul, pulling it in several directions. She pleaded silently that this burden of multitudes be lifted from her. Her head felt as if it were about to be split in two.
"I can't… one at a time… please, don't… I can't… too many…" Mai's voice came out cracked and burdened. In its hoarseness, her pleas seemed even more desperate. Still, the voices did not listen, but rather clamored about her all the more excitedly and urgently.
You must help…!
No one else can hear…!
…save us…!
I beg of you… my mother…!
"Please, I don't know how… please…" Mai whispered as the voices roared louder, each one desperate to be heard. Tears sprung to Mai's eyes, her heart grieving for each soul lost. She knew that these were the spirits whose lives had been taken by the sea. Yet the information did her no good, the spirits would not relent. A few of them even reached out for her, starting to drag her across the floor, inch by agonizing inch.
Too desperate were they for help.
A sharp whistle interrupted the cascade of voices, emotions, and memories. Many of the spirits screamed or hissed as they were forced to retreat, warded off by five blinding balls of light. As the pain subsided, Mai felt an eerie calm wash over her. She looked up and about herself.
Observing once more.
She found herself once more in the realm of colors and shapes. Pressing in, all around her, were many colors. From rustic reds to earthy browns. There were sunny yellows and downtrodden oranges. The colors were mostly warm, except for the six that were right in front of her.
A tall figure, thin in appearance yet bright in color, stood before her. A silvery grey figure that seemed connected to the other five—all of which were bright balls of vibrant color, each different in its own right. Each of them seemed to be pushing the mass of color back, forcing it away from the center of the room where she sat. Streams of light connected each ball of fiery energy to its master, who stood tall before her.
Her, Mai, who was no longer in pain. A new emotion filled her—one that was new in this realm, yet familiar to her very nature.
Gratitude.
Where am I…? asked a voice to her subconscious. Instinctively, Mai turned her head to where the voice came from. It was familiar to her, familiar as her own heartbeat, yet not her own.
Rough texture… is it wood…? The splinters must mean this is very old, or at the very least not taken care of very well… the voice pondered. Deep and male, Mai wanted to move towards this voice, to help it answer the questions it seemed to be projecting subconsciously. Mai felt herself move towards this voice, yet one of the bright balls of color stopped her short.
Enter confusion.
This ball had saved her from the mass of color, which still seemed to be throbbing at the edges of the room, itching to get at her. Mai looked towards this ball, carefully analyzing it and taking in its appearance. She was here to observe anything. To sense anything.
It was blue, and she could tell that it was the weakest of the five balls of energy, its simple motions—steadily bobbing to the side, as if limping—were a confirmation of that hypothesis. It kept edging her back, yet she felt no threat from it, rather, that this was a guidance. A guidance that she immediately trusted.
Knowing that this force was not trying to hurt her, the only possibility left—from the fact that it was moving her rather than letting her be—was that it was in some way attempting to assist her. So, trusting this ball of energy, Mai allowed herself to be backed to where the ball wanted her to go.
I see… this must be the—
"Taniyama-san?" Lin's voice cut off the voice that had just resonated in her head. Mai snapped up and into attention, surprised when she found the tall Chinese man before her, his revealed eye concerned.
Mai took a few deep breathes to calm herself and forced herself to smile.
"What happened to you?" Lin asked curtly. He had a sneaking suspicion that the spirits that had entered the room en masse—overloading the simple wards that Oliver had had him make the day before—had caused her little episode, but what could have kept her out of her body for so long? He had, of course, ordered his shiki to keep the spirits away from Mai so she could return.
However, when one of his shiki had informed him that Mai's consciousness had begun to sink into the floor, he had ordered it to gently guide her back into her body. There was only so long he could keep this amount of spirits—however low of a level they may be—at bay.
"I heard Naru. He's somewhere with wood and a lot of splinters. He didn't seem to know where he was, so I'm guessing it was pretty dark and enclosed. But, if he didn't know where he was, then he was probably—"
"Kidnapped," Lin re-stated, already knowing this information. So the kidnapper had not only injured one of his shiki, but had also rendered Oliver unconscious. He wondered just how strong this spirit they were dealing with was. Or how cunning.
"…and we still don't know where he is—" Mai cut herself off with a sharp gasp. She looked as though she were about to bolt from the room and make some rash decision or another, so Lin put a firm hand on her shoulder—much like he would do with Oliver should he do something similarly rash.
"What is it, Taniyama-san?" Lin asked tersely. He did not need any half-based reactions based on gut feelings that could hurt either them or their chances of finding their missing leader. Come to think of it…
"Masako, she should have been here by now," Mai pointed out frantically, her eyes not loosing sight of the door she had been about to rush out of seconds ago. She still felt the urge to run to their room and check on her friend, but a sinking feeling in her gut told her that the famous medium would not be there.
"We will check Hara-san's sleeping quarters. If she is not there, we will search the house for both her and Oliver," Lin stated, falling on the most logical course of action. Yes, his shiki had been injured, but that was all he knew to be true without a doubt.
Do not mistake him, it was not that he doubted Mai; it was that he did not know the extent of her abilities or which ones could be fully relied upon at that time. She should not have been able to hear Oliver in real time, and as far as Lin knew she did not possess telekinesis or any power of the sort.
For that to even be remotely possible, Noll would have had to create the connection, given Taniyama-san's inexperience in such a field. And even then, she would have had to been receptive to it… Lin pondered for a moment, and then shook his head. He would worry about the telekinetic part of this problem later. For now, he and Mai had to stick together to find their missing teammates.
Lin allowed Mai to lead the way, if nothing else than for her impeccable judgment.
Naru found himself sporting a great headache when he did, in fact, awake. He had awoken about half an hour ago, and had been searching for an exit to this place the entire time. He questioned how he had gotten here, who was behind this, and why they would target him specifically. Usually, the target was Mai…
The only clues the young man could find that indicated where he might be included his concrete surroundings and the rough wooden texture above his head. He could not see his surroundings, for it was too dark. He could walk around, but only just. Practically doubled over at the waist, he found he could not stand upright and made movement a touch more difficult.
If I could only find a weak spot in the wood, perhaps I can break through… Naru supposed. His hands already bore a few splinters from the said wood, from feeling his way around, and he supposed it safe enough to at least try.
He crouched down even further to allow himself some leverage against the ceiling above him. Placing his palms flat against the obviously old and worn surface, he pushed up with as much strength as he could. The structure groaned unhappily, and Naru could feel the weight that this seemingly weak board actually held up.
Naru relented in his effort for now.
I wonder what's on top of this wood… he mused as he continued to explore, searching for a way out of the mess he did not even know how he ended up in.
Mai and Lin returned to the base, fruitless in their search for either Masako or Naru. Thankfully, Mai had not been 'attacked' by the spirits again, and she supposed she had Lin and his shiki to thank for that.
Then again, the man would probably not need two missing and one invalid team member to care for.
There has to be some way to find them… Mai thought seriously as she plopped on the couch, lost in her train of thought, desperate for a way to help. They had checked everywhere. Every bedroom, every bathroom, every hallway, every public gathering spot in the house. Heck, they had even tried the basement and the attic!
And still there had been no trace of the missing ghost experts.
Think… What would Naru do… Usually I fall asleep at this point, so I don't even know… Mai sighed, feeling useless for a moment when the answer suddenly came to her.
"That's it! I'll just fall asleep! Maybe I can dream and figure out where they are!" Mai exclaimed happily, proud of herself for finding a way to gather information. She was, however, interrupted before she could put her plan into action.
"Taniyama-san, have you ever actually put thought into what you are exactly doing while you dream?" Lin asked, posing a question that caused the girl to halt in her plan of action. Come to think of it, what did happen? Where did her information come from as a general basis?
"I…talk to ghosts? Or spirits or whatever?" Mai hesitantly answered, her tone questioning. Lin gave a brief nod.
"You converse with spirits and are most often shown their memories in order to help them. This is a key point, Taniyama-san, you talk to the spirits in your dreams to help them," Lin emphasized. Mai thought about it for a moment before her eyes widened in realization.
Were she to dream now with no direction, any one of the ghosts that encompassed them could show her their past in an attempt to get her to help them. Rather than speed up the search process, she would be hindering it and—as Masako so nicely put it the day before—be putting herself at risk in the process.
Mai groaned in frustration.
"If I can't dream and we can't find them in the house and the cameras are not helping, how are we supposed to find them?" Mai exclaimed, more than a little frustrated at their predicament.
"You don't," a voice called from the doorway. Lin and Mai turned simultaneously to see their newest addition to the conversation.
"We find you."
14AmyChan: Okay, now we're all good~! *^_^*
Mai: Who's at the door?
14AmyChan: one question at a time! .
Mai: But that was one question!
Naru: Even Mai is better at math than you are...
Mai and 14AmyChan: Hey!
14AmyChan: I swear, I'm gonna write you in a pink tutu!
Naru: That would be OOC and you know it!
14AmyChan: Not if I call up my friends! MWAHAHAHAHA!
Mai: *whispers to Naru* is she all right...?
14AmyChan: FOR THE REPUBLIC!
Naru: She's fine. She will watch Star Wars tomorrow and be back to normal.
Mai: are you sure?
14AmyChan: *continues laughter as she swings a lightsaber*
Naru: I'm sixty seven percent sure.
Mai: ah... Please read and review, everybody!