O, the sheer agony that plagues me for not having completed this sooner. We had a pretty shitty last month, with Victoria finally quitting her job, her brother's anniversary all sorts of misc. things that like to trip you up in life. But, only one more chapter to go (and this one is actually written, and it has been for months) so there shouldn't be too much of a delay for that.
As usual, we don't own Ghost Hunt, never have, never will. We do, however, own the plethora of OC's in these fics, so ask nicely if you want to borrow them.
Read, review, etc etc.
Enjoy!
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CH24.5- The Unbearable Lightness of Being
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He drifted in and out of consciousness, voices echoing in his ears, but the words made no sense. His body ached, and if he could have, he would have groaned in agony. He hadn't hurt this much since his ring days. The scars that stretched across his body burned and froze and stung, and the tattoos inked upon his skin writhed and danced. His mind was sluggish and slow, and his body felt as though it was pinned down by lead weights, dragging him down, down into nothingness, into a vacuum of emptiness, till he was drowning in black, drowning in shadows…
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…wandering along the astral plane, his shiki nowhere to be found. He tried summoning them, but there was no reply. How had he gotten there? He was many things, but Astral Projection was not a talent that he possessed. He stopped as the 'ground' seemed to fall away from in front of him, into an endless abyss.
"Is this the end?" he asked the void as it yawned before him.
It didn't answer, merely stared back.
He turned away from it, coasting along cosmic waves, his chi waxing and waning with the tides and flowing all around him; golden and white strands that pierced inky blackness and draped themselves over his shoulders, a comforting weight. It could have been hours, days even, or mere seconds that he roamed across the vastness of the ether, always straight, never wavering in his course. He had no destination, no end goal, but something was tugging, pulling at him, and encouraging him to continue walking in that direction. If this was death, he mused, it was far more, yet far less than he imagined. At one point, he could have sworn that he'd heard his name being called, but it fell into the ocean of space that lay before him and surrounded him. He was infinite, losing himself in the vastness of the metaphysical universe.
There were spirits here, long since departed from the living world, each trapped in Purgatory, waiting to cross the river into Elysium. They flickered in and out of his vision; men, women, children, the elderly, birds and beasts and demons and creatures long since lost to the physical world. He looked up, thousands of constellations scattered across the night sky, shooting stars and comets and galaxies beyond all imagination, all within arm's reach. He paused in his roving to admire the unpolluted sight before him, eyes alight with a childish wonder he had not felt for an age, feeling so very small and insignificant, yet apart of something greater.
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"It is beautiful, is it not?" He turned to face the speaker, expression unguarded.
"Grandfather." His grandfather shimmered; stardust in a humanoid form.
"You have done well. You have made me proud."
"I did not do it for you." He replied, staring once more at the stars in all their wondrous beauty.
"I did not ask you to. But you have made me proud nonetheless."
"Then I thank you, for the compliment."
Silence fell.
"You cannot linger here for much longer. You must return to the waking world."
"I did not think that I was able to." He replied, unable to lie. His Grandfather snorted.
"You have people waiting for you. Your sister, your niece, the ones you call brother and sister, your colleagues, your other half. Do not waste your time here."
"I…cannot leave." He admitted. "I do not know how I got here, nor how I shall return."
"Then guess. Step forward with purpose, and do not waver in your path."
"I thank you, for your advice, grandfather." He bowed deeply.
"I have but one more request to make of you, grandson."
He turned to face his grandfather, an eyebrow raised. His grandfather gazed at him, eyes filled with the secrets of the universe and the wisdom of the dead.
"Live not in the shadows of the past, but seek the light of the future."
"I…" his grandfather swirled away before he could answer, cosmic dust on an interstellar wind, gone in a heartbeat, in a breath. He stood there, directionless, his initial purpose in moving lost, and he wondered if this was to be his new eternity. It was lonely.
It was unbearable.
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"Koujo."
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The voice was a whisper, a scream, a battle cry, a sob, or his own imaginings, he couldn't decide. It was everything, yet nothing. He turned around, and saw her. The face that haunted his dreams at night and teased at the edges of his mind in the waking hours. Auburn waves that he itched to run his fingers through once more, a stormy grey eye pinning him in place, the solid onyx eye with a white pupil hidden behind a razored fringe. She was as striking as she was six, no, seven years ago now, and his heart ached.
He stepped towards her, a hand reaching up to touch her cheek, the skin soft and warm beneath his callused fingers. She leaned into his touch, and stared at him, his name falling from her lips like snowflakes falling from the sky, and he drank in her voice like a parched man. They stayed like that for centuries, neither moving as stars wheeled above them and the heavens burned and imploded, and the universe sang of creation, of rebirth and renewal, cosmos reflected in the glint of her eye and the curve of her lips.
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"Are you real?" he asked, breathless. She smiled at him, melancholy, and placed her hand over his.
"I am."
"Then I have died, for surely this is heaven." He spoke softly, tucking a stray curl behind her ear, not wanting to destroy this fragile peace that had overcome them. She shook her head, and he brushed away a tear with his thumb, hands that had killed, been covered in blood, now comforting.
"Koujo." His name, yes. That was his name. Strange, he'd almost forgotten. He was…how did he get here? She pulled his hands away from her face, and held them between her own, face twisted in anguish.
"You can't stay. You can't be here." He frowned.
"What are you saying?"
She smiled, tears streaming down her face; falling stars swallowed by a black hole. She took a step closer, and leaned in, their bodies pressed together, and he inhaled the scent of black orchids and the first autumn frost; a missing puzzle piece that had been lost finally falling back into place.
"Would that this last forever, so that you would be mine for eternity," He murmured into her hair, the words of a vow almost lost to time, "To be lost in your eyes like a sailor lost at sea, yet feel the ground beneath my feet, and the warmth of your body next to mine on a cold winter's morning. To be the first thing that I see when I awaken, and the last before I journey through the realm of Morpheus, to be the light to your shadow, the sun to your moon, a planet in orbit around your radiance, and the arms that hold you through your troubled times."
There was a choked sob, and her arms tightened around him, as if she would never relinquish her hold on him again, content to bask on the astral plane under the starlight and galaxies, lunar and solar energies surrounding them, as she leaned up and spoke, her breath hot against his ear.
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"Wake up."
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Mai had never met Lin's niece, Cho. Well, not that she could remember; there were vague images, but the mind block still wasn't completely gone, but she seemed like a nice enough person. If not a little stressed. Mind you, Mai thought to herself, if it was her blood relative in the hospital in a quasi-coma, she'd be very stressed as well. Tanaka-sensei's twin, Ruka, was there also, and Kwan-sensei's daughter, Ren. Ren had actually climbed up on the bed, and was perched by Lin's feet, drawing something on a scrap of paper with a hospital pen. Both Cho and Ren were still in their school uniforms, and Mai felt a stab of pity; they'd clearly been pulled out of class as soon as they got the call.
"Hey, Cho?" Maya placed a hand on Cho's shoulder, and Mai was a little envious on how close the two seemed to be. "He'll be fine."
Gods, Mai was getting sick of hearing that. It seemed everyone who came in found themselves saying that damnable phrase, and it was starting to make her want to claw her eyes out. If Naru hadn't closed the offices today to sort through the equipment with Yasu and do a routine check, she'd be in at work, to take her mind off…everything.
Monk had finally gone home after Mai showed up that morning, mumbling something about a shower and a nap and making sure his band members hadn't burnt down the apartment where they all stayed. John was tied up at his church, and Masako had gone to a film shoot (she had been very vocal about the idiocy of her producer, given the fact that she could've been on a case and therefore not available). Ayako had been collared by a short, sleek nurse that most of the other staff affectionately called 'Kazu-chan' as soon as she set foot in the doors, handed scrubs and an ID, and pointed in the direction of the staff changing rooms, Nollene trailing behind like a lost puppy with her own set of scrubs.
And her morning had started off so well. She had some private time with Naru, a decent breakfast, a bit of light flirting on the side (not that she'd admit it), and his back and side were healing well (she was a little suspicious of how quickly it was healing, but she kept that to herself, and his abs) and then she got to the hospital and bam! Good feelings vanished the instant she stepped inside. She knew she hated hospitals for a reason. The whole ambience of Lin's room was terrible as well, but she'd expected that. Everyone was still partially in shock about the incident. It was a small mercy that Lin's…exorcism had cleansed the entire house of any lingering spirits, so that all they had to do was invoice the customers.
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Like a breath of fresh air, Nollene sailed into the room, a bright smile on her face. Ayako followed close behind, professional in scrubs and frowning at a clipboard while making notes.
"Tajo says that the specialist for spiritual injuries got back from a conference about twenty minutes ago, so she and her assistant will come and look at Lin today." She announced. "Nollene will be shadowing me today, if that's alright, Mei?"
"It's fine." Mei shot Nollene a look that Mai couldn't quite describe as she walked through the doorway, and Nollene quailed a little, before nodding, fidgeting with the pale green scrubs she was already wearing, Mei patting her on the shoulder as she went past.
Mei got halfway across the room, and stopped dead, staring at Cho in what Mai thought was shock. Cho stared back, eyes wide. Mai could feel a strange sort of energy emanating from the two, could almost see it curling around between them, merging then separating, a strange form of communication, almost like when she had met Maya…had Mei and Cho met before? Heterochromatic eyes seemed to spark in the cool hospital light, a strange light coming from underneath their respective fringes; dark blue from Mei, and red from Cho.
"Zhínǚ." Mei breathed, after a few seconds of silence.
"Gūmā." Cho looked seconds away from tears, hands clenching at her skirt. Mei opened her arms, and Mai could tell that Cho was gone, rushing into the offered embrace and sobbing into the older woman's chest, Chinese falling from her lips in an indistinguishable torrent that Mei seemed to understand, if the quiet murmurs were anything to go by.
"Huh,' Nollene stated, 'so that's what Luella was talking about with the whole 'Lin Clan connection'. That was weird."
"Just a little." Mai agreed. Nollene gave her a sly look.
"Good morning?" Mai felt her lips tilt up a little.
"A very good morning."
"Breakfast?"
"With properly brewed tea." Mai bit her lip. "Can we swap flatmates?"
Nollene laughed, and swiped at her, eyes alight.
"Not on your life. Maybe when you two get married."
Mai spluttered a denial, and Nollene laughed at her rapidly reddening face as Mai waved her hands about in embarrassment.
"Nollene, don't tease the poor thing." Shimatta. Maya was about to join in. "You should have seen her when she first came in, blushing and twitchy. Apparently, she redid his bandages that morning."
"Ooooh, a chance to admire his rather impressive six-pack?"
"Hardly." Mai replied, trying to convince her cheeks to go back to a normal colour. "Besides Nollene, you should know that it's most definitely an eight-pack."
"Barely." Nollene scoffed. "He's been slacking on his runs recently. I should get Lin or Mei onto his case. Controlled body, controlled PK."
"You should both come to the Kung Fu classes Lin teaches." Maya added. "Mai comes, and you're more than welcome to as well. You don't have to have prior experience…what's wrong?"
"I will never…" Nollene swallowed, face pale, "attend a martial arts class that Lin teaches. He taught us stuff for PK, right? That was hard. Even Noll and Gene had trouble keeping up. I can only imagine what an actual class will entail."
"It's not so bad." Mai reassured her. "A lot of fitness stuff, self-defence; he even teaches a class just for women. Very relaxed."
"I'll see." Was the reply, and Mai exchanged a look with Maya, both grinning.
"You know…Yasu and John attend the classes, when they can." Maya began, a sly grin drifting across her face. "It would be nice to see some others from work."
"That's nice." Nollene seemed to be going for flippant, but Mai caught the note of interest.
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"We're back! Everything is checked and ready to go." Yasu bounded into the room, and seemed to deflate quickly. "No Monk?"
"He went home this morning." Mai informed him. "Something about his flatmates and a shower."
"Pity." Yasu perked up again. "Lin wake up yet?"
"Not yet." Tanaka-san sighed. "I have to go, one of my clients is screaming for an urgent meeting. Cho, will you be alright to walk Ren home?"
"I will." Maya offered, voice soft, when no reply was heard from the couch that Mei and Cho had sequestered themselves on and seemed to be condensing sixteen years into an hour. Tana…Ruka thanked her, and hurried out of the room, phone already pressed against her ear and snapping questions down the line, narrowly avoiding a collision with Naru on the way out.
"Any change?" he murmured to Mai as he came to stand next to her. Mai fought down a blush at how close he was standing, and barely succeeded.
"Nothing. Not even the heart monitor. Nollene is shadowing Ayako today, Mei and Cho had a reunion or first meeting, and Monk went home. How was the equipment check?"
"Dull." Naru sighed. "But necessary. Three damaged cameras that are fixable, and a couple of cords that need replacing. A suspicious stand, but I'll have to take it after hours and have a look."
"Do you want a hand?" Naru shot her an amused look, and she did blush.
"Are you after free breakfast again?"
"Oh my gods, stop flirting you two. It's sickening." Nollene pushed between them, and shouldered Naru away. "From now on, three feet apart while in a public space. Please, spare us all from your revolting displays of PDA."
"Put a sock in it, Nollene." Naru jabbed her ribs. "Just you wait until it's your turn. Then I will have my revenge."
"Not going to happen." Nollene retorted. Mai noticed the slight tightening of Yasu's smile, and rolled her eyes. Hopeless, the lot of them. She didn't notice Naru dodge Nollene and make his way back to her, but she did notice the quick brush of his fingers against her hand that was very deliberate. Tease.
"Any other plans?" she asked him. Naru shook his head.
"Wait for Lin to wake up, I suppose. Might do a little studying."
"For what?" Naru gave her a sardonic grin.
"My next thesis. It's a toss-up between Psychometry or the effects of PK on the physical body."
Mai rolled her eyes, and gave him a dry look. He shrugged in response. He'd probably covered most other things, Mai thought. He was probably running out of research material.
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"Oliver."
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The voice came from the door, so very familiar to Mai, as if she had heard it before. As one, SPR turned to the door.
As one, their jaws dropped open.
Mai chanced a glance at Naru, his face white. It was as though a mirror had replaced the doorway, because there was no other possible explanation for this.
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Oliver couldn't breathe, couldn't speak, couldn't move.
'It's a hallucination,' he told himself, repeating it over and over again as if the repetition would make it a reality instead of the sheer impossibility that was standing before him. It couldn't be, it just couldn't. He was the same, yet different, and Oliver found that his voice had, in fact, decided to fail him for perhaps the fifth time in his life. He swallowed, hard, and his fists clenched, his mind saying that it was a lie, while a small…who was he kidding, his entire being wished that it was true, if only to be spared the anguish he had once experienced.
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"Eugene?"
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His voice cracked, a desperate tone breaking through his mask. He wanted to believe that it was true, yet everything pointed to the impossibility of it all. The casket, the body, the funeral, and yet, leaning against the doorway, stood his older brother. Oliver found himself praying to every deity that he knew that this wasn't an illusion, that life wouldn't be that cruel to him again.
Eugene smiled at him; a soft curve of the lips that he'd often used when he accused Noll of being an 'idiot scientist', and he gave the irritating little hand gesture that Gene swore was a wave, but really, it was more like the Jedi-mind-trick motion. Naru felt his heart stop.
Midnight blue met, and Oliver felt like he was drowning.
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Then his fist met Gene's jaw.
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"You complete and utter bastard! How fucking dare you!"
"Naru!" Mai protested as Gene hit the floor, moving to stand between them.
"No, it's fine." Gene rubbed his jaw, waving her off. "I deserved that."
"Damn right you did." Naru snarled. "You deserved that and more."
"I didn't expect you to actually punch me though." Gene continued, but shut his mouth when he caught the Death Glare™ Oliver was sending him. Rage was boiling in his blood and itching to burst through his skin, his PK straining to be released, roiling with his turbulent emotions.
"You have thirty seconds and counting to start explaining,' Oliver hissed, 'before I hit you again."
"Okay, I thought that you might have been pleased to see me, but clearly that isn't the case, Oliver." Eugene stood up, and Mai moved out of the way, not wanting to be caught in the ensuing crossfire. "I know I deserved that punch, but this animosity is a little too far, don't you think?"
"And pretending that you were dead for over two years wasn't? Pull the other one, it has bells on it." Oliver retorted. "You can't possibly be so stupid as to think that you could waltz back into my life without a damn good explanation?"
"What the fuck, Noll." Eugene took a step forward. "Why the actual hell are you so riled up? Okay, admittedly I stuffed up majorly by not telling you that I was alive sooner, but I had my damn reasons."
"Yeah?" Oliver challenged his twin. "So do I for wanting to punch you in the face."
"Then tell me. What. The fuck. They are. Oliver."
Oliver felt something unpleasant twist in his stomach, and he growled under his breath as the room temperature dropped ten degrees, and static started to roll off his body. How the actual hell could this moron be his twin? Did he honestly not know why he was so pissed off? God, he just wanted to reach out and throttle Eugene. But no. Not before he laid out his reasons. Not before he'd heard his twin's reasons. Not before he'd gotten an explanation. He'd settle for scathing comments. For now. His PK purred at the thought of retribution, and Oliver reigned it in, although the temperature continued to drop. He opened his mouth.
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"Who do you think, stupid medium, as your last blood relative, had to write out your Death Certificate, Andrew James Daniels."
Gene flinched, and took a step back, his eyes widening and his face draining of colour until it was ashen. Good, Oliver thought, savage, he should flinch. Months, no, years' worth of stress, mental exhaustion and emotional trauma was spilling, gushing from his mouth in an unstoppable torrent of pain. All his despair, his grief, his anger, nothing was being held back.
"Who do you think had to identify the remains of whatever corpse you'd tossed down there, which, by the way, was a perfect DNA match? Who do you think had to call Luella, Martin, Mei and Nollene and let them know that I'd be bringing your body home? Who do you think held Nollene those nights that she cried herself to sleep or passed out from exhaustion because her big brother wasn't coming home ever again? Who do you think had to clean out your desk at the Parapsychology department? Who heard Luella crying in the kitchen at night because her son was dead?"
"Oliver, I…"
"No." Oliver cut his twin off. "You shut the hell up and listen to me, Andrew, because I won't repeat this again."
When was the last time he was this angry? Had he ever been this mad before, even? So filled with rage and hurt that he'd used his twin's actual name, something he hadn't done since they were children, before the Davis' adopted them. He just wanted his brother to suffer, as he had suffered, even if it were for just a few moments.
"You hurt me, in a way that you promised that you would never. 'Together, always', isn't that what you said, when we were in that hellhole disguised as an orphanage? You promised that you would never leave me, and yet here you are, smiling as if nothing happened, as if everything is alright by you simply being here. You want to know how I found out that you were supposedly dead? I picked up a goddamn shirt to borrow and instead found myself drowning after being run over."
Gene looked a little green at the admission. "Edward…"
"And yet,' Oliver took a step forward, 'I don't hear a single word from you. Not one 'Hey Noll I'm alive don't arrange a funeral', or a 'don't panic I'm alright'. I want a fucking explanation for where you've been all this time and why you haven't come forward until now, and it had better be a damn good one. Dammit, Andrew…" Oliver broke off, his voice breaking…why were his cheeks wet? Was he crying?
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"…you died."
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Grey flooded his vision, and someone was whispering "I'm sorry" over and over into his ear while a damp patch formed on his shoulder (and he knew that he was leaving one as well) as his body shook and he griped his twins shirt in his fist don't leave me again, feeling his heartbeat underneath his fingers, trying to pull him as close as possible, Gene doing exactly the same thing, until Naru wasn't sure where he ended and Gene began. He reached out with his mind, feeling the broken and tattered remains of their telepathic link, and urged it to reconnect, until he could feel again, and he knew that it would never be broken again. All the tears that he didn't shed at the funeral, when he picked up Gene's shirt, when he found his body, on their birthday, seemed to come out all at once; great, heaving sobs that shook his entire being. He felt a hand run through his hair, once, twice, thrice, while the other gripped the back of his shirt. Oliver inhaled, taking in the scent of that stupid citrusy cologne that he'd bought Gene as a joke for his birthday that he'd actually liked and home.
"Oh Ed." Gene sighed into his hair. "Idiot scientist."
"Stupid medium." Oliver retorted with no heat, his voice muffled by his twins shoulder. Oliver pulled back, wiping his eyes. Ugh, crying. He hated it, simply because it made him feel like crap afterwards. Gene loosened his grip, but didn't let him go.
"I wanted to tell you, I really did." He whispered to Naru. "But we had to find my killer first. Turns out, she was actually an escapee from a prison wanted for six other counts of vehicular manslaughter and several other various murder charges."
"That doesn't make me feel better." Oliver rested his forehead on Gene's shoulder.
"It wasn't supposed to." Gene admitted. "I just…shit, Noll. I wanted to, you know? I wanted to go home, but I was stuck here until we found her. The court case took months, and I had to hide in the hospital pretending to be a nurse because I wasn't supposed to still be there. I had to fake papers, and scrape a living, and hope every second that each corner I turned around wasn't going to reveal my attempted-murderer. I wanted to, every day, to call you, and let you know that I was alright, but I just couldn't."
He was taller, Oliver realized. Gene was taller than him. Damn.
"Was that all that was holding you back?"
"I was afraid." Gene confessed. "I was afraid of what you might think of me, for continuing with the trip even though everyone told me not to. I'm sorry for not listening to them, especially you. I should have listened to you above all."
"But, how did you…the lake…it flashed green and…?"
"I'm not sure." Gene frowned. "On minute, I'm sinking to the bottom of the lake, the next I'm on the shore hacking lake water out of my lungs and a broken rib, with a very attractive red-head next to me, looking like she just crawled out of the forest and then dove into the lake to fish out mostly-dead me. I don't remember much after that, except that I may have proposed to her out of gratitude."
"Now who's the idiot?" Noll gave a wet-sounding laugh, and Gene squeezed him tighter.
"I am, now shut up." Gene pressed their foreheads together; familiar, comforting. "Love you, idiot scientist." He whispered, low enough that Oliver almost missed it. Oliver smiled at him.
"Love you too, stupid medium."
They could have stayed like that forever, and Oliver would have been comfortable, yet…he looked up, and the room was mercifully empty, no doubt either Mei's work or Mai's. Speaking of…
Mai popped her head around the door, and sighed at seeing them calm.
"If you two are finished, I believe that there are others who would like a turn with your twin, Naru."
Nollene pushed her out of the way, and all but tackled her older brother to the floor, Gene laughing while wrapping an arm around her, refusing to let go of his twin's hand.
"Asshole! I should kill you myself!" The words were harsh, but the tone was filled with relief and joy, despite the tears making their way slowly down Nollene's cheeks.
"There might be a line." Gene muttered, and Naru squeezed his hand, rolling his eyes.
"Of course there is, idiot. By the way, you're telling Luella and Martin."
"Great." Gene rolled his eyes, but there was a hint of fear in them. "How do I begin?"
"A video call might be a good idea." Nollene sniffled. "So they don't think it's another prank."
"Where were you?" Oliver asked, frowning. "We didn't see you at the hospital at all, and we were bound to have run into each other at some point."
"I was assisting Doctor Li at a conference." Gene explained. "We got back about thirty minutes ago, when her primary assistant notified her about Lin. How is he?"
"Stable. He just won't wake up." Nollene explained, before staring at Gene's scrubs. "Do you really work here?"
"Yeah. I'm studying nursing part time; Doctor Li gave me a reference to get into one of the top schools, something about being an alumni." Oliver squeezed his hand, relieved that Gene squeezed back and that this wasn't all a hallucination it was real oh gods. His back made its complaint about his position on the floor known, and Oliver winced as he stood up, hoping to God that his stitches hadn't come undone again.
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"Came we go back in yet?"
"I haven't heard any screaming or sounds of murder."
"Still…"
Mei opened the door, and swept Gene into a bone-crushing hug. Gene made an odd sort of squeaky sound as all the air was pushed out of him, and he wheezed, trying to get Mei to loosen her grip.
"Mei….breathe…help…!"
"I should kill you myself." Mei stated cheerfully. "I'm sure Luella wouldn't mind, once I explain the situation to her."
"Naru." Mai tapped him on the shoulder, causing him to startle slightly. When had she come in? "What's she saying?"
"She's going to kill him and then explain to Luella why." He explained, Mai uttering a small 'oh' in understanding. Unfortunately, this drew Gene's attention to the two of them. He wriggled out of Mei's grasp, and made his way over, Mai eyeing him warily as his face seemed to sprout a grin that Oliver recognized as his 'trouble-maker' grin which had gotten him into trouble with the teachers more often than not.
"Hi." Gene held out his hand. "We've never formally met, but I'm Eugene, Oliver's twin."
Mai smiled, and Naru felt dread crawling up his spine as his partner approached his twin.
"Hello, Eugene."
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She slapped him.
Ah, Oliver thought, that's going to bruise.
"That's for pretending to be Naru." Another slap. "That's for not correcting me." A fist to the stomach. "And that's for dropping me in that first-person memory of Saki Matsukawa without knowing what it was."
"You still holding a grudge on that?" Gene wheezed from his position on the floor. Normally, Oliver would have moved to help him, but one thing stuck in his mind.
"You thought that he was me?" A few interactions with Mai came to mind, and everything became clear, and he turned on his twin. "You impersonated me?"
"To be fair, she called me 'Naru' –cute nickname, by the way- first, and…I didn't feel like correcting her and giving her your whole sob story." Oliver frowned.
"Point."
"But he still didn't correct me until after you returned, although I had already guessed by then." Mai glared at Gene. "And yes, I am still holding a grudge about that memory. You are so lucky that Frost pulled us out before anything overly terrible happened."
"What memory was this?" Nollene queried. Mai and Gene exchanged a look, before shaking their heads.
"Nothing important."
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"So, this is the mysterious older brother that Naru spent most of his time looking for." Yasu grinned from his position against the doorframe. "I must say you're a lot shorter than I was expecting."
"Excuse me?" Gene looked flustered, rubbing his aching cheek, and Oliver rolled his eyes.
"We are identical, Yasu. He's only four minutes older than me."
"That's four minutes more wisdom and life experience than you, Naru." Yasu replied, as if imparting some great wisdom upon them. Oliver sent him an unimpressed look. Yasu cringed, and soldiered forward.
"But it's nice to meet you, smiley-Naru!"
"Yasu." Mai threw a half-hearted punch at Yasu, who merely dodged and laughed at her. "Come on, Mai, you know you're never going to live that one down. Thinking that 'Dream-Naru' was actually Naru who smiled more because…" He was cut off as Mai successfully managed to land a hit to his stomach, gasping for breath.
"Shut up, baka." Mai hissed. Oliver couldn't help but be slightly amused by that. By the look of it, so was Gene, although that may be because it meant that Mai wouldn't slap him again anytime soon.
"Besides, they're still both taller than you, Yasu." Nollene teased, causing Yasu to claw at his chest dramatically.
"Oh, such scornful words said in a sweet voice, like music to my ears."
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"No way." Gene hissed in Oliver's ear. "Nollene and this Yasu guy? For real?"
"She's playing hard to get, I think." He uttered back, too low for either of the two subjects to hear them.
"Bullshit. I thought she was into girls." Oliver snapped his head around to stare at his twin, eyes wide.
"When was this?"
"That whole 'best friends' thing she had going with that Lena chick? I thought they were dating."
"She was like, twelve, Gene. Too young to be dating."
"You sound like an old man."
"You're older than me."
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"Boys." Mai chided. "Play nice. Gene, this is my older twin, Maya. Maya, this is Oliver's once-dead-now-somehow-alive-twin, Eugene Davis."
If Oliver hadn't been standing so close to his twin, he was sure that he would have missed the dumbstruck look that flitted across his face for a heartbeat. As it was, he was in the perfect location to cuff him around the head when Gene continued to stare at Maya with the same awestruck expression he'd had when Mei had taken down a man in one hit. Maya herself seemed to be in a state of shock, twin spots of pink appearing on her cheeks.
"Hi." Gene spoke, still staring.
"Hi." Maya replied in a whisper, shy, and Oliver caught Mai's gaze, before they both rolled their eyes. Hopeless, the both of them. Oh, Gene was never going to live this one down. And from the sly grin that crossed Mai's face, neither was Maya.
.
.
.
Ayako thought that nothing would surprise her that morning. Oh, how wrong she'd been. Now, she was witnessing the beginning of a crush between the younger Taniyama and the older Davis, while their counterparts snickered in the corner over their increasingly awkward attempts at a conversation. Goddess, but she needed sleep, and she needed it now, or she was going to kill everyone in the hospital, starting with that irritating nurse who had found her as soon as she set foot in the door. Oh sweet goddess, she didn't become a doctor for this. Tajo entered then, looking about as tired as she felt, and held up a bag to attach to the IV.
"New painkillers, prescribed by the specialist. According to her actual assistant, she'll be in once she's finished up with a previous patient."
"Does that mean I can go home for sleep when she does?" Ayako joked, assisting Tajo with attaching the bag.
"I'll be right behind you." Tajo gave her a tired grin. "You've done well, these last few days. Would you consider working here full time, if the job was offered?"
Ayako froze, her mind working overtime. Never, in all of her years as training and working for her parents, had she ever had an offer to work for another hospital, something no doubt her parents had made sure of. She wasn't sure whether to be flattered, embarrassed or happy. She settled for a blush that made its way unbidden across her cheeks.
"Um…I…" Tajo patted her on the shoulder, and gave her a weird sort of half smile.
"You don't have to decide, just think about it, and let me know. We'd really enjoy having you work here, Matsuzaki-san."
"Ayako." She corrected him. Tajo gave her another smile and went to examine the screen that had all the blood information displayed on it, tapping on the nearly empty bag absentmindedly. Ayako ran her mind through their conversation, and frowned. Would she mind working here? Sure, it was busy, and they were short-staffed, and there was a lack of certain resources and the nurses and doctors here worked long shifts, but…everyone was kind, and they all looked out for each other. From what she could see from her glimpses at the others employed here, no one was unhappy, just tired and overworked. Could she do it, though? Could she leave her parents hospital, everything that she'd worked for to make it better for their employee's, her friends and colleagues in the various departments that she'd worked in over the years, the relative security of knowing that there would be medicine in the cabinets and blood stored away for emergencies?
Could she?
Could she avoid her parents forever? Could she continue to work long hours and avoid shifts when she knew that they were coming in, and could she continue to save lives of those who could afford it, instead of those that needed it? She had heard for years about the work that Tajo had been doing; saving the less fortunate, lowering fees, performing surgeries that would otherwise have people on the waiting list for years before they saw a doctor. Added to the fact that despite the terrible hours and dangerous area with the high risk of gang fights or whatever, Misfits had managed to ensnare some of the top doctors in the country. Would she be able to count herself as one of them?
.
The door opened, interrupting her musings and intense mental dilemma, and a sleek looking nurse with black bangs poked his head in.
"Sorry to interrupt, but trainee Gene needs to be in Sports Physio with Shin-chan five minutes ago."
"You!" Ayako growled, recognizing the irritant nurse. The nurse had the nerve to give her a cheeky grin and a wave, before snagging Gene's collar and dragging him out the door, much to his protests.
"You can flirt with your girlfriend later, Seirei-chan*. Shin-chan has had three new patients show up today, and one of them he knows from his high-school days, so he's in a foul mood. That, and Cancer's were near the bottom rankings today, so you can probably get the picture, but there was something about having favourable results with a Virgo, and you're the only one that I know apart from Kie-chan in Audiology but she's super busy today…"
His voice trailed off as they moved down the hallway, Gene's protests echoing down the halls, and Ayako sighed in relief, hoping that the hawk-eyed nurse wouldn't be back for her anytime soon. Mei sidled up next to her, staring in bemusement at the door from which Gene had disappeared.
"Shin-chan?"
"One of the top doctors in the country in regards to sports injuries and physiotherapy. Also, despite what he might think, he's a very capable paediatrician. Eccentric in regards to his love, or obsession, with horoscopes, but good in the ER when he needs to be. Or so rumour has it." Ayako gave Mei a wry glance when the Chinese woman made an approving sound. She didn't blame her. If she wasn't hopelessly in love with the idiot monk, she might have tried to procure a date herself. But…
"He's taken."
"Damn." Mei cursed. "Besides, if I wasn't so entangled with Tatsuo, it probably wouldn't have worked anyway."
"Tatsuo?" Mei had the decency to blush, and looked away.
"Koujo's head shiki. His sister, Kaida, is contracted to me. It's…complicated."
Ayako stared at her. She had never, outside of myths and legends, heard of a nature spirit love a mortal, and yet…
.
Mei was saved from further questioning by the sudden increase of speed from the heart monitor, and all eyes turned to the bed, Ayako hurrying over to the side to re-examine the charts. Heartbeat was indicative of waking up, blood pressure normal, and breathing without assistance…
A long, drawn out groan of "fuck' broke the silence, and there was a snigger from where Mei was standing. Lin opened his eyes, and looked straight at Ayako. She tried not to be unnerved by his intense stare, but…she'd never known someone to wake up from a near-coma with such a piercing gaze. He shifted, and Ayako placed a restraining hand on his shoulder to stop him from getting up. Thankfully, he didn't decide to snap her wrist.
"Please don't move too much. How do you feel?" he gave her a deadpan look, and Ayako wondered when she had become fluent in silent Lin-speak and stoic Naru-speak to recognize the look of 'what-do-you-think'.
"Like I tangled with a couple of demons and got my ass handed to me."
There was laughter, from Cho and Maya, while the small one (Rika? Rena? Ren?) giggled into her hands.
"Well, that's what happened." Naru told him, and Lin groaned.
"We have a specialist in paranormal injuries coming to see you sometime today; she just got back from a conference. Your painkillers were updated about five minutes ago, so you should feel them if they will work with your…constitution. Can you remember what happened?"
Yep, Tajo was right to stick with procedure, and nothing should go wrong. Well, Ayako hoped that it was the case. She adjusted the bed so that Lin was in a semi-sitting position, and he gave her a nod of gratitude.
"It was a goddamn trap. I…" he paused, and his eyes narrowed as he fixed his gaze on someone behind Ayako.
"Mei?" Mei made her way to the bedside, a blank look on her face. Lin seemed to shrink back into the pillows as she moved closer.
"Báichī." Mei cuffed Lin over the head, and Ayako was about to tell her off for abusing hospital patients, until she saw the rueful smile Lin had.
"Zhǐshì yǒu shí." He replied, and Mei leaned down to give him a hug and a…somewhat affectionate hair-ruffle.
"Báichī." She repeated, fondness lacing her tone this time. "Bùyào zài zhèyàng zuò gǒu shǐ yīyàng."
"Wǒ chéngnuò." He replied, voice muffled by Mei's shoulder.
It was truly a touching scene; if she was anyone else she might have cried, but she was running on very little sleep and too much caffeine to function properly. Maybe, when she was able to escape (and just how did this 'Kazu-chan' know how to find her every time? She could have sworn that he was the assistant to some 'Shin-chan' anyway) she'd find Monk and they'd have a lazy day together, since he'd been up for just about as long as she had. Sleep sounded really good right about…
.
Naturally, it all went to shit the moment the specialist walked in the door.
.
The air turned electric, as if lightning were about to strike, and several things happened at once.
"The actual fuck?" Lin swore, hands reaching for a weapon that wasn't there (considering that Ruka had taken them all with her the first time she'd left, it was a very good thing indeed).
"Frost?" Came from Mai,
"Mother." Came the trembling voice from Nollene of all people. Perhaps the weirdest came from Cho, with
"Demon-slaying-forest-lady-san."
Ayako took a deep breath, and turned to face her friend.
"Tori-chan! How was the conference?" Deliberately ignoring the confused murmurs from everyone.
"Dull." Tori Li rubbed her eyes, staring at Lin oddly. "Please tell me that this isn't my patient."
"Considering that he's the only one currently in for spiritual injury, then yes, I'd say he is."
Tori focused completely on her, and frowned.
"Since when did you work here? I thought you were still at your parent's hospital, despite…everything."
"I was cornered by 'Kazu-chan' as soon as I stepped foot through the door this morning, handed a set of scrubs and assigned to this floor."
"Kazu-chan? As in Kazunari?" Tori's frown deepened. "I must have words to him about that."
"Please tell me that this is some kind of fucking sick joke." Lin hissed, sounding inches away from murdering them all. Tori turned to him, and fixed him with a glare.
"First of all, no swearing in my hospital. Secondly…" Tori rubbed her eyes again, and shook her head. "Koujo? And…Mai?"
.
Ayako watched Lin carefully, noticing the flinch that came with the use of his first name from her friends lips. Something was niggling in the back of her mind, something from nearly two years ago, about a Tori and Lin…
"I thought you had to be dead to be a spirit guide." Mai spoke up, looking from Tori to Lin, eyes calculating. It had to be that intuition of hers that cropped up now and again, Ayako thought, telling her that something here was wrong.
"I'm an astral projectionist, so…not really constricted by that." Tori explained, still staring at Lin, as if she'd seen a ghost. Lin himself seemed to be staring back with equal intensity, eyes searching for something that Ayako couldn't see.
"It has to be a trick." Lin finally uttered. "There is no possible way…"
"It's too soon,' Tori whispered to herself, 'I wasn't ready to tell you…"
.
Ayako turned her attention away from the two, and chanced a glance at Nollene, ensconced in Naru's arms while her brother whispered something in her ears. Whatever it was, it seemed to be calming her down, and Ayako made a mental note to question both Tori and Nollene about it later.
"Why do you look like my mother?" Or not. Goddess thrice damn it all. Tori broke her strange staring contest with Lin, and examined Nollene, moving closer, before stopping right in front of her, and pushing her fringe to the side. Ayako gaped.
Nollene's right eye was a deep indigo (like Tajo's, she realized, exactly like Tajo's, and very similar to Naru's, which was why she could pass as his sister, somewhat), but her left… was a dark, forest green.
"Heterochromatic." She murmured.
"A trait of the spiritually powered Li Clan, passed down through their matriarch." Tori narrowed her eyes at Nollene. "I possess it, as does Tajo. But we will discuss this later, along with your uncanny resemblance to my mother."
Come to think of it, the two were quite similar, in terms of looks and mannerisms. Almost as if…
"We'll get a DNA test done." Ayako raised an eyebrow at Tori's blunt declaration. "Just to be sure."
.
"Tori Daiyu Li."
"You know,' Tori turned to face Lin, a grimace crossing her lips, 'I never really cared all that much for my middle name. But of course, you already knew that."
"Just wanted to make sure that it was you and that I wasn't going to insult someone else." Lin snapped back. Tori slumped, a hand covering her face.
"This was the absolute worst way you could have found out."
"Did anyone else know, or was Matsuzaki-hasake just a special case? Did you know, Tajo?"
Oh, now that wasn't playing fair. He hadn't used an honorific for a while, let alone her title. And how dare he drag her into this! Tajo was staring between the two, a look of deep betrayal etched across his face, so far silent but looking as if he wanted to either throttle Tori-chan or hug her.
"First of all, do you have any idea of how many 'Dr Li's' there are?" Ayako retorted. "There were about ten in my graduating class of 30, and roughly seventy in the next three years below me, and that's not counting the class before mine. It's one of the most common surnames in China, for crying out loud! How the actual hell was I supposed to know that my Tori Li was your Tori Li?"
"She has a point, Koujo, so stop being an asshole about it." Tori snapped. "This is between you and me, so leave her out of it. And leave Tajo out of it too; I wiped his mind of our last encounter here."
"You what?" Tajo snarled, clenching his fists. Tori spared him a withering glare.
"You asked me to, Tajo, so don't act all high and mighty. I told you everything that had been going on…was still going on, and you agreed."
"And yet, you still have not given an explanation, Li." Lin was getting frustrated, and Ayako watched as Tori took a deep breath, and knew that her friend was at her limit.
"Out." She intervened, startling everyone in the room. "Everyone except Tori and Lin, get out. Tori and Lin, sort out your lovers spat; kiss and make up or agree to never see each other again, or whatever. Just…sort it out. Let us know when you're done, Tori has my number." She grabbed Tajo by the arm, and dragged him out, shooing Mei and Maya before her. Naru pulled a protesting Mai, while Yasu took care of Nollene, Cho pushing Ren towards the door. Gods, she was sick of dead people coming back to life with no prior warning; it created unnecessary drama. But, going by the resigned look in Tori's eyes, she hoped Lin wasn't going to be too much of a bastard.
Tori had been her first real friend; she'd kill Lin if he hurt her.
.
.
.
"Well…" Koujo began once the room was empty, voice clipped, "…this is awkward."
He was rewarded with a snort from where Tori (nothisTorican'tbehisTori) was staring out the window in his room. He studied her from his prison…hospital bed. She looked the same, sounded the same (if not a little world wearier than she used to, but didn't they all?), even fiddled with her hair the same way, yet…she held herself differently. Walked too smoothly, stood straighter, moved quieter, and there was something in her eyes, in the set of her face, that wasn't there before, and he hardly recognized her for it (nothisTori).
"You always had a gift for the understatement, Koujo."
She still refused to turn from the window, and it would have irritated him on any other day that she would not meet his eyes while they talked, but he couldn't bring himself to care. He found himself studying the bland hospital blanket, the wall, the ceiling, anything but her. She seemed content to avoid eye contact as well, opting to stare resolutely out the window into the vast expanse of gardens where there were people (her patients? NothisTori) walking, or wheeling around, some on crutches. On any other day, he would have admired the view, but…
"You're looking…well." Dr Li stated, still not meeting his eyes, nor even looking in his direction. He remained silent, mulling over the numerous ways he could respond to that statement, and discarding over half of them as being rude, inappropriate and/or exceedingly cruel.
"I'm alive." He shrugged, purposefully ignoring the small flinch that his reply caused.
"I wouldn't have expected anything less."
.
Oh. That stung, just a little. As if she hadn't seen the recent scars that littered across his body, some from hunting demons when he could sleep, others from going to fight rings where there were barely any rules to feel his blood pumping through his veins until he no longer felt cold and isolated and unbalanced. Not to mention the one on his forearm from the last case. He found himself floundering, for a moment. Their conversations (nothisTori) had never felt this…stilted before; so stiff and artificial. He found himself wishing that he could go back in time, seven years before, so that they would never end up here.
"If you have anything to say now would be a good time to say it."
"Just one question, Li. Why?"
She turned to face him then, face eerily blank.
"Why? Why what?"
"Why did you fake your death? Why did you lie to everyone?" Why did you lie to me? Was left unspoken, but it hung there, silent and accusing. They'd built their entire relationship on trust and honesty while they were still in school, and they had agreed never to lie to each other, and perhaps, that was why this whole situation hurts so damn much; of all the people he expected to betray him, she was the least expected to stab him in the back.
"Sometimes, to protect the ones you love, you have to hurt them."
"Bullshit, Li. Absolute bullshit."
"Koujo." Her voice held a warning tone that indicated that he was pushing all the wrong buttons (NOTHISTORI) but he could bring himself to care. He'd stopped caring a long time ago.
"If that was the case, then I'd be long dead. Longer than seven years, and I wouldn't be making a miraculous comeback." He snapped. "Do you, have any idea of how I felt when Tajo called me to tell me what had happened?"
"Enlighten me, then, Koujo Lin. I'm dying to know." Her voice was a borderline growl, and something inside him rose up in response.
.
"20th July, 2010, 1135 hours. I'm sitting in a Parapsychology lecture, Madoka next to me." He began, eyes narrow. "Tajo calls. I can barely understand a word he's saying, but he manages to collect himself enough to tell me that his twin, my partner, was found dead in her dorm room. The funeral will be in two days; I won't make it to Japan in time."
Gods, he could still remember it clearly. His entire lecture theatre had gone silent as soon as he'd answered the phone, and the air had been charged as his fellow students had heard the agitated and agonized tone of his best friend, before those final, damning sentences.
.
"Tori was found dead in her dorm this morning. The funeral is in two days. I know you won't' be able to make it back in time, but…consider coming anyway, for…she's gone, Koujo. Gods, she's gone…"
Tajo broke off into sobs once more. Beside him, Madoka had collapsed in on herself, huddled on the floor, crying into her hands. He himself was frozen, phone still held up to his ear. He'd thought it was a joke; Tajo and Tori loved pulling pranks, but Tajo was so upset and actually crying….
"No." he breathed, as something inside his chest twisted and squeezed, and his entire world fell out from underneath him.
.
"It hurt." He whispered, hands fisting the blanket that lay across his legs. "It hurt beyond all imagining. I couldn't remember much after that, nor for the next year or so; I don't even remember how I passed my exams, how I functioned during lectures, how I managed to live. It was all a goddamn blur of numbness and grief. Madoka couldn't tell me either; she was just as bad. She stayed in Japan for four months to support Tajo, and I sent her my lecture notes, and asked her professors for the content in the classes I wasn't in."
He stared at his hands, not willing to look up to see her expression.
"I…summoned Lesser Demons to vent on, because I couldn't cope. I threw myself into reckless situations, on a path of self-destruction…you were gone. You weren't coming back. And I think, Tori Li, that my younger self wanted nothing more than to follow you into where you had supposedly gone." He gave a bitter chuckle. "I almost did. Several times."
"But…?" there was an odd tone to her voice, and Koujo looked up, a small smile twisting at his lips.
"I met two boys. Twins, by the name of Eugene and Oliver Davis, and their younger sister, Nollene, all possessing unusually high amounts of PK, and lacking the control needed to prevent it from destroying their bodies every time they used it. If it wasn't for Naru and Gene, I most likely would have ended it all, because if you weren't there, waiting for me to come back to Japan, then what was the point of returning?"
.
Tori (maybehisTori?) slumped into the chair next to his bed, a hand across her eyes.
"If I had known…"
"What would you have done, Tori?" he interrupted. "Told me the truth? Reappeared in a magical ball of fire? Wipe my memory of the whole thing?"
"Wiping memories isn't that simple, otherwise everyone would be doing it." Tori sighed. "I owe an explanation, I guess."
Koujo raised an unimpressed eyebrow.
"You guess?" She shot him a half-hearted glare, and sat up straighter.
"Don't interrupt, or I won't be able to finish." Koujo gestured for her to go on, shifting to make himself comfortable. Tori (couldbehisTori) stared at the wall, shoulders tense.
.
"It started not long after you left for England, or maybe even before that, when we heard rumours of a bunch of schoolchildren trying to summon demons in the old station with a strange book, and we stopped them. Or we thought we did.
I was investigating the rumours of illegal books being sold by request of the local Wicca Coven-don't give me that look, you know that I talked to them a lot- because one of their members had…run afoul of some strange spirit. When they questioned him, he admitted to buying a book of a stranger who claimed that it was rare magic. Anyway, I took one of their members with me, whom I'd met previously during a hunt, since she was their top exorcist, but…it went south, rapidly. She was injured badly by the time we managed to exorcise it. She needed a hospital, but we weren't going to make it, and it would have led to awkward questions if we had, so I used the book."
Koujo's fingers were clenched so tight in his effort to keep the shreds of his self-control together, he swore he could hear bone creak. What. The. Hell. Tori (nothisTori) shot him a nervous look, and continued, a little shakily.
"I won't deny that I wasn't curious about what was in it, and I had several such books already and this one was one I hadn't seen before. What I rather stupidly mistook for a healing mantra was actually a very powerful summons for something that was out of my league by miles. I foolishly believed that I could have controlled the situation, controlled a demon more powerful than anything I had ever faced before." She shook her head, covering her eyes; in embarrassment at her past-self's actions or in shame.
"I bargained for her life, and in exchange, the demon wanted…wanted…"
"What?" he encouraged, voice soft, and not hiding what Gene called his 'supremely-pissed' tone at all. Tori (maybehisTori) swallowed.
"It was very cliché, if we're being honest."
"Tori." He warned. "Stop stalling."
"Eternal slavery, devoted worship, that sort of thing." Her voice was far too breezy for that particular declaration, and he restrained himself from pressing further. There was something else, he could tell. Tori met his gaze, and sighed.
"There may have been an offer for assistance with some…spells of tantric nature."
"Continue." He uttered, resisting the urge to growl. Ooh, but he wanted to throttle her for even thinking of accepting that deal, his Tori or no. Any demon that offered tantric magic in a contract was the worst kind of scum they could have been dealing with.
"I refused the last part,' she rushed on, 'and offered four years of servitude instead, which he accepted. But…he wanted human sacrifices, so I had to work a way around that."
"And faking your death was the best option you could come up with?" He raised an eyebrow, sardonic. Tori shot him a glare.
"Think, Koujo. As soon as the demon thought I was dead, but realized at the same time that Ayako still knew that I was alive, and Tajo, you, Madoka, anyone in anyway closely linked, I would have been back where I started, or actually dead. Well, dead again. I did die, but only for four minutes."
Koujo leaned back against the pillows (gods, how he hated hospital beds) and stared at the ceiling.
"Only for four minutes. Right. That makes me feel better."
"I spent the next six years hunting down the various demons I had summoned under the assholes servitude, travelling across Japan and making one memorable side trip into South Korea. I also met your niece and her girlfriend, after their bus was attacked for a school trip and they managed to stumble, quite literally, into a hunt. This was all the while studying for my exams and gaining my doctorate. It was….hectic, but I managed."
There was no lie in her words, everything was the truth, and he didn't know what hurt him more; the fact that she initially lied to him, or that what she was saying was real. There was still a few more questions burning in his mind, however.
"Would you have told me, after you'd finished?"
"Without a doubt. I would have preferred to do it on my own terms; the way it happened was less than ideal."
"So, are you…" he couldn't bring himself to articulate the words. Are you finished with your hunt? Are you going to leave again? Are you going to wipe my mind? Are you going to stay?
"I'm staying." She replied, giving him a soft smile, "everything is finished now."
"Matsuzaki-hasake…."
"My roommate while I was studying. Ayako helped a lot, once I had explained everything to her. Scared the crap out of her once I'd gotten rid of the demon who made the contract and I appeared in our dorm. We bonded over our mutual status as the most un-liked students in the streamlined program. We were both in the top 3% of the country, and her classmates resented her for it. She was my study-buddy; I taught her how to spar and how to deal with the spirits that flocked to the campus. Mostly earth-spirits."
It made a lot more sense, actually. He didn't completely buy the whole 'tree-spirits-taught-me' thing in the first place. Sure, they could have taught her about spirits in general, but not the specialized exorcisms that Matsuzaki was fond of. Yet…
"Why didn't you tell me? I would have helped."
"No!" Koujo froze, taken aback at the outburst. What?
"You…" Tori began, standing up and starting to pace. "You had sacrificed so much of your time, your own life, to make things easier for others. Mai and Maya wanted to go to that elementary? You'd walk them there, even though it would sometimes make you late to class. One of the exchange students was having a hard time with their Japanese? You'd spend hours helping them practise and improve, while your homework piled up. Tajo couldn't help out at a self-defence class? You'd pick up the slack and fill in. I knew that if I admitted that I had fucked up and summoned something beyond my control, you'd be on the first flight to Japan to help, maybe even drop out of Cambridge and go to a university closer to home."
"I wouldn't have…"
"Yes, you would have." Tori interrupted, spinning around and pointing an accusing finger at him. "England was a huge opportunity for you. You got three scholarships, for crying out loud! You're too selfless; it was time that we let you be selfish for once in your damn life."
He opened his mouth to reply, but closed it soon after. She did, after all, have a point. Damn it all. He still couldn't win an argument against her.
"I still would've helped."
"I know." She slouched back into the chair. "And that's why I didn't tell you. Because…it would have been another thing you've sacrificed, and I didn't want to be the person you made you make that decision."
They sat in silence, the room slowly turning golden as the sun set, the air still tense between them. They were nowhere near sorted in regards to everything that had happened, but it was a start, he thought.
.
He tried to stretch his arms, muscles starting to cramp a little, and winced when something pulled in his back. Had he injured himself? Come to think of it, his ribs felt a little sore as well. But he'd only cut his forearm, so…
"Takigawa-san performed CPR on you. Apparently, you weren't breathing when they found you." Tori (mustbehisTori) switched into professional mode, instantly distancing herself from emotions. "He later swapped with Father Brown, who broke one of your ribs doing chest compressions. That's all taped up and healing, so please avoid doing any strenuous activities for at least four weeks. Your back took some damage, although I'm unsure as to what could have cause such a large graze. Do you remember anything?"
"I…" he hesitated, casting his mind back to the incident. "I'd gone to check a camera, after it failed the routine checks that morning. It was fine, but the cord was crooked, so I followed it to see what the problem was. It was cut and by the time I realized that it was a trap, the door had already shut. I tried to kick it open…" He paused when Dr Li made a 'tch' sound and made a note on her clipboard, before gesturing at him to continue.
"It didn't budge. It was then that I noticed that the temperature was dropping far too rapidly for it to be natural, as my breath was fogging in under a minute, and my extremities were becoming numb. I….panicked."
"You…panicked." Tori levelled a deadpan stare at him. He tried his hardest not to squirm.
"I used a spell…"
"The Five Elements, yes, I'm aware. I already spoke to Takigawa about this."
"Oh." He knew that tone of voice. He was a dead man. His grandfather, while teaching him, had warned him of the dire consequences if it was used improperly, backed up with the gruesome reports of how other exorcists, some members of his family thought the ages and dynasties, others respected in their fields, some even desperate amateurs looking for a 'cleanse-all' that backfired spectacularly. Koujo had been pretty confident that he would survive (mostly), since many of the failures were missing crucial elements, but…he was an idiot for using it, yes.
"If you hadn't died twice in the ambulance on the way over, I would kill you myself for using that. It's borderline illegal for a reason."
"I may have used too much blood." Wow, wasn't he being honest today. "I don't remember much after finishing the symbol. Except…." He stopped himself before he could ramble on about landing on the astral plane. She didn't need to know about how close he came to just vanishing.
"Nothing." He finished, not meeting her eyes. There was a dissatisfied hum from his left, and Tori (hisTorimaybe) tapped a pen against her clipboard. She could probably tell that he was lying (she always could) but hopefully, if he was lucky, she wouldn't press.
Wait.
"I died. Twice." Tori gave him a smile. It wasn't a nice smile, more akin to that time she ruined a girl's reputation after the girl publicly insulted Tajo and the girl had to move schools after she was shunned for the following three months.
"For about three minutes each time." Oh. Yes, that explained the smile. She was enjoying his discomfort.
"So…six minutes." Everything was starting to get a little fuzzy around the edges, and the scent of hospital was grating on his nerves. Dr Li was starting to turn into a mutant glob of…something, and when had his brain functions started to fail him?
"…natural remedies that we were discussing at a conference. I took Gene with me as an assistant, mainly to keep him out of trouble. You…favourable results…unconscious, but the painkillers…wearing off soon. You are very lucky that Kazu-chan called…found out you were…spiritual injury; not many people know…treat those."
Her voice was starting to go in and out, and he couldn't focus on her face, at all. He squinted at her, as if narrowing his eyes would make her come into sharper focus. Nope, still not working. And the wall behind her was starting to ripple every time he stared at it for too long. It was an odd sensation, and he didn't like it one bit. His limbs felt like they had been replaced with lead weights as well, and he felt a little numb. Did she say something about Gene? Gene was dead, wasn't he?
"…'m still mad at you." He stated, some distant part of him screaming that his voice sounded strange. "For lying and….stuff."
Oh, how wonderfully articulate he was today. Perhaps dying twice and ending up on the spiritual plane had scrambled his brain cells and now he was doomed to feel like he was swimming through blood all the time. It felt like the time just before he'd entered the rings, and they'd pumped him full of…
"Did you drug me?" Tori broke off what she was saying about his condition (that he wasn't listening to anyway), and stared at him, the pen ceasing it's staccato against the clipboard.
"What?"
"Did you drug me?" he repeated, taking great care to enunciate his words carefully. They still sounded funny to his ears. A red blur approached him, and he thought for a second that he needed his glasses, except those were for long-sightedness, and he definitely wasn't short sighted. His head started to feel like it was made of wool, stuffed with gas ions heated to the extreme.
"How do you feel?" The blob asked, placing a hand against his forehead. It was cold.
"Like shit." He answered. "Is everything supposed to be all blurry?"
"No. Are you in pain?" Was he? He felt kind of…floaty, actually. Like he was a helium balloon that had escaped into the sky.
"…'m fine, I think. Frothy." Wait, that wasn't the right word. "Flimsy? Feathery? Helium."
"Oh gods, I may have given you too much." Was the horrified answer. A gentle hand pushed him back so that he was lying down, and he felt like he was sinking through clouds.
"You need to sleep it off."
The hand moved away, but Koujo grabbed it, his own grip surprising him. She felt warm, and there was a pulse under the skin, but if he was hallucinating, he shouldn't be able to feel that.
"Are you real?" There was a strange, choking noise, before another hand covered his own.
"I am." The face came into sharp clarity once more, even as black started to creep up on him. He had a strange, swooping sensation of déjà vu.
"Then I have died, for surely this is heaven."
Something warm splashed onto his hand, and there was a small sob. She was crying, the coherent part of his brain supplied, and you should fix it. His spare hand reached up of its own accord, and brushed away a tear, causing her to freeze as their skin met. He gazed into stormy grey with an intensity he wasn't sure he had.
"It's a start." He whispered, his arms dropping back onto the bed as his eyes closed, lacking the strength to hold them open. A hand ran through his hair; a familiar touch that reminded him of simpler times.
"It is a start. Sleep, Koujo. I'll be here in the morning."
He slept, feeling…weightless, for the first time in seven years.
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This hath slain me. O, woe betide those who do not review. Just kidding! There is one more chapter to go after this, so hang on for a little while longer!
While you wait, you can leave a review. Pretty please?
Cheers,
Vic and Siofra
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Zhínǚ." - Neice
"Gūmā." - Aunt
Báichī." - Idiot
"Zhǐshì yǒu shí." – Just sometimes
"Bùyào zài zhèyàng zuò gǒu shǐ yīyàng." – Do not do shit like this again
"Wǒ chéngnuò." – I promise
^^ According to Google Translate, at any rate.
*Seirei-chan- genie-chan (GT) a play on Gene's English nickname.
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