Initially, this part was going to be included with the last chapter, but at the last moment Mai lost consciousness and I was like "What the heck, you're the POV character, how am I supposed to finish the climax if you aren't awake to see it?!". But the idea stuck, so I had to switch perspectives to Naru. Since I was switching perspectives and because I didn't know how long it would take me to finish this part, I decided to make it a separate chapter. The result is that it's kinda short, but I'm happy with it and I hope you guys like it too.

I'm a day off, but Merry Christmas!

Naru felt that something was wrong before he saw it.

It ran through him like a cold dagger, a feeling so familiar to him that it was instinct alone that drove him to reach for his assistant. In the moment he did, Mai collapsed, and he caught her.

A cold chill permeated the air around her, pressing against her like a blanket. He could hear the others calling Mai's name in alarm, rushing to surround the girl, but he kept silent. He knew, with cold certainty, that she wouldn't hear them.

The doll is trying to possess her?

Naru understood what was happening, but it didn't make sense. The spirit wasn't using the doll as a medium- it was bound to it. The girl's own flesh was used to make that doll. Switching vessels shouldn't be possible.

And he could feel it in the very air around Mai, a thick sense of resistance. The doll was trying to take control, but she was struggling.

"John, prayers! Now!"

His voice resonated with so much urgency that alone it was enough to explain to the others what was happening.

John launched into his prayer, spraying his holy water in a wide arc that landed droplets on Naru's arm. Mai flinched, still unconscious, color quickly draining from her face.

The air temperature dropped a few more degrees. It felt like the spirit was doubling down, tightening its grip on Mai.

Naru grit his teeth. He always turned to John for exorcisms on live humans because his methods were the least likely to cause victims harm, but it didn't look like his methods would be effective enough against this one. Recalling how the spirit reacted to Monk earlier, Naru was about to order them to switch, but he was brought up short.

Kara, who had been holding onto him, squeezed past the adults to get in front of Mai. Reaching out one small hand, she wrapped her fingers around Mai's wrist, closed her eyes and growled "Mine."

"Kara, sweetie, you need to get away from-!"

"Wait."

The order had come from him, and was aimed at Ayako, who had been about to pull Kara away from Mai.

Naru felt something shift the moment Kara had touched Mai. A shudder ran through her body, a bit of color returning to her face.

Naru wasn't sentimental enough to believe that the bond between them was enough to help Mai fight off a possession. Neither were his companions, who were looking at him with questions in their eyes, no doubt wondering why he was allowing this.

But Naru knew his daughter and he understood what she was doing. This wasn't sentimentality. She was using her PK-LT to take control of Mai before the spirit could.

Kara and the spirit clashed their wills, and the air around them grew heavier. Mai's body tensed as the tug-a-war dragged on.

A loud shriek pierced the air, and Mai slumped, color starting to flow back into her as Kara's eyes narrowed smugly.

"Naru, the doll-!"

There was no time to feel a sense of victory. Ai's doll, still on the floor where Lin had placed it only minutes before, started to tremble. Two shadows extended from it in opposite directions, like two separate spotlights trained on a single dancer.

Don't you want to play with us?

The sound was doubled, multiple voices overlapping each other, weighing on the group oppressively. Naru pulled the still unconscious Mai closer to him, shifting backward so his unencumbered companions could face the threat. Kara moved with him, keeping one hand on her mother's wrist.

Loose objects in the room started to shake, the air turning hostile, and as the sense of danger overcame them, Lin, Ayako, John, and Monk simultaneously launched into their exorcism chants.

Blocking out the nonsensical sounds of the spirits' cries and the overlapping incantations of the spiritualists, Naru took a moment to think.

The spirit had followed the rules of the game right up until she lost. The moment she lost, she shifted gears and aimed to possess the nearest available human. Why?

Ai had a goal. She had told Mai as much in her dream. While possession seemed to be the correct conclusion, it didn't make sense. Not only should it not be possible, it also contradicted the information he'd gathered regarding the doll's past behaviors. The reason he hadn't dismissed possession as a possible outcome was simply because the midnight game dictated that the loser would face possession. The doll herself had never given any indication prior to this that she would or even wanted to attempt it.

Naru peered past the others at the doll. Two shadows.

Two spirits?

Over the past couple nights, more than one spirit had been observed on the property. As the most violent, Ai had garnered their attention, but the employees that had been interviewed had all said the same thing: they would see shadows.

Not Ai's shadow- Edward's shadow.

And suddenly it made sense.

Ai wasn't the one who wanted to possess someone. The midnight game, Mai's attempted possession, maybe even the attempt to break the seal around the hanging room- it was Edward. Edward was the one who wanted a body. Ai was just helping him get one.

Naru glanced over his shoulder at the supernatural section. Edward's doll was still there, sitting in his glass case.

Somehow, the spirit that was attached to that doll had formed an additional attachment to Ai's doll. Edward was piggy-backing on Ai until she could offer him a more suitable vessel. Breaking the connection he has formed with Ai's doll should be adequate, but the doll was too resistant to exorcism. The attempts his companions were making wouldn't be enough. So how-?

Naru's thoughts drifted to a stop. He narrowed his eyes, scanning the room, wondering if the irregularity his eyes had caught had been a coincidence.

No, there it was again.

Shadows were darting around the supernatural section. Naru expected this. It didn't surprise him. But there was one small area, a space of around three meters in diameter, that the shadows were deftly avoiding.

Naru glared at the display, dredging up what information he had on the exhibit, then checked the time.

1:05.

Two minutes.

It wouldn't be enough time to explain his thoughts to the others. Ayako would hesitate. A male couldn't do it. Mai was unconscious, and Masako was locked out of the building. That only left….

Naru clenched his teeth. Damn it.

"Kara."

She'd been watching the others, but as soon as she heard his voice, her attention was on Naru.

Her expression was hard, defiant, and so much like Mai that he was hard-pressed to believe the two weren't related by blood. There was barely a trace of fear to be seen, and it took him a second to clear the sudden lump in his throat before he could speak again.

"You see that picture behind me?"

"The painting?"

"Yes. I need you to run and grab the doll, take it to that painting, and throw it in."

Kara's eyes lit up in understanding. She knew these exhibits best, after all. With a firm nod, she said "Okay. When do I go?"

That lump returned, so he used the second he couldn't speak to check his watch. Doing some quick calculations in his head, he said "When I tell you to, start running and count to 20 in your head. Throw the doll at the painting when you reach 20."

Kara nodded again, and he turned his attention back to his watch, waiting for the seconds to pass.

Three… two… one… "Go."

Kara took off at a dash, and in the same moment, Naru shouted at the others "Let Kara through!"

So conditioned were these spiritualists to respond to Naru's orders that they jumped back, halting their own attacks to let the child run full-force at the hostile spirits.

Monk recovered from his instinctive reaction and stepped forward with a shout "Wha- Naru-!"

Whether it was meant to be an accusation or a question, it didn't matter. Kara snatched up the doll and was out of reach before Monk had a chance to move. Alarmed, he started to chase after her, followed by the rest of the group.

10, 11, 12…

Naru counted along as he watched Kara run, unable to move with the unconscious Mai still in his arms. The shadows attached to the doll leaned away from the imminent destination, shaking violently as though trying to detach themselves from the doll. The glass displays shattered as Kara ran past them, multiple disembodied cries becoming louder with every second, to the point of being deafening. But her grip was iron, and she didn't stop.

Kara was two seconds early when she reached the painting, and she paused. The shadows of the two spirits were stretched almost across the room. They lashed at their surroundings, sending fragments of glass and wood flying. Caught in the crossfire, both Monk and John were thrown back. John rolled across the floor, coming to a stop almost as far back as where Naru was kneeling, and Monk was launched into a display with a resounding crash. Ayako fell to the floor to avoid the projectiles. Lin blocked, but was forced to stop to shield himself from the glass.

Only Naru, who was far back enough to be out of range, was still watching when Kara threw the doll at the painting.

For a moment, it was if time froze. The two shadows stopped moving, and the doll hovered. The surface of the painting rippled like the surface of a pond, and the cries of the spirits vanished.

Then, it was gone.

Everyone stood still for a moment, staring at the painting and the empty space in front of it where the doll had been a second before. Naru held his breath, half convinced that something would go wrong.

No movement. No sound. Nothing.

Monk moved first, coughing as he rolled out of the debris pile he'd created when he'd flown across the room. John pushed himself to his knees, panting, and Ayako shakily stood up off the floor.

"Is everyone okay?"

Naru could easily assess how everyone was doing from where he was, but an individual confirmation from everyone always made him feel a little more at ease.

"Scratched up, but I'll live." Monk groaned.

"Yeah, same." John said.

"I'm all right." Ayako answered a little weakly.

"Fine." Lin shot back curtly.

Hands empty, Kara stepped back from the painting, turned, and stumbled back to Naru and Mai. When she reached him, she dropped to her knees, leaning into Mai and clearly exhausted.

Naru reached out with his free hand, placing it gently on her head.

"Is it over now?" She asked quietly.

"It's over." He assured her. "Good work, Kara."

She beamed.