Somewhere in the room she was in, some voices were all discussing things that Mai's brain could not comprehend. At the moment, she was gritting her teeth and trying to fight back the waves of nausea that were currently attacking her senses. When she opened one eye, the room began to move and dance in a fashion that only agitated her upset stomach. She immediately shut her eyes and decided to try again in a few minutes.
Despite her violent symptoms she had a moment of familiarity and recalled when her drink had been drugged at the pub. She felt similar, but this was slightly different, and judging by the fact that her throat burned they had used chloroform. She could hardly follow her train of thoughts, not to mention the voices that were near her.
She thought back to what she could remember. They went to the party, Naru and she danced, she got saddened and left to go get fresh air, someone followed her. Had she been kidnapped?
Thinking more firmly, she tried to recall the person who took her and came up empty. Her stomach was more settled but now anxiety took its place in her body. She had to figure out where she was and who was responsible. The Arcane came to mind and she held back her tears.
"Are you awake, dear?" A voice drew her attention and with a confident attitude she looked to who spoke to her. A face she had recognized came into focus and she wanted to slam her head into a wall for not catching it sooner. "Welcome back. You woke up just in time for us to let you in on what we have in store for you."
Mai watched as doctor Ezra Thorn moved to take a glance at her vitals. It was then she noticed the slight sharp pain in her inner elbow, most likely a needle filled with fluids to keep her stable. The monitor's electrodes were placed in two spots on her chest and the adhesive pulled slightly on her skin. Her soft velvet dress was no longer on her and the cotton and papery feel of hospital scrubs were her new attire. A headache grew around the back of her head and she groaned. Her head was still foggy and couldn't keep up with what was going on around her.
"Where am I?" She croaked out and tried to bring her other hand not stuck with a needle up to her head to rub her eyes, but found that it was restrained by something. "Am I handcuffed to the bed? Why am I tied up?!" Panic set in and raised her voice more than it had been. She wanted Naru.
Doctor Thorn watched her for a moment and smiled in a way that was supposed to seem comforting but just scared her even more. "We need you and what you currently possess and unfortunately, you're a flight risk." He happily took the needle that was offered to him from another individual in the room and Mai craned her neck to see a few others behind him, all watching on with interest, but her eyes were too weary to focus on facial features.
"What is that?" Her attention was brought back to the needle that Doctor Thorne uncapped and grabbed onto her IV.
"Just a little something to help you relax," He said. "We were careless once and we won't let that happen again." Mai immediately thought back to the woman she dreamed of in a similar circumstance and the story about Naru's biological mother and shut her eyes in frustration when she soon realized that those people were the same. "As an added precaution, we've warded off the room so you will not be able to astral project and alert others to your location."
He inserted the syringe and pressed on the plunger, allowing the fluid in the needle to mix with the saline in the IV. The effect was immediate and Mai felt her grip on reality lose its strength and her eyes shut with a heavy need.
Naru paced back and forth outside of the gala. Mai had now been missing for about five hours and his patience was wearing thin. His mother had already alerted the authorities, but they couldn't do much with the little information they had to go off of.
"Oliver, you need to come sit down," Luella said hesitantly reaching an arm out and laying it on his shoulder.
"Mother, I cannot even contemplate sitting down right now." He gritted out and brushed her handoff. "Mai is out there with God knows who and I have no way of helping her!"
He was starting to panic, despite his emotionless demeanor, and he knew that he wouldn't feel calm until Mai was back with him, safe.
When she didn't come back inside after ten minutes, he knew something was wrong. He went outside to the patio and noticed that her clutch was lying on the floor, the contents spilled out slightly. With quick eyes, he scanned the area for any sign of her, and finding none, he bent down to grab it when he unwillingly used his psychometry.
He could feel the coolness of the air being disrupted by something that had sent a burst of warm air over his skin. Through her point of view, he felt himself turn around and glance towards the figure posted by the door and responsible for the gust of warmth. Their face was blurry and he could hear Mai's voice asking what they were doing here. So, she must have known who they were.
Another sound drew his attention to a cloth that had been soaked in a liquid. In an instance, the man was behind her and had the rag pressed against her mouth. A breath of bitter fumes incased his mouth and nose as his body automatically gasped, sucking the vapor deeper into his lungs. It struck his brain with a quick force and he could feel his eyes close and shut firmly. She never stood a chance.
When he came back to the present environment, he was kneeling on the ground, one arm bracing his body and Lin was next to him with a glass of water.
"What happened?" The man next to him stated and helped Naru up off the ground. Lin glanced around somewhat confused. "Where's Mai?"
"Damnit!" Naru clung to the small purse with anger. "Someone took her." He ground out and turned to head back inside to gather everyone and call the authorities. "They just bloody took her!" He should have stayed with her and not let her out of his sight. When they found her, he would never let her out of his sight.
He shook his head, trying to push out the memory for a few moments. Lin was now in front of him, and Naru assumed that his mother had asked him for help. Help he did, as Lin roughly grabbed his shoulders and pushed him over to the side knocking him into a chair. When he was sitting, he glared at the man who glared right back, and as he opened his mouth to say something, he didn't get to.
"What do you think you will accomplish by pacing and worrying like a child?" Lin said staring him right in the eye. Naru narrowed his eyes at him. "Get yourself together and start thinking. We need all the help we can get and cannot afford to have you worrying. What would Mai say if you were acting like this?"
"Right now, Lin, I am 'worrying' over the fact that Mai has just been kidnapped – right under our nose – by some psychotic group who is secretive enough to evade detection for years!" The lights around them started flickering slightly and they were all thankful that all of the guests had been forced home ahead of time.
"Oliver, please calm down-" Martin said placing a hand up in a show of pause.
"Father, I would love to, but the only thing that is going to keep me level-headed has just been taken out of my life at the moment!" The glass windows started to crack, growing in length through his speech and his breathing was heavier now. He sighed and leaned heavily against the back of his chair, his fatigue setting in. "I don't want her to end up like Gene; I… I can't lose her."
Lin crossed his arms and watched as Naru's face slowly fell away from anger to that of defeat and hopelessness. He was losing his mind and Lin was getting a headache from all of this. He didn't want to seem cold or appear like he did not care about Mai's wellbeing, but he had to think logically or else he wouldn't feel like he was of any use.
"We are not going to lose her," Madoka said with surprising resolve. "And I am shocked that you would think like that. In fact, when we find Mai, I'm going to tell her that you said these things and she is never going to make you tea again." She declared with her arms crossed.
Naru smirked at her with a tired expression.
"But we can't find her unless you snap out of it." She flicked his forehead. "Lin said that you had a vision and we need you to remember all you can, the last moments are the most important."
The narcissist looked down to the floor and took another deep breath. He was starting to feel the effects of his abilities now and hardly felt enough energy to keep talking, but he couldn't let himself be rendered useless. Not for Mai.
"Okay, let me have a moment." He thought back to what he could remember. "She recognized who the person was."
"Did you see their face?!" Luella said. She had only known Mai for a short time, but the girl was easy to relate to and become close friends with, and she found herself often treating Mai like a daughter. Although in the back of her mind, she wanted Mai to truly become her daughter and she knew that could be accomplished through pressuring her son into marrying the girl.
"No, mother, for some reason everything around me was blurry. I couldn't get a good read on anything."
Lin brought a hand under his chin in thought and Martin looked on with puzzlement.
"Why would that be the case?" Martin asked. He looked to Lin for a possible explanation. "Lin?"
"It could be that she is in a location with a barrier or wards in place," The quiet man stated. "Another possibility is that Mai's memory was just unclear."
Naru shook his head. "When a person's memory is unclear, they make mistakes about what they are seeing – memory is fluid. But this was deliberate. Their face was the only part that was not vivid." He closed his eyes and again tried to focus on what he saw. "The man pressed a cloth to her mouth, it smelled like a chemical of some sort, and she started to pass out."
Martin stood up. "Chloroform?"
"Chloroform is fairly outdated, who uses it anymore?" Lin said looking to Martin and back to Naru.
"Someone older," Naru stated resolutely. "The person we are looking for is older and someone who she knows, but also must be someone who was invited to, or worked at the party. I can't imagine Mai knowing any of the staff, considering this is her first time in England so that rules out any employees. They were a guest."
"Most likely, someone from the office, which might explain why Kelly and Adrian were easily threatened. If they know that the person threatening them has a high status, they are less likely to push back." They all stood up and started moving towards the parking lot. "We need to get back to the house and try to get the Bakers to disclose what they know, we can't do anything from here." Martin finished helping Luella up out of her chair.
When Mai opened her eyes, she was back in her plain, alone with her thoughts. Closing her eyes again, she tried to reconnect to her body, but she kept getting pushback from her sedated state. She looked around herself in fear, not knowing what to expect or what to do in her current situation. The people that had her could do anything they wanted to her physical body and she had no way of knowing.
Panic started setting in for her and hopelessness caused her knees to buckle and she hit the floor. Tears bloomed in her eyes and they rolled down her cheeks as the situation started hitting her full force. She wanted to go home. Japan, or here with Naru, but somewhere, anywhere, but here. The more she thought about home, the more she thought about Naru, and that made her tears fall faster.
She didn't know what would happen to her, but she was devastated that the last interaction they had was a fight. The last thing Naru would remember of her was that he was angry at her, and she just had to storm off and isolate herself from everyone. Stupid, stupid, Mai.
Her frustration at herself was starting to level off and in its wake was depression. She had no idea what to do, and no one to help her.
A hand fell onto her shoulder and on instinct, she jumped up and around to face the possible threat. Her heart stopped. In front of her stood a younger version of her boyfriend. His hair was shorter than Naru's and the body language still had an immature stature. Eyes wide, her mouth fell open and her hands rose to her lips in shock, a tear still made its way down her face.
"Ge-Gene?" She had whispered his name and was immediately engulfed in a warm hug.
Hey, hey! Yes, Gene is back! I know some of you already predicted that he was going to make a reappearance! I wrestled with the decision to bring him back and add him to the story, but you know how that ended!
Anyhow! hope you all enjoyed this update and thank you to those who read and reviewed the last update! I appreciate all the feedback! See you all next week!
Cheers!