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Chapter 10 - Lucky Girl, Lucky Lady

Pale, beyond porch and portal,
Crowned with calm leaves, she stands
Who gathers all things mortal
With cold immortal hands;
Her languid lips are sweeter
Than love's who fears to greet her
To men that mix and meet her
From many times and lands.

- Algernon Charles Swinburne, The
Garden of Proserpine
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The back room of the Time Castle was larger than Ulala had expected. A narrow hallway led into a round area with dark curtains on the walls and a single lamp hung from the ceiling. It took her eyes a minute to adjust to the low light as she walked forward warily. The space was clean and neatly kept, containing two reddish-brown chairs on the right side and a long white table on the left. Her footfalls became dampened suddenly, and when she looked down she saw that she was standing on a beautifully intricate oriental rug.

"It's priceless," a female voice said from somewhere ahead of her. She looked up sharply, squinting to see into the darkness. There was a soft creaking noise, and a young woman stepped forward to the edge of the light. "Nice, isn't it?"

Ulala took a step forward. "Are you Mai Ogawa?" she asked, deciding that the direct approach was probably the best one.

The girl gave a funny laugh and nodded. "Yeah, that's me. Who are you?"

"I'm a friend of the Count's," Ulala said with a smile.

"Like hell you are," Mai said. "The Count doesn't have friends."

Well, at least she's not deluding herself. Maybe she thinks that she's the one using him. "I'm glad you realize that."

They stood there in silence for a long moment, sizing each other up. She looks older than I expected, thought Ulala. And more self-assured.

"Mai," she finally said. Her voice sounded thin, like it was losing itself in all the empty space of the room. She hesitated, then squared her shoulders and stood as straight as she could. "My name is Ulala Serizawa. I'm a private mansearcher, and I was hired by your family to find you. They're very worried, and they would like you to contact them as soon as possible." There it is, she thought, holding her breath. Now we'll see how this is going to be.

* * *

"Well, can you get through?"

Katsuya closed his cell phone and shook his head. "Her phone must be off. I'm not getting anything."

Baofu cursed and smacked his hand against a light post. "I can't believe that woman! What did she think she was doing, anyway?" His body sagged and he rubbed his temples, hiding the frustrated expression on his face. Katsuya watched him patiently while he tried to straighten out his thoughts.

Where the hell is she? Maya had said she went after Mai and Ichirou on her own. Is it possible that she actually found them? If that were the case, it was as good as over. He'd been searching fruitlessly for those two all day, and if he couldn't find them then, he sure as hell couldn't find them now. He squeezed his eyes shut. I'm not giving up. There has to be a way.

"There is," he said aloud. He looked over at Katsuya with sudden earnestness. "There is a way."

The young detective, who had been leaning against a wall, looked back at him evenly. "To find her?" Baofu nodded and he stood up, brushing off his shirt. "Alright, so what's your idea?"

"I have to talk to Prometheus," he said somberly. "I have to go back into the dream."

* * *

The girl nodded and turned to face the back wall. She disappeared for a moment and returned pulling an old leather work stool, which she wheeled over to the edge of the rug. The fluffy cushion wheezed as she sat down and crossed her legs. Now that she was in the full light, Ulala could see that she was really quite attractive. She was the type that if you only looked at her once, she was plain at best, but if you looked again, you'd notice something about her hair or the way she moved her hands; she had a sleepy sensuality that didn't make itself known, but was potent nonetheless.

She was wearing something black and matte, something that bled into the darkness behind her so that Ulala had to look at her exposed skin to define the shape of the garment. Her shoulders were bare except for two thin straps and her arms also so; her legs were naked to the knees, where the darkness hung in a way that suggested a loose skirt. She produced a cigarette from somewhere and let it sit loosely between her lips.

Almost by habit, Ulala turned to dig in the purse that hung at her hip. She found her lighter and took a step forward, flicking it on and holding it out at full arms' length. Mai arched her eyebrows and shrugged when she realized Ulala wasn't going to come any closer. She leaned forward from the waist until her cigarette connected with the flame, the ensuing flicker briefly illuminating her face as she inhaled. She sat back, twin ribbons of smoke curling around her head and bits of glowing paper still hanging in the air.

Ulala waited patiently while the girl burned through almost half of her cigarette, occasionally flicking ashes onto the Count's priceless rug. When she finally did talk, it seemed like it was only because she was getting bored of the silence. "I never used to smoke," she said, looking thoughtfully at the business end of the cigarette. "Why do you carry a lighter? You don't seem like the type."

"I'm not, but I have friends that are."

"You have friends?" Mai said, in a disinterested voice. "You don't seem like the type."

Ulala bit her tongue. Be cool, she coached herself. Be professional. "What makes you say that?" she said diplomatically. "You only just met me."

The girl shrugged and stood up from her seat. She paced restlessly to the side, a thin trail of smoke following behind her. "I may be young," she said over her shoulder. "But I'm not stupid. You didn't come here looking for just me; why would you have any reason to? I don't care about cards or any of this old-timer crap." She finished her cigarette and flicked it away. "So you must know about Ichirou."

She turned and smiled coldly at Ulala. "I bet you think you know everything there is to know about me. Maybe you even feel like you can relate to me. You figured I'd be hanging out here, clinging to my man, because that's what you would do." She caught a laugh in her throat. "The disgusting part is that you were right. Maybe we aren't so different. I certainly don't have any friends. So why should you?"

Ulala looked at her for a long time, her expression still calm and unreadable. "I do have friends," she said quietly. "I have friends who love me and take care of me, even when I'm too wrapped up in myself to love and take care of them."

Mai looked around the room pointedly. "Funny," she said. "I don't see anybody else here." Her expression grew serious and intense. "You know I'm dangerous, and yet you're here alone with me in a dark room. Yeah, really great friends you have."

Ulala clenched her hands into fists, running the tips of her fingers along the palm edge of the taping. "I chose to come alone," she said, slowly and deliberately. "I thought I could work better that way, and they respected my judgment." Well, Maya did, anyway, she thought. I'm sure the others would have agreed to it, too. Eventually. She relaxed her posture and crossed her arms over her chest. "They taught me what real friends are like. Real friends have high expectations of you, without expecting anything from you."

"Oh. Right," the girl said sarcastically. Her dark eyes glinted behind a harsh expression. She crossed back to her stool and sat down heavily. "I'm glad for you, really I am. But we can't all be so lucky with our friends." Her lips curled into a sardonic smile and she gestured to the room around her. "I make do with what I have."

This isn't going well, thought Ulala, as she tried to contain her frustration. She's too bitter, too defensive. She tried to remember what Big Suou had told her once about the interrogation process. "One of the best ways to get through to someone who is resisting," he had said, "is to convince them that you've given up, that you don't care about them anymore. Try and walk away, and nine times out of ten they won't let you."

It hadn't made sense to her at the time, but she had since seem him make it work against countless people, demon and human, young and old, good and evil. Katsuya may have had his share of issues, but she couldn't deny that he knew how to do his job. Well, she thought. Might as well give it a try.

* * *

Baofu sat down cross-legged on the dusty pavement. Katsuya watched him from a few feet away, his expression mildly confused. "I'm not sure I understand," he said. "You mean to say you can access these... premonitions... anytime you want to?"

"Maybe."

He rubbed his forehead. Maybe I should call the police, he thought. We're wasting valuable time here. "And how exactly do you go about doing something like that?"

"I don't know," the older man said, closing his eyes. "I've never done it before."

Just great, thought Katsuya, slumping against the wall again. He pursed his lips, turning his head to scan the dark street. A few people ducked in and out of businesses or walked on their way to somewhere else, but no one seemed to take notice of the young detective and his friend. But there's nothing else to be done, is there? A skeptical frown settled on his face and he resigned himself to waiting.

* * *

There was a long moment of silence in the wake of Mai's admonition. Ulala stood where she was, ignoring the unspoken dismissal. "Oh well," she said lightly, and shrugged. "I guess there is a difference between us, then. Not much I can do about that." She turned away, brushing a piece of hair out of her eyes. Play it cool, be nonchalant, she thought, and patted herself on the back for what she considered to a stellar performance thus far.

Mai shot her an impatient look. "What?" she asked, scowling.

"Nah," said Ulala. "It's nothing." She straightened her clothes and started to make her way back out to the store. "If you don't want to contact your parents, I can't make you. I'll tell them that I found you here and collect my fee. And since you were so charming, I'll wait until Monday to tell the police about your little hideout." She got to the edge of the circle of light and turned to face the girl. "Do what you want, but I don't recommend sticking around here for very much longer," she said coolly. "It was nice meeting you."

"Wait!" Mai jumped up. "Wait, tell me what you were going to say already."

Ulala paused and gave her a small smile. It worked, she thought gleefully. Katsuya, you are a genius. "Mai," she said. "You just sit around, waiting for luck to fall into your lap, don't you?" She shook her head gently. "It doesn't work like that. The difference between you and me isn't good luck or bad luck. It's that I make my own luck, and you just whine about your lack of it."

Mai said nothing, just screwed up her face into a pout and looked to the side. Ulala took a breath and continued. "One of the boys you attacked is dead, did you know that? He killed himself." She shook her head. "I know what they did to you was disgusting. They're sleazeballs and I can think of some very creative punishments that would be perfectly fitting for them. But none of them involve the pain you inflicted on them. No one deserves that."

The girl stepped back, clearly surprised by the reproach. For a second she looked infuriated, as though she were ready to fly at Ulala and start ripping out her hair, but it just as quickly gave way to a much sadder, worn expression. Her body seemed to deflate, and she shrank back to sit gingerly on her stool. For the first time Ulala felt that she might be seeing the real Mai; the person behind the persona, who looked so much smaller and more fragile than she first seemed.

"I didn't mean to hurt them that bad," she said softly. "I read about the suicide in the paper, and -" she choked back tears. "I never wanted that. It wasn't supposed to be like that, but Ichirou joined with me somehow, and... we just annihilated them. It felt so empowering at the time, I was so happy to see them suffer." Her face twisted into a grimace. "But I can't stop thinking about how empty they looked. Like we were leaving two husks of people there on the roof."

They both fell silent for a long moment. "Um," the girl said at last. "Will you really... are the police really looking for me too?" Her eyes shone with sadness and fear. "Do you think that I would be okay at home?"

Ulala tilted her head, and smiled warmly.

* * *

Baofu took a deep breath and tried to empty his mind. Prometheus, he whispered to himself. Persona, persona, persona... over and over again, the familiar mantra ran through his head. The wind picked up and stirred his hair.

For a long time he felt nothing, or rather, he felt enough to assure him that he was still firmly rooted in reality. He was aware of the rough pavement, the sound of Katsuya's pacing, the dusty smell in the air. He sighed; although it was comforting, none of it emulated the dizzying void that always preceded his visions.

Damn it, he thought bitterly. You plague my life, you disrupt my sleep, I can never escape you... and then the one time I need you, you're nowhere to be found. He clenched his teeth fiercely. Is this all some kind of joke to you?

Anger and frustration swelled in his heart, and just as he was about to jump up and punch the wall, he felt himself paralyzed. A familiar voice danced through his mind. How interesting, it said. I never thought I'd see this day.

Baofu reflexively struggled against the voice, then forced himself to relax. I need your help.

Soft laughter echoed in his skull. You need my help? Tell me. Why do you need my help?

I can't see her. He found it hard to think the right words, like his mind was slowly unraveling. I need to know where she is. Please, show me where she is.

There was a long silence, and then Baofu felt as though the ground dropped out from under him. For the first time in his life, he didn't resist at all; he just let himself slip into the dream, sending back thoughts of utmost gratitude.

This time, he paid attention to his surroundings.

* * *

Ulala smiled to herself. Did I really get through to her? she inwardly rejoiced. If they could get Mai safely returned to her family, they could help her, start her on a path to recovery, and surely she would know where to find Ichirou. Everything was going to be alright. She had done it, and more importantly, she had done it on her own.

I really did it! And I can't wait to see the look on Baofu's -

That's when it happened. A familiar tingling at the back of her neck, the sudden panic on Mai's face, and the faintest sound of breathing all hit her awareness at once. She had no time to react, however, before she felt a brutal punch in her right shoulder. She cried out, her eyes wide with surprise and fear, before sinking to her knees.

She shuddered and gasped, trying to block out the pain that was tearing through her body. Got to move, she thought. Move! She threw herself into a sidewise roll, turning twice before coming up against the curtained wall. Her shoulder screamed and she had to bite her tongue to keep it from screaming too, but she knew that another blow would have been worse.

Her attacker, a young man in black that she could only assume was Ichirou, was thankfully distracted for the moment by violent protestations from Mai. Ulala winced as she reached around with her left hand to test the wound. Blood, she thought, surprised to feel the growing dampness on her shirt. The bastard stabbed me! Her right arm felt dull and heavy, and she could barely move the fingers of that hand.

Shit, she cursed silently. What the hell do I do now?

* * *

Baofu jumped up. "I know where she is," he said.

Katsuya turned. "Where?" he said, his eyes narrowing behind his glasses.

"The Time Castle. There's no mistaking it." He gritted his teeth. "She was in bad shape, Suou."

The two men nodded to each other, and Katsuya rolled his sleeves up to the elbows. "That's not far, only two blocks north and a cut across the empty lot," he said. "Want to run?"

"Let's."

* * *

The two kids were yelling now. Ulala could see that Ichirou was waving a long switchblade, probably the same one he had just stuck in her shoulder. The pain was dull now, almost numb, and shock was starting to give way to anger. She struggled to her feet. I don't need any working hands to kill this boy, she thought fiercely.

Mai and Ichirou were so absorbed in their dispute that neither of them even saw her stand up. "What's wrong with you?" Mai demanded shrilly. "Attacking an innocent person, are you out of your mind? We can't cover this up anymore! I don't want to be involved!"

"You wouldn't be anything without me!" the boy shouted. "I don't want to hear you complaining about how I do things, alright?" She shook her head and started to respond, but before she could say anything he raised his hand and slapped her brutally across the face.

She cried out and stumbled backwards, touching her cheek gingerly with the tips of her fingers. For a moment it looked like she might cry, but by the time she straightened up all fear and hesitation had fled from her face. The terrible, hateful expression she wore now could only mean one thing. Ichirou laughed; it sounded like a series of low staccato barks. "You wouldn't," he said with a snarl. "You couldn't take me."

"Maybe not," said Ulala from behind him. He whirled to find that she was standing between him and the exit with a sadistic grin on her face. "But there's something my partner always says. Never get between two women. Because no matter whose side you start out on, you always end up in the gutter."

The boy sneered and slowly moved towards her, his switchblade still dripping with her blood. "Stupid bitch," he growled. "I'll make you wish you'd never opened your ugly mouth."

Behind him, Mai raised both of her hands. "Persephone," she incanted, her voice even and calm. "I need you now. Show your fair face and bring this boy the humble taste of mortality." There was an incredible flash and the avatar of pale light that was both Mai and not Mai surrounded her and rose above her head.

Ichirou spun to face her, his eyes darkened by anger and fear. "Hades!" he shouted, fighting with the din of light and sound that was already filling the room. "Ruler of the dead! Come, punish these fools that dare to challenge your authority!" Ulala felt a sick dread wash over her as the dark turmoil of Ichirou's persona clashed with the stark brilliance of Mai's. She shielded her face and closed her eyes.

"Asteria," she whispered, and it was all she needed to say.

While both Mai and Ichirou's personae were strong and powerful, they were also uncontrolled. Ulala's discipline and experience with Asteria simply outclassed both of them. Her warmth washed over the room like the sea lapping at sandy shores on some distant island. Ichirou clapped his hands over his ears and dropped to the floor, the sickening presence of Hades diminishing and then fading. He resisted the effects of the sleep-spell long enough to scramble to the back wall of the room, where he huddled against the dark curtains. Mai and Persephone were unable to resist, and they strayed in the dream; when the tide had ebbed the young woman was fast asleep on the priceless Oriental rug and her persona was dormant once more.

The room quiet and normal again, Ulala fell to one knee, panting softly. Summoning her persona had taxed her more than she expected; she was having a hard time even seeing straight. Dizzy. Her mind spun as she turned to crawl back out to the store. Need to... get out now. Slowly she made her way through the dark hallway, dragging herself along with her left hand. Her right arm was now completely limp, and the entire back side of her shirt was heavy with warm, sticky blood. She began to understand that despite her victory, her current situation was not so good.

The door presented a problem, and she ended up sitting on her butt and kicking the damn thing open with both feet. The store was dark, and appeared to be locked up for the night. Stupid Count, she thought dumbly, and then turned her mind to the more productive idea of finding a phone.

Ulala had almost made it to the desk when the door shuddered twice and then flew open. Two pairs of feet came in, paused, then ran over to where she lay on the ground. She was dimly aware of voices, and one of the owners of the feet slapped her face lightly. "...up... stay with us... -lala..."

I know that voice, she thought with sudden clarity. Her eyes blinked open and she found herself staring up at two very concerned and soggy-looking detectives. She giggled.

"My god, what happened to her?" It was Baofu.

"Silly," she said, her voice slow and sticky in her throat. "I came, I saw... I conquered." A raspy laugh escaped her lips. "And then, I got stabbed. Isn't that... always the way?" She closed her eyes and finally, blissfully, everything went black.