A/N: Lalala, happy new year to everyone who uses the same calendar as me! No trigger warnings for this chapter. Same old, almost anyway. Next chapter is new though.

As always, not my sand box, just my sand castle.

Case One: Hospital Hijinx-Part Five

"Start with the part where Jayne gets knocked out by a ninety-pound girl, 'cause I don't think that's ever gettin' old..." Hoban Washburn (Firefly)

Naru ultimately decided that now that they knew the Spirit's name, Lin would attempt the exorcism. Mai could tell that it bothered both Ayako and Bou-san that they had failed, but she tried her best to console them that in reality, their own ceremonies hadn't failed at all.

They'd just been... hijacked.

Naru had originally wanted everyone but him and the silent Onmyoji to wait outside, but the group had immediately burst into protest. John and Yasu had pointed out that someone needed to monitor the equipment. Bou-san and Ayako had argued that they were the only ones able to provide back up if Lin encountered trouble. Masako had asked who was going to keep watch and report if the ceremony had actually worked.

Mai had simply pointed out that if she was the only one left out, she'd be breaking the buddy rule. Also, she could use the Nine Cuts to protect herself and the group.

Plus, she really, really wanted to see Lin do his thing.

With only the slight ticking of the vein under his right eye to show his displeasure, Naru had finally acquiesced.

And so they began their preparations.

Mai had been forced to bite her lip every step of the way, desperate to pepper the silent man with questions. Every Japanese person had heard stories of Onmyodo, of course. It was built into their country's history, after all. But seeing it in action was something else altogether.

She watched bright-eyed as Lin drew sheet after sheet of complicated talismans. They looked nothing like the wards she and the others were wearing that Ayako had made for them.

She recognized that some of the writing must be Sanskrit, though she couldn't read it. She reasoned that some of the characters must represent the Doctor's name and date of death, since Yasu had been able to find out that much, at least, from the public records. But the rest was a mystery to her.

She and Masako silently helped set up the candles and altar under Naru's direction on the top floor hallway, carefully walking around the piles of broken glass. None of the other rooms were deemed sound enough to handle the ceremony, so they would once again try the upstairs hall.

"How will we know he isn't going to try and turn the exorcism back against us again?" John had asked, wiping his face, leaving a smudge of dirt on his pale cheek.

Masako had glided closer to Mai, taking her hand again. She'd been distressingly quiet this whole case. Mai worried her lip, hoping her response to Naru's earlier question had been correct. She'd never forgive herself if Masako came out of this more damaged than she went in.

"Are you okay?" She whispered to the younger girl.

Masako smiled grimly. "This is nothing like Tokyo. I'm fine. I was a professional, after all."

"You still are." Mai chided with a gentle smile. "You are the better medium in Japan. And someday, when you're ready, you'll be back out there kicking ass and taking names."

She pushed a section of Masako's hair behind her ear. "Or, you won't. But it won't be because you can't. It will be because that's what you chose."

Lin straightened from the altar where he had been placing some last minute finishing touches. "The talismans and wards all state his name. Therefore, it should be impossible for him to redirect any of the dharmic power back upon us."

Should...Mai felt a shiver of unease, stepping closer to Masako protectively. She could see Naru watching them out of the corner of her eye. She raised her chin at him, refusing to let him see her trepidation.

"Let's do this and get out of this place." Yasu said finally, pushing his glasses up his nose. His face, too, was covered in sweat and dust. He walked over to stand next to Mai. She knew he was worried about Masako as well, his concern was practically coming off him in waves, but he didn't say anything and Mai was grateful.

They were as ready as they were going to get. It was warm on the upper floors, yet Mai still felt cold.

"Step back." Lin commanded, his voice taking on the echoing cadence she remembered from the few times before that she had seen him use his power.

Masako's grip on Mai tightened. Mai exhaled, centering herself, searching for that place of calm that let her control her abilities. She raised two fingers in preparation, as did Ayako. Bou-San's fingers were ready in a warding position. He had changed into his robes just in case, as had Ayako. She wondered if John missed his own robes at times like these, but his face was neutral as he stared at the Onmyoji intently.

Lin started chanting, the words Chinese by her guess. The foreign language was harsh on her ears. She'd considered learning it in school, but had shied away for some reason every time she'd gone to sign up for classes. She supposed some things would always be too close and too far at the same time.

Immediately the temperature plummeted. All around them, boards groaned and shrieked in protest. Dust drifted down from the timbers above. It sounded like the nails were being pulled out of the timbers, one by rusty one. The sounds made shudders rack up her spine.

"Everyone be careful!" Naru called the warning, unnecessary as it was. She met his eyes worriedly, there could be no doubt that the Doctor's Spirit was resisting-

Suddenly, beside her, Masako let out a keening wail that quickly morphed into maniacal laughter. The grip on Mai's hand tightened painfully, and she let out a surprised yell of her own. Looking over at her friend, she recoiled.

Or tried to, anyway. Masako was no longer holding her hand, instead, she had gripped Mai's wrist. Her grasp was like cold steel, and her eyes had both gone pitch black.

She was possessed.

"Masako!" Mai screamed, attempting to wrench her hand free, but it was no use. The spirit-infused girl was too strong for her.

Lin had stopped his chanting, and Mai found herself suddenly in the center of a rough semi-circle of her teammates, their faces grim and disbelieving by turns.

"He's using Masako's body to hide from Lin." John cried.

"Let Mai go!" Naru demanded, voice full of authority.

Not-Masako only laughed. "Why would I do that just when things are getting so interesting?"

Her voice was lower than normal, the cadence of her words sounding awkward and unfamiliar.

"The minute I let this woman go, you'll only try to turn your exorcism against me again. No, I think these silly little girls suit me very well."

The already bruising grip on Mai's hand tightened, and she fell to her knees, locking her jaw to keep from crying out. The pain washed over her, but she couldn't break the spirit's grip on her wrist. She couldn't use the Nine Cuts against Masako, she was too strong now. She might do her true harm.

Bou-San and Ayako were in the same boat. She could sense Lin's shiki dancing around the two of them, sparking like static electricity as they encountered the Spirit's aura, but Not-Masako only laughed louder.

Turning to Naru, she said speculatively "I sense a great deal of power in you, boy. Yet no matter what I've tried, you've refused to use it. Can it be that you can't, in fact, use it? Is your own power too much for you, perhaps?"

The temperature in the room dropped even more, chills racking up and down Mai's spine, but she was afraid Naru was the culprit this time, not Shiro.

"Don't do it, Naru..." Lin warned.

"I'd only be giving him what he wants." Naru agreed, almost snarling at the possessed woman.

"I won't say it again. Leave Masako's body and let Mai go."

"If you want them, come and get them." The spirit grinned wickedly, the expression an obscene caricature of Masako's normally beautiful face. "If you can..."

With her free hand, she reached for Mai's forehead, placing her burning cold hand on Mai's face.

The rest faded to black.

Mai whirled around in a circle, studying the shadows and darkened corners of the Tea Shop.

HER Tea Shop, damn it!

She was fed up with the spirit thinking he could have his way with them, toying with the members of her family however he pleased.

"Don't worry, woman. I'm bored with you. Talented though you may be, I have seen your like before. You need merely wait here for the other one to come after you." The voice echoed, laughter hidden among the disjointed syllables.

She stilled, listening. He was still after Naru. Then his other words sank in and her mouth dropped open in shock.

Bored with her? BORED?!

She was many things, but she was sure even Naru, the king of all Narcissists would say she wasn't BORING.

Useless, stupid, common even.

Silly little girl.

But never boring.

Mai snarled silently. She'd show this jerk. He might be 'through with her', but she was far from through with him.

She stalked over to the counter, rounding it with quick, angry steps. This Tea Shop was a painstakingly detailed replica of the real thing, a long labor of sweat and effort that had taken her months to perfect. It was duplicated down to the tiniest, most mundane detail, which meant that-

Yes.

There it was.

She'd certainly never had cause to use it in her astral form, but the Louisville Slugger was there nonetheless. She grabbed the bat from its resting place beneath the counter. It had been a graduation gift of sorts from Yasu, who had played baseball in high school but decided not to in college.

"Choke up." He'd told her the first time she'd picked it up, adjusting her grip. "There you go. Now you're ready to beat the crap out of any late night customers who give you trouble."

She could only assume this counted as a correct use of the gift.

"Would you damage your own astral plane?" The Doctor's voice drifted to her, surprise evident in his voice.

She shrugged, taking aim for the shelves of tea cups behind her.

"Well, I'd hate to be boring."

Swinging with all her might and not a little pent up frustration, she smashed into the shelf, porcelain shards flying everywhere.

"I built it once. I can rebuild it again. But let's see you hold me prisoner here and possess Masako at the same time while I'm renovating this place!"

She swung again, this time taking out two of the chairs. She made sure not to just swing with her arms, but with her INTENTIONS, imagining that each unfortunate object was in fact the despicable ghost keeping her locked in here.

She grinned feral. This was actually kind of fun. No wonder ghosts were doing this kind of thing all the time. The spirit had made a grave misjudgement dismissing her out of hand. She seldom let herself get angry. There was no point in that particular poison, after all.

But that didn't mean that she wasn't angry. That deep down, she wasn't a bottomless well of rage, rage against everything that had happened to her. To the ones she loved. She thought perhaps if she started, she would rage and rage like the sea, endlessly, until she ground the world around her down to nothing but sand.

So she didn't let herself.

Usually.

"Play ball!" She yelled, aiming for the window, envisioning the jagged shards flying out of the sill like arrows towards her target-

She woke with a jerk, nearly knocking into Naru's forehead. She gasped, catching her breath. Naru was hovering over her and she could see Yasu in the background. She looked around, disoriented. They appeared to be back at base.

"Play ball?" Naru asked, pushing her back down onto the floor, raising her wrist to take her pulse.

She flushed, realizing the spirit must have released her at the same time she'd called out those words in her astral form. What had happened while she'd been in the tea shop?

"Where's Masako?" She asked, fighting past Naru's hands to sit up successfully this time. She looked at Yasu worriedly, but he only shook his head. The lines of his face were tense, and she knew things were horribly wrong.

"Still upstairs." Naru said grimly.

Gently he gripped her chin, turning her face towards his to search her eyes. Breaking a psychic's vision, or dream in her case, could be dangerous to the psychic, and it was obvious he wasn't taking any more chances.

"And still possessed." Yasu added, worry evident in his voice.

"What happened?" Mai demanded, glancing back at the staircase. The angles were all wrong, however, and she couldn't see anything. She pushed back at his hands, and after a pause, he backed up enough that she could sit up.

"Once you passed out, she let go of you. Apparently the Spirit was strong enough to pull out your spirit and hold it on the plane without touching you, because then it dropped you." Naru said, helping her to her feet.

She nodded. That would account for the headache. She rubbed the back of her head distractedly.

"Then she backed away, and pulled out the pocket knife Masako carries." Yasu added, worry evident in his voice.

Mai gasped, bringing a hand to her mouth. She looked back at the stairs, straining to hear anything. The voices were muted however, the words losing form as they drifted downstairs.

"She's currently holding it to her own neck, threatening to cut Masako if we try to restart the exorcism. It was using you two as hostages, trying to force me to use my PK." Naru finished, the cold chill in his voice giving evidence to his anger at the spirit.

"But you didn't, right ?" Mai asked in quick concern., looking him over. Naru's PK was as dangerous to him as the spirit….

He shook his head in frustration. "My PK can do nothing to the spirit without harming Masako in the process. We brought you down here so I could try and use my psychometry to locate you on the Astral Plane, but before we could start, you woke up."

She grinned fiercely at them, pushing down a panicked giggle. "Let's just say this jerk isn't as strong as he likes to think. He wasn't able to hold me and Masako at the same time, not once I started wrecking the place."

"With a baseball?" Naru asked, and she could tell he was trying to decide if she was really okay after all.

"No." Yasu grinned suddenly in understanding.. "With a baseball bat."

She grinned back at him, starting to feel more like herself by the second. "Turns out I really did replicate every part of the Tea Shop, including my trusty baseball bat. So I took a page out of his book and started breaking things. I figured I needed to make things a little harder for him."

Naru narrowed his eyes. "You attacked your own astral plane with your dharmic energy, forcing him to release you? You do realize how completely reckless and stupid that is? That place acts as your buffer. You're completely vulnerable without it."

"Well, it was that or stay a ghost hostage." Mai snapped back. "But now I know how we can beat him. Ok." She closed her eyes, taking a mental review of herself. She was dirty and apparently covered in bumps and bruises at this point, but she still felt strong enough for what she needed to do.

"Ok. Yeah. I know what to do. Yasu, you're going to have to hypnotize me. I'm going back."

"Like hell." Naru said in a tight voice, and Yasu's jaw dropped, either at her suggestion or their normally calm boss's use of profanity, she wasn't sure which.

Yasu had learned to hypnotize people in order to help her learn to control her astral projection. Despite all their jokes to the contrary, she wasn't actually able to just fall asleep anytime it was convenient. Yasu had learned hypnotism to help put her in a trance, though in the last two years, he'd used it more as a party trick for their other friends than on her.

"I know how to help Masako.!" She insisted, glaring at the indigo-eyed man in front of her.

"Mai, you just barely escaped the first time. We'd be giving him his second hostage back." Naru said dismissively, crossing his arms as he scowled at her.

"Well, it's a good thing I wasn't asking your permission then!"

She pushed him away, walking over to Yasu. "Yasu, we don't have much time. I know how Masako can kick him out, and then Lin can finish his exorcism."

Yasu wavered, looking between her and Naru. It was obvious how worried he was about Masako.

"Will you be safe?" He asked in a low, intense whisper.

She smiled at him reassuringly. "I got this. Send me back, I'll go get our girl."

"I said no." The command was back in Naru's voice, and she whirled back to face him.

"At some point, you're just going to have to trust in me, Naru. Professionally, you might be my boss, but we're beyond that at this point. Masako's my friend, and I'm going to get her back. So get in line or get out of my way."

She was mad at him, furious that he was trying to stop her, but she was also sad that after all this time, he couldn't see the changes in her. She had fought tooth and nail to master her abilities. To become strong enough to protect the ones she'd chosen to keep safe. "I've done it before, and I can do it now.'

"I can do this.." She pleaded, stepping closer and looking up into his face. "You asked me to help you. So let me help."

Truthfully, she was only asking to try and make things easier later. One way or another, she was going back for Masako.

He shook his head adamantly. "You still haven't learned to stop running ahead."

She squared her shoulders. "No, you still haven't learned to let me. But I'm going to get Masako back."

His jaw tightened, and then he sighed, closing his eyes briefly. She held her breath, watching the struggle dance across his features. At another time, it would be captivating, the sheer fact that he was showing his emotions at all.

But it wasn't time for that. She had places to be.

"Yasu isn't going to hypnotize you." Her shoulders sagged. "But I will." Her head shot up again. "On one condition."

"Anything." She said, without hesitation.

"Give me your anchor." Naru demanded.

She cocked her head in confusion, aware of the precious seconds ticking by. They were running out of time...

"My key?..." She asked, drawing the cord she wore around her neck out of her blouse top. The key hung in the air between them, still warm from her body heat. Without the Tea Shop, she wasn't even sure how much power her key held.

He nodded, closing his hand around it and placing the cord over his own neck. Somehow the simple action felt surprisingly...intimate. "Even without using my PK, I have strong power. I acted as Gene's anchor when we were younger. As long as I stay next to you, it should magnify the power of your own anchor."

"O-Kay.." She said, not really understanding but trusting him nonetheless. She was really out of options anyway.

"Lay down again" Naru commanded, and she quickly laid down on the floor. Naru knelt on one side of her, and Yasu knelt on the other, clasping her hand.

"Be careful." He pleaded, worry clear on his face. She squeezed his hand reassuringly.

"Not really who I am." She replied cheekily, smiling for his sake.

"Look at me, Mai." Now that he was committed to his course of action, Naru's voice was once again calm, neutral. "I want you to breathe slowly. Now, count with me... 1..2...3

"Four..." Mai whispered, blinking in shock.

Where was she?

The world was tilted sideways, or, at least the room she was in was.

She could smell metal and blood. People were moaning all around her..the hospital?

No.

She recognized this place.

She'd been here before. Blood covered her hands, warmth trickling down the side of her head. Somewhere an emergency light was flashing, an intermittent red glow punctuating the shadows.

"I'm back on the train.." She whispered, looking around wildly.

With her Tea Shop destroyed, she should have expected something like this. She could feel her chest tightening with fear…

The memory washed over her like the tide.

It was late, and Yasu was a little angry and more than a little bit drunk by the time she had managed to track him down at the frat party. She was exhausted from battling her own dreams and astral travels every night in her sleep. Even when she managed to spend the night in her own body, nightmares of the last few months haunted her sleep. She wished she could talk about them with someone, but honestly, none of her friends were in a position to help her slay her personal demons.

No matter how many times she woke up with the echoes of gunshots in her ears.

She missed Gene, and she missed Naru, that stupid, big headed narcissist.

But none of that mattered now, as she pushed her drunk friend off the platform and into the train. They'd barely made it on time for the last train back to Yasu's neighborhood. She'd have to crash at his place again.

Though it was late, it was a Saturday and the train compartment was nearly a third full. She'd sat Yasu down, afraid he'd fall over if left to his own devices. She'd stood in front of him, ring clenched in one hand as she steadied her friend with the other.

The wreck was sudden. One moment, nothing could be felt but the gentle sway of the car, the next, the world turned head over heels and she was airborne. People screamed all around her, but her own scream was locked in her throat. It was dark then, only the emergency lights chasing away the darkness. Each flash was like a moment frozen in time as she had looked around in confusion. Everywhere she looked, people were lying, splayed out at odd angles like toys left out by a careless child.

She could hear crying, as she stumbled to her feet. The compartment's side was now the floor. Broken glass and twists of metal were everywhere.

And blood. The scent of blood.

"Ya-Yasu!" She stumbled over the word, her mouth not quite in tune with her mind.

Had she hit her head?

Everything hurt. Where was Yasu?

Where was she?

"Yasu!?" She called again, louder this time, but no response.

She started stumbling through the car, quickly ending back on her knees and she fell over something or someone.

She looked down, her breath rushing out of her in cold fear.

Yasu.

He was still, lying awkwardly on his side, seemingly asleep, nothing more.

But the growing puddle of blood to one side of him had Mai's eyes widening. It was too much, too fast.

Wherever he was hurt, he was bleeding out.

"Help!" She screamed, but no one was coming.

At least not fast enough. She'd have to do it herself. She knelt, looking at his legs.

There, a deep gash, near the top of his leg. She desperately tried to recall her anatomy class.

Wasn't there an important artery near there...?

She plunged her hands down, trying to put pressure on the wound-

And her hands went right through him.

The world froze as she realized...

She was projecting again.

Was she dead? Or just thrown from her body?

Where was her body?

She looked up, eyes widening.

There. Just a little further. Another step and she would have been walking on herself.

But how to get back? She and Madoka had only been working together for a few weeks to control her projecting. She was getting better at not wandering so far from her body, but she'd never been successful at forcing herself back in as of yet.

And Yasu was running out of time.

Her breath was whistling in her narrowed throat. Yasu was going to bleed out right in front of her if she didn't do something RIGHT THEN.

"Breathe, Mai..." The voice was her own, but the words were his.

Naru's words, not Gene's, despite whatever he might have thought to the contrary.

In her head, in her heart. Whenever she was scared, whenever she needed to be brave...

It had always been Naru.

"On the count of four, I will be back in my body..." she told herself firmly. This time it would work.

It had to.

1.2..3...4

She blinked.

The train was gone.

The Tea Shop was gone.

Everywhere was nothing more than a glowing softness, glimmering lights sparkling in the distance.

Oh.

She remembered this place.

"Mai." The name was soft, the voice familiar and yet...not.

"Gene." She replied, tasting the name for the first time out loud, lips trembling.

He hadn't changed. Would never change. He was a ghost, after all.

But why now, after four years? What had changed-

And just like that, she knew.

"It was me..." She whispered in realization. "I changed. I changed somehow, and that's why..."

"No matter what I tried, I couldn't get through to you anymore." He said with a sad smile.

"I missed you..." She mumbled, tearing up despite herself.

This is what Naru had done, when he'd insisted upon being her anchor. He'd somehow turned himself into a bridge between her and his brother.

Even after her disastrous confession. Even though he thought it was Gene she had been in love with.

He smiled wider. "I like it. Hearing you say my name and not Noll's"

She shook her head. "You're impossible."

"Yeah. I've been told that before. Usually by my idiot scientist brother. Speaking of which, don't you have somewhere you need to be?"

"Masako?" She realized, finally remembering her original purpose in coming to the Astral Plane.

She'd gotten caught up in the memories, overcome without her Tea Shop to act as a buffer.

That was why Naru had sent Gene to her.

To protect her.

"She's okay, for now. Scared, but okay. But we need to hurry. Naru won't let you stay here for long. He worries too much."

Gene clasped her hand, and the dream changed again.

"You make it look so easy..." she murmured as they landed somewhere new.

"Perks of being dead, I'm afraid." He said, gesturing to the door. "This is no longer your plane, Mai. We've entered Masako's wavelength. Do you recognize this place?"

Mai nodded, looking around in anger.

The bastard had dragged Masako's spirit to the one place that scared her more than anywhere else.

The Tokyo City Morgue.

She let go of Gene's hand.

"I can take it from here." She said, wondering if this time really was the last time she would ever see him.

"I know you can."

She looked around the room, quickly focusing on the two people at the far end. Masako was backed in the corner, arms held up defensively as she attempted to ward off the spirit of Dr. Shiro.

Mai took a breath, praying her plan worked.

She raised two fingers, aiming at the Doctor, quickly calling out the Nine Cuts. The spirit jumped back, crisscrossing wounds appearing on his side, as he settled a few feet from Masako.

Masako was staring with disbelief at her. "M-Mai?"

"Hey, Palm-Top Tiger. Don't you think it's time you kicked this jerk out of your own body?" Mai hollered, purposefully using the nickname their instructor at the Dojo had bestowed upon the petite girl.

Mai knew the manga reference drove the girl nuts.

As she had hoped, irritation danced across Masako's features before she huffed, drawing up to her full height. Annoyance helped chase back her fear.

"Well. Now that you're here I suppose I shall have to show you what I can actually do." She sniffed, tossing her hair over her shoulders.

"All talk, no action!" Mai cried, imitating Yasu this time.

Masako smiled. "Very well."

She took a deep breath, and then launched herself at the spirit.

Mai watched, ready to assist if needed, but she knew in her heart that Masako hadn't needed her help.

She had just needed to be reminded that she didn't need it. She had become stronger all on her own.

Mai watched tiredly as Yasu and John loaded the last of the boxes in the van. An exhausted Masako was already on her way back to the city with Ayako and Bou-San.

Once Masako had managed to eject the stunned Doctor's spirit from her body, Lin's exorcism had made quick work of him.

She looked up as Naru came to stand beside her.

"You look tired." She commented wryly.

He raised a brow. "Technically, I'm the only one who didn't do anything."

She snorted. She knew better, but she wasn't sure how to broach the subject.

There was a moment of silence before she finally said "Thank you."

"For what?" He asked mildly, walking down the steps.

She didn't bother answering, since she knew he already knew what she meant.

She fell asleep somehow, on the ride back.

Even though sitting between Naru and Lin in the van should have been the last place in the world she could have fallen asleep, she somehow managed it. She was probably drooling on Naru's shoulder...

The Tea Shop was a wreck.

Perhaps she had gone overboard earlier...

"Quite a renovation project you have going on here..." The voice remarked casually from the doorway.

She looked over at him with a smile.

She hadn't dared to hope she'd see him again.

He stood, straightening. Unlike herself, he hadn't changed. Would never change.

He'd forever be seventeen. Always be that gentle smile in the darkness.

"Care for some help?" He asked.

"Always." She said with a smile. He would never change, but she could.

******Stinger*******

Noll seldom dreamed. Gene used to talk about the fantastic and somewhat unbelievable things he had dreamed.

But Noll seldom dreamed.

Which made this one all the more disquieting.

He stared down at the spoon in his hand. It was bent nearly in half.

'Lin would be so mad', he thought, in the reckless way that one did in dreams.

He looked around. He didn't recognize the street. The rain fell, a nearly torrential downpour that obscured his vision. Cars rushed by, and people holding umbrellas walked past him, ebbing and flowing like a human tide.

Where was he? And why?

A figure up ahead caught his attention. Like him, he stood in the rain, unsheltered. His hair was plastered to his head and he seemed to be looking for someone. His head swiveled back and forth, searching. Even with his back to Noll, the figure was familiar.

It was Gene, of course it would be.

Suddenly Gene pivoted, facing Noll. He raised his hand enthusiastically. Somewhat bemused at his brother's enthusiasm, Noll half heartedly raised his own hand in return.

He realized immediately though that Gene wasn't actually looking at him, waving at him.

He was waving at the woman who had just walked past him, face blocked by her umbrella. All he could see was the end of her braid where it lay over her shoulder.

He watched as the woman reached his brother, her umbrella blocking most of his view.

Suddenly they turned, walking together down an alley between two buildings.

"Don't…" Noll spoke the words out loud, surprising himself. Gene was dead, this was obviously a dream, so why was he getting so upset?

And yet, he was. Tension was coiling through his body, alarm dancing along his nerves.

He took a step, and then another, and now he was running. He slid around the corner, stepping into the alley-

And the dream changed, the way do.

Ahead of him was a hallway. Dozens of doors lined the walls, all sorts. Big, small, intricate and plain. Some were painted, and some were wood. Some looked old, ancient even. Some looked modern enough to be in a lab.

He walked warily down the hall, unsure of what to do…

He'd been following his brother and that woman. But where had they gone? And why did it matter?

What was he meant to do?

He walked forever, at first looking at each door closely, but after a while, the sheer variety became a monotony all it's own. How was he supposed to know which door was which?

"There isn't a lot of time left." Gene's voice came from behind him, and Noll turned.

Gene was standing in front of a door Noll had past by without another thought. Plain white, in was no more or less than any of the others.

But Gene was watching it intently, like it held important secrets.

"Time for what?" Noll asked.

But Gene merely shook his head, staring at the door with a grim determination that looked foreign on his face.

As Noll watched, blood began to seep under the door, pooling out into the hall, lapping at the edges of Gene's shoes.

Gene closed his eyes, as if in some kind of phantom pain. He met Noll's eyes.

He opened his mouth, as if to say something, but then he closed it grimly. Turning on his heels, he began to walk down the hall, a bloody trail of footprints in his wake.

"Gene!" Noll called, confused.

"Choosing to do nothing is still a choice, idiot brother…"

Noll opened his eyes, looking around his bedroom. He could hear his mother's voice was downstairs, she was laughing at something, his father most likely.

"Choosing to do nothing is still a choice." He said softly, to himself.