A/N: And now we are wrapping up case three of Refraction. I won't go into much detail here except to say that I hope this chapter's visuals are as strong for you as they are for me. I'm in a writing FB group called Nanoland for writers who participate in Nano every year, and just recently someone posted a query about what it felt like to be in a torrential downpour. Reading the responses of all the other writers was fascinating, and intimidating by turns.

As always, my writing is completely dependent on the muse, who apparently runs on spite, caffeine and reviews. Not my sandbox, just my sandcastle. And a shoutout to my 16 year old, who helped proofread this chapter in return for gas money, lol.

-RavensGame

Refraction Case Three Part Four

"The Forest For The Trees"

"Now we're burning all the bridges now,

Watching it go up in flames

No way to build it up again

And we're burning all the bridges now,

'Cause it was sink or swim

And I went down, down, down"

Bridges (song) by Broods

Mai stood on the porch of their lodge, stomach in an anxious knot. She didn't know why though. Was it just because watching the other four go up the mountain had been an eerie echo of watching Keiji run towards his death? This feeling of impending doom was nearly crushing her.

She brushed another strand of hair out of her face impatiently. The wind had been picking up for the last hour, and it seemed to whisper to her, a restless urging for her to do….what?

Something.

"Mai, we have a problem." Yasu said from the desk behind her and she closed her eyes. It was a strange mix of foreboding and relief, to know she was finally about to have a name for her anxiety.

"What is it?" She asked without turning around. Hugging herself against a sudden chill, she continued to stare at the mountain.

"The weather radio just issued an alert for a late season typhoon. It won't come this far inland, but it's likely to set off a chain of storms, especially in the mountains." Yasu said grimly, coming to stand at her shoulder.

Mai nodded. She supposed the storm of nausea and anxiety coiling in her stomach could be described as a typhoon.

She raised her radio to her face. "Naru, Bou-san, come in, over."

Only silence greeted her hail, however.

The other two pairs had taken radios, but they would have better luck talking to each other with them than her, down at the base of the mountain.

"I repeat, Naru. Lin, John, Bou-san, can anyone hear me?" She tried again, feeling her anxiety hitch even higher.

She remembered Bou-san warning her that she never wanted to be on the mountain in the middle of a storm.

"Mai, come in…..can…..barely…" The transmission ended in static.

"Bou-san, Bou-san, come in. Storm coming. Return to base immediately!" She shook her head.

"Yasu, is there a way to strengthen the signal?" She asked desperately, looking over to the taller man.

Yasu looked out over the tree line, obviously working through the angles in his mind. She watched as his eyes darted here and there, every bit as thorough as Naru. He was laid back in nature, not afraid to let others take the lead, it became easy to dismiss his intelligence if you didn't know him well.

Finally, he shook his head.

"The signal is strong enough, they're just too high above us. Radio waves go out horizontally." He demonstrated with his hands. "They're too far above us to pick up the signal."

"The roof?" She suggested, growing more worried by the second. She could see the clouds gathering on the horizon now, but remembering her previous hikes through the heavily forested paths, she knew the others wouldn't see the storm until it was right on top of them. The trees were too thick, and naturally provided a deep shade that would block their view of the storm. And if they had gone off path to search the surrounding areas for Keiji's body, they could be in real trouble.

Which they very well might have, because of her teary breakdown earlier.

"This is my fault." She said miserably. Bou-san could have gone straight into an exorcism, but she had been so worked up over the idea of hurting Keiji that the others were now in danger to try and appease her.

"We have to do something." She said, chewing the already ravaged end of her thumbnail. It was an old, bad habit of hers when she was worried.

Yasu shook his head.

"Boss said not to leave base." He pointed out.

"Boss is about to be trapped on a mountain in a typhoon." She retorted.

She realized she had dug the remainder of her nails into the flesh of her upper arms only when Yasu crossed over to her, prying her hands slowly off her arms.

"Mai-"

"Yasu, they're up there because of me, and if they get hurt, it'll be my fault." She said, meeting his eyes.

And that was terribly unfair of her, but she was desperate.

He stilled, his eyes far away, and then they snapped back to her face.

"Let's go to the place where the upper trail heads branch off, where the covered bridge is. It might be high enough to get a signal through. But no higher." He said, and she nodded, eager to try anything that might bring the teams down safely.

They headed quickly towards the upper trailhead, Mai trying the radio periodically. There was nothing but static, however, and the two exchanged grim looks, breaking into a jog.

They reached the covered bridge as the wind began to pick up strength. Mai's hair had pulled almost completely out of her braid now. She wished she had put on a jacket, but at least she was wearing pants.

They reached the trailhead, and Mai tried the radio again.

"Bou-san, Naru, do you hear me?"

"Mai?" It was Naru's voice. "...wrong?"

"There's a storm coming. Come down now-" She froze, looking around the clearing again.

Yasu was gone.

"Oh no. No, no-no-no." She whispered. Had she lost time? She glanced at her watch, but it didn't seem any later than she expected it to be.

Had Yasu walked off because he had seen or heard something? Was Yasu possessed? Was this what the others had warned them about? Keiji had been in love with Atsuki…

On the other side of the bridge, she spied something gleaming dully. Sprinting towards it, she picked up a whistle, still attached to its cord.

Feeling around her own neck, she pulled out her whistle. It was still there, though she saw her compass was spinning in crazy circles.

That meant the whistle was Yasu's. She looked up at the trail that branched off immediately past the bridge. They hadn't taken it on any of their previous explorations due to the chain hung across it, marking it as off limits. There was a hazard sign posted as well, explaining that the trail was no longer maintained.

Due to earth slides.

Breathing quickly, she ran back to the map, finding the old trail and following it with her finger. It looked to her like it had ran parallel to the ravine the spring had carved into the mountain as it wound its way to the bottom.

If that was the way Yasu had gone, was he following Keiji's footsteps from that fateful night?

She swallowed grimly. She knew if Naru could talk to her right now, he'd tell her to stay put and wait for help.

But Yasu might not have that kind of time. And there was no way of knowing how far away the other teams were.

But they would certainly come through this way at some point.

Grimly she returned to the trailhead. The chain that had once blocked the decommissioned trail now lay piled in the dirt. Brushing more hair out of her eyes, she drug it out into the main path. Anyone coming this way would practically trip over it. Then she lay Yasu's whistle beside it, as clear a sign as she could think of.

"Come find us." She whispered.

The path was rocky and leaf strewn, disappearing altogether in some places where the underbrush had retaken the land. At times, she had to go into the woods, winding around trees before returning to the path, because in several places, the path had already washed out. Her compass was going crazy, and she kept a hand over every tree she circled, making sure she had found the path again before continuing.

It made for dangerously slow progress, however, and was it her imagination or was it already much darker than it should be? Periodically, she'd try the radio, but all she got in return was static. Either the angle of the mountain was blocking the transmission, or something else was.

Or someone else was.

She wasn't sure how far up she'd gone before she saw the patch of fresh earth. It was right on the edge of the ravine, and she inched up to the edge cautiously, mindful of the treacherously loose footing.

Her breath caught when she saw Yasu laying like a broken doll on the bottom of the ravine. It was probably only thirty feet or so to the bottom, but it felt much further. For a second she was certain he was dead, but she thought she saw him shift position, just a little before going still again.

"Yasu!" She screamed, but he didn't move again.

"Naru, Bou-san, come in. Yasu has fallen into a ravine, repeat, Yasu is hurt. We need help, over." More static greeted her plea.

She searched frantically for a safe way down, but except for an area nearly half a mile ahead, she couldn't see any path that didn't end in her probably breaking her neck.

So be it.

She repressed nervous shudders as she slowly levered herself over the edge. Already she could feel how loose the earth was here. The wind tore at her hair and clothes. The creek sounded so loud, like it was angry already. Halfway down she lost her footing, the earth beneath her footing simply giving way.

She shrieked as she slipped the rest of the way down, gasping as her foot tangled in tree root. Screaming pain blazed through her mind, the sudenness of it locking her chest tight.

She fought for air, fought to marshall her thoughts, fought to just remember her name.

And then it was dying down, her ankle now a hot ember attached to her leg.

"Oh god. Ok. Ok-ok-ok."

She was talking to herself again, empty reassurances.

"Ok. I'm ok." The trick was to sound firm, like you believed it. Say a lie enough times, and maybe it became real.

She gingerly rotated her foot. She wasn't bleeding, no bones were sticking out. It flamed red-hot as she moved it, so probably not broken.

But definitely badly, badly sprained. Her hands were better, but not much, numerous scratches grazed her palms. None were too deep, though, so she ignored them as well as she limped towards Yasu's body.

"Yasu!" She cried, collapsing beside him.

He hadn't landed in the water, but the stream wasn't far off, and Mai had to force herself not to think about flash floods while she looked her best friend over in the fading light.

There was a bleeding gash by his head, but she couldn't see much else. That didn't rule out internal bleeding of course. Now that she was close enough, she could hear him mumbling incoherently.

"Hey, Yasu. Shhh. It's ok. It's Mai. I'm here." The words tripped over themselves as they spilled from her lips. She wanted to touch him, but was afraid to. She was covered in dirt from her tumble down the ravine, and her hands were still bleeding slightly.

"Mai…?" It was a confused question.

"Hey there. Glad to have you back. Can you open your eyes and look at me?" She heard the cajoling note in her own voice.

'Calm down, Mai.'

She hated how the most useful things in her mind were said in his voice. It seemed unfair she couldn't be her own common sense.

"Only for you…" Yasu groaned as he opened his eyes, and then closed them immediately.

"Only, I can't tell which one of you is which."

She exhaled. Concussion. That was bad. There was no way they could climb out of the ravine like this. It was going to be hard enough on her ankle as it was. And in the growing dark, she wasn't sure exactly where they were in relation to the path anymore.

Her eyes widened as she felt frantically for her whistle. Her anchor was still there, but the other necklace was gone.

So was the radio, not that it would have been much good down here.

"Oh, you have to be kidding me." She muttered, looking around desperately. She'd still had her whistle up at the top of the path, right?

"Help!" She cried. The wind stole her words, hollowing out their strength, and just then, thunder pealed.

"Oh shit." She glanced desperately back at the stream. Was it her imagination or had it inched closer to them now?

"Help!" She called again, but she wondered if her voice could even been heard over the rising storm, and the sound of the stream that was sounding more and more like a river by the second.

She needed that whistle. She stook up awkwardly, half hobbling to the place where she'd slid down.

She looked up the embankment, swallowing a whimper as her foot protested.

There, where she had been clinging when she lost her footing. She could see the whistle caught on another exposed root.

Ok.

She nodded grimly to herself. She just needed to make it halfway up the embankment. Only a third if she was able to reach up and snag it.

She didn't really have a choice.

This was really going to suck, though.

Gritting her teath against the pain, she slowly worked her way towards the necklace. Her foot throbbed in time with her heartbeat, which itself seemed to mimic the beat of the creek, and the increasing peals of thunder.

No-time, no-time..

She started to slide and desperately, she reached out, putting everything she had into stretching that last crucial inch-

She snagged the whistle, but the root tore away with it, falling away in a cloud of dirt and Mai gasped as the dull white of the skull was revealed underneath.

In her shock, she lost her balance sliding back down the slope.

In the mountain, Keiji was IN the mountain-

A part of her that still worked used a shaking hand to put the whistle to her lips and she blew, over and over again until she had stop, gasping for breath. Her eyes felt glued to skull, still half buried, only one gaping socket free to glare down at her.

Thunder pealed again, and the temperature seemed to be dropping, because she was shaking with cold now.

"Mai!" She looked up, towards the lip of the ravine where she could barely make out Naru and Lin peering over the edge.

"Naru!" She cried, her voice shaky with relief. "Yasu's hurt. We can't climb out that way."

"How did you get down?" He yelled back, his words nearly stolen by the wind.

She pointed to where she had slid down, raw earth marking the trail of her descent.

It was getting hard to see his features now, and the storm was nearly upon them. There was a feeling of electricity in the air.

"Stay there! We're going to have to go upstream, then back to you." Lin called out.

She nodded jerkily. It wasn't like she could go anywhere anyway.

"Mai!" It was Naru. "Blow your whistle every few seconds. The compasses aren't working anymore and we're losing the light."

He was right. Night was upon them now, or the storm, or both. Every so often, the blackness of the sky would be fractured by the slash of lightning, bright enough to leave an afterglow in her eyes.

She put her whistle back in her mouth, counted to three, and then blew. And then again. And again.

At some point, rain had started. It was only a sprinkle, an angry spate here and there, but it promised more.

Much more.

How long had it been? It seemed like forever, but it probably was only a few moments. And the creek was so loud now-

Her breath caught as the next bolt of lightning dashed across the sky. The creek was starting to overflow it's bank.

She stood unsteadily, using her full weight to pull Yasu away from the water. He murmured insensibly, but other than that, he was no help.

Her ankle complained, and the pain nearly caused her to lose her grip on Yasu. He would have fallen to the ground, but suddenly Lin and Naru were there, taking Yasu's weight from her. It caught her off guard, and she nearly tumbled herself, but Naru's hand wrapped like a vise around her arm.

"What happened? Why are you here?" He yelled over the storm. She forced herself to focus on his face.

"We were trying to warn you about the typhoon. The radios wouldn't work, so we went to the lower trailhead to get better reception. One minute I was on the radio with you, and the next he was gone. I followed his trail and found him down here."

He was unzipping his windbreaker, but it wasn't until he shoving her arms into it that she realized how badly she was shaking. Her teeth were chattering, and the only part of her that felt warm was the dull throbbing of her ankle. The rain had plastered her hair to her face in damp streamers.

"There's more!" She yelled, pointing grimly at the embankment. A well timed flash of lightning was enough to show Keiji's skull gleaming duly.

Naru's eyes missed nothing as he scanned the ravine. How he even saw anything in the storm, she had no idea.

"The radio said a typhoon came inland a few hours ago. It set off a stream of storms in the mountains." She was only inches away from him, leaning forward to be heard.

"They warned of flash flooding, but I couldn't get him out by myself."

She wasn't even sure she could walk, much less get herself out at the moment, but that was beside the point.

"Lin, how is he?" Naru asked. She realized at some point he had started angling his body to keep as much of the storm as possible out of her face.

"I think he's bruised, but nothing seems broken. However, there's no way he can walk like this. We need a rescue team and a back board. He needs to be examined at a hospital as soon as possible." She could barely hear Lin over the howl of the storm.

"Mai, what about your ankle?" Because, of course, Naru had noticed that as well.

She shook her head. "It hurts, but I can use it some. I think it's just a sprain."

If possible, Naru's lips thinned even more. He dug into his pack quickly, coming out with a handful of things she couldn't identify at first.

"Sit down, and hurry!" He yeled.

She didn't quite understand what was going on, and the ground was wet, but so was she, so she sat.

He was untying her boot, by feel if she had to guess. It was too dark for anything else, even with Lin shining his flashlight towards them to assist.

She hissed through her teeth in pain as he removed her boot. She had figured it was better to leave it on, but she trusted Naru had a plan because she was running dangerously close to capacity at the moment.

"Here." Lin was shoving something at her, pills and a bottle of water. She gulped a mouthful of the water gratefully, not even aware of how thirsty she had been, despite being surrounded by water.

But the pills…. "I can't take painkillers."

She couldn't take anything that made her sleepy. It was too dangerous combined with her powers.

"It's just ibuprofen." Lin said, but still she hesitated. She knew what he meant, but her thoughts felt fuzzy and slow.

"It's safe, Mai." Naru was in her face, close enough she could have read his lips had there been enough light. As it was, she felt the ghost of his breath on her face.

Ghost, that was pretty funny…

"Take the pills, Mai."

She swallowed them back with another gulp of water. She nearly choked on it however as Naru began wrapped something, she presumed a bandage, around her foot.

The pain made her thoughts clearer though, and she shook her head, trying to clear it the rest of the way.

Pain…fatigue…cold. Spirits.

Yeah, that was probably enough to make her a little shocky.

Naru's jacket helped some, but she was still shivering. Her body just wasn't creating enough warmth on its own.

Well, apart from her ankle which was hot enough it should have been glowing in the dark.

She had to bite her lip when Naru began easing her foot back into her boot. She understood why, there were too many rocks to go without, even with the bandage on, but gods, it hurt.

He pulled her to her feet, then started urging her up creek, toward the direction they had come from.

"Yasu-" She said.

"Lin can get him this far on his own." Naru said, wrapping an arm around her waist to help keep weight off her foot.

She realized they were trying to put more distance between them and the rising creek.

An excellent idea she might have thought of herself if she hadn't been trying not to puke from the pain at the moment.

Naru perched her on a large boulder, and she leaned on it, grateful to let it take some of her weight, even if the cold of the stone was quickly seeping through her wet pants.

She strained to make out Lin and Naru has they manuevered Yasu up part of the bank that was a little shallower then where she and Yasu had fallen. The problem was, the shallow section ended abruptly at wall of earth, a shelf nearly as tall as she was. Lin and Naru must have jumped, but there was no way for her or Yasu to go up that way.

They eased Yasu to the ground. She couldn't hear what they were saying, but it seemed from where she sat, they had started arguing.

"...Get help…"

"Leave them…"

"Shiki….

"Water…"

She hobbled over, teeth gritted against the pain. "You guys need to go get help. Get Bou-san, or a rescue crew. Yasu and I can't make it back up to the path, and we can't get down the mountain."

Lin looked at her grimly. "I need to stay with Yasu. I'm the only one big enough to move him quickly if flood waters start to come through. And Naru won't be able to see the path on his own."

She exhaled, starting to shake again. He was right. The path had been treacherous in the daylight, much less in the dark and rain. "So, what do we do?"

"Mai, can you see my shiki?" Lin asked urgently.

She blinked, disoriented by his rapid change of subject.

"Yeah, I've seen them." She seen them several times before.

"They can lead you down the mountain." He said. "That far from me, I can't make them defend you, but I can command them to lead you to the trail head. The spirit's interference won't impede them."

She frowned, then nodded slowly. "So Naru is going to follow them down the mountain?"

Naru shook his head. "I can't see them the way you and Bou-san do."

She gaped at him, and then shook her head. Naru couldn't see Lin's shiki? How had she never realized that? "Naru, I can't walk that far."

And she wasn't leaving Yasu.

"I'm going to carry you on my back. You're going to watch Lin's skiki, and keep me on the path.

Her eyes widened as she looked between the two men. Surely she had heard wrong.

"Naru, you can't carry me down the mountain. It's too far. It's too dangerous."

One slip and they would both break their necks.

"You don't have a choice!" Lin said, sounding nearly as angry as the storm."We need help evacuating Yasu and Noll can't see the path without your help You have to hurry, before the ravine floods. We don't have much time."

She looked at them and then down at Yasu. Had Keiji gotten caught in a flood like that?

Their plan was insane, but so was waiting for the flood that was sure to come. Yasu's life depended on someone getting down the mountain.

"Ok, but I can't get up there by myself." She yelled finally, pushed hair out of her eyes again. It was raining harder now, hard enough that her skin seemed nearly numb from the constant pressure.

Something in Naru's face seemed to loosen at her words but she didn't have time to analyze it.

Lin went to his knee and Naru used it as a step to get back up the ledge of the ravine and then between the two off them they managed to get her up there with her ankle screaming at her only a little.

Once up the embankment, Naru knelt down so she could climb on his back. She froze for a moment.

Was this actually ok? He hated being touched, hated heights, hated having to rely on anyone other than Lin….

"Mai, hurry. Lin will have trouble controlling the shirki for long."

The rain was coming down in waves. She could barely see Naru, between the dark and the storm.

Yasu's going to die if we don't get help. Maybe Lin too if the ravine floods.

She hobbled over, wrapping her arms tentatively around his neck. It wasn't the time to worry abou her weight but one part of her wished she liked salad just a little bit more.

"Hold on." Naru commanded, in the same voice he used for all his other, every day commands, like this wasn't a totally different situation.

She tightened her grasp as he stood, anchoring his hands under her thighs to steady her.

"Maybe I should try to walk.' Their positioning made it relatively easy to talk, her face right next to his ear.

"No time." If she was heavy, his voice showed no sign of it, "Can you see the shiki?"

She nodded. The storm made it harder, but if she focused, she could see the silvery glow of the spirits winding through the trees.

"Tell me if I begin to veer off the path."

He started the painstakingly slow process of feeling his way down the overgrown path.

A part of her was worried about how long it was taking, another was shocked by how warm she felt where the front of her body lay against his back. She found herself matching his breathing unconsciously. Every once and a while, she would call out a course correction, but slowly, so slowly they made their way down the path.

The storm was intensifying, and Mai found herself blinking over and over again to clear her eyes of the rain. She tried to loosen her grip on Naru to wipe her face clear, but he gripped her legs tighter in warning.

"Don't let go." She felt the words as much as heard them.

"It's the rain. I'm having trouble seeing." She replied.

"Put your face down, against my back." He said.

"I can't see like that." She argued.

"Close your eyes. You should still be able to see them."

Shocked, she closed her eyes. At first, there was only the blackness of her own eyelids, but slowly, a silvery glow came into focus.

Naru was right. She could see Lin's shiki in her mind, the same way she had been able to see Tsubaki's body.

Was this why Naru couldn't see them? Because she was seeing them with her powers and not her actual eyes?

She tucked her face into the nape of Naru's neck. She could smell his shampoo. It was familiar. He hadn't changed brands over the years.

And she was going to hell in every religion for having thoughts about her boss's freaking shampoo as he carried down a mountain in a typhoon to save her best friend's life.

Every once and a while, she would lift her head to call out a course correction, but she quickly hid against his back again each time. As disconcerting as it was to be carried down the mountain with her eyes closed, the chill of the storm was worse.

That was probably why it took her a few moments to realize that something about the storm had changed. Her first warning came as Naru stumbled.

She gasped in fear, but his grip on her never faltered.

"Are you ok? Did you slip?" She asked, trying to peer through the rain. She realized how strong the wind had become. Naru was hunching forward, fighting his way against the wind.

And the wind had begun to howl. It echoed through the trees, off the mountainside. It felt...alive almost.

She realized the hair on her arms had begun to stand up on end. Branches were whipping around, clashing against each other, almost clawing at Naru.

It was like the storm itself was….a poltergeist.

"It's Keiji, isn't it?" She asked, adrenaline beginning to seep through her veins.

Something about the storm now felt frantic, like it contained an almost...hysterical aspect. Naru slid to a stop again a moment later, so suddenly that Mai was certain he would drop her, but he didn't. A small tree had blown across their path.

"Put me down, and we'll crawl over." She shouted.

She felt more than saw him shake his head. "It's low enough at this end to step over. Just hold on."

She held her breath as he carefully navigated them over the broken trunk.

But over things were flying about in the storm now, sticks and leaves. A branch, leaves still attached, blew into them, hitting their faces from the side.

She gasped in surprise. "Naru, maybe we should-"

"Put your face back down!" Naru yelled. "Focus on the shiki."

Shakily, she did as he instructed.

It was the first time Keiji had struck her with something and it shocked her. She had the feeling she had simply been collateral damage though, and Naru had been the intended target.

And Naru had no one's back to shelter against. He was an open target.

Why?

Why now? Surely he had to want them to help Yasu?

Unless it was simply blind panic, hysteria. She had found his body after all. Did he think he was being left again?

Slowly, the thought solidified in her mind.

He wasn't going to let her off the mountain.

And they couldn't risk any more attacks, balanced precariously as they were. One misstep and they'd be seriously injured or worse.

Naru straightened some, and she realized they had reached a degree of flatter land. She peeked around Naru again warily.

They'd reached the trailhead. Ahead was the covered bridge, and then the trail map. That meant they were nearing the base of the mountain.

But there was still nearly two miles of open trail between them and the lodge.

Around them, the storm was a living thing, a creature of rage and panic.

And fear.

She could feel it now, Keiji's fear, melding with her own fear for Yasu and Lin.

And Naru.

Naru started towards the bridge, and a feeling of panic started in her stomach.

Don't cross the bridge.

"Naru, stop!" She screamed.

She must have startled him, because he stopped immediately.

"Put me down." She ordered.

This time, he didn't obey right away, and she began to struggle. He was forced to kneel down and let her off or risk dropping her.

"Mai, what are you doing? We're close to the lodge."

The lightning was incessant now, coming several times a minute. Branches flew about, even some small bushes. She'd never seen a storm like this.

She saw Naru bleeding from a small cut on his face, and her lips thinned.

Do what you have to do, Mai.

She shook her head. "I can't go. It's Keiji. Can't you feel it? He's hysterical. He's not going to let me leave, and if you try to take me any further, he'll hurt us."

More precisely, he'd hurt Naru, but she wasn't sure if he cared if she got caught in the crossfire anymore.

Naru stared at her. "I can't leave you here."

She forced herself to smile, hoping it looked more reassuring than it felt.

"Yes, you can. He doesn't care if you leave. He'll let you go. Go back to the lodge and bring help. I'll stay right here. I'll wait for you." Mai was nearly begging.

She knew Lin and Yasu would soon be out of time, but she also knew in her gut that Keiji wasn't letting her leave right now.

She felt her smile begin to slip, and shored it up with will power and no little desperation. She had to smile, because smiling when someone walked away was the difference between someone leaving, and someone being left.

And she could fake it like the best of them.

Naru looked at her for a long moment, measuring her words, and then he looked around at the storm.

He turned back to her, eyes as stormy as the sky. "It's too dangerous. I can't leave you here with the spirit acting like this!"

He had to yell to be heard, even though they were only a few feet apart.

She raised her hands pleadingly. "We don't have a choice. We have to help Lin and Yasu. I have to stay, and you have to go."

"No!" He grabbed her arm.

"Naru, please. I'll wait right there." She pointed to the trailhead. "I'll wait for you."

She smiled wider. "It's okay…but you have to go now."

She ignored the cold, ignored the rain, ignored her pain and her fear. None of those things would help her convince him to leave her behind, to believe in her, believe she was strong enough to handle this as he left for help.

She had to stay.

He had to leave.

And it had to be now.

He was silent, obviously torn. They both had to duck as another, larger branch blew towards them. Anticipation was building in her, they were out of time-

He opened his mouth, but whatever he would have said was cut off by an enormous flash of lightning. It arced, dazzling and electric, striking the bridge only a few feet away. She and Naru fell to their knees, eyes temporarily blinded as the scent of ozone filled the air.

Her ears were ringing, so it took her ears almost as long as her eyes to focus on the figure on the path on the other side of the bridge.

Ayako looked every inch the miko as she stood, unbowing in the storm. Her eyes closed as she prayed to the gods, Bou-san just behind, watching her like a one of the pilgrims of old.

Mai shifted again on the cot, unable to get comfortable no matter which way she turned.

She'd declined the pain meds the doctor had offered earlier. Like she had suspected, she had a bad sprain. It was better than a break, but she would still be on crutches for a week or two, regardless. Her ankle throbbed still, though now it was an angry murmur as opposed to a shout. She could see where Yasu lay in his hospital bed.

Every hour a nurse would come in and give him a cognitive test, checking for signs his concussion was worsening. The timing couldn't be worse, as they managed to disturb Mai from her doze each time. It was probably her fault for insisting she had to sleep in Yasu's room, but she couldn't bear to go to a motel and leave him alone, even with Ayako patrolling the halls.

Over and over again, her mind returned to that moment, when Naru had been about to speak.

What would he have said? Had he been about to agree to leave her on the mountain? It had taken John, Bou-san and a full rescue crew to get the two men out, the water already rising dangerously close. Keiji's bones had been retrieved as well, though his spirit had already been cleansed by Ayako's ritual.

She knew he could be overprotective of her, but she wasn't the same little highschool girl who needed her hand held.

Had he been about to argue? Or agree?

She had wanted him to leave her, if it meant saving the other two.

Right?

His face flashed into her mind again. She realized now that he had been furious, in his own Naru-like way. But at who? Keiji? Mai? The storm or even the mountain?

Had it just been impotent fury at the situation?

Would he have left her? She'd never have forgiven herself if something had happened to Yasu or Lin because Naru was too worried about her to leave her alone while he went to get help.

But could you have forgiven him if he'd been able to leave you?

She couldn't seem to silence that insidious voice in her head. She had survived Naru leaving her once. She could have handled being left on the mountain for a few hours.

She'd survived so much worse, after all.

And yet…..

She turned again, wincing as she accidentally put pressure on her ankle. She had it propped on a pillow but it still hurt.

"Ayako will have all our heads if she finds out you're still awake."

The voice startled her. She craned her head as best she could towards the door. Naru was little more than a silhouette lit up from behind by the hallway lights.

She opened her mouth but paused, unsure what to say.

Were you going to leave me on the mountain?

"Painkillers make me sleepy, but they also weaken my control of the astral plane. I'm more likely to wander, or get caught in a random spirits wavelength when I take them. And in a hospital, that's not really a fun thing." She said finally, having learned the hard way.

Did you believe me? Do you believe IN me?

Naru didn't say anything for a moment, coming to stand by her cot silently. After a moment, he turned and stood by Yasu's bed, studying her best friend.

"So, on a scale of one to ten, how mad are you about us not staying at the lodge?" She said after a moment.

He sighed, not looking at her.

"Ok." She amended. "On a scale of one to one hundred."

"78." He said immediately.

She blinked. Why was she even surprised by his instant reply?

"We really weren't trying to excite the spirit. We just…it was a typhoon. We couldn't not warn you." She pushed herself to a sitting position, trying not to wince.

To be honest, everything after Ayako arrived was kind of a blur to her. The doctors said she'd had the beginnings of exposure as well as the sprain. Combined with the exhaustion of the climb up and following Lin's shiki with her mind's eye, and she'd been a mess.

"How did I even get down?" She said, trying to piece events back together.

"After Ayako cleansed Keiji, the storm abated some. You fainted however."

She flushed dully.

He shot her a grimly amused look. "It may partially have been in relation to Keiji. John and Houshou also said they felt a huge pressure being released after he left. You were already sensitive to it. Masako might have done the same."

It was kind of him to say, and his being kind just made her feel worse.

"So the rescuers brought me down with Yasu?" She said.

"You came down before him. You needed to be out of the weather." He said without looking at her.

She nodded. Her ankle throbbed again and she sighed in tired agitation.

"Don't rub it." Naru said, walking towards her. Before she realized what was happening, he had scooped her out of the cot and placed her on the empty hospital bed beside Yasu.

"Naru, this bed is for patients, and I've already been released." They'd only given her a cot because Ayako had pulled some strings.

Threats might have been involved, but who was she to judge?

"They won't be using it at this hour if they haven't already." He said dismissively.

Holding the remote in his hand, he elevated the foot of the mattress. "Better?"

She stared at him for a long moment. "Yes."

No.

******************************stinger**************

Noll's eyes were glued to the Miko as she finished her ceremony. Behind her, both John and Houshou seemed to stumble for a second, and turning more on intuition than instinct, he barely managed to catch Mai as she crumpled to the ground.

"Mai, stay with me." He ordered, finding her pulse. It was strong but slightly erratic, not unusual with the amount of paranormal energy she had just been subjected to.

She was cold though, too cold, she was barely even shivering anymore, and that was a bad sign. She needed to get off the mountain and out of the elements.

"Whpsayttt…" She mumbled something incomprehensible.

"Mai, repeat that for me?" He realized as he held her that at some point he had switched on his "charm" voice, as she liked to call it. He never bothered to tell her Lin referred to it as his "Mai's in trouble again" voice.

She sighed, eyelids fluttering weakly as she battled her fatigue.

"Why do people always say that? I'm never the one leaving…"

Her words were soft, nearly lost in the storm and the shouting of voices as Ayako and the others ran towards them.

Naru felt frozen, every muscle locked into place except for the bird that somehow crawled inside his rib cage and now demanded release, bashing against his rib cage in place of his steady, logical heart.

"How is she?"

"What happened?"

"Here, let me take her!"

It was Houshou's voice that pierced his daze, his arms reflexively pulling her closer against him.

"They need you on the mountain. Up the abandoned trail. Lin and Yasu are in the ravine about halfway up. The trail is pretty bad, we need to get them out. Lin has Mai's whistle." His voice was in control.

"Naru, we need to get Mai out of here." Ayako's no-nonsense doctor voice.

He nodded. "They need Houshou on the mountain, and the rescue team. John, help me get her on my back, I'll carry her down."

Ayako looked at his dubiously. "Naru-"

"Let him take her." Houshou had sad, knowing eyes, and he wondered if Mai was carrying around his secrets as well.

John carefully helped Noll position Mai on his back again. She couldn't really hold on by herself, so John walked just behind them, a hand on her back.

He was starting to think she wasn't half as heavy as her secrets.