Last time: Mai was found. She is alive, but completely unresponsive. Victor believes that she's simply hiding within herself to protect her mind. Velnia has lost her will to live on and has asked for death by combat.

A/n: Forgive us while we jump back in time a bit.


The Disappearance of Mai Taniyama Part 7: Astral Assault

On the Astral Plane…

Gene found his eyes locked, on the disturbingly animalistic display the two male khiitani were putting on with Mai's body in the physical world, wishing he could do something to stop it. Thanks to some kind of barrier, however, he was completely helpless to do so. In fact, Gene hadn't been able to reach her mind or even get close to her from the moment he'd been pushed away in the astral plane. To his frustration, even when Mai's attackers had left, one by being dragged off and the other ordered to leave by their enraged mate, the barrier had remained.

In his haste to obey, the smaller of the two had accidentally left the door open after he'd thrown a blanket haphazardly over Mai. It would have been the perfect opportunity to get Mai out had it not been for the fact that she'd been bound to the mattress by her wrists, blindfolded, and directly at the barrier's center. All he could do was listen to her sobbing until she seemed to fall asleep. Gene had hoped that was the end of her torture, but not even twenty minutes later, the smaller built male Khiitani had returned.

Yet again, he was taking his sweet time violating Mai while Gene could only stand by and be thankful that, for whatever reason, the other hadn't returned to join in, but it wasn't enough for Gene. I essentially promised I'd save her, but I can't stop it! I can't even get within five feet of her! He banged his fist against the invisible barrier in his irritation. She's too sweet to deserve anything like this! He pushed away from the barrier and paced, unable to pull his eyes away from what was being done to her for very long. If she survives this, she'll never be the same, he mourned. Whatever the final outcome it could only be counted as a tragedy, but fate was being cruel to her and he knew the tragedy wouldn't end there. Gene was quick to realize that it would affect his brother deeply, and to a lesser degree, the entire SPR crew. Noll, however, would be the one affected most of all. Even though that idiot scientist hasn't admitted it to himself, he desperately loves her.

Gene watched as the beast before him turned brutally violent once more, this time angry at Mai's refusal to become his mate, and once more Gene strained against the barrier holding him back in his desperation to go to her side. I have to do something! If she survives this, I need to make this up to her. I can't let her dwell on anything that has been done to her or will be done to her at the hands of her rapists! He prayed the creep before him wouldn't get his way and escape with her, but, if he did, Gene promised himself that he would do everything in his power to stop the brute.

As Gene tried to come up with a plan he heard a gruff voice behind him. "So we are too late to stop them from raising an empathic isolation barrier around the girl and increasing the torture. Victor will not be happy that we did not make it in time. This also explains why his Heart hasn't been able to feel the girl's distress."

"Yes. It makes perfect sense that they used a barrier. They are Khiitani after all, but it is strange that it has so many layers," another, rich and smooth voice replied, "We can be grateful for one thing at least," he gestured to Graiven with his beak, "That one will never be able to return to his home dimension, nor will it be as easy for him to produce any feasible spawn." He focused on the spirit as Gene turned to face them and morphed into shock. He went on to explain, "In different dimensions, when one gives in and feeds his or her alternate form's base desires, it locks them into that body and severs the connection to their real form."

Gene couldn't help his eyes from widening in surprise as he turned to take in the speakers, especially when the lighter colored of the two creatures addressed him. They were almost a head taller than the average human and had almost angelic appearances, considering the wings on their backs, but there were a few big differences. The first difference was that their heads resembled those of birds of prey. One had a sharp beak and a long, thin head while the other had a white, flat face like an owl. The next difference of note was color: the first was a darker grey with a white fluffy collar while the second was a blend of browns and whites, both of their wings seemed to be interspersed with a wide arrangement of crystals that acted like feathers, feathers of living crystal. Their hands and feet were also different, each ending in talons.

The lighter voiced one with a white face continued, "We are grieved for what is being done to her." Gene glanced at the first one, the dark grey one, noting that his eyes were locked, unmoving from the disturbingly carnal display the Khiitani was putting on with Mai's body. Outwardly, he didn't seem concerned or troubled in the least.

Gene turned back to the one who was deigning to speak to him. "If you are truly as grieved as you claim…help me get, at least, her mind out of there. He gestured to Mai whose eyes had lost their luster, "She can astral project, but I think that thing," he pointed at the beast, "is keeping her from doing so. I think he's also the one keeping me from pulling her out! Please, help me!" Gene shouted with his own guilt, sense of failure and desperation eating at him.

The white and brown one looked towards Mai and let his eyes lose their focus. Once his eyes cleared and he focused on Gene once again he admitted, "I think even if we could get through the barrier, her mind is already beyond even our reach. So she is as safe as she can be for the time being."

Shortly after, Gene sensed his brother nearing the observation room and he breathed a sigh of relief that Mai would surely be rescued soon. It worried him when, instead, he sensed Naru's feelings of despair start to overwhelm him. Gene didn't catch what happened, but something suddenly changed and Naru pulled out of the downward spiral his emotions had been slipping into and instead quickly began morphing into a desire for revenge. Gene breathed another sigh of relief when he saw that Naru had begun to move, to truly start rescuing Mai, once again. Gene and his new companions watched as Naru ripped the doorway apart and grabbed a hold of Mai's attacker with his PK.

The second crystalline figure, the owlish white-faced one, commented, "It seems your twin has accepted his connection to her. Though I hope he does not succumb to his desire to kill the Khiitani now at his mercy."

Gene looked at them confused. When he spoke, rage was evident in his words and tone, "Why would that be bad!? Even I want to kill that bug bastard!"

"It would be better if you were the one to do it in his place," The owl stated factually. Gesturing to Naru with a quick lift to his beak, he continued, "He is soul bound to an awakening empath. That rage and desire, if acted upon could damage their bond. If it does, since her mind is in such a fragile state, it could, perhaps, even result in her eventual and premature death."

This news shocked and appalled Gene. The last thing he wanted was for Naru to lose another person he loved. "He doesn't usually succumb to his emotions. Even then, he's a pacifist, but if he felt he was too late and thinks that she's already gone…I guess there's a possibility that he might give in and lose control of his anger?"

"Hmm...Let us watch and see what happens," the owl-like one admonished.

The three moved to the hallway along with Naru. In shock, Gene watched, as Naru finished removing the offending member from off the rapist and shoved it into his mouth. The dark grey bird-man raised his eyebrows and took the opportunity to say, "So much for him being a pacifist." Before Naru kicked the brute between the legs, Gene and his companions saw another group of people round the bend on the door side of the hallway. Gene and the lighter colored bird-man breathed out in relief when the new arrivals seemed to stop Naru from proceeding further and the two crystalline men seemed pleased to see an older gentleman in the newcomers' midst. "There's no longer reason to worry," the owl-man stated, "Our Shintarin is here. He'll be able to keep your brother from committing any grievous mistakes." Gene could only guess the strange word was the man's name though it was an odd way of talking about someone. It wasn't long before the older empath and priestess ran past the quieter grey bird-man's figure and into the observation room to care for the bloodied, battered, and almost too still Mai.

Gene watched as the female Khiitani attacked and killed her wayward mate and confronted Naru and the other males. Her words and intent were interpreted and explained to Gene by the two Velatona that stood on either side of him. When she started talking about the Telirosa and the owl-ish one explained simply, "That's us and Aria, his future Mind, Body and Heart." He gestured to himself and his companion and then over to the empath that had passed them.

As the conversation went on, Gene was utterly shocked to learn that allowing the female to "get her seed" from Mai would only end after she ripped Mai apart to retrieve the entire set of organs holding said seed if Victor would have allowed it to happen. Plus, there was the fact that, because Mai's mind had fled, the Khiitani woman only saw her as broken scum now. He was shocked once again when she asked for death.

The grey being commented happily, "So the female has chosen death by combat."

"She wishes to avoid the path that will lead her to misery and ultimately a slow, merciless death at the hands of her own people," the owlish being pointed out.

The grey one gave a long, uninterested look at his companion and curtly said, "Prepare to fight."

The owlish one nodded, his mood unfazed by the grey one's lack of interest. His eyes focused on Gene between them. "Spirit, would you care to assist in the destruction of the female that brought those two into contact with your heart sister?"

Gene thought "Heart sister" was a weird way of talking about Mai, but he figured it wasn't too far from the truth since his brother loved her and, in a way, their hearts were all connected. After everything he'd seen her go through and been powerless to stop, his answer came easy, "Yes."

The grey one looked at him in a critical way, "Do you even know how to fight?"

"Not really," Gene admitted. The darker of the two huffed and looked back at the Khiitani female.

Gene had to wonder if it was a mistake to volunteer to fight with the two when the other avian placed his taloned hand on Gene's shoulder and said, "Don't mind him. Here." The crystalline owl placed his talons together and gathered light between them. When the light got bright enough to hurt Gene's eyes, the avian grabbed and pulled on the orb until it stretched out like a curved, scimitar-like blade. "I'll loan you a spirit blade. My name is Kenan, by the way and that grump is called Condor."

"I'm Gene," he introduced himself with a short smile before reaching out and taking the shining, crystal-looking blade.

"Nice to meet you, Gene," Kenan said in a way that seemed to smile, "and good luck to us all."

"Good luck indeed," Condor mumbled.

Gene watched as the bug-like creature slipped from the body she'd been inhabiting, coming out impossibly larger than she'd been in either her human or creature forms, her spirit form easily extended beyond the wall and into the observation room. Her triangular head and multifaceted eyes almost instantly locked onto the trio inhabiting the plane with her.

"I see you have that annoying spirit with you." She shifted her mandibles irritably, then stated, "I guess it doesn't matter much." She brandished all four of her upper limbs. "Death, I welcome you."

As if on cue the two avian men branched off, going at her from two different sides. One stopped short to release an attack that looked something like multiple spirit blade spikes while the other came in close and threw a kick towards the creature's center. At the last minute, the female dodged the ice-like blades before catching the kick and throwing Condor over himself in a flurry of dark feathers as she jumped and disappeared into the ceiling. Shortly after he landed, one of her spiked arms reached back through the wall from a high angle, began taking swipes at the grey-winged being she'd just thrown. He dodged and grabbed onto the limb only to be pulled through the ceiling. The second avian man seemed to jump up to the next level as well.

Gene had realized he could go through walls, but he still wasn't used to doing so, especially between floors and he hesitated to follow. Before he could bring himself to shift through the solid-looking barrier himself, a force gripped Gene and pulled him up through it. "Keep up if you want to help," Condor grumbled as he set Gene down. Beyond the being who'd pulled him up, he saw Kenan jumping and dodging around in a cafeteria like area. He kept throwing a series of spiked attacks, but the creature kept throwing up barriers that she seemed to be weaving between her legs even while she was attacking, dodging, and defending.

Condor threw himself forward and into another attack, this one struck the air a fair distance away from his target and loosed a sickle-like blade of light at the creature. Velnia noticed it in time and threw up her legs which were covered in another web-like shield. The exchange of blows, dodges and various other movements went back and forth between the three. The flash of her shields and her opponent's attacks soon sped up to the point where Gene wasn't sure he could keep up. He shook himself out of his shocked stupor long enough to remind himself that he was supposed to be attacking as well. He ran in closer and went to hit her with the borrowed blade in his hand only to be grabbed by her taloned hand and thrown at the floating-blade wielder who was preparing to launch another attack.

Kenan simply dodged and threw his attack forward, well over Gene's head.

"Watch out," Kenan said, kindly offering Gene a hand up. "You're lucky she didn't run you though. Even for you, that would have been unpleasant."

Through the floor, a third avian-person came and landed by Gene and Kenan. This avian-person was significantly shorter than the others, and was fully white except for a slight patch of pink to the back of it's head. "You guys are moving fast, I had to stop to search a second before I could zero in on your location." She looked at Gene and her crest rose showing off a vivid deep pink as well as her surprise, "Naru?" The crest fell and rose a few times as though she was having a range of different emotions before deciding to stay up part way, "You're not Naru…" He simply shook his head in reply.

After finishing another attack, Kenan came close and informed her, "This is Gene." He threw an attack at the khiitani before curiously asking, "What are you doing here?"

"I'm angry about what happened," the new bird said with its crest completely flat and its head down as though it wanted to charge. "So I've come to help!"

"Heart," Kenan said trailing off, almost looking pained.

Condor sailed backwards into their midst with the Khiitani female following closely behind. Kenan turned his complete attention back to the fight, before she could trample the little group holding the conversation.

Condor let out a noise that almost sounded like a squawk and got to his feet, "Aria, get out of here! You know darn well that you shouldn't fight. It's not the heart's place to pass vengeance. It would just poison you."

Without taking his eyes off his enemy, Kenan yelled over his shoulder, "Don't worry, we've got this."

Running back into the fray, Condor yelled, "Aria, go!"

"Please, go, Aria." Kenan repeated looking back, his expression still pained. "We don't want you to suffer that fate. Trust us to do this for you."

Standing up straight with her crest completely flat on her head and looking forlorn, the third avian woman turned away and dropped back through the floor obediently.

Gene turned from the spot he'd last seen the newcomer and moved to attack the bug-like Khiitani again. This time, when he got close, she grabbed his blade and jerked it in such a way that he lost his grip on the blade and was sent stumbling towards Condor, who was forced to catch the spirit. The force of Gene's momentum was enough that when he hit Condor, the two were thrown off balance. In tandem, they got entangled and fell. Velnia changed her grip on the blade and turned it on them.

Together they dodged her next several attacks. After Condor got Gene off of him, he managed to flip up on his feet then spring upwards and onto her back, barely missing the blade in the process. He used his position to grab a hold of her neck and pull. The action forced him to take a jerky and jostling ride as she tried throwing him off and began twisting around to get a hold of him in return. In her attempt, she nearly trampled over Gene, but Kenan jumped in front of him.

Aiming low at her legs, hoping to encourage her away from the ghost teen, he fired a combination of four ice-like blades into their midst. The blows managed to cut gashes across two legs. He turned and pulled Gene back to his feet and away. When they were clear of danger, Kenan told Gene, "Looks like her leg joints may be her weak spot. Aim for them." Gene could only wonder: Aim with what? She's got the blade! Kenan repeated his attack from where they were and, this time, managed to sever one of the legs off.

For a second, her full attention focused on Kenan. Dropping the blade, she tucked one set of legs under her and rolled over onto Condor, forcing his grip to break and smoothly got back on her feet riderless. She splayed her legs to get a better look at her missing limb before screaming and jumping up to the next level.

Kenan jumped after her again while Condor got up and ran over to Gene. Grabbing the spirit's blade along the way, he thrust it back into Gene's hand and, with his rough voice, criticized him, "You're a lousy fighter. She'll destroy you if you pull crap like that again. You haven't been trained so use your brain instead of rushing in, headlong." Gene felt himself grabbed around his torso again and with an upward jerk of Condor's beak, Gene once again flew up through the next ceiling and floor. He was now in a medical room of some sort, but he could hear the sound of Kenan and the Khiitani's fight coming from somewhere in the hallway.

Condor flew up through the floor next to him and suggested, "Use the walls, she won't be able to see you coming, but be careful, she can still lash out without seeing you. We need her to stop weaving those stupid spells." With that Condor charged through the wall and back into the fight.

Gene looked out the open door in time to watch him pummeling the air and landing large blows back and forth towards her head, while Kenan continued taking off limbs with his attacks. They were about three rooms down the hall.

Gene glanced at the blade that had been thrust back into his hands and took a deep breath before running room to room through the walls, hoping to catch her by surprise. When he got within range of the monster, he could see one of her sets of legs partway through the wall, slightly shifting back and forth as she fought on the other side.

Before she could move away, he raised the blade and brought it down, trying to line the blow along several joints at once. When his blow landed, he heard a shrill cry and backed away. The detached legs fell to the floor and stayed where they were as she turned her torso into the room and lashed out at him with her spiked arm. She grabbed him by the chest, and squeezed. Gene, being pressed on both sides by her spikes, was shocked because it gave him a sense of being stung, but overall his condition was rather numb feeling, to the point where he wondered if he should have been feeling more pain. He found himself worrying if not feeling much pain meant that it was somehow much worse than it seemed or if it was just a side effect from being dead.

Another yell shrilled into the room before she yanked herself, and him, back through the wall. He was pushed forward to act as a live shield against Condor's current attack which was now flying through the air towards them. Condor locked eyes with Gene, and at the last minute, he used his wings to shift directions midair. Instead of landing his blow on Gene, he grabbed onto the edge of the spiked arm and landed the blow on Velnia's inner elbow. Gene fell to the floor with the arm still around him. The female dodged away, looking at her missing limb as she went through another wall.

Condor yelled a brisk, "Get up!" before running through the wall after her. Kenan followed him and, after wriggling out of the spiked claw, so did Gene. The first room he went into was already empty and he hesitantly continued through the next wall, getting just a glimpse of Kenan's disappearing, clawed talon. Following once again, he found yet another empty room. The next after that was also empty. Stopping, he listened for any commotion, but was surprised when the bug woman came in from behind him. He turned to face her as she clamped her hand together making a large spike and ran Gene through with it. The sensation brought a sharp, electrified sense of nausea that wracked his body and made him feel sick for the first time since he'd died. The Khiitani hissed, "You look so much like that tramp's mate, it makes me sick. Consider this my revenge on her."

Trembling with pain, he considered her words and realized that she was talking about Mai. Flashes of what she'd been through flitted through his mind. "She's the one," Gene gasped out, "who needs revenge...against you...and your mates." He found the strength to raise his blade and stabbed it forward into her lower, softer-looking stomach and was rewarded with a loud shriek of pain as he sunk it in as far as he could manage. Gene's hand slipped from the hilt as Condor barreled into the female and knocked her enormous body through the next wall. The motion took the still-impaled Gene with them as they fell onto the open ground outside the hospital where her hand dislodged from his soul and he was finally allowed to have a pain-filled rest on the ground just beyond the hospital's walls.

Kenan nearly tripped over Gene as he came out. "Whoa, Gene! Are you going to be okay," the owlish avian asked.

A pulse of pain wracked the ghost teen's body before he answered, "I don't know...I've never gotten hurt as a ghost before."

Kenan knelt by his side as the battle continued raging in the nearby field and he looked Gene's wound over. "Do you know what you're sticking around for? What's tying you to this plane of existence?"

"My brother's happiness...and Mai's," Gene responded.

"I'd say that's far from being fulfilled," Kenan said in all seriousness. "Do you have the determination to keep trying?"

"Yes," Gene said steadily. "I refuse to...to give up on them."

"Good. It may take a while for it to heal, but keep your conviction strong and you will be able to. Think of your brother and Mai and what you want for them; how you intend to help. We'll take care of the khiitani." With that, Kenan took to the sky moving towards the fight speedily.

Gene watched the fight as he lay on the grass. It surprised him when the female Khiitani unfurled her bluish, almost cape-like, gossamer wings and took to the sky and the other two joined her. Her movements quickly became more erratic and sloppy and at one point, Gene was pleased to watch as Condor shoved the blade he'd previously stabbed into her abdomen well past the hilt. It wasn't long after that, that the female's wings were sliced off of her body and she fell.

At that point Gene's mind turned to think of his brother and Mai as he turned to watch the clouds roll by in the peaceful blue sky while the fight raged on nearby.

By the time the two avian men came walking back, Gene was feeling less pain, but was still in no condition to move. "Are you guys done already?"

"Yeah," Kenan answered, "No matter what kind of creature you are, it's hard going on without a head."

"Nice job with that blade," Gene heard Condor quietly add.

Gene smiled painfully at the only kind words he'd received from the darker figure. The two picked him up and carried him back inside to find the rest of the crew.

Back in the observation room...

Aria sat back up from the slouched position she'd taken in the corner of the room, having come back into herself after her adopted brothers' dismissal from the fight. When she'd found Mai's tattered night shirt, she'd jumped over to the astral plane, desperate to help and take revenge on the last being alive that had been involved. Now that she'd returned without doing anything to help, she could only feel guilt, pain and frustration as she looked down at the large scraps of fabric she was still clutching. She was so uneasy that she was tempted to tear the cloth even further, but she knew it wouldn't help anyone including herself and so, instead, she threw it aside.

She glanced over at her Father, almost afraid of his reprimand for sneaking off to join the fight, but only found a knowing, pitying look on his face. As she got to her feet, she turned away from him and let out a sigh as she returned to her heart-sister's side once more. Since the last time she'd looked, Ayako had gently closed the girl's eyes. "I can't even get revenge for you," she whispered, tearing up. "Oh, Mai, I'm so sorry this happened to you."

Victor came close and put a hand on Aria's shoulder. He sighed. "I am glad you did not choose to fight in the end, dear heart of mine. I take it your 'brothers' asked for you not to fight as well?" She nodded, still looking at Mai. "It's good that you listened to them," Victor commended her.

Aria pulled away from him, still feeling upset about her entire attempt at getting revenge and Victor lowered his hand. "I know your very spirit cries for vengeance against those who harmed her and I know it must be hard on you not to see it through. However, your heart sister still lives, and the ones who caused her to hide herself so deeply...they are both already dead and by their own mate's hands no less. Instead of focusing on hate, it would be more beneficial to focus on helping your heart sister mend." Naru walked past them, managing the task even in his weakened state. He seemed blind to everyone else, solely focused on walking to Mai's side.

Victor's ancient eyes followed the boy before they turned back to Aria. Dropping his voice, he reminded her, "Don't forget, you will be the best to teach the boy how to reach her. There can be no doubt that he is her bond mate." He paused, glancing around the room. "I just do not recommend having him bring her back to this place." His eyes met Aria's once more. "There will be too many painful memories here for her, I'm sure."

Aria winced as she pictured, within her mind's eye, the possible consequences of waking Mai here. She closed her eyes, allowing her tears to fall and nodded her agreement. "I hear your words, Father, and it's true, my heart does cry for my sister's pain." Victor reached out and touched her shoulder and she could imagine the look of concern she knew he had on his face, but she couldn't bring herself to look at it just yet. "Don't worry for my well being. I will try to not hold this hate and bitterness for too long." She paused, deep in thought. Finally, she wiped the tears from her eyes and cheeks before returning Victor's gaze. "It wounds me to see her this way, but I'm sure that letting it go will be easier once I can see the light come back to her expressive eyes." Only then did Aria look over to Mai and notice that Naru had collapsed onto his knees beside her. He was looking up to his beloved's face, his concern and pain evident.

Naru reached up to stroke Mai's hair back out of her face. His voice was thick with emotion as he promised, "Once we get you out of here, we'll take you somewhere safe and take care of you, Mai." He leaned his forehead against hers and grabbed the hand left laying over her blanketed chest. Tears fell down his cheeks as he vowed, "You'll never have to go through anything like this again."

At Aria's touch, he raised his head from Mai's to glance at Aria's grief filled ones. "Do you think she'll be able to come back to us," he asked, his pain easy for her to see.

"You'll be able to bring her back, yourself," she informed him, confidently.

He looked at her in disbelief, clenching Mai's hand tighter, "How?"

"You have a bond, a mental link to her. The kind of bond you'll both have for the rest of your life maybe even beyond. We call it a soul bond."

"That can't really be true." his grip loosened again. "I'm no good." His eyes drifted away in thought. "She deserves someone better than me." His head bowed to his chest in despair. "She needs someone warm and caring." He looked at Aria with sorrowful eyes. "She doesn't deserve to be stuck with me."

"Hush you," Aria said as she lightly smacked him upside his head, shocking him to silence. "Who are you to say that, would you deny the bond you share? You are her bond mate!"

He'd heard something similar from her father, but still questioned it. "Bond mate?"

"Exactly. You are now, literally, her other half and she is yours! How else could you have followed her emotions to find her all the way down here so quickly?"

Mai being his soulmate or something similar seemed like a dream, a fantasy, but he had followed her emotions to find her and no one else seemed to question it. Monk had even asked his permission to carry Mai out once Ayako was done examining Mai and he'd gone through a whirlwind of emotions for it. I want her...more than anything, I want her, but, "That can't be true," he stated aloud. "Mai needs someone who's good with emotions. I'm horrible with them and I can't...I can't even express them well. I love her, but I don't want to force her to put up with me. It would only hurt her," he glanced at Mai's battered body before saying, "especially now."

Aria forced him to reestablish eye contact and shook her head at him. "From my conversations with her, it sounds to me that Mai has liked you for a long time. Just be honest with yourself, and her, and things will be fine between you." Smiling sadly, she looked back at Mai. "You'll see. Everything will work out." After a moment of silence for Mai, and for Naru to think things over, Aria added, "As for her coming back, I can teach you how to bring her back, but we shouldn't do it here." Naru nodded his understanding and she held her hand out to help him back up and he took it.

Ayako had overheard their entire conversation as she'd finished cleaning and bandaging the deeper wounds on Mai's legs with the few supplies she'd brought along. She then watched as Naru got back to his feet, and prayed Aria was correct that Mai would come back to them. She had reached a possible diagnosis, but didn't have any of her normal equipment to be sure of everything she'd suspected. According to what she could tell, she'd determined that her dear, young colleague and friend had fallen into a sudden and extreme case of catatonic depression. Clinically, though, it couldn't be called that until she'd been in it at least two weeks, but Mai was displaying Coma-like symptoms that were entirely unlike her normal self and her head injuries were far too minor for Mai to be in a coma, or at least that's what Ayako hoped. None of her observations indicated Mai could have a coma, but without her equipment, she couldn't be completely sure.

From her professional standpoint, things only looked poor for Mai. Naru had told them that Mai wanted to die, but, on top of that obvious threat, Mai was at risk in so many ways, but the one risk that worried her on top of everything else about her current battered state, was just how much evidence there was in abundance on and around her to make it clear that Mai was at risk for becoming pregnant. Who knew how many times they'd gotten to her, and since when exactly. The last time she'd seen a case anywhere near this bad, it had been a gang rape and the girl hadn't been able to get to the hospital in time to prevent a pregnancy. She knew that Mai was against abortion, but if she got pregnant, who knew what kind of creature they'd have on their hands and if adoption would even be an option.

I hope we aren't too late to prevent such a thing for Mai, but I can't do anything about it in this broken down excuse of a facility-if you can even call it a facility anymore. The sooner she could get Mai to a working hospital and treat her, the less of a risk she would have both for pregnancy and any STDs that she may have been exposed to. A worry nagged at the back of Ayako's mind that she would miss something because, when it came to extra-dimensional beings, she didn't know what she was dealing with. Who knew what kind of diseases Mai might contract because of this.

After the last of her bandages were in place, Ayako pulled the girl's pants, the only intact article of her clothing left, up to their rightful place and finished wrapping Mai's torso in a different, cleaner, flat sheet before she spoke. "Mai is as ready to be moved as she can be at this point. I've done as much as I can to assess and take care of her here. The rest needs to be treated in a proper hospital so, unless people are fine being stuck here for a while without a ride, we should call an ambulance and get her on her way." After a sigh she added, "Hopefully they will work with me and let me oversee Mai's care."

"Oh, I don't think that will be a problem." Aria muttered. "Hospital administrators tend to listen to money, and I have more than enough of that. Miss Matsuzaki, I'll make sure they allow you to be Mai's attending physician," she promised the woman. Though her voice came out rather flat, there was a determination no one could deny.

Lin had stayed near the hole, listening to what he could pick up from the group's echoey conversations. What he heard gave him the first stirrings of true hope he'd had since he'd heard the report of the state of Mai's apartment. The relief from the combination of knowing that Mai was alive and that Naru would be well had been somewhat of a shock to his system. Learning, on top of that, that Naru could and would be taught a different way to use his PK and that he had the ability to lead Mai back to herself was so intense that he'd practically collapsed against the wall. He would never admit, aloud, just how immense his relief had been upon hearing the news. Soon, I won't need to worry about contacting Noll's parent's to tell them that their only son collapsed again. He hated the idea of having to report any bad news about their son to the sweet older couple. He sighed at how close they'd come this time to losing both Mai and Naru. As he watched the group, Lin contemplated the fact that Naru and Mai were soul bound and what that might mean for the future. Maybe soon, I'll have something wonderful to report to Naru's parents for a change.

It was then that Victor, in a calm voice loud enough for the entire room to hear, asked Naru, "What will we say to your client about the two bodies here in the hall and the bloody mess in the south-western stairwell?" In truth, these minor concerns would not affect him, but they could cause trouble for those he now saw as being under his charge.

"Is that where the last body is," Naru asked.

"If you can call it a body anymore," Monk supplied. "The entire stairwell is more of a gore fest that starts just above the fourth floor and trickles all the way down to the first"

Naru put a blood-covered hand to his chin, taking on his thinking pose. "This area is basically hidden by that fake supply cabinet. If we remove the supplies and close the hidden wall, and maybe leave some empty racks to hide the opening, it shouldn't bring too much attention. Lin and I nearly missed noticing it so maybe it will remain hidden." He fell silent, his eyes falling to his beloved Mai. Thinking of the nature of her condition he said, "We could tell the client," he scowled as he thought of the irritating client, "that this place was infested with an incubus, but we've dealt with it. If he wants proof, he'll just need to check out the south-western stairwell."

"I think you're underestimating just how much blood and gore we're talking about here, Naru" Ayako stated. "I've never seen so much blood and guts thrown around. It was extremely messy."

"If he asks how it got so messy," Monk suggested, "we could tell him we had too many chants going at once and it blew up...though," He looked Naru over then around the room, "aside from you Lin and Victor, the rest of us don't have much blood on us. Maybe it would be best if you three were to stay in front and keep his attention? That way, maybe he might just overlook the rest of us."

"If not, hopefully, the sight of a body will put him into shock," Ayako wished aloud, "Going into shock would have a higher chance of pushing the information more to the back of his mind."

Naru grunted and nodded his approval before he continued, "Mai of course was a victim of the incubus." He paced, still in thought, and added, "We don't need Ishikawa to come up with a reason to delve into the sub-levels. Even if he is an incompetent fool there is a possibly he might find this mess if he tried to have it searched. Did anyone find their lair, den, or wherever it was the Khiitani's base was?" When he looked around the room, the four who'd come down together were exchanging looks.

Aria looked from Victor back to Naru and explained, "We think it might be up on the fourth floor. The fifth was empty and before we finished searching on the fourth floor, we got distracted by the body. It was on the landing between the third and fourth floors, though, so their nest could have been close."

"So we don't know where for sure." The foursome shook their heads and he continued, "Then we should find it. We can claim we found Mai wherever it is."

Victor closed his eyes, silently communicating with the other members of his Telirosa. When he opened them again he reported, "My Telirosa are still busy with the female and can't break away at the moment, but they've told me her end shouldn't be far off. I could have them look for us when they are through, but it seems the one helping them has been wounded."

Aria had a fleeting fear for how bad off Gene was, but, before she could ask, Lin spoke up from near the doorway, "There's no need to pull them away. I can easily send out my shiki to search for us."

Naru nodded and Lin silently made his arrangements with his shiki and sent them off. After a quick glance at Mai, Naru addressed Monk, "She's been here long enough. Let's get her out of here."

Monk could only nod and follow through. After he slid an arm under Mai's shoulders and another under her knees, he gently straightened and lifted her. Before moving on, the monk allowed Ayako to settle Mai's head in the crook of his neck and finished securely tucking the blankets around the girl.

Then, following Mai, the group headed out.


We are nearing the end of our first case. In fact there is only one more chapter until the case will be complete. Koujinbutsu and I hope you've been enjoying the beginning of this adventure that we've crafted for you, but considering we rarely get comments, it's hard to tell. We'd like to hear your thoughts on where Soul Bound is going. Do you have questions or concerns? If so, please leave us a comment or review!

-Spirit_Weaver