A/C: I kind of took this story too far... So I hope you don't get nightmares when you read it T.T

CHEERS! Don't forget to R/R/F!

Chapter 11 - Labyrinth of Dreams

^.^

"This must be the Pishacha," Naru said in an extraordinary moment of self-control. Whereas I felt my bones were shaking within my skin and I was absolutely positive I could not form a proper sentence.

If Naru was scared, or surprised, he didn't show it at all. He just passed his steady blue gaze, calmly, over the inside of the car then stared out the window again. He was not completely unnerved by the pair of milky eyes that watched us from across the road.

On the other hand, I was visibly (and rightfully) terrified.

I knew Naru underestimated the creatures abilities, seeing as he rarely believed in anything he did not have evidence for.

Somewhere in the moment, Naru had said something quietly to me but I couldn't hear him past the roaring of my blood in my ears. Or the constant drumming of my heartbeat.

"Mai." Naru said, placing a firm hand on my wrist. The feel of his skin on mine brought me back and I blinked, slowly.

"Listen to me very carefully." Naru's voice was quiet and smooth as silk. "Push your seat all the way back and move to the edge of it. We have to get out of the car."

"What?" I jerked back slightly, the shakiness not leaving my tone. "T-that thing will kill us. You don't know how fast it is."

Or how lethal it could be with those claws that I knew, first-hand, were razor sharp. My arm instinctively burned at the memory.

"Our chances are even worst if we are caught sitting in here," Naru growled. "Gene had mentioned the cabin was safe. Can you find it?"

"I-I don't know." It was possible...but in the condition I was in now, it was very unlikely. "I could try."

"Alright," Naru said, "Now, move the seat back and shift over."

I obeyed, clumsily hitting the motion controller for the seat until I heard a soft thud. Slowly, I shifted over and began to realize what Naru was doing as he swung one of his lean legs over the middle counsel that separated us.

He was going to position us in the best escape route possible - which was on my side of the car.

The Pishacha was on the driver side and there would be no feasible way to go out through those doors. Moving to the back would be risky, it could cause too much motion and the Pishacha could attack or corner us.

The best way out was through the passenger side.

Naru swung his long legs over the counsel, and I had to crane my neck, awkwardly, to perch myself on the edge of the seat. Instead I mostly ended up sitting on his thighs.

I shifted uncomfortably to get off his lap but felt Naru shake his head as he put a firm hand on my waist that kept me still.

"You're creating too much movement," He said, firmly.

I tried to relax my shoulders and neck as I leaned into Naru. In this position, my back was almost completely facing in the direction of the Pishacha. It was intentional by Naru, I realized because now I couldn't see it. That meant, if it had attacked I had to fully trust that he would warn us in advance, or that my nerves wouldn't stop me from being able to move.

For some reason, that made me even more nervous.

I felt my body tense as Naru's hand inched towards the door handle.

Then, we waited.

The silence that stretched felt like the depth of an ocean, continually being crushed by an immense pressure. I was acutely aware that my heart was pounding through my chest and that Naru could probably hear, or feel, my rapid breathing.

I didn't count the minutes that passed by us. It felt like we had been sitting straight-backed for hours. From under me, Naru did not move an inch. I knew that in this waiting game the Pishacha was going to grow very bored, very soon. Naru was a very patient man.

In order to keep my body from seizing up, I squirmed and tried braced my muscles for take off.

The only indication that I felt Naru was about to move was a brief flicker in his muscles.

I was ready for it and the door flew open at the same time a horrible noise pierced through the silence.

We both jumped out of the car and Naru caught me as I fell in a tangle of limbs, then yanked me, roughly, out of the way.

I was thankful that he did because the car flew up and over us, into the thick bushes and trees off the road. A crashing sound boomed from behind us, followed by a skin-crawling roar.

Naru pulled on my wrist again. Then, we were running along the road as fast as we could.

"Where is the cabin?" He said in between breaths. I don't think I had ever seen Naru run or exert himself. Even considering Naru to be, slightly, athletic was an impossible feat for me. I could tell he was already feeling the strains of the sprint in his legs and lungs.

I couldn't answer because the Pishacha was suddenly in front of us.

I saw a swirl of teeth snapping towards me -

Naru pulled me sharply to the left. It was a halting maneuver that left us skidding but he recovered, forcing me back up to my feet too. We continued running again and I looked back to see the Pishacha heading into the forest, where it could hunt us at the advantage point of being concealed.

However, staying on the open road had its own advantage. We could clearly see every side, up and down the road - even a couple of meters on the sides, which could buy us precious seconds with a creature that could turn on a hair.

"The cabin," Naru said in between breathes. "Where is it?"

"I don't know if I can do it," I panted. "I don't know if -"

"You have to try." He snapped. "Just try."

I took a deep and steadying breath as focused on my thin connection to my esper abilities.

In this realm I couldn't touch them, or connect to them, as I had on that spiritual plane. It was as if I was grasping at water that slipped through my splayed fingers. I tried again, and the same thing happened.

I realized I that I would have to, wholly, rely on those gut instincts - that had not been trained in over four years.

"Do you see anything?"

Delving into that shimmering veil of power was not an option right now, so I focused on what I could do. My whole body felt awake as I imagined the cottage the fist time I had saw it. The first time I found it, I hadn't known what it looked like - I only had a feeling of it. This time, with the image in my mind, I focused hard on the visual. There was a pulling sensation in my gut that suggested we needed to stay on the road.

"Keep going straight," I blurted. "Stay on the road."

I didn't know if this was correct, just that I desperately needed it to be. We both did if we intended on surviving.

It didn't take us long to completely tire out. Both of us were panting as we slowed to a walk, Naru was shoring up my left side and kept an eye on the road ahead. I continually checked the right and behind us.

There was no noise beyond our breathing. Naru had let go of my hand, but stayed within an arm's distance should he need to grab me again. He was taller, faster and, dare I say, stronger than I was. If there was something he could pull me out of the way of, then that was my saving grace.

We walked and walked and walked.

It was impossible to know if we were just walking blindly in circles. This world had been a fabrication of the real one. Or, maybe it was more accurate to say that this was the real world, only your mind was so morphed by the presence of the Pishacha you were made to believe that it wasn't.

Either way, there was no indication that the Pishacha chasing us. There was a sharp feeling in my body, in the very foundation of my bones, that suggested we needed to turn off the safety of the road and into the woods very soon.

The rational part of me wanted to ignore it. It was dangerous to leave the road now because at least this way we had a chance of survival Or, maybe in some bizarre coincidence, a car could pull up and help us. I knew that if I listened to my head we might, very well, end up killed.

I had to listen to my gut.

"We need to to into the woods," I said, pointing to the left. "That way."

Naru stopped and followed my gesture, blue eyes looked into mine. "You're sure?"

Firmly, confidently, I nodded.

Naru assessed me once more, and I held my chin high. Even if I didn't know the exact way, I needed to pretend that I did. Naru had always been wise enough to trust my instincts before and I hoped that after four long years at least that hadn't changed.

"Stay close then," was all he said.

We left the safeguard of the road and went into the woods.

Everything seemed heightened in here. The tree's blocked out most of the sunlight and we were lucky if we could see more than five feet ahead of us with the thick canopy of bush and shrubs. The footing was rough, the terrain uneven - this was not ideal conditions for sprinting if we were ambushed.

These were ideal conditions for hunting.

I stumbled along the littered ground, trying to listen for any tell-tale signs that we would be Pishacha food. It was impossible to hear beyond our moving feet. Or the ancient wind that seemed to move through the trees.

"Do we keep going straight?" Naru would ask every now and then, in a hushed voice.

"Yes," I said, guiding us from the rear. "In this direction."

Naru listened to my brief, and flanty, answers. I knew he wanted concrete evidence that we were heading in the right direction. Don't worry, I did too. But, this was as good as we were going to get.

There was a quick noise from behind us, not the Pishacha it was something else.

I felt a hand tug on my arm, it wasn't very hard but it was enough for me to halt in my steps. I turned to see what it was and saw nothing except the slight slope of a hill we had just began to crest.

I stumbled from the second tug, it was harder and rougher than the first. I recovered by stepping backwards and Naru turned to me, eyes narrowed.

"What's wrong?"

"Something -" I felt another tug, this time pulling on the back of my shirt. "Something's pulling me."

"What?" His eyes scanned around behind me. No one was around us.

Again, something grabbed me, squaring my shoulders this time - as if positioning me in the spot I needed to be in to see a flash of grey flesh moving silently through the space behind Naru.

"Naru, behind you!" I shouted as my eyes caught the quick motion of the trees moving. This time, I was the one who gripped his wrist and pulled as hard as I could.

We stumbled onto that short, steep hill that had us falling even more backwards.

Naru had his fall broken by a pile of leaves, and I continued to tumble down the slope. I was only slightly aware that the Pishacha was cresting the top of the hill, most likely it was going to come down here and then it would kill us.

I wasn't aware of anything else as I felt the back of my head hit something hard and blackness glittered across my vision.

^.^

I awoke to my head throbbing and groaned as I felt my senses slowly return to me, each one more dizzy than the last.

My eyes truly came open when I had remembered what happened. I had pulled Naru out of the way of the Pishacha but in doing so I had thrown us backwards down a steep hill - right into the trunk of a large tree. Or, at least I had landed - head first - into the tree.

I was unconscious, which is the only explanation for how my mind found its way here. The world I was sitting on was only slightly the same as how I remembered it. This time, the trees seemed to be morphed into dark shadows of grey hues.

Another indication that I was back on the astral plane was my arm had began throbbing. I looked down at it, and there were three long claw marks that were still dripping with blood.

I could only imagine what it meant if the wound had not healed yet, fearing infection or worst. I gripped my arm tenderly, and looked up to see that Sara was standing in front of me, her lips were parted in a cruel smile. I pushed myself up.

"You won't be able to take my soul." I told her in a feeble attempt to scare her away. Or to make myself sound brave. "We are going to find you and we are going to destroy you -"

She moved so quickly I didn't register it until she was leaning down in front of me.

I jerked backwards, pressing myself even tighter into the bark of the tree that dug into my back.

"I really should thank you for teaching me that little trick," Sara said when she leaned closer to me. In those seconds when she vanished her body had disappeared, as mine had, into shadows.

"Get away from me," I growled. "you can't hurt me, this world is an illusion - a fake, you're not real -"

Her fingers grasped my wrist before they pressed firmly into the wide cuts on my forearm.

My vision exploded.

Pain, as I had never experienced before, flooded me. There was a sharp burning before liquid fire spread across my arm, up to my neck.

I screamed as she switched her grip and pressed harder.

"You are refreshingly artless," she cooed, sounding pleased by my screaming.

She kept applying pressure to those wounds and I would scream louder. Some wicked part of her delighted in this.

My vision swarm with spots as I tried to keep myself from passing out. My throat was raw and a coppery taste coated my mouth.

She released the firm hold at some point when I was in and out of consciousness. It had felt like I was in this realm, living through this unbearable pain for days.

I was panting, lying on the ground.

Sara stood up. "You sure do have a pair of pipes on you. I do enjoy the sound of it."

Slowly, she lifted her bloodied fingers to her mouth and licked them, savoring the taste of my blood.

In a voice that was almost sweet, she said. "I'll let you in on a secret. If your soul is hurt on this side it will soon catch up to the physical body. You can, and will, die here."

Her red lips spread larger.

I gritted my teeth, in between pants and I willed myself to get up.

My body was so weak, I couldn't feel my legs but I pushed passed the numbness and lifted myself up with my good arm.

My arm, my ruined arm, was completely useless. I couldn't feel anything beyond my shoulder except for a burning. I didn't want to think that maybe she was right. I didn't have a chance.

"You're a tough one." She lowered herself closer again, crouching. "It'll be fun breaking that spirit of yours."

I anticipated her touch and I whimpered out loud before I felt her fingers graze my burning arm.

I let out another pain filled cry.

Over my screaming, she taunted me. "That's right, scream because you are weak and worthless. Beg me to stop."

I wouldn't beg, not to the likes of her.

When I didn't, she dug her nails in.

"I said beg!"

My screams were no longer screams, instead they were rasped and thick-sounding groans.

"Pain doesn't work for you, huh? Maybe I have to hurt someone you care about. What's that one's name - Oliver? Gene?"

I tried to speak. "N-no."

"Oh dear," Sara said. "That's it, isn't it? I'll have to kill them to truly make you suffer."

"Please -"

"Please? Please, what? You don't want me to kill them? Then scream and beg when I tell you to, you useless, coward -"

There was a sickening sound of impact. Sara's blonde hair flew around her as she fell sideways from the back-blow delivered to her by a black-clothed twin I knew very well.

Gene was panting, glaring at Sara as he watched her fall to the ground.

Grey-blue eyes swung to me.

I felt as horrified as I looked. Gene, who should be staying safe within the cabin, was here.

"Wake up, Mai," He said. "I've distracted the Pishacha, but not for long. You need to wake up."

Sara groaned, moving back onto her feet.

"NOW!"

My eyes came open in the midst of a calm chaos. Naru was standing over me, his hands on my shoulders. He must have been shaking me, must have dragged me back.

There was a throbbing pain in my arm from under his touch and I flinched. I remembered what Gene had told me, about what he had done.

"Are you alright?" Naru lowered his hands.

"Yes," I said, breathless, and pushed away from the tree. I pushed past the dizziness. "We need to leave. Now."

I couldn't believe how foolish I felt, how naive I was to think that the Pishacha wasn't attacking us because it was hiding. That was not the case, not at all. It was Gene, in that pocket of world, who was distracting the creature long enough for us to find safety. It was also Gene that had been pulling on me before, to stop us from moving closer into the Pishacha that was waiting for us.

Stupid, courage, foolish Gene...

Gripping Naru's hand I lifted myself up. "Gene is distracting the Pishacha. He says we are close to the cabin, we need to move fast."

This time, Naru kept close to my heels as we weaved through the forest. Now that I knew why we hadn't been pursued, it made finding the cabin even more urgent. I didn't want to think about what would happen to Gene if he was caught by that thing. My gut began throbbing after a long time of stumbling through the forest.

Yes, this was the way.

It was Naru who first saw the tell-tale signs of the forgotten cabin.

"I see it." He said as it appeared in the distance, I recalled the clearing of land that was just ahead of us.

The cabin was exactly as it was in my dream. Forgotten. Ancient. Naru didn't bother with the door that I noticed had been crashed in due to my brilliant scheming. He simply grabbed a piece of fallen foundation that he found on the ground and smashed the window. He cleared the glass from around the edges, then motioned for me to step on his hands.

Naru lifted me up and into the window, before he climbed up.

Inside was the exact opposite of the exterior. Instead of looking as if it was run down, the interior was completely frozen in time. The old furniture was still arranged as if the family would return and, casually, sit to eat or simply lounge in the room after a long day of work.

"Check all of the rooms," Naru said and we moved through the single story family home.

The home was indeed small and could only hold, maybe, four people at the most. We ended back in the living room, where Naru thought it was the best position to take watch. It was away from the doors and there was still an immediate exit in the form of three windows if we needed it.

"It's safe here," I assured Naru when he wouldn't leave my side. "There's a protective barrier around it. That thing can't get in."

"What about Sara?"

"I don't think she can either." I didn't think there was a reason she could if the Pishacha couldn't come in.

"I'm going to look around and find something we can use as a weapon. I assume the Pischacha can be hurt. Just call out if you need anything."

I nodded and continued back around the living room. On top of the mantle of a fireplace, was a photo that was framed.

"Hey," I called out. I could hear him moving around somewhere in the kitchen. "There's a photo of the original family here."

I grabbed the frame and wiped off the dust.

The picture was old, the quality of it reminded me of the early eighteenth-hundreds - black and white, and extremely grainy. I noticed a very tall man who was well dressed, but the photo was so faded that I couldn't make out his face. There was a small lithe figure that he had in front of him and I knew immediately that it was Sara.

The photo wasn't complete and I noticed the edges appeared to be folded inwards, cutting off the remaining three-quarters of the whole picture. I checked the back and found that this picture frame was fastened in a permanent binding. With no other option, I smashed the glass on the mantle, slowly taking out the photo.

"What's wrong?" I heard Naru's voice from the kitchen. He rounded the corner immediately after, holding what I thought was a cast iron frying-pan.

It was just as I thought - the photo was folded.

"This photo is folded. There's a picture of man with Sara and a ... girl -"

Sounds stopped coming out of my mouth as I stared at the full picture.

It was a family of four standing in front of the cottage.

The first two figures were of Sara and that tall, dark man I had originally seen from the first folded portion of the photo.

However, there was an identical girl to Sara who was gagged and bound on the ground. Next to her was the mutilated body of a woman.

They were both dead.

"Twins." I said out loud. "They're twins."

Suddenly, I was pulled into a vision I wasn't, ever, prepared to see.

^.^