Chapter 13 – Came Home with a Vengeance
Disclaimer: I do not own Ghost Hunt, if I did the series would never have ended and Mai and Naru would have little paranormal grandbabies for Martin and Luella running around by now.
Author's Note: Wow, so I have been rather ill lately. What we thought started as strep ended up being pneumonia, ugh! Then I had a death in the family on both sides, with which family drama ensued and then my mother fell and injured herself, so I have been working as her caretaker even though I have still been ill myself. I am still a little mentally fuzzy so let me know if I am not making sense, or if it was boing, please. So, I apologize for the late updates but let's try to get this all back on track, yeah?
Not Edited.
The baggage claim at Heathrow Airport was crowded with a fresh flood of sluggish international traveler's as the non-stop flight from Tokyo disembarked in the pre-dawn hours as a small group of three scanned the throng for familiar faces. A striking young woman in her mid-twenties bounced excitedly, her dark pink hair fluttering around her face as she turns to her two companions to say, "It looks like almost the entire plane has offloaded, so where can they be," before turning to scan the crowd again. When she spies the tall lanky figure of man standing a full head taller than the rest of the crowd striding towards them she squeals and darts forward saying, "Nevermind! Koujo! Over here, Koujo!"
With a slight grimace at the attention of someone shouting his name in a crowded airport brought, Lin headed towards the spot where his girlfriend of two years, Madoka Mori was standing with Oliver's parents Martin and Luella Davis, his breath leaving him in a short huff as Madoka flung herself into his arms and hugged him tightly.
"I missed you, Koujo!" the young woman exclaimed, latching onto his arm tightly before asking, "Where is Noll and the new employee, Mr. Taniyama?"
Lin smirked, looking for a moment like Naru himself, and said, "They will be here shortly, Taniyama-san needed a moment, since is their first time out of Japan after all," as he glanced back over his shoulder and remarked, "There's Noll heading this way now," and Lin chuckled softly to himself as he waited to see just how everyone would react when they realized the girl who was walking next to Oliver was the new employee they were expecting, but just not the form they expected.
Luella looked past Lin, to see her son walking towards them, a striking young Japanese woman speaking animatedly to him as he headed their way, and she waited for him to brush the girl aside with one of his rude comments before joining them while they waited for Mr. Taniyama to arrive, but Oliver actually turned to the girl and smiled at her. Luella gasped in shock and gripped her husband's arm tightly as she realized Noll actually gave the girl a real smile, not one of his fake ones and she could only wonder what caused one of his rare smiles. Pulling Martin along, Luella, closed the distance between them and their son and greeted him warmly, "Welcome home Oliver, we missed you, my darling boy," and turned to the young woman with a small bow and said in fluent Japanese, "Excuse me miss, I am sorry to interrupt your conversation with my son, but we missed him while he was away from home, I hope you can understand a mother's desire to greet her son," Luella said smiling warmly at the young lady before turning back to Oliver and embracing him tightly, tears of joy in her eyes at their reunion.
Mai giggled softly, and returned the bow in both Martin and Luella's direction and replied in fluent English, "Of course I understand Mrs. Davis, our conversation is nothing that we cannot resume at a later time. Please allow me to introduce myself, I am Mai Taniyama and I have come to hopefully help you reunite with both sons. Please take care of me." As Mai smiled tremulously at Naru's parents and his mentor Madoka, re-meeting them all again under different circumstances, she could almost hear the wheels turning in their heads, as Luella turned to her son and smacked him in the head with her purse that immediately reminded her of Ayako, and she made a mental note to make that introduction between the two of them sooner rather than later.
Oliver scowled as his mother bopped him on the head and asked, "What was that for?" His mother answered quickly, "For letting me believe this was MR. Taniyama! If I had known I would have picked a room more suitable for a female guest! I cannot believe you did not tell us that you were bringing a girl home with you, not that you actually brought her as a girl but Oliver…" she trailed off as she noticed Oliver, Lin and the young woman all exchange glances, and Martin interjects, "Well, why don't we stop making a scene in the airport and collect the luggage so we can head home. We can discuss your little prank on the way home. This is behavior we would expect from your brother, but not you Oliver." Noll turned away rolling his eyes at the impression he was so stuffy and ushered Mai to the baggage turnstile to find their luggage so they could depart the terminal.
Once everyone was settled in the van, borrowed from BSPR to help transport the six people with luggage, Madoka broached the subject of Mai again by asking Lin, "Koujo, how could you keep such a huge secret from me?" Lin shook his head and replied, "I wanted to tell you the day we met Mai, but someone threatened my laptop if I told you, because he knew you would tell his mother," he glanced at Noll as he relayed this information, and continued, "He said he really wanted to surprise Luella, because he knew she always wanted a daughter."
Madoka and Luella both gave him a confused look, with the former asking, "Why would that matter if you just met her? It isn't like you could have known Luella and Martin would even approve of her working for us?" Both women looked at the last seat in the van that Noll and Mai were seated in and noticed, Mai already asleep, her head resting on Noll's shoulder and her arm wrapped around him as he read from the book he started on the plane, before snapping their heads back to gaze at each other in shock. Lin shook his head at them slowly and held a finger to his lips before saying, "Yes, she falls asleep all the time like that, especially on cases. Usually when that happens she has a vision pertaining to the case at hand, but right now I believe it is just jet lag."
Luella shook her own head vehemently, and whispered to the other two, "That's not why we are shocked and you know it Koujo Lin! Since when has Oliver let anyone, and I mean anyone, including us or Gene, touch him so freely? What is really going on here with those two," she asked as she looked back at the duo to see her son absentmindedly stroking the girl's hair in between turning pages of his book and then turned to glare at Lin as if demanding answers.
Lin just shrugged his shoulders at the two women and said, "Just wait until we get to your house, I know Noll thought you both would really love Mai and he wanted to surprise you. Considering all the psychic information we need to go over in regards to Mai though, it wouldn't be prudent to start a discussion on this when Martin cannot fully participate due to driving us. But it really was an exhaustingly long flight, and although I know both of them appeared to be sleeping on the flight from Japan, Mai told me they were on the astral plane talking to Gene. I think its best if we just let them rest until we get to the manor." Lin pulled Madoka closer to him and closed his own eyes to conserve his energy because he knew that they were in for a long discussion very soon. The three occupants of the van who had not flown halfway across the world overnight all seemed to deflate slightly as each realized none of their questions would be getting any answers until the others were ready.
Mai woke up just as they were pulling into the driveway of the Davis Manor, yawning widely as she snuggled up to Naru and said to him, not realizing that her voice would travel throughout the van, "Every time we come here I forgot you guys grew up in freaking Phantomhive Manor, I'm still half expecting your steward James to tell me his name is Sebastian whenever we visit," she grinned mischievously at her fiancé before continuing, "Although even if the demon butler was real, he still wouldn't be my first choice considering all the trouble we have had with demons in the past." Oliver laughed softly as the van came to a stop and nodded, "No wonder you get along so well with Gene, you little closet otaku… but you forget I know why you love that one so much," he said with a self-satisfied smirk before leaning down to whisper in her ear, "He's just your type, tall, dark, devastatingly handsome and his arrogance and superior skills remind you of the man who loves you," he finished giving her a wink before indicating they should exit the van and join the others in retrieving their bags.
After the group headed into the manor, and was greeted by the staff, they all headed into the dining room on the first floor for brunch. The steward and housekeeper brought in an assortment of pastries, fruit, bacon and, eggs, along with the milk, juice and teas for the group to snack on while they talked. Once everyone got something to nosh on, Martin spoke for the first time since leaving the airport, "So, what exactly is going on Oliver? I would like an explanation, on all of your odd behavior lately," he looked over at his son, who set down his fork and sighed heavily before nodding in agreement.
Oliver took a deep breath and began his explanation, "All of the details of how I met Mai that I told you before are accurate, with a small exception. What I did not tell you before was that the day we met, that there was an incident and Mai, Gene and I managed to create a connection between all three of us on the astral plane with no intention to do so, or any warning it was going to happen. Mai's latent psychic powers were awakened at this time, and the three of us were pulled into a pre-cognitive vision spanning the next 7 years, give or take," he looked at Mai seated next to him for confirmation, and she nodded in agreement at him before he went on, "Before our shared vision Mai had sharper instincts than most people at most, but had no actual active psychic gifts, or the ability to speak any language other than Japanese. Now, she has the knowledge of several years as a paranormal investigator, an undergraduate degree in psychology, and post graduate coursework and research in parapsychology here at Cambridge with us, and a litany of psychic gifts that make Gene and I look like novices," he concluded as he took a sip of his tea, made a dissatisfied face and placed the teacup in front of Mai before reaching for and taking Mai's glass of juice instead.
Mai rolling her eyes as she watches Naru exchange their beverages, picks up the tea, takes a sip of her own and shrugs unworriedly at the taste before saying, "I am not the only one who seems to have unlocked new skills though, today we discovered Nii-san can now shape his portion of the astral plane to his liking, and he is also now able to help other spirits trapped on that plane to move on from there. Naru…err Oliver, also seems to be developing his own skills to walk the astral plane alongside us, and most recently when using my amplification ability his PK is no longer lethal to him, and then if the two of us are in physical contact he can levitate us both several feet off the ground so far, which should come in handy the next time we fall down a well," Mai laughed as she finally looked back up from her plate, and she smiled brilliantly at the others in the room, unaware they had all been watching the two of them with great interest since Noll exchanged their preferred beverages.
Martin stared incredulously at Mai while she was adding her own comments to what his son had already listed, and asked, "Is there any way to document this? It might make an interesting thesis if what the two of you are saying is true."
"Father, we are already ahead of you. We have made several databases that catalog everything we experienced within the vision the three of us shared. They are also all separated into different sections including professional, personal and historical, as well as a catalog of skills we had prior to this experience. For instance, Gene and I could speak telepathically our entire lives together, but I was cut off from him after his death. Now, I can speak with him through a mental connection again, and so can Mai… and so can Mai and I," he paused to let this information sink in with Martin, Luella and Madoka before he continued, "That is just one example, and we have an entire database full of them that I will be happy to loop you all into once we get settled in and take care of all family business first. But there are other… aspects of the knowledge we gained that we do need to speak about now," he said glancing over at Mai, letting her decide how much they wanted to share this soon.
Mai inhaled slowly gathering her courage and looked over at Naru's parents and mentor and smiled nervously before beginning, " When we say that experienced years of memories, it was us living our entire lives within that vision, and within that time I got to know each of you very well. Madoka I adore you like the older sister I never had, and Martin and Luella, I think of you like my own parents. The unconditional love you showed me in our vision of the future helped to fill some of the empty recesses left behind when I lost my family. In that time though, we met under much different circumstances and I am sorry that I am being thrust into your lives while you are experiencing the loss of such a wonderful person – although I am also here to help with that, because I can allow you to speak to him any time you wish until the time he moves on," Mai paused to take a breath, her hand shaking slightly where it sat on the table between her and Naru.
Luella, who had gone slightly paler once Mai started speaking of her own loss smiled sadly at the young woman and replied, "Now, or a hundred years from now, you are welcome here. You brought our eldest son home Mai, and are willing to let us talk to him again, how could we ever deny your contribution to this family? Even Noll has seemed more at ease since he met you; more approachable and even emotional as far as I can tell," she reached across the table to Mai intending to hold her hand and help ease the trembling she saw in the younger woman's appendage until she noticed Oliver had already done just that. Luella smiled and continued, "There's more that you need to tell us though isn't there?"
Mai swallowed nervously and nodded before continuing, "What we each experienced was not just a short, abridged version of the future, with glimpses here and there, it was a complete life that ran the complete gamut of human emotions and events. I remember my education from that time, and I used that to test out of my high school so I can apply for special consideration into the paranormal program here at Cambridge as soon as I finish the same accelerated undergrad program that Oliver completed. In the future vision that is where I was scholastically, and Naru and I were working on a joint research project for eventual publication as co-authors. We had also been a couple for roughly 5 years and married for 3 at that point," she looked over at Naru for confirmation on the timeline and he nodded, and momentarily ignoring the shocked gasps of his mother and mentor he added his own comments to hers by saying, "Our marital status is something that we plan to remedy at the first legal opportunity. It has been… difficult to reconcile the current chronological order of certain things. We both remember being married for several years and having a deep emotional bond that we still feel even though it has not happened in this time for anyone but us."
Madoka jumped up from her seat in excitement and squealed, "You actually brought a girl home… as a GIRL! And you Koujo, did not tell me, oh my God! Luella! Luella!" she shrieked as she rushed to her friend's side and pulled her up out of her seat to hug her tightly, and went on, "Luella, snap out of it! Your son is married! Or will be married! Oh my God we need to…" Madoka suddenly went silent as Luella let out a small sob and then Luella lifted her head, joy shining from her face as she stared at her son and his fiancée and said, "You really did bring me the daughter I never had, now I understand what Lin meant at the airport. Mai, you truly love my little Nolly?"
Mai nodded emphatically while getting up to approach the older blonde woman and said, "I don't want to ever imagine my life again without him. Arrogant, infuriating, narcissistic, idiot scientist that he is, I love him and will spend the rest of my life showing him just how much. We are aware how young we are at the moment, but we have the mentality and experiences of the lives we led in our vision to account for, and we would like your blessings to marry one another once it is a legal possibility."
Oliver smiled lovingly over at Mai's form standing beside his mother and let out a nervous laugh, "Mum, Mai is not the only one of us who has deep feelings of love. I wasn't even aware that I was capable of understanding the concept of romantic love before, or ever feel it myself, but I will not hide the fact that I am completely, irrevocably and desperately in love with this woman, and I will never be parted from her until the end of our lives. We are aware that for all of you this is very sudden, but for us we have already been wed for quite some time," Naru let out a small exhale of his own and he looked over at his father with trepidation before continuing, "One of Mai's skills is the ability to project images or visions to a willing recipient. So far we have only achieved a shared vision with a single person, of a very short portion of our future, but to help you all understand we can attempt a group projection. We would not want to give you too much, detailed information of the future, but enough for you to understand the validity of our positions should be possible. Yes, Martin, this is actually a skill we were planning to share with you already so you could ascertain the legitimacy of our database information, and if we cannot do a group mental projection one on one should be possible with enough rest in between each instance," the raven-haired boy slumped in his chair, jetlag finally catching up to him as he waited for the reactions from his family.
Luella embraced Mai, hugging her tightly while Oliver explained his views on the subject, and when he finished she responded quickly, "Oliver, I don't need a vision to understand what is in your heart, I am your mother and I know you. I love you Noll, and I love you too Mai, for loving my son so unabashedly. You absolutely have my blessing and Martin's too," she turned to look at her husband, and when he opened his mouth to speak, her glare silenced him immediately. " I can see you're all very tired and I'm sure some rest is in order. We can all talk later after you sleep some of your jetlag off. Lin you and Madoka can have your normal room, and I can show Mai to her room and obviously Noll knows where his room is…" Luella's rambling faltered when she noticed her son shaking his head at her and asks, "What's wrong?"
"Mum, that's our room. Mai will stay with me obviously," Oliver stated and when Luella began to splutter about propriety he put a hand up to stall her, "Mother! There is no question of propriety, we were married for 3 years and are well acquainted with one intimately in the future, but that is not even a concern for either of us at this point. Everyone just calm down before you all give yourselves aneurysms! Just ask Lin, Mai and I have slept in the same bed every night since the second evening after we met and there has not been a hint of improper behavior, if there was I am sure his shiki would have alerted him to it. Right Lin?" Naru glanced at his assistant who gave his agreement to this statement before continuing, "Besides if it is improper that my wife and I share a bed solely for the purpose of sleeping then it is improper that Lin and Madoka share as well, especially considering they aren't even engaged." Naru smirked in triumph as his last bit of logic and couldn't resist one last comment that would hopefully ease his parents worries, "Mum, I know you want grandkids, but don't worry neither Mai nor myself are ready for that just yet, so there are no plans to take any actions that could possibly result in new life until well past the time we are legally married, ok?"
By this point Mai's face was flushed a deep red that was only rivaled by the crimson hue found on Luella's cheeks and the poor ginger squeaked out, "If I thought I could fall asleep without you, I would totally make you sleep on the floor! No one needs to know any of that, you tea addicted narcissistic jerk!" Mai turned on her heel and dashed out of the room to hide her embarrassment. She kept muttering as she stomped up the staircase in the hall to the room she remembered as theirs and left everyone else behind to stare after her in wonder.
Watching Mai as she exited the dining room in a glorious blaze of embarrassed fury, Oliver started laughing. The sound of his laughter was not the usual quiet chuckle, or snicker that his family was used to, but a hearty rumbling laugh that originated from deep in his chest, a sound that seemed to exhibit pure unadulterated happiness to all that heard it and the normally stoic boy grinned goofily at his parents before dashing off after his fiancée, the sound of his joyful laugh echoing after him.
Those adults left behind in the dining room as the two teenagers scarpered off to rest or argue or whatever they would do in that room of theirs, were awestruck on so many levels. Oliver's parents were uncertain whether what they had witnessed was real, or a prank and Martin especially was wondering if his son was possessed. Both the Davis parents and Madoka purposely stayed awake the previous night so that they could also rest at the same time as the three who just travelled from Japan, so it was by unspoken agreement that the rest of the occupants of the dining room all decided to go rest and meet up again later that evening.
