C4: Call to Arms

Mai let out a scream that made Naru and Lin's Blood run cold. The demon lifted its head and gave them a bloody smile before disappearing. As if a spell was lifted, Naru rushed to Mai's side, as Lin called for help. Naru ended up kneeling in a pool of Mai's Blood. Gently rolling her over, Naru put pressure on the wound. "Mai! Mai! Wake up!" Naru pleaded as he used his free hand to stroke her blood coated hair. Mai moaned weakly.

"Na...ru..." Mai gurgled out. She forced her eyes to open as much as she could. She shifted her blurry vision to Naru's face. "Naru, why are you sad?" Mai tired to ask; however, all she could do was look up into his grief stricken face. Her arm seemed to move on its own. Slowly reaching up, she brushed her figures down the left side of his face, leaving streaks of blood on his face. Her vision began to far out; however, before she could collapse, she saw what looked like tears run down from his sapphire eyes. Her eyes closed completely, and her hand began to fall.

Naru grabbed her hand before it could hit the ground hard. Gently, he laid her hand across her stomach. "Mai... Wake up! Please wake up! Please show us your bright eyes." Naru pleaded as he continue to stroke her hair.

"Naru, help is on the way." Lin said as the knelt on the other side of her. He lifted the hand that was resting on her stomach and precessed to measure her pulse. It was faint and weak, but at least she had one. "Naru, she has a pulse. It is faint and weak, but it a pulse." Lin stated as he placed a hand on Naru's shoulder.

"I told her there was nothing to worry about, but she got attacked when we were suppose to be protecting her." Naru mumbled. In the distance the sirens of the ambulance could be heard.

The Ambulance came and took Mai away. Naru decided to ride in the ambulance while Lin called every to tell them to meat them at the hospital as soon as they could get there. Once that was done, Lin closed the office and when to wait with Naru at the hospital.

~Mai dreaming~

"Why am I in pain?" Mai asked to no one at all. She seemed to just float there in nothingness. To her right was this bright light. The light threw off warmth and peace. Love seeped out of the light. Then out of the light came her father's voice, "Mai, honey, it's not your time yet. Your place isn't ready yet. I know it hurts, and I know how hard life can get at times, but don't let it pull you under with it. You need to go back now. Look someone came to pick you up," her father said as he pointed to a figure that walked out of the darkness.

Mai turned her head to see Naru, standing there with his hand stretched out towards her. "Naru!" Mai cried out, and rushed towards him.

~End of Mai's dream~

The doctor came out of surgery, looking exhausted. The doctor slowly made his way over to a group of people waiting to hear anything about Mai. Naru was sitting a little ways off from the group with his head in the palms of his hands. "Naru, the doctor is here to talk to us." Monk called out to Naru. Sighing, Naru got up to rejoin the group.

"Is this everyone?" The doctor asked as he looked around the group. They nodded their answer. "Well, the damage to Mai's neck was far worse then we thought at first. We were able to stop the bleeding; however, she lost so much blood that there is possibility that she won't wake up if doesn't wake up in the next forty-eight hours. We believe if she can wake up soon she will make a complete recovery. If anyone want to see her, she is in room 305." The doctor said as he walked away.

The group quickly made their way to the room. Laying on the bed, Mai looked like she was just sleeping. Anyone could have thought that she was just resting until their eyes fell onto the white gaze that covered most of her left shoulder and neck. No one spoke at first, but then Ayako suggested that John should pray over her. Everyone agreed that it was a good idea, so John took his place at the foot of her bed as he began to pray, "This prayer come from proverbs 4:20-22. My child, be attentive to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. Do not let them escape from your sight; keep them within your heart. For they are life to those who find them, and healing to all their flesh."

"That one was a good prayer. I guess wall we can do now is sit and wait," Hara said as she made herself comfortable, in one of the many chairs that had been brought into the room for them.

The group decided that was all that they could, so they too made themselves comfortable. The hours slowly ticked by. One hour became two hours, and before they knew it a day had already passed by. "Mai, please open you eyes. Let me see them once more." Naru thought as he sat by her side. Slowly, so painfully slow, the time ticked down. There was only a few hours left for her to wake up.

When they thought there was no hope, Mai's figures twitched in Naru's hand. "Lin! Her figures just twitched," Naru called out. "Mai! Mai! Can you hear me?" Naru asked as he stroked her hair. Lin made his way to the other side of the bed. The rest of the group, noticing something was happening, gathered around the bed. "Mai! Mai! Can you hear me?" Naru asked again.

Seconds passed on and when Naru started to think he imaged her hand moving, Mai's hand twitched again, and she gave a painful moan. Slowly, her eyes cracked open. Mai's eyes travel around all the face to land on Naru's face. "Na...ru?" she questioned.

"Monk get her some water," Lin ordered him.

Naru let himself smile for the first time in days. "Yes Mai I'm here, and so is the team." Naru said as he moved out of the way, so Monk could give her the water. Within a few minutes, Mai was able sit herself up in bed.

"Mai, we saw what it was. It was a demon," Lin said as he rested his hand on her shoulder.

Taking a deep breath, Mai spoke, "yes I know. It was dragon like wasn't it."

"Yes it was. How did you know?" Naru asked as he took out his notebook.

Clasping her hands together, Mai began to tell them how she knew what it was. "I know because it use to be my imaginary friend when I was little; however, it did look like that at first. It use to be a full size dragon..." said before she was cut off.

"What it was you imaginary friend?" Ayako cut in.

Nodding her head, she continued to talk, "yes it was my imaginary friend, but when I told him that I didn't need a imaginary friend anymore, because I had real ones now, he became mad and transformed into what the both of you saw. After he transformed, he simply disappeared, and I haven't seen that thing again until I was dozing in the office."

"Well we know what it is now, so we can do something about it. The first thing that we need to do is get you somewhere we can sure your safe this time." Naru said as he left the room. He wasn't gone long when he came back with the permission to take Mai with them, with the order from the doctor that if she got worse to return to the hospital.

The team decided that the best place to take Mai would be the church that John was volunteering at while in Japan. The only problem with that was it was a quite a ways away. They stopped by the office to grab what they need to get rid of the demon. Mai and Naru stayed in the van while Lin got the stuff that John would need to fight off the demon.

The team left and started the long three hour drive to the church. Mai began to lose consciousness when Naru spoke, "go ahead and rest. I'm by your side, and Lin is here with you. This time we wont let anything get you."

"I never blamed you for what happened in the office. It wasn't anyone's fault. There was no way to know it was going to attack me." Mai sighed as she rested her head on his shoulder. Smiling, Naru patted her on her head.

~Mai's dream~

Mai was standing in the darkness again; however, this time there stood a full size dragon. "Icefyre," the dragon's name came to Mai's lips.

The dragon pulled it's head back and roared, before transforming into the demon that attacked her in the office. Fear shallowed her up, and tears flowed freely down her face. The demon walked towards her, with its heavey foot steps. "Mai! It's good to see you not dead yet." Icefyre said as it meliciously laughed.

"Why are you trying to attack me?" Mai asked as she crowered away from its out reached hand.

A terrifing smile slowly crawled its way across his mouth. Smiling, he responded, "I doing because I want your soul. I would have taken it sooner if it wasn't for the fact that you forced me way. It took me a very long time to come up with the idea of being a child's imaniary friend. I was so proud that I was able to trick a little innoccent child into believing I was there to be freinds with them. Now it is time to collect the soul that I allowed to grow into such delicious smelling fruit." The demon laughed before disappearing.

"No!" Mai screamed.

~End of dream~

"Mai! Mai! Wake up your dreaming!" Naru said as he shook her awake.

Panicking, Mai grabed on to Naru shirt and exclaimed, "Naru, the demon is here! Something bad is about to happen." Just as the words left her her lips, Lin slammed on the brakes. Both Naru and Mai turned their heads in time to see a claw hand slaming down onto the hood of the van.