Year: 17

Season: Summer

Ib: Age 25

Yuki drove herself and the other three out of the city a few miles towards a rather large abandoned house, where she parked in a full parking lot next to the haunted house attraction, and the group saw that there was quite a queue to enter. The line had at least fifty people waiting in it, and in the warm summer day, standing and waiting was roasting them all.

"This sucks," Junichi sighed, "Why are we even wasting our time here?"

Rin pointed to the many signs along the line they were waiting in, one of which had an endorsement from a 'Haunted Investigators' TV show, claiming that the place was really haunted, "Well, if we go by that, then this shouldn't be too bad."

"Don't tell me you believe that?" Junichi asked.

"Not really." Rin admitted, "I can't sense any spiritual energy around here."

"Me neither!" Aiko said, "Why are we here Yuki?"

Yuki shrugged, "We might find something interesting."

And so they waited for over an hour and a half, and it was finally their turn. They were allowed to walk a specific path through the building, which was set up with railings that guided them through the place. All along the tour were plaques with tidbits about the former families that lived in the building, and how they mysteriously died or went missing. Yuki was the only one of the group who was genuinely reading them and seemed mildly interested, the rest just hung back and were wishing for it to end.

Aiko let out a loud groan as she and her three other friends walked through the building, the windows were all boarded up, with the boards strategicially placed so that they would lighten up the path well enough, but leave everything else eeriely dark, "We are wasting our time, I can't sense anything here!" Aiko said as she nearly tripped over something she couldn't see on the floor.

"No kidding." Junichi sighed.

Yuki nodded, "There's nothing here."

"Oh?" Rin spoke up, "We're done?"

Yuki nodded, "There's inconsistencies between all of the histories they've written here, for instance, it says that this man died during the year 1976 here, but the previous sign stated that the family prior to this man lived here until 1978." She gave them all an annoyed expression as she looked at them, "It completely took me out of the story."

"Wait," Junichi said, "You just want to read the history?"

Yuki actually smiled, "Yes. I knew the moment we got out of the car that this place didn't have any spiritual influences or haunting."

Aiko let out a laugh, "Really?"

Even Rin was smiling, "Then, can we go?"

Yuki turned towards them, "Yes, we can. Let's just get through here quickly."

"I wish we could get out money back..." Junichi grumbled as he followed the rest.

The group returned to the car, and Aiko pulled out her cellphone, "I'm gonna call Ib to let her know that this was a massive waste of time." She quick dialed her, and brought the phone up to her ear. She waited a few seconds, and frowned when no one replied. She looked down at the phone, and redialed the number, but the same thing happened.

"Weird." Rin muttered, "Do you think something bad happened to them?"

Yuki shook her head, "We shouldn't jump to wild conclusions. There's a chance that she just forgot to charge her phone, or she has it off."

"Normally I'd agree," Junichi said, "But not when they fought a spirit last night."

"The spirit was exorcised." Yuki said.

"I dunno..." Aiko mumbled, "Ib almost always answers her phone."

Junichi pulled out his phone and dialed Garry's number, and the same thing happened, "Think it's a coincidence?"

Yuki frowned, "We should go to the City Hall then, if there's some sort of supernatural attacks, then they'd undoubtedly know about it."

Rin opened the car door getting in at the same time Junichi did, Rin put on her seatbelt and said, "Then we should go now, I have a bad feeling about this."

Aiko nodded, getting in the front passenger seat, while Yuki got into the driver's seat, and started driving without another word. The drive to the city was quiet, with each of them worried about Ib and Garry. Due to each of them being lost in thought, the drive seemed to have only taken a few minutes, despite the fact that it had actually been about an hour.

Yuki had pulled into a parking lot, and spent far too long for her liking trying to find a spot to park, but eventually she got one that was relatively close to the City Hall. The four got out, and turned to look at each other, Yuki made sure to bring out her purse, checking its contents to make sure she had everything she needed.

"Do you guys want to come in with me?" Yuki asked, "If you don't, be aware that I'll be in there for a while."

"Maybe some of us should go to where Ib and Garry are?" Aiko suggested, "If they're in trouble, then Mary and Ib's parents can also be in danger..."

Yuki nodded, "Junichi, you and Aiko go." She turned to Rin, "I'm sorry Rin, but I'd like it if you stayed with me for now."

Rin nodded, "That's fine with me."

"Any questions?" Yuki asked.

Junichi let out a chuckle, "Can we borrow your car?"

Yuki tossed the keys over to Aiko, "Drive safe."

Aiko grinned widely, and got into the car, with Junichi sitting in the passenger seat. Junichi waved to both of them, and soon they were driving back through the city streets, making it towards where Ib and Garry may be.

Rin let out a sigh and turned towards the imposing building they were at. The place was clearly important – due to the almost pristine look of the building, not to mention she could see security walking around the premise despite the fact that they had yet to set foot within the actual building yet. She looked at Yuki, and saw that the girl wasn't nervous, so she simply let out a small breath, and followed the older girl into the building.

"Don't be nervous," Yuki said, turning her eyes towards Rin.

"I – I know." Rin said, "I just don't feel comfortable around this much security."

Yuki nodded in understanding, and offered the girl her hand, which Rin gladly accepted.

Rin wasn't entirely surprised to see that the entrance room was very lavishly decorated and even more secure than the outside was. She had been to far too many Town and City halls to even be surprised by such things anymore. There were lights covering the entire ceiling, with a large chandelier in the center, giving the place an elegant look. Off to either sides were elevators with potted plants dotting the walls all around to give it a unique look. Directly ahead of the two were several receptionist desks, where they were heading to now.

"How may I help you?" The well dressed young man behind the counter asked as the two girls walked up.

"We would like to see the mayor." Yuki answered.

The receptionist raised an eyebrow, "You're well aware that you'd need to make an appointment, and then wait several months before it can be verified, and then another month or two after that to wait in queue before you see him?"

Yuki shook her head, "Here." She reached into her purse and pulled out a card, "Tell the mayor that we're here to see him. I guarantee that he'll let us see him now."

The receptionist took the card and read it, "You want me to waste the mayor's time with this?" He asked, "Really? So you guys are like ghost hunters or something?"

"Just tell him that Yuki's Outfit is here to see him." She insisted.

Rin couldn't help but hide a smile at the name that Aiko had jokingly come up for their group a few years back, and Yuki had just went along with it and used it. No one really minded, since Yuki was in fact that the head of most of the operations anyway, no one had any complaints. They had mentioned spirits on the card due to the fact that absolutely no one but the people who needed the actual help would believe them.

The receptionist meanwhile had gotten on the phone, looking very unimpressed as he looked down at the card, "Hello, yes, could you please tell the mayor that Yuki's Outfit," He rolled his eyes as he said that, "Is here to see him?" He nodded, and set the phone down, and looked up at Yuki and Rin, "You'll have to wait a moment."

And wait a moment they did, Yuki just standing there looking down at the receptionist's desk, reading the random pieces of paper that were scattered about. Rin was just keeping a hold on Yuki's hand, and trying not to look up at the security as they patrolled the building.

The phone rang again, and the receptionist picked it up, "Yes? R – really?" He blinked a few times and looked up at Yuki in surprise, "He's willing to see them now?" His mouth dropped open, "He cut a meeting short?"

Rin couldn't help but smile, and even Yuki looked a bit smug.

"Y – yes. Right away." He put the phone down, "You have permission to go see the mayor now," He said in obvious amazement, and handed them their card back, and then he grabbed another two cards, giving each of them one, "You'll need that to access the elevator to go see him." He explained.

Yuki nodded, "Thank you."

"Y – yeah." He said, leaning back in his seat.

The two walked over to an elevator, and inserted their cards into the slot, forcing the doors open, and Rin almost wanted to scream since inside was a single security guard. Yuki paid him no heed, and gave Rin's hand a light squeeze, to which Rin responded to by entering the elevator with her. The ride up wasn't particularly long, and soon they stepped out into a much smaller room, where there was a secretary's desk, and several doors lining all the walls, the room was still as well lit as the previous room however.

"Hello," The female secretary said looking up at the two of them, "Yuki's Outfit is it?"

"Yes." Yuki nodded, "We'd like to see the mayor."

"He'd like to see you as well," She said, her expression turning to one of shock, "He canceled a meeting just to see you two."

"We've heard." Yuki said.

The secretary nodded, "Very well, just enter those doors over there." She pointed to her left, "He's quite eager to see you two, from what I saw."

The two walked over and pushed open the door, revealing perhaps the most lavished room in the entire building. Along the walls were paintings depicting different landscapes all over the world. Like in the main lobby, there was a chandelier hanging in the middle of the room, and centered in the far side of the room was the mayor's desk, with the man behind it himself, and plenty of comfy looking chairs and couches situated around in front of it. In addition, behind him hanging on the wall were pictures of all the previous mayor's of the city, smiling and looking proud.

"Ah," The mayor stood up, and bowed down to them in greeting immediately. He was a little overweight, but not immensely so. He wore round glasses, and a very nice looking suit and tie, making Yuki and Rin both look woefully under dressed, "Yuki's Outfit, correct?"

"That's us." Yuki said.

"Great, great!" He waved his arm at the chairs in front of his desk, "Please, have a seat, and do call me Youhei. You two don't need to be too formal with me!"

"Very well," Yuki said, taking a seat as did Rin, "I'm Yuki, and this is Rin."

"Ah!" He smiled widely, "Yuki! You came yourself?"

"I always prefer to see my clients in person." She nodded.

"Yes! Well!" He coughed into his hands, "We have a situation."

"I've deemed as much." Yuki answered.

Rin just watched in surprise at how Yuki took the entire situation into her own hands without even a hint of hesitation. She felt almost proud of her in a way, seeing how well she handled herself in front of such people.

"I'm sure." The man said, "Well... We've had a few deaths recently."

"What?" Rin gasped out, "Why haven't we heard about them?!"

Youhei rubbed his hand through his trimmed black hair and shook his head, "The men who died were homeless, and authorities were alerted to their presence in alleyways. We were able to clean them up before anyone learned about them too much."

"So you've covered up murders," Yuki sighed, "What makes you think they are supernatural in nature?"

"The way they died," The mayor pressed, "I've been told that there's no wounds on the body, and autopsies reports indicate that there was nothing else wrong. There's nothing, no cuts, no internal bleeding, absolutely nothing!"

Yuki looked very unimpressed, "That still doesn't deem this as the work of the supernatural."

"Yes, I know." The mayor said, "But the last one of the six homeless men that were murdered had a woman standing by his corpse, and we had a police car there with video proof! She looked up, and did some sort of magic and shot fire at the police and just disappeared!"

Rin saw how Yuki's eyebrows shot up.

"You mean to tell me that it's not a spirit killing them?" She asked.

"Exactly!" He said, "I can have the police give you two the evidence so you can see for yourselves! I can also allow you access to the morgue to look at the corpses to see if there's anything we missed that only you two can see."

Yuki nodded, though she looked troubled, "Yes, that would be good."

The mayor let out a content sigh, "Now for payments..."

Rin looked at him, "We have a standard rate when it comes to dealing with spirits, but we've never actually dealt with other spiritually attuned people before..."

Yuki gave Rin a quick glance, "We'll help you, but it'll cost more."

"Yes, whatever, fine." The man said, "Just name your amount and get them out of here! We can't afford to have these murders publicized, and we must stop them before they murder someone else!"

"Good." Yuki said, standing up, "The police station in nearby, correct?"

"Yes," The man said, "It's about a block away, I can have someone escort you if needed!"

"No." Yuki shook her head, "We need to be fast. I can teleport us there immediately."

"But won't people see us?" Rin asked.

Yuki shook her head, "Don't worry. I'll teleport us onto the roof." She turned to the mayor, " Call someone to tell them to meet us up there."

"O – Of course." The mayor said.

"This is still risky," Rin mumbled.

"I know," Yuki acknowledged, "But if Ib and Garry are in trouble, then we need to hurry. We can't afford to waste more time."

Rin's eyes widened, but she calmed herself down and nodded, "Ok."

The two women stood up and went to the center of the room, Yuki taking hold of Rin's hand, and with her other, she gathered her spiritual energy, and when enough was gathered she called out, "Exponentia Moveat!" The two suddenly disappeared, much to the astonished mayor's shock.

He look at the spot in complete awe, before remembering that he had to call the police station and let them know about their new arrivals.

XxXxXxX

"I'm hungry..." Mary whined.

Ib frowned, "I know dear, but we can't eat right now. I promise we'll get you something to eat soon, ok?"

Garry rubbed his daughter on the back, "It'll only be a little while longer, can you hold out for your dad?"

The girl's lips trembled, but she nodded despite that, and just looked down at the ground. She had been so much happier earlier, but as the hours dragged on, she got increasingly agitated, especially with the fact that there was nothing to do there but wait. She simply curled up next to Ib and Garry and dozed in and out of sleep, occasionally mewling about being hungry.

"Your friends will be here soon, right?" Kohta asked, sitting across from Garry and Ib. Saya was right beside him, and looked as worried as he did.

"It may take a while longer," Garry admitted, "They went out of the city to go check out a potential haunting."

"Wait, the tour that's going on this weekend?" Kohta scoffed, "I could've told you that that place isn't really haunted! Saya and I were just there! That place is just a complete waste of money. The idiots there got all the dates wrong, and it's way too dark to see anything!"

Even Saya was nodding along with her husband's harsh words.

Before another word could be uttered, the ground started to shift, causing both Garry and Ib to shoot up, Ib taking hold of Mary again, who was wailing at the sudden shift, since it frightened her.

"Garry!" Ib called, "What's going on?"

"I don't know," He ran over to the window and looked outside, and saw that none of the buildings were swaying, "It's only happening in here! We've got to get outside!"

That was easier said than done though, with each step, they stumbled and couldn't stay stabilized, the quaking only seem to get worse and worse each second. Garry and Kohta were nearest to the door, but Saya, Ib, and Mary were all still struggling to get to them.

"Do you know the teleport spell?" Garry called back to her.

"I – I think so?" Ib said, "Mom, dad, come to me!"

Her parents slowly made their way over, when suddenly a huge hole appeared in the middle of the restaurant they were in, Kohta nearly fell in, but Garry dived over and grabbed the older man's hand, holding him up from certain death. Saya had made it over to Ib's side, and screamed in horror when she saw the scene unfolding before her eyes.

"Kohta!" She cried, "Get up!"

"I'm trying!" He said, "You guys go! Garry and I can handle ourselves!"

"There is absolutely no way I'm leaving you two-," but suddenly the three of them disappeared from sight.

"The hell?" Kohta said, looking back, "What happened?"

"I don't know!" Garry answered, "Ib didn't cast the spell! It must have been someone else!"

"Your friends?" Kohta asked.

"We can only hope!" Garry said, pulling Kohta up, and letting out a pleased sigh when the quaking stopped. The restaurant was now a complete mess, even worse than it was before. In the center was a gigantic hole, and all the furniture was only shattered splinters of its former self. The two stood up, and walked out into the streets, dust floating all around due to the tremors that had occurred in the building.

"Now what?" Kohta asked, covering his mouth as the two of them made their way out of the dust.

"I don't know..." Garry said, "If that was our friends, then we should have gone back by now..."

"It wasn't them after all?" Kohta asked.

"Probably not."

Kohta let out a groan, and leaned against the building, "I'm too old for this shit."

Garry chuckled, "I think the same thing all the time."

The two leaned against the building in complete silence as they rested, getting their bearings back. Finally Kohta heaved himself off the building, "Come on now, we've got to go find them."

Garry looked down the street, "Which way should we go?"

"You're the expert here," Kohta said, "Don't you have a tracking spell or something?"

"Sorry, but no." Garry admitted, "So... I guess we should just go that way?"

Kohta let out a sigh, "That way it is then."

The two began to make their way down the road, hoping to run into their family soon.

XxXxXxX

Ib remembered yelling at Garry, holding her daughter tightly to herself while her mother had grabbed her shoulder, but suddenly all she saw was light, and the familiar nausea that came with the teleportation spell she was so familiar with. Within seconds the light went away, and she was now in a completely new area. Mary was still crying, and Ib whispered quietly to her daughter, trying to calm her down, and she hugged her tightly in her attempts to calm her.

"Where are we?" Saya asked.

"I don't know," Ib spoke up, taking a real look around.

They were in a very large square room, the floor was just rustic metal all around, as were the walls and ever the ceiling. The only source of light were a few cracks and holes in the ceiling itself, flooding the room in its ominous red glow. There were a few doorways all around the room, with the doors themselves missing. Other than that, there was again wooden furniture scattered all across the room that was completely destroyed.

"I wanna go home!" Mary cried into her mom's shoulder, "I wanna go!"

"I know, I know." Ib whispered to her, knowing that the nausea from the teleportation spell was doing little to calm Mary's nerves, "I promise we'll be leaving soon ok? I'll keep you safe until then."

Suddenly Ib and Saya's heads went towards one of the entry ways, where they heard the loud sound of footsteps on the metal surface of the floor, and in walked a lone figure wearing a cloak. Ib warily looked at the figure, holding her daughter safely against her.

"Hello!" The figure called out, in an undoubtedly female voice, "Welcome to our domain!"

"Why did you bring us here?" Ib asked, "What did you do to my dad and Garry?"

The cloaked figure waved a dismissive hand, "They're with my brother, at least I hope so." She frowned, "He can be kind of an idiot at times."

"Can you send us back?" Saya asked.

The figure frowned, "Why would I wanna do that?"

Ib held back a curse, especially since she didn't want to distress her mother or her daughter anymore than they already were, "What do you want from us?" Ib asked.

The girl smiled, "Ah, so you'll come peacefully?"

"That depends on the conditions." Ib answered.

The girl continued walking into the room some more, until she was directly in the center, looking at them huddled against the wall, "I will let your mom and your kid out if you promise to give me your life force."

"Life force?" Saya asked, "What's that?"

Ib thinned her lips and looked aside, "As the name implies, it's my life. She's asking me to essentially kill myself."

"No!" Saya said quickly, glaring at the cloaked figure, "You can't do such a thing! Take mine if you have to, just let my daughter and grand-daughter go!"

"Mom!" Ib said in surprise, "No!"

"Don't worry," The cloaked figure waved it off, "I don't want your life force, old woman. I need the life of someone who is spiritually attuned, and one who has plenty of spiritual energy at that." She smiled as she looked at Ib, "And you fit the bill just perfectly!"

Saya bristled at being called old, but calmed herself down, not wanting to upset the girl and start any fights.

"If I refuse to do as you ask, what will you do?" Ib asked.

The woman sighed and lifted her hand directly at Ib, "I will be forced to bring you back by force."

Ib handed her daughter over to Saya, "Keep her safe."

"Ib! What do you plan on doing?" Saya asked, "Please don't do anything rash!"

"Mommy!" Mary cried as she was handed off to Saya, screaming and kicking as she did so. The child was clearly distressed, with tears falling down from her eyes.

"Mary," Ib said sternly, "Be good for grandma ok? I promise I'll be right back."

"No..." Mary moaned, "Mommy!"

"Mary!" Ib said quite loudly, getting the little girl's undivided attention, "Stay with Grandma!"

Mary's lips trembled, but she finally just nodded her head, wrapping her arms around Saya's neck and burying her head into the older woman's shoulder.

"Ib..." Saya said.

"I'm sorry you have to see this mom." Ib said, and then she turned directly towards the woman across from her, "I'm not backing down!"

"Typical." The woman scoffed, "You truly believe you can stand up to me?"

Ib let out a deep breath, and glared at the person across from her, "Yes."

"Tch, fine then!" The girl cried, with her arm already lifted, a large flame burst forth and shot towards Ib with incredible speed.

Ib's eyes widened as she saw the massive projectile coming for her so quickly, and she raised both of her hands and yelled, "Incantatores Protector!" A large glyph appeared in front of her just before the fire reached her, but it still engulfed the entire shield and hid Ib from sight.

"Ib!" Saya screamed in horror.

The cloaked figure smiled, "That was too easy."

"Don't get so cocky yet." Ib called out, the smoke cleared to show that she was still standing, despite her clothes looking a little bit frayed from the fire, "Though I'm impressed that you don't need to call out the spell names prior to casting something so powerful."

"Only a novice would need to do such a thing," The cloaked woman said, and then she frowned, "I'm surprised that you were able to block that, even a little bit."

Ib didn't want to give it away, but she was frightened, she had cut that so close that she could see her life flashing before her eyes. Didn't this girl say that she wanted to keep her alive?! She shook her head clear of the stray thought, she needed a plan and fast. It was clear that this girl far outclassed her when it came to magic. She tried to think of something to do, and finally it came to her - she looked down at the floor, and saw the metal, and nodded to herself.

"What are you doing?" The cloaked girl called, "Are you scared?"

Ib glanced up at the girl and lifted her arm up, "Aqua Incantatores!" From her hands water sprayed out towards the cloaked figure, who just raised up her hand to make a shield.

"Is that all you can do?" The woman asked, seemingly very annoyed that her clothes had gotten wet from the spraying water as it splashed water everywhere. She put down her wet hood, and glared at Ib with her purple eyes, her shoulder length blue hair now visible, "Just come with me instead of embarrassing yourself."

"I'll pass." Ib said and with her hand still raised she called out, "Electrica Incantatores!"

"You're still trying?" The cloaked woman lifted her arm up again to block the spell with her shield spell, but she wondered why her prey had made the spell go so slowly, lightning was one of the few spells that had a good chance of hitting her, since it traveled faster than she could blink.

"Mom! Get on some of the furniture, now!" Ib yelled, running over to the woman and dragging her over to some of the broken furniture, forcing herself and her mom atop of a smashed table. Ib then cast the shield spell again on her and around her family in an orb.

In the meantime, the spell that Ib cast was easily blocked, but like before some of it got through the shield and started to hit her, and since she was covered in water, and since the floor was metal, the electricity reacted as Ib planned, and started to electrocute the woman in the cloak, causing her to scream in horrible agony.

Ib's caution was well planned, since the electricity scattered all around the room, going through the metal, but standing on the wood and putting the shield on herself and her family had protected her from the damage.

A few seconds passed, and Ib finally lowered the shield, looking over to the cloaked woman who had fallen to the floor, unable to hold up the shield spell as she was electrocuted.

"I – Is she dead?" Saya asked.

"I think so," Ib mumbled, her heart beating fast, realizing that she may have just killed someone, "I – I had to do it... She was a much more powerful caster than I was..."

"Shh," Her mother said wrapping her arms around her daughter in a hug, "It's ok..."

Ib nodded, trying to be strong, and she turned to her daughter, "Mary, are you ok?"

The little girl was holding onto Saya for dear life, but finally looked up, her tear stained face was frowning, "Go home now?"

Ib rubbed her daughter's hair, "I hope."

"Ib!" Saya gasped out, pointing towards the person that was just electrocuted. Ib let out a curse as she turned around and saw the girl getting to her feet.

"You bitch!" She let out, "You think you're so clever, using spells like that to try and take me out, because you lack the actual ability to take me on in an even fight?" Her purple eyes glared at Ib, and it was clear that the girl had third degree burns all over her body, "I'll fucking kill you!"

"We've gotta go," Ib said, turning to her mom and daughter, "Hold onto me!"

Saya reached out and grabbed Ib's shoulder, and Ib tried to recall the teleport spell.

"No!" The electrocuted girl screamed, "You can't get away! I won't let you!"

"Ah!" Ib said, "It's Exponentia Moveat!"

Right before she cast the spell, the downed woman screamed out, "Tantibus Incantatores!"

Ib and her family disappeared, and suddenly reappeared outside in the streets somewhere, the sky was still red, and all the buildings and destroyed signs were around.

Saya let out a troubled gasp, "I – I'm so glad we got away." Expecting a reply, she looked to Ib, and saw that the girl had curled up on the ground beside her, her hands on her head, and she noticed that the girl was beginning to hyperventilate, "Ib?!"

She was witnessing all of her worst nightmares over and over again. She was nine again, and she saw Garry die in so many ways. He would always try to rescue her, and then he'd die, yelling at her or cursing her life. Then it would repeat in some different way that somehow managed to be even worse than before.

"No! No!" Ib gasped out, "Garry!"

The images suddenly changed, and Ib wanted to sigh in relief, but the new images were perhaps even worse, showing Garry dying to the Kyōken, again in his attempts to protect her. She saw him gruesomely being torn apart, and the beast sadistically took his time, allowing Garry's pained screams to fill the night air. It would constantly repeat over and over again, showing her so many ways in which he could die.

"Please go away!" Ib yelled.

"Ib!" Saya had leaned the girl down by the side of the building, "Please answer me!" She waved her hands in front of Ib's eyes, but they were glossed over as she continued to relive the nightmares going through her mind.

The images she was witnessing then disappeared, now changing to a set of new ones, where Mary was in trouble. She saw the cloaked woman reaching for her child, and grabbing her, and then lift her hand up to her crying daughter's face and... Ib let out a loud scream, unable to handle the sight of it. Then it happened again with a different spell, and she watched daughter's pleading expression, wishing for her mother to save her, but she couldn't move...

"NO!" Ib yelled, "NO!"

Mary started crying at the pure desperation that Ib seemed to be going through, and she got her way out of Saya's grasp and went over to hug her mom.

"Mommy!" Mary cried, "Wake up!"

Ib heard something distantly calling for her, and the images of her daughter being killed became blurry, she let out a gasp, and tried to think. What had she been doing before?

"M – Mary?" She forced out, still breathing fast, "Are you there?"

"Mommy!" Mary called again.

Ib tried to ignore the horrific images her mind was conjuring up, and focused on the voice calling for her. If she could only reach for it, she knew she'd remember what she had to do... It was something very important, but she didn't know what...

"Ib!" Saya had joined in on the act of calling for her, since it was working for Mary, "Calm down and come back to us!"

Ib reached out for the voice, and suddenly it felt as if her mind unlocked, and she remembered everything. The nightmares disappeared from her vision, and she blinked as she looked around to see her daughter hugging her tightly and sobbing, and her mother had a very firm grip on her shoulder as she looked down at her.

"Mom?" Ib asked, "What's wrong?" She frowned, feeling completely out of breath.

"I don't know," She answered honestly, "You brought us here, and suddenly started to scream from something..."

Ib tried to recall the memory, and then her eyes widened, "She cast the Nightmare spell on me. I – I saw..."

"Don't worry about it dear, you don't need to tell me." Her mother said, "I'm just so glad to see that you're back. Mary is the one who figured out what to do though."

Ib smiled and patted her daughter's head, "Thank you, Mary."

Mary just nodded her head, too scared to do much else.

Ib wrapped her arms around her child, and shakily got to her feet, holding her daughter close, "Are we close to where we were before?"

"I don't know," Saya answered, looking around, "This entire place looks the same to me..."

Ib looked around while also rubbing her daughter's back at the same time. She could only really hope that her daughter wouldn't be traumatized from this experience, "Yeah, it all looks the same to me too."

"Should we stay put?"

"No," Ib said, "If that girl wants to find us, she can track my spell and find us much quicker that way."

Saya nodded, "Then where should we go?"

Ib shrugged, "I don't know. Pick a direction and we'll go that way."

Saya looked up at the four-way stop they had appeared at, and let out a sigh, "There's quite a lot of ways we can go..."

Ib frowned, "Yeah..."

"We'll go this way for now," Saya said, taking charge, "You just rest and let me lead the way, ok dear?"

Ib smiled, "Thank you."

With that determined, Ib followed her mother down the long and desolate road, hoping to run into Garry and Kohta sometime soon.

XxXxXxX

"H – hello."

Garry and Kohta both turned around immediately when they heard the voice, and saw a cloaked person standing there in the middle of the road they had been walking down, with his shoulders slumped.

"Hello?" Garry spoke up.

Silence reigned.

"Um... Can I help you?" Garry asked.

The man sighed, and turned away, "Why'd she make me do this? She knows I can't handle confronting people..."

"Who are you?" Kohta asked.

"Y – You can call me Koyomi." He answered, "I – I'm really sorry, but... I have to capture you." He pointed towards Garry, "I'll let him out if you come peacefully." He had pointed towards Kohta when he said that.

"Let him out?" Garry asked, "Then you're the one who created this world?"

"N – No." The man shook his head, "But my sister and I have a means of getting out."

"Then let us both out!" Kohta said, stepping forward rather aggressively, "And while you're at it, let my wife and daughters both out!"

"I – I'm sorry..." He mumbled, backing up as Kohta advanced, "But I can't..."

Garry couldn't help but let his mouth fall open. This guy was making him look like the bravest person in the world, what could have broken this guy so much?

"Why not?" Kohta yelled.

"B – Because my sister told me I have to capture him!" He pointed to Garry, "W – We need to do it to..." He covered his mouth, his eyes widening.

"To do what?" Garry asked.

"Nothing..." The man shook his head, "L – Look. I'll let your mom and dad out, and your daughter if you come with me..."

"And what am I to do when I go with you?" Garry asked.

"We need you and your wife's life force." The man said, averting his eyes and biting his lip.

"You want us to die?" Garry asked.

"What?" Kohta roared, "There is absolutely no way I'm going to let Garry and my daughter die for whatever scheme you're planning!"

"I – I know..." The man said, "I was told to bring you in force if I had to."

Garry lifted his hands in the air, "Woah, hold on. I can tell you don't want to fight." He laid an arm on Kohta's shoulder, "Tell me why you need my life force."

"I – I shouldn't tell you..."

"Why not?" Garry asked, "If you're asking me to come and die, then shouldn't you at least give me the courtesy of knowing what I'm dying for?"

Koyomi frowned, "Uh... I – I guess that would make sense."

"Then what's it for?" Garry pressed, still keeping an arm on Kohta to prevent the man from attacking the teenaged boy in front of them.

He sighed, "W – we want to bring back someone..."

Garry's eyebrow lifted, and Kohta stopped struggling, "What?"

"Sh – she died when I was only a kid, so I didn't know her too well, but my older sister... When mom died she was devastated... She really changed..." The boy crossed his arms, eyes still averted, "She brought her body here so it wouldn't rot away, and then practiced magic zealously for years, trying to master it..."

Garry frowned, "So you're only trying to revive your mother?"

He nodded, "I guess so..."

"You seem pretty hesitant about the idea." Kohta noted, finally calming down.

"I – I can't say I agree with my sisters methods."

"Then why help her?" Garry asked, "Let us out, and we can help you deal with her."

He looked the ground, finding the damaged road very interesting to look at, "I – I can't... She's my sister you know? And... She'd kill me..."

Garry sighed, "Look... You have to move on. Bringing someone back is unnatural. You must be strong and be able to move on..."

"What would you know?" Koyomi asked, glaring up at him for the first time.

"I was very close with my mother too," Garry said, "When she died, me and my dad couldn't get over it, and we both changed for the worse..." He sighed, "It takes time, but you have to get over it. It took over a decade, but my dad and I finally worked through our problems, and are much happier for it. We know that she's in a better place now, and we know she is happy that we're moving on with our lives and not living in the past."

"T – Then..." Koyomi looked down, "M – Maybe you're right..."

It was then that a glyph appeared on the ground at Koyomi's side, and another cloaked figure suddenly appeared there. This one had her hood down, and she was growling in anger as she looked around. Her clothes were frayed beyond normal, and she had third degree burns visible where it looked as though a fire had burned through her clothes.

"M – Matsuri!" Koyomi exclaimed in surprise, "What happened?"

The blue haired girl gave her brother a glare, "That bitch ran away."

Garry let out a sigh, and Kohta also seemed to relax at that news.

"What do you mean?" Koyomi asked, his eyes widening, "They managed to beat y-"

He received a brutal punch to the face, "Shut up, dear brother!" She then turned wild gaze towards Garry and Kohta, "You've yet to deal with them?" She screamed, "What good are you, you worthless piece of trash!"

"I – I'm sorry..." Koyomi said, getting on his knees and bowing to her.

She kicked him to his side, and spit on his body, "Useless."

"Hey." Garry said, "You shouldn't treat your brother like that!"

"Why do you care?" Matsuri said, turning her purple eyes towards Garry, "I'm going to capture you, and then I'm going to slowly torture you in front of that girl's face!" She smirked, "I bet that's what her lovely nightmares are about!"

"What do you mean?" Garry asked.

Matsuri shook her head, "Nothing. Please tell me you want to fight."

"I don't." Garry answered, "But I assume I have no choice."

She smiled, "No. You don't."

"Kohta," Garry said, turning towards his father-in-law, "Stay behind me!"

"What in the hell is going on?" Kohta asked.

Garry had no time to answer, seeing that a big ball of fire was heading towards him, " Incantatores Protector!" He called out, shielding both him and Kohta, "RUN!" He said, turning towards Kohta, "I'll hold them off! Try to find Ib!"

"I am NOT leaving you behind!"

Garry had to bring up the shield again as another fire blast came towards him, "Look," Garry said, "You're just in my way. I can't fight at full strength if I have to protect you!"

Kohta bristled at that, but he calmed himself down enough, "Very well, Garry."

"Thank you."

"Try not to get captured." Kohta said, "I don't want to know how that will affect Ib."

Garry smiled, "I won't."

With that, Kohta took off down the street, with Garry keep his shield spell up to give the man enough time to get going. When he had gone around the bend at the next intersection, Garry let out a sigh and turned to look at the girl in front of him.

"How noble of you," She mocked, "Letting him go so he won't have to witness you losing."

"Let us out." Garry said, "And accept the fact that your mother is dead."

Matsuri's eyes widened almost comically large as she turned towards her brother and grabbed him by the neck, lifting him up, "YOU TOLD HIM?"

"H – He says..."

"I DON'T CARE WHAT HE SAID!" She threw him violently down the street, towards Garry, "I told you to never tell anyone about her!"

Koyomi was unmoving as he lay on the street.

"Listen to me," Garry pressed, "Your mother is dead! You have to accept that!"

"Shut up!" She cried.

"Do you think she would be proud to see you now?" Garry asked, "To see how you're abusing your brother and attempting to kill people to bring her back?"

"Attempting?" The girl let out a loud laugh, "I've already killed a half dozen people! It was only recently that I realized that the person needed to be spiritually attuned! A stupid mistake worthy of my brother!"

Garry frowned. It was becoming more and more clear that the girl was a little unhinged.

"Now, I will capture you whether you want me to or not!"

With an inhuman burst of speed, she zoomed across the landscape and got right up into Garry's face, and he could do little more than watch as her fist connected with his face, sending him a few yards down the street, only stopping when his back slammed into a stop sign. He let out a pained gasp, and glared at the girl as she advanced towards him again.

"What? Can't keep up?" She smiled, "Your wife put up a better fight than this!"

Garry got to his feet using the pole as support, "It's clear that nothing I say will change your mind."

"Wow," She said, pretending to be surprised, "How long did it take you to figure that out?"

Garry grunted and lifted his hand, " Ignis Incantatores!"

The girl blocked it, looking bored, "Looks like this will be a quick fight."

This was not good. Even injured, this girl was far beyond his own skill when it came to magic, not to mention that she was completely insane. He tried hard to think of any spell that could benefit him here, and his eyes lit up in realization. However, before he could act on it, the girl used the same spell to give herself a momentary burst of speed, and she came over, knocking him across to the other side of the street, slamming him into the wall of the building.

"You're pathetic." She said.

When he saw her about to do the speed ability again, he quickly ducked to the ground and pointed his hands at the road whispering, "Frigidus Incantatores!" A large section of the road suddenly became very slick ice, and he watched as the girl sped towards him, but she suddenly lost her balance and crashed into the building beside him. He would have laughed if the situation was less serious than it was.

"Damn you!" She cried, getting up, but slipping every time. Her eyes finally lit up in anger and she screamed in rage as she sent out fire like a flamethrower from her arms to melt the ice that Garry had summoned, "I – I will kill you!"

"You can't." He pointed out, "Unless if you don't want to bring back your dear mother."

"Are you mocking her?" She screamed.

"No," He shook his head, "Electrica Incantatores!"

She barely was able to move to the side in time to avoid the attack, and she glared, "Your wife used that on me..."

"Is that why you're looking as lovely as you are now?" Garry asked.

She growled, and used her fire ability again, forcing Garry to bring up his shield. He held it off without much problem at first, but it was when she wouldn't let up that he started to get a bit worried. The flames continued to slam against his shield, and he fell to one knee, his arms screaming in pain as he continued to hold the shield spell up. This wasn't good, he was beginning to get tired. If this kept up any longer, he wouldn't be able to last.

"Garry!" Kohta yelled surprising Matsuri as he tackling the girl to the ground, forcing her hands apart and canceling her flame spell, "Go!"

"Kohta?!" Garry cried in surprise, canceling his shield spell and getting to his feet, "Why are you here? I told you to run!"

"You really think I would leave you to fend for yourself?"

"I – I can't leave you here!" Garry cried.

"Don't worry! I'm tougher than I look!" He said, grimacing as the girl began kicking him as hard as she could into his side.

"B – But..."

"Now!" Kohta screamed, "I'm not letting my son get captured by these demon spawn!"

Garry's mouth dropped open as the man referred to him as his son, the first time he had even done such a thing, but he finally nodded, "O – Ok..."

"NO!" Matsuri screamed, kicking Kohta again and again, "Koyomi! STOP HIM!"

Her brother was unfortunately still knocked unconscious from what she did to him earlier, and she screamed in rage once more. Garry made his way down the street, and took one last look back, hoping that Kohta would be ok. If he was hurt, or even worse...

Well... He'd rather not think about that for now.

XxXxXxX

"Interesting..." Yuki mumbled as she continued to watch the tape that the police had on file for her to view. As the mayor had said, a teenage girl just suddenly appeared along with a corpse at her feet, and she had glanced up at the car in surprise, before a scowl crossed her face and she lifted up her hand, sending a jet of flame towards the car. When the flames dissipated, the girl was gone, leaving onto a searing hot car hood and two terribly confused police officers.

"I didn't think we'd run into other spiritually attuned people." Rin said.

"It was only a matter of time," Yuki stated, "What I'm more concerned about is why they're killing people."

Rin frowned, "That's a good question."

Yuki stood and turned the lights on in the small room they were in, and stepped out, where a police officer in uniform was standing, waiting for them to come out.

"Find anything useful?" The man asked, looking down at them.

"We'd like to see the bodies." Yuki said, looking up at him, ignoring the question, "Can you take us there?"

The man seemed to be a little put off with how she brushed aside his question, but he straightened back up, "Yes, I can lead you two there now if you need."

"Please." Yuki said.

"Alright then, stay close." The officer began to walk down the hallway, which was a vast difference from the City Hall – the walls were just white, and there was a door every now and then. A clock hung up on the wall, displaying the time at three fifty. Eventually they were led down towards a door that led into a different section of the building. The bodies had fortunately been moved there for the autopsy, and were still in good condition.

They walked down some stairs, and finally came into a lab-like area, where there were two bodies that were completely covered. The light shown brightly upon the tables with the corpses, and there were stands with tools and other such things gathered around, and along the wall was just a sink and other cleaning supplies.

"I'll wait upstairs." The officer said, "if you need anything else, there should be someone in the office down here."

"Thank you." Yuki said, putting on some rubber gloves and putting on a mask and some safety glasses, before turning to the two tables.

Rin averted her eyes when she heard Yuki flip over the fabric covering the corpses, and tried not to imagine that there were dead bodies there. The mere thought of it was making her sick to her stomach.

"Are you ok?" Yuki looked up towards Rin.

"Um, I'm just not very good around dead... things." Rin admitted.

Yuki nodded, "I apologize. I should have made sure you were ok coming down here."

Rin allowed a small smile on her face, "It's fine."

Yuki look down at the male she had uncovered, and looked over at a sheet on a clipboard that was left at the foot of the table, "Male, age thirty-eight, no internal or external wounds, no clear sign of death..." Her eyes scanned the rest of the paper, and she looked down at the corpse, "I sense no spiritual residue on him either..."

"W – wait." Rin said, looking up, "You don't sense it?"

"You do?" Yuki asked, looking Rin in the eye.

"Yes." She confirmed, "I – I thought you could... I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize." Yuki said, "Could you perhaps show me where on the body it's coming from?"

Rin let out a low breath, and walked up to the table she had been standing as far away from as possible. Her stomach lurched as she looked at the corpse, and she covered her mouth as she looked away, gagging at the mere sight.

"I – I'm sorry." Rin said, getting her breathing under control again, and she noticed some rubber gloves nearby, which she quickly put on, and she also put on a mask over her mouth, and attempted to breath only through her mouth, so the putrid smell wouldn't cause her to gag anymore. She also tied her blonde hair back into a ponytail, and she finally walked back over, the sight still sickened her, but she pointed to the man's abdomen regardless, "There."

"I can't see anything." Yuki said again, "It's just coming from his stomach area?"

"Not quite." Rin said, and she started to drag her finger along the corpse, "There's an outline here..."

Yuki watched as Rin's finger created a symbol, "A pentagram?" She said aloud, "Typically that's considered 'demonic' magic."

"What does that kind of magic mean?" Rin asked.

"Typically one uses the pnetagram to use spells that are very powerful, but quite costly. In this case, I believe whoever was using it was paying the price with someone's soul – the person's life force – to cast a spell." Yuki explained.

"Life force as in..."

"It's as you think." Yuki answered, "It requires the person' life to perform. These men must have died during some spell that the girl in that video was trying to perform."

"Trying to perform?" Rin asked, "She didn't succeed?"

"It's very unlikely." Yuki said, "Every human has some spiritual residue on them, but if you were to cast such a complex spell, you'd need either a lot of people to cast it successfully, or you'd need a person who is spiritually attuned, maybe a few depending on the spell you're planning to cast."

Rin looked very uncomfortable, "Then you think maybe Ib and Garry...?"

Yuki shook her head, "We shouldn't come to conclusions from just one body. Can you look at the other one as well?"

Rin nodded, and they went over to the other table, and Rin again pointed out the symbol.

"Interesting." Yuki said, watching as Rin did her job, "It appears that you have a natural spirit-sight ability on at all times."

"Is that bad?" Rin asked.

"No." Yuki said, "You can just see spiritual residue that others can't."

"Oh." She mumbled, "I'm glad to help."

"Oculi Incantatores." Yuki said, and Rin noticed a bunch of spiritual energy gathering in Yuki's eyes, "I see what you're referring to now, but it's very faint. I'm impressed that you managed to see it at all."

Rin blushed at the praise, "Thank you."

Yuki pulled out her cellphone, and again dialed Ib's number, and then Garry's when she got no response to Ib's. Like before, neither of them answered their phones.

"You're worried?" Rin asked.

"Yes." Yuki admitted.

Suddenly Rin's phone started ringing, and she quickly tore off her gloves and mask, and answered the phone, "Junichi?"

Yuki watched Rin converse for a bit, before hanging up and giving Yuki a very serious look, "Junichi says that he and Aiko could sense a lot of spiritual energy where Ib and Garry went out to eat!"

Yuki frowned, feeling her heart beat loudly, "That's not good."

"No." She said, "They said that there was definitely a fabricated world there, but they couldn't get in."

Yuki's eyes actually widened, "They couldn't get in?"

"No." Rin said, looking nervous, "Aiko is coming to pick us up."

"Good." Yuki said, "We need to hurry. If the two of them together couldn't get in it means that something very powerful is maintaining the place. I'm sure with all of us there, we can make a tear to get them out, or at least send some of us in to help them if necessary."

Walking back upstairs, the officer hailed them, "Where now?"

"We need you to close this location." Yuki said, telling the man the restaurant that Ib and Garry had been, "We need the entire premise vacated."

"W – we can't do that!" The man gasped.

"Call the mayor. He'll allow it."

"Uh, um..."

"Go!" Yuki commanded, walking with authority to the front. The officer did as he was asked of, and went to report to the police chief probably. That didn't matter to Yuki, she was worried for her friends. She really hoped that they would be ok for a little while longer.