This one is a bit… headcanon-y in places, a lot of my chappies probably will be, but I hope you'll all like it. I had maybe a little too much fun with it towards the end.

Disclaimer: I own nothing!

Chapter 2: The Cage

Gene gasped, his eyes flying open. Darkness engulfed him when it should not. There should have still been tiny rays of moonlight and streetlight sneaking through his blinds, but there was nothing. It was utterly pitch black. He waited, and waited, and waited for his eyes to adjust, but it was as if there was nothing to adjust for.

With effort, he slowed his racing mind, calming his breathing. 'Okay, first off, are you hurt?' he told himself, finding that an order, even from himself, would be easier to follow than just trying to think through this. He always found that to be so whenever anyone, not just him specifically, was panicking. Steps were good. Steps were methodical. Steps gave you something to concentrate on.

Taking a deep breath, his slowly stretched out one limb, then another, until they were all stretched as far as they could go. No pain introduced itself. He seemed to be unhurt as far as he could tell. The next thing he noticed was that he didn't entirely feel like himself. He felt longer, taller, like he could reach out further.

Sitting up cautiously, he discovered that the void wasn't completely unlit. A light emanating from his body shed light around him. The light was virtually useless seeing as there was nothing for it to light up. It just brightened the darkness to show –surprise!- more darkness.

Gene sighed heavily, getting to his feet. He felt a lot taller too. Something was wrong. He glanced down at himself as he took the first steps toward whatever was waiting for him beyond the darkness.

And now he knew where he was. He was in the spirit world. He couldn't imagine why he hadn't figured that out in the first place, but he decided that it just came down to the fact that he hadn't been to the spirit realm in several months, not since possessing Mai's body to keep it alive. He hadn't even had one dream since then.

He flexed his long fingers, turning his hands over and over. He stretched out his arm in front of him, snorting at the fact that the spirit world seemed to have decided that his attire would be his brother's clothing. He lengthened his stride, stretching his legs for all he was worth.

You'd think that a spirit, being none corporal and to many people just an idea, would be able to fit in whatever body that it pleased. That was highly untrue though. Sure, the spirit could fit into any body, but that didn't mean that that body wasn't too small or too big. It was like someone stuffing their foot into a shoe two sizes too small for it. The spirit grew to fit its original body. It wasn't meant to be shoved into other people's bodies for the hell of it.

For months, Gene had been cramped into Mai's body. The tight fit wasn't causing his spirit any long term damage, but it made for some hellish growing pains. He didn't think that a spirit could actually stretch a body, but Mai's body had already grown at least two inches. He wasn't sure if she'd be happy or pissed for the height adjustment when she returned. Her spirit would have to grow to accommodate the new changes. He knew though that her spirit would have no problem adjusting.

He snapped to attention as a large, square object started coming into focus. Slowing to a stop, he stared at the object, his eyes wide with horror. "What the hell is this?" he whispered, stepping closer.

The object was the largest cage he'd ever seen in his life. Hanging from its ceiling were two small swings with flowers tied around the rough ropes, like some sort of sick joke. Really, the entire thing was a sick joke. Roots crawled up the sides of the glowing silver cage, curling around the bars. The roots were studded with stiff, shiny thorns. Sitting along the bottom of the cage against small pillows and curled in soft looking blankets were children of all ages. They ranged from teens to children as young as ten. One girl sat on a swing away from the others, her knees pulled against her chest, her face buried.

That was where he found the girl he'd been looking for, for months. Anger rolled off her in potent, visible waves, washing over the other occupants of the cage, making them shiver. They glanced warily up at her, scooting as far from her as they could possibly manage.

The girl's brown hair had grown longer, brushing the place between her shoulder blades. Someone had pulled it back, away from her face, tying it off in a small ponytail at the base of her neck with a white satin ribbon. Her bangs had been braided and pinned back against her head with small clips shaped like wings. A white dress hung off of her frame in tatters. Scratches and bruises lined her arms. She looked like she'd seen her fair share of fights, and won most of them.

Gene wasn't sure if she had caused the bruises and cuts herself or if they had been inflicted on her.

"Mai," he whispered, his voice thick as he stepped up to the bars, staring up at her.

Jerking as if she'd been asleep, Mai raised her head slowly, astonishment plastered across her face. "Gene? But… how? You shouldn't be able to get here. You shouldn't be here," she whispered, not moving from her high perch.

"I'm dreaming," he explained, reaching up a hand. If the thorns hadn't been blocking his way, he would have stuck his hand through the bars. "I don't know how I got in here, whoever is keeping you here probably doesn't want visitors, but I promise, I will get you out of there. You will be able to come home soon."

Mai's eyes darted away. She raised her head slowly, turning to stare in another direction. The kids along the bottom of the cage followed suite, staring off into the blackness. Fear curled across their faces, their muscles settling to quiver. They listened closely to something only they could hear.

Mai turned her eyes back to Gene. For once, he could see fear in their chocolaty depths. "Gene, you have to leave now. You don't belong here. He'll catch you. You and Naru have to protect the others. And you have to protect Naru and the twins because no one else can. Please leave, now," she whispered earnestly, stretching towards him from her perch.

Before Gene could say another word, a voice as familiar as the sun is to the moon washed over all of them. The caged children and Gene instantly stiffened, eyes going wide. 'You are not welcome here,' the voice rasped, 'Leave!'

Gene was roughly shoved back, rocketing through the darkness.

…..

Gene shouted out in pain as he was forcibly slammed back into Mai's body. He tensed, his body going rigid as pain rocked through him. Nausea rolled through his stomach, sending bile burning up his throat. It was all he could do not to roll over and vomit onto the carpet.

Groaning, pushing tears down, he rolled over onto his side, panting heavily. "Fuck, fuck, fuck," he whispered, grabbing the metal headboard as his muscles twisted and trembled and roiled agonizingly, trying to readjust to his presence. Bruises were already blooming across his back, upper thigh and the crook between his neck and shoulder.

Bile pushed its way back up his throat, demanding attention.

Not able to stand, barely able to move, Gene dragged himself from the bed, pulling himself to the bathroom. He leaned heavily over the toilet, heaving. He hadn't eaten since lunch the day before so only stomach acid and water made an appearance. Slumping to the floor, he curled into the fetal position, pressing his cheek against the cool tile.

Naru, yawning and completely unassuming, stumbled over the scene. He frowned as he dropped down beside his twin. "Gene, what's the matter? What happened?" he asked, tentatively probing the bruises that looked as if someone had injected ink bellow Gene's skin. "How did this happen?"

"I-" Gene paused, swallowing hard as more bile rose in his throat. He really did not need, nor at this moment want, to puke all over Naru. It was bad enough the he was abusing his girlfriend's body. "I was dreaming. I had a little… run-in with that douche bag, Ash."

"Daddy," Kamin began from behind Naru, startling the older twins, "What is a-"

Gene quickly reached over, covering her mouth before she could finish the question. Likewise, Naru reached over and placed his hand over Tamaki's mouth so the boy couldn't finish the question for his twin. The older twins sighed, already feeling exhaustion weighing down their bodies. "It's a word that adults use to describe someone they don't like in the least. You are not allowed to use that word, even when you're older," Gene explained, quickly removing his hand as he felt a small tongue swipe across his palm. "Ew!"

Naru jerked back his hand, wiping it quickly down his pajama bottoms. "That's gross!" he cried, shooting to his feet.

The twins were already running down the hall, disappearing into Mai and Naru's bedroom. Their demonic little laughs didn't follow them, seeming to stay right where the pair had started them.

"Gene, what the hell did you breed?" Naru asked, rubbing his hands over his face.

Gene laughed weakly, still curled on the floor, still twitching in pain. "I have no idea. Your guess is as good as mine."

Sighing, Naru glanced back to his twin, dropping down to help him into a sitting position. "Can you get up? I'm going to the office. Or do you just want to lie here and worship the porcelain god?"

"I might be able to get up in a few minutes. I'll worship at the office. I don't want to be here alone," Gene said, leaning heavily into Naru's arm. He barely caught himself on his own arm. They could both see the muscles running the length of Gene's arm slowly settling back into place. He laughed nervously. "Geez, it feels like I vigorously worked out for three hours after not having moved for three years."

"Well, I guess that's what you get for wandering around the spirit world," Naru said, standing, but still supporting his twin. "What did he do anyway?"

"Well, he-" Gene began, considering whether he should tell Naru what he'd seen or not, when he was saved by Naru's phone going off in the bedroom. They both winced as the screamer from a band Mai had introduced him to, began to sing, his voice harsh and rasping.

Naru had saved the ringtone for Ayako specifically because that was usually what he played in his head to drown her out most days. You wouldn't have thought it possible, but Naru was very much into metal and hard rock, and hid it well. On quiet days at the office or days he wanted to talk to no one, he'd plug in, turn the volume up as high as was safe for his ears, and ignore anyone that came to his door. Mai had only found out that fact in the first month of living with the man.

She'd been livid, but had also laughed her way into the sun. She'd teased him ever since.

The twin's giggling and laughing ceased abruptly. "Daddy!" Tamaki shouted from the room, waving Naru's cell out the door, "Your phone is ringing!"

Rubbing a hand against his forehead, Naru called back, "I can hear it. Answer it like I taught you to and I'll be there in a minute."

"Okay!" Tamaki called back, pulling the cell back into the room.

"Pretty sure it was a bad idea to leave them alone with your phone," Gene whispered, glancing around Naru's legs at the door.

Naru sighed. "Yeah, probably. We'll leave after you get dressed. Now, if you'll excuse me." Turning on a heel, he marched towards the bedroom, calling, "Tamaki, Kamin, time to give up my phone."

Gene tried to smile, but his face only pinched in pain, his toes curling until it felt like they would break. "This is not good. This is not good at all," he whispered to himself, trying to relax his muscles.

Well, there you go. I hope you liked it. I'll see you all very soon for the next chapter :D