Disclaimer: I do not own Ghost Hunt. Manga 12 would be out in English.
A/N: I'm not sure whether I should be excited about posting or cringing with remorse. I'm going to go with both.
Chapter 38 – A Glowing Warmth
-0O0-
Lin considered Mai's completely motionless form. Why would she astral project now? The case was nearly finished. Unless... "I think we might need to consider other options for the exorcism," Lin mused.
Madoka nodded soberly. "It doesn't seem like talking them down will work. These spirits are way too volatile for jourei."
Naru's eyes left the EEG readouts only to roll heavenward. "Of course jourei won't work," he said condescendingly.
Lin almost smiled. At least Noll sounded back to normal.
"Mai won't be happy about destroying the spirits," Madoka pointed out. "She's been in their heads too much to be unaffected."
"Then don't destroy them," Naru replied, thumbing through sheets of data.
"Do you have something useful to add to the conversation, Noll?" Madoka snapped. "Or are you just being a prat?"
"If you consider the solution to this case a useful addition, then yes." Naru's finger traced the jagged red lines that signified Mai's brain activity during her latest psychic vision.
Madoka waited a whole minute for Naru to elaborate before officially losing her patience. "Any day now, drama queen!"
Naru ignored her jab. "We should use hitogata," he noted finally.
"I agree," Lin said unhesitatingly. SPR needed to get this case done and over with before any more ridiculous things happened – and he wasn't thinking about the ghosts. "Mai-san did not even suggest using jourei. Odd, for her. She hasn't even volunteered herself for the exorcism - probably because she instinctually knows it will fail." Lin dispassionately observed his unconscious pupil. "Perhaps she is gaining enlightenment as we speak." Here Lin favored Naru with a knowing look.
Like always, Noll became especially tense as the topic turned to Gene's meetings with Mai. But today... Noll's increased tension level was accompanied by a comprehending expression that Lin imagined Madoka was internally celebrating over.
Oliver Davis had finally realized his feelings for Mai Taniyama.
Lin pursed his lips and risked a glance at his girlfriend. Yes, there was the huge grin he was expecting.
Naturally, Noll noticed it too. Without further ado, Noll turned his back to Madoka and Lin and yanked the computer chair away from the monitors. He practically threw the chair next to the couch, deposited himself into it, and stared determinedly at Mai.
Lin sighed internally, knowing Noll was not going to move until his former assistant woke up. He gave Madoka a cautionary glare and went in search of his portable onmyouji supplies.
Arms and legs crossed, Naru stared holes into Mai's sleeping face until he felt someone sidle up to him. His peripheral vision registered pink hair to his right. "You know, Noll," Madoka murmured in his ear, "It'll beep if anything significant happens."
Naru could have sworn he heard amusement in his mentor's tone, and immediately turned to glare her into silence – but Madoka's eyes were actually serious. His own expression softened. "There's no reason for her to astral project," Naru said softly. "We've already solved the case."
"Gene likely pulled her out of a possession," Madoka reminded him gently. "She may need time to recover."
"She usually snaps back right away," Naru contradicted. Mai's average recovery from spiritual possession was shockingly fast.
"Not when she astral projects," Madoka insisted. "She always takes at least an hour to wake up."
"I suppose," Naru hissed. The logical part of his brain understood that traveling into and out of a spiritual plane was extremely taxing and time-consuming. The newly-acknowledged jealous part of Naru's brain wondered whether Gene was taking full advantage of his unexpected extra time with Mai.
Oliver Davis gritted his teeth.
"Why hitogata?" Gregory piped up.
Madoka rolled her eyes as Lin and Naru ignored the completely reasonable question. "Since the purpose of interning is knowledge acquisition," she paused to glare at her boyfriend and her former pupil, "I'll explain."
"And I'll be out in the van," Lin informed them. "The hitogata cannot be constructed where the spirits can see them."
"Because the spell might not fool them," Madoka explained to Gregory as Lin vanished down the hall. "And sorry in advance for delving into fiction, Noll - but I figure these ghosts are something like Jacob Marley."
Naru pivoted to face his mentor, eyebrows up.
"The guy from A Christmas Carol?" Gregory asked quizzically.
"Righto, intern," Madoka replied with a grin. "In the story, Marley's ghost carries his life's sins in the form of heavy chains. Scrooge hears the chains clinking at night, just like we've been experiencing."
"'I wear the chain I forged in life... I made it link by link,'" Naru intoned.
"Exactly," Madoka nodded. "Good show, Noll. I wouldn't have thought you'd 'waste your time' on fictitious ghosts."
"Understanding public perception of spirits is important to the study of parapsychology," Naru replied flatly. "What exactly is your point, Madoka?"
"That the ghosts are trapped here because of the guilt they feel over one another's deaths – and that guilt and regret is so spiritually heavy that chains have manifested as a symbol."
"Oh, right," Gregory interjected. "Mai said that Linda's spirit had chains on her wrists and throat, chains she could hear..." That he could actually hear right now.
Gregory watched his SPR mentor's eyes sweep the room, searching for the source of the sibilant scraping noise. "Of course, even just speaking directly about the spirits' motivations while they are near and active might not be the best idea..."
-0O0-
Mai opened her eyes to see white lights and will o' the wisps dancing against a black backdrop. Breathing a sigh of relief, she sat up and looked for Gene. She felt his presence behind her, and turned to see him walking her way.
He smiled sheepishly when he got close. "Sorry about that," he offered. Mai knew he was talking about strangling her in the vision.
"That was Charles, not you," she reminded him. "Although I feel terrible about it, too. Once I woke up, all I could see for a minute was you with that awful slice in your head." Mai shivered.
"It's alright, Mai-chan. I followed you into the dream on purpose - I wanted to keep an eye on Linda. She really doesn't mean to hurt you, but she's rather unstable."
"I noticed," Mai drawled. Then she remembered her current problem. "Gene... Madoka wants to do jourei, but I don't think it will work."
"That's because it won't," Gene replied succinctly. At Mai's raised eyebrow, he explained. "Linda's spirit is tied to the earthly plane because of guilt and disappointment. She feels that she destroyed Charles and herself..."
"Right, I got that from being her," Mai said impatiently.
"And..." Gene continued as if she hadn't spoken, "Her emotions are too deeply ingrained to be talked into moving on. That's what the chains are about. Her belief in her own guilt and hopelessness was so strong that it manifested spiritually. Talking her down isn't going to help. And Charles is even worse – he was about to kill his lover in life and his internal strife is only worse now. You're going to need something other than words to resolve this case."
"You don't mean... jorei?" Mai gasped. She couldn't imagine doing that to Linda after feeling everything she'd gone through. "No, Gene, there has to be another –"
"Calm down, Mai-chan," Gene's voice took on that soothing quality that it had the first time she'd met him. It was very similar to the tone Masako used when speaking to spirits. Mai guessed it was a medium thing. "I don't mean you should use jorei," he assured her. "However," Gene continued, eyes suddenly serious, "I do mean to tell you NOT to volunteer for the exorcism."
"Huh?" Mai asked confusedly. "But then who -"
"Noll and Lin should do it – or better yet, Yasuhara and Lin should do it."
"Yasuhara?!" Mai repeated incredulously. Yasu's only attempt at participation in an exorcism had resulted in his being thrown clear across a cave and breaking several ribs. "Why him? He's not a spiritualist."
Gene rolled his eyes. "Right, I'd gathered that by now. But this exorcism isn't going to require spiritual power, and Yasuhara and Lin are the only ones who haven't had any close contact with the ghosts."
"So we're going to have to drag Yasu all the way out here?" Mai frowned. They'd have to wait another whole day... and the attacks were not letting up. It was almost certain that someone else would be attacked by the time Yasu made it to the house.
"What do you mean? Isn't Yasuhara-san with you?" It was Gene's turn to frown. "I sense four other living people near your aura."
"No, he stayed home to attend class." Mai grinned. "He's not happy about it. Martin says he's been practically mutinous all week. Apparently, Yasu even had a snippy fight with Roger yesterday – all those careful weeks of grooming his 'chill' persona for nothing."
Gene winced at Martin's name. He was used to hearing about Lin and Madoka by now, since they were always with Mai when she went out on cases. But his adopted father was another matter. "Is... Father on the case with you, then?" he managed haltingly.
"No," Mai replied obliviously. "I talked to him on the phone last night. But the other person you're sensing is Gregory – Madoka's new intern."
"Hmm," Gene smiled despite his morose mood. "No wonder his aura feels so irritated today."
Mai gave her spirit guide a puzzled look. "Gregory's aura?"
"Noll's," Gene clarified. "He's always hated interns. They tend to stare and not know things."
Mai snorted. "I'm pretty sure Naru thinks that about most people," she noted. "And Gregory's all right. He's definitely enthusiastic – he and I had a long conversation about my experiences the other day." She smiled brightly.
Gene's slight smile became a grin. "Ah, that's why his aura feels so irritated today."
Mai's confused look returned. "Naru's irritated because Gregory is enthusiastic?"
Eugene Davis ran an exasperated hand over his face. "No," he groaned.
"Then again, Naru's been weird this whole case," Mai reasoned. From his nastier-than-normal behavior the first day, to this morning's... mustnotthinkaboutthatrightnow. Mai shook her head, trying to clear away the sight of a soft-eyed Naru holding her hand and pulling lint from her hair.
Meanwhile, a fascinated Gene watched Mai turn redder and redder. What in the world is she thinking about? "Ah... Mai-chan?"
"Nothing happened!" Mai cried immediately, her face the color of a stoplight.
"Nothing happened where?" Gene asked, mystified.
"We just slept on the floor!" she continued shrilly.
"Who slept on the floor?"
"Na – nobody! And me," Mai stammered.
"Nobody and you slept on the floor?" Gene repeated slowly. Had too much ghost hunting finally broken her brain? Luella used to threaten Martin with that eventuality.
"Yes! Me and nobody!" Mai nodded eagerly. "Now, about the case..."
"Wait," Gene interrupted Mai, a look of shock breaking across his face. "The beginning of 'Noll' sounds a lot like 'nobody.'"
"No it doesn't!" Mai squeaked.
"Yes, yes it does."
"B-but I don't even call him Noll!" Mai tried weakly.
"But your preferred nickname also starts with N," Gene pointed out, grinning widely. "So you're saying you slept with my brother."
"Who are you, Madoka?!" Mai cried. Why did everybody have to insinuate... things? "I kept having visions in the bed, so I moved onto the floor, and then I pulled Naru down with me!"
"From the bed you were sharing?!" Gene snorted.
"NOOO! He must have taken me up to bed after I fell asleep in the base, but I had visions so he stayed!"
"And wound up sleeping on the floor with you," the spirit guide was almost beside himself with glee. It seemed that Noll's idiot scientist need to personally observe psychic behaviors accidentally did him some good!
Or, Gene thought as he watched Mai adorably fist her hands in her skirt and try to shake the blazing blush off her face, maybe Noll stayed because he didn't have to pretend not to care about Mai while no one was watching.
"Ugh, if everybody keeps on like this it'll make Naru ignore me forever!" Mai's embarrassed expression faded into one of sadness.
"That will not happen," Gene replied confidently.
"That's how Naru deals with things that upset him!"
Gene had to acknowledge that. "True, but he wouldn't ignore you forever." Because Noll loves you – and he might even actually KNOW that now.
Suddenly, a cold wind swept through the non-place Gene and Mai were standing.
"Time will tell, Mai-chan," Gene said bracingly. "But you should wake up now – Charles is angry and very close to everyone."
"Damn it," Mai said worriedly. "Okay, I can do this. I can do this." Despite her stern words to herself, Mai couldn't even locate her body in the ether. "Come on!" she hissed at herself.
Gene shook his head in amused frustration. There was no way Mai would be going anywhere in that state. "You need to be calm to find the connection," he reminded her, the spirit guide's voice instilled with the relaxed attitude he wanted to inspire. "You're just muddying the waters by flailing around with your spiritual abilities like that."
He felt Mai's aura relax a fraction – but the lights around them trembled with spiritual anger and Gene knew they were out of time. With a sigh, he reached out and placed his hand over Mai's face. Her eyelids fluttered closed against his palm as Gene pushed her backwards.
"Someday, you will need to manage this yourself!" he called as Mai faded away.
-0O0-
Mai could practically feel Gene's exasperation as she drifted through whiteness. She could also feel herself settling back into her body – which was apparently under spiritual siege.
Wake up! Mai ordered, sucking in air and forcing her eyes open.
Everyone else was standing up. They were all in clearly defensive postures, and all three pairs of eyes were riveted on the open base doorway.
Though... could it really be termed a doorway if the door had been blown off its hinges? Mai could see the edge of the broken door just over the top of the other couch.
She knew that the accidentally-murdered-would-be-murderer was hovering by the broken door. She could see Charles' arm, and could hear chains sliding noisily across the floor. But the rest of the ghost was out of view, since Naru was standing directly in front of her prone body. Was he protecting her? Mai blushed as she sat up, automatically getting into position to use the nine words.
Lin stood in front of Madoka, and his shiki were buzzing around the room. One shielded its master and Madoka, another blocked for Naru and Mai, and a third circled a yelling Gregory.
"Don't you get it? You didn't kill her!" Gregory called to a spot a foot to the left of the ghost he couldn't see.
Mai rolled her eyes. Did Gregory really think that was going to do anything helpful? "Charles, you need to leave!" Mai yelled. Naru flipped around in surprise. "Linda wants us to help, and we're working on it! But nothing will be fixed if you get rid of us!"
A nearby chair flung itself into the air - like the ghost was having a violent tantrum. At this thought, Mai felt a foreign frustration enter her. "Stop being such a child!" Mai cried furiously in an accent not her own.
The wind stopped. The chair fell. And Mai shivered as Linda's presence left her. "Do you really want to be responsible for hurting us?" Mai asked plaintively, staring into Charles' tortured-looking face. "I don't think you do, and Linda doesn't want you to, either. If you leave us alone, I'll see what we can do to help both of you."
Abruptly, Charles vanished.
Mai breathed a sigh of relief and fell back onto the couch. For a moment, nobody moved.
Until Madoka jumped into the breach. "Alright, well, that's that. Now we need to talk about the exorcism."
"Right," Mai said tiredly. "Jourei isn't going to work." Naru raised an eyebrow, which Mai took as a sign to continue. "The guilt in this house feels like knives slicing my skin." Slicing my scars. Mai rubbed her prickling forearms absentmindedly, remembering what Gene had taught her about the soul being made up of positive and negative particles. "They've become too negative," she whispered, looking out the window.
"Negative?" Gregory asked.
"Yes," Mai nodded. "The souls of the dead have a very weak sense of self... there is nothing to keep the positive emotions inside them. Especially if they died violent deaths – and so young."
Naru's fists clenched. He had heard this opinion on death and its effects on the soul before. His brother believed the exact same thing.
"Linda is especially tied to the house – Ayako would be right to call her an earth spirit." Mai smiled a bit. Then she turned to Naru. "I've spent a lot of time possessed by her and she trusts me enough to listen to me, but..." Gene had told her not to participate in the exorcism. But she couldn't just blurt that out in front of Gregory. "I... don't think I should do the exorcism," she said slowly, looking Naru straight in the eye and willing him to understand what she was really saying.
He nodded tersely, and Mai breathed a sigh of relief.
"You got rid of the male spirit a moment ago," Gregory pointed out.
"Not really – he's stalking around upstairs. And he'll be back soon," Mai replied confidently.
"Besides," Madoka entered the conversation, "The ghosts likely feed off one another's misery. We're going to have to take both of them out at the same time."
"Fine," Naru said shortly. The sooner Lin finished the hitogata, the better. The spirits were persistently violent and kept pulling Mai out of her body.
"Ugh," Mai moaned, still dizzy from falling back into her body.
Naru included his brother in the latter accusation.
"Can't this case just be over already?" the young psychic whined.
Oliver Davis couldn't help the warm feeling that spread through him at Mai's unknowing agreement with his current opinion. Outwardly, he rolled his eyes. "Every case takes exactly as long as it's supposed to, Mai."
Mai smiled softly. "You sound like –"
Gene? Naru's mind supplied grimly.
"Masako-chan," Mai finished. "She is always the voice of reason on cases."
A muscle in Naru's cheek twitched as he attempted to sort through his shifting emotions. Being compared to Masako Hara (however aptly) would normally gall him... but he was so relieved that Mai wasn't thinking about Gene that he didn't care.
Feelings of that nature were even more annoying and irrational than Naru had anticipated. "Hn," he forced out. "At least someone on your team thinks logically."
Mai snapped out of her vision-vertigo in an instant. "What was that, Narcissist?" she hissed.
As Mai glared hotly in his direction, Naru found himself appreciating the way that her fury lit her eyes... and had a sudden, disturbing thought.
Naru had always enjoyed angering Mai, as her inevitable overreactions were quite entertaining. But when exactly had that enjoyment turned into something he could correlate with the attraction he felt right now? Many of the memories that came to mind were from the days of SPR Japan. Had feeling of that nature actually already been present before he'd left for England?
Across the room, Madoka pressed her lips together to keep from laughing. Not only did Noll look completely gobsmacked, but he'd checked out in the middle of a conversation-slash-argument with Mai. For the first time since her psychometric disillusionment as a college student, Madoka very much wanted the ability to experience Noll's thoughts simply by poking a finger into his shoulder.
Suddenly, Lin's deep voice cut through everyone's thoughts. "Mai-san, if you are so anxious to finish the case, I suggest we prepare to conduct the exorcism." He reached underneath the main computer hub for some spell paper. They were going to need a Demon's Gate. And probably a kekkai.
"Indeed," Naru slid in smoothly. "Mai. Did your projection provide any illumination on the wisest course of action?"
Madoka had to give Noll credit for recovery speed.
"Not really," Mai replied sourly, "My projection wasn't very helpful." Echoes of Gene laughing all over the place and teasing her about 'sleeping with' Naru reverberated in her head, and she looked away as her skin prickled with another blush attack. "Jourei isn't going to work," she said finally. It was really the only useful thing Gene had said.
"We've already established that," Naru reminded her flatly. Was her time with Gene so diverting that she couldn't remember the conversation they'd just had? "We also decided on an alternate method," he added, wanting to shock that irritating blush off Mai's face.
Maybe if Naru locked himself in the study and read for a week, the total information gathered would be enough to push all the stupid thoughts out of his brain.
"We did?" Mai asked confusedly.
"Yes, Mai."
"When?"
"While you were projecting," Gregory piped up helpfully.
"Oh, okay – hold on!" Mai whipped around to face the determinedly bored-looking Naru. "How was I supposed to know what you guys talked about while I was out?!"
"How could I be certain of your awareness level during an astral projection?" Naru asked silkily. "Wasn't your rapid return precipitated by the attack?"
"Yeah, because I can feel big spiritual disturbances!" Mai hissed. Like you calling for me across the void.
"That's good to know," Naru reached for his case book to make a note. "Were you more forthcoming about your psychic abilities – like I've requested since you began exhibiting them – I would already be aware of such specifics, and we wouldn't be wasting time with this pointless conversation."
Gregory was rather amazed at Dr. Davis' ability to successfully twist Mai's perfectly reasonable argument into a multi-faceted chastisement. No wonder everyone at SPR was afraid of him.
"Are you blaming me for – I don't even – you started it – shut up, Narcissist!" Mai roared.
"Noll, get on with it!" Madoka chucked a pencil at her former student.
Everyone except for Mai and Miss Mori, Gregory amended.
Naru continued as if he hadn't heard either of them. "The ghosts are so thoroughly tied to this house that their inability to leave it has manifested physically."
"We've already established that," Mai hissed in her best Naru-voice.
Naru glared but continued. "So Lin is making two hitogata."
"Oh," Mai's face cleared. "That's a really good idea! Since Linda and Charles are stuck here because they caused each other's deaths... then presenting each ghost with a hitogata of the other could trick them into believing that those deaths never happened!"
"Yes, Mai, I know," Naru said smugly.
"But it's a good idea to outline the concept for Gregory, who has never worked in the field before," Madoka cut in before another argument started. "It would reunite the two spirits with happier, unchained 'living' versions of their lovers," she explained.
"There were a few TTMPI cases that really would have benefited from using hitogata," Mai added, also addressing Gregory. "Unfortunately, none of us have the capability to make one. On this one case, I had to try jourei on this angry murdered guy, even though we all figured a hitogata would work better. It didn't work out - I ended up with a broken arm, and John-kun had to do an emergency jorei exorcism."
"There are onmyouji for hire, Taniyama-san," Lin noted. "You could probably have commissioned a hitogata."
"Yeah, Bou-san knows somebody in Tokyo who could have done it. But we were trapped in the house," Mai replied. "I only even tried jourei because the ghost smashed a table and knocked Bou-san unconscious; we needed to get him to a hospital."
"And you wound up joining him in the ambulance," Madoka said ruefully.
"Mm-hm," Mai sighed. "That was an especially annoying injury. I couldn't even dress myself for weeks – thank goodness for Ayako. And all the blood ruined one of my favorite blouses!"
Everyone stared.
"What?" Mai asked. "That was like the sixth time I'd been seriously injured, but the first time one of my nice shirts was ruined."
-0O0-
"No, Yasu! He didn't kiss her."
Lin whittled away at one of the hitogata, refusing to look up at his girlfriend.
"Yes, I'm sure!" Madoka yelled into the phone. "I asked her point-blank!"
Lin scratched away at the wooden figure's rounded head.
"No, she wasn't lying... she's still pretty bad at it. Your teaching skills must need work."
At the sound of Yasuhara's loud denials through Madoka's receiver, Lin's eyes broke rank and rolled heavenward.
"Well, that's why you're at university," Madoka reasoned. "Martin's teaching skills are incredible; pay attention to his style. And for the last time, he didn't kiss her."
Lin sanded down the hitogata with a sigh, hardly needing his excellent hearing to know that Yasuhara was issuing a plaintive why not?
"I don't know, because he's Noll?"
Even Lin had to smile at that.
"Well, if you want to make yourself useful... come up with some way to throw them together!" Madoka slumped against the van's open back door.
"Haven't you lot been doing that this whole time?" Lin intoned quietly as he starting crafting the second figure.
"Hmm, Lin's right," Madoka nodded thoughtfully. "We may have to get more aggressive."
Lin almost dropped the hitogata. "That is not what I –"
"I don't know, Yasu, I think that being obvious might be exactly what we need," Madoka cut across him unconcernedly. "Subtlety only works when the people you're working with aren't emotionally thick."
The onmyouji ground his teeth as Madoka sat down right next to him and sent two tools rolling away. "Madoka..."
"She is when it comes to Noll – to his feelings for her, at least. All that mess with Gene's spirit is screwing them both up. Which is ironic, since if Gene were physically present he'd have sorted Noll and Mai a long time ago."
True enough, Lin agreed. Gene had always been able to see right into the heart of a problem – and he could unpack and ease Noll's issues like no one else.
The only one who even came close to that influence level was Mai. How fitting, Lin thought, as visions of Mai's glowing scars slid across his inner eye.
"Well, we'll just have to get craftier and more aggressive at the same time." Madoka bit her lip and swung a leg into the van.
She missed kicking the hitogata in her boyfriend's hand by an inch.
"If you ever want to finish this case and get back to plotting your match-making escapades," Lin gritted out, "I would suggest you vacate this area and find something productive to do."
"Uh-oh," Madoka slid out of the van, staring back at Lin like he was a jungle predator on the hunt. "We'd better get moving... I think Lin might have been possessed by Noll for a second." She scurried into the house to start packing the equipment.
-0O0-
Hours later, Mai Taniyama sat on the open back hatch of the SPR van and kicked her feet in the air. Madoka and Gregory were nearby – all of them had been relegated to the van for the exorcism. Lin had even set up a kekkai barrier around the area to keep the ghosts from sensing the three of them.
"Ugh, are they done yet?!" she moaned frustratedly. "This is taking foreeeeeever!"
"Obviously not," an equally tetchy Madoka responded from somewhere behind her. Mai figured she was stretched out on the backseat.
"I hope they're alright in there," Gregory threw in. He leaned against the outside of the van and looked nervously at the estate.
Mai huffed. "They're fine, they're Naru and Lin." And they're taking forever.
"How long does a hitogata cleansing normally take?" Gregory wondered. Was a long exorcism a sign of trouble?
"Depends," Madoka answered, "It's the set-up that takes a long time. The ghosts have to be lured into the same place – which is especially difficult in this case because they normally stay as far apart as possible."
"Which means Naru and Lin had to set up a Demon's Gate," Mai added – then her face turned sour. "Which we totally could have helped with before being banished."
"You were the one who said you should stay out of the exorcism, Mai-chan," Madoka reminded her cheerfully.
"I'm sure that Dr. Davis and Mr. Lin only want to keep us safe," Gregory offered.
"Hmph," Mai and Madoka replied simultaneously.
Gregory opened his mouth to contradict them – and then slumped against the open van door. "Never mind. I wanted to be in there, too."
"Good man," Madoka pumped her fist.
"Don't listen to her, she has a head injury," Mai drawled. "You can't be in there because you don't know how to suppress your spiritual energy."
"Pretty sure I don't have spiritual energy," Gregory noted almost sadly.
"Everyone has a discernible aura, and at least some spiritual energy," Mai argued. "Which could theoretically be identifiable to Linda and Charles. If they were to recognize your presence, it could threaten the success of the exorcism."
"And although Noll and Lin have very high amounts of spiritual energy, they are also excellent at veiling it," Madoka added. Then she snorted. "However, the really real reason you're out here with us is to make sure we stay in the van."
Mai jerked around to glare at the master ghost hunter. "So Naru doesn't trust us to stay out of it."
The bandage around Madoka's head moved with her sudden grin. "Most definitely not. Can't imagine why..."
"But you're the boss!" Mai said indignantly.
"Oh, I know," Madoka winked. "I'm following Koujo's earnest suggestion, not Noll's."
"He's not the boss, either," the young psychic pointed out.
"You learn to pick your battles, Mai-chan."
"I can't believe you're saying that to me."
"Hn, I fight with Koujo far less often than you get into it with Noll..."
"That's only because Lin-san won't lower himself to argue back!" Mai shot back.
Madoka grinned. Mai hadn't contested the description of her fights with Noll as 'couple fights.' How long would it take? "I suppose having a Noll-and-Mai-type fight would put Koujo over his weekly word limit."
Mai laughed and kicked her feet, trying to imagine Lin bickering. "Yeah, Naru likes to pull out all his doctorate words when he gets snippy."
Gregory just stared. This felt like the weirdest conversation he'd ever heard – and he was interning for the British Society for Psychical Research.
"Mai-chan," Madoka began, "You do realize that –"
CRACKKKKK!
The sound of fracturing glass reverberated through the van. Everyone spun to face the windshield... but it was intact.
"It sounded like a window," Gregory hissed.
"No, not a window," Madoka realized. "Many windows at once."
Mai saw the huge glass windows of the conservatory in her mind's eye – and jumped out of the van. "It's the house!" She took off towards the scene of the murder-suicide... but was immediately blindsided by an enormous wave of pain smacking into the back of her head.
She collapsed to the ground, ears ringing with the sound of screaming and scraping metal. "It's Charles!" she managed to say, holding her head together with two hands.
"Mai! Miss Mori?!"
Mai forced her eyes open at Gregory's panicked tone – Madoka had collapsed as well, hands against her injured forehead.
"It's the spirits... the exorcism..." Mai whimpered. The sound of chains entered the cacophony of noise that Gregory obviously didn't hear – and Mai dragged her head around to look at the Banderson house.
Several of the conservatory windows were breaking, long cracks like forked lightning edging down toward the sills. This effect was only enhanced by the flashes of light that kept bursting into Mai's aching eyes. Was she imagining the flashes, or was it the spirits?
BOOM.
For a terrifying moment, the ground underneath them shook – and then every window in the conservatory burst outward, spraying glass all over the lawn.
Mai buried her face in her arms and closed her eyes. A blast of cold air whipped past her, and the young psychic peeked over her black-gloved arms. She could see Naru holding something in the air – probably the hitogata.
She tried to get up... "Ai!" Mai screamed involuntarily as a horrible pain sliced through her chest. Linda's knife...
The screeching sound in her ears got worse - but she swore she could hear Naru yelling through the din. Mai pulled herself up onto her knees and crawled slowly towards the barrier line.
"Don't you even think about it, Mai-chan!" Madoka sounded as pained as Mai felt. The young psychic turned to see Madoka limping towards her, supported by Gregory and grasping at her own chest. "Stay here until it's done! If you go past the barrier, the 'stabbing' you feel is only going to get worse."
Mai turned concerned eyes back to the blown-open conservatory – which had returned to darkness within.
"The pain is easing up, Mai-chan," Madoka whispered, "It's working."
Beside her, Gregory watched Miss Mori's glazed eyes start to focus. He turned his attention to Mai, who had rocked back onto her heels and was staring straight into the open maw of the house. Suddenly she cringed again – and a moment later, so did Miss Mori. Mai made to get up, bracing her dirty gloves on the ground.
"Have faith in Noll, Mai-chan," Madoka Mori said calmly. "He and Koujo know exactly what they're doing."
Mai turned her gaze to her mentor, her eyes a mix of concern and mutiny.
"If you want him to trust you on cases," Madoka continued, "Then you need to do as you're told every once in a while."
Mentor and mentee stared at one another for a long moment... and then Mai sank back to the ground and turned back to watch the exorcism.
A very long moment later, Madoka's hand dropped from her chest. "There," she said, smiling softly. "It's alright now."
Gregory stared into the darkness of the house. "I don't see anything," he admitted.
"And I don't feel anything," Madoka replied brightly. "My chest is fine, and my head is back to the normal level of pain!"
The SPR intern wasn't sure how to respond to that. "Mai?" he asked haplessly. The younger investigator was still staring into the house – but her eyes were focused on something.
"The light," she said quietly. "It's so warm."
Mai closed her eyes, the golden light washing over and into her like a warm, soothing bath. In her mind's eye, the face of a beautiful young woman smiled with relief as she pulled a clear-eyed man in uniform into a wash of golden sun.
Her eyes opened, and Mai knew it was over. She grinned at Naru and Lin, who were both climbing out of the wrecked conservatory with concern in their eyes. "We're fine!" Mai confirmed, waving them over. "That was amazing!" She felt so calm, and more... whole than she'd felt in a while.
Naru allowed himself a moment to absorb Mai's breathless relief and carefree smile – knowing that his actions put that look on her face it did something strange to his insides. Warmth swelled in his chest and threatened his composure...
And Naru viciously clamped down on his run-amok emotions and forced something normal-sounding out of his mouth. "Three years in the paranormal field and you still think a simple cleansing is amazing," he drawled. "What exactly did you do as a lead investigator? File and make tea?"
Mai groaned. "Ugh Naru, can't you get through a single sentence without acting like a pompous jerk?"
"Can't you get through a single exorcism without trying to interfere?"
"I didn't interfere! I didn't even leave the safe area!"
"Not for lack of trying." Naru gestured at Mai's dirt-covered clothes.
"But I stopped!"
"So you're learning."
"Narcissist!"
"I just paid you a compliment."
"That was NOT a compliment!"
Naru suddenly bent down and inspected Mai's knee. "You skinned it," he observed, reaching out with elegant fingers and brushing the dirt away from the bleeding skin. "There's antiseptic cream in the van." When he received no answer, Naru looked up to find Mai goggling at him.
Behind her, Madoka was grinning, Gregory was staring, and Lin was – Lin was smirking.
Naru straightened up and glared at some unfortunate point in the distance. "Antiseptic cream in the van," he repeated frostily. "Put it on before you wind up with yet another malady." Oliver Davis turned on his heel and strode back toward the house. The rest of the cameras needed retrieving.
Mai stared confusedly after Naru as he marched through the front door. "What was that?" she asked, more puzzled over the voluntary physical contact than Naru's parting shot. "Is he becoming bipolar? You know, like the Brighton ghost?"
"Don't worry, Mai-chan," Madoka assured her with a pat on the back. "Noll's fine. He's just determined to go down swinging."
-0O0-
A/N: Right. So. First I had writer's block. Then I tried to suck it up and write anyway. And it was blechhh. So I decided to let it go for a while and see if I could get it back. I tried again. It sucked, and I wasn't sure what was worse, not updating or delivering a sub-par chapter. Then I thought maybe I was done. That was depressing, so I tried not to think about it at all. Then my computer broke and I lost access to my work altogether. Even if I was stuck with this chapter, I still have another 100,000 words written and I couldn't get to any of it. I was so upset that I threw my computer under my bed and refused to look at it.
Then last month I had a setback at work. I was feeling pretty low and had no idea how to make myself feel better. My wonderful husband suggested I start writing again, as that made me happy. I decided that the words I had saved up in my head over time had to be worth something, even if I still don't know if they sound okay. Through trial and error (and a lot of screaming), I managed to get my old computer to work long enough to pull my story off of it, opened up the file and started writing again.
I still don't know if it sounds right, but there's really only one way to throw your hand back in and I literally couldn't wait any longer. I hope you guys can forgive me, because I'm already starting the next chapter and I want to know what you think.
You guys have always been the best readers ever.