Chapter 34 - Through Hell (acoustic) - Citizen Soldier and Royal Bliss

Recovery Day 2: 15:25

Mai

To say that she was ecstatic was a huge understatement. She had no words for how she felt. Being proposed to by the love of her life, her protector, her soul binder, was a dream come true. They kissed, touched, cried, and laughed as they waited for everyone to come back from shopping. Finally, a knock on the door alerted them to their arrival. Naru looked happily at her, leaned up, took her hand, and kissed it.

"Are you ready?" He asked.

"I'm ready," she replied, squeezing his hand for comfort.

They got up and walked to the front door. Luella, Ayako, and Masako came in first carrying multiple store shopping bags. Then Lin, Martin, John, and Yasu came in with groceries. It was so overwhelming to just be able to see them all again, let alone be with them.

"We went all out on you Mai! We got everything you could need and more," Luella said.

"I made sure Ayako didn't start grabbing clothes that she secretly wanted but wouldn't fit you," Masako said.

"I'm just saying that that top would have been perfect for her!" Ayako objected.

"Yes…in ten years maybe," Masako said, holding her hand to her mouth.

"You hear that Ayako? It's not me calling you old this time!" Monk said.

"What did you just say?!" She yelled back.

Mai giggled hearing their banter again. It was what made their team a family and before she knew it she had tears streaming down her face. She was laughing and crying. Maybe that's why they all stopped bantering and looked at her while smiling.

"They haven't heard you laugh since you came home," Naru said through the bond.

"Thank you, everyone, thank you. I've really missed you all. This means a lot," she said, smiling while wiping her eyes.

"Of course Mai, it's what family is supposed to do for each other," Takigawa said.

"Yeah, we're here for whatever you need," John said.

"Come on now, everyone. Let's show what we got for them!" Martin said.

She went over to the couch and sat down with Ayako and Masako going through her new clothes. She saw all sorts of colors, designs, and new looks that she couldn't afford before. She noticed she had about ten new outfits for the season. She also got hygiene supplies, a new bathrobe, pajamas, five new pairs of shoes and socks, and jewelry to match.

"We weren't sure how much to get you, so we ended up just getting the basics. We aren't sure how long it'll take to get you back on your feet and into a new place," Luella said patting her knee

She looked up at Naru. "Should we tell them? I don't know what they might think. I'm worried that they'll say we're rushing it so shortly after returning home," she said through the bond.

"They're going to find out soon when they even get a glimpse of our auras. Let's tell them all together," Naru replied. "Come over here, I want to hold you for this."

She smiled and gently set the stuff down on the table before her. She got up and walked over to Naru, and he reached out and wrapped his arm around her waist. Everyone stopped what they were doing to look at them.

"Thank you, everyone, for everything, again. But, you don't have to worry about helping me to get a new place to live. I already have a new place," she said gently.

"Already? But you two only just got back! How did you get a new place that quickly?" Takigawa asked.

"Yeah, especially with most of your documents gone! I have them stored away, but they're on our shared drive," Yasu said.

Lin smiled but said nothing.

"You see, I'm already in my new place. I'm going to be living here from now on," she explained, smiling at Naru. "You see, everyone…we've promised to wait a while, especially to heal from everything and sort out our lives, but Naru…Oliver…proposed to marry me. And I accepted."

Everyone was silent, eyes wide and mouths agape except for Lin who was smiling softly. After about five seconds the room erupted in cheers and applause, tears and cries of joy, and then came the avalanche of family members coming to swarm them for hugs and kisses.

"Yes! Oh, thank heavens yes!" Luella cried.

"You two! I'm so happy for you two," Takigawa said.

"Our little Mai, and Naru the narcissist, are both coming together," Yasu said, tearing up.

"Coming together happens later tonight," Naru said through the bond.

Her eyes widened. "Naru!"

"Payback."

They all let go and came to sit down in the living room. Naru sat down in a large chair and pulled her into his lap. "We missed it though?! And no ring?!" Ayako protested.

"To be fair it only happened 20 minutes ago," Mai said.

"20 MINUTES?!" Everyone gasped.

She and Naru giggled. "I think a ring at this point would just be for everyone else to see. Also to be fair, we've been through a lot these past couple of weeks," Naru said.

"Yeah, I mean it first started with me dying," she said looking at Naru.

"Then I had to perform CPR," Naru said looking back at her.

"Then the first "success" of using PK by brutally melting the brain and face of the guy that nearly raped me," she said bitterly.

"Then being disconnected by the metal room for four hours, and both of us nearly dying from that," Naru also said bitterly.

"Then discovering that I have complete telepathy," she said.

"And getting forced into a Grand Mal seizure," he added.

"Then that Albanian woman and her 'private showing' of our abilities. They tried to make us kill that poor man," she said.

"Yeah, they did, didn't they? Can't forget treading barefoot through eight kilometers of dense forest in the freezing rain and rough terrain," he said.

"Or when Dr. Hiroa was shot and then died right in front of us. When his bloodied hand touched my cheek. My spirit had completely split apart and tried to destroy me!" She said, smiling at him with quivering lips.

"And then I stitched it back together with PK," Naru said, smiling back his throat gulping.

"That was so incredibly painful, the worst pain I've ever felt in my life!" she said smiling but with tears now flowing down her face.

"I know! I felt it too as I was doing it!" He said crying as well.

"Finally seeing my parents one last time," she said, her voice cracking.

"Getting scared out of my mind because you almost died there too. Watching your parents give you their spiritual energy so that you could live," he choked out.

"And finally feeling the light and warmth of the sun again after ten days of darkness," she sobbed.

"Only to go to your apartment to find Alaina's note telling you to kill yourself and giving you the damn bullet to do it with," he sobbed.

"Yeah," she cried.

"Yeah," he said, holding her tighter.

"So, yeah. After all of that, I don't think we need a ring right now. There will be time for that later. Now that we have time that is," she whimpered.

They both looked up at everyone. They honestly forgot that everyone was there, to begin with. They just started recounting everything and they couldn't stop. Everyone either had their mouth agape in shock, looking down in sorrow, or crying openly and silently.

"Oh, sorry guys," she apologized. "Naru, I think we've trauma dumped on them."

"Yeah, we did. Sorry, everyone. This is why we're going to wait a while until we get married. We have…a lot to work through first," Naru said, wiping her tears away as she did his.

"Oh my god," John said, holding his head down in prayer. "If we had been any later…"

Luella and Martin both held each other's hands. Mai could sense their feelings of rage and parental protectiveness. "I can very easily see why you two want to stay together now. You two have been through Hell and walked out on the other side. There's no forgetting that," Martin said.

"You two protected each other the entire time," Masako said.

"Felt rage and were forced to act in the worst ways," Ayako said.

"Yet still maintained your humanity and kindness through it all," Takigawa added.

"Just continuing to hold out until your family arrived to save you two. Never once giving up on us. Never once giving up on yourselves," Yasu said empathetically.

"You both are so strong. So in love. So incredible. You both are going to need a lot of help," Luella said softly and warmly.

"But you won't have to do it alone. We'll be right there with you. As a family. You two are home now. You two are safe. As you said, we all have time now," Lin said, walking over and kneeling in front of them. He lifted her hand and Naru's and put them together then put his hand on top of theirs. "Welcome home, Noll. Welcome home, Mai."

Ayako and Takigawa got up and put their hands on Lin's. "Welcome home," they said.

"Welcome home," Yasu said, putting his hand in too.

John and Masako came over and did the same. "Welcome home," they said.

Finally, Oliver's parents came over and put theirs in as well. "Welcome home you two. To your new lives. To the rest of your lives. Together."

She and Naru were sobbing openly now. Mai could feel the warmth of family that she hadn't felt since her parent's death. Reaching through the bond she could feel Naru's feelings matching hers. He looked at her, softened his eyes, and kissed her.

As they pulled away they looked at everyone, smiled, and said, "We're home everyone."

-o-

As everyone put away the food and helped put her new clothes away, Mai and Naru lay down on the couch together. Her on top of him as they snuggled into each other. Lin came by and draped a blanket over the both of them and they soon fell into the astral plane. They both fell softly to the ground where Gene was waiting for them.

"Welcome home you two," Gene said with a big smile on his face.

They both embraced him tightly. "Gene, thank you. I don't think we'd have made it out alive without you," Mai said.

"Mai is lucky to have you guide her all this time. But seriously brother," Naru said while pulling back a bit. He flicked his fingers to his forehead.

"Ow!" Gene cried out and rubbed his forehead. "That hurt Noll!"

"That's for pretending to be me for an entire year and tricking Mai! Why did you even do that?" He asked.

"Because!" He said, looking down. "When you let one of your walls down for Mai, and she did her first astral projection, I finally had a way to connect back to you. Then I discovered that she had feelings for you, and…I wanted you to be happy. If I had just told Mai from the beginning, "Oh hey, I'm not actually the guy you're having a crush on, I'm his dead twin brother that Oliver is searching for in Japan," first off, she'd be terrified."

"Yeah that's true," Mai said.

"And secondly, if you had just found out who and where I was from the beginning you two never would have connected like you did, you two wouldn't have been able to be truly happy together," he said shuffling his feet guiltily.

"Gene, were you seriously trying to play matchmaker with us?" Naru asked, smiling. "Well, it worked. Thank you, Gene."

"You're welcome. Also…you guys…don't need to look for me immediately. What you two have been through-"

"And what you've been through too," Mai reminded him.

"What we've all been through. You both need time to heal. I'm, well to put it darkly, not going anywhere. Also, I think there's a lot of unresolved issues we need to face before I can pass on properly."

"That makes sense," Naru said.

"Also," Gene said smiling. "If you think I'm going to miss out on my own brother's wedding? Not even death can stop me!" He pulled her in for a tight embrace. "I said it before and I'll say it again, welcome to the Davis family Mai! It's an honor to have you as a sister."

Mai teared up as she returned the embrace. "Thank you, Gene. It's an honor to have you as a brother,"

"Now both of you, go on and enjoy your first night at home! I'll keep out of the way," Gene said.

Mai turned to Naru and looked lovingly at him. "Are you ready?" She asked softly.

"More than," he replied.

-o-

When they woke up they noticed that everyone except for Lin had left. Mai sat up and held her hand out to help Naru sit up. He smiled and pulled her into a chaste kiss.

"Where'd everyone go?" She asked.

"Martin and Luella went back to my apartment, and everyone else went back to their places. They all need a break, sleep, a shower, the works," Lin answered while washing some vegetables.

"I see," she said. "What are you still doing here?"

"I'm making you both dinner. I'm not going to have Noll cook for you tonight. You two are exhausted. Not to mention Mai, Noll is not exactly the best chef," Lin said.

"What?! I can cook!" Naru said indignantly.

"Yeah, if the recipe is on the back of a box. You eat healthily, but only if I cook or you order takeout," Lin said continuing to chop vegetables.

Naru flushed red in embarrassment. She smiled and sent over through the bond, "It's ok, I have been cooking for myself for quite some time. I can show you a few recipes. If you'd like that is."

He looked at her and flushed harder. "I swear, I can cook just fine! He's just trying to embarrass me at this point," he said.

"Well, it seems to be working. Don't worry, I trust you."

"What are you making anyways?" Naru asked.

"Miso ramen," he answered. "Something simple but filling."

"Oh that sounds delicious," she said.

"It should be ready within the hour. I wanted to ask you two if you wanted to review the footage at the end of the week. It feels like you two need to talk about what happened."

Mai looked to Naru with saddened eyes. "I…think that's a good idea. Keeping this bottled up without context…might make recovery harder," she said through the bond.

"I hate to say it, but you're right. Honestly, it might be harder to explain everything without visualizing it. Then Lin can work on finding us proper help," Naru replied.

"Yeah, we'll do it this week," Mai said.

"I'll make the preparations then."

After about 45 minutes their dinner was ready and they sat at the dining table. Everything smelled delicious and almost too good to be true. Lin took his leave and left the two alone in silence. They both stared at the food for a moment before looking up at each other.

"We're missing something," Naru said.

She giggled already knowing what he was going to say. "Go ahead you tea-loving jerk, say it,"

He smiled at her before saying the most refreshing sentence that made her truly feel at home.

"Mai, tea please."