Ghost Hunt - Fanfic - Story Untold - Finished

Chapter 18

As I was hugging Eugene, I noticed myself becoming weaker. It felt like my entire life was flowing away from me. I would be okay with that. But then I looked up. I noticed that Eugene and I were on the inside of the mirror. He was pulling a dark purple energy from inside me and passing it to Naru on the other side, who was directing it into the hitogata. No Naru didn't want me. I couldn't let him bring me back as a monster.
"No," I murmured, only now realising how weak I actually was. "Please... Gene... Don't" I begged him.
"I'm sorry Mai, but I need to get the darkness out." I could see Lin and Monk and Ayako in the background. I didn't want them to see this side of me. I clung to Eugene and begged, crying.
"Please... stop."
"No Mai," He replied. I looked out and accidentally made eye contact with Naru. His expression was blank as it often was but his eyes. They weren't like before. They were scared. My Naru... He was scared of me. Suddenly the hitogata cracked through the middle. The dark purple gas seeped out of the wooden doll. It created a humanoid figure. It was deadly, I could sense it. I gasped.
"Oh my god. Gene, we need to help them!" His eyes dropped down to mine.
"Do you want to?" He asked softly.
"Of course I do! I don't want them to get hurt!" He looked at me before meeting his brother's gaze. Eugene nodded at him before turning back to me.
"This Is your pure essence," He told me, showing me a white ball of light with a lavender glow. "The only way to help them is by taking back the other half of your essence. But Mai, you need to control it. It will still be your sadness and fear and anger. You just need to take it back as yours." I nodded.
"I'll do it, just please let me save them." He nodded. Letting go of the essence in his hands, it flew into me as though it knew where it belonged. Then with a strong and most painful push, Eugene shoved me through the mirror, where Naru caught me. I was once again human, well part of me. I looked away from him then towards the creature, silently threatening to hurt my friends. I stepped away from Naru and began towards the creature.
"Wait, Mai!" Monk called out, stepping forward to stop me. Naru blocked his path. He knew as well as I did that this was my fight and mine alone. I stopped directly before the creature. It growled at me, taking a swipe at me. Its hand went straight through me though.
"It's okay," I told it softly. "I know." Following my instincts, I let out a breath and put my hand out. Slowly, the creature absorbed into my body. Becoming one with my being. I felt exhausted. All of my anger towards everyone who had hurt me came back. My sadness and feeling of loss. My guilt. My pain. My fear. All of it. But this time, it was okay. Because I also had gratefulness that I was alive. And relief that my friends were okay. And happiness that Eugene could be with his brother again. I was balanced this time. So it was all okay. It was over. But the weakness inside me. It expanded. Dizziness shrouded me. I felt myself falling. That was it. Everything went dark.

I woke up in a really weird place. I could see the lights of souls travelling around me.
"Am I dead?" I asked quietly.
"Not dead, just unconscious," I heard a familiar voice speak. Gene. He turned up next to me, looking at the souls around us. I looked down. I couldn't look at him. Not with the shame of how I felt. "These are all the souls now released and free from Noriko."
"I'm glad they're free now," I said, still not looking up.
"Mai, just in case there was any doubt, none of what Naru said to you was true. We just needed to get a tangible amount of the darkness to redirect away from you in order to get you to think clearly. And nobody blames you for what happened. It's just something that comes along with becoming a spirit. It's so much harder to keep the balance between light and dark and good and bad. They all merge together so it's harder to differentiate. So if you focus on the bad, the good gets clouded over by it," He explained.
"Even if that were true, what Naru said was true. I'm childish and nothing special. I'm not worth his time. I can't help but wonder if it really was just an act or not." Gene smiled at me.
"That's something you'll have to ask my brother. But I truly do believe that he does love you."
"I guess..." I couldn't stop wondering.
"You should get back to him pretty soon though. He's been really worried about you." I looked at him confused before picturing Naru in my mind, with all the detail I could. We watched from above as he sat in a chair next to a hospital bed and grabbed someone's hand. When I looked closer, I realised, the hand he was holding, was mine! I watched his other hand raise and stroked my cheek. He looked so sad and his eyes were very red.
"I'm so sorry Mai," He whispered with a cracking voice. "I didn't mean any of it. I'm so sorry. Just please, please come back to me." My hands covered my mouth and loose tears fell from my eyes.
"Go on Mai, Go to him." I nodded, heading towards my body. "Wait," I heard him say. He came over to me and placed a finger on my forehead. It glowed brightly where he touched. "A gift." He told me. Then he shimmered away as though he had never been there. I didn't think much of it. All I wanted was to be back with the man I love. I shut my eyes and let my consciousness flow back into my body. With a little difficulty, my eyes fluttered open. Looking back at me were the deep livid coloured eyes of Naru.
"Mai," He whispered softly, brushing my arm. He let out a small breath. "God you had me worried." My hand went to his cheek and stroked gently.
"You look tired Naru," I told him weakly. "You should get some rest." He shook his head.
"Not until you're out of here." I pulled my hand back and looked outside.
"How long have I been here?"
"Almost two days." I looked back at him in shock.
"What!" I screamed at him.
"Don't yell Mai." He ordered. But it wasn't his usual demanding tone. It was an exhausted tone filled with an abnormal gentleness.
"Naru, go get some sleep, you're exhausted. Wait... Have you been here the whole time?" Tears began forming in my eyes.
"Why are you crying?"
"Because... If you've been here this whole time... It means you really do care about me!" Shock like I had never seen on his face appeared. He stood up abruptly, putting his hands on my shoulders.
"Of course I care Mai. I love you. I didn't lie about that. I never wanted to say any of those horrible things to you. I didn't want to hurt you. It was just the only way I knew I could get you back. I promise Mai, I love you and that's the truth."
"But the Hitogata, Naru, you had the Hitogata with my name."
"Mai, I had one for everyone. In spirit form, I thought it was possible something could go wrong, so I had one for everyone ready to go just in case." The tears wouldn't stop falling from my eyes. He pulled me up and hugged me tightly. And of course, I returned it. My brain was constantly going through apologies. How do you apologize to someone for something like that? I was so violent. So horrible. And worse, I actually doubted Naru. I honestly believed that he had it just so he could get rid of me. 'You don't need to apologize Mai.' I heard in my head. I pulled away instantly. Naru looked at me affectionately.
"Eugene gave you his abilities. I can sense them on you," He informed me. "It goes both ways now. I can see into your head, and now you can see into mine." My jaw dropped. What if I accidentally saw something he didn't want me to? He chuckled. 'Trust you to find the fault with it.' He thought at me. I loved listening to his laugh. 'I don't mind Mai, you can look at whatever you want to.' I smiled lightly at him. We now had our own little world inside our minds. A soft yet exhausted smile rested on his face.
"Hey, Naru? Do you think you could find me something to eat?" I asked him, just trying to get him out for a moment.
"Sure," He replied, slipping out of the room. Slowly, I sat myself up on the bed. I felt dizzy as I did but I ignored it. If Naru wasn't going to rest until I was out of here, I was determined to get out of here faster. Painfully, I stood up until I was balanced. Then with my back to the door I took a step, then another, then another. But then I lost my balance and felt myself begin to fall. At least until I felt warm arms around me, holding me up.
"You can be so stubborn," Naru's voice murmured in my ear. He turned me around to face him. I raised an eyebrow.
"Cause you're one to talk?" I replied sarcastically. He chuckled lightly again. My face softened. I like hearing you laugh, I thought. He brushed some hair away from my face. 'You'll hear it plenty more in the future.' Gently he placed his lips down on mine, still holding me against him.
"Congratulations guys, you're finally a couple," Monk's mocking voice entered the room. I looked over to see Monk, Ayako, John and Masako standing in the doorway. My defence mode activated.
"No! Of course not! I uhh I made him do it!" I exclaimed, backing away from him. He snaked his arm back around my waist and pulled me back to him
"I've already told them," He said. I turned to look at him.
"Everything?" Meaning including that he was Oliver Davis. He nodded. He raised an eyebrow.
"You made me do it? Nobody can make me do anything." I rolled my eyes with a scoff.
"Damn Narcissist," I replied. He smiled at that.
"Woah, did Naru just smile?" Ayako asked.
"If you weren't so blind, you'd see he did," Masako responded. As we watched them argue, Naru leaned down and whispered in my ear.
"Our family?" I looked at him.
"And we wouldn't have them any other way."