So, I am going through and doing some small edits to this story and hoping that will kick start my motivation for writing this. I would really like to finish this fanfiction, even though I know I started this literally forever ago. However, I have a lot more time on my hands now (I recently graduated school) and I am pursuing writing. I don't intend to spend a whole lot of time writing fanfictions (because I'm trying to work on publishable pieces), but I do hope to keep writing on here because it is a really nice break from more serious writing and it helps me stay creative and interested in writing.

Anyways, in my editing, I decided to switch the first and second chapter. This was originally my second chapter but after just a little thought I realized that it belonged here as the first chapter.

As always, please comment to your hearts desire. I love to hear feedback.

And... without further ado...

Chapter One: The Forgotten Past

There was a crash, followed by a girl's scream. Mai immediately jumped to her feet and went running towards the noise. It didn't surprise her that she had been laying on the floor of a strange room, nor did it surprise her that when she entered the room where the noise had come from, objects were sailing through the air, floating, as if attached to puppet strings. Something felt familiar about everything around her, eerily familiar.

She assumed it was one of her dreams, but there was something different about this one. It felt almost as if she had dreamt this very same dream before, but had forgotten all of the details. Sort of like déjà vu.

Mai took a step back and watched as a baseball flew past and crashed into the wall beside her. Her breath caught. That had almost been her head.

Her eyes trailed to the left and she let out a heavy breath. It was as if Mai had no control over her thoughts or actions. Her mouth formed the words and she called out "dad?!" when her eyes found the crumpled form of a man up against the wall. She ran to him and bent to expertly check his pulse and breathing. There was none. This man was dead. A shard of glass had nearly severed his head from his body.

Mai didn't know what she was doing, or why she felt everything inside of her break. Did she know this man? Why did this death seem tragic to her, but completely unsurprising?

Mai turned and wasn't surprised to see the figure of a young girl standing in the middle of the room, objects swirling around the girl's head as if she were producing her own personal tornado. The girl was sobbing, letting out loud wailing cries.

I'm sorry, Mai heard the voice, but the girl's mouth never moved. The words sounded as if they were coming from her own head, but she recognized almost immediately that the words belonged to the girl. I didn't mean to. Please help me… I didn't mean to.

Mai stepped closer, warning bells going off in her head. Something was really dangerous about this girl, but this was her sister. She had to be there for her sister, no matter what. She had promised.

And Mai realized then that the girl was her sister. Not only that, but this was her twin, her other half. The girl's face mirrored a younger version of herself, but her eyes were haunted with things Mai knew she would never understand. As Mai approached her sister, something pushed her away, a force similar to heavy wind. But this force had no physical properties, and it made it more and more difficult to get close to her sister.

With each step she took her thoughts battled each other.

She killed our father.

She's my sister.

But she's a murderer.

She had no control.

She could kill you.

I promised to protect her.

No one can protect her.

Mai stopped in front of her twin. That's not true, she thought. You know how to protect her, you just don't want to do it. She looked into the broken eyes of her sister and knew it was time, time to tell the truth, time to step up and do her part. Protecting her twin was more important than anything. It was more important than her own happiness, or their need to stay together.

Mai wrapped her arms around the small frame of her younger sister. Even if they were only a few minutes apart, Mai would still always be the oldest. Her sister's sobs shook both of their bodies and Mai stroked her hair.

"I'll protect you. I promise," she whispered, "Everything will be okay."

Mai stayed with her until their mother came home, and until her twin was sound asleep.

She then explained everything to their mother, all of the secrets she had kept, and the plan to save what was left of her family.

Her mother reluctantly agreed.

That would be the beginning of everything.

Mai woke with a start, jumping up in bed and gasping for breath. The last words of her dream echoed in her head. "That would be the beginning of everything," as if a narrator were telling a story in her head.

Mai bit her lip, not at all sure what to think of her dream. It had disturbed her, the way her family's past had gotten mixed up with all the supernatural stuff she dealt with for work.

She took a deep breath. None of it was true. None of it was real, she told herself. It was all just a dream. I really creepy, really realistic, dream. And if it was just a dream, than she knew she shouldn't dwell on it any longer.

Looking to her left, she caught a glimpse of the face of her clock. She sighed. Four more hours before she had to get up for work. It would be the first day back to work with Naru. She needed all of the sleep she could get before dealing with that stress.

Lying back down, Mai forced herself into a restless slumber for the rest of the night.