Official Stasis Summary:

Post Manga. Mai's powers are beginning to get out of control. Two years away from Naru, and things have only gotten worse. Waking up to herself screaming is fine, but destroying an entire house and causing massive poltergeists? Not so much. So what do her friends do? They reluctantly ship her off to England where a less than enthusiastic Naru awaits to train the young girl. Cases ensue, but not without a little chaotic romance and nightmarish visions to add into the equation. Mai and Naru.

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Stasis: The state of equilibrium or inactivity caused by opposing equal forces.

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File I: Euphoria & Horror

Part I: Angels Fall

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Location: Takigawa Residence, Tokyo, Japan . . .

Date: June, Day I . . .

Time: 3:47 a.m . . .

The room shattered. Shattered. As if made from glass. And Mai Taniyama's scream ricochet off the walls in a sonorous collision that splintered the shards of the walls into fractured pieces.

This was how she awoke.

But it wasn't for another five seconds that reality finally hit her square on. Nevertheless, the image of—Mai swallowed, attempting to regain her bearings. She still felt the fringes of her vision hitting her in the most sensitive places. Her breathing was ragged, falling from her lips in frantic gasps. Absently, she thought her throat had gone dry. It was only then that she fully understood the consequences of what she'd done to the environment around her.

Her gut dropped to her toes and her blood went cold as death. It was a similar sensation of when she witnessed ghosts only centimeters from her face, like in the Urado case. These days blood was a constant assailant to her nose, and more secularly, to her mind.

"Mai!" Monk called from outside the wreckage. "Mai!"

"I'm fine, Monk," she said, although it came out as more of a haunted whisper than she'd intended.

"Mai!" he continued calling. "Are you okay? Mai!"

Wobbly on her feet from the sustaining remnants of her vision striking her body into submission, she stood up from the bed. It was the only object in the room left untouched amongst the damaged ruins. Everything else… Shattered. Even the desk was in splinters, but the description was inadequate to the reality. Cracked or bruised or exploded did not cut it. Everything was shattered.

"I'm fine, Monk." This time it was audible, but it was tinged with unholy terror. Terror primarily centered on herself. What have I done? Tears blurred her vision.

"Mai!" The thirty-something bass player emerged from the rubble of his home, shifting through furniture and broken pipes. "Mai, we need to get out of here, now!"

The girl in question could only stare up at him amidst the dust and shame of her own helplessness. If the roof fell from above them, her PK would undoubtedly—if not unconsciously—react in time to save them. There was no rush necessary, but Mai couldn't reverse the desire to retreat from her failure in that moment. In all moments where she transformed normality into something wholly unhinged, she wanted nothing more than to run. To retreat. To escape.

They did just that.

Racing out onto the street in the dead of night, Mai and Monk caught their stolen breath. His house was actually quite large, and her room had been stationed on the main landing just in case a situation such as this arose. This way they had a chance of actually escaping the house. But Mai held no illusions about her latent PK powers. This situation could've ended so much worse than being contained to a single room. She'd already shattered a house once during one of their cases a few months back. Ever since, the team had basically gone into permanent retirement as their 'glue'—as Mai was often referred to as—had gone off the deep end.

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"Mai, are you okay?" Hosho Takigawa asked after a period of time. Her silence answered him enough, as a fresh set of tears pooled in the brunette's gaze. Sighing, he wrapped her up in an embrace. "It's not your fault, you know. You just don't know how to control it yet… I don't blame you, Mai. I will never blame you for things you can't control…" But the girl had already begun to sob onto his shoulder. So holding her there was the best he could do.

Seconds thereafter, his house collapsed in on itself. Horror shot up his blood, and Mai's gut wrenching sobs only made his heart tear itself in half for the girl. Sighing and gritting his teeth only in frustration for the girl's woes, he decided right then and there. They needed an intervention.

After calling some people to sort through his home for anything salvageable, and contacting his girlfriend (Ayako) that he would have to stay with her for awhile, the duo left the premises.

Traversing to Ayako's home was a quiet affair, especially after Mai took a sleeping pill to finally descend into a slumber that wasn't quite as deep as what she needed. Driving, Hosho couldn't help the third sigh that erupted from his lips. Gliding down the highway, he let himself sink into cruise control and allow the flow of his thoughts to move as they pleased.

Naru, no, Oliver Davis, had left SPR about two years ago. At the time, a many of unresolved conflicts had resulted in a warmonger of problems, one of which led to never mentioning the Narcissist's name ever again. But most predominantly, Mai had obtained the ability of psychokinesis (PK for short) which was continuing to grow at a rapid rate. Tearing apart an entire block honestly seemed rather light to put it. The girl's powers were chaotic at worst, and 'tame' or 'resting' at best. The cause was uncertain, but her other powers progressed as well. Astral Projection, psychometry, precognition, among other latent psychic talents that he couldn't even name. The girl was a walking spiritualistic psychic that had the means to destroy… He didn't want to go there. The extent was unknown, nor did he desire to learn.

Following Naru's departure, SPR had continued with Mai taking the leadership reins of their investigations, and the gang had stuck together of the most part. Mai had done superbly well for about a year, until she had an argument with Masako that led to the levitation of several large objects in the room. Things took a darker turn from then onwards, none of which were from the argument.

Within the last eight months or so, Mai's dreams had begun to take their toll on her mentality and emotions, but apparently whenever she came to, she could never pinpoint the aspects of her nighttime delusions. Either way, they were a deterrent to her health as they left her in a state of unprecedented terror and consequential insomnia. About one in ever four nights, she woke up to herself screaming. One in every five left a dent or crack in the wall. Tonight happened to be one of the ten incidents that led to the destruction of an entire building. These events had only transpired within the last few months, but the rapid growth of her PK strength was more than a little worrisome.

He also knew that this physical destruction was causing Mai to spiral downwards into a type of internal deprecation. A laugh was unheard of, a smile rare and far between, but tears were often and trembling was commonplace. Ayako herself had diagnosed Mai with a type of mental depression.

Mai didn't even have Gene, or as she once said, 'Dream Naru', to guide her through the labyrinth of her nightmares, since Naru had gone back to England. Apparently, when Naru's and Mai's spiritualities first met, it had caused a reaction of some sort that resulted in Gene placing himself amidst Mai's dreams, but since that physical closeness no longer remained, her 'spirit guide' was no longer around. So basically, without Naru, there was no Gene.

It was no doubt in his mind that memory of Naru's departure left some sort of unresolved emotions to lead to his house's demolition.

When he arrived at Ayako's apartment complex, the priestess turned doctor was waiting for them on a nearby bench. Upon seeing his car come up, she sped towards his window. "Hosho, what happened?! Is Mai okay? By the gods, are you okay? I mean I have some supplies in my house if—"

"Ayako." He caught her hand and squeezed, too tired for anything else. The touch settled her, but her expression portrayed every worry. "I'll let you in on the details inside. I'd rather not have Mai wake up until morning. She's had a rough night."

"More like you've had a rough night," she said, but not harshly, letting him get out of the truck. "But I can't imagine what's going through Mai's head right now."

"Neither can I."

The two spared a glance at the young brunette, whose relaxed posture was more unusual than anything they'd seen in a long time. When they got settled inside, Hosho tucked Mai into the comfort of Ayako's guest bed. Breathing evenly for once in more than two months was a special sight after so much distress. He let the door fall away, and left her to her dreams.

His girlfriend met him in the dimness of her kitchen, gaze trailing the array of pots hanging above her stove. Absently, she yawned into the palm of her hand, waiting. They had to talk.

Noticing him in the doorway, Ayako turned and gestured for him to sit. "Tell me what happened."

So he did. He told her of the screaming, of the crackle he heard before the falling of concrete and wood. The fear and the frustration and the static in the air. Said that it was getting close to the day their unnamed parapsychologist had departed for England. Ayako sat through the recollection in silence, an unordinary scene that unnerved him a bit.

Afterwards, the only thing she said was, "This can't go on, Hosho. It can't."

"You think I don't know that?" His shoulders slumped. "But what can we possibly do for her? I mean, we have no idea how it even works. That was…" That was Naru's area of expertise.

"She needs someone who can help her control her PK," Ayako stated solemnly. "Someone that can pull her through this muck. She can't do it on her own."

"She has—"

"She doesn't have us, Hosho. Be realistic. As much as it pains me to admit, there's nothing we can do for her."

In the clattering quiet, Hosho raked his hands through his hair. "... Have we failed her, Ayako?"

His girlfriend didn't respond at first, just stared at the table. "Ayako," he called, taking her hand.

"No…" She shook her head, but there was regret in the motion. "I don't think we've failed her. Not exactly. But we can't help her either. She needs someone who can, and that person's not us."

Collectively, they both knew exactly who could, but neither voiced his name.

"What if—" he'd dared to address the idea.

"No."

"But—"

"No."

"He's—"

Ayako's scarlet glare was comparative to blood. "Mai will go ballistic at the thought of him interfering. We don't even speak his name anymore."

"He's the only one, Ayako!" Hosho hissed. "The only one! Without help, Mai will…" It was an unspeakable concept that neither would try to swim too deep towards.

The fear was almost palpable between them both at what the mention of Naru would do to the young girl, especially since she unknowingly cried out his name whenever she slept. Before screeching into the night, she would voice his name like a mantra. It was only in those horrific hours of the night did the alias of Oliver Davis be heard.

Finally Ayako relented, but her tone was less than kind. "Call him. Now. I don't care if it's twelve noon or twelve midnight, call the narcissistic prick and let him know exactly what he left behind in Japan."

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Turn back the clock eight hours and England was in its later evening.

At his home estate, Dr. Oliver Davis's mood couldn't be described as anything but pensive. Leaning back against the side of a piano with his arms crossed, echoes of reminiscent strings thundered beyond space and time within the cages of his mind. Violin strings to be exact. Violin strings he used to listen to everyday before.

Before.

"You're laughing at me aren't you?" he asked in a hiss. He turned his head around, half expecting someone to be standing beside him, but all that remained was dust and memory and screaming silence. The music was gone, the recollection lost to time. Absently, Oliver gritted his teeth and stood to his full height. There was work to be done.

"Now, why would I laugh at you, Noll?"

Said man stalled in his tracks. Fraction by fraction, his eyes widened, his composure shattered to ashen remains. This time, he whipped around to stare into a set of identical indigo irises in one of the many mirrors surrounding the ballroom, but they were soft compared to his own. The reflection had an expression of utter empathy, rue, and something horribly somber.

"Gene," he began, his voice far calmer than he expected. Eugene. "What are you doing here?" His shock then transformed into abject rage. "You're dead."

Despite this, Gene smiled slightly. "Obviously."

It was a word Oliver often used to thwart idiots in their tracks, but to be used against him meant he'd let his guard down and spoken without thought. Stupidity. Then again, if there had been anyone to tear the stone walls of Oliver's control, it would be his own twin brother. But once upon a time, another had nearly done so.

"To state the obvious, Noll, I am dead. Nor shall I ever return."

Regaining his sense of calm, Oliver stood straight and relaxed into interrogation mode. "Says the idiot medium whose speaking to me from the contents of a mirror. You should have passed on by now."

"Something's… Come up." There was a potent sadness that radiated off his twin. "I believe you often referred to it as 'unfinished business'."

"What could you possibly need to finish?"

"Careful, Noll," Gene said lightheartedly, but the words were strained. "No need to cause a poltergeist." Ice had begun to form on the windows, and Noll's breath came out in frosted puffs. The statement then led to a thorough defrosting, and the room temperature rose to its previous state.

Containing his newfound rage, Oliver continued waspishly, "Again, what could you possibly need to finish in this world?"

Gene was about to enlighten him when his cellphone rang. His mood worsened thereafter upon noticing the number blinking up at him.

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"I thought I strictly ordered never to call this number," a voice answered in clear, quick Japanese. True to Naru's words, the only contact he'd ever left for anyone in Japan's former branch of SPR was to Hosho. Before leaving, the precocious ghost hunter had handed him single piece of paper with a phone number written in idyllic handwriting. He'd immediately put it in his phone, but had never used it due to Naru's warning.

Hearing the cold, snappish voice of his old employer made Hosho unwittingly straighten. Despite this, the relief that flooded his system calmed whatever semblance of hesitation he had left. "That's one hell of a way to say, 'hello', Naru," he said by way of greeting.

"What's happened, Takigawa-san?" Naru demanded. "I sincerely doubt this is a social call." Nor should it be, was the unmentioned expectation.

Two years and this is the reception I get? Well, it is Naru. He gave Ayako a look that explained everything, and she snorted offhandedly.

Hosho decided to say, "It's about Mai. Something's… Come up."

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Across the world, Oliver shot his reflected twin a glance, reverting to telepathic communication. Something's 'come up' with Mai? Is that why you're here again? Gene only shrugged a single shoulder in response.

"Elaborate," Oliver said into the phone, never letting his gaze flicker from Gene.

There was a pause on the line. "Mai she… She's…"

Gene looked away, despondent.

"Rambling won't help your cause," Oliver mentioned pointedly, assessing his twin's reaction more than anything else.

"She destroyed my house from an outburst of PK energy," Takigawa finally released, and Noll went still. "Things like this have happened before too. I… I think it's from her dreams, but she can never remember them when she wakes up. She says your name a lot too, when she dreams. She'll mutter you name, scream bloody murder, and wake up. Tonight happened to be one the events that just destroyed everything around her… Naru, she can't control it and she's… I've never seen her like this. The Mai you left here in Japan is gone."

Gone. The word reverberated in his mind, until Gene throttled him back into the present. You'll want to listen to him.

"What led to this?" he questioned, once again alert.

"Honestly? I have no idea." Takigawa sounded tired. "It just started happening about eight months ago, and before I knew it, Mai gained these uncontrollable powers. Her dreams only make her PK energy worse. The more rattled up she is, the worse the damage. Naru… She's lost her sense of self. I don't even see her smile anymore! It's like the Mai we all knew and loved is gone because of this. She's… She's—"

"Retreated into herself."

"Yeah… That basically sums it up. I don't know what to do to help her, and I don't want her to get worse just because of us."

"I assume you've taken some measure of precaution."

"Basically we don't let her be alone except at night," Takigawa explained. "She talks to Ayako and I a lot about everything. Having the old team around really helps her spirits, but she just keeps getting worse. Most nights she doesn't sleep because of the nightmares, but when she does, cracks appear on the walls or objects levitate. I've nearly been impaled by a set of knives once: we've had to get rid of anything remotely sharp in the house… We give her sleeping pills on the worst nights, but it doesn't help much."

"If anything, you've prevented a worse circumstance by keeping her in this way, but it's true, you're hopeless. You're only postponing the inevitable."

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In the room over, Mai had awoken from a restful slumber. Darkness hugged her vision except for the light leading to the hallway. Are Monk and Ayako still up? What time is it? The clock at her bedside read 4:32 am.

Still reeling from her most recent dream, the brunette shivered in her comforters, pressing them close. Then she remembered. She'd… She'd…

"No," she whispered. "No. No. No. No. NO!" She tore the covers over her head, too horrified to move. She'd destroyed Monk's house. Already the tang of blood settled on her tongue, a reminder that her PK was acting up. Static electricity skittered in the air above, and it took all her strength to keep the comforters straddled down. Her attempt failed, and she fought the urge to cry.

"Stop it!" she hissed, but it was to herself.

Then she heard Monk growl, "Naru!"

Mai froze, the comforter falling back onto her chest by having her attention diverted. Her heartbeat ruptured her chest in disbelieving pants upon hearing Naru's name for the first time in over a year.

"We're doing everything we can," Monk continued. "But she needs someone who can help her."

They're actually… Telling this to Naru?

A pause.

"Considering you're the 'famous Oliver Davis', yeah, 'I expect your assistance'! She's also your friend, Naru. You owe her this much."

Tuned in, Mai could actually hear the last portion of what Naru said, "… I owe her nothing."

She gritted her teeth, and pulled her comforters tighter. Narcissistic asshole, she thought, but there was no bite. Rather it was bred out of much sadder exploits.

Then something in Monk seemed to just snap. "Didn't something similar happen to you too, Naru? How would you feel now if you still had the same lack of control as you did then? How do you think Mai feels? The girl was about to graduate high school for gods sakes, then she gains a freak amount of PK and her life's no longer the same! So yes, Naru, I expect you to help. No, actually, scratch that, I expect you to actually want to help the girl you practically fell in love with!"

Mai shot up in bed. Static charged the ends of her tresses as a bright blush stained her cheeks. What?! The edges of the bed began to rise and a crack emerged on the wall nearest her, but she barely noticed.

The whole apartment went dead after that, until she heard the faintest reply, "… I did no such thing. You're drawing fabricated conclusions to reach your own end, Takigawa-san."

Ayako took a bite out of that, "Way to help us out there, Hosho. That was probably the stupidest thing to say to him. You know how he felt about Mai, so did I, but he would never actually admit it! You're just going to make him angry and hang up!"

Another split appeared on the wall.

Monk did not comment on his girlfriend's words, however, but his former employer's, "Would you rather she died from something as simple as emotional control, Naru? Tell me what to do!"

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You're being ridiculous, Noll, Gene chastised. Help the poor girl. I can feel her presence from across continents, and Mai will die within the year if her PK continues to grow without proper training.

Oliver fixed a fine glare at his twin. Do you just expect me to drop my work and—

Actually, yes, I do expect you to, because this is Mai we're talking about here. Relent, already!

… There was an echoing silence before…

"As I've stated before, Takigawa-san, there is nothing you can do."

"But what about—"

"The only way to help that idiot is to send her here, to England."

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Send me to England?! Mai had tiptoed down the hallway, now leaning against a shadowed wall to conceal her existence and listened on with baited breath.

Anxious, a splinter fell from the ceiling.

Monk choked. "So you'll help?"

But Naru was already pushing past that. "You said before that during her dreams she will cause poltergeists, and based upon the emotional status she's displayed before you, these also happen while she's awake, correct?"

Naru waited in silence, before Monk quickly agreed, "Correct."

"Then the only way she can be transported to England safely is by putting her under for the entirety of the flight."

Monk hesitated. "Isn't that a bit much?"

"Would you rather the plane crash?"

Emotions wild and ready to be done with this madness, Mai stepped out from the darkness. The two adults stood straight, and Ayako attempted to speak, probably to justify their actions, but Mai had had enough.

"I'll do it," she declared softly. "I'll go to England as he says. Besides… It's not like he's wrong." The possibility of shooting down the plane was certainly not unlikely.

Monk's mouth hung open, ready to speak, but nothing came out. Then he and Ayako just took one look at each other, and nodded resolutely.

"Actually, Naru," Monk rerouted, now prepared to get into the doctor's good graces. "I think that's a fantastic idea. When do you think you'll be able to make accommodations for her?"

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June, Day II

As it was, Yasuhara (who'd basically become her best friend over the last two years) had secretly transferred to Cambridge University a little less than three months ago to major in parapsychology, and work alongside Naru as a research assistant. Originally, he'd told her he'd gone off to the States to study abroad for some obscure degree that she couldn't even pronounce. Apparently, he'd actually gone to England, hoping to spare her feelings. It was an ironic, if not hurtful fact that she couldn't get over. Nevertheless, she didn't have the energy to fight with him, and honestly, she would be glad to see a friendly face during her 'rehab'. It was because of that-and that both Monk and Ayako had full-time jobs-that Mai had to depart for England by herself.

The farewell had been a bucket-full of tears for the three, as they had all but become her parents in the time they'd met to today. So as the doctors placed a mouthpiece over her lips and sleep overcame her senses for the long flight to England, her last image was Ayako and Monk standing over her, grasping her hand in a warming embrace. The last thing she heard before descending into her coma was that they loved her. Tears prickled at her eyes, but her voice was gone, lost to the lulling waves of sleep, and before she knew it, all sense of possibility was gone.

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June, Day III

12:20 pm.

Darkness contaminated the background. Night chilled her to the core. The echoing vibrations of a clocktower high in the distance shook her down to the marrow of her bones. Snow slowly descended from the sky, each flake a prick on the skin. She was stationed on the sidewalk, people passing her by as her legs abruptly lurched forward. Then she was moving, tearing through the crowds of people without concern of their wellbeing. All at once, she was too terrified to care. She wanted to scream, wanted to shout, to screech, to cry out to the world.

Nothing could ever be as bad as this.

Her eyes shot open, but they were sightless, visionless. The only thing she really saw was the people in front of her, not letting her pass. Her distance didn't develop. She was trapped. Too slow. Too far away.

Fractured time-space one second. Then... Light.

At first all she could see was a pair of apathetic indigo orbs watching her. Then she noticed the dripping ebony of his hair, still falling into his eyes. Eyes that were watching her. The eternal paleness of his skin was the same perfect alabaster as before, stark against the colors of his clothes. Not black now, but navy. Navy. It suited him.

Mai's breath caught in her throat upon realizing she'd reached consciousness, but her heart was racing too quickly. A pleasant flush washed along the concaves of her cheeks, and her lips formed the name of her first love, "... Naru."

A sharp crack split the wall across from her in half, and he spared it a glance. "You like making walls crack now, I see," he said, just as stoic as ever. His Japanese was just as fluid as the last time she saw him, and some driving force, some hateful little force made tears rise to the surface. All at once, emotions flooded her very being, and she latched onto him there, sitting up, and sobbing into his shoulder for every grievance and lamentation the last two years of separation and adversity caused.

They stayed like that for the longest time. Naru didn't move, nor did he flinch, nor did he touch her. He just waited, patient for a change. From the window, Gene was there, reflecting off the glass for only him to see.

Angels fall, Noll, he said. It's time to put her back in the light.

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"I try to face the fight within, but it's over,

I'm ready for the riot to begin, and surrender,

I walked the path that led me to the end,

Remember?

I'm caught beneath with nothing left to give,

Forever…

When angels fall with broken wings…"

-Breaking Benjamin, Angels Fall

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Stasis

Author's Note:

Hello, all! This is my first Ghost Hunt fic, but I hope you like it! From what I've centered on now, it'll be a very bumpy ride for Naru, but especially Mai. I have a few ideas on how to breach the problems of Mai's PK energies and the connection to her dreams, but that's just part of the mystery. Eventually, there will be cases again, but for a while it'll be about Mai's recovery and character development to get her back to the Mai we all know and love. We'll go into her college life too eventually, but that's down the line.

Primarily, the two main characters will be Mai and Naru. For a third, definitely Gene, but don't worry, this isn't going to be a love triangle. Mai and Naru already have too many barriers between them-they don't need another one! Gene will probably push them together more than anything, anyways.

I am a total Ghost Hunt freak, always have been, and always will be. Naru is one of my favorite anime characters of all time, and I just adore Mai. I love it when she can get a rise out of him, that's always the best! OTP, much?

Please review! They're what drive a writer, you know! Have a lovely day!

-Cassandra