When Mai awoke, she was laying on a hard, smooth surface. She could hear a small noise coming from the direction of her feet, though from this distance she couldn't make out what it was. She slowly felt more feeling throughout her body and was vaguely aware of the temperature in which she felt, or more accurately, didn't feel. Wherever she was, she felt neither hot nor cold, she felt nothing. Her entire body felt lighter than a feather, as if she were floating. This feeling - though strange - was not unfamiliar. She felt like this when she was in the Astral plane. Her mind felt hazy and she had no recollection of the moments before she passed out. Though the pit feeling in her stomach told her that whatever occurred beforehand was not good.

When Mai managed to open her eyes, all she saw was white. She blinked rapidly to clear her eyes but nothing changed. Sitting up right, she saw that it looked like she was in a large white room with no doors nor windows. Even so, she did not feel afraid.

"Where am I?" Mai looked around again. "Where is Naru?"

Naru wasn't here like he usually was to help guide her through the dream. She would just have to piece together the dream herself.

In the middle of the room was a large white projector on a wooden stand. There were voices coming from the projector that were very familiar and she recognized them immediately. It was her friends and team. Ayako, Monk, John, Masako and Lin. Either Naru wasn't speaking or she couldn't hear him.

"...not breathing..."

"...come on..."

Though she recognized the voices, they sounded very panicked and she couldnt make out what they were saying because accompanied by it was a loud static sound as well as the voices kept getting cut off like she were trying to play a scratched CD.

Mai reached her hand out to touch the projector. When her hand made contact with it, it made a small whirlling sound like when she turned her laptop on and then started to project a scene on the white wall.

Though the video was not clear, her eyes widened as she saw the scene play out before her eyes and her memories immediately flooded back into her mind.

"Oh, my god."

XxX

"Lin!" Came Naru's muffled voice from beneath the rotten wood and concrete. Lin could hear the panic in Naru's voice. He very rarely - if at all - let his cool, composed and almost completely emotionless demeanor falter. It set Lin on edge to hear the vulnerability in his voice, nevertheless he kept digging the ruble from on the well. Lin's heart was thumping so violently in his chest that he actually thought he may have a heart attack. 'We aren't digging fast enough! We need to go faster! I'll be dammed if I let them die while under my watch!'

Lin could no longer hear Naru and Mai's panicked voices but felt the soft thumps on the wood beneath his fingertips. They must be trying to push the wood off from below! The thumping soon died off and no more movement could be heard. The water had already reached the top, evidently drowning them. In no time the water was so high it now soaked their shoes, but they showed no sign of letting up their feverish attempts at clearing the well.

No!" Ayako screamed as she tried to lift a especially large plank of wood from the fallen building. Monk saw and immediately started to help the red-haired priestess. They managed to move the large piece of wood off and started on another right away.

All of a sudden a bright white light started to glow through the small cracks leaving everyone except for Lin utterly confused. He knew exactly what that light was, It was Naru's PK. And whenever he used his PK at this caliber without Gene's help, it never ended well for Noll and any unfortunate soul who happened to be around him at the momemt he lost control.

He turned to everyone, his arm flying out in the process.

"Everyone get back now!" Lin managed to bring his hand to his mouth, letting out a small whistle just before the wood on the pile burst and went flying in every direction.

In just the right moment, Monk threw himself at Ayako, tackling her to the ground. His two long arms landed on either sides of her face, scraping his forearms on the rough dirt beneath them while shielding her with his own body.

A similar action could be seen a few feet from them as John jumped in front of Masako protecting the girl from the flying debris.

There was no way that they were going to let any more of their friends get hurt.

John and Takigawa braced themselves for the pain that was sure to come, but then nothing did.

When the wood was all back safely on the ground, everyone looked up through the thick cloud of dust just in time to see Lin dive into the now cleared well.

Confused still by the fact that not one piece of wood nor concrete had hit either himself or John, Takigawa began to look around. And right there hovering above them were two of Lin's shiki, evidently protecting them all from the blast.

When Takigawa got up, he didnt bother wiping the grime from his clothes before helping Ayako to her feet. Then out of the corner of his eye he saw movement. Whipping his head to the left he saw Lin dragging an unconscious Mai and Naru out of the well. Saying they did not look good was an understatement.

Mai's skin was pale white and her red skirt looked like it had a huge strip torn from it. She had angry red scraps along both her forearms and knees. A large piece of black fabric was tied around her leg and was sliding down to her knee revealing a sizable cut on her upper thigh. It was oozing yellow puss and the veins surrounding it looked black with infection.

Next to her was Naru, who had an entire sleeve of his black button up was missing leaving his whole left arm exposed. His arm was turning black and blue with bruising and his black hair was pushed from his face to show a long cut on the side of his forehead.

Even after seeing all this damage, there was one thing that stood out above all else: Neither Mai or Naru were breathing.

Takigawa and Ayako sprinted towards the two motionless teens.

"Mai!" Ayako screamed as she threw herself onto her bare knees beside the girl while ignoring the stinging pain. Ayako brought her head down to Mai's chest to listen for a heartbeat, but heard almost nothing.

"She's not breathing!" Her doctor side completely taking over, Ayako immediately started CPR on the teen. Thirty compressions then two breaths; repeat.

Masako just stared at Mai and Naru's lifeless bodies, she didnt know how else to help. She had already called the ambulance.

"Dammit! Noll, breathe!" Lin cursed as he continued CPR, his palms pushing deeply into Naru's chest. "Come on!"

Masako couldn't stop the tears that poured down her cheeks. How did it come to this? How come she couldn't find them sooner? There were distressed spirits over here, she could feel them clearly. How come she didn't feel them sooner and find Mai and Naru before it came to this? She was supposed to be a renowned medium dammit!

"Don't you dare give up Mai!" Ayako yelled.

Takigawa noticed Ayako wasn't pressing down on her chest as hard as she should be. She most likely didn't want to cause any more pain to Mai than she already had.

Though it pained him to do this, Monk pushed Ayako back a bit and started to do CPR himself, pressing his palms almost three inches into her chest. He would rather Mai have a few broken ribs and then recover than she die and leave everyone wishing if only they did more.

When Mai suddenly spat out a large amount of water and took in a large gasp of air, Takigawa also let out a breath he didn't know he was holding in. He almost smiled until he remembered Naru. Lin was still trying to get Naru to breathe but he wasn't moving even the slightest.

Naru was showing no sign of life.

John was the first to hear the sound of the ambulance and ran towards the front of the school to show them the way. Almost tripping over his own feet every few steps. He was almost in tears. Even though he knew they would not linger but go to heaven, he was not ready for them to leave this world.

Not a minute later John was running back leading a few paramedics carrying two stretchers to the scene.

Mai was put on a stretcher and carried off while Ayako followed behind explaining the situation.

When Naru was placed on a stretcher they immediately pressed an airbag to his mouth while hurrying him towards the ambulance which had more equipment.

Lin and Ayako did not leave Mai or Naru's side even as they climbed into two separate ambulances.

Monk just caught a glimpse through the ambulance doors as they started up a defibrillator.

"Clear!" a man yelled as he pressed the machine to Naru's chest causing his body to jolt from the electricity.

Then the door closed

The ambulance almost immediately sped off.

"Lets go!" Monk called to everyone as they ran to his car to follow the ambulance.

Monk swerved around the road fast, it was a miracle he didn't get into an accident.

Once they arrived at the hospital they all tried to follow Mai and Naru into the ICU but were ushered into a waiting room.

"Sorry. I can't let you in any further ." the nurse said. "But we have a special waiting room for the ICU families. This way."

The only ones that were allowed was Ayako because she was a doctor and Lin because he managed to scare everyone into letting him stay right at Naru's side.

There were so many doctors and nurses, it was amazing they even made it as far as they did.

XxX

The last thing Mai saw before the scene in front of her vanished was the unnatural way Naru's body lurched from the shock of the defibrillator. Mai felt tears pricking the corner of her eyes. She felt nauseous and crouched down to the ground, clutching the sides of her stomach with both arms. The scene she just witnessed was enough to make her feel sick to her stomach.

'Oh, my god. N- Naru... I'm so sorry, it's all my fault! I'm such an idiot! Please be okay.. Naru please just be okay!

Mai took long deep breaths trying to calm herself down, but it was proving to be difficult. Soon Mai felt light wind-like sensation as the room around her changed. Mai didn't even look up to see where she was now.

Even though she was in the Astral plane and knew she couldn't actually feel anything such as pain or sickness, her mind still made her feel as if she were going to throw up..

When Mai felt a soft pressure on her shoulder, she jumped and whipped her head to the side.

What she saw made her eyes widen, there standing all clad in black was the source of her grief. It was Naru. Dream Naru of course.

Mai moved so fast she didn't even realize that she had wrapped her arms around the teen, pressing her face into his chest until after she had done so. But even after she realized, she didnt let go.

"Mai." he said, his voice softer than she last heard it.

Mai looked up, fresh tears in the corner of her eyes. She knew this wasn't really Naru, but she couldnt help herself.

He lifted his hand and pointed behind her.

"Watch." He said.

When she looked up she saw Monk, John and Masako all sitting in a waiting room looking anxious. They were all covered in dirt and grime. When they saw Ayako coming they stood up, looking at her expectantly.

Mai couldn't hear if they were talking or not but Ayako burst into tears and Takigawa immediately went to comfort her, pulling her into a hug.

A few tears slipped down Masako's face. Just watching Ayako cry made her cry.

Mai let go of dream Naru and started to run towards them, fear settling into the pit of her stomach.

Dream Naru followed her at a walk.

Soon she started to hear snippets of the conversation.

"...Mai's..."

"...surgery..."

"...Lin refused..."

Every snippet of the conversation made her fear grow.

Soon the scene disappeared and she looked back to Naru.

"Do you know what happened? Did I- Did Naru die?" Mai asked, her voice starting to break. Naru looked away for a moment then looked back,

"Oh, my god It's really bad then!" Mai started to tear up more before a huge sob violently shook her body. "It's all my fault! If I wasn't so stupid none of this would have happened!"

A new scene appeared in front of Mai.

"Mai, don't-" Naru started, reaching his arm out to stop her, but she ignored him and walked forward

Everyone was seated in the waiting room, excluding Lin, he was nowhere to be seen. It seems this vision was a few hours after the other one.

A doctor approaches the waiting room, looking down at his chart.

Mai hesitantly walks behind the doctor looking over his shoulder at the chart, the only thing she saw was in the corner there was a note that read: Family and friends refer patient as 'Naru'

Mai gasped. Her heart squeezing painfully in her chest. She was finally going to hear news about Naru! Mai tried to look again but he started walking forward a bit.

"Excuse me. Can I please see the family of patient Naru-" but before the doctor could finish, Ayako and all the others almost ran over the Doctor.

"We are the closest to family he has here right now. What news do you have?" Ayako asked, desperation very clear in her voice.

No one else could talk as they impatiently waited for the man to speak.

He sighed and took off his glasses closed his eyes then put them back on.

"I regret to inform you that after the operation brain hypoxia occurred causing-" the doctor cleared his throat "'Naru' to fall into a coma. Cerebral hypoxia occurs when there is not enough oxygen getting to the brain. Some brain cells start to die after 5 minutes without oxygen causing severe brain damage. 'Naru' went into cardiac arrest and fell into a coma. He died an hour later."

Mai was too shocked to hear what her friends did after they heard this, she could imagine it resembled her. Her heart sped up until she could hear it thumping violently in her chest and she could feel her world crumbling down around her.

No. No. No. He wasn't dead. No. He's wrong. It can't be true. He's not dead!

Mai crumpled to the ground, clutching her chest, letting out wailing cries.

"No! You can't be dead! Please no! I should be the one to die, it's my fault!"

Dream Naru started to walk towards her but she didn't notice. She had forgotten he was there. Wait how was he still there? Oh that's right, he was just a part of her imagination after all. Right?

"Mai." He said. She looked up not even trying to hold in her cries. "I think you've been here long enough." Naru bent forward and poked her forehead softly. "It's time to wake up." He whispered.

"No!" Mai yelled as she tried to reach out to grab onto Naru but her hand just went through nothing.

And just like that, Mai felt herself falling into darkness.

Everything was black and she felt cold. Not much, but a chill. Her whole body was starting to ache, especially her thigh. As more time went on, the pain in her leg intensified. She felt a small stabbing pain in her arm as well. Soon a soft mechanical beeping sound filled her ears at a slow steady pace, Beep, Beep, Beep, Beep.

When she opened her eyes, she faintly saw a white ceiling through the dim lighting. The only lighting was the moonlight shinning through the window and small green and yellow lights blinking from the life support machines beside her.

Her breathing was getting hard and tiring until she noticed she had a mask over her mouth giving her a steady supply of oxygen. The oxygen, now that she was awake, was too little.

Mai's arm felt heavy as she lifted it to remove the mask. That's when she noticed both her arms were bandaged and her left arm was hooked up to the IV.

She felt wet on her pillow. When she reached up to her face, she realized she had been crying out for real.

There was the time displayed on one of the machine screens, it read: 4:27am.

How long was she here? Her body felt stiff so she imagined she had been asleep for a while.

Then a voice flashed through her mind,

'Naru went into cardiac arrest and then a coma. He died an hour later.'

Fresh tears fell from her eyes and she began to sob. Her heart rate picked up causing the machine beside her to start to blare loudly. Beep! Beep! Beep! But Mai barely heard it.

A nurse came in a minute later and hurried over to her side.

"Are you okay? Are you in pain?"

Mai nodded her head.

"Where does it hurt?" the nurse asked.

Mai brought her hand up to her heart and clutched the fabric in front of it.

The nurse frowned realizing it wasn't physical pain that Mai felt.

"Oh honey." The nurse hugged Mai and Mai hugged her back. It pained the nurse to see her patients cry. She shouldn't be emotionally attached but she couldn't help herself.

"What's wrong?"

"He's dead!" Mai cried.

"Whose dead?"

"Naru!"

The nurse frowned again. How did she hear about that? She had just woken up after 3 days of being here.

The nurse let her cry for a moment before getting up

"I need to inform the doctor. Do you want me to call anyone for you? Family or friends? I think doctor Ayako is still here"

Mai nodded. Then the nurse left.

A few minutes later Ayako burst into the room.

"Mai! You're awake!" Ayako cried as she pulled Mai into a hug.

Mai let out a pained cry. Her chest felt as if it were on fire, she could guess she had a few broken ribs.

"Oh! Mai I'm sorry!"

Mai didn't say anything but started to cry again.

"Does it hurt a lot? Do you want some pain medication?"

Mai shook her head.

"Then what's wrong?" Ayako asked while she started to rub her back.

Mai couldn't make any words leave her mouth, just sobs.

Mai cried until she fell asleep again. She was still exhausted despite how long she had been sleeping.

XxX

When Mai opened her eyes she was standing in the classroom where she first met Naru. She felt her heart ache painfully in her chest at the memory.

Naru walked into the room, just like he did all those months ago. But this time, Keiko nor Michiru were there. Just her and Naru alone.

Mai ran towards him,

"Naru!" She yelled, tears gathering in her eyes. But as soon as she got within an inch of him, the whole scene around her changed.

This time Mai stood in front of the old school house on their first case together. She looked around and saw Naru sleeping in the SPR van with his black coat thrown over his shoulders.

Her face heat up despite herself as she saw his chest rise and fall with breaths. His face was soft with the peace of sleep rather than his usual stoic mask.

"Naru!" Mai yelled as she again tried to get to him. But he was gone before she could.

Again the scene changed and she found herself sitting on the ground in a living room where she guessed was Ayami's house.

And there was Naru standing a few feet away from her, staring at the place where Tomiko's mother's spirit was cleansed. It was the second time he had surprised her since their meeting that he wasn't all what he seemed.

"Please wait Naru!" Mai yelled as she got up from her place on the ground. Naru turned and looked at Mai before vanishing.

Mai was starting to see a pattern. She was seeing all the special moments she remembered from each case. But why was he disappearing before she got to him? It's like even her dreams were mocking her. Telling her she will never be good enough, telling her Naru will always be just out of reach. She didn't deserve him, it was her fault he was-

Mai turned to see she was in the well at Rykurio High School. And there, sitting against the wall, was subject of her torment. Naru. He was smilling up at her, one of those rare smiles that made her stomach do back flips.

The scene changed and now she and Naru were back in that well, that damn well that caused Naru's d- Naru's deat- she couldn't finish saying it. Mai cried so much in so little time she was amazed she didn't run out of tears.

Mai shut her eyes tightly hoping these memories would just go away. She just wanted to see the real Naru again and when she opened her eyes she was just standing in blackness. That's when she heard a voice. It was Naru's voice. She couldn't make out what it was, it was so quiet.

She suddenly had a feeling that whatever he was saying was very important, like it would lead her to Naru. She strained her ears to hear but only heard bits and pieces.

All of a sudden she was on a rooftop of a building. Mai walked to the railing and looked over the edge, her hands gripping the metal bars tightly. As soon as her eyes wondered to the ground a huge wave of dizziness washed over her. She immediately stumbled back and landed ungracefully on her bottom.

She was just getting up when she heard Naru's voice behind her.

She turned to see Naru standing with his arm extended to help her up. His usual mask completely gone, exposing the storm of emotions swirling around in his eyes.

"Are you okay, Mai?"

"I'm alive, but you..."

"Give me your hand."

Mai nodded and reached her hand up to grab onto his. And this time their hands connected.

Mai awoke with a start, jolting upright in her hospital bed. She let out a pained groan as she put a light hand over her chest. Her ribs burned.

Mai lifted a hand to her face and felt she had a steady flow of tears running down her cheeks.

But even with what she knew, she just couldn't believe he was dead. Something inside her was telling her otherwise.

Ayako was gone and when she looked up for the time. it was 3:59am. She was asleep for almost another 24 hours.

Mai slowly got up minding her injuries and slipped on the soft gray slippers. The dream she had was telling her to go to the roof.

But why?

Mai pulled out the needle hooked up to the IV out. A drop of blood trickled down her arm but she ignored it and left her room and entered the dim lighted hallway. Just the short walk had her panting and her injuries burned a lot, not making it any easier.

Luckily there were no nurses in the the hall to tell her to go back to her room and rest, actually it was void of any people at all save for herself.

Mai hobbled around the best she could to find any stair case or elevator that could get her to the roof. Mai walked far down the hallway to finally find a staircase that leads to the roof. The staircase was cold and dimly lighted and smelt like an old hockey change room.

It took her almost eight minutes to climb one flight of stairs and who knows how many there were left.

But Mai didnt give up. She climbed until she reached the top, where there was a platform. The only thing that stood between her and the roof were a pair of double doors.

Mai panted heavily, sweat dripped down her back of her hospital shirt and pants. She pushed through the doors hard and they opened with an unexpected ease causing her to fly forward,

But she didn't hit the ground.

Instead, a pair of strong arms grasped her upper arm and waist, saving her from more physical pain.

Mai slowly regained her bearings and stood staring at the ground while gripping the sleeve of the unknown person. Her hands trembled lightly and she looked up to his chest not going any further. Was this Naru? Did she dare hope? If it wasn't, she didn't know how much longer she could hold in all the pain. Of course its not! He died. He did! She even saw the doctor tell Ayako and the others! The way he died fit the situation exactly!

'Stop it Mai! Stop! Stop! Stop!'

A womans voice echoed through her head. "Patient Narumi Matsuoka, age 19 died at 8:57pm December 17th."

"Are you just going to stare at my chest?" the man in front of her said. He sounded like~

Mai whipped her head up so fast she got dizzy and fell forward gripping the front of his shirt.

Looking up again slower, she saw him.

She saw Naru.

"Naru!" Mai cried, she threw herself at him with new found strength thus knocking Naru to the ground.

"Oof"

She now sat on the ground between his legs squeezing the life out of him.

"Naru!" came Mai's muffled cry again from her face buried into Naru's chest. "Y-you were d-dead! The d-doctor sa-said you were d-dead! In my dr-dreams y-ou we-were so far away! I couldn't get to you! I-I-"

"Mai." Naru said gently.

Mai continued to cry into his chest.

"Mai. Listen to me."

Mai tried to stop but the tears wouldn't go but at least she managed to bring her weeping down to a hiccup.

"How did you get up here?" he asked.

"th-the stairs. W-why?" Mai asked.

"You could have used the elevator, dummy."

'The elevator..'

Then Mai did the last thing Naru expected her to do. She burst out laughing and crying at the same time.

"You're real."

Naru's face softened.

He had just woken up almost fifteen minutes before Mai got here. He didn't even know if she was alive or not, or if he'd killed her... The last thing he remembered was losing control of his PK and then the dream, the dream he had moments before awaking. It was the only reason he came up here.

"Mai. You contacted me. In your dream, how did you do that?"

"I did?" Mai asked as she wiped her nose. "I thought it was just the dream you, I always saw."

"What do you remember before being on the roof?"

"I- I was just thinking about how much I wanted to see the real you."

'Dream telepathy.'

"I felt you in my dream.. So is this even real or is this just a part of my imagination? And one time, I'll open my eyes and you'll be gone." Mai asked softly, a few more tears slipping down her face. She was trying desperately not to break down again.

"Mai." Naru said, cupping her chin in his hand he brought their foreheads together and closed his eyes.

"I am real, Mai." he whispered. "And I'm not going anywhere."

"Promise?" Mai asked through hiccups.

"I promise."

Then Naru brought his free hand to cup her other cheek and wiped her tears with the pads of his thumbs.

Mai opened her cinnamon brown eyes to see Naru's midnight blue eyes staring back at her. Their noses were almost touching and Mai could feel his hot breath on her lips.

"Mai." Naru said, barely above a whisper.

Mai just looked back at him, waiting. Her heart beat drummed in her chest and she began to feel a shiver down her whole body.

"Can I kiss you?"

Mai just smiled, a lone tear streaking her face.

Naru leaned his face in, pressing his lips to hers gently.

Mai lit up to the touch of his soft lips on hers and snaked her hands around his neck, leaning into the kiss more.

Her lips fit perfectly in his, for such a big mouth. Naru actually smiled, not smirked but smiled at his own joke.

Mai felt his lips curve upwards on hers causing her to smile too. This is one of his rare smiles, she'd take it however she could get it.

Much to Naru's surprise she pulled back slowly until just their forehead were still touching. And her cheeks were flushed a deep pink.

"Naru..I- "

"Mai. You know I am not very good with dealing with emotions.."

"Its okay.. You-"

"Mai. Be quiet." Naru demanded, his face scrunched up in concentration.

It was kind of...cute. Mai frowned slightly, but her hopes began to rise.

"Mai. I have these feelings that I don't quite understand, the only way I can describe these feelings is that I want to stay with you. That I- I want to be there for you when your sad. And I want to protect you.. " Naru trailed off before coming back strong. "I love you, Mai."

"I already know." Mai whispered. "I love you too."

Yay! Oh my, gosh I'm done! Thank you everyone for reading! I'm glad you all liked it, the first chapter at least? Thanks for being patient with me while updating!

Might have been a bad ending but I'll try to make them better next time.

If you want an epilogue of sorts to explain anything that I kind of left out review Or just PM me. Whatever works.