This takes place after the Bloody Labyrinth which is the Urado case. I've only read the manga and haven't watched the anime, so all my info comes from there.
Summary: When Mai is early to work one day, finally arriving before her narcissistic boss for once, she uncovers an essential piece of the mystery surrounding her boss and the man in her dreams. But will Mai's discovery place her boss even further out of her reach?
I
Mai Taniyama brushed a lock of her short brown hair back from her face as she picked up a map that Naru, her boss, had left out on the counter. A picture of two identical boys with black hair and handsome faces slipped out from between the folds of the map. Mai bent down to pick it up off the ground. Shock raced through her and tears gathered in her eyes. For all that she was young and Naru liked to call her an idiot she really truly wasn't stupid.
Side by side, with the knowledge that there were two of them, Mai knew that the kind boy she communicated with in her dreams wasn't Naru at all, but the other boy in the picture. The boy whose eyes are softer and whose smile came easier than a smile on Naru's face any day. Dread pressed down on her with a nearly unbearable weight and she knew that if this boy was the one in her dreams and he's not Naru then it makes more sense that this boy is dead.
Fresh tears spilled onto her cheeks as she knelt over the picture. No wonder Naru always wore black, he must be in so much pain she thought with despair. Her heart ached for the two brothers.
Naru walked into the office and froze in the doorway. Mai was kneeling over the picture. "Where did you get that?" he ground out, desperately trying to keep himself under control. Just because she saw his picture didn't mean that she knew anything. No one was supposed to know, except for Lin and he hadn't even informed Lin of all the details. Naru didn't want anyone to know. Aside from the fact that was supposed to be a secret, if other people know then was real and he could no longer pretend that his reflection in the mirror was his twin if he just looked long enough.
She didn't lift her head and Naru was beginning to become suspicious.
"You left it out," she finally answered, but he could hear that there was something wrong with her voice. It sounded nasally. He should never have left that picture out, but Mai has always had a habit of coming in late and he had thought he had time. He pinched the bridge of his nose. He should know better by now when it comes to the important things in his life he always shows up too late.
He knelt down next to her and reached for the photograph. She tightened her fingers around the edge and met his distressed eyes. He could see her tear-stained cheeks and the water that was still gathered on her lashes now. He was so distracted by the sight that it took him a minute to realize that Mai had asked him a question.
"What?" he asked, a furrow developing in between his brows.
"I said, were you ever going to tell any of us?" she asked. Her face was a mixture of sorrow and something that he didn't have the ability to decipher.
"That I have a brother. Why would I?" he mustered his coldest, most impersonal tone, but he knew it was futile even before he finished speaking. It didn't deter Mai at all, but few things ever had once she set her mind to it.
"Oh Naru," she cried. The tears spilled faster down her cheeks and he still had no idea why. There was no way she could know. He and Lin had been careful to never give any clues away and she's Mai- young, clueless, temperamental, sweet Mai. Psychometry wasn't one of her gifts so there was absolutely no way she could know. The only thing he could think of was that she was upset that he didn't share parts of his life with her because they were "friends".
"I wish you would have told me. What's his name?" she asked softly, staring intently down at the picture.
He was getting tired of this and he didn't want to talk with anyone about this, not even Mai. He just didn't feel ready. "Why does it even matter?" he asked angrily. He can't help but think that he may never be ready to share this with anyone.
His gaze swept back over her face and suddenly he was able to read something else on her face. It looked strangely like defeat to him and he didn't like the look of it on her face. He's never liked Mai sad or scared and he's quickly realizing that he doesn't like this look on her face either, especially since he was the one that put it there.
"Please?" Her voice is almost a whisper at this point.
He sighed and he could feel the grief crash through and engulf him. "Eugene. His name is Eugene or Gene for short."
"Eugene," she tested out. The name was foreign on her tongue and was hard for her to emphasize correctly. She had trouble getting the syllables and her mouth to cooperate so she shortened the name like Naru had. "Gene."
"Why does it even matter to you Taniyama?" The grief threatened to overwhelm him. He resented that she wouldn't let this go. It was hard for him to even hear his brother's name spoken out loud and he didn't think he could bear to hear it out loud again anytime soon.
Mai visibly deflated and a few more tears escaped her eyes. "Because I've been seeing him in my dreams ever since I met you. He's been helping me with my dreams, but I didn't know you had a twin, so I thought it was you or that I was crazy. I can tell though that it's been him. That it's been Gene this whole time," she said as she lightly traced two fingers over his twin's face.
Ice froze the blood in his veins and he would swear that his heart stopped altogether. Whatever he had been expecting Mai to say, well it wasn't that. He clenched down the nausea that tried to force its way up his throat. He would never have dreamed of Mai saying that. He wanted to vomit. He's been so close this whole time. He could have put his brother to rest months ago. He grabbed her upper arms frantically and a ragged breath escaped from his body. "Mai, what did you say? Never mind, I heard you the first time. Does he talk to you?" he asked, desperation creeping into his voice.
She let out a small wounded cry, "Yes. All the time. He's always helped me. He's dead, isn't he?"
It was his turn to swallow back tears. It was like a slap to hear someone else say it. Martin and Luella, his adoptive parents, never said it aloud either. The corners of his mouth turned down into that displeased look he always wore around her whenever she had annoyed him. "He is. I let him come to Japan alone. Something terrible happened and please Mai has he ever said where he is?"
Mai thought that perhaps she had never really understood Naru at all and that maybe the expression he always wore was less annoyance with her and more grief that he can't stop from spilling out. It was the please that got her. Naru never said please. Like a literal pull, she could feel the tug on her heartstrings as she witnessed the most unguarded look she had ever seen on his face.
She shook her head no.
"But I can ask," she offered.
"Mai - he didn't die peacefully," he warned lowly.
He couldn't bring himself to say that she didn't have to, but he wanted to give her an out. On the last case, in the bloody labyrinth, she had experienced a death vision and he knew that it had badly frightened her. When he closed his eyes, he could still clearly see the terror reflected in her wide eyes from that day. She was always feeling something. She frequently spilled her feelings out all over everything she came in contact with, but he had never seen her so shaken up before that case.
She grasped his hands and met his deep blue eyes with a soft look. She was projecting earnestness so strongly that he could feel it through their clasped hands even without consciously calling on his psychometry. "It's okay. I still want to try." The to "help you" goes unspoken but he knew that's what she meant.
He pulled her up by their still connected hands and helped her over to the client couch. He moved a decorative pillow under her head as she laid down.
"Will you stay?"
He couldn't bring himself to speak, but his nod of agreement was the last thing Mai saw as her eyes fluttered shut. Her hand tightened on the picture of the two boys one last time and then she felt herself drift away.
Suddenly, the inky blackness behind her eyelids turned into a roadway. Night covered the land in dense shadows and the road looked dark and wet in the dim light provided by the waning crescent moon. Mai looked up and in slow motion, she could see the headlights of a red car speed down the hill and the driver lose control on a slick patch of the road. She couldn't move out of the way in time. Her eyes widened and her body tensed instinctively. She felt the impact as the car hit her straight on and then everything sped up as she felt her body fly. The sound of her bones crunching as she hits the ground is a sensation that she both hears and feels. Immense pain flared through her body and she couldn't move from the shock. There was something wrong with her ribs and her bones are definitely broken. She gasped out a strangled breath and the pain makes her hesitate to take another. She heard the car stop and the driver rushed over to where she was laid out. Tilting her head was an impossible task but she could tell by the clipping sound of heels and bare legs that the driver was a woman.
Mai tried to gasp out a help or please or anything at all, but she couldn't get any noise out. She heard, more than saw the woman bolt back to her car and Mai despaired that the woman had left her. She heard the car squeal and confusingly she watched the taillights rush toward her. She cried out as her vision whited out and it was only after it happened that Mai comprehends that the woman had run her over a second time. She was in so much pain that she couldn't move or speak. She wavered in and out of consciousness, but every shallow puff of breath brought debilitating agony.
Please, someone, help me.
She felt the soft fabric of a blanket wrapped around her broken body. It was such a strong contrast that it stuck in her mind. She's aware of being hefted up and tossed onto a surface. There's so much pain. It was the familiar sound of a trunk closing that alerted her that she's been tossed like luggage into the car trunk.
Please find me.
I don't want to die.
Mai knew that she couldn't have been in the trunk of the car for very long, but an eternity seemed to pass by. She had no way of judging and the lost time between blackouts could very well be seconds or hours. She wanted to bang on the car, she wanted to make noise, but she was unable to move or make a sound through the pain. Panic clogged her throat as the car stopped and Mai can't help but dread whatever will happen next.
Help! Please! I don't want to die.
Mai blacked out from the pain and fear as she was lifted out of the trunk. As her body hit water she jolted awake and she reflexively took a deep breath. Cold water filled her mouth. Her throat spasmed in response to the invading fluid and more water filled her lungs. She was too weak to swim and she was only had the barest bit of consciousness. She couldn't breathe and she sunk further into the dark depths. It was impossible to move. Her throat and chest ached fiercely., but she couldn't determine if the burning in her chest was from the lack of oxygen or the impact of the car earlier.
It hurts. I'm scared. Someone, please find me.
The water was dark already, but even darker was the blackness that crept into the corners of her vision. Once the creeping darkness stole everything then there was no more pain or fear. There was nothing at all.
Suddenly, Mai was back in her own body on the shore of the lake that she was sure Gene's body had been thrown into. The water looked deceptively peaceful lapping in little waves at the shoreline but she shivered, still acutely able to feel the icy coldness of the water dragging her down.
"I never wanted you to see that," Eugene, the boy she saw in her dreams, said. He looked pale and wrung out even as a spirit. His face was the unhappiest she'd seen it in her dreamscape.
"Eugene," she hiccupped. The tears came faster now. "I'm so sorry. But why did you let me think you were Naru this whole time?"
His shoulders slumped and he kicked a rock into the water as he sighed out. "I was trying to reach my brother, but I never could reach him, only you. It's hard for me to begin the connection if there's no immediate danger though. This is the first time you've reached for me instead of the other way around and the connection is much stronger and clearer. I think it's easier for you to contact me than it is for me to contact you, especially since you know my name now. Inevitably, every time I could reach you everyone was always in danger and I didn't have long."
Mai cocked her head to the side and asked, "What do you mean about it being easier to contact you with your name?"
"Names have power. Always remember that Mai Taniyama," he said and met her gaze dead-on.
A chill ran down her spine as if someone had walked over her grave and she nodded in understanding. "Do you know where your body is?"
A shadow passed over his face and his lips turned down. The expression made him look even more like Naru, except that it looked wrong on his face. "In Fureai Damn Lake."
"I need to go soon. Is there anything else you would like me to tell Naru?" Mai asked more to change the subject than anything else. She didn't like to see him in pain. He had always been so gentle to her and she can't stand that someone had hurt him so badly and thrown him away.
His gaze softened and Mai couldn't help but contrast how different he looked from Naru with a more natural expression on his face. Even though they are twins, Mai didn't understand how she had ever mistook them for the same person. It's easy to tell them apart if you knew to look at their eyes and mouths. "Tell Oliver- Tell Noll I said to stop being an idiot scientist and live a little more and that I will always love him."
Mai nodded and pinched her lips together so she didn't let out the sob that was crawling up her throat. He spoke again, "And Mai- When Noll finds me I don't know that I'll ever see you again, so in case I never get to say it again, thank you."
Her heart stopped beating for a minute and it felt as though someone had torn the organ out of her chest. She felt it like a physical blow. "Because you will have passed on?" she questioned.
"Yes," Gene said simply.
She pressed her eyes closed for a second and opened them as she spoke, "Then I hope you find peace."
He smiled gently at her as he was bathed in a soft glow. He took her hands in his and squeezes gently. "Thank you, Mai. It's time to get up now."
Naru retrieved a blanket for Mai and settled in next to the couch. His eyes traced the tracks of the fat tears that rolled down her cheeks while she slept. At least he could be sure that she was seeing something, although if it pertained to his missing brother or not remained to be seen. He wrung his hands in his lap. He wanted to touch her or wipe away the tears, but he was afraid that if he touched her it would break the spell. He didn't know how long he sat there waiting for her to wake up, but it simultaneously seemed like forever and like no time had passed at all.
Mai's eyes flew open and she choked as she hugged her arms around her ribs. Her throat burned and her ribs ached fiercely. After she finished coughing and heaving, she practically launched her body onto Naru's. She tried to talk, but Naru couldn't understand what she was trying to say through the sobs wracking her slight frame.
Naru stiffened when she initially threw herself into his lap, but as the surprise wore off, he released the tension in his frame while she clung to him. He hesitantly brought his arms around her and pressed her more firmly into him. Finally, he could make out the words she had been saying and he almost wished he couldn't because she was repeating, "I saw it."
His fingers tightened on her back as he closed his eyes to collect himself and fought back the nauseous feeling in his stomach. He should never have risked that she would watch that. He can still see the accident clearly in his mind. Death visions are difficult even if you don't know the victim, but to experience someone's death that you know and care about was excruciating. He waited until her sobs lessened in intensity and the breaths on his neck slowed down to ask, "Mai did you talk to him? To Eugene?"
Mai nodded her head in the hollow of his neck. Her throat was so sore, but she let out a single hiccup before beginning to speak, "Fureai Damn Lake. He says to tell you to stop being an idiot scientist and live a little more and that he will always love you."
He fell back into the chair and bowed his head, eyes squeezed firmly closed. When he opened his eyes he gently helped Mai back on to the couch. She sat with her head on her knees and her arms wrapped tightly around her while Noll made tea.
He crouched down and handed her a cup of the fresh tea. Steam rose up from the cup as she sipped it. "I've got to contact Lin now. When we find Gene I'm going to shut down the office and return to England, so you need to begin searching for another job. I'm leaving as soon as Lin gets here so bring all your stuff home with you tonight."
"Kaz-" she started to speak and then abruptly closed her mouth. Shibuya Kazuya couldn't possibly be his real name and Gene had called him Oliver in her vision.
"Oliver," she said and she watched him jump at the sound of his name from her lips. "I want to go with you to find him. I'd like to pay my respects, please. He's probably saved my life as many times as you have," she said with a wry self-deprecating grin.
Oliver sighed. "That's because you can't stay out of trouble, idiot. I'm calling Lin now. Get your bag ready."
A/N - Edited for confusing tenses (05/23)