I just want to thank all those people who found my story buried beneath the mountains of fanfics dedicated to Ghost Hunt and took the time to read it while I took that huge break, and thanks to all of you who are still with me! Sorry about that, I've had tons of school work and stuff. I'm wondering if I'll even be able to continue the sequel to this until summer break again.

Anyways, no one wants to hear all of that. Let's get into the story!

"Mai?"

Mai suddenly could see. The horrible darkness of her dream had given way to the darkness of a room. She had never been so happy to hear that voice before. She opened her mouth to call for him, but a cold hand clamped down on her face.

"Ooh, she also works as lover's bait!" giggled an insane voice, one Mai remembered from just a few hours ago. "Two for the price of one. What more could I want?"

Mai clawed at the hand on her face. She wanted to scream. What the heck was lover's bait? More importantly, where the heck was Naru? If he opened the door, why wasn't there any light?

As if he knew what she was thinking, there was a click, and Naru's flashlight came on in Mai's face. She blinked and squinted and tried to shield her eyes with her hands.

"Mai, what's the matter?" Naru asked, unsure.

Can't you see someone's hand is on my mouth? Mai thought angrily. She pulled at the hand again, harder this time. It released her mouth for the slightest second before clamping down on her neck and crushing her against the wall.

Mai wheezed painfully and fruitlessly reached for Naru's flashlight, his hands, the front of his shirt - anything.

"Mai?"

Shut the hell up and help me, you idiot scientist!

"MAI!"

Cold hands touched Mai's neck again, but this time, they were long-fingered and a little rough. The crushing weight against her throat vanished. Mai coughed and gagged and slid down against the floor. Naru's blurry face swam. His fingers were still on her neck, sending jolts of pain every time they moved.

"Naru," she croaked, and yanked his hands from her throat. She drew in a ragged breath and let it out and tried not to throw up all over his clean black shoes. At least he had put that stupid flashlight down.

When breathing no longer spent waves of pain up her spine, she straightened and raked her hair back and looked at her savior. He was sitting opposite her on his heels, his flashlight trained on the floor. His eyes were dark and betrayed nothing.

"Can you stand?" he asked.

Mai wanted to tell him to ask her if she could breathe, but she didn't. She tried to nod, but that made her even dizzier, so she stopped.

Naru studied her for a second before taking one of her hands and drawing it across his shoulder. He put an arm around her waist and slowly, gently - more gently than Mai could imagine an ice prince doing so - practically lifted her to her feet. Still, it was too much. Mai was more than a little dizzy by the time she was upright, and a lot in pain. She clutched Naru's shoulder, nails digging into his skin, but she could care less whether he would hate her for it later, because his arm was around her waist and his ribs were against her head and she could hear his pounding heartbeat and he was warm and strong and gentle and she loved him so much it hurt.

Then he turned to look at her, and she fell head over heels for him all over again. His face was cold and stone-like, but his eyes were different, and Mai wished she could read them, read him.

She wanted to kiss him

"Can you walk?"

Mai cleared her throat and looked away. Did he know the effect he had on her? He was a genius - surely he must know?

"Yeah, I think so." Her voice came out throaty and coarse, and just saying those five words made her cough. "I'll open a door."

"No, you will not," came the immediate reply. "If you do, you might pass out. We'll walk there."

Mai didn't tell him she didn't think she could walk all that much. She didn't tell him she was sure she would faint if she took just one step. Instead, she thought of John - kind, sweet John - and his swollen, purple foot, the way he had walked with them all without complaining back to base after Mai had accidentally taken him to Naru.

She gritted her teeth. "Okay."

However, they had not gone two steps before a now horribly familiar wind whipped into their faces. Mai flinched and shrank against Naru's warm body.

"You're not going anywhere, are you?"

Naru remained eerily calm and didn't stop moving. He only swung the flashlight back and forth once, but there was nothing there.

"No can do, little boy."

And the floor fell away from beneath them.

Mai opened her eyes as something grabbed her wrist and almost jerked her arm out of its socket. Without Naru's flashlight, it was dark again. Her legs flailed in midair. Her heart thudded wildly, straining against her ribcage, and her arm was on fire.

"Mai, stop moving!" Naru's voice came from over her through clenched teeth. "Can you grab onto my leg?"

Mai found the fabric of his pants with her free hand and grabbed onto his leg.

"I'm going to let go of your wrist so I can grab the floor with with both hands. Ready?"

"Yeah." Mai assumed he had managed to grab hold of the floor when it had caved released her wrist and she quickly grabbed his leg with her other hand.

"Are you still dizzy?"

Mai felt so weak she was seeing yellow spots in the darkness. "A little," she lied.

"I need you to climb up me so you can reach the floor."

"Okay." How on earth was she supposed to do that?

"Grab onto my knee."

Mai gritted her teeth and struggled and strained and tried hard not to fail. Desperate tears filled her eyes. "Naru, I can't."

"That's fine. It's fine. You need to relax and stay calm."

Mai pressed her forehead against Naru's leg and swallowed her tears. After a minute, she lifted her head. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"I'm going to give you my hand and pull you up. When you're high enough, grab my waist. You can't miss, or we'll both fall. Understand?"

"Yeah," Mai whispered.

Don't mess up. Don't mess up.

Naru swung dangerously to the right and Mai gasped, but then a hand touched her hair, and she remembered what to do. She grabbed his forearm and was painstakingly pulled up a foot.

"Mai, now!"

Mai threw her arms around him, albeit awkwardly as she wasn't nearly high enough. Mostly she could only feel his hip bone and belt, but at least now she was up higher. She felt him strain as they swung wildly.

"Naru-"

"Shut up, Mai," he snapped through clenched teeth. Once they stopped swinging so much, he said, "Mai, I'm going to bend both knees. One, I'm going to push back so you can step on my calf, and the other I'm going to bring up front so you can step on my thigh. Can you imagine me kneeling like that?"

"Yes," she said in a small voice.

"Like I said, you're going to first put one foot onto my calf, then the other on my thigh, and boost yourself up. You should be able to reach the floor and push yourself up. Don't get on my fingertips. Understand?"

Mai squeezed her eyes shut but the yellow dots wouldn't go away. "Naru, I'm sorry," she croaked.

"Understand?" Naru repeated harshly.

"Yeah."

Naru's voice became soothing and calm again."On my mark. Three. Two. One. Now."

Mai struggled and they swayed and Naru's back leg bent too much when she put weight on it but it was enough to clamber onto his raised leg and then she could reach the floor, and she jumped onto her hands and pushed until she was over the top and collapsed on the floor. She sucked in deep breaths and then turned for Naru. "I can't see you, Naru."

"Sit on your heels and touch my hands. Don't grab them. I just need to know where they are. I'll grab your arms, so put your knee up to your chest and lean backwards when I grab your arm."

Mai drew her knee to her chest and felt for Naru's hands. They were icy.

One hand jerked upwards and caught her forearm and almost dragged her down, but Mai threw all her weight backwards. She grabbed the back of his shirt and yanked as hard as she could.

There was a splintering noise from underneath Mai.

"Mai, let go!" Naru shouted. He released her arm but Mai shot forward and grabbed it again.

"Crap," she muttered as the floor creaked again.

"Mai, let go of my arm, right now!" Naru demanded.

"Or what?" Mai retorted. She pulled again. Sweat ran down her forehead. She wasn't going to let him go. "You'll threaten my paycheck?"

"Or we're both dead!" Naru growled at her. "Let go and get out of here before the floor breaks!"

"We can both get out if you hurry!" Mai pulled harder, but he was resisting, and he seemed to get heavier by the second. "I'm not going anywhere so the least you could do is HELP ME!"

The wood dropped a few inches and Mai slid and lost her grip on Naru's shirt. She gasped and lunged for him. Tears of frustration filled her eyes.

"Mai, YOU IDIOT, PLEASE!" His voice wasn't calm anymore.

Was Naru begging? The great Oliver Davis, the Master Narcissist, the ice prince - begging? Mai wished it wasn't so dark so she could see his face, but some stroke of luck had decided to save his dignity.

"MAI!"

"JUST SHUT UP YOU DAMN NARCISSIST! You can't see anything past yourself, so let me tell you!" Mai yelled. "If you're gone, there are other people out here who need you. Think of them! Heck, screw them! I need you!"

Mai's face grew hot as she realized she had just confessed - again - and there were tears leaking down her face and probably onto Naru, but she didn't care, she wasn't going to leave, and she wasn't going to let him go.

She yanked hard on his shirt, and her little rant must have put some sense into the tea-loving jerk's brain, because he strained and struggled and grunted and the floor creaked and fell twice, but then he was there, he was up, and they were both collapsed side by side on the tilted floor panting, gasping.

"Jack and Jill went up the hill," sang an insane voice.

Naru grabbed Mai's arm and pulled her to her feet.

"To fetch a pail of water."

Mai stumbled dizzily against him. Her head hurt badly.

"Jack fell down and broke his crown."

Something slammed into Naru and he was yanked from her side into the direction of the hole.

"And Jill came tumbling after."

Mai didn't have the chance to leap for Naru, to try to grab for him, before a hand slammed into her back and pushed her into the darkness.

So, guys, I'm tempted to put up all of the rest of the story now while I still have some time, but I want you guys to be worried for them a little bit. I have to say, I really like the way the story's ending turned out.

Sorry again about the long wait, I'll try to be better about posting chapters.

For next time: If you're enjoyed this much of the story, you'll really enjoy the next chapter, I promise.