Don't worry guys. Spoiler: Mai's going to live.

Disclaimer: I do not own Ghost Hunt. If I did, I'm sure I would be so sad, because who just wants to write this great story all the time, and never read it themselves? Does that make sense, or am I just rambling now?

Mai looked away. She wanted her last memory to be of Naru's eyes.

But it didn't happen that way.

There was a heavy, grating noise, and the stone slab underneath Mai moved backwards, away from the demon, at such an alarming rate that a breeze whipped into her face. She looked around wildly for the source of the disturbance and her gaze fell upon the demon.

He was holding his sword downwards, but it was on the floor, and his lips were turned down in a viscous frown.

"No!" he yelled, straining against it. Oddly enough, he didn't seem able to move from his position.

Mai squirmed and wished the bonds restraining her neck and head would disappear so that she could see, and, strangely, all the cords around her body suddenly vanished.

She immediately jerked up and off the altar, overjoyed and relieved to be free of the cold stone. She took in the scene before her: the momentum of the demon's swing had brought the sword crashing down to the floor when the altar she was on moved away. It had cleaved straight through the stone and was half-buried in some strange symbol.

She dreamed of a seal beneath the altar.

We need to efface the seal.

We may need to chip it or cut a few inches into it.

Naru.

"Naru!"

His bonds had disappeared as well, and without the ropes to hold him up, he was collapsed on the floor. Ignoring the screaming, cursing demon, she ran to him.

"We need….to get out….of here," he croaked. "Help me….up….the demon….can't stop….us."

Mai's head was spinning and a cold hand clenched her heart on seeing Naru gasp and wheeze, but she thrust away all semblance of coherent thoughts and hauled Naru to his feet. Everything around them began to unravel. The altar, the ropes, and even the demon turned to ash and crumbled before her eyes.

"Over there," Naru coughed, inclining his head towards a small opening in the cavern. Mai put his arm over her shoulders and tried her best not to hurt him as he limped alongside her.

Chunks of the ceiling fell as they walked. Twice Naru had to drag an oblivious Mai to the side, but they managed to make it to the narrow passage that led out of the cave. Not moments after they did, the opening caved in. Mai thought it was fitting, in a way. Now no one could ever return to that awful place and try to begin the cycle of horrors all over again. It was sealed forever.

Surprisingly, there was a little light in the tunnel they were in. Mai turned to look at Naru. Even in the dark, she could tell his eyes were unfocused. There was a sheen of cold sweat on his face, and he was shivering uncontrollably. She helped him sit down against the tunnel wall, knees slightly bent into his chest, and crouched down in front of him against his feet. She pressed her hands against his shoulders to hold him upright.

"Mai, are you alright?" he rasped, his bleary eyes searching her face. Mai wondered if he could see her at all.

At that last thought, the hands on his shoulders clenched into fists, squeezing his arms. "Why….WOULD YOU ASK THAT?" she screamed. Tears rose in her eyes and she pushed them down. "YOU IDIOT!"

Naru smirked a little, and Mai was so full of raw emotions she would have kissed his beautiful smile had he not been suddenly struck by a vicious bout of coughing. When it was over, he spat something dark onto the floor and wiped his lips.

"NARU!" Mai cried. "You're-"

"I'm sorry he touched you, Mai," he said softly.

Mai didn't answer for a moment because she was so scared for him at that point she was sure she would start crying.

"Naru," she said thickly, when she was sure she could control the tears for a few seconds. "You save me, you're - you're hurt and - YOU'RE WORRIED ABOUT ME? What the hell is your problem? You're dying!"

And with that, it was out in the open. Mai was no doctor, but even she could tell what was happening to the 17-year-old boy in front of her. Her voice cracked and tears rose to her eyes and she didn't bother to stop one from slipping down her face.

"Mai….will you hold my hand?" he asked, clumsily putting his left one in her lap. "It feels a little numb."

"Numb?" Mai gasped, horrified. She grabbed it and held it tight in her right one. "It's so cold!"

"Extremities often become cold and/or numb in severe anemic cases."

She didn't want to ask, but she forced it out. "Do people….die….in….severe anemic cases?"

Naru coughed and spat more blood onto the floor and looked away from her. His voice was sad and soft, the most emotion Mai had heard in the year she had worked with him. "Sometimes."

Mai felt her breathing hitch. She imagined Naru's grave, Naru's headstone, Naru dead in a coffin, Naru's parents crying, Naru dying right before her eyes.

She couldn't breathe.

She couldn't breathe.

She couldn't breathe.

She couldn't-

"Mai, snap out of it!" Naru shouted, and Mai blinked and tried to suck in a breath.

"W-what?" she murmured faintly. She blinked again. How long had she been staring at him like that? She managed a breath and forced it out.

"Are you okay now?" he asked.

All of Mai's emotions were clogging up her throat, so she just shook her head and held his hand tighter.

"Mai…." Naru trailed off.

Mai looked up at him uncertainly, false hope blooming in her heart. Was he going to tell her how to get out of here? How to help him? How to save him?

"Did….you mean….what you said?"

Mai struggled for a second to follow his train of thought, and, suddenly, her own words came to her - clear and unforgettable.

It was never Gene! I need you!

Her face grew hot and the tears that were in her eyes began dripping down her face and onto his hand and knees and she didn't care, she didn't care, she couldn't take it anymore. She was so scared of losing him her terror came pouring out of her mouth.

"Of course it was true, you idiot! Idiot, idiot, idiot!" Calling him an idiot made her feel slightly better, so she threw in a few more insults for good measure. "You're so dumb, you jerk! STUPID MORON! IDIOT! Who do you think I am? How could I love Gene? How - how could - I - "

She was crying so hard she couldn't get out another word, and because she was crying so hard, she almost missed his smile, the smile that she had ached so long for, the one that was now only meant for her and no one else.

It only made her sobs come even harder.

"Thank you, Mai," he whispered, and his voice was shaky but so full and content and she wanted to kiss him but she couldn't stop her pathetic trembling.

What did thanking her mean? Did that mean-

"Naru-"

"Mai, I need a favor."

"I'm - not -" she managed between sobs.

He coughed yet again and spat. There seemed to be more blood this time. "Tell Lin I was sorry."

"Was?" Mai wheezed. She tried to muster up enough anger to talk, but her voice came out cracked and high-pitched and awful. "I will do no such thing! You will tell him yourself, you stupid jerkface! I'm not your servant or your in-between! I'm done being your damn slave! You need to do things yourself and I won't-"

"Mai." Was he smirking?

Mai had worked herself up enough to be able to reach up and wipe the tears from her cheeks. "What?" she whispered.

"It's okay to admit defeat."

"No!" Mai sobbed, all the progress that she had made yelling at him coming crashing down. "Don't - don't say….that -"

She rested her head against his knee and tried to catch her breath.

"P-p-please," she begged. "Please, N-naru."

Naru lifted his hand from his side and it was shaking badly. Mai lifted her face when she felt the whisper of cloth touch her cheek. Naru's hand was - was -

Clutching his chest as he coughed, harder this time. Mai sat there, frozen in her position, trying not to think about how this might be his last cough, his dying, rattling cough.

Come on, Gene, help me. Help him. Help him, please. Help Naru because I don't know what to do!

But then the coughing was over, and Naru was still alive and spitting onto the floor.

"Do you feel….any better?" Mai asked, hoping against hope.

Naru smiled his beautiful smile in response, and this time, his hand did make it to her cheek. "Yes, Mai. Thank you."

And then he closed his eyes.

His hand began to slip.

And that was when she started to scream.

I AM DYING.

Or is that Naru? ;)

For next time: IS MAI GOING TO SAVE HIM OR WHAT?