Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Ghost Hunt.
He seized hold of her hand as they ran out of the room past musty hallways. Mai sneezed. "I hope the palace isn't always this dirty," she muttered as they rounded a corner and up yet another flight of stairs.
Mai screeched at the sight of a pile of bodies that were on the stair well. They were all covered in a layer of the dust that seemed to be everywhere.
"They're just asleep," he said in relief after examining the nearest. He tugged at her hand.
"Come on," he said as they ran further up. By the third flight, Mai was beginning to be apprehensive.
"Are you sure this is the way out? We must have past the ground level already," she said suspiciously.
Oliver took no notice of her; instead, his grip on her hand tightened as they picked up pace. At the end of the corridor he barely paused to open the massive pair of double doors as they ran on through the entrance into a magnificent wing done up in gilt pilasters, miniature paintings, curved and floral stuccos and ornate mirrors.
"Ehhhh! Isn't this the royal family's private wing?" Mai panted as they reached yet another set of doors, this time with the insignia of Albion carved lightly into the grain. She stared at it, wide-eyed.
"Oh, wait! But you can't go in there! Isn't that-this is the prince's rooms!" she sputtered, waving her arms frantically even as she followed him in.
"You can stay outside if you want," was all he said as he made for the large closet in the bedroom.
Mai looked around curiously in spite of herself. The room was more staid in design than the corridor outside had suggested it would be. The bed and desk were both big without being ostentatious and made of the same oak as the floor, while a brass telescope stood on its stand next to the latter. As Mai looked about nervously, as if expecting one or both of the princes to jump out at her, she heard Oliver speaking.
"My gran – I mean, the previous King had an unfortunate penchant for the French Rococo," he said as she walked into the next room, to see him with a pile of clothes in his arms. Mai eyed the bundle disapprovingly.
"That's stealing," she said.
Oliver gave her a strange look. Again, Mai thought, it looked as though he was laughing at her in some private joke and she scowled at him.
"Turn around," he ordered with a smirk as Mai faced the desk sulkily. Then, she felt Oliver move past her into the first room and heard the door slam behind her.
"Jerk," Mai groused. What was he so shy about suddenly? "You can get clothes after we've rescued Naru right," she sighed, shoulders sagging a little.
"What is he to you?" He asked through the door as he shook out his shirt and pulled it on.
"He's a friend, I think." Mai said as she leaned against the wall.
"You aren't sure." It wasn't a question and Mai smiled a little. "We argued a lot. And he's rather mean. But, he did try to protect me when Malfina fired a spell at us in the woods."
"I see," he replied softly. He'd finished dressing and he draped the sheet carefully over a chair. She had been worrying about Naru and he was deliberately withholding his identity. Oliver could almost hear his brother admonishing him. You're just unwilling to get hurt in case she rejects you. But, how will you ever know if you keep protecting yourself by hiding who you really are?
Mai wasn't sure, but she thought Oliver sounded disappointed. "I know it's not a very exciting story…" she began when a loud crash came from the outer room. There was a low inhuman growl and then something smashed again, this time right at the door. "What's going on? Open the door!" she yelled, struggling with the knob in vain. There was a click and the door swung open. All Mai got was a vision of a large black animal and that looked as if it was getting ready to pounce again before Oliver shut it hastily. There was a loud thump as the creature rammed against it furiously, snarling for all its worth.
"Get something to hold the door," he panted.
Together, they managed to push a chest of drawers across the entrance.
"What was that?" Mai asked as they both sat down on the floor.
"A hell hound," Oliver answered as he leaned back against the drawers. "They are aggressive if ordered by their summoner to be, but usually they just literally hound people who are close to the end of their life span."
They sat back, listening to the sound of the hound pacing up and down and growling. Mai shivered. There wasn't any other way out that she could see, except for the window opposite. Oliver saw where she was looking. "We are at least five floors from the ground," he pointed out and Mai groaned and buried her face in her knees.
"It's your fault, if you weren't so fussy about that sheet, we would probably be outside already," she complained. Oliver actually smirked.
Mai wanted to hit him.
"I wasn't actually praising you!"
"I know," he said. "But it's fun to watch you get irritated."
"Why you…" Mai shook her head a little. "I want to go home," she mumbled. To her surprise, Oliver pulled her closer.
"Sleep," he said. "We're in for a long night."
"But… what if…" she asked uncertainly. Blue eyes turned their gaze towards her.
"I'll keep watch," he said. Too tired to even consider otherwise, Mai snuggled down beside him, yawning drowsily as she did.
"I have never seen such power. No human with that sheer…immense ability can possibly ask to survive something like this. Your Majesty, his Highness is very lucky to be alive at all."
"Will he be alright then?" The King of Albion asked from where he stood, slightly apart from the anxious knot of people crowding his son's bed. The Old Master pursed his lips.
"With plenty of rest, he should be fine. I warned you, years ago when you sent your sons to the school for aptitude testing that such power comes at a cost. Normally, magic is harnessed by the human will on a level that it can manage. His Highness, however, taps on such a large core of magic that his life force is compromised whenever he uses it. The effort he would need in controlling even small spells…" he sighed. "Such talent. It's a pity. His Highness is only capable of great things."
"Let me go!"
"Young lady, you are already in a lot of trouble. Don't you-
The brown haired girl broke free from her minders to dash into the room.
"He'll pay. No, they'll both pay! I'm the best! No one, no one is allowed to be better than I am!" she shrieked as the two mages who were with her attempted to drag her out, kicking and screaming.
"No one is the best," a voice from the bed spoke coldly.
"Noll," his twin spoke half in admonition and half imploringly. "Let it go."
"She tried to kill you," Naru snapped from the bed. "How am I supposed to let that go?"
His brother, smothered in a bathrobe, swamped in fluffy towels and still slightly damp from the lake fell silent.
"There is no merit in your being the best if you'll rather kill the competition than up your game," he said flatly. Malfina's face twisted angrily.
"When we meet again, we'll see," she hissed as the prince stared at her icily until the door clicked shut. Gene eyed his brother uneasily.
"She'll be back," he said. "This isn't over."
Mai was awoken by a loud thump. Something was digging into her back and she groaned. Reaching back, she found herself touching something smooth and cold and she rubbed her eye blearily. Then, there was another loud bang and one of the drawers slipped from its holder, upending a pile of what looked like a collection of royal pajamas onto her.
"Oof!"
As Mai peeled off one that had fallen over her head in sleepy confusion, she felt hands shaking her.
"Mai, get up, it's brought reinforcements," Oliver said, hauling her up from her spot on the floor. As he did so, she thought she caught a whiff of a familiar scent coming from the pajamas.
"Huh...? Wha? Naru? Where are we?" she mumbled dimly. There had been a dream…
Thump.The chest of drawers wobbled dangerously and she squeaked, jumping up suddenly and nearly knocking into Oliver who glared at her in a mixture of exasperation and amusement.
"Oh… it's you…"
The room was bathed in the red glow of dusk and long shadows of the vines creeping outside the window were printed on the wall opposite. "How long was I asleep?"
"About two hours."
A loud howl from beyond the door turned their attention back to the hound and Mai clutched Oliver's elbow. The sound was not like that of any living animal's she knew and she shuddered. "Stay behind me," he ordered as splinter lines appeared in the door.
With an almighty crack, the door shattered. The drawers were knocked aside as the hound stepped into the room, its eyes narrowed into red slits. To their dismay, it was followed by a second, which clambered up onto the drawers. With a snarl, it pounced forwards. Mai squeezed shut her eyes. They were going to die. Then, she felt Oliver move. There was a sound like a whip crack and something falling with a sickening crunch on the floor.
"Mai." She looked up, startled. The hound was lying on its side, winded and the other was sniffing at it. "Did – did you do that?" she asked, awed. Oliver did not waste time replying.
"When I count to three, run to the door." Still holding on to him, Mai shook her head.
"I can't…"
"They won't hurt you," he said. "The only reason they haven't attacked till night is your anti-magic."
"That's not it," she whispered under her breath. Some instinct told her that leaving her new companion alone would be a bad idea. But then, the hound flung its head back to howl in anguish and she took a step back uncertainly. He nudged her forward.
"Didn't you say you wanted to rescue your friend?"
"But…"
"There's no time," he snapped as the fallen creature climbed to its feet and they both circled closer again. "Now go," he said, shoving her towards the door as the creatures leapt towards them as one.
Author's notes: Alright, this chapter just departed from humour to downright drama. I promise the next chapter would be funnier, for those of you who enjoy the humour of this fic.
Azamiko, ButterflyBlossoms, Sweet Mai-chan, witchhuntress: Thank you very much for your review. Glad to see you all enjoying it!
miss koneko: wow. There's no better encouragement than to hear people re-reading your work. Thanl you! I hope you like this chapter as much too.
LaiChan: Ah, who knows. *grins*
FallenRaindrops: At the rate I'm going, it looks as though I might be pushing another five chappies. We'll see though, as it's rather nice to end with a round number of chapters too. Take it as me being weird that way =p
Ariana Taniyama: Thank you! The first of the mountains was overcome with a lot of frantic typing and not enough sleep. I hope you enjoyed the Mai/Naru interaction here too. It's weird, because I never imagined that I'll have such a hard time writing my fav couple... XD
Jillian Rachel: Thanks for replying. Yeah, the dark turn was unexpected (even for me). I'm hoping to swing it back to light-hearted soon myself.
krisaku: yup. She isn't. you might want to go back to read chap 8 if you haven't =)