Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Ghost Hunt.
He ducked as the telescope smashed on the wall above him. The hound snarled as bits of metal and glass flew in all directions.
It had been a nice telescope.
He'd repaired it himself after buying it off a trader who had been to the palace and now… Naru scowled. This was the problem with picking a fight in one's own rooms. Things inevitably got broken indiscriminately. The hell hound snarled when he flung another bolt of magic at it. It missed, and hit the rather ugly painting his mother had hung on the wall behind it. The creature leapt forward. Instinctively, he sent the chest of drawers whizzing towards the hound. There wasn't even time for it to react when the heavy oak furniture slammed into it with a sickening crunch. The creature twitched once and then was still.
Naru stood up, and crossed the room to where his chair lay upturned on the floor. He righted it and sat down, blinking when he realized that his right hand was shaking. Controlling his abilities had always been difficult but this time had been harder. In a moment of distraction, he had let one of the two hounds escape. His heart twisted with a fear he hadn't felt since the lake two years ago. Mai was out there, alone, and with no idea how her abilities worked and the hound after her. He strode out of the door, glass and rubble crunching underfoot as he did. His room would need to be renovated again.
"Rock! Scissors! Paper!"
"Not fair! You cheated!" Malfina shrieked and stamped her foot. The crowd booed. Madoka blinked, the picture of absolute innocence.
"Who, me?"
"Yes! You little piece-
"Mind your language young lady. There are children in the audience," the enchantress warned, wagging her finger at the irate girl in front of her. Malfina glared.
"I don't believe you could have won so many rounds in a row without doing anything! Once more!"
"Rock, scissors, paper!"
"Ahaha! I win again! Scissors beats paper!" Madoka said, clapping her hands in delight before turning and bowing to the audience who cheered enthusiastically.
Takigawa sighed. "Are you certain this woman is sane?" he asked no one in particular.
"From what I heard, you were the one who instigated Mistress Madoka to enchant my son. His current shape happens to be your fault," the Queen retorted sweetly.
Clearly, the princes had inherited their vindictive streak of reminding people of their faults from their mother. Takigawa shook his head. Night had fallen and an early moon was rising. He looked anxiously towards the castle. The rooms within remained a gloomy black, unlit. What was going on in there? He got an answer however, as anguished howls filled the air before being cut off suddenly. Takigawa shivered. If even he could feel the ripples of magic lapping the air, it had to be an inordinate amount of power that had been let loose. The King and Queen stood up hastily, anxiety written clearly on their faces.
"No!" Madoka rushed over and stood in front of them. "I understand your concern, but you must not put yourselves in danger. I will go." Without another word, she vanished on the spot.
Malfina was left standing by herself on the smoking, pothole-ridden lawn.
"I suppose, dear, you've won the last round, since Madoka forfeited," the Queen informed the enchantress. Malfina shot her an incensed look before she disappeared as well.
"Honestly, after getting you two to kiss I'd thought you would be able to recognize him for who he is," the spirit grumbled as they trudged along a corridor. "And, honestly, I'm surprised you still haven't."
"I did not kiss anybody, he landed on my face," Mai muttered, involuntarily blushing. The spirit raised an eyebrow.
"You're blushing," he pointed out as they jogged across a large room to the stairs. "You like him."
"I don't!"
"Yes, you do."
Something, or rather someone appeared directly in front of her. "Madoka!" Mai cried in surprise.
"Look out!"
Someone holding a large sword brushed past them, and knocked her out of the way. There was a dull flash of silver as the sword connected with the hound's flesh, which smoked and hissed. Mai screamed as John was knocked aside by the hell hound as it stumbled about blindly. Was it her imagination, but had the creature grown bigger? She watched as it staggered forward a few steps before collapsing.
"If you're wondering whether the hound has gotten larger, it has. Hell hounds manifest their true forms after dark," Oliver remarked, breathing a sigh of relief now that the second hound no longer posed a threat.
Blinking in the semi gloom, Mai glowered at the prince as he came down the stairs. "If I wanted a lesson in zoology, I would have asked," she muttered as he extended a hand to her. Madoka was gawping at him as if she hadn't seen him before. "Er" Mai said uncertainly, "this is Prince Oliver." Oliver merely raised an eyebrow at her.
"I know," Madoka said vaguely as John sat up with groan, aided by a concerned Masako. "So, when did you kiss Naru?"
"Huh?" Mai said intelligently.
"Madoka!" Oliver growled.
"Sorry to break up the party," Yasuhara broke in abruptly and pointed at the doorway meaningfully. "Someone's looking for you, Your Highness." They all turned to the entrance of the hall.
It was Malfina.
"It seems my hounds lost to you, Oliver."
"Only one of them," he answered conversationally. "Sir John killed the other one."
She smiled. "I've been looking forward to this duel for two years. Shall we?" She stepped forward with a gesture of invitation. The very air around them seemed to thicken and Mai could have sworn she saw sparks fly. (Angry sparks mind you). Madoka carefully hustled the others out of the way as Naru moved forward.
When Ayako, Gene and Lin burst in, the battle had already started. "No!" Lin barked as he yanked the mage back. Gene glared at him. "You cannot," the taller man said more gently this time. "Albion needs you."
"They need Noll too," Gene replied shortly as he straightened his robes. "Gentlemen…" Ayako warned sharply. Against all odds, the hound had gotten back up, the wound inflicted by John's sword rapidly healing.
Mai gulped. Oliver hadn't noticed the hound yet and her heart skipped a beat. Looking around, she saw that John's sword was still lying on the ground, less than five meters from her. Masako saw where she was looking though. "No, Mai!" she screamed as the brown-haired girl dashed past Gene and Lin, made the short dash for the weapon and towards the hound. The sword seemed to sing in her hand, her fingers and wrist seemed to move on their own, the anti-magic runes on the blade blazing like cold stars. She swung it mightily like a bat.
Crack.
The impact sent Mai flying towards the magical combatants. Oliver and Malfina both froze, startled but there was little time for either of them to react as girl and hound cannoned right into the middle of the battle. There was a loud crash as they all fell into the ground in an unconscious heap.
"Mai!" Lin shouted. There was no holding them back now as they all rushed forward. This was not happening.
"I didn't know the sword could do that," John mumbled, still a trifle woozily. Gene shivered.
"Its anti-magic properties must have somehow resonated with Mai's spellbreaker skill." Lin looked up at that.
"The gods help us… of all the times, why now?" Madoka muttered as she and Lin helped pull the unconscious girl from the floor.
"What happened?" Yasuhara asked anxiously. "One minute their auras were so bright and the next… it's like they got switched off."
"They did," Old Black rumbled. "That girl hasn't learned to control her powers yet."
"Will they be alright?"
Eyes in varying degrees of concern and exhaustion turned to the spirit expectantly. He only shrugged.
"Who knows? I've not seen anything like this before either. At any rate, we'll find out after they wake up," he said finally.
Author's notes: Chapter 19 is almost done, so expect that soon too! After that, it'll just be one last chapter left. Wow. We are nearing the end.
LunaxXmoongoddessxX, Kaykit, witchhuntress, FallenRaindrops, LaiChan, krisaku: Thank you very much for your reviews! =D
Azamiko: A bit too intelligent and pompous for a tree spirit isn't he? Haha. ;) I think I got him to remininisce about his past somewhere... can't remember where though. XD
Ariana Taniyama: Haha. Yeah! Sheeeeep~ Old Black... I can't believe I even incorporated him into this fic. OCs just keep creeping in. Heh heh.
Toyama-chan: Thanks very much for pointing out that major flaw in the previous chapter! (facepalms) Really appreciate it! I imagine that hell hounds would probably be a lot more effective enemies at night, being in their element and all that. Mai's abilities are a little "off" in that she's still new and lousy at consciously controlling them