Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Ghost Hunt.
Where was this place? Mai looked about uncertainly. On both sides, rose bushes formed an impenetrable wall of thorns and heavy-scented blooms. Mai reached out a hand to touch it before pulling back with a wince, a bead of her blood glistening on a thorn. She looked back. Roses stretched both ways.
"Excuse me, you're blocking my way," a voice said coldly. Mai looked about. "Down here," he said.
"Naru?!"
The little amphibian gave an impatient sigh when she didn't move and began hopping round the edge of her muddy skirt instead. "Be that as it may, we ought to go find what you're looking for."
"But," Mai objected, "I'm not looking for anything."
A sly look crossed Naru's face. "Really? I would have thought you're looking for Prince Oliver."
"He's back at the palace."
"Then," the frog gestured with a jerk of his head, "who is that lying on that slab there?" There was a prone figure perched on the rock that looked awfully familiar.
"Oliver!"
She rushed forward. He was lying on his back, eyes closed, arms folded neatly over his chest while rose vines twisted all over him. Naru had hopped over and looked on with interest as Mai struggled to get the vines that bound Oliver to the rock.
"Good looking person isn't he?" he said with just the barest hint of smugness. Ignoring him, Mai shook the prince wincing as did as the thorns tore at her hands.
"You better hurry," the frog continued calmly. "If I'm correct, and I usually am, that looks like Malfina coming this way, and she doesn't look happy."
The enchantress stomped up, looking decidedly sulky. She dumped an evil looking knife on the slab and shoving aside some of the thorny vines that were clinging artistically to the edge, she sat by Oliver, folding her arms as she did. "It seems my revenge is in ruins. I might as well tell you the rules of the test then."
"What test?" Mai asked bewildered. Malfina pulled at a lock of brown hair absently.
"Why, the test which his life hangs in the balance," she said with an irritated toss of her head in the direction of the prince. "The rules are simple, given that after all, this is your dream. The gods forbid that we're stuck in his twisted world."
"I'm dreaming?" Mai looked about.
"Yes, you fool. You brought the three of us here."
"Four of us," Naru corrected automatically.
"I did that to Oliver?" Mai cried in horror. Malfina sighed. "Yes, and also no. It's complicated. When you grabbed Oliver in the middle of the duel, you must have cancelled out his connection to magic. The strain must have been too much given how much power he uses every time."
Naru blinked his copper eyes. "Really? You can do that?" he asked Mai who hastily clamped a hand over his mouth. "Mmpf!"
Malfina stopped fingering her hair and frowned at her. "What are you doing?"
"Eh? You can't see...?"
"She can't sense me!" Naru piped up from between Mai's fingers.
"Er…nothing! Fingers itchy, that's all. Heh heh." Mai stuttered nervously. Malfina looked skeptical.
"Right, now if I may begin to explain the rules.
"There are three tasks. Complete them successfully and both of you go free." She gestured at the ebony knife. "However, if you lose, Oliver's heart will be forfeit to me." The little frog shivered.
"Shall we begin?"
With a bored look on her face, Malfina materialized a silver bow in her hand. "The first task," she said as she handed the bow to Mai, "is to shoot that apple off that tree." Mai swallowed nervously. Archery was a spot which only the very privileged indulged in. Naru-the-frog looked her in consternation.
"Don't tell me you've never shot before," he said.
"Shut up," she muttered through her teeth. "It's not my fault if I wasn't born a noble."
As she drew the string back nervously, Naru made an impatient sound.
"What is it?" she whispered.
"Your aim is off," he whispered back. "My life is in your hands. Would you be serious about this?"
"I am!"
"Why do you keep talking to yourself?" Malfina demanded in irritation. Gulping, Mai closed her eyes.
"Don't shut your eyes!" the frog yelped as she let loose the arrow. There was a thwack and an apple joined them at the foot of the tree.
"Yes!" Mai pumped the air triumphantly.
"Very good," Malfina commented, though her expression said otherwise. "The first was a test of will. Now, the second test is a test of courage." Malfina strode to the edge of the maze where whispering voices shook the air. Mai blanched.
"I have to go in there?!!" The enchantress's eyes gleamed.
"A test of courage isn't complete without ghosts. Come out unscathed in a quarter of an hour and you would have passed."
Mai looked about nervously. The rose hedges crowded in on both sides and she could have sworn that it was the flowers that were muttering to themselves. In a less pressing time, she might have found them amusing but now their whisperings only seemed sinister. Something cold tapped her foot. Ahhhh!
"It's me," Naru said drily. Mai was about to point out that one should not sneak up on others during a test of courage when a wispy figure glided past her. She squeaked and ran all the way down the path, Naru barely clinging on.
"Slow down! You're supposed to just stand in here for fifteen minutes!"
"The flowers are talking! And a banshee just walked – if you can call floating with your feet not on the ground walking – past me!"
Naru remained indifferent. "It's probably harmless if you stay on the path" he said and patted her ankle comfortingly. A glowing wisp drifted by. Mai flinched.
"T-Talk to me! I'll go mad if I don't have anything to distract me."
"What do you want to hear?"
"Anything!"
"If I just had a tea I could probably sit here by you all day."
"Can you not remind me of where we are?"
Naru smirked. "When he wakes up, you should get Oliver to tell you about the time he went undercover in the girl's dormitory to find out which of them tried to feed him love potions."
Despite the eerie voices and the occasional ghostly manifestation, Mai couldn't help smiling into the darkness.
You know something, Naru? You're behaving differently from usual."
"Hmm?"
"You're being nicer. A lot chattier, but definitely nicer."
"Prince Oliver does have a caring heart you know."
"I'm talking about you." She looked at him pensively. "It's unlike you to praise someone else." The frog gave her that sideways look again.
"What makes you think I am?"
A nagging suspicion was beginning to form in Mai's head. But, before she could answer, a bell chimed in the distance. "Time's up," Naru said as he began hopping back the way they came. "You better not mess the last one up."
Malfina was waiting. She did not look pleased at all.
"I see you made it through."
Mai nodded curtly. "So, what is the last thing I've to do?"
"This," the renegade enchantress said and swept her hand dramatically around. "Oliver's heart is one of the things in this maze. You have five minutes to identify it."
"What?" Mai looked about anxiously. "How would I know?" She looked about for her informal "advisor". Naru blinked copper coloured eyes at her solemnly. There wasn't anything that looked remotely heart-shaped. The slab which Oliver was lying on was a plain, crudely carved rock which didn't look like it contained anything like that. Was it one of the trees that ringed the maze? One of the roses perhaps. It would hardly surprise her if it was; it would just be the sort of twisted thing someone like Malfina would do.
"Three minutes."
She looked desperately at Naru who looked away. He wasn't making snide comments anymore and he held himself stiffly, as if waiting. Why doesn't he say anything?
"Umm, is it one of the roses?"
"Two minutes." Malfina shrugged.
What was it? She spun round wildly. "The oak tree?"
Malfina smirked. "One minute." Time was running out.
"Is it inside Oliver?"
"Of course not," Malfina yawned as she polished her nails on her sleeve. "Thirty seconds."
Her eyes swept round the place. None of the things remotely felt like Oliver. The scent of roses was overpowering and she was developing a headache. "Ten…nine…eight…"
Her gaze met Naru's in desperation. Golden-copper eyes stared back reluctantly and he sighed wistfully. Could it be? Her own eyes widened. It wasn't really a long shot when she thought about it, though when Oliver woke up he would hardly be pleased that his own unconscious had taken things into his own hands – er – webbed feet.
"Is it… Naru?"
"About time you guessed. I had high hopes that you're really more intelligent than you looked." Naru replied shortly. Mai snorted. Definitely the same person – they, no he even teased her the same way.
"So, what happens now?"
Malfina had begun moving towards the stone slab. "Who knows," she said her eyes fixed at a point just beside Oliver's shoulder. Naru eyed her warily from his perch by Oliver. Mai had made a grab for her when something dug painfully into her ankle. Gasping, she looked down to see that a thorny vine had curled round her foot. To her horror, more of them were slithering forward like so many snakes.
"Naru! Run! She can see you!"
The frog threw her a concerned look before disappearing into the maze. Malfina's face was livid with anger.
"You dirty little girl. How dare you!" She snatched up the knife and brandished it at Mai. "I will kill you." She grabbed Mai's neck.
"Do you think I hadn't had this planned? Too bad that you guessed correctly. If you hadn't, you might have gotten out of this alive."
Mai glared at her. She wasn't going to give the other girl the satisfaction of seeing her frightened. "You couldn't see Naru so you made use of me to break the spell so that you can. He isn't stupid. He'll escape. Give it up."
The enchantress's knuckles tightened its grip and Mai grimaced. "I'm this close to getting my revenge and you're telling me I can't win?" Her knuckles were turning white. "If you have any last words," she said venomously, "you better spit them out now."
Mai coughed weakly.
"Behind you…"
"What is that supposed to mean?"
Someone tapped her on the shoulder. Turning around, the last thing Malfina saw was Oliver's impassive gaze before he sucker punched her squarely between the eyes.
"Naru!" Mai protested when the enchantress collapsed on the ground with a thud reminiscent of a potato sack being dropped.
"She deserved it," he said and then looked at her measuringly. "What did you just call me?"
She rubbed her neck, wincing at the bruises as she tried to stand up. Naru was immediately by her side, holding her up when her knees threatened to fail her. "That witch," she heard him say as he turned her hand over carefully to examine the cuts on it, "When we get back home I will ki-
"Don't say it," Mai whispered hoarsely. Her throat was killing her. "That sounds like the sort of thing Malfina would say, not you."
He looked down at her, the hard look in his eyes vanishing. "She did this to you and you're defending her?"
To her consternation, Naru chuckled.
"Why are you laughing?" she asked, alarmed that the strain might have made him loopy.
"No reason," he said smugly before scooping her up bridal style. "Time we got back..."
Author's notes: This is it people! The next one will be the final chapter!!! I hope you've enjoyed this as much as I did. I honestly hadn't planned for such a long drawn out fic but this just goes to prove that stories have a life of their own. Thank you very much for being such lovely and encouraging readers and reviewers.
Thanks to Azamiko, Jillian Rachel, Ariana Taniyama, krisaku, emmarick, meri47, silverchildakami for the reviews! They are much loved!