Mai had woken up slightly earlier than usual and stared at the ceiling of her room. It had been months since her change in residence, and she had more or less settled in. This would be her life from now on, and the labour and repetitiveness bored her. Her eyes focused on a patch where the ceiling plaster was starting to peel. It was a far cry from the ceilings of her previous room. Now she had greyish, peeling plaster, marked by age and water, whereas previously she had been greeted by white and gold ornate beams.

She turned onto her side and huddled under the thin blanket. Her bed was no longer silk and goose down, but straw and wool. She hadn't been able to sleep at first, itching all over and the bed too hard for her to doze off. Even in summer she found sleeping in it chilly, she had no idea how she was going to survive in winter.

In short, Mai was deeply unsatisfied with her new routine. She hated fetching water, and tending to the small selection of crops outside the house, hated cleaning. The cooking wasn't so bad, she admitted. There was a kind of pride in eating the food you'd cooked.

The witch, whose name had been revealed as Eostre, though Mai suspected it was not her birth name, had been reasonably patient with Mai once she was securely under her command. Yes, she scolded and hit and had a habit of using nasty spells on her when she'd done something wrong, but Eostre had realised that as an ex-princess Mai was not accustomed to hard labour and barely knew even basic tasks. Mai's skills in such domestic areas were growing steadily, though not through desire to learn.

Mai contemplated lying in bed for a few more minutes but knew she would have to get up at some point. With a deep sigh, she rolled back the blanket and walked over to her one and only outfit, a plain brown and white dress. Mai's pretty purple ball gown had been burned rather theatrically by Eostre not long after her arrival, claiming that Mai had no need for such decadent clothes in her new life. It had been made clear that her new life would only end when one of them died, and while the witch looked old her physical and mental ability led Mai to believe she was not as old as she looked. Ergo, Mai had quite a while to wait, and that was supposing that Eostre would reach the end of her mortal coil before Mai.

Mai dressed quickly and set about her usual, mind numbing routine. Two months ago she'd been served expensive tea in fine, imported bone china and now she had to drink water out of a well when Eostre wasn't looking. Mai tried not to think about her old life, but it was hard when it had made up almost all of her life and it was more interesting than the number of cobwebs she had to brush away. Had Noll really been about to kiss her? It was a question she'd mulled over more than once.

Some days she was convinced that he had been about to kiss her, and that she had been so close to freedom only to have it cruelly snatched away from her at the last possible moment. Other days she was sure she was making the whole thing up and exaggerating Noll's interest in her. She wasn't sure which was worse: coming so close to freedom or never having a chance in the first place.

"You know your orders?"

"Yes sir. Everything is in place."

"Good. I hope your men are ready. We don't know how easy this will be. Expect heavy losses."

"Sir."

"Excellent work. Go make sure they're prepared." Gene clapped the officer on the back. He glanced over to the corner of the tent where Noll sat grimly.

"You nervous Noll?"

"What do you think?" Was the terse response. That was a yes then.

"It will be okay. We'll get her back."

Noll gave his brother a look, then returned his attention to the very interesting patch of ground just beyond his knees.

Of course he was nervous. Not only were they about to battle a witch, which was an unknown evil, not only was he about to fight his first ever fight, but he was also about to admit that he loved someone, and find out if she loved him back. Noll was not famed for having other people know his emotions, unless they were hatred.

His heart was beating at a million miles an hour. His skin felt clammy. His stomach was a bottomless pit which was sucking every last ray of sunshine into oblivion.

At least he had Gene with him. Gene had supported him the whole time, and without making jokes for once.

"Time to go."

Noll stood up and walked woodenly out into the sunshine. Outside was sound and movement and life. Men were walking into the forest in small groups. He followed Gene down a steep embankment and through the trees. The forest was silent but for the tread of feet.

Two hours later and Noll's legs were aching. The walking felt intolerable.

"See that? That's where she is." Gene pointed at a clearing ahead of them. They paused at the edge of the glade.

"I can't see anything Gene."

"Wait."

Noll obediently waited. There was a crashing and a running. Men burst from the other edge of the glade. Suddenly there was a terrible creaking. He saw the ground crumble away. Roots forced their way upwards into the sky. He stood rooted to the spot in horror as men were flung out of the way, some landing in sickening positions. Gene set his mouth grimly.

Mai was hauling water from the well to the vegetable garden when she saw the men appear. She dropped her pail in alarm as the ground fell away. For a while she just stood there, dumb, not understanding what was happening, but then another group of men burst out of the wood, only to get attacked from the sky by a great horde of birds.

She looked about her in despair.

"Noll." She breathed.

These men would die, they didn't know how powerful Eostre was. Oh why had he done this? At least before she could have pretended that maybe he was living his life as though she had never come into it and happy in his own way. Maybe if she'd said it enough it would have started to seem true, and she would give up hope and believe that he had never meant to kiss her.

But now, she would have to watch Eostre kill him.

She ran back into the house. Eostre was standing by the door, and didn't seem to notice her presence. She was too busy concentrating on her magic. Mai slipped past her and towards her room, but all the doors slammed shut.

"If your prince is going to try to take you back he's going to have to go through me. And then I can see the look on your face as he dies." Eostre laughed.

Mai stared at her. Her heart was racing, and her eyes were tearing up, and her legs felt like they might fail her in any moment, but her blood was boiling and she was filled with more anger and hatred than she had ever been before.

"He won't die. I won't let him."

"Oh really. And what are you planning to do about it, princess?" The witch spat at her.

As the witch came out of the house, sending bolts of magic towards various knights, Gene looked around wildly for his twin, before spotting him at the side of the clearing. No doubt waiting for an opportune moment to strike. That was Noll's way of fighting - holding back until you'd judged your opponent long enough to make an effective strategy. Gene preferred fighting with passion and strength. He saw another group of knights hovering on the other side of the witch, and quickly signalled for them to attack, before charging in himself, sword drawn. The witch put her hands either side of her and a force shot out of her palms, sending both groups of men tumbling backwards with force. Gene lay on the ground, staring up at the blue sky, winded. He gasped and wheezed as he fought for breath again. Luckily, the fall didn't seem to have injured him much. His head shot up, as he looked again for the witch. She was by a window, white rays of magic shooting into their soldiers, who gasped their last breaths and crumpled, dead. He saw his brother making his way sneakily for her back while she was preoccupied with finishing off the other group. He saw him hold his blade low, to push it into and up into her ribs, when she suddenly turned, palm raised, and he saw another white bolt of light go into his twin. He watched as his Oliver stumbled backwards and fell, unmoving, as the witch suddenly screamed and flew backwards, crumpling against a tree. The trees' branches slowly reverted back to the way they used to look, and the doors of the house swung open in a faint breeze.

Mai hadn't known who'd been hit until she saw one brother run across the field, screaming Oliver's name. She ran out through the unlocked doors and stopped by Gene desperately shaking his brother's body.

Mai felt her insides sink as she looked at Noll's unresponsive body. "Is he- Is he-" She couldn't bring herself to say the words.

Gene shook him one more time before turning his head to look up at Mai. Tears pricked at the edges of his eyes. "He's not responding- He won't respond…" He choked on the words and she knew he meant both physically and mentally.

Gene stared intently at his twin's pale and blank face, desperately trying to feel a connection. A slow minute passed before his shook his head, voice cracking and broken. "Nothing. Nothing. Oh god."

Both of them had tears slipping down their cheeks.

Noll then groaned. "Eurgh, my head…" His eyelids fluttered open.

Gene and Mai barely glanced at each other before throwing themselves on top of Oliver, squashing him into the dirt. Mai let out a high pitched relieved giggle.

"What's up with both of you?" Noll asked, though his voice was somewhat strained from having two bodies pressing down on his chest.

Gene laughed giddily. Noll with some difficulty pushed them off to sit up. He rubbed his head. "What happened?" Before anyone could say anything, he frowned at Gene and Mai. "Were you two crying?"

"Well…"

"Did you think I was dead?" He scoffed. When they both looked away he stared. "Seriously?"

"To be fair, she did hit you with a bolt of super light." Gene pointed out.

"Do neither of you know how to listen for a pulse? It's very easy, you know. And in this case would have prevented you two going into theatrics."

"Okay, with hindsight that sounds wise." Gene admitted.

Noll moved to stand up, but winced. "Ow."

"Are you okay?" Mai asked, concerned. He was alive, and looked okay, but the fact why he wasn't dead when logically he should had not presented itself yet. He could still be injured. She scolded herself.

"Considering that I should, by all logic, be dead, I'm relatively well. Considering that I hit my head and my ribs I definitely not feel okay, I'm not well."

Gene chuckled dryly and pulled his twin up, letting himself being used as a support. "That's good enough for me."

They'd set up a base around a mile from the cottage, and this is where they all retreated to. Eostre's house was quickly searched for anything of interest, and then disbanded. Mai herself had been bundled away and taken originally to a medical tent that had been set up, but was soon released from there as it was soon apparent that all that was wrong with her was some lost weight and a lot of lost sleep, with no actual physical injuries. Someone gave her a very oversized coat that she suspected was to cover up the humiliation of wearing such a poor dress, especially in front of the royal princes. She didn't care about that – yet - as she was still letting the shock and relief of being rescued from Eostre wear off.

She found Noll in the royal tent, a phrase which made it seem much grander than it actually was. She'd peeled apart the cloth covering the entrance to see him sitting down, staring down at something in his hands, clearly deep in thought. He'd changed into something much less military and much more comfortable, just plain simple clothes. There'd been a clear effort to clean the dirt on his face, but she could still see a smear on his neck which had been missed. His hair was messy and ruffled, and she could see a couple of dark bruises on his arm where he'd rolled his sleeves up. He looked nothing like the pampered prince she knew him to be, but then again, she didn't look very pampered either. She smiled shyly, then cleared her throat.

He looked up at her. As they made eye contact, she thought that he'd never looked more beautiful. He'd somehow – illogically - surpassed his brother in terms of attractiveness. "Ah, Mai," he said, not making an effort to stand up. "I hear you're fine."

She nodded. "The doctor said to rest, but I disagree."

One corner of his mouth tilted up. "Oh?"

"I fully believe that food will solve my problems and set me on the path to recovery."

He smiled properly, looking back at his hands. "I'm sure that's a sound solution."

"I'm guessing as you don't have a medic swarming over you you're not too bad?"

The smile faded, but he looked back at her. "Ah – correct. I have the most horrendous bruise on my chest though. It hurts most of the time." His tone of voice wasn't whiny in any way, he was simply stating that it hurt.

"I'm sorry."

"You have no reason to be."

She didn't reply to that, instead blurting out impulsively, "How come you aren't dead?"

Wow, smooth going Mai. Makes you sound so interested and relieved. She opened her mouth to reword her question into something less offensive when he cut her off.

"Because I am somehow the most fortunate man alive." He paused, holding up what had been in his hand. She recognised it instantly. A silver bow on a silver chain. Her necklace. Her present from him.

"But that's… mine – how on earth did you get that?"

"I found it." He said simply, choosing not to delve into the specifics of the matter.

"I lost it in a tree." She wanted to say she hadn't meant to lose it, but her explanation inexplicably died there.

"I'm not even going to ask how that happened. Back to the matter at hand. I'm sure you're aware that some metals have magical properties."

"I'm not a moron."

"Says the girl who lost her necklace in a tree."

"That's clumsiness, not stupidity."

Noll gave her a look.

"Anyway, I kept this necklace in my breast pocket. Against all the odds, the magic happened to strike this necklace – which simply reflected the magic back. I still take impact from the force and fall back, while your dictatorial landlord is the one who ends up dead."

Mai stared at the necklace for a few seconds, letting the information sink in. "So what you're saying is my clumsiness saved your life?"

"No. That's not what I'm saying. That is very definitely not what I said at all."

She shrugged. "Suit yourself. But I did save your life. Just so you know."

Noll was clearly suppressing a smile as he stood up, holding the necklace out to her. "Here, take it back. Don't lose it this time."

"I'll try but no promises," she giggled, taking it back and slipping it over her head. She smiled down at the bow, but it faded as she remembered the circumstances of getting it back. Noll was right, the chances of that lightning bolt striking the necklace instead of him were probably less than one in a million. She'd – they'd - nearly lost him for good. Eostre would have succeeded in her threat of making her watch him die.

"You know, you say you're not a moron, but you clearly don't know how to listen for a heartbeat," he said after a few moments of watching her put on the necklace.

She groaned. "This again? Noll, I'm fully aware of how to do it. It's pretty easy."

"I'm serious. I should teach you. I'm sure it'll come in handy in future."

She opened her mouth to complain when he grabbed her wrist and placed her palm against his chest, over his heart. She felt the strong, steady thrum of his heartbeat and the sensation comforted her immensely.

"It's okay," he said quietly. "I'm alive. I didn't die."

She nodded, biting her lip. "Thank you."

He dropped her wrist, but she kept her palm there. It was wildly inappropriate but she knew neither of them cared about that. He was alive and that was all that mattered to her at this moment. That, and that he cared enough to comfort her. She knew, right there and then, that he'd without a doubt missed her.

She tilted her head back and went onto her tiptoes to kiss him softly. She pulled away after a second, watching carefully to see his reaction. He blinked in surprise, and she was pleased to see a hint of pink in his normally alabaster cheeks.

Mai grinned shyly. "I think I felt your heart speed up a bit then," she teased.

He smiled again, glancing away. "I don't think you can really blame me for that."

Her grin grew, and before he could say anything else he'd leaned down and kissed her. The previous kiss has been gentle, short, almost innocent, but this one was more desperate and developed until they both pulled away.

"Would you have kissed me? On the balcony?" She asked quietly, hoping her question wouldn't ruin this quiet, close moment they were sharing.

"Yes." He affirmed, his voice just as quiet as hers. "I was going to. Had you not been blathering on about assassins."

"I'm sorry." She pushed her face into his chest, and they took up the comfortable position of his his head above hers and his arm round her back. "If I had told you we wouldn't have had this whole scenario. No one would have died or gotten injured."

"I don't know about that." He said after considering the proposition. "I don't believe in soul mates."

"So?"

"So what if they don't exist? What if you had no way to break the curse – no matter who kissed you? You would still have been taken and we would still have come found you."

Mai frowned. "But why would she tell me there was a way to break it if there wasn't?"

"It makes a lot more sense than her giving you a random way out of the curse. You're presented with freedom only to have it cruelly snatched, and any romantic attachments you had would be broken by you believing that you'd carried on with the wrong person instead of finding your soul mate. It would break your morale."

She considered it. He was right. Why would Eostre give her an option out unless she thought it was impossible for her to achieve and painful? It wasn't as if Eostre wanted her to break the curse. Her hatred for the woman deepened even though she was dead.

"... So you're not angry I didn't tell you I was cursed." Her voice had quietened again, this time it was barely louder than a whisper.

"No." He closed his eyes and rested his head on hers. It hurt her scalp but she let it pass. "It would only have changed our reunion."

"So maybe I wouldn't have had my first proper kiss in a tent in the wilderness." She retorted before she could stop herself.

He blew air out of his nose in a fashion which showed he was amused. "It probably would not have turned out this way, no."

"Thank you though. For risking your life to find me. Your lives, really."

In an ideal romantic novel he would have told her that it was nothing, and that he was only glad that now she was here with him. In reality, he told her that she owed him and she slapped his chest.

Me: It'll be a short epilogue

Me: why you always lyin

I also said I'd hope it wouldn't take long, but honestly I got so busy and this just kept getting longer . My life is quite different now since I last posted. I got a place at a uni, my relationship with my mother is better, I actually have friends, I'm learning Middle Egyptian which is actual hell please don't follow my footsteps, I wish I'd done Ancient Greek.

I'm really glad this is complete (also, a nice round 30 chapters, completely by chance. I'm pleased with this). The beginner's guide to Ghost Hunt on tumblr kind of inspired me to seriously try to get back into this, I honestly miss having the drive to write like I used to.

My sister said that part of this chapter was confusing, I hope we've cleared it up? I mean if you as a reader are confused just say what you don't get and I'll probably PM you.

I think next I'll either work on Aftermath or a oneshot I started.

Please review, you know how much I treasure them.