So here it is, one day late, sorry about that, please read the A/N at the end, I have a surprise~! please enjoy the last chapter of Willow Maiden~!

    
 

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The hunter didn’t care anymore that it was dark already, all he knew was that he had to follow the will-o-wisps and fast. Up till that point, the little lights always signalled something that had to do with Key. The hunter grew very anxious. He ran to his mother’s side and kissed her cheek.

                “I think something’s going on with Key, the will-o-wisps are visible.” He said softly. His mother hugged him and wished him all the luck. She knew what will-o-wisps were and was somewhat happy Jonghyun got to follow them to his destiny. The hunter kissed his mother’s cheek and hurried off into the dark.

He was ignorant of the fact that the night was already upon him, even if he would lose his life trying to chase after Key, it would be worth every single step of the way.  It was a full moon so he had little trouble seeing where he was heading. The little search light guided his path. The hunter couldn’t stop thinking of what had passed. The first meeting with Key, hearing his voice, giggles and laughter. He was sure he would want to spend the rest of his life with that person, even if he couldn’t speak the words of love, it just didn’t matter anymore.

Jonghyun got sidetracked as he noticed new will-o-wisps with a different, more yellowish, colour. His guts told him to follow that trail first, it was rather strange how his instincts took over. His subconscious knew what had to be done. The lights took him to a part of the forest in which he had never gone before. The trees appeared to be very old, even older than Key’s willow. There was an odd obnoxious aura there. As if the trees didn’t want him to be there.

He looked around, inspecting the trees. Every single tree had Will-o-wisps on them, but none had the colour Jonghyun had followed thus far. The sight was breathtaking though. There were quite a lot of trees all faintly lit by the will-o-wisps. Jonghyun sighed and continued to search for the lights he had been following. He looked at every tree, but the obnoxious feeling wouldn’t leave him. Something deep inside told him that there was something wrong with the trees. He decided to take a closer look. He came closer to one of the trees. It was intriguing to say at least. There had to be hundreds if not thousands of small lights.

The hunter was curious and tried to touch one of the lights. It disappeared and along with it, the other lights started to fade as well. After the tree he had touched went out, others followed. All but one, Jonghyun made his way to that tree. It was the one with the lights that matched the ones he had followed.  The colour matched, so it had to be that tree. He moved closer and noticed a small cavity in the tree. Inside the cavity there was a high concentration of the will-o-wisps, as if they wanted him to notice, which he did. The hunter took a look inside and one by one the lights started to disappear, leaving a small golden like flower.

The flower was stunning and reminded him of the sun.  Its leaves were tear shaped and its stem was nice and long. It made the hunter wonder why the lights had brought him here first. He decided to pick the flower. Since the stem was that long, he could even make a small flower ring out of it. His mother had shown him how to do that once. He was aware of the fact that the flower he was holding, could well be the last flower that bore a resemblance to the past summer. He swiftly made the flower into a flower ring that fitted around his pinkie.

The will-o-wisps that he had followed to the tree were now all gone. Jonghyun looked around and spotted the ones that had lured him into the forest at first.
He took a deep breath and followed the new lights, he knew he had to make haste so he ran as much as he could. Jonghyun still didn’t quite recognize his surroundings. He was walking uphill, it took a while before he reached the top, when he did, he could see light burning in the east. His own village was in the west and he had always been told that there was nothing in the east, there was a sea beyond the east border, but from what he saw now, that might not have been true. He doubted that the place he saw now would have been visible during the day.
He wondered what people would live there.

The hunter continued his way and followed the lights back down again, this time he knew in which direction he was headed. The lake was in view already, there wasn’t anything new about it. Though somehow there was a strange aura that Jonghyun just couldn’t shake off. It wasn’t a bad aura, but it wasn’t very pleasant either. He took strong steps towards the tree house.

There was no light coming through the shutters from inside so he guessed that Key was asleep. He climbed up, opened the hatch and went inside. He walked over to the room in which he had left the maiden. He assumed he would be there, but when he entered, fear struck, Key wasn’t there. There were still some smouldering coals in the fireplace, but the blankets were folded open. There were little flower petals everywhere, even though it was the middle of winter.

Jonghyun panicked and searched the house. First the kitchen, there was nothing to be seen, then the bedroom, but Key was nowhere inside the house. It was as if it had been abandoned. He knew Key couldn’t have just left, there was still bread in the kitchen. Jonghyun tried to reason, but it just didn’t work.

He went down again since he couldn’t keep searching the empty house. By the lake he let his eyes do the work, but there was nothing to be seen. The male let out a frustrated growl, he couldn’t believe Key would have gone away just like that. He kept looking around and noticed a small trail of petals, every now and then there were a few on the ground. That was his only lead so he decided to just follow that.

As soon as he started to get further away from the tree house, he noticed that there were will-o-wisps alongside the petals. Since the little search lights were much easier to follow, he decided to pick up his pace. Jonghyun ran along with the will-o-wisps. He didn’t quite pay attention to what was happening around him. He kept following them. Every few minutes he recognized a small bit of the forest. He was walking the route he had taken with Key when they had gone for a stroll.

He accelerated when he noticed where he was heading. He was running toward that damned bridge, he didn’t understand what it was but he knew it couldn’t be anything too good.
Jonghyun knew he was close and could almost see the bridge. There were no will-o-wisps to follow anymore, it felt strange to the hunter.

He quickly tried to get the bridge in sight, but when he did he stopped in his tracks. Snow had started to fall and he hadn’t even noticed it. There was a thin layer of white on the bridge and in front of that was Key. He didn’t look the same anymore, his skin had a faint glow and his hair lit up in the moonlight, Jonghyun was sure he had never seen Key being that beautiful thus far. The maiden’s back was all the hunter could see. He got alarmed when he noticed that Key was taking small steps towards the bridge. He didn’t want that, he didn’t know what the bridge would do, but judging from the air there was nothing to be happy about.

Jonghyun ran closer and stumbled, but he didn’t fall. He didn’t want the maiden to even come close to the bridge.

                “Key! Stop!” he urged and tried to reach to him, but he was forced to stop in his tracks once again as Key turned around. His face was stained by tears and the fresh ones gave of a faint glow. Every time a tear fell down onto the snow, it spread a slight glow there as well.

The maiden had turned around leaving the hunter breathless. He stood a few meters away from Key, who had his graze directed to the ground. “Key….Look at me” The younger male looked up into the hunter’s eyes. Jonghyun fell in love all over again. Key’s green eyes weren’t clouded anymore and even though there were tears, he seemed healthier than ever before.

                “Don’t go”

Key gave a weak smile but shook his head. “I have to go” he said in a voice that was only as loud as a whisper. Jonghyun refused to agree to that.
                “You don’t Key, you can stay here and remain by my side.” He plead. The maiden smiled and gave a soft giggle, but shook his head again.
                “I’m afraid I can’t do that Jjong.” It broke the hunter’s heart to hear that, he refused to believe that what the maiden said was true.

                “But I love you Key…”

                “And I love you, which is why I shall leave”

With that Jonghyun moved forward and pulled the maiden into his arms. Tears were streaming down his face. He didn’t care that it wouldn’t look manly or anything, his heart had been shattered once more.
                “Why Key…why?”

The maiden looked up to the hunter, a soft smile spread across his face. His hands traced the hunter’s jaw softly. Key looked up again and kissed Jonghyun on the lips. The other male leaned in and held his beloved close. The kiss itself was sweet, but short. Key had used the kiss to calm Jonghyun down and to get his attention.

                “Listen to me Jjong,” The said man looked in his beloved’s eyes and waited patiently for him to continue.
                “Once upon a time, I was born, my parents cursed me, so I would never be able to love. I would never be able to speak about love, they chained me, tying me to the earth for all eternity. They never wanted me so they didn’t value me, they damned me. Speaking out the curse was something easy for them to do, but they left out one vital thing. I could still receive love, though I couldn’t return it. You did that Jonghyun, you did just the thing they didn’t hold into account. Though I don’t quite understand why you’re so attracted to me, I’m thankful, to you mother and especially to you.”

Jonghyun’s tears couldn’t stop falling he didn’t interrupt Key and waited for the other to carry on.
                “You saved me, I don’t quite understand myself, but I do know that the chains that were holding me down are now gone, there’s nothing but you tying me to this earth, but that isn’t enough I’m afraid. My time has run out a long time ago, so I will cross the bridge to go to the next world.”

The hunter frowned, he couldn’t quite understand it yet.

                 “Can I follow you Key?”

                “If you do, you will never be able to enter the heavens that were promised to you by your God.” The maiden explained and gave a weak smile. He looked Jonghyun in the eyes and wiped his tears away.
                “Don’t you cry Jjong, you have a choice and you’ve given me the greatest gift.” The man shook his head, he didn’t want Key to go, but it wasn’t up to him. He knew he had a choice, but it wouldn’t be easy to take it.

                “Will we meet again if I do cross the bridge” he didn’t promise crossing it, but he wanted to know. Key offered him a soft smile.

                “If the will-o-wisps want you to”

That answer was good enough for Jonghyun, it brought a smile to his face. He noticed that Key was starting to pull away, but he would have nothing of that yet and pulled him into a tighter hold. Before releasing the maiden from his hold, he grabbed Key’s left hand. He took the flower ring he had crafted before from his pinkie and placed it on Key’s ring finger. The maiden smiled and shed some tears of happiness.

Key distanced himself from Jonghyun, placing a final kiss on either of his cheeks and ending with a soft kiss on the lips.

His shackles were forever gone, his heart had warmed up and the words he had wanted to speak out loud most, had been said. There was nothing left in this world to be done, so he had to go, go on to a new world, to start anew.

Slowly Key’s hand slipped out of Jonghyun’s, the both of them had tears running down their cheeks. The maiden slowly walked backwards and took small steps before turning to face the bridge. Slowly he walked towards it. The first step was the scariest one, but the next few weren’t so bad. Key turned around one last time, smiled to Jonghyun and held up his left hand, showing the ring. Its petals turned to beautiful yellow gemstones. The stem formed a golden bond, the perfect fit for Key’s finger. Jonghyun smiled, though he was torn inside. The maiden returned the smile and mouthed a soft ‘I love you’, before disappearing in thin air.

Jonghyun was left in the forest, the maiden snow surrounding him was glowing. He didn’t stop his sobs anymore. It took him a good while to calm himself again. He had made up his mind on what had to be gone.

                “You and I will meet again.”

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A/N So that's it! It's a wrap~! Or is it? There will be an epilogue, which will be up on friday! BUT this is where the original story ended so the epilogue is just one of the many, many possibilities of what happens beyond this point! If you have an idea of how things will continue, please tell me I'm happy to hear what you think!  

Willow maiden hit the 40 subscribers mark ^^ I couldn't be more pleased. Thank you all so much for supporting this story, for your lovely comments and for the time you took to take an interest in this story!

As for the surprise~! I'll be holding a GIVEAWAY, yes a giveaway in honour of completing the story and as a thank you to all of you~! Please click the link for details;  http://www.asianfanfics.com/blog/view/421947

Until we meet again~! (in the epilogue~~!)

Comments are loved~! <3<3
 

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