Cure Flora ran as fast as she could to the end of the palace grounds. What would normally be a beautiful sunset was covered by heavy black clouds, and even though it was nearly June the air was strangely cold. All of the trees she passed that would normally be in full bloom were covered from top to bottom in heavy thorns. The warrior barely noticed the decrepit scenery surrounding her- her mind was too focused on achieving her goal to barely register her environment. Every Zetsuborg she encountered on her way was immediately obliterated in a flash of rose and lily petals. The princess continued her race against time, holding the Crystal Princess Rod tightly in her right hand.
The ceremony was supposed to start at sunset, right? She thought to herself. How long do weddings even take any way? I have to make it in time!
Another Zetsuborg blocked her path. "UUUURGH get out of the way!" She roared as she sent a fist right in the monster's face. "Precure, Lys Tourbillon!" She pointed her weapon at the creature and only continued running as soon as the attack was finished, the flower petals trailing behind her.
Then she saw it. Just on the next hill, right in front of the golden palace gates, was an unmistakably large gathering. Judging from the amount of people still there, Flora knew that she would be arriving just in time. With the end of her journey in sight, and filled with even more determination than before, Flora ran to the very top of the hill.
The men guarding the ceremony noticed the pink warrior and tried to stop her as she made her way up the hill, but their power was weak to that of the Precure's. She pushed them aside with ease and finally arrived at the large fence that encircled the ceremony. The wedding guests remained in their seats, most likely brainwashed by Dsypear into attending the ceremony and not being disruptive.
Flora panted, now that she had reached her destination and, momentarily, had no more monsters to fight, she could finally catch her breath. But suddenly, all of that sadness and despair she had felt for Kanata manifested itself into pure rage. She spin kicked the iron gate down and slowly made her way down the aisle, black rose petals at her feet. Flora had never felt as violent in her entire life. For anyone to interfere with the peace of Hope Kingdom was unforgivable. But for anyone to toy with Kanata's emotions as she did was absolutely vicious to do.
Cure Flora pointed a gloved finger at the woman. She was wearing a jet black dress, the train pooled around her feet like a puddle of ink. Her hair sat in a bun atop her head so only the crimson red parts of it were visible. A black veil covered her face.
"Dyspear!" Flora roared, holding herself back from charging fist first at the woman. "What you have done to the people of Hope Kingdom, what you have done to Prince Kanata, is absolutely unforgivable! Stop what you are doing this instant and release him and everyone else here from your trance!"
"Flora…" Kanata whispered. He looked at her with red violet eyes entirely full of sorrow. His signature white clothing had been switched for a pitch black suit. The coattails of his jacket faded from black to a dark purple. Dark gray feathers surrounded his collar. Clearly, his outfit was designed to match that of his bride.
The woman standing next to him only laughed a low, dark chuckle. "But why demand that I undo whatever spell I have casted, when all of this is your fault in the first place for not telling the prince your true feelings?"
Flora only shook her head. She wouldn't allow herself to fall for Dyspear's tricks, there was too much at stake this time to even think about listening to her. Besides, she had learned from her mistakes.
"I may not be able to change the past and tell Kanata my true feelings before any of this happened, but I can change right now!" Flora walked forward, approaching the couple. A pink light surrounded her, almost like a shield protecting her from despair itself. Golden sparkles flew off of her when she was only three feet from them. "I am in love with Prince Hope Grand Kanata, and I have been ever since I was thirteen years old. I may not have been brave enough to say it then, but I sure as hell am now. I'm brave enough to stand by his side as queen of Hope Kingdom. And I'm brave enough to save this entire kingdom again and protect Kanata's smile for the rest of my life, because THAT is my new dream!" The light surrounding Flora broke away in an array of pink sparkles, revealing the transformation of the shorter version of her Grand Princess dress.
Cure Flora lunged forward to plant her fist squarely across Dyspear's face, but her blow was intercepted by a ghostly white hand.
"Precure…" she said slowly, her voice dripping with hatred. The ground began to shake beneath them. "Can't you see that it's already too late for you? It's already too late for you all!"
Hundreds of thorn branches rose from the ground, destroying the pure green grass of the hill. All of the wedding guests were immediately trapped in cages of despair and dozens of Zetsuborgs took their places. Flora had no choice but to jump back in order to avoid being impaled by the thorns.
Princess Yami let out a blood curdling scream as she grew taller and taller, revealing her true form as the witch Dyspear. "Now do you see, Precure? I've been feeding off of this man's despair from the moment you two parted ways six years ago. Not even a Grand Princess has the power to break this spell."
Flora gritted her teeth, eyes searching desperately for Kanata. "Kanata! Kanata can you hear me? Kanata!" She called, until she spotted him in a cage of thorns similar to the one Dyspear had used to trap Towa so long ago. Even though her first instinct was to immediately run to the man she loved and do anything she could to free him, she knew she had to take down Dyspear and save the citizens of Hope Kingdom.
A Zetsuborg she hadn't noticed snuck up behind Cure Flora and was just about to plunge its foot down on her. Flora ducked and covered her head, but was relieved to see her friends readily protecting her.
"Twinkle! Scarlet!" They, too, had transformed into shorter versions of their Grand Princess dresses that were much more appropriate for fighting than the long and heavy ball gowns. The two lifted the Zetsuborg into the air. She rose her head just in time to see Mermaid land a punch on the monster so hard, it flew out of sight. The princess of the seas joined the Grand Princesses in front of the jungle of thorns. Masterpiece, still in her regular outfit, grinned sheepishly at them.
"I guess since I'm new to this Precure thing I can't join you guys as Grand Princesses yet, huh?" She rubbed the back of her head.
"I'm sure you can take lessons from Miss Shamour later, Masterpiece," Mermaid assured her. "But for now…" she looked at the terrifying sight that stood before them.
"For now we have to beat Dyspear back to where she came from!" Flora yelled, and jumped again to attack Dyspear.
The other Precure focused their attention on defeating the Zetsuborgs. They didn't feel it was right to help Flora in her fight with Dyspear; this wasn't just about defending Hope Kingdom for Flora. This was personal.
But try as she might, Flora wasn't making very much progress on defeating Dyspear. And to add insult to injury, Dyspear wasn't even fighting back. Flora landed attack after attack and punch after punch on the queen of despair, but it had little to no effect. All she knew was she had to think of some way to defeat her and free Kanata from this trance as soon as possible. When Dyspear had taken Towa last time it was the power of the song she shared with Kanata that set her free. But what on Earth could Flora do this time to save him? She let out a frustrated scream as she continued to knock Dyspear down with attacks from her spear.
While they could have freed the citizens of Hope Kingdom from the cages of despair immediately after defeating a Zetsuborg, they all knew they would be much safer if they were kept out of the fight. The princesses had nearly defeated all of the monsters when a hideously shrill roar filled the air.
The noise was so jarring that all the Precure stopped what they were doing and looked in the direction that it came from. The warriors could do nothing but stare in awe and in horror at the new challenge that was approaching them.
"N-no way…" Masterpiece whispered, her grip on her own Crystal Princess Rod tightened.
"How is that even possible? Didn't we…?" Scarlet's question trailed off.
Flora fell to the ground to join her comrades. "No, I saw them earlier. It's definitely them." She eyed the new monster with determination. "Stop and Freeze have returned."
And the twins had taken on a terrifying new form. As one head breathed fire on the thorns of despair, the other one froze them in ice. It was almost like watching a monster right out of Greek mythology. However, this was no fable. Stop and Freeze were now fused together into the form of a two-headed dragon, nearly as tall as Dyspear herself.
"Fools," Dyspear's deep voice called through the air. "Do you see now just how much despair I was able to gather from one man? Now my new creation shall finish you off."
Wasting no time, Scarlet fired a Scarlet Spark at the dreadful monster, but to no avail. The attack bounced off of the dragon's scales like it was nothing.
"Fire cannot hurt a dragon…" Twinkle whispered in a petrified awe.
"How are we supposed to fight this… this thing?" Mermaid asked no one in particular. "If it can breathe both fire and ice, doesn't that counter all of our attacks?"
"Not at all," Twinkle said, nudging Masterpiece playfully. The Music Princess Palace appeared in front of the star princess.
"Oh! I see!" Yui nodded in understanding.
"Galaxy!" Twinkle put her key into the middle slot of the palace. "Shalala! Galaxy! Precure, Galaxy chorus!"
Masterpiece followed suit, putting her own gradient key into the weapon. "Typhoon! Cry, oh winds! Precure, Masterpiece typhoon!"
Hundreds of shooting stars powered by extremely strong wind and rain flew right into the dragon. The young women definitely knew they wounded the creature as it let out another ear piercing roar. But the dragon of despair would not be stopped there. The giant creature spread its wings, covering the darkening sky in complete blackness. The Precure expected the dragon to fire an attack at the five of them, but the dragon instead aimed for one small spot on Dyspear. They all turned just in time to hear Flora cry out in pain.
"Flora?!" They all said together.
"How the heck did she get over there? She was right behind us this whole time," Twinkle said what everyone else was thinking.
"She must have left when we first started attacking it to go and fight Dyspear herself," Masterpiece noted.
"Who cares how she got there, we need to help her!" Towa leapt toward her friend. When she reached Flora she had fallen onto a fallen and thornless tree. Her Grand Princess transformation broke around her. Scarlet knelt beside her.
"Scarlet…" Flora breathed as she slowly opened her eyes. She was covered in cuts and bruises. "How can we beat her? She's so much stronger this time. There's no way…" The flower princess trailed off, tears threatening to spill out the corner of her eyes.
"Oh, Flora," Scarlet sadly sighed. "This is all my fault. If only I had gotten you involved sooner, if only our worlds didn't have to be separated. Then none of this would have ever happened. I had no idea just how far into despair my brother had sunken. I'm so so sorry, Flora."
Flora sat up. "Don't blame yourself, Scarlet. You couldn't have possibly known just how bad it really was. All we can do now is try to figure out a way to beat them." The flower princess shakily stood, taking her friend's hand for support. They nodded at each other and jumped together at Dyspear, flowers and flames intertwining.
They were about fifty feet up when Scarlet spied her brother, trapped in a cage of thorns. "What do you call this feeling… deja vu? Yes, that sounds about right." Then the princess of Hope's eyes brightened. "Flora!" She called. Her comrade was up about twenty feet higher, trying to knock Dyspear down even just a little bit.
"What?" She shouted back, not letting up on her attacks, even if she was in a less powerful form.
"In your fairy tales, how does the prince break the spell and save the princess?"
"Scarlet, this really isn't the time for-"
"Flora just listen to me! How does the prince break the spell and save his true love?!"
The flower princess's eyes widened. "Oh my god," she whispered. "Scarlet I can't do that now, not here, not like this! I-I'm not ready!" She shouted to the flame princess, trying to find a different solution.
"God damn it, Flora, do you want to save him or not?" Scarlet covered her mouth, surprising even herself with her language. "What could you possibly have to lose?"
Cure Flora sighed and whispered to herself: "it's definitely not that I don't want to I'm just… scared." Then she smiled and laughed at herself. "But hey, what do I have to lose right?" She gently floated down to the ground, to the cage of thorns from which the prince hadn't moved from.
Kanata's staffed magically appeared in his hand. He pointed it directly at the Flower Princess. "Cure Flora, do not take one step closer!"
She closed her eyes and smiled. "Okay." Her transformation completely dissolved around her, pink petals blowing in the air around them. Tentatively, she walked through a gap in the thorn cage toward the prince.
"W-what are you doing? I will have you banished for destroying my wedding. Executed!"
"Kanata... I have come so far to find you. I know your dream. She has stolen the heart from inside you, but this does not define you." Haruno Haruka continued her slow march toward the prince. He still pointed his weapon at her, but instead of firing he only backed farther against the cage. "This is not who you are." She reached out and gently took hold of his wrist, making him lower his staff. She wrapped her arms around his neck as his stayed at his sides. She looked him right in the eyes. "You know who you are. Who you truly are."
Tears rolled down the prince's cheeks, all traces of red leaving his eyes. "Haruka… this is all my fault." He hugged the flower princess tightly. "I'm so sorry."
Haruka smiled up at Kanata. "There's no need." After years of waiting, she lifted her lips up to meet his in a soft kiss. He returned the kiss without hesitation, pulling her even closer to him. The two pulled apart to watch the thorns vanish around them. From the top of the hill they could nearly see the entire Kingdom be freed from Dyspear's carnage.
"Hmm try as you might, but despair will always be waiting for you. I will return." Dyspear shrunk and withered until she was nothing more than a dried up rose with a stem covered in thorns.
Just as Cure Mermaid fired an Ice Ripple at the dragon that was Stop and Freeze, it too disappeared; becoming nothing more than a two headed salamander.
Kanata looked down to his true love, placing his hand on her cheek as his other wrapped around her waist. "Haruka, thank you for everything you have done, again. I am so irresponsible for letting this get so out of hand."
She leaned her cheek into his warm hand. "No no, not at all you're-"
"You're stubborn! Onii-sama if you had only listened to me MONTHS ago this entire situation could have been avoided. I said from the moment an arranged marriage was brought up 'oh, what about Haruka?' but you wouldn't have it! And now here we are, after fighting our toughest enemy yet, and you say you were irresponsible? Onii-sama, no, you were not only irresponsible, but stubborn." Scarlet marched toward the couple, her transformation disappearing once she reached them. The others released their transformations and joined them as well, Kirara taking her place beside Towa. Kirara giggled, she knew Kanata had this lecturing coming to him.
The prince's face turned red with embarrassment. He had never received such a reprimanding from his sister before. "T-towa, I explained to you many times-"
"No, Onii-sama I explained to YOU many times! And where are we now? You're holding hands with Haruka after just kissing her after we just defeated Dyspear AGAIN. Honestly, I know it's inappropriate of me to be scolding you like this, but if you have so many people who care for you telling you to marry the woman you love, for God's sake just do it!"
"But the interdimensional rules, Towa…" He trailed off.
"Forget the interdimensional rules!" She threw her hands up in frustration. "Do you know that I've been engaging in the Skyping with Kirara, even though she has been in Paris and I have stayed here? I've even visited her on several special occasions! Because we- b-because we um" Her face flushed and she averted her gaze to the ground.
"Because we're in love," Kirara finished. "And Towachi has been keeping it a secret from your entire kingdom because she was afraid. Afraid of punishment for breaking the rules and afraid of being shunned for loving another woman."
"Onii-sama, I'm so sorry. I wanted to tell you, I really did, but I just didn't know how you would react. I am sincerely sorry for keeping this from you but… but I do not for one moment apologize for my relationship with Kirara."
Kanata smiled at his sister and her partner. "No, Towa, I am the one who should apologize. Whatever I did to make you feel like you needed to hide such happiness from me for so long must have been very drastic. And I am sorry."
The flame princess looked at her brother with wide eyes. "N-no, you did nothing at all! I-I just…" she jumped forward and hugged her brother, tears falling from her eyes. "I was just so worried about being accepted by you and mother and father and so afraid of what might happen since I traveled across worlds so many times." Towa pulled back from the hug and took her place next to her girlfriend.
"I will always love you and accept you, no matter who you love-"
"Yeah and she still loved and accepted you when you were about to marry Dyspear" Kirara joked. Kanata just smiled.
"But about the interdimensional travelling, we'll have to talk to Miss Shamour about the risks that it poses-"
"Oh, Onii-sama I am right ahead of you with that. There's a scientist on Earth, Mr. Sanchez I believe, who has developed a device for such purposes. He's been using it for decades with no side effects. I have a meeting scheduled with Miss Shamour to demonstrate the machine to her."
The prince chuckled. "Well then, that takes care of all my qualms about your relationship. I'm so happy you have found happiness, Towa. And thank you for bringing Haruka here, so I could find mine." He looked at his flower princess lovingly.
Kirara lifted Towa into the air and spun her around, squeals of delight coming from both of them.
"I'm sorry to interrupt but…" Minami interjected quietly. "If Yui and I are no longer needed, I do believe we would like to go back home. We both have quite a bit of work to get to." Yui nodded in agreement.
"Oh yes, my apologies. Pafu or Aroma should be waiting in the foyer. Tell them of your situation and they will gladly escort you home."
They curtseyed to the prince and walked off.
Haruka smiled at her prince. "Well, I suppose we should tell your parents of today's events."
He smiled back at her. "My father has been receiving treatment in a neighboring Kingdom and my mother has been by his side every step of the way. They won't be returning until the day after tomorrow."
"O-oh," Haruka blushed, her mind starting to wonder. "Then what should we do now? It seems Towa and Kirara are off having fun."
Kanata looked back toward the palace. "Actually, there's somewhere I've been dying to show you."
OuOuOuO
Haruka found her way to the giant cherry blossom tree Kanata had given her directions to. He would have accompanied her, but he let his walls down and told her he really wanted to change out of the suit Dyspear had forced him into. They both agreed white was a much better color for him.
Haruka looked up at the cherry blossom tree and smiled. Out of every flower she had ever seen, cherry blossoms always had a special place in her heart.
"It's beautiful, isn't it?" His calm voice pulled Haruka from her thoughts.
"Mm, very. I can tell you spend a lot of time here."
"Yes. You see, this is an enchanted cherry tree. It's in bloom all year round. It's always there for me when I need it most. And whenever I come here, my thoughts are always filled with you, Haruka." He knelt to the ground and took a small wooden box out of his pocket. Haruka could only gasp. "Haruka, I know you have dreams and goals to achieve in the human world, but I know now that life without you only brings a sadness that I would never wish on my greatest enemy. I almost lost you once, and I can't bear the thought that that could ever happen again. I love you, Haruno Haruka, with all of who I am. I don't care how long it takes, but I will do anything to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you please marry me?" He opened the small box to reveal a gold ring with a small diamond carved in the shape of a heart.
"Oh, Kanata…" she wiped tears out of the corner of her eyes. "Yes, I will absolutely marry you."
The prince rose to his feet and kissed his princess with no reservations. This time it was Haruka who ended the kiss.
"However, if you thought fighting against Dyspear was challenging, we will soon have to face another obstacle."
He took her hand and slid the ring onto her finger. "With you, my flower, anything is possible."
"Really?" She questioned. "Even telling my parents?"
OuOuOuOuOu
Wellllll hello everybody haha...ha.
I know it's been almost six months since the last update and I can honestly say I've thought about updating this story almost every day. So many unpredictable things have happened to me in this past six months. I had to leave school because I couldn't afford it and I've been working very hard since then to save up enough money to go back. And for the first time in like two years I have a girlfriend. They make me so happy and feel so loved and complete, I'm so happy I met them.
The next chapter will be purely fluff because tbh I think we need it after all this drama. Thank you all so much for staying with me, even though I really probably didn't deserve it. This next chapter will be much easier to write. This one I wanted to make sure lived up to everything I wanted it to be and I think it did for the most part. Thank you all so much for reading and sticking with this story.
Love,
Michaela