Where am I? What's going on? These were all questions I couldn't answer. All I knew was that my mind had instantly been transported into this world of black. I couldn't see or hear anything around me.
Darkness. Emptiness. Loneliness.
I despised each of those things and unfortunately, that's all I could feel apart from my numb body. I lay there unable to move for what felt like weeks. My mind kept itself busy by trying to figure out what was going on, eventually I realised I mustn't be dead, just unconscious. Then it hit me, am I going home? A wave of hope shot through me. How much time had passed since I was awake? Could Nod have forgotten me by now?

Suddenly, I began to feel a violent burning run through my muscles. It was like everything was returning to me at once. Even though I felt immense pain, any feeling was a relief. I couldn't bear to suffer that emptiness anymore. Truthfully, it only felt empty because I missed everyone, anywhere without Nod would always be empty. The burning quickly diminished and I could feel it escaping my aching body. A part of me knew then I was going somewhere better - I could feel it. Where I truly wanted to be.
The feeling in my body had come back completely. Thank God! I must be close to wherever I was going, where I would be welcomed. The darkness began to ebb. Soon all I could see was the blinding light fighting the darkness. But still I couldn't will my eyes to open. I had to be close now. The light grew more intense. Anticipation quickened my heart rate. My eyes frantically darted behind the lids to force them to open - with no such luck. When the light was at it's brightest, I heard a familiar voice. It was my Nod singing. Moonhaven flooded back to me. I am finally home where I belong. No angel could replicate Nod's voice, it was unique to him and I knew it better than my own. I skipped several heartbeats but I didn't care. He was by me, all I wanted was look at his ruggedly handsome face again but I couldn't. All that stood between us was my stubborn eyelids. His voice carried through the air flawlessly and I noticed it was a song. I had never heard this song before but I had definitely heard Nod humming the tune on our last date. The lyrics came at a shock to me, both by their beauty and meaning.

"Concealed in the forest, a special pond is there,
A place of true beauty, with you I long to share.
Where magic is real, and stars shine bright,
Where fireflies glow, and glisten in the night.
But to you it doesn't compare.

As seasons change, the forest does too,
But one thing can't, my heart belongs to you.
In this new world, I can show you it all,
Be by my side, hear nature's call.
This place is where our love is true.

So don't leave me now, one last embrace,
Kiss me again, caress my face.
Let me protect you, I have since we met,
A bond like ours I can never forget.
Because you are the something I can never replace."

Tears began to gush down my cheeks, small enough to escape the doors of freedom. I had never seen this side of him before. So vulnerable, sincere and emotional. Even when he talked about how he felt about me, he kept himself reserved to prevent any emotional outbreaks. Don't get me wrong, I knew he loved me but he always played the tough warrior type guy. It was so strange to see this side of my Nod. A part of me knew that if I was conscious I would be speechless and crying till all the water drained from me. Now I was fighting with my eyelids to open. I had always taken waking up for granted, a simple opening of the eye motion, now it seemed impossible. At that moment, my lungs craved for a large amount of air. I took a large gasp and found my eyes flickering open. Finally! My surroundings were blurry, I couldn't make out anything but large shady shapes. I tried slowly shaking my head but that made no difference.
"MK! Oh my God you're awake! I'm right here." Nod said as I shuffled by limbs around in the bed.
Eventually my eyes adjusted to the light and I began to see details, until I could make out a clear image of a clean white room and a very excited Nod. My voice box must have been in shutdown because when I tried to speak all that came out was an incoherent mumble.
"Primula she's awake!" He called down the hall as I fought to sit up. A woman in a white and gold tunic came rushing in, is that the Queen's mother? Clearly I had a lot of catching up to do. She ushered a reluctant Nod out of the room and returned to me. My bandages were quickly replaced with fresh ones and she handed me some blue liquid. I had just finished the strange substance when Tara walked in. Tara? Wait. She's dead, I saw it myself. Panic ran through me. I'm dead. But it had all felt so real. She approached me and I scrambled to the headboard of my bed in confusion and fear.
"It's alright, you aren't dead. Your sacrifice brought me back and I am forever grateful MK."
"Huh?" My voice had finally returned to me. Tara sat down by my side and told me everything that had happened after I passed out, the Queen Dahlia losing her powers, Tara becoming the Queen again and me at death's door. By the sounds of it I had sent Nod on one hell of an emotional roller coaster. Then her voice grew serious and I knew bad news would follow.
"I am so happy to see you here with us MK, however I have some distressing news. It took all of your life force to keep you here, here in this form. I'm afraid you won't have enough life force to sustain a human form for more than two days at a time." She explained.
"So I have to stay in this form all my life?" One part of me felt elated that I could have a life with Nod, but another wanted to see my dad again. I missed him too.
"For most of it, you could probably manage a couple of days a month but not much more. I really am sorry." To be honest I couldn't be happier, a smile swept across my face. I had my perfect life, Nod and my dad. Tara left and Nod swiftly entered to replace her.

His walk to me was half way between a gallop and a run. If I had full control of my voice I would have laughed at the similarity between him and a horse. There were so many things I wanted to ask and tell him. He gently brushed aside the red strands of hair on my face and pressed his hand on my cheek. I was never very eloquent around Nod at the best of times, but now I was even worse. Before I could begin to open my mouth and pour my apologies out, Nod climbed on the bed and wrapped his arm around me and planted a kiss on my nose. We sat entwined in our embrace whilst Nod hummed his song to me, it was tempting to fall asleep but I had done enough of that. To prevent me from falling asleep I spoke for the first time and it wasn't as inaudible as I expected.
"I missed you, leafboy."
"I missed you too stomper. Please don't do that to me again."
"I promise. By the way that was great singing before, who knew you had a sensitive side."
"Oh, so you heard that. Why do you have to wake up the one time I sing to you?" He began to blush and I burst out laughing, I knew he was embarrassed but it was about time compared to all the times I had been embarrassed around him (like wearing that ridiculous hat to see Nod when I was a human). Nod moved his hands to my waist and leaned towards me. Our lips met and mine welcomed Nod's tender touch. Heat rushed through me igniting my body with desire. My breathing quickened and I probably should have stopped for health and safety reasons but I couldn't bring myself to tear my lips away. Damn he's a good kisser. For the first time since I woke up I felt alive. This kiss seemed much more than a show of attraction. It was the start of my new adventure here in Moonhaven and I would get to spend every day of it with Nod. I wanted to blurt this new information out to him but this wasn't the time, my lips were moving with his - they didn't have time for words.

Nod was desperate to get me out of the Healing Pavilion (probably due to the horrific experience he had been having for the past few days) so eagerly helped me find my feet. As soon as my legs felt weight they buckled under. Luckily Nod caught me just before I hit the floor.
"Well then sleeping beauty, it looks like I will have to carry you." He said as he swung an arm around my back and the back of my knees. Soon he was holding me like a Prince does when he rescues a damsel in distress. I began to feel self-conscious about my weight but I was laughing too much to care. He carried me outside to his bird and placed me on the back, I wondered where on earth we were going. All I knew was that this was the start of something amazing.

Okay so this I hadn't expected, the bird had landed in an unknown part of the woods and I didn't know why. This part of the forest wasn't visually breathtaking like our haven was, nor was it overflowing with magic. I had been in complete darkness for the last couple of days and I longed for my sanctuary's beauty. Nod hopped off and walked around to me, I gave him an apologetic look for not being able to walk, he laughed, kissed me on the lips and began to pick me up carefully. Instead of carrying me regally like before, he swung me over his back forcing me to wrap my legs around his waist and tie my arms around his shoulders. I didn't know what he was up to but I couldn't wait to find out. Personally, I have never been in this area of the forest before but Nod clearly had. Not at any point did he hesitate, I wondered how many times he must have been here to learn this intricate route off by heart. We had walked in the intense sunlight for a short time when Nod's footsteps abruptly stopped, then I saw why. In front of us was a large meadow enclosed by a circle of willow trees. it screamed emptiness and only cricket chirps filled the air. The grass was tall even for a human, so to us, leafman size, it reached just over our heads. A thin path was visible through the grass making it clear where we were going. Either side of the entrance had a yellow lily, I knew they symbolised something but I couldn't figure out what. There was something about this place I just wanted to run away from, but Nod had taken me here for a reason so I had to respect that. We followed the path until we reached the centre of the meadow. It would have been a beautiful meadow, with the blue and white forget-me-nots poking out of the grass, if it wasn't for the scorched circle of land. Nod set me down and I managed to stay up on my feet. We walked hand in hand to the centre of the circle towards a large stone monument. A woman holding a basket of flowers carved into white stone. At the base the words 'We will not forget' in gold writing. Something terrible had happened here.

"Oh man I feel like it's haunted here, what is this place?" I asked.
"I guess in a way it is haunted - with bad memories at least. I wanted to show you my past since you are my future, that's why we're here. This is the place where my parents died." His clasped my hand tighter and I let out a gasp of shock. We had never talked about the death of our parents. I think after sacrificing my life to save his world, Nod felt like he owed me this much at least. I bent down to run my fingers over the ground, it was unusually dry for a meadow which should have grass on, it was more like a desert. He sat down on the ground and I followed his example. Suddenly tension filled the space between us. I placed his hand in both of mine and planted a delicate kiss on his lips.
"I was only young, I can just about remember. My dad was General of the leafman army and Ronin was his second in command, so during the day my mum would take me to work with her in the field. Mandrake was young and eager to prove himself at the time, so he came up with a very vicious plan to outshine his brother. He created a fire unlike any other, it had been infused with poison, his plan was to destroy our farming field so we would starve to death and the poison would prevent anything from growing there again. It was a normal day, my mum and I were picking the summer berries when an army of boggans carrying flaming twigs flew above us on bats. We ran for our lives, my mother dragging me behind her. But it was too late. The twigs were dropped setting fire to the plants and grass in seconds. We couldn't outrun it and quickly got trapped by flames. The leafman army flew in to our rescue but it was too late, most of the workers got away but the ones working in the centre, like my mum and me, weren't so lucky. Ronin swooped down and grabbed me from the ground. My dad dived down to collect my mum, neither of them made it out."
Tears welled in my eyes at Nod's painful past, his eyes stared into the statue and I knew he was imagining his mother. I only knew half his pain, my mother had died, but even she lived till I was old enough to appreciate my time with her, he hadn't got the chance.
"I am so sorry Nod, I can't even begin to imagine what that was like."
"Yeah it sucked. But on the positive side Mandrake's father died in the fire, he got thrown off his bats by Ronin. Also I got to spend the rest of my childhood annoying Ronin since he was my official guardian. The Queen used logs to transport water from the stream to the field extinguishing the fire quick enough keeping the damage to this circle. We keep this here to make sure no one forgets. As if I could." His downcast expression made me die inside. Poor Nod.

We rode home in a comfortable silence and just when I was about to retreat into the palace I realised I had some good news which was sure to cheer him up. I couldn't leave him thinking of those memories.
"I forgot to tell you something earlier." I said.
"What?" He replied quickly.
"Well, basically Tara told me I don't have enough life force to stay in a human form for more than a few days. So I can stay here in Moonhaven with you!"
"Damn it! This means I will have to share my bed." He said sarcastically as a grin beamed on his face.
"I was actually planning on staying with Mub so you can keep your precious bed!" At this threat he grabbed me by my waist playfully and lifted me off the ground.
"You're staying with me. But you will have to earn your keep princess!"
We ended the night with a kiss and I walked to my bedroom glad to finally be out of this prophecy nightmare. Even though this war had caused me some of the worst pain imaginable I was grateful for it all, it gave me the happily ever after I wanted that I could never get on my own. It was worth almost dying in the end.

One more chapter to go guys! Hope you liked it as much as I loved writing it, please review.