Hitomi opened her eyes and just in time rolled over before one of the trees hit her, as she dodged several more.
The trees had form onto a catapult shape and once fired instead of standing still in mid-air, flung itself forward till it hit the ground leaving a small crater behind as it plunged itself back and forth.
The knights stood up in astonishment, unaware of the situation at first, until a tree pounded on the ground right next to them, shaking the ground, like an earthquake had just occurred.
They all stood in their places till the trees surrended, when it was over Hitomi jumped from her place in the trees and landed just before the knights.
"Where are we?" asked Sir Gumlittle.
"In our world, I think" replied Hitomi.
The group began to discuss the situation on the possibilities when Hitomi pointed out the cave and the waterfall indicating they were in their time.
After the discussion Kotori lead the way back to their campsite, the knights were already disguised as Hitomi had given them each a black cloak in the lair so they could blend in with the lair's walls.
Kotori was still walking completely oblivious that she was in fact still wearing a dress.
By the time they had reached the campsite the sky was changing from light blue mixed with orange and purples streams. It would soon be dark and the knights worried whether they would get back to Gummadoon in time before it vanished for another hundred years.
Their thoughts were soon interrupted when they heard Kotori's parents squealing and running towards them.
The knights quickly vanished as not to be seen by Kotori's parents as they disappeared into the nearby forest.
Kotori on the other hand looked to be running away from them and it was soon revealed why. Her parents were chasing after her with a camera.
Meanwhile on top of the hill not too far away from the campsite the knights gazed down in amusement at the event of Kotori running away from her parents, when Sir Blastus spoke
"Mon ami, remember a similar event to this".
"With Hitomi" said Sir Plucki.
As they watched a plan soon began to form as they sneaked their way back towards the campsite.
"KOTORI" shouted Hitomi barely as she was laughing so hard "it's just one picture"
"I don't care, while I'm in a dress you're not taking a picture of me" she shouted as she continued to run about the campsite.
Kotori began to head back towards the forest when she neared it she saw three black figures stood there blocking her way. She shot a furious glare at them, guessing who it was when she turned round she heard a click as the three figures disappeared from sight.
"NO!" shouted Kotori, screaming out the whole forest as she put her head in her hands.
The picture was of Kotori stood there with one finger in the air and her mouth locked open as to protest.
Hitomi on the other hand was now on the ground laughing hysterically, tears streaming down her face, as she was laughing so hard when Kotori confronted not at all impressed.
"OW, please, stop, it hurts," said Hitomi clutching her stomach.
"HITOMI" said Kotori dangerously.
Hitomi immediately sat up with a straight face, but couldn't hold it for more than a few seconds when she burst out laughing again.
"Your hopeless" said Kotori, before stomping off towards the forest, barely controlling her temper.
"Kotori, wait" said Hitomi catching up with her.
"I'm not going back there, ever" said Kotori.
"But, you have to go back some point" said Sir Plucki startling the two girls as he revealed himself from the shadows.
Kotori sent him a death glare, as the other two knights came out from the shadows.
"HOW COULD YOU!" shouted Kotori.
Hitomi looked just as good as the knights trying to keep a straight face, as Kotori continued to glare at them her anger slowly cooling down.
Hitomi and the knights soon got merry again while Kotori climbed a tree, as she wanted to get a view of the place while they were here. Hitomi thought Kotori to be a monkey by the way she climbed up.
Time seemed to fly by and Kotori was still in the trees and looked to be admiring something, which made Hitomi curious.
The knights had now taken off their cloaks so Hitomi and Kotori could see them since the sky had gone dark and they blended in with the darkness.
They looked to be in deep conversation when they felt an electric shock go through them.
Hitomi knew what that meant as she shouted up to Kotori who immediately came down. She walked over to the knights, who looked at her in wonder as she knelt down beside them.
"Shock" she said to which they nodded.
"Guess this is goodbye then" said Kotori joining them.
"Since when were you so serious Kotori," said Hitomi jokingly.
"Hey" said Kotori playfully smacking Hitomi across the head.
The two then embraced the knights when they pulled away they could see that they were starting to fade and eventually starting to disappear for a second before reappearing.
Hitomi and Kotori smiled at them when the group then heard gunfire.
The knights looked at the two girls quizzingly before sensing something strange go through them. When they looked up they looked horrified as they witnessed the death of Hitomi and Kotori before completely disappearing.
Whilst the group were saying there goodbye's some rangers had passed by, thinking that the bears were attacking the girls and had immediately acted.
They had pulled and loaded their guns and fired it at the bears, but instead of hitting them, went straight through and hit the two girls.
***
The knights could see themselves becoming visible; as they looked round they could see they were not to far away from the wizard's lair as they could hear the wizard and his men cursing.
They also knew this path all too well and that it was less than an hour's journey back to Gummadoon as they began to make haste back never stopping.
The sky was dark with a few stars dotted in the sky, a loud thunder could be heard.
The gummi residents in Gummadoon looked up when they heard it as they saw rays of lighting in the sky, but this was no ordinary lighting or thunder they could see that.
Normally it was the colour gold but it wasn't, it was violet and white combined as one, they knew that something was not right as one of the rays of lighting violently thrashed down to the ground like a dragon, leaving a huge crater behind. As they looked up they could see a small dot in a shape of a circle in the sky that seemed to be controlling the lighting when it suddenly disappeared taking the lighting away it.
Next thing they heard was someone screaming in mid air as they came shooting down to the ground at neck breaking speed and landed in a haystack.
The knights who were now literally standing outside the gates of Gummadoon had seen the lightning and guessed straight away to who it was that had fallen from the sky.
Hitomi and Kotori crawled out the haystack a bit jelly leg, as they stumbled everywhere as Hitomi managed to grab the wall for support, while Kotori sat on the bench. Hitomi gazed around as she noticed the shock faces of the gummi residents, particularly looking at Kotori and soon realised why, she was still wearing a dress.
The two felt very dazed and dizzy, with a bad headache when they saw the knights rushing towards them.
"What happened," said Hitomi as the knights confronted them
"First we were in our timeline now were back here" said Kotori interrupted Kotori.
The knights knew now that the two girls had no idea that they had died in their own timeline, as they looked at them ready to break the news.
"You've passed over," said Sir Plucki.
Hitomi expressions soon changed from concern and worry to sadness and hurt expression as she left the group.
"Eh" came Kotori's reply.
"You've crossed over" came his slow reply again.
"Eh" she replied.
It soon became apparent it was too painful to let everyone know so he leaned forward and whispered it to her
"Your dead".
"Oh" replied Kotori sadly.
Kotori soon wondered off, as the knights split up going off in different directions.
Sir Plucki went off in the direction of Hitomi, he knew she was strong physically and mentally and although she was strong she was still a child. He soon found Hitomi on the balcony walls in a corner, curled up in a ball, head tucked into her chest as he saw a single tear roll down her cheek. It sadden him to see her in this state, as he remember a similar situation to this.
Hitomi had been no more than ten years old of age when they found her, when she woke up she had been so petrified and hysteric that she broke out of her prison. (Which still left them puzzled as to how she broke out). After a bit of chasing they had managed to cut her off and that when she was in that state of been curled up into a ball and cried.
Sir Plucki was now on the verge where he could take it no more as walked over and confronted Hitomi, kneeling down by her side.
Hitomi looked up at Sir Plucki when he knelt by her side, fresh tears threatened to fall from her eyes as she flung her arms round him and sobbed her heart out.
Sir Plucki had expected that from Hitomi as he placed an arm round her to comfort her, this was a side of Hitomi he very rarely saw.
It was a long while before Hitomi crying subsided when she said
"I didn't know, nor feel it"
"It might have happened too fast" came Sir Plucki's reply.
A moment of silence was heard until Hitomi broke it
"What do you think of our world"
"It's different" he replied.
"Guess we've returned (pause) Returned for Eternity" said Hitomi smiling now as she looked up to Sir Plucki.
"You could say something like that," he replied smiling.
Hitomi smiled again before she broke the embrace and stood up wiping away her tears from her stained face with her sleeve. She turned and faced what was like the never-ending forest, and watched the moonrise giving off its silver light. She stood there admiring the view, when she turned she noticed that Kotori had joined them, she felt within herself, relieved, happy and sad all at once.
Another smile graced her lips, when Kotori told her the words of the Councillors, that when a person dies, they returned to the place where they had their first happiest moment, apparently her was here, and strangely so, it was Kotori's too.
Embracing Sir Plucki again, she watched the moon from high in the sky, as he comfort her, but her mind was elsewhere, wondering what fate had been brought upon them, and what would now lay ahead of them.
THE END
Well that's it guys, this is the end of the series. I have enjoyed writing this fic, but don't away. If you think for one minute that I finished this fic once and for all, think again. I have created several side stories for this, and one shall be coming to you soon, very shortly!
And finally, a big thank you to all the following people who have reviewed my series.
Thundercub, Blue Masked Turtle, Unknowner01, Billygirl, Elven Eyes, Pyros4, Julianne, D*A*W*N*T*E*L*L*A*, Assassinator, Giz, and Orlisgirl2004.