The fairy fully raises the sword as she aims through his neck as he remains in his place, not moving an inch.

His life is the cost.

But she stopped millimeters before the blade's tip touched his nape.

"You passed. Congratulations." He was almost out of his breath as he stood up. All of them were in front of him.

"Masters, present to me all the stones."

"The blue stone for the sound of love."

"The yellow stone for the wisdom of a god."

"The green stone for the power of the lord."

"The pink stone for the pureness of the heart."

"We, the masters of the land, give our blessing to unify it all into one." They raise each of the stones as it floats to the air. Beams of light surrounded them.

A grand, golden bangle was placed into his hands, containing the four stones.

"What a strong descendant. We are glad this land has you, your highness."

"We wish you the best of luck, my lord." He gave back his wings and power as Natsume regained his strength.

"Thank you all for your help. I promise to protect our land with all that I have."

"You always have our blessings, your highness."

"Go now, she's waiting for you." He smiled, turned back and spread his wings to journey back to his land.

"Wake up please, Mikan." She can feel many presences beside her. But there was something new – she is feeling good now. No pains, no tiredness unlike the past few days, she was feeling like she could give up anytime soon. But now, she felt renewed. She opens her eyes. Auburn meets crimson.

"Hey… You okay?" The prince asked worriedly. She investigates his appearance as she scans his body. Bruises everywhere.

"What happened, Natsume?" Now it's her turn to get worried. She sits up and looks at him. "Why are you hurt?" Her eyes roaming around the marks on his body while he just stares at her.

"I'm glad you're alright." He envelops her into his arms as she does the same.

"Ahem… ahem… I'm sorry to intrude on your sweet moment but I need to check her for a little bit." Narumi interrupted as Mr. Stern fakely coughed to cue him. "…your highnesses." The doctor added as he made eye to eye contact with the dwarf, he gave a thumbs up to him as a response.

The prince moved to the princess's side and sat there still holding her waist. Mikan then saw that they were not alone. The king, queen, Hotaru Ruka were also there, staring at her worriedly. She blushes as she remembers their actions a while ago but they don't seem to notice.

Narumi is about to go to her when the group blocks his way. He just sweat dropped and rolled his eyes.

"My daughter! We've missed you! I'm glad you're okay now." The queen queried as she kissed her on her forehead.

"Oh God! thank God you are safe. We'll have a feast for this!" The king butted in happily.

"Thank you, mom and dad. I've missed you all." She said energetically as she smiled at them.

"Hotaru! I've missed you so much!" Mikan said as Imai gets to her and embraces her with a smile. "Baka I won't ever allow you out of sight again!" She said almost teary-eyed. "Owww… I love you!"

"Ummm… what is this?" She asks as she stares at the bangle hugging her left arm. It was shining and glittering with 4 stones engraved to it. "I have enough jewellery, Natsume. Please stop giving me things anymore." She stated as she was about to take off the bracelet.

"DON'T!" Everyone yelled as they all grip it back in place.

Mikan stared at them without a single clue.

"That bangle holds your life, your highness." Stern spoke first. "It will make you a fairy, soon. To belong and cope with our Realm."

She stared in horror as she looked at her mate.

"Did you get blood from me?" She asked.

"Narumi did. Why?"

"You went to that mountain did you?"

"Yes, how did you know about that?"

"You risk your life for this?!" she asked as she showed him the bangle.

"What am I supposed to do, Mikan?! Yours and my sons' life are in danger! What do you want me to do? Watch you die?" The Prince shouted as everyone stood silent.

"Better than risking your life!" she shouted back

"You don't know what you are saying! If you were in the same place you would do the same!"

"Don't you understand?! They can lose you, Natsume! You could have died! Who would be their prince if you died because of this stupid thing?!"

"That is not stupid! That holds yours and future heirs' life!" Mikan can't take it anymore. What if something happened? She laid back to get and shut her eyes.

There was a long pause as Natsume stared into the night sky at their window.

"Ummm, please, excuse me your highness, I would go check her now." Narumi said as he prepared his medical equipment.

"Oxygen lowering," he announced as he checked the monitor. All attention turned to him. "Blood glucose dropping," he added as he checked his strip. Sweat dripping from his face. "Heart beats irregular," This is bad.

"What's that mean?" asked Ruka.

"Shit! We're losing her! Give me my med bag! NOW!"

"Listen, whatever that bangle gave her, her body can't cope easily." The doctor said as they watched her sleep.

"She was very weak before we gave her that. But that bangle is with much great power." The king announced.

"It contradicted itself. Her body got in a state of shock." Imai said.

"We must watch her for some time." The queen added.

Natsume said nothing as he stared blankly into space. The queen went beside him as he hugged him with comfort.

"I can't lose her mom." He said as tears trickled down from his eyes. "I tried everything."

"Owww this is the second time I heard you cry. The first one's when you've been born. Just look how strong you are, my son. Hush now, dear. Everything will be okay. She will be okay." She said as she cried with him, feeling his pain.

"What should I do?" He asked again

"What should we do?" Ruka corrected, letting the Prince know that he is not alone.

"Son, you must remember that there would come a point in your life that the world would be what you would least expect it to be. But remember, you mustn't lose this one thing, for sometimes this is all you have when you have nothing else. But if you have it, you have everything… Hope."

"Oxygen level normal, breathing normal…" Narumi said as he checked her for the 38th time this day, making sure she won't go to cardiac rest again.

"Hello..." Mikan said as she got up her bed and smiled at him.

"Oh hey, how are you feeling my dear?" The doctor asked as she gave her a smile.

"I'm feeling great! Thank you for everything, Dr. Narumi." She pulled him into an embrace as he did the same.

"It's my pleasure dear." He said, patting her head.

"Look!" The princess exclaimed as she stood up and showed her pink fairy wings. She's now officially a fairy!

"Awwwww…. So beautiful! I wish I had one too!" he said in a high pitch voice as he stared at it. "Congratulations, dear."

"Thank you! This would not be possible without you, Narumi." The doctor blushed and stood up. "It is my oath to protect lives and prolong it. This is my sole duty as long as I'm living and every time I've succeeded like now, there's no greater feeling in the world that I could ever exchange this for, Mikan."

"I won't waste it; you can trust me on that." She held his hand firmly and reassuringly as the moment passed through.

"So look, I think everything will be fine now. I've got to go back to our home but I will miss you very much."

Our home. Back to earth, of course. She belonged there, not here.

"I will miss you too. Thank you again for everything. Let's keep in touch okay?"

"You are most welcome, Mikan. Visit me whenever you come home."

"Of course. I will. I owe my life to you." They embraced again for one last time and Narumi whispered, "You owe it to the prince. He really loves you, dear. You two are very lucky."

I have to protect him.

Mikan did not say another word as Narumi walked away with his luggage, smiling and waving goodbye.

The princess was strolling through the hallway to meet the royal family when someone strongly grabbed her arm and pulled her to the dark place.

"Rei Serio." She announced as she recognized the mask. She then scanned him and now she can clearly see that he's wearing gold and black clothing. He is royal too!

"Leave now, Sakura. I don't want you here nor your sons." He whispered in a deadly voice.

"I'm sorry but as you can see, Natsume did it. He did not fail, I'm now immortal like you."

He laughed evilly as Mikan shivered in fear. "You think that's easy as that huh?!" He grabs her hair and pulls it as Mikan whimpers in protest.

"What really do you want?! Say it!"

"I want to kill him. I want him to be gone."

Natsume. No. The love of her life. Her prince.

"Just one touch and he'll forever perish." He proclaimed as he laughed.

"Take me instead, please. Not him. I'm begging you…" She pleaded as tears fell down her auburn eyes.

He stopped for a moment to think.

"I'll be back in a few months, that would give me enough time to prepare everything, I want you to surrender yourself to me in exchange for him." She still has time to save her sons. She must have brought them into the world by then.

"Promise me you won't ever disturb him after that."

"Of course. After I've killed you, all hell would break loose and I will be given again the chance to destroy the royal family."

So this was his goal all along. No doubt he was also the one who led the people in the past war. But as long as the prince lives, this guy would never achieve his plan.

Without second thoughts, she answered him firmly, "Then you have my word."

"Plus, I need 5 million golds."

"What? Are you crazy?! Where will I get that amount of money?!" She exclaimed.

"Don't worry he's got lots of it. Are you complaining?" He asked, threatening her with his dark voice.

I can't let him die. For my children and for my people.

He smiled evilly as he slumped her to the floor, "I'm very much looking forward to meeting you again, your highness." And in a flash, he was gone.