My Heart Turned Red

Chapter 16: Ultimate Sacrifice for Love

Author's note:

I'M BACK! THANK YOU FOR YOUR PATIENCE!

Happy Gnomeo and Juliet day! 5 years ago today, Gnomeo and Juliet came into theaters and inspired all of us to write stories for the movie we love so much!

We got 9 reviews! I'm so glad we got more than we did for the last two chapters! My goal is to hit at least 230 reviews so hopefully that will be reached. Also, for those of you that don't know, I need at least 6 reviews before starting another chapter alright? Seems fair? Good, very good.

HIGH SCHOOL IS FINALLY OVER! THANK GOD! I'm finally back to writing again and I'm very happy. I hope we can get some more people to review the story as well from our community. If you know anyone, would you mind sending them over here? Thanks much!

This chapter is dedicated to the wonderful lorelibelle54!

Disclaimer: I own Gnomeo and Juliet on DVD proudly! I wish that owned more than that but... oh, well.


I was trying so hard not to panic, which I found to be utterly impossible. The mere thought of Juliet being dead sent me into complete and utter horror, enough to make my breathing stop. It was a terrifying feeling. It was one that I absolutely hated and one that I never wanted to feel again. I hadn't felt this way since the day I watched my father die. The only difference was that with my father, I knew that in moment that he was gone forever. With this situation, I had no idea if Juliet was lost to me forever. The fact that I didn't know scared me to no end. If she was so lost and depressed over thinking that I was dead that she would try to harm herself, there was a great chance that she was lost to me forever and that I would never see her again. As Featherstone ran faster and faster, my heart started racing and hurting in chest. I thought about seeing Juliet dead, her tear stained face and her eyes shut forever and her stone cold dead...

I felt a tear falling down my face at the thought. No, I couldn't think about that. As far as I know, which isn't a lot, she could be still alive. I knew that I was absolutely lose it if I saw Juliet dead. I was terrified to even consider that happening. I don't even want to consider it. Even though I still didn't know the answer to Shakespeare's question, I know that if I saw Juliet dead, I wouldn't be able to take it. I would completely break open and nothing would ever put me back together again. Maybe Shakespeare was right: maybe I would want to join her in death. Would I? I still don't know.

"So, tell me again why everyone else thinks I'm dead?" I asked, trying to hide the fact that I was crying.

Shroom couldn't hop as we running with the wind to get back to Verona Drive as soon as possible, but he shook his head, which meant that I could still understand him with his form of speaking.

"Gnomeo, be realistic! We saw a truck running at you at full speed and then add a crashing noise and remains of porcelain behind, what do you expect? Even I thought you were gone for a couple of seconds! But Juliet? She was so devastated that she tried running into the street into a running car! Your mother was beyond devastated, we all were! And it didn't help that everyone walked away the minute you came back into view! Everyone thinks you're dead! And that's why Benny is getting revenge against the Red Garden. I tried to stop him, but he wouldn't listen to me. Even if he knew you were still alive, I don't think it would've caused him to listen to me."

I sighed. Shroom was right, as usual. If Benny wouldn't listen to me, why on Earth would he listen to Shroom? Benny's rashness and his inability to think things through almost always got us hurt or killed in every situation that we were in together. No matter how hard Shroom and I tried to get him to listen, he just refused to do so. Now, he was going to cause death and destruction and put everyone in danger because he once again refused to think of the dire consequences of how it would affect everyone and not just the enemy. It's the same idiocy that he pulled the other night in the Red Garden and now that someone has died, the stakes and the hate between the two gardens are higher than ever before. I don't think I've seen Benny do something this reckless and stupid since the day my father died. I was there to stop him before things got out of hand. Believe me, I was in so much grief that day and I wanted nothing more than to get revenge, but I knew that Benny's way was not the way to do it. I may have previously hated the Red Garden with every fiber of who I was, but not to the point where I would ruin myself and have blood on my hands. Of course, I did often wish members dead, I know in my heart now that I could never have brought myself to do it. But only now did I truly begin to see how violent and destructive the feud had really become. And even though I had been become a violent offender as to why it probably reached this point, I knew that I had to try to put a stop to it. I had to try. If I wanted to really be with Juliet, then I had to fight for her in more ways than one.

And then that's when Verona Drive came back into view. My heart started racing again. I was scared to discover what was behind those gates. Featherstone raced as fast as he could and then we came in contact with a bunch of trash bags that one of the neighbors left outside the gates. Featherstone tried to jump over it, but his legs were too long and to my great dismay, one of them got caught in one of them. Now with only one leg, Featherstone simply glided across the stone pathway, but I couldn't just give up, not when there's so much at stake. I then saw an opening and decided to conquer my fear of climbing one and for all. If it's for Juliet, I'm willing to do absolutely anything. I then crouched and the minute we got close to the Red Garden gate, I jumped and managed to grab hold of the fence and began climbing as if I was trying to win a race.

"Thanks!" I called back to them, but truly, my focus hadn't been on them for a while now. I began climbing the fence as if my life depended on it. I usually hated climbing fences more than anything in the world because of how damn dangerous it is, but this isn't the time to be scared. I had to get to Juliet and save her before it's too late. My heart was racing and my head was pounding but I still managed to fight through it. I then got to the top of the fence and was startled to see the intensity of the fight that Shroom had predicted.

The war had begun and thankfully, no one had gotten hurt yet. Although I was quite surprised to see how bad the fighting had got, I wasn't surprised to see them fighting at all. The fence had been destroyed, Tybalt was dead and I was supposedly so, as well, so all of the original rules were off the table. Blueberries and tomatoes were being thrown in various directions, gnomes were fighting, screaming, and intending to destroy the other. It reminded me of how it was after Dad and Lady Redbrick died 10 years ago and all hell broke loose in both gardens. My mother and Lord Redbrick were so overcome with extreme anger and grief that they almost destroyed both gardens. Thankfully, that didn't happen and while I have no idea what stopped the bloodshed from getting worse that day, it did. But this is not going to be like that time. I knew that my mother, having lost her husband and almost myself, as well, she would hold absolutely nothing back. I knew that my mother loved me more than anything in the world and I hated it when she said that I reminded her of Dad, I knew that she took pride in the fact that I took after him in many ways. I think that a part of my father lived on inside of me for my mother. I knew that my mother was never really the same after Dad passed away, but I knew that she was able to live on because of me and Benny.

But as heartless as it may sound, I didn't come back for her. I came back to save the love of my life from certain destruction. I had this tiny hope that she was still alive and hadn't given up on me. She couldn't have given up. She was the type of person who got pushed down so many times in her life, only to get back up again and fight back ten times harder than before. But I knew that seeing that illusion of me dying must have broken her. How do I know that? Because I know that if the roles had been reversed, I know that I would be a broken man. But I couldn't think about that. My focus was on saving her and getting her out of here. I just had to find her. Please, my love, don't give up hope. I'm still alive. Please.

Then that's when I found her and my heart stopped.

Thank god. Oh, thank god. She was still alive. My worst fears melted away and I saw her alive and well. Whether she hadn't given up on me or just had been prevented in doing harm to herself, I didn't care. She was still alive and with me and we still had a chance to survive this together. I had to maintain a tremendous effort of effort to keep my breathing normal. I had thought that I had lost her forever and I don't think I would have been able to bare it if I came back to find her gone. But that kind of thinking wasn't necessary anymore: she was well, she was alive, and I had made it back to her.

"Juliet!" I called out to her.

She stopped pulling at her legs and dead in her tracks. She turned around and looked at me. For a mere moment, I saw all of the sadness and pain and agony on her face. But the moment she and I made eye contact, all of that sadness melted away from her face and she smiled the most beautiful smile as she realized that I was here with her. I would never leave her side again and I would always be with her.

"You're alive!" she said, almost in disbelief, but I could see the will to live returning to her eyes. I felt absolutely awful that I had inadvertedly caused her so much pain, but I vowed then and there that I never would leave her side again.

After witnessing all this war around us, I knew that my original plan to try to bring everyone around to accept us would all be in vain. Maybe this is a blessing in disguise and we can use this war as a way to escape all this hate and destruction once and for all. I knew now that while it may be too late for our families, it wasn't too late for us. This might be our final and only hope. Both sides think I'm dead and if I were to escape with Juliet now. I know that it wasn't fair to my family, especially my mother, who was doing this attack out of her grief of losing me. But I knew that she would never accept our relationship and I knew that she would try to separate us if Juliet and I stayed here and tried to work things out. I know that I said before that I would try to help end this feud so that we can live together in peace, but after witnessing all this fighting and hate like that day when my father died, I knew that it wasn't possible.

"Come with me," I said, calmly, gesturing for her to come to me. I needed to hold her, to confirm to myself that she was still alive and mine even though she was right in front of me. I had almost lost her and I needed to confirm to her and myself that that would never happen again.

"OK!" she said, trying to come towards me, but something stopped her. I frowned in confusion. Why couldn't she move?

Then I looked down in absolute horror. Her feet had been glued to the pedestal that I knew very well was her prison. This must have been her punishment for falling in love with me and trying to be with me after the truck created the illusion that I had died. I began panicking as time was not on our side and we had to get out of here now. If we didn't leave soon, someone was going to notice us and turn all the fighting on trying to keep us apart again.

"Oh no!" I said, searching my mind for something, ANYTHING, that could free her from this cruel prison. I needed to think fast and get us out of here before it's too late. I began walking towards her to get closer to the problem and see if I could fix it.

But out of nowhere, a fruit hit me in the face, causing me to lose my balance and any ability I had in seeing what I was doing. I was struggling to get the fruit off me so that I could see again. I succeeded, but it was too late, as I had lost my balance and fell off the roof. My mind was racing. No, I survived this too many times today and I have just gotten back to her. Please. Please just let me live a little longer so that we can both get through this. We have been through too much pain and torture to be parted again. Please.

Thankfully, I landed in the pond next to Juliet's pedestal. I thanked whatever omnipotent power there was that I survived. Maybe there is something out there that wants Juliet and I to make it out of this alive. But I didn't have time to think about that. I had to get back up to Juliet and use anything and everything I have to get her out of here before something worse happens. I can just feel it and I need to act now before things get worse. I then began swimming back to her, dodging all the fruits that were being shot through the water and through the air. I had to use the training that I had developed over the years to get back to the life of my life and save her. I'm going to prove Shakespeare wrong. We are going to have a happy ending.

I then climbed the stairs but was once again attacked by the little Red Gnomes, who were more out for blood than they had ever been before. It amazed me how much of Tybalt's violent nature had rubbed off on these guys. They had almost caused me to die today on account of something I hadn't done and almost caused me to lose the love of my life. Now they were trying to take it all away from me again and I refuse to let that happen. One of them came at me with a shovel and I managed to grab it from him and use it to throw them all off me. Nice try boys, but I've beaten you all before in more ways than one in the past and I have done it again.

I took a moment to catch my breath after that, but then I saw a red laser beaming on my chest. I looked at it in confusion and that's when it started to move. Upwards and away from me and to my absolute horror the laser fell on Juliet. I followed where the laser was coming from and I saw a gigantic lawnmower trapped in the nearby rubbish and now begging to be released from its constraints. So this is the lawnmower Shroom warned me about. Under normal circumstances, seeing a monster lawnmower like this would cause me to lose control and I would be overly excited, I could potentially fall over. But this was not that time as that thing is going to kill the girl I love if I don't act quickly. I will not lose the love of my life to this thing. I won't. I can't lose her. I raced up the stairs as fast as I could and began to work.

I grabbed the shovel and started to chip at her feet as hard as I could. If I didn't act fast, Juliet would die and I refuse to let that happen. I can't lose her. I would die. Please, you've helped me get this far, Dad, please help me save her. Please. I can't live without her. I need her. I chipped at her feet as hard as I could with the shovel, my hits against the glue becoming more and more desperate. No matter how hard I fought against the glue, it just wouldn't chip. I hit against it harder, but to no avail. Whatever glue Lord Redbrick used to get Juliet to stay put, he used the very best, because no matter how I hit the glue, nothing happened. But I refused to give up. I have cheated death more than once, and I am not going to be bested by superglue. Not by a long shot.

I heard various screaming in the background but I wasn't paying any attention to it. They weren't my priority, saving her was. I chipped harder at the glue, ignoring the small voice at the back of my head telling me that it was hopeless and that this glue would never come undone and that it was time to let Juliet go. I refused to listen to any of it. I put my anger and determination into my chipping, even though that small part of me knew that this was hopeless.

I then stopped my attempts when I felt a warm hand on my shoulder. I then looked up into those beautiful green eyes, looking back at me in such extreme sadness that it broke my heart.

"It's no use," she said, sadly, accepting her fate. "Go."

I stood up and held her hand. She couldn't give up. She just couldn't. We're finally together again. But that's when I saw the lawnmower and understood Juliet's giving up and complete defeat. Fate had never been kind to us. It caused us to fall in love despite being apart of different gardens who hated each other, causing our love to be something incredibly beautiful, because we were able to still be in love despite the fact our gardens hated each other, but also frustrating. Now, for falling in love, something that was completely out of our control, we are being punished by this lawnmower coming our way to kill us. Why did this have to happen? We came so close and yet it just wasn't good enough for us.

And then that's when it hit me. Juliet wanted me to leave to save myself, that it was too late her for her but not too late for me. but that wasn't going to happen. Like I said before, this lawnmower was coming towards us, not just Juliet. I thought about the two choices I had, but the choice of leaving the girl I love here to die alone was the one that didn't make any sense to me. I could very well walk away, but that would mean living the rest of my life without Juliet, and why the bloody hell would I want to do that?

I accepted my fate. Our fate. If I'm going to die, I'd rather it be with the girl I love more than anything in the entire world. I don't want to live in a world where Juliet doesn't exist. That world was empty, lonely, and aggravating. I thought about the man that I used to be; a cold, sad, and angry man who wanted nothing but revenge for the father that I had lost. Then I met her and I became a completely changed man for the better. She brought a icy, cold heart back to life and saved me from my hate. I could never repay her enough for that. I realized at that loved her more than life itself. While I knew I loved her deeply, I now knew truly and completely that I loved her more than my own life and that her dying would mean that I wouldn't want to live anymore.

We said that we would spend our lives together, so I think it makes sense for us to die together, as well. I pulled her close to me, ready and willing to face death together. I will greet death as if it is an old friend.

"Go!" she said, trying to push me away and practically begging me to leave.

And at that moment, I knew the answer to Shakespeare's question: If she died, would I want to die to be with her? I didn't know the answer when he asked me or on the way back to Verona Drive, but now I do: and the answer is yes. Because now I knew that life would not be worth living if she wasn't in it. As she pushed me away, I grabbed her hand and looked deep into her eyes as I said my next words:

"I'm not going anywhere," I said, as clear and serious as I ever was before.

I felt so many things as we both took in what I just said. Sadness that this was last time we would be together, anger of the people that kept us apart and tried to tear us apart because of their hate, grief of the life together that we would never have, but most of all, undying and overwhelming love for the girl in front of me.

I know that I had a choice. I could very well walk away from this and save myself, live my life, but, honestly there would be no such point. Even if I happened to survive this, I wouldn't be actually living. I would live my life completely in misery and heartbreak and eventually wouldn't want to live. All that pain and heartbreak would be saved if I stay here and die with her. I knew that I couldn't live without her and I don't even want to consider what life would be like without her. I was heartbroken that we would never spend our lives together, get married, or even have a family, but if dying with the girl I love is enough to be with her forever, then that's enough for me. I would rather die here together with her, than to spend the rest of my life alone with my extreme sadness and loneliness. There was no life without her, I've always known that, but now I truly understand the gravity of those words.

Eyes look your last.

I took in all of her pure beauty and loveliness for what would be the last time. I sighed in sadness and she lowered her gaze as she and I began to finally accept our fate. I had said before that there was no girl that was more beautiful than her and I still stand by that. Her beauty was what first struck me and drew me to her, but then I realized that she wasn't just beautiful on the outside, rather just a beautiful soul and person. I always completely overwhelmed by the amount of beauty that Juliet was and there were times where I honestly couldn't believe that I was so lucky. I knew that I wasn't worthy of her, that's the only thing I knew for certain. The most beautiful girl in the world, both inside and out, and out of anyone that she could've had, she loved me.

Arms take your last embrace.

As we melted into a kiss, I wrapped my arms around her, feeling how warm she was and remembering how wonderful it felt to be in her arms. Holding her was one of the things that made me smile the most the times that we were together. I felt safe and happy, unlike before when I was consumed by extreme hate and sadness. When we held each other after our first kiss, and for the first time in forever, I felt genuinely happy and loved. It was something that I had banished from my memory and then within a matter of moments, she brought that smile back to my face. She brought happiness back into my life and it was something that I never thought that I would ever feel again. How do you possibly repay someone that gives you a genuine reason to live?

And lips, oh you the doors of death, sealed with a righteous kiss, a dateless bargain to engrossing death.

I kissed her as hard as I possibly could, as this would be the last kiss that we would ever share. I felt her tears and her shaking. I remembered back to our first kiss, after our many attempts to kiss and only succeeding once. I remembered how at peace I had felt and the feeling of completeness and happiness unlike anything I had ever felt before. I knew at that moment that there was no one else that I wanted to spend my life with but Juliet. It broke my heart because this kiss was truly a goodbye kiss. I ran my hand down her back, trying to tell her that it would be alright because I knew it would be. Even though I was beyond angry and sad that we would never get the chance we could've had to be together, we would be together this way. They tried to part us before and have us never be together, but this time, they can't. We will never be separated ever again and this proves that not even death will part us. The love we feel for each other is unlike anything I ever felt before, but it was the strongest and most sure thing that I had ever had. We had never even said the words to each other, but we knew how strongly we felt towards the other. With this act alone, there really wasn't a need for words anymore.

And as the lawnmower came closer to us, I realized something important: if I had it to do all over again, I would've made the same choices, as long as they led me to find and fall in love with Juliet. I know I had done so many terrible things before I met her, but I would make the same mistakes and feel the same pain and anger as long as we found each other. We found each other and fell in love because we were destined to be together. Just like the way you know the stars will be in the sky every night, that's how I felt about our love. No matter what choices we made, our meeting was destiny and our being together was just something that was destined to happen and it was completely out of our control. I would rather die here with Juliet than spend the rest of my life alone and in grief. I knew that I couldn't live without her and that I never wanted to imagine life without her. I knew that it would be no different than the lie that I was living before I met her. As our kiss increased with the sound of the incoming lawnmower, I felt no regrets. We would be together this way and we would never be separated again. Dying in the arms of the girl I love: I know I can die in peace knowing that.

Then the lawnmower finally completed its destination and crashed into Juliet's pedestal, causing a huge explosion and the destruction of both gardens. Yet, I didn't think about that as I held her as tightly as I could and she did the same with me.

And as everything went black, I thought only one thing stronger than anything else that I was feeling.

Come death and welcome. Juliet wills it so.


That's it! Hope you enjoyed it! Again, I'm very sorry for this delay. I've had a case of severe writer's block again as I have been trying to adjust to college life for the very first time. I hope you all understand and I appreciate your patience. I really and truly do. I refuse to give up on this until it's completely finished. You can be sure of that! I'm not giving up on this. I swear that I will finish it.

ANYWAY!

Next Chapter: The end of the feud! Our lovers triumph over hate and their unbreakable love wins!

Again, thank you to those who reviewed and waited patiently for the story to continue. I AM OFFICIALLY A HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATE AND A FRESHMAN AT COLLEGE! You guys are honestly the best and I'm really glad you didn't give up on me and you have no idea how much I appreciate that. Thank you again.

Please REVIEW! 6 reviews or more! You know the drill!

Until Next time!

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kagomehater4ever