My Heart Turned Red

Chapter 17: Free at Last

Author's note:

I'M BACK! THANK YOU FOR YOUR PATIENCE!

I've been so excited to write this chapter! Because finally our favorite pair can finally be together and the feud is finally over!

We got 10 reviews! I'm so glad! 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.

College has been so stressful, but thankfully, it's over for now! I'm happy to finally be writing again.

Also big news, TODAY IS OUR FIVE YEAR ANNIVERSARY! That's right: five years ago today, I published the first chapter of My Heart Turned Red. True, it's taken me a while to finish it, but I'm not giving up until I finish it. Thank you again for everyone who has not given up on me.

This chapter is dedicated to everyone who was kind enough to review!

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


Come death and welcome, Juliet wills it so.

If you, reader, had told me ten years ago, after I had watched my father get killed in the lawnmower race, that I would be here, madly in love with a Red girl and more than willing to die than go on living without her, I would have laughed and never have believed it. Now, I was in that situation: a gigantic lawnmower coming towards myself and the girl I love was in my arms, trembling and crying at our fate: never being together the way we could have and because we had to die in order for this bloody feud to come to an end. While I was besides myself in grief at the loss we had been dealt with, there was some sort of an unusual feeling of joy that even though it was the worst thing, at least we would be together this way. I would rather us die together than have either of us continue our lives without the other. I saw the look of grief and devastation in the girl I loved's eyes and I knew that she had been torn apart at mistakenly thinking that I was dead. I realized upon seeing that that I would not be able to live without her, either. There was no doubt in my mind. If I left her here to die, not only would it be wrong and that I would never be able to forgive myself, but also that I would rather die there with her than to even try to live without her. Even though, yes, I wanted that life with her that I could've had with her had it not been for Benny discovering us and Tybalt causing all that unnecessary violence and then dying, we could have had it. I was sad that if things were different, she and I could have been together and spent our lives together as equals: that was all we really wanted and that was stolen from us because of the people we were. But again, if I had to do it all over again and end up here in front of a lawnmower coming to kill us, I wouldn't change anything. I was more than content to die if it meant that I would die here with her.

And as the lawnmower came closer, I savored her warmth, her scent, the feeling of her arms around me and her being in my arms, the feeling of her lips against mine, trying to make sure every second lasted before this moment was taken away from me and I would plunged into eternal darkness. I regretted deeply that I would never be able to tell her how much I loved her and how I realized too late that I would never be able to live without her. Even though I would never be able to tell her, I think she already knew. I tightened my grip on her as I heard the sound getting closer, not wanting to open my eyes to see it coming and look death in the face more than I currently was. I just tightened my arms around her and she did the same as finally the crash hit. A loud crash and boom came as a result of the explosion and I awaited the darkness to come and take me away from this world and from her forever.

An huge explosion hit, mixing up colors of what looked like red, orange and black from my closed eyes and I could almost hear Shakespeare's words of "Told you so!" in the background of the explosion. Yes, alright, you were right, you foul, loud, old git. Juliet and I can't have happiness or a life together because of who we are. Yes, you told me so and I still didn't listen. Are you satisfied now? Are you happy that your ending triumphed over true love? Are you perfectly alright with us dying to serve a purpose instead of just letting us be happy after all we had been put through? Haven't she and I been through enough sorrow? I hope you're happy at our misery, seeing as though you'll be the only one.

When the crash and explosion finally ended, it was half of what I expected. There was nothing but black and darkness, but it wasn't a result of me being dead or knocked unconscious. It was because we were imprisoned underneath what was left of Juliet's pedestal and the area around it. I smelled the smoke and ash as a result of the wreckage and explosion. I had absolutely no idea how we managed to survive that, but I wasn't complaining. Maybe we weren't doomed after all. I tried to get myself up, but to no avail. To make matters worse, the wreckage around us began to shake at my moving around and I knew that if I made the slightest movement, the rocks would come down and kill us for real. I knew that I was alive, but I didn't know yet if my beloved was still with me. As much as I wanted to continue to fight to get us out of here, I knew deep in my heart it wouldn't make a difference. Any attempt I would make to save us would kill us.

"Juliet," I called out to her, coughing in the process, the dirt and dust getting trapped in my throat. I knew that speaking wouldn't help me, so I ceased talking. I struggled just to continue to breathe.

If we weren't under a huge pile of rocks that would potentially crush us and kill us, I would then consider us very lucky and that we might even have a chance at surviving. I struggled to get up, but then decided against it. If I made more movement, the rocks would probably fall and crush us. I wasn't sure if Juliet was still alive until I felt her arms tighten around me, urging me to be with her and accept our fate together. I was at first, hesitant, but then I realized that she was correct. We would never get out of this alive. Any attempt I might make in order to get us out of here would be nothing but pointless. The rocks would more than likely fall and kill us both. But even though I knew that, I wasn't afraid to die.

We had already made the decision to die together, so what was the point in trying to fight that now?

I wrapped my arms around her again in understanding. I had accepted our fate only moments ago and I shouldn't fight it anymore. I guess, as much as I hated to admit it, Shakespeare was right. A love like ours can't have happiness and acceptance because of our families and their extreme hatred. I guess we do have to die in order for our parents to finally wake up because nothing else is going to get them to listen to reason. Because now I know that I couldn't be loyal to my family and loyal to Juliet equally as long as the feud existed. I would always choose Juliet. If the incident with Tybalt hadn't happened, Mum and Benny would've most likely done everything they could to separate Juliet and I forever, which would have caused a rift that would never have been repaired. I knew that the feud had to be resolved like this, even if I didn't like it and I didn't.

I heard my mother and Lord Redbrick gasp out in horror. I can only imagine what the state of the wreckage looked like on the outside. I could have called out for them to help us, but I knew better than that: the rocks would more than likely crush us if Lord Redbrick and Mum tried to do anything. I could imagine how much grief that they were feeling as a result of seeing their children dead as a consequence of their actions. I wish I could tell my mother that I forgave her for this, but I can't. Also, maybe it's better if she doesn't know that. I needed her to see this, I needed her to understand that she helped this happen and make her see that she needs to make sure that she does her part in ensuring that this never happens again, that no one else needs to die, that no one else feel the pain and suffering Juliet and I have felt as result of trying to hide our love. They may have been our parents and they deserve to feel grief at losing their children, but they also need to know that they did this to us.

"No," Lord Redbrick said in absolute horror and despair.

I remembered that ten years ago at the race that took away my father and his wife, he repeated that exact word and in the same tone of voice as he just used.

I heard crying that I recognized as my mother. I felt the guilt eat away at me and I both hated myself for it, but also wanted to feel it. Regardless of my feelings about her for letting the feud get this bad, she was still my mother and she had acted in the way that she did because she lost the man she loved and because I lost my father. We managed to get through the grief together because we both felt the same way when Dad died. I understood Mum's actions because losing Dad had been a huge blow not only to us, but to the whole garden. I knew that grief and anger are two emotions that combine so easily and ruin a person's sense of judgement. But even so, how could she not have told me that there's more to life than just pure hate and destruction? How could she not have told me that? How could she have told me that love is more powerful than hate? How many other people have to suffer and die as a result of this feud? How much more hate and suffering do we have to live with before we accept that it's nothing but a salesman of death and destruction?

I then panicked when I heard the crumbling of rocks and held onto Juliet and closed my eyes as I fully prepared for them to fall on us and end this misery at last. It was better for us to get it over with then just sit here in fear. But the rocks never fell and instead it sounded like the crackling of the rocks were coming from a different part of the wreckage. It sounded like someone else had gotten stuck under the rocks and was trying desperately to get out. I envied them because they could escape and that they could survive this. From what I could hear on the outside, it sounded as though the Gnomes that had survived the explosion were hoping that it would be Juliet and I escaping from the wreckage and that they wouldn't have to be sad anymore. It made me angry because they once again foolishly thought that it was that simple. They deserved to feel this pain and realization that they did this to us and that they should feel sorrow and grief at what they had done. Thankfully, they did, as I recognized the voice of the person breaking free through the rumble as the same Gnome who sang the day Benny and I invaded the Red Garden to kill Lady Redbrick's tulips.

"IT'S OKAY!" he shouted in happiness and relief. "IT'S OKAY!"

But I could tell based on the sounds I was hearing that no one really gave a damn if he was okay or not. I could hear that the people out there were secretly hoping for Juliet and I to emerge from the rubble and be perfectly okay. I heard the crying of my mother again and knew that Lord Redbrick must have been feeling the same way. I wished that we could come out and tell them we're alright, but at the same time, I really wanted to hear how this would play out. As cruel and selfish it was of me, I wanted Mum and Lord Redbrick to feel extreme pain and guilt at what had happened to Juliet and I. Even though it wasn't solely their faults, they allowed the feud to go this far and did nothing to try to repair the damage. As a result, they lost their respective spouses, Lord Redbrick lost his daughter and his nephew, and Mum had lost me. They could have done so much more to have prevented this, but they chose to give into hate and despair. I knew I wasn't one to talk, but I was a changed man as a result of falling in love and I now saw how ridiculous it was to let hate get in the way of love. I saw it sooner than Lord Redbrick, my mother, and the two gardens and even though I was going to die, I had known true love and happiness, and as a result, saw how much more powerful and meaningful it was than hate.

"I'm sorry about your son," he said, sincerely, the grief in his voice apparent.

Mum stopped sniffling and tried to stop crying. "I'm sorry about your daughter.

"I was only trying to keep her safe," he said, completely defeated. "And now...the whole is my fault."

"Our fault," Mum corrected him and she sounded just as defeated as he did.

I smiled in the darkness at their realization of their part in this horrible tragedy. I could feel their guilt and their grief at not trying to put an end to this sooner. Mum, Lord Redbrick, I know it's too late to say this and that you will never hear me say it, but I forgive you for everything that you've done. I know you were both driven by grief and anger and hate and that it clouded your judgement. And then I heard the words that I honestly thought I would never hear and it was even more tragic that it was being said at a time when Juliet and I were on the verge of death.

"This feud..." Lord Redbrick began.

"Is over..." Mum finished.

I smiled again in the darkness. Even if it was under these circumstances, I was happy that the feud was finally over. Even though Juliet and I would never live in a world without the feud, at least no one else would have to suffer under it the way that we did. I could rest with that. I tightened my arms around her and prepared to close my eyes in full acceptance for what I knew would come next.

But then, the thing I expected to come for us never came.

The sound of something falling on a switch, like the night I came to find Juliet again and made a complete fool of myself by stepping on that switch and almost giving away our secret. The music from that night started playing, but no surprise, sounded very broken and like it was on the verge of malfunction. The rocks began to shake and fall off from their original positions and the rocks covering the top of the pedestal began to break as the props and trees from the whole pedestal set began to get rid of the top of the wreckage.

"No!" I heard Lord Redbrick say.

The machine's music finally malfunctioned and I think it was probably broken forever. Not much of a tragedy as it was loud and obnoxious and it almost gave the game away when I went to see Juliet for the first time after we discovered that we were from enemy gardens. From my closed eyes, I could see bursts of light and I had to squint several times to readjust to the bright sunlight coming at us. I coughed again from all the dust and dirt that had been stored up in my throat and relished in the fact that I could breathe again. I temporarily relieved myself from Juliet's arms and threw myself over the balcony in an attempt to try to stabilize myself. It felt as though my whole body was in complete and utter agony. I felt nothing but pain. I truly felt out of it and tried with all my might to become aware of what had just happened. I had survived an lawnmower coming at me at full speed and Juliet...

Oh my god, Juliet! I looked down at my beloved and gasped. She was barely conscious and seemed just as out of it as I was. I dove down on the ground where she was and held her in my arms for a couple moments and she wearily returned the gesture. I then helped her to her feet, supporting her as best I could in my condition. She stumbled a bit, but I was there offering her nothing but my love and support, holding her hand and keeping her upright. She and I met eyes at last and it was like all the pain in my body had evaporated and disappeared into thin air. Had I really been hit by a lawnmower and survived several attempts at the universe trying to kill me? If I had felt that before, that smile she gave me relieved me of all that pain. That smile brought me back to my senses and I returned it.

She and I held hands, relishing in this moment of realizing that we were alive and that we were still together. She and I had risked everything in order to be together and here we are: united as one, proving before everyone, our friends, our families, our parents that our love was truly unbreakable and real. I didn't even bother looking at our families that were cheering and shouting in happiness that we were alive and well. I just kept looking at her in an attempt to remind myself that this was real and that she and I had survived, that our love was stronger than any hate, that our love was strong enough to have ended a longtime feud, that we were finally free to be together. We eventually did manage to look away from each other and at our families, still holding hands. We smiled at them because this nightmare was finally over and they finally accepted us. We could finally be together and not have any of them try to stop us. Everyone kept cheering and jumping, seeming to be overcome with happiness that we were alive.

I then pulled her close to me, longing to feel her warmth and feel her in my arms. I relished in the fact that I had been right and Shakespeare had been completely wrong. He said that our story was supposed to be a tragedy, that it had to end with our death in order for the feud to finally end. As much as I hated to admit it, he had been half right. It took something as large as the idea of us dying for our parents to see what fools they had been and how their hate had lead to us doing something as drastic as being willing to die in order to be together. That part was true. The part that wasn't true was that we couldn't be happy or finally have a relief from the suffering we had endured because we were forced to hide how we truly felt about each other and that we had to sneak around in order to be together. Wasn't this ending better? Wasn't it better for us to have survived and have our families accept us and have a chance to finally live the life that we wanted to spend together? You know what, I didn't need Shakespeare's bloody wrong opinion or anyone else's for that matter. For me, I am here alive with the girl I love in my arms. For me, this ending is so much better than whatever bullocks Shakespeare came up with. Living out the rest of my days with the girl I loved without anyone stopping me? That in itself is a thousands times better than anything Shakespeare could have EVER come up with. Knowing this, I stared deep into those hypnotizing green eyes of hers and said these words:

"I don't know about you," I said, looking at her, like she was the most beautiful thing in the entire world, and she was. "But I think this ending is much better."

I don't honestly know why I said that, as Juliet probably had absolutely no idea what I was talking about. Honestly, I was so lost in her and everything about her, her face, her smile, the dust from the explosion that covered her whole body, those emerald eyes that never failed to completely hypnotize me. I was lost in this moment and how fortunate we were to have finally gotten here: where we can embrace and laugh and be together. The feud was finally over and here was our families cheering that we were alive and weren't disgusted at the fact that I was holding her in my arms, unwilling to let her go. I reveled in this newfound freedom and the fact that I could now be with the girl I loved without anyone there to stop us. Sorry, Shakespeare, but it turns out that you were wrong. This story can have a happy ending where the feuding families stop fighting and where we, who had suffered through so much pain and agony, could finally have happiness and be together, no questions asked. If it was hypocritical to think that way, I don't care. I'm free, we're free, we're alive, we're finally together and it made me incandescently happy to know that I could finally do this.

She nodded wordlessly and we melted into another kiss, this one being more precious and sweet than any I had ever had before. This one wasn't like the last one we just shared, which was full of sadness and desperation because we were sure that it would be our last. No, this one was full of love, happiness, relief, and a promise that no matter what happened from here on out, we would never leave each other. I poured every ounce of love I felt for her into it. We wrapped our arms around each other, not out of desperation and out of fear like before, but just to deepen the kiss. We were so close, yet not close enough. I just forgot about the rest of the world except the girl I loved who was in my arms at last. This was the third time we kissed, but now I realized that it wouldn't be necessary to count them anymore. This was real and I lost track of the whole world as the kiss deepened. There was nothing else but this kiss of eternal, undying, and unbreakable love and I couldn't count myself more lucky to have this feeling and this girl. I had said it before: I had waited too long to be with this girl, and now that I finally had her, I was never going to let her go.

We stayed like that for a couple of moments that were not long enough in my opinion, and I would have been more than content to stay that way with her, even with our families watching us. But as with every other time we tried to have a moment alone, there was something that came and interrupted us. We were awakened from our trance at the sound of the Red Rooster and Blue Pig alerting us that Mr. Capulet and Ms. Montague were coming home...

Oh bloody hell! They're coming home to their gardens completely destroyed and us all around and...oh no... oh bloody hell. This was not going to pretty sight for them to see or for us to endure. We both knew that Mr. Capulet and Ms. Montague were just as overprotective and proud of their gardens as we were. If it were under different circumstances, we would most likely be fighting over the states of our gardens, bickering and arguing over whose fault it was. This time it was different and we all knew it. Instead of just going back to our original positions, we all just froze and Juliet and I just wrapped our arms around each other, not caring if they noticed. I just stood there holding Juliet preparing for the horrible reactions of our owners.

"Good afternoon, witch!" Mr. Capulet said insultingly.

"Nitwit!" Ms. Montague said in the same amount of contempt and disgust.

There was a sound of two doors closing and then the two of them came out into their respective gardens, saw the utter ruin and chaos that had taken place, and in their horror and utter shock, there was a loud screaming coming from our owners that was almost impossible to bare and even more impossible to endure.

They would never know how their gardens came to end up in this state, and maybe that was for the best.


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. Thank you for those who haven't given up on me!

ANYWAY!

Next Chapter: For those of you who read my story Unbreakable Love, which for those who don't know, was Gnomeo and Juliet, told through Juliet's point of view, there was a chapter after this point where Gnomeo and Juliet have a private moment together after all of this happened, where unbreakable and undying love overcomes all. This will be that chapter from the story, as told through Gnomeo, of course. I've been very excited to write that, so please be patient!

Again, thank you to those who reviewed and waited patiently for the story to continue. I finished my freshman year at college. Straight A's first semester and A's and B's second semester. But now it's summer and I can write again! 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!

Signed

kagomehater4ever