Disclaimer: I do not own these characters.
A/N: I am SO sorry for the long wait but alas I am back. It's been super busy here in Japan with snowstorms, volcanoes, and school. Thanks for supporting this story! This unfortunately will be the last chapter as I just do not have the time to keep it up. My apologies but I hope you enjoyed it…it seems there has been a surge of Dickon went to war stories coming through though doesn't it?
Mary and Dickon sat in the garden together. Mary leaned against his chest as they sat under a blossoming tree. Dickon's arms were wrapped lovingly around her and in Mary's lap was a small lamb that was falling asleep on her as she stroked its head.
"We should put the altar by the pond." Mary suggested as they mapped out the layout for the ceremony.
"Aye." Dickon agreed and kissed her cheek which is what he had been doing for the past hour as he let Mary decide the details.
"And string orchestra can go by the statue, which gives us enough room for the aisle and the guests."
"Aye." He gave her another kiss.
"Medlock was telling me that we shouldn't have it in the garden but it has to be here. It's the perfect place for us. She wants to have it in the ballroom and invite all the folk from London but I absolutely forbid it."
"Tha doesn't want tha's friends to come?" Dickon asked as he ran his fingers through her hair.
"I don't know if I would really call them friends. Besides, this is our Secret Garden. I only want those closest to us to be able to enter it." She smiled as the lamb woke up and she turned to face him to give him a kiss. "From now on this garden will be a sanctuary for our family. The magic hear will bless everyone we love and all those that we will love."
"Aye." He agreed again and leaned into kiss her when they were interrupted by a throat being cleared. They both turned to see Colin with a smug smile on his face.
"When you two are done, Medlock is looking for you Mary." Colin grinned. "I believe it's a matter of urgency." Mary groaned but quickly pecked Dickon before getting up. Dickon stood up as well to speak to Colin as he looked like he had something on his mind.
"I'll be in soon." Colin told Mary as she hurried out of the garden.
"Colin? Is there somethin' wrong?" Dickon asked as he watched the look of worry on his friend's face.
"Not really, I just wanted to talk to you about something." He moved closer to Dickon.
"'Bout what?"
"Look, you know that I fully support the union between my cousin and you, Dickon. I'm only worried about your situation."
"Ah." Dickon seemed to immediately understand.
"I'm not here to berate you or anything. I wanted you to know that as I'm taking over Misselthwaite, I'm always here should you two need help. I'd also like to offer you any services to help you out with your new life. If you need a cook or anything…" Colin trailed on and Dickon only smiled and laughed.
"Imagine tha'! A cook in my lil' cottage! Colin, I thank tha for the offer but Mary and I will be fine." Dickon walked to Colin and clapped a hand on his shoulder. Colin smiled as if ashamed for suggesting it.
"I'm really happy for you two." Colin punched him in the arm lightly.
"Thank you, Colin." Dickon smiled. "I hope tha can have some happiness too."
"In time." Colin smiled before turning to leave. "Will you come up to the house?"
"I bes' be getting on with my work." Dickon turned to grab his tools as Colin nodded and left the garden. "Come on, Hannah." Dickon said to the small lamb who followed him out. The lamb scurried through the ivy door as Dickon followed but suddenly found himself thrown back down the steps and a dark figure underneath the ivy entrance. The next thing he saw was a light of a match in the figure's hand.
Mary happily hurried inside the Manor where Mrs. Medlock would be waiting for her in her room. She found Martha was there as well, ready with pins and needles. Medlock told her it was time for another fitting of the dress. Even though she and Mrs. Medlock had never really got on well, she enjoyed talking about the wedding with her because the subject always included Dickon and anything that included Dickon made Mary happy.
"This is the initial design Miss Mary, do you see anything we should change? I think the sleeves should be a little shorter, maybe to here." Medlock showed her the problem she was already seeing. You could always trust Medlock to find something wrong with something that appeared to be perfect to the naked eye.
"Ok, let's do that." Mary agreed as Medlock and Martha took the dress from the manikin off for Mary to try on. However, their attention was immediately diverted to blazing fire out the window. "Oh no! The garden!" Mary shrieked as she saw her beautiful garden burning. "Dickon!" She hoped Dickon had left before the fire started. How did the fire start? What was going on? Mary and the others hurried as fast as they could outside.
"What are you doing?" Dickon asked as the figured held the match in his hands. As he stepped into the light Dickon saw the still bruised face of the Duke. Dickon's eyes widened as he saw the match burning brighter.
"It ends here." The Duke said with a scratchy anger and he flung the match onto the ivy door as he ran out trapping Dickon inside. Several other fires began springing up around him. The Duke was clearly not alone in this final attack. Dickon quickly hurried to the center of the garden to figure out his plan. The memory of fires blazing on the war front triggered inside Dickon's mind. He tried to push them away but Dickon couldn't help but remember the men dying around him and his struggle to stay alive. Dickon jumped into the pond and got himself as wet as possible so he could attempt to get out. He hurried to one part of the wall had not be consumed by flames yet and attempted to climb over it.
The other staff members were already running with buckets of water to try and stop the fire and one of the faster boys ran to get the fire brigade. Mary, Colin, and Martha rushed to the scene.
"Dickon!" Mary shouted. "Colin! Did Dickon leave with you?" Mary grabbed onto her cousin.
"No. He had to get his things but I didn't see him come out." Colin looked just as panicked. "But he wasn't far behind me, he must have gotten out." Colin tried to reassure her but there was no helping in the panic. Dickon was nowhere to be seen so they could only assume he was still inside.
"Someone find out how this started!" Lord Craven shouted as Medlock assisted him outside. He was rushing as fast as he could to the garden, his late wife's garden. Mary hurried to her uncle as she felt the pain rushing through him that their beloved place of magic was turning into ash before their eyes.
"I've got one of them sir!" One of the servants shouted as he dragged along a young boy.
"What's the meaning of this?" Lord Craven shouted angrily at the boy. The servant pushed the boy forward. "Speak boy!" His voice boomed and the boy fell to his knees.
"I'm sorry, sir! We all were threatened! Please don't hurt me!" He begged.
"Who threatened you?"
"The Duke Buescher, sir." It dawned on all who had seen the previous attempts at destroying the household by the Duke and it was only clear that he was the culprit. "He said if we didn't burn it he would take away all our land!"
"I see." Lord Craven immediately began shouting orders for the Duke's arrest. The fire brigade arrived and immediately began putting out the fire but Mary was anxiously waiting to make sure that Dickon was alright.
"Did you find anyone inside?" Colin asked as one of the workers came out from the now smoking but no longer burning garden.
"No sir. It's too smoky in there to see." The worker looked down. They all looked around in worry. Mary buried her head in Martha's bosom trying to make the tears and shaking stop. Martha brushed a hand on Mary's head trying to calm her but Martha was choking back her own tears for her brother.
"Dickon!" One of the other gardeners shouted. Mary immediately pulled away as they saw from around the corner of the edge of the garden, Dickon. He was stumbling a bit and limping but he was hurrying towards them.
"Dickon!" Mary shouted and ran to him. "What happened? Are you alright?" Colin hurried to his air.
"Aye, I jus' fell on my way down from escapin'. I climbed the wall but had to le' go from the fire. I'm alrigh', Mary." Dickon held her to him.
"We've sent for the Duke's arrest. He should have been dealt with a long time ago." Colin said sternly and put his hand on Mary's shoulder.
"Oh Dickon, Colin. Our garden." Mary sobbed as she held onto her two closest people in the world. "It's destroyed."
"It's alrigh', Miss Mary." Dickon smiled. She looked up at him. "Dunna worry 'bout the garden. After a while, it'll grow again. As long as we 'ave the magic." Mary held onto Dickon closer and Colin encompassed their embrace as the fire died down and the garden began to heal it's wounds.
The garden would grow back but not before Mary and Dickon were married. As soon as Dickon's ankle was healed from his fall they were wed just outside of the Manor. The Duke was found and arrested for his crimes and would hopefully never bother the moor again. As for Mary and Dickon, they moved into the cottage and frequently visited Colin, never letting their friendship die. Lord Craven lived to his first grandnephew and Mrs. Medlock retired after many years of service. The garden grew back to its beautiful state with the three eternal friends helping it along its way to recovery and as Mary and Dickon sat with their children playing in the garden they could only know that they would now and forever, live happily ever after.
A/N: I'm so sorry if this ending seems rather odd but I couldn't find a better way to put it. I'll miss writing this story as it was my first one to ever put up and I hope you enjoyed it. Thank you for supporting and supporting The Secret Garden. It's a great book that I've appreciated for years!