Hi

It's been a while, so let me start with a quick look at where the characters are:

Blossom and Westley are on there way to Devons (The country outside of the Twisted Gallows)

Inigo and Fezzik are somewhere in the Weeping Weeds

Humperdink and his army are just entering the Weeping Weeds.

And our heroic trio (Blossom, Michael, and Nettie) are in a cave filled with the devilish biting bunnies.

That should clear some things up.

I don't own the rights to Princess Bride; however, I do own the rights to my own characters.

Chapter 11

From the previous chapter:

And then…………………………………………………. it happens.

One of the bunnies notices that I, his dinner, have left my rocky perch. He comes running up to me. And I don't move. "Just let him bite me." I think. "This way it will be over and I won't have to be strong anymore. I would be wherever Mother and Father were. I would be with them. I would be at home."

I feel its demon teeth sink into my ankle. A rush of hot agony starts up my legs and fills my heart. I let go to whatever strength I had left and collapse to the floor. Nettie screams in horror.

"No!!!!!" Michael screams. He drops the lantern and rushes to my side.

Continued…

The poison from the bite hits me instantly. Things are starting to look blurry.

Michael quickly investigates my ankle. I was indeed bitten as feared by both Michael and Nettie. He shouts at me, repeating my name over and over again. I feel too weak to do anything. There is no time to waste. Michael pulls me into his arms, lifting me up off the floor. My body is lame and tired. I'm much like a limp noodle in his arms.

"Let's go!" Michael calls to Nettie.

They both run full speed out of the cave with me in tow. The moonlight seems extremely bold tonight. Everything is covered in a silver spotlight. I bounce up and down in Michael's arms as he dodges whatever lies in the dark. We run with the bunnies at our heels. Although I can't see the bunnies, I know they are chasing us.

The pace of my own heart starts to slow down as my brain rushes ahead of me. A billion things run through my frantic head all at once. I wandered if Buttercup would ever truly know what happened to me that I died trying to get to her. What would Nettie and Michael do now that I was gone? Would they go back?

Everything starts to swim. I'm dizzy and lightheaded. I close my eyes and the world disappears.

The last thing I hear is Michael's strong voice, "Stay with me, Princess!"

It was much too late for that.

When Blossom gains consciousness...

I awake with something warm on my face. I open one eye slowly than the other. I'm surrounded by white light all above me, angels maybe. An angelic melody fills my ears and my suspicions are reassured. This had to be it.

Heaven.

I stand to my feet, surprised to see how fast I have gained back my strength. It was just like I had expected it to be. Everything was white, gold and silver. My surroundings sparkled like a jewel. The air is pure and fresh.

I'm in a white fog and just ahead of me, guarded by angels, are the pearly gates. They seem to be miles high, never-ending. I come to the gates placing my hands on two of the bars that were the color of ivory, trimmed with gold. Just inside was a garden of clouds and stars growing like flowers. It was nothing like I had ever seen before, not even the tree of lights could compare.

The angels look at me hard, eyeing me suspiciously. God was no where in sight or least that is what I assumed since I had never seen him. Wait! Didn't God meet his children at the gate, letting them in? The angels continue to investigate me with their eyes. "Don't I belong here?" I can't help but think. I suddenly become self-conscious of all the "non-angelic" things that I have done in the past. There was a lot of lying, a few cheating incidents, a fight or two, and times of pure hatred towards certain pompous Princes. Would God take off points for that? Would this send me down to… the place of fire and damnation?

The gates opening slow motion. They squeak as that angels sing. How would I explain my actions to God? Could I beg? I wasn't sure if he would accept that. No other thoughts came to mind though, so I back up and fall to my knees ready to cry for mercy.

As it turned out it wasn't God, but someone who was equally important in my life; in fact, it was actually two people.

"Blossom, dear!" My mother says as she kneels and hugs me tightly. Father holds the both of us in his massive arms.

At first I'm stunned to see them. It had been seven years since I saw them both. Things certainly had changed. They didn't look like a tired and old aging couple. The worry lines were gone. The sparkle in their eyes had returned. They looked much younger than I could ever remember.

After the shock had subsided I embraced them both. "I'm so glad to see you." I say with tears running down my face. "I've missed you both so much. Buttercup and I needed you both so much. Why did you have to go? Why at the same time?"

"That's not for us to question." Mother answers dutifully. "Besides that shouldn't matter now should it? The past is the past. Everything seems to be working out as it should."

"But Mother!" I cry, pushing myself out of their arms so they can hear me clearly through my sobs. "It hasn't! A lot has gone wrong since you left. Buttercup and I were left so poor, we had to sell the house, the land, everything! She almost had to marry an evil prince, though she escaped. But she left me. She's somewhere on an island and I can't find her! I can't…" the wheels of my brain start to work together.

Why did any of this matter anymore? I was dead. I didn't have to search anymore. Buttercup was happy with her love and I had Mom and Dad. Yes, everything was fine now. Nettie and Michael would certainly return back to Florin, their home. So why was I so upset? It was fine. No worries.

I sigh, "You know what? None of that matters. It's just so good to see you again."

"We've missed you, Blossom." Father says, "You have grown quite a bit since the last time we saw you."

I nodded. They had died when I was ten years old and Buttercup only twelve. Many things had changed since then.

"You are quite the young lady." Mother says with another smile.

Father nods, "You look just like your mother when she was younger."

This brings even more tears to my eyes. Father picks the lot of us up off the cloud floor and we walk slowly back to the pearly gates.

"I'm so glad to be up here with you two." I say with my heart filled with so much joy it could burst. "I was so tired. Tired of being strong, taking care of myself all by myself. I needed someone to be there with me. I was so weary of being alone."

"But were you ever really alone?" Father asked me, "If I remember correctly wasn't there a young girl with you, traveling through God-only-knows-what to help you find Buttercup. Do you call that being alone?"

"Well...no."

"And there was that young man who was with you." Mother adds.

I blush at the thought of Michael. I was going to miss him more than I realized.

"You were never alone, dear." Father says ignoring the last part purposely, "They cared for you."

"But they should hate me, after everything I put them through. They are suffering because of me."

Mother takes my hand. "Dear, they made a choice. Their choice was to stay with you. That's truly something special; you should consider yourself very lucky."

I nod my head. My parents were right. I was truly lucky.

Mother and Father walk past the angel guards with their colossal white wings. They enter the pearly gates hand in hand. I try to go in to but the angels stop me. Their large extended hands block my path. They don't say anything to me. They continue to sing but shake their heads slowly, telling me no.

"Mother!," I cry with my hands gripping the bars. "They won't let me in!"

She turns around and looks back at me with her all knowing eyes. She looks at the guards then me then back to them. They seemed to be talking to her in some foreign yet beautiful language that I couldn't grasp. After a short moment or two, Mother nods her head understanding it all.

She comes to the gate and holds my hand through the bars. "It's not your time yet darling."

"What? But Mother-"

"There is still so much in your life to look forward to, to experience; the good and the bad. You'll be here again one day, but not today." She tries to walk away, but I won't let her.

"I need you! Don't leave me alone again!"

"Didn't we just go over this?" Mother says with a smile, "You aren't alone. You have Buttercup and your friend and that young man."

"I don't want to go!! No! Please."

"Fulfill your destiny Blossom; if not for yourself, for me."

"But Mo-" I am cut off when two guards take hold of me. They are gentle, but they are escorting me away.

"You have so much to live for. Enjoy your life dear. Life is much shorter than you think." And with that last tidbit of wisdom, Mother leaves the gate. She joins Father and they walk away.

All at once the stable cloud floor gives way. I'm falling out of the heavenly white light. I'm in darkness. Mother's voice echoes in my head, "Enjoy your life dear. Life is much shorter than you think." I cry for her, but she doesn't answer.

When I awake from my apparent dream I am still calling for my mother who is long gone. The first thing I'm aware of is the temperature of my body. I burning up all over and yet I couldn't stop shivering. I have no idea where I am, and then I remember the fangs of the devils. There is a fire nearby. I'm covered in blankets.

Michael is squeezing my right hand and caressing one side of my face. He keeps yelling at me, but I can't hear him. Why can't I hear him? I close my mouth after I realize that I'm still screaming for Mother.

"Can you hear me?" He asks with a worried expression.

I waggle my head up and down the best I can.

"That's good. I was so worried. You are okay now. You're ankle, it's a little swollen but it's fine." And then he grins at me wearily. Something tingles in my stomach, making me even hotter all over. "She's up." Michael calls to someone else. Nettie.

She pops up out of nowhere. She clumsily hugs me, sending so much pain through out my entire body. "Oh, I'm sorry- sorry- so sorry! I'm so glad you're okay. We thought you were… well you know… but none of that matters now! You're awake."

Was I okay? It didn't feel like it. Michael and Nettie get to work on something. What in particular I didn't know. I remember the heavenly clouds. Was it a dream or a hallucination? I wasn't sure. With much confusion I doze off to sleep.

The next morning…

When I first woke up I thought maybe I was in heaven again with the white lights, but it was all in my head. I had been kicked out of heaven. And also, this place was much too green. As it so happens the white light came from the tree of lights. I was sleeping under it.

In general I felt better, but not healed. My right ankle felt a lot heavier than my left. It may have been infected by the bunny's bite. I was also stiff, still in the same position as I had been the night before, on the flat of my back. With all my strength I flip myself over to my side. And there, three inches away from my nose, was Michael's neck.

I don't breathe, I don't even blink. Why was he here with me? How long had he been there? My first urge was to wake him and ask him these questions, but I hesitated. What if he left? I didn't want him to leave just yet.

He was on his side as well facing me. I'm so close to him that I can feel his breath against my face. I blush without knowing why. One of his toned arms was wrapped around me, keeping me close to him. I look at his strong face for the longest time. He was tanned from the working in sun, building Crazy Benjy's laboratory. His hair of brown curls was quite a mess; however, it is hard to keep yourself properly groomed when you are running around in a forest such as this one. He was handsome, even in his sleep. He had long eye lashes that fluttered in his slumber. A sign of how restless he was. I settle down closely by him ready to fall asleep yet again. And that is when he awakes.

He isn't apologetic for how close we are. He smiles and I blush. "Feel better?"

I try to find my voice, "Yes, thanks to you."

"I'm glad you're safe." He takes a moment to stretch." You're fine… for now. We'll stay in the garden a little while longer while you rest." He says.

His eyes look directly into mine. "What do you mean by 'fine for now'?" I manage to whisper from my sore throat, which probably ached from me screaming for mother in my sleep.

His arm moves up and his hand strokes my hair. He was preparing me for the blow he was about to give me. "Princess, the biting bunnies are poisonous. Even with Crazy Benjy's book we couldn't find a remedy. We found something that will do for now, but we have to get you out of here. We need to find a doctor maybe even a…"

"What? What is it?" I ask with a knot tying in my stomach.

"Maybe even a miracle."

I lay quietly under the tree. Michael's hand rubs my cheek yet I can barely feel it. So I was going to die anyways. "Maybe that's what Mother meant." I think to myself, "My time on earth is short, that's what she was trying to tell me. I'll die soon." Tears swell in my eyes, "They kicked me back on earth just to have me die a little ways later."

Michael notices my sniffles, "Princess?"

"After-after all of this… us running, trying to keep from Prince Humperdink, the weeping weeds, and now those bunnies…after all of that… I'm going to die anyways." I laugh at myself in pity, "Why is my life so ironic?"

Michael sits straight up at hearing this. He pulls me into his arms. He meant business. I feel heavy from my head to my toes. "You won't die. I wouldn't let you."

"Maybe it was my destiny all this time." I say to myself, not listening to Michael at all, "Maybe that's what Mother meant, to 'fulfill my destiny'."

"Stop talking like that." Michael says firmly, "That won't happen."

"How do you know?"

Michael grins at me again. "My destiny is connected with you remember? You can't leave me just yet."

Michael's words were comforting, but in my mind I already knew my fate. We had miles to go in the forest. I probably wouldn't make it out in time. Even though my mind accepted my fate my heart still wished that Michael was right.

"You'll be fine with us." Michael says, "We're here for you." Michael hugs me which sends tingles up my spine. "Lay here a while. I'll find us some breakfast." Michael left me to my thoughts until Nettie came back from wherever she had been.

"It's about time you two woke up." She said with a naughty grin on her face. She plops down on some of the blankets I was using. "Feeling better?" she asks.

"Much."

"That's good." She says, "Last night you were shivering so bad that your teeth were chattering."

"Was I?" I say obviously not remembering a thing.

"We tried everything to harm you up again. Blankets, the fire-"

"I remember the blankets and the fire. Not much after that though."

"We didn't know what else to do. We thought that if we sat close together you might warm up. Looks like the plan worked."

"Yes." I say. I take a moment to think, "So that's why he was laying so close to me. He was trying to keep me warm." I thought.

"I went out and made another remedy for you. You can take it later after you had some food in your stomach."

I moan after seeing the oddly colored green gunk in a cup just for me. Suddenly I wasn't hungry anymore.

"So what did Michael and you talk about?" Nettie questions, her knees drawn into her chest. She was nervously looking at everything else in the garden except my face.

"He told me Nettie. I know that I might not make it."

Nettie lowers her head a bit. A minute of silence passes by before Nettie finally says, "But don't you worry. Michael is sure that we can make it out soon enough. There is nothing to fret over."

"Michael just gave me the same speech." I inform her. She immediately starts thinking about another approach. I let her ponder. I turn on the flat of my back again and I look up at the branches of the tree of lights. It was a beautiful day. Nettie lays down on some of the blankets with me, mimicking my moves.

"Think about it this way. You escaped Prince Humperdink's castle right? We made it past the Weeping Weeds and the Biting Bunnies. What's the worst that could happen to you? You've already been through so much. We are almost out of the Twisted Gallows. We'll be the first people to actually make it out alive."

I shrug my shoulders. "I hadn't thought of it like that."

"See there you go! You'll be fine. Michael will make sure of that."

I was curious of her last comment, but my attention is soon distracted. "What's moving in your bag?" I ask her.

"Huh? Oh! I forgot to tell you all about him!"

"Him? Who is him?"

"He is." Nettie opens the knapsack and she pulls out a little fox. He is light brown all over with black ears. His legs are black as well. With big eyes he is very hard to resist. "He must have woken from his nap. Isn't he the cutest?"

"Why do you have a baby fox? Where is his mother and siblings?"

Nettie lowered her voice as if the fox understood what we were saying. "The bunnies got to them."

I gasp a little. "Are you absolutely sure."

"There weren't a lot of carcasses left, but enough to know that… he's all alone."

The little fox didn't seem to know the difference. He jumped out of his knapsack, stretched, and yawned.

"What are you naming him?"

"I'm calling him Felix, Felix the Fox. What do you think?"

I watch as Felix the Fox chases a butterfly a little ways from the where we were. "I think it suits him. Does Michael know about you little find?"

"Not necessarily, but he'll know soon enough."

Soon Nettie is chasing after Felix. I lay back down, giving the tree branches my full attention. Time passes, how much I don't know. When Nettie finally gets a hold of the little rascal she sits next to me.

The same naughty smile appeared yet again on Nettie's face. Her brown eyes sparkled with a secret that she was dying to share. It wasn't like my friend to keep anything away from me. Yet, she continued to giggle to herself until I had had enough.

"What's so funny?" I ask her.

Nettie ignores my question and asks me one of her own, "Who are you thinking about?"

"I'm thinking of no one in particular." I say. I know who she is trying to hint at. Michael. It was true that my thoughts did seem to drift to him every once in awhile. I still wasn't willing to give her the satisfaction of knowing it.

"Don't treat me like a fool. You are thinking of Michael. It's written all over your face." Nettie's smile grows, "In fact, it is written all over his face how much he likes you too."

I roll my eyes, "Sure."

"Why do you say it like that? You know it's true. Can't you see it in him?"

I thought I saw traces of it occasionally hidden in his smile or in his eyes, but I always figured it was part of imagination. A part of me knew though, but I couldn't let Nettie be right about this one. I don't reply to this comment but that doesn't slow her down.

"He likes you. He has liked you ever since that night Gabriel brought us to their house." Nettie tucks her short red hair behind her ear as she plays with Felix, "You should have seen his face when you collapsed to the cave floor. You would have thought that his whole world had ended."

"Anyone would have been shocked, Nettie." I say, denying the whole thing, "If I recall correctly you screamed."

Nettie tries to think of a come back but nothing comes to mind. "Fine." She says, "Bad example." She takes a moment to think, "How about this morning? We were supposed to sleep on either side of you to keep in some of the heat. When I woke up he had pulled you away from me and closer to him."

"He was trying to make sure that I was warm." I say with a little blush.

"Sure."

"And we weren't that close." I was lying

"Oh please! I was there you know. I woke up and saw you two. You can't get any closer than that. That's why I got up early, just in case you two talked this thing over."

"There is nothing to talk over."

"Whatever. The bottom line here is that he likes you. Even in his sleep you could see that he was happy to be there with you."

This conversation went on for a while. Nettie continued to try and convince me that Michael liked me just as much as I secretly liked him. All of this would have been more exciting news if I wasn't dying from a bunny bite. What would be the point of getting all happy if I would only lose him in a little while?

"Why do you refuse to believe it? You know that I would never lie to you. I'm telling you what I know for sure."

"Maybe." I finally say, "That's all I have to say." I repeat it. "Maybe."

We hear footsteps. Just coming from the west side of the garden was Michael. His arms were full of different fruits for my breakfast.

"Well," Nettie says as she packs up Felix in her knapsack again, "I think I'll go exploring."

Nettie was suddenly making me nervous. "You're leaving?"

"Yep." She gets up off the ground. She walks past Michael to the west side of the tree of lights. "See you two later!" Se calls over her shoulder. She ducks behind a small gathering of apple trees and she is gone.

Michael takes her spot next to me and lays out the fruit. I sit up the best I can, with Michael's help. "I wasn't sure what you wanted so I got you a bit of everything."

"Thanks."

"You're welcome." Michael chooses the bananas for himself. I had the mango. Since I wasn't strong enough just yet to work a knife properly, Michael cuts the fruit into chunks just for me.

Time goes by without either of us saying a word. Nettie's speech had made me edgy. Suddenly I remember something important that I meant to ask Michael or Nettie about earlier on.

"Michael, whatever happened to the bunnies?"

"Hmm… Oh! I forgot to tell you that this morning, didn't I?" He says. "They were chasing us and picking up speed fast." He swallows a mouthful of bananas. "We thought if we ran past the tree of lights that would scare them away since they only like the night time."

I nod at this remembering my Father telling me that when I was much younger.

"For some reason that didn't care them off, so they relentlessly chased us past the tree of lights and out the garden."

"Where did you go?"

"The only place we could go, the Twisted Gallows' gloomy forest."

"But the bunnies, they like dark places." I say after taking a bite off of mango.

"I know, but it was the only other place. We couldn't exactly turn around and head back to the garden."

"So what happened?" I asked eagerly, "How did you escape?"

Michael shook his head. "I have no idea. One minute they were behind us. The next minute they weren't. Maybe they got scared of something. Maybe they found a slower meal. I'm not sure. It's very strange."

"Don't you mean spooky? Scary?" I say as I lay on my back again. All the moving and talking was making me tired. Michael notices me and follows suit. He lies on his side just as he was this morning.

"Scary?" He says, "I'm sure out of all the things we have seen thus far this is the least scary."

"You don't think a pack of mad bunnies disappearing in air is a little scary?"

One of Michael's fingers fiddles with a thick strand of my hair. "No, only if they magically appeared again."

"Well I do." I reply, ignoring the sensation in my stomach from Michael's hand.

"You have nothing to be scared about." He says and with that he kisses my forehead.

It had meant to be a brotherly kiss, but his lips lingered too long. I found myself leaning into the kiss. When he finally did pull away his lips all I could do was sigh, much to my embarrassment.

Michael moves on. "You should rest for now and get your strength up again. In two days we will be heading out of here."

"Two days?" I blink.

"We can't stay here any longer than that. We have got to get you out of this place."

"I kind of like it here now." I groan.

I strongly believed in predictions and dreams. And if fate is fate and nothing can be done to change it than I would die like the heavens told me. Why couldn't I just die in a peaceful garden like this one?

"Whether you like it here or not we have got to leave."

"Alright." I say. I make myself comfortable next to Michael, snuggling my head under his chin.

Michael lets out a deep breath. "Okay, maybe three days wouldn't be so bad."

Over the next two days Nettie, Michael, and even little Felix did everything they could to make me feel better. Nettie forced down ever remedy she could make in the book down my throat. Every one of them tasted worst than the first one had, causing me to gag. She finally stopped when my tongue turned green. Although, she did pack extra ingredients just in case I needed them while we were in the forest.

When Nettie wasn't bothering me about potions she was annoying me about how close Michael and I were getting. No matter how much I denied it she was right. Michael brought me food. He wrapped fresh bandages around my ankle. He took me on long walks in the garden so I could gain the strength back in my legs again. He was constantly grinning and I couldn't stop giggling.

Then there was little Felix who provided nothing but sheer entertainment and bliss. He chased bugs, he practiced his growl, he pounced on flowers, and he devoured any type of food around him. He was an exciting thing to watch. Michael on the other hand wasn't too excited about the fox. He said the fox belonged in the garden and not with us. Nettie did the right thing and tried to put him back where she had found him. The clever fox followed her though, so it was settled. Felix the Fox was here to stay.

On the third day, during the afternoon, Michael and I were under the tree of lights again. Both of us were sitting up much closer than normal but I had grown used to that. This would be our last day in the garden. I wasn't ready to go. There was no point in arguing with Michael either, he had already made up his mind.

A cool breeze passes by causing the leaves of the tree of lights to rustle, creating beautiful music. I drink in all the smells of the garden. Watermelon, apple, lime, raspberry, roses, and honeysuckle filled the air. It was almost intoxicating. Everything was green with splotches of reds, yellows, and oranges here and there. I wasn't ready to give any of this up.

Nettie, who sat on the huge branches above us, calls down. "I think we have to run now you guys!"

"Run? Run for what?" Michael asks.

"What can you see up there?" I question.

Nettie doesn't answer. She just stares out at the skyline in front of us. All the color in her face drains away.

What is coming our way now?

Hoped you liked it.

Merry Christmas to everyone!

Teenstar113