That's just too much light for my eyes. I open them, but a strong headache comes to meet me because of that. How much do I remember about my dreams? Wait, I went to Dreamscape... No, not really. Had I dreamed I went there?

I try to sit straight and look around, although the fact that I'm too dizzy for that. The only thing I manage to do, for some seconds, is breathing. Nothing seems to have changed. But then, on the corner of my eye, I notice a short, fat figure standing a few feet away from me.

As soon as I'm back to my senses, I turn to it at the speed of light, making my heart go up to my throat and down again. I don't know if I'm scared, worried or happy. Maybe the three of them - of course it's a mirage. What else could it be? That Shar Pei standing in front of me cannot be real.

He looks at me from head to toe and crosses his paws.

"Those years turned your mind into a seed..." He says, smiling. And, at that moment, I'm suddenly sure it's real. My heart, which was beating fast, now stops. I can't breathe. Actually, I could be dead right now cause none of my vital activities are working.

The next thing I know, I'm hugging him so hard that he could be dead as well.

"FU!" I say and kiss his head multiple times. But then my excitement turns into tears and I start to cry a river, hugging him harder.

"Uh, Rose?" His voice sounds like a whisper. "I. Can't. Breathe."

I let him go immediately and try to dry my tears. "Sorry... It's just that...'

"I know." Fu says and smiles. "I'm so relieved I found you..."

We hug again. "How did you get here?!"

"Well, Gramps and I found a solution. We tried to look for something in old books and documents, but it was a waste of time. I was talking to some buddies at the magical market, and I heard about a boy called Baljheet, who came up with a time-space-dimension-travelling theory."

"Right, Doctor."

He thought about my joke for a few seconds.

"Funny thing, your name is Rose..."

I smile. "Keep going"

"Oh, right. Those kids you saw running. They did that with his help. They traveled going with the flow of the dimension circle, which is a sort of a wheel that spins always in the same direction. So we managed to use it. But to go back, we'll have to pass through some dimensions until we complete the circle; cause we can't go to the opposite direction: we'd need too much energy; but that would be a good wait to cheat."

At the last word, my mind freezes. I remember this word, I heard it not long ago. I take some time to remember its author.

"THE HUNTSMAN!" I shout in an explosion of feelings. "He is alive!" I start to pace in circles. "We have to warn them we have to warn Jake and Gramps maybe Gosh we must-"

"Rose!"

I raise my head and look at him.

"Calm down." He says. "The Huntsman died. That's impossible."

I shake my head. "It's not. He came to me in my dreams wearing the bracelet. He took me to the Dreamscape corridor and made an offer about taking me back home."

I don't have to say anything else. Fu's eyes focus on the ground and he thinks for a while. "He must be in a 'limbo' between the living world and the other world. But how could he do it?"

"Maybe he's more powerful than we thought."

Although I can't exactly believe in what I just said, it seems to be no less than the truth. The Huntsman was raised by the power of the Aztec Skulls when I made the wish to destroy every member of the Huntsclan. He should've been killed. More than that; he should have been erased from everywhere in this universe; every trace he left should have disappeared. Huntsman 1x0 Us.

He should have been erased from everywhere in this universe... This universe... Which means that universe, the world that I call home.

"Fu... What if he can't return? What if he needs a kind of help to materialize in our dimension?"

"Well, if he's having trouble with that there's 100% of chance that he will find a way. You should know that better than me."

I don't say a thing; cause it's true. Then, finally, I speak. "We have to warn them. Maybe he's looking for something. And knows where to find it."

"Yep! Let''s go!"

He starts to walk and takes something out of his folds. I can't really believe.

"Now?" I ask him.

Fu stares at me like I'm an alien. My words weren't made of joy; but of fear and shock. I really don't know what to wait for, since I've been here for God know how long... Maybe many forgot about me.

"Oh, right!" He slaps his forehead. "I'm sorry! I didn't know you wanted to say goodbye. This place was really good to you, right? So... You wanna begin with the killer plants or the poisonous river?"

I glare at him.

"What? I'm just asking... But, you know, you're the passenger, so..." He pulls his folds up and sits on a rock, putting them down again. "When you give the order, we leave."

But I don't move. I just stare at the ground and let him look at him. "You're really scared, aren't you?"

I nod.

"Ok, first you get all dizzy and then you actually admit you're scared... Now I'M scared..." I glare at him again. "Ok, your feelings, not mine, you speak, I don't."

"What if it goes just like the Peter Pan story? A while after Wendy and her brothers went to Neverland, her parents started to lose hope; and it was like their children had been nothing more than a dream."

"Hold on... You fear your parents forgot about you?!"

"No, not forgot... But I fear things will never be the same again."

"Listen, you know that i'm not good with these emotional stuff, but everything you do and every word you say will change your life, in a way or another..."

I pause and think about it for a moment. He's right. Nothing will change if I just stay here until I die.

"Besides," he continues, "I'm Jake and Grandpa's guardian animal and I had to leave them unprotected to come and recue you. We didn't want the boy to know I's coming. So, yeah, I'm going against my job policies, and we should leave... Like, NOW."

I smile. I remember when I figured out the Huntsman was the reason why I hadn't grown up with my parents. I wasn't afraid. I was mad, really mad, but hopeful that I'd find them someday. Because I had a family; and having a family changes everything.

Now, I don't have just one, but two families; who were looking for me. They want me back. I'm now sure I'm going back to them.

"Shall we?" I ask Fu, grinning. He smiles back and picks the thing he had taken out of his folds: a blue key. He gestures with the key in his paw, as if opening an imaginary door. In fact, he is.

The portal opens.

"This will hurt a little" He says. "The energy necessary to travel is too intense, even if we go with the flow. Our bodies with have to give part of its energy on the crossing. But don't worry, we'll recover after some minutes."

I nod, breathing heavily. The scene happens in slow motion. I start with the left foot: now I'm two steps away from the portal. Right foot. It seems an eternity to get close to it. Left foot. Now I'm standing on my left leg; and I almost lose my balance. But I won't.

"Just go already!" Fu rolls his eyes.

I look back, frown at him, and take one last breath.

Right foot.