Sorry if this is kind of an anti-climax but I just wanted to finish their story. This chapter is pretty much both Lady Blueberry and Lord Redbrick summing up the past couple of years leading into that first scene in the movie so there's no new action, just 'new' thoughts.

As of right now, I'm not planning on writing the whole movie from their POVs. I'm far too unmotivated for that.

Chapter 6: Adulthood

The wall remains, strong and separating. The rules are clear. They have changed a little, but they are clear. The blues no longer wait ten years to learn about the reds. Talking to the reds is allowed, with some exceptions. But I have made sure that it is nigh impossible for a blue and a red to be friends. Or lovers. The rules do not allow our mutual hatred much flexibility. It is all for the best.

I married Lord Blueberry's son as I promised. We buried my father together and later my mother as she finally decided to let herself die. Petruchio was my support and my guiding light through it all. Whenever I needed him, he was there. I grew to depend on him. To love him.

Time passed like a river. My hair is white; my dress is faded and scratched and often covered by a thin layer of dirt. I am not nearly as fast as I used to be. I have a child of my own. Petruchio's and my son, Gnomeo has flourished as greatly as our wisteria tree in these turbulent times. He has become my most important warrior. The hatred of the red garden continues to burn us like a fire, causing the death of many beloved gnomes. My Petruchio among them; smashed in a raid by the red garden, his pieces buried under the toilet our tree has now been planted in. It is a symbol of our love, undying even in death, reaching toward the sky to join me to my husband. I have cried many tears for him.

With death comes new life: the garden has bloomed under my rule and Gnomeo has risen to his father's legacy. Everything is as it should be and we are happy. But still I cannot forget.

He is determined to make me remember. Remember a white flower poking through our hole, remember running hand in hand through the grass, remember a warm kiss in the pouring rain, remember my mother's last scream, my father's last sight, Ulrich's broken hat, his own broken eyebrow. All these memories haunt me and as much as I may try to hide it, they still bring me pain. The anger that rose up in me that day is still very much alive. It clouds my heart with hatred for him and determination to protect my garden and my son. They will not suffer from my past. Gnomeo will not make the same mistakes I did.

How the years change everything. My hair has grown white, my beard reaches towards my belt, my hat is so scratched and faded it is almost gray in places. Ophelia and I 'produced' the councils' heir: a beautiful girl with her mother's eyes and her father's hair: Juliet Redbrick.

And then Ophelia left me. Breaking to pieces as I held her in another raid on the blue garden. She cried a single tear, stroked my face and told me to look after our daughter. Then she was gone. In the end, fast as she may be, she wasn't strong enough to hang on, to stay with me. The battlefield is no place for a woman.

Every day without her has become torture. I had no one to share my pain with, no one to lean on. I had to raise Juliet on my own, without her wonderful, special mother. I had to run the garden by myself after I finally dissolved the council.

And then that day…. It always comes back. Even more so after Ophelia's death. Every time I think about it I feel like crying. There were so many moments where I could've stopped it, could've changed our future… But I didn't. I could've saved Katherine's parents; I could've saved our friendship. I could've saved my brother. He's gone too. Barely a month before Ophelia, he slipped off one of the fences while he was training and broke. He was never quite perfect after Kat sliced off the top of his hat, it messed with his balance. And finally, Kat's injury killed him. My little brother, my head of security, was gone.

I take it one day at a time, one attack from the blues at a time. I have to. It's the only way.

But of course, some days are harder than others.

This morning, it all began with the blue throwing things over the wall. You'd think they'd learn. Nothing good ever comes from throwing anything over the wall. That's what made this all happen. I couldn't tell what it was this time but whatever it was had my security force (my nephew Tybalt and his lackey Fawn) with their hands and hooves full.

"Oh those blues are at it again!" I went to interrogate.

I still use that stupid hole for times like this. I yanked the cork out and peered through, looking for the cause of the trouble. Of course, no one looked the least bit suspicious. They were all wandering around, or crowded around the wisteria growing out of that toilet, watching Lady Blueberry tend to it. She caught sight of me and smirked. It was like she had been waiting.

"Top of the morning! Lord Redbrick." There was her condensation, as usual.

"Lady Blueberry…" I replied, making my contempt known. I never call her Katherine …. No one does… it's like everyone has forgotten the rebellious child she used to be. Now, she is their fearless leader.

She continued smiling and played with her husband's spade in her hands. "Your tulips are looking a little limp this year aren't they?" She taunted me. I glanced over at them and let out a gasp of shock. I couldn't believe Katherine would sink this low. Ophelia used to care for those tulips. Apart from Juliet, they were her pride and joy. Anger boiled in me, but I wasn't going to lose my cool. Not this early and certainly not in front of her.

"I don't like what you're incinerating!" I told her, turning back to the hole.

"The proper word is insinuating!" She shouted at me like an annoyed school teacher. I hate it when she does that.

"Illiterate…" I heard her mutter as she rolled her eyes.

The anger boiled over. "I am not illiterate!" I yelled through the hole. She of all people would know that. "My parents were married!" I shouted then jammed the cork back in place. The sun was barely up and already I was in a foul mood. How can she always do that to me?

I walked away, fuming. The way she pets and prunes that wisteria drives me crazy. She treats it like it is a child of hers. And only because she planted it with him. Like she wants to constantly remind me who she is and why it had to be this way. It is only another painful reminder of the past we'd had and the future we'd allowed ourselves to dream of for one beautiful, foolish moment as we shared a kiss…

I stopped and tightened my grip on my staff. That future was gone. Dead. It had never been possible. I realized I was staring at Ophelia's tulips. The tulips Kat had helped me steal. The tulips my brother had helped me plant. Ulrich….. Ophelia….

Everything was linked to those tulips. I swallowed the sadness rising in my throat and continued on my way to the pedestal to check on my daughter.

I have lost so much to this fight. My best friend, my brother, my beloved wife…

I will not lose my daughter. My Juliet.

She must be protected.

Thanks for reading! kagomehater4ever, thanks for your continuing support and reviews!

Peace!

wolfchic011

7/7/11