*gulp*

looks like tomorrow came later than expected, hey?

OH GOD, i am so so sorry for not updating this and making promises i can't keep, i know now that my updating sucks and changes like the wind, and once i get out of a writing mood, its impossible for me to write anything. But thats no excuse, i was a terrible writer to you guys (if youre still there that is) and so i promise to never make any more promises (haha) because you guys don't deserve that.

To make it up to you, i come bearing gifts. the longest chapter I've ever written for charms and possibly the second last chapter (we'll see what happens) to Jasmine's very long journey. WOW, younger self, do you have no concept of a timeline. That aside, about my writing.

I make no promises, but that this story will be completed eventually, and probably in the future. This meant war will too, it just depends when i get the motivation. Its coming up to the time this story started two years ago, and so i feel it would be cool if it ended at around the same time. Since then my nerdiness has grown into many other fandoms. And over the years, i, Echobaby123, have boarded the anime train (it happens to the best of us) so if you like anime too, then maybe keep an eye out for that, i wrote two fullmetal alchemist one shots a while back, maybe ill get around to posting them,

BUT THAT ASIDE, i still love DQ, it was my first fandom, and i will continue to ship Lief and Jasmine till my last dying breath so thanks to a freak accident where i tripped over a drive way (classy i know), i now have 6 stitches in my knee and can't walk around much (wow, thats so sad XD) so i'll be more active on here than usual XD

AND WITH THAT, MY WONDERFUL, FAITHFUL READERS, I PRESENT TO YOU, THE EVER ANTICIPATED,

SECOND LAST CHAPTER:THE END:PART I (so sorry)

Have you ever fallen off a building, like a really tall one, i.e. a palace tower (or even a cliff will do). Well if not, then let me explain. It's a mixture between the feeling of your skin being ripped right off your body and that weird plummeting feeling you get in your stomach when you're around Lief and he's smiling at you and his hairs slightly wet and messed up and he just looks so freaking handsome ALL THE TIME especially when the light hits his tanned face aaannd- *ahem* back to falling: it feels like your digestive system is dropping way past your stomach, down to your ankles and you want to throw up, but you can't in the case that you won't be able to close your mouth again and the whole world is just one swirling blur of colours mixing and turning and merging and you don't know which is up or down, or if your sideways or dropping or rising or falling to your death and all you can do is sit there, experiencing all of this, and not do anything about it. That, to put it simply, is what a dragon ride feels like. Except it doesn't end with you being splattered across the ground like a rotten tomato. Instead, the feeling just goes on and on and on and you begin to consider the option of letting go right there and then and ending it all, because it's not going to end, and you can't stand this freaking hell a second longer and right now, dying sounds a lot better than staying on board this nightmare. But it's too late anyway because you know you're already screwed for life, when letting go of the huge beast that's dragging you across the topaz territory to find your one and only true love is a bad idea. Oh yeah, and you think you've got problems?

Jasmine could only hear the wind roaring in her ears and her hair whipping frantically behind her. She felt like she was in a blizzard, minus the ice and snow. Every flap of the dragon's mighty wings thrust them higher into the sky and farther from the sweet sweet ground; she could hear their cracked leather smacking the air with a deafening THWIP sound and she had to keep reminding herself as to why she was doing this again, ya know, the whole; clutching for dear life to a dragon's sharp serrated scales, praying to Adin that the ropes will hold and that she won't be flung off into the air only to be splattered across the Oz-mine hills. Yeah, that.

She squinted, trying to make out the blurry shapes of country whizzing underneath her, but it was useless, they were just going too fast. She didn't know how far they were from Del or how much longer it would take to reach the gates. The topaz dragon had already discussed, or rather told Jasmine that it was in no way, going to fly into the actual city of Del. It was still cautious of humans: the evil creatures that had killed their kind with spears and made lanterns out of their eggs. It told her that humans were not to be trusted as they were arrogant and selfish and by the end of the conversation, Jasmine got its point: humans were bad business.

Not reassuring words to here from the dragon that was carting her to Del, about 200 feet off the ground.

The dragon had agreed to drop her off outside of the city gates, where Jasmine would then have to continue this seemingly everlasting Journey by herself. This led to even more problems: how she was going to get inside the gates and how she was going to reach the centre of Del, where the large hill was, before sun set. Jasmine sighed. The Topaz dragon knows what it is doing, she assured herself, it will guide her to him.

She grasped its neck tighter. She would reach Lief.

/

We are landing.

Jasmine heard the icy words enter her mind and her eyes widened.

"what!" Jasmine began, "OK, ok, what do I have to d-AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"

They shot down towards the earth like a bullet; the dragon's wings tucked tightly in at its sides. Air rushed passed them and it felt way colder than before, stinging Jasmine's skin as if she was being pelted with tiny pieces of glass. She clutched helplessly to the dragon's neck and buried her face in its rather pointy scales. She was nearly thrown off by the speed at which they were landing, like peeling paint being stripped off old untreated wood. Ok, weird and disturbing simile, she thought and then plunged to her death.

The looming ground came rushing up to greet her and Jasmine forgot to be comical. She shut her eyes, which was hard enough to do as the wind teared at them to open, and then braced herself. Just before impact.

Like a parachute, the dragon whipped out its wings, jolting them upwards. They stood suspended in the air for a while and then slowly floated towards the ground. Jasmine cautiously opened her eyes as they landed gracefully on the dusty earth.

She hastily cut the ropes and slid, or rather fell, off the back of the dragon. Then Jasmine fell to her knees praying to sweet god that she would never have to endure that feeling of falling ever again. She wanted to worship the ground and hug the ground and kiss the ground. Well, she wanted to kiss Lief actually, but that wasn't the point nor did it have anything to do with the situation at hand.

She shook her head and looked up to see the Topaz dragon glinting in the sun, her ebony locks clutched tightly in one of its talons. Jasmine touched her hair; it stopped right below her ears, the ends jaggered and not at all cut straightly. To put it blankly, Jasmine didn't really care about her new hairstyle, although, it was weird to not feel the familiar weight of long hair on her back. But it was completely worth the exchange, a few measly strands of hair for Lief's life. She'd take that deal any day. She looked around and felt somewhat satisfied.

Jasmine felt better now that she was closer to Lief, like she was actually getting somewhere in this somewhat absurd quest she had made to save him. Knowing that he was inside Del, somewhere inside those walls, made her all jittery. Like she couldn't remain still unless a gorgon stared her right in the face.

Jasmine had to restrain herself from running through the gates screaming his name like a crazy person.

The dragon turned towards her, sensing her impatience, and looked right into Jasmine's eyes, like it was peering into her soul. Then it leaped up into the air, its wings spread out wide, catching the last rays of bright sunlight before vanishing up into the clouds.

Jasmine would've been at awe of the huge creature soaring into the sky at sunset, the golden colours of the dragon's skin and the hot pinky-reds of the sky melting together as one. Too bad she was already storming up towards the two astonished guards standing in front of the wide-open city gates.

/

"Sorry" … "Sorry!" … "Excuse me" -"EXCUSE ME!"

Jasmine bashed through the crowd, knocking people over and jumping over carts. She left a long winding trail of destruction behind her: scattered produce, broken crates and a lot of angry people. Stall owners and customers went flying as they tripped over the trampled cabbages and pumpkin squashes that lay all over the floor. A man crossed the street, carrying a large box of tomatoes when one fell out. He muttered to himself and bent down to pick it up when something came crashing into him.

"Sorry!"

The tomatoes went up into the air, landing on people heads and shopping bags. A surge of shrieks arose, like a wave. The hustle and bustle of the Del markets were now a rioting of angry toned voices.

The man got off from the ground, holding the only saved tomato in his hand. He looked up to see ebony hair dashing quickly into the distance, getting lost in the crowd of late night shoppers. He began to curse at her, shaking his fist, but by that time, Jasmine was already far from hearing distance.

/

Jasmine had left behind a huge mess, one that hopefully could be sorted out once the king was saved and all was explained to the people.

She was so thankful for keeping up her fitness, she was breathing heavily and felt like she would collapse any second now but she hadn't slowed down. She dashed past the tree that she and Lief had climbed -the night he decided to tour around the kingdom- and felt another rush of nostalgia. She was running on autopilot, turning corners, running down streets, heading towards different squares, it was an endless map that Jasmine subconsciously knew how to navigate, almost like her heart had a homing-device on Lief. Everything looked the same, yet she knew the quickest route to take. The world was darkening now, everything was slowly losing its colour, but it seemed like she was getting no closer to the centre of Del. It probably seemed this way because all the streets looked so similar. There went a tree. Another tree. Tree, tree, tree, low and behold a house, tree, tree, tree, ball, tree, tree, house, horse, tree, tre-

Wait! back up. She skidded to a hault and jogged back towards a stone house on the side of the road. Their tied to its fence, was a silver-dappled tawny coloured horse. Yes! Yes yes yes yes yes YES!

Jasmine skittered to a stop right in front of the horse, startling it slightly. She swung her leg over its back and immediately winced.

Her leg.

Right, she remembered, something had happened to it, but what? No time to think Jasmine! She told herself, just get on the stupid horse! Ignoring the pain coming from, well, everywhere on her body, she righted herself on the creatures back, grabbed the reins and with a swipe from her dagger, cut the rope that held the horse. It bolted immediately, pounding onto the cobbled streets. She squeezed its sides and they sped faster down the road -now turning to dirt- as they entered the more rural area of Del. She kept her body low in an effort to make the horse go faster. She steered it round corners and down paths, and with every clip-clop of its hooves, Jasmine's heart sped up. They were getting closer. Her body was getting all tingly, and her breathing was starting to go funny.

It was Lief.

She could tell this horse hadn't been used in a long time. She could feel its yearn to just run; run as fast as it could. To be free, just as every human and animal had the right too. Just as Lief did. He coudln't, didn't deserve to be under a spell for the rest of his days. Like a prisoner, a puppet. Her eyes were burning now, the thought of Lief... NO! It was impossible to imagine, to paintful...

She swiped at her eyes, but the tears kept coming, making her vision blurry, yet she urged the horse to still go faster. Light was being sucked from her world, everything in deep dark shades. The sunset, half over. The thudding of the horse became less harsh and she looked down. They were running on grass. They were nearly there.

They sped through the country lands, passing small farm houses that were lucky enough to have land in the centre of Del instead of in the outskirts. The air was warm, but it could have been freezing cold for all Jasmine cared. All she could feel was the wretched stinging of her body and its various injuries. She realized that she was squinting, from pain or from the spreading darkness making things harder to see? She'd never know. Her heart was pounding now, her whole body shaking. It was getting too close, she wasn't going to make it. She still had to reach the hill. Climb the hill. And then what? What was happening up there? How would she stop the wedding. The kiss.

Throughout this whole time, she hadn't thought of this. But how could she? When Lief was in danger? All she could do was reach him before it was too late. The pressure was building up, and as they neared the top of a rise, she saw the hill.

It stood there, away from the rest, a dark grey from the almost-absent light. She couldn't see the top. But she knew he was up their somewhere. Playing to Neridah's will, like he was a child's toy. And then what would she do with him? Pull his strings. Become his puppet master? While she played Queen? Not on her watch!

She would've looked back at this as stupid, if she lived that long that is, but she did it anyway. In her defence, it sounded sensible In the heat of the moment, but then again, she was running on pure adrenalin (and maybe something else...)

She flung herself off the running horse. It hurt worse than anything. Her body smashing into the solid earth and scraping hardly across the ground. Her limbs flopped around her like a lifeless doll.

She hit her head on something so hard that for a second she saw sparks. Then her vision cleared through the tears and lake mud that was crusted all over her face and she drew a deep shuddering breath. It hurt so bad, so bad that she wanted to scream out in pain.

Short and shallow breaths it is then she thought. She stood up to face the hill. Oh god, the light. She could just see the sun from here, it had just passed behind the huge hill.

Time was so short. The darkness was creeping. SO GET UP NOW! Her mind screamed and she did. Go. Run. She jumped up, ignoring the searing pain all over her skin. The cuts and scrapes from the river were on fire . She began clambering up the hill, tumbling and falling, her body not wanting to cooperate. Her injuries were deciding to kick in now, like they had finally been processed by her mind about how bad they were. But yet she carried on. It stung so bad, the cuts on her arms and legs from those men's swords. She could feel the dust and dirt in them, making her gasp everytime she moved her legs. But she pushed on. Grabbing at the slanting ground to pull her body up. The world was spinning and her head felt like lead. She could hear moans of agony and then realized they were coming from her. She had to reach the top, get to him. He was her lifeline. She couldn't put it any other way. She needed him, like the air she breathed, the blood in her veins. The world was blotchy through her eyes, and breathing became harder. After swallowing water, and smashing into that tree back in the forests, she was pretty sure she had broken at least 4 ribs and brusied her spine in more places then she could count.

But Lief was more important. She looked up to see the top of the hill. She knew that beyond that rise was the wedding. She stepped forward, but her body collapsed. She hit the ground hard.

Her body had had enough, her muscles were exhausted. They burned all over but she hadn't gone this far to give up when she was so close. She tried to stand up again but her body resisted. It had had enough. She'd have to crawl.

On her hands and knees she went. She clawed at the grass, willing her body just a little bit further. She could hear the festivities now, the drinking, laughing, cheering? Her vision was a blur and she could barely see. But she kept going, she didn't need to see when all she had to do was go up. She hissed in pain when the gash on her cheek split open again, caused by her face smashing into the ground. Not even her hands were cooperating anymore. But she hadn't stopped moving. She used her elbows to drag herself up the rest of the way. She could almost touch the rise now, it was so close.

Lief, Lief, Lief, her mind was chanting, she would reach him, he was so close, so close... But the light, oh god, the light, it was so dark, she could barely see the outline of her hand. It was going to happen soon, the kiss. But she hadn't don't all of this for nothing. She hadn't travelled from the forests of Silence to Del in an afternoon for nothing. She hadn't battled the Wennbar single-handedly for nothing. She hadn't escaped that caravan for nothing. She hadn't summoned her mother for nothing or come back from drowing for nothing. She hadn't cut her hair, dragged her body through hell for nothing. She definitely hadn't ridden a dragon across the country for nothing nor thrown herself into more deaf-defying situations that she would've experienced over a year in a couple of hours for nothing. No, she had done the impossible: she had chased the sun. Which was far from nothing.

She had done it all for a reason, one reason. And that one reason was here somewhere. Waiting for her to save him. She was his only hope, and for Adins sake would she give up so easily.

With one last strength, she pulled herself to the top.

/

Jasmine looked wildly around, her body twitching and limping. About 10 metres ahead was a large gathering of people, all surrounding a stage looking like a life time away. She was stumbling forward, her eyes flying to the two figures on stage, Neridah in a flowing white dress and Lief in proper formal wear. They looked so far away. His hand was around her waist, them both, waiting for the final words of the priest. Then it happened. Jasmine reached out desperately in a pathetic attempt.

"You may now kiss the bride."

Everything was suddenly in slow motion. The sun was slipping behind the Oz Mine hills, Jasmine could see the firey red disappear behind the landscape. She threw herself towards the crowd. But it was like running in honey. Her eyes were stuck to Lief, his figure leaning closer. Something built inside of her, something that made her want to explode, but she reached out a hand, trying to reach him. Their faces were so close now and Jasmine sprinted towards them, feeling her body strain in ways that she thought weren't possible. The people were too transfixed to notice her, they were focused on the couple in front of them and the firery lanterns they held in their hands, eager to blow them out. She pushed harder.

She reached the crowd. It felt like an eternity when really it all happened in a blink of an eye. She could see it happening, the distance between their lips disappearing. Closer and closer. The sun was sinking, she could barely see it. Panic consumed her as she pushed ever closer. She was gasping and spluttering incoherent phrases everywhere and her heart was beating so fast she felt it might burst. But she was here. He was there. This was it. This was it. Their lips ensured the final distance and she screamed.

The world plunged into darkness.

AN: sorry not sorry XD