Here We'll Stay |Gnomeo and Juliet Short Story|

Part XI: Starting Life Anew

"No..."

Juliet couldn't move. She couldn't breathe. She couldn't think. That horrid shattering sound echoed in her ears as her body remained completely motionless at the end of the alley, her eyes staring out at the road ahead. Time seemed to stop as the world crumbled around her, falling to pieces right before her very eyes.

No. She did not just hear what she thought she heard. It wasn't possible. There was no way she and Gnomeo went through hell only for him to suffer a worse fate. He couldn't have been smashed. It just couldn't be. It wasn't true and she refused to believe otherwise.

But there was no sign of him anywhere. She didn't see him in the alley and she wasn't seeing him in the street. He nor Tybalt were anywhere in sight. That was a bad sign already. How they could've ended up out here was beyond her, but that didn't matter right now. One or both of them were obviously smashed by something and she had to find out which was the case.

"No." She murmured again, shaking her head. She felt herself coming back to her senses and was soon able to move again, resuming her sprint towards the sidewalk. Except now she was moving at the speed of sound, desperately crying out her beloved's name. "GNOMEO?!"

Shroom hopped after her into the vacant street, both of them stopping when they were far enough into the road. They looked around, Juliet breathing heavily as she tried not to cry. Soon they spotted a pile of remains laid about not too far from them, causing Juliet to gasp in utter horror. The last time she saw a smashed gnome was the day her mother died right in front of her, and to this day the image still haunted her. This was no different.

"Oh god, no.." She choked out a sob, covering her mouth as she began to feel sick to her stomach. Wether or not this was Gnomeo's body she was seeing, it was still a horrific sight she did not wish to see, and yet she couldn't look away. "No, no, no, god please, no!"

Her eyes squeezed shut as she fell to her knees, already allowing grief to take over her. Words couldn't begin to describe what she was feeling, assuming the body she was seeing was indeed Gnomeo's and she'd just lost him forever. All this time while she was trapped in the Red Garden, she thought she felt defeated and hopeless. But even then, deep down she had a feeling she would be with Gnomeo again someday. But now? Now she didn't have that chance.

Shroom was just as disturbed by the sight, but unfortunately one of them had to check to confirm who's body it was and Juliet obviously wasn't up to the task. He hopped over to the pile, immediately noticing something was off. So far none of the pieces were blue and nothing looked that familiar to him. He glanced back at the sobbing Juliet before he got closer to the body, sniffing its scent to find out for sure.

Then he turned one of the pieces over, revealing a red pointed piece underneath that was clearly supposed to be the tip of a hat. That was all the proof he needed to know who this truly was.

Before he could show the evidence to Juliet, both of their attention was caught when they saw a glimpse of something by the sidewalk. Juliet desperately rose from her despaired position and eyed the area nervously, not even noticing the mushroom coming up beside her, who was looking in the same direction she was gazing at while also trying to nudge her out of her thoughts.

To their surprise, they both spotted the familiar Blue gnome leaned up against the curb, tired and out of breath. His arm outstretched upward to pull himself up onto the sidewalk, but he gave up on trying that, for at the moment he couldn't seem to find the strength to move. He cringed a couple times and took a look out into the road where his enemy was last seen standing, then quickly shut his eyes, not daring to relive the memory of said gnome's demise.