i am staying up way too late to write this lol but i have to feel loved by writing 

/ / /

You woke up on your back with a splitting headache and the annoying sound of distant voices that were making you wonder if you were still dreaming. It took a long minute for you to realize that you were waking up inside of a cave, with rocks piled up above you and blocking your only way out. 

But there were voices above you. 

"Hey!" you screamed. "I'm down here!" 

As your voice echoed around you, sat up and scooted away from the pile of rock that went from over your head down the wall and to a pile in front of you. You looked around.

You were on the verge of a panic attack. Suddenly, all you could think about was how horrible it would be to be trapped in here. If no one could hear you, then they wouldn't know where to look for you. They probably thought that you were crushed by the rocks. Barley and Ian probably thought that you were dead, and if you didn't find a way out, you soon would be.

"Don't panic," you said to yourself, using the wall to get on your feet. Your ribs ached; something was clearly wrong. "Just think."

Surprisingly, it wasn't pitch black in the cave you were trapped in. It was a strange dim blue. You glanced around. Surely the light was coming in from somewhere.

You felt along the walls, digging your fingers into any cracks that may lead somewhere. It wasn't until you brushed your arm across the wall and heard the sound of pebbles breaking through that you realized that what you were pressing against was rock packed in somewhat tightly. 

You stood in front of it. Of course, you were risking the chance of letting it all pour inside and kill you by suffocation. Or maybe this would be an easy way out, because there's always the chance that things are really as easy as they seem to be in movies or fantasy-romance novels or even fanfiction. 

You began to pull the rocks out. Some were as big as your fists, others were just clumps of pebbles that you scratched out of the pack until they scattered around your feet. You clawed and yanked and pulled, and eventually, your hand was able to push through the rest of the rock. 

You gulped in the air that flooded in from the gaping hole you'd made; it tasted slightly like seawater. 

Tears pricked your eyes as you smiled and hurriedly pulled out more rock, giving you more room to step over into the next part of the cave. You stepped through and looked up at your chance of freedom. It was another part of a cave, with a mouth that showed you the sky. It was getting dark; the sky was blue and overcast. 

And you were on your way out. 

You held your arms tight against your chest as you shuffled your feet forward. You had to climb several slabs of rock. You cut your knees and palms against the scratchy surface. You slipped twice and felt you face collide with the stone each time, because you hurt too bad to catch yourself. 

Barley was out there, you reminded yourself, and right now, he probably thought that you were dead. You had to get to him. He was all that mattered.

/ /

"Hey, son," Bronco said, his ears pressed all the way down. "We, uh, we really ought to be going. Your mom... she's on her way. I'll let her drive you home, okay?"

Barley shook his head. His knees sank deeper in the sand. He looked down at the note that was in his hands still. "No," he mumbled. "No, I'm not going anywhere."

"Barley," he sighed, taking off his hat and holding it against his chest. "It could be hours or days until we find her. It's best if you go home---"

"Without her?" He looked at his stepfather with eyes full of anger. "No, Colt. I'm not going home. I'm staying right here."

"Now, Barley---"

"Can't you just leave him alone?" Ian asked. He approached the two and stomped his foot into the sand. "We just lost our friend in there! We can't leave without knowing where she is. Don't you get it?"

"Of course I do, boys, but---"

"But what?!" Ian yanked at his hair. "What if it was Mom in there? What if it were us? Would you not stay and wait?" 

Colt's eyes softened. "You... you know I would, boys. You know I wouldn't leave any of you."

Ian shook his head. "Then let us stay."

Bronco cleared his throat and put his hat back on. He adjusted his belt and nodded. "I'll just uh, go uh, call your mother." 

As Colt walked back towards the police cars and ambulances, he passed by the girl that was slowly shuffling towards his stepsons. As he passed, he realized what he had failed to really register. He turned quickly, a gasp leaving his chest---

"Are you waiting for me?"

Barley's head spun and Ian jumped. They two boys looked and there you were, standing a few feet away, your shoulders slumped, your hand pressed tightly against your ribs, blood caked in your hair and all down the side of your neck. But you tried to smile despite the tears of agony that ran down your dirty face.

Everyone was frozen.

"Ma'am! Ma'am!" At once, the paramedics were running your way. They had a stretcher and a their hands were gently on your arms as they tried to coax you onto the stretcher. "Ma'am, you need to lay down."

You shook your head and widened your eyes. You didn't want them to touch you. You looked back for Barley but he was blocked by their bodies. They were so much taller than you. Their hands were on you. You were suffocating again, back in the cave---

"No, no," you mumbled. "Stop. I said stop---" You barely had the strength to jerk away from them. 

Barley shoved his way in between them. "Stop, you're freaking her out," he said. "Stop!"

"Let her be," Bronco said to the paramedics. They obeyed. "Help her lay down, son. She's hurt." 

Ian and Barley each had one of your arms now. They held just below your elbow. 

"I can't believe you're alive," Ian said breathlessly. You sat down on the edge of the stretcher. "___, we thought you were dead."

Your eyes shifted from Ian's to Barley's. He still hadn't said a word to you, and now that you were looking at him, you saw that his bottom lip was trembling and he had tears pouring out of his eyes. 

"Oh, baby," you whispered. "Bar---"

You reached up and touched his face as they gently laid you down on the stretcher. You arched your back as the pain twisted your entire torso; you groaned in pain against your teeth. For a few seconds, you stopped breathing. Barley's hands closed around your left hand and he let you squeeze as hard as you needed until your ribs stopped being on fire.

"I'm right here," he said. His voice was a raspy whisper, full of tears and pain and relief all at once. "I'm not going to leave you for a minute ever again, okay? Never ever again. You're always going to be right by my side until the day that I die, because I won't let you die. I'm not... you're not doing that to me again. Baby, I thought you were gone."

"Bar," you said. You swallowed hard. Your eyes were closed. "You sound like a lunatic."

He laughed a little and brought your hand to his lips, where he kissed your palm.

"Come on, we'll get her on the ambulance," Colt said. "She's bleeding, Barley. She's bleeding bad."

He nodded in understanding. His hand dropped yours and you reached for him again. "No, Barley please come---"

His hands were on you again. "I'm here," he was saying, brushing his hands over yours. "I'm not letting you go anywhere."

/ / 

When you woke up in the hospital, you quickly decided that it was somehow even worse than waking up in the cave. 

First of all, the pain. You were in such intense pain; pain from the lights hanging above you, pain from the heaviness of your limbs, pain from the inability to open your eyes and see clearly; pain from the torn feeling in your middle, as if you had been stretched and ripped apart. All you could do as you became increasingly more aware of your surroundings was cry. 

Second, you were afraid. At first, it was from not being able to see beyond the wall of blur that clouded your vision. And then it was when you could see, and you weren't in any place that you recognized, and the place didn't smell like your home at all. 

But then Barley was there, sitting down a little too roughly on the edge of your bed and then apologizing profusely when he did. He stroked your hair carefully, and you heard the odd sound of your hair being pulled out from something. 

"What's on my head?" you mumbled. 

"You have a concussion," he said. "And they had to stitch you some. The nurse said that if I am going to touch you, I have to do it here---" He stroked the lock of your hair that rested on your shoulder so gently you could barely feel it. "--- and on your right hand or your left cheek. The rest of you is pretty fragile."

You groaned, "I feel like I was hit by a truck."

"Well, you fell in a cave, like, twenty feet," he said. He swallowed hard and moved his hand to touch your cheek. "It could have killed you."

You closed your eyes. "Worth it. Hey... you know I can do magic now?" 

"Yeah, I saw," he replied. "And no, it was not worth it."

"Bar, I had to save you," you said. 

"Yeah? Well, fine. No more quests anyway, so you aren't going to get hurt like this again ever." He looked at the flowers from your cousins that sat by your bed. 

"Bar, honey, you can't stop going on quests," you said. "You love them."

"No, I love you. And I almost lost you because of a dumb quest." 

Your lips twitched upward. "Dumb? I thought getting a crown full of pearls was important."

"No, stop joking around," he said angrily.

And it shut you right up and made you open you eyes, because Barley was never serious --- ever.

"I was the idiot that --- that took you right there and put you in danger and then you got hurt. It's my fault you're in the hospital with three broken ribs and a dislocated shoulder and a busted skull and a concussion. Everyone is telling me that it's a miracle you aren't dead and they're right! It's my fault you're swollen and bruised. It's my fault that you're like this. You got hurt and I'm the only one that can be blamed for it." He was crying now. He tore his beanie off angrily and squeezed his eyes shut. His fists clenched as he spoke through gritted teeth, "You could have died because of how much of an idiot I am."

You stared at him in silence. On the wall, the clock ticked by loudly. He breathed heavily and scratched the back of his neck. 

"Are you... are you going to say anything?"

"I'm just waiting until you're done," you said. "Are you done?"

He sighed. "I'm done."

"Good," you said, "then look at me. Barley, look at me."

He did. 

"I'm going to point out the obvious to you right now," you said. "If you had jumped in to grab the staff, you would've. And then maybe you would've fallen down. And then I would've had to believe that you were killed. Now I'm sorry that I scared you like that and hurt you like that. I genuinely thought that I was going to die as I fell down, and I was okay with that because you were safe and that's what mattered to me in that moment. Now you try and tell me that you wouldn't have felt the same way when you fell."

He sighed, his shoulders falling. "You know I would."

"Exactly," you said, "so stop pretending that you did something horrible by me saving you. There are no limits when it comes to you. I'd die for you happily, Barley Lightfoot. And I don't want you to get upset with me for saying that, because we both know that you would happily die for me, too."

He wiped his nose with the back of his hand as he started to cry. You smiled at him and flipped your hand over weakly. He laid his other hand in your palm. Your fingers slowly and barely closed over his. 

"I love you," he whispered. 

"I love you," you said. "Oh --- did you get my letter? I left it---"

"On Guinevere, I know," he said. He sniffled and reached into his pocket. He pulled it out and unfolded it. It was worn from being folded and unfolded many times. Without looking at it, he recited: "Be sure not to forget what you promised to do. I hope that after we read it, you say it back to me. Always wait for me by the sea, just as I would wait for you."

"And you did wait for me," you whispered. 

"I had to," he said. "You are my... prince that is in the water for some reason...?"

You laughed. "And you are my princess that plays the violin by the sea."

"Hey, we don't make a half bad couple," he said. He tilted his head to the side and smiled at you. 

"Nope," you said. "We're the best fairytale there ever was."

And Barley just smiled, because he realized in that moment that you and him would get a happily ever after. He leaned in and kissed you on the lips gently, letting you hold onto his hand with all of the strength that you could muster. He kissed you and then pulled back, his eyes shifting from your lips to the bruises that covered your face. He kissed each and every single one; on the center of your forehead, on the bottom of your chin, on the bridge of your nose.

And you just smiled and giggled, gripping onto his hand and feeling the gold ring that you had put there.

/ / 

 a month later

"The king, who was braver than they, and felt it needful to set them a good example besides, had never left his seat,and when at a new command of the princess the bear once more turned into a man, he was silent from astonishment, and a suspicion oft he truth began to dawn on him. 'Was it he who fetched the sword?' asked the king. 'Yes, it was,' answered the princess; and she told him the whole story, and how she had broken her gold ring and given him half of it.And the prince took out his half of the ring,and the princess took out hers, and they fitted exactly. Next day the Red Knight was hanged,as he richly deserved, and there was a new marriage feast for the prince and princess. The end."

"Exactly like our story," Barley said, wedged between you and the railing of the hospital bed. "Except I still can't turn into a bear, or a lion, or a bee. And no one is being hanged for a crime of cowardice."

You laughed and closed the book on your lap. "It sounds pretty similar."

"Pretty similar, yes," he said. "Exactly similar? No."

You tipped your head back and smiled at him. "You know I love our love story most of all." 

"I know." He kissed you sweetly. "I do, too."

You opened the cover of the book back up and flipped through the pages. "You know, the best part of this story, I think, is the passion between..."

As you spoke, Barley just fell in love with you more. You were his princess, his hero, and his everything. All in one single perfect person.

/ / / 

i hope you all liked this a little more than the last chapter or that it at least made you feel less sad. lol