A trail of stumbling footsteps led through the snow, into the forest of pines. A voice echoed within them, panting and wheezing.

A young woman in tattered clothing was holding her midsection as she tripped over herself through the forest, a look of sheer determination stained her face and glassy bloodshot eyes. "I need... I need to get back. Again." she was whimpering, her brows drawing close in anguish. She glanced behind her at the flames engulfing her house. She had just barely made it out.

She looked down at her other hand clutching a small uncut green gem.

This tragedy was all because of that gem she found locked away in an oak tree not too far from this area. This had to be the last time. She was begging in her mind to something, please let this be the last time she had to do this.

For every time she used the gem to find the right realm to return to, where life was how it should be, it damaged her health. Just a tiny bit at a time, her heart beat faster, her lungs stressed, and her veins strained. The pain was becoming excruciating.

"Where do you think you're going?!" A man's deep hoarse voice pierced the air. A spike of fear shot through her body, jolting every cell into full panic at hearing he was around. No, not again! Not again! Before she realized it, she'd started running for her life and never looked back. He was tainted. Tainted by the gem. He wasn't the man she knew and loved. He was someone else in this realm.

"DON'T RUN FROM ME!"

She heard his fast, heavy footfalls coming after her and she screamed, "NOT AGAIN!" The woman raced for the tree that she found the gem, her heart pounding brutally as she laboriously tried to keep her legs from giving out.

A knife flew past her and bounced off one of the trees, making her shriek and jump out of the way. She'd almost lost her balance and glimpsed back at him as he reached in his pockets to take out another weapon.

"You think you can get away?" he panted, "After what you did?" He had scratches across his face, neck, arms, and his bottom lip was split. She felt horrible for doing that to him, but she had to or he would have done something terrible to her. Never would she have thought this could happen. Never did she imagine a world where he would possibly hurt her like this, or where she would have to run from him this way, terrified for her life. It was all because of that gem.

Three times she'd come to this realm and been through this with him. The man that she knew was the most gentle, most beautiful soul. What made him like this here, whatever it could have been, it must have been the worst thing for someone to live through. She felt sorry for him. It broke her heart.

Her legs were starting to give out; she was breathing so heavily and everything was hurting so badly, it was becoming too difficult to keep on. She tripped and fell upon reaching the oak. Her world was seeming to slow down as he was catching up to her, and her eyes zipped over in his direction.

He started slowing down, his expression in a fiery rage. While he squeezed a Swiss army knife in his hand, he asked her why she set the house on fire.

Her lip quivered and tears threatened to leave her tear-ducts as she tightened her grip on the gem. "It was an accident. I didn't mean to kick that lamp!"

"I'm sure you didn't mean to leave the stove on too!" He growled.

Sobbing, she shook her head pleadingly, "You can't kill me. Not here!"

"Kill you?" he snorted, looking her up and down as she used the tree to stand back up, then he took a few steps toward her. "I don't want to kill you. I just want you to stop running."

"NO!" she spun around and shoved the gem into the tree, "YOU'RE NOT YOU!" Suddenly, a big blast of energy knocked her off her feet and everything around looked like it began to shake at unbelievably high speeds, throwing her into a maddening state of vertigo. She was traveling to another realm.

She clamored out as she slapped her hands over her eyes. Her body felt like it was being pulled and stretched like taffy.

It seemed like forever before it finally stopped. The area stopped shaking and everything felt different. The air, the sounds, the ground below her. It wasn't snowing.

It was quiet. Only the sounds of the nocturnal creatures of the forest surrounded her. It was still night, but a different season.

Shaking from fear and agony, she let her hands fall from her face and scanned the area for any threats. A stabbing pain in her torso shot through her just then, forcing her to lunge forward with a loud cry.

Gasping, she carefully moved her arms away from her torso and winced when pulling her shirt up. "Oh my god!" Her eyes grew wide in horror at the large bruises in different parts of her upper stomach and along the bottom of her rib-cage. She knew she was going to die. This was the last time. The last realm.

"I have to try my best." she painfully whispered. With a long and final inhale before giving her last effort, she sorrowfully savored the sight of the tall pine trees, the pine needles, the feel of the warm air carrying the sweet and woody scent of those needles, pine-cones, the ferns, and dirt, and the calm sound of insects chirping. It felt like summer had just begun.

She crawled back over to the tree with the gem and used it to climb to her feet. With a struggle, she dug her fingers into the bark to retrieve it. While she broke and shredded her nails and cut up her cuticles, there was only one thing on her mind. She needed to get him back. She needed them... together. She needed to hold his hands and feel his warmth, to see his bright smile, to hear his deep calming voice, to be close to him again in the way it should be.

"HN!" She finally yanked the gem out and breathed out a great sigh of relief, then she looked in the direction of the house again. She stowed away the gem in a pocket and started making her way toward the house. "Let's make it count."

It was an English-style log cabin cottage with lots of different species of flowers and a beautiful vintage sitting area not far from the front door. There were white chairs, a table with a built-in flowerpot containing a little fern, and a fire-pit all set on a concrete slab.

The lights were on in the living room. Her heart leapt to the idea of how many ways this could go. Please... please let this be the right place.

Swallowing down the lump in her throat, she kept trudging on and carefully stepped up to the front door. Her gaze steadied on the golden doorknocker for a moment before she finally took it and tapped on the door a few times.

"Be right there!" The voice was male but unfamiliar. Same way of speaking as her lover, but a different tone; somewhat tired and a little rough. Her mind scattered in confusion as she waited for him to answer.

When she heard him approach the door and when she saw it slowly open, the person who greeted her... the sight... shocked her. It was something she didn't expect at all. All sorts of emotions washed over her then; surprise and sadness had sunken their sharp claws deep into her heart.

It was him.

But he was an old man, and she was young.

She couldn't say a word. She couldn't hold back her tears.

She just fell there on the doorstep, looking up at him. "I've come back to you... but it's too late."

He worriedly looked at her. "Oh my god! What happened to you? You look like my gal too!-from a long time ago! Who are you?"

She began to smile and even laughed a little, and she wasn't sure why because all she felt was sadness. Maybe it was because he said she looked like his 'gal'.

"Please, come inside!" he bent down a little to take her hands and she wiped her tears away, shaking her head. "No..." she said, "I'm sorry. Thank you, but this is wrong. I need to leave."

"What's going on out there?"

She heard a female voice and saw an old woman walking into view.

When she saw her, she completely froze. The woman had the same features as her. Everything was the same as her, just that one of them was old. Seeing the old version of herself standing before her put her in a whirl of shock.

And it was true, their love proved they were destined to be together until the end. They were meant for each other.

The old woman was putting her hand over her mouth as she also noticed the similarities.

The two women stared at each other for a good long moment. The old man repeatedly looked from one to the other and soon found himself utterly speechless.

"I... I need to go!" The one at the doorstep quickly backed up and winced more at the pain circulating throughout her body. It was getting worse.

She stumbled away and went back into the forest as the old couple called out to her. Her eyes darted left to right as she thought of what she'd just seen and tried to make sense of it all. This wasn't her last trip, but the next one had to be. The first time she experienced any of this realm traveling, her lover reversed in age. He was a teenager.

It confused her a great deal and she wasn't sure what to do, or how it happened. So many ideas passed through her head how it could've come to be, and then her final conclusion was the gem. She went back to that tree to return it, and nothing's been the same ever since.

All she wanted... was to just go back home.

She wept and wheezed on her way back to the tree, she set the gem in place, got blasted backward and let the vertigo take over. Her screams filled the forest as the forces pulled and yanked away at her body, tearing, bruising, and breaking her.

When it all stopped, she layed there, exhausted. Moving at all felt impossible. She wanted to give up; to just give in and let everything slip away.

But she wouldn't.

"I will not." she breathed out with a strong grimace, mustering the strength to get up and go. With a grunt and shaky moan, she pulled herself forward and crawled until she could yet again use a tree to help her up. Her hands stung badly from all the times she pried the gem from the tree, and she had to do it again.

She cried while pulling it out and fell back to the ground. It felt like her bones were made of glass. 'Don't let it take you.' she kept telling herself.

Bringing herself back up to her feet, she went on her way to the house again, falling a few times along the way.

And she fell halfway to the doorstep.

She felt like she just couldn't go on anymore. Her eyes were set on the front door, hoping for him to come out and everything to be right again.

"Please..." she mouthed, tears riding down her red cheeks. Her hand was outstretched for it, then she let it fall and clenched the grass. Her head fell and she just rested there.

A few moments later, she heard the door open and a porcelain cup shatter on the step. That familiar voice gasped her name and footsteps rushed up to her.

Her suffering eyes rose and met his big brown ones, and he was staring at her in horror, asking all sorts of questions what happened and why she was like this. She just stared back at him, her face blank but her eyes had desperation, hope, fear, surprise, and defeat in them. Her lips were parted like she wanted to speak, but all she could do was look at him.

He was speaking to her but she could hardly register it all.

It was him. It was the one she'd tried getting back to all this time. She knew it, she felt it.

A single tear traveled down her cheek and a smile spread across her face. She let out a small and breathless, "I love you."

He blinked many times and then pulled her into a tight warm embrace. "My girl, what happened to you...?"

She closed her eyes slowly, more tears falling... but this time, out of happiness.