The trio ran through the trees, Maria at the front and Rose at the rear. Her ankle was really hurting now, "are you alright?" Robin asked, concerned, slowing down to match Rose's pace. "It's my ankle", she cried, "here", Robin said and put Rose's arm round his neck, as he helped her run through the trees. She smiled and suddenly got a weird feeling in her stomach, like butterflies, as her hand brushed the top of his chest. Robin had changed so much, in a good way, and she liked it.
"In here" Maria called as they approached the hollow. She went in first, followed by Rose, then Robin who went in last. They followed a short tunnel down, till they approached a wooden door. "Robin", Rose whispered, as Maria gently pushed open the latch. When they entered, it was a bedroom, all worn down, there was a bed in the centre, and what looked to be a fireplace. They searched the room, Maria opened a chest and pulled out a creamy coloured dress, it had many holes in from the years, "it looks to be like the forest princess's bedroom" Maria stated as they continued searching. Suddenly a little tunnel appeared, when Robin pressed down on the fireplace. "Another secret passage," Rose exclaimed as Robin took a look in. They were about to leave when Maria glimpsed something on a statues neck, the moon pearls! As she removed them, they lit up in her hands. "You found them!" Rose cried, but they still needed to find the diamond. "It has to be here", she thought, they were running out of time. Out of the corner of her eye, Rose climbed a ripped piece of paper, hiding under bed. She picked it up, it was the missing page from her book!
"When Juliet revealed the diamond to everyone, Thorn pressured her into giving him the diaomond. Disgusted by the greed in his heart, she threw the diamond to the ground, shattering it into many tiny pieces. "No!" cried Thorn as he gazed in furry at the broken diamond, "what did you do!"
"Now no man, will ever hold the power of the diamond ever again!"
Thoughts raced through Rose's mind, the smashed diamond from this page, her vision, it was said that the diamond gleamed like the stars. Stars. "Of course", Rose cried out, the diamond had been right in front of them this whole time. "Robin, Maria, it's said that the diamond shone like the stars, and have you noticed how similar this room looks like to yours! If this was the forrest princesses room and she hid her best friends treasure in here, then your room must be the former moon princesses room, which has the diamond in!", Rose called out, everything was making sense. "I don't get what you mean?" Maria asked, "don't you see, the diamonds are the stars in your ceiling!" Maria suddenly clicked, Robin still looked confused, but of course he had never seen Maria's room, so Rose let him off.
Just then they heard angry voices of the De Noir soldier coming through the tunnel. "Hurry!" Rose called, as Robin went to seal the door. Maria went through the secret passage followed by Rose then Robin. They were left in darkness, "moon pearls, we need your power now, show us the way", Maria asked and they glowed in her hand. Rose then saw the little white horse, no wait a unicorn, the same one from the De Noir castle, which she saw when she was in the cell with Maria. It started heading down the tunnel, they started to follow them, but kept quiet, anxious not to alert the guards to their location.
The three of them were lead through the darkness, Maria leading the way with the pearls, and Robin helping Rose along with her ankle. "Thank you Robin", she whispered, "any time" he whispered back, looking deeply into her eyes, "I'm sorry, for everything" he continued, "I really mean it you didn't.." he was cut off by Rose saying, "it's alright, I already forgave you a long time ago", she smiled, he smiled back. They stopped walking for a second, they leaned in, Rose's chest was going up and down, her heart felt as if it could jump out. "Rose, Robin!" Maria called, as she turned around to face them, they quickly pulled apart, as the young 13 year old came running back, "we're here".
The passage had led into Maria's room, the same way Loveday came in. "The princesses must have used that tunnel as a way to communicate", Rose thought. She was right about the diamonds, Maria's ceiling was gleaming, even more than usual. As Maria got closer with the pearls, the brighter they shone. "It's the diamonds alright", Robin stated. The trio climbed onto her bed, and reached for the sky, sure enough, they weren't painted on, just placed in. "Collect as many as you can", Rose instructed, and they all started tearing the diamonds out of the ceiling. Once they collected all of them, the admired them shining, just then, they seemed to get brighter, till one whole diamond formed in Rose's hand. "It's come back, just for tonight, it wants the curse to be broken", Maria exclaimed.
"Come on, we've got to hurry, time is running out", Robin called as they all rushed back through the tunnel. The unicorn was still there, this time leading them through a new path. Maria again was at the front, with Robin helping Rose. After about 10 minutes, they heard voices, it was Sir Benjamin. "If you have harmed those girls in anyway, I swear!" They heard him cry, before they heard struggling noises, they appeared round the corner, and Rose's uncle was attempting to strangle Coeur De Noir, "uncle no!" Maria cried as she hurried forward. "Father we got them!" Robin shouted, "give me them!" Coeur De Noir demanded, as he reached for the pearls and diamond. The girls snatched them back. "Rose, Maria", Sir Benjamin said, whilst hugging them both tightly. "Are you both alright", he asked fussing over them as if he was Miss Heliotrope.
He tuned back to Coeur De Noir, "those damn pearls and diamond, they have brought us nothing but heart ache and grief!" He retaliated, "no uncle, it is not the pearls or the diamonds, but the greed in our hearts that brings us this misery", Rose responded, receiving a shocked look from him. "Father!" Rose heard a familiar voice say, Loveday. "My daughter", Coeur De Noir muttered, looking actually sad for once. "Why is there so much hatred in your heart! Don't you want to be free from this darkness imprisoning you?!", she questioned. Coeur De Noir turned round to face Sir Benjamin, "it is he, it is he", he chanted. "Father...Benjamin" Loveday called, whilst bringing their hands together, Maria and Rose placed the pearls and diamond on top of their hands. "Look the 5000th moon" Maria cried, "if you can sacrifice your pride, you can save our families", Rose added. "You first", Sir Benjamin started, "oh no after you" Coeur De Noir replied.
Rose knew this wasn't going to be easy, "I must do this myself", Rose declared whilst limping over to the cliff edge. "No you won't!" She heard Maria cry from behind her. She came up to join Rose, "Maria you don't have to do this", Rose stated. "I have to, but even I didn't, I still would, you're my sister, you've done so much for me, now its my turn to help you", Maria declared. Rose smiled at her, and they hugged, before turning around to face the moon. "On the 5000th moon I Rose Merryweather, the Forrest princess of Moonacre valley," Rose started, "and I Maria Merryweather, Moon princess", Maria added, then both began to chant in unison, "do remove this curse that darkens this valley, take back what is yours!" They cried as they both threw their jewels into the sea, however as they did they seemed to freeze and come right back into their hands. As they came back, the pearls broke apart in Maria's hand and the diamond returned to the star like form they had seen in Maria's bedroom. The girls tried a second time, but this time they came back and attached to the girls dresses. Rose knew what she had to do, and she hated it. She looked at Maria who knew too, she had fear in her eyes. Rose looked back at her family and friends, each one looking nervously at both girls, not knowing what was going to happen next. Rose then caught Robin's gaze, they locked eyes, she couldn't bare to lose him, only when she just got him.
He looked back in hers, oblivious to what was to come next. She turned back to Maria, who had tears in her eyes. "It's alright Maria" she whispered, "imagine you're Cinderella, standing up to her stepmother", Rose knew that this was nothing like confronting an evil stepmother, but it brought a slight smile to Maria's lips, and that's what mattered. "I love you", she cried, "I love you too", Maria replied. The two girls held hands, before running off the edge, like two halves of a heart, now joining as one.
Rose heard the screams of their names, she heard Robin specifically shout, "ROSE!" as the water engulfed her and Maria, and sank to the bottom of it's gloomy depths.