HAPPY BIRTHDAY KUREM!

This was written as a birthday present for the most amazing girl in the world, Kurem! I can't say enough how blessed I am to have met her!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything of Tolkien's.

Ashe's And Rem's Adventures In Middle Earth

Searching For Adventure

The two college girls talked constantly trying to ease their worry as they wound their way further and further down the unknown tunnels of Edinburgh's Vaults trying to find their way to the surface.

They had abandoned their tour guide and the beaten path after discovering the tunnel they were now following. The guide had said that it was a recently discovered addition to the Vaults and the historians hadn't yet had the chance to fully explore how far it reached or what it contained. Both girls had looked at each other and grinned. Having come to Scotland for adventure, this seemed like the perfect opportunity and the girls couldn't resist the temptation. So after a short while of listening to the guide ramble on about how the Vaults were said to have disturbing paranormal activities at night, they drifted towards the back of the group and slowly made their way to the mouth of the tunnel and peered inside.

"Ashe...Are you sure this is a good idea?" We don't know what could be down there."

"What?! Are we having second thoughts Rem? It'll be fine! What could possibly be down there beside cobwebs and maybe some spiders? Or are you afraid of the ghosts that are meant to be floating around, soulless and without hope of continuing on to the afterlife?" Ashe teased, quoting what the tour guide had said.

Rem cut her eyes at her friend. Sure, when they had met over the internet several months ago, Ashe had warned her of her reckless streak that always seemed to surface at the precise wrong moment. Being more level headed and even keeled, Rem tended to think about what she was doing before she jumped into a potentially dangerous situation. Anything could be down there. Who knew what was living down there or other dangers that might present themselves along the way. Rem glanced at Ashe who was inching closer to the tunnel entrance peering inside. Rem felt very protective of this girl who was nearly five years her junior. Rem sighed.

"You know that I don't believe in paranormal activity, Ashe. But just think for a moment. Yes, there is probably nothing more down there other than cobwebs and spiders, but what if the flooring is unstable? What if the roof collapses? No one would know where we are and my phone doesn't work down here, so if something happens we will be completely without help." Rem said evenly. She watched as Ashe's face fall slightly before adding, "It's not that I wouldn't like to explore it, but I think that the dangers outweigh the fun we would have."

"But I thought you wanted some adventure!" whined Ashe. "Here is one right in front of us and you want to pass it by! If we don't hurry that irritating tour guide will come back looking for us and then we really won't have the chance to explore because he'll just say that it's off limits as of yet!"

"He would only be saying that because it would be dangerous! So thank you for proving my point!"

Ashe huffed at her friend's logic. Sometimes it was a pain having logical friends. She decided to try one last time.

"Oh come on, Rem! We would be the first to ever enter this historic site, think of all the photos you could take! We don't have to go but so far in! Please? We both sailed across the Atlantic Ocean in search of adventure, we can't turn back now!" said Ashe, employing her best puppy eyes as a last ditch effort.

Rem wanted to point out that sailing to a foreign country was an adventure itself, but chose not to. And she did have to admit that the prospect of taking photos of a place that had yet to be seen by modern man certainly did interest her, but it was far too risky. She turned to face her waywardly impulsive friend to tell her once again that She wasn't going down that tunnel, but made the mistake of looking into Ashe's eyes. Seeing the pathetic puppy eyes that Ashe had perfected against her elder brothers, she gave in.

"Alright, alright, but not that far!" she said trying to sound put out but at the same time grinning at the triumphant look on Ashe's face and the exclamation of victory that came from her mouth,

"Yes! Score! Another point for the Unconquerable Puppy Eyes!"

"But if I feel it's time to go back, we go back!" said Rem sternly, asserting her big sisterly disposition over Ashe.

Ashe hurriedly agreed to whatever Rem was saying without really listening, as her excitement was almost too much to bear, and was chomping at the bit to get going. Rem sighed and shook her head thinking once again to herself that this was probably not a good idea...

...That was how they found themselves hours later, completely turned around with no way to get out. They had been using Rem's phone as a flashlight but the battery was running low and wouldn't last much longer. To be honest both girls were surprised that it had lasted this long. At first it had been fun, Ashe lead the way with the light pushing the cobwebs out of the way, while Rem snapped photo after photo. But that had been then, when it was still a fun little excursion, now both girls were getting worried. They didn't have any food and Ashe only had a half full water bottle in her backpack. Ashe had tried to keep up a steady stream of mindless chatter to fill the silence, but soon her voice dropped to a whisper, and then she grew silent. Both girls jumped at the telltale ding from the phone as it let them know that it only had ten percent charge left. Within fifteen minutes, the bright little LED went out plunging the girls into total darkness.

Ashe began to tremble; Rem could feel Ashe's shoulders shaking from where they were touching. Rem clenched her fists and then released them slowly. She couldn't even be angry at her friend for this one. If she, herself, had just put her foot down and said no, then neither of them would be in this mess! Rem pocketed the phone and reached out and touched Ashe. After finding her shoulders, Rem wrapped an arm around them and said encouragingly.

"It's okay, we will find a way out of here, alright?"

She felt Ashe nod beside her.

"Good..." Rem paused for a minute. "Well we may as well keep walking down the corridor that we are in, since there is no point going back the way we came. Come on. Hold my hand, I'll go first."

Ashe nodded even though, Rem couldn't see her and followed blindly. She felt bad for having put Rem in this position. It was all her fault! If she hadn't acted like a little brat and listened to reason then they would be in this mess! She sighed and stumbled over sometime hard. She cursed as she fell forward. Rem caught her before she could hit the ground and pulled her back up. With a few murmured apologies from Ashe and several demands from Rem wanting to know if she was alright, they set out again. The going was slow, both girls carefully choosing each step they took for fear that they might twist an ankle or fall down an unseen hole. They both trembled in the darkness, taking what little comfort they could from each other as they walked through the blackness hand in hand.

They had been walking for days it seemed to Ashe. They had long since drank all the water and both were beginning to feel the effects of exhaustion. After a short break, they moved on. Rem was beginning to worry that they would never get out, but she didn't voice her fears. Ashe was already scared enough, even if she was trying to put up a brave front, Rem could still feel her shaking. A small sob echoed against the corridor.

"Ashe? Ashe...don't cry..."

"I'm sorry! It's my fault we're even down here!"

"Hey, that's not true! I could have said no, and I didn't. I went along. It's my fault too!"

"Technically you did say no, more than once! If I wasn't so stubborn about it then we would be just fine right now!"

"It doesn't matter whose fault is or was now. The only chance we've got to get out of here is to keep moving." said Rem.

"What if we can't get out?" Ashe whispered.

"We will." said Rem, with more confidence than she felt. "But to do that we've got to keep moving!"

"Okay..."

They set off at a quick walk each keeping a hand on the wall and on each other. They hit a dead end and had to stumble back blindly the way they came until Ashe found a side tunnel. They followed it. The further down they went, the narrower the tunnel got and soon the two were obliged to walk single file. In some places it was so narrow that they had to walk sideways to get through it. Ashe came to a sudden stop and Rem accidentally bumped into her. She was about to ask what was wrong when a strangely familiar sound made her stop.

"Was that..."began Rem.

"Wind!" said Ashe excitedly. "That was the sound of wind blowing through one the tunnels! It sounds like it's coming from up ahead."

Ashe grabbed Rem's hand and took the lead. The sound got louder the further in they went and they both hoped that they would soon reach the outside. They stopped and listened for a moment. The sound of wind was at it's loudest where they were standing. feeling around they searched for the opening where the wind was coming from. Taking several steps away from Rem, but still within arms reach, Ashe felt the wall to the left. Her hand caught on the wall and she felt cold air brush her palm. Feeling more carefully, she found that it was a tunnel but it was very narrow. She turned back to grab Rem when a few rocks shifted under her feet. She froze.

"Rem..Rem stop!" whispered Ashe in a scared tone.

"What is it?"

"T-the ground, it-it doesn't feel very solid to me."

"Step back very slowly..." said Rem, gently pulling Ashe backwards, trying to control the fear that was rising up in her chest.

There was a loud cracking noise and then the floor began to rumble and shake. Rem tried to pull Ashe away as quickly as she could, but before they get far back enough, the stone split and with a shriek, they both fell into the abyss.

Rem blinked back the stars that filled her vision, and she tried to sit up. Noticing something wet trickling down the side of her neck, she touched a finger to it. It was warm and sticky so she could only assume that it was blood. Feeling around her neck and ear she found the souce of the blood from a long cut behind her ear. She was just about to rip up her sleeve to make a make-shift bandage, when she heard a painfilled scream.

"Ashe! Where are you?! Ashe please answer me!" cried Rem.

She tried to stand, but when Rem discovered that her legs wouldn't support her wieght, she began to crawl towards where she could best figure the scream had come from. She heard a few whimpers and she called out again.

"Ashe? Ashe where are you? You've got to help me here! I can't see and the only thing I've got going for me is my hearing! You've got to let me know where you are!" Rem said. She tried to keep the fear out of her voice but it shook anyway.

"O-over here..."

Rem's head turned to the left and she heard the sound of pebbles being moved. Ashe screamed again.

"Ashe, don't move! You will just make your injury worse!" said Rem, as she crawled in the direction of the sound. "Just keep talking. Tell me what hurts."

"M-m-my leg...and-and my b-back..."

Rem drew her breath in sharply. Back injuries were bad, and it could be paralyzing. Trying to move a little faster, Rem felt a sharp rock cut her palm. She gasped in pain, but didn't stop moving. Reaching out with her hand she felt around for a moment but when she didn't feel anything, she was about to move on when a few rocks shifted right beside her. Rem turned a little and found Ashe's wrist and took a hold of it as if it was a lifeline.

"R-Rem...? H-hurt-ts..." Ashe gasped out weakly.

"I know...It's going to be alright though." said Rem, sitting next to Ashe. "You're going to be fine!"

"W-what about you? You o-okay?" asked Ashe.

"Fine, just a few scrapes and cuts as far as I can tell."

"Tha's good."

Rem patted her friend's hand, worried at Ashe's slightly slurred speech.

"Where 're we, an'way?" Ashe asked tiredy.

"I have no idea. We must have fallen a long way."

"How'd we git dow' here?"

Rem looked down at where she knew Ashe was laying. Didn't she remember?

"We got lost in the Edinburgh Vaults and were trying to find away back when the floor gave away, remember?" she said worried.

"Oh...Well 're you 'k?"

"I already told you, just a few cuts and scapes from what I can tell."

"How'd I git hurt?"

Rem's stress level soared and she squeezed her friends hand. She knew that this wasn't good. Ashe was clearly losing to much blood and there was no way for Rem to move her. Trying to at least keep Ashe awake she answered,

"You got hurt when we fell."

Ashe only hummed in reply.

"Ashe! You have to stay awake!" shouted Rem, scared.

"Why?"

"Because if you don't then you might never wake back up!"

"Bu' 'm tired. Jus' fer a minute?"

"No! We've come this far and I'm not going to lose you and I-"

Rem stopped herself short. She could have sworn she heard voices. Maybe there really were ghosts down here, or maybe there were people nearby. Holding Ashe close Rem took her chances and shouted as loudly as she could,

"Help!"

A/N: I hope yall enjoyed reading it!