A/N:: Hello everybody, I'll make this quick. Basically, this is for fun and in no way, shape or form do I own The Lord of the Rings. The only things I own are Amy and Gabby. Also, since this is just for fun, updates shall be sporadic and inconsistent and there may be weeks at a time where there will be no updates. This is not a priority for me, I do other things in my life like work and go to school so, I'm not saying writing is not important to me, I am saying that these stories on are, in their purest form, just for my amusement (and hopefully yours, too). With that said, I invite you all to read and review constructively. Flames are mean and no one appreciates them. Thank you, sorry about the rant, off we go!::
Chapter One
"Amy, what are you doing?" Gabby asked, watching her fraternal twin sister with a bemused expression. Amelia Rose was standing before their flat screen television in the living room with The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring quietly playing, with a hand clenched in a fist and raised high above her head. The other was thrust forward, as if shielding herself from something.
"Saying the "You shall not pass!" line with Gandalf." Amy shrugged, turning back to the TV and thereupon ignoring her sister.
Gabrielle Rose rolled her steely blue eyes at her sister. Being twins, they were extremely close and definitely had the same interests, per example: The Lord of the Rings. Amy, however, was a bit more...involved than the more serious Gabby.
"You do that," Gabby said, shaking her head and walking around the coffee table to the couch. She sat down with a sigh and watched the display.
"I am a servant of the Secret Fire, servant of the Flame of Arnor..." said the televised wizard and twenty year old girl.
"You're, like, ten. I hope you realize this." Gabby smirked up at the standing Amy.
Amy giggled. "Well, yeah, but so are you. Deep, deep down."
"Very deep," Gabby halfheartedly agreed whilst checking her wristwatch. "Okay, it's like eleven at night. Why is this even on at this hour? Is this the blu-ray?" she asked Amy, who shook her head.
"Nope, they're doing a marathon for the tenth year anniversary of the movies." Amy sat down beside her sister, giving up on pretending to be a wizard.
"Oh my God, ten years? I'm old..." Gabby yawned, "...And tired. I'm going to bed."
"'Kay," Amy shrugged, eyes unblinking at the TV.
"You coming?" Gabby asked, an elegant brow arched as she stood and stretched.
Amy made a face and a whining sound came out of her mouth. "Eh, I'm going to say 'no'. I will after the movie."
Gabby scoffed. "Right, see you in like two hours."
"Or not, because you'll be, you know, sleeping," Amy said, still not looking away from the screen.
"Har-har," Gabby sneered as she walked away.
Amy continued to zone in and out throughout the movie, falling in and out of sleep. Eventually, fatigue claimed her and she drifted off to sleep on the couch with a lingering thought: why couldn't her world be more like Tolkein's?
"Amy? Amy, wake up! Come on!"
Amy's eyes wearily opened and she squinted in the sunlight. Her bottom was all wet from the morning dew. She groaned and glared at her sister.
"It's too early... Go back to sleep." Amy rolled over into a soggy leaf. The scent of grass and earth assaulted her nose. Wait, she thought, Grass? In an instant, she shot up and looked around wildly. "What the -"
"Yeah." Gabby agreed, "Where the hell are we? How did we get here? Do you think someone broke in and kidnapped us?"
"And we just happened to remain asleep the entire time?" Amy asked skeptically, looking all around. They were in a forest - a dense forest, at that.
"Maybe we were drugged!" Gabby pursued. "It can happen! I see it all the time on TV..."
"Okay, okay, just stay calm." Amy began repeating to herself as she took a few tentative steps through the plants. There was no path in sight. She ducked beneath a mossy tree branch and Gabby followed.
"Do you have any idea where you're going?" she asked, glancing around warily.
"Not a clue," Amy replied softly. She paused and strained her ears. "Wait a minute..."
"What? What is it?" Gabby hissed, grabbing onto Amy's arm.
"I think I hear something," Amy whispered, clutching Gabby's nervously sweaty hand in her own, "Listen!"
Indeed, there was rustling in the misty wood. Grunting and heavy footsteps followed.
"Amy-" Gabby whined.
"Sh!" Amy clapped her hand over Gabby's mouth. "Stay still and be absolutely quiet."
Gabby yanked Amy's hand from her mouth. "Amy, I don't like this."
"Me too." She looked around again, searching for any escape route or better yet, a hiding spot. "Okay, let's head this way and away from those sounds," she whispered.
Gabby nodded in agreement.
Before they could take one step, a black arrow shot through the trees and lodged into the bark just beside the girls' heads. They screamed in terror and bolted. Hands firmly clasped together, the sisters dragged one another as they sprinted through the woods.
"Oh God, Oh God," Gabby huffed in a higher octave.
"We're not gonna die, come on!" Amy shouted. She stole a glance over her shoulder. Ugly beasts in black armor were chasing them with weapons drawn. They were growling and hissing, eager for the kill.
"What the hell are those things?" Gabby yelled to her sister. Amy's lips thinned and she glanced back again. Her suspicions were correct, though she'd rather not believe it.
"Doesn't matter, just keep running!"
"I am!"
The sky grew eerily dark as gray clouds covered the sun. The forest became shadowed as the girls raced between trees and over logs, running for their lives. A horrific shriek echoed through the trees, so earsplitting it made the sisters freeze where they stood and stop to cover their ears.
"What is that?" Gabby shouted.
"I don't want to know!" Amy answered, eyes wide and fearful.
Suddenly, three cloaked figures, black and tall, melted out of the shadows and into the clearing. They had long swords drawn.
"Oh no, are you for serious?" Gabby felt her mind reeling. They look just like...
"NAZGUL!" Came a man's shout as he ran in, sword swinging, to the rescue. The girls screamed and held tightly to one another. They cowered out of the way as the three Ringwraiths swiveled around, their cloaks swooshing the newly come fog into swirls. They screeched again, making Gabby and Amy squeeze their eyes and ears shut.
"There they are!"
Amy and Gabby turned around and noticed their other pursuers.
"Orcs!" said Amy despairingly.
"Real orcs? Come off it!" Gabby yelled, too pumped with adrenaline to not shout.
"Nice girlies, pretty girlies..." They cackled, inching nearer.
One of the Nazgul stopped his assault on their rogue rescuer (who was fighting valiantly, one would note, if one could stop and spectate) and faced the orcs. "No harm is to come to them! The Master has forbidden it. Return to Minas Morgul." It instructed in a raspy voice, a voice which sounded like it had been rubbed one too many times with sandpaper.
The orcs immediately bowed and backed away, shuffling and muttering discordantly.
"We should help him," Amy whispered to Gabby, watching their lone hero struggle to fight off three Ringwraiths.
"Yeah, sure, right. How?" Gabby glared.
"I don't know!" Amy looked around, hoping to find something to aid the man. Nothing came to mind.
The man drew a dagger and threw it at one of the Nazgul. It was deflected by the Nazgul and it landed with a clatter.
"There!" Amy sprang forward, grabbed the dagger and entered the fray.
"AMELIA!" Gabby wailed shrilly, "What do you think you're doing?"
"I have no idea!"
"Oh, fantastic." Gabby threw her arms up in pure frustration.
"What are you doing? Leave the battle to me!" The man said, irritated.
"We can't just hide in a corner and watch you fight them all yourself!" Amy declared, lifting the dagger threateningly at the three Nazgul, who had grown eerily still.
One of the three stepped forward. "Desist now. You cannot hope to overcome us three."
"No, just one!" Amy lunged and sliced through its black robe, cutting deep into its supernatural arm. It howled and flailed as the dagger shot like a projectile out of Amy's hand.
"How dare you! How dare you!" It cried, "Away, away!" It fled, followed by the other two.
Gabby ran up to her sister. "What the hell were you thinking? You could've been hurt, you could've died! Stupid, stupid!"
Amy brushed Gabby off and turned to their new friend. She offered her hand. "Hello, my name's Amelia. Thanks for saving my sister and I."
He took it in his own rough ones and lightly kissed her knuckles. "I am called Aragorn, son of Arathorn. Though, many in these wild parts know me as Strider."
Amy awkwardly pulled her hand back and subtly wiped it on her jeans. She sent an expectant glance towards her sister, who was gawking at the man before them - hardly believing he was real.
"I'm Gabrielle, and as Amy said, thank you for saving us." Strider repeated the gesture and both girls rolled their eyes.
"You are welcome, however it is unwise to travel the wilds without an escort and weapons. Would you pardon me for being blunt but, what are you doing out here?" asked Aragorn.
The girls shared an uncomfortable glance. "Er," Amy began, "Well, to be honest, we're sort of lost. Majorly."
"To be even more honest, we have no idea how we got here or where we even are." Gabby summed up.
Aragorn's brow furrowed in confusion. "You...do not know how you came to be in these woods?"
The girls shook their heads simultaneously. Thinking fast, Amy said, "Do you think maybe Gandalf could help us?"
Aragorn's blue eyes narrowed suspiciously. "You know of Gandalf?"
"Well, yeah," Gabby said, "He's only the most popular wizard around, isn't he?" She then whispered to Amy, "That is, if I'm getting my universe correct. We are somehow in Middle-earth, right?"
"No," Amy said sarcastically, "We just happened to be running from orcs and Ringwraiths through Lancashire, are you stupid? Of course we're in Middle-earth."
"We don't live in Lancashire," pointed out Gabby.
"That's not the point!" Amy hissed loudly.
"Ladies, if I may, I am duty bound to travel to Bree. I am to meet Gandalf there, perhaps you would like to accompany me?" offered the once and future king.
"That would be magnificent, thank you!" Amy brightened.
"Do you think we can get some clothes in Bree?" Gabby whispered as they started walking in a random direction after Aragorn. "We're in our pajamas, for Christ's sake."
Amy looked down at her Garfield sweats and shrugged. "Sure, maybe we can sell our fingernails or something to pay for it because we don't have any money!"
"It was just a suggestion." Gabby folded her arms and frowned.
"A stupid suggestion." Amy muttered.
Aragorn grinned to himself as the two bickered. Traveling the wilds as he always had was a lonely road. He had a feeling things were about to change dramatically, for good or ill these two trouble-makers certainly wouldn't make things boring.