This was my 2nd Lord of the Rings story. It actually became much darker than I intended it to be. Then again, it does end in character death, so how much more darker can you get? I understand that these types of stories are not for everyone! If you don't understand why I write major character deaths in my stories, please read my profile page...

Also, I know the movie Maggot and the book Maggot are quite different, so please note this is from the movie.

Enjoy!

Carefully but quickly, Merry pulled and plucked every carrot, cabbage, mushroom, tomato, potato and practically anything Farmer Maggot had growing, and shoved it into his bag.

"Argh! You two confounded rascals! At it again!? I'll get you, like I promised!" A voice bellowed from far over the other side of the crops.

It scared Merry to the core, who jumped at the sound and he looked towards where the voice was coming from. And although he could only see the rows of corn in front of him, he knew that Farmer Maggot was going to be sprinting towards him any minute; but he waited, waited for a sign from his look-out.

"Merry! MERRY, RUN!" His sign had come. Pippin's voice sacredly called out to him from the same place Maggot's had, and that was Merry's queue to leg it without looking back, stolen goodies in hand.

The last time Merry and Pippin had been caught, Farmer Maggot said he's splice them from head to toe if he ever caught them stealing his precious crops again. Merry was sure he wasn't serious, but oh god, they were really in for it now; Maggot sounded furious.

"I'll slice your pretty faces, ear to ear and cut off your fingers to stop you picking my food!"

Maggot's voice got louder as he shouted a seriously aggressive shout from the throat, "I need to make a living, and I can't with you two stealing my crops! You're destroying my life, you devils!"

Merry ran back towards Hobbiton, listening for Pippin's hurried footsteps behind him. There were none.

He forced nearly every instinct he had to stop running from the crazy hobbit with the scythe and look back to search for any movement from his friend. He started to feel a little bad for Maggot; he never realised how hard it was for him. Pippin and he were just two young scallywags out to cause mischief, not destroy lives.

He never meant to get dear Pip into this.

Although he told himself not to even make the slightest sound, he got the courage to whisper. "Pippin?" He called in a hush. He couldn't hear any sign of Maggot or Pippin, which worried him deeply.

"Pippin!?" He called louder. Still nothing.

He had no choice but to head back to where Pippin was standing guard while Merry scavenged the crops.

He sneakily pushed he way past the tall corn stems, making sure not to make too much noise while keeping his own ear out for any noise at all.

Pippin, the last time Merry recalled, was in the corn right outside Maggot's house. His job was to let Merry know if Maggot appeared or if something went wrong- Well, something definitely went wrong. Merry could feel it.

He tiptoed to the other end of the crops where Pippin should've been, but there was nothing. No one was there.

Merry started to get an even worse feeling than he had before.

He quickly peeked towards the small cottage that was not 15 metres in front of him. Could Pippin have slipped past Maggot and hid? Maybe he's back in Hobbiton? Or he could've hid in or behind the Maggot's cottage?

Merry frantically looked around for any sign. There must be a sign of which way Pippin went; foot prints, a broken corn stem- anything!

But it was too late to look any longer. Farmer Maggot had sneaked up on him while Merry was distracted and he lifted Merry by the waist and fling him over his back.

"Put me down you stupid pig! Where's Pippin?!" Merry bashed against Maggot's back, with no affect.

"I ain't telling you nothing." His gruff voice growled and he walked to the west of the crops until he came to a rounded looking cliff.

"Whaddya doing!?" Merry yelled at his captor as he tried to look behind him, towards the edge.

Maggot shoved Merry to the ground and held his arms tightly. His eyes narrowed and his face only inches from Merry's.

"Tell your friend that you're lucky I didn't get rid of ya on the spot." His rumbling voice had lowered a notch. It was the most scared and threatening thing Merry had ever heard; he was actually scared for his life.

"No one would suspect me; I could use you as gardening soil and tell everyone you'd gone off on one of your little adventures."

Merry looked wide-eyed at the manic looking farmer. His greying hair was all fuzzy and sticking up, his red vest was tattered and warn and the rest of his clothes were starting to wear down and his face had visibly aged 40 years.

"12 years I've put up with this." He hissed in Merry's face. "I've lived on low wage with no more wife in a horrible cottage, 'cause you keep stealing and destroying my crops."

He slapped Merry hard enough to leave a bruise the next week.

"Leave me. If I ever see you again. Truly. You won't see the light of day again, Meriadoc Brandybuck."

He leaned in closer so his lips were touching the trembling Hobbit's ear. "I promise you that."

That ended the conversation and he shoved Merry once again, over the edge of the cliff. He rolled down the first part. The journey down was almost bone breaking, but he was sure he would only escape with some cuts and bruises; it was the landing that was painful.

Landing on the ground below, he had heard a crack. Not knowing whether it was him or the thing he landed on, he wasn't sure, but he quickly got up and took in his surroundings.

That's when his heart sank into the deepest pit of the body it could possibly go.

Pippin was on the ground. Pippin had been his landing mat.

"Pippin?" He cautiously called to his friend.

He stepped close to the non-moving body. Merry broke down in tears when he saw the pool of blood soaking into the grass around Pippin's head.

Inspecting it closer, Merry bent down and placed his hands of Pippin's head, lifting it off the ground. He could just make out through his blurry eyes the sharp rock that undoubtedly caused the gash in his cousin's head when he hit the ground.

He held Pippin's bleeding head, placing it next to his chest as he slightly rocked back and forth. He should never have talked Pippin into taking Maggot's crops after all these years.

But no matter how annoying or ridiculous or downright stupid they were, they didn't deserve to be treated like this. They didn't deserve this punishment. Here Pippin lay, in Merry's arms, bleeding to death, just for a few mushrooms and carrots.

No. Maggot had gone too far. Of course, he hadn't meant to kill Pippin, but he had, and that is no way to treat someone, no matter what. He understood why he did it, but it was not just. But what was Merry to do?

After weeping into the top of Pippin's head for a while, he decided to pick up his best mate in the bridal lift and carry him to the medic in Hobbiton.

"You're not going to leave me now, are you?" Merry asked the pale face of the little hobbit in his arms.

"We've still got so much left to do." Merry choked up as he spoke. He tried to make the journey back as quick as possible.

Though he wished he hadn't.

During the journey, he had the slightest hope that Pippin had survived the fall, that he survived landing on the sharp rock that had pierced his head, that he survived the long agonizing walk back to needed help.

But that hope had died. Died along with his cousin.