Okay, hello everyone! This is the start of The Incipient. This is the second book of The Elena Trilogy, and this is the same post that the first chapter of the first book has. Each chapter that has been hopefully edited will have an EDITED at the top left hand corner of the page. Before this begins, I would like to say a couple things….If you want to skip this and go on to the story, go ahead!

-This is my second (continuation of first) LOTR story, so please have mercy on me. I'm bound to make more than one or two mistakes. I'm in college and not a professional writer.

-I have only read The Hobbit and The LOTR trilogy. Due to that, I do not know as much as some people who have read the other books like The Similarion and The Unfinished Tales. They are on my to-read list though.

-This kind of goes along with the above bullet. I sometimes am not as knowledgeable about Middle Earth history and customs. If you think I am writing something wrong, it may be intentional, but it might not. So, please contact me or review if something looks wrong. I really want to fix my mistakes!

-This is AU (Alternate Universe). I will stick to the main plot line, but details will be changed.

-In this story, premarital sex is practiced by some. Also, I know consummation is part of marriage for elves, but in this story to bind to one another the two participating people will have to actually say words they are bound to each other.

-If I spell the names wrong for places or people please let me know (Only let me know if it is in an edited chapter because if it is unedited, it will be fixed by me). My spell check changes names, so that is mostly why they are messed up.

-I do not own any of Tolkien's works, and this story is just for fun.

-The image used for the cover is not owned by me. It is from google images.

-This is kind of Mary-Sueish, so if you don't like it: move on. The main character is a strong individual who has her own secrets and plot.

-This is very important! This story will be a mix of the movie and book as well as my own added stuff. There are different elements from the three sources!

-Oh, and this is important too! If I use the 'Elvish' language, I'm basically just getting it from a site of elvish phrases and words I put together. I know the language is supposed to be Sindarin, but I do not know the language. So, sorry!

So, I hope you guys like the story, and let me know what you think!(:

Six years ago

"A call was just reported on 624 South Lakes Street," A voice woke the man up from his sleep. He was used to it, but he got up slower than usual because the drowsiness from the week at work hit him hard like a bulldozer.

He was suited up and ready to go in five minutes, but he was the last one in the vehicle. He slammed the door shut and nodded to the driver who flicked on the lights and siren before backing out. The siren's loud noise didn't have that much of an effect on him as it used to. The sounds, the lights, the calls; he all gotten used to them because this was what his life was about now.

"What's this one?" He was alert and ready now.

"It's some abandoned apartment building. Some person was walking their dog and reported a fire on the upper level. It was probably caused by some teenagers or squatters getting too crazy," The driver said.

"Did the witness hear or see anyone inside?" The man asked, rubbing his chin which had a hint of a beard he knew he would have to shave soon.

"No, but this fire was caused by something, so let's do a quick sweep to make sure no one is in there first," The driver finalized the plan as they pulled up to the building. The fire was spreading rapidly now through the dated building. It had only about three floors, which made it easier for searching and putting out the fire.

A group of people gathered looking at the smoking building, all huddled together with their pajamas on in the frigid fall air.

"You ready?" A guy in the back sucked in a deep breath. He was one of the newer ones.

In two minutes the three of them were already inside searching the first floor. The fire hadn't spread to it yet, but smoke filled the air and made it difficult for them to see. The newer firefighter was a little nervous, but he tried to hide it from the others. He didn't want to be perceived as weak.

"I'll go up to the third floor. Come up after you guys finish the second!" He wanted to prove himself. He would later think about how stupid he was for putting his pride in front of his safety. The other two firefights let him go. On the second floor, the fire had made a floor start to collapse, but the stairs leading up to the last and final floor were unscathed.

The guy swallowed and breathed in deeply, grateful for the protection and mask. Hopefully, the building was truly abandoned and no one resided in it. He couldn't bear to think about the flames swallowing up someone helpless.

The third floor was up in flames,and it was difficult to maneuver, but he had trained for this. It was definitely where the fire had originated. The windows in one of the rooms he checked were already broken and through the dark flumes of smoke he could make out his other friends preparing the hose. He moved on to the next room and the next. The knot in his stomach was starting to loosen when he kicked down one of the final doors.

"Shit," He cursed. A body was crumpled in the center of the empty room. Flames threatened to lick her, and he quickly made his way over, praying that the person wasn't dead. He quickly scanned the room for more people, but there were none. There wasn't even a trace of supplies a squatter would have. As he went closer, he realized how small the person was, and when he finally crouched down he realized it was girl. She was blonde and pale, but a layer of soot or some kind of dirt had settled on her making her skin and hair dark and dirty.

"He tried to shake her awake, but she had lost consciousness. He could feel her heart beating, though, which he thanked God for. Putting under arm on her head and another under her back he tried to lift her up.

She suddenly sucked in a deep breath and opened her eyes. He could of sworn he saw a flash of flames in her eyes, but he shook it off. She hesitantly backed away from him, mumbling something he couldn't understand. She was young, he realized.

"You're going to be okay! Come here!" The guy bellowed. The girl stared at him confused. Tears started coming to her eyes when she recognized the pain in her upper body.

"What's your name?" He asked. His words didn't means anything to her and she panicked. She blacked out again, and the firefighter took the advantage of her being passed out and picked her up. He ducked under the door frame and ran carefully through the wreckage and flames. As soon as he got to the staircase, he saw his two other co-workers.

"I found a girl! Check the last four rooms for anymore people," He called out to them. They quickened their pace and brushed passed him and the seemingly weightless girl he carried. Her clothes had been charred, but she had been wearing some sort of leather. She looked like some rocker chick/ hooker girl to him. Judging from her age and looks, she was probably a runaway who squatted in buildings like this and worked at jobs she should've been too young to have.

He dodged another falling piece of wood. The entrance was close, and when he made it out an ambulance greeted him. A stretcher was already set up, and when the medics noticed him they rushed over to collect the girl. He placed her frail frame on the stretcher. Her fists were balled at her sides, and the medics tried to straighten her body out. The firefighter noticed her hands ease up and she dropped a necklace next to her. The medics didn't seem to notice, so the guy pocketed it. It was only then that he noticed the crimson stain on his uniform.

"She's bleeding!" He cried out.

"We need to rush this one back to save her," One of the medics said to the other. The other one nodded in agreement.

"What hospital?" The young firefighter asked.

"Grady!" One shouted back over their shoulder as they wheeled her away to the car. He watched as the quickly placed her in and drove away to the hospital in hopes of saving her.

"The two other firefighters that had been in the building emerged empty-handed.

"Nothing and no one else in there," One reported. The young firefighter helped the rest of them put the fire out, but his thoughts stayed on the girl. The crimson hand prints on his uniform made him shutter and worry.

After a couple hours, all was silent. With the fire gone so was the crowd. All that was left was the black remnants and the silence of the night.

"I would sure like to know the cause of this one," A gruff voice interrupted the young man's thoughts.

"Well, I would sure like to get back into bed right now," Another person groaned. It had to have been three in the morning. The young man was awake as he could be, though.

"We should get back. The newbie looks freaked out," One of the older firefighters commented.

"I wonder if she will be okay," He whispered. No one heard him.

A couple of hours later, after they had returned and gotten cleaned up, the young man was got into his car and drove for a long time. After parking in the filled up parking lot, he quickly walked in the entrance of the building. He maneuvered his way through people and machines until he got to the reception desk.

"Hi, there was a girl brought in from a fire a couple hours ago...," He told the lady sitting in scrubs behind the desk. She pushed back her glasses and gave him a surprised look.

"Finally! Are you here to claim her?" She asked. They hadn't found her family yet? He felt bad for the girl.

"No, I was the one who found her. I just wanted to check on her," He said, putting his hands in his pockets. The lady looked disappointed, but she called for a doctor to show him to the girl. The doctor was a middle-aged man holding a thin file. He led him down the hallway where her room was.

"She just came out of surgery. She needed stitches from a severe cut and she's suffering from smoke inhalation. When she was brought here she was very disoriented, but awake. We could barley get anything out of her. I'm guessing it's memory loss because she couldn't answer anything about herself. No family in the has come to claim her yet. She has no ID. If she's not claimed soon we are going to have to call someone in the childcare services because she looks like a minor," The doctor read off the one-page file to him.

"What did you get from her?" The young man asked. The doctor motioned toward the room and they went in. The blonde girl was cleaned and bandaged up now. She seemed so lifeless, and the heart monitor was the only thing proving she wasn't. He reached in his pocket for the thing he had taken from her.

"A name," The doctor stating reading over the lines of the file to find it.

The man held up the necklace. It was a silver chain holding a generous-sized white stone. It was something very beautiful; something he thought she would want back. He went to go clasp it around her neck. He could of sworn he saw her chest heave up in a deep breath.

"Elena."

Okay, so this is way overdue! I'm so sorry! I edited all of the first book, so hopefully there are minimal to no mistakes. I will update soon, and next chapter will pick up where the story left off in that last chapter of the first book. Thanks(: