A/N: Dedicated to my new beta silentmidnightdeath for beta'ing and a lovely review! Also dedicated to LadyNostarielofMirkwood, dandapanda, Ms. Underhill, and Archet for each lovely review! Those reviews are the reason I wrote this chapter so quickly! And the reason chapter five is about halfway done as of the moment I post this! :D Thank you so much! :D
Welcome to Earth:
Chapter Four: Travel:
The large group enjoyed a large breakfast, full of Melody teasing Bri about how she would explain all the missing food to her parents.
"I'll run to the grocery store with Wynter after we drop you lot off." Bri argued, smirking.
"Who's going to pay?" Melody retorted.
"You brought them out." Bri snickered.
"Hell, no! I don't have a job! I can't pay for them!" Melody yelped, moving to tackle Bri, until Aragorn and Legolas restrained the two, Bri howling with laughter and Melody playfully furious.
"I hope we are not too expensive." Gandalf worried. "I do not believe your currency to be the same as ours."
"No. It's not. We have I think the most unique currency in the world." Melody told him, pulling out some cash and change from her purse.
"That's money?" Pippin asked.
"Yep!" Bri giggled from the couch, where Aragorn had pinned her down. The king-to-be shot his elven friend a pleading look, but Legolas just shook his head, smirking as he released Melody.
Bri squirmed and tried to shove Aragorn off her as a sharp honk sounded from the driveway. "Wynter's here!"
"Did she bring anyone?" Melody cried, rushing to the window.
"No, I told her not to. Why is she honking? I told her to come on in!" Bri pouted.
"Guess what, smart one?" Melody taunted, twisting the knob. "You never unlocked the door. Over all this racket in here, she had no chance of us hearing her knock!"
"Ooops." Bri muttered, looking guilty.
"Stay back." Melody warned the Fellowship. "Go back over by Bri and sit somewhere-normal." The last bit was added as Pippin tried to sit on the computer monitor. Merry pulled him away and the four hobbits plopped down on the floor together. Aragorn almost tied Bri to the couch with a blanket and several pillows before sitting next to her, yanking Legolas down on his other side. Gandalf stood against the wall, choosing to ignore the 'sit' part of the command. Melody saw him and just shrugged. It suited his personality, at least.
With a dramatic deep breath, she yanked the door open.
"What the hell?" Wynter demanded. "I better get some answers!"
"You will. Trust me." Melody told her, smirking.
"I don't like that look, Mel. It says 'trouble' all over it!" Wynter warned. Melody's smirk grew bigger.
"C'mere." she giggled, grabbing her friend's hand and pulling her upstairs, barely remembering to close the door. She darted back down to slam it, and Wynter took the last few steps upstairs, turned, and screamed.
"WHAT THE-" Melody leapt up the stairs in one hop and wrapped her arms around her friend's head, hands firmly over her mouth. Wynter licked her hands, and Melody let go, stepping back with a yelp. She made a face at the blonde, then pranced over to sit in the middle of the floor.
"Yes, they're real, yes, they're here, yes, they're who you think they are, not the actors, they're the real Fellowship and we all need a ride to my house minus Bri, who needs a ride to the grocery store." Melody reeled off, looking extremely pleased with something.
"You're kidding. This is a really bad joke!" Wynter cried.
"Pretend it's a dream." Melody advised her. "Or you'll faint." The Fellowship stared at her. "What?" she asked, shrugging at them.
"I thought you were the realistic one." Gandalf commented from his spot by the wall, beside Wynter, who gave him a startled look. He met her gaze and smiled in what he desperately hoped was a reassuring way. She raised an eyebrow and edged away from him nervously.
"I'd rather have another Bri driving than an unconscious Wynter." Melody informed him, which puzzled the entire Fellowship for quite some time, until the hobbits pestered Melody into pointing out the huge difference in the two girls' personalities.
"Let's get this show on the road!" Melody cried excitedly, a noticeable difference from last night. Legolas and Gandalf cast her worried looks, and the hobbits crowded excitedly around her. "Ikuyo!"
"What?" Bri and Wynter asked along with the Fellowship.
"'Let's go!' in Japanese." Melody explained.
"...NERD." Melody just smiled sweetly.
"Maybe we should get going before Bri's parents show up, or maybe people start looking out their windows, you know?" she offered.
"Good point." Wynter muttered. "Okay, I'll open the doors to the van you two get everyone inside ASAP, then I close them. Seats don't matter, just get everyone inside, got it?"
"I thought coming up with crazy plans was my job!" Melody pouted.
"No, it's mine!" Bri exclaimed. "Your job is keeping me from accidentally killing anyone!" The Fellowship eased away from her upon hearing that.
"My parents' car. My life at stake. We use my crazy plan." Wynter stated, laughing.
"Your life is at stake?" Boromir asked, looking interested.
"Yes." Wynter stated again, nodding emphatically. "If we get caught, I'm screwed."
"Screwed?" Pippin wondered.
"Explain on the way! Ikuyo!" Melody cried, ushering the hobbits towards the door. "Follow me, Bri, get the door!" The dark-haired girl nodded and grabbed the handle as Wynter left. Once the doors were open, Bri yanked the door wide and Melody flew out, sprinting for the car and leaping in the side. "Don't ask questions, just go!"
With some reluctance, the Fellowship followed, crowding in behind her as she attempted to direct traffic so that everyone would fit. The hobbits ended up stacked on people's laps, while Bri and Wynter got front seats.
Wynter turned and giggled at the sight as the doors closed. In her seven-person minivan, Boromir, Frodo, and Gandalf were lined up in back with Frodo in the middle, and Merry, Sam, and Pippin on their laps respectively, with a protesting Sam on Frodo's lap. All six looked very uncomfortable. None had figured out the seat belts yet, despite Bri's showy way of putting hers on.
The next row consisted of Aragorn and Legolas, with Melody crouching in the middle, glaring daggers at Bri. Legolas noticed the look Wynter shot her friend.
"Is it unsafe to sit on the floor?" he asked.
"Unsafe and illegal." Wynter replied, reaching for the key. Legolas reached out and pulled Melody up into his lap, blushing slightly, but better awkward than dead.
"Not that unsafe." Melody muttered, blushing a lot more than the elf. Sighing, she reached around and pulled over the seat belt. "Everyone's got one of these-put them on!" She spent the next five minutes doing seat-belt check, while her two friends just laughed. Wynter even attempted filming it on her phone.
Once everyone was seated with their seat belts on, Melody practically sitting on Legolas' knees and hissing threats through the headrest at Bri until he pulled her back after noticing a warning look from Wynter and guessing that this was unsafe as well. She didn't protest, and once Wynter started the car, yawned and hesitantly leaned back against his chest, closing her eyes. He cast her a worried glance, but Aragorn just smiled.
"We did keep them up all night." he reminded his friend. Legolas just nodded, resting a hand on Melody's shoulder and his chin on her head. She curled up in his lap and fell asleep in moments.
"Well that's just great." Wynter muttered. "She can be grateful I helped her move, or she'd have to give me directions to her new house!"
"New house?" Pippin asked. "Why'd they move?"
Wynter met his gaze in the rearview mirror. "Long story. You'd have to ask her when she wakes up. It's kinda personal."
"Personal?" Merry wondered. "Is that like private?"
"Yes." Bri told him, looking back at her friend in the elf's lap, smiling at first, then looking more serious than the Fellowship had ever seen her. "Extremely."
