A/N: This chapter is based off of the song "Hellfire" sung by Frollo in Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame. I highly recommend finding it on YouTube and giving it a listen.
Valinor
Eönwë had been trapped in Alassë's cell for an hour, listening to his terrible tales. It wasn't so much that the Maia was evil. No, that would have been easier to deal with by far. The trouble was, Eönwë mused, that Alassë had a simply awful sense of humor. He thought the emotions of mortals (and Elves) were amusing and meddled in things that oughtn't be meddled with. The messenger regarded the troublemaker's empty corner with a mulish frown.
Really, to be frank, the most irritating thing about this whole process was dealing with Alassë, who had to be the most frustrating Maia ever created, bar none. Not even Sauron at his most evil overlord dramatics could match him for sheer obnoxiousness. And that was saying something.
"Your crimes are not only limited to harassing the elves and men of Numenor," Eönwë continued in a peevish voice. "You have been known to interfere with personal griefs, sycophantic henchmen, and the Quest."
"If you're talking about that whole Ring debacle…"
"Yes. I am."
"Weeellll," Alassë dragged out the word until it became a verbal shrug. "I didn't really do anything. That little Hobbit was going to the bad all on his own. I just revealed the feelings that were already present."
The scribe leaned forward eagerly, her quill at the ready. "What Hobbit? What did you do?"
Slopes of Mount Doom, immediately prior to a REALLY important moment
Just a few more moments, Frodo promised himself, and then it would all be over. He was so close, so close to achieving his goal. Everyone else – even loyal Sam – had been lost or had fallen by the way in order to get him to this place. He walked weakly, step by fumbling step, towards the edge of the chasm. As he did so, words came tumbling out his mouth.
The words didn't really surprise Frodo. After all, he had felt this way for a long time. It was fitting that here, alone, at the end of all things, he was finally able to express himself.
"Elbereth, Gilthoniel," he sang, his voice thin and weak in that cavernous space,
"You know I am a humble hobbit
Of my virtues I cannot be proud.
Elbereth, Gilthoniel
You know I'm doing my best to stop it
This wretchedness that has my spirit cowed."
Closer to the edge now, Frodo demanded, with fervor,
"Then tell me, Gilthoniel,
Why I see it dancing there?
Why those tongues of fire still scorch my soul?
I see it, I feel it,
His Eye, His Eye is always there
This ring, I fear, is out of my control."
Frodo paused, fifteen feet back from the chasm.
"Like fire, Hellfire, this fire in my mind
This burning desire, to reason it is blind.
It's not my fault! I'm not to blame!
It is the nature of the Ring, Isildur's Bane.
It's not my fault; it is His plan.
If a king could not resist, who thinks I can?"
Blinking back tears brought on by pain, heat, and exhaustion, Frodo sang,
"Protect me, Gilthoniel,
Don't let me fall under its spell
Don't let this Ring wreathe chains around my bones.
Help me to destroy this,
In the fire, Orodruin's hell.
Or else let it be mine and mine alone!"
The hobbit stopped, his heart racing, his innermost feelings revealed at last. Unable to take his eyes from the ring in his hand, he turned back from the fire and staggered towards the exit.
"Hell fire, Dark fire.
Now, Precious, it's your turn.
Choose me or the fire
Be mine or we'll both burn.
Precious have mercy on us
Precious have mercy on me.
But you will be mine
Or we'll all burn!"
Valinor
"Luckily, right at that moment, when Frodo son of Drogo BaggyPants Hobbit finally cracked and went round the bend, his loyal ombudsman Samwise I'll-do-all-the-chores Gamgee and that wretched hairless black squirrel showed up to urge things on to their inevitable end. So, you see, Eönwë, no real harm done."
Eönwë groaned aloud. "We will adjourn this session until tomorrow," he announced. "I need a stiff drink."
And thus it was that Alassë, most annoying, obnoxious, and impulsive of all the Maia in Valinor, successfully won the first battle in the war between Music and Justice. At least . . . that's how he tells it.
