Author's Note:

I haven't updated for a bit longer than a month, I apologize. Like seriously. I'm really sorry. I've been so lazy this summer, and I return to school in a week.

Buuuuuuuuuut, here's the chapter since I know you've been waiting for it.

Enjoy.

CH 9~.

Anne ran her fingers through her hair in an attempt to calm herself. She was back inside her own room on Earth. Summer rubbed her friend's back in an earnest attempt to make her less stressful.

"Summer, I seriously can NOT sing. I refuse to sing in front of Elrond."

"Anne you made the agreement, I'm sorry but ya have to."

"Never promised. Rule one, Anne lies."

"Anne, don't take lines from Doctor Who to stop this from happening."

Anne rolled her eyes. "I wasn't, I was just, you know…"

"You were."

"Was not."

"Well you could stay here for a couple of days, y'know, only two hours would pass on Middle-earth," Summer suggested.

Anne shook her head. "I can't just put it off. I guess we can practice singing in here."

"Do you realize how much we sound like stereotypical characters? Anne, you just gotta go for it. Dive off the deep end."

"Summer I'm not just heading onto a stage and singing," Anne argued. Summer clung to Anne's shoulders.

"Do it for Elrond!"

"Elrond's one of the reasons I don't want to do it! Besides he doesn't even know I'm going to be singing, so if I don't, he won't be disappointed."

Summer's face transformed from calm to extremely serious. "Anne, seriously, if you don't do this I swear to God I will drug you and push you up on stage, stoned or not."

"You don't have drugs," Anne observed.

"I can find some."

"I am not willing to test you on that."

Summer nodded, "Exactly, so you agree to do this?"

"Never said I agreed, just said I wasn't willing to test you. Plus, what if I just go back without touching you, so you had to stay here?"

"Well it'd probably be two minutes before you came back, and then I can kill you."

Anne groaned, "Ughhh. I don't want to dooo thiissss."

"Don't worry, if you're drunk, you won't even remember it." Summer smirked.

"I am NOT getting drunk. I'm only seventeen," Anne said.

"Eighteen in a week. Though technically more like one day in Middle-earth. What is it? Like March 24th there and March 18th here?"

"I've probably been there longer. I'll just celebrate my birthday there when it turns March 25th here."

"Well then you're going to stop needing to go to Middle-earth time after time and spend a week or so here," Sumer pointed out.

"But Summmerrr."

"I will take that ring from you if you don't," Summer threatened.

"MY PRECIOUS!" Anne yelled in her Gollum voice, grasping the ring on the chain in her fingers tightly. Summer laughed. "Filfy Elveses," Anne continued.

"Wow, okay, didn't know I was THAT filthy."

"You are- now we're getting side-tracked. I am still not singing."

"Druugsss," Summer said in a sing-song voice, hopping off the couch they were sitting on and opening Anne's laptop.

"Now what are you gonna sing?" Summer asked.

"Happily Ever After, Love Life, Fall, something by He is We."

"Ugh you're obsessed with them aren't you? What kind of elf knows those songs? How about Misty Mountains Cold, Thorin's song?" Summer spun in circles slowly with the laptop resting on one of her forearms.

Anne shook her head, "It'll raise questions of who taught me the song and that'll be complicated cause if I say my parents taught me it, they'll wonder who they are. If I just do a regular song from here, they'll be like: 'Oh who taught you that?' And I'll say: 'Oh my mom, she wrote songs every day.' And they'll say: 'Shame she left us.' And then they'll look to the heavens and say a short prayer and then walk away."

"Yeahh…that'll totally happen."

"Shut up, Summer, it's better than explaining the other song."

"Don't tell me to shut up!" Summer scoffed.

"You know I'm joking," Anne defended.

"That I do," Summer replied, typing something into the Youtube search bar as she sat down on the couch again. "So have you tasted the food?"

"Yeah it's great."

"I think we should introduce them to scrambled eggs," Summer replied. "Or French fries."

"Sure…" Anne paused for effect, "if you want a bunch of fat hobbits complaining that they're out of fries."

"What about hot chocolate?"

"I think they already have that…"

"Do they?" Summer said and clicked on a video on the screen in front of her.

Anne peered onto the screen when something in her mind clicked. "Hey Summer?"

Summer sighed automatically, "This already sounds like a serious talk, what?"

"Don't elves marry for life?"

"Yeah..."

"Then why is Lord Elrond looking for another wife?"

Summer stared at Anne with a stare of utter confusion, "I'm not sure." Then Summer's attention turns to the computer, and she opens a new tab, going on google. She types 'Elf Marriage' into the search bar quickly.

"Well, maybe Elrond's an exception like Finwë, cause his wife died," she suggested.

Anne nodded, "it makes sense, sure, but Lilithia said he has been looking for a wife for a while. I come along like a week ago, and look, he's already allowing me to sleep on top of him."

Summer giggled, "Like a manwhore."

Anne slapped her and said, "Summer stop that. I'm serious."

"Alright well maybe there's something that he wants, that you have."

"I got there with clothes and nothing else."

"There's the ring," Summer eyed the ring on Anne's chain.

"Yeah, but I'm sure it's not that." Anne stood up and stretched her back, "I mean, I hope it's not that. Maybe I'm just really pretty." She did a 360 spin, her dress spiraling in front of her.

Summer chuckled.

Anne continued, "but if it is that, though it's not, cause Elrond wouldn't stoop that low, but if it is, and this is a big if, then how does he intend to get it? If he takes it off my hand, both him and I get transported back here."

"But then he can put on the ring and go back to Middle-earth," Summer countered.

"But then he won't ever be able to take it off."

"Unless someone takes it off, in which case Elrond and the someone would both end up in your room, and then they put it on and leave. But then Elrond would be stuck here."

"Summer, you're blocking my train of thought, please shut up." Anne rubbed at her temples.

Summer raised both hands in defense, "Hey, I'm just telling you what could possibly happen."

"And what could possibly happen is complete bullshit," Anne mumbled, going back to Summer and sitting on the couch.

The amber-hair girl looked at the computer, seeing as Summer was quietly listening to the song Happily Ever After. "I think it's fine," she says, and Summer glances over at her.

"Ya think?" Summer said.

"I've memorized it and I know it," Anne said, closing the lid on the laptop and putting it on the coffee table. She then stands up and stretches her bad knee, feeling it pop.

"Wow, that was loud," Summer commented, cracking some of her own bones. For a few minutes they went back and forth at each other, cracking bones here and there.

Anne stopped after she cracked her wrist, neck, fingers, both knees, back, elbows, shoulders, toes, ankles, and thighs which she accomplished by doing a few standing knee raises. In the end, Summer won somehow.

"How the hell do your bones crack louder than mine?" Anne asked.

"I don't stretch every time I come out of the vortex which would be about twice now. Almost three times when Elrond tried to take the ri-"

"Wait wait, what?"

Summer paused, realizing she said something she wasn't supposed to.

"Rewind," Anne muttered.

"Ring the take to tried Elrond when times three almost?" Summer said honestly.

"Summer!"

"Okay okay. When you passed out the second time, Elrond thought maybe the ring was causing something to go wrong with your body functions since he couldn't heal you as fast as he normally could with other people while you had it on."

"I knew he was trying to take it from me!" Anne exclaimed, suddenly pacing back and forth fast.

"Anne, he was trying to help, not take it from you," Summer said, "I was there, I swear, he asked me first and I had to tell him no."

Anne stopped pacing. "Okay…Sorry I'm just really nervous and confused."

"Understandable," Summer said, half-smiling. "Ready to go back?"

Anne nodded and grabbed Summer's arm.

They appeared a second later in Anne's room, someone knocking furiously on the door. Anne quickly looked at Summer. How come she didn't hear it like before? She was probably talking too loud…

Summer went to go hide in the study. Anne went to the door and opened it.

"Oh hey, Lilith," Anne said, looking at the maid in front of her.

"Hello, Lady Anne." Lilith smiled and Anne invited her in.

"So what do ya need?" Anne asked after Lilith stepped inside the room and Anne closed the door behind her.

"I was sent to help you pick out a dress for tonight."

Anne groaned, and walked with Lilith to her closet.

After ten minutes of figuring out what dress was right, and ten minutes of Lilithia not finding Summer, they decided on a purple dress with blue lining on the sides and small flowers running down to the end, which was rippled. Lilith thought it was extremely pretty on Anne's pale skin. Anne thought it was decent so she went with it to make her friend happy.

Lilith left a little while later, telling Anne she needed to get ready and that the celebration would be starting in a few minutes.

"Want to be fashionably late?" Summer suggested, bounding down the steps to Anne.

Anne nodded, "Oh I think that would be rather wonderful." She smiled brightly.

Anne and Summer entered the Hall of Fire fifteen minutes after the celebration began. People looked their way, their mouths dropping open at Anne's and Summer's beautiful dresses. Summer was wearing a nice blue gown that was cut by her thigh so part of it showed. Almost instantly a man came up and took Summer away. So Anne was left alone trying to figure out what to do as almost everyone watched her move. At least the dress covered her bandage so she didn't have to worry about that, but it was still scary standing all alone.

Torches lined the walls leading up to a stage where elves sang many elven songs. Most of the well-known elves were up there, regular elves that lived in Rivendell were more towards the back dancing regular elven dances that Anne had never seen or heard of. She lingered by the exit until someone stood next to her.

"Rather glum there, aren't ya?"

"Hey Revdur," Anne said, glancing over at the cheeky elf. He smirked, looking down at her. His Adam's apple was huge as he arced his head backwards to lean against the wall.

"Ya ready to sing?" he asked, his eyes sparkling.

Anne nodded, "No, but I said I would, right?"

"Don't worry, all ya have to do is sing well enough for Elrond to nod at it and then you know that the other elves like it. He does it with every new singer."

Anne's body froze for probably the fifteenth time that year. "Right in front of Elrond?"

"Well he usually stands at the front of the stage with Glorfindel."

"Ah."

"Need a drink?" Revdur suggested.

"I think that would be appreciated."

Revdur disappeared, appearing a few minutes later with a glass of clear liquid. Anne gulped it down. After finishing the glass, she held it in front of herself.

"What kind of wine is this?" she asked and Revdur shook his head.

"I don't know, found it on a table," he smiled sheepishly. The song, that someone was singing, unfortunately ended and Revdur grabbed Anne's wrist. Anne tried to not to go and dug her heels into the ground. Revdur only pulled harder. She bumped into a lot of elves, saying sorry here and there until she made it to the stage, where Elrond was standing, leaning onto it with his hand on his chin like he was thinking. His eyes were distant as Anne stumbled onto the stage. There was no microphone, why would there be? She rubbed her ring against her skin and darted her eyes around nervously.

Elves from the crowd stared at her, including Elrond who was now out of his trance. Anne spotted Haldir next to a rather beautiful maiden, his arm around her waist and her arm on his shoulder like they were just dancing.

Everyone's eyes were on Anne. She cleared her throat, and started the song.

Let me riddle you a ditty, it's just an itty bitty, little thing on my mind.

People were staring at her as she sang, like they didn't know what she was talking about. Elrond narrowed his eyebrows. Anne started to get nervous, but continued.

About a boy and a girl, trying to take on the world one kiss at a time.

Now the funny thing about, ain't a story without it, but the story is mine.

And I wish you could say, that it ended just fine.

We all want to know, how it ends.

Oh, happily ever after, wouldn't you know, wouldn't you know.

Oh, skip to the ending, who'd like to know, I'd like to know.

Author of the moment, can you tell me, do I end up, do I end up happy?

By now the instrumental group of Elves got the rhythm of the song and were playing to it. Elrond was nodding, Anne took it as a good sign. Revdur was leaning against the wall next to the stage with a huge cheeky grin spreading from ear to ear.

Inhale, breathe steady, exhale, like you're ready, if you're ready or not.

Just a boy and a girl gonna to take on the world, and we want to get caught.

In the middle of a very happy ending, let's see what we've got, let's give it a shot.

Let's give it a shot.

We all want to know, how it ends.

Oh, happily ever after, wouldn't you know, wouldn't you know.

Oh, skip to the ending, who'd like to know, I'd like to know.

Author of the moment, can you tell me, do I end up, do I end up happy?

We all have a story to tell.

Whether we whisper or yell.

We all have a story, of adolescence and all its glory.

We all have a story to tell.

Anne ended the song early, scared to continue, though everyone had been dancing to it happily. The elves clapped once she was done, even Elrond. She hopped off the stage, into a waiting hug from Revdur.

"Knew you could do it," he winked and she smiled.

"Thanks that was scary."

"I never knew you spoke Common." Anne turned around, seeing a satisfied-looking Elrond. Hadn't she been speaking English the whole time she was here?

"Yeah, I do," she whispered.

"Where did you learn it?" Elrond said, dragging her away from Revdur just by walking. She followed.

"My parents." Though honestly, Anne was trying to figure out why she wasn't speaking Common the whole time on Middle-earth.

Author's Note:

Chapter 9 complete.

I think this chapter was interesting...enough.

Maybe not? Oh well.

Replies:

mashaz: In time I'll be explaining all that. Anne will start to wonder about the ring, as will the other elves, her story of living in the Wilderland will fall apart and what's happening between the men and elves.

Eldar0516: Thanks, I hope you enjoyed this chapter.