Before you even ask. No, this will not be a Susan/Legolas romance. Susan is not going to be romantically involved with any member of the Fellowship.
In two days time, the Fellowship found themselves in a deep valley of rock, hiking through a difficult and narrow trail, at night. Frodo and Gandalf were up front, while Lucy chatted merrily with Sam, Pippin and Merry. Peter brought up the rear, guiding Bill the Pony with Aragorn. Edmund was on auto-pilot, navigating about the rocks and drops with ease. Susan was talking with Gimli.
"So, what are the Mines of Moria?" She asked the dwarf. Gimli chuckled.
"A Dwarf nation, lass! My cousin, Balin, rules it!" He explained. Susan nodded.
"I think you mentioned it back in Eregion," Susan said, "I recall, just before the crows came." Gimli nodded.
"Yes. I suspected that Moria may have been a quicker route to take. After all, which seems faster- going under a mountain, with nothing but rocks and dwarves in your way, or on a mountain, with snow and wolves lurking about?" From behind them there was a loud snort. Gimli let out a low growl and whirled around. There, he and Susan saw Legolas, looking fixedly on a point beyond them. "Was that you, elf?" Legolas blinked innocently, meeting Gimli's angry gaze.
"Me? Surely you would never expect me to act so undignified, Master Dwarf." The elf replied smoothly, with a small smirk. Gimli grumbled low under his breath and trudged on. As Legolas walked past Susan, he leaned over and whispered, "At least, not to his face." Susan broke into a fit of giggles and had to duck aside for a moment to calm down.
"Ach! There they are!" Gimli cried suddenly. Everyone looked up- Edmund, just in time to watch as he crashed into Susan and nearly knock them both over. "These are where the doors to Moria are located!" Lucy ran up, looking around. She expected to see very large doors, from the way Gimli had described Moria to them (And since he had been blathering on about Moria for nearly a week, they were expecting something bloody grand).
"Where are they?" Lucy asked as they walked around the gigantic lake in the middle of the valley. Gimli, who was tapping the rocky walls, glanced back at her.
"Dwarf doors are invisible when closed." He explained, giving part of the wall a little tap with his axe.
"Yes, Gimli." Gandalf said, "Some are so well hidden and protected, their own creators cannot find them, if their secrets are lost."
"Why doesn't that surprise me?" Legolas muttered wryly. Gimli gave the blonde a positively evil look, and Lucy and Susan giggled softly to themselves. Finally, the company reached a larger plot of rock and dirt, where they stopped. Dead, twisted trees curled out like warped hands, as though beckoning them to the water. Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy observed them with awe.
Having grown up in London, trees were not among the things they saw in day to day life, unless they went to the park. They had taken rare trips to the countryside with their parents, but still had never seen trees as strange looking as these ones. Then again, they were seeing a lot of strange and warped things on this little outing…
"Let's see…" Gandalf murmured, approaching the wall and examining it carefully. Peter came up behind him, and saw that there were vague runes carved into the ancient stone. "Ithildin… It reflects only starlight and moonlight." The wizard glanced back momentarily, as a cloud rolled away, revealing a full moon. The light seemed to flow down as easily as water, illuminating the area far better.
The runes suddenly began to glow, creating an upside-down "U" shape- a door, with runes carved into it. Gandalf smiled in satisfaction- the first time he had smiled in days, actually. "It reads," He said, tapping his staff on the runes at the top of the door, ""The Doors of Durin, Lord of Moria. Speak, friend, and enter.'"
"What do you suppose that means?" Merry asked, observing the glowing door with awe.
"It's quite simple, really. If you are a friend, you speak the password and the doors will open." Gandalf explained, pressing the head of his staff against a star-like rune on the door. He bellowed something in the same language he had on Caradhras. Everyone tensed, expecting something strange to happen. Silence. Nothing happened.
Gandalf seemed taken slightly aback by this. He and Frodo shared a glance, before the wizard put both hands on the door, and belted out something else they couldn't understand.
"Nothing's happening." Pippin said bluntly.
"No kidding." Edmund muttered. Gandalf shot the two a warning glance, and they both fell silent. The wizard pushed up against the door a little.
"Are they stuck?" Susan asked. Gandalf shook his head, and gave a little grunt of frustration.
"I once knew every spell in all the tongues of Elves, Men and Orcs." He whispered. "I can hardly go through them all…"
"What are you going to do, then?" Pippin asked loudly.
"Knock your head against these doors, PeregrinTook! And if that does not shatter them, then I am allowed a little peace from foolish questions!" Gandalf snapped, whirling to glare at the young hobbit.
"Use Peter's head. His skull's thicker." Edmund suggested. Peter punched him, hard, in the arm. "Ow!" Edmund whined.
"You started it!" Susan didn't even bother to talk this time. She grabbed Peter's arm, and Lucy grabbed Edmund's. Their sisters dragged the quarreling boys apart, so Gandalf wouldn't summon some sort of thunderbolt to electrocute them both.
About an hour later, the twelve other members of the Fellowship were laying around, as their thirteenth member attempted to open the door with every combination of Elvish, Westron, Dwarvish, and Orkish words he could come up with. They had to let Bill the Pony go, after unloading all their belongings from his back.
"The mines are no place for a pony," Aragorn said and he, Sam and Peter unpacked the things from the pony's back. "Even one so brave as Bill."
"If we ever get into the mines, you mean." Edmund mumbled wryly from nearby, as Aragorn gently nudged Bill onto the path leading out of the valley.
"Shush," Susan whispered, swatting his shoulder gently. "Gandalf knows what he's doing."
"Of course he does."
"Edmund."
"Sheesh, sorry, Mum."
"Oh, don't start that again…" Lucy moaned, vividly remembering the last time Edmund had scathingly referred to Susan as "mum". It had ended like most of these situations did; Peter told Edmund to grow up, Edmund stormed out, tension reigned supreme, and another notch was knocked onto Susan's "Stress Meter". Honestly, Lucy was expecting Susan to crack any day now…
Merry and Pippin had discovered a new way to pass the time- attempting to skip rocks on the surface of the lake. Edmund, glowering, joined them. After a moment, the eleven-year-old calmed down a little. It felt good to have a little noise in an otherwise silent place (if you excluded Gandalf's voice). After Edmund had thrown about three rocks, he felt someone grab his arm. Turning, he saw Aragorn.
"Do not disturb the water," The Ranger whispered. Edmund, Merry and Pippin blinked, before looking out into the water curiously. Was there something out there that Aragorn, but not they, could see?
"Why?" Edmund asked. But Aragorn merely shook his head and walked over to their packs. Again, with nothing to do, Merry and Pippin sat down back to back, Edmund settling down next to Lucy again. For a moment, there was silence. Gandalf then threw down his staff, frustrated, and sat down next to Frodo. Then-
"Merry," Pippin whispered. "I'm hungry."
"You're always hungry, Pip."
"Am not!"
"Are too!"
"I'm afraid I have to side with Merry on this one, Pippin." Boromir chipped in, cutting off the whispered argument. "You are constantly complaining of being hungry."
"I am not!" Pippin huffed. The Gondorian cocked an eyebrow at this.
"Very well then," He said smoothly, turning to the rest of their company. "By a show of hands, who thinks Pippin is 'always hungry'?" Everyone, spare Frodo and Gandalf, who weren't in tune with the conversation, raised their hands.
"'S bloody annoying, lad." Gimli grumbled from nearby, puffing on his pipe. Pippin sniffed.
"Gang up on me, why don't you?" He grumbled.
"Welcome to my world." Edmund growled back. Peter glared at him.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Just then, there was a deep rumbling noise, and the ground quaked slightly. Everyone turned to see the Doors of Durin opening. Immediately, they all gathered their things and jumped up to join Frodo and Gandalf. The wizard placed a translucent crystal in the gnarled head of his staff, and it glowed slightly.
"Soon, my friends, you will enjoy the fabled hospitality of the Dwarves," Gimli said. "Roaring fires, malt beer-" He paused at the dangerous look Susan gave him (Edmund was grinning at the 'malt beer' statement), and he quickly rephrased. "-For the adults… This, my friends, is the home of my cousin Balin. And they call it a mine. A mine!" Gimli laughed.
Susan smiled, and reached over to the nearest wall, to get a sense of where it was. She felt something cold and brittle beneath her hand, but it was too dark to see what it was. Just then, the light from Gandalf's staff grew brighter. Boromir spoke, sounding horrified.
"This is no mine," He whispered. "It's a tomb." Susan, who had diverted her attention to the man when he spoke, turned back to the object under her hand- and screamed. It was a skeleton! Susan had placed her hand on the brittle hand bones of a skeleton, somehow stuck to the wall. Everyone, in horror, now realized that the entrance hall was filled with skeletons.
From the arrows and severed bones that lay about, it didn't take a genius to realize a battle had taken place. "No…" Gimli gasped, running around and staring in horror at the grisly scene. "NO!" Peter immediately threw an arm around a shaking Lucy, while Aragorn attempted to console Susan, who was still screaming. Nearby, Legolas tore an arrow out of a dwarf skeleton. After a moment of examination, he dropped it like it was a cobra.
"Goblins!" He hissed. Aragorn and Boromir drew their swords. Peter and Edmund took this as a cue, also unsheathing theirs. Legolas and Susan (who was calmer now) nocked arrows and looked around.
"We make for the Gap of Rohan," Boromir said darkly. "We should never have come here!" Lucy moved back so that she was standing with the four hobbits, who were all pressed in together. She felt Frodo stumble a little, and she grabbed his arm.
"Frodo?" She questioned shakily. Without warning, Frodo jerked away- Though Lucy soon realized it was not of his own accord. Something was coming out of the lake, and it had Frodo around the ankle! "FRODO!" She shrieked as he was dragged towards the lake.
"STRIDER!" Sam cried. Lucy barely had time to register what- or who- Sam was talking to. She had managed to get a grip on Frodo's hand, and was trying to pull him back. Merry threw his arms around her waist, and Pippin mirrored him. Together, they attempted to haul Frodo back. Sam came running out, his small sword held high, and hacked at the thing.
"Get off him!" He cried. The thing relinquished its hold on Frodo, and drew back to the water. Lucy sighed with relief. But it was short lived, for a second later, about twenty more of those things- which she now realized were tentacles- came shooting out of the water, smacking Merry and Pippin back, and grabbing a hold of Frodo again. Lucy then felt something wrap around her shoulder and waist, and completely panicked.
"PETER!" She shrieked. Peter, Susan and Edmund, still in the mines, whirled around when they heard the scream.
"Lucy!" Susan screamed, turning and dashing outside. Everyone arrived outside just in time to see Lucy and Frodo being hauled high into the air by the whipping tentacles. Without even aiming, Susan pulled back on the arrow and shot it in the area of the tentacle that held her sister. Peter, Edmund, Boromir and Aragorn went charging into the water, while Legolas and Susan fired from the shore.
"Whoa!" Lucy cried as the limb holding her spun about sharply. She caught a glimpse of Frodo, upside-down nearby. But then, something much more important caught her attention- the giant thing rising from the water. It was, in fact, the body of the creature that held them. It looked like a cross between a gigantic octopus and a gigantic squid, but far uglier and scarier than either.
Frodo and Lucy screamed. The tentacles holding them jerked forward towards the creature, and to their horror, it opened its wide, gaping mouth… Which they were right over! Below, their rescuers hacked at the flailing limbs in a panic, knowing they'd lose them both if they didn't do something. Edmund gave a mighty swing at one tentacle, and managed to cleave it in half. Nearby, Aragorn and Boromir did the same. Without warning, Lucy came tumbling down, followed quickly by Frodo. They were free!
Aragorn caught Frodo (Who'd pretty much fallen on him) and Boromir dodged forward to catch Lucy. "Into the mines!" Gandalf roared from the shore. Instantly, the six in the water went charging forward, dodging the intact tentacles to avoid being caught.
"LEGOLAS! SUSAN!" Boromir roared. The two archers shot of an arrow each in one synchronized motion, hitting the creature in its main body. "RUN!" Once they reached the shore, everyone hauled arse inside to escape the tentacles, which thrashed and crashed at the door. There was a horrible rumbling from above, and Peter looked up to see the rocks above the entrance falling.
"MOVE!" He yelled to his siblings, pushing them forward. Everyone covered their heads as the rocks tumbled down, obscuring the exit. Both a blessing and a curse- a blessing, because it protected them from the creature. A curse, because…
When the rocks settled, there was a long silence. Finally, Gandalf spoke. "We now have but one choice." He said in a low, somber voice. "We must face the long, dark of Moria. Be on your guard- there are older and fouler things than Orcs in the deep places of the world."