Disclaimer: In usual order I own nothing except my own characters.
A/N: My essay is submitted and my exam is done so to celebrate I give you the next chapter! The paragraphs in italics indicate a flashback. Also, heads up for swearing in this chapter! Anyway, Enjoy!

Thirteen

Helm's Deep Part II

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"You don't have to go with them Laura. You can stay here with us and I would take you with us to Minas Tirith where it is safe. The road you're headed for is extremely dangerous."
"I know, but that's why I have to go with them. I made a promise and I don't intend on breaking it." Faramir seemed disappointed but at the same time he didn't ask again. One part of Laura couldn't deny that she would have loved to be somewhere safe but she would never be able to live with herself if she just left Frodo and Sam alone to Mordor.

"I hope we shall meet again." said Faramir and kissed Laura's hand before she left with Frodo, Sam and Gollum.

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"You're far away." Frodo's voice made Laura snap out of her thoughts and she turned around to her friends. The ringbearer looked at her with an expression of slight concern.

"I'm sorry, I was thinking about something else." Laura replied

"I've been meaning to ask you, why didn't you stay? When Faramir offered; you could be safe right now." It wasn't that Frodo didn't want to have Laura with them on their journey, in fact, the hobbit wouldn't have it any other way but it didn't make sense to him why someone would choose danger and almost certain death over the kind of safety that Faramir had so clearly offered her.

"Because if I stayed that means I would have given up, on you, on Sam on and on our friends. I'm seeing this one through all the way, whether or not I come out of it alive." Laura told them and she couldn't help but to wonder if they ever would come out of it alive.

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"You didn't think it was a good idea to let me know that you're getting married?!"

"Felix, calm down, it's not that big of a deal." Felix wasn't calming down, in fact he was causing quite a big scene about it but neither Maggie nor Nat could actually blame him for it. They'd moved away from the army of elves

"Calm down? Don't you tell me to calm the fuck down Margaret Spencer! I mean Jesus Christ; we're going to into battle any damn minute now! You didn't think I had a right to know that you're marrying Lord Elrond? This is exactly what we're fighting for! I mean hell Maggie, I want a chance to come out of this alive and be able to be at that wedding! What if I die tonight without knowing? Or without being able to be here when you're son is born!"

"You're not going to die tonight Felix. Not you. Not me. Definitely not tonight." Nat told him; of course part of her knew the odds were 50/50.

"But that's exactly it Nat; you don't know for sure. You can't. Some of us are going to die, it's inevitable. I'm just sorry Maggie that you don't seem to think I'm important enough to tell me these things. But then again, maybe that's why we broke up after all."

Gimli turned around to Nat. "I take it we've missed a detail here?" the dwarf asked and Nat just nodded.

Maggie wasn't sure what to say or what to do. She didn't want to have this argument, not here and definitely not at that moment but Felix wasn't really leaving her any choice in it. "Not important? How the hell can you possibly think that when you know exactly what you mean to me?! But shit me, Felix, stop being a goddamn drama queen because in case you had forgotten this is not about you or me anymore. It never has been. If you want to have that particular conversation we can have it later but then you better damned well make sure you're coming out of this alive."

"Oh you better believe it Mags; this conversation ain't over."

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That, Felix thought when Sauron's army came closer and closer to Helm's Deep, is one hell of a big army. His heart was beating so quickly that for a moment he was certain it would leap out of his chest. Felix looked at Nat who was stood next to him with the same terrified expression in her eyes and he took her hand.

"We'll be alright Nat." he told her although he wasn't entirely sure who he was trying to convince the most; Nat or himself. Felix felt a hand on his shoulder and turned around to see Aragorn behind them.

"How are they?" Nat asked, referring to Maggie, Eowyn and the other women who had taken refuge within the walls.

"They'll be alright. They're all in good hands." said the Ranger

"Your friends are with you Aragorn." Legolas told him

"Let's hope they last the night." Gimli added with a little more scepticism in his voice.

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"Aragorn, what are you doing here you should be out there."

"I came to make sure you are alright. That was quite an argument."

Maggie, Eowyn along with all the other women and children were underground hiding, waiting for the battle start. Every single one of them were equally terrified and Eowyn was doing a good job holding down the fort.

"Oh between me and Felix, that's nothing. Don't worry, I'm alright; albeit a little scared and when I say a little I mean a lot but everyone is." Maggie told him

She gave him a long hug, part of her didn't want to let go but she knew she would have to. "Please be safe." she whispered

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"What's happening out there?" Gimli asked impatiently as he jumped up and down trying to catch a glimpse of the army on the other side of the wall

"Shall I describe it to you?" Legolas asked with a glint in his eyes "Or would you like me to find you a box." Nat and Felix assumed Gimli would be ticked off by this but instead, the dwarf laughed. It was actually a bit of a relief amidst all the tension. Until of course the orcs charged forward and the battle really began. It seemed like they were everywhere and Nat had her sword at the ready when the orcs climbed up the ladders and onto the wall.

"LEGOLAS!" Gimli bellowed "Two already!" he was referring to the number of orcs he had already killed.

"I'm on seventeen!" the elf countered proudly

"You can both screw yourselves!" said Felix as he just cut the head off an orc charging for him "I'm on twenty-one!"

Gimli and Legolas exchanged somewhat surprised glances but then grinned and carried on.

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"Aragorn, behind you!" Aragorn quickly turned around and stabbed the orc Nat had warned him about and returned the favour as he decapitated the head off another one right behind Nat.

"Cheers." she told him

"You're welcome. You're doing quite well." Two orcs aimed for them so somehow they managed to kill two birds with one stone and it didn't take long before the orcs were lying dead in front of them.

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"Riley! Merry!" Riley had been nodding off to sleep when Pippin called his name. It was hours later and the ents were still in council but as Treebeard came up to them it seemed they had finally made a decision about what they were going to do.

"We have agreed that you are not orcs!" Treebeard announce

"That's hardly anything new!" Riley had to admit that he was a little frustrated. The battle was closing up on them and he wanted to be able to take part in it.

"What about Saruman?" Merry asked "Have you come to a decision about him?" Clearly it was annoying him as much as it was Riley.

"Now don't be hasty Master Meriadoc." said Treebeard as if there was no trouble at all.

"Hasty? Our friends are out there! They need our help! They cannot fight this war on their own!"

"Easy Merry." Riley put a hand on the hobbit's shoulder. Although he could see where he was coming from because he agreed, Riley also thought there was no point in arguing with Treebeard.

"The war affects us all." said Treebeard "But you have to understand young hobbit. It takes a very long time to say anything in Entish and we never say anything unless it takes a long time to say."

Riley sighed and sat back down on the ground. "This is going to be a very long night."

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"Twenty! Twenty-one! Twenty-two!"

"Thirty-four! Thirty-five!"

Nat raised an eyebrow as she heard Gimli, Felix and Legolas counting the number of orcs they had killed thus far. "You've got to be kidding me? You're keeping score?" she told them

"Hey I'm winning!" Felix told her triumphantly

Something then happened the caught all of their attention. There was a loud boom; an explosion and then Nat and Felix realised that parts of the wall had been blown to pieces. Then came the next thing; water flooding.

"Where's Aragorn?" Nat asked realising Aragorn wasn't there but when she looked around she saw he'd been cast over the wall and down to the ground. He didn't seem to be harmed though because he was up on his feet and charging the elves towards the orcs trying to get through to Helm's Deep.

"Legolas, what are you doing?" Nat asked

The elf was firing arrows and then suddenly he grabbed a shield, jumped up on then to Nat and Felix's awe, skateboarded down the stairs.

"Okay," Felix said "I'm officially a little bit in love with him."

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Down in the room where Maggie and the others were hiding out, they could hear the orcs trying to break down the door and get through.

"Eowyn. If they break through….what do we do?" Maggie asked. She kept her voice in a whisper because she didn't want to frighten anyone else. Although she was positive they were all thinking the same thing.

"Don't worry Maggie; it won't come to that. We'll be safe. We'll all be safe." said Eowyn but even she could hear the doubt in her own voice.

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Merry, Pippin and Riley all sat in silence and all of them equally disappointed. When Treebeard eventually told them about their final decision it wasn't what they had hoped for and neither of them knew what to do about it. Pippin was the first one to break the silence. "Maybe Treebeard is right Merry." he told his friend "We don't belong here. It's too big for us. What can we do? We've got the Shire. Maybe we should go home."

"Riley can't go home Pippin. He has to stay and the fires of Isengard will spread. The woods of Buckland will burn and all once green and good in this world will be gone. There won't be a Shire Pippin." Merry turned around Riley. "And besides; it wouldn't be fair if we left you. We're in this together; brothers in arms." A smile spread across Riley's face and right at that moment he couldn't help but to feel extremely proud of the two hobbits.

"He's right you know Pip. We need to do this and not just for the Shire. For Laura, Sam and Frodo. For all the others. We need to do our part."

They were right, Pippin realised, but some part of the young Peregrin Took wondered and thought that perhaps he should never have left Hobbiton to begin with.

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To be continued…

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