Risa held her breath as she began to fall. Oh, Gods, let it be quick, she prayed, shutting her eyes, wrapping her arms around Cowie and squeezing tight, waiting, hoping that the burning of the lava wouldn't be too painful, hoping that the others would get out okay, hoping.... just hoping. There was a sound like a hundred fireworks expolding, and she began shaking, spinning and flying about like a piece of newspaper caught in a hurricane. There was a roaring sound in her ears, and violent heat in her face, and a sudden light blinded her. Then, mercifully, it all went black.
*****
The first thing Risa realized upon awakening was just that-- she was awakening. Wherever she was, it was shiningly, pristinely white. She was lying comfortably on a warm,white tile floor. The ceiling above was white, the walls were white, the light fixtures, the lamps, the doors, the moldings, were all white. Even the light was white.
And she was most assuredly alive. She sat up, still hugging Cowie, and blinked around herself in astonishment. It was so beautiful here! So comforting after Mordor and falling into the lake of fire! Risa felt so safe she wanted to cry. She was about to when there was another brilliant flash of light, and another and another as people began to materialize around her-- Zoe and Micah and Amitie, her elf friend, The Guy in Grey, two more elves, one another blond male, one a female with blue-streaked hair, and yet another blond male elf. They were all blinking like she had and staring around in amazement like she was.
"RISA!" Her three friends cried as one, running and jumping and landing on top of her in an ungainly pile. "OOMPH!" She replied, knocked to the ground grinning and buried in buddies.
"What is happening here?" the Guy in Grey demanded, drawing his sword.
"Naira!" The last blond elf cried, rushing over and grabbing the blue-haired chick and spinning her around. She laughed and hugged him tight. "Calendae! I missed you so!" She responded before kissing him. He grinned and spun her around again.
"Haldir! You're alive, too!" Micah yelled, and practically tackling the second blond elf guy, who blushed but looked relieved and ecstatic, if you can imagine that particular expression. Risa laughed as she hugged both Amitie and Zoe at once. Micah's victim looked about to cry. When she looked up, her elf-friend was standing over the three girls, glaring down at her. She stopped smiling and swallowed nervously.
Damn, I knew he wouldn't be happy! To her complete surprise he grabbed her arm and pulled her up into a rib-cracking embrace. "I was so frightened for you! Don't you ever run off like that again!" He admonished, while Risa fought her shock and tried to breathe.
"Oh, that's nothing," Zoe said furiously. "We got to see her jump off a cliff into a river of molten lava!"
"YOU WHAT!?" The elf yelled, and Risa winced.
"Well, you see, it was like this--"
Risa was about to explain when she fell silent, her face freezing with emotion. She had just caught sight of a figure over her friend's shoulder. A very familar figure. She wasn't very tall, really, but she was delicate and slender. Her face was heart-breakingly lovely, set with wide blue eyes fringed in gold. Her hair, a cascade of sunshine-gold, fell over her shoulders and drifted to her waist. Her hands were clasped before her, and her gown was spun of the finest silver thread, and floated around her like her hair. Risa knew that face, although it had been lined and wrinkled with age the last time she saw it. And the woman's figure had been bent and sunken, but her eyes had been the same summer-sky blue, and she'd had the same radient, loving smile. Risa had no doubts. It had to be!
"GRAMMA!" She cried, and ran up, throwing her arms around the woman and bawling like an infant.
The rest of the group stood silently, some a bit unnerved, but some, like Zoe and Amitie, blinking back their own tears and grinning so hard their faces seemed ready to break.
"Lady Celebêl?" Her friend said in mild awe, and all the elves present stared in humbled shock and deep respect. Her Gramma nodded her head once and smoothed back Risa's hair.
"I thought I told you to stay out of trouble, little girl," she accused gently.
"Gramma! You're dead!" Risa accused right back, suddenly feeling somewhat cheated and very put-out.
Celebêl laughed. "Of course I am, little girl," she agreed, and then laughed again, turning her attention to everyone else present.
"I wish to apologize to you all. The book that I had written, that my granddaughter so predictably stumbled upon, should never have been created."
"You mean this damn thing?" Amitie grumbled, pulling the very book from her bag.
"Yes, Amitie. That damn thing," Celebêl agreed with a nod. The teens were somewhat unsettled to hear someone who was obviously revered as a goddess or something speak so normally. Especially in Middle Earth.
"Why?" Zoe asked all her questions in one word.
The beautiful woman got a very far-away look suddenly, and became consdierably less-cheerful than before. "Let it just be said that Risa comes by her rotten luck honestly. It was a dream I had, long ago, that I recorded, not knowing my own powers. I should have destroyed it, but I hadn't the will. But now," she said, taking the book from Amitie, "I do. And everything will be put as it should have been. Everything will go back as it was before, these events you all endured dissapearing from both history and personal memory, because they will never have happened." She stopped speaking, and Risa was certain that her Gramma was dismayed at her failure to predict the group's reactions to such a promise. Micah was staring at her like a little kid who's icecream just fell off the cone and landed on the sidewalk. His companion, close at his side, bore a similar expression. Her elf-friend looked as stricken as stricken can be, and the Guy in Grey looked pretty peeved in general. Of course, he'd looked like that whole time anyways. The elven lovers were clinging to each other and staring pleadingly at her Gramma. Only Amitie and Zoe looked remotely happy, but even they seemed dissapointed.
Risa glanced back at her new friend and their eyes locked momentarily. She felt a wave of enormous sorrow and turned back to her Gramma, pleading in her eyes.
"The memory of... all of it?"
"Yes, sweetheart. All of it."
"Even.... even seeing you?" She added in a quiet whisper. Celebêl's face softened. "I'm afraid so, my darling girl."
Risa felt her chin tremble. Then she glared at her Gramma, crossed her arms over her chest, and spun on her heel, seething. It wasn't fair! True, it wasn't as if she really wanted to remember being insane, and trekking through Mordor, thinking the CPC was dead, and least of all falling into a volcano. But there had been good times, too! Talking with her elf-friend, being in that palace, saving her pals. Risa wanted to scream. She finally got her Gramma back, after so many tears and so much wishing, and now she wouldn't even remember it!
Celebêl heaved a deep sigh. "Well, perhaps.... perhaps I can leave you the memories you've made--"
Everyone cheered and Risa bounded back into her Gramma's arms. Pouting, Risa thought smugly. Beating down grandparent's defenses for countless eons. She grinned again.
"But you must speak of them to no one! These events will not have existed to anyone except those of you here, in this room, and myself. If one of you disobeys, you all shall be visited of my wrath!"
"And her wrath is considerable," Risa added. Amitie, Zoe and Micah nodded vigorously in agreement. They well remembered the science experiment that had blown up Risa's Gramma's hollyhocks that one summer, and Celebêl's wrath had been visited upon them... in force.
"Well then, I'll leave you to your goodbyes. Then it will be back to your respective times and worlds,"
"Will we ever see each other again?" Micah asked in a small voice. Celebêl smiled gently at him.
"That remains to be seen," she said. Everyone was getting depressed again. People turned to their private good-byes. Her friend was waiting for her.
"Gramma," Risa started shakily. "I know I didn't get to say it before, but... I love you, and goodbye," She said, tears spilling over. She hugged the delicate woman again, and her Gramma hugged her back.
"I know, Little Girl. I love you too. Be careful, take care of yourself. I'm sure that this isn't the last time we'll meet. Kiss your mother for me. And for God's sake, be good!"
Risa laughed and nodded. "I will, Gramma."
"Goodbye, darling girl," Celebêl said, and then faded into a white light.
Risa turned around and buried her face in her elf friend's shoulder and started sobbing. He seemed a bit surprised, to say the least. Amitie and Zoe were saying goodbye to the blue-haired chick and her lover-boy. Micah and his elf-guy were saying their own goodbyes in a corner a bit away from everyone else, and Risa was left with her two new friends.
She hugged the Guy in Grey, hugged the elf, hugged the guy again, and then hugged the elf again. Then she hugged them both at once. "Thank you guys so much for taking care of me! And rescuing me from the tree. I remember now... but I feel bad. I don't even know your names."
"I am Aragorn, son of Arathorn," the Guy in Grey said. Risa grinned. Of course! It made sense to her, now that she thought about it. Other odd scraps of memory were starting to come back to her...
"I'm sorry I was so weird to you, Aragorn," Risa apologized again. Aragorn shrugged and looked uncomfortable. "No apologies required."
"Have fun with Arwen," Risa whispered next to him, winking and laughing when he gave her a shocked look. She turned to her elf-friend then, although she now had a suspicion who he was now.
"Legolas Greenleaf, son of Thranduil?" She asked, feeling a mad blush coming on.
"Prince of the Mirkwood elves," he finished with a laugh, and Risa moaned and buried her face in her hands, remembering her escapades on the balcony. "Oh, man..." The elf laughed again.
"Risa..." he said then, turning serious. But Risa suddenly felt a strange feeling start at her tummy and work its way up. She heard her friends start to call out goodbyes to their friends. Micah was positively clinging to his elf, but it was all for nothing. Risa reached out and grabbed Legolas's sleeve, and then she was sucked into the tunnel of light, twisting and flying her way back to Westingford, back to Fort LeBison, and her mother, and play practice, after-school stops at Lou's On the Sidewalk, canoeing in the creek, sleepovers at Amitie's, games of tag in the park, and all the good times and places she and her friends had shared and knew. Their adventure, such as it had been, was over.
*****
The first thing Risa realized upon awakening was just that-- she was awakening. Wherever she was, it was shiningly, pristinely white. She was lying comfortably on a warm,white tile floor. The ceiling above was white, the walls were white, the light fixtures, the lamps, the doors, the moldings, were all white. Even the light was white.
And she was most assuredly alive. She sat up, still hugging Cowie, and blinked around herself in astonishment. It was so beautiful here! So comforting after Mordor and falling into the lake of fire! Risa felt so safe she wanted to cry. She was about to when there was another brilliant flash of light, and another and another as people began to materialize around her-- Zoe and Micah and Amitie, her elf friend, The Guy in Grey, two more elves, one another blond male, one a female with blue-streaked hair, and yet another blond male elf. They were all blinking like she had and staring around in amazement like she was.
"RISA!" Her three friends cried as one, running and jumping and landing on top of her in an ungainly pile. "OOMPH!" She replied, knocked to the ground grinning and buried in buddies.
"What is happening here?" the Guy in Grey demanded, drawing his sword.
"Naira!" The last blond elf cried, rushing over and grabbing the blue-haired chick and spinning her around. She laughed and hugged him tight. "Calendae! I missed you so!" She responded before kissing him. He grinned and spun her around again.
"Haldir! You're alive, too!" Micah yelled, and practically tackling the second blond elf guy, who blushed but looked relieved and ecstatic, if you can imagine that particular expression. Risa laughed as she hugged both Amitie and Zoe at once. Micah's victim looked about to cry. When she looked up, her elf-friend was standing over the three girls, glaring down at her. She stopped smiling and swallowed nervously.
Damn, I knew he wouldn't be happy! To her complete surprise he grabbed her arm and pulled her up into a rib-cracking embrace. "I was so frightened for you! Don't you ever run off like that again!" He admonished, while Risa fought her shock and tried to breathe.
"Oh, that's nothing," Zoe said furiously. "We got to see her jump off a cliff into a river of molten lava!"
"YOU WHAT!?" The elf yelled, and Risa winced.
"Well, you see, it was like this--"
Risa was about to explain when she fell silent, her face freezing with emotion. She had just caught sight of a figure over her friend's shoulder. A very familar figure. She wasn't very tall, really, but she was delicate and slender. Her face was heart-breakingly lovely, set with wide blue eyes fringed in gold. Her hair, a cascade of sunshine-gold, fell over her shoulders and drifted to her waist. Her hands were clasped before her, and her gown was spun of the finest silver thread, and floated around her like her hair. Risa knew that face, although it had been lined and wrinkled with age the last time she saw it. And the woman's figure had been bent and sunken, but her eyes had been the same summer-sky blue, and she'd had the same radient, loving smile. Risa had no doubts. It had to be!
"GRAMMA!" She cried, and ran up, throwing her arms around the woman and bawling like an infant.
The rest of the group stood silently, some a bit unnerved, but some, like Zoe and Amitie, blinking back their own tears and grinning so hard their faces seemed ready to break.
"Lady Celebêl?" Her friend said in mild awe, and all the elves present stared in humbled shock and deep respect. Her Gramma nodded her head once and smoothed back Risa's hair.
"I thought I told you to stay out of trouble, little girl," she accused gently.
"Gramma! You're dead!" Risa accused right back, suddenly feeling somewhat cheated and very put-out.
Celebêl laughed. "Of course I am, little girl," she agreed, and then laughed again, turning her attention to everyone else present.
"I wish to apologize to you all. The book that I had written, that my granddaughter so predictably stumbled upon, should never have been created."
"You mean this damn thing?" Amitie grumbled, pulling the very book from her bag.
"Yes, Amitie. That damn thing," Celebêl agreed with a nod. The teens were somewhat unsettled to hear someone who was obviously revered as a goddess or something speak so normally. Especially in Middle Earth.
"Why?" Zoe asked all her questions in one word.
The beautiful woman got a very far-away look suddenly, and became consdierably less-cheerful than before. "Let it just be said that Risa comes by her rotten luck honestly. It was a dream I had, long ago, that I recorded, not knowing my own powers. I should have destroyed it, but I hadn't the will. But now," she said, taking the book from Amitie, "I do. And everything will be put as it should have been. Everything will go back as it was before, these events you all endured dissapearing from both history and personal memory, because they will never have happened." She stopped speaking, and Risa was certain that her Gramma was dismayed at her failure to predict the group's reactions to such a promise. Micah was staring at her like a little kid who's icecream just fell off the cone and landed on the sidewalk. His companion, close at his side, bore a similar expression. Her elf-friend looked as stricken as stricken can be, and the Guy in Grey looked pretty peeved in general. Of course, he'd looked like that whole time anyways. The elven lovers were clinging to each other and staring pleadingly at her Gramma. Only Amitie and Zoe looked remotely happy, but even they seemed dissapointed.
Risa glanced back at her new friend and their eyes locked momentarily. She felt a wave of enormous sorrow and turned back to her Gramma, pleading in her eyes.
"The memory of... all of it?"
"Yes, sweetheart. All of it."
"Even.... even seeing you?" She added in a quiet whisper. Celebêl's face softened. "I'm afraid so, my darling girl."
Risa felt her chin tremble. Then she glared at her Gramma, crossed her arms over her chest, and spun on her heel, seething. It wasn't fair! True, it wasn't as if she really wanted to remember being insane, and trekking through Mordor, thinking the CPC was dead, and least of all falling into a volcano. But there had been good times, too! Talking with her elf-friend, being in that palace, saving her pals. Risa wanted to scream. She finally got her Gramma back, after so many tears and so much wishing, and now she wouldn't even remember it!
Celebêl heaved a deep sigh. "Well, perhaps.... perhaps I can leave you the memories you've made--"
Everyone cheered and Risa bounded back into her Gramma's arms. Pouting, Risa thought smugly. Beating down grandparent's defenses for countless eons. She grinned again.
"But you must speak of them to no one! These events will not have existed to anyone except those of you here, in this room, and myself. If one of you disobeys, you all shall be visited of my wrath!"
"And her wrath is considerable," Risa added. Amitie, Zoe and Micah nodded vigorously in agreement. They well remembered the science experiment that had blown up Risa's Gramma's hollyhocks that one summer, and Celebêl's wrath had been visited upon them... in force.
"Well then, I'll leave you to your goodbyes. Then it will be back to your respective times and worlds,"
"Will we ever see each other again?" Micah asked in a small voice. Celebêl smiled gently at him.
"That remains to be seen," she said. Everyone was getting depressed again. People turned to their private good-byes. Her friend was waiting for her.
"Gramma," Risa started shakily. "I know I didn't get to say it before, but... I love you, and goodbye," She said, tears spilling over. She hugged the delicate woman again, and her Gramma hugged her back.
"I know, Little Girl. I love you too. Be careful, take care of yourself. I'm sure that this isn't the last time we'll meet. Kiss your mother for me. And for God's sake, be good!"
Risa laughed and nodded. "I will, Gramma."
"Goodbye, darling girl," Celebêl said, and then faded into a white light.
Risa turned around and buried her face in her elf friend's shoulder and started sobbing. He seemed a bit surprised, to say the least. Amitie and Zoe were saying goodbye to the blue-haired chick and her lover-boy. Micah and his elf-guy were saying their own goodbyes in a corner a bit away from everyone else, and Risa was left with her two new friends.
She hugged the Guy in Grey, hugged the elf, hugged the guy again, and then hugged the elf again. Then she hugged them both at once. "Thank you guys so much for taking care of me! And rescuing me from the tree. I remember now... but I feel bad. I don't even know your names."
"I am Aragorn, son of Arathorn," the Guy in Grey said. Risa grinned. Of course! It made sense to her, now that she thought about it. Other odd scraps of memory were starting to come back to her...
"I'm sorry I was so weird to you, Aragorn," Risa apologized again. Aragorn shrugged and looked uncomfortable. "No apologies required."
"Have fun with Arwen," Risa whispered next to him, winking and laughing when he gave her a shocked look. She turned to her elf-friend then, although she now had a suspicion who he was now.
"Legolas Greenleaf, son of Thranduil?" She asked, feeling a mad blush coming on.
"Prince of the Mirkwood elves," he finished with a laugh, and Risa moaned and buried her face in her hands, remembering her escapades on the balcony. "Oh, man..." The elf laughed again.
"Risa..." he said then, turning serious. But Risa suddenly felt a strange feeling start at her tummy and work its way up. She heard her friends start to call out goodbyes to their friends. Micah was positively clinging to his elf, but it was all for nothing. Risa reached out and grabbed Legolas's sleeve, and then she was sucked into the tunnel of light, twisting and flying her way back to Westingford, back to Fort LeBison, and her mother, and play practice, after-school stops at Lou's On the Sidewalk, canoeing in the creek, sleepovers at Amitie's, games of tag in the park, and all the good times and places she and her friends had shared and knew. Their adventure, such as it had been, was over.