Disclaimer: I don't own anything except my own characters.
A/N: Thank you, thank you, thank you so much for all the lovely reviews! There's really not much left to say so here's the next chapter! Enjoy!
Twenty-Five
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"Look Mr Frodo, a doorway." Laura could hardly believe her eyes; they were standing by the entrance to Mount Doom. It was getting so hot she was struggling to breathe and the climb up the mountain had been difficult. She looked at Sam who was carrying Frodo on his shoulders and she hoped that they would make it in time. Looking up at the mountain, Laura suddenly felt very small not only because it was intimidating but because she was aware of the power within it. When Laura turned to Sam she saw his eyes widened and he called out to her.
"LAURA!" Before Laura was able to react, Gollum had grabbed her ankle and pulled her down. She cursed loudly and tried grabbing Gollum but he leapt onto Sam and pulled Frodo off his shoulder.
"Mustn't go that way," Gollum hissed
"No!" Frodo shouted as she pushed Gollum off him and Laura watched as Gollum got back up onto his feet and headed back to Frodo when Sam suddenly rushed forward and attacked him.
"SAM!"
"Go after Frodo!" Sam told her
Frodo was running towards the entrance and Laura ran after him.
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The battle seemed to never end and it didn't matter how many orcs Felix killed, more kept on coming. He was exhausted in so many ways but he still kept going and he wouldn't give up even if it killed him. Felix heard his friends around him and saw Maggie in the corner of his eyes fighting for what her life was worth. All those months ago, on that rainy night in London, there was no way he would have thought this is where he'd end up. On a battlefield in Middle-Earth fighting for what he believed in and the people he loved.
Fighting for Riley and fighting Eowyn.
Suddenly Felix heard a shrill cry in the air that he recognised all too well.
"Great, just what we need. Nazguls." Felix saw the Nazguls flying closer towards them but then something happened that he hadn't expected. Almost from out of nowhere, an eagle came and put his claws right into the Nazguls. Felix turned around to Gandalf and saw the wizard grinning.
"Eagles!" Pippin shouted "The eagles are coming!"
Hope was still on their side.
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"I'm here Laura." Frodo stood at the very edge of mount doom, looking right into the fires below him. Laura saw him holding the ring in his hand, playing with it.
"Destroy it!" Sam had caught up with them and stood next to Laura. She could see he was bleeding from his fight with Gollum but that didn't seem to bother him in the least. Frodo held out the ring right over the edge and Laura felt her heart beating so fast she could swear it was going to leap right out of her chest. Laura couldn't tell how long they'd been standing there because it felt like time ceased to exist. But Frodo never let go of the ring; instead, he turned around to Sam and Laura and said the unthinkable.
"No. The ring is mine" said the hobbit
Tears began streaming down Laura's eyes and she didn't know what to do. She just knew that they couldn't let Frodo do this.
"Frodo you can't do this! You can't keep the ring! Not after all we've been fighting for! You need to throw it into the fire!" she shouted
Frodo didn't reply. Instead he took the ring off the chain, put it on his finger and disappeared.
"NOOOOOO!" The look of complete and utter devastation in Sam's eyes broke Laura's heart more than anything. All this way and then this. She didn't want to believe it. Even though she couldn't see Frodo, Laura could still hear his footsteps around him and tried to follow the sound until she turned around and saw Sam lying on unconscious on the ground and saw Gollum looking up at her. For a moment she thought he was going to attack her but instead he headed straight for the edge of the mountain and jumped on what Laura assumed was the invisible Frodo and then bit him.
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"Eomer behind you!" Nat's warning allowed Eomer to quickly duck and then cut the head off the rather large orc that had tried aiming for him.
"How many times have you saved my life?" he asked Nat as he looked at her
"Probably about as many as you've saved mine. Don't worry about it." she replied
In the middle of it all, Eomer grabbed hold of Nat and pulled her in for a kiss which when they broke it off, left her just staring at him.
"I want to marry you." He told her
"I don't think we have time for marriage now." By now, three orcs were already dead by Eomer's sword and two by Nat's.
"After all this." Eomer said. Yet another orc dead. "Will you be my wife?"
"For god's sake Nat, you love him! Say yes and then get on with the fighting because no pressure or anything but it's getting just a tad crowded here!" Felix shouted not too far away
"Yes, I'll marry you." Nat said. In all honesty, it wasn't as if she had to think about it at all. It had just caught her off guard. A massive smile lit up on Eomer's face and he kissed her again quickly.
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Laura felt as if her world was falling apart. She saw Gollum holding the ring in his hands, dancing around with it as if nothing could take it away from him. She knelt down next to the unconscious Sam and desperately tried waking him up and at the same time she saw Frodo getting back up onto his feet, walking towards Gollum.
"Sam, wake up!" Laura nudged Sam and eventually the hobbit opened his and looked at Laura, slightly dazed and confused. Laura didn't say anything but she didn't have to, Sam could see for himself. Frodo and Gollum were both fighting for the ring and then, to both Sam and Laura's horror, they both fell over the edge. Sam shot up and both him and Laura ran to the edge. Frodo was still holding on but Laura was never going to be able to forget the sight in front of her. Gollum was slowly disintegrating in front of her and when he was gone the ring remained in the fire for a few mere moments until it eventually melted away into the fire it had been made from.
The ring was destroyed.
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Maggie didn't know what had happened at first. The sonic boom knocked her and everybody else off their feet and caused a massive rift in the ground which became the death of a majority of the orcs. The Black Gate was destroyed and it was only when Maggie saw Sauron's tower falling and that the eye was gone that she realised that Frodo must have done it. The ring was the destroyed. She heard Merry and Pippin cheering loudly but the cheering stopped when they all realised that Mount Doom was falling apart in front of their eyes and that their friends were still up there.
"…Laura."
Maggie, Nat and Felix looked at each other, all of them thinking the same thing.
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"I never thought this was how I would die." Laura hardly dared looking at the flowing lava around them. It all seemed a bit too surreal but she was starting to accept the fact that this was it. They lay there, all three of them on the rock and Laura felt Frodo taking her hand and looked at her with a smile. It was the kind of smile she hadn't seen on him in a very long time.
"I can see the Shire," he told them "Brandywine River. Bag End. Gandalf's Fireworks." Laura could see it too and she wished that she would have had a chance to see it herself; the home that the Hobbits spoke about so dearly. It was strange, Laura thought, because even though she could see her home too she felt like her family was still here. The Fellowship had become her family.
"Rosie Cotton dancing. She had ribbons in her hair." Sam said "If ever I was to marry someone, it would have been her. It would have been her." he was sobbing now and as was Laura. Frodo put his arms around his friend.
"I'm glad to be with you Samwise Gamgee and you Laura; here at the end of all things."
So am I, Laura thought, so am I. Laura closed her eyes and felt herself drifting off to some kind of restless sleep and in the distances, she thought she could hear the sounds of birds crying.
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Laura didn't know where she was but she knew it had to be a dream. She could tell because her surrounding were sort of white and foggy and very Harry Potter. It was like she was at the bit of the Deathly Hallows when Harry meets Dumbledore on Platform 9 ¾. Except, it wasn't Dumbledore standing in front of her, it was Riley. Laura knew then that she must have been right back in Mordor and known that something had happened.
"Riley? Oh god, you're…"
"Dead? Yeah, I'm sorry you had to find out this way." Riley told her. Strangely, Laura didn't feel sad because by seeing Riley, she knew that he was alright, that he was in peace.
"Am I dead?" she asked
Riley shook his head "No, you're not dead. You have so much to live for and your future is full of so many good things. Besides, there's a man who's dying to see you again."
Laura didn't have to guess twice about who Riley meant. "So, what am I doing here?" she asked
Riley went to sit next to her and when Laura looked at him his face fell a little.
"I need you to tell Maggie not to blame herself. She needs to know that none of this was her fault. This was always meant to happen; this was always meant to be my fate."
"Why can't you tell her?" Laura asked
"If I come to her, if she sees me, she'll never be able to let me go. You know how she is, she lingers and it would eat her up. I would never be able to forgive myself. I know you're all hurting and I am so sorry for leaving you but this is how it has to be. The world goes on and I'll still be there, looking over you. I'll never really leave. I love all of you. Make sure they know?"
Even though it hurt, Laura knew that Riley was right. She nodded and Riley smiled at her as he pulled her in for a long hug.
"I'm never going to see you like this again am I?" Laura asked
Riley grinned, that same mischievous grin he always had when he was up to something. "Oh, you never really know what might happen."
And before Laura knew it, everything faded out and Riley was gone again.
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"Look at this little guy; he is so adorable it's unreal."
"Be careful Mags, you may never get your son off Nat."
"I don't know, a babysitter might be useful every now and then." Laura woke up to the sound of three very familiar voices speaking and when she opened her eyes she saw Nat, Felix and Maggie sat around her bed. Nat was holding a very small baby in her arms and Laura could only assume that this was Maggie and Elrond's son.
"OH MY GOD! You're awake!" Maggie and Felix practically threw themselves on Laura when they realise she was no longer unconscious and Nat laughed.
"Can't…breathe."
"Sorry." Felix apologised as they got off her but Laura smiled.
"I'm so glad to see you guys again," she told them. Nat gave Caspian back to Maggie and then gave Laura an equally long hug.
"Felix, are you crying?" Maggie asked
Felix dried away his tears. "It's just been a long time since all of us have been together." he said
"Yeah, not all of us." And then it hit Maggie that Laura was the only one who didn't know and that they would have to tell her about Riley. "Oh god Laura…you don't know."
"That Riley's dead?" she said "I already know." The other three looked at her with puzzled expressions because they couldn't understand how she could possibly have known.
"How…?" Felix asked
"I know this is going to sound crazy but I saw him. When I was unconscious, he came to me in a sort of a vision, I guess. He, uhm, he actually had a message for you Maggie."
"What did he say?" Maggie asked
"He wants you to know that he's at peace, that's he's happy and that you can't blame yourself for what happened because it was always meant to happen and that it wasn't your fault. He loves you, all of us and he wants us to know that he'll always be looking out for us."
Maggie was crying again and she wasn't sure what to feel. As far as visions were concerned, she didn't think it sounded crazy at all because she remembered back when she had first met Elrond in Rivendell the vision she had from Celebrian.
"I miss him." Nat whispered. It felt so empty, not to have Riley there.
"We all do," Felix said "I don't think that will ever go away. I don't think it's meant to."
"I'm sorry," Laura said "God I feel like I've missed so much."
"Speaking of missing, we all better hurry. After all, there's a coronation we don't want to miss." Felix said
Laura had almost forgotten about that. Aragorn was going to be crowned king.
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Minas Tirith had never been so alive before. There was a sense of serenity in the air Nat hadn't seen anywhere and it was amazing. The courtyard was packed and at the very front, Aragorn was kneeling down in front of Gandalf who put the crown on his head.
"Now come the days of the King!" Gandalf called out "May they be blessed."
"This day does not belong to one man but to all," Aragorn said "Let us together rebuild this world that we may share in the days of peace."
People cheered and applauded and Aragorn walked up greet Legolas and the other Mirkwood elves who had come to join the celebration. Legolas briefly turned to Maggie and smile and she knew exactly what that smile meant.
"He has no idea does he?" Felix whispered so that only Maggie could hear.
Maggie grinned and shook her head "None at all."
Legolas stepped aside and it took Aragorn a few moments until he realised that Arwen was standing in front of him. She was dressed beautifully in a green dress and with a crown that made it look like there were stars in her hair. Maggie could swear she saw Elrond crying as she gave his daughter away to her husband. When they finally embraced in a kiss, everyone cheered again and Maggie was glad to finally see them reunited. Together, they walked down the aisle and as they did everyone bowed or curtseyed in turn and when they walked up to the four hobbits, they did the same.
"My friends," Aragorn said "You bow to no one." Aragorn and Arwen bowed and as did every single other person around them. Frodo, Pippin, Sam and Merry all seem to be so flustered by it all that Maggie couldn't help but to smile. Then Aragorn walked up to Maggie, Felix, Nat and Laura. He took Maggie's hand and looked at her and she couldn't believe that she was the man who had once been little Estel, grow up to be king.
"And you four," he told them "I owe you my life."
To Be Continued…
What did you think of that? It's not over just yet! There's at least three more chapters to go and the next one will be up right away because it's already written! Please review!