Chapter 35

Danielle rode next to her brother while they made their way to the Black Gates. According to Gandalf's calculations they would arrive there with in the hour. She wore the emblem of Gondor with the three, much like her brother, but the armor was hit for her body. On a normal day, Danielle would be fretting about the battle, but you see she had the last two days to so. Now she was just trying to find a way to entertain herself, and get her mind off of her soar bottom. There was no paint, or doors, around so she had to make due with the whole talking to people thing.

"Aragorn?" she spoke up while staring straight ahead.

"Yes?"

She paused for a second, "What was… What was mom like?"

Aragorn looked over at his sister, slightly shocked at the question. Then again, Danielle had never known her. He took in a deep breath, "She was called Gilraen the Fair. She was, fair. You have her eyes; that's what pulled me to trust you. She always seemed a little sad. Perhaps it was at the loss of our father, who died of an arrow through his eye, or it was the loss of you. She always spoke of wishing she could change so many things, that she could change the mistakes she made in the past. When I would ask her what she meant, she would always tell me that she would tell me when I got older… When that time came, I was too concerned with affairs of the heart and mind to even ask… The last I saw of her she said: This is our last parting, Estel, my son. I am aged by care, even as one of lesser Men; and now that it draws near I cannot face the darkness of our time that gathers upon Middle-earth. I shall leave soon…" Aragorn gave a sigh. "I tried to convince her there could be a light beyond the darkness and that we should hope for it. Her only reply was: Onen i-Estel Edain, ú-chebin estel anim—I gave Hope to the Dúnedain, I have kept no hope for myself."

Danielle looked over at her brother then down at the horse she rode upon, "I wish I had known her," she whispered while her hand fiddled with the ring that Aragorn had given her for her birthday.

Aragorn nodded his head and let the moment settle. He looked up ahead when they began to approach the Black gates. The rest of the army held back while Aragorn, Danielle, Legolas, Gimli, Éomer, Halbarad, and Gandalf strode towards the silent gates upon their horses. Pippin shared with Gandalf, "Let the Lord of the Black Land come forth!" Aragorn called, "Let justice be done upon him!"

Danielle swallowed hard when one of the gates opened slightly and out galloped a man with a large mouth of razor sharp teeth. The Mouth of Sauron, "My master Sauron the Great bids thee welcome," Danielle forced herself to look at the thing. Just the smell of it wreaked pure evil, worse over the fact it was the servant of evil, "Is there any in this rout with authority to treat with me?"

Gandalf spoke quickly, "We do not come to treat with Sauron, faithless and accursed. Tell your master this. The armies of Mordor must disband. He is to depart these lands, never to return."

The Mouth of Sauron snapped to look at Gandalf, "Aha! Old Greybeard! And his apprentice. A forgotten heir with forgotten magic. I have a token I was bidden to show thee," he pulled out the mithril shirt that belonged to Frodo.

Danielle kept her face as stone as possible, "Frodo," she heard Pippin whispered, and then he spoke louder, "Frodo!"

"Hush!" Danielle snapped looking at the hobbit. Pippin instantly did, given the look on Danielle's face. One the hobbit had never in the passed months had he ever seen before.

"The Halfling was dear to thee I see," if it was possible the evil thing seemed to smile more. "Know that he suffered greatly at the hands of his host. Who would've thought one so small could endure so much pain? And he did Gandalf, he did," he snapped his attention to Aragorn when his horse took a step forward. "And who is this? Isildur's heir? It takes more to make a King than a broken Elvish blade."

With one swift move from Aragorn, the Mouth of Sauron's head was gone, "I guess that concludes negotiations," Gimli spoke looking a little taken back.

"Do not believe it," Danielle spoke keeping her eyes from the nasty thing. They made their way back to the army.

Boromir glared at Rhiannan. It was some serious glaring. Rhiannan glanced back and attempted to give him an innocent smile, "Would you just stop!" she suddenly snapped. "It's too late now, I already delivered her message, and what else do you want me to do? Magically pull out of her a hat and say she didn't go and it was all a joke just to irritate you!"

His glare deepened, if that was possible, "You are her best friend, and you let her go…"

"She had to ok!" Rhiannan was starting to fear for her life, "I tried to talk to her about it but then she said something about… age and…wands…and brother being future king of Gondor and me being younger and all that racket…"

Boromir raised an eye brow and relented on his glaring for a moment, "You still disappoint me Lady Rhiannan."

"Charmed I'm sure," she muttered resting her chin in her hand.

"What?"

"What? What?"

Boromir sighed, "Don't you have anything better to do then bother the wounded?"

Rhiannan tilted her head as if thinking then shook it, "NOPE!"

"Can't you go bug Marry? He would enjoy the company…"

Rhiannan frowned, "Why would I do a thing like that? He is resting right now and needs it."

Boromir blinked, "Rhiannan, where are we?"

"In a hospital type room," Rhiannan answered while swaying back and forth.

"What am I?"

"The man who is going to marry my best friend and one who is recovering from some arrow wounds—andnow I see where you're gong with this," Rhiannan rambled. "You guys are so much alike it's creepy! She does the same thing with wands and our age and her brother and all that noise…"

Again, he blinked. Apparently he does that a lot when he's in disbelief, "I think you should go bother Faramir now."

"Why? You're so much funner to bother," she suddenly got up and began to poke him in the shoulder, "bother, bother, bother, bother, bother, bother, bother, bother, bother, bother, bother, bother—!"

"ENOUGH!" he snapped. "LEAVE ME ALONE!"

Rhiannan's eyes widened, "Crap…" she then sped away from the Gondorian only to run into Merry, "Merry!" she cheered pulling the hobbit into a hug, "I have a new song to teach you!"

"Is it the bear climbed over the mountain song?"

Rhiannan shook her head with an evil smile, "Nope! This is even better!"

Danielle took in a deep breath while she stared at the Black Gates. They were opening slowly, and behind them was a huge army of orcs and trolls, "Hold your ground! Hold your ground!" Aragorn called. He slowly pulled out in front of the small army and began to speak loud enough for all to hear, "Sons of Gondor, of Rohan, my brothers," and sisters; Danielle thought to herself, "I see it in your eyes, the same fear that would take the heart of me. A day may come when the courage of men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship, but it is not this day! An hour of wolves and shattered shields when the age of men comes crashing down, but it is not this day! This day we fight!" Danielle found herself smiling and the memories of the past few months flooding into her. The battles, the losses, and out of it a victory that would be good for all the people of Middle-earth, "By all that you hold dear on this good earth, I bid you stand! Men of the West!" Aragorn turned his horse and looked at the approaching army. "You with me?" he whispered to his little sister.

"Till the death," she whispered back unsheathing her sword.

"Never thought I'd die fighting side by side with an elf," she heard Gimli speak.

Legolas smiled, "What about side by side with a friend?"

Gimli smiled and looked like he was about to cry, well if one could read emotions behind a big beard, "Aye! I could do that."

Danielle looked to her brother who for a moment seemed mesmerized. He dropped his arms for a moment and looked back at Gandalf who had Frodo's mithril shirt in hand. Aragorn nodded his head and spoke "For Frodo…" before speeding off into the direction of the army. Danielle did the same and instantly ducked from a near by blow and was on the ground in an instant. She blocked an attack and as fast as she could master slit the orcs throat while moving on. The battle seemed to go on forever then she heard Pippin cry, "The Eagles! The Eagles are coming!"

The giant birds flew at the Nazgûl that was heading their way, and their was a ferocious battle not just on the ground but in the sky. Danielle stuck her sword into the gut of an orc and froze when she watched a troll suddenly turn and flee. The ground began to shake and the tower of Barad Dûr was crumbling. The ground around the Gondorian army began to crumble and pull their enemy into the ground. Danielle whipped her head around and stared at the looks on all those around her. Gandalf's happy face instantly dropped as Mordor began to cave into itself. She ran to the wizard and touched his shoulder, "The eagles," she spoke to him, "if they will allow we can take them and look through the area around Mount Doom. Their smart hobbits, they'll be waiting!"

Gandalf looked to the young woman then nodded his head, "You'll come with me then."

Boromir sat with his hands over his ears while Merry, Rhiannan, and Bergil marched through the halls singing, "I know a song that gets on everybody's nerves, everybody's nerves, everybody's nerves! I know a song that gets on everybody's nerves and this is how it goes! I know a song that gets on everybody's nerves, everybody's nerves, everybody's nerves! I know a song that gets on everybody's nerves and this is how it goes! I know a song that gets on everybody's nerves, everybody's nerves, everybody's nerves! I know a song that gets on everybody's nerves and this is how it goes! I know a song that gets on everybody's nerves, everybody's nerves, everybody's nerves! I know a song that gets on everybody's nerves and this is how it goes!"

Their singing suddenly stopped when the darkness that surrounded them and Mordor suddenly collapsed. Merry ran to the closest window, "Frodo!" he cried. "Frodo has done it! Frodo has destroyed the ring!"

Rhiannan stared out at the mountains across the Gondorian plains, "They did it," she whispered, surprised the words came out of her in such a shocked matter, "I can't believe they did it…"

Merry hugged Rhiannan around the waist, "FRODO DID IT RHIANNAN! HE DID IT!"

The half-elf smiled gently and nodded her head, "Yeah…he did…"

"GANDALF!" Danielle screamed in fear while the eagle took off. She gripped onto the beast with her dear life then looked up when the eagle steadied itself. The fear that had over taken her quickly washed away and she was filled with excitement. They flew close to Mount Doom then Danielle pointed, "Gandalf!" she called. "Right there!"

The eagle Gandalf rode on and the one Danielle rode on each picked up a hobbit and made their way to Minis Tirith. Danielle watched as the world slowly passed them by. It was, in a word, beautiful. Then Minis Tirith came into view after about an hour of flight. For the first time she saw what Boromir meant so many months ago. It glimmered in the sunlight. Despite the wreckage of the place it was perfect.

They landed easily enough and people were outside the gate in an instant to get the now sleeping hobbits. Danielle slid off of her eagle, looked up at it when it turned to her, gave it a slight bow and watched it fly off.

The young woman turned and looked at Gandalf who for the first time seemed to have a content look on his face, "Gandalf?" she called while they walked into the city once again.

"Hm?"

"What did he mean…by forgotten magic?"

Gandalf looked down at her, "I believe it has something to do with the world you came from," Gandalf commented. "Did you not think it odd that I gave you a small wand instead of a staff?"

"It did have me a little curious, yeah…"

"Wand magic used to be normal in our world," he explained slowly, "but then it just dwindled away. Your world, on the other hand, knows it quite well. In our world itis a forgotten magic, but in that world, it isvery well known."

Danielle furrowed her eye brows and continued walking. Suddenly she was pulled away by a set of maids and dragged off to get washed off.

Rhiannan watched while the army entered the city. Eagles had arrives a few hours earlier with Gandalf and the hobbits. Who knew where Danielle was. Rhiannan hadn't even talked to Gandalf yet as she was busy annoying the hell out of Boromir. Of course the Gondorian had finally grown a brain and took to hiding from her.

She, at the moment, was lying with her head dangling off upside down on one of the hospital beds. With people gone it was boring, but soon Aragorn would be there to bother. The soon to be king hadn't figured out that if he hid from her then she wouldn't be able to bother him, or if he just ignored her. It was funner when she got a rise out of people. She jerked her head up when she watched Merry and Pippin have their happy and bouncy reunion. Rhiannan shook her head and went back to hanging her head upside down.

Danielle pulled at the material that she was force to wear. It was a dark blue velvet dress with arms that fanned out, a small silver tiara placed upon her head, and they had even done her nails. She had two small braids tied together in the back and the rest dangled freely down to the middle of her back. Most of the trip she had kept her hair in a bun, but being forced to wear this dress made her realize how much she had changed. She wasn't the kid she had started out as, but a young woman.

With a sigh she left to go greet her arriving brother then the sight of a man standing at a balcony near the room she was in made her gasp, "Boromir?" she whispered loud enough for him to hear. The man turned around and stared at her. Without a thought she burst into a run and jumped into his arms, "Boromir!" she cried happily while he wrapped his arms around her waist. He pressed his lips against her passionately and laughed when he pulled away.

Rhiannan watched from the side of the corridor. A small smile spread across the young woman's face then she turned and made her way to meet the arriving party. Danielle's happy, that's good, now just gotta get Arwen here and we're set! Oh, must go greet the future king with his favorite song! Now…where did those two hobbits go…and Bergil… They will help…most indeed… MWAHAHAHAHAHA!

Note: Okay, so, a few more chapters left… Sad isn't it? But don't think that the story ends there, people! I've been hinting at something since…some chapter a while back. Anyway! Thanks to all my reviewers!

Jedi X-man Serena Kenobi, Laer4572, Katie, ElvenRyder, ElfLuver13, Valinor's Twilight, Lintered, lovenhope, and Tsuki no Yasha.

Now do the clicky! OR I'll bother you! (holds up a naked puppet of Dumbledore and makes him dance) It's naked time!