Chapter 239: The Fellowship Crumbles
"Hold your ground, hold your ground. Sons of Gondor, of Rohan, my brothers. I see 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! For all that you hold dear on this good Earth, I bid you stand, Men of the West!" – Aragorn, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King – J.R.R Tolkien
"The real problem is not whether machines think but whether men do." – B. F. Skinner
"Well what do we do now?" Vaughn asked, staring at the screen.
"I dunno…" Will said equally lost.
Vaughn smirked, "Dude…if neither one of us know, we're not gonna do very well on this game."
"I told you we should have played Buffy!"
"Will please!" Francie said, "Would ya stop with the Buffy!?"
"WHAT? I like Buffy! It's probably less complicated than this game!"
"Why don't you read the instructions," Sydney said.
Will turned to look at her, "Huh…good idea."
He grabbed the box and the manual and read; "The Lord of the Rings™: The Return of the King™ video game puts the fate of Middle-earth in your hands. In the final installment of the blockbuster movie trilogy, you must destroy the One Ring by casting it into the Crack of Doom, freeing Middle-earth from the clutches of the Dark Lord Sauron. Journey through…blah blah…"
Vaughn chuckled, "Well I hope that wasn't important."
"It wasn't," Will assured him. He read silently, "This really doesn't tell us anything we're supposed to do…just like what buttons do what. Hmm…"
"Well let's just start, see what else we can find…"
"Ok," Will shrugged, "Who do you wanna be?"
"Uhm…"
"Wait…we can only be Aragorn, Legolas or Gandalf…I think…shit…uh – or we can be that dwarf dude."
"Gimli," Vaughn offered.
"Yeah him."
"I'll be–"
"Aragorn!" Sydney shouted.
Vaughn looked at her.
"What? I think you should be Aragorn…he's hot…and he's the king…"
Vaughn smiled, "Ok, Aragorn it is."
"I think you should be the dwarf Will…" Sydney said, smirking.
Will turned and raised an eyebrow, "I'm going to be Legolas thank you very much."
"The elf," Sydney said nodding.
"Shut up. OK let's PLAY NOW," Will said shooting her a glance.
"What do you we do?"
"We kill things…"
"Nice Will…real nice…and how do I kill things? Give me the book, I wanna know what buttons I'm gonna have to press to 'kill things.'"
Will handed him the book.
Vaughn studied the pages for a moment, looking over the figures and words. He turned to Sydney, "I think we should have played hockey."
Sydney smiled as Will loaded a new game. "Ok ready?" he asked.
"No."
Sydney looked at him.
"Can you help me take this off?" he asked, looking down at the sling.
"Sure," Sydney said, moving to help him take it off.
"Ok, ready," he said.
Will nodded and the screen flashed to various scenes of Lord of the Rings.
"Holy shit," Will said as the first level started. "How do I fight?"
Vaughn chuckled as he started to swing Aragorn's sword, "You should have read the manual. We're gonna die now."
"No! I can figure it out…I'll just press all the buttons…"
"Dude…what did you do?"
"Just pressed buttons!"
"Well stop! You just made me die! I'm the only who knows how to fight! Now you're all alone!"
"Damnit!" Will lowered his head; "I died…"
"No shit," Vaughn said laughing.
Sydney looked over at Francie, "This was a bad idea…"
"You're telling me…"
2 hours later…
"No! He ate me again!"
"Well you're not pressing the right buttons! You have to press A AND B!"
"I am!"
"There's a pattern! A A B A!"
"I did that!"
"You did not!"
"Guys," Francie finally said, "Don't you think it's time to give up? I mean Will hasn't been able to stay alive for more than a few minutes yet."
"I have so!" he said defensively.
"Just a few more minutes. We can do this!" Vaughn said determinedly.
Francie shook her head and walked over to the Xbox. She pressed the power button.
Will looked up at her, his mouth agape, "We…WE DIDN'T SAVE THAT!"
"Will, you're on level TWO. I don't think it's gonna matter."
He huffily put the controller down.
"Stop pouting," Francie told him, "I'm gonna go get ready for bed."
"Ok," Sydney said smiling at her. She turned to Vaughn who had sat the controller on the couch. She leaned over and started to put the sling back on.
"You could just wait…we'll have to take it off again to get my pajamas on."
"True…but I think you need it in there to walk."
"Hmm yeah I suppose you're right."
Will sighed and turned the television off, "We'll try again tomorrow."
Vaughn shot him a look, "We're gonna be sleeping out here too pretty soon…not because we're playing too much but because the ladies will be pissed at us."
Will shook his head as he started to walk down the hall, "I know we could have beaten that thing."
Sydney chuckled as she helped Vaughn stand and they started to walk back to the bedroom. "You wanna try it again on your own or you want help?"
"Let's see how it goes."
"Ok," she smiled.
She waited for the signal to let go, but it never came. When they got to the bedroom she eased him down on the bed.
"Nope…too tired," he said with a soft smile.
"It's ok honey, you did it twice already today and with all that killing you just did cause Will sucks…I understand."
Vaughn chuckled.
She checked the wounds on his back before getting a shirt, making sure that she didn't need to bandage any before bed. "They look pretty good honey," she said, tracing over a few of the scabs lightly, "You want me to bandage them or leave them?"
"Well…I guess as long as they aren't bleeding or anything…"
"No, it doesn't look like any of these are…"
"Then leave the bandages off tonight."
"Ok," she said before moving to grab a shirt for him. She stopped and turned, "Wait…maybe we should just leave it off?"
He looked up at her with a smirk, "You're just trying to keep me shirtless…"
"I try at all costs, yes."
Vaughn smiled and grabbed her hand as she took off the pants she had put on him earlier, "You ok?"
She looked up at him, his eyes worried and full of love for her, "Yeah, I'm ok. Sometimes…it just catches up with you…you know?"
"Yeah, I know," he said with a grin.
"Of course you do…thank you for being there for me…"
"Always."
She smiled and replaced the sling, and then grabbed their toothbrushes from the bathroom, helped him brush and then lie down on the bed. She got her own pajamas on and climbed in with him, snuggling close, her head on his bare chest and his arm protectively around her.
"I love you Sydney."
"I love you too."
"Goodnight…"
"Night," she said sleepily, yawning.
Vaughn smiled and held her close, listening as she drifted off, wondering if they would ever stop blaming themselves. Both of them were willing and insistent that it was not the other's fault, but they both had problems admitting to themselves that they were not to blame. He'd have therapy tomorrow…maybe Barnett would be able to help him sort it out…
