Something Bad

When they stopped the next day, Aisling immediately set off into the trees without unsaddling Roharan. She had needed to pee super bad for the last 10 minutes or so but knew they were going to stop soon and didn't want to seem like the weak one - yet again - so she waited. But now she was about to burst.

Once she was far enough away that she was sure Haldir and Legolas couldn't hear her - goddamn elf hearing - she stepped behind a tree and relieved herself, moving as quickly as possible. While she felt that she was relatively safe, she didn't like to be alone in the woods for too long. But despite her soreness, she felt in relatively high spirits, ready to start with that day's training. Haldir had spent the afternoon discussing a few things he wanted her to try and she was actually kind of looking forward to it.

As she started back towards camp, she heard a loud rustle in the trees somewhere to her side - at least she thought. She couldn't really tell. Coming to a stop, her eyes widened as she looked around, but didn't hear anything else.

"Okay, funny guys," she shouted out, though she wasn't sure why she would think one of them was playing a prank on her. Definitely not Haldir or Aragorn. But maybe Legolas? She wouldn't put it past him to incorporate an ambush into his training tactics. And it was either that or she was about to be devoured by something.

Oh, god, she really hoped she wasn't about to be devoured by something. Even if this was a dream, she didn't think it would be pleasant.

Standing still a few more moments, nothing happened, so Aisling started towards the camp again in a brisk walk, feeling like whatever it was, she really didn't want to find out. But then the rustling happened again, this time louder and coming from behind, causing Aisling to shoot off in a sprint.

"I am NOT about to die here," she muttered, feeling her heart begin to race.

She pushed herself to go faster, but just as she tried to dash around a tree, she ended up tripping and face-planting into the ground and sliding a bit. A growl sounded behind her, causing her to freeze and then flip over, seeing a large wolf creeping out of the trees.

"Oh god, okay," she whispered, looking around and quickly going through her options.

She wasn't sure if she could outrun it and the way it was snarling at her, she didn't think wolves were friendly here. Or well, they probably weren't that friendly anywhere, she just had never seen one in the wild. Or maybe it was actually a person. Did they have shapeshifters here? Aisling somehow managed to get up to her feet, putting her hands out. Fuck, why didn't she know what to do if she ran into a wild animal? Why did no one think to tell her about this? She should have asked. If she survived this, she was definitely going to ask.

"Nice wolf. I'm not dangerous. Are you… do you understand me?" she said, her eyes locked with the wolf's. It growled at her, baring its teeth. "Okay, you are not a nice wolf, then."

Slowly, she started backing away, praying that someone would hear her. She wasn't that far from camp. Surely Legolas or Haldir would hear with their super hearing. The farther she moved back, the more the wolf inched towards her, its muscles rippling under its fur as though it was about to pounce. Oh shit, this was not good.

"Nice, wolfy," Aisling murmured again. "Goddammit, why couldn't this have been Twilight?"

She then decided the best thing to do was to turn and make a run for it, screaming bloody murder in the hopes someone would run to her aid. Spinning around, she started sprinting again, hearing the wolf launch itself forward as well.

"Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit," she shouted over and over again. "HELP!"

Aisling swore she felt the wolf take a swipe at her leg, throwing her off balance and once again tumbling to the ground, though she immediately tried to scramble to her feet. But the wolf lurched forward and she spun over, throwing up her arms to protect herself. The animal latched its jaws on her left forearm, causing her to shriek in pain as she tried to shake it off of her. But the wolf had her in a vice-like grip as tears sprung to her eyes.

Suddenly remembering the daggers, she pulled one out.

"GET OFF!" she shouted, determined that she was not about to be eaten by a wolf.

The wolf sank its teeth in deeper, spurring a bellow of pain. She somehow managed to stab it, but the animal wouldn't let go, so she pulled back and stabbed it again.

"GET… OFF!" she shouted, feeling her survival instincts kick into overdrive as she added her legs to the mix, attempting to kick it away.

Suddenly, two arrows whistled through the air, landing in the wolf's back, causing it to let go of her arm and howl in pain as it backed away. It turned its eyes to something behind her, still moving away, when two more arrows landed in its back. The animal stumbled back a bit more before collapsing on the ground.

Aisling somehow pushed herself up into a seated position and stared at it, breathing heavily as her heart continued racing. She watched the wolf take one, two and then one last breath before it went still.

Okay, it was dead now. She could calm down. But for some reason, she couldn't get her heart to stop racing. Or stop staring at it, thinking about how close she had been to dying. Or maybe she hadn't been. Now her thoughts couldn't seem to stay focused on one thing.

Holy shit, she had just been attacked by a wolf.

"Aisling!"

She blinked a few times, not really paying attention as she wondered why her life hadn't flashed before her eyes like the movies and books always said. She then felt searing pain in her arm and she looked over, seeing Haldir crouched down next to her, his hands pulling her arm towards him, probing the area around the bite. Aisling looked down, seeing that the wolf's teeth had ripped through both of her tunics and blood was starting to seep through the material.

"Oh god," she uttered, her eyes fixed on the blood. She wasn't squeamish by any means, but she couldn't help but think it was coming out pretty fast. Was blood supposed to come out that fast?

Haldir quickly pulled her up into his arms and rushed back to the camp, sitting her down next to a fire that someone had managed to get started while she was gone. He then pulled her sleeves back, revealing even more blood. While it hurt like a sonofabitch, she had to admit the bite didn't look as bad as she was expecting - which, well, she was clearly expecting to see half her arm ripped off. It had felt like the damn wolf had been trying to rip it off. Instead there was minor tearing around the teeth marks. The elves must have really strong fabric or something, because she was certain the wound should have been worse.

Oh god, why wouldn't her heart stop racing? She was taking short, quick breaths, even though she knew she needed to calm down and try deep, long breaths.

"Aisling, are you hurt anywhere else?"

She managed to shake herself back to awareness as she looked up, meeting Haldir's eyes.

"I'm okay," she said immediately the first thing that popped into her head. Haldir frowned. "I mean, no. That's it."

Haldir nodded and called out something. Aragorn walked over with his pack, dropping to the ground next to her, his own concern evident. He reached into the pack and Aisling watched in silence as Haldir quickly cleaned the wound. By some miracle, Aisling managed not to shout or shriek when it stung, only grimacing and wincing, though a groan managed to escape her lips once. Haldir gave her an apologetic look before continuing.

The entire time, Aisling couldn't stop thinking about how close she had come to dying. And that something like that… it shouldn't have felt so real. Not in a dream. Sure she had felt discomfort and some pain before, but she really thought for a few moments when the wolf bit her that she was about to die.

Fuck, what was going on?

Finally Haldir had finished applying some sort of salve to it before wrapping a length of cotton around the wound. Aisling continued to stare down at it a few more moments.

"Aisling," Haldir said softly, but she ignored it.

"I think she is in shock," Legolas said. Aisling blinked a few times and then looked up and over at him.

"Sorry," she said. Wait, she hadn't meant to say that. She meant to say she wasn't in shock.

Christ, maybe she was in shock. Was that what this was? She had never been in shock before. At least she didn't think so.

"You have no reason to be sorry," Haldir said immediately. Aisling looked over at him and shook her head, now feeling tears starting up.

Shit. She was not in shock and she was not about to sit here and cry.

"Pull yourself together, Ash," she mentally ordered herself.

"I couldn't fight it off. I didn't know what to do," she said instead, the words rushing out of her mouth. "Oh fuck, this real. It's all real. I'm really fucking stuck here. Holy shit. Holy shit."

She leaned forward, dropping her head into her hands as she screwed her eyes shut and tried to take deep breaths. Now would probably be a good time to get herself under control. She heard Haldir say something to Aragorn - or maybe it was Legolas - she wasn't sure, but she didn't care. Aisling was starting to spiral and she was desperately trying to keep it together.

"Aisling, drink this."

She opened her eyes and looked up, seeing Haldir holding out a cup to her. She looked at it and then back up at him.

"It will help with the pain," he said, though there was a flicker of something in his eyes that made her think he wasn't being completely honest.

But rather than dwelling, she took the cup and downed the contents, hoping it was some sort of strong liquor. To her disappointment, it was only water. But almost as soon as she finished it, she felt woozy and lightheaded.

"I think I'm… okay now," she slurred. She then felt herself falling over to her side as everything went black.

OOOO

"I must admit, wherever she is from, they speak strangely," Legolas said, watching as Haldir arranged Aisling on her pallet and covered her in a blanket.

"I believe they speak more openly there," Haldir said, before standing, though his eyes were still fixed on Aisling. Her mouth had fallen open in her sleep, but her brow had smoothed out and she seemed peaceful, despite her outburst just moments ago.

He did not wish to give her a sleeping draught, but felt it was best considering her condition. He was not sure how to calm her, harkening to when he had first found her and she was muttering about this world not being real. That time he had simply yelled at her, but this time, he wasn't sure yelling would work after she had just been attacked by a wolf.

His sharp eyes then looked up, his sight traveling through the woods towards where he had found the beast on top of her, its teeth ripping into her flesh. For a moment, he had worried that he was too late and that the wolf would let go and rip out her throat before he could kill it, but his instincts had taken over.

However, he could still feel his heart hammering in his chest though she was safe. Just a few days on the road and he was already failing in his charge to protect her.

Aisling had been doing so well that he did not think twice when she ventured off on her own, an uncomfortable look on her face that signaled she was in dire need of relieving herself. But it seemed they had all been far more worried about orcs and wargs and goblins that they forgot to teach her how to protect herself from nature.

"She managed to stab it several times," Legolas said, drawing his attention. Haldir's eyes widened slightly as he looked down at Aisling in wonder. He heard Legolas walk closer to him, holding out the dagger that must have fallen from her hand. "Perhaps she would have succeeded in fighting it off. She is stronger than I thought."

Haldir reached out and took the dagger from the prince, taking in the blood coating it.

"I should clean it," he said, already starting towards his pack to get a cloth.

"At least we do not need to hunt this night," Legolas said, though his voice was void of cheer. Haldir's eyes turned back to Aisling. "She will be fine. I know you did not wish to give the draught to her, but she would not calm without it."

Haldir looked over at him and then over to Aragorn, who was staring at Aisling with an equally concerned look upon his face.

"What did she mean? That it is real?" he asked, looking back at Haldir. He could feel the prince's gaze as well, holding the same question.

"She believes she is stuck in a dream. Or at least she thought so. When I first found her, she was convinced that she had somehow died in the storm and this was some sort of afterlife or that it was simply a dream," he admitted. "I do not understand it fully, but I believe that she has now fully realized that she is not living in a dream."

There was a heavy silence as they all stared down at her. Haldir took a deep breath and closed his eyes a moment, before opening them and looking over, seeing Legolas had brought the wolf's body over.

"We should not let its death be in vain," he said, starting towards it.

He needed to do something with his hands to try and calm his mind.

OOOO

Sometime later in the night, Aisling was aware that she was awake, but for some reason she couldn't move her body at all. For a moment, panic started to set in as she struggled to open her eyes, move her limbs, but there was nothing but deep, oppressive darkness.

"Help! I can't move! Someone!"

She couldn't speak. Her lips weren't moving. All she could do was shout in her own mind. She had read about sleep paralysis before and wondered if this is what it was. But usually people could open their eyes. See. So this couldn't be that. But then what was it?

Perhaps the coma dream had ended and she was finally dead. And this is what being dead really was. But wait, she wasn't dreaming. Or at least she hadn't thought she was when the wolf attacked.

Unless she was now dead because the wolf actually had killed her.

The panic grew as she attempted to struggle against the darkness more. She began shrieking in her mind, begging for whoever was doing this to have pity on her. To let her go to heaven or hell, just somewhere other than this. Unless this was hell.

"How is she doing?"

Aisling stopped struggling, immediately recognizing the voice. She grew quiet, willing it to come back. All she could hear for a few moments was the pounding of her own heart.

"She's still stable. Still out."

"Tiernan! Liam! I'm here! I can hear you!"

On her right hand, she felt a pressure, as though someone was holding her hand. But she wasn't sure who it was. Not without her sight. She then settled again, forcing herself to breath in and out slowly, calming her heart rate. And she listened. Now that she was focused, she could make out beeping. A heart monitor. There was a TV on in the background playing the news. Something about storm damage.

"There was a bit of something… just before you walked in."

"Oh? Should I get the doctor? Maybe… maybe it's something… she'll wake up soon…"

"She's quieted down now."

"Oh."

Aisling sobbed, stuck in her mind.

"I'm here! I'm in here!"

"She's going to make it, you know that. Ash… she's a fighter. She's not going to give up."

"I know…"

"I'm… I'm alive! I'm in here! I can hear you!"

She began struggling again, attempting to force herself to wake up. To throw her arms around her cousins and tell them all about the weird coma dream. Or… whatever it was.

"Have you eaten today?"

"I'm fine."

"Come on, Tier. You need to eat. I can sit with her while you get something."

"I don't want to leave her… this is all my fault…"

"No, it's not! I'm the one who ran after Toto! This isn't your fault."

She heard a strangle sob and the pressure on her hand was gone.

"It's not your fault. I couldn't get the door open… But we gotta stay strong… She'll come back to us…"

"Tiernan! Liam!"

Suddenly, Aisling shot up, tears pouring down her cheeks and a shriek still on her lips as her eyes flew open. But instead of a hospital room, she found herself in the dark clearing, the fire nearly dead. She felt hot tears pouring down her cheeks as she continued to struggle breathing.

She was still here. Still stuck in this damn dream. Or… whatever it was. She wasn't sure what to believe now. Just earlier, she had thought this was all real. A fucking wolf had bit her arm and now that she thought about it, she could feel an ache where it had bitten her. But then she had sworn she was in that hospital room listening to her cousins. She had felt Tiernan hold her hand.

It appeared her sanity was starting to crack.

"Aisling!"

She looked over, seeing a worried Haldir crouched next to her. Wait, where did he come from? Had he been there the whole time? His brow was furrowed as he reached out and brushed a bit of hair from her sweaty forehead. It was a gentle touch and had she been in any other shape of mind, she might have enjoyed it.

"I'm… I'm… it's just… a dream," she struggled to get out before she pulled her knees up and buried her face in her hands as she fought off the urge to sob.

After a few moments, she felt strong arms around her and a large hand running up and down her arm.

"I do not know what it was you saw in your mind, but it is passed," he murmured, his lips near her ear. Aisling dragged in a ragged breath.

"That's it. It's not over… this is the dream, Hal," she said, her voice cracking. He moved away from her and Aisling looked over at him. "I heard my cousins… I'm in a hospital somewhere… in a coma. Or, at least…"

Haldir's expression did not change, though she swore that she felt his grip on her tighten slightly.

"I am afraid I do not understand," he said softly after some time.

"It means, my body is still alive in my world. I'm… injured. Badly. And I'm in a deep sleep. I can't wake up. At least… I tried and I couldn't," she said, looking away from him. "This is the dream… oh, god. I was right… it is a dream… Or, fuck. I don't know! I don't know anything anymore!"

Without warning, Haldir pulled her against his chest, nearly knocking the air out of her as Aisling's eyes widened. She looked up, seeing his piercing grey eyes looking into her own and for a moment her heartbeat faltered. His hand came up and gently stroked her cheek, causing her to blush furiously as in an instant her mind switched from utter chaos to wanting to do nothing more but kiss him. Or wrap her arms around him and never let go. It only made her feel even more disoriented.

"Does this feel like a dream?" he asked softly, his eyes imploring her to answer. "You can feel it, can't you?" Unable to speak, Aisling just nodded. He then reached out and took her hand, placing it against his chest, just over his heart. Aisling gulped, feeling the steady beat just under her palm. "You feel my heart? Is that not real?"

Aisling struggled to take a breath, still unable to look away from him.

"I can feel it," she finally whispered. Finally, a small smile appeared and Haldir loosened his grip on her.

"This is reality. What you saw in your sleep, that is but a dream," he said.

He moved and let go of her, but Aisling nearly started to reach out for him, not wanting him to go anywhere. Though truth be told, she was so overwhelmed by different emotions, she wasn't sure what to do. Or what she wanted to do.

First, she thought this was a dream. Then she was nearly eaten by a wolf and knew that it wasn't. But then she swore she felt Tiernan's hand and that had felt real too. She couldn't seem to make up her mind on what was real.

And should you doubt yourself, there will always be someone there to help you find your way.

Aisling's eyes widened as she remembered Galadriel's words. Wait… there was no way she could have known this would happen. Or could she?

Haldir then reached out and smoothed the hair away from her face, drawing her to look back at him.

"It was just a dream," he murmured. "Nothing more. There is nothing to fear. I vowed that I would help you return home, and I will. And I swear to you, I will do my best to make sure no more harm comes to you." Aisling nodded. "Try and get some more rest."

He started to stand, but Aisling reached out and grabbed his arm, her grip strong. He stopped and looked over at her.

"I don't think I can sleep again," she whispered, at once hating herself for sounding so weak, but at the same time not wanting to be alone.

Haldir studied her a moment before settling back against the tree.

"Shall I tell you stories of Lothlorien?" he asked. Aisling nodded. Haldir took a deep breath and began, his voice soft and melodious. Mesmerizing in a way.

Without asking or speaking, Aisling moved until she was able to rest her head on his shoulder, her body leaning against him, taking advantage of the rare moment of physical contact with him. It soothed her as his warmth started to fill her where they touched. He only paused a moment before picking up the story again and then reaching up and around, wrapping his arm around her.

Aisling said nothing, just focused on his voice until finally, she fell into a dreamless sleep.

OOOO

I feel like as the writer I might be torturing poor Aisling... but don't worry. It'll be fine.

Thanks for reading and following!