Hem... Another quite dark chapter again, but hey, it will get better ! The first part is a kind of continuation of the previous one who was really shorter.

Again, thank you so much for reading and if you have any requests for the rest of the story, feel free to tell !

Hope you'll enjoy !

Pippin lowered his head at the bad news, but it quickly jerked back up at the sight of the awful faces of dead Orcs lying on dead leaves. To be true, at the moment, the Rangers looked nothing like he had expected them to. They weren't the proud, powerful and fearless soldiers the young Hobbit had imagined, no. They looked so sad, desperate, resigned and... Surprisingly not that strong. They surely resembled their Captain for this.

After a small sigh, Deveron eventually asked in a concerned voice :

"Any news from our Captains ?"

At those words, Pippin involuntarily gulped. If only they had news, something, a hint to tell them the others were alive...

"We were forced to part in Parth Galen, and received no news from them since," answered Gandalf, unable to hide the sadness in his voice and it was Deveron's time to lower his head.

"I am sorry, young man," said the Wizard, putting a comforting hand on the young man's shoulder.

"I... I had hoped..." the young second in command began, but his voice suddenly broke, "My apologies..."

"What had you hoped ? Speak, Deveron. This might ease your mind," said Gandalf.

The Second in Command inhaled deeply before giving his hesitant answer :

"I... We had hoped they would have been the lights to force the shadow overtaking Gondor to back off... That they would have freed their father, our Steward, from his endless despair, anger and resignation... That... they would have come back rapidly to lead us into fight once more..."

Pippin stared at the man in deep compassion and a single tear streamed down the young Hobbit's face. Surely the Gondorians were very close to their Captains too. If only they'd been here...

Pippin felt the soft hand of Merry bringing him closer to his cousin.

"It's alright, Pip'. They're alright," whispered he, gently rubbing his younger cousin's back.

Oh ! If only they had known how wrong they were...

Though he did not let anyone see it, Gandalf felt terrible. Both physically and mentally. The exhaustion was taking its toll on him and he felt his strengths slowly but ineluctably vanishing. And his mind, his normally relaxed and sensible mind, was now filled with worry, sorrow and maybe the slightest hint of fear. This was the first time since long ago that this was happening to him. Since the time he had been imprisoned in Dol Guldur, to be exact.

And, unfortunately, the closer the companions got to Mount Doom, the more problematic it became and will become. How were they supposed to cross Mordor if the Wizard was too tired to use any of his powers ? Yet, surprisingly, this did not matter much, for Gandalf was not even sure that he would even be able to go through Cirith Ungol...

"Anyway... Where are you fi-... You six heading, if I may ask ?" Deveron shakingly and shyly inquired.

"We are following Sméagol here to the Path of Cirith Ungol."

The only colours that had been remaining on Deveron's and every other Ranger's face quickly left, their eyes opening wide in fear.

"C-Cirith U-Ungol...? A-Are you certain of this, Mithrandir ?" one of the Rangers eventually spoke while Deveron remained completely frozen, staring at the Wizard as if he'd been an Entwife.

Gandalf sighed. Did everyone think they had chosen to go through this Pass in a suicidal research of some adventure ?

"Yes. Yes, I am sure Celeg. This is our only known way other than getting through the Black Gates."

The Rangers' eyes widened even more (if that was possible).

"B-But Mithrandir... You'll have to cross Gondor which is now nearly under control of the Enemy, and then pass in front of Minas Morgul..." spoke Deveron, having finally gotten his voice back.

"I do know this, young man," lied the Grey Pilgrim. In truth, he had not thought a single time about the river... His mind was really getting slower...

"Some tales even speak of a giant spider living there... Shelob, is it called. You cannot do all of this alone," Deveron insisted, sounding concerned for the companions.

Gandalf felt Sméagol tensing beside him at the mention of the spider, but he quickly dismissed the thought. He had heard of those tales, too. But they simply needed to avoid stepping in its living place... Easier said than done...

"Yet, we have no choice, Deveron," answered he, quite sadly. The Second in Command shook his head hurriedly.

"This is not what I meant, Mithrandir. What I meant was that we were coming with you, as far as we can go."

At that same time, they heard a Nazgûl's mount flying fast over them, heading to the cursed fortress of Minas Morgul and apparently carrying something (or, in this case, someone) in its claws.

Éowyn was fighting. For the first time in her life, she was fighting. A real fight, with real enemies, and it felt... Weird. This wasn't what she had hoped or imagined at all. The fight was not glorious, nor heroic, it was desperate and had more of a massacre than a proper fight. A massacre they were, unfortunately, loosing. The Orcs and Uruks were outnumbering them greatly, and even the women and oldest children had joined the remaining army, grabbing forks and other poorly made weapons to help the brave soldiers.

For now, the enemies had not yet managed to pass the walls of Edoras, but it was only a matter of time before they did, for the number of fallen Rohirrim kept increasing, while the Orcs kept relentlessly crashing on them without mercy.

The young Lady fell on her back when an scimitar handle she had not seen coming crashed on the back of her helmet, leaving her completely overtook by dizziness and preventing her from getting up on her feet. Her vision went blurry and the last thing she was fully aware of was the Orc's heavy dead body crashing on her, a very fine crafted arrow protruding from his neck.

Haldir could not suppress a great sigh of relief when he saw that the Yrch had not yet broke through the weakening defenses of the Rohirrim. Maybe they were not too late after all...

"Go-vaethathanc ne ndagor ?" [Will you join me in battle ?] asked he to his loyal soldiers, ready to sacrifice eternal life for the sake of Men.

"Ve thorthol," [We are yours to command] answered his younger brother, Rúmil beside him. Haldir smiled sadly at him. His younger brother had chosen, too, to possibly renounce to sail for the folk of Men. Hopefully, Orophin was not here, for he had chosen to remain in Lothlórien to watch over Lady Galadriel. He did not feel ready to leave Arda yet.

"Gurth ani chyth 'wîn !" [Death to our enemies !] shouted Haldir to the other Elves behind him. The minute after, they were on the Yrch, fighting them in their usual deadly dance. Alas, again, the enemies were too numerous, and the advantage given by the effect of surprise was rapidly dismissed.

Even though Haldir's blade kept easily cutting through the Yrch's bodies, tainting the sparkling green grass with an evil black, his elven strengths were beginning to fade. His reflexes got slower and his aim got less and less precise. Oh, this could be manageable. For now. And Eru only knew for how long they would have had to fight like this.

Alas, as the battle went on and the amount of bodies covering the ground increased, Haldir found he had nearly lost focus on the current fight and his mind could easily drift off from exhaustion. And this had caused him already some minor wounds on his chest and armsThat was... Unusual... Never before had he felt this way...

The blond Elf was violently gotten out of his thoughts when his head was met an angry fist, forcing him to quickly take a step back to avoid falling. By the stars, he had been distracted again ! How was this possible ?

Shaking his head slightly to regain some sort of focus on the present situation and resumed his dance-like fighting.

"Rúmil !" yelled the Elf in alarm at the sight of a deadly scimitar flying to his younger brother's head.

Alas, the Elf could not see where it landed, for, at the same time, profiting of another moment of distraction from Haldir, plunged his dark blade right into the Elf's chest, an evil smile on its face, making him to involuntarily gasp at the sudden pain. Yet the smile quickly disappeared when an arrow appeared in its throat and the beast fell on the ground.

"HALDIR !" he heard two voices he easily recognised as Estel's and Legolas' desperately crying.

Swallowing painfully, desperately fighting the darkness that was slowly filling his vision, Haldir managed to stay upright and turned around to face his other enemies. He barely had the time to cut through an Orc's chest before he felt once more the blinding pain of a dirty blade penetrating his heart.

"NO !" the voices yelled again, but this time, Haldir couldn't even remember who they belonged to. The last things he saw were the blurry forms of a blond Elf and dark haired man dismounting a horse and running to catch the falling Elf in their arms.

"D-Dihe... D-Dihenalir... N-Nin..." [Forgive me] he still managed Valar knows how to whisper before darkness overtook him completely.

When Faramir awoke, he was alone. Completely alone in some kind of dark cell. His wrists were bound tightly and painfully to the cold stone wall behind him, as were his ankles. He winced in pain. This place was completely filled with darkness... It hurt him so much... Where was he ? What had happened ? How did he got here ? He didn't have the strengths to even think about it...

Hopefully, he didn't have to, for he heard something approaching him. Something dark, evil... Something cursed... Oh no... He had not been alone at all... There was a Nazgûl here... He was in Minas Morgul...

Faramir could not restrain back the tears that began to slowly roll down his cheek...

'No... Please... What have I done...? Oh... I am so sorry... Brother, I am so sorry...'

Please, please, please don't kill me ! I know I killed Haldir, I know... I know Faramir is now definitely captured, I know... But things will get right eventually, I swear. Please stay with me a little more !

Hope you liked the chapter anyway !

A/N : I have successfully moved out, but now, there are boxes to unmade, so, I am very sorry, but it might take a while till I will be able to update. Thank you for your comprehension :-)