A/N: Still dark, still no movie spoilers (was written in early December). I hadn't intended to write more, but then the RotK soundtrack went and inspired the hamsters, so here it is.
_Prey, part two_
A voice.
From somewhere, somehow, a familiar voice cracked a few small chinks in the swirling walls of darkness and despair that hemmed him in on all sides, giving him a few glimpses of light and hope, so out of place that he immediately knew it had to be a dream. But all his dreams before were chasms of foulness and fear, and even now he felt himself being dragged back into the void. He clung to this voice, trying to listen as long as he could, for he realized the fantasy would be fleeting and he would again be left at the mercy of his demons.
The voice was faint, barely sinking into his inhibited senses, and the words were unintelligible, but he could tell it was singing. The timid, plaintive notes were sorrowful but determined, from them dangling bits of a dying hope, and he vacantly wondered what made the voice so sad. When the voice repeated a phrase from before, he tried to echo it. A dream this may be, but he would absorb it as much as possible, to hold and draw from when the darkness again descended.
The voice abruptly cut off and a discordant, grating voice took its place, yelling from somewhere below him. He curled protectively into himself, recognizing the tone of the angry threats though the words were meaningless. He didn't move or speak, immediately afraid of the results if he did. But his care was fruitless, for he then heard the scraping and thumping that always preceded the appearance of the dreaded ones.
He did not see it approach -his arms were still covering his face, as both a shelter and so he would not have to visually acknowledge his predicament- but heard its growling snarl. He sensed movement, then felt the kiss of liquid fire tear his side, lingering for long moments as it gloried in liquor drawn forth from him before slithering away with a snap. Time ceased its passage then as he reeled from the unexpected blow until familiar arms embraced him and drove away all thoughts of pain and fear.
But the void of despair returned and threatened to consume him again as he expressed his loss to his companion. "They've taken everything. Everything!"
What happened next made him wonder if he deserved to be rescued from this foul pit. For not only did he deeply hurt his friend by seeing him as he was not, he regained possession of the Thing that promised to do what his captors could not.
They could do naught more than wound his body, which he could flee by an escape to that dark corner still his. It could do more, so much more, Its lust and thirst not satisfied until his very being was burned away and cast aside like so much chaff, to blow away in the wind. There is no escape from that great wheel of fire.