Not mine, they are Tolkien's and Whedon's

Author's Note: This chapter was majorly revised after I woke up this morning and reread it. Word of advice: don't update stories at two in the morning when you are half asleep and trying to avoid studying for a French final exam.

On the Road

Legolas was singing again. They had been on the road for a couple of days and Buffy still wasn't accustomed to the propensity her companions had for bursting into song. The songs were nice when they weren't being sung in a completely different language but Buffy just wasn't in the mood for a group sing-a-long. Her feet hurt, she was tired, and she was pretty sure she smelled. On top of that Buffy and Gandalf had had no luck figuring out how to open another portal. Buffy rolled her eyes and sighed in annoyance.

"Is something the matter?" Frodo asked. He had noticed Buffy seemed tense and had moved to walk beside her.

"No," Buffy said. "I'm just not used to the whole singing deal. I guess it is kind of getting on my nerves."

Getting on her nerves? What did that mean? Frodo really liked Buffy but sometimes the things she said made no sense at all. "Do you not have songs where you come from?"

"Well, yeah but most people don't just start singing whenever they want. We have radios and cds so we can play music and listen to it."

"These are instruments in your world?"

"No they're -" Buffy sighed. "Never mind it doesn't matter."

"Well, when you travel on long journeys what do you do?"

Buffy thought about family vacations and the constant bickering between her and Dawn that had driven her parents crazy. Eventually they would just turn the radio up to drown out the many fights between the two girls. Buffy and Dawn hadn't liked being ignored so they had come up with a way to be heard over the music. Buffy grinned mischievously.

"Actually," she said to the hobbit, "my sister and I did have a song we sang on long trips."

"Would you teach us please?" Pippin had moved to join Frodo and Buffy followed soon after by Merry and Gimli.

"It's about beer," Buffy said.

"Oh, we like beer don't we Merry?" Pippin nudged his friend.

"Okay, it is very easy to learn. It goes like this," Buffy took a deep breath and then at the top of her lungs she sang, "NINETY-NINE BOTTLES OF BEER ON THE WALL, NINETY-NINE BOTTLES OF BEER . . ."

It didn't take long for the hobbits to catch on and soon Legolas, Aragorn, and Boromir were cringing as the song reached number eighty-eighty. Gandalf looked amused. Buffy thought this was much better than listening to everyone else sing.

* * *

After several more miles of travel the hobbits began to slow. It was clear they were tiring and though Buffy would never admit it she could do with a break herself. Gandalf had also noticed the hobbits plight and told Aragorn that they must find a place to rest and eat before they reached Caradhras. The company finally settled atop a high cliff and Buffy was glad to get some food in her.

"Come Buffy," Aragorn said drawing his sword after everyone had finished eating. "I shall give you a lesson on how to use your sword."

Buffy grimaced but rose and drew her sword as well.

"First I will teach you how to block and then we will move on to striking when you are ready." Aragorn demonstrated several moves and Buffy repeated them easily.

"Very good Buffy." Aragorn studied the girl's movements. She looked bored. He began to go through some offensive strikes while Buffy blocked. The girl was holding back he could tell, he just didn't know why. By this time everyone had gathered around the two and were watching the proceedings avidly.

Buffy easily blocked Aragorn's strikes careful not to use too much force. She was so accustomed to having to be very careful with her strength around others that she never even considered sparring with Aragorn for real. She knew from experience that it was often hard for men to deal with the fact that she was stronger than them. Buffy paused. Wait, what did she care if one of them felt inadequate because she was a better fighter than them? She had been itching for a good fight for days and she was sick and tired of pretending to be less than she was.

"All right," she said stopping the practice.

"Is something wrong?" Aragorn asked. "You were doing very well."

"And we both know I can do a lot better." Buffy said catching Legolas's eye and shooting him a quick grin. "So lets practice for real cause the baby stuff is boring me."

Aragorn sized up his opponent. He was still unsure of what Buffy's level of skill was but he nodded to her and raised his sword.

His first strike was a little tentative because he didn't want to hurt her and Buffy blocked it with a withering look. From then on it was a lovely dance. Swords flashed in the sunlight while the company looked on in astonishment as Buffy held her own against Aragorn. Legolas was impressed. He had known Buffy could use her sword but she was nearly as skilled as Aragorn. He didn't understand it, she seemed to be just as strong as Aragorn but that was impossible if one considered her physical appearance. The two traded blows back and forth in quick succession. Buffy faltered a bit under a fierce strike but regained her footing with a quick turn to the right.

Aragorn still felt as if Buffy were holding back a little and not using all her strength. "You fight well," he said, "for a girl."

Aragorn's comments had the desired effect and Buffy's eyes flashed as she spun and delivered a bone cracking blow to Aragorn's side. He fell to his knees in shock and pain, unprepared for a blow of such power to come from one so small. His eyes watered in pain as Buffy threw down her sword and ran to his side.

"Oh God!" she cried. "Are you okay? I am so sorry I just got carried away."

Aragorn took a deep breath and rose to his feet as the pain receded. "I am fine Buffy," he patted her shoulder. "You fight very well. I am impressed with your skill and strength but I would have beat you in the end."

Aragorn was surprised when she answered. "I know. I don't fight with a sword very often. I'm much better with sharp wooden objects."

Before Aragorn could question her about that odd statement Buffy noticed everyone gathered around watching. Most of them looked stunned and Buffy grinned in pleasure. Ha! They had thought her to be nothing more than some weak damsel in distress and she relished the thought of having proved them wrong.

"That was most enlightening Buffy," observed Gandalf from his seat on a nearby rock. He didn't look stunned just thoughtful.

"Where did you learn to fight so?" Boromir asked.

Buffy hesitated, this explaining her birthright thing was really more Giles' deal than hers but he wasn't here so she would have to do the best she could. "I'm a vampire slayer. Well, the vampire slayer. One girl in every generation born to fight and kill the vampires and other scary things."

"Vampires?" Frodo asked.

"Yeah, they're demons that live off of drinking other peoples blood."

"Sounds very unpleasant," Sam said.

"Most of them are easy to dust," Buffy unconsciously rubbed the spot on her neck where her scars had been. "Others are more trouble."

Legolas had seen the shuttered look that had passed in her eyes as she rubbed her neck. He wanted to ask about it but the tense set of her shoulders warned him to leave this subject alone for now. Instead he asked, "So how did you learn to fight these vampires? Did someone teach you?"

Buffy looked at Legolas, "I have a watcher, his name is Giles. His job is to help train me and to be research guy whenever a new big bad pops up in Sunnydale. Mostly the fighting is just instinct. I just kind know how to use a weapon the first time I hold it. I mean my skills have certainly improved with experience but inborn knowledge seems to come along with the slayer gig."

"How did you become a slayer?" Aragorn handed Buffy a water skin and she accepted it gratefully.

"Not a slayer, the slayer. There is only one - oh well I guess I should say there was only one. I kind of died for a couple of minutes a few years ago and a new slayer was called so there are actually two now. One slayer dies another is called. Of course, Faith is a crazy ho who is locked up in prison so I really am the only active slayer. Anyway, I was called. When I was fifteen this scary old white guy showed up outside my school and started muttering about my birthright and how I was the Chosen One. I thought he was a total nut until I saw my first vampire, then instinct sort of took over and my career as the vampire slayer began."

"What is a crazy ho?" Pippin asked at the same time Legolas exclaimed, "You died!"

Buffy thought it safer to address Legolas's remark. "It's a long story but to make it short, I drowned. My friend brought me back with CPR." She saw the confused looks, "I am not explaining CPR because I really don't know how but it saved my life so lets leave it at that."

"So, you are a - the - vampire slayer in your world. This enables you to have instinctual fighting skills and quick healing abilities." Aragorn summed up.

"How did you know about heal - Oh the scratch on my arm." Buffy saw Aragorn nod. "There is also the superior strength thing."

"You must be strong to be able to fight Aragorn," Gimli said. "But I doubt you are as strong as a dwarf."

"Oh you do?" Buffy walked over to where Gimli was sitting and proceeded to easily lift him into the air with one arm armour, weapons, and all. This produced shocked looks from everyone present, even Gandalf. Gimli sputtered until Buffy put him down. She looked at the faces her companions. Boy, she really had surprised them.

Legolas regarded Buffy with surprise. She was very strong. He sensed that there was much more about being a vampire slayer that Buffy was leaving unsaid. She had started so young, she had been barely more than child by mortal standards. And she had died! For some reason this bothered him more than anything else but he refused to considered why. Suddenly the elf was gripped with unease and his eyes flew towards the sky. He quickly moved away from the group around Buffy and stood looking out into the distance.

Buffy noticed the moment Legolas moved away and she also felt a sense of disquiet though not as strongly as the elf. She noticed his stiff posture as he stared off into the sky. Breaking away from the rest of the Fellowship she moved to stand beside Legolas.

"What's up?" she tugged on his sleeve.

"I feel uneasy. Do you not see it?"

"See what?" Buffy looked up and squinted.

"There," he pointed, "something is headed this way."

"I still don't -" Buffy paused and squinted again. There was something there. It was very faint but it looked black. She glanced behind her and noticed the rest of the company was looking skyward as well.

"It is a whiff of cloud." Buffy heard Gimli say.

"Moving against the wind," observed Boromir.

Suddenly Legolas grabbed Buffy's hand and cried, "Crebain!"

"Spies from Saruman! Hide!" Gandalf said and Buffy found herself pulled to the ground under the shelter of a rock. She lay squeezed up against Legolas in the small space.

"Why Legolas I never knew you felt this way," Buffy joked and Legolas shushed her by placing a finger on her lips.

Buffy gasped as a large flock of birds suddenly swooped down over their campsite. They screeched loudly and Buffy put her hands over her ears and shut her eyes tightly. This reminded her of that movie Xander had made her watch about the birds attacking people except that these birds were actually scary. She suddenly had a horrible vision of her eyes being pecked out and she groaned. At the noise Legolas looked down and put a comforting hand on Buffy's cheek. The screeches faded as the birds flew on their way and the company cautiously emerged from their hiding spaces.

Pippin took one look at Buffy's mussed hair from the quick dive under the rock and the joined hands of the slayer and the elf and said, "You two look like you just -"

"Pippin!" Merry shouted cutting off the rest of hobbit's comments.

Legolas and Buffy looked at each other in surprise. They hadn't realized they were still holding hands. They broke apart quickly and moved to opposite sides of the campsite.

"We must try for the gap of Rohan," Boromir was saying.

"Saruman will have it blocked." replied Aragorn.

"We must take our chances with Caradhras. Hopefully the way will still be open." Gandalf said and Buffy hoped he was right.

* * *