Life After High School. Is It Scary? You Bet.
By Risty Maskell and Silver15
Disclaimer: I look into the mirror of Erised® and I see myself owning the LOTR
Characters. If you don't know what the mirror of Erised is, I suggest you read Harry Potter and the Philosophers stone (Sorcerers Stone).
Summary: Gee, let me think. Nah can't tell ya.
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(Benny's POV)
Lucas had set the three, sorry four, of us up in a pretty decent hotel by the beach. We had two bedrooms, one with a double bed and a cot and one with two single beds. Quite a nice place actually, I liked it. Since it was off-season, there weren't many people around either, which was just perfect.
As it turned out, our business wasn't that hard to finish. On our second day of asking around in the local taverns, we discovered that three guys had been in there only the night before, bragging about how they had taken down a whole thieving gang and rescued someone from the evil clutches of the leader. Although none of us recognized the description of the third man, the other two matched the descriptions of Gimli and my little brother Randal. Our suspicions had been correct. They had been working for our rival gang, The Black Dogs. Fitting name an all, I'll tell you that right now. The lot of them are completely evil, so it was no surprise that they had lowlifes like Gimli and Randy working for them.
Finding them was pretty easy. We asked around until we found out were they were staying and then one of us took turns to watch their every move. They obviously thought that they were in no danger because they seemed in no hurry to leave. We finally got them one night, while they were at the tavern. Gimli got up to go to the bathroom. I followed him and grabbed him round the neck just as he was coming out. He was so surprised that he didn't really have a chance to fight. He did struggle a bit, but when I tightened my arm around his windpipe, he thought better of it and gave up. Holding him firmly by the scruff of the neck, I dragged him outside, where Damon and Blaze were already waiting for me. Standing between them, Damon's knife at his throat was my little brother. He looked angry and sullen.
"What do you want with us?" he muttered. "We haven't done nothing wrong"
"Liar" Blaze said quickly. "We know you were the ones who broke into our headquarters. You nearly killed Lucas"
"Nearly?" Gimli sounded shocked. "But he was supposed to be dead. His injuries should have killed him"
"Lucas is stronger than you know" Damon said with a small smile. Gimli had just given himself away, not that he needed to, since we already knew that it was them. "We just want to ask you a few questions"
"No way" Gimli sounded frightened. "If we start talking, Davy will kill us"
"And if you don't talk" I said, shaking him roughly. "We'll kill you. So you aren't going to win either way. You knew when you joined the Black Dogs, Randy that you were going against me. That was pretty stupid of you"
"I just wanted to get even" Randy spat. "And maybe be better than you at something. You were always our parents favourite; in fact you were everyone's favourite. You were going to go to Medical School; you were going to become a doctor. You always did well and everybody liked you. You had a girlfriend and a child. And no one was happier than me when you lost them. I hate you Benny! I always have and I always will!"
"Good" I replied coldly, my voice trembling with anger. "Because I hate you too. And now you are going to talk or I will take great pleasure in killing you myself"
Damon pressed the knife closer to his neck, so that it was now biting into his skin. Randy gulped and looked at Gimli. The dwarf nodded.
"We'll talk," he said slowly, gasping in pain as I twisted his arm sharply. "But…please, give us enough gold to get out of here and go somewhere else. Otherwise they will kill us for sure"
"Cowards" Damon muttered, but he nodded his agreement. Blaze and I nodded too. Randy hesitated for a moment.
"What do you want to know?" he asked finally. "Just try to remember that I'm only following orders here, we don't know everything"
"When you set that man free," Damon asked quietly. "Someone hired you, did they not? Who was that person and what connection did he have with the Black Dogs?"
"And what did you do with him once you got him out?" Blaze asked quickly. "Lucas was particularly worried about that"
"I…" Gimli paused and it was obvious that he didn't want to go on, but he did. "We were to escort him to a ship and see him safely on board. I don't know where the ship was going…somewhere across the sea I think"
"The man who hired us" Randy took over. "I don't know his name, but the members who had been there longer than us all knew him. Apparently he often used their services and he paid them large amounts of money so the leaders were loyal to him. He didn't come to see us personally, so we can't give you a description. He just wanted help in setting his 'friend' free"
"We don't know any more, honestly" Gimli stammered. "Please…just let us go"
"Fine" I released my grip on Gimli and he stumbled away, rubbing his arm. Blaze took a bundle of notes out of his pocket and shoved them into Randy's hand, before letting him go.
"Get the hell out of here" he warned. "If we ever see you around here again, we'll kill you. Which is nothing compared to what the Black Dogs will do to you"
Randy and Gimli gave us a frightened look and ran off into the night. I figured that we'd seen the back of them for quite a while, since not even they would be stupid enough to come back now.
"Well, at least Jaime's father has gone" Damon said exactly what I had been thinking. "And we know who was behind the attack to free him too"
"Who" Blaze sounded puzzled. "Do you know the man who paid the Black Dogs to work for him?"
"Unfortunately, yes" Damon said with a sigh. "It was Emma's father. No surprises there. Well, I guess that concludes our business. For the time being anyway. I need a drink, are you two coming?" Blaze nodded, but I shook my head.
"I think I'll go for a walk," I said. "Clear my head a bit. I'll see you guys later"
They nodded and I began to walk down the beach towards our hotel. I was nearly back when I saw Emma sitting on the sand, staring at the sea and rocking Kane in her arms. She didn't seem too happy, so I went over and sat beside her. She turned to look at me and gave ma a sort of half smile.
"Are you all right?" I asked. She shook her head. "Well then" I said. "You want to talk about it? I'll just listen, I promise. And you never know, maybe I could give you some advice"
(Emma's POV)
I was kind of glad to see Benny. The break had done me good, I was able to think more clearly, but I still couldn't make the decision I knew that I needed to make. Whether to give everything up, possibly even my son, to be with Damon, or to marry Boromir. I needed help, I need someone to give me some honest advice, and I knew that Benny was the man to do that.
At his encouragement, I told him everything. How I felt pressurised by Jaime and the others to marry Boromir and stop seeing Damon, how I couldn't choose between the two because I didn't want to hurt them and how I'd carried a torch for Damon since I was little more than a child. Benny listened quietly until I had finished talking.
"At the end of the day" he said finally. "You have to make a choice and you are going to hurt one of them either way. Now tell me honestly, if you had no responsibilities and weren't going to hurt anyone, who would you choose to be with then?"
"Damon" I said immediately, my voice trembling. "When I'm with him, especially these last few days, it just feels so natural, so normal. Like we belong together. But it isn't that simple is it? I love Damon so much. I can't even put into words how I feel when I'm with him, Benny. I want to be with him, I can't deny that any more. It's been such a relief being able to be with him these last few days and being able to show affection to each other and being able to sleep in the same bed and wake up with him beside me. But I'd hurt so many people…"
"Boromir"
"Yes" I paused for breath and then continued. "I don't love Boromir, Benny. Not like I should. He's a lovely man, he makes me laugh and he's great with Kane, but I just don't love him any more. I love him like a brother or a friend, but that's it. We haven't made love since before Kane was born, I just can't stand him touching me and he knows that something is wrong"
"So you don't love him and you don't find him sexually attractive any more, but you're still thinking about marrying him?"
"He's Kane's father, I've got to think of my son in all this," I pointed out. "Besides Boromir's given up so much to be with me. Not to mention that he's stuck with me through some of the darkest times in my life. I really don't want to hurt him. Not after all we've been through together. And I'm scared that if I leave him, he and his parents will take Kane from me. I'd live with Randy and Gimli if it meant I could stay with my son"
"I understand how trapped you feel, with Kane and everything" Benny said slowly. "When I lived with my ex-wife, she used to be very abusive towards me. Physically, I mean" He must have seen my surprise, because he shrugged and gave a small smile. "I know," he continued after a moment. "I was bigger than her and I could have hurt her, but I never did. I never once raised my hand to her. I could have left her, but in the end it was her who left me. I stayed for my daughter, but when Lana left me, she stopped me seeing Galia. I haven't seen her in nearly three years"
"Benny, I'm sorry"
"It's alright. I've come to accept it now, but it still feels like a part of me is missing sometimes" He stopped and gazed thoughtfully out over the ocean for a while. "You see my problem," he said finally. "Is that Lucas comes first with me. It's part of the job. You have to leave and do things at a moments notice, all other plans have to take second place. And what sort of woman is going to put up with that? Not many, that's for sure. By the way" he added, turning to me. "The only people who know about Lana being abusive towards me are Lucas and the other gang members. Could you please not mention it to anyone? Even Jamie?"
"I promise" I agreed at once. "I won't say a word"
"Damon is going to be hurt, you know" Benny went on. "If you marry Boromir. He doesn't have much left in life to live for and he really loves you. He'd treat you well and he'd look on Kane as his own. But I think you've already made your choice, haven't you?"
"I have," I whispered, a tear running down my cheek. "When we go back, I have to give up Damon for good and marry Boromir. No matter how much it hurts, it's for the best"
Telling Damon that I was marrying Boromir was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do in my life. He didn't seem to take it too badly, but I sensed that he was only putting on a brave face for my sake.
"It's your decision," he said. "Benny and I, we'll see you home and then go back to Silverwood for a while. It'll probably be for the best, give us some time apart from each other"
I agreed and that was it. He made no effort to try and get me to change my mind, not because he wanted me to marry Boromir, but because he loved me so much that he respected my decision. We had one last night together before we left to ride back to Hobbiton and most of that was spent just clinging to each other, not saying a word. We knew that it would be the last time we could do this and we were determined to make the most of the little time we had left.
The next morning, he and Benny left me by the lake, not far from Bag End. I kissed them, Benny on the cheek, Damon on the mouth. Benny told me to give his love to Jaime and tell her that he would call her soon. Damon said nothing, but I could see unshed tears glistening behind his eyes. I knew how he felt, I wanted to cry too, but I didn't. I was determined to be strong.
Holding my bag in one hand and Kane in the other, I walked forward, not looking back. I didn't stop until I had reached Bag End. Slowly I raised my hand and knocked on the door…
