Monstrous
by Leafy
Author's Note: This is my first LOTR fanfic ever. It is loosely based on an episode of the television show "Red Dwarf". Also, this fic is more based on the movie of Fellowship of the Ring, rather than the books.
I hope you all enjoy it!
Disclaimer: I, the author of this fic, do not own anything Lord of the Rings or Red Dwarf.
Before we continue, I want to thank all of you for reviewing the first story. J
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"Is there any way to restore him without killing the monster?" Boromir inquired, looking over at Frodo, who was sitting quietly by the first, trimming his fingernails with one of Legolas' long white knives, which he'd found waiting to be sharpened.
"I'm afraid not," said Aragorn. "We'll have to keep on the lookout for it."
Aragorn tried to ignore Boromir's smug look as he said this.
"There's no need to go looking for it, though. According to Gandalf, now that it's sapped Frodo, it will return for the rest of us very soon."
"And when it does, we'll be ready!" Frodo yelped, briefly raising the knife over his head, then returning it to his nails.
"And when we kill it, Frodo will return to normal?" said Boromir, casting the hobbit a disbelieving look.
"Yes, that's what Gandalf said," replied Aragorn.
"I am normal," grunted Frodo.
Just then, Legolas entered the circle of the campsite, followed by the three other hobbits and Gimli.
"It's here," breathed Legolas, looking concernedly at Aragorn. "It's coming."
Instantly, Frodo leaped to his feet, brandishing the knife, which Legolas promptly took from him.
"Will someone furnish me with a weapon?" Frodo demanded fiercely.
"How close is it?" Aragorn asked, standing.
"Very," said Merry, looking pale and nervous. "I thought for sure it could smell us."
"It's here," said Legolas, looking back into the trees.
Aragorn drew his sword, as did Merry, Pippin, Sam, and Boromir. Legolas, who had resheathed the purloined knife, drew his bow, flanked by Gimli and Gandalf. Frodo, after pausing to assess the situation, picked up a rock and a stick and positioned himself in front of the others.
A low, persistent growling could suddenly be heard just beyond the firelight, and a shadow separated itself from the darkness, moving forward, toward the on-guard fellowship.
"Legolas," Aragorn murmured, not taking his eyes off the spectral movement.
Instantly, an arrow flew off into the darkness. The growling was replaced a sudden, thunderous howl of pain, and the hideous monster from beside the river leaped forward, into the firelight. Legolas loosed another arrow, which struck the beast in the same place as the first. The monster leaped toward him, now thoroughly put out, but Legolas moved out of the way, firing again. Aragorn seized his opportunity, and ran his sword through the monster's leg. It howled again and turned, baring its teeth at him. Gimli swung his axe and the hobbits stepped forward, swords drawn, but Gandalf hung back, his hand around his staff. His mind raced, and yet, he could think of nothing that he might do.
Frodo hurled himself onto the monster's shoulders, beating at its neck and shoulders with his nearly useless weapons, shrieking in frenzied fury.
"Frodo--!" Merry faltered, moving closer to the thrashing beast.
The monster seized its chance and leaped through the space Merry had opened up. Frodo was hurled to the ground, landing with a thud and copious rude words directed at the fleeing thing.
"After it!" cried Aragorn, and they ran out of the camp and through the trees.
It was very dark by that time, and the trees and foliage in the wood were profuse. It wasn't long before the fellowship was separated, but they all continued running in the same direction, toward the beast's panting.
Still, no one was there to notice when Boromir stumbled as he ran, landing hard on the ground. Beginning to get up, his eyes fell on something quite unusual on the ground. Something small and shiny.
It was the ring.
Boromir scrambled to his knees.
How could Frodo have dropped it? How could he have been so careless? Didn't this mission matter to him? Probably not, in his condition.
Come to think of it, why hadn't they taken the ring away from Frodo sooner, just until he returned to normal? This finding definitely seemed to prove that they should, at least for now.
Boromir rose, extending his hand over the ring in the leaves. He should just take the ring, hide it safely away in his cloak, then give it back to Frodo when he could be relied on to think straight again.
Boromir reached down, closing his hand around the ring on its chain. Yes, that's just what he'd do. Keep the ring, so as to keep it safe, and then return it to Frodo when he was restored to normal.
"But why?" thought Boromir suddenly. Why must he give the ring to Frodo? He didn't seem to care that much about its safety, why else would it be laying here in the clearing? It was as if the ring didn't matter to Frodo.
"Well, it matters to me," Boromir thought, with vicious resolution. He thrust the ring inside his cloak, then patted it from the outside. "Yes," he thought, "this is right, what is meant to be."
He would take the ring. He would take it all the way to Mount Doom, and he, Boromir, would destroy it.
Again, the question "why?" arose in his mind. Why should he destroy this valuable ring? Just because Gandalf had said so, made everyone believe that it had to be done? What did he know anyway, the old fool? It was Boromir's ring now, and he would keep it, and he would use it to protect his people.
"No, no," Boromir thought, his face contorting violently. It was his ring, he found it, it belonged to him, and he would use it just how he wanted. He would use it however and whenever he pleased.
Instantly, Boromir reached into his cloak and pulled out the ring. As he withdrew it, though, an alarming thing happened. The ring began to grow bigger and bigger, until it more reassembled a bracelet than a ring. Boromir's eyes widened. What was going on?
Suddenly, a loud sucking noise started up, appearing to come from the ring in Boromir's hands. His hands began to shake with the force coming from ring. Boromir tilted his hands, trying to drop it, but it seemed somehow latched onto his palm. Before he could do anything more, he was overcome by an irresistible feeling of weariness. He dropped his hand to his side, and closed his eyes slowly, and blacked out.
**********
Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, Gandalf, and the hobbits finally met up at the other end of the trees, on the edge of a ravine.
"Two days," Gimli retorted, panting. "More like thirty seconds, I'd say."
"We're not yet out of these woods, Master Gimli," said Aragorn wearily, looking about. "Where's Boromir?"
The others began to look about them as well, but no one saw his anywhere.
"I hope--" Pippin began, but stopped short, quickly realizing that no one wanted to hear voiced what he--and everyone else--feared had happened to Boromir.
Aragorn turned and ran back into the woods, rapidly followed by the others, shouting Boromir's name.
"Boromir!" called Legolas, moving swiftly through the trees.
He stepped into a clearing, and was immediately confronted with Boromir, lying limp on the ground. He knelt at his side.
"I've found him!" cried Legolas, looking back through the trees.
Aragorn and Gandalf appeared instantly in the clearing, followed by the others. Aragorn knelt down beside Legolas, grasping Boromir's shoulder. He looked up at Gandalf.
"The monster?"
"Yes, I'm afraid," replied the wizard, looking down dolefully.
Boromir stirred.
"What's going on?" he mumbled, sitting up.
"The monster got to you," said Aragorn.
"Did it?" Boromir asked anxiously, whipping head around. "Well, it's gone now, hasn't it? I mean to say, it won't bother anyone else now, will it? Will it?"
"We don't know where it went," said Aragorn, looking confused.
Boromir looked horror-stricken, as if Aragorn had actually said that it was right behind him, poised to bite his head off.
"Well, we should leave then, shouldn't we? We have to find it; we can't let its reign of intimidation continue. I'll lead the way!" Boromir straightened up abruptly and set off out of the clearing.
"Thank goodness someone's ready to take action," said Frodo, starting after him.
"Wait!" called Aragorn, getting up and running after them.
But Frodo, who probably wouldn't have waited anyway, was too busy babbling to his newly acquired kindred spirit to even hear Aragorn.
"If it attacked you over there, it's possible that it ran off in this direction," he said. "I lost my stick, of course, and no one will give me something decent to fight with, so I'll just have to use these," Frodo balled up his fists and showed them to Boromir as he jogged along next to him.
"Oh, well, here, you can have mine," said Boromir immediately, drawing out his own sword and handing it to Frodo, who beamed like a small child receiving a large lollipop.
"That isn't a very good idea," warned Aragorn, then had to dodge as Frodo thrust the sharp tip of the sword backward at him in an effort to get him to shut up. Apart from that, his statement went completely unnoticed and unheeded.
Trailing behind the unstable duo with the rest of the fellowship, Pippin ran up next to Gandalf and tugged at the wizard's long robes. He looked down at the hobbit as they walked.
"What's it done to Boromir?" Pippin inquired in a whisper.
Gandalf looked back up at Boromir, who'd now allowed his shield to slide down out of place on his back, as he walked along listening to Frodo, who was still talking as fast as he could and clutching his newly-procured sword.
"Judging by his behavior, it's taken away his self-concern," Gandalf replied.
"His what?"
"His self-concern. His selfishness, also. Simply put, Boromir is now the most selfless being in Middle Earth.
"Oh," said Pippin, thinking this new information over. "Well…that's not so bad, is it?"
"It's quite bad, actually," said Gandalf, shifting his gaze now to Frodo, who had run ahead of Boromir a few paces, and was leaning forward slightly as he walked, looking up at every sound in the wood, as if egging it on.
"I've been watching Frodo, and it seems that he's becoming more and more fearless--and more and more dangerous," explained Gandalf gravely. "Most likely, Boromir, too, will get progressively worse in his condition. He will not only stopped caring for himself--but he will also begin hating himself. Soon, he will believe that he deserves nothing at all--not food or water, the clothes on his back, friends…or even life."
Pippin's eyes widened.
"You mean, he'll try to kill himself?" he gasped.
"No, no," said Gandalf, looking down at Pippin. "He'll become increasingly careless about his own safety, lose all belief in himself. In these ways, he will probably, however unintentionally, put all of us in danger with himself, and he may lose his life," Gandalf stifled a sigh, trying to keep himself from completely destroying Pippin's moral. "Or, in the best situation, he'll just be extremely useless to us as a warrior and such," Gandalf added quickly.
Pippin opened his mouth to respond to this, but was cut off by an exclamation of anguished horror from Aragorn, in front of him.
"Oh, no," he moaned. "I can't believe it!"
"What?" exclaimed Boromir and Frodo together.
"Gimli's gone," said Aragorn desperately.
Boromir looked thunderstruck.
"Well, we must find him, mustn't we?" he cried. "We must find our friend, and deliver him from whatever peril has befallen him!"
"I'll lead," said Frodo.
~~ End of Part 2