AN: Well, in this chapter, we'll meet up again with someone that we know
from a previous chapter, but I'm not saying who, yet. Also, there hasn't
been a flashback for a few chapters, so I might put in another one. If I
can fit it in.
He was going to do it. He was going to tell Sam all he knew, except perhaps that he had just exchanged words with Merry. He had to.
He couldn't. He couldn't tell Sam a word of it. He was afraid to. Fear was holding him back. He had promised Aragorn and Legolas he'd never tell anyone.
But he had to. What was more important, a promise to a murderer and his accomplice, or his deceased cousin Merry, and his good friend Sam? Clearly the latter. Yes, yes, he was going to tell Sam.
But what happens when you betray a murderer's trust? Surely the outcome can't be good. And he had seen what Aragorn was capable of. No, no, he definitely can't tell anyone.
But surely if put into that situation, Sam and Legolas would defend him. And he'd know it was coming, so he'd be able to defend himself. Yes, he will definitely tell Sam.
But would Legolas defend him? After all, he promised both Aragorn and Legolas that he'd never tell anyone, and would all that has happened make Legolas a kind of accomplice, thus incriminating him as well? No, he can't tell a soul.
Pippin silently argued with himself, but only ended up where he'd begun, wanting to tell Sam, but afraid to. He thought of Merry, his closest family member, and his best friend ever, despite the eight year age difference.
Then he thought of Aragorn. None of the words he used were the same as those that he would have used a month before. Before, he had been a great King of Men, and kinder than most royalty. Now, he was nothing more than a cruel, heartless murderer.
He thought of Sam. Good, kind, sensible Sam. Sam was one hundred percent loyalty; he had proven this for Frodo. But now that Frodo had gone, did he have any loyalty to spare for any other? Or had he, in a manner of speaking, run dry from all that time with Frodo?
Then he thought of Legolas. Here came the most unanswered questions. He had never had any reason not to trust Legolas. But his seeming desperation to protect Aragorn was somewhat suspicious. Why would he be so desperate to keep Aragorn safe? After all, Legolas had never been particularly loyal to him before, so why now? But he could not have possibly been an accomplice, as he had heard Aragorn confess only recently.
By the end of it, he was still stuck in the same position. Then, for a moment, he wondered why he was so afraid of Aragorn. Because he's a talented swordsmen, and can cause a lot of destruction with his sword. But Pippin didn't want to continue on, anyway. But he was afraid of his death being long and drawn-out, and he was afraid that Aragorn might attack him, and then not bother finishing the job. As a 'warning'.
"What should I do?" He moaned aloud, doing a full spin, then overbalancing and landing ungracefully on his rear. He couldn't be bothered to even acknowledge the pain.
He heard a voice behind him, a distinctly female voice that was familiar, though he couldn't place it. "Are you alright?" She asked, somewhat concerned, and with a distinctly flirtatious inflection. "That was a nasty fall."
Pippin thought for a moment about the owner of the voice. Then, he winced. There was only one female in the Shire who would greet him in such a way. "I'm quite fine," he replied politely. "Thank you for asking, Tara."
The Hobbit turned to face Tara. She was tall, as usual, but appeared even taller from the floor. She offered a slender hand, and helped him to his feet. "You look terrible," she told him critically. "Not that you don't look as cute as always. You just haven't had much sleep, have you? And you certainly haven't eaten much." She paused, then slowly released the hand she still held.
In his state of confusion as to his next move on the subject of Merry, not to mention his exhaustion, Pippin hardly noticed the obvious moves Tara was making on him. In fact, it had still hardly clicked whom he was talking to. He had recognised the character, but he had apparently forgotten the... conversation they had at their last meeting.
"There's something seriously wrong with you," came the rather blunt assessment. "Come on, Pip, tell me what's wrong."
"You know what's wrong." He emotionlessly replied. "You were a part of what's wrong."
Tara sighed, looking down at the Hobbit almost pityingly. "Oh, Pippin, you're not still dwelling on that, are you? There are so many things in the world that you could be occupying yourself with, and yet you choose to dwell on the past, and think nothing of the future."
"Why should I care about the future?" He asked her with a rapidly cooling tone. "He was all that mattered to me, Tara. There is no future for little Pippin, young Pippin, foolish Pippin. Not without Merry."
"There's always a future." Tara told him, beginning to become impatient with his insistence upon these thoughts. Not that she was worried about him. Tara never worried about anyone. She had, admittedly, been momentarily guilty about poor Merry, but she got over it, and was back to Pippin. There was only one thing she wanted from him, and it was exactly the same thing that she wanted from every other being of the male persuasion. Of course, she couldn't get this if he chose to dwell on the loss of his best friend. "There's always a future if you choose to see it. Now, think of all the things you could be doing." The teasing smile that all knew so well drifted across her lips. "I know how you feel about me, and I /do/ respect the fact that you think you're so much better than me. But can I at least offer you a drink?"
Pippin was either so mixed up by the confusing feelings swirling through his mind that he allowed himself to be swayed by her offer, or was just too exhausted to try to resist. Either way, he nodded, and spoke only a short, simple, but possibly deadly sentence. (Okay, so perhaps that was a little overdramatic. It was deadly, but only to his dignity.) "Well, alright then, Tara."
Well, the one drink offered led to two drinks. The two drinks led to three. The three drinks led to four. There is a good thing about drinking, he thought to himself. All those problems... gone, at least for the moment. But anyway, soon enough, Pippin was so drunk he couldn't tell left from right. Much less remember his principles, especially those regarding a certain promiscuous femme such as Tara.
You all know what happened here, so I won't go into a detailed description of it. This is a PG-rated fic!
At least, I hope you've managed to figure out what happened here.
Well, there is a character that has to walk in on every bad scene possible. And so far, that character has been Pippin. But as he was involved in above mentioned 'bad scene', the unfortunate character must be Sam.
Surprise wasn't quite the word to describe Sam's reaction to walking in on such a scene. Of course, for the rating's sake, he didn't walk in until the 'morning after' scene. Anyway, the scene he saw was enough. Surprise is about the understatement of the century. He was more shocked than when he discovered Aragorn and Legolas in a rather similar position, not that that says much. Then again, Aragorn and Legolas /were/ both fully clothed.
Fact is, he knew Pippin had morals, and his morals would normally have prevented this situation from occurring.
He wasn't entirely sure whether he should awaken Pippin and point the situation out to him, or just wait until he woke up and discovered it himself. The latter would probably be a lot less painful on Sam's part, anyway.
He snuck backwards out the door. He'd rather not witness what would happen when Pippin awoke.
He was going to do it. He was going to tell Sam all he knew, except perhaps that he had just exchanged words with Merry. He had to.
He couldn't. He couldn't tell Sam a word of it. He was afraid to. Fear was holding him back. He had promised Aragorn and Legolas he'd never tell anyone.
But he had to. What was more important, a promise to a murderer and his accomplice, or his deceased cousin Merry, and his good friend Sam? Clearly the latter. Yes, yes, he was going to tell Sam.
But what happens when you betray a murderer's trust? Surely the outcome can't be good. And he had seen what Aragorn was capable of. No, no, he definitely can't tell anyone.
But surely if put into that situation, Sam and Legolas would defend him. And he'd know it was coming, so he'd be able to defend himself. Yes, he will definitely tell Sam.
But would Legolas defend him? After all, he promised both Aragorn and Legolas that he'd never tell anyone, and would all that has happened make Legolas a kind of accomplice, thus incriminating him as well? No, he can't tell a soul.
Pippin silently argued with himself, but only ended up where he'd begun, wanting to tell Sam, but afraid to. He thought of Merry, his closest family member, and his best friend ever, despite the eight year age difference.
Then he thought of Aragorn. None of the words he used were the same as those that he would have used a month before. Before, he had been a great King of Men, and kinder than most royalty. Now, he was nothing more than a cruel, heartless murderer.
He thought of Sam. Good, kind, sensible Sam. Sam was one hundred percent loyalty; he had proven this for Frodo. But now that Frodo had gone, did he have any loyalty to spare for any other? Or had he, in a manner of speaking, run dry from all that time with Frodo?
Then he thought of Legolas. Here came the most unanswered questions. He had never had any reason not to trust Legolas. But his seeming desperation to protect Aragorn was somewhat suspicious. Why would he be so desperate to keep Aragorn safe? After all, Legolas had never been particularly loyal to him before, so why now? But he could not have possibly been an accomplice, as he had heard Aragorn confess only recently.
By the end of it, he was still stuck in the same position. Then, for a moment, he wondered why he was so afraid of Aragorn. Because he's a talented swordsmen, and can cause a lot of destruction with his sword. But Pippin didn't want to continue on, anyway. But he was afraid of his death being long and drawn-out, and he was afraid that Aragorn might attack him, and then not bother finishing the job. As a 'warning'.
"What should I do?" He moaned aloud, doing a full spin, then overbalancing and landing ungracefully on his rear. He couldn't be bothered to even acknowledge the pain.
He heard a voice behind him, a distinctly female voice that was familiar, though he couldn't place it. "Are you alright?" She asked, somewhat concerned, and with a distinctly flirtatious inflection. "That was a nasty fall."
Pippin thought for a moment about the owner of the voice. Then, he winced. There was only one female in the Shire who would greet him in such a way. "I'm quite fine," he replied politely. "Thank you for asking, Tara."
The Hobbit turned to face Tara. She was tall, as usual, but appeared even taller from the floor. She offered a slender hand, and helped him to his feet. "You look terrible," she told him critically. "Not that you don't look as cute as always. You just haven't had much sleep, have you? And you certainly haven't eaten much." She paused, then slowly released the hand she still held.
In his state of confusion as to his next move on the subject of Merry, not to mention his exhaustion, Pippin hardly noticed the obvious moves Tara was making on him. In fact, it had still hardly clicked whom he was talking to. He had recognised the character, but he had apparently forgotten the... conversation they had at their last meeting.
"There's something seriously wrong with you," came the rather blunt assessment. "Come on, Pip, tell me what's wrong."
"You know what's wrong." He emotionlessly replied. "You were a part of what's wrong."
Tara sighed, looking down at the Hobbit almost pityingly. "Oh, Pippin, you're not still dwelling on that, are you? There are so many things in the world that you could be occupying yourself with, and yet you choose to dwell on the past, and think nothing of the future."
"Why should I care about the future?" He asked her with a rapidly cooling tone. "He was all that mattered to me, Tara. There is no future for little Pippin, young Pippin, foolish Pippin. Not without Merry."
"There's always a future." Tara told him, beginning to become impatient with his insistence upon these thoughts. Not that she was worried about him. Tara never worried about anyone. She had, admittedly, been momentarily guilty about poor Merry, but she got over it, and was back to Pippin. There was only one thing she wanted from him, and it was exactly the same thing that she wanted from every other being of the male persuasion. Of course, she couldn't get this if he chose to dwell on the loss of his best friend. "There's always a future if you choose to see it. Now, think of all the things you could be doing." The teasing smile that all knew so well drifted across her lips. "I know how you feel about me, and I /do/ respect the fact that you think you're so much better than me. But can I at least offer you a drink?"
Pippin was either so mixed up by the confusing feelings swirling through his mind that he allowed himself to be swayed by her offer, or was just too exhausted to try to resist. Either way, he nodded, and spoke only a short, simple, but possibly deadly sentence. (Okay, so perhaps that was a little overdramatic. It was deadly, but only to his dignity.) "Well, alright then, Tara."
Well, the one drink offered led to two drinks. The two drinks led to three. The three drinks led to four. There is a good thing about drinking, he thought to himself. All those problems... gone, at least for the moment. But anyway, soon enough, Pippin was so drunk he couldn't tell left from right. Much less remember his principles, especially those regarding a certain promiscuous femme such as Tara.
You all know what happened here, so I won't go into a detailed description of it. This is a PG-rated fic!
At least, I hope you've managed to figure out what happened here.
Well, there is a character that has to walk in on every bad scene possible. And so far, that character has been Pippin. But as he was involved in above mentioned 'bad scene', the unfortunate character must be Sam.
Surprise wasn't quite the word to describe Sam's reaction to walking in on such a scene. Of course, for the rating's sake, he didn't walk in until the 'morning after' scene. Anyway, the scene he saw was enough. Surprise is about the understatement of the century. He was more shocked than when he discovered Aragorn and Legolas in a rather similar position, not that that says much. Then again, Aragorn and Legolas /were/ both fully clothed.
Fact is, he knew Pippin had morals, and his morals would normally have prevented this situation from occurring.
He wasn't entirely sure whether he should awaken Pippin and point the situation out to him, or just wait until he woke up and discovered it himself. The latter would probably be a lot less painful on Sam's part, anyway.
He snuck backwards out the door. He'd rather not witness what would happen when Pippin awoke.