I Thought a Mary-Sue Never Got Hurt!

            The Fellowship walked along the path to the Mines of Moria, following a tall stone wall and small body of water. As the walked, Gimli was boasting something about the 'hospitality of the dwarves'; no one was really listening to him. After a while Gandalf interrupted Gimli's rant, as he had found the doors to Moria.

As he mumbled something in audible, Rose looked at the glowing figure on the stone cliff.

'How does it open?' she asked, and Gandalf nodded.

'It reads: The Doors of Durin, Lord of Moria. Speak friend, and enter!' Gandalf answered, and Rose cocked an eyebrow.

'What do you s'pose that means?' Merry asked, and Gandalf stepped back.

'It's quite simple, really. If you are a friend you speak the password and the doors will open.' Gandalf then chanted some sort of spell, and when that didn't work, he tried pushing on it.

'Nothing's happening.' Pippin remarked, and Gandalf shot him a glance through his frustration.

'I will knock on the doors with your head, Peregrin Took, but if that does not shatter them, and I am allowed a little peace from foolish questions, I will seek for the opening words.' Gandalf said and Daisy pat Pippin on the shoulder.

'You just have really bad timing, Pip.' She said encouragingly, but Pippin still looked slightly hurt. As they fellowship waited Gandalf to open the doors, they separated and did different things in their own time. Boromir and Estella were sitting next to each other, talking about what they planned on doing when they returned home, and after a moment Boromir glanced at Gandalf.

'Come along, Estella, I have a strange feeling we will be here a while.' Boromir said, and waved to Daisy and Rosie. 'We are about to train, would you like to join us?' he asked, and they nodded, leaving Sam to tend to Bill.

'Certainly, I need all the practice I can get.' Rose said, and unsheathed her sword.

'But we just fought a pack of wargs!' Daisy exclaimed and Rose shrugged.

'Yeah, wargs. What about orcs? They actually have swords.'

'She is right, wargs are very different from orcs.' Boromir interrupted and took out his sword. 'You have trained before; I would like to see the extent of your skills.' He answered, and Estella went first. Boromir went easily on her in the beginning, but began to press harder and harder until he saw she was tired. Daisy went next, then Rose, and when Rose was done, Frodo jumped up.

'It's a riddle. Speak 'friend', and enter. What's the Elvish word for friend?' He asked, and Gandalf looked up at him.

'Mellon,' he answered, and to everyone's surprise, the doors opened. Rose sheathed her sword, and walked up next to Sam, while Daisy was next to Frodo, and Estella Boromir. As they walked in, Gimli had a very smug look on his face.

'Soon, Master Elf, you will enjoy the fabled hospitality of the Dwarves! Roaring fires, malt beer, ripe meat off the bone! This, my friend, is the home of my cousin Balin. And they call it a mine. A MINE!' He ranted, Legolas looking rather odd to each comment. Gandalf lit his staff, and the light revealed a mine-full of rotting orc and dwarf carcasses.

'This is no mine…' Boromir said, looking around in disgust. 'It's a tomb.' Gimli ran to the nearest body while the others back away.

'No! Noooo!  NOOOOOOO!' he cried, and Legolas looked at an arrow.

'Goblins!'

'We make for the Gap of Rohan. We should never have come here! Now get out of here! Get out!' he cried, unsheathing his sword again, and shielded Estella back. While he said this, a tenticle snaked its way around Frodo's leg, and took his feet out from under him.

'Frodo!'

'Frodo! Help!'

'Strider!' Frodo cried as he was being pulled to the water. 'Help!' he said again, as the other hobbits  went to him, Sam madly slicing at the tentacle. More flew out and hit all the hobbits in their heads, throwing them back.

'Get off him!'

'Aragorn!'

'Frodo!' Merry called before Strider came, along with Boromir, and they started chopping off tentacles, eventually catching Frodo.

'Into the mines!!!' Gandalf cried as Legolas shot the Watcher in the eye.

'Legolas, into the cave!'

'Run!' They all ran into the cave, the Watcher pulling down the opening in front of them. After a moment, everything was quiet, and Gandalf lit his staff again.

'We now have but one choice. We must face the long dark of Moria. Be on your guard. There are older, and fouler things than Orcs in the deep places of the world. Quietly now. It's a four day journey to the other side. Let us hope that our presence may go unnoticed.' Gandalf said, and his staff revealed a great cavern in front of them.

'It's so big…' Rose said, and Boromir nodded.

'Yes, and musty. I have never seen a Dwarven mine- it is grander than I believed I imagined.' He said and Gimli snorted.

'I should think so.' He muttered, and no one spoke another word.

During the third day, as they were walking up the stairs, Gandalf stopped, and announced that he had no memory of this place, and they stopped for him to think. They each took a seat, and the men pulled out their pipes.

As they sat down, Daisy took a seat next to Frodo, and after a moment of silence, they turned to each other.

'How are you doing?' She asked, and he looked down at his hands, then at her.

'I'm doing all right.' He said, and she nodded.

'Good…. Good…' There was some more silence. 'Frodo?'

'Hm?' he asked, he had his pipe in his mouth by now.

'Stop lying to me.' Frodo's pipe practically fell out of his mouth.

'What?' he asked, bewildered.

'Don't lie to me. I know when you're hurt, or feel hurt. It's painful, isn't it? It hurts in some twisted way. You may fool the others, but Sam and myself aren't. We both know when you are not well… we pay that much attention.' She said, and he looked deeply into her eyes. In them he saw a girl who didn't look like she was past her tweens, years younger than what she really was. She was struggling with something too, too young to understand it.

'You know me too well.' Was all that came out of his mouth, and she sighed.

'Maybe I do…' she admitted, and stood. 'I definitely do.'

Rose had sat down next to Estella, and they were whispering quietly with each other. After a while, Sam shyly came over and sat next to Rose. When he sat she smiled, and turned to him instead. Estella didn't really mind- they hadn't been talking of anything important. She just went to her own thoughts as the two conversed.

'Rose…' he asked, and she inclined her head. 'Why did you come?' the question sort of threw her off, and as she raised her eyebrows in surprise, she thought about the answer.

'We… didn't want to be left behind…' she said, and he shook his head.

'But you should have gone back home, it's safer there!' he said, and she crossed her arms over her chest. 'You even cut your beautiful hair!' he said, and moved a lock out of her face. She turned her head at the right time, and his hand caressed her face.

'We wanted to make sure you'd be safe.' Rose answered, and he removed his hand from her face.

'We were- are- going to get back home safely, you shouldn't have come. The Gaffer's going to have a lot to say right strait, and so is your father.' He said, and she shook he head.

'Father wouldn't let me walk out of the door with out his knowledge of where I was going.' She answered, almost bitterly. He was surprised by her tone, and they sat in silence for a few more minutes.

'I'm sorry… if I brought up a bad subject.' Sam appoligized, and she smiled at him.

'No, never mind, it's just this place makes me…' she shivered as she tried to find the right word. 'Uneasy…'

'Yes, I know what you mean.'

Estella glanced around the cavern they were in. It was so dark and stuffy- she felt like she needed breath. It was nothing like the hobbit-hole waiting for her at home. That one was nice and open, with a comfortable little hearth in her kitchen. Ah, yes, her kitchen- she needed a good cup of tea.

She realized she had been day-dreaming when Rosie's arm bumped into hers, and she looked over at Merry. He was sitting across from Pippin, and was smoking his pipe. As she was looking at him, his eyes locked with hers, and she turned away quickly, turning a slight red. He seemed to have the same reaction, and at the same time they glanced back, quickly turning again.

During this time, Frodo had gone up to Gandalf, and after they had been talking about something, Gandalf stood.

'Oh… It's this way.' He said, and Merry jumped up.

'He's remembered.' He said after he and Estella glanced away for the second time.

'No, but the air smells less foul down here. If you're ever in doubt, Meriadoc, always follow your nose.' Gandalf said, and they started down the stairs. When they got to the bottom Gandalf lit his staff more, and revealed a grand hall of stone.

'Behold, the dwarven city of Dwarrowdelf.' Gandalf said, and everyone, even Legolas, looked up in awe.

'There's an eye-opener, ain't no mistake…' Sam said, and Estella closed Merry's mouth with her hand.

'How'd they get all the way up there?' she asked, but no one answered her. Even Gimli didn't take the time to boast, he was too set in awe to do so. They soon got over it, though, and made their way through the hall. As they were walking Gimli turned his head to the side, and something caught his eye. He immediately started running towards the door, and Gandalf tried to stop him.

'Gimli!' Gandalf said, but the dwarf could not be stopped. He ran into the room, and stopped short when he saw the tomb in front of him.

'No… oh, no. No!' he said, and slowly fell to his knees. The others came up behind him slowly as he wept, and Gandalf read the tomb.

' "Here lies Balin, son of Fundin, Lord of Moria." He is dead, then. It is as I had feared.' Gandalf said, and spotted a book lying on a corpse of a dwarf. He gave his hat and staff to Pippin, while Estella moved over to Pippin to see what was going on. As Gandalf read the book, Pippin looked around the room, and found an arrow sticking out of the body of a dwarf. Curiosity overtook him, and he twisted the arrow a bit, making the corpse fall down the hole. The loud bang made everyone turn, and as Estella watched the body go down the well, the bucket fell too. She tried to catch it, but couldn't and everything fell.

The intensity in the room increased ten-fold, as everyone listened for a reaction from something. When nothing happened, Gandalf grabbed his hat and staff from Pippin.

'Fool of a Took!' he said, figuring it was not Estella, 'throw yourself in next time, and rid us of your stupidity!' he said, and Pippin seemed to be shot down by every word that fell upon Gandalf's lips. As he looked down in shame, Estella patted him on the shoulder. She was about to say something, when they could hear drumming noises in the deep. Everyone stopped, and it was only when Sam saw the blade of Frodo's sword, did everyone start to move.

'Frodo!' he said, and Frodo unsheathed his sword.

'Orcs!' Legolas said as Boromir went to look out to see what was happening. When two arrows nearly missed his head, he closed the door, and Aragorn went up to help him hold it.

'They have a cave troll.' He said, and they barred the gates.

'Get back, stay close to Gandalf!' Aragorn said, and the men and elf waited, while Orcs started cutting at the door. The hobbits unsheathed their swords, and tried to ready themselves for the attack. When the orcs finally did break through, they all ran out, screaming.

No one was really thinking for the first part of the battle, they just fought, and stabbed for their lives. When things finally did start to set in, Rose looked around, and saw something that made her scream. The cave-troll was busting it's way through the door. It immediately made its way to Sam, and before she knew what she was doing, she jumped at the troll, and stabbed at its leg. It screamed in pain, and kicked with its foot, sending her into the wall. She was knocked slightly unconscious.

One of the orcs found this rather inviting, and went at her with his sword. Before he could do anything to her, though, he found himself with a sliced neck. It had been delivered by Daisy, and Estella was making her way over slowly, killing orcs on the way. When she did finally make it over, Rose was starting to come-to again. More orcs found this as an opportunity, and soon they were trapped in the corner, with no where to go. If they had any chance not to fight before it had disappeared, and they found themselves trying their best to fight.

Rose's vision finally cleared, and she slowly stood to her feet, shaking a slight bit. She stood next to Estella, just in time to see an orc come right at Estella's side. Rose hit it away, but as the orc's arms flailed at the sudden pain, it still managed to take a good slice at Estella.

This happened about the time that Frodo was stabbed, and her attention was more at him than anything else. Everything seemed to stop, until Merry and Pippin jumped on the troll, and started stabbing it, giving Legolas the time to shoot it in the throat. It groaned, and fell dead, throwing Pippin off of it. Everyone now moved toward Frodo, who sat up when he was flipped over. Thankfully he was unhurt. They could hear more drums in the distance, and Gandalf motioned for them to stand.

'We must hurry.' He said, and Estella staggered when she stood. Blood was seeping through her shirt, and when she put her hand on it, more went onto her hand. No one noticed, though, they were too busy making it for the Bridge.