When the Worlds Cross

by doofi

*Updated 2/9* Co-Written with Heather. What would you do if you were a part of the War of the Ring? Three ordinary teenagers are about to find out.

17. Chapter Sixteen Back Again

When the Worlds Cross

By Heather and Jane

Disclaimer: Middle-Earth and its peoples belong to the great J.R.R. Tolkien.  Mia, Rowan, and Randy belong to us.  Any and all similarities to real life events/people are pure coincidence—unless they appear with permission.

Summary: Things are resolved—and the three teenagers are in for a very nice surprise.

Authors' Notes: co-written between Jane and Heather, two Lord of the Rings fans that are trying to keep true to the story.  First part more movieverse than bookverse, but will soon go to bookverse.  Credit to Heather's father and our friend Wesley as story consultants.

Spoiler alerts for the end of Return of the King.

Quotes/References: we refer to Anne Rice's Interview With the Vampire, the movie Titanic, and Star Trek.  And we quote Goofy.  If we missed any, let us know.

Reader thanks following chapter.

Chapter Sixteen

Back Again

~*~*~*~

A week passed and life went on as it normally did, on surface appearances.  On occasion, the three teenagers spoke of their experiences but only in passing comment.  (One such occasion was Randy wondering why Mia still had the Elvish book, but they theorized that it was because it had been in her backpack at the time.)  For the most part, the adventure wasn't spoken of and there were no changes that casual observers would notice.

Except that Randy was being a lot nicer now (making Rowan suspicious and a lot of his friends worried) and Mia had a rather bad incident one Thursday when she was reading Return of the King in English class.  She burst into tears somewhere near the end and Rowan had to kick her to get her to stop.  Mr. Little did not say a word, though he did give the girls a worried look.  And across the room, Randy pretended to enjoy rereading a book by Hawthorne.

"Are you finished?" Rowan muttered after kicking Mia a second time.

Mia sniffed and shrugged slightly.  "I guess…"

"What part—oh, don't tell me," said Rowan, sighing and lowering her voice to a whisper.  "You were reading about the departure."  Her friend nodded and she sighed in exasperation.  "For God's sake, Mia…  You're too sensitive!"

"So says the girl who didn't even cry when Claudia died in Interview With the Vampire," said Mia, wiping at her eyes and finally getting her tears to stop.

"Claudia was a bitch and Kirsten Dunst is annoying."

"Not that annoying."

"Well, not as Claudia," Rowan acknowledged, "but she's annoying now."

Mia gave up on that conversation, considering the fact that she agreed with that statement.  The class ended a few moments later, with Mr. Little reminding the students about the research project, and the lunch period began.  Randy approached and said, "Everything cool?"

"Oh, yeah, Mia's just acting all depressed at an ending that she helped come true," said Rowan, not without a touch of sarcasm.

"Hey, standing right here!  I am not depressed," she said defensively when Randy looked at her.  "I'm just all…"

"Sensitive?"

"What are you going on about that for?"

Randy rolled his eyes as Rowan pointed out, "You cried at Titanic!"

"Totally different subject and I did not!" Mia said indignantly, heading for the door.

"You did too!"

Mia shook her head.  "I cried at a different movie, really…"

Looking a bit confused (and really wanting to change the subject), Randy said, "I'd say something about hobbits—ow, arm—or elves—OW!—but that won't help."

Mr. Little glanced up from the papers he was grading.  This was the first conversation about Middle-Earth that he had overheard—post adventure, anyway.

"It'd give us some release for tension," said Rowan cheerfully.  "Got a book, Mia?"

"Uh, I'll shut up!" Randy exclaimed, and Mia stopped fumbling for one of her textbooks.  "Thank you.  Not to sound like the Trekkie I am, but the whole time thing would have—"

"Oh shut up again if you please.  We kept things normal, like how Tolkien wrote about them—if we go back, which we have no plans to, things'll change!" Rowan snapped, opening the door and letting her friends out first.  "And we can't let that happen…'cause it's not our business to change how things end!"  That said, she shut the door once her friends had nodded in resigned agreement.

"You think so," Mr. Little murmured just after the door clicked shut.

Outside, Mia said, with a sigh, "I am very upset, thank you so much people."

"At least you're admitting it," Randy said.

"I wasn't denying it," Mia pointed out, and the boy shrugged in response.  "And I need coffee."

Rowan glared at her.  "Mia!"

"So do I," a familiar voice said, and a teacher walked by quite cheerfully.

"No, you don't!" the three teenagers yelled, alarmed for the sake of his students.

~*~*~*~

The next day was much the same—minus the crying—until Mr. Little asked to see Mia and Rowan after class.  Randy lingered behind before Mia shoved him lightly and murmured, "Don't worry, it'll be cool—go see your friends and followers, you've been neglecting them."

"Have I?" Randy wondered as the door closed behind him.

"Interesting boy," Mr. Little remarked, and turned towards the girls, who were standing by his desk a bit uneasily.  "You two are doing all right, aren't you?"

Rowan shrugged.  Her leg still hurt on occasion (only when she thought about it) but otherwise…everything was tolerable.  "We're fine."

"Yep."  Mia nodded, a bit too quickly.  Always had been a bit of a bad liar in the face of authority.

"No, you're acting a bit more melancholy than usual—or at least less bouncy.  You don't miss you-know-where that much, do you?" Mr. Little asked.  The girls raised their eyebrows, at both the question and the 'coded' description.  "Ah.  Inhabitants of you-know-where."

"We're not complaining," said Mia quickly.  "I mean, it wouldn't do any good and going back would totally change things.  And no way do I want that to happen.  I mean, you're looking at the girl who fought tooth and nail to keep things true to the story."

Rowan nodded.  "Yep.  This is a fact.  And she was annoying about it too."

Mia glared at her.  "Oh, thank you."

"Ah, so you want only the future you know," said Mr. Little, looking amused.

"Uh, yeah—wait," Rowan said suspiciously, recalling something that the past-Gandalf had said, way back at the Council of Elrond.  That there were many different futures for Middle-Earth, and that they—the girls and Randy—had been sent back from one of them.  "Are you saying that the future is different?"

"To an extent," said Mr. Little vaguely.  "Would you want to see it for yourselves?"

"Well, yes, obviously," said Rowan, after glancing at Mia to confirm this.  "But…but we can't obviously—wait.  You're not planning on sending us back to Middle-Earth, are you?"  She had a 'better-not' tone and Mia was still glaring.

Mr. Little gave them an innocent look.  "Mr. Little does not endorse traveling through time for purely emotional reasons."

"Didn't think so," said Rowan, while Mia sighed with what was either relief or disappointment.

"I didn't say anything about Kevin, though."

The girls looked up, wide-eyed, just as Mr. Little put on Narya.

"See you in a bit!" he added, grinning at them.

And yet again the world exploded into a tie-dye mix of colors that spun around, taking the floor out from under them, and thoroughly nauseating Mia.

Hopefully the landing would be a bit better this time around.

~*~*~*~

"Yaaah!"  Rowan did not remember the fall being this long.  WHUMPH!  "Yikes!"

"Ouch!"

And that was a voice, what the hey?  Rowan looked around, realized that she had landed on a horse and its rider, and that she was getting a blood rush to the head.  The last was thanks to the fact that she was lying on her back, on someone's legs, with her eyes level with an upside down bush.  This is starting to hurrrrt…

She lifted her head and met a certain Elf Prince's eyes.

Though now I feel better!  "Legolas?" she cried, trying to sit up.  Good grief, what had the English teacher done?

"Rowan…are you truly here?" Legolas asked in disbelief, helping her upright after a moment.  (The horse didn't seem too pleased with the extra passenger.)  He looked a bit taken aback—not that this stopped him from kissing her briefly before pulling back to gape.  "How is this—"

"Can I get my balance?  Thanks.  It's…very, very—REAL.  Oh, my…" Rowan hugged Legolas tightly, almost wanting to laugh from relief.  And the elf's embrace was just as strong—and thankfully not rib crushing.  "I missed you."

"And I you.  Nae saian luume'," Legolas murmured and Rowan looked up to give him a look.  He smiled.  "Amin hiraetha—I am sorry.  I said it had been too long."  He kissed her again.

"Mmph."  I think I like this way of greeting, Rowan thought happily.  "Totally agree with you.  Where am I?" she asked, pulling back a little to breathe.

"Near Mirkwood."

"Oh, that's…incredibly great," Rowan said, and kissed him again.  She could feel him smiling briefly before he returned the kiss.  He pulled back a moment later (again for breathing purposes) and returned her grin, nodding a little in agreement.

A peaceful moment passed and Legolas said, sounding just a little bit on the surprised side, "Um, Rowan?  Your ears are pointy."

"Hunh?!"  Rowan's hands flew to her head and it was only by luck (and Legolas' help) that she didn't fall off of the horse in shock.  Her ears were pointed.  Like an elf's—(though boy was she glad that Randy the Trekkie was not around).  "Okay, how did that happen?  That…this is weird!  That only happens in…in stories or something."  Legolas shrugged, as lost to finding an explanation as she was.  "And where is Gimli—weren't you two supposed to be journeying around Middle-Earth together?"

Legolas blinked at her.  "That is to take place in the spring…I do not understand—"

"I think that figuring out how I suddenly got elf ears can wait until after I'm off the precarious seat," Rowan told him, and he nodded.  "Besides, I want to kiss you again."

"Oh, of course."

Rowan couldn't help but laugh a little.  "I like that answer," she murmured before kissing Legolas again.

Some part of her mind reminded her that sooner or later, the kissing was going to have to cease in order to continue Legolas' trip around Mirkwood or to get off of the horse.  She wasn't too interested in following that bit of advice at this moment, and Legolas didn't seem to be bothered by overly practical inner voices.  And the horse was still less than happy with the entire business of its two kissing riders.

~*~*~*~

Daahhh-hoo-hoo-hweeee…  It would be Disney playing in Mia's head as she landed face first on a hard floor.  And my eye was healing, too!  Owie…   She looked up blearily and saw hairy feet.  Hobbit feet.  Good grief…  Mia tilted her head up further and saw Samwise Gamgee standing right in front of her.  "Sam!" she cried, delighted.

"Mia?" the gardener exclaimed, looking flabbergasted.  Mia nodded, grinning, and he smiled back a little uncertainly.  "This is quite a surprise!  What are you doing here?"

"I don't know—seriously," she said when he gave her an odd look.  And then he helped her up, which was so nice and quite like Sam.  Cool, some things don't change…wait a moment.  "Am I at Bag End?" she asked, a little on the suspicious side.

"Yes…" Sam suddenly looked less than happy.  "Yes, you are at Bag End."

Mia's eyes narrowed.  "Where's Frodo?" she demanded.  If he was already in the Undying Lands, she was so going to go nuclear on a certain wizard.

"He is unwell," Sam informed her.

"What?  It's not March or October, is it?" Mia yelled.

"March?"  Sam looked puzzled.  "And it is near the beginning of November…"

"Oh, good that means that Saruman's butt has been kicked five ways since Tuesday—"

Sam blinked, but more at what she had said than at the knowledge of Saruman's attack on the Shire.  "I beg your pardon?"

"Expression…okay, November.  And he's sick?  Tell me that it's some kind of normal illness and he's not reliving certain shadow king incidents!" said Mia.  Sam hesitated and she grimaced.  "Oh, great.  Why the H-E double hockey sticks…never mind."  I have got to stop saying that.  She shucked her backpack and set it against the wall.  Can get that thing later…when did it get light, anyway?  "Where is he?"

"He is in his room, trying to recover," Sam replied, frowning a little.  "But don't you—"

"Okay, I may know a lot about Middle-Earth, but know nothing of Bag End's architecture…or who sleeps where or what," said Mia, looking exasperated.

"Ah.  The first bedroom…really, the only one with a closed door, down that hall," said Sam, nodding.  "Right behind you, as a matter of fact.  I was just checking on him.  He is having a hard time recognizing friend…" Mia gave him a look.  "But that will not stop you—or me," Sam said firmly.

"Right the first time!  Thanks!"  Mia turned around and nearly crashed into the door.  Ouch…okay, don't do that again…  "You couldn't have mentioned that the door was closed?" she mumbled, fumbling for a doorknob.  He gave her a look.  "Okay, my bad…  Ouch, shoulder, ow…"

Sam kindly pushed the door open while Mia made certain that her shoulder was not broken.  The lighting of the room was somewhat dim, and Frodo was on his bed, turned slightly away from the door.  Mia grimaced.  "He looks awful," she whispered to Sam.  "How long has he been like this?"

"Since mid-October, not long after we freed the Shire," Sam told her.  "He's…well, doing better of late."

Mia took a moment to give Sam a look.  "I would hope so…Frodo?" she said nervously.  No reaction.  Well, were you expecting one?  Yikes, he looks really bad—I don't remember Tolkien saying how bad this was…  She glanced at Sam again, who motioned her forward (she wasn't surprised—he had been the one to say it had 'taken her and Frodo long enough').  "Frodo, I know you're awake, your eyes aren't totally closed."

"It doesn't matter if—"

"Pointing out the obvious might encourage him to open his eyes totally," Mia muttered and Sam nodded.  In a louder voice, she said, "So…er…wakey-wakey?"

"What?"

Mia started to say that was what woke an old friend of hers up in Geometry when Frodo suddenly sat up, blinking in the dim light.  "Mia?" he asked incredulously.  She nodded, choosing not to say 'good, you know my name' (like she would have in Geometry), and smiled.  The hobbit shook his head.  "This is a vision, not real—"

"Oh, really?"  Again, the Geometry method of whacking someone over the head with a pencil wouldn't go over too well.  Mia walked up to the bed and touched Frodo's arm, even though he was looking at her suspiciously.  "Are visions supposed to be flesh and blood?"

"They could be…"

"Frodo Baggins, what is with the suspicious looks?!"

"You aren't acting hysterical," said Frodo matter-of-factly, and Mia blinked.  This was relevant how?  "I would think that a not-vision Mia would be a little tense about being in Bag End rather than in her time."

"That's not the point of the matter—and holy time warp, Batman, that is tensifying…that's not a word, why'd I say that?" Mia muttered, her eyes widening.  "Oooh…Sam, why didn't you mention this?"  Before the gardener could answer, Frodo got to his feet and hugged Mia.  "And eek!"

The former Ringbearer looked a bit sheepish, but not in a hurry to let go.  "Forgive me, but I had to be sure that I was not dreaming—I dreamed much lately, and some were not so nice—and…and it is so good to see you again!"

Mia grinned and returned the hug full-force.  "It's good to see you too," she replied.

Sam tactfully began backing out, only to bump into Pippin.  The younger hobbit said, "I thought I heard—good grief, Mia, you are back!"

"Hm?  Oh, yes, hi," said Mia absently.

"And you're short."

There was a brief silence.  Then Frodo released Mia to take a critical look and Sam wondered why he had missed this.  "Oh, yes," both hobbits said at the same time, and Mia's brain caught up with her.  I am eye-level with Frodo and Sam, and am shorter than Pippin.  I think my feet are bare…good God, I wandered into a fantasy world!  Wait, never mind…  But the fact that she was the same height as a hobbit (and probably was a hobbit) remained.  She made an 'eeping' sound.  Frodo said, "You did not know this?"

"I think landing face-first on the floor kind of short-circuited my brains, Frodo."

"You did that again?!"

Pippin and Sam exchanged looks that said 'again?', but did not ask.  Simply retreated from the immediate vicinity, guessing that their presence would probably cause embarrassment.

"Don't blame me, blame my English teacher the wizard," Mia said with a huff, and Frodo looked surprised.  "Okay, blame me a little for having no balance whatsoever…but the fall wasn't fun.  Nope, no fun at all."

Frodo smiled.  "I would think the landing, not the fall, would be the problem."

"Well, it was and—why are we still talking?" Mia asked.  "You should go back to recovering!"

"I think that I will be doing much better now."

What?  Oh!  Oh…darn, my brain is really behind these days…  Mia smiled.  "Ah, okay."

It was a brief kiss, but a longer embrace.  And both Mia and Frodo were perfectly happy with that.

(Though Pippin wasn't too pleased about nearly tripping over Mia's discarded backpack.)

~*~*~*~

"Randy?" Mr. Little spoke up as Randy was about to leave the English classroom, one day after Rowan and Mia's mysterious absence.  "May I speak with you a moment?"

"Oh, of course, Mr. Little."  The teenage boy looked at his teacher a little cautiously, knowing who Mr. Little really was.  It had never been stated (as in related to the other two 'lucky' adventurers) but Randy had been in an odd limbo between Middle-Earth and modern Earth, where he'd seen Mr. Little and…well, the girls had hinted a little too much.  What was he left to do but infer that the English teacher was all-powerful (in a way that didn't involve the education program)?

Which was really not all that surprising, if one thought about it.

"I know you remember all that has happened," Mr. Little said, a bit carefully.

"Yeah, I do.  And I know, it was you I saw after Rowan…" Randy got very quiet, thinking of how Rowan—his friend—had killed him.  He knew why she had, remembered what he had been thinking just before she had 'killed' him, but it was still "…er, after I disappeared."

Mr. Little only nodded.

"I know what happened then was wrong of me…it's all because of this."  Randy held up a ring.  This Mia had outright told him, after Rowan had been 'making way too many hints'—needless to say, Randy had been a bit on the shocked side.  (And a bit miffed that the girls had escaped the corrupting influence, until they reminded him that they had never really worn their 'rings of power'.)  "Isn't it?"

"One is only as evil as they let themselves be," the teacher answered cryptically.

Randy nodded, pretending that he understood the fortune-cookie-like statement (which he didn't really).  He glanced at the door, wanting to leave and wondering where Mia and Rowan had gotten to recently.  Hope they're not in any trouble or looking for a secret closet that'll take them to Middle-Earth—though that would be funny!  He stifled the urge to laugh, and headed for the door.

As he passed Mr. Little's desk, Randy dropped the ring onto one of the candles Mr. Little burned on occasion.  Great effect—bad aiming.  Randy paused to look at the ring.  Whether it was Mr. Little's magic or a deeper magic, it didn't really mater.  The flame became hot enough to melt the ring that had once belonged to a Ringwraith of Sauron.

Whoa, that's…kind of cool.  Though I didn't think candle flames were—why am I being scientific about this?  Evil thing gone…that is good.  Randy then turned to leave, now surer of himself than ever.  Before he passed through the doorway, Mr. Little spoke up.

"Oh, and Randy.  You have the potential to do great things."

Yet another odd phrase from Mr. Little.  What else was old?  "Thank you," said Randy, not bothering to hide his confusion and, for the last time, turned towards the doorway.  As he passed through, it was as if the world was underwater.  Everything seemed to shimmer, and then it swirled together into one point of light and color.  Randy was pulled towards this point—everything went blindingly white.  And he got a rather bad feeling of vertigo.

Then, suddenly, there he was, falling to the cold, hard ground of Middle-Earth, in the middle of a forest.

"What the…" Randy muttered, looking around.  Where am I?  And why do I wish that I had Mia's book—I thought I remembered these things?

"Hello," said a man, standing just a six inches away.

Randy refrained from yelping in surprise and settled for staring.  And then muttering, "Oh, now what?"

"I'm a Ranger."  What, there are more—right, there are, who's that other guy? Randy wondered.  "I've been expecting you," the man went on, sounding as if he'd been waiting just a moment too long.  Or something like that.  "Gandalf the White—or whatever you know him by in your time—has told me all about you and your misfortunes."

"Oh," Randy said, getting up.  That seemed fair.  Only everyone knew about how he had turned evil…who was he kidding?  That was fair—it was a warning to people.  Cool, I'm a warning!  He thought about that.  How exactly is that cool?

"I also know you're a good man at heart," the man said, interrupting Randy's meandering thoughts.  "A ring like that would have corrupted any of us.  That's why you get a second chance."

Second chances were good.  Provided that there wasn't any fine print.  "What do I have to do?"

"You have to join me, help me and my kin, do what it is we do."

"Okay…wait."  Randy blinked.  "That's allowed?  Or was it authorized by someone?" he asked, suspecting the latter.

The man nodded once.  "That's right."  He didn't seem bothered by the fact that he'd answered a bit on the ambiguous side.  Maybe it is both answers, Randy thought.  "I am a Ranger, and now you shall be one as well."

Randy was stunned.  He didn't know what to say or do.  Wait, he did.  "A Ranger?"

"Yes.  Do you not agree with that?"

"Uh…" Gosh, did the man have to ask?  "I agree," said Randy.  "But, er, where are we going?"

"Into the wild."

Randy gave him a look.

"To Gondor," the Ranger amended.

"Thank you."

That night, he and the other Ranger made camp and rested.  Tomorrow would start a new and adventurous life for Randy.  It wouldn't be easy—it was not as if he had been prepared for it, after all—and he knew that.  It was going to be a hard, long time and also possibly the best time of Randy's life.

To Be Continued…In the Epilogue.  Yes, there is more—think high school reunion.  Please leave any form of commentary by clicking on the little box below.

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