Requiem for a Dream
Written by Freefall Sunsoar

E-mail : freefall_sunsoar@hotmail.com
Archive : Anywhere! Just let me know, okay?

Series : Lord of the Rings (movieverse)
Rating : R
Pairings : Various
Warnings : Slash, sexual situations, violence, strong language

Disclaimers : I do not own LOTR in any way, nor do I claim to. It is the property of JRR Tolkien. Last time I checked, that was not my name. Please don't sue me, you wouldn't get any money anyways. I'm dirt poor.

Notes : See Chapter 01 for some introductory ramblings.


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CHAPTER 02 - MIDDLE EARTH
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The sensation of falling is quite unlike any other.

It gives your stomach the feeling of churned butter, wrenching up and down, back and forth until you think it's going to collapse on itself. That was the feeling that Saidie was getting as she plummeted into the never-ending abyss of darkness. She tried to scream, but it was impossible for sound to leave her mouth. So she had to settle for silent cries of terror as she fell further into the unknown.

It was hard to determine how long she had been falling, but just as she thought her sanity could no longer handle the pressure, it happened. A great eye appeared beneath her, almost serpentine and wreathed in fire. Once again a silent scream passed through her lips before there was another great flash of light.

And she suddenly found herself outside, in the chilled night air and in a place she did not recognize, falling rapidly towards a stone tower. It would have been hard to tell in the dark, but there was no doubt in her mind; it was the top of the tower from the cave. As seen from above of course.

"FUUUUUUUCK!"

She landed hard on her stomach, and she heard the unmistakable sound of something snap. Shit, she fell on her machine gun, and the trigger had broken clean off. It would be useless to her now.

"Damn it," she mumbled as she tried to push herself to her feet, "What happened ...."

The stone beneath her gloved hands was cool and worn from years of erosion, but it did not seem have the same ancient look as it did when she had seen it in the cave. When she managed to get to her feet, she gasped when she saw her comrades there as well, sprawled out on the ground motionlessly.

"Jack, Shigure, Lieutenant, " she called to them, "Are you ... all ... right."

Now that she took a good look around her she saw they were not alone anymore. Three tiny little men were crouched on the ground, shaking and cowering in fear, looking at her as if she had two heads. What were they so afraid of? The answer came in the form of a high pitched wail from behind her.

Saidie spun around to find the source of the sound, and her eyes widened behind her tinted goggles. It was now that she thought maybe she had hit her head in the fall as well.

Five of them, all in torn black cloaks that whipped in the night air and blended to the darkness like shadows. She could make out armor underneath, layered and likely sharp as razors. When one peered into the darkness beneath the hoods of their cloaks, blackness stared back at you.

One of them had a sword extended, pointed at the ground for some reason, and there was screaming as if someone had been stabbed. But she saw no one. The three tiny men were sprawled on the ground, one of them calling out desperately for a 'Mr. Frodo.'

"Run," another one of them was looking at her now, a pleading expression on his face, "You have to run, or the Black Riders will get you all. Look out!"

One of them had decided that she was worth interest now, and was coming towards her with its sword drawn. There was a horrible screeching coming from he creature, and it made her shiver.

"Stay back," Saidie commanded, tossing aside her broken firearm and bringing out Old Faithful. The barrel was pointed directly at its head, but it did not seem to care. It raised it's own weapon swiftly and prepared to strike.

She did not hesitate to pull the trigger.

Four rounds went into the cloaked monstrosity before it crumpled to the ground. The tiny people screamed at the sound of the gunshot, as if they had never heard such a thing before.

More shots were fired, and she was glad to see the other three on their feet now, opening fire against two more. For a moment she feared they might have been killed in the fall. Harolds was getting to his feet, and called to her to take out the one with his sword on the ground.

She turned, about to take out the demon, when something caught out of the corner of her eyes. A torch was hurtling through the air, straight towards her. Instinct took over and she dived to the ground just in time for the burning stick to sail over her head and embed itself in the back of the cloaked figure's neck. The strangest thing happed.

It stumbled back, shrieking like the other, wrenching its sword as if it were stuck in something. Seconds later she heard a cry of terrible pain, and saw a fourth tiny man appear out of thin air, clutching his chest where the sword used to be. One of the other tiny men crawled over to him frantically, ignoring the Black Riders writhing around him.

She watched them, transfixed.

"Sam," the injured one said weakly, seeming on the verge of tears and in a great deal of pain.

"Oh, Mr. Frodo."

Distracted, she didn't notice that one of the creatures was coming at her; the one with the torch in it's neck. The sword was high over her head, coming down in a swift arc, and there was no chance for a reaction.

Then suddenly she heard a great shout of effort from somewhere in the darkness, and a flash of steel from a second sword dove deep into the demon's back. It squealed like a skewered pig, dropped its blade and fled into the shadows, still flaming.

Saidie found herself face to face with the stern countenance of a Man who looked like he hadn't bathed since the day he was born. His dark hair was stringy and slick with dirt and sweat, his face covered in uneven patches of rough stubble. Cold blue eyes stared back at her, judging and watchful.

"Do not let your guard down," he said tersely, "These are formidable enemies you face."

"STRIDER!" the concerned, chunky looking man called for him, "Come quick!"

The one known as Strider gave her another look over before running to his fallen friend. The other four cloaked figures were slinking off as well, fleeing the hail of bullets that chased after them.

Compelled, Saidie could not help herself and walked towards the group that had gathered around the fallen boy. From this distance, he looked no older than Jack, and suddenly she was reminded of the boy lying dead in the cave. Would he share the same Fate?

Strider held up the blade that Frodo - she assumed that was his name - had been stabbed with. It crumbled into ash before their eyes, and Strider said something to his companions, but she could not hear.

"Is he alright?"

Strider was suddenly on his feet, his black blood-soaked sword pointed mere inches from her face.

"Who are you?" he demanded fiercely, "What sorcery did you conjure up to land upon this place so strangely? I have never seen Men in such clothes or with such loud weaponry."

Men? Or dear, he thought she was a male. Well, she was still wearing her helmet, face mask and those tinted goggles, and her army fatigues certainly hid her figure. Still, she would have thought her voice would have given it all away.

Where were the other three?

/Tell me they did not go after those things,/ she grimaced mentally.

"Answer me stranger!"

"Lower you weapon," Lieutenant Harold's stern voice was followed by the cocking of a gun hammer.

Just in time. She managed a small glance backwards to see Jack, Shigure and the Lieutenant a foot behind her, guns aimed at Strider. If he made a move to attack her he'd be full of lead in seconds.

"No, wait!" the tiny man who had spoken to her earlier, who had warned her to run, stepped forward, "They aren't our enemies, I think. They attacked the Riders when they came after us. They helped us Strider. You shouldn't fight."

Now that she actually stopped at looked at the man, she could see that something was very strange. Standing at about waist height of Strider, he had large, hairy feet - and no shoes - and slightly over sized, pointed ears. The four of them were like this. Something was seriously wrong with this picture.

"What are you?" she asked him rather tactlessly, momentarily forgetting the sword in her face, "What is going on here?".

"We will not answer your questions until you answer mine. Who are you people?"

"First Lieutenant Connor Harolds, Canadian special ground forces," the older soldier spoke up confidently and stepped forward, "These troops are under my command. We found ourselves in a cave after tracking a group terrorists, and this structure was somehow inside it. There was a bright flash of light, and suddenly we were falling. Tell me, what is this place? Where are we?"

"Weathertop," Strider answer cautiously, "Once a great watch tower, now fallen into disuse and ruin. It is hard for me to believe that you had found it inside of a cave when it clearly stands in the open."

"There seem to be a lot of things that are hard to believe at the moment, " he replied evenly, "But I am sure there must be a rational explanation for all of this."

Was that a smile on the dark haired man's face?

"I'm sure you will find, Master Harolds, there is little room for ration in these lands as of late. I do not understand why or how you have come here, but I am afraid that it would burden my conscious and my curiosity leave you here to fend for yourselves when the Wraiths are hunting."

The fellow who had been stabbed cried out again, and Strider went to his side again, examining the wound. It would be wise, she thought, if she hung back with the others. Harolds still seemed to be quite wary of these strangers, but she knew he would do what he had to.

"This is beyond my skill to heal," he announced after a few seconds, scooping the boy in his arms, "He needs Elvish medicine."

Now, he couldn't have just said what she thought she heard him say. It was silly. Elves.

He turned to them, his expression completely neutral. "If what the Hobbits tell me is true, then you are indeed friend to us. We must make for Rivendell, if you wish to join us, and the House of Elrond. Perhaps there we can find some answers as to what has happened this night."

It was obvious that Strider did not trust them completely, and it was understandable, but she couldn't help but think he was simply allowing them to follow to satisfy his curiosity.

"Rivendell?" Harolds said questioningly, "I have never heard of such a place. But I suppose we must accept your offer or wait here for death. Very well then, we will aid you along the way. It will be dangerous."

"Your aid will be most welcome, the wraiths will keep hunting us; You and your men fight bravely against things you do not understand Master Harolds. Come then, we must hurry. Merry, Pippin, Sam, on your feet now. We must get Frodo to Rivendell."

"You heard the man troops, we move out. I want night vision on and weapons ready. Private Miyashi, Private Trevat, you have the flank, but to not stray to far. I want to know if those things so much as breathe on us. Private Mitchell with me."

They all saluted him before breaking into their groups. "Yes Sir."

The tiny men - Hobbits she thought she heard Strider refer to them as - watched them with brief amazement, but quickly refocused to their fallen friend. The heavy set one, Sam she recalled, was right beside Strider, asking frantic questions. He must have really cared for Frodo.

/Please don't make us have to bury this little one before I even get a chance to say hello/ Saidie prayed as she and Shigure were the last to follow the party down the tower path.


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They had stopped in the middle of some forest after running for nearly four hours. There had been no visible signs of the wraiths yet, though they could all hear them screeching some miles behind and feel their presence tingling in their spines.

So many questions needed to be answered, but everyone was too busy focusing on Frodo and keeping him alive. It was crucial that they reach this Rivendell, but hope was failing. It was a long ways away, according to Strider, and Frodo was fading fast.

They still had no idea why those Wraiths had been attacking the Hobbits or what they had been after. The Ranger was not saying anything about it, telling them that he would explain it all to them when they got Frodo out of danger. Once Saidie had thought she heard Merry and Pippin whispering something about a ring, but she wasn't sure. For the moment they were simply co-operation with the circumstances.

Strider had called a stop, and Harolds had ordered his troops to make a perimeter sweep to ensure that there weren't any of these wraiths hiding about in the bushes. They quickly discovered that the comm systems had been shorted out, and all they got was an ear full of piercing static when they tried to use them; thankfully though, their night vision was still intact. The three of them always stayed within visual range of each other for their own protection. When they were certain that they were safe for the moment, the three of them returned to their makeshift camp. All of them were exhausted but trying not to show it.

Strider and Sam were arguing loudly about the wraiths.

"Perimeter is clear Sir," Shigure reported, removing the night vision and ignoring the argument, "These Wraiths seem to be keeping their distance for now."

"Probably trying to dig out all the slugs," Jack commented causally, though there was some underlying tone to his voice, "It's a shame we wasted so much ammo on them. Something tells me we aren't going to find any lying around this place."

"At ease then men," Harolds nodded to them, "Get a few minutes of rest while you can. I don't think we'll be here for very long."

Whatever argument that had passed between the commander and Jack seemed to have vanished, or was at least put on hold, as if the two of them had silently agreed to disagree for moment. Saidie was glad for that, because she knew they would all have to stay focused if they wanted to get to this Rivendell alive. Of course, once they arrived, she was certain Jack was going to be severely reprimanded.

Glancing at the huge stone troll statues, she sat on a log away from the Hobbits and the impending questions she could see in their eyes.

She wished she had any idea where they were. This was indeed a strange place, almost alien. It was like something out of a fantasy novel, with the swords and trolls and tiny people with hairy feet. How on earth had they come to such a place? Would they be able to find a way back home? Too many questions.

Maybe they really had died in that cave, and this was all some sort of death bed fantasy.

"Hey kid," Jack sat down next to her, and put an arm around her shoulder, "How you holding up?"

Well, at least her fantasy was nice enough to provide a concerned, happy friend.

"Good enough I guess," she answered him "My legs are killing me, but at least my back is numb so I can't feel it anymore."

Jack laughed, and though his mask was up, she was sure he was smiling. "Same here. Something tells me though that we've got a lot more running to do. Gotta get that one to Rivendell and all," he looked like he suddenly had a thought, "Hey, isn't that where Archie lives? Y'know from the comics."

"That's Riverdale," she said as if explaining it to a four year old. "Riverdale. Somehow I doubt it's the same place."

"Oh," Jack sounded almost disappointed. "Do you think he's going to make it?"

He jerked his head towards Frodo, who looked about three days dead already. None of them understood exactly what was happening to the little Hobbit; 'falling into shadow' wasn't a medical term the Canadians were familiar with.

"Hard to say," Saidie answered sadly, "I hope he pulls through, but Rivendell is so far away. Even if we ran all the way there without stopping, it would take about five or six days, or so this 'Ranger' says."

"Hnn," Jack made a non-committal noise in response.

They both watched the older, slightly unsanitary man as he hovered about Frodo, checking his wound and looking over his own shoulder suspiciously at the shadows.

"Sam, come," the filthy man suddenly said, standing from the Hobbit's side, "I need your help."

Sam, who was sitting on Frodo's other side holding his hand and smoothing back his hair, looked down at the boy with sadness and reluctantly went to Strider. Saidie and Jack watched them with dull curiosity for a few minutes, talking in hushed tones away from their hearing, and then disappeared into the bushes. Strider called back something about looking for herbs to slow the poison.

"Such a terrible thing," she commented sadly as she rose.

Jack observed her as she went to kneel beside the sickly boy. She removed one of her gloves and took one of Frodo's sheet white hands into her own. His skin was disgustingly clammy, and cold as a telephone pole in January.

"I'd like to have a look at it."

Shigure seemed to appear out of nowhere, startling the female soldier, squatting beside her to get a close look at Frodo's wound.

"Jesus Shigure," she scolded him, "Don't sneak up on me like that."

"I wasn't sneaking up on anyone," he stated blandly, "You just weren't paying enough attention."

Saidie grumbled silently while she watched the Japanese youth carefully pull back the collar of Frodo's shirt. What was revealed was perhaps the ugliest wound she had ever seen in her life. In the military they had all seen their fair share of injuries, but this was something quite unlike any other.

"It's completely cloterized," he mused aloud, partially to himself, "But it goes deep. Hmm, I've never seen any kind of poison that can have this kind of effect on the body ... but it spreads quickly. Very quickly. I think Strider may have overestimated the amount of time he's got left."

"You have medical training Shigure?"

Jack had joined them at some point, and he was blinking at the other boy with newfound curiosity.

"Some," he said slowly, not bothering to look at his questioner, "I trained as a field medic when I first enlisted, before I joined the Lieutenant's unit."

"Why did you stop?"

"That's none of your business," Shigure replied coldly, giving him a sideways glare before he removed his pack, "But I think I can help Frodo a little more than Strider's herbs can."

He removed a small white med kit, something that most soldiers carried with them at all times. Opening the case, Shigure rummaged through its contents briefly before removing some white gauze and a small bottle filled with a clear liquid. During this whole time, Frodo was simply looking back and forth between them, gasping and wheezing in agony.

/I wonder if he realizes we aren't his enemies. We must look strange to him in our facemasks and night vision. /

Removing her other glove, Saidie stroked the side of his face as softly as she could, trying to soothe him as Sam seemed to have been doing earlier.

"Keep him calm Trevat," the Japanese said as he swabbed the gauze with the contents of the bottle, "This will sting."

"What is it?"

"An antiseptic," he explained as he poised his hand over the wound, "It's used on the field to disinfect wounds and kill infection. I don't think it will help the poison, but it will certainly keep the wound from becoming infected."

And with that he pressed the cotton firmly against Frodo's chest. The Hobbit's already large eyes widened to unnatural proportions as he cried out in shocked pain. She kept a tight grip on his hand, whispering soothing words to him to try and keep him calm. Shigure made four strong swipes across the wound before he relented and Frodo crumpled back into the ground in agonized relief.

The gauze was covered in black, crusty stuff - whether it was blood or something else entirely, Saidie was not sure. The stab wound looked marginally better, no longer covered in whatever was now clinging to the bandages. It was red and angry, but it would not infect. Shigure got some clean gauze and surgical tape, covering the wound from outside invasion.

"That is fucking nasty," Jack said in distaste when he snagged the swab away from an irritated Shigure to get a closer look, "What is this?"

"Blood maybe," Saidie guessed, equally grossed out, "Or some kind of by product from this shadow poison."

"Oi, what are you people doing to Frodo?"

The three soldiers looked up simultaneously to see Sam charging towards them in an indignant Hobbit rage. He had a fistful of plants in one hand, and the other balled into an angry, shaking fist.

"All I could hear was him screaming like he was bein' stabbed again. What is that bottle? What's that cloth on Mr. Frodo's wound?"

Saidie glared at Jack when she heard him trying to fight back some laughter. Perhaps Sam didn't know he was awfully cute when he was trying to be intimidating, but that was no reason to laugh. Especially when his friend probably would not live out the night. She hit him in the arm.

"Ow," he complained, "What was that for."

"Control your laughter Mitchell," she said tersely, "No one else finds anything funny."

"Relax Hobbit," Shigure answered, almost as tactless as Jack with his chuckling, "This is medicine. It will keep Frodo's wound from developing an infection."

Sam shoved Jack out of the way, who fell back weakly in amusement, and resumed his place at his friend's side.

"Where is Strider Sam?" Saidie asked in concern when she did not see the Ranger anywhere, "Is he coming -"

Her sentence was interrupted when a strange white light appeared among the trees where the Man in question had disappeared earlier. The three of them were on their feet instantly, weapons drawn and aimed into the illumination.

"What now," Jack muttered irritably, "More wraiths?"

"On your guard men," Lieutenant Harolds had come to join them when he noticed the light as well, "You little ones, stay behind us."

Saidie noted that the Hobbits seemed to take mild offense to being called 'Little ones', but they agreed none the less. She had noticed that the Lieutenant, while he had accepted this new 'mission', was having a difficult time accepting that the Hobbits were creatures other than humans. In fact, he had not used the word Hobbit once, and he did not believe in the slightest all this talk about Elves.

They all watched the light anxiously, waiting for whatever was about to come out of it. A woman appeared before them on a large white horse, in a flowing dress with a dark over shirt. Her dark brown hair was long, the bangs pulled back behind her head. She was perhaps one of the most beautiful women any of them had ever seen. There was this quality to her that seemed to sooth the wary soldiers.

She dismounted the horse gracefully and said a few hushed words to the beast. Walking towards them, leading her mount, she glanced at the strangers briefly before turning her attentions to Frodo.

"Who is she?" Jack asked to no one in particular, breathless from the sight of her.

"She's an elf," Sam answered as she knelt down to examine Frodo.

At first glance Saidie missed those strange pointed ears that marked her as being something other than human. She had almost dismissed Strider's earlier comments about Elvish medicine as something she must have heard wrong. Surely Elves were just children's stories, faerie tales, as Harolds kept insisting to them. It was hard to believe, but here was the proof. Wherever they were, it was a place where the reality she had known seemed to have no bearing.

"Frodo," she whispered to him, caressing his cheek gently. She went on to speak with the frightened looking Hobbit, but it was in some fluid language that she did not understand. A quick glance towards her comrades told her that they were as equally puzzled.

Strider seemed to appear out of nowhere again, a habit Saidie was finding quite irritating, with a torch and a fistful of weeds identical to the ones Sam had earlier.

"What is this?" he asked Shigure, the closest to him, as he carefully ran an experimental touch over the gauze on Frodo's chest, "Are you responsible?"

"I put some antiseptic on his wounds, it will stave off infection and quicken the healing process," the Japanese explained with a factual tone in his voice, "It is a better treatment for him than anything you will find in the bushes."

The Man glared at the soldier, but when Frodo let out another shriek his attention turned quickly.

"We must get him to my father," the Elf maiden spoke up in English, as Strider lifted the Hobbit and put him up on the horse, "I have been looking for you for two days. There are five wraiths behind you, where the other four are, I do not know."

"Lead them to Rivendell," Strider made as if he were going to get in the saddle behind Frodo, "I will send horses once I reach -"

She countered him in that foreign language, and they argued briefly before she climbed back up on the horse. Somehow this did not sit well with Saidie; giving up Frodo to the care of some stranger. Though, she supposed by the way their eyes lingered on each other and the gentleness in which they touched they were probably something greater to one another than mere strangers.

"Ride hard Arwen," he said firmly, trying to look like he wasn't worried, "Do not look back."

Arwen - that must have been her name - smiled back at him before urging the horse forward.

"Noro lim Asfaloth, Noro lim," was what Saidie heard before horse and rider went charging into the bushes. It made no sense to her.

"What are you doing?" Sam, who had been quiet with awed surprise, was now yelling furiously, "Those wraiths are still out there! How can you just send Frodo -"

"He is in good hands now Master Gamgee," Strider interrupted crossly, "She will get Frodo to Rivendell faster than I."

"What are we going to do now?" Pippin asked curiously, staring off in the direction in which Arwen had disappeared.

"We must keep moving forward. Without Frodo now we can move a lot faster, and we may be able to make Rivendell in four days if we are swift. Hurry now, we cannot linger. The Wraiths, as Sam has pointed out, are still out there. Safety will not find us until we reach Imladris."

"Agreed Strider," the Lieutenant had his night vision back on over his goggles, "It is far too dangerous to stay in one place right now. Miyashi, Mitchell, scout ahead but stay within shouting distance. Trevat, with Strider and the Little ones. I'll cover the rear."

"Yes Sir," once again they hastily saluted him and were off to their respective positions. She would have liked to be up ahead with Jack or Shigure - and she would have really liked for the comm to be working - but she didn't mind sticking with the Hobbits and the surly Man.

"Come then, let us make haste."

And with that they were back into the night, running towards some unknown destination and hoping desperately that Frodo would be there when they arrived. And maybe, just maybe, they would be able to find some answers as to how they had ended up here in the first place.

/Answers would be nice .../ Saidie thought as the party approached a small stream, /Answers and a bath./


TBC in Chapter 03 - Revelations


Notes : Yay, another chapter done and the adventure is on! Huzzah. How will Strider and the Hobbits react when they find out one of these gun-toting strangers is a woman? I dunno. We'll have to wait and see. Much to come! Hope you've been enjoying the story so far. Thanks to those who have reviewed and sent me e-mails.

Comments and constructive criticism can be sent to freefall_sunsoar@hotmail.com. I like getting responses. Please let me know what you think!