The Will of the Ring

Chapter Five

by Makura Koneko

Big Thanks to:

empress blade

Tsuki no Tenshi

HikariTsuki (*bawls* You are sooooooooo sweet!!!!!!!!!!!!! *Hugglezhugglezhugglezhugglez*)

Clear

Usagi_1313 (Thanks for point out my Selenity/Mina/Serena family blooper! Hopefully no one else will notice till I find the time to fix it and repost that part…*sweatdrop*)

lilmakochan

Achicagoil

KC

Phoenix Wing Star

Crystania Rayne Sunsets (I LOVE your screename!!!!! And I'll do my best to get them out before your exams, but I can't make any promises!!!)

sailorbardock1980

SS Silver AKA Silver Shadows

Shannan

Be'Jammin

Celes

Rinavariel

DT-chan

saturnpyroprincess

ChibiTenshi

Byrd-chan (ß My Onii-chan!!! Everybody say hi to my big Bro!!!!)

Goddess-of-Light

sailorruss

Butterfly

Maria

Let the Myth turn to Legend, and Legend into History…

Amazing, was all Legolas could think with mild amusement. They, four hardened warriors, were weary from walking nonstop all day long –they'd eaten and drank while walking- and yet this tiny slip of a girl that looked like she'd never even lifted a sword was still bouncing and grinning, even though it was well into the evening. And although she had whined consistently, and chattered longer and faster than a squirrel, her strength and energy never seemed to falter, not once. Her balance, however…

As if taking her cue from the elf prince's thoughts, Serena, with a shriek, tripped over something that, upon closer inspection, seemed to have picked itself up and moved the moment it had been tripped on.

Immediately all four of the, even Gimli made a move to help her up.

"I'm okay, I'm okay!" Serena said, bouncing back to her feet and brushing herself off before any of the four warriors could reach her. Legolas's lips quirked slightly as he backed off, still keeping an eye on the proven klutzy blonde. For klutzy she was, for all her tendency to simply bounce back. This, 'bouncing back' was one of the two constant reactions to her frequent tumbles. The other was a loud, wailing screech that could have woken the dead. The second, however, never came again after Boromir had stepped forward and clamped a hand over her mouth and told her they did not know how far ahead the Orcs and the Hobbits were. She'd blushed, and since then her outbursts, while usually just as energetic, were much quieter.

"We stop here," Aragorn said, turning away from their destination and leading them to a hidden cave behind a multitude of thorny bushes and dense shrubbery. Only a very small, precise tunnel through the thick greenery allowed them to enter the cave unscathed. Serena, however, manage to somehow ensnare her braid in one of the overhead branches. Gimli had offered to just chop off the braid and be done with it, but a shrieking wail –silenced by Legolas's hand over her mouth- had been a definite no.

"We can't leave any trace that we've been here," Aragorn said. "Undo the braid if you have to. And make sure none of her hairs are left behind." The man seemed to have an endless patience. Serena sniffed as Legolas and Boromir worked to untangle her hair.

"Raye would have yelled," She said softly after a moment of contemplating Aragorn's lack of anger at her blundering.

"The fiery senshi?" Boromir asked. She sniffed and nodded, then bit back a yelp from the pain it caused her scalp.

"Mina would be grinning, like she found this all really funny while she did what you guys are doing," She added. "Ami would be trying to calm Raye down…and Lita would be keeping an eye out, making sure no one snuck up on us…" She sniffed.

"You miss them," Legolas observed. She made a little 'uh-huh' noise, not daring to nod again. Just then, success was had, and Serena's braid was released. Unfortunately, so was the band holding the braid secure. It fell away, and her hair unraveled from it's braid, tumbling around her in a multitude of shimmering silver-gold cascading tresses.

"Oh, phoey," Serena grumbled. Legolas and Boromir exchanged looks, then, grinning slightly, Legolas helped her lift her locks so that they would not tread dirt, and they ducked into the cave while Boromir, per Aragorn's instructions, searched for stray hairs that might give away that they'd been here.

In a way, Setsuna's agreeing to allow four –no more, no less- Sailor Senshi to make a journey through her Gate to one hundred billion years into the past was reassuring for more than one reason. The first of which, obviously, being that they now had hope of saving their Princess. But the second, was that Setsuna's allowing, and assisting, them to do so meant that Serena had been meant to go back in time, and that they had been meant to go back and save her. This had to be so, else Setsuna, as much as it would have killed her, never would have allowed any of them to interfere with Serena's doings in the past.

Preparation to make a journey to the past was more troublesome than expected. They had no way of knowing if they'd be able to transform that far into the past, and Setsuna wouldn't tell them aye or nay.

(AN: 'Yes' or 'no' for those of you unfamiliar with old english.)

They assumed that, so far into the past, humans would be scarce, if existent at all. Luna had admitted that no one really knew how long ago the Silver Millennium existed, and so for all they knew they could very well end up on the day of the births of their past selves!

But, without Setsuna providing more detailed hints than she already had, there was little they could do to prepare for that particular peril. But, other details however, were much easier to address…or so they thought…

It took a whole day and a very long meeting, and several interventions on Setsuna and Hotaru and Ami's part to prevent a mini Senshi Riot, but eventually it was decided what they would bring on such a perilous journey. The actual packing and putting-together-of-the-packs was done at yet another meeting, to which each person brought their assigned articles –nonperishable food, sturdy/warm blankets, light tools which would make shelters building easier, matches, communication devices, ect.- to be sorted and packed into top-of-the-line camping packs, provided by Mina.

Once that was done, in the cover of Lita's apartment so as they could all continue to monitor and keep an eye on the still slumbering Serena, there was one last thing to discuss…

Which four of the nine planetary Senshi would go back in time to save their Princess.

"You guys have done plenty." Haruka snarled at the Inners the moment the subject came up, clenching her fists at her sides as she leaned against the doorway to the entrance of Lita's bedroom, where Serena still lay asleep, Haruka ever keeping an eye on her charge.

"The Outers will take over from here," Michiru stood up after clasping closed the last pack, grouped with the rest of the packs in the corner of the room and went to stand beside her partner. She was with Haruka on this matter. While she didn't doubt the Inner's ability, fact was that they were still young. "Your duty is to this Earth," She added.

"Yes, it is," Ami said. "But it is also to Serena first and foremost."

"And in case you've forgotten to count," Mina snipped. "There's only four of you, even with Setsuna."

"We only need three to guide the Princess's spirit back to her rightful body," Michiru said with a glance to Setsuna.

"Four will go, four will stay," Setsuna said. Her voice was soft, but completely and one hundred percent unquestionable. "And I have done all I can to help," Setsuna said then. "My place from here on is at my Gate, once this meeting is done and over with."

"Then I have a feeling you're gonna be here a while," Raye, sitting beside Setsuna on the couch, muttered under her breath. Hotaru, sitting on the floor beside Setsuna's legs, threw her a glance and sighed.

"You guys do realize that the longer we argue, the worse Serena gets?" Lita said.

"This is time we're traveling across, not space," Haruka snapped. "We can transport ourselves to the exact moment she arrived in the past. For once, time is on our side."

"And, tell me, Ms. Ten'ou, have you and your Outers the teleportation experience to nail so specific a moment in history?" Ami asked, lifting an eyebrow. The Inners smirked. This was the one thing they had –power and experience wise- over the Outers. The Outers, them numbering only four, even with Setsuna, could barely teleport at all without the Inners, let alone manage to aim for specific place/time and actually hit their mark.

"I think it is at least fair, not to mention a good idea, that at least one of the Outers goes." Michiru said.

"If that's the case, then lets consider it settled that at least two of the four to go will be an Inner and Outer." Ami said firmly.

"Then we should probably pick those two now," Lita said, coming into the room from the kitchen, having been listening through the 'window' in the wall that separated the two domains with surprising silence. In her hand was eight toothpicks. As she entered, she pulled out two and tossed them aside into a wastebasket.

"Then, after we pick the representatives of each Senshi group, we each take a straw. Long ones go, short ones stay and defend the Universe." Lita held out her fist. It only took a moment of glancing at each other for all nine Senshi to come to an agreement that this was, at the moment, the most sensible and least time consuming solution to their dilemma.

"I'm going for the Ou-"

"No, Haruka-papa," Hotaru cut off her 'parent' with a surprising firmness in her voice. "As Setsuna-mama pointed out, we have no way of knowing whether or not our powers will work so far back in time. At least, we don't know if yours will. My powers however, Silence, Death, and Destruction, are eternal, and have been in existence as long as time itself, just as Serena's powers, Life, Purity, and Light has. There is no question regarding whether or not my powers will work or not. Therefore, I think I can safely claim that I should be going."

"Shortie has a point." Mina said with a sigh and an affectionate ruffle of the younger girl's hair, which was an easy task to execute from her position in a chair beside the couch that Hotaru was sitting on the floor in front of.

"Absolutely not!" Haruka sputtered. "First Koneko-chan gets trapped in the past, and you expect me to let Firefly go, too???"

"She has made a valid note obvious," Ami said, unabashed by Haruka's scathing glare.

"I'm not happy with it, either, love," Michiru sighed. "But, I'm afraid I must agree with Ami and Hotaru-chan. Hotaru's powers are indisputably the only powers we can count on working so far back into the past."

"Why are we so worried about whether or not our powers will work, anyway?" Haruka grumbled.

"Because we don't know for sure if our powers come form ourselves, Serena, some eternal force, or from something physical, here, existing from at least the Silver Millennium till now," Raye snapped. "And if that last option is the case, then we have no way of knowing if the source of our Senshi Powers exist one hundred billion years into the past! We're not even positive if Earth even existed that far back! It's just scientific guesses!"

"Enough." Setsuna's voice cut through it all. "Everyone in favor of Hotaru's going for facts, not personal wants, raise your hand." Slowly, every hand raised, even Haruka's, once she managed to put her personal feelings aside and admitted to herself that her 'daughter' had a point.

"So, Hotaru shall be representing the Outers," Setsuna said with a tone that stated clearly that this particular subject was closed. "Inners? Discuss whom of you shall go."

It took but a few exchanged glances and nods to decide.

"Normally I would be the one to go." Mina said, with more responsibility in her voice than she had let it in years…not since her loner days of Sailor V. No, before then, even, when she had been the Leader of the Inner Senshi, in the days of the Silver Millennium.

"I hear a 'but' coming along," Michiru said gently. Mina nodded and looked to Ami, who looked more than a little nervous, though she did her best to hide it.

"Setsuna can handle the details of setting up the receiving end of the portal that we will pass Serena's spirit through, here, right now, once we leave." Ami said. "But someone needs to be with Serena's second shell when it deteriorates to apply the proper calculations to the sending end of the portal."

"And that someone has to be you." Michiru nodded. Ami nodded as well.

"Can't you just write down the directions or something?" Raye asked. Ami shook her head.

"I can't take a chance." Ami held up a hand at Raye's indignant face and opened, about-to-snap-something-harsh mouth. "I don't doubt any of you would mess it up, but something could go wrong, my calculations could be incorrect. We won't know till I'm actually right next to where whether or not my calculations are accurate."

"You see why Ami has to be the one to go," Mina said, every bit the leader she was once been, the leader she was grateful she so rarely had to be nowdays. How she envied Serena's ability to inspire obedience so easily, when she actually tried…

"So you have agreed?" Setsuna asked. All the Inners nodded in sync.

"Then lets pick," Lita said, presenting her fist once more. One by one, each Senshi stepped forward to slid a single straw from the handful until only one was left. Lita kept that one for herself.

"Okay, ladies, as I said before, long ones go, short ones stay." Lita said.

"Moment of truth," Raye murmured. Then, louder. "On three, we all look hold ours up." Her tone dared anyone to argue. For once, no one did.

"One…" Hotaru started.

"Two…" Ami continued.

"Three." Setsuna noted with amusement the nervous quickness that each presented their straw with. Shoulders and heads fell, while others rose with elation and acceptance of the responsibility.

"It is decided," Setsuna said. And indeed, if it hadn't already been so, her tone made it so. She stood. "You are ready?" Those that had chosen the long sticks nodded and stood also, along with Hotaru and Ami.

"Then 'tis time."

"No pun intended, of course," Mina's lips quirked, and even Setsuna was hard pressed to hide a bit of a twinkle in her eyes.

With no fanfare of wind or glitter, the Time Staff faded into existence Setsuna's grasp. "Are you ready?" Setsuna asked them. Ami and Hotaru nodded, along with Raye and Haruka –whom was somehow managing to grin smugly even through the deadly serious look on her face- nodded solemnly.

"Then join hands," She said. "We have not much more time to waste." Hotaru pulled out her transformation wand, but Setsuna shook her head. "No," She said. "With such a massive leap, the powers you will radiate while transformed will interfere. The ride will be bumpier," She warned. "But it is necessary."

Setsuna looked to those whom would stay behind. Understanding, Lita, Michiru, and Mina stepped forward, transforming with three cries of power and flurries of light as they did so. When the light faded, Sailor Venus, Sailor Neptune, and Sailor Jupiter put their hands on Setsuna's shoulders, closed their eyes, and began to glow their respective colors as Ami, Haruka, Raye, and Hotaru joined hands…

"This looks like a good spot, eh Frodo?" Sam asked, forcing his voice to sound the slightest bit optimistic, which was a world more optimistic than he actually felt.

"It looks as good as any, Sam," Frodo sighed, collapsing against a boulder that was inside the cave they'd opted to stay in for the night. He glanced outside of the cave; there, in the distance, Mount Doom was visible. As Sam set about making a fire with what flammable objects lay around, Frodo's mind drifted to the night before, when the oddest dream he'd ever imagined had plagued his sleep…

Flashback!

He awoke to find the One Ring, on a chain about his neck, glowing, warm, and generating a beam of silver-gold light that lanced upwards into the sky to meet another beam of light, one that came from the general direction of where he and Sam had left the Fellowship.

He seemed oddly awake, although, after a brief thought, he surmised that it actually wasn't all that odd; he and Sam, when they did sleep, were always warily hovering before the surface of the waking world.

The ends of the joined beams, one coming from the One Ring, the other from who knew where, seemed to exchange identical pulses of energy. The sphere of light that had come from the other beam raced down the beam that came from the One Ring…down towards Frodo… His eyes widened, but like so many other times before, frozen with something akin to fear, he couldn't even bring himself to cry out…

The pulse of light, as big as he was, engulfed him. His entire body, flooded with the potent light, was thrown into a thrall of something somewhere between death and life. Then, as abruptly as it had been upon him, it was gone. The glow still surrounded him, but now it was soft, warm, caressing. The Ring, on its chain before him, hovered in midair, rotating slowly. Frodo's eyes widened when he saw that the markings were glowing flame red.

Droplets of light, beading from the glow that surrounded him, danced to join together under the hovering Ring. Slowly, the lights formed a transparent, ghostly image of a breathtakingly beautiful girl. Hair as golden as the One Ring, that seemed more silver than the moon under the starlight. Eyes as bright as sapphires, as big as the universe that seemed to be reflected out of them. The image wavered, faded, then in place of the image of the girl was a ghostly image of a golden locket.

The locket opened…silver light poured out, emanating from something within it. The melody that played across the stars, weaving around his heart, however, was from the locket itself.

The writings on the Ring, under the silver light, turned from fiery red to the purest of whites… Frodo squinted…he imagined that he could almost see the markings themselves changing shape along with their color as the Ring descended towards the Locket…lower and lower…rotating slowly, slowly…

And then he'd awoken to Sam's urgent shakings, then pointing to where, in the distance, three to four dozen Orcs were slowly heading their way, surrounding a wagon…and inside the wagon… Inside the wagon had been three female figures…

End Flashback

That had been yesterday. He and Sam had been following the small unit of Orcs since, for several reasons; 1) they hoped the already dimwitted Orcs wouldn't think to look for them so close to their camp. 2) They also hoped that some of the larger, more dangerous creatures they'd spied in this land wouldn't attack then while they were so close to something they feared, and 3) perhaps they would have a chance to rescue the girls inside that cage-wagon.

So, Frodo, as Sam finally managed to make a spark from the flint catch, kept an eye on the four large fires only a few dozen hundred yards away. The wagon was in the center of the fires, and Frodo sighed. He knew the hope of rescuing them was folly, but…he had to at least keep an eye out for an opportunity to try…

He narrowed his eyes as he saw action among the seemingly celebrating twenty or so Orcs. Two of them opened the cage and reached inside. There was a brilliant flash of light from inside, and the Orc howled and retracted his…stub? Indeed, where his arm had once been, there was now only a stub of molted flesh and putrid bone. But instead of becoming angry, he seemed to…laugh? Yes, he seemed to almost thrive on the pain that the excessive wound brought him.

Frodo shuddered in revulsion. Sam, curious as to what had made his master react so, came to sit beside him and peer over the low wall of rocks that hid them from immediate view. He got there just in time to, along with Frodo, glimpse another Orc coming over to the other side of the wagon, opposite the opening, and thrust into it a long, thick spear. There was heard a loud, decidedly feminine shriek, and a small figure came tumbling out to land at the now one-armed Orc's feet. The hideous creatures roared with laughter that sounded more like gurgling screams of agony.

With surprising determination in her movements, the small girl pulled herself to her feet. From their distance, it was hard to tell, but judging from her stature, Sam and Frodo both thought she could be a very slender hobbit.

Another Orc strode forward and brought his large, heavy, crude broadsword down at her. She ducked and sprang away with a nimble quickness that was obviously not expected by her captors.

"Come and get me, creeps!" She shouted, a slight, delicate accent gracing her light voice, which was now thickened with challenge, disgust, and fear.

Orcs thrive on fear.

They gave chase with a loud roar, at least ten of them rushing after her as she darted, jumping and leaping with unnatural accuracy and balance from rock to rock, ridge to ridge. So in awe of her ethereal movements, despite the haste in them, that Frodo and Sam realized too late that the girl –whom they could now see had dark, short hair, the color of which was still unseen- was heading right for them. If she knew they were there or not, however, was unclear. They could only hold their breath and hope she either came close enough and soon enough for them to grab her and hide deeper into the cave, or turn away…

Sam snuffed out the fire, and they were plunged into darkness as the girl continued to run quite literally for her life…

Ami ran.

She ran, and she hated herself for it.

Every atom of her soul and heart and body screamed for her to go back for her two friends…what had happened to Hotaru, she had no idea…none of them had seen her since they'd been hurled into the time Portal Setsuna had opened…

But no matter how horrid she felt, Ami's mind held more sway over her than most. Her mind knew that if she did go back, she would surely die. Her mind knew that her escape now was their only chance of all of them escaping from these hideous creatures that had captured them at the precise moment of their arrival… How fate could be so cruel as to allow them to teleport right in the very middle of a youma camp was beyond her… And what had happened to Hotaru?

They'd been caught of guard, without enough time to even raise their fists in defense, let alone transform. Foolish of them it had been to pack all weapons, besides two daggers each; daggers didn't go far against thirty man-sized youmas, each with the strength and quickness of two men. Only the fact that they had recovered from their surprise –and hadn't just spent what seemed an eternity traveling the hazardous, painful, draining road through time- that allowed them to be captured.

Their belongings had yet to be divided among the troops, which was perhaps the result of, when one of the creatures had tried to steal something from within one of the packs without the knowledge of his comrades, he had been burnt to a crisp by one of Raye's anti-evil charms.

On Ami ran, hearing the grotesque sounds of slithery, gurgly breathing as her pursuers gained. Fast she was, even when not transformed, leaping from rock to rock and running when the ground was level enough. But she wasn't fast enough…something about the way her pursuers moved spoke of something guiding them…like they knew every single rock and turn and ledge and gorge and crack better than they knew themselves.

Ami glanced over her shoulder, knowing she shouldn't, but unable to help herself. She bit back a scream just as she landed on another rock, and she tasted blood in her mouth. Swallowing both blood and bile, she looked away, running, and made to take another leap over an arched stone before her…

Something grabbed her foot.

Only the grip her teeth still had on her tongue prevented her from screaming as she went down. Pain exploded next to her temple, and she knew no more as strange hands pulled her down into darkness.

To Be Continued…

*jaw drops* WOW! I had no idea people would like that lil 'How many girlfriends have you had?' thingamajig… I know, I know, I didn't have him answer the question, mainly because I thought it would only be something to further Serena's bumbly personality, I didn't think people would actually say they were rolling on the floor with laughter… I'll have to find a way for that to be a running joke throughout the fic…*evil laughter* Legolas, beware of me!!!!!!!!! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAA!!!!!!!

*ahem*

Anyhoo…

Before I wanna go, I want to say again to HikariTsuki what a wonderfully sweet person you are. What else can I say? Your praise could make any humble saint become a vain piglet in no time! *hugglez* Luckily for me, I'm not a humble pries! *wink*

And thank you to all those who have thanked me for making the chapters so long! I made a special effort to make sure each chappie is at LEAST ten pages. I know what its like to find a fic you like and have each chapter be, like, three paragraphs (*looks pointedly at Kashukamoto-chan* ahem?).

'Neways, last thing; My aim for this fic is to hit 500 reviews before chapter ten (yes, there will be at least ten chapters to this fic…probably more like twenty…*sweatdrop* I have a problem with ending my fics in the way of I can never seem to end them!!!) So please, please, please help me reach my goal!!!!!!!!! I promise more chapters quicker! I have the next four chapters written already, actually…editing might go a bit quicker if a multitude of reviews suddenly pop out of nowhere….*halo*

Once again, I hope you've enjoyed, and until next time! Ja!

Hope Makes the Universe Shine,

Makura Koneko

ALL STANDARD DISCLAIMERS APPLY