The greatest tragedy
Author: Natta
Beta-reader: Gimli
Characters: Frodo, Merry, Sam
Summary: A great tragedy has happened in Brandy Hall and Frodo has to make a decision to bring a small hobbit to Bag End. For the good of this story, I've made Sam five years older so Frodo's 24, Sam's 17 and Merry's 10.
Chapter 2. Monday, the arrival.
Frodo stood at the gate, waiting for Merry to arrive. He had no idea when they would come, but he could wait all day by the gate. He straightened himself when a couple walked by, watching him strangely. Not so odd, since they had been walking past Bag End half an hour earlier, and he had been standing there then as well. He had actually been standing there for three hours, but he wouldn't take his gaze off the road. He had missed both breakfast, second breakfast and elevensies. It was close to lunch-time and he hoped he wouldn't miss that too. Someone familiar appeared at the gate. Frodo smiled at Sam.
'Hi Sam. I'm waiting for Merry to arrive from Brandy Hall.' Sam returned his smile.
'Oh. When's he coming?' Frodo shrugged.
'I don't know. I didn't write anything about it in the letter. I want to wait here though.' Sam chuckled.
'But they could arrive tonight, you don't know that! Are you just going to stand there all day?' Frodo straightened up. Even if Sam was seven years younger than him, he sometimes felt like Sam was the older one, and that couldn't be right!
'If necessary.' Sam looked surprised, but shook his head.
'All right, you do as you wish. I have to go though, I have some things to see to.' Frodo looked after him. Maybe he had been a little rude? He leaned on the gate and kept looking at the road. He started to realise the stupidity of what he was doing and went inside. It was like Sam said, they could arrive tonight, and what was the purpose of standing there all day, when he would undoubtedly notice when they came? He made a mental note to apologise to Sam later. He started to make lunch, after missing all those meals he was really hungry!
****
It was getting later, and Frodo looked out the window for the thirty-fifth time to see if they were coming. Certainly lucky he had not been standing out there all the time. He wondered if the letter might have been lost, but shook the thought out of his head. It took a while to travel from Buckland, that's all.
****
'Come on Merry. We are going to your cousin Frodo.' The little hobbit sniffed.
'Is mommy there?' Asphodel (also called Assie) sighed.
'No. Your mommy is not there. Please come here now!' She didn't want to carry him out, she wanted him to come by free will.
'Is daddy there?' Assie frowned. She agreed with Frodo's suggestion, that Brandy Hall was not the right place for Merry. She would love to take care of him, but she had so much responsibilities and could not, as much as she'd like to, care for him the way he needed it. It would be best if he could go to Bag End, where both Frodo and Bilbo would be very happy to take care of him, plus the people in Hobbiton were very friendly with children, she had heard. That was probably since they lived in their own houses, and not everyone had children. In Brandy Hall, there were children everywhere and people didn't care much. She turned her attention back to the hobbit in the corner and managed a smile.
'Come on now, it's going to be great, I'm sure.' To Assie's surprise, he came and threw himself in her arms. He sniffed against her shoulder.
'I don't want to leave you too, I'd be all alone, and not home either. I'd miss everyone so much if I were in an all unfamiliar place like that.' Assie was surprised. She had actually never considered Merry might miss home and everyone who lived there. Maybe he would feel all misplaced in a calm, quiet place like Bag End. She rocked him slowly in her arms.
'Don't worry baby, You can come visit as much as you want. I'll come visit you, and I'm sure most others here will too. Plus, it's not like once you go, you stay. If you want to go back later, that's okay, but right now I think it would be best if you went to stay there, and then you can choose, okay?' Merry looked at her, and then nodded. Assie rose and brought him out to the carriage.
****
Frodo was washing dishes when he heard something outside. He ran to the window. It was slightly dark now, but he could clearly see the carriage outside. He ran out to greet them. An old woman whom he recognised as Asphodel Burrows got out and slowly bent in to take something with her.
'Welcome, I'm really glad you came,' said Frodo, approaching them. She turned around.
'Hello. I'm afraid Merry fell asleep on the way here and I didn't want to wake him, considering he hasn't slept since the accident, for three days that is.' While they spoke, the driver had picked up Merry from the other side of the carriage and was now stretching him to Frodo. When Frodo took his little cousin in his arms, he took a moment just to look at him. His brown, too-long-for-a-boy hair was tangled and in a mess, his eyes were red and swollen, his nose were flushed, as were his cheeks and they also had tear stains crossing them. A tremble went through him, as it does after crying, and Frodo longed to cuddle him and make him happy again. He looked at Assie and smiled
'Thank you so much for bringing him here. I can assure you he'll be quite all right. Assie nodded with tears in her eyes and bent down to kiss Merry on the brow.
'By the Valar I'll miss you baby,' she whispered, to loud for only Merry to hear, but still directed to him only. She quickly turned around and took a seat in the carriage, which turned around and went back to Buckland. Frodo looked at the sleeping child.
'Well,' he said, 'Let's see what to do with you.'
****
Sam knocked the door of Bag End and then took a step back so he stood behind the small threshold. After a little while, Frodo opened.
'Hi Sam. Come in if you like.' Sam took a step inside and looked around.
'Has he arrived yet?' Frodo nodded.
'Yes, he just came. He's sleeping now, though.' Sam frowned.
'But it's only seven o'clock! I'm glad I'm not your child.' Frodo smiled, looked down and then up again.
'He was sleeping when he came, apparently he hasn't slept for three days so I don't know how long he'll be sleeping. Come on in, would you like some tea?' Sam gladly accepted. It was cold outside, and he was shivering just by the thought of going home later. Frodo put the water on the stove and while they waited for it to warm up they sat down on the couch and talked.
'How's the old gaffer doing? I heard he had caught a cold. Sam smiled and shook his head.
'Yes, but that's over now, he always tends to exaggerate.' Frodo laughed but the laugh turned into a remembering expression.
'The tea!' He cried, jumping up from the couch.
'Don't worry Mr. Frodo, I'll get it.' Sam rose and got out in the kitchen, where he started to pour the tea in two cups. When he was almost finished a sudden thunder outside made him flinch and drop the teapot to the floor. Frodo rushed out in the kitchen. Sam didn't know what to say.
'Oh, Mr. Frodo, I'm so very sorry, I didn't mean for it to...' Sam bent down and examined the pot to see if it was broken. Frodo smiled.
'Don't worry Sam, it wasn't your fault and it didn't even break. Besides, it isn't even mine, it's Bilbo's.' That comment made Sam laugh.
'Wait a moment, I'm just going to see if Merry was woken up by that thunder.' Sam nodded and Frodo left the room. He entered the room where he had put Merry, but when he looked at the bed, there was no one there!
****
Sam was looking for some honey to put in the tea, but he didn't find any. He sighed and went to get some in the cellar. When he got there, he heard a small gasp from a corner. Sam was startled and a little scared. Were thieves there? He grabbed a stick, took his lantern and went in. When he reached the corner, he saw a little hobbit sitting on the ground and looking scared.
'Who are you? Where am I?' he said in a small voice. Sam leaned down.
'I suppose you are Merry?' When he got a nod, he continued. 'We are at Bag End, I am Sam, a friend of Frodo. Come on, let's get you back, how did you end up here in the first place?'
'There was a thunder, and...I hate thunder so I went to look for someone, but I've never been here before so I didn't know where to go. I found a stair and went down it, but the door closed, it was dark, couldn't find the stair again.' When they had opened the door Frodo was there. When he saw them, he let out a breath he had apparently held for a time and ran up to them.
'Merry? Why aren't you in your room? I was looking for you.' Merry didn't answer, he just hugged Frodo tightly. Frodo just lifted him up and the three of them went to the couch and sat down. Frodo looked at Merry who was crying again.
'Merry, would you like to go to sleep again?' Merry nodded.
'Come on then. I'll be there until you fall asleep.' Sam rose as well.
'It's getting late. I'd better be leaving.' Frodo nodded and waved to him. Sam put on his coat and went out in the thunderstorm. Fortunately, it wasn't far at all to his home. When he started to walk he thought about how different it felt being with Frodo. Now that he had someone smaller, younger and cuter to be with, would he forget Sam? It suddenly didn't feel so easy anymore.
A/N Can anyone understand that 'tis irritating when you're trying to tell something that you think is serious and the person you tell it to just laughs? I tried to tell my mother and her "boy-friend" about a really cool thing: I friend of mine told me about a friend of hers who had suddenly started to remember she had had a former life and when they went to the family she had remembered having(she had never met them before) they had had a son who had died just a little while before her birth! Anyway, when I tried to tell them they started to laugh when I had only said one sentence! And then they wouldn't understand why I got disturbed and didn't feel like telling them!
Author: Natta
Beta-reader: Gimli
Characters: Frodo, Merry, Sam
Summary: A great tragedy has happened in Brandy Hall and Frodo has to make a decision to bring a small hobbit to Bag End. For the good of this story, I've made Sam five years older so Frodo's 24, Sam's 17 and Merry's 10.
Chapter 2. Monday, the arrival.
Frodo stood at the gate, waiting for Merry to arrive. He had no idea when they would come, but he could wait all day by the gate. He straightened himself when a couple walked by, watching him strangely. Not so odd, since they had been walking past Bag End half an hour earlier, and he had been standing there then as well. He had actually been standing there for three hours, but he wouldn't take his gaze off the road. He had missed both breakfast, second breakfast and elevensies. It was close to lunch-time and he hoped he wouldn't miss that too. Someone familiar appeared at the gate. Frodo smiled at Sam.
'Hi Sam. I'm waiting for Merry to arrive from Brandy Hall.' Sam returned his smile.
'Oh. When's he coming?' Frodo shrugged.
'I don't know. I didn't write anything about it in the letter. I want to wait here though.' Sam chuckled.
'But they could arrive tonight, you don't know that! Are you just going to stand there all day?' Frodo straightened up. Even if Sam was seven years younger than him, he sometimes felt like Sam was the older one, and that couldn't be right!
'If necessary.' Sam looked surprised, but shook his head.
'All right, you do as you wish. I have to go though, I have some things to see to.' Frodo looked after him. Maybe he had been a little rude? He leaned on the gate and kept looking at the road. He started to realise the stupidity of what he was doing and went inside. It was like Sam said, they could arrive tonight, and what was the purpose of standing there all day, when he would undoubtedly notice when they came? He made a mental note to apologise to Sam later. He started to make lunch, after missing all those meals he was really hungry!
****
It was getting later, and Frodo looked out the window for the thirty-fifth time to see if they were coming. Certainly lucky he had not been standing out there all the time. He wondered if the letter might have been lost, but shook the thought out of his head. It took a while to travel from Buckland, that's all.
****
'Come on Merry. We are going to your cousin Frodo.' The little hobbit sniffed.
'Is mommy there?' Asphodel (also called Assie) sighed.
'No. Your mommy is not there. Please come here now!' She didn't want to carry him out, she wanted him to come by free will.
'Is daddy there?' Assie frowned. She agreed with Frodo's suggestion, that Brandy Hall was not the right place for Merry. She would love to take care of him, but she had so much responsibilities and could not, as much as she'd like to, care for him the way he needed it. It would be best if he could go to Bag End, where both Frodo and Bilbo would be very happy to take care of him, plus the people in Hobbiton were very friendly with children, she had heard. That was probably since they lived in their own houses, and not everyone had children. In Brandy Hall, there were children everywhere and people didn't care much. She turned her attention back to the hobbit in the corner and managed a smile.
'Come on now, it's going to be great, I'm sure.' To Assie's surprise, he came and threw himself in her arms. He sniffed against her shoulder.
'I don't want to leave you too, I'd be all alone, and not home either. I'd miss everyone so much if I were in an all unfamiliar place like that.' Assie was surprised. She had actually never considered Merry might miss home and everyone who lived there. Maybe he would feel all misplaced in a calm, quiet place like Bag End. She rocked him slowly in her arms.
'Don't worry baby, You can come visit as much as you want. I'll come visit you, and I'm sure most others here will too. Plus, it's not like once you go, you stay. If you want to go back later, that's okay, but right now I think it would be best if you went to stay there, and then you can choose, okay?' Merry looked at her, and then nodded. Assie rose and brought him out to the carriage.
****
Frodo was washing dishes when he heard something outside. He ran to the window. It was slightly dark now, but he could clearly see the carriage outside. He ran out to greet them. An old woman whom he recognised as Asphodel Burrows got out and slowly bent in to take something with her.
'Welcome, I'm really glad you came,' said Frodo, approaching them. She turned around.
'Hello. I'm afraid Merry fell asleep on the way here and I didn't want to wake him, considering he hasn't slept since the accident, for three days that is.' While they spoke, the driver had picked up Merry from the other side of the carriage and was now stretching him to Frodo. When Frodo took his little cousin in his arms, he took a moment just to look at him. His brown, too-long-for-a-boy hair was tangled and in a mess, his eyes were red and swollen, his nose were flushed, as were his cheeks and they also had tear stains crossing them. A tremble went through him, as it does after crying, and Frodo longed to cuddle him and make him happy again. He looked at Assie and smiled
'Thank you so much for bringing him here. I can assure you he'll be quite all right. Assie nodded with tears in her eyes and bent down to kiss Merry on the brow.
'By the Valar I'll miss you baby,' she whispered, to loud for only Merry to hear, but still directed to him only. She quickly turned around and took a seat in the carriage, which turned around and went back to Buckland. Frodo looked at the sleeping child.
'Well,' he said, 'Let's see what to do with you.'
****
Sam knocked the door of Bag End and then took a step back so he stood behind the small threshold. After a little while, Frodo opened.
'Hi Sam. Come in if you like.' Sam took a step inside and looked around.
'Has he arrived yet?' Frodo nodded.
'Yes, he just came. He's sleeping now, though.' Sam frowned.
'But it's only seven o'clock! I'm glad I'm not your child.' Frodo smiled, looked down and then up again.
'He was sleeping when he came, apparently he hasn't slept for three days so I don't know how long he'll be sleeping. Come on in, would you like some tea?' Sam gladly accepted. It was cold outside, and he was shivering just by the thought of going home later. Frodo put the water on the stove and while they waited for it to warm up they sat down on the couch and talked.
'How's the old gaffer doing? I heard he had caught a cold. Sam smiled and shook his head.
'Yes, but that's over now, he always tends to exaggerate.' Frodo laughed but the laugh turned into a remembering expression.
'The tea!' He cried, jumping up from the couch.
'Don't worry Mr. Frodo, I'll get it.' Sam rose and got out in the kitchen, where he started to pour the tea in two cups. When he was almost finished a sudden thunder outside made him flinch and drop the teapot to the floor. Frodo rushed out in the kitchen. Sam didn't know what to say.
'Oh, Mr. Frodo, I'm so very sorry, I didn't mean for it to...' Sam bent down and examined the pot to see if it was broken. Frodo smiled.
'Don't worry Sam, it wasn't your fault and it didn't even break. Besides, it isn't even mine, it's Bilbo's.' That comment made Sam laugh.
'Wait a moment, I'm just going to see if Merry was woken up by that thunder.' Sam nodded and Frodo left the room. He entered the room where he had put Merry, but when he looked at the bed, there was no one there!
****
Sam was looking for some honey to put in the tea, but he didn't find any. He sighed and went to get some in the cellar. When he got there, he heard a small gasp from a corner. Sam was startled and a little scared. Were thieves there? He grabbed a stick, took his lantern and went in. When he reached the corner, he saw a little hobbit sitting on the ground and looking scared.
'Who are you? Where am I?' he said in a small voice. Sam leaned down.
'I suppose you are Merry?' When he got a nod, he continued. 'We are at Bag End, I am Sam, a friend of Frodo. Come on, let's get you back, how did you end up here in the first place?'
'There was a thunder, and...I hate thunder so I went to look for someone, but I've never been here before so I didn't know where to go. I found a stair and went down it, but the door closed, it was dark, couldn't find the stair again.' When they had opened the door Frodo was there. When he saw them, he let out a breath he had apparently held for a time and ran up to them.
'Merry? Why aren't you in your room? I was looking for you.' Merry didn't answer, he just hugged Frodo tightly. Frodo just lifted him up and the three of them went to the couch and sat down. Frodo looked at Merry who was crying again.
'Merry, would you like to go to sleep again?' Merry nodded.
'Come on then. I'll be there until you fall asleep.' Sam rose as well.
'It's getting late. I'd better be leaving.' Frodo nodded and waved to him. Sam put on his coat and went out in the thunderstorm. Fortunately, it wasn't far at all to his home. When he started to walk he thought about how different it felt being with Frodo. Now that he had someone smaller, younger and cuter to be with, would he forget Sam? It suddenly didn't feel so easy anymore.
A/N Can anyone understand that 'tis irritating when you're trying to tell something that you think is serious and the person you tell it to just laughs? I tried to tell my mother and her "boy-friend" about a really cool thing: I friend of mine told me about a friend of hers who had suddenly started to remember she had had a former life and when they went to the family she had remembered having(she had never met them before) they had had a son who had died just a little while before her birth! Anyway, when I tried to tell them they started to laugh when I had only said one sentence! And then they wouldn't understand why I got disturbed and didn't feel like telling them!
