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 5, Thursday. An accident and what comes after it.
Frodo woke up with a big yawn. The storm had been going on all night but now it finally looked as if clearing up. There were still raindrops falling, but not enough to annoy anyone and the thunders were completely gone. Frodo decided to go and check if Merry was awake yet, and hopefully he wouldn't have torn off the bandage in his sleep, Frodo thought with a smirk.
'Merry? Are you awake yet?' He opened the door slightly to see if his cousin was still sleeping. He was surprised to see no one there. The bed looked just as it had last night. Frodo frowned.
//Either he has went up early, plus he must have an exact pattern on how to make his bed every morning, or...// Frodo swallowed hard, //he didn't sleep there last night.// As the later alternative sounded more reasonable, especially as he didn't hear Merry anywhere in the house, Frodo ran out the fastest he could, cursing himself for being so stupid and not checking if Merry was there before he went to sleep. It was an early morning and not many people were up yet, so Frodo was pretty much alone as he ran down the streets, which fitted him perfectly as he didn't get any questions.
//How could I be so stupid,// he thought, //if he's been out all night in this storm...// he shook the next thought off. //No, it'll be okay, I'll just find out he was away from home when the storm started, and some nice family made him come in and sleep there. His hopes were crushed when he saw something lying a bit away, not moving. He ran up to him.
'Merry?' He whispered. 'Please, wake up.' But his cousin did not answer or look up. The bandage had been torn and dirty, and his whole body was wet thorough. Frodo lifted him up and started running. It was very important that he got warm quick. On the way there ha passed old Mrs. Bracegirdle.
'What has happened Mr. Frodo? Is the lad all right?'
'Get the doctor to come to Bag End, quick!' Frodo cried and the lady looked worried and walked as fast as she could toward the doctor's hole.
On the way home Frodo saw Sam who was working as usual. He looked up, and when he saw the two people he were in fight with right now coming down the way, he mostly wanted to hide quickly, but he noticed something was terribly wrong and stepped forward.
'What has happened?' he asked. Frodo looked at him with eyes filled with tears that he tried to blink away.
'Come with me to Bag End, I'll explain everything there!' Sam followed them all the way to Bag End, where they put Merry down in a bed and collected a lot of blankets so that he would get warm quickly. And he certainly did. Just about ten minutes after they were finished, his brow was burning hot with fever. But right then the doctor appeared, so he would take care of it. Frodo and Sam got deported to the other room where they waited anxiously.
'Now tell me, Mr. Frodo what happened?' Frodo looked at him, unsure of where to start.
'Sam, he...I thought he did, but he didn't and then I saw he didn't and I had to look and...' Frodo realised what he said made no sense at all so he took a deep breath and started all over again.
'Last night I thought Merry had gone to bed, but he didn't. I think he had been upset over something,' Sam flinched when he said that, 'because I found him this morning on the road to Buckland. He was trying to go home again!' Sam went pale and lost his balance for a while.
'He...was upset...over something?' Frodo frowned, he looked so strange.
'Yes...that's what I think. Sam...do you know anything about this?' Sam just nodded, but he couldn't get out a word, because he was crying. It was his fault!
'I...I...' Frodo gave up in trying to make out what he said and instead listened at the door to see what the doctor was doing. As he couldn't hear anything, he sighed and went to sit in the couch.
'This never happened when his parents were alive and there for him. They always made sure he was all right. I'm sure *they* never went to bed without checking if he was there or not. I'd make a lousy parent. How could I ever think Bilbo would let Merry stay hear with me as a parent? But now we'll never know, will we?' And he started to weep again. Sam went to sit next to him.
'Now Mr. Frodo, don't be so pessimistic, he may yet be all right. Let's hear what the doctor has to say before we start arranging the funeral. Besides, it wasn't your fault,' he said.
'Then whose fault was it?!?' Frodo was very upset now, with himself.
'It...' Sam could barely say it. 'It was my fault!' And he ran out of the room. Frodo looked after him, speechless as he couldn't for the world figure out how this could be Sam's fault. Did he think it had something to do with the climbing-accident that broke Merry's arm? It didn't seem that way at least as he would say so. It seemed as if it was something that had happened without Frodo knowing.
//I'll talk to him later,// he thought and then sat down again. //Now I have to wait and see what the doctor has to say.//
It had been a while, almost an hour, when Frodo simply couldn't wait any longer. He had to look what was happening in there. He grabbed the door- handle and closed his eyes. He almost expected Merry to sit up in bed and play cards with the doctor, be happy and laughing, but when he opened, he was still lying pale and feverish on the bed, looking very small. The doctor turned around with an irritated look.
'If you can't stay out there without having to look in here, maybe you should go for a walk. Take some fresh air.' Frodo just nodded and closed the door again.
//It didn't look as if he had made any progress,// he thought. // What if...he doesn't?// He shook the thoughts off him and decided to take the doctor's advice. He opened the door and went out in the garden. It was a nice forenoon and a breeze surrounded Frodo. He took a deep breath and started walking toward the market-place. He needed a crowded place right now. When he came there he just walked around a bit, trying to make the fresh air clean away his worries, if only for a little while. But it wasn't possible. The words "what if he dies" was constantly in his mind. When walking around among all the people, he saw a family he knew.
'Oh no,' he thought desperately. 'They will want to come and meet Merry for sure.' He tried to hide, but they had already spotted him.
'Frodo! Hello, it's been a long time,' Eglantine said and embraced him. Frodo stiffly returned the hug while thinking about how to get out of there.
'We let Pearl and Pim sleep over at a friend's house, while we brought these two brats with us.' Little Vinca stood a little shy behind her mother while Pippin was sleeping in his father's arms. Tina's smile faded.
'How's young Merry then, I heard you brought him home to you. Poor lad, could you imagine what it's like, loosing your parents like that.' Frodo forced a smile.
'Yes, in fact I could.' Tina slapped her forehead.
'How stupid I am! Well, I couldn't imagine it then. And...how is he?' Frodo quickly thought over what to say without really telling them and not lying either.
//They'd hate me if I told them,// he thought. But what he said was:
'Not very well as you may understand.' Both Tina and Paladin nodded with pity.
'Pippin and him always get along very well, why don't we come up and see him? We're very close to Bag End now,' said Paladin. Frodo's eyes popped up wide.
'NO! I mean...he...doesn't want...visitors...right now!' Paladin looked confused.
'Are you sure? He always likes it when we come.' Frodo tried to look honest.
'Oh, but you know. He prefers to be alone, believe me I'm there all the time and sometimes it feels like there's no one else in the house.' His facial expression looked so strange Tina and Paladin was looking at him as if he were sick or something. He really was a bad liar.
'Oh, what a shame then. But we could always walk you up there and we'll see you another time,' said Tina. Frodo nodded, not sure what else to do.
'You can do that,' said Paladin, 'And I'll finish the shopping.' Tina nodded and brought with her Vinca up on the road. Frodo just crossed his fingers in hope that the doctor wouldn't leave just as they came. But with his luck, that was exactly what he did. Tina was just going to go when Frodo saw the door was opening.
'Tina!' he shouted. 'Paladin's right behind you, waving for you to come!' She turned around, missing the doctor's presence.
'Where? I can't see him!' Frodo pointed at something.
'He's right over there! I think you need to hurry.' Tina looked confused, but believed him.
'All right. Goodbye then.' Frodo waved.
'Goodbye. Then he turned to the doctor and ran up to him.
'How is he? Will he be all right?' The doctor sighed.
'Come on. Let's talk about it inside. Your friend just returned by the way, he's waiting inside. I can talk to both of you.' He didn't sound very positive and Frodo followed on shaky legs. When they came in, Frodo found Sam in the couch. He looked very sad and guilty. Again it hit Frodo that Sam had said it was his fault. But how could it be? The doctor motioned for him to sit down and they both did.
'I won't lie to you, he's not well and I'm not at sure he will...survive.' Frodo's tears started falling. He couldn't believe it!
'I think you need to keep putting cool clothes on his face to bring down the fever and maybe put him in a cold bath, I don't know. I have given him a medicine that might help him, but I don't know if it's gone too far already. Try and see if you can wake him tomorrow morning. If you can't...there's not much hope.' (A/N But do not trust to hope. It has forsaken these lands : p) He rose with a sigh and left the house. When he had, Frodo started sobbing uncontrollably.
'If I hadn't brought him here this never would have happened!' Sam tried to comfort him.
'It wasn't your fault Mr. Frodo.' But he didn't want to listen.
'Yes it was! What kind of parent...erm cousin would go to bed without checking first! It was stupid and if I hadn't done that he would be alive!'
'He is alive Mr. Frodo.'
'Only barely.' Sam shook his head. He wasn't getting anywhere.
'Come on,' he said. 'let's go and check on him.' Frodo nodded and they both rose and entered the room where Merry lay. He was pale and looked smaller than usual.
'He looks so ill Sam!' Frodo shook his head through tears, wishing this had never happened.
'I'll stay here over the night,' said Sam, 'and we can take turns watching over him. Come on Mr. Frodo, you're exhausted. Go to bed and I'll take the first watch. He started by wetting a piece of cloth and put it on Merry's forehead. The first one of many this night.
~TBC~
Gimli: Ek. Natta, send me this chappy again if your computer won't put in the speech marks and stuff, and I'll fix it for you. ~Gimli, the Stupid Beta~
Natta: Doesn't matter, I'm too tired for it. Hopes this is ok though.
Midgette: Happy Birthday! Mine's in 25 days. But who's really counting?;) This chapter was a bit confusing as there weren't any quotation marks and the apostrophes turned into those spanish looking i's.
Natta: Happy birthday to you too. Those thingies were a bit weird, but this time's better.
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 5, Thursday. An accident and what comes after it.
Frodo woke up with a big yawn. The storm had been going on all night but now it finally looked as if clearing up. There were still raindrops falling, but not enough to annoy anyone and the thunders were completely gone. Frodo decided to go and check if Merry was awake yet, and hopefully he wouldn't have torn off the bandage in his sleep, Frodo thought with a smirk.
'Merry? Are you awake yet?' He opened the door slightly to see if his cousin was still sleeping. He was surprised to see no one there. The bed looked just as it had last night. Frodo frowned.
//Either he has went up early, plus he must have an exact pattern on how to make his bed every morning, or...// Frodo swallowed hard, //he didn't sleep there last night.// As the later alternative sounded more reasonable, especially as he didn't hear Merry anywhere in the house, Frodo ran out the fastest he could, cursing himself for being so stupid and not checking if Merry was there before he went to sleep. It was an early morning and not many people were up yet, so Frodo was pretty much alone as he ran down the streets, which fitted him perfectly as he didn't get any questions.
//How could I be so stupid,// he thought, //if he's been out all night in this storm...// he shook the next thought off. //No, it'll be okay, I'll just find out he was away from home when the storm started, and some nice family made him come in and sleep there. His hopes were crushed when he saw something lying a bit away, not moving. He ran up to him.
'Merry?' He whispered. 'Please, wake up.' But his cousin did not answer or look up. The bandage had been torn and dirty, and his whole body was wet thorough. Frodo lifted him up and started running. It was very important that he got warm quick. On the way there ha passed old Mrs. Bracegirdle.
'What has happened Mr. Frodo? Is the lad all right?'
'Get the doctor to come to Bag End, quick!' Frodo cried and the lady looked worried and walked as fast as she could toward the doctor's hole.
On the way home Frodo saw Sam who was working as usual. He looked up, and when he saw the two people he were in fight with right now coming down the way, he mostly wanted to hide quickly, but he noticed something was terribly wrong and stepped forward.
'What has happened?' he asked. Frodo looked at him with eyes filled with tears that he tried to blink away.
'Come with me to Bag End, I'll explain everything there!' Sam followed them all the way to Bag End, where they put Merry down in a bed and collected a lot of blankets so that he would get warm quickly. And he certainly did. Just about ten minutes after they were finished, his brow was burning hot with fever. But right then the doctor appeared, so he would take care of it. Frodo and Sam got deported to the other room where they waited anxiously.
'Now tell me, Mr. Frodo what happened?' Frodo looked at him, unsure of where to start.
'Sam, he...I thought he did, but he didn't and then I saw he didn't and I had to look and...' Frodo realised what he said made no sense at all so he took a deep breath and started all over again.
'Last night I thought Merry had gone to bed, but he didn't. I think he had been upset over something,' Sam flinched when he said that, 'because I found him this morning on the road to Buckland. He was trying to go home again!' Sam went pale and lost his balance for a while.
'He...was upset...over something?' Frodo frowned, he looked so strange.
'Yes...that's what I think. Sam...do you know anything about this?' Sam just nodded, but he couldn't get out a word, because he was crying. It was his fault!
'I...I...' Frodo gave up in trying to make out what he said and instead listened at the door to see what the doctor was doing. As he couldn't hear anything, he sighed and went to sit in the couch.
'This never happened when his parents were alive and there for him. They always made sure he was all right. I'm sure *they* never went to bed without checking if he was there or not. I'd make a lousy parent. How could I ever think Bilbo would let Merry stay hear with me as a parent? But now we'll never know, will we?' And he started to weep again. Sam went to sit next to him.
'Now Mr. Frodo, don't be so pessimistic, he may yet be all right. Let's hear what the doctor has to say before we start arranging the funeral. Besides, it wasn't your fault,' he said.
'Then whose fault was it?!?' Frodo was very upset now, with himself.
'It...' Sam could barely say it. 'It was my fault!' And he ran out of the room. Frodo looked after him, speechless as he couldn't for the world figure out how this could be Sam's fault. Did he think it had something to do with the climbing-accident that broke Merry's arm? It didn't seem that way at least as he would say so. It seemed as if it was something that had happened without Frodo knowing.
//I'll talk to him later,// he thought and then sat down again. //Now I have to wait and see what the doctor has to say.//
It had been a while, almost an hour, when Frodo simply couldn't wait any longer. He had to look what was happening in there. He grabbed the door- handle and closed his eyes. He almost expected Merry to sit up in bed and play cards with the doctor, be happy and laughing, but when he opened, he was still lying pale and feverish on the bed, looking very small. The doctor turned around with an irritated look.
'If you can't stay out there without having to look in here, maybe you should go for a walk. Take some fresh air.' Frodo just nodded and closed the door again.
//It didn't look as if he had made any progress,// he thought. // What if...he doesn't?// He shook the thoughts off him and decided to take the doctor's advice. He opened the door and went out in the garden. It was a nice forenoon and a breeze surrounded Frodo. He took a deep breath and started walking toward the market-place. He needed a crowded place right now. When he came there he just walked around a bit, trying to make the fresh air clean away his worries, if only for a little while. But it wasn't possible. The words "what if he dies" was constantly in his mind. When walking around among all the people, he saw a family he knew.
'Oh no,' he thought desperately. 'They will want to come and meet Merry for sure.' He tried to hide, but they had already spotted him.
'Frodo! Hello, it's been a long time,' Eglantine said and embraced him. Frodo stiffly returned the hug while thinking about how to get out of there.
'We let Pearl and Pim sleep over at a friend's house, while we brought these two brats with us.' Little Vinca stood a little shy behind her mother while Pippin was sleeping in his father's arms. Tina's smile faded.
'How's young Merry then, I heard you brought him home to you. Poor lad, could you imagine what it's like, loosing your parents like that.' Frodo forced a smile.
'Yes, in fact I could.' Tina slapped her forehead.
'How stupid I am! Well, I couldn't imagine it then. And...how is he?' Frodo quickly thought over what to say without really telling them and not lying either.
//They'd hate me if I told them,// he thought. But what he said was:
'Not very well as you may understand.' Both Tina and Paladin nodded with pity.
'Pippin and him always get along very well, why don't we come up and see him? We're very close to Bag End now,' said Paladin. Frodo's eyes popped up wide.
'NO! I mean...he...doesn't want...visitors...right now!' Paladin looked confused.
'Are you sure? He always likes it when we come.' Frodo tried to look honest.
'Oh, but you know. He prefers to be alone, believe me I'm there all the time and sometimes it feels like there's no one else in the house.' His facial expression looked so strange Tina and Paladin was looking at him as if he were sick or something. He really was a bad liar.
'Oh, what a shame then. But we could always walk you up there and we'll see you another time,' said Tina. Frodo nodded, not sure what else to do.
'You can do that,' said Paladin, 'And I'll finish the shopping.' Tina nodded and brought with her Vinca up on the road. Frodo just crossed his fingers in hope that the doctor wouldn't leave just as they came. But with his luck, that was exactly what he did. Tina was just going to go when Frodo saw the door was opening.
'Tina!' he shouted. 'Paladin's right behind you, waving for you to come!' She turned around, missing the doctor's presence.
'Where? I can't see him!' Frodo pointed at something.
'He's right over there! I think you need to hurry.' Tina looked confused, but believed him.
'All right. Goodbye then.' Frodo waved.
'Goodbye. Then he turned to the doctor and ran up to him.
'How is he? Will he be all right?' The doctor sighed.
'Come on. Let's talk about it inside. Your friend just returned by the way, he's waiting inside. I can talk to both of you.' He didn't sound very positive and Frodo followed on shaky legs. When they came in, Frodo found Sam in the couch. He looked very sad and guilty. Again it hit Frodo that Sam had said it was his fault. But how could it be? The doctor motioned for him to sit down and they both did.
'I won't lie to you, he's not well and I'm not at sure he will...survive.' Frodo's tears started falling. He couldn't believe it!
'I think you need to keep putting cool clothes on his face to bring down the fever and maybe put him in a cold bath, I don't know. I have given him a medicine that might help him, but I don't know if it's gone too far already. Try and see if you can wake him tomorrow morning. If you can't...there's not much hope.' (A/N But do not trust to hope. It has forsaken these lands : p) He rose with a sigh and left the house. When he had, Frodo started sobbing uncontrollably.
'If I hadn't brought him here this never would have happened!' Sam tried to comfort him.
'It wasn't your fault Mr. Frodo.' But he didn't want to listen.
'Yes it was! What kind of parent...erm cousin would go to bed without checking first! It was stupid and if I hadn't done that he would be alive!'
'He is alive Mr. Frodo.'
'Only barely.' Sam shook his head. He wasn't getting anywhere.
'Come on,' he said. 'let's go and check on him.' Frodo nodded and they both rose and entered the room where Merry lay. He was pale and looked smaller than usual.
'He looks so ill Sam!' Frodo shook his head through tears, wishing this had never happened.
'I'll stay here over the night,' said Sam, 'and we can take turns watching over him. Come on Mr. Frodo, you're exhausted. Go to bed and I'll take the first watch. He started by wetting a piece of cloth and put it on Merry's forehead. The first one of many this night.
~TBC~
Gimli: Ek. Natta, send me this chappy again if your computer won't put in the speech marks and stuff, and I'll fix it for you. ~Gimli, the Stupid Beta~
Natta: Doesn't matter, I'm too tired for it. Hopes this is ok though.
Midgette: Happy Birthday! Mine's in 25 days. But who's really counting?;) This chapter was a bit confusing as there weren't any quotation marks and the apostrophes turned into those spanish looking i's.
Natta: Happy birthday to you too. Those thingies were a bit weird, but this time's better.
