Summary: Two girls from our world, Leiko and Echo, somehow get transported to Middle-Earth thanks to a magical website! Will they be able to make lives for themselves alongside the Fellowship?
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except Leiko and Echo, and I do not claim to. This story is for fun, not for profit, so don't sue me!
"Leiko, come look at this!" said Echo Johannson over her shoulder to her best friend. "According to this name generator, my elvish name is Eärwen of Dorthonion! I sound like a warrior..."
"Really?" Leiko Smitley looked up from the bed behind Echo's computer, where she was busy painting her nails glittery purple. "That sounds neat!"
"And my hobbit name is Polly Brandybuck of Buckland," Echo continued, and smiled widely. "I married Merry - I married Merry," she sang over and over.
"Or maybe you're his sister and can't marry him," Leiko pointed out, waving her wet nails in the air. "Can you do mine? I can't type till my nails dry."
Leiko and Echo were 14 years old, and had been best friends since kindergarten. Leiko was half Japanese, with shoulder-length straight dark hair and eyes as grey as a snowy day, and she read fashion magazines religiously. Echo had sky-blue eyes and long curly hair, which was naturally blonde but dyed shocking pink at the moment, and she played guitar. The two friends had only just discovered the Lord of the Rings since the first movie came out, but ever since, they had been devouring what they could find online and in the library to tide them over until the third movie was released.
"As an elf, your name would be Altáriël Anwarünya," Echo told Leiko.
"That's pretty," Leiko said, standing up to come and look over Echo's shoulder. "What about my hobbit name?"
Echo scrolled further down, and began laughing. "Ivy Grubb!"
Leiko wrinkled her nose and frowned. "Are you sure?"
"Yep! And your orkish name is Púshwúrz the No-Tooth," Echo said, still laughing. "Sexy!"
"I bet yours isn't any better," Leiko said, bending over the keyboard to try the name generator herself. "You're Wurrdug the Thug!"
"Grrrr!" said Echo, making an evil orkish face, and the two of them laughed together.
"Wouldn't it be great to be in Middle-Earth?" Leiko said, grinning. "To travel alongside Legolas-"
"And Aragorn! He's hot!" Echo put in. "We could kill orcs together!"
"Not until my nails dry," Leiko said, and they laughed again.
"Hey, what's that link?" Echo asked suddenly, pointing to the bottom of the website. There was a bright red link that said "ENJOY MIDDLE-EARTH".
"I don't know - we haven't seen that site before," Leiko said. "Let's try it."
As Echo clicked the link, suddenly her bedroom grew dark, and the two girls screamed. "Did the power go out?" Leiko asked, scared.
"I don't know - there wasn't even supposed to be a storm today," said Echo, getting up and reaching for a flashlight she kept under her bed. She couldn't even find her bed though, and suddenly she started feeling scared. "Leiko? Are you still there?" she whispered, hearing strange noises.
"Yes," Leiko whispered back, hearing the noises too. They sounded like voices in the darkness. A breeze blew her hair into her face - which was strange, since they were inside. "Who is that?"
"I don't know - can you tell what language they're speaking?"
"I don't know," Leiko said after a moment. "It sounds kind of German, maybe?"
Their eyes had been adjusting slowly to the darkness, and now the two of them could make out that they were not in Echo's bedroom anymore, but in the middle of a forest lit only by traces of starlight. The voices were growing closer, and the two of them clung together, scared and confused.
There was a rustling in the bushes off to one side, and suddenly the starlight shone off long blond hair and pointed ears. An elven archer rose, and fired an arrow in the direction of the voices. There was a shout, and then the voices grew louder and angrier.
"That's Legolas!" whispered Leiko. "But... how?"
"And Aragorn!" Echo exclaimed, no longer frightened. "Look!"
In the bushes next to Legolas, the ranger had stood to fire his bow and arrow as well - and now that their eyes had adjusted, they could see four smaller figures hiding in the brush behind the two men.
"Hobbits!" Echo squealed. "How kawaii! We're in Middle-Earth!"
Suddenly the woods were swarming with orcs. The hobbits rose to their feet as Boromir rose from his place just on the other side of them, sounding the Horn of Gondor, and they drew their small swords. As well, Gimli rushed out of hiding to meet the tall, dark figures with his axe.
"Gandalf!" Echo exclaimed, though Leiko was still staring, enraptured, at Legolas. "Where's Gandalf?"
She was so busy looking for the wizard that she never saw the orc that was sneaking up on Leiko until it had put a sword through her best friend. Leiko cried out as the sword plunged into her back, and crumpled to the ground.
"Leiko!" Suddenly realizing the situation she was in, Echo began running towards the Fellowship where they were gathered in the bushes, tears streaming down her cheeks for her dead friend. "Aragorn! Help! Help!"
Her cries were cut short when the orc impaled her as well, and laughed. An instant later, Boromir had severed the orc's head from behind, but he was too late.
The battle raged on, until the last orc was dead and the members of the Fellowship were cleaning off their weapons, looking over the bodies of the orcs to see what they could find. They regarded the bodies of the two girls with some confusion, as they lay among the dead orcs in their crude armor.
"'Tis indeed strange that two young maidens would be here alone in the dead of night," Boromir observed. "And in such odd attire... I wonder from whence they came?"
"This one called your name," Legolas said to Aragorn as the two of them peered down at Echo. "Do you know her?"
"No, I'm afraid not," Aragorn replied, shaking his head. "I would remember hair that shade. 'Tis not natural. And the fingers on the other..."
"Strange indeed - but so very young," Legolas lamented. "Ai - such a tragedy!"
"Add them to the list of murders Sauron's forces have committed," Gimli growled, "and let's be on our way. There are more orcs to hunt, and murders that we might avert."
With that, the Fellowship returned to their quest, and didn't really think about the two strange girls again, since they were busy trying to save the races of Middle-Earth from destruction and enslavement.
