They had left Merry with Theoden. Dawn was sorry to leave him, and
she knew she'd miss him, but she was determined to keep her word and travel
with Aragorn and the Dunedain to the Paths of the Dead. Plus they had to
pass through Dunharrow, where Eowyn was, and she could defineitely use a
little more oestrogen in the mix.
The White Lady stood alone in the dusk, waiting to greet them as they rode up. "Girlfriend," Dawn squealed, giving her an enthusiastic hug.
Eowyn laughed. "Hello... sista," she replied awkwardly, in an attempt to put into practice some of the 'valley-speak' Dawn had insisted on teaching her. However, she had firmly refused to greet her brother at Helm's Deep with "Yo, bro."
She turned to welcome the rest of the travellers, her gaze lingering on Aragorn slightly longer than necessary. Dawn bit her lip. She really wished she could talk to Eowyn about this impossible romance she had her heart set on, but it wasn't her place and Dawn knew it wouldn't do any good.
At once, Eowyn had ordered food prepared for them, and sat to eat with her guests. All through the meal, the two young women chattered happily away about everything they had been doing in the few days it had been since they'd parted. But Dawn noticed that Eowyn's gaze often strayed in Aragorn's direction, where he sat flanked by his two foster brothers, Elladan and Elrohir. Dawn wasn't the only one watching her companions, however. Eowyn's eyes shone a little sadly as she saw Legolas often staring in Dawn's direction, but Dawn behaved as if the Elven Prince did not even exist. They had seemed so happy together in Edoras, but she could not blame Dawn for her anger.
As soon as they finished eating, Eowyn had tents set up for them, promising that in the morning she would find better accommodation for them. Aragorn declined the offer, saying they had to move on at daybreak with an important errand.
Eowyn was a little confused. She had lived in Rohan all her life and she knew there were no paths they could take out here, save for the worst one, Dunharrow was so isolated. She smiled at Aragorn. "Then it was kindly done, lord, to ride so many miles out of your way to bring tidings to Eowyn, and to speak with her in her exile."
Aragorn replied that his path did lead him to Dunharrow.
Eowyn didn't like what she was hearing. She told him to go back the way he came.
When Aragorn told her tht they were taking the Paths of the Dead, she stared at him, stricken, her face blanched. Dawn looked on sympathetically. The others all took their leave and left. Dawn followed behind reluctantly.
They were now arguing. Finally, Eowyn accepted the fact that Aragorn wouldn't change his mind. Then she begged to come with him. In the end, Aragorn looked at her sternly.
"Stay! You have no errand to the South."
Eowyn was now choking back tears. "Neither have those others that go with thee. They go only because they would not be parted from thee- because they love thee." She turned and stormed away.
Eowyn had insisted that Dawn lodge with her for the night. She didn't feel comfortable with her young friend sleeping in a tent, surrounded by thirty strange men. When she reached her room, she found that Dawn had already bathed quickly and was sitting on the bed brushing her long brown hair out.
Dawn took one look at Eowyn's face and held her arms out. Eowyn crashed into a hug, letting a few stray tears slide down her cheeks.
Before sunrise even, Aragorn was making ready to leave. In between rubbing sleep from her eyes, Dawn glared at him indignantly. This was unbelievable, she figured it had to be about four in the morning. 'What kind of idiot gets up at this hour?' she thought to herself.
When Elladan, completely alert and unaffected by the ridiculous hour, glided gracefully by, Dawn couldn't resist sticking out a foot to trip him. Elladan glared at her, but heard the loud laughter of his brother behind him, and turned his attention that way.
Eowyn approached, dressed as a Rider. Dawn bit her lip. This was not going to be pretty. Again Eowyn asked to join him, and again she begged, but Aragorn was steadfast in his refusal.
The feminist in Dawn bristled a little, but she could see the pain in Aragorn's eyes, he hated having to do this to the Lady. But he had no choice. He kissed her hand and left her alone to cry as they left her behind.
* * * * *
Dawn's skin was crawling. The Paths of the Dead were officially creepy. Leading her horse, she pushed to the head of the group. She wanted to be close to Aragorn. Like a brother, he'd make her feel safe. Plus, he had a torch. The other torchbearer was Elladan, at the rear, and Legolas was travelling too close to the other Elf for her comfort. She didn't want him to see her afraid like this. And she was pretty sure Elladan was still angry with her for tripping him.
Aragorn felt someone come up close beside him and knew instinctively who it was. "Are you all right, Dawny?" he breathed in her ear.
He couldn't see it, but she gave him a brave smile in return. "Yeah, Estel. Just having a minor... ok, major case of the wiggins over here. I'll be ok."
"You have not seen the dead before?"
Dawn furrowed her brow. "Well, actually, three dead people tried to kill me in the basement on my first day of high school," she told him.
Walking behing the pair, Elrohir and Halbarad shot each other astonished glances. This girl, who in a matter of weeks had become so close to Aragorn that he considered her a sister, was discussing life- threatening encounters with the dead as if it was a common occurrence. Elrohir shook his head. He was beginning to get used to the bewilderment the girl brought out in him.
"And the First took the form of dead people," Dawn realised, and began chattering about all ther various dead people she had seen, or heard of, the First impersonating to work its evil, deliberately leaving out her mother. She reasoned, still, all this time later, that it could really have been her mother appearing to her that night.
"Ooh! Oh! Then there was that time my sister was possessed by the ghost of a guy who killed his lover and then committed suicide. See, he was a student, and she was his teacher and they were having an affair and when she broke it off, he went schiz and accidentally shot her, then he blew his brains out all over the music room wall, as Buffy put it."
Aragorn watched Dawn beside him, the corners of his mouth twitching into a smile. Colour had returned to her cheeks, and she was relaxed, now at ease with herself, despite their surroundings. She caught the smile and returned it with a shrug. She was ok.
A glimmer in the darkness caught their attention and Aragorn went to investigate. It was a skeleton. Aragorn turned from it and cried out into the darkness.
"Speed only we ask. Let us pass, and then come! I summon you to the stone of Erech!"
The silent response was deafening, and a blast of icy wind from nowhere it seemed blew the torches out, and they couldn't relight them. Dawn let out a frightened whimper in the darkness. She fumbled for Aragorn's hand, and held tight when she finally caught it.
They stumbled forwards, pursued by the dead, and it seemed like forever before finally Gimli could hear a trickle of water, and see the faint light growing.
Amazingly, when they came out into the open sky, it was still a couple of hours before sunset on the same day. Dawn shook her head. This was too wierd. Sunnydale wierd, even.
They mounted their horses and kept going. Dawn stayed near Aragorn, at the front of the company. She didn't hear the three to the rear, Gimli, Legolas and Elladan, speaking quietly to each other.
Legolas turned to speak to Gimli, and Gimli could see a glitter in the Elf's bright eyes. "The Dead are following," said Legolas. "I see shapes of Men and of horses, and pale banners like shreds of cloud, and spears like winter-thickets on a misty night. The Dead are following."
"Yes, the Dead ride behind. They have been summoned," said Elladan.
Just before midnight, they reached their destination, the Hill of Erech. Aragorn was only going to allow them a few hours to rest, but tired as she was, Dawn didn't mind. All the dead noises around them would make sleep impossible. She stood, rugging herself up as best she could in her cloak to wait for the light.
She heard someone come to stand next to her and turned with a smile, anticipating to see Aragorn checking up on her. When she saw who had actually joined her, her smile froze on her face.
"Hello, Dawn," Legolas said quietly.
She gave him her most intimidating death stare. "What do you want?"
"To talk to you," he returned amiably.
"Well, too bad, Legolas. Because I really don't want to talk to you!" Dawn's voice had risen a little, and a few of the company looked over to see the disturbance.
Legolas looked a little confused, and hurt. She would now speak to both Gimli and Aragorn, why would she not speak to him? "Why not?" he asked, sounding for all the world like a spoiled child.
"You've gotta be kidding me!" Dawn exclaimed. "After everything you've put me through, you think you can just waltz up and expect me to play nice again because you feel like it! Let me ask you, Legolas, exactly how far is your head up your ass?"
Legolas looked bewildered. Elrohir's heart went out to him. The Elven Prince shook his head. "Well, Dawn, I just thought you might have come to your senses and realised I was doing what I had to in order to protect you."
Dawn was so angry she could not speak. She burst into tears instead.
Legolas immediately softened towards her. "I miss you."
She narrowed her eyes at him. "Yeah? Well whose fault is that?" she spat out before storming out of the rough camp.
Aragorn found her a few minutes later. He followed the sounds of sniffling through the darkness to the far side of the hill. There sat Dawn, huddled in her cloak and ignoring the dead whispers around her, trying in vain to smother the sounds of her sobs.
He sat down next to her, and she threw herself into his arms. A little taken aback, Aragorn took a moment before patting her shoulder sympathetically. He wasn't exactly sure of what to do- eighteen year old girls were not a species he came across very often in his travels.
He shook his head. It was almost as if she'd been reduced to a mere lonely child once more. Not knowing what else to do, Aragorn sat patiently by the girl as she began to choke out broken words.
"Why does he keep making me feel so bad? Why does he hurt me like this?" she asked.
"He does not mean to," Aragorn murmured soothingly, stroking her hair.
"He doesn't care," Dawn retorted bitterly.
"On the contrary, Dawny, he cares a great deal," he confided. Dawn looked up at him then, her wide eyes still brimming with tears, and Aragorn elaborated.
"I have known Legolas for many years. When I first met him, I was a lad half your age, and we have been firm friends from that day on. Elves are hard creatures to understand, but once you truly know them, they become easier to fathom. Legolas acted from fear, and love and he would gladly have spared your pain if he could. He would accept for you to be angry with him and live, than to love him and die."
Dawn sucked her tears back. "He could've talked to me about all this stuff, but I guess he just doesn't trust me enough to bother. Anyway, the point is, he lied to me. He stood there with a smile on his face and he lied to me! It's so degrading. God, Estel, I've never felt so used in all my life."
Aragorn was confused by her choice of words. "Used?" he asked.
Dawn nodded but refused to say any more. She looked away. A shamed blush was creeping up to stain her cheeks. A flash of warm skin and loving caresses came unbidden into her mind, a memory of that night in Edoras. Dawn winced and pushed the thought aside. She wondered what her 'brother' would think of her if he knew what she'd been up to. With someone ten times as old as Angel, no less! She was pretty sure if Middle-Earth hadn't gotten the memo about the feminist movement, they had probably missed the one about the sexual revolution, as well.
"You were lied to by more whom you hold dear in your heart than Legolas. You well know the role Gimli and I played in deceiving you at Helm's Deep. And yet you have found it in your heart to forgive us," Aragorn said slowly. He still wasn't quite sure he understood Dawn.
Before she could censure herself, Dawn found she had replied, "You could not use me as he did, because I did not trust myself as completely to you as I did him."
As soon as the words were out of her mouth, Dawn cringed inwardly. Any second now, Aragorn was going to figure it out, and tell her what a slut she was, and refuse to have anything more to do with her. Dawn bit her lip and steeled herself against the tears welling again in her eyes. Then she would be completely alone. She wished that Spike or Tara was with her so she could talk to them, they'd understand.
Aragorn, meanwhile, was lost in a memory. He was remembering the road from Edoras to Helm's Deep. The quiet happiness of Dawn and Legolas, the secret smiles passing between the pair. The fact that he'd spent almost an hour before daybreak looking for Legolas, who was not to be found anywhere, and the Elf's noncommittal shrug to explain his whereabouts when Aragorn finally found him. He hid a smirk from Dawn. In retrospect, it was painfully obvious, and Aragorn found it incredible that nobody had noticed, or even conceived of the idea that the Elf had spent the night in the young Lady's bed.
The silence stretched on between them. Finally, Aragorn planted a kiss on the side of Dawn's head. "Must you do everything the hard way, little sister?"
Dawn stared at him a second, as if trying to comprehend the fact that he wasn't blaming her, or judging her. He was joking with her. She let out a short laugh. "Take after my sister... and my brother," she replied and wiped at her wet cheeks.
* * * * *
They had the Dead help them storm the wharf and take control of the enemy ships moored there. When the ships were completely taken, Aragorn released the Dead from their curse. Dawn almost laughed. She'd fought against dead people before, but never with them. She excluded Spike and Angel immediately on the grounds that they were technically UNdead, and every time Buffy died, she came back to life, so she wasn't really dead when she was fighting anyway. And she herself was pretty active for someone who'd thrown herself from a tower in another dimension.
Speed was of the essence: they had to reach Gondor before Minas Tirith fell so they left at once. The weather was against them for sailing, but just when it appeared they would never move out of the cove, and they'd still be sitting there when Sauron's forces over-ran the entire world, the wind picked up and they were off.
They came sailing down the river in the enemy ships. Dawn watched Aragorn, standing tall and proud at the bow of the lead ship. She was standing a few paces beyond him with a small smile of pride and sisterly affection gracing her features. He was flanked on one side by Legolas and Gimli, with Halbarad and the sons of Elrond on the other side.
She moved up and took her place beside Gimli. They could now see the battlefield looming closer. The Rohirrim did not seem to be faring well. Dawn stared at the field. She was horrified, but had schooled her face into a mask of calm. She felt six pairs of male eyes scrutinising her and turned to Aragorn with a half smile.
"So. Is it time to go kick some ass, or what?"
The element of surprise had worked perfectly. The enemy barely knew what hit them when Aragorn and company came storming out of their own ships.
Legolas, Elladan and Elrohir all spared a second to toss a grin in each others' direction when their Elvish ears caught the sound of Eomer's voice shouting out at their arrival from far across the battlefield.
Aragorn, as usual, was leading the way. He was stabbing and slicing his way through the Orcs and Wild Men and Southrons that evaded the bows of Legolas, Elrohir and Elladan long enough to reach them. Those who were able to slip by Aragorn's sword immediately felt the bite of Gimli's axe. Dawn had lost count of the number of heads she'd seen taken off by the growling Dwarf in minutes.
Then again, she didn't exactly have time to stop and count. She was in full swing battle mode, just like the rest of the Rangers. The first time a human had attacked her, she'd been apprehensive about going for the kill. She'd never killed a man before, and she didn't want to go the way Faith had gone. It had taken so much pain and effort for the rogue Slayer to redeem herself, and even now she was still fighting for it.
Then common sense and self-preservation kicked in. She was a warrior, fighting against an evil that wanted to enslave the world. This evil just happened to have human minions, as well as other. She stabbed her sword through the throat of a man and went to move on. But there was nowhere to go.
Dawn found that she, Gimli and Halbarad had been completely surrounded. She cursed herself, Buffy would be so disappointed in her, she'd lost awareness of herself and her environment in the fight. She went back to back, forming a triangle with Gimli and Halbarad, so they were covered an all sides.
When Gimli let out a great, rumbling war cry, they all sprang into the attack. Gimli buried his double-headed axe deep between the shoulder and neck of one of the enemy, and pulled it out so forcefully that it buried its other blade in the chest of another standing nearby.
Halbarad took on three at once. He knocked the first down with his elbow and skewered the second through the stomach with his sword. The thrid was a little more difficult. He blocked Halbarad's wide swing and the two began to parry back and forth. Finally, Halbarad managed to land a fatal blow on the side of his opponent, but in the heat of the fight, he'd forgotten about the first attacker he'd elbowed aside.
Dawn noticed the numbers of their immediate opponents growing thinner. She could hear the sickening crunch of axe on bone on her right as she swung around to look left, to Halbarad. Just as their eyes met across the small distance, the most unsettling look of shock came into the Ranger's eyes. Half a second later, the bloodied tip of a sword exploded through Halbarad's chest.
Dawn shrieked, but Halbarad was already dead as he fell. She charged in his direction, reaching the body just as it landed face-first in the dirt. The Southron responsible was reaching down to pull his sword from the corpse, but before he could, Me'ahyanda stabbed straight through his heart. The Southron sank to his knees and Dawn decapitated him for good measure.
She heard Gimli's enraged shout behind her and knew he'd just seen what had become of Halbarad. The pair regrouped, standing back to back again.
"C'mon, I still say we can take 'em," Gimli challenged.
"Damn straight," Dawn accepted.
The two attacked the thinned circle of their opponents with renewed vigour. They had no idea where the rest of the company had gone, if they were ok, and, if they were, if they had even noticed that three of them were missing in action.
An arrow landed in the chest of one of the Southrons. Dawn blinked, confused for a split second, before turning back to the task at hand. As she decaptiated her opponent, the two comrades flanking him on either side also lost their heads. The three bodies fell to the ground together and Dawn blinked again.
Then, standing in the place of their enemies were Aragorn and Eomer, bloodied swords in their hands. She noticed the almost wild look in the Marshal's eyes. Something, besides the urge to stay alive, had really set him on fire through this battle. Dawn was now thoroughly lost. She looked around, and saw more enemy bodies littering the ground with arrows sticking out of them. Legolas, Elrohir and Elladan had materialised beside Gimli.
Dawn realised thst the battle was almost over. And they had won. The Rangers were helping the Rohirrim pick off the last few enemy soldiers. Without realising it, the trio of Dawn, Gimli and Halbarad had pushed their foes in the direction of Eomer and their allies.
Eomer and Aragorn were leaning on their swords, grinning wearily at each other. As promised, Aragorn had met with his friend on the battlefield, though all the hosts of Mordor lay in between them. The others stood tiredly by them, until Aragorn looked around, taking attendance of his friends.
"Where is Halbarad?" he asked quietly.
Dawn and Gimli shared a glance. "I'm sorry, Estel," Dawn responded. She didn't need to say any more. Aragorn nodded and the twins bowed their heads in a moment of respect to farewell their friend.
Eomer turned his eyes towards the city of Minas Tirith. It was clear he was anxious to get inside those gates for some reason. The group made their way through the streets together, ignoring the stares of the few people left within the city walls. They finally split up, Eomer heading towards the castle, the others making for the Houses of Healing.
* * * * *
The White Lady stood alone in the dusk, waiting to greet them as they rode up. "Girlfriend," Dawn squealed, giving her an enthusiastic hug.
Eowyn laughed. "Hello... sista," she replied awkwardly, in an attempt to put into practice some of the 'valley-speak' Dawn had insisted on teaching her. However, she had firmly refused to greet her brother at Helm's Deep with "Yo, bro."
She turned to welcome the rest of the travellers, her gaze lingering on Aragorn slightly longer than necessary. Dawn bit her lip. She really wished she could talk to Eowyn about this impossible romance she had her heart set on, but it wasn't her place and Dawn knew it wouldn't do any good.
At once, Eowyn had ordered food prepared for them, and sat to eat with her guests. All through the meal, the two young women chattered happily away about everything they had been doing in the few days it had been since they'd parted. But Dawn noticed that Eowyn's gaze often strayed in Aragorn's direction, where he sat flanked by his two foster brothers, Elladan and Elrohir. Dawn wasn't the only one watching her companions, however. Eowyn's eyes shone a little sadly as she saw Legolas often staring in Dawn's direction, but Dawn behaved as if the Elven Prince did not even exist. They had seemed so happy together in Edoras, but she could not blame Dawn for her anger.
As soon as they finished eating, Eowyn had tents set up for them, promising that in the morning she would find better accommodation for them. Aragorn declined the offer, saying they had to move on at daybreak with an important errand.
Eowyn was a little confused. She had lived in Rohan all her life and she knew there were no paths they could take out here, save for the worst one, Dunharrow was so isolated. She smiled at Aragorn. "Then it was kindly done, lord, to ride so many miles out of your way to bring tidings to Eowyn, and to speak with her in her exile."
Aragorn replied that his path did lead him to Dunharrow.
Eowyn didn't like what she was hearing. She told him to go back the way he came.
When Aragorn told her tht they were taking the Paths of the Dead, she stared at him, stricken, her face blanched. Dawn looked on sympathetically. The others all took their leave and left. Dawn followed behind reluctantly.
They were now arguing. Finally, Eowyn accepted the fact that Aragorn wouldn't change his mind. Then she begged to come with him. In the end, Aragorn looked at her sternly.
"Stay! You have no errand to the South."
Eowyn was now choking back tears. "Neither have those others that go with thee. They go only because they would not be parted from thee- because they love thee." She turned and stormed away.
Eowyn had insisted that Dawn lodge with her for the night. She didn't feel comfortable with her young friend sleeping in a tent, surrounded by thirty strange men. When she reached her room, she found that Dawn had already bathed quickly and was sitting on the bed brushing her long brown hair out.
Dawn took one look at Eowyn's face and held her arms out. Eowyn crashed into a hug, letting a few stray tears slide down her cheeks.
Before sunrise even, Aragorn was making ready to leave. In between rubbing sleep from her eyes, Dawn glared at him indignantly. This was unbelievable, she figured it had to be about four in the morning. 'What kind of idiot gets up at this hour?' she thought to herself.
When Elladan, completely alert and unaffected by the ridiculous hour, glided gracefully by, Dawn couldn't resist sticking out a foot to trip him. Elladan glared at her, but heard the loud laughter of his brother behind him, and turned his attention that way.
Eowyn approached, dressed as a Rider. Dawn bit her lip. This was not going to be pretty. Again Eowyn asked to join him, and again she begged, but Aragorn was steadfast in his refusal.
The feminist in Dawn bristled a little, but she could see the pain in Aragorn's eyes, he hated having to do this to the Lady. But he had no choice. He kissed her hand and left her alone to cry as they left her behind.
* * * * *
Dawn's skin was crawling. The Paths of the Dead were officially creepy. Leading her horse, she pushed to the head of the group. She wanted to be close to Aragorn. Like a brother, he'd make her feel safe. Plus, he had a torch. The other torchbearer was Elladan, at the rear, and Legolas was travelling too close to the other Elf for her comfort. She didn't want him to see her afraid like this. And she was pretty sure Elladan was still angry with her for tripping him.
Aragorn felt someone come up close beside him and knew instinctively who it was. "Are you all right, Dawny?" he breathed in her ear.
He couldn't see it, but she gave him a brave smile in return. "Yeah, Estel. Just having a minor... ok, major case of the wiggins over here. I'll be ok."
"You have not seen the dead before?"
Dawn furrowed her brow. "Well, actually, three dead people tried to kill me in the basement on my first day of high school," she told him.
Walking behing the pair, Elrohir and Halbarad shot each other astonished glances. This girl, who in a matter of weeks had become so close to Aragorn that he considered her a sister, was discussing life- threatening encounters with the dead as if it was a common occurrence. Elrohir shook his head. He was beginning to get used to the bewilderment the girl brought out in him.
"And the First took the form of dead people," Dawn realised, and began chattering about all ther various dead people she had seen, or heard of, the First impersonating to work its evil, deliberately leaving out her mother. She reasoned, still, all this time later, that it could really have been her mother appearing to her that night.
"Ooh! Oh! Then there was that time my sister was possessed by the ghost of a guy who killed his lover and then committed suicide. See, he was a student, and she was his teacher and they were having an affair and when she broke it off, he went schiz and accidentally shot her, then he blew his brains out all over the music room wall, as Buffy put it."
Aragorn watched Dawn beside him, the corners of his mouth twitching into a smile. Colour had returned to her cheeks, and she was relaxed, now at ease with herself, despite their surroundings. She caught the smile and returned it with a shrug. She was ok.
A glimmer in the darkness caught their attention and Aragorn went to investigate. It was a skeleton. Aragorn turned from it and cried out into the darkness.
"Speed only we ask. Let us pass, and then come! I summon you to the stone of Erech!"
The silent response was deafening, and a blast of icy wind from nowhere it seemed blew the torches out, and they couldn't relight them. Dawn let out a frightened whimper in the darkness. She fumbled for Aragorn's hand, and held tight when she finally caught it.
They stumbled forwards, pursued by the dead, and it seemed like forever before finally Gimli could hear a trickle of water, and see the faint light growing.
Amazingly, when they came out into the open sky, it was still a couple of hours before sunset on the same day. Dawn shook her head. This was too wierd. Sunnydale wierd, even.
They mounted their horses and kept going. Dawn stayed near Aragorn, at the front of the company. She didn't hear the three to the rear, Gimli, Legolas and Elladan, speaking quietly to each other.
Legolas turned to speak to Gimli, and Gimli could see a glitter in the Elf's bright eyes. "The Dead are following," said Legolas. "I see shapes of Men and of horses, and pale banners like shreds of cloud, and spears like winter-thickets on a misty night. The Dead are following."
"Yes, the Dead ride behind. They have been summoned," said Elladan.
Just before midnight, they reached their destination, the Hill of Erech. Aragorn was only going to allow them a few hours to rest, but tired as she was, Dawn didn't mind. All the dead noises around them would make sleep impossible. She stood, rugging herself up as best she could in her cloak to wait for the light.
She heard someone come to stand next to her and turned with a smile, anticipating to see Aragorn checking up on her. When she saw who had actually joined her, her smile froze on her face.
"Hello, Dawn," Legolas said quietly.
She gave him her most intimidating death stare. "What do you want?"
"To talk to you," he returned amiably.
"Well, too bad, Legolas. Because I really don't want to talk to you!" Dawn's voice had risen a little, and a few of the company looked over to see the disturbance.
Legolas looked a little confused, and hurt. She would now speak to both Gimli and Aragorn, why would she not speak to him? "Why not?" he asked, sounding for all the world like a spoiled child.
"You've gotta be kidding me!" Dawn exclaimed. "After everything you've put me through, you think you can just waltz up and expect me to play nice again because you feel like it! Let me ask you, Legolas, exactly how far is your head up your ass?"
Legolas looked bewildered. Elrohir's heart went out to him. The Elven Prince shook his head. "Well, Dawn, I just thought you might have come to your senses and realised I was doing what I had to in order to protect you."
Dawn was so angry she could not speak. She burst into tears instead.
Legolas immediately softened towards her. "I miss you."
She narrowed her eyes at him. "Yeah? Well whose fault is that?" she spat out before storming out of the rough camp.
Aragorn found her a few minutes later. He followed the sounds of sniffling through the darkness to the far side of the hill. There sat Dawn, huddled in her cloak and ignoring the dead whispers around her, trying in vain to smother the sounds of her sobs.
He sat down next to her, and she threw herself into his arms. A little taken aback, Aragorn took a moment before patting her shoulder sympathetically. He wasn't exactly sure of what to do- eighteen year old girls were not a species he came across very often in his travels.
He shook his head. It was almost as if she'd been reduced to a mere lonely child once more. Not knowing what else to do, Aragorn sat patiently by the girl as she began to choke out broken words.
"Why does he keep making me feel so bad? Why does he hurt me like this?" she asked.
"He does not mean to," Aragorn murmured soothingly, stroking her hair.
"He doesn't care," Dawn retorted bitterly.
"On the contrary, Dawny, he cares a great deal," he confided. Dawn looked up at him then, her wide eyes still brimming with tears, and Aragorn elaborated.
"I have known Legolas for many years. When I first met him, I was a lad half your age, and we have been firm friends from that day on. Elves are hard creatures to understand, but once you truly know them, they become easier to fathom. Legolas acted from fear, and love and he would gladly have spared your pain if he could. He would accept for you to be angry with him and live, than to love him and die."
Dawn sucked her tears back. "He could've talked to me about all this stuff, but I guess he just doesn't trust me enough to bother. Anyway, the point is, he lied to me. He stood there with a smile on his face and he lied to me! It's so degrading. God, Estel, I've never felt so used in all my life."
Aragorn was confused by her choice of words. "Used?" he asked.
Dawn nodded but refused to say any more. She looked away. A shamed blush was creeping up to stain her cheeks. A flash of warm skin and loving caresses came unbidden into her mind, a memory of that night in Edoras. Dawn winced and pushed the thought aside. She wondered what her 'brother' would think of her if he knew what she'd been up to. With someone ten times as old as Angel, no less! She was pretty sure if Middle-Earth hadn't gotten the memo about the feminist movement, they had probably missed the one about the sexual revolution, as well.
"You were lied to by more whom you hold dear in your heart than Legolas. You well know the role Gimli and I played in deceiving you at Helm's Deep. And yet you have found it in your heart to forgive us," Aragorn said slowly. He still wasn't quite sure he understood Dawn.
Before she could censure herself, Dawn found she had replied, "You could not use me as he did, because I did not trust myself as completely to you as I did him."
As soon as the words were out of her mouth, Dawn cringed inwardly. Any second now, Aragorn was going to figure it out, and tell her what a slut she was, and refuse to have anything more to do with her. Dawn bit her lip and steeled herself against the tears welling again in her eyes. Then she would be completely alone. She wished that Spike or Tara was with her so she could talk to them, they'd understand.
Aragorn, meanwhile, was lost in a memory. He was remembering the road from Edoras to Helm's Deep. The quiet happiness of Dawn and Legolas, the secret smiles passing between the pair. The fact that he'd spent almost an hour before daybreak looking for Legolas, who was not to be found anywhere, and the Elf's noncommittal shrug to explain his whereabouts when Aragorn finally found him. He hid a smirk from Dawn. In retrospect, it was painfully obvious, and Aragorn found it incredible that nobody had noticed, or even conceived of the idea that the Elf had spent the night in the young Lady's bed.
The silence stretched on between them. Finally, Aragorn planted a kiss on the side of Dawn's head. "Must you do everything the hard way, little sister?"
Dawn stared at him a second, as if trying to comprehend the fact that he wasn't blaming her, or judging her. He was joking with her. She let out a short laugh. "Take after my sister... and my brother," she replied and wiped at her wet cheeks.
* * * * *
They had the Dead help them storm the wharf and take control of the enemy ships moored there. When the ships were completely taken, Aragorn released the Dead from their curse. Dawn almost laughed. She'd fought against dead people before, but never with them. She excluded Spike and Angel immediately on the grounds that they were technically UNdead, and every time Buffy died, she came back to life, so she wasn't really dead when she was fighting anyway. And she herself was pretty active for someone who'd thrown herself from a tower in another dimension.
Speed was of the essence: they had to reach Gondor before Minas Tirith fell so they left at once. The weather was against them for sailing, but just when it appeared they would never move out of the cove, and they'd still be sitting there when Sauron's forces over-ran the entire world, the wind picked up and they were off.
They came sailing down the river in the enemy ships. Dawn watched Aragorn, standing tall and proud at the bow of the lead ship. She was standing a few paces beyond him with a small smile of pride and sisterly affection gracing her features. He was flanked on one side by Legolas and Gimli, with Halbarad and the sons of Elrond on the other side.
She moved up and took her place beside Gimli. They could now see the battlefield looming closer. The Rohirrim did not seem to be faring well. Dawn stared at the field. She was horrified, but had schooled her face into a mask of calm. She felt six pairs of male eyes scrutinising her and turned to Aragorn with a half smile.
"So. Is it time to go kick some ass, or what?"
The element of surprise had worked perfectly. The enemy barely knew what hit them when Aragorn and company came storming out of their own ships.
Legolas, Elladan and Elrohir all spared a second to toss a grin in each others' direction when their Elvish ears caught the sound of Eomer's voice shouting out at their arrival from far across the battlefield.
Aragorn, as usual, was leading the way. He was stabbing and slicing his way through the Orcs and Wild Men and Southrons that evaded the bows of Legolas, Elrohir and Elladan long enough to reach them. Those who were able to slip by Aragorn's sword immediately felt the bite of Gimli's axe. Dawn had lost count of the number of heads she'd seen taken off by the growling Dwarf in minutes.
Then again, she didn't exactly have time to stop and count. She was in full swing battle mode, just like the rest of the Rangers. The first time a human had attacked her, she'd been apprehensive about going for the kill. She'd never killed a man before, and she didn't want to go the way Faith had gone. It had taken so much pain and effort for the rogue Slayer to redeem herself, and even now she was still fighting for it.
Then common sense and self-preservation kicked in. She was a warrior, fighting against an evil that wanted to enslave the world. This evil just happened to have human minions, as well as other. She stabbed her sword through the throat of a man and went to move on. But there was nowhere to go.
Dawn found that she, Gimli and Halbarad had been completely surrounded. She cursed herself, Buffy would be so disappointed in her, she'd lost awareness of herself and her environment in the fight. She went back to back, forming a triangle with Gimli and Halbarad, so they were covered an all sides.
When Gimli let out a great, rumbling war cry, they all sprang into the attack. Gimli buried his double-headed axe deep between the shoulder and neck of one of the enemy, and pulled it out so forcefully that it buried its other blade in the chest of another standing nearby.
Halbarad took on three at once. He knocked the first down with his elbow and skewered the second through the stomach with his sword. The thrid was a little more difficult. He blocked Halbarad's wide swing and the two began to parry back and forth. Finally, Halbarad managed to land a fatal blow on the side of his opponent, but in the heat of the fight, he'd forgotten about the first attacker he'd elbowed aside.
Dawn noticed the numbers of their immediate opponents growing thinner. She could hear the sickening crunch of axe on bone on her right as she swung around to look left, to Halbarad. Just as their eyes met across the small distance, the most unsettling look of shock came into the Ranger's eyes. Half a second later, the bloodied tip of a sword exploded through Halbarad's chest.
Dawn shrieked, but Halbarad was already dead as he fell. She charged in his direction, reaching the body just as it landed face-first in the dirt. The Southron responsible was reaching down to pull his sword from the corpse, but before he could, Me'ahyanda stabbed straight through his heart. The Southron sank to his knees and Dawn decapitated him for good measure.
She heard Gimli's enraged shout behind her and knew he'd just seen what had become of Halbarad. The pair regrouped, standing back to back again.
"C'mon, I still say we can take 'em," Gimli challenged.
"Damn straight," Dawn accepted.
The two attacked the thinned circle of their opponents with renewed vigour. They had no idea where the rest of the company had gone, if they were ok, and, if they were, if they had even noticed that three of them were missing in action.
An arrow landed in the chest of one of the Southrons. Dawn blinked, confused for a split second, before turning back to the task at hand. As she decaptiated her opponent, the two comrades flanking him on either side also lost their heads. The three bodies fell to the ground together and Dawn blinked again.
Then, standing in the place of their enemies were Aragorn and Eomer, bloodied swords in their hands. She noticed the almost wild look in the Marshal's eyes. Something, besides the urge to stay alive, had really set him on fire through this battle. Dawn was now thoroughly lost. She looked around, and saw more enemy bodies littering the ground with arrows sticking out of them. Legolas, Elrohir and Elladan had materialised beside Gimli.
Dawn realised thst the battle was almost over. And they had won. The Rangers were helping the Rohirrim pick off the last few enemy soldiers. Without realising it, the trio of Dawn, Gimli and Halbarad had pushed their foes in the direction of Eomer and their allies.
Eomer and Aragorn were leaning on their swords, grinning wearily at each other. As promised, Aragorn had met with his friend on the battlefield, though all the hosts of Mordor lay in between them. The others stood tiredly by them, until Aragorn looked around, taking attendance of his friends.
"Where is Halbarad?" he asked quietly.
Dawn and Gimli shared a glance. "I'm sorry, Estel," Dawn responded. She didn't need to say any more. Aragorn nodded and the twins bowed their heads in a moment of respect to farewell their friend.
Eomer turned his eyes towards the city of Minas Tirith. It was clear he was anxious to get inside those gates for some reason. The group made their way through the streets together, ignoring the stares of the few people left within the city walls. They finally split up, Eomer heading towards the castle, the others making for the Houses of Healing.
* * * * *