Divided we fall - by Cunien

If you read chapter 5 for the hour or so it was up last night, then I apologise, but it just wasn't making me happy and I couldn't sleep, so I had to get up and remove it! It hasn't been changed, just split up into 3 smaller chapters, with the flashback beginning at the beginning of 5 and closing at the end of chapter 7.

So if you read it last night you may want to skip chapters 6,7 and 8 until I catch up!
Thankyou, and sorry for any inconvenience!


Usual disclaimer - I don't own it.


Dusk.

Merry did not wake until dusk was beginning to fall once more.

A soft blanket of fallen snow covered his body.
With a jolt of panic, he realised that he could not feel his left arm. After some inspection though, he discovered that he had been lying awkwardly on that arm, and it was merely numb. After 10 minutes or so feeling returned to the limb, and Merry finally calmed a little. His head seemed to have acquired a large egg-like bump, but it did not hurt particularly.

But his legs were buried underneath a large chunk of solid looking snow that must have been brought down with the avalanche, and Merry shuddered to think that if the snow boulder had come to rest less than a meter to the right it would have landed on his head, and not his legs.

Kicking as hard as he could, he managed to free one leg, but the other took half an hour of digging to remove from the snow. They did not seem to hurt though, and were just a little bruised and cold.

The mountain seemed alien around him, and there was no sign of life anywhere. After a few minutes of wandering up the slope, he came across the hulking corpse of a warg. One of the beasts legs had been ripped off with the force of the avalanche, and Merry spent a few minutes heaving up what little food there was in his stomach. He did not care about the horrible evil creature, but the thought that something similar could have quite easily happened to either he or his friends made him sick.

Walking on a little further, the dark shapes of large rocks loomed out of the growing darkness. The massive slabs rose out of the snow like jagged teeth from a gum, and some had fallen to lean against each other.

Merry was grateful then for his small size, and ducked into a little hole where three or four slabs had fallen. The space was low but relatively sheltered, and gave some comfort in the dark. At least any danger could only come at him from one direction now.

The frigid air wrapped around him as the already low temperatures plummeted further with the sinking sun.

After some time, Merry could make out a small figure doggedly pressing through the snow towards him. Ever so slowly, as the figure moved closer, Merry realised that it was in fact Pippin, though he looked a little different somehow. He was pondering this change in his young cousin when Pippin skipped the last few steps and threw himself down next to Merry with a massive grin.

Hullo Pip. managed Merry through chattering teeth.
answered Pippin. The little hobbit lay back in the snow, still with a happy smile on his face, and they sat there a moment, in silence.

I know! said Pippin, sitting up from where he had been making snow angels.
Let's have a snowball fight!
Merry could not find the strength to move his head, so he just looked out of the corner of his eye at Pippin. Maybe later. he said after a while.

Oh!Me-rry! Please? Pleasepleasepleaseplease? pleaded the young hobbit.

Merry didn't bother answering, for he was trying to concentrate. There was something not quite right about Pippin, but every time Merry grasped onto the thought it would slip away, through his fingers, like the little wriggling minnows Pippin and he would try to catch in the Buckleberry river as children.

Pippin sighed wearily. You're just afraid that I'll beat you. I've been better than you at making snowballs for years.

If Merry's face weren't so numb he would have quirked an eyebrow at that, but all he could manage was a little snort of disbelief. It was beginning to dawn on him that Pippin looked younger than he normally did. A lot younger.

Well, let's start a fire and cook some sausages and tomatoes. That'll be nice eh? said Pippin, and the sound of his voice chased Merry's thoughts away for a moment. It didn't seem too strange to him then, that he was sitting talking to a younger version of Pippin, in the snow on Caradhras.

And what are we going to start a fire with? asked Merry, finally summing up the strength to push his head around towards his cousin.

With this. stated Pippin, pointing at a small pile of kindling and firewood lying beside some sausages and tomatoes.

Merry blinked in surprise. He was sure they hadn't been there a moment ago.
He looked at Pippin, who nodded at him, grinning.

Merry narrowed his eyes.
The firewood and food was still there.

He tried closing his eyes for a moment, squeezing them shut tightly, then opening them suddenly.
The firewood and food was still there.

A huge smile spread across Merry's face, and with a strength he didn't know he still had in him, he began franticly digging a little hole in the snow.

We can start the fire in here - it shouldn't take long, the kindling looks nice and dry - oh Pippin I'm so hungry you wouldn't believe, and a nice warm fire would be.....



Pippin, the kindling, the sausages and tomatoes were all gone.
There was no sign that a hobbit had been sitting there just moments before.

Merry sat staring at the empty space, until all light had fled into the west.

*
Merry spent some time thinking to himself, and the guilt descended on him like a suffocating blanket, increasing every second until he thought he would not be able to bear it any longer.

He was terrible ashamed of how he had behaved, and what he had said to Pippin.

The trouble had all begun because of a lass, as is often the case with hobbit-lads.
Merry was desperate to spend some time alone with Estella. When he last saw her Merry had paid little heed. She was pretty, yes, and kind and funny, but there were many lasses like this, and Merry was nor particularly interested in any of them yet.

But this year, he had, for some inexplicable reason, decided to celebrate the Lithedays in the Great Smials with the Tooks instead of at Brandy Hall as he had ever year so far.

His parents objected of course, but he could attend the mid summer celebrations with the Brandybucks any year. To be honest, many of the Brandybucks and Tooks faced a difficult decision when it came to choosing which holiday celebrations to attend. The two families were so intermarried over the years, that there really wasn't a single Brandybuck with parents who both came from that massive, extended family. The same went for the Tooks.

So this year, Merry spent his first Lithe holidays at the Great Smials. Pippin was especially glad of the surprise visit from his cousin, and wouldn't let Merry out of his sight. Frodo had decided to come along too, and the three cousins spent many happy hours, sitting in the sun and enjoying each others company.

But then, Merry came across the vision of loveliness that was Estella. She had changed much in the year or so since he had last seen her, and Merry felt the beginnings of a feeling stirring inside him - a feeling that would grow into fully fledged love over the years.

For now though, the hobbit-lad knew only that he couldn't seem to stop thinking about Estella, and that she made him smile maniacally every time they neared.
(Of course, he had no idea that it was love, being only 2o at the time)

But every time he tried to spend some time with Estella alone, Pippin would appear, completely oblivious to his frustration. Merry's intentions were honourable - he only wanted to talk to the lass, for just being within a few metres of here made his heart sing.

Poor Pippin had no idea what he was doing. He had a considerable knack though, for turning up at the wrong time. Merry would see little of him for hours, but as soon as he sat down beside Estella, or found her wandering in the gardens, Pippin would suddenly pop up. The little hobbit would be desperate to show something amazing' to his cousin or tell him of some story Frodo had filled his head with.

And it wasn't as though Merry disliked spending time with Pippin. He was his favourite cousin, and still by all rights his most favourite hobbit too. But all he asked for were a few precious minutes alone with Estella!

He hadn't meant to lash out at Pippin, that evening around the kitchen table. But all of a sudden it had all come out, and then the words had been said, and as hard as he wished there was no way he could take them back.

Now he was alone, because Pippin had run outside, and Frodo had left him too.

And now he could think of nothing but Pippin and how sorry he was.
How he could be in a room full of his best friends and family, or alone with Estella, and he would feel as lonely as if he were the last person in the world. Because Pippin had left him.


TBC....

(By the way, according to The complete Guide to Middle Earth by Robert Foster, the Lithedays are the days before and after Midsummers day, and I thought it would be nice and hobbit-y for them to have lots of feasts and dances and the like to celebrate this time.)
Sorry about the continual angst - there will be moments of lightheartedness later. Small, fleeting moments. hehe!

So we have Boromir, Gandalf, Sam, Frodo, Merry, Pippin and Aragorn accounted for, and for the most part, alive (mwaahahah!)

But what about our intrepid duo - Master elf and Master Dwarf??...