DISCLAIMER: Don't own LOTR. Tolkien does. I'm just playing in his universe.Yada yada. I also don't own The Magic School Bus (Where the "Wonderful observation, Dorothy Anne!" came from, FYI). I own Katie, Emily, Obstinate Fool, Harold, Algeren, and any other of my pathetic OCs.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Ahhhh.and so ends the reign of Sauron, Pathetic Dark Lord. I watched with Emily as Mount Doom crumbled in the distance, and Bara-dur trembled then fell with an almighty THUD. The Morannon shook and started to fall apart. The Hosts of Mordor screeched like rabid geese (which they were) and fled. THAT'S RIGHT, RUUUN! We're going to kick your ass anyway! In fact, we HAVE kicked your ass! Their retreating army grew further and further away. GO GONDER! WHOOT!

I cheered for our dudes and soon my comrade joined me in our hyper and nonsensical chanting.

"GO VIETCONGANONGA!"

"NEVER GIVE UP!"

"WE PAY YOUR RENT!"

"POWER TO THE DISCO FLOWER PLUSHIES OF NODDLINGCHIMPS!"

"Ooga ba dooga SLOOOOOMP!"

A couple groups of Orcs tried to kill off some of our guys in a last (and pathetic) ditch attempt at victory. Stupid Orcses. Trying to win. HAHAHAHAHA! I laugh at the idiocy of the little creatures.
I always was a better dark lord than Sauron. It's public knowledge.

The Giant eagles flew overhead, returning from Mount Doom with Frodo and Sam. I was, of course, relieved at their return. Just because I was "all knowing" didn't mean I wasn't worried about the hairy little hobbitses. Emily and I waited while the eagles did their thing. I hummed a random ditty.

"When is Legging Lass coming back, Mother Hen?" Emily inquired. Psh. Like I would know. I shrugged. "What about Algeren?" Again, I shrugged.

"We'll just wait here for the little Elfsies and Mansies to get back," I said finally, and leaned against the rock, readying myself for a long wait.

*********

Ahhhh.there's out pointy-eared comrade now!

"You took long enough," I growled at the approaching Elf. Hey, I was allowed to be snappy; I had a hole in my stomach!

"But I returned, didn't I?" he answered with one eyebrow raised. He knelt down next to Emily, took one look at her shoulder, then groaned. "Can you not stay out of trouble for just a while?" She shook her head quickly.

"It's against the dress code," she explained patiently. He wisely chose not to answer that. Instead, he stood up and looked down at Emily.

"Can you walk?" he questioned. She nodded, and he pulled her up to her feet. I tried to get up as well. Unsuccessfully, might I add. Ouchies. I fell back against the wall, sending the air irritation. I know the air never did anything to me, but you have to blame it on someone, don't you?

"Katie, if you would wait, I would assist you," Legolas said, glancing at me as he spoke. Once Emily was stable enough and he was sure she wouldn't fall down (why she would, I don't know. Attention seeking maybe?) he came over to me and grasp my shoulder.

"Can't-can't I just stay here?" I asked feebly. Zero movement is a goooood thing, little grasshoppers. Say no to moving!

"No, we have to get back to the rest of the company," he answered and helped me up. I positioned myself between the rock wall and him. Hm. This could be a problem, if I can't move.

"Okay. I'm standing. Now what?"

"Walking would be a good idea," Emily suggested sarcastically.

"But it hurts to move!"

"You're going to have to learn to ignore the pain," Legolas said to me.

"Ignore the pain? IGNORE THE PAIN?"

"Yes. I'll help you walk, you'll just have to stand a little straighter," he replied VERY sympathetically. Jeez.just because I'm a pathetic blob of goo doesn't give him the right to walk all over me. I am NOT just a toenail clipper! I HAPPEN TO BE THE PREIDENT OF THE SOCIETY OF YARN BALLS! So there.

We inched along, slowly but surely. Legolas supported my bad side, while Emily plodded along innocently as she could manage. She held a handful of her shirt over her shoulder, trying to stem the bleeding. Suddenly, she cried out and tripped. Such a klutz, Emily is. I turned to look at her, only to find her still sitting on the ground. She was looking rather terrified, which surprised me. I was thinking she'd be annoyed at the fact that she tripped. Maybe it was because she realized how annoying she really was?

"Eeeeemily.don't just sit there! Up with yeh, you lazy scally-wag!" I ordered, prodding her with my foot. Legolas urged us to hurry up. Emily didn't listen to either of us. She just numbly pointed to the dead body in front of her. Wow. She figured out how creepy dead corpses are. "Yeah, Emily, dead people really ARE unpleasant. Wonderful observation, Dorothy Anne!"

"Katie.it's.it's.Algeren!" I stared, then diverted my gaze to the face of the dead dude. It really was our buddy. I was suddenly very aware of the blood pounding in my ears.

"Oh.my." I didn't finished the sentence. I didn't know what to do. Except one thing. The only intelligent (even though it wasn't) thing I COULD do. I sat down and curled up as best I could with my wound, despite Legolas' protests.

Then I promptly began to cry.

"Katie, please don't cry," Legolas pleaded. He knelt next to me and Emily, looking quite confused as to what to do. He gave me an awkward hug, whilst Emily just sat staring at the dead Algeren, seeming very lost.

"I want to go hooooome!" I sobbed into his shoulder, feeling useless and pathetic. Which was what I was, might I add. "I hate this! I wanna be a regular person again, and I just wanna go home. At home there's no stupid Orcs or wargs or anything. I can write stupid fanfiction, innocent the real evilness of Middle Earth, and sniff bread at lunch like the dumb little kid I am! I want my kitty back and I miss Andy, because he hasn't poked me with Legos in forever, so I haven't yelled at him for being a brat, even though he isn't. I want my mommy and daddy to nag at me to wash the dishes, too. I hate Mordor and I hate LOTR. I hate math class, too, because that's the source of this problem and I wouldn't be in this mess if I wasn't in math class in the first place! And Orcs just plain suck! I hope they all fry in hell!"

And indeed, I meant every word of that. Well, maybe not the hating LOTR part. I just deeply disliked it at the time. But I was seriously just a dumb little girl who thought, "Hey, won't it be fun to join the Fellowship? It'll be a piece of cake with all the fighting and death and Orcs. No worries!" I was so wrong.How could I have been so stupid? DEATH IS NOT FUNNY, ALL RIGHT? It's not cool, it's not a joy ride, it's not something little kids have to deal with (let's forget the fact I'm not exactly a little kid.) So I'm technically not a little kid now that I've been exposed to such things. And you know what? I WANT TO BE A LITTLE KID AGAIN!

Emily crawled over and hugged me and I hugged Legolas and Legolas groaned and wished he was somewhere else. What a lovely picture the three of us must have been.

**********

Obstinate Fool was tired. In fact, he was so tired he felt like he could drop dead. The poor horse had labored away, making sure various men did not get killed by Orcs. Horses can trample Orcs very efficiently, did you know that? All Obstinate Fool wanted to do now was sleep. Not in the middle of the battle field, of course. But he'd give anything for a nice comfy stall, with fresh hay and clean water.

But that damned dandelion wouldn't leave him alone!

"Come on, old chap, we must find Katie and Emily!" the stupid weed said from atop Obstinate Fool's back. The horse never liked him much, and Harold's persistency was only egging on his dislike. Oh how he wanted to buck the dumb little plant off.

But he knew that the dandelion was right; he would never be able to leave Katie alone out there, no matter how annoying she was. She was sort of nice, once you got past her idiocy. Key word being sort of.

"Don't dawdle, now, we can't be left here all alone! I have an important conference with King Elessar about my point of power over Dandelion Kind!" Harold chided. In truth, Aragorn only told Harold he'd appoint him King of the Dandelions so long as the flower left him alone. By no means did he intend to actually DO that. But Harold was somewhat dense, and didn't see past Aragorn's story.

Obstinate Fool snorted in that horse-y way over the weed's stupidity. Really. As far as Obstinate Fool was concerned, the dandelions needed no king, especially not one such as Harold. But since when did flowers listen to him? He ate them regularly, after all.

"Come ON! Slow horse." Harold grumbled, and stamped his leafy foot impatiently. Obstinate Fool stomped his own foot in reply and raised his head to survey the scene before them. He was on a slight hill, where he easily saw most of the battlefield. It was a right mess, to put it casually. Blood was everywhere, as was normal in a battle, and bodies of Orc and Men alike were strewn about at random. Obstinate Fool found it rather unpleasant, no matter how many times he'd seen it. He wanted to get out of the place ASAP. But first he had to find that stupid girl.

"I see her! I see her! And it looks like Emily and the Elf are with her too!" Harold exclaimed suddenly from above. "HI HO, SILVER, AND AWAAAY!" Obstinate Fool made no movement. Partially because he couldn't see any signs of Katie, but mostly just to irritate the flower. Harold sighed in exasperation. He really needed to employ a better mode of transportation.

"Over there. Sweet Eru, you were name very justly," Harold growled and managed to direct Obstinate Fool's gaze in the right direction. Ah, now the horse saw them! He let out a whinny, which could have been translated as something along the lines of, "The things I do for you all." and he ambled down the hill in the direction of Katie.

*********

Legolas' patience was running thin. He was battle-weary, and wanted to rest desperately. But he couldn't unless Katie would move herself and stop bawling like a child. 'She *is* a child, though,' he reminded himself, which was true. She was merely sixteen in human years, which was, compared to himself, a truly young age.

But just because she was young did not mean she had to fall apart just then! Legolas knew that they needed to regroup as soon as possible. It was important that he find the rest of the company, and quickly. Only if Katie and Emily collected themselves would they be able to, though.

Legolas looked down at the sobbing girl at his shoulder and suppressed a moan of irritation. He did NOT need this right now.

********

"I say, lasses and lad, what ever are you doing on the ground? You all look awfully funny there," Harold called from his position on Obstinate Fool. The horse tossed his head in agreement. If he could, he would have laughed despite the seriousness of the situation. It was very comical to him. The poor Elf appeared to be extremely irritated, Katie was crying into his shoulder and clinging to him for dear life (much as he tried, Legolas could not detach her from him) and Emily was simply hugging Katie, trying not to cry herself.

Yes, they looked very funny to Obstinate Fool.

"H-H-Harold?" Katie stuttered, looking up at the flower, wiping her wet, snotty face on the back of her hand. Obstinate Fool's lip would have curled in disgust if he could have. Humans were so nasty.Even he, a horse, would never wipe his snot on himself. It was just plain unsanitary!

"Who did you think it was? Eru?" Harold teased, chuckling at his joke. He obviously did not realize who was dead, and how badly it hit the two little girls, and how irritated the Elf was. Obstinate Fool, once again, decided that the dandelion was not the smartest cookie in the fishbowl, as Katie liked to say. Legolas looked very relieved that Katie has stopped crying on him. Emily was still hiding. Obstinate Fool grabbed a bit of Emily's hair in his mouth and tugged gently on it to make her look up. He rather liked Emily-she never bounced much while riding him like Katie did-and he didn't like seeing her sad. The blonde girl slowly looked up at the horse and let out a sigh.

"Can we go home now?" she asked in a small voice.

"We were, until you both-"

"My dear Elf, I would not press that fact if I were you," Harold warned Legolas. The fair being only scowled halfheartedly at the dandelion and pulled both Katie and Emily to their feet. Emily immediately clambered onto Obstinate Fool, moving Harold aside. Katie followed her soon after.

"I'll just walk," Legolas muttered irritably to himself.

"You do that, old chap!" Harold answered brightly, oblivious to the Elf's annoyance. Obstinate Fool would have sighed if he could. Some people.Or rather, some flowers.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I updated. Finally. Joy, oh, joy. Please, if any of you, for some strange reason, want to throw things at me, wait till I explain. It's just for simple words:

School has been hell.

So, yeah, there yah go.I've actually been writing this in a notebook. So it's all written, just not typed. Be patient, kiddles, and I'll give you the rest of your ficcie. I have almost all of it done actually.

Yesh, Harold has a British accent. If you didn't get that at first, you ought to now. ^.^ Somehow, the image of a British dandelion strikes me as funny.

I love Obstinate Fool. He's so cool.I need to do more of his P.O.Vs.

Oh yeah, forgot to mention this last time. I change the last two chapters of the Fellowship of Twoness. *cringes* So.awful.you understand after you read it. Hey, at least I TRIED to redeem this fic...Even though that's slightly impossible.

As a side and perfectly random and irrelevent note, I got to see Black Hawk Down. Finally. Mother Dearest and deemed it okay for me to watch gore finally.^.^ 'Tis much fun watching Eye Candy (a.k.a Orlando Bloom) fall out of a Black Hawk. Yesh indeedy.

And another S.A.P.R.A.R.N (side and perfectly random and irrelevent note) (that makes Saprarn. Tee hee. Funny word.) is that I got a Return of the King theater poster for me room and an Eowyn action figure to be Legolas Action Figures Friend. Now Aragorn Action Figure will have TWO people to welcome him when I find him (because I will. Watch me). Yay! More to add to shrine!

~~~~~~~~~~~

Legolas stalker: ^.^ Boo boos are fun to write about. Pain. Blood. Gore. Rah rah. ^.^ Yippie for odd shirts! I have one that says "Someone please poke holes in the top of my jar." 'Tis spiffy! Yesh, nice Legolas is a very cool thing. By public agreement it is! Wow. Fun. Spanish essays.*blinks*

The Milkman: *claws at throat* Must.breathe.Katie.needs.air.Calley! Yesh, blood, gore, violence, etc is awesome. ^.^ I've been corrupted, oh yes I have. But that's not such a bad thing! Prank calls are fun. These girls prank called my bro one time. I think they have a crush on him.O.o *twitches* Scary. People having crushes on my BROTHER. Twisted, they are.

Dy: *pokes her* Hand over the dandelion, ma'am, and no one gets hurt. Much anyway.

Andray: Contrariwise (tee hee. Cool word!), cookies are incredibly smart. You just have to look past their primitive natures and you'll see real potential in their little cookie minds. Seriously. Trust me on this one!