Disclaimer: I own nothing in Lord of the Rings. Unfortunately the
characters (not the people) belong to me. Bob, Fred and Ned. I think I'd
prefer Frodo and Sam. sorry. Don't get me wrong I like my characters. just
get on with the story and stop rambling. ok
Ch 5 Troubled Times
Bob and Ned were sleeping in the bedroom. That was probably best for them both. Fred had returned from the old lady's and found Bob lying on the bed with Ned still asleep. She had desperately wanted to fall asleep as well but she resisted the urge and left them. Fred was now looking around the flat trying to find anything that would help Ned; unfortunately Bob's uncle didn't keep much medical gear in his small flat so she ended up with some small bandages and some sticky plasters.
Fred threw her coat over the back of the sofa and once again forced herself not to sit down. She went quietly into the bedroom to check on Bob and Ned. Both were still sleeping soundly and Bob had somehow managed to manoeuvre herself under a sheet. Fred smiled at them and walked over to Ned who was also sleeping silently. She put the medical kit, if you could call it that, on the floor and went back into the kitchen to get some warm water.
She quickly returned and also carried some clean towels and some kind of soap. Ned had been underground for four weeks so was obviously a little dirty. Fred set about cleaning Ned up, she wiped the dirt from her face so she could see the small cuts and bruises that she hadn't seen before. Fred didn't want to think about how she got them so forced her mind to concentrate on the task at hand.
Finally Ned was dressed in clean clothes and she looked cleaner although her hair was still a mess, this was something Fred didn't feel she could tackle with just water and towels.
Now Fred turned her attention to Bob who was still sleeping soundly despite the noise Fred had made. She looked at her friend, wondering what had tired her out so easily. She decided to leave her and ask her when she woke up, if she ever woke up. Fred placed a cold towel on her forehead when she felt a slight fever. She closed the door behind her when she left the room, this just left a small amount of light filtering through the think curtains to light the room.
Fred poured the water away and put all the things back where she found them and finally allowed herself to sit down. She sighed and put her head in her hands in an attempt to rid herself of the pounding inside her head. What was going on? Ned had been alive which she knew was impossible, as a post mortem had been performed which would have killed anyone. There was no way anyone could survive that as well as being in a sealed coffin for almost a month with no air, food or water.
None of this made any sense. Bob had known. How? She could see things no doubt but something like that. Ned was clearly unconscious when they found her so she couldn't have sent a 'message'. It wasn't likely that she had done as Fred had in Orthanc.
She really didn't want to try and work this out but every time she tried to forget it she just kept wondering what was going on. She only wished she knew. That word sent a shiver down her spine. Wish, she had heard that word enough already and yet she felt it was relevant somehow. Maybe she really was going crazy or just tired but either way she knew that something was wrong. She hoped Ned could explain it all, she would certainly have a better idea than her.
Fred didn't know when she drifted into the not-so-peaceful sleep but she was glad when it came. Or so she thought. The dreams that haunted her were almost too much and she wished she could wake up.
**
She was in Orthanc. The walls were closing in on her again, just like that first day. The faceless bodies (some literally faceless) were bowing down trying to reach her but not really succeeding. She wanted to run, to get away from those clawing hands. But something was holding her back, in fact something was pulling her back. A hand, a rotten hand was pulling at her own hand. It was pulling but it wasn't strong enough but it was getting stronger.
It wanted her to go with it but she felt that there was nothing but danger outside the cell. The walls, they were getting closer to her, closing in but she couldn't stop them. She screamed and tried to pull away from the hand but no sound came from her mouth and she couldn't move. The hand was gripping her tighter, it was stronger now. It wanted her but she wouldn't let it take her. Someone was calling her name but she couldn't see who it was. She couldn't see anything.
It was dark now. So dark and cold. The icy grip still held her but it no longer tugged at her. She moved away and found out why there was no pressure. The arm was no longer attached to a body; it was on its own. She screamed and was forced to touch it, to pull it off. The flesh was still warm and it made a squelching noise when she touched it.
Finally she pulled it off. She managed to scramble away from it but it moved towards her. She reached the door and stood up against it. She knew there was nowhere else to go and yet she wanted to get further away as it edged its way towards her on its own. She tried the handle hoping it would work but nothing.
Suddenly a figure was standing behind her. It threw a dagger at the hand and it disappeared as if it were blown away. The figure didn't speak to her or do anything else. Before she could even say thank you it was gone. The door, however, was open. She walked through and was faced with the long corridor that seemed to have no ending.
It was so dark, she could see nothing, why was it so dark here? She wanted to reach out and find the person that had saved her but she couldn't move past that terrifying darkness. She took a step forward, not wanting to go but knowing she had to. She saw something, she started walking down the corridor. It came towards her so fast. She couldn't run. She couldn't.
**
Something shook Fred from her dream, nightmare was probably more accurate. She felt a blanket over her and a feeling of warmth. She sighed in relief when she saw the room she was in was flooded with light and wasn't the cell she had seen in her dream. She quickly focused her eyes on the cause of her waking. She found it although it was slightly blurry. Ned was smiling down at her.
She was dressed in clothes that although were too big for her were at least clean. She was wearing men's clothing, which Fred assumed was from Bob's uncle's wardrobe, she was looking quite cheerful, as if she wasn't in any pain at all. Fred wished she could say the same. That dull aching was coming back. In the hospital she was always on painkillers but those must have worn off during her sleep.
Fred attempted to sit up but Ned pushed her back down looking stubbornly at her.
"I think you need to rest. More than I do anyway." She smiled and handed Fred a glass of cold water.
"Thanks. What are you doing up anyway? You should be resting yourself. After everything you've been through."
"Don't worry about me. I feel fine now. I don't feel any pain if that's what you're thinking. Although I think I should from the look of that cut right down me. What happened?"
"Of course, you don't know do you? It's kind of hard to explain and I'm not sure you'll want to hear it."
"I think I almost know what happened. I died right? I remember feeling really cold, like I was in ice but there was still some warmth there. I can't explain it but it felt really strange. Did you do it by the way? Did you get everyone back to Middle Earth?"
"Yeah. Bob did most of it though, she got powers from Gandalf. It's a long story. We were lucky though, if it hadn't been for David." Fred trailed off suddenly remembering what she was saying.
"Who's David?" Ned asked innocently.
"He was.He was no one important." Fred looked down at her hands. Ned sensed the grief in Fred's voice and decided not to say anything else.
"I'm glad you're alright. I didn't know whether Bob would find you in time. We were really worried about you for a moment. I saw a glimpse of what happened to you there. I'm sorry I didn't come myself but I was forced to stay behind by Bob. You know what she's like when she's in charge." Fred smiled sadly trying to make Ned believe that everything was alright. "I'm sorry Fred." Ned said looking at her friend.
"Sorry for what? You haven't done anything wrong. Have you?"
"No. I don't think so anyway. I've only been awake an hour. I meant I'm sorry for everything that happened to you. I know what they did to you, or at least I have an idea. I just wish I could have been more help."
Fred nodded slowly.
"It's not your fault. There's nothing you could have done. Besides you've been through enough to make it even. Were you alive down there? How? I'm sorry, too many questions."
"It's fine but I'd like to wait until Bob's awake before answering any of them. I don't want to relive those things twice." She smiled and Fred nodded in understanding. "What about you?"
"What do you mean?"
"What do you mean what do I mean? What were you dreaming about?"
"I don't understand."
"You started practically screaming in your sleep. You almost knocked me out when I tried to wake you up. What were you dreaming about? I'm assuming it's not good."
"No. It was nothing important. Really."
"I don't believe you." Ned said.
"I'm sorry. It's a dream I've been having. It's nothing, just old memories. You know?" Ned nodded although she wanted to know more she decided that Fred didn't want to tell her so she should keep quiet.
She walked out to the kitchen and continued making the dinner she had been preparing before she had woken Fred. She was doing everything as normal, as if nothing had happened. Fred sat up on the sofa keeping the blanket wrapped around her hoping it would dull the pain and the chill that was going through her. It didn't really do either of these things.
"Are you sure you're alright? You look a little pale." Ned said looking over at Fred who was shaking her head trying to clear those annoying stars that came to her eyes as she sat up. "Fred?"
"What? Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just tired."
"Why don't you go back to sleep?"
Just the thought of dreaming about that dark cold corridor again made Fred shudder, an action not unnoticed by Ned, although she decided to ignore it and not press her friend about it.
"No. I'm fine. Where's Bob? Isn't she awake yet?" Fred did a quick search of the room half expecting to find Bob there.
"No. She's still sleeping. I thought it best to leave her, she looked tired. Is something wrong with her?"
"I don't know. She just fell asleep when I came back. I left her."
"Probably best, she was digging so much tonight." At first Fred didn't find anything wrong with this statement as it was true, however when she thought about it it didn't make a whole lot of sense. How could Ned possible know that?
"What do you mean?" Fred asked.
"She was digging."
"How did you know?"
"It's quite easy to see. Her clothes are covered in mud and you're fairly clean. I gathered it was her that did the digging, someone had to."
"Oh." Fred rubbed her forehead with her hand. Why was she being so stupid? It was obvious.
"Thank you by the way." Ned said interrupting Fred's criticisms of herself.
"For what?"
"For everything, digging me out of there. Bringing me here. Cleaning me up." Ned smiled.
"I didn't do much. As you said, Bob dug, I just watched really, and instructed."
"Yeah well you were there and that's all that matters. Besides you cleaned me up even when Bob wasn't there and you had already done so much. You didn't have to do that."
"I did. Trust me. You were covered in mud. I don't think I did too well on the bandaging though, I'm afraid there's not a whole lot I can do for the pain."#
"What pain. I don't feel anything, except a slight headache. In fact, you look worse than me."
"Thanks, that's so kind of you." Ned smiled and carried the meal over to Fred. She placed it on her lap. "What's this?"
"It's dinner." Ned said eating hers surprisingly quickly.
"You made this? Ned you should be resting. It's us that's meant to look after you not the other way round."
"Alright. Bob was sleeping and so were you. I didn't want to wake you."
"You should have." Fred said as she ate a little of her food.
"I'm very sorry. Next time I'll wake you if I need help putting food under a grill." Fred didn't like the sarcasm in her voice but couldn't help smiling at the fact that Ned was back to her old self.
"Thank you." Fred smiled. "Do you think we should wake Bob up? Maybe she's hungry." Fred tried to peer into the bedroom from her place on the couch.
"I'll save her some, it's not that good anyway. Maybe you could tell me what happened in Orthanc and how you guys managed to get Frodo and Sam back to Middle Earth. I was trying to figure it out whilst you were sleeping but the only thing I came up with was some kind of portal."
"Your actually not that far off. When Dav.when we broke the Orb it opened some kind of rift that took everything back to where it should have been, including the Fellowship and Wraiths. Luckily for you."
"I died. I wasn't that lucky."
"Good point." Fred laughed. "The rest of it is kind of hard to explain, Bob would probably do it better."
"What happened to your eye? I only just noticed, for some reason my eyesight's not great."
"I.they wanted to know where Frodo and the Ring were. When I wouldn't tell them they thought up more inventive ways to get it out of me. I'd rather not talk about it." Fred smiled, not wishing to hurt her friend but at the same time wanting her to stop asking so many questions.
"Hey, did Bob tell you about Frank?" Ned tried to take Fred's mind off what she was thinking.
"She told me some things, how she killed him. Poor guy."
"Hardly, he was asking for it. Have you ever seen a Hobbit attack a fully- grown man? It's actually quite amusing. And then there was the squirrel; you wouldn't believe that, Bob actually gave it a name. What was it? P- something. I don't know. It was strange whatever it was. It was a real adventure." Ned sighed.
"I bet you loved it."
"Well, everything except the getting stabbed part. He did kill me."
"I always said you were an unsafe person to be around."
Ned laughed. She had hoped that Fred would be the same as when she had left but there was something there that hadn't been there before. A sadness, a loneliness. Maybe it was just her imagination but something was different. Then again, what had happened had changed all of them. Although the changes weren't all for the better.
"Yeah, you were right all along. Maybe I should have listened to you. I suppose that if I hadn't had taken that risk none of this would have happened." Ned looked sincerely at Fred.
"Ned, you did the right thing, if you hadn't of taken Frodo and Sam out of there something bad might have happened to them, they could have been dissected by evil scientists or anything." Fred laughed. "Look the point is if I hadn't of been taken to Middle Earth and needed Bob to save me that Orb may never have been broken and we could all be dead or the world be covered in Wraiths or other awful Lord of the Rings things."
"Maybe you're right."
"I think we all made wrong decisions but we shouldn't blame each other for them, I certainly don't intend to." Ned nodded.
"Are you sure you don't want to get some more rest? You look tired." Ned asked, concern etched in her face.
"No, I have probably slept long enough anyway. I have nightmares, I really don't want to go back to them yet."
Ned decided it was best not to ask any more about these nightmares but made a note to herself to make sure she found out more later.
"I should probably take another look at your wounds. I want to check and make sure you're really alright. I don't want anything bad happening after I spent all night digging you up." She smiled as she set her almost full plate of food down on the floor.
Ned might not have been in perfect mental shape but it didn't go unnoticed every time Fred changed the subject. She also didn't miss the fact that Fred had hardly touched her food. These were all things she decided to ask Fred about later, at a better time. There was something very wrong and Ned wanted to know what it was.
Fred came back with the small first aid box she had used earlier; she sat down awkwardly on the couch, another thing that Ned noticed. Fred started rummaging through the box in the hope of finding something she had missed earlier in the dark room. She pulled out some antiseptic cream from the box and checked the label, this was quickly followed by a few bandages and some sticky tape.
"I should probably go out and get some more of these things." Fred said standing up and putting her coat on.
"You want me to go?" Ned asked also standing up.
"I think I can find my way to a shop." Fred smiled.
"Are you going to steal them? You don't have any money Fred."
"Okay that's a good point. Bob's uncle must have left something lying around in here." Fred quickly searched the flat and soon found a small stash of money in a tin on the sideboard. She took it all out and went to leave. "Do you want anything else? Maybe some new clothes? Very cheap new clothes." She added looking at the fairly small amount of money she was holding.
"Yeah. Sure." Ned said although she knew that Fred had already left. Why was she so eager to get away from her? She wished she knew what was really going on. Maybe Bob would have some more answers when she woke up, if she ever woke up. Ned decided to go in and accidentally wake her from her sleep.
**
Fred walked through the streets which were now full of life in the afternoon rush. People barged past her not worrying what happened to her or how she felt. She wanted to get away from all this, this place. She wanted everything to be back to normal. She had Ned and Bob back and she wasn't alone and yet she couldn't understand why she still felt so lonely. What was wrong with her? Almost everything was as it was and yet she still wasn't happy. What was missing? She knew the answer and yet she didn't want to admit it to herself.
She walked into a nearby pharmacist and quickly bought the supplies she needed as well as getting some very strange looks from the people behind the counter. She ignored them and went to buy some new clothes from Ned, anything to get away from that flat for longer. Unfortunately she knew that she had to return eventually. She wasn't looking forward to it. She knew that she would have to answer Ned's questions but at least Bob would be there when she got back.
Fred quickly chose some clothes that she thought were cheap and would fit Ned and left the clothes store again ignoring the looks she got from people. What was wrong with her today? She couldn't understand it. It might have been because she was still covered in mud after last night or that she probably looked as bad as she felt.
Why had she followed Bob?
**
Ned walked into the bedroom not worrying about making any sound, in fact hoping that she would so Bob would awake. She walked around humming. Nothing. She opened the curtains allowing a bright light through which hurt her own eyes slightly. Bob ducked under the covers and mumbled something about it being to early to wake up on a Saturday. Ned finally resorted to sitting down on the bed making as much movement as possible. Still nothing.
She sighed and picked up a glass of water from the bedside table and threw it over Bob's face. That did wake her up. She sat upright in bed with water dripping off her face. She looked about ready to kill someone. Then she saw Ned with the glass still in her hand looking down at her.
"What are you doing?" Bob screamed.
"Sorry." Ned said putting the glass back on the bedside cabinet. "It must have slipped out of my hand."
"Yeah, convenient." Bob began to wipe her face off with the dry part of the bedsheet whilst still looking angrily over at Ned. "You look better than you did last night. Alive at least."
"Thanks for that." Ned smiled genuinely.
"Where's Fred?" Bob asked looking around whilst getting up.
"She went into town to get some medical things and some new clothes for me. Your uncle's are a little big."
"You sent Fred out to do your shopping? Ned are you insane? She shouldn't really even be walking about let alone doing the things you don't like."
"She volunteered. In fact she asked me if I wanted anything. What do you mean she shouldn't even be walking about? She looked alright to me."
"Maybe you should have been more observant." Bob said bitterly as they walked into the lounge.
"What's wrong with her?" Ned asked as Bob sat down and picked up the plate of food that Fred had left.
"She was tortured Ned, what do you think is wrong with her?"
Ned stopped smiling and sat down. "I know what happened. I felt it too you know."
"No, you felt a small part. Besides there's more to it than that." Bob was careful what she said.
"What?"
"I think we should wait until she gets back. I don't want to talk behind her back. What about you? Are you alright?"
"Fred says I'm fine. A little sore but apart from that." Ned spread her arms to show that she really was alright. "She mentioned something that happened in Orthanc. A person I think it was. It began with D." Bob stopped eating. She kenw Ned was talking about David.
"David. He." She was stopped when Fred came though the door and looked at them.
"Am I interrupting something? You two aren't plotting something already are you?" Fred tried to smile but she wasn't sure whether it worked or not. She knew what they were talking about. "I should check your wounds before I forget. We don't want you dying on us again."
Fred put the bag down and threw her coat on the back of the chair. She reached into the bag and pulled out some clothes and some medical things, including a type of anaesthetic and disinfectant. She passed the clothes onto Ned and told her to put them on. Ned disappeared into the bedroom and closed the door.
Fred went to the kitchen and washed her hands under the tap, making sure they were clean before she touched Ned's wounds. She went and sat down next to Bob who was slowly eating the food.
"Glad you're enjoying my lunch." Fred laughed.
"Sorry."
"That's alright, Ned cooked it."
"And suddenly I'm no longer hungry." Bob put the plate on the floor.
"Bob, are you alright? You went to sleep pretty fast last night. I was a little worried. I thought you might have seen something else."
"No. I just had a headache. I had been a long day. I'm actually more worried about you. Maybe I should take you back to the hospital."
"I'm fine. Like you said, a long day."
"Are you sure?" Fred nodded and smiled hoping to reassure Bob. "You know that we're going to have to explain all this to Ned. I don't think it's going to be easy. I think you should get out of here for a while so I can explain it."
"I was involved too, I should help." Fred said as she looked through her supplies although she knew that everything was there. "Ned deserves to know everything. Maybe you should tell her though, I'm not very good at describing things."
"Fred."
"Bob, you know it's the right thing."
Just as Bob was about to protest some more Ned came back in her new clothes. She knew that she had interrupted something but from the look of relief on Fred's face she guessed it was appreciated. She sat down and waited for someone to say something.
"Here, let me look at your wounds. Bob will explain everything that happened. At least then we'll know everything." Fred smiled.
Ch 5 Troubled Times
Bob and Ned were sleeping in the bedroom. That was probably best for them both. Fred had returned from the old lady's and found Bob lying on the bed with Ned still asleep. She had desperately wanted to fall asleep as well but she resisted the urge and left them. Fred was now looking around the flat trying to find anything that would help Ned; unfortunately Bob's uncle didn't keep much medical gear in his small flat so she ended up with some small bandages and some sticky plasters.
Fred threw her coat over the back of the sofa and once again forced herself not to sit down. She went quietly into the bedroom to check on Bob and Ned. Both were still sleeping soundly and Bob had somehow managed to manoeuvre herself under a sheet. Fred smiled at them and walked over to Ned who was also sleeping silently. She put the medical kit, if you could call it that, on the floor and went back into the kitchen to get some warm water.
She quickly returned and also carried some clean towels and some kind of soap. Ned had been underground for four weeks so was obviously a little dirty. Fred set about cleaning Ned up, she wiped the dirt from her face so she could see the small cuts and bruises that she hadn't seen before. Fred didn't want to think about how she got them so forced her mind to concentrate on the task at hand.
Finally Ned was dressed in clean clothes and she looked cleaner although her hair was still a mess, this was something Fred didn't feel she could tackle with just water and towels.
Now Fred turned her attention to Bob who was still sleeping soundly despite the noise Fred had made. She looked at her friend, wondering what had tired her out so easily. She decided to leave her and ask her when she woke up, if she ever woke up. Fred placed a cold towel on her forehead when she felt a slight fever. She closed the door behind her when she left the room, this just left a small amount of light filtering through the think curtains to light the room.
Fred poured the water away and put all the things back where she found them and finally allowed herself to sit down. She sighed and put her head in her hands in an attempt to rid herself of the pounding inside her head. What was going on? Ned had been alive which she knew was impossible, as a post mortem had been performed which would have killed anyone. There was no way anyone could survive that as well as being in a sealed coffin for almost a month with no air, food or water.
None of this made any sense. Bob had known. How? She could see things no doubt but something like that. Ned was clearly unconscious when they found her so she couldn't have sent a 'message'. It wasn't likely that she had done as Fred had in Orthanc.
She really didn't want to try and work this out but every time she tried to forget it she just kept wondering what was going on. She only wished she knew. That word sent a shiver down her spine. Wish, she had heard that word enough already and yet she felt it was relevant somehow. Maybe she really was going crazy or just tired but either way she knew that something was wrong. She hoped Ned could explain it all, she would certainly have a better idea than her.
Fred didn't know when she drifted into the not-so-peaceful sleep but she was glad when it came. Or so she thought. The dreams that haunted her were almost too much and she wished she could wake up.
**
She was in Orthanc. The walls were closing in on her again, just like that first day. The faceless bodies (some literally faceless) were bowing down trying to reach her but not really succeeding. She wanted to run, to get away from those clawing hands. But something was holding her back, in fact something was pulling her back. A hand, a rotten hand was pulling at her own hand. It was pulling but it wasn't strong enough but it was getting stronger.
It wanted her to go with it but she felt that there was nothing but danger outside the cell. The walls, they were getting closer to her, closing in but she couldn't stop them. She screamed and tried to pull away from the hand but no sound came from her mouth and she couldn't move. The hand was gripping her tighter, it was stronger now. It wanted her but she wouldn't let it take her. Someone was calling her name but she couldn't see who it was. She couldn't see anything.
It was dark now. So dark and cold. The icy grip still held her but it no longer tugged at her. She moved away and found out why there was no pressure. The arm was no longer attached to a body; it was on its own. She screamed and was forced to touch it, to pull it off. The flesh was still warm and it made a squelching noise when she touched it.
Finally she pulled it off. She managed to scramble away from it but it moved towards her. She reached the door and stood up against it. She knew there was nowhere else to go and yet she wanted to get further away as it edged its way towards her on its own. She tried the handle hoping it would work but nothing.
Suddenly a figure was standing behind her. It threw a dagger at the hand and it disappeared as if it were blown away. The figure didn't speak to her or do anything else. Before she could even say thank you it was gone. The door, however, was open. She walked through and was faced with the long corridor that seemed to have no ending.
It was so dark, she could see nothing, why was it so dark here? She wanted to reach out and find the person that had saved her but she couldn't move past that terrifying darkness. She took a step forward, not wanting to go but knowing she had to. She saw something, she started walking down the corridor. It came towards her so fast. She couldn't run. She couldn't.
**
Something shook Fred from her dream, nightmare was probably more accurate. She felt a blanket over her and a feeling of warmth. She sighed in relief when she saw the room she was in was flooded with light and wasn't the cell she had seen in her dream. She quickly focused her eyes on the cause of her waking. She found it although it was slightly blurry. Ned was smiling down at her.
She was dressed in clothes that although were too big for her were at least clean. She was wearing men's clothing, which Fred assumed was from Bob's uncle's wardrobe, she was looking quite cheerful, as if she wasn't in any pain at all. Fred wished she could say the same. That dull aching was coming back. In the hospital she was always on painkillers but those must have worn off during her sleep.
Fred attempted to sit up but Ned pushed her back down looking stubbornly at her.
"I think you need to rest. More than I do anyway." She smiled and handed Fred a glass of cold water.
"Thanks. What are you doing up anyway? You should be resting yourself. After everything you've been through."
"Don't worry about me. I feel fine now. I don't feel any pain if that's what you're thinking. Although I think I should from the look of that cut right down me. What happened?"
"Of course, you don't know do you? It's kind of hard to explain and I'm not sure you'll want to hear it."
"I think I almost know what happened. I died right? I remember feeling really cold, like I was in ice but there was still some warmth there. I can't explain it but it felt really strange. Did you do it by the way? Did you get everyone back to Middle Earth?"
"Yeah. Bob did most of it though, she got powers from Gandalf. It's a long story. We were lucky though, if it hadn't been for David." Fred trailed off suddenly remembering what she was saying.
"Who's David?" Ned asked innocently.
"He was.He was no one important." Fred looked down at her hands. Ned sensed the grief in Fred's voice and decided not to say anything else.
"I'm glad you're alright. I didn't know whether Bob would find you in time. We were really worried about you for a moment. I saw a glimpse of what happened to you there. I'm sorry I didn't come myself but I was forced to stay behind by Bob. You know what she's like when she's in charge." Fred smiled sadly trying to make Ned believe that everything was alright. "I'm sorry Fred." Ned said looking at her friend.
"Sorry for what? You haven't done anything wrong. Have you?"
"No. I don't think so anyway. I've only been awake an hour. I meant I'm sorry for everything that happened to you. I know what they did to you, or at least I have an idea. I just wish I could have been more help."
Fred nodded slowly.
"It's not your fault. There's nothing you could have done. Besides you've been through enough to make it even. Were you alive down there? How? I'm sorry, too many questions."
"It's fine but I'd like to wait until Bob's awake before answering any of them. I don't want to relive those things twice." She smiled and Fred nodded in understanding. "What about you?"
"What do you mean?"
"What do you mean what do I mean? What were you dreaming about?"
"I don't understand."
"You started practically screaming in your sleep. You almost knocked me out when I tried to wake you up. What were you dreaming about? I'm assuming it's not good."
"No. It was nothing important. Really."
"I don't believe you." Ned said.
"I'm sorry. It's a dream I've been having. It's nothing, just old memories. You know?" Ned nodded although she wanted to know more she decided that Fred didn't want to tell her so she should keep quiet.
She walked out to the kitchen and continued making the dinner she had been preparing before she had woken Fred. She was doing everything as normal, as if nothing had happened. Fred sat up on the sofa keeping the blanket wrapped around her hoping it would dull the pain and the chill that was going through her. It didn't really do either of these things.
"Are you sure you're alright? You look a little pale." Ned said looking over at Fred who was shaking her head trying to clear those annoying stars that came to her eyes as she sat up. "Fred?"
"What? Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just tired."
"Why don't you go back to sleep?"
Just the thought of dreaming about that dark cold corridor again made Fred shudder, an action not unnoticed by Ned, although she decided to ignore it and not press her friend about it.
"No. I'm fine. Where's Bob? Isn't she awake yet?" Fred did a quick search of the room half expecting to find Bob there.
"No. She's still sleeping. I thought it best to leave her, she looked tired. Is something wrong with her?"
"I don't know. She just fell asleep when I came back. I left her."
"Probably best, she was digging so much tonight." At first Fred didn't find anything wrong with this statement as it was true, however when she thought about it it didn't make a whole lot of sense. How could Ned possible know that?
"What do you mean?" Fred asked.
"She was digging."
"How did you know?"
"It's quite easy to see. Her clothes are covered in mud and you're fairly clean. I gathered it was her that did the digging, someone had to."
"Oh." Fred rubbed her forehead with her hand. Why was she being so stupid? It was obvious.
"Thank you by the way." Ned said interrupting Fred's criticisms of herself.
"For what?"
"For everything, digging me out of there. Bringing me here. Cleaning me up." Ned smiled.
"I didn't do much. As you said, Bob dug, I just watched really, and instructed."
"Yeah well you were there and that's all that matters. Besides you cleaned me up even when Bob wasn't there and you had already done so much. You didn't have to do that."
"I did. Trust me. You were covered in mud. I don't think I did too well on the bandaging though, I'm afraid there's not a whole lot I can do for the pain."#
"What pain. I don't feel anything, except a slight headache. In fact, you look worse than me."
"Thanks, that's so kind of you." Ned smiled and carried the meal over to Fred. She placed it on her lap. "What's this?"
"It's dinner." Ned said eating hers surprisingly quickly.
"You made this? Ned you should be resting. It's us that's meant to look after you not the other way round."
"Alright. Bob was sleeping and so were you. I didn't want to wake you."
"You should have." Fred said as she ate a little of her food.
"I'm very sorry. Next time I'll wake you if I need help putting food under a grill." Fred didn't like the sarcasm in her voice but couldn't help smiling at the fact that Ned was back to her old self.
"Thank you." Fred smiled. "Do you think we should wake Bob up? Maybe she's hungry." Fred tried to peer into the bedroom from her place on the couch.
"I'll save her some, it's not that good anyway. Maybe you could tell me what happened in Orthanc and how you guys managed to get Frodo and Sam back to Middle Earth. I was trying to figure it out whilst you were sleeping but the only thing I came up with was some kind of portal."
"Your actually not that far off. When Dav.when we broke the Orb it opened some kind of rift that took everything back to where it should have been, including the Fellowship and Wraiths. Luckily for you."
"I died. I wasn't that lucky."
"Good point." Fred laughed. "The rest of it is kind of hard to explain, Bob would probably do it better."
"What happened to your eye? I only just noticed, for some reason my eyesight's not great."
"I.they wanted to know where Frodo and the Ring were. When I wouldn't tell them they thought up more inventive ways to get it out of me. I'd rather not talk about it." Fred smiled, not wishing to hurt her friend but at the same time wanting her to stop asking so many questions.
"Hey, did Bob tell you about Frank?" Ned tried to take Fred's mind off what she was thinking.
"She told me some things, how she killed him. Poor guy."
"Hardly, he was asking for it. Have you ever seen a Hobbit attack a fully- grown man? It's actually quite amusing. And then there was the squirrel; you wouldn't believe that, Bob actually gave it a name. What was it? P- something. I don't know. It was strange whatever it was. It was a real adventure." Ned sighed.
"I bet you loved it."
"Well, everything except the getting stabbed part. He did kill me."
"I always said you were an unsafe person to be around."
Ned laughed. She had hoped that Fred would be the same as when she had left but there was something there that hadn't been there before. A sadness, a loneliness. Maybe it was just her imagination but something was different. Then again, what had happened had changed all of them. Although the changes weren't all for the better.
"Yeah, you were right all along. Maybe I should have listened to you. I suppose that if I hadn't had taken that risk none of this would have happened." Ned looked sincerely at Fred.
"Ned, you did the right thing, if you hadn't of taken Frodo and Sam out of there something bad might have happened to them, they could have been dissected by evil scientists or anything." Fred laughed. "Look the point is if I hadn't of been taken to Middle Earth and needed Bob to save me that Orb may never have been broken and we could all be dead or the world be covered in Wraiths or other awful Lord of the Rings things."
"Maybe you're right."
"I think we all made wrong decisions but we shouldn't blame each other for them, I certainly don't intend to." Ned nodded.
"Are you sure you don't want to get some more rest? You look tired." Ned asked, concern etched in her face.
"No, I have probably slept long enough anyway. I have nightmares, I really don't want to go back to them yet."
Ned decided it was best not to ask any more about these nightmares but made a note to herself to make sure she found out more later.
"I should probably take another look at your wounds. I want to check and make sure you're really alright. I don't want anything bad happening after I spent all night digging you up." She smiled as she set her almost full plate of food down on the floor.
Ned might not have been in perfect mental shape but it didn't go unnoticed every time Fred changed the subject. She also didn't miss the fact that Fred had hardly touched her food. These were all things she decided to ask Fred about later, at a better time. There was something very wrong and Ned wanted to know what it was.
Fred came back with the small first aid box she had used earlier; she sat down awkwardly on the couch, another thing that Ned noticed. Fred started rummaging through the box in the hope of finding something she had missed earlier in the dark room. She pulled out some antiseptic cream from the box and checked the label, this was quickly followed by a few bandages and some sticky tape.
"I should probably go out and get some more of these things." Fred said standing up and putting her coat on.
"You want me to go?" Ned asked also standing up.
"I think I can find my way to a shop." Fred smiled.
"Are you going to steal them? You don't have any money Fred."
"Okay that's a good point. Bob's uncle must have left something lying around in here." Fred quickly searched the flat and soon found a small stash of money in a tin on the sideboard. She took it all out and went to leave. "Do you want anything else? Maybe some new clothes? Very cheap new clothes." She added looking at the fairly small amount of money she was holding.
"Yeah. Sure." Ned said although she knew that Fred had already left. Why was she so eager to get away from her? She wished she knew what was really going on. Maybe Bob would have some more answers when she woke up, if she ever woke up. Ned decided to go in and accidentally wake her from her sleep.
**
Fred walked through the streets which were now full of life in the afternoon rush. People barged past her not worrying what happened to her or how she felt. She wanted to get away from all this, this place. She wanted everything to be back to normal. She had Ned and Bob back and she wasn't alone and yet she couldn't understand why she still felt so lonely. What was wrong with her? Almost everything was as it was and yet she still wasn't happy. What was missing? She knew the answer and yet she didn't want to admit it to herself.
She walked into a nearby pharmacist and quickly bought the supplies she needed as well as getting some very strange looks from the people behind the counter. She ignored them and went to buy some new clothes from Ned, anything to get away from that flat for longer. Unfortunately she knew that she had to return eventually. She wasn't looking forward to it. She knew that she would have to answer Ned's questions but at least Bob would be there when she got back.
Fred quickly chose some clothes that she thought were cheap and would fit Ned and left the clothes store again ignoring the looks she got from people. What was wrong with her today? She couldn't understand it. It might have been because she was still covered in mud after last night or that she probably looked as bad as she felt.
Why had she followed Bob?
**
Ned walked into the bedroom not worrying about making any sound, in fact hoping that she would so Bob would awake. She walked around humming. Nothing. She opened the curtains allowing a bright light through which hurt her own eyes slightly. Bob ducked under the covers and mumbled something about it being to early to wake up on a Saturday. Ned finally resorted to sitting down on the bed making as much movement as possible. Still nothing.
She sighed and picked up a glass of water from the bedside table and threw it over Bob's face. That did wake her up. She sat upright in bed with water dripping off her face. She looked about ready to kill someone. Then she saw Ned with the glass still in her hand looking down at her.
"What are you doing?" Bob screamed.
"Sorry." Ned said putting the glass back on the bedside cabinet. "It must have slipped out of my hand."
"Yeah, convenient." Bob began to wipe her face off with the dry part of the bedsheet whilst still looking angrily over at Ned. "You look better than you did last night. Alive at least."
"Thanks for that." Ned smiled genuinely.
"Where's Fred?" Bob asked looking around whilst getting up.
"She went into town to get some medical things and some new clothes for me. Your uncle's are a little big."
"You sent Fred out to do your shopping? Ned are you insane? She shouldn't really even be walking about let alone doing the things you don't like."
"She volunteered. In fact she asked me if I wanted anything. What do you mean she shouldn't even be walking about? She looked alright to me."
"Maybe you should have been more observant." Bob said bitterly as they walked into the lounge.
"What's wrong with her?" Ned asked as Bob sat down and picked up the plate of food that Fred had left.
"She was tortured Ned, what do you think is wrong with her?"
Ned stopped smiling and sat down. "I know what happened. I felt it too you know."
"No, you felt a small part. Besides there's more to it than that." Bob was careful what she said.
"What?"
"I think we should wait until she gets back. I don't want to talk behind her back. What about you? Are you alright?"
"Fred says I'm fine. A little sore but apart from that." Ned spread her arms to show that she really was alright. "She mentioned something that happened in Orthanc. A person I think it was. It began with D." Bob stopped eating. She kenw Ned was talking about David.
"David. He." She was stopped when Fred came though the door and looked at them.
"Am I interrupting something? You two aren't plotting something already are you?" Fred tried to smile but she wasn't sure whether it worked or not. She knew what they were talking about. "I should check your wounds before I forget. We don't want you dying on us again."
Fred put the bag down and threw her coat on the back of the chair. She reached into the bag and pulled out some clothes and some medical things, including a type of anaesthetic and disinfectant. She passed the clothes onto Ned and told her to put them on. Ned disappeared into the bedroom and closed the door.
Fred went to the kitchen and washed her hands under the tap, making sure they were clean before she touched Ned's wounds. She went and sat down next to Bob who was slowly eating the food.
"Glad you're enjoying my lunch." Fred laughed.
"Sorry."
"That's alright, Ned cooked it."
"And suddenly I'm no longer hungry." Bob put the plate on the floor.
"Bob, are you alright? You went to sleep pretty fast last night. I was a little worried. I thought you might have seen something else."
"No. I just had a headache. I had been a long day. I'm actually more worried about you. Maybe I should take you back to the hospital."
"I'm fine. Like you said, a long day."
"Are you sure?" Fred nodded and smiled hoping to reassure Bob. "You know that we're going to have to explain all this to Ned. I don't think it's going to be easy. I think you should get out of here for a while so I can explain it."
"I was involved too, I should help." Fred said as she looked through her supplies although she knew that everything was there. "Ned deserves to know everything. Maybe you should tell her though, I'm not very good at describing things."
"Fred."
"Bob, you know it's the right thing."
Just as Bob was about to protest some more Ned came back in her new clothes. She knew that she had interrupted something but from the look of relief on Fred's face she guessed it was appreciated. She sat down and waited for someone to say something.
"Here, let me look at your wounds. Bob will explain everything that happened. At least then we'll know everything." Fred smiled.