Disclaimer: you already know the routine.
A/N: So? You liked the last chapter? And I STILL have complaints about you people wanting inside Legolas' head! Well let me tell you this, pretties: it may not even happen. Not anytime soon at least. So back off on your whining. The main characters are Elli and Caitlin, be happy I at least gave you a glimpse in Merry's head. Legolas' POV will come when I'm good and ready to give it to you. So leave me alone on the whole ordeal, ok?
There. . . Now that THAT is out of the way! Thank you so much to all of you who reviewed! Boromir has survived Amon Hen! But, will he survive the whole story? Only I know. But this Boromir is nicer, and non-greedy. You people seemed to like him very much. So read on my lovies, and see what's in store for this chapter!
And OH! I am terribly sorry to those whose stories I read! I am really trying to catch up on it! But I have homework, and I'm starting work on a second fanfic (which will hopefully be released early this coming year) and I'm so busy at school. So my chapters are sparse, you guys aren't getting reviews from me, and I APOLOGIZE so much; I feel so bad! I'm working on it though, don't think I hate you guys or anything. Anyway, read my story and don't kill me.
And one further note: Elli's POV is not in this chapter; it is strictly Caitlin this time. Don't worry, Elli will be back next chapter. I haven't killed my beautiful little hobbit lass! I love her too much! But read on for Caitlin and be nice to her! She's going through a lot! ;)
CAITLIN'S POV
How could I have been so stupid? I had promised Elli we wouldn't get separated. And now she was lost with only Merry and Pippin for company. Well, at least I was following her, trying to get back my friend. I just hoped she didn't have plans to change this story anymore. Otherwise we were all going to be totally screwed instead of semi-screwed.
Aragorn, Legolas and Boromir had taken the lead sometime after we'd run into the open, rocky plains. I lagged behind with Gimli. I may have looked the part of an elf, but I still could get winded sometimes. So the two of us jogged the long distances that the Ranger, the Elf and the Gondorian had no problem light footing across. Gimli was panting somewhat, while I was just gaining cramps in my left side. It hadn't fallen off yet, so I knew I was all right for the moment.
It was late morning by now. We had set out from Amon Hen in late afternoon the day before, after taking what little we could carry. I had taken both Elli's and my own pack. I had put some of her things in my pack and left hers behind. She wouldn't miss it. I did remember to take her gift from Galadriel, and added the tiny intricate box into my own bag.
We had run until nightfall and the moon had already gone down. Aragorn listened to the ground and knew that they were not too far ahead, but that they had stopped as well for the night. He said by the time we caught up with them we would be tired and then they would have kept going while we stopped to catch our breath. This was safer, he reasoned. Not that any of us were arguing his point. He was the Almighty Ranger after all.
I had slept as well as I could during the few hours I had, and in the morning we were given lembas and told to run. I wanted to kill these stout and hardy men, the four of them more used to this type of terrain. I had elven boots now, and could run quicker and stealthier, but they didn't stop blisters from forming.
I was filthy too. I had looked down and realized for the first time that I was disgusting looking. My clothes were covered with dry uruk-hai blood, stained with mud, ripped with holes and covered with all sorts of strange colors that I could only begin to guess where they came from. I knew I could have looked worse, but still. I needed a bath, and my clothes needed to go through the rinse cycle a few hundred times.
I looked at the rest of the guys, and they seemed to be in the same predicament. Except Legolas. That elf was as perfect as ever. I didn't understand how he could not have one damn stain on his travel clothes, how his hair didn't have a tangle or a knot in sight and was still beautiful and shinny. . . It made me hate elves. So prim and perfect. . . Wait, I'm one now. UGH!
We ran. And we ran. And we ran so more. I didn't recognized the landscape at all, for it was still rolling hills and boulders dotting the ground. There were very few trees in sight. I was beginning to hate this. If it weren't for Elli, I would have said I'm going to Gondor with Boromir. But no, Elli just had to go and get herself kidnapped! And I, being the ever-faithful friend, had to go and follow her.
It had become late afternoon. My mind had wandered so much that I had trouble understanding that we were stopping to rest our feet a bit. I plopped down to the ground, grateful to be off my feet for even a moment. Legolas crossed his legs and joined me on the ground. Aragorn lay down on his stomach, pressing his ear to the earth. I didn't want to laugh out loud, but he looked pretty funny like that. But I knew he was listening for the pounding of uruk-hai boots.
"I have some water and lembas, if you care for some," Legolas said, bringing my thoughts back. I turned to look at him.
"Oh, sure, I'd be happy to have some. I'm hungry. But I'm gonna be sick of this waybread pretty soon." He handed me a piece, and I shoved it in my mouth anyway, regardless of my whining. Legolas did the same, although not with so much disgust as me. I stared at him a moment, and then back at the ground. Why did I have to have feelings for him?
"Caitlin?" he asked. "Are you ok?" I looked up, somewhat startled.
"Yeah, sure, I'm fine. Why?" I asked.
"You just looked so sad. What is bothering you? I'm sure it is not all due to Elli's kidnapping. Why do you give yourself a long face, Caitlin?"
"I'm just . . ." I started. But 'I'm just' what? I'm just in love with you and I can't have you? I'm just sorry that Elli was right about this, and now she's not here to say 'I told you so?' I'm just. . . I'm just insanely depressed because I'm in love with an elf I can't have.
I sighed. "I'm fine, Legolas. Really, I'll be ok." I looked up at him, flashing him a small, sad smile. He smiled back a bit, still obviously worried about me. But he just placed a hand on my shoulder and kept it there a moment. I stopped breathing a moment, and then he moved it back again. I looked away from him quickly, determined to hide the conflicting emotions on my face.
We left soon after, still running the long distances. My head hurt.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"There was man who had a dog and bingo was his name, oh!"
Hey, I'm entitled to sing stupid songs. And I can sing on key. And I wasn't making too much noise. So the men didn't tell me to hush my trap. And so I continued to sing about the dumb dog named Bingo, clapping my hands softly and being weird.
I was bored. It was nearing the end of day two, and all we'd done was run. The sun was setting ahead of us, disappearing behind the hills into a mesh of orange and flame red. The landscape looked silhouetted in black. Everything was definitely more beautiful here than it was back home. Made me think about staying for a long time to come.
I'd run out of songs by the time we stopped for the night. I'd done "Bingo" well into twenty times, and my hands hurt from clapping so much. I'd also sung "Frosty the Snowman", "Mary had a Little Lamb" and a few tunes that I didn't even know the words to anymore. I was having an interesting time. I think the men were amused with me as well, for they smiled, and looked at me in complete curiosity. I couldn't blame them. I mean, here was this silly looking girl in gross traveling clothes singing songs that none of them had ever heard of before. By now they had become so accustomed to hearing "Bingo" that they were even clapping along. The words were stumping them, because I sung them so fast.
"Those are songs from your world, I suppose?" Boromir asked as the fire crackled with warm orange flame.
I nodded. "Yeah. They're pretty stupid really."
He only grunted. Now Gimli spoke up. "Humpf! We have better songs among the dwarves!" And then he broke into a song. I couldn't for the life of me understand it, and it was then that I realized it was in his people's languages. I listened anyway, caught and intrigued by the tune of the song, and finding it sad anyway.
I fell asleep before it's end, lulled to sleep by the songs deep melodic sound.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"I think I passed out," I mumbled when the blinding of the sun woke me up. I had turned my body around, my right arm asleep after laying on it all night. I wasn't speaking to anyone in particular, but it sounded that way. I was basically talking to myself. That was nothing new.
"What did you say?" someone asked. "Even with my ears I could not make out what you were speaking. Something about passing out it sounded like?"
I turned and found Legolas preparing a plate of food and gazing at me from the corner of his eye.
"Yeah, I think I passed out last night. I don't remember a thing."
"Indeed, I should agree. One minute you were intrigued by dwarf songs and the next you were lying soundless at my side. You must be rather tired as of late."
Once again, I didn't know what to say, so I only nodded and mumbled thanks as he passed me the plate of food he'd just prepared. I was hungry now, after dozing off last night without some sort of meal. I wasn't even sure what I was eating; I'd become so accustomed to just shoveling food into my mouth when someone handed me a mouth. 'What a pig,' I thought to myself.
After I'd cleared the plate, I handed it back to the elf and then turned to prepare my stuff for the morning run. Aragorn and Boromir were discussing things, but for once I didn't perk my ears up to listen or eavesdrop. I knew we were close to Rohan, I knew we wouldn't catch the hobbits yet, I knew the Rohan dudes would kill the uruks before we did. I was just set on running with these men and finding Elli once again.
Wait? Was I sure? Dammit! I'd forgotten how much the story had changed! I slammed my fist up into my forehead and got a very concerned gaze from Legolas.
"Are you ok, Caitlin?" he asked.
I turned. "Yeah, fine, never better." What a lie! Would Elli still be in Fangorn? Would Elli!? Would any of the hobbits escape into Fangorn and find Treebeard and Gandalf. Would the damn wizard turn up in Fangorn as well? He had to! The history of Middle-earth depended on him! Would the Rohan horse riders kill the uruks that kidnapped the precious little hobbits? Geez, I was a wreck.
I'd lost track of days now. Had we been running three days or more? Was that smoke I saw burning up ahead? Aragorn was gazing in that direction as well, but he didn't seem to see what I saw. Damn stupid elf eyes.
"Legolas, is that smoke?" I asked. He could tell better than I could. Or just as well in this case.
He turned to see where I was pointing and squinted his eyes ever so slightly in the morning sun. A hand held over his eyebrows helped a bit too. When he was done observing he nodded at me and told Aragorn about this. Then we started running that way towards the smoke I'd seen. The five of us were just dying to investigate.
(A/N: Sorry, a tad short, but next chapter will be longer and will hopefully arrive a little sooner. Enjoy this though, it seems like a place filler, but really now, it isn't. I'm just showing you that Caitlin is crazy for the dear elfin prince ;). Please Review!)
A/N: So? You liked the last chapter? And I STILL have complaints about you people wanting inside Legolas' head! Well let me tell you this, pretties: it may not even happen. Not anytime soon at least. So back off on your whining. The main characters are Elli and Caitlin, be happy I at least gave you a glimpse in Merry's head. Legolas' POV will come when I'm good and ready to give it to you. So leave me alone on the whole ordeal, ok?
There. . . Now that THAT is out of the way! Thank you so much to all of you who reviewed! Boromir has survived Amon Hen! But, will he survive the whole story? Only I know. But this Boromir is nicer, and non-greedy. You people seemed to like him very much. So read on my lovies, and see what's in store for this chapter!
And OH! I am terribly sorry to those whose stories I read! I am really trying to catch up on it! But I have homework, and I'm starting work on a second fanfic (which will hopefully be released early this coming year) and I'm so busy at school. So my chapters are sparse, you guys aren't getting reviews from me, and I APOLOGIZE so much; I feel so bad! I'm working on it though, don't think I hate you guys or anything. Anyway, read my story and don't kill me.
And one further note: Elli's POV is not in this chapter; it is strictly Caitlin this time. Don't worry, Elli will be back next chapter. I haven't killed my beautiful little hobbit lass! I love her too much! But read on for Caitlin and be nice to her! She's going through a lot! ;)
CAITLIN'S POV
How could I have been so stupid? I had promised Elli we wouldn't get separated. And now she was lost with only Merry and Pippin for company. Well, at least I was following her, trying to get back my friend. I just hoped she didn't have plans to change this story anymore. Otherwise we were all going to be totally screwed instead of semi-screwed.
Aragorn, Legolas and Boromir had taken the lead sometime after we'd run into the open, rocky plains. I lagged behind with Gimli. I may have looked the part of an elf, but I still could get winded sometimes. So the two of us jogged the long distances that the Ranger, the Elf and the Gondorian had no problem light footing across. Gimli was panting somewhat, while I was just gaining cramps in my left side. It hadn't fallen off yet, so I knew I was all right for the moment.
It was late morning by now. We had set out from Amon Hen in late afternoon the day before, after taking what little we could carry. I had taken both Elli's and my own pack. I had put some of her things in my pack and left hers behind. She wouldn't miss it. I did remember to take her gift from Galadriel, and added the tiny intricate box into my own bag.
We had run until nightfall and the moon had already gone down. Aragorn listened to the ground and knew that they were not too far ahead, but that they had stopped as well for the night. He said by the time we caught up with them we would be tired and then they would have kept going while we stopped to catch our breath. This was safer, he reasoned. Not that any of us were arguing his point. He was the Almighty Ranger after all.
I had slept as well as I could during the few hours I had, and in the morning we were given lembas and told to run. I wanted to kill these stout and hardy men, the four of them more used to this type of terrain. I had elven boots now, and could run quicker and stealthier, but they didn't stop blisters from forming.
I was filthy too. I had looked down and realized for the first time that I was disgusting looking. My clothes were covered with dry uruk-hai blood, stained with mud, ripped with holes and covered with all sorts of strange colors that I could only begin to guess where they came from. I knew I could have looked worse, but still. I needed a bath, and my clothes needed to go through the rinse cycle a few hundred times.
I looked at the rest of the guys, and they seemed to be in the same predicament. Except Legolas. That elf was as perfect as ever. I didn't understand how he could not have one damn stain on his travel clothes, how his hair didn't have a tangle or a knot in sight and was still beautiful and shinny. . . It made me hate elves. So prim and perfect. . . Wait, I'm one now. UGH!
We ran. And we ran. And we ran so more. I didn't recognized the landscape at all, for it was still rolling hills and boulders dotting the ground. There were very few trees in sight. I was beginning to hate this. If it weren't for Elli, I would have said I'm going to Gondor with Boromir. But no, Elli just had to go and get herself kidnapped! And I, being the ever-faithful friend, had to go and follow her.
It had become late afternoon. My mind had wandered so much that I had trouble understanding that we were stopping to rest our feet a bit. I plopped down to the ground, grateful to be off my feet for even a moment. Legolas crossed his legs and joined me on the ground. Aragorn lay down on his stomach, pressing his ear to the earth. I didn't want to laugh out loud, but he looked pretty funny like that. But I knew he was listening for the pounding of uruk-hai boots.
"I have some water and lembas, if you care for some," Legolas said, bringing my thoughts back. I turned to look at him.
"Oh, sure, I'd be happy to have some. I'm hungry. But I'm gonna be sick of this waybread pretty soon." He handed me a piece, and I shoved it in my mouth anyway, regardless of my whining. Legolas did the same, although not with so much disgust as me. I stared at him a moment, and then back at the ground. Why did I have to have feelings for him?
"Caitlin?" he asked. "Are you ok?" I looked up, somewhat startled.
"Yeah, sure, I'm fine. Why?" I asked.
"You just looked so sad. What is bothering you? I'm sure it is not all due to Elli's kidnapping. Why do you give yourself a long face, Caitlin?"
"I'm just . . ." I started. But 'I'm just' what? I'm just in love with you and I can't have you? I'm just sorry that Elli was right about this, and now she's not here to say 'I told you so?' I'm just. . . I'm just insanely depressed because I'm in love with an elf I can't have.
I sighed. "I'm fine, Legolas. Really, I'll be ok." I looked up at him, flashing him a small, sad smile. He smiled back a bit, still obviously worried about me. But he just placed a hand on my shoulder and kept it there a moment. I stopped breathing a moment, and then he moved it back again. I looked away from him quickly, determined to hide the conflicting emotions on my face.
We left soon after, still running the long distances. My head hurt.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"There was man who had a dog and bingo was his name, oh!"
Hey, I'm entitled to sing stupid songs. And I can sing on key. And I wasn't making too much noise. So the men didn't tell me to hush my trap. And so I continued to sing about the dumb dog named Bingo, clapping my hands softly and being weird.
I was bored. It was nearing the end of day two, and all we'd done was run. The sun was setting ahead of us, disappearing behind the hills into a mesh of orange and flame red. The landscape looked silhouetted in black. Everything was definitely more beautiful here than it was back home. Made me think about staying for a long time to come.
I'd run out of songs by the time we stopped for the night. I'd done "Bingo" well into twenty times, and my hands hurt from clapping so much. I'd also sung "Frosty the Snowman", "Mary had a Little Lamb" and a few tunes that I didn't even know the words to anymore. I was having an interesting time. I think the men were amused with me as well, for they smiled, and looked at me in complete curiosity. I couldn't blame them. I mean, here was this silly looking girl in gross traveling clothes singing songs that none of them had ever heard of before. By now they had become so accustomed to hearing "Bingo" that they were even clapping along. The words were stumping them, because I sung them so fast.
"Those are songs from your world, I suppose?" Boromir asked as the fire crackled with warm orange flame.
I nodded. "Yeah. They're pretty stupid really."
He only grunted. Now Gimli spoke up. "Humpf! We have better songs among the dwarves!" And then he broke into a song. I couldn't for the life of me understand it, and it was then that I realized it was in his people's languages. I listened anyway, caught and intrigued by the tune of the song, and finding it sad anyway.
I fell asleep before it's end, lulled to sleep by the songs deep melodic sound.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"I think I passed out," I mumbled when the blinding of the sun woke me up. I had turned my body around, my right arm asleep after laying on it all night. I wasn't speaking to anyone in particular, but it sounded that way. I was basically talking to myself. That was nothing new.
"What did you say?" someone asked. "Even with my ears I could not make out what you were speaking. Something about passing out it sounded like?"
I turned and found Legolas preparing a plate of food and gazing at me from the corner of his eye.
"Yeah, I think I passed out last night. I don't remember a thing."
"Indeed, I should agree. One minute you were intrigued by dwarf songs and the next you were lying soundless at my side. You must be rather tired as of late."
Once again, I didn't know what to say, so I only nodded and mumbled thanks as he passed me the plate of food he'd just prepared. I was hungry now, after dozing off last night without some sort of meal. I wasn't even sure what I was eating; I'd become so accustomed to just shoveling food into my mouth when someone handed me a mouth. 'What a pig,' I thought to myself.
After I'd cleared the plate, I handed it back to the elf and then turned to prepare my stuff for the morning run. Aragorn and Boromir were discussing things, but for once I didn't perk my ears up to listen or eavesdrop. I knew we were close to Rohan, I knew we wouldn't catch the hobbits yet, I knew the Rohan dudes would kill the uruks before we did. I was just set on running with these men and finding Elli once again.
Wait? Was I sure? Dammit! I'd forgotten how much the story had changed! I slammed my fist up into my forehead and got a very concerned gaze from Legolas.
"Are you ok, Caitlin?" he asked.
I turned. "Yeah, fine, never better." What a lie! Would Elli still be in Fangorn? Would Elli!? Would any of the hobbits escape into Fangorn and find Treebeard and Gandalf. Would the damn wizard turn up in Fangorn as well? He had to! The history of Middle-earth depended on him! Would the Rohan horse riders kill the uruks that kidnapped the precious little hobbits? Geez, I was a wreck.
I'd lost track of days now. Had we been running three days or more? Was that smoke I saw burning up ahead? Aragorn was gazing in that direction as well, but he didn't seem to see what I saw. Damn stupid elf eyes.
"Legolas, is that smoke?" I asked. He could tell better than I could. Or just as well in this case.
He turned to see where I was pointing and squinted his eyes ever so slightly in the morning sun. A hand held over his eyebrows helped a bit too. When he was done observing he nodded at me and told Aragorn about this. Then we started running that way towards the smoke I'd seen. The five of us were just dying to investigate.
(A/N: Sorry, a tad short, but next chapter will be longer and will hopefully arrive a little sooner. Enjoy this though, it seems like a place filler, but really now, it isn't. I'm just showing you that Caitlin is crazy for the dear elfin prince ;). Please Review!)