A/N: Thanks everyone for your reviews! A lot of you have been asking for more of a lead up to why Merry and Pippin are there, so, in honor of all of you, I'm making this a. . . *cue spooky music* FLASHBACK CHAPTER!! Have fun, and don't forget to review when you're done! Wow, that rhymed. . .oh, and just FYI, this is going to be neither MarySue (I hope) nor slash. Just good ol' Hobbit-y fun!

Disclaimer: Couldn't have thought THOSE books up. . .just this one. . .

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"Come on, Merry, slow down!" Pippin groaned, trudging along tiredly after his cousin, who was energetically jogging through Farmer Maggot's cornfield, grasping a bunch of carrots and cabbages. Pippin, who also held some stolen goods, whined up to Merry again. "Merry! Wait for me!"

"I'm not going to wait for you if you don't hurry up!" Merry shouted back.

"Farmer Maggot gave up!" Pippin called. "We're fine! Just slow down! I'm tired and hungry!"

"And you've got food in your hands!"

Pippin stopped. "Good point." Sitting down, he pulled a carrot out of his pocket and began to munch happily. Merry, having noticed that Pippin had ceased to follow him at all, went back and glared down at him irritably.

"Must you do this now?" he asked.

Pippin chewed a bit, then with his mouth full, answered, "Shouldn't of reminded me about the food, my dear Merry."

Sighing, but seeing no other alternative, Merry sat beside his friend and began to unload his "supplies". The two sat in the middle of the field eating a rather early Luncheon for about an hour before Merry finally gathered up his things again and stood.

"All right, Pippin, you've had your way, so let's get going," he said. "It'll be getting dark soon, so we should probably head home."

Pippin looked around nervously. He didn't like the dark. "Merry. . .could I stay with you in Buckland tonight? I don't want to walk home alone in the darkness."

"If it'll make you come along, then yes, but we'll have to cross the Brandywine," Merry reminded him. "Which means going through the forest."

Pippin didn't like the forest, either, to say the least. However, if he was going to be with someone, at least it would be a little bit better. So, off they were, through the remainder of Farmer Maggot's field and down a steep hill to a spot on the Road. They were now in the forest a little ways, surrounded on either side by old, towering trees. The Brandywine River was down the Road to the West, but at some point they had to cut through the forest to get to Buckleberry Ferry. The journey actually took about a day and a half if a Hobbit went along the Road, but cutting through the forest saved about a day's worth of traveling.

Many sorts of creatures traveled through this part of the forest to get to the Grey Havens. Neither Pippin, Merry, nor any other Hobbit they knew for that matter had ever been there or even had an intimate conversation with any of the strangers who came along, so very little was known about that place. It was said that those who went there were leaving Middle Earth, but that was not something that Pippin could really believe. After all, Middle Earth was such a wonderful place to him. Of course, he had only ever seen the Shire, but that was a nice enough place that it seemed very reasonable to guess that all of Middle Earth was that way.

As the two walked along silently, it began to rain. At first it was just a light shower, but then it started to fall heavier, and finally it was in a downpour. The Road became slippery and muddy, so that their feet stuck to the ground in spots and the mud mixed with the fur on their already dirty feet. It was hard to travel at a steady pace this way, so Merry waved Pippin to go over to stand beneath a large maple tree.

"There's no way we'll get home before tomorrow," he said. "Not with the weather how it is."

"Are you proposing that we spend the night in the forest?" Pippin cried over the rain, hoping that was not the case.

To his relief, Merry shook his head. "No, but perhaps if we cut through the forest now, we can get back the time we lost from this storm." Without waiting for a reply from Pippin, he turned and began trudging through the dark forest. It was a bit dryer beneath the boughs of the trees, and warmer. Pippin was now very grateful that his cousin was such a quick thinker, otherwise they would probably still be sloshing through the mud and rain.

"Merry, how far is it to Buckleberry Ferry from here?" Pippin questioned. Merry stopped. "What is it?"

"I never thought about that," Merry said slowly. "This can't be good. . ."

"What do you mean?"

"Well. . .I mean that I don't know how to get to Buckleberry Ferry from here. I can't get anywhere from here. I don't even know where 'here' is!" Pippin groaned loudly, flopping onto the ground with a thud. Merry looked over at him. "Oh, don't go to sleep now! We still have to figure out how to get home!"

"You figure it out!" Pippin whined. "You got us into this mess."

"Thank you for being so helpful and supportive, Pippin," said Merry scornfully. "Now would you get up and help me?"

Reluctantly, Pippin hauled himself off of the ground again, brushing off his trousers before looking around carefully. "Why don't we just go back to the Road and keep going until we reach the spot where we cut across to the Ferry?"

"In other words, go back the way we came and take the regular route?" Pippin nodded, a grin appearing on his face. Merry scowled. "Don't you think I've already considered that? Look, if we go back and take the regular route, we won't reach the Ferry until probably tomorrow and then it'll take even longer to row that boat in the rain and quite frankly, unless you're willing to help me, which I doubt, that will be very tedious indeed."

"I'm not that lazy, Merry, I'd help you row the boat," Pippin said quietly, but Merry was too deep in thought to pay attention. Pippin sighed. "Let's just keeping going until we find the Road from here and then go West to find the Ferry."

Merry looked up. "That makes sense. Pip, you made sense!" Merry smiled and the two hurried on their way. It wasn't fifteen minutes before a loud cry rang out through the trees. It didn't sound very far away. Both of the Hobbits stopped instantly, looking around.

"What do you suppose that was?" Pippin asked. "Do you think someone is in trouble?"

"I. . .I dunno, Pip," Merry replied slowly, still looking around. "I think it came from the East. If someone is in trouble. . .should we go and take a look?"

"I dunno, Mer," Pippin began. "I mean, we could get into a lot of trouble, couldn't we?"

"Well, it all depends on who we find," Merry said. He gave Pippin a grave look. "It's up to you. We don't have to investigate."

Pippin thought a moment. His Tookish instincts said, "Go! Be curious!", but his normal Hobbit instincts told him to keep away. However, he was never one to spoil an adventure, so he smiled and said, "Sure. I mean, someone's in trouble, right?"

"Maybe." So the two set off now in a completely different direction, forgetting for the time that they were supposed to be going to Buckland. The ground seemed somehow more slippery in the West portion of the forest. The two Hobbits almost fell quite a few times, before finally reaching a small cleared section, where stood one tall Man and a shorter person, a girl. Lying on the ground before them was another Man, but he was very clearly dead. A large, red blotch covered the dead Man's stomach, and the living Man's hands were also covered in a red substance. Pippin swallowed a sick feeling in his throat as the realization came to him that it was blood.

The two Hobbits stood, wide eyed, at the scene. Neither of them had ever seen anything like it before. Pippin glanced at Merry. The color had drained from his face as he stared down at the dead body. The girl lightly touched the man's arm. Something dropped to the ground. Pippin stared at the blade of a knife glinting back at him. All of a sudden, the man turned around to leave, stopping when he saw the Hobbits standing there. His eyes blazed in a sudden fury as he strode over and lifted Merry up by the collar. Pippin almost lunged at him, but as he started forward, he felt a blade against his throat. Looking to his right, he saw the girl standing there, smirking at him.

"Going somewhere?" she asked. Pippin watched in horror as the man threw Merry aside. Merry crashed into a tree and fell to the ground, unconscious, and also acquiring a large gash in his right cheek from a sharp notch on the trunk. The man walked to him, lifting him up to be eye level.

"Don't hurt me," Pippin whimpered pathetically.

"What did you see?" the man demanded.

"Nothin', I swear!" Pippin stammered. "We just heard someone yell and we came to see what happened! Honest!"

The man set Pippin back down on the ground, and turned away. Pippin let out a breath of relief, before feeling a sharp, excruciating pain through his left shoulder, and then a pounding thud on the back of his head. Everything went dark. . . . . . . .

* * *

Pippin sat up in the darkness, breathing heavily. He frantically felt the back of his head. No pain. His hand went to his shoulder. His fingers immediately drew back as a sharp, quick pain passed through his shoulder. Was it a dream?