Alright folks, this one's gunna be a doozy!! …give or take the "doozy" part…
Disclaimer: Hey, we haven't had one of these in a while…yeah, we don't own anything, 'cept for Penny and Hillary.
Link
As I slowly plodded up the grassy knoll, I could see the beautiful valley spanning out in front of me, and the setting sun set the lands aflame with red and orange colors. I saw Penny and Legolas running towards me, laughing and waving, and I hurried down the hill, my boots bouncing on the springy green grass. Legolas called out a warm welcome to me, and I called back with a smile and a wave. They seemed untainted by the war, conflicts and fighting we had encountered since we first met; they seemed naïve, innocent, and carefree, and for some reason I felt the same way. When we reached each other in the middle of the valley, we hugged, and all our past grudges and tensions faded in the warmth of the sun's deepening rays. When I pulled back, I realized what was missing; looking up into Legolas's cool blue eyes and Penny's deep brown ones, they both smiled simultaneously, as if they had read my thoughts. They were both standing shoulder-to-shoulder, and as I took a step back, they stepped to the side, and there was Hillary, smiling with genuine happiness: happiness in seeing me.
I shook some of my hair out of my eyes and grinned; she was more beautiful than I ever remembered her, more beautiful than I could ever have imagined. Her blue eyes were intense, and her long, wavy auburn hair was down, highlighted in the soft orange light. It was at this moment that I realized that I loved her. All our arguing, our differences, our bitterness…I knew all that had only made the connection between us stronger. I loved her, and knew that she loved me.
I stepped forward, taking her into my arms, and swept her up into the most passionate kiss I've ever felt before in my life. When we finally pulled apart, I opened my eyes, and the sky was black and ominous. Penny and Legolas were nowhere to be found, and I looked at Hillary. She was sobbing uncontrollably now, and thunder and lightening crashed over us as a monsoon-sized downpour came down upon us. She gasped, and then was sucked away from me into the oblivion…
"NO!" I bolted up and opened my eyes. "NO! HILLARY!" My heart was pounding, and sweat poured from my brow.
"Mr. Link?" came a familiar and friendly voice. "Mr. Link, is everything alright?" I looked around; I was laying on a rock in some god-forsaken hell-hole, and it was dark and damp and cold. I could feel the chill in my bones, and a wrenching at my heart.
"Yes, Sam, thank-you…I'll be fine," I mumbled.
"You gave me quite a fright…just a bad dream, that s'all?" I nodded, and lay back down, pulling my thin blanket tighter around my body. A cold wind whipped around us as I tried to fall back to sleep, and tried not to miss Hillary so much. That dream scared me; a nightmare like that couldn't have been a good sign. Worry and the chills wracked my body the rest of the night; I needed to see Hillary again, and soon, but we were miles and miles apart. I could not stop my heart from breaking.
Hillary
Seeing Gandalf again was quite a relief. Although it wasn't the same Gandalf I had become so fond of, it was still comforting to see and speak to Gandalf the White. He told Treebeard to take good care of us, and hinted to us about the war unfolding to the south. He mentioned Helm's Deep, and I began to pray for Penny and Legolas, as well as Gimli and Aragorn, for I knew they would be plunging into that battle any day from now. I missed my friends, all of them…especially Link, Legolas, and Penny. I missed being in the "original four"…I thought about them as Treebeard walked us through the forest and Merry and Pippin slept.
After two days' traveling, we reached a clearing, and Treebeard placed us down. I had the idea that this was his "house," and, remembering what trees did to creatures in the Old Forest and also in Fangorn Forest, I stayed far away from them, in the middle of the clearing.
"Stay here, little hobbits," Treebeard said slowly. "Stay, rest, sleep. You will be safe here." He turned and wandered away, and Merry, Pippin, and I collapsed onto the soft forest floor. The smell of moss, grass, and leaves was surprisingly comforting, and it put me into a peaceful slumber.
My dream was short but sweet: Penny and I were back in Rivendell, and I was my normal size again. I hadn't had time to miss being tall; just staying alive was hard enough these days. Penny was only two inches taller than me, like she used to be, and I stretched my five-foot-seven frame in the late afternoon sun. It was fall in Rivendell, and the leaves were falling to the earth steadily. No one was talking about war or the Ring, they were just peacefully enjoying life.
Legolas came up behind us and hugged us both, and, smiling, led Penny away to the ball that was going on in Elrond's Hall. I took in the clean, fresh air, and leaned on my elbows on the stone railing. I felt a cool breeze kiss my cheeks, and I let it play with my hair and dress. Just then, someone behind me cleared his throat, and I turned quickly. It was Link, dressed up in a deep forest green tunic. He was clean and absolutely beautiful; I almost melted at the sight of his blue eyes peeking through his shaggy blonde hair.
"Hillary," he cooed, smiling. "Hillary, go to the stream."
"What?" I replied, completely perplexed.
"Go to the stream."
Then I woke up. I sat up slowly, hoping to be in a bed in Rivendell as my former tall self. I looked at Merry and Pippin; they were sound asleep.
Link's words were reverberating in my mind. "Go to the stream." Okay, freak boy, what did you want to tell me this time? I stood, and padded over to the stream on the far side of the clearing. I sat down on a stone and looked at my reflection. I looked tired and ragged, and I was a dirty mess. I reached down and washed my face and hands, and took a gulp of the fresh, cold water. I sat up, and then felt a grumble in my stomach. Something took control of me, and I uttered something in a language I had never heard before. I frowned, and then took another sip. I made the same noise, and felt my body stretch a bit. I sounded like a tree…and stretched a bit again. And then it hit me. I had found the Ent Draught! This was how I was going to become my former tall self again! For once, he could help me. Must have been some sort of divine intervention or something.
I stuck my face deep into the water, and sucked up as much water as I could without choking to death. The noises and stretching did not stop; I knew after twelve groans I had grown a foot, and my dress was now small and tight at four foot six. I squeezed out of it, and in my underwear, jumped back into the stream and sucked up some more water. Twelve groans and stretches later I was almost back to my normal size, although I had a stomach ache. Just one more sip…I groaned one last time, and slowly stood up. I was definitely the old Hillary now.
I had to rip my ridiculously tight underwear off, and threw it next to my dress. I couldn't believe that just minutes ago I fit into that…Realizing that I was completely naked, and that Merry and Pippin could awake at any moment, I pulled my old clothes out of my bag and pulled them on. It felt good to have jeans and a t-shirt on again. And I didn't care that I looked weird. I pulled on my cape, although it was more like a shawl now, and sat down to watch over the two hobbits.
About a half hour later they woke up, at the same time, as if on cue. They were on their stomachs, facing the opposite direction I was in, and both propped themselves up on their elbows.
"Where's Hillary?" Merry asked with a yawn.
"Dunno," Pippin replied. Then they noticed my hobbit clothes in a pile in front of them.
"My God," Merry said, making eye contact with Pippin. "She's naked somewhere!" Then I cracked up. They sat up and turned around, but as I kept laughing, they didn't say anything. I stopped, and looked at their faces. They looked shocked and scared.
"Hillary…" Merry said solemnly.
"What?" I asked, my eyes widening.
"You're…big…" Pippin said. It looked like both their eyes were welling up with tears. For a moment, I regretted what I had done, and felt like crying. But then I remembered how much I loved Link, and held the tears back. They both jumped to their feet and hurried towards me.
"Hillary…now we can't…" Pippin said slowly and unhappily.
"I'm sorry, Pip…Merry…but you have no idea how unhappy I was being small. Can you imagine being in my place? I…I wanted to be big again." They seemed to frown even more.
The rest of the day was torture. Both Merry and Pippin seemed pissed that they would never be able to be with me, and I was completely depressed not only because I had upset the hobbits, but because I missed my other three best friends. The traveling with Treebeard was awkwardly silent, and I was counting the days, the hours, minutes, and seconds till I could be with them again.
That's it for now, but I know Argentium is almost done with the next one, and I've already started chapter 25. You just wait! We'll finish this one! You'll see!
p.s. SHANKS FOR READING!