Prologue

Buffy Summers lightly brushed her lips against the cold, red cheek of her sister, Dawn, smiling softly as she pulled back to look in her sister's eyes one last time. She could see the fear hidden behind the big brown eyes staring into her. But she wasn't going to allow Dawn to do this. She was responsible for taking care of her; not for the monks or the world. No. For her mother. Her smile grew as the thought of possibly seeing her mother crossed her mind. And with a reassuring look at Dawn; she turned and ran to the end of the platform. The last thing she saw was the bright white light surrounding her.

The smell was almost too much to bare and the thought of their friends being among all that just made the gut wrenching feeling worse. Gimli, son of Gloin, dug through the stench of bodies; looking for any sign of hope that his little friends were still alive. His breath caught in his throat when his axe scraped across something all too familiar. He slowly lifted it up and turned to his companions while trying to choke back the tears.

"It's one of their wee belts." He spoke gruffly as the chard piece of material rested in his meaty fist. The man with shoulder length scruffy hair turned away from the disaster; a distressed look playing on his face.

"Hiro hyn hîdh ab 'wanath." A prayer was quietly lifted into the air by the smooth voice of the blonde elf standing near the bodies; his head bowed in respect to the hobbits.

The peace was broken when the man quickly turned around screaming as he kicked a helmet; falling to his knees in defeat. As his eyes scanned the ground around him, his hopes were lifted as they landed on some tracks not to far from where he lay. Not paying much attention to the words of his dwarven friend. "We failed them."

He quickly traced the tracks; his hopes becoming higher with each step he took and with each evidence found that they indeed belonged to the hobbits.

"Tracks lead away from the battle into… Fangorn Forest." Aragorn's face once again fell as he stared into the dark woods in front of him, somewhat ignoring the elf and dwarf who ran up beside him; all sharing the same look of fear.

"Fangorn! What madness drove them in there!" Gimli, as most dwarves do, spoke up when everyone else was silent. But he got no answer, just silent stares into the dense forest. Dreading what was to come.

Buffy slowly opened her eyes to a dark outdoors; confusion plastering her face instantly. She laid there for a few moments, trying to remember where she was or how she ended up there. As she slowly sat up she felt pain shoot through her entire body; causing her to crouch forward in her sitting position. It relieved the pain slightly, but not entirely. She clenched her teeth as she tried to reposition herself more comfortably. She didn't figure standing up would help the pain to subside, seeing as how much pain just sitting caused her.

Her long blonde hair fell in front of her face as she looked down at her hands; which were resting on the damp leaves beneath her. They were filthy from the ground with a few scrapes and dirt accumulated under her nails. She curled her lips in disgust at the sight of them and turned her attention to her surroundings.

Trees loomed over her. Dark and depressing, they were so tall she could hardly see the sky. And there was an eerie silence filling the air. Quiet was nice, but this was too quiet. She crinkled her forehead as she tried to figure out what was going on. And as the memories flooded back into her mind the wider her eyes got; filling fuller and fuller with tears.

Flashback

"Buffy no!" Dawn yelled to her sister when she realized what she planned to do.

"Dawnie I have to."

"No." Dawn cried. No. Begged her not to.

"Listen to me. Please, there's not a lot of time, listen." Dawn stood silently waiting for the final words her sister had to say to her. "Dawn listen to me. Listen. I love you. I will always love you. But…this is the work that I have to do. Tell Giles…tell Giles I figured it out. And. And I'm okay. And give my love to my friends. You have to take care of them now. You have to take care of each other. You have to be strong. Dawn, the hardest thing in this world… is to live in it. Be brave. Live. For me."

Buffy's eyes were closed as she remember the last words she said to her sister. Tears were falling past the closed lids and under her trembling chin; causing the small droplets to fall to her gray pants below. She was so lost in thought she didn't hear the voices off in the distance.

"Aragorn, nad no ennas!" Legolas ran past Aragorn to get a view on what was approaching the three warriors.

"Man cenich?" Aragorn asked; scanning the same area as the Elf but not seeing anything out of the ordinary. Legolas let a small smile form on his face as he saw what was coming.

"The white wizard approaches." He answered slowly.

Aragorn's eyes turned into slits at Legolas' words before he spoke, "do not let him speak. He will put a spell on us." And at that, the three gripped their weapons, awaiting the battle they believed would follow the encounter with the white wizard.

"We must be quick." Aragorn whispered before the three quickly turned toward their enemy, but were instantly blinded by a bright white light.

Buffy was pulled from her thoughts when screams were heard close by. Forgetting about the pain and her slayer instincts kicking in; she quickly sprung to her feet and ran in the direction of the screams.

Stopping abruptly when she got a visual of who the screams belonged to; she couldn't see any sign of attack or any sort of violence. So, instead she decided on snooping in on the conversation. Maybe it will help her figure out where she was. Besides, she couldn't just walk up to them and say "umm… excuse me. Could I use your phone?" They'd most likely kill her on sight. They didn't exactly look like the kind of people to even comprehend what a phone was.

She hid behind a tree nearby and listened to what the four men were talking about. Her forehead crinkling in confusion about almost everything they said. And every once in awhile mouthing 'what?'. She heard them speaking of something called the Balrog but had no idea of what it was. She closed her eyes as she listened, suddenly feeling overwhelmingly fatigued. She placed her hand to her head as dizziness began to take over. Without realizing it she slumped forward; holding her head still in her hand. She made a small grunting sound as her small and frail body fell to the ground completely; laying somewhat in a fetal position.

She heard the crunching of leaves beneath feet as someone approached her. She slowly lifted her head to the skies to see the same four men looking down on her. They had a look of worry yet caution on their faces. She pushed herself up slightly, releasing a cry of pain in doing so. The blonde man, well at least she suspected him being so, grab a hold of her left arm gently; helping her stand.

He looked at her face more clearly now and he saw it was caked in sweat and dirt. Her eyes were filled with fear, sadness, and most of all, loss. Her hair was also covered in dirt and leaves. She looked as though she had just traveled a great distance, but yet her clothing was not of his custom, and by the look on Aragorn and Gandalf's face, they weren't accustomed either.

"Who are you?" Aragorn spoke in a stern voice. Not too stern though, for he did not want to frighten the girl any more than she already was.

She quickly turned her attention to him and averted her eyes to the ground. "Buffy. Buffy Summers." She spoke quietly and she could still feel everyone's eyes on her. "I… I'm not sure why I… or how I…" Buffy stammered, trying to explain herself.

"We don't mean to frighten you my lady. You did surprise us as well." Legolas spoke soothingly and Buffy couldn't help but smile at the way he spoke.

"I know. I'm sorry. I'm just so… confused. I…" She stopped mid-sentence when the dizziness came over her again, causing her to lose her balance.

Expecting to hit the ground; she awaited the pain to shoot up through her spine, but when it never came she slowly opened her eyes only to see a pair of bright blue ones staring back at her.

"Are you alright?" He asked.

"Yeah. Yeah. I'm fine. I'll be fine." The stubborn side of Buffy came out; quickly standing back up. She always hated being ill. It always showed signs of weakness. And being the Slayer, you couldn't risk being weak. Weak got you killed.

"You shall travel with us, Lady Buffy." Gandalf nodded slightly to Buffy before turning towards the others, "one stage of your journey is over, another begins. War has come to Rohan. We must ride to Edoras with all speed." The first words Gandalf spoke got Buffy wondering if he was talking to his fellow travelers or her. She had died. Didn't she? So, why was she here? Was the first stage of her journey over and the other was just beginning? It seemed his statement was directed only to her; making her head spin even more.