A/N: Thank you so much for the sweet reviews! *hugs* the thought to remove this fic did cross my mind once, but you wonderful people gave me refreshed hope. Mmmuah! :D
A/N: Man this was a creepy morning. My mom found TWO tarantulas in the bathroom. She was screaming like a ringwraith at 6 a.m. Imagine what it's doing to my mental health. Can you actually find Tarantulas in this part of the world in the first place?! …. Anyway.
A/N: back to the story. Last chap we found a very wound up Poppy, a pretty much elated Diamond and now we'll find an endangered Pippin. Mwahaha.
Summary: Pippin's spending too much time with Diamond and Poppy doesn't like it at all. Premeditated Evil ensues while Merry gives hints about his feelings for Poppy. Lily-Rose on the other hand … well… read on!
Disclaimer: I only own my brain. And my baby acer laptop. Damn it, Tolkien. You always get the cooler stuff.
Chapter 5 – Perchance, to DreamIt was a damp, grey morning in the Shire, and Perigrin Took was awfully bored. He figured he could spend time with Diamond and Merry today, and …Poppy! And Lily-Rose! It feels like ages since he's seen the two sisters. So, he made his way through the grey-greens of Hobbiton and skipped his way to their little home. Simply enough he let himself in through the door, and before him was hell on earth; Poppy and her sister in an argument on something… about Merry?
"He --WHAT?"
"You heard me right." The blue-eyed lass smiled impishly.
"POPPY YOU'RE JOKING, RIGHT? OH I KNOW YOU ARE!"
"Then how else did you end up in the bedroom? What, you dreamt your way there?"
Lily-Rose stood erect staring at the floor; her eyes opened so wide you could've sworn she was poring out for a broken needle near her feet. Then she blushed a bright pink and looked up at her sister gaping. Poppy was still smiling mischievously at her, lifting an eyebrow.
"If I wasn't mistaken you also mumbled something while he was carrying you. Something like 'Marry me, Merry…'"
Lily-Rose shrieked out of her wits and ran into her bedroom, slamming the door behind her. To believe the embarrassment she was going through. The lad she had fallen head over heels for actually did sweep her off her feet and carried her all the way to her bed, moreover he had pulled over the blanket and tucked her in. Oh the mortification. She won't be able to bear a sight of him ever again. Her hair in a forbidden mess, she zapped from the living room into her own bedroom in the blink of an eye. All that was left of her was the great slam of the door.
"Merry carried her." Poppy told a dumbstruck Pippin, simultaneously tilting his jaw upwards to meet his lip with one finger.
"Ah," he replied, an air of awkwardness in his voice.
Poppy looked different today. He noticed. She seemed so…cold. He felt an aura of evil, like as if she was about to destroy the world in a snap of a finger, or anything that had caused her to be so moody. Her deep, blonde hair was tied in a tight bun, with a few strands that were let loose to fall on her cheek. She gave Pippin an extraordinary glare as she was clearing up the mess her sister had caused, and her eyes…they were so cold and terrible, and yet so beautiful.
"What's wrong with you?" she asked him, finally, after Pippin had seemed so dazed. "Close the door behind you, dreamer." Her voice was utterly monotonous and bitter, and Pippin thought…what if she were to snap her finger and blow me to bits instead?
A wisp of Pippin's tousled hair fell and marred his green eyes, and hastily he swept them back in place. "Poppy, are you alright?"
"Fine. Have you packed for the camp tonight?" Her reply instant. She paid no honest interest in Pippin.
Yes, the lot of them were going to sleep over in the woodlands tonight, just for a little fun. "Um, I'm almost done with it." Quickly changing the subject, he asked "Is Di—"
"She's still asleep." Poppy snapped. Pippin was afraid of her now, and weird thoughts came into his head. Heck, Poppy could be moody enough to actually murder him right on the sofa. What was all this about?
"I suggest you start packing. We'll be leaving soon. Go grab Merry and we'll meet later in the evening."
Pippin gulped. Had he done anything wrong to her? He only complied with a nod and left the Ice Queen in her cold castle.
* * *
"I don't know, Merry, I really don't know what's gong on with her," Pippin eeped in a tiny voice, hoping to get an answer from his confidante.
"I don't know either, Pip. Why don't you go figure that out yourself, eh, lad?" Merry replied. From his tone of voice he actually sounded accusatory, and Pippin felt hurt (not to mention confused) and the two friends walked in awkward silence for a while. A long interval passed before Merry had said anything else. He let out a long sigh and looked up to the sky as if he were to find some lost hope.
"She cares about you, Pippin. She really does. Don't hurt her, like you did. When you left with Diamond without a word she couldn't think straight."
Pippin parted his lips to have his own say. He was in terrible shock that his friend had actually brought that up, something that he thought everyone took amiss and simply ignored. Alas, he only let out a long breath. His waited for Merry to finish.
"…And I care for her, Pippin, so don't you ever hurt her again." And with that, he gave Pippin a freezing look in his eyes, his blue irises somewhat gleaming with old tears.
This had certainly made Pippin jerk to a standstill while they walked. He felt a cold twist in his heart. Never had Merry said anything so serious like that. He retorted back a futile rush, his own emerald eyes had tears that dared to fall from them. "I didn't mean to, Merry! I care for her just as much! You know that! It was just that night that-"
"That what, Pip, that you left her to cry alone and Lily and I were worried sick about her, and searched and waited for her all night?!"
Pippin was pale. "She…what?" He hadn't known this had happened. Neither one of them had mentioned this before. He was utterly dumbstruck.
"Promise me, Pip, just take good care of her, alright?"
Pippin couldn't do anything, but replied him solemnly. "I will." He didn't really want to bring the topic up if they would only get involved in a fight with eachother. And so that was left of that night, and Merry and Pippin walked together in slilence to Poppy's house.
* * *
Soon enough, Diamond and Poppy was already outside their home, chatting away as if nothing had happened. Lily-Rose was seen somewhat hiding behind her sister, face flushed and hidden behind Poppy's golden curls.
"Set to go?" Diamond asked. Each hobbit had a little pack with them, filled with things to last them the night. Soon enough, evening had dawned on them, and already they had lit a huge fire in a circle where they camped. It seemed that night that all their worries were over, and everyone was jostling around, telling stories and poems and they sang and sang all night. Even Lily-Rose had joined in the fun most comfortably, and was dancing around the fire along with Poppy and Diamond following after her. The two lads watched and laughed all night, until they had eaten and drank enough to fall horizontal around the cheerful flame. Diamond slept curled up under her blanket, and Lily-Rose was last seen near Merry, who was sleeping soundly, her head lain against his chest. But Poppy… she wasn't sleeping. She was up, and tiptoeing softly towards Pippin who was in a deep sleep, his cute lips mumbling of a waking dream.
* * *
"Wake up, Pippiiiiiiiin," a familiar warm whisper chirped in his ears.
"Five more minutes…"grumbled the voice under the blanket, and he turned away from the eager lass. It was just about close to midnight, and he was tired after their fooling around earlier. Ignoring Pippin's attempt to shun her away from his deep sleep, Poppy plopped onto the ground, lying next to him, gazing intently into his face. Sure he looked grumpy, but was he adorable. Biting her lower lip, her keen, aquamarine eyes pored on his boyish, childish features. He has such fine, cherry-red lips… and the sweetest dimples, she thought. It seems as if they're smiling at me. Sure enough, he and his dimples were smiling lightly, even though his eyes were still closed tight.
"I know you're looking at me, Poppy, and just the thought of it can't help but keep me awake," he mouthed.
"It's your dimples," She giggled. "They're smiling at me…"
"I can't do anything Poppy, dimples…they just tend to do that," answered Pippin.
Relinquishing the thought that sleeping would probably be impossible tonight, he opened his eyes.
And did he open his eyes.
Not five inches from his face, lay a sweet angel, her features divine in the gleam of the pale moonlight. Her blue eyes shone clear like water, and a few strands of her dark, curly hair had fallen over her neck and forehead. She wrinkled her cute little button nose, and the sight of Pippin's eyes fixed upon her made her fair cheeks glow a rosy hue. She was biting her lower lip and looked astoundingly endearing, almost impossible to resist. Taking his hand, he tucked away a lock of her sunny hair behind her ear. He thought to himself, Poppy you look so…
"…pretty."
"What is?" Poppy inquired curiously, her blue eyes mischievous.
Pippin, only now realizing that the words had escaped his lips, grew awfully pink. Trying to escape the subject, he fumbled,
"Wh-What are you doing here, at this time of the night?"
"Now that I've got your attention," As if she never did, he thought, "I wanted to show you something."
"Now?"
"Yes, now!" she insisted. If you keep yourself tucked under your covers, asking me questions, it's going to be dawn soon, and we both are going to miss it."
"Miss what?" He persisted. She rolled her eyes and took him by his arm, dragging him out of his sleep. They crept silently past the trees and berry-bushes; not wanting to cause havoc at this ungodly hour. "Come, quietly," whispered Poppy, still biting her lip mischievously, smiling at Pippin. He felt a rush of heat creeping up his cheeks once again.
Once the two hobbits were out of the thick woods, Poppy ran, dragging a drowsy Pippin behind her. Looking back at him, she found herself looking into a pair of lazy, grey-green eyes of a dumbfounded hobbit. Giggling to herself, they finally reached the end of the chase.
* * *
"You woke me up in the middle of the night just to bring me here?" It was their usual spot under the tree.
"No, silly, I woke you up to show you…this!"
and with that, they stepped away from under the tree, and she pointed to the dark, navy sky. It was absolute, a massive space, and in its clear vastness, it flowed a wandering stream that had shades of cream and the late evening sky, and it riverred all across the heavenly night. Numerous stars glittered and were sprinkled all over, some large and shone brightly, some dimmer and seemed like specks of polished diamonds. Once in a while they'd see a thin stroke of light pass by, but ultimately, gleaming whiter still was the round Moon, and it shone, ethereal and pure, illuminating brilliantly in the dark- making all else around it merit a dimmed luminosity.
"It's gorgeous, isn't it?" awed Poppy, her eyes still searching the sky.
"It is," he answered, not taking his gaze off her eyes as they sparkled innocently as the moon shone on them. Poppy noticed that Pippin hadn't really looked into the sky but had only looked at her. The very thought of this made her chuckle again, and her mere mirth was a sweet delight to Pippin's ears. Turning back to him, noticing that he hadn't moved his gaze from her at all, she took him by the jaw and tipped his head upwards. "Look up there," she commanded. Once she let go of him, almost immediately, he turned his gaze back at her once more. She tilted his head to the sky again, but defiantly, like a loyal puppy, he turned his sight onto her yet again. She let out a timid laugh at the thought of Pippin's head bobbing back at her like a spring. Eventually, Pippin did look up into the sky, and the both of them were contentedly lost in space.
That night, the two hobbits lay under the blanket of the night sky, searching for shooting stars and naming their favourite glittering jewel. Then something hit Pippin; the incident that happened the other night. He gave out a roughed whisper to Poppy, as if to make sure nobody else could heed them. "Poppy I just wanted to say… that that night…" but before he could continue, Poppy laid a finger on his lips, and said "Don't think of such things…" and they said no word of it anymore, and left it as that.
Eventually their eyelids lay heavier, and blurred their sight into a quiet slumber, and soon to a pleasant, longing dream…
… Little did they notice a figure lingering in the shadows, out of sight from them; his forlorn, hazy blue eyes crestfallen in the moonlight.
Post A/N: PLEASE R&R!!! ______________ *Mmuah!* oh by the way, I just put up a new fic at ff.net - Elements of the Antagonist. Go have a shot at it!