Hello all! ^^ O_O *hides various sharp objects thrown at her* ^_^;; Don't
hurt me. I actually have a *good* reason for not updating sooner this time.
Really! It'd take forever to explain them all so I'll just say that there
was a long stream of various unlucky events that involved me and people
around me. And as always, thanks to my friend Turtle for betaing. What I
would do without her I do not care to think of.
Lainfaer: well I *did* take about four months this time, but I got it up at least, yes? ^_^ cookies for you!
Gilraen Ar-Feiniel1: O_O;; Lost children of Legolas and Arwen? Ummmm... What on earth *ever* gave you that idea? *smacks away the ninja plot bunnies that came upon seeing that review along with a few elf kids that just *happen* to look like Lego and Arwen. Ummm, please have a cookie and forget about that.
Morgaine of the Fairies: O_O My story is God? *blushes* Ummm, I think you missed an 'O'. *scribbles in another 'o' making it say 'good'* ^_^;; There! *her religion teacher that was looking over he should goes away now* *sigh* OK, that was close, anyway, thank you for the comment, I'm glad you liketh! ^^ Cookies for you!
Star-Stallion: OMIGOD! Like you should talk? You still haven't updated of few of your stories that I like! And All the fellowship can sooooo not be dead in Hunter of the Night or whatever you called it. Oh, wait... We're talking about my story here... Ummmmm, well, the long updates are part of my curse of (1) being a very busy high school student and (2) having the wonderful luck of knowing everyone who has something really serious wrong with their lives. E.g., my best friend is suicidal, my favorite relative that is around my age didn't take her antidepressants and ended up in juvenile hall for a series of rather bad mistakes when she was off of her medication and a few others I shall not bother with right now. So, Ummmmm, yeah, I know I'm just making excuses but those are all true. And who said we were near the end anyway? ^^ Have a cookie and make all the fellowship in your story un-dead (and I don't mean zombie-like).
Nikki: Ummmmm, clever? Me? I don't think so. I just have a rather overactive imagination. Have a cookie and enjoy!
Lady Lenna: Lol, it doesn't necessarily mean that he's super evil, just really powerful and bloodthirsty at times...
Shadowwill: I'm glad you like. Here's an update. Have a cookie.
Fire faerie: Ack, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to take so long, but I've had a lot of family, friend, and personal problems. *looks at scars on arm* I'm accident prone too. Anyway, please don't hurt me. ^_^ cookie?
Purrple Kat: update update update update update update update update update update update update update update update update update update update update update update update update update update update update update update. I love the review and here's your update! ^^ Yes, I know I'm a smart ass. O_O I cursed at a reviewer... *smacks head on wall in a Dobby- like fashion* BAD AUTHOR BAD AUTHOR BAD!!! *knocks a hole in the wall* Oops... *gives Purrple Kat a cookie while she begins plastering the hole in the wall*
Disclaimer: OK, I don't own it, I don't even own my dog or my life anymore so what makes you think that I could possibly own an idea that helped create a mutli-million dollar movie? *cricket cricket* Ha, thought so. ;PAragorn stared off into nothing while the other waited in an uncomfortable silence for Gandalf to return. Thranduil sighed and walked over to Aragorn. "What did you see Aragorn? Did something you saw in the mirror has disturbed you?" It wasn't a question.
Aragorn shook his head slowly, "It's not so much that. I'm just thinking about Legolas, I can't help but wonder if we are going to be able to bring him back..."
Thranduil sighed again, "I don't know either, I know Galadriel told me to have hope, But I see none." Aragorn was greatly reminded of Boromir.
Gandalf gave the Elvenking a comforting smile, "Thranduil, where there is life, there is hope. Legolas shall leave the shadow and we will help him."
Thranduil looked at Gandalf, "At what cost? I know he wants to kill him." He said, pointing to Aragorn. "I know that even if Legolas returned to normal that if he found out that he tried to kill Aragorn, and I don't know what he would do to himself. Legolas has always been fiercely loyal to those he holds dear. To hurt, nay, to seek the life of one..." Thranduil trailed off.
Aragorn looked Thranduil straight in the eye. "I would never allow Legolas to hurt himself. Ever. And I'm more than willing to watch him like a hawk until he sees how pointless it would be to do anything to himself."
Thranduil gave Aragorn a smile but it didn't quite reach his eyes. Aragorn was about to comment when both of the heard sounds of distant screaming cut through the peaceful air of Lothlorien. Haldir looked up from his resting place. The screams, were coming from the place where Haldir's men should have been. Aragorn, Gimli, Thranduil, and Haldir made a mad dash for the area. When they arrived, their blood stopped cold.
Everyone was dead.
There were elven bodies, or remnants of them, strewn all across this section of the forest. The stench of death and blood was overbearing and it made all the of warriors heads swim. This was no place for death to come so violently.
Haldir was just frozen. He couldn't move, couldn't speak, couldn't breath, couldn't think. He just didn't know how this could have possibly happened. Even when Sauron was still a danger to the world, nothing this bad had ever happened. Aragorn shook his head, "This is our fault, they followed us here."
Haldir's head snapped up, "Who followed you here? Why didn't you tell me that something capable of *this* was following you?"
Gimli stepped forward, "And what would you have done? Sent more reinforcements to be slaughtered? You couldn't have prevented this and neither could we, even if we had told you!"
Haldir was at a loss. "I shouldn't have left them alone. At the very least, I should have died beside them."
Before any of the others could comfort him, another voice was heard.
"Oh, is the little captain feeling sorry for leaving his little boys behind and all alone? Well, don't worry, you wont be far behind this lot." Out from behind a tree stepped one of the demons, Phantasma.
The female demon laughed grimly at the warriors' faces. "What, don't tell me you honestly thought that we could not follow in here? Of course the light of this place is a trifle annoying, but we may enter none the less."
Haldir was fuming, "You did this to my men?"
Phantasma gave him an empty smirk, "Perhaps, but I think the proper question at this moment is what your men, are going to do to you."
With that, the bodies began to reassemble themselves, at least in some measure. The elven warriors' eyes were empty and they moves like marionettes, but they appeared to be ready to attack.
"What in the name of the Valar?" Thranduil gasped as he drew his sword, not sure if he wanted to attack.
"Don't bother worrying Thranduil. The souls of these Elves have already fled to Mandos' Halls. These are merely shells." Gandalf shouted as he drew his own sword.
Phantasma smiled grimly, "Throw a man down and I'll pick him back up. Chop off his head and I'll put it back on. None of the dead may resist my call." The soldiers were now all battle ready once more. "May I suggest you run? You cannot kill these troops, an improvement I'd say, over what they were before."
Haldir moved as though he wanted to slit her throat but Thranduil held him back, "Don't be an idiot! You'll get killed! I know this hurts, to see this done to your men, but getting yourself killed is not going to help any!"
Phantasma giggle a bit, "So, so true, but you are all going to die now anyway so what difference does it make?"
Thranduil glared at her, "Enough! Nothing would please me more than to never hear your voice again, but I can't even try to kill you although nothing would bring me more pleasure right now than to do so! Be gone, Bitch of Hell!"
Gandalf sighed, 'He's getting just as bad as he used to be before his father died..." the Mia thought. Phantasma was not amused. The soldiers, on some unseen or heard call, sprang forward. The battle ensued for what seemed like hours but it, in truth, was only a few minutes before they began to realize, even when they made what should have been a death blow, that their opponents merely pulled themselves together again.
Aragorn called out, "We cannot win this fight! We have to head back to the city! We shall come up with a plan there!"
The others were loathe to flee but they saw they had no choice at the moment. So they turned and ran, slicing their way out of the futile battle. However, Gimli had gotten himself too far into the middle of the mêlée and could not get out. The last thing he remembered was seeing one of the elven blades heading for his neck.
Aragorn saw the dwarf's plight and was in anguish to see that he could not help him. "GIMLI!" he shouted, before the dwarf was gone.
"One down, four more to go!" Phantasma smiled.
Thranduil and Haldir had to drag Aragorn with them. "I'm sorry Aragorn. He's gone; you can't do anything to help him anymore!" Thranduil said in the human's ear in a vain attempt to calm him down.
"No! He can't be dead! Gimli!" Aragorn shouted. He couldn't lose another friend. Not because he had been helpless to help them.
It seemed to take hours to get back to Lorien, probably due to the fact that Aragorn had struggled most of the way but now he appeared to have calmed down. The hobbits ran up to them, worried when they saw the blood, but even more worried about what they didn't see.
"Where is Gimli?" Frodo asked, afraid of the answer.
Thranduil and Haldir bowed their heads in reverence for the departed. Gandalf sighed, "He could not get out of the battle. There was nothing we could have done for him..." Aragorn felt sick as Gimli's last moments were replayed in his mind again. The hobbits stared in shock.
Gimli couldn't be dead... Could he?
Phantasma smiled as she gazed upon the retreating warriors and the Mia. "Well, that wasn't so hard..." she said to herself as she let her undead warriors fall to the ground again. She stepped up beside the fallen dwarf. She didn't have to bother to check his pulse, for his throat had been slashed open, spilling crimson blood onto the green forest floor. "My, my, my. They didn't seem to like to lose this one. But I have no use for him. I'll just leave this one to the carrion birds." She got up and went back to the rendezvous point to see the others.
Meanwhile...
Exile lifted his head up and sniffed the wind. "There is blood on the air. A lot of it too. Seems like the fun has started without me. Pity, I should best catch up."
Doram was doing hi best to try and catch up with his unruly charge. "You won't be catching up with anyone doing anything for a while! That's the Lord's orders!"
"And who is going to stop me? You?" Exile growled. "I highly doubt that!"
Doram groaned. How in the world could anything keep this one in line? He was already powerful enough to remove the power limiter and he also had the Blade of Darkness. "Why do you want to catch up if the fight is over already? Surely there is no sport in that!"
"There will be plenty of 'sport' to go around if anyone has touched that human!"
Doram sighed, 'Maybe it was a mistake for my Lord to use that particular memory against the elf. Now it has become an obsession!' he thought.
When they came upon the battlefield, Phantasma had just left. Exile looked around disdainfully at the corpses. "So I suppose I really am too late. No matter, the human is not here." he stopped when he saw Gimli's body. He felt a strange emotion enter his hardened heart. But a memory came back.
'I will be dead before I see the Ring, in the hands of an elf!'
"Exile? Does this dwarf mean anything to you?"
Doram's voice brought Exile out of the flashback. "No. 'Tis but a shadow on a thought. Let's go." But another memory came back when he began to turn his back.
He and the dwarf were staring out into a huge black army, or at least he was.
What's going on out there?' the dwarf asked frantically.
'Shall I describe it to you, or would you like me to find you a box?" he replied with a smile. The dwarf responded with a laugh of his own.
Exile stopped and turned back around and drew his sword. "Doram, you said that I could bring creatures back to life with this sword?"
"Yes. Why?" Doram replied uncertainly.
"Well I need to test it before I need it. Why not here? Plenty of dead things to go around! How do I use it?"
"Don't tell me you're asking me! I thought you were so smart! Besides, no one else has ever been able to hold that sword, much less use it so how should I know?"
"Watch your mouth, or I'll test it on you!" Exile growled. But as he held the sword, a strange aura surrounded all of the dead, including the dwarf. "So, I suppose I cut through this mess?"
"Cut through what? I see nothing but the dead."
Exile focused on it, "Well, I suppose that's it then." He slashed through the aura until it disappeared. All of the 'bodies' began to stir again.
Gimli felt his breathe come back. 'I thought I was a done for there... What happened?' He opened his eyes and saw a familiar retreating form amidst some rather perplexed elven guards. "Legolas!"
Exile stopped and turned around slowly, "Don't think anything of this! I had something to test and it worked, I could kill you all again but I don't think I'll bother so just consider yourself lucky!" He turned around again and disappeared into the forest.
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OK, so what, I brought them all back, I'm kind of depressed because we had to put my dog down. He bit my mom really bad and sent her to the ER, and he was only about a year and a half old. It wasn't even our fault; he had some organic mental problem (meaning he was born with it) and we couldn't help him get better. So, yeah, I just kinda needed to make some things work out happily. OK, enough of the sob story, please leave a review. (Please don't say you're sorry for what happened to my dog, I somehow knew it would happen and I can't stand people pitying me. Not trying to sound rude but I feel that I must have fallen pretty far for people to pity me.)
Lainfaer: well I *did* take about four months this time, but I got it up at least, yes? ^_^ cookies for you!
Gilraen Ar-Feiniel1: O_O;; Lost children of Legolas and Arwen? Ummmm... What on earth *ever* gave you that idea? *smacks away the ninja plot bunnies that came upon seeing that review along with a few elf kids that just *happen* to look like Lego and Arwen. Ummm, please have a cookie and forget about that.
Morgaine of the Fairies: O_O My story is God? *blushes* Ummm, I think you missed an 'O'. *scribbles in another 'o' making it say 'good'* ^_^;; There! *her religion teacher that was looking over he should goes away now* *sigh* OK, that was close, anyway, thank you for the comment, I'm glad you liketh! ^^ Cookies for you!
Star-Stallion: OMIGOD! Like you should talk? You still haven't updated of few of your stories that I like! And All the fellowship can sooooo not be dead in Hunter of the Night or whatever you called it. Oh, wait... We're talking about my story here... Ummmmm, well, the long updates are part of my curse of (1) being a very busy high school student and (2) having the wonderful luck of knowing everyone who has something really serious wrong with their lives. E.g., my best friend is suicidal, my favorite relative that is around my age didn't take her antidepressants and ended up in juvenile hall for a series of rather bad mistakes when she was off of her medication and a few others I shall not bother with right now. So, Ummmmm, yeah, I know I'm just making excuses but those are all true. And who said we were near the end anyway? ^^ Have a cookie and make all the fellowship in your story un-dead (and I don't mean zombie-like).
Nikki: Ummmmm, clever? Me? I don't think so. I just have a rather overactive imagination. Have a cookie and enjoy!
Lady Lenna: Lol, it doesn't necessarily mean that he's super evil, just really powerful and bloodthirsty at times...
Shadowwill: I'm glad you like. Here's an update. Have a cookie.
Fire faerie: Ack, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to take so long, but I've had a lot of family, friend, and personal problems. *looks at scars on arm* I'm accident prone too. Anyway, please don't hurt me. ^_^ cookie?
Purrple Kat: update update update update update update update update update update update update update update update update update update update update update update update update update update update update update update. I love the review and here's your update! ^^ Yes, I know I'm a smart ass. O_O I cursed at a reviewer... *smacks head on wall in a Dobby- like fashion* BAD AUTHOR BAD AUTHOR BAD!!! *knocks a hole in the wall* Oops... *gives Purrple Kat a cookie while she begins plastering the hole in the wall*
Disclaimer: OK, I don't own it, I don't even own my dog or my life anymore so what makes you think that I could possibly own an idea that helped create a mutli-million dollar movie? *cricket cricket* Ha, thought so. ;PAragorn stared off into nothing while the other waited in an uncomfortable silence for Gandalf to return. Thranduil sighed and walked over to Aragorn. "What did you see Aragorn? Did something you saw in the mirror has disturbed you?" It wasn't a question.
Aragorn shook his head slowly, "It's not so much that. I'm just thinking about Legolas, I can't help but wonder if we are going to be able to bring him back..."
Thranduil sighed again, "I don't know either, I know Galadriel told me to have hope, But I see none." Aragorn was greatly reminded of Boromir.
Gandalf gave the Elvenking a comforting smile, "Thranduil, where there is life, there is hope. Legolas shall leave the shadow and we will help him."
Thranduil looked at Gandalf, "At what cost? I know he wants to kill him." He said, pointing to Aragorn. "I know that even if Legolas returned to normal that if he found out that he tried to kill Aragorn, and I don't know what he would do to himself. Legolas has always been fiercely loyal to those he holds dear. To hurt, nay, to seek the life of one..." Thranduil trailed off.
Aragorn looked Thranduil straight in the eye. "I would never allow Legolas to hurt himself. Ever. And I'm more than willing to watch him like a hawk until he sees how pointless it would be to do anything to himself."
Thranduil gave Aragorn a smile but it didn't quite reach his eyes. Aragorn was about to comment when both of the heard sounds of distant screaming cut through the peaceful air of Lothlorien. Haldir looked up from his resting place. The screams, were coming from the place where Haldir's men should have been. Aragorn, Gimli, Thranduil, and Haldir made a mad dash for the area. When they arrived, their blood stopped cold.
Everyone was dead.
There were elven bodies, or remnants of them, strewn all across this section of the forest. The stench of death and blood was overbearing and it made all the of warriors heads swim. This was no place for death to come so violently.
Haldir was just frozen. He couldn't move, couldn't speak, couldn't breath, couldn't think. He just didn't know how this could have possibly happened. Even when Sauron was still a danger to the world, nothing this bad had ever happened. Aragorn shook his head, "This is our fault, they followed us here."
Haldir's head snapped up, "Who followed you here? Why didn't you tell me that something capable of *this* was following you?"
Gimli stepped forward, "And what would you have done? Sent more reinforcements to be slaughtered? You couldn't have prevented this and neither could we, even if we had told you!"
Haldir was at a loss. "I shouldn't have left them alone. At the very least, I should have died beside them."
Before any of the others could comfort him, another voice was heard.
"Oh, is the little captain feeling sorry for leaving his little boys behind and all alone? Well, don't worry, you wont be far behind this lot." Out from behind a tree stepped one of the demons, Phantasma.
The female demon laughed grimly at the warriors' faces. "What, don't tell me you honestly thought that we could not follow in here? Of course the light of this place is a trifle annoying, but we may enter none the less."
Haldir was fuming, "You did this to my men?"
Phantasma gave him an empty smirk, "Perhaps, but I think the proper question at this moment is what your men, are going to do to you."
With that, the bodies began to reassemble themselves, at least in some measure. The elven warriors' eyes were empty and they moves like marionettes, but they appeared to be ready to attack.
"What in the name of the Valar?" Thranduil gasped as he drew his sword, not sure if he wanted to attack.
"Don't bother worrying Thranduil. The souls of these Elves have already fled to Mandos' Halls. These are merely shells." Gandalf shouted as he drew his own sword.
Phantasma smiled grimly, "Throw a man down and I'll pick him back up. Chop off his head and I'll put it back on. None of the dead may resist my call." The soldiers were now all battle ready once more. "May I suggest you run? You cannot kill these troops, an improvement I'd say, over what they were before."
Haldir moved as though he wanted to slit her throat but Thranduil held him back, "Don't be an idiot! You'll get killed! I know this hurts, to see this done to your men, but getting yourself killed is not going to help any!"
Phantasma giggle a bit, "So, so true, but you are all going to die now anyway so what difference does it make?"
Thranduil glared at her, "Enough! Nothing would please me more than to never hear your voice again, but I can't even try to kill you although nothing would bring me more pleasure right now than to do so! Be gone, Bitch of Hell!"
Gandalf sighed, 'He's getting just as bad as he used to be before his father died..." the Mia thought. Phantasma was not amused. The soldiers, on some unseen or heard call, sprang forward. The battle ensued for what seemed like hours but it, in truth, was only a few minutes before they began to realize, even when they made what should have been a death blow, that their opponents merely pulled themselves together again.
Aragorn called out, "We cannot win this fight! We have to head back to the city! We shall come up with a plan there!"
The others were loathe to flee but they saw they had no choice at the moment. So they turned and ran, slicing their way out of the futile battle. However, Gimli had gotten himself too far into the middle of the mêlée and could not get out. The last thing he remembered was seeing one of the elven blades heading for his neck.
Aragorn saw the dwarf's plight and was in anguish to see that he could not help him. "GIMLI!" he shouted, before the dwarf was gone.
"One down, four more to go!" Phantasma smiled.
Thranduil and Haldir had to drag Aragorn with them. "I'm sorry Aragorn. He's gone; you can't do anything to help him anymore!" Thranduil said in the human's ear in a vain attempt to calm him down.
"No! He can't be dead! Gimli!" Aragorn shouted. He couldn't lose another friend. Not because he had been helpless to help them.
It seemed to take hours to get back to Lorien, probably due to the fact that Aragorn had struggled most of the way but now he appeared to have calmed down. The hobbits ran up to them, worried when they saw the blood, but even more worried about what they didn't see.
"Where is Gimli?" Frodo asked, afraid of the answer.
Thranduil and Haldir bowed their heads in reverence for the departed. Gandalf sighed, "He could not get out of the battle. There was nothing we could have done for him..." Aragorn felt sick as Gimli's last moments were replayed in his mind again. The hobbits stared in shock.
Gimli couldn't be dead... Could he?
Phantasma smiled as she gazed upon the retreating warriors and the Mia. "Well, that wasn't so hard..." she said to herself as she let her undead warriors fall to the ground again. She stepped up beside the fallen dwarf. She didn't have to bother to check his pulse, for his throat had been slashed open, spilling crimson blood onto the green forest floor. "My, my, my. They didn't seem to like to lose this one. But I have no use for him. I'll just leave this one to the carrion birds." She got up and went back to the rendezvous point to see the others.
Meanwhile...
Exile lifted his head up and sniffed the wind. "There is blood on the air. A lot of it too. Seems like the fun has started without me. Pity, I should best catch up."
Doram was doing hi best to try and catch up with his unruly charge. "You won't be catching up with anyone doing anything for a while! That's the Lord's orders!"
"And who is going to stop me? You?" Exile growled. "I highly doubt that!"
Doram groaned. How in the world could anything keep this one in line? He was already powerful enough to remove the power limiter and he also had the Blade of Darkness. "Why do you want to catch up if the fight is over already? Surely there is no sport in that!"
"There will be plenty of 'sport' to go around if anyone has touched that human!"
Doram sighed, 'Maybe it was a mistake for my Lord to use that particular memory against the elf. Now it has become an obsession!' he thought.
When they came upon the battlefield, Phantasma had just left. Exile looked around disdainfully at the corpses. "So I suppose I really am too late. No matter, the human is not here." he stopped when he saw Gimli's body. He felt a strange emotion enter his hardened heart. But a memory came back.
'I will be dead before I see the Ring, in the hands of an elf!'
"Exile? Does this dwarf mean anything to you?"
Doram's voice brought Exile out of the flashback. "No. 'Tis but a shadow on a thought. Let's go." But another memory came back when he began to turn his back.
He and the dwarf were staring out into a huge black army, or at least he was.
What's going on out there?' the dwarf asked frantically.
'Shall I describe it to you, or would you like me to find you a box?" he replied with a smile. The dwarf responded with a laugh of his own.
Exile stopped and turned back around and drew his sword. "Doram, you said that I could bring creatures back to life with this sword?"
"Yes. Why?" Doram replied uncertainly.
"Well I need to test it before I need it. Why not here? Plenty of dead things to go around! How do I use it?"
"Don't tell me you're asking me! I thought you were so smart! Besides, no one else has ever been able to hold that sword, much less use it so how should I know?"
"Watch your mouth, or I'll test it on you!" Exile growled. But as he held the sword, a strange aura surrounded all of the dead, including the dwarf. "So, I suppose I cut through this mess?"
"Cut through what? I see nothing but the dead."
Exile focused on it, "Well, I suppose that's it then." He slashed through the aura until it disappeared. All of the 'bodies' began to stir again.
Gimli felt his breathe come back. 'I thought I was a done for there... What happened?' He opened his eyes and saw a familiar retreating form amidst some rather perplexed elven guards. "Legolas!"
Exile stopped and turned around slowly, "Don't think anything of this! I had something to test and it worked, I could kill you all again but I don't think I'll bother so just consider yourself lucky!" He turned around again and disappeared into the forest.
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OK, so what, I brought them all back, I'm kind of depressed because we had to put my dog down. He bit my mom really bad and sent her to the ER, and he was only about a year and a half old. It wasn't even our fault; he had some organic mental problem (meaning he was born with it) and we couldn't help him get better. So, yeah, I just kinda needed to make some things work out happily. OK, enough of the sob story, please leave a review. (Please don't say you're sorry for what happened to my dog, I somehow knew it would happen and I can't stand people pitying me. Not trying to sound rude but I feel that I must have fallen pretty far for people to pity me.)