"Checkmate. I win." Ratchet said with an evil grin. Boromir just stared up
at her. He had been beaten by a girl! And a cocky girl at that. Then
Boromir grinned back at her.
She re-sheathed her sword and offered him her hand. He took it and she hauled him up. "That was a new experience." he said cheerfully.
"I bet. I wonder how your people will react when the son of the steward of Gondor was beaten by a girl."
Boromir just sighed. "Ah, who knows? My father will probably be a little angry at me. But you fight really well. I was informed that you had never beaten Strider before." he asked curiously.
"When one holds back, one does not expect to win." she answered crypticly. But Legolas understood it.
"You mean to say that you have not been trying?" Legolas asked, a little surprised.
"Yes. I would have lost something to do if I had beaten him all the time. He would have stopped the lessons and said that I would have learned all I could from him. Men." and she looked to the sky and mouthed something.
Boromir and Legolas were shocked to hear this revelation. They both came to the conclusion that the girl must have been an extremely good fighter to not have to try to come close to beating Aragorn.
"Honestly. What would I have gained anyway from beating him? Besides, if he doesn't practice he could become rusty. The last thing we need is a guy who's tryin' to remember how to fight during a battle." The Hobbits giggled at her.
"What have you gained from beating me?" Boromir asked her suddenly. She looked at him for a moment.
"Your respect, for one thing. And a little 'wake-up call.'" Gimli snorted. "And what, Master Gimli, was that for?" Ratchet turned and stared at him with her nearly-black eyes.
"Why should I explain my actions to a girl?" he asked her.
Ratchet's eyes flashed and, for a minute, seemed blacker than black. "Girl? I have beaten men taller and stronger than you in my home town. I have barely gotten out of fights with my life because a bunch of gang-bangers thought it funny to pick on a girl." she growled at him.
"So? Height means nothing in a fight." Gimli growled back. He hadn't the slightest clue what 'gang-bangers' were.
"Maybe not. But brains sure do. I wonder if you have that qualification." she sneered at him. Gimli was ready to pull out his ax and fight her, when Gandalf entered the scene.
"Ah, i'm glad to find you all together. The plans have been made. We shall set out from Rivendell in a few days. You would all be smart to get your things ready." and he left.
"Saved by the wizard." Ratchet whispered to Gimli before taking off to her own room.
In her room, Ratchet emptied out her backpack. She found all kinds of things, like comic books and food, for a small example. She found hmework that had been lost and some money, CD's and a CD player with batteries, and an apple and a bunch of her favorite comics. Even a few of her favorite books.
"Man, I gotta empty this thing out at least once every week!" she exclaimed as she looked at all the crap that had been pulled out of her backpack. Which was quite a lot.
"Ooooh! Candybar!" she said as she saw an Almond Joy, still in its wrapper, amid all the stuff. She grabbed it and started to wolf it down.
Then, who happened to walk by her open door, but Boromir! He looked absently inside her room and went back to staring at the floor. Then he stopped in his tracks. He looked back inside the room and let his mouth drop open. He saw stuff strewn all over the floor and bed.
Ratchet was too busy eating her Almond Joy and looking at a magazine she swore she had lost at the beginning of the year to notice him. Boromir looked down at the floor-space immediatly in front of him and saw a book.
The book was backwards and was full of pictures. The cover had a picture of a girl with really long hair sitting on something and smiling. The background was blue, and the name of it was Chobits (AN: Chobits rocks!! Sorry if I got the cover wrong. I sort of lost my copy of the first one). He was flipping through the pages, when Ratchet noticed him.
"Ack! Boromir, NO! DON'T LOOK AT THAT!!" Ratchet yelled as she tried to get up. But she slipped on some papers and fell back down. She had Boromir's attention now.
"What?" he asked, confused.
"Gimme that!" was all she said. She finally got up and snatched the book away from him. "You can't read this! This may be rated for people 16 and older, but they didn't count on people like you!" her heart was pounding at the close call. The guys here blushed sometimes when she cussed. How could they take the reading of Chobits? They would be scarred for life!!
"Why can't I read it?" he asked. "I'm not a baby!" he said indignantly.
Ratchet laughed. "I know that you smartass! But trust me on this. You couldn't handle this book, or the pictures."
"Picture books are for children. I don't see why I can't read it!" and he snatched the comic book and ran. Ratchet hesitated for a second, then chased after him.
"Boromir! Give it back! BOROMIR!!!" she yelled as she ran after him. Elves looked up from their tasks to see the man and girl race past. Elves just walking had to jump out of the way to avoid being run over by them.
As Ratchet's luck, or unluckiness, would have it, she ran into Merry and Pippin. AGAIN! That gave Boromir more of a head start than ever.
"Stupid jack-asses!" she yelled at them as hurriedly raced off, sort of crouching like Igor in the Frankenstein movies would.
She race in the general direction that Boromir had went in, and it didn't take her long to find him.
He was sitting on a bench, staring open mouthed at a page. Ratchet ran up to him and saw that he was looking at a really wrong part (where Hideki is looking for Chi's on switch and finds it in a very....hidden place). She grabbed the book and tried to get her breath back.
"What the devil was that?" Boromir asked, still shaken up by what he had seen. What the boy had been doing to that young woman was so....wrong!
"I told you! But noooooo! You just had to look at it!" she replied sarcasticly.
"Why do you read stuff like that!" he exploded. "Children shouldn't be allowed to read things such as that!"
"Boromir! This isn't a kids book! See! It says 'OT', which means Older Teens! That means people who are 16 and older are allowed to read it! I'm old enough to read this!" she yelled back. "Jeez! It's only a comic book!" and she stalked off to her room. "I still have to get ready for the quest!"
Boromir was furious. What was a comic book? How dare she talk to him like that! So what if she had beaten him once!
Meanwhile, Merry and Pippin were looking for Ratchet to say that they were sorry. They saw her walking down a hallway, and were about to call out to her, when they heard her angry mutterings and saw her face. She did not look like she wanted to be disturbed. So they watched her walk by. The last thing they heard from her was, "Stupid royalty. Stupid Boromir. Stupid..."
----------------
Nighttime had finally hit Rivendell. All of its occupants had gone to sleep, except for one.
Ratchet. She had been too worked up to sleep, and the fight had brought back a memory that she wished she could just forget.
~*Flashback*~
"No! You can't go! I won't let you!" Ratchet yelled.
"But I have to go!" Kokuyo pleaded.
"No! That woman has done nothing for you!"
"She's my mother! I have to go to her!"
"So what? What has she ever done to help you!? She left you for some drunk idiot!" Ratchet was furious at Kokuyo. How could he not see that he owed that woman, who called herself his mother, nothing! She had left her only son with his abusive father, and went traipsing off with a drunk guy. Kokuyo's father hadn't been abusive in the beginning.
But when his mom had left, then his dad started to beat him. He blamed his son for the mothers leaving.
"She still part of my blood. Blood relatives have to help out blood relatives. No matter what they have or haven't done." Kokuyo stated. Ratchet snorted.
"And how do you propose to get to Denver, Colorado? Hitch-hike? That bitch certainly ain't payin'."
"I'll find a way. I have to." Kokuyo said firmly.
"You bastard! Can't you see what she's doing?" Ratchet screamed. Kokuyo tried to grab her hand, but she backed away. "Fuck this, Kokuyo! I won't go through with this stupid plan of yours!" and she ran off.
Kokuyo followed her out. She was running towards the parking lot on the other side of the street. "Wait! Aerin!" he called out.
She stopped in the middle of the street. "What Kokuyo? I don't want to watch this crazy game that you're playing with yourself! Can't you see that she's just trying something? She's not really sick!" She kept yelling at him, not stopping.
So she didn't notice the car that was speeding down the street. But Kokuyo did. "Aerin! Get out of the street!" Kokuyo said, running towards her again. But she wasn't listening to him.
What happened next, seemed to happen in slow motion for Ratchet and Kokuyo.
Kokuyo knocked Ratchet onto the sidewalk. The car hit Kokuyo and knocked him twelve feet past the curb. The car stopped and the driver got out. The driver of the car and Ratchet ran to Kokuyo. The driver of the car called 911 on his cell phone, while Ratchet cradled Kokuyo's head in her lap. She started to cry.
"Kokuyo? I'm so sorry." she whispered to him. His head was bleeding and one arm had gone limp.
"'S okay Aerin. I'm just glad that your safe." he whispered back.
"It's all my fault. I'm so sorry. It's all my fault." Ratchet started to shake a little.
"Don't cry. Please, don't cry." Kokuyo whispered. He took his good arm and wiped away some of her tears.
"I'm so scared Kokuyo. Please, don't die."
"I'm afraid I am. I can't feel my legs, and it hurts to breathe."
"No, Kokuyo. Don't leave me. You're all I have." The sound of sirens could be heard now. "You hear that? It's the doctors. They're gonna make you better." She attempted to smile.
"Aerin?" He coughed, and blood came out.
"Yes?" she was crying a little harder now.
"I love you, Aerin Williams. We'll see each other again sometime." and he gave her a smile, before closing his eyes forever.
"Kokuyo? Kokuyo! KOKUYO!!" she screamed. The doctors arrived and pulled her away frm him. They just shook their heads and covered him up with a black blanket. "KOKUYO!!!"
~*End Flashack*~
"Why'd he leave me?" Ratchet asked herself. "Why?"
She went over to the piles of crap that were still on her floor, but more organized. She dug through one pile and found her wallet. It said in red letters 'Lucky 13' and had two dice and blue flames on it. It was made out of real black leather, and kept her favorite pictures, some cards, and her money in it.
Ratchet opened it and pulled out a picture of her and Kokuyo. It was the last picture taken of them together before he had died.
She stared at it for a few minutes. Then set it on her bed, and she curled up into a ball and fell asleep.
--------------------
Boromir looked around the breakfast table. Ratchet was missing this morning. The elf, Arwen, said that Ratchet was not hungry this morning and was very tired.
Lord Elrond had just sighed and said that they should leave her alone. Aragorn looked releived at Elrond's decision. The Hobbit, Frodo, had said that it was probably because he didn't want to get punched again. The other Hobbits had giggled.
But Boromir was worried that it had been because of him that she was not attending breakfast. So afterwards, he decided to pay her a visit.
He knocked on her door. "What?" a voice from inside said. He took that as a come in.
The room was a little more organized than the last time he was there. But things were still all over the floor. "Whaddo ya want?" Ratchet asked from the bed. She was curled into a ball and in some black pants and a white shirt.
"I was wondering why you didn't come to breakfast." Boromir said from the door.
Ratchet recognised his voice, but didn't act like she did. "I wasn't hungry. Go 'way." She could hear him walk closer.
"Is that the real reason?" he asked.
"Yeah. Now shove off." All she wanted was to be left alone at the moment. That stupid fight yesterday. Did he think that was why she wanted to be left alone? Probably.
"Are you sure?" he asked. He moved closer.
"Do I need to spell it out for ya? Now go!" she yelled at him. 'He just wants to know if you're all right' her conscience said. Great.
Boromir wondered what was wrong. Something had to be wrong. It must be something besides the fight they had yesterday. If that was what you could call it. He just stood there, looking at her.
"Fine! I'll go, since you seem to be so happy standing there!" Ratchet got up from the bed and grabbed her sword, put on some boots, and left. Boromir was about to leave when he saw a picture on the bed. It was better than any artist he had ever seen been able to do.
It was a picture of two people. Ratchet was smiling and in the arms of a tall man. He had short black spiky hair and blue eyes. He was about a head taller than her and wearing all black. He had two earings in one ear and was wearing a silver chain necklace.
Boromir sighed and left her room. Ratchet was a very complicated child. It would be very interesting to see how she acted on the quest.
--------------------------
Ratchet was now officially in a bad mood. She felt like hitting the first person who tried to talk to her. But apparently, everyone was smart enough to not talk to her. They just stayed out of her way. It reminded her of how everyone acted at school.
That made her mood even worse. She had to get her frustration out. So, she did the only thing she could think of doing. She let out a frusrtated scream, and punched the wall.
Now, since the wall was made out of marble, her hand wasn't in very good shape. She felt several bones crack and her knuckles were a bloody mess. Ratchet took deep calming breaths to keep from screaming in pain.
Frodo must have heard her scream, because he came running down the hallway. "Ratchet! Ratchet, are you all right?" he asked. Then he saw her hand. "Oh my.... We have to get you to a healer."
She tried to protest, because she knew somebody would make a fuss about it. But Frodo just took her arm and took her to the sick ward. The healers did make a fuss. They talked about how she was still recovering from the poison and that she shouldn't go around getting herself hurt.
And then Arwen showed up, talking to Elrond. Oh, that was the icing on the cake. "What have you done to get that?" Elrond asked when he saw her bandaged hand.
"I punched a wall." she said simply. There was no point in lying to him.
"Punched a wall? What did it do to you?" Elrond asked with a little smirk. He found it a little funny.
"I was frustrated. So, I punched the wall. Last time I do that." she said, frowning at her hand. Her fingers moved stiffly, and she couldn't make a complete fist. This was one of the times that her temper and problems got the better of her. "Next time, i'll throw something. Or punch a pillow. At least a pillow's soft, and won't break my hand."
Ratchet left and went to one of the numerous gardens. She sat down on the grass and stared at nothing. She let her eyes unfocus and her mind wander. It helped her relax and get her thoughts in order. So naturally she didn't see Legolas enter the garden.
Legolas didn't even notice her until he was standing a few feet away from her. She didn't even seem to notice him. Strange, Ratchet was usually more alert than that. He stood there and watched her. Suddenly, she had trouble breathing. She started gasping and grabbed her sword at her side, but didn't pull it out.
He went up to her, and saw that her face was deathly pale, and she was sweating. Then she blinked, and looked up at him. She blinked again, and relaxed.
"Legolas? What did I do a few minutes ago?" Ratchet asked him.
"You started to gasp for breath and sweat. Then you grabbed your sword, but didn't pull it out." he answered her. Then he noticed the bandages on her left hand. "What happened to your hand?"
She looked at her hand and frowned. Then stood up, and looked around. "Nothing. I think i'll get my mess cleaned up in my room." and she walked off.
'How strange' Legolas thought. 'I wonder if she is feeling well.'
Ratchet did clean up her room. All the while thinking about what had just happened. She had been in the middle of thinking what was for lunch, when the gibberish murmurings had started. The same ones that had started in the council. Whatever had been making them, was pure evil. It was all because of that stupid ring.
Gandalf walked into Ratchet's room to find her deep in thought. He waited until she noticed him to start speaking. "We will be leaving the day after tomorrow. Make sure you pack everything you need by tomorrow night." he informed her. She nodded to show she understood, and the wizard left.
Ratchet let out a sigh. "Get a hold of yourself. You're going on a fun little trip to destroy a little golden ring that an evil dude wants to use to rule the world. It'll a snap." She laughed, "Not!"
She re-sheathed her sword and offered him her hand. He took it and she hauled him up. "That was a new experience." he said cheerfully.
"I bet. I wonder how your people will react when the son of the steward of Gondor was beaten by a girl."
Boromir just sighed. "Ah, who knows? My father will probably be a little angry at me. But you fight really well. I was informed that you had never beaten Strider before." he asked curiously.
"When one holds back, one does not expect to win." she answered crypticly. But Legolas understood it.
"You mean to say that you have not been trying?" Legolas asked, a little surprised.
"Yes. I would have lost something to do if I had beaten him all the time. He would have stopped the lessons and said that I would have learned all I could from him. Men." and she looked to the sky and mouthed something.
Boromir and Legolas were shocked to hear this revelation. They both came to the conclusion that the girl must have been an extremely good fighter to not have to try to come close to beating Aragorn.
"Honestly. What would I have gained anyway from beating him? Besides, if he doesn't practice he could become rusty. The last thing we need is a guy who's tryin' to remember how to fight during a battle." The Hobbits giggled at her.
"What have you gained from beating me?" Boromir asked her suddenly. She looked at him for a moment.
"Your respect, for one thing. And a little 'wake-up call.'" Gimli snorted. "And what, Master Gimli, was that for?" Ratchet turned and stared at him with her nearly-black eyes.
"Why should I explain my actions to a girl?" he asked her.
Ratchet's eyes flashed and, for a minute, seemed blacker than black. "Girl? I have beaten men taller and stronger than you in my home town. I have barely gotten out of fights with my life because a bunch of gang-bangers thought it funny to pick on a girl." she growled at him.
"So? Height means nothing in a fight." Gimli growled back. He hadn't the slightest clue what 'gang-bangers' were.
"Maybe not. But brains sure do. I wonder if you have that qualification." she sneered at him. Gimli was ready to pull out his ax and fight her, when Gandalf entered the scene.
"Ah, i'm glad to find you all together. The plans have been made. We shall set out from Rivendell in a few days. You would all be smart to get your things ready." and he left.
"Saved by the wizard." Ratchet whispered to Gimli before taking off to her own room.
In her room, Ratchet emptied out her backpack. She found all kinds of things, like comic books and food, for a small example. She found hmework that had been lost and some money, CD's and a CD player with batteries, and an apple and a bunch of her favorite comics. Even a few of her favorite books.
"Man, I gotta empty this thing out at least once every week!" she exclaimed as she looked at all the crap that had been pulled out of her backpack. Which was quite a lot.
"Ooooh! Candybar!" she said as she saw an Almond Joy, still in its wrapper, amid all the stuff. She grabbed it and started to wolf it down.
Then, who happened to walk by her open door, but Boromir! He looked absently inside her room and went back to staring at the floor. Then he stopped in his tracks. He looked back inside the room and let his mouth drop open. He saw stuff strewn all over the floor and bed.
Ratchet was too busy eating her Almond Joy and looking at a magazine she swore she had lost at the beginning of the year to notice him. Boromir looked down at the floor-space immediatly in front of him and saw a book.
The book was backwards and was full of pictures. The cover had a picture of a girl with really long hair sitting on something and smiling. The background was blue, and the name of it was Chobits (AN: Chobits rocks!! Sorry if I got the cover wrong. I sort of lost my copy of the first one). He was flipping through the pages, when Ratchet noticed him.
"Ack! Boromir, NO! DON'T LOOK AT THAT!!" Ratchet yelled as she tried to get up. But she slipped on some papers and fell back down. She had Boromir's attention now.
"What?" he asked, confused.
"Gimme that!" was all she said. She finally got up and snatched the book away from him. "You can't read this! This may be rated for people 16 and older, but they didn't count on people like you!" her heart was pounding at the close call. The guys here blushed sometimes when she cussed. How could they take the reading of Chobits? They would be scarred for life!!
"Why can't I read it?" he asked. "I'm not a baby!" he said indignantly.
Ratchet laughed. "I know that you smartass! But trust me on this. You couldn't handle this book, or the pictures."
"Picture books are for children. I don't see why I can't read it!" and he snatched the comic book and ran. Ratchet hesitated for a second, then chased after him.
"Boromir! Give it back! BOROMIR!!!" she yelled as she ran after him. Elves looked up from their tasks to see the man and girl race past. Elves just walking had to jump out of the way to avoid being run over by them.
As Ratchet's luck, or unluckiness, would have it, she ran into Merry and Pippin. AGAIN! That gave Boromir more of a head start than ever.
"Stupid jack-asses!" she yelled at them as hurriedly raced off, sort of crouching like Igor in the Frankenstein movies would.
She race in the general direction that Boromir had went in, and it didn't take her long to find him.
He was sitting on a bench, staring open mouthed at a page. Ratchet ran up to him and saw that he was looking at a really wrong part (where Hideki is looking for Chi's on switch and finds it in a very....hidden place). She grabbed the book and tried to get her breath back.
"What the devil was that?" Boromir asked, still shaken up by what he had seen. What the boy had been doing to that young woman was so....wrong!
"I told you! But noooooo! You just had to look at it!" she replied sarcasticly.
"Why do you read stuff like that!" he exploded. "Children shouldn't be allowed to read things such as that!"
"Boromir! This isn't a kids book! See! It says 'OT', which means Older Teens! That means people who are 16 and older are allowed to read it! I'm old enough to read this!" she yelled back. "Jeez! It's only a comic book!" and she stalked off to her room. "I still have to get ready for the quest!"
Boromir was furious. What was a comic book? How dare she talk to him like that! So what if she had beaten him once!
Meanwhile, Merry and Pippin were looking for Ratchet to say that they were sorry. They saw her walking down a hallway, and were about to call out to her, when they heard her angry mutterings and saw her face. She did not look like she wanted to be disturbed. So they watched her walk by. The last thing they heard from her was, "Stupid royalty. Stupid Boromir. Stupid..."
----------------
Nighttime had finally hit Rivendell. All of its occupants had gone to sleep, except for one.
Ratchet. She had been too worked up to sleep, and the fight had brought back a memory that she wished she could just forget.
~*Flashback*~
"No! You can't go! I won't let you!" Ratchet yelled.
"But I have to go!" Kokuyo pleaded.
"No! That woman has done nothing for you!"
"She's my mother! I have to go to her!"
"So what? What has she ever done to help you!? She left you for some drunk idiot!" Ratchet was furious at Kokuyo. How could he not see that he owed that woman, who called herself his mother, nothing! She had left her only son with his abusive father, and went traipsing off with a drunk guy. Kokuyo's father hadn't been abusive in the beginning.
But when his mom had left, then his dad started to beat him. He blamed his son for the mothers leaving.
"She still part of my blood. Blood relatives have to help out blood relatives. No matter what they have or haven't done." Kokuyo stated. Ratchet snorted.
"And how do you propose to get to Denver, Colorado? Hitch-hike? That bitch certainly ain't payin'."
"I'll find a way. I have to." Kokuyo said firmly.
"You bastard! Can't you see what she's doing?" Ratchet screamed. Kokuyo tried to grab her hand, but she backed away. "Fuck this, Kokuyo! I won't go through with this stupid plan of yours!" and she ran off.
Kokuyo followed her out. She was running towards the parking lot on the other side of the street. "Wait! Aerin!" he called out.
She stopped in the middle of the street. "What Kokuyo? I don't want to watch this crazy game that you're playing with yourself! Can't you see that she's just trying something? She's not really sick!" She kept yelling at him, not stopping.
So she didn't notice the car that was speeding down the street. But Kokuyo did. "Aerin! Get out of the street!" Kokuyo said, running towards her again. But she wasn't listening to him.
What happened next, seemed to happen in slow motion for Ratchet and Kokuyo.
Kokuyo knocked Ratchet onto the sidewalk. The car hit Kokuyo and knocked him twelve feet past the curb. The car stopped and the driver got out. The driver of the car and Ratchet ran to Kokuyo. The driver of the car called 911 on his cell phone, while Ratchet cradled Kokuyo's head in her lap. She started to cry.
"Kokuyo? I'm so sorry." she whispered to him. His head was bleeding and one arm had gone limp.
"'S okay Aerin. I'm just glad that your safe." he whispered back.
"It's all my fault. I'm so sorry. It's all my fault." Ratchet started to shake a little.
"Don't cry. Please, don't cry." Kokuyo whispered. He took his good arm and wiped away some of her tears.
"I'm so scared Kokuyo. Please, don't die."
"I'm afraid I am. I can't feel my legs, and it hurts to breathe."
"No, Kokuyo. Don't leave me. You're all I have." The sound of sirens could be heard now. "You hear that? It's the doctors. They're gonna make you better." She attempted to smile.
"Aerin?" He coughed, and blood came out.
"Yes?" she was crying a little harder now.
"I love you, Aerin Williams. We'll see each other again sometime." and he gave her a smile, before closing his eyes forever.
"Kokuyo? Kokuyo! KOKUYO!!" she screamed. The doctors arrived and pulled her away frm him. They just shook their heads and covered him up with a black blanket. "KOKUYO!!!"
~*End Flashack*~
"Why'd he leave me?" Ratchet asked herself. "Why?"
She went over to the piles of crap that were still on her floor, but more organized. She dug through one pile and found her wallet. It said in red letters 'Lucky 13' and had two dice and blue flames on it. It was made out of real black leather, and kept her favorite pictures, some cards, and her money in it.
Ratchet opened it and pulled out a picture of her and Kokuyo. It was the last picture taken of them together before he had died.
She stared at it for a few minutes. Then set it on her bed, and she curled up into a ball and fell asleep.
--------------------
Boromir looked around the breakfast table. Ratchet was missing this morning. The elf, Arwen, said that Ratchet was not hungry this morning and was very tired.
Lord Elrond had just sighed and said that they should leave her alone. Aragorn looked releived at Elrond's decision. The Hobbit, Frodo, had said that it was probably because he didn't want to get punched again. The other Hobbits had giggled.
But Boromir was worried that it had been because of him that she was not attending breakfast. So afterwards, he decided to pay her a visit.
He knocked on her door. "What?" a voice from inside said. He took that as a come in.
The room was a little more organized than the last time he was there. But things were still all over the floor. "Whaddo ya want?" Ratchet asked from the bed. She was curled into a ball and in some black pants and a white shirt.
"I was wondering why you didn't come to breakfast." Boromir said from the door.
Ratchet recognised his voice, but didn't act like she did. "I wasn't hungry. Go 'way." She could hear him walk closer.
"Is that the real reason?" he asked.
"Yeah. Now shove off." All she wanted was to be left alone at the moment. That stupid fight yesterday. Did he think that was why she wanted to be left alone? Probably.
"Are you sure?" he asked. He moved closer.
"Do I need to spell it out for ya? Now go!" she yelled at him. 'He just wants to know if you're all right' her conscience said. Great.
Boromir wondered what was wrong. Something had to be wrong. It must be something besides the fight they had yesterday. If that was what you could call it. He just stood there, looking at her.
"Fine! I'll go, since you seem to be so happy standing there!" Ratchet got up from the bed and grabbed her sword, put on some boots, and left. Boromir was about to leave when he saw a picture on the bed. It was better than any artist he had ever seen been able to do.
It was a picture of two people. Ratchet was smiling and in the arms of a tall man. He had short black spiky hair and blue eyes. He was about a head taller than her and wearing all black. He had two earings in one ear and was wearing a silver chain necklace.
Boromir sighed and left her room. Ratchet was a very complicated child. It would be very interesting to see how she acted on the quest.
--------------------------
Ratchet was now officially in a bad mood. She felt like hitting the first person who tried to talk to her. But apparently, everyone was smart enough to not talk to her. They just stayed out of her way. It reminded her of how everyone acted at school.
That made her mood even worse. She had to get her frustration out. So, she did the only thing she could think of doing. She let out a frusrtated scream, and punched the wall.
Now, since the wall was made out of marble, her hand wasn't in very good shape. She felt several bones crack and her knuckles were a bloody mess. Ratchet took deep calming breaths to keep from screaming in pain.
Frodo must have heard her scream, because he came running down the hallway. "Ratchet! Ratchet, are you all right?" he asked. Then he saw her hand. "Oh my.... We have to get you to a healer."
She tried to protest, because she knew somebody would make a fuss about it. But Frodo just took her arm and took her to the sick ward. The healers did make a fuss. They talked about how she was still recovering from the poison and that she shouldn't go around getting herself hurt.
And then Arwen showed up, talking to Elrond. Oh, that was the icing on the cake. "What have you done to get that?" Elrond asked when he saw her bandaged hand.
"I punched a wall." she said simply. There was no point in lying to him.
"Punched a wall? What did it do to you?" Elrond asked with a little smirk. He found it a little funny.
"I was frustrated. So, I punched the wall. Last time I do that." she said, frowning at her hand. Her fingers moved stiffly, and she couldn't make a complete fist. This was one of the times that her temper and problems got the better of her. "Next time, i'll throw something. Or punch a pillow. At least a pillow's soft, and won't break my hand."
Ratchet left and went to one of the numerous gardens. She sat down on the grass and stared at nothing. She let her eyes unfocus and her mind wander. It helped her relax and get her thoughts in order. So naturally she didn't see Legolas enter the garden.
Legolas didn't even notice her until he was standing a few feet away from her. She didn't even seem to notice him. Strange, Ratchet was usually more alert than that. He stood there and watched her. Suddenly, she had trouble breathing. She started gasping and grabbed her sword at her side, but didn't pull it out.
He went up to her, and saw that her face was deathly pale, and she was sweating. Then she blinked, and looked up at him. She blinked again, and relaxed.
"Legolas? What did I do a few minutes ago?" Ratchet asked him.
"You started to gasp for breath and sweat. Then you grabbed your sword, but didn't pull it out." he answered her. Then he noticed the bandages on her left hand. "What happened to your hand?"
She looked at her hand and frowned. Then stood up, and looked around. "Nothing. I think i'll get my mess cleaned up in my room." and she walked off.
'How strange' Legolas thought. 'I wonder if she is feeling well.'
Ratchet did clean up her room. All the while thinking about what had just happened. She had been in the middle of thinking what was for lunch, when the gibberish murmurings had started. The same ones that had started in the council. Whatever had been making them, was pure evil. It was all because of that stupid ring.
Gandalf walked into Ratchet's room to find her deep in thought. He waited until she noticed him to start speaking. "We will be leaving the day after tomorrow. Make sure you pack everything you need by tomorrow night." he informed her. She nodded to show she understood, and the wizard left.
Ratchet let out a sigh. "Get a hold of yourself. You're going on a fun little trip to destroy a little golden ring that an evil dude wants to use to rule the world. It'll a snap." She laughed, "Not!"