A/N: I MUST make up the lack of updates!!!!! (type type type) Wish me luck! (munches on marshy-mallows) I'll write, I promise... as soon as I'm done with these... and the popcorn... and the cake... and the ice-cream... and all the other junk food. hehe. Food helps me think good, I swear!
Disclaimer: I won't put anymore of these up, because if you haven't gotten the point yet, you're never going to get it.
Disclaimer 2: I dunno if this counts as a disclaimer... but anyways, in my version, Aragorn doesn't die in that little skirmish with the wargs, as seen in the movie.
Home Sweet Home
Chapter Twenty-Seven: 'Deep' Reunions
"FREEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" A triumphant voice sounded in the valley, and echoed off the stone walls of the keep.
Nicole had finally succeeded in finding the two brats' mother as they had entered Helm's Deep. She now basked happily in the afternoon sun and sat dangling her legs off the steep edge of the wall of Helm's Deep. Everybody else paused for a moment at the shout and looked up at her, but with a smile and a wave from Nicole, they went back to scuttling around their fortress. The work had started as soon as they had arrived, with Eowyn directing the people where to go, what to put where, and all sorts of stuff that bored Nicole to tears. Besides, she assured herself, I deserve a break after dealing with those kids for the whole walk here. Eowyn was surprised that Nicole had made it, and so was Nicole.
The situation at the moment was as follows:
A) The entire population of Edoras was at Helm's Deep.
B) The entire population of about five other small Rohan-ian towns was also at Helm's Deep.
C) Everyone was trying to get stuffed into the caves (rumored to be spacious, but Nicole had politely declined seeing for herself... she didn't particularly like caves).
D) Everyone was trying to find enough food to support the people in the caves.
E) No one had seen hide nor hair or the missing Rohirrim, but there was a rumor that they were on their way.
F) Eowyn was managing all of this; Nicole was on a self-appointed vacation.
"If you could remind me again, why exactly are you not working?" a voice asked from behind her.
"Elementary, dear Eowyn," Nicole replied. "I'm going to work, of course. But once the warrior-dudes get here."
"And why is that?"
"Duh... I'm going to be with them, I need to save up my strength for fighting."
"Fighting?!"
Nicole dismissed the comment and stood on the raised parapet of the wall, ignoring the steep drop on one side of her. Stretching her arms above her head, she leaned forward and shifted her weight to her arms as she did a handstand on the stone. Eowyn gasped, sputtered, and attempted to command her to get down from there immediately. She grinned. "Yes, fighting. I can't wait!" She giggled and turned herself right-side-up again.
"You're going to get yourself killed!"
Nicole did a cartwheel. "If I'm going to die anyways, why not do it for a cause?"
"I'm not talking about the battle, you stupid girl, I'm talking about... this... this... PLAYING!!!"
Nicole sighed and sat back down, this time facing Eowyn and safety. "Yes, mother," she said and stuck her tongue out. Abruptly, she swung her legs back onto the ledge, sat in the lotus position, closed her eyes and began humming. "Ommm..... ommmm....."
"What are you doing? Would you get down from there, that's dangerous!" Eowyn scolded her.
Nicole glared at her through one open eye. "I'm meditating," she claimed in a matter-of-fact tone. "It helps me calm down."
Eowyn raised an eyebrow. "I'm sure it does," she replied sarcastically.
"Dammit, why can't I do that?"
"Do what?"
"Raise my eyebrow... it's not fair!" Nicole pouted.
Her friend suddenly smiled in fake happiness. "You know what you can do, though? You could help me moving all the people and provisions into the Caves."
"Oh, that sounds SOOO tempting!" Nicole rolled her eyes. Then sighed... then got off the ledge and trudged towards the direction of the Caves.
"Where are you going?" Eowyn called as she caught up.
"Where do you think, your highness?" she grumbled. "I'm going to do the right thing because I have to because I'm a bloody Elf and if I don't my conscience eats away at my brain, and quite honestly I like my brain, so I'm going to be nice and help you even though I hate it 'cause its boring, but I'm just doing it for the sake of my brain!"
Eowyn blinked. "Uh... sure. As long as you are helping me... and Nicole, do try to keep the psychotic speech down to a minimum around the children." With a growl from the She-Elf, Eowyn added, "Or... not..." And with that, the two of them headed back towards the caves (of doom).
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A horn sounded somewhere in the Deep, and the noise level in the hall rose sharply: the Rohirrim had returned. Nicole increased her speed, trying to avoid random items strewn on the table tops. Finally reaching the opening of the passage-way, she managed to get on the floor and run on a proper surface.
And if our dear ol' Rohirrim are back, I'll bet my right foot that Aragonite and Gimli are back too! Oh... and Legolas, too. Yea, I'm sure he came back just to torture me more... stupid Elf. Nicole turned the last corner, which should presumably lead her to where the Rohirrim were assembled, and faced.... a six-foot high stone wall. She growled and stared at the wall, "You weren't here before! MOVE, damn you!" Naturally, the wall didn't comply with her demand. "Fine," she muttered. "If you won't move, I'll just climb over you." She hoisted herself up onto the top of the wall, which was thankfully at least a foot thick. She paused on the top, and sat herself down facing outwards. "Go figure, Nicole would get herself there, only a floor too high."
Below her, and oblivious to her, the Rohirrim were milling into the large space, fewer in number than before. Nicole searched through the crowd from her perch above them, catching a glimpse of long blonde hair in the fray. Eowyn. Nicole pushed her hair back (it kept flying in her face due to the windy-ness of her position), and checked who Eowyn was with.... King Theoden, some Rohirrim (who were practically drooling over Eowyn, damn I feel bad for her...), and then... Nicole's companions, one of whom was practically being drooled over by Eowyn. Aragorn didn't look too happy (he was, after all, engaged). Sound the trumpets, it's Nicole to the rescue!!!
"ARAGONITE!!!" Nicole shouted over the noise of the riders, and grinned broadly at the confused look on the Ranger's face as he looked around. Legolas tapped his shoulder and pointed up at Nicole. She waved cheerfully and dropped down from the wall. Seconds later, she appeared by his side and hugged him tightly. Clearing her throat, she went back to being serious.
"What did I tell you about running around the country? Look at you, you're a mess!" She scolded. It was true, his hair was more disgusting than usual. She turned on Gimli. "And you!" Instead of yelling at him, she grinned broadly. "I sang my very first Dwarvish drinking song, Gimli!! You should have been there...."
Gimli laughed in return. "Aye, we'll have to get you to sing another one sometime soon, lass!"
"Anytime, my good dwarf!" Nicole replied. "I missed you guys... Eowyn here left me to the mercy of children while you were away. It was not a pretty sight."
"Yes, but as I recall, the children were very amused by you Nicole," the blonde replied. "It's almost a pity that they found their mother, Nicole made an excellent substitute." She added a meaningful look at the Elf of the company, something that only Aragorn managed to catch and store away for future reference.
Nicole pouted. "It's true... Eowyn set two little brats on me. I couldn't stand it... that's where the drinking song comes in. Although I was hardly a good substitute Eowyn. If you'll remember, on the third day I carried the boy upside-down for two hours just to make him shut-up his stupid giggles."
Aragorn chuckled. "Sounds like we have a lot of catching up to do."
"As amusing as your tales surely are, we have not the time for such frivolous activities," Legolas reminded them. The man, dwarf, and lady quieted immediately and took on more somber countenances. The She-Elf did no such thing.
"Yes yes, middle of war, battle is upon us. Blah blah, chivalry, blah, heroic quests, yadda yadda save the world, really guys: lighten up!" All four gave Nicole looks of astonishment and horror at having no respect for the upcoming battle. She flashed them a grin. "Besides, with me here to protect ya'll, you've got nothing to worry about!" Wrong thing to say, at the worst possible time...
As though they were one person, her three traveling companions turned on her, protesting her choice to fight. They also began advancing on her, forcing her to keep backing up more and more. As she weakly tried to defend her reasons for going into the battle (one of which was: "but I bonded so much with those two brats that now I feel the need to protect them!"), she was being edged further and further (by the helpful navigations of Eowyn) towards a room in the Keep that had a very solid door and lock on it.
"I can fight! Besides, don't deny that you need all the help you can get! I can help you, dammit!" She shouted finally.
Legolas raised an eyebrow and smirked. "And how would you do that from behind a door?" With that, the door was slammed in her face, and a lock slid into place. Nicole was standing, alone, defeated in an empty room, while outside everyone was preparing for battle.
"Well... that went very well, don't you think so?" Eowyn questioned innocently.
All three males glared at her murderously.
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With a war cry, Nicole charged the door and slammed into it with her full weight. She growled and grabbed her shoulder as pain burst through the joint. If I keep ramming this door, I won't have any strength left to fight. She sighed and shrugged. Might as well give it one more shot. Walking calmly to the opposite wall, she took a deep breath, rolled her shoulders, put herself in a running stance, and set off. C'mon, dammit, OPEN! As she flew across the room, the door miraculously obeyed her command, and opened right as she reached it. Before she had time to react to the lack of an object for her to hit, she hit something she didn't intend to. Or rather, someone.
"How very graceful," a rude voice remarked in Elvish, belonging to the person that caught and steadied her.
Nicole backed up, and glared at the Elf. "Well, SOMEBODY decided to lock me in this room. I don't suppose you would have been very graceful either, Elf," she replied to Legolas. She glared at him suspiciously. "What're you doing here?"
"We have visitors, I think you would be interested in meeting them."
{If they're anything like you, you should have left me locked in the room,} she muttered in Dwarvish as she followed him through the fortress.
"What did you say?"
"Nothing, Elfie dear," Nicole replied, voice dripping with sarcasm. He scowled, but continued along the rest of the way in silence. Before long, the two Elves found themselves atop a stairwell that descended to the main gates of the Keep, where Nicole could see an unusual gleam. It seemed a troop of soldiers had entered and was at present conversing and greeting King Theoden, all the Rohanian officials and those members of the Fellowship who were present. As the pair of Elves descended the stairs, the soldiers turned and faced Prince Legolas in a gesture of respect. That's what triggered Nicole's brain to draw the conclusion. Elves. And not just any Elves... Loth-Lorien by the looks of it. They were still a few stairs above them when the leader happened to glance up, and thus cause himself a great deal of unpleasantness.
"HALDIR!!!!" The name was squealed out in such a high-pitch that the Elven soldiers had to use a great deal of their restraint to keep the winces from showing on their faces. A split second later, Haldir got his come-uppance: a mouthful of Nicole's hair as she bounced off the stair and tackled him. The leader of the Elves barely managed to keep himself upright, much less register what had just happened. His circulation to his brain was being cut off as it is.
Nicole didn't notice until the felt fingers starting to claw at her arms. She grimaced and pulled away. "Sorry," she said sheepishly. "Didn't mean to hug you so hard." She cleared her throat, detached and detangled herself, and nodded to the soldiers, a few of whom were looking at her with curiousity. "It is good to see that you are all doing well... and... er... yes. Good." She ran out of things to say. Hmm... awkward silence. Only one way to cure that. Revert to child-ness. She pulled on a strand of his golden hair. "What brings you to our great big stone building? And have you got anything fun to do? These brats (she gestured to her companions) won't let me in on the fun of fighting."
To her great delight, Haldir smiled at Nicole. "I'm afraid, then, that the 'brats' will have to cope with you, because you will be fighting in the battle," he announced, leaving the 'brats' shocked, and Nicole jumping up and down.
"Yes! Oh yay! Hehehe!" Her shouts of joy continued as she bounced happily around the gathered people. Nicole was oblivious to how irritated everybody was getting with her incessant movement. Aragorn backed away to allow her more room, Gimli looked like he was in fear of being trampled, and Legolas glared at Haldir for putting her in such a state.
With a sigh, and realizing that since he started it, he had to finish it, Haldir strode forward and grabbed Nicole's arm to keep her earth-bound. "There... ah... is a condition to your participation in the battle."
"Condition?" She blinked with innocent confusion.
"Yes... you will have to behave... more maturely. Otherwise you might be a liability."
"Me? Liability? Never!" Nicole huffed and pouted.
"Now Nicole, that's not very mature," Haldir said and gestured to one of the Elven soldiers to bring forward a wrapped package and carefully unwrapped it, revealing the shining armor beneath. Nicole reached out a hand to touch it. Haldir held her fingers. "Behave."
She nodded seriously and accepted her precious cargo. The metal was finely crafted Elvish steel glistened in the light. It followed the same basic strong but flowing pattern of all the other armor which the soldiers were wearing, except it had modification because she was a woman. "It's beautiful," she breathed. "My thanks to the Lady."
Haldir smiled smugly, as though showing off.
Nicole grinned, stuck her tongue out at them, and ran back into the further reaches of the keep to try her new armor on. "Catch me if you can, kiddies!"
Haldir sighed. "I don't suppose she will ever grow up?"
"No," Aragorn replied. "Never."
A/N: Whoo! Tis done! And it's only a few weeks late... heh. Sorry bout that. :(
Three cheers for Tina: she made a record by reading my story in 6 hours!!! yay!!! (throws confetti)
Thanks for all the reviews, please give me some suggestions if it's bad, ok? great!
Bye guys!
MoI