DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the characters in this story. They belong to Joss Whedon, J.R.R. Tolkien, and their other respective owners.
A/N ABOUT THIS STORY: As you can tell, I've taken several scenes directly from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Lord of the Rings, word-for-word in the dialogue. This is not to rip off any of the real writers because I respect their work and I am not a plagiarist. This is an artistic ploy to put the reader in the mindset of where they are and is essential to the story. The Buffy episodes used were episodes (5.5) "No Place Like Home," written by Doug Petrie and (5.22) "The Gift," written by Joss Whedon. The movies used are, of course, Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring and Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, written by Frances Walsh, Philippa Boyens and Peter Jackson, based on the books by J.R.R. Tolkien (if you didn't know that, shame, shame).
7: Darkness
"So no more gypsy lady?" Anya asked, not as happy about that as she imagined she would be. "She's not gonna help us?"
"I'm afraid not," Giles shook his head. They stood in the Magic Box, staring at one another worriedly. "Well, we can't just stand here," Giles announced. "Time is not on our side at the moment."
"Sunset," Dawn remembered. "The sun sets a little after seven."
Giles stared down anxiously at his watch, "It's 2:25 in the afternoon now."
"Did anybody understand what he meant?" Tara asked. "One loving heart for another, one bearer of power, one demon, one champion?"
"Cryptic messages," Riley nodded. "God, I just love cryptic messages."
"Maybe he was talking about us," Dawn suggested. Giles turned to her as she explained, "Four people...?"
"One with a loving heart," Giles replied.
"Like Xander's!" Anya declared.
"Like Giles'," Tara added.
"One bearer of power," Giles remembered.
"A witch!" Dawn exclaimed. "Tara's the other witch."
"One demon," Riley thought to himself, "talking about Spike, which means—"
"I'm the most qualified of the group," Anya answered.
"One champion," Dawn declared. "That would be Riley." Riley turned to Dawn and smiled graciously at her.
"So that's what it means?" Tara asked.
"What else could it mean?" Giles replied. "It's our only hope."
"Okay, now we've got the people to balance the power," Anya sighed. "How do we get the portal open?"
Giles thought to himself for a few moments, then declared, "Cloutier's trance."
"What?" Tara exclaimed. "Bu-but Buffy tried that and that's how she ended up there in the first place."
"She's right, Giles," Anya nervously answered. "Whatever walks back through that portal might not be Buffy."
"If it works, it should be Buffy," he responded. "Besides, we've got no other chance and we're running out of time. We must at least try. Anya, set up the spell. We shall begin immediately."
"I haven't had a bloody bite to eat in days," Spike declared as the Fellowship continued on their journey. They walked through the dark and misty borders of Moria as they approached the entrance to the mines.
"Keep it to yourself, fang boy," Xander declared, not feeling sorry for him. "There were plenty of little, furry creatures running around. Don't they have blood?"
"'Were,'" Spike repeated, "as in past tense. There hasn't been much since we hit the mountains." Spike gazed around at the swampy land they were near and the black water pond just a few feet away. "I don't really wanna know what lives here."
"We're here," Gimli declared with a grin. "Moria." Buffy and the others looked around the dark, creepy place as uncanny sounds called from nearby.
"Guess the rent must be low," Spike declared.
Gandalf approached the side of the mountain and ran his hands over a grey, granite wall. "Well, let's see," he said to himself, examining the wall carefully. "Ithildin. It mirrors only starlight and moonlight." Gandalf turned towards the dark, night sky above their heads to see the full moon peeked its glowing face out from behind the clouds.
"Well, that was kinda convenient," Willow whispered to Buffy as the area around them was illuminated with moonlight. They turned back towards the blank wall to see a glowing archway with strange symbols appear in the stone.
They watched it with enchantment as the doorway glowed a beautiful white light. Gandalf used his staff as a pointed and read aloud to them all, "It reads, 'Doors of Durin, Lord of Moria. Speak, friend, and enter.'"
"Cryptic messages," Buffy sighed as she forced a smile on her face. "God, I just love cryptic messages."
"What does it mean?" Merry asked.
"It's simple, really," Gandalf answered with a shrug. "If you are a friend, you speak the password and the doors will open." Gandalf put the top of his staff to the wall and declared with a mighty voice, "Annon Edhellen edro hi ammen!"
Nothing happened. Spike gasped, "Oh, such power..." With a sigh, Buffy rolled her eyes as Gandalf began to push on the door, but it didn't give way. Buffy turned around towards the watery land behind her. The dark pond was as still as glass, yet gave her unsettling feelings deep in her soul.
Frodo, Buffy and Willow sat down on a rock by the pond as Gandalf continued to try every Elfish password he could think of. Xander, Sam, Aragorn and Boromir watched patiently from afar while Merry and Pippin tossed rocks into the pond, Spike sitting nearby. Legolas and Gimli quietly kept watch at the water's edge, turning back once and a while toward Gandalf.
"Oh, it's no use," Gandalf declared, finally turning away from the wall. He walked over and sat down next to Frodo, Willow and Buffy.
"Don't feel bad," Willow told him. "We get lots of riddles all the time in our world." She thought to herself, "'What happens to planes when they pass the Bermuda Triangle?' 'What happened in Roswell in the 40's?' 'Why did the chicken cross the road?'"
"That's it," Frodo declared, looking up at the wall. "It's a riddle." He stood up and walked up to the doorway and asked, "What's the Elfish word for friend?"
Gandalf declared, "Mellon." With a rumble, the thick doors slowly opened up as the members of the Fellowship came to a stand. They hesitantly and carefully walked in through the doorway into the darkness.
"Tell me you've got something to eat in here," Spike declared, turning to Gimli.
The dwarf smiled heartily, "Soon you will enjoy the fabled hospitality of the dwarves. Roaring fires, malt beer, ripe meat off the bone!"
"Don't get too excited, Spike," Xander responded. "Or we'll have to have vampire-on-a-stick." Spike glared at him and then ignored the comment.
"This, my friend, is the home of my cousin Balin," Gimli announced proudly, then laughed, "and they call it a mine..."
Spike stopped in his path, "Does anyone else smell that?"
"Please," Xander shook his head, "if you're still complaining about food—"
"That's not exactly what I had in mind," Spike cut him off as he warily gazed around the darkened area. "But I do smell blood." Buffy carefully stepped through the darkness, her foot coming down on a solid object that cracked beneath it. She quickly lifted her leg and glared down at the floor.
"This is no mine," Boromir nervously declared, staring down at Buffy's foot. "It's a tomb!" The skeleton of dwarf laid at her feet. The rest of the Fellowship glanced around to notice the dark room made of stone was littered with small-size skeletons.
"They have been slaughtered!" Legolas announced.
Xander turned towards Legolas with a confused look on his face, "Well, you're just a regular Jerry Seinfeld, aren't you?"
"Okay," Willow breathed, glaring around at the corpses, "I was really hoping, but I don't think this is Disney World."
"No!" Gimli cried out in agony as he rushed around the room, glaring at the deceased bodies of his race and family. Buffy reached down at pulled a thin arrow out of the skull of the dwarf skeleton, holding it up in the dim light.
Legolas took the arrow from her, gazing down at it and declared, "Goblins!" He tossed down the goblin arrow and drew one of his own, taking out his bow and keeping it at the ready. Aragorn and Boromir both drew their swords while Buffy reached down and took a sword off of a skeleton. Spike, Willow and Xander looked around cautiously while the hobbits backed away out of the doorway.
"We make for the Gap of Rohan," Boromir decreed. "We should never have come here."
"Strider!" Sam shouted, and Aragorn turned around quickly. Buffy and Spike also turned towards the door where three of the hobbits were desperately tugging on Frodo. A long, snake-like tentacle reached out of the murky pond and was wrapped around his leg, dragging him closer to the water.
"Get off of him!" Sam declared, drawing a small sword and hacking at the tentacle. It quickly retreated back into the water and they breathed a sigh of relief as his arm disappeared. A second later, not one, but many black, scaly tentacles ripped out of the water and knocked Sam, Merry and Pippin back to the ground. The tentacles enclosed around Frodo's legs as it yanked him off of the ground and dangled him easily above the water.
Legolas shot an arrow at one of the tentacles, but it was of no use. Aragorn desperately rushed to the edge of the water and swung his sword left and right, battling three tentacles at once. Frodo dangled upside down in the air as he hollered for help.
Spike turned to his right to see Merry and Pippin chunking rocks at the tentacles. Suddenly, a thick, long tentacle reached out towards the two hobbits, both of them oblivious to it. In a flash, Spike leapt over a rock as the tentacle roped itself around Merry and Pippin, constricting them tightly. Spike grabbed an arm on each hobbit and with his vampire strength he yanked them out of the slippery hold.
The hobbits landed safely on the ground and looked up to see the same tentacle wrap itself around Spike as it lifted the vampire in the air. "Spike!" Pippin called out, as he and Merry watched helplessly.
Frodo was moved even further away from the shore, still hanging in midair. A gigantic, black, twisted squid head emerged from the black water. Frodo stared down at it in terror. "Frodo!" Buffy called as she dove into the water while Aragorn continued to hack away at the tentacles. He gazed down powerlessly as a massive set of jaws rimmed with sharp, dagger-like teeth opened wide and roared horribly.
"Holy Squidward!" Xander shouted as he stood at the water's edge, staring at the monstrous creature in abject horror. "That's some Alien shi—!" He was cut off by one of the tentacles as he was knocked away towards the wall.
Spike was being waved back and forth through the air, the tentacle wrapping around his stomach like an anaconda. He suddenly vamped out and bit down on the tentacle with all of his might. The creature howled in pain and the tentacle released the vampire back down into the water.
In the water, Buffy swam to one of the tentacles and latched on as it flung her through the air. She let go of the tentacle and landed on top of the creature's head. With a mighty thrust, she jabbed the sword down into the skull of the octopus-like monster and it let out a screeching cry. The tentacle holding on to Frodo suddenly released him and he fell down into the arms of Aragorn, standing in the water below.
Buffy leapt off of the head of the octopus, leaving the sword still in its skull, and crashed down into the water. She, Spike and Aragorn carrying Frodo ran out of the water, towards the doors of the cave.
"Into the mines!" Gandalf shouted. Boromir pulled Xander back to his feet as the Fellowship rushed into the mines. The squid, still with the sword in its head, reached all of its available tentacles out towards the Fellowship, following them into the darkness. It reared its spider-like body out of the water as the tentacles gripped mountain face.
As the Fellowship entered the mines, they could feel the dark, smelly place start to tremble and shake as the walls and roof of the foyer to the caves came crashing down behind them. While running, Boromir stumbled and crashed down to the ground. Buffy stopped, seeing him fall and turned around, running full speed towards him while the humongous boulders threatened to crush them both.
She grabbed his arm and pulled him up with ease. He was lifted to his feet with superhuman strength as she dragged him the rest of the way into the mines. The last of the rocks of the roof and walls collapsed behind them, just as they passed down the halls. The Fellowship stopped and gazed back at the remains of the moonlight as it was sealed out by the stones.
Pitch darkness blanketed them.
Riley, Anya, Giles and Tara were enclosed in the Magic Box as they each sat on the floor in the back of the store. Lighted incense filled their noses and candles burned around them as they sat in a circle, each of them facing outwards.
"Close your mind to the world," Giles instructed, with his back to the rest of the group. His eyes were closed tightly and his glasses removed as he placed his hands on his knees. "Remove all fear... remove all doubt."
Each of them breathed deeply together as they cleared their minds. They were all becoming one. One heart, one power, one demon and one champion. They slowly inhaled and exhaled, feeling their breaths shorten each time and their hearts little-by-little begin to speed up.
"Okay..." Xander's fearful voice called aloud. "Need lights... Need lights now..." A bright, bluish light suddenly appeared from the top of Gandalf staff. The Fellowship turned to Xander who stood near a wall with his arms wrapped tightly around Buffy.
"Xander," Buffy declared. "Need air..." Quickly, he released his grip on her and backed away a bit, returning to his calm, relaxed appearance.
"Just making sure you were okay, Buff," Xander explained.
"My hero," Buffy looked at him as she shook her head.
"Hey," Willow breathed, staring at Gandalf staff, "I didn't know you could do that!" She gazed in envy at the bright glow from the top, "I want a night light, too. I've got to get me one of those..."
"Definitely cooler than a Mag-Lite," Buffy agreed.
"We now have but one choice," Gandalf announced. "We must face the long dark of Moria." Gandalf began to walk past them, instructing them as he moved, "Be on your guard. There are older and fouler things than Orcs in the deep places of the world."
With tired sighs, the Scoobies followed the people of Middle Earth up a nearly destroyed flight of stairs. "Quietly, now," Gandalf added, "it's a four-day journey to the other side."
Dawn Summers paced nervously around the hallways upstairs in her home. She peeked into her room, then peeked downstairs and then went back to pacing. Dawn stopped after a few minutes and quietly stood in the hallway, gazing at Buffy's door.
Slowly and carefully, she twisted the knob of Buffy's bedroom and went inside. Dawn stood in the doorway and gazed around at the white room on the top floor of the Summers home. Wearily, she let out a breath of air and closed the door behind her, standing alone in her big sister's room.
Dawn gazed down at the floor where burned out incense and candles were still sitting. She felt the slightest hint of guilt as she looked at the spell materials. She shouldn't have irritated Buffy so much. She shouldn't have taken credit for fixing their mother breakfast when it really was Buffy's hard work all along.
Was it her fault that her sister was gone? Was this her punishment for being so obtuse with her? That's silly, Dawn thought to herself. It's Buffy's fault for messing around with stupid magic. If she'd just stayed with Dawn then things would be better.
That last thought rang in her mind as she pondered over it. Dawn hadn't realized until then, but she missed her sister. Did she really want her approval that much? Did Buffy's opinion really matter to her?
Dawn was quickly overcome with worry and sorrow. What if she never got the chance to talk to Buffy? What if something bad happened to her? What if she died...?
She blocked it out of her mind, the thought being too horrifying for her to imagine. Though Dawn didn't like to admit it, she was just a kid. She was far too young to fix things. How could she ever make it on her own? Then it occurred to her that she wouldn't be on her own. Joyce would still be there.Or would she?
Buffy... Dawn thought to herself. Please... please come back. I need you... come back... Oh, Riley... Giles... Tara, Anya... please bring them back—
Her thoughts were abruptly cut off. The silence in the room was louder than a freight train as Dawn stared at Buffy's vanity chest. On top of it was a necklace holder that she'd seen – and tried things off of – at least a million times before. But this time, something caught her eye.
A silver cross necklace.
The Fellowship rested in a giant cavern deep inside the mines. Gandalf sat by himself on a boulder several feet away from the rest of them as he smoked a pipe and held his staff. "Are we lost?" Pippin whispered to Merry, as he sat with the rest of them.
"No," his friend answered. "Gandalf's thinking."
"I think we're lost," he replied.
"We're not," Merry snipped.
Seconds passed, then Pippin whispered, "Merry?"
"What?" Merry responded, irritated.
"I'm hungry," he answered.
Spike sat next to them and jumped up hastily, as he grabbed his duster jacket, putting it on and began to walk away from them. "Spike," Buffy stood up as she and Willow moved towards them, "where the hell are you going?"
Spike turned around towards her, "Home."
"Uh, how do you plan to do that?" Xander asked, as they walked passed him. "'Cause I've heard horrible things about the flight service around here..."
"I don't know," Spike snapped. "But I'm sure as hell not stayin' here. I'm gettin' out of this place one way or another."
"Spike? Not to dampen your daylight," Willow apologetically responded, "but how exactly do you think you're going to find a way home? We're not exactly in Candyland..."
"I'll send you all a postcard when I get back telling you how," Spike glared at her, then turned around and began to march off. Buffy turned to Willow and Xander and then followed him.
"Get real, Spike," Buffy caught up with him as the two of them walked along, "you don't know any more about this dimension than we do. The best thing for us is to stick with people that know their way around."
"The best thing for us," Spike turned to her angrily, "was to stay right where we bloody were and not come on this poxy expedition to begin with!"
"We can't just abandon them," Buffy answered. "They're depending on us to help them—"
"Look, Slayer," he snapped back in a low whisper, "I didn't want to come on the bloody quest for the un-holy grail in the first place! We've been walking for weeks and I'm damn tired!"
Buffy began, "We all are—"
"What's wrong with you?" Spike exclaimed. "Don't you see? We're not even supposed to be here! I'm supposed to be home watchin' the telly, eatin' my meals, doin' what I'm supposed to do. You're supposed to be slaying evil and banging Captain Cardboard! Don't you miss any of that the least bit?"
"Of course I do!" Buffy declared. "I mean... not the banging – well, I do, but... but I—"
"We've wasted too much time already," Spike cut her off, shaking his head. "We may not even be able to get home as it is."
"I know that," Buffy snapped and a long silence passed between them. "But it's obviously harder than just a short stroll to get back—"
"That's what stoppin' you, is it?" Spike abruptly asked, tired of her excuses. "Or is it that part of you doesn't want to go back?"
Buffy glared up at him in silence with her green eyes blazing. "Go," she spat, her voice dripping with lividness.
"Don't mind if I do," Spike declared back to her, then turned around and marched out of sight. Buffy stood back and watched him go with anger into his eyes. After he was gone for good, she turned back, taking a deep breath and went to check on the rest of them.
Buffy slowly and tiredly walked up to Frodo, who sat on the edge of a rock, staring down into the rest of the deep, rocky cavern below. "Hey," she softly smiled, "how're you holding up?"
"I'm fine," he nodded to her, "thank you." Buffy nodded back in reply as she sat down beside him and looked out in the direction that he was looking. Frodo turned to her after a small while had passed and asked, "May I ask you something?"
"Sure," Buffy answered, looking down at him. "What's up?"
"I've heard Merry, Pippin and Sam telling you lots about our home," Frodo began, "but I haven't heard much about your home. Not much that I can understand, anyway."
Buffy thought to herself and then replied, "Well... it's nice in some places. Not as pretty as your world, I don't think. Except maybe in New Zealand. And there are some hellish places in our world where blood-sucking demons strive for power. It's called Hollywood." Buffy smiled, adding with a slower, more melancholy tone, "But there are things that make up for that sort of stuff. Hamburgers. Television. Most of all, your family."
"What's your family like?" Frodo asked.
"Well," Buffy began with a smile, "there's my mom, first of all. She wasn't so keen on the idea of me being a Slayer at first, but she came around. Then there's my boyfriend, who's... thankfully... perfectly normal. There's my watcher, Giles, he kinda plays the father figure. My other friends – Tara, who's always really nice, and Anya, who's... tolerable. Oh, and then there's my little sister. She's not so tolerable."
"What is she like?" Frodo asked with fascination. "Is she a Slayer like you?"
"Thank God no," Buffy answered. "In fact, if Dawn were a Slayer, she'd probably kill us all. I mean, at least Faith meant to do it..."
"I never had a sibling, or much of a family," Frodo thought aloud, "but everyone always said I clung to Uncle Bilbo like the father I never had. Maybe... Dawn just wants to be a part of your life." Frodo smiled with a bit of pain as he remembered, "I wonder if I ever bothered him... I just always looked up to him so much. I always wanted to be with him. I wanted him to tell me stories about his life and the adventures he's been on."
Buffy turned to him and started to feel guilty about the way she'd treated Dawn. Frodo continued to reminisce, "No matter what happens to me, I'll always have those memories."
Buffy nodded and hesitantly replied, "I guess I kind of am too hard on Dawn." Buffy immersed herself in thought, "Maybe it's the fact that I haven't seen her in so long, but... I kinda miss her..."
A cracking noise sounded out from the cavern below them, as Buffy shot her eyes down in the darkness. "Did you hear that?" she asked.
Frodo stared down at the cavern and a look of worry came across his face. "Come quickly," Frodo whispered to Buffy and they moved away from the edge. Buffy followed Frodo up to Gandalf as Frodo declared, "There's something down there..."
"It's Gollum," Gandalf declared, staring out into the darkness.
Buffy turned to him, "Who-um?"
"Gollum," Frodo whispered in surprise, "he had the ring before Bilbo found it."
"He's been following us for three days," Gandalf added.
"He escaped the dungeons of Barad-dûr?" Frodo exclaimed.
"Escaped," Gandalf nodded, then turned to them, "or set loose."
Buffy turned to Gandalf, "What kind of threat are we talking about? Is he one of those... fork things?"
"Orcs," Gandalf corrected. "And no. The Ring turned him into a terrible creature. He both hates and loves the Ring and will do anything for it."
Frodo turned back towards the cavern, "It's a pity Bilbo didn't kill him when he had the chance."
"Pity?" Gandalf turned to him in surprise. "It's a pity that stayed his hand. Many that live deserve death. Some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them, Frodo?" Frodo turned to Gandalf with a hint of shame in his eyes. "Do not be too eager to deal out death and judgment," Gandalf declared. "Even the very wise cannot see all ends. My heart tells me that Gollum has some part to play yet, for good or ill, before this is over. The pity of Bilbo may rule the fate of the Ring."
Frodo continued to stare into the darkness and Buffy recognized the same emotions that she had felt in her life as well. "I wish the Ring had never come to me," Frodo announced softly. "I wish none of this had happened."
Gandalf stared at Frodo, then looked up at Buffy, taking note of the fact that she was also listening. "So do all that come to see such times," Gandalf replied. "But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us. There are other forces at work, Frodo, besides the will of evil."
"So you're saying Frodo was supposed to get the Ring?" Buffy asked.
"Yes," Gandalf nodded, "it was his destiny. I imagine you know about that." Buffy smiled warmly at him as Gandalf turned towards a direction in the cavern. "That way," Gandalf announced to them all.
"He's remembered!" Merry cheered.
"No," Gandalf replied, "but the air doesn't smell so foul here. If in doubt, Meriadoc, always follow your nose."
The Fellowship began to move out as Aragorn gazed around, then approached Buffy. "Spike," he asked, "where is he?"
Buffy turned to him, and then looked down the tunnel where he had ventured off into, "He's not coming with us."
"Concentrate very carefully," Giles decreed as they held their positions carefully. "Clear your mind completely..." Giles, Anya, Riley and Tara breathed as one and their hearts beat as one. "Become one heart," Giles softly whispered, "become one power, become one demon and become one champion."
The world fell into place around them and everything seemed peaceful and still. Their minds had finally become one and they were suddenly unaware of their location and what was going on around them. They were one.
Though they didn't feel it, the wooden floorboards beneath them slowly began to tremble.
The Fellowship traveled down a great hall of darkness, Gandalf's staff leading the way. Behind him only a few feet, was Gimli as they rounded another massive pillar. Gimli stopped in his tracks and gazed at an open doorway with two thick wooden doors. More dwarf skeletons littered the pathway that led in through the doorway.
"No..." Gimli breathed, his heart beginning to ache. He took off in a mad dash for the doorway, passing the skeletons by.
"Gimli," Gandalf called after him. Buffy, Willow and Xander rushed past Gandalf, the rest of the Fellowship following behind them, as they all followed Gimli into the large, stone room.
"No!" Gimli cried out, as he entered and gazed around. Buffy came to the doorway and stopped, staring around at frightfully destroyed room covered in bones, boulders and other wreckage. The great room reminded her very much of the mausoleums in Sunnydale, save for the size of this room that she was in.
Buffy turned to the center of the room to see a ray of blue sunlight, shining down from a hole on a rectangular, stone box. Gimli kneeled down beside it, holding his axe at his side as he wept in sorrow. She entered the room and understood finally that she was in a mausoleum after all.
Willow walked up to the dusty, stone sarcophagus bathed in light and gazed down at the engraved epitaph written in some language that looked similar to a cross between Greek and Phoenician.
Gandalf approached the sarcophagus from the other side and read the epitaph aloud, "'Here lies Balin... son of Fundin... Lord of Moria.'" The rest of the Fellowship entered the room, staring around at the massive destruction of the pillars and balconies on every side. "He is dead then," Gandalf replied sadly. "It is as I have feared."
Gandalf removed his pointed hat and handed it to Pippin, along with his staff. He knelt down and pulled a thick, dirt-covered book from the arms of a skeleton, picking it up and gazing down at the foreign writing inside.
"We must move on," Legolas whispered to Aragorn. "We cannot linger."
Buffy backed up towards a corner of the room where Willow and Xander were standing next to a well covered in skeletal remains. Willow warily peered down into the darkness of the well, "If you were to go down there, I wonder if you'd meet the nasty that did all of this..."
Buffy also peered down the well with the same cautious stare, "Either that or you'd die in seven days."
Spike lethargically plodded along, passing through limestone peaks and fallen pillars as he made his way through the mines. He stopped suddenly, looked up and smelled the air around him. The scents in the air led his eyes to the dark tunnel he was about to enter. His expression of intrigue slowly melted away, transforming into an expression of fear.
He whispered to himself, "Bloody hell..."
"'They have taken the bridge and the second hall,'" Gandalf read aloud to the rest of the Fellowship as he stared down at the thick book in his hands. Gimli looked up from the tomb of his cousin towards Gandalf as Boromir placed a hand on his shoulder. "'We have barred the gates... but cannot hold them for long.'"
Terror, like an inexorable virus, gradually began to grip them all as Gandalf continued to read the last words of the souls trapped in the room. "'The ground shakes,'" Gandalf read, as Buffy glanced over to Willow and then to Xander. "'Drums... drums in the deep.'"
Pippin gazed around the room in fear as he held Gandalf's staff and hat. He slowly backed away towards Xander, Buffy and Willow, who stood near the well. The rest of the hobbits stood together at the side of the room, while Legolas stood next to Aragorn near the doorway and Boromir, Gimli and Gandalf stood near the sarcophagus in the center of the room.
Gandalf turned the crisp page, "'We cannot get out. A Shadow moves in the dark. We cannot get out...'" Gandalf looked up at the rest of them as he read the last, chilling line, "'They are coming..."
Pippin suddenly felt the hard rock of the well hit his back and turned around quickly, knocking the iron-helmeted skull of a skeleton. The skull plummeted down the well, hitting the sides, as Gandalf and the others turned around towards Pippin. He stared at their critical faces in shame as they listened to the skull fall, making a tremendous amount of noise as it crashed all the way down to the bottom.
Gandalf incredulously glared at him, closing the book in his hands hastily. Silence blanketed them finally as they listened to the clanking stop. "Don't worry," Xander whispered, reaching for Pippin to pat him on the shoulder, "it could've been wor—"
His hand knocked the decapitated skeleton on the cobweb-covered ribs as the small skeleton tumbled over the edge of the well. Buffy closed her eyes as not only the skeleton, but the long chain attached to it, followed by a wooden bucket crashed down the well with all the quietness of a seventy-two-piece band.
The horrible sounds echoed painfully throughout the room they were in and sure enough, throughout all of the mines. Finally, miraculously, after the seemingly endless racket, there was silence once again.
"Good night, folks," Xander whispered. "We're here all week." Gandalf sighed painfully and hastily took back his hat and staff out of Pippin's hands. Pippin glared around guiltily and ashamed as the wizard began to step away from him.
The ground shook. Buffy whipped around and glared at the well with fearful eyes. Distant booming sounds rumbled throughout the mines and into Balin's tomb, followed by the far-off shrieks of inhuman creatures. Many creatures.
"Frodo..." Sam fearfully whispered as he stared down at Frodo's sheathed sword. Frodo reached down and revealed the blade of the small sword as it glowed a soft blue.
"Is it supposed to do that?" Willow breathed, the sounds unnerving her as they did the others.
Buffy answered intensely as she glared at the blade, "Only when storks are around..." The sound of rapid, approaching footsteps rang out and yanked their attentions towards the open door of the tomb.
Spike bolted through the door into the room with a rapier in his hand, "We've got company!" Boromir rushed to the door and stopped immediately as two arrows soared through the air, jamming themselves into the door only inches away from Boromir's head.
"Get back!" Aragorn ordered the hobbits. "Stay close to Gandalf!"
"Slayer!" Spike called as Buffy turned to him. He tossed her the rapier through the room and she caught it by the hilt. "Looks like things are about to get interesting," he declared.
Buffy took the weapon and ran towards the double doors of the tomb, where Boromir and Aragorn were struggling to push the doors closed. Buffy aided them and they easily shut while Legolas passed them long-handled axes to barricade the doors with. A horrible roar sounded out from behind the door.
"What was that?" Xander asked nervously.
"A cave-troll," Boromir turned to him with mock pleasantness in his voice.
"What the hell is that doing in a cave?" Xander declared. Aragorn, Buffy and Boromir backed away from the door and went further into the tomb. Gandalf and Buffy drew their swords, as did the four hobbits while Frodo's sword continued to glow blue. Boromir stood with Buffy on his right, his sword out and his circular shield at his side, while Legolas and Aragorn stood next to him on his left, both of them with their bows and arrows at the ready.
Xander and Willow reached down and pulled axes off of skeletons while Spike stood a few feet away in his own corner of the room, watching the door intently as it began to bang. A powerful force on the other side of the door pushed heavily on it as Gimli jumped up on the sarcophagus of his cousin, declaring furiously, "Let them come! There is one dwarf yet in Moria who still draws breath!"
Weapons began to crash through the wooden doors and Legolas let an arrow fly into a hole, slaughtering the creature behind it that they could not yet see. It let out a fierce screech as Aragorn let an arrow go, striking another. The doors suddenly burst down as horrible, demonic-looking, slimy creatures dressed like humans in armor with weapons raced inside.
Aragorn and Legolas let a few more arrows go, striking three orcs and killing them instantly. "Those are corks?" Willow exclaimed in fear.
"Orcs!" Spike turned to her, shouting over the screeching howls. "Orcs! Can at least one of you plonkers say it right?"
Gimli let out a mighty war cry as the Fellowship and the orcs clashed. Instantly, the room was flung into a mess of yelling and crashing as the short, wide blades of the orcs hammered down on the Fellowship.
An orc countered a weapon-less Spike as he swiftly ducked underneath the swing of the orc's sword. He turned around, coming up behind the orc, grabbed the arm holding the short sword, and snapped the neck of the creature brutally. Spike snatched the short sword away from the orc, "I'll take that off your hands, mate."
Buffy decapitated an orc swiftly with her rapier, then spun around and roundhouse kicked another oncoming orc in the head. The orc fell backwards fatally impaling himself on a spear held up by a skeleton and squealed in pain.
With a yell, the hobbits charged forward and joined in on the fight. Pippin clocked an orc in the back of the skull with his blade, while Merry slashed his sword across an orc's stomach. Frodo quickly ducked beneath a short sword aimed for his neck, while Sam jammed his sword into the chest of an orc.
Xander dropped to the ground and kicked, sweeping the legs out from under an orc and knocking it on his back. Xander jumped up and held his axe in the air, then brought it down fiercely on the orc's ugly, twisted face.
Aragorn cut off the head of another orc and twisted himself around to stab another in the head. Willow jammed her axe into the back of an orc and ripped it back out, and then she kicked it up against the well where it tumbled inside and disappeared. Legolas shot off another arrow, striking an orc in the neck with perfect aim.
Buffy turned around and knocked an orc down with a devastating right hook. She turned to her right to see Spike leap up and sidekick an orc to the ground just as another orc appeared behind him. Buffy rushed to the vampire as the orc reared back his short sword, Spike unbeknownst to it all with his back to the creature. "Spike, look out!" Buffy called and she tackled Spike to the ground, just as the sword barely missed Spike's neck.
She hit the ground, rolled, then thrust her rapier up into the belly of the orc, killing it. When she yanked the sword out, she turned to her right to see Spike lying beside her, staring at her with a surprised look on his face. Without addressing him, she jumped back up and joined the fight as Spike slowly stood up and watched her go with a pleased smile.
Sam ripped his blade out of another orc as a horrible roar rang out through the tomb. The hobbit fearfully glared up at the wooden doors as a gigantic, muscular, grey creature standing at least fifteen feet tall bashed his way through the wall with ease. The troll held a massively destructive hammer in its right hand while a chain was wrapped around its neck like a leash.
The troll glared down at Sam, who stood less than a yard tall, and roared horribly, lifting its hammer up in the air. "Sam!" Xander shouted as he stood nearby. He raced over and tackled the hobbit, both of them jumping out of the way of the troll as the hammer crashed down behind them, shaking the ground.
The rest of the Fellowship turned around from their battles and gazed at the cave-troll with wide, stunned eyes. "Hide!" Willow declared to Frodo, as Merry and Pippin pulled him away from the fight and hid him behind a stone pillar. Legolas fired an arrow into the shoulder of the troll and the monster yanked it out easily with no hassle at all.
Gimli roared in anger and thrust an axe into the troll's other shoulder. It quickly glared at the axe, then raised its hammer over Gimli. The dwarf jumped off of Balin's sarcophagus as the hammer came crashing down on a corner of it, crushing it to pebbles.
Legolas shot two arrows simultaneously at the troll and turned around, shoving his daggers into oncoming orcs. Gandalf used both his sword and his staff to knock away the creatures as they approached him.
Willow was now on the second level balcony of the room as she swung her axe and buried it in the head of an orc, then turned around and held out her hand to another orc charging at her. "Incinarae!" she shouted, then a fireball erupted from her palm and collided with the orc. The flaming creature howled and shrieked as it finally collapsed into a flaming corpse. "I'm starting to get the hang of this," Willow breathed nervously.
Suddenly, she was shoved several feet and hit the ground behind a pillar hard, just as the chain of the troll crashed into the wall she was standing in front of. Willow turned around to see that Legolas had pushed her and now found himself trapped by the troll as it whipped its chains madly at the elf.
Willow stood up quickly and thrust her arm out again, shooting another fireball, but this time at the face of the cave-troll. The troll howled as its skin was incinerated, but it only faltered it a bit. The troll still whipped its chain at Legolas, but with its sight being temporarily blocked by the fire, it struck a pillar with its chain instead.
Legolas shoved his foot on the chain and crawled up it towards the troll. The elf leapt on its head and fired three arrows into the back of its neck, then easily leapt down. Willow also descended the balcony quickly and clashed with an orc below.
Buffy steadily fought three orcs at once, ripping and slashing with her rapier as she went along. She killed two and then turned to be knocked across the face with a club one of the orcs was holding. Buffy hit the ground hard and the sword was knocked out of her hands and across the floor. She looked up dazedly to see the orc raise its short sword above Buffy to plunge it down in her. A sword suddenly popped through the chest of the orc as Boromir shoved it away easily.
He stared down at her as she gave him a thankful expression, and he offered his hand, pulling her back on her feet. "Look out!" Boromir shouted as Buffy quickly turned around and ducked underneath a swinging sword. As she ducked, she grabbed a piece of wood off of the ground and straightened up, thrusting the piece of wood into the orc's heart.
"That's okay," Buffy grinned, staring at the dead orc. "I like it like this anyway."
In vampface, Spike stabbed an orc in the chest with the short sword, then ripped it out and cut off its head. He turned around and sliced another orc in the side of its torso. Spike looked up across the room at Merry and Pippin as they were about to be sliced by the sword of one orc.
"Watch it!" Spike shouted as Merry and Pippin turned around swiftly to see the orc coming at them. They ducked and both tripped over each other clumsily as the orc stood over them and roared in their faces, holding its sword in the air. Its head suddenly flew off as black blood spattered across the wall as its headless body fell to the floor. Spike yanked both of them on their feet as they stared at decapitated orc. "Gone," Spike noted. "Already forgotten."
Orcs began to pile on top of Xander and Sam, both of them having lost their weapons. "What do we do, Mr. Xander?" Sam exclaimed in fear.
Xander looked over at Sam's backpack and reached inside. "When all else fails," Xander declared, pulling out two iron weapons, "hit it with a frying pan." They stood tall with the corning ware in their hands and began to smash in the skulls of orcs left and right.
Spike, Merry, Pippin and Frodo turned around to see the troll standing behind them. It raised its hammer with a howl as the group separated, diving in two directions. Frodo jumped behind a pillar by himself while the other three retreated to another pillar.
"Frodo!" Aragorn called, yards away as he shoved his Ranger sword into the chest of an orc. Fearfully, Frodo moved around the pillar as the troll searched for him, snarling and sniffing for the Ring-bearing hobbit. Finally, the troll disappeared and he breathed a sigh of relief right before it reappeared only inches away from him and roared in his face.
Frodo jumped back, collapsing to the ground. The troll reached its beefy fingers into the corner and grabbed the small hobbit by its legs, pulling Frodo towards him. "Aragorn!" Frodo shouted as he was dragged along. "Aragorn!"
Spike charged at the troll and using his vampire strength, he leapt up from the ground onto the back of the troll, shoving his sword into the troll's back and pulling himself up on its shoulders. The troll howled and swatted at the vampire, finally backhanding him off of his neck and into a stone pillar, flinging him easily. Buffy turned towards him as Spike crashed with devastating force into the pillar and dropped down to the floor, lying motionlessly.
Frodo glared up at the troll in terror as it raised its hammer above its head. Aragorn suddenly dropped down in front of Frodo with a long spear in his hands. He jabbed the spear into the belly of the cave-troll and it let out a ferocious, shrieking wail. The troll swatted at Aragorn with its beefy arm, knocking the human out of the way and Aragorn smashed into the rocky wall.
Frodo rushed over to Aragorn as he lay there, unmoving and unconscious. He suddenly turned around hearing another fierce howl as the troll, now with the spear out of its stomach and in its hand, jammed the spear powerfully into his chest.
Buffy slashed the throat of an orc – she had been fighting her way towards Frodo – and gazed out in horror to see the little hobbit impaled at the end of the long spear. Gandalf, Merry and Pippin were the next to see their friend with a grimace twisting his face. Merry and Pippin looked at each other, then turned their swords around and leapt on the back of the troll, jamming the swords into its flesh.
Frodo groaned as the spear stuck out of him, pain radiating from his blue eyes. "Frodo," Sam called softly, staring at his best friend. Xander turned around with shock in his eyes as he watched Frodo writhe in pain. "Frodo!" Sam shouted as he and Xander fiercely clashed into the orcs blocking their path.
Buffy stabbed the last orc between her and Frodo to see the little hobbit collapse to his knees and crash down to the floor on his face. Two more orcs suddenly approached her on both sides. Furiously, she grabbed each of them and shoved them away as they flew through the air and crashed into the walls.
The troll threw Merry off of its back and he crashed to the ground. Legolas raised his arrow and fired into the back of the cave-troll's mouth. It howled in protest, but its moves suddenly became slower and more detached. They watched as it clumsily stumbled and finally crashed to the ground as dead as a doornail, bringing Pippin down with it.
Buffy raced over to Frodo and turned him over in her arms, gazing down at the hole in his shirt near his heart. Gandalf, Aragorn, Sam and the rest of the Fellowship slowly moved towards the fallen hobbit. "No," Buffy shook her head, staring at his lifeless body, "no..."
"He's not dead," Spike announced and they turned to him. He stood near a pillar, no longer in vamp face as he explained, "His heart's still beating."
Aragorn stared at him in confusion, then turned to Frodo, "How—"
Frodo suddenly gasped for air and began to cough, opening his eyes and gazing up at Buffy, kneeling over him. "Oh, my God, he's alive!" Willow exclaimed.
"That's what I just said, isn't it?" Spike declared. "Little runt's got some skin on him."
They glared at Frodo in blessed relief as he sat up, holding his chest and breathing heavily, "He's right... I'm not hurt..."
"That spear would've skewered a wild boar," Aragorn shook his head in amazement.
"Oh, I get it," Xander declared with a smile. "You did the whole spear-in-between-the-arm trick. Very clever. If you do it again we'll kill you."
"I think there's more to this hobbit than meets the eye," Gandalf announced. Frodo gazed up at him and then stared down, opening his shirt and revealing to them a shiny, white and silver mesh undershirt.
"Hey," Willow gaped down at it with her head to one side, "nice shirt..."
"Mithril," Gimli breathed. The Scoobies gazed around at the rest of the Fellowship, as they stared at his shirt in wonder.
"That's some of the strongest material known in Middle Earth," Gandalf smiled.
"Huh," Buffy nodded, turning to him, "once again... fashion saves a life."
"You are full of surprises, Master Baggins," Gimli grinned. They shared a calm moment before they heard the skittering and shrieks of dozens more orcs coming their way. Gandalf looked around the tomb nervously, then turned back to the Fellowship.
"To the Bridge of Khazad-dûm!" he ordered.