Bubbles turned his gaze back to the humans and elves before bowing his head slightly.

            "I apologize for my harsh words earlier. I was not in the correct state of mind."

            "You never are in the correct state of mind," Sauros commented and dismissed the glare that Bubbles sent him.

            Sauros and Bubbles really did not see eye to eye on many things. Even though it had been a really long time since they had been face to face and actually talked; from the first moment they both knew that it wasn't going to be a good friendship. The only reason they tolerated each other was because of Aurora and Bubbles' mate. Those were two women that no dragon or other being in their right mind would mess with. A wizard may be able to but…no, Sauros doubted even Gandalf would stand up to Aurora when she got into one of her moods.

            "I assume you called for a reason. What is it?" Bubbles asked as Sauros softly growled.

            "We need help getting to the lost city of Gondolin. Fact has it that the city is lost under the waves of your territory. We were hoping you could aid us in some way to get there for an hour or two," Sauros answered while wrapping his tail around him.

            "Why would you need to get to Gondolin? It has been under the waves for countless years and everything but the stone would have disintegrated by now."

            "We are looking for the next piece of a puzzle that will lead us to where Glaurung may be residing. Unless we find the next piece then Glaurung will soon be fully regenerated and be set loose upon Middle-Earth. Now, I do not know how old you are Master Bubbles but Glaurung can cause a lot damage if we do not stop him. If you do not help us then we will find another way to accomplish our task, but with your help it will be far easier," Aragorn stated quickly as he stepped between the two dragons and looked up at Bubbles.

            "Glaurung, you say? I remember when he was a well-feared name. You say he is on the verge of coming back? This is definitely bad news. May I talk with you for a moment, Sauros?" Bubbles asked before walking away from the small group of humans and elves.

            Sauros followed and glanced back to the others to give them a reassuring grin. The meeting was going good so far; he hadn't killed Bubbles or lost his mind yet. That was always a good sign of a good meeting with Aurora's relatives. He often wondered how Aurora had come from such a screwed up family but then he remembered that her father's side of the family, the regular land dragons, raised her. That was something that he thanked the Valar for every day.

            "What is it Bubbles?" he asked when they had put a good enough distance between them and the group.

            "I just wanted to warn you how dangerous this could turn out to be. I will get half of the sea-dragons to lift the city up and then the other half under it to push it up. The entire colony will then be under the city pushing it above water so your companions can walk around on the streets. The only thing is that the entire city was built on a solid stone plateau and will be extremely heavy for us to lift. I can only guarantee an hour; I know we can hold it for forty-five minutes but beyond an hour would be pushing it. Your companions would need to hurry in looking for what they search for," Bubbles stated as Sauros nodded solemnly.

            "I will inform them of the urgency for speed. And thank you for your help, Bubbles. Our road has been long and tedious. We are hoping to locate Glaurung's lair soon and kill him before he returns to full power. I worry that we will not be able to defeat him if he is in fact at full strength. Glaurung was well known for his strength," Sauros noted tiredly.

            "That he was but he does not have your attitude. There have been several times that I wanted to kill you just for that reason."

            "And my attitude is the only thing that has stopped me from burning you alive," Sauros replied back just as quickly.

            The two dragons watched each other and eventually came to a certain level of respect for the other. They would never voluntarily help each other but when the circumstances were correct, they would collaborate on some things and then never reveal the truth. Bubbles nodded and glanced back at the group of people where they were quietly talking among themselves.

            "He is the one? That man."

            Sauros glanced over at Aragorn who was joking with Legolas and didn't really stop to wonder how Bubbles knew. Sea-dragons had some strange talents from what Sauros could remember and he really wasn't in the mood to sit and listen to Bubbles go into an entire history lesson. Bubbles could be an amazing bore most of the time when he started talking about past battles and the family tree. He did that most of the time at any family gatherings and that was when Sauros just wanted to set himself on fire. Aurora had to smack him over the head a few times to keep him from saying the things that he wanted to and then would send the whole reunion into chaos.

            "Yes, he is. He will be our redemption when it is his time. Soon we will not be hunted anymore like beasts of Morgoth's era."

            "Those were bad times. Things have not gotten much better since then in truth," Bubbles said quietly as Sauros shook his head.

            "No, they have not but it will change eventually. Strider has promised me this."

            Bubbles nodded before turning back towards the water. "The city will be up in about thirty minutes. Heed my warning from earlier; they will need to move quickly."

            "I will tell them."

            Bubbles leapt off the cliff and dove into the water with a small splash as Sauros looked over the edge to look down at the water. He never really liked water that much but it wasn't that much of a shock seeing as how he was a fire-dragon. He really considered the sea-dragons were more of like a water rat but that was his opinion. He would never say that to Aurora either. Sauros turned and walked towards the group and waited until they stopped talking and looked to him.

            "Bubbles has agreed to help us but we will have to be fast when he brings the city up. It will be heavy and the sea-dragons will not be able to hold it up for long. So speed is of the essence," Sauros directed as the others nodded.

            "Elladan, check the book again and be sure we understand what it is saying. We need to get everything ready for when we enter Gondolin," Aragorn said as Elladan nodded and pulled his brother along with him to look over the book again.

            "It would be best if we left the weapons here at the camp site. They would add more weight to the island and it may give us a few more vital minutes if we did not carry the weapons with us," Legolas suggested as Aragorn nodded and everyone started to take off all their weapons and excess items.

            "I will drop you off on the island and then fly back to here; after about forty minutes I will fly back out and pick you up where I dropped you off. If the island sinks before then…then I will come and find you."

            "What if you can not find us?" Lina asked as she pushed a strand of hair behind her ear.

            "Just start to jump up and down and scream. If I do not find you while the city is sinking then I will find you once it does sink and you are swimming in the ocean," Sauros said with a toothy smile.

            "Did I just hear what I think I just heard? You will pick us up when we are swimming in the ocean?" Glorfindel asked incredulously as Elladan and Elrohir came up to them. "Did I hear you correctly?"

            "Come Glorfindel, we need your advice on something," Elladan interrupted and pulled Glorfindel away by the arm.

            The twins understood that Glorfindel had something against large bodies of water but they never really understood why. They weren't about to ask either or the elf lord may start to get that twitch again and they really did not want that. He might start to rethink his decision about escorting the sons of Elrond anywhere ever again. Sauros rolled his eyes and looked up at the sun to gauge the time. It was getting close. The elves suddenly went silent and turned to look out towards the ocean and Sauros followed their gaze. A mile or so out the water was starting to churn angrily and Sauros turned back to everyone.

            "Everyone, quickly, climb on. We need to get you on the island for the most time possible. Leave everything except your own body."

            The group scrambled onto Sauros' back and the dragon leapt into the air as his wings lifted him into the sky. He flew towards the disturbance in the water and hovered while the ancient city of Gondolin slowly emerged from the water. Most of the peeks were still in tact and the city seemed to have fared well under the water for the amount of years that it had been under there. Seaweed hung from the roofs and balconies and water dripped from buildings as the city continued to rise. Several sea animals scuttled down the walls and hid in the cracks. Some of the buildings were completely destroyed and in ruins while a few looked like the weight of the years had not even touched them. When the city's floor emerged from the water, Sauros carefully hovered above the ground and everyone jumped off to the wet stone road. For a moment, everyone just stood there and looked around in awe and wonder.

            "I never thought that I would see this place again," Glorfindel murmured softly to himself as faint memories came back to him of the city.

            "We need to hurry. Glorfindel, which is the quickest way to the Tower of the King?" Elrohir asked to catch his mentor's eye.

            Glorfindel quickly brought up all his memories of Gondolin and calculated the speediest path.

            "Sauros dropped us at the eastern side of Gondolin. I know of a quick way but I am not sure of the condition of the path. It could be a dead end."

            "We will not know until we try, now lead the way."

            Glorfindel nodded and quickly took off down an alleyway at a jog with everyone following. He looked in both directions as they crossed streets and shops to ensure that he had an idea of where they were going. He remembered faintly walking down these streets when they were alive with talking, bargaining, joking, and the other sounds of living. A fellow warrior friend of his lived in that building right there. A small flower shop resided over there. He shook his head to clear the memories. None of them would help him now.

            Rounding one of the corners, he slid to a stop to see the alleyway completely blocked by a collapsed wall. Swearing to himself, he looked around quickly and knew that they didn't have time to spare to go back and take another route. Motioning towards the others, he started to slowly climb the walls by using the cracks, which offered marvelous hand and footholds. He occasionally glanced back to ensure that the others were following him and doing okay. Reaching the roof, they started to run across the roofs and leaping to the neighboring ones as they moved quickly.

            "How much time do we have left?" he asked back to Aragorn.

            "I would guess that we just passed the fifteen minute mark. How much further to go until we reach it?"

            "Ten minutes if we do not meet anymore obstacles. What was our time limit?"

            "Forty-five minutes. We are almost at the half-way mark."

            Glorfindel started to move faster and stretched his long legs to eat up more distance. He could see their destination in the distance and knew that they were heading in the right direction. Negotiating the rooftops was starting to get dangerous when they started to encounter weak spots in the roofing. They also had to deal with occasional shifting of the entire city from the sea-dragons holding the city up. Several of the rooftops had fractures splitting across the entire length as the group sprinted across the roof to leap to the next one. The next roof was in worse shape but none realized it until Elrohir and Lina were crossing it to leap to the next building. The roof suddenly gave under them and started to break apart as the others ran ahead without realizing what was occurring behind them.

            "Elladan!" Elrohir yelled while swinging his arms to try and balance himself as the roof lurched side to side under him and Lina.

            Everyone turned just as the roof collapsed and the two disappeared from the view of everyone.

            "Elrohir!"

            The remaining three leaned over the ledge and looked down to the sopping remains of the stone roof. They scanned the rubble for anything moving and started to despair until they saw a chunk of stone be pushed aside to reveal a muddy hand.

            "Elrohir! Is that you?" Elladan yelled down as the hand continued to push aside stone.

            "Yeah and Lina is right next to me! Go on, we will catch up!" he yelled up and slowly emerged from the rubble.

            The others nodded and hurried off although all of them were apprehensive about leaving the two behind. When they reached the large courtyard that held the Tower of the King they slowly climbed down from the roof and walked across the puddle-strewn courtyard. Part of the tower still stood erect but part of the top was falling apart and crumbling. Beside the tower standing majestically was the golden and silver trees of Gondolin, Glingal and Belthil made by Turgon himself. Everyone slowed and looked upon them in awe as the sun sparkled off the trees and shimmered in their beauty. The trees had been created by Turgon in memory of the Two Trees of Valinor, which had brought light to the Land of the Valar in ancient times. When they were destroyed by Melkor and Ungoliant their last flower and fruit were made by the Valar into the Moon and the Sun. Glorfindel thought he would never see it again as he slowly neared it and ran a hand reverently across the metal. Hearing footsteps behind him, he turned to see Elrohir and Lina come limping into the clearing covered in muck from their small fall. They looked upon the trees and immediately ceased their grumblings. Glorfindel dropped his hand with a sigh before turning to look at Aragorn.

            "What were the directions?"

            "Uh…stand by the Tower of the King and be counted among the trees. Gaze upon the realm of the eagles and at the perch of Thorondor. There will be where you stand."

            Glorfindel followed the line from the Tower to the two trees and then stood at the end of the line. If he remembered correctly then Thorondor use to always perch on that precipice behind him and to his left but you could not see the precipice from this spot. Rotating, he craned his neck to look but knew it would work. Following the line that the tower and the trees made, he slowly inched his way to the side and continued to watch for the perch while occasionally looking back to ensure that he was still in line. When he finally reached the point where he could see Thorondor's old perch, he was a few yards away from the trees and tower but he could easily see the eagle's old perch.

            "Do you see our next clue?" Elrohir asked as Glorfindel shook his head.

            "I see nothing. Are we sure that we are doing everything that we need to do? Is there something else?"

            "This is the only spot in the courtyard where you can see that spot. I know," Glorfindel snapped and rubbed his eyes frustratingly.

            Why did he agree to accompany Estel on this adventure? Very true he never expected it to go this far but still. Elrond was going to hear about this whenever they returned to Imladris. Oh was that elf lord going to hear about it from him, Glorfindel chuckled to himself. He started to laugh hysterically in his head as he thought of the discussion between the two elf lords. Then he would lock the three sons of Elrond and the Mirkwood prince in the deepest, darkest cell and keep them there until it was time to leave for the undying lands or until Aragorn could become king. Glorfindel had once thought that he would adore having children and thought that they might be something like the twins, Aragorn, and Legolas but he was seriously starting to reconsider that. Valar help him if he was still around when one of them had kids and he had to be their mentor. He doubted that he could handle putting up with the sons of the terrors he was now watching over. No, no, no, no, no, nonononononononono; his mind almost imploded as the idea started to multiply and overwhelm him. Little versions of the twins and Aragorn? A very un-elvish shriek of terror echoed through his head as his eyes widened.

            "What could we be missing?"

            "I do not know but we had better because we are on borrowed time now. It is about past forty-five minutes. We need to hurry," Lina said while wiping the mud from her cheek and looking around.

            "We do not know where to go now. This can not be the last location," Elrohir said while walking around and looking at the ground as he walked over it.

            Everyone's voices slowly faded away as Elrohir focused on the task at hand. He started to follow some random line on the ground and slowly following it around curves and past other lines and faintly colored stones. 'What are we missing?' he thought to himself and frantically racked him mind. There has to be something. Glaurung was a dragon and something here showed them where he was. Why couldn't they see it? Maybe a dragon could see something that they were missing from high up. Maybe…

            Elrohir turned and quickly searched for the tallest building around the courtyard. He started to climb towards the roof and finally reached it while ignoring the yells of the others when they realized what he was doing. Wiping off his hands on his dirty leggings, he looked down at the courtyard and his eyes slowly widened when he recognized what he was looking for. He couldn't believe it with the detail and time that had to go into it. The courtyard floor was a large map of Middle-Earth and Glorfindel was standing right where they needed to go next.

            "That is it! Brilliant!" he yelped as everyone watched him shocked.

            "What are you talking about?"

            Elrohir quickly went through all the maps he's learned while studying at home.

            "Fanuidhol! We are going to Cloudyhead!"

            His excitement was suddenly ended when the building shifted under him, as did the rest of the city. The city was sinking back into the ocean!

            "Are you sure Elrohir?" Aragorn asked frantically as the ground shifted violently.

            "Yes! Now we get to leave!"

            Elrohir quickly climbed down as the group started to run down the streets towards the drop-off point. Small chinks of the buildings were starting to fall around them as the ducked and dodged the deadly pieces. All of them ran as if their life depended on it, and if they actually stopped to think, it did. Rounding a corner, they slid to a stop as water rushed towards them looking like a wall of blue. They took to the walls and started climbing frantically as the water rushed them.

            "Get up! Climb!" Aragorn yelled as he brought up the rear. "Hurry Lina!"

            If she had the breath to do so she would have told him to shove it but she wasn't going to. The sound was becoming deafening as they leaped across the gaps to the next buildings. The roofs were crumbling under their feet as they ran and all hoped that none of the roofs were going to collapse under their feet again. Elladan hung back a bit as Aragorn surged past him to keep up with Glorfindel. It was far easier for the elves to run across the roofs with their light weight but the humans were doing their best to dodge the bad spots. Unfortunately, the next building's roof was entirely unstable and the first footfall on the buildings started the roof crumble. The roof disappeared from under their feet and sent everyone sliding into the building.

            "Is everyone alright?" Legolas asked while climbing to his feet in the thigh deep water.

            "Yeah; we have to hurry though," Aragorn said and waded out to the street.

            The water was rising quickly as they moved down the street as fast as they can. Water was splashing every time a chunk of stone fell from the violently shifting city. A loud bellow pulled their attention towards the sky where Sauros was flying over the nearest building. Finding the sturdiest building that didn't look close to crumbling apart, they started climbing. Elladan was about to start climbing when he heard Lina scream his name a moment before something slammed into him and knocked him aside into the water. Emerging from the water, he shook his head to clear the water from his eyes as he looked to where he once stood. Lina was pinned from her hips and down against the stonewall by another chunk of stone that had fallen from the building across the street. Her hands were braced against the chunk as she gritted her teeth against the pain.

            "Lina!" Elladan gasped and scrambled to his feet to realize that the water was now up to mid-chest.

            He pressed his shoulder against the stone and strained to push the stone off her body. She pushed with him but somehow knew that the stone wasn't moving.

            "Elladan. Elladan!" she yelled to catch his attention. "It will not work. We can not move it."

            "What are we supposed to do?"

            "Leave me."

            Elladan stopped pushing and looking up at Lina to see a pair of calm eyes. She accepted what was coming and wasn't afraid to face it.

            "What are you talking about? I am not leaving you here to drown," Elladan stated, shaking his head vehemently.

            "You have no choice, Elladan. Go! Strider needs your help," she said and jerked her head upward where Aragorn was scrambling to get a good handhold.

            Elladan felt the tears prick his eyes but refused to let them fall. He glanced up again to where everyone was climbing onto Sauros. He looked back to Lina as she watched him calmly.

            "Go."

            With a quick nod, he started to climb agilely and caught Aragorn just as the small handhold that he had gave away. Elladan helped him onto the roof and then onto Sauros while noting that his arm had started to bleed again. He would have to look at that when the reached solid land again.

            With a roar, Sauros lifted higher into the sky as Elladan stared down at the disappearing city with a blank expression. His mind kept replaying everything that happened and wondered if there was something else he could have done. Why didn't he notice the chunk of stone falling towards him? Why did Lina have to push him aside? Did she really have to die? Well he wasn't really sure that she was dead, but it was a good assumption. Will anyone else notice that she wasn't with them?

            The city finally disappeared under the sea and Sauros started towards solid land. Elladan watched where the city had disappeared and hoped against hope that Lina would suddenly appear and be alright. He knew that it would never happen but he could hope. She was too young to die on an adventure that she had been recruited to accompany. He knew that she had wanted to come but he shouldn't have allowed it. She was far too young. When Sauros landed at the campsite, he slowly slipped off and walked a few yards away from the camp. He listened to everyone talking to Elrohir and asking about what he saw from the rooftop when looking down at the courtyard. Elladan suddenly felt anger for them not realizing that Lina was missing from the group. It should have been the first thing noticed. She had been with them since Aragorn's capture and had solved the first clue.

            "Elladan! What are you doing over there? We need to start packing to leave for Fanuidhol," Legolas called as Elladan slowly turned to look at the others.

            They all slowly stopped talking when realizing that Elladan wasn't with them. Elladan watched all of them with a dead expression before turning to look out towards the ocean.

            "She is dead and none of you realized it. She told me to leave her and help Aragorn to stop him from falling and you do not even realize that she is missing. I cannot bear to look at any of you right now. Please allow me a moment alone to grieve for her since none of you are willing to spare the time that she deserved."

()()()()()()()()()()

I really have no idea what to say. This chapter just would never come out; I had to physically yank it out of my head and still then it would only come in pieces. And I was also helping Linuvial Greenleaf with her story Fading Flame (marvelous story, I strongly suggest you read it) and gah, I just had all the stories crossing in my mind. So here it is, and I pray that I will get the next chapter out quicker than this chapter. Thank you so much to the patient ones that waited for this chapter and did not lose interest in the story. I can not blame you if you did. Hope you like this chapter and I will see you at the next update.

Astievia- (ducks flying clipboards) I am so sorry for leaving you hanging like that. You have no idea how sorry I am, truly. I hope to update soon after this one. Well I will update Reborn Warrior, then An Ancient Bond, then this one again. Again, I am so sorry.

Hiei-Rulez- I am seriously about to cry over here, I feel so bad. This chapter was just not working out the way that I wanted it to. I have no excuses for myself; I am a horrid writer. Uncle Bubbles just appeared out of nowhere. Well, I was talking to a friend about how to get around a small problem and it slowly came to me. I actually intended on basing him from Bubbles in the movie Finding Nemo but it did not work out that way but it is a great name.

Dha-Gal- Thank you, dearie, for the band-aids. I think I may use the clipboard and hammer on myself as punishment for taking so long with this chapter. This story is totally losing its earlier momentum that it once had. Eeewwww, whip cream in the hair? That would be disgusting. Sorry for the long delay in posting this chapter.

Sielge- Well thank you for the compliment and I am so sorry for taking so long to update this story. I promise (and hope) that I can update quicker the next time. Enjoy!

XxgemxX- Yeah, most males I know would never really go against their female counterparts, aka Mother, Girlfriend, Wife, and Sister. Well, there was Lina in this chapter; but it was probably that wrong part that you wanted to read about her.

Star-Stallion- Yes, I think Bubbles was just hilarious when I came up with him. I have a good habit/talent of creating hilarious new male characters. I am not planning on creating anymore codes; very difficult for me to create them.

Andunea the Shapeshifter- Well, I am so glad that you are enjoying this story. And I promise that I normally never take this long to update a story. Hope you enjoy this chapter as much as the others.

Cloud-123- You are very welcome and I am so sorry for taking so long to update.

Roccovende- Mae govanne, mellonin. My little vacation to London and then to Ohio was very relaxing. I am refreshed and ready to write now. And cheers also to you for the end of the school year and to great ff and even better friends. Cheers!

Ringmarciel- The constellation bit is from Dragonheart and I did not realize it until a few days after I posted. I was thinking over the chapter and was like, damn, that was like Dragonheart. I thought it fit nicely though.

Grumpy- Hope you enjoy this chapter as much as the others.

Linchi- I would never be upset with you, love! I love dragons too; I might have put a few too many in this story but oh well.

Neoinean- I did not mind a bit if you email the review straight to my email. I just love to get them. Actually, I really do not remember what you said…hold on…okay you know what, I can not find it. If it sounded like a flame then I probably would not have taken it to heart. I usually laugh at most of the flames and then calmly address them as they come, as infrequently as they come. The delay in this chapter was a bit of that problem and it took me a while to negotiate around it but I finally did. Hope you enjoy this chapter.

Elvendancer- I am getting plenty of sleep now. I am so sorry for taking so long to update this chapter but here it is. Better late than never.

Astievia- My plot bunnies are off getting drunk at barbeques and summer parties on the beach. I had to sick the animal control people on them and bring them back home to get this chapter out. Sorry for taking so long to update.

Linuvial Greenleaf- Uncle Bubbles is here! Us and our poor chapters that take us forever to get out. Till next update, love. And your comments had me rolling on the floor in laughter, honey. I was seriously about to wet my pants in hysterics.

Elven Kitten- Heehee, Uncle Bubbles is hilarious.

LOTRFaith- Have you read Reborn Warrior yet? I hope so; I think that one will turn into one of my best. But anyway, I am so glad that you have enjoyed all my stories. I am extremely flattered.

Snow-Glory- Elves suffering from sea-longing is not fun. Especially during a big adventure that they need their wits about them. Dha-Gal got me hooked on the skittles thing and it all started from there so blame her. Sweet-tarts would definitely classify. Sweet-tarts are divine.

Catmint- Well, thank you so much for the compliment. I am so sorry for taking so long to update, I really did not mean to take so long.

Someone Reading- Well, thank you so much for the compliment. The sea-dragons are a bit loopy. I based Uncle Bubbles from the character of Bubbles in Finding Nemo and wanted him to be like Bubbles in the movie but it did not work out that well. I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Alariel- Yeah, my computer problems were a pain in the ass. I was so pissed off but hopefully I can avoid those kind of problems from now on. Well thank you very much for the compliment.

Wolf Jade- I am sorry that your head hurts. I know I hate it when I have a headache.