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Fire's Voice

To: Electric Fire

From: BlackCharmgirl

o0O0o

Pippin strode through the wood, wood that had been bleached white by the harsh crystals that stung his face and froze his toes into his boots.

So this was beauty, this freezing nothingness?

He was going to kill Gandalf. He was a foolish old man, always going on about True Love and emotion and power.

Gandalf had told him to allow his 'destined power' to pull him around, to whip him like a chain.

Destined Power. Ha. Destined frostbite, more like.

But he trudged on through the deathly silent wood. He was not able to fight this invisible force anymore. The wind was to his back and only a stretch of cold, barren waste lay ahead of him. He was all alone, wallowing in the one emotion he had never had to face alone: fear.

Frodo was sick and Sam with him, never leaving his Master's side. Merry had business with his clan. Gandalf would not accompany him. He had laughed. Laughed. Even now, the old wizard's words echoed in the short hobbit's ears.

"You think it a coincidence that no one else is able to accompany you? You actually think so? HA! No, my dear friend, I will NOT be going with you. The road of True closed its gate to me long ago; all I can do for you is say this: Fear not the wind at your back, the tide that bends at your will. Fear not the sand that blinds, fear not the rain that freezes, or the hail that beats down on the poor and hungry, hungry for something True. Fear not the early grass or the late leaf, or the soft hug of silence. But fear Fire's Voice. It may be your destiny, or your worst nightmare. Only you can decide." Then he vanished.

So there he was. Fearing all Gandalf had said not to fear in his little poem, and wishing, wishing desperately for something to tie down to, to pin as reality. Fire's voice...

What was it? Fire was harsh and cruel, and it killed. Fire bent the trees and caused even the strongest man to fall. Fire was enemy. He had reason to fear it. He feared everything, and everything was fear. His world no longer existed. With this realization, Pippin gave up. He collapsed on the ground.

In his dream, nothing was white. There was blackness abounding, but no color. No hope. The only strength came from the huge looming world of Fear's shadow.

Then he heard it. It was a voice. It crackled and warmed to a pitch that wasn't human. It dipped and swerved and plotted its own course, not caring to turn back. It was gloomy and sick, dying with each moment. Then it soared, fueled by something swift and powerful and invisible.

It was Fire's voice, and it was getting closer.

But Fire was not Fire, either. Fire was a girl, forced by lack of True to become a harsh force, snuffing out everyting in sight. Fire cried out into the night, a cry of hurt and agony. Fire hated the world. She would burn it to bits, even the oceans. She was powerful enough. She screamed, her flaming horse rearing at the sound, and the hate the sound swept over the earth.

Fire saw Pippin. Pippin saw Fire.

The entire world shook with Fire's raw rage. "Why have you come to MY home?" She hissed.

"I was told by the wizard Gandalf the Grey that something True awaited me here."

"HA! True! As if True could be here! Look around you, Pippin- Yes, of course I know your name- and see what this land has become! I am the only being who can stand the heat here!"

Something somehow turned the frozen gears of Pippin's mind. "I do not sense heat. I feel cold, just as you do. It is you that controls this place. But I control myself."

"YOU CANNOT POSSIBLY FEEL COLD THE WAY I DO! OUT!"

"I am not afraid."

"Fool-" Then she stopped. He was looking deeply into her eyes, his chestnut meeting greenish blue of the sea.

"If I really cannot feel the heat, how have I survived? I came to this place on the stream of power that you pulled me in with. If you let that go, you will have found the greatest power of all, love."

Fire was frozen in time. That man... he saw straight through all of her shields, straight into the frightened beauty she was. He was True. But if he turned bad, and she had no power...

"Do you not believe me?"

"I do not trust you! Leave!"

"You do trust me. The evil power that has corrupted you for years does not! Let just a bit go for a second, and I swear on my father's honor that the beautiful You inside will trust me." He took a deep breath. "And be my bride."

Not ever breaking eye contact with the handsome hobbit, she willed her fake heat to flow out of her, spreading far across seas to distant lands. She found herself face to face with Pippin.

"Well?" he asked.

"I love you."

Her heart sang for days after that as the couple slowly made their way home, the realm of Fear defeated and the road of True Love ahead. Her heart was singing Fire's True song.

o0O0o

Electric Fire, this is for you! Hope y'all liked it. Ya know the story you wrote me? I put it in two page protectors in my English binder and now when I don't wanna follow along with the book in English class, I put the book on top of my opened binder and read about Ryo over and over and over... Thank you SO MUCH for that!