A/N: Well, Lij, Spork, and I are back! ^^ We're proud to present to you Chapter Twenty of "More Than Meets The Eye", which took a helluva long time to write.
I have a warning for this chapter: For those weak of heart, there is some graphic violence in this chapter. You have been warned. Of course, if you are like my friend Raven, and are a sadist, you'll (hopefully) enjoy this chapter. Now, I'll shut up and let you read this.
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Chapter Twenty: Dreams of a Forgotten Promise
Liselle had dragged Meryl back into the House of Healing and that was where the handmaiden had left her, threatening to do something extremely horrible of she even thought of leaving the room.
Meryl sat in bed until the noonday meal, grumbling to herself. Her nose was extremely stuffed, and she didn't feel like telling anyone, because then they would have "freaked out and called in Doctor Elrond" as she put it. She ate her meal in silence.
That afternoon, Bilbo came over to visit Meryl, to lighten up her spirits. He entertained her with stories of his childhood and his memories of Frodo when the young hobbit had recently moved in with him. Dae had gone underneath her bed, and slept there. But, the afternoon grew late and he eventually had to leave, for his body wasn't as young as it used to be, or so he said.
Liselle came in, bearing Meryl's dinner tray. "Here you are, Meryl," she said as she handed the tray to the girl.
"Thanks. Smells great," she lied through her stuffy nose, as she scented the bowl of an unnamed brown soup. Flakes of unidentified herbs floated among the brown broth. Even through her stuffy nose it smelled horrible.
"I have informed the seamstresses to make you new clothes, since all of your dresses have sadly been destroyed in the fire."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Meryl made her hands in the shape of a T. "Time out! Dresses? They're making dresses? Liselle, you know that I don't like, wait loathe, those."
"Do not worry, Meryl. They are also sewing your tunics and breeches."
"That's a relief," she sighed. "You scared me for a second."
"Are you feeling all right?" Liselle asked. "You do not sound like yourself."
Meryl couldn't take it anymore. "My nose is so stuffed up right now, you couldn't even get an ice pick past all of that crap up there."
"Would you like for me to go and fetch a handkerchief?"
"Oh please do!"
"Please wait a moment..." Liselle left the room, and returned shortly with a white handkerchief in hand. She handed it to Meryl, who felt it and laughed out loud.
"Liselle! I don't need one made of silk! I'll ruin it."
The Elf's cheeks flushed. "Pardon my mistake, Meryl. I was not thinking."
"Hey, stop that. Everyone has that time when they don't think." Meryl paused. "Come to think of it, I do that a lot of the time. Not think."
Liselle smiled. "Excuse me, Meryl. I will return with a different handkerchief."
Meryl waved her off. "Take your time."
The Elf left and came back again, with another white handkerchief. She gave it to Meryl who checked it before bringing it up to her nose and blew into it. Hard. When her nostrils were cleared, she had the misfortune to glance down into her handkerchief.
"THAT IS SO BLOODY GROSS!" she yelled. "MY SNOT IS BLACK!"
Liselle winced at the volume of the girl's voice. "What do you mean?"
Meryl goggled at her handmaiden, but then relaxed when she realized that she probably didn't know what "snot" meant. "Snot, well it's icky stuff that is produced from your nose." Then she remembered that Elves didn't get sick, so of course she wouldn't know what anything related to the word "snot" meant. "I mean, don't take a look at this until you've got it cleaned. It's this color probably from all of that smoke going up my nose during the fire, so it's pretty gross."
"Gross?"
Meryl sighed. Sometimes being from a more technologically advanced world could be difficult. "Disgusting, revolting, sickening, that sort of thing." She then began to study the handkerchief and the contents inside, turning it this way and that. "You know, this is sort of like those ink-blot tests that you have to take." She rotated it ninety degrees. "Holy crap! It looks like Charlie Sheen!"
"Who?"
"Charlie Sheen." The teenage girl paused before saying, "He's an actor-a person."
Liselle looked excited. A happy smile crossed her face. "Meryl! Your memory is recovering."
"It- it is!" Meryl forced a smile and tried to look awestruck. "Sweet!" She reprimanded herself for once again letting something slip out of her mouth. She glanced down at her food and grimaced inwardly. The smell of her soup had now filled the room with its pungent scent.
Her handmaiden noticed her. "Meryl, you had best begin eating that before it gets cold."
Meryl nodded with a disgusted look in her eyes. Liselle didn't notice because she had turned away. She picked up the spoon and ate a little. The taste wasn't as bad as the smell, but she had tasted better things in the past.
Liselle watched as she ate with a small secret smile on her face. She could tell that Meryl didn't like the taste, but was both surprised and amazed that she ate the whole bowl without making one face or commenting on the horrible taste. Usually Meryl said everything that came to her mind.
The spoon clattered against the empty bowl as Meryl set the tray aside. Her arms felt heavy and sluggish, and she felt very tired. Her eyelids dropped half-shut before she snapped them open again.
"How was it?" Liselle asked.
"To tell you the truth," murmured Meryl, "horrible."
"I should think so."
"What are you talking about?" she mumbled. Her eyelids dropped closed again. She felt so sleepy. She thought it was strange that all of a sudden she had felt so exhausted. Reality slapped her in the face and she tried to open them again. "That wasn't soup. That was a sleeping draught, wasn't it?"
"I am afraid so. Lord Aragorn instructed me to do it."
"I'm... fine... Don't need a bloody... potion."
"No you are not 'fine.' It is for the best, Meryl. Please understand."
"I'm gonna kill you guys once I... wake..." Meryl's eyes finally shut, and she fell against her pillows with a soft thump.
Liselle covered the sleeping girl with her blankets and left the room. As she went down the hallway, she passed by Lord Elrond, who asked, "Has she taken it?"
The Elfess nodded. "She has. She fought against it very hard, and dislikes us for having given it to her without her knowing. It took a few moments longer than expected for her to sleep, I am surprised to say. Everyday I am amazed by her."
The Lord of Rivendell smiled. "As am I." He thought for a moment. "That draught was strong enough to put even Estel and Legolas to sleep immediately, and yet she managed to fight against it before dropping off."
"That is very odd, my lord," Liselle said. "If you do not mind my saying."
"Indeed, it is." Elrond paused for some thought. "Maybe full blooded humans have more resistance to this draught than Elves, or even Half Elves."
Liselle smiled. "Or she is just stubborn, my lord."
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Meryl woke up with a throbbing headache. She swore under her breath and sat up. Liselle and the others would pay dearly for drugging her. Her room in the House of Healing was empty, which was odd, for Dae was always with her. She stood up and saw that she was dressed.
"I don't remember dressing myself."
She went across the room and opened the door, pulling it in. As the door swung inwards, she screamed. Liselle's body was pinned against the door, in a protective pose, with a crudely made spear thrust through her chest. She screamed again and ran out into the hall. Bodies of Orcs and Elves were strewn about. Unseeing eyes gazed at Meryl as she began running down the hall, shrieking and tears running down her face.
She tripped over a body and fell to the ground. She turned around and saw that it was one of the twins. His eyes had lost their spark of life and laughter, and a trickle of blood ran down his cheek from the corner of his mouth. He had a large gash in his throat, and blood was pooling around his body.
She whipped her head around and began recognizing others around her. Legolas lay to her right; a large sword plunged through his mid-section. Aragorn and Arwen were lying next to each other, with arrows riddling them. Gimli's head was cleaved off by his own axe, it now rested on the tip of a spear that was thrust through his chest. Elrond was ahead of her, with a dagger through his neck. The other twin lay next to his father, an arrow through his own neck. They all were dead. Even the elflings, who had horrified looks that would stay frozen on their faces for the rest of eternity. Their unseeing eyes pierced her heart and mind, and she wept violently. Trembling horribly, she stood up and fell back to the ground.
"This wouldn't have happened," a voice split through the hall.
Meryl looked up to see Brian. No, it wasn't Brian. It was that other one. The one with the dark hair and black eyes. Trembling like mad, she stood up. "What do you mean?"
"You have made a promise to yourself Meryl. To never let them get close to you." He stared at her with a calculating gaze. "Have you forgotten that promise?"
"N- No. I haven't."
The Brian lookalike raised his eyebrows. "You haven't? Well, by what I've seen, I would say that you have. You've let down your walls. You've broken your promise."
Meryl stared at him in shock as he continued, "You would not feel grief had you not let them into your heart. This was the test, to see if you had or not. And, judging by your reaction-" he smirked, "-you've failed."
Meryl heard a weak bark. She turned to see Dae, with arrows sticking out of his body, limping towards her. Her breath caught in her throat, and a huge lump found its way there. She fell to her knees.
"Dae," she whispered in horror. Fresh tears ran down her cheeks. Her dog limped to her side and stood there. She stared into his eyes as he licked her cheek a few times, whined, and fell to the ground. He did not move to get up.
"No!" she screamed as she shook him. "Dae! Don't leave me!"
Dae remained motionless. He was dead. Meryl threw herself onto the dog's body, crying hysterically.
"The consequences of your decision to break your promise is to be eternally alone, drowning in your grief and despair until your life has ended."
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It was after the evening meal. Aragorn and Arwen had left Rivendell for Gondor after eating. They both stopped in Meryl's room, to say their farewells to the sleeping girl. Elladan, Elrohir, and a whole mess of guards escorted them as far as the borders of the Elven land before the twins turned back.
After eating his own meal, Legolas decided to check on the sleeping Meryl. He had heard of Aragorn's decision to drug the girl, and wanted to calm her before she stormed out of the room she was staying in and lobbed Aragorn's head off with his own sword. Of course, the King of Gondor had left, so that would mean that she would have attacked the nearest conspirator who would cross her path.
He made his way to the Houses of Healing, where he began the search for her room. He had not seen her since her rescue from the fire, so he had no idea where her room would be. He wandered the halls, before finally admitting to himself that he needed to ask for directions. He stopped the nearest Healer and asked him. The Healer gladly told him the directions, and he soon found himself in front of Meryl's door.
He knocked on the door, and when he heard no reply, decided that she was still sleeping. He opened the door and went inside. Meryl was in bed, asleep. He dragged a chair over to her bedside, and sat down. He was surprised to see that many tears leaked from the corners of her eyes and ran down her cheeks.
{Her dreams must be afflicting her,} he thought. He pulled his sleeve over his hand and began to gently dry the tears from her face. He then peered at her face in interest, and wondered how humans could ever sleep with their eyes closed. He had tried it before when he was very young, but found it difficult.
He started a bit when her eyes snapped open and she sat up, ready to scream. He clapped a hand over her mouth and whispered, "Meryl, it is only me."
The frenzy in her green eyes lessened, but did not disappear. Tears filled them and spilled over, making small streams down her cheeks. Legolas slowly uncovered her mouth, after making sure that she would not scream.
"Are you all right?"
She shook her head, fearing that speaking would only make her break down into even more tears.
"Were you having a nightmare?"
"H-How did you know?" she whispered, her voice cracking.
"You were crying in your sleep," he informed her gently. "Do you wish to talk about it?"
Meryl shook her head and hastily wiped the tears from her eyes, but Legolas could see that she still needed comforting. Whatever she had dreamed, it had shaken her badly- her eyes showed it. He tried to pull her into a hug, but was surprised when she resisted by pushing him away.
"I don't need you to console me. I'm fine."
Legolas didn't believe her, but respected her wishes and let the matter drop. He watched as Meryl leaned back against the pillows and let her hand drop to the floor. Underneath her bed was Dae, who began licking it. They could hear the thumps from his tail under the bed that said that he was content.
"Good boy," she murmured.
Legolas smiled and asked, "Does he do that often? Lick your hand?"
"Oh yeah. He does it whenever I put my hand down and he's under the bed." Her attention turned from her dog to Legolas and she changed the subject. "Why did you come here?"
"I thought that you might have wished for company. You were asleep when I came in, so I decided to wait until you awoke."
Meryl's eyes flashed angrily. "That's right! I'm going to get Aragorn for slipping me that concoction. Now I'll never get to sleep tonight."
Legolas raised his eyebrows. "So your reason for plotting revenge is because you will not get a good night's sleep tonight?"
"Well, yeah," Meryl replied. "Haven't you ever taken a nap during the day, and then when it was time for bed, you weren't able to sleep?"
The Elf shook his head. "Elves do not need as much sleep as humans do, Meryl."
"Oh yeah." Meryl shrugged. "I'll tell you one thing, he deserves whatever I think of doing to him."
Legolas grinned. "Then you will be unhappy to hear that he and Arwen have left Imladris, for they needed to return to Gondor."
"Crap, this will be difficult..."
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Lovely chapter, no? Okay, I do not own Charlie Sheen, who was mentioned in this chapter. If you guys don't know who that is, he's the guy who plays Aremis is "The Three Musketeers."
I now have a story to tell. Okay, when Meryl freaks out about her snot being black, no this wasn't from the top of my head. It actually happened to me. I went on a canoeing/camping trip last year, and I loved to sit by the fire. Of course, sooner or later the wind changes and blows smoke into your face. Well, after camp, that was when I discovered that I had black bogeys. XP Pretty gross, in my opinion.
Remember to review! I'M SO CLOSE TO 200!
By the Lion's Mane,
Leo