Chapter I: Up in Smoke
By EclipseKlutz
Classification: "Lord of the Rings": Action/Adventure/Drama
Rating: PG-13 (my humor [sarcasm, dry humor, and other such things], possible gore and exaggerated drama, mild language, graphic violence, you know- all the normal stuff)
Pairings: Don't know yet, but Arwen/Aragorn fans might not want to read this.
Disclaimer: Do you think I could ever own this? Gees, I'm flattered… except Lord of the Rings was published in the early-mid 1900s. How old do you think I am? Anyways, I own a few characters (hopefully you'll know who they are), and the plot… JRR Tolkein owns the rest. Fallsville doesn't exist by the way.
Spoilers: Takes place a few years after the movies
Summary: After given a science project that's worth half their grade, school nerd Amy Gidget and the punk-rocker Tess Fields are pretty much forced to work together. But when the project goes awry, they're pulled into Middle Earth; a place Amy only has little knowledge of and to which Tess is completely illiterate. Now they have to return to their own time… but another war has started.
~~*~~
Earth: Monday, August 11, 2003
2:19 PM, Last Period- AP Chemistry
"You're homework over the next month –until Thursday, September 25th-- is to create an contrary-system," Dr. Johnson announced as he walked up and down the isles, stopping every now and then to inspect some of his student's most recent projects. "Now, who can tell me what that is?"
A single hand shot into the air, while the rest of the class looked utterly clueless. Dr. Johnson glanced over at the squirrelly girl attached to it- the only student who actually deserved to be in the AP Chemistry class he was instructing right now.
"We all know you know the answer, Miss Gidget, but would anyone else like to try to answer the question?" he asked the class. Only her hand stayed in the air- even the people who looked like they were trying to figure out the answer stayed silent and planted in their seat.
He turned to the girl near the back who had just rudely placed her booted feet on the lab table in front of her, and scolded, "One more time, Miss Fields, and it'll be a week of detention!"
Tess huffed, removing her feet yet leaving a few chunks of dirt on the table, and making no move to clean them off.
"Since you remain the only non-illiterate student in this class, Miss Gidget, how about you explain to us what a contrary system is?" Dr. Johnson offered finally, as no one else had made any attempt to answer and Amy looked as though she were about to fall out of her chair.
"A contrary system is a cluster of molecules formulated by a dominating number of negative atoms, hence the arch of our existence. It pulls together by trans-mental energies, evanescing any sense of moisture creating a possible portal to an alternate plane," she paused to take a breath before continuing, "but recent studies show that this theory is completely impossible, as the more naïve believe that there could never be another plane- this caused scientists to question the existence of the astral plane which-"
"That's enough, Miss Gidget, I think we get the meaning now," Dr. Johnson informed her, figuring the rest of the class would explode from an over-bundance of knowledge.
Amy blushed slightly, glancing down at the desk in front of her as she realized she had gone overboard again.
"Yeah, but how're we supposed to make somethin' like that?" Tess commented without attempting to raise her hand.
Dr. Johnson rolled his eyes, "That's for me to know and you to figure out. Now… partners are as follows: Samuel and Gloria, Dawn and Lauren-" the two preps squealed happily with joy- "Hannah and John, Donna and Samone, Dan and Mike, Simon and Carl L., George and Erin, Amy and Tess, and Della and Carl M."
Tess blinked, hoping she hadn't heard what she thought she had. Glancing over at the geek of the school she noted Amy had a similar look of shock on her face. 'Oh well, at least I'll get an A,' Tess thought, mentally groaning, 'and I might actually learn something… yeah, right.'
~~*~~
Earth: Monday, August 11, 2003
9:53 PM
Amy sighed, flopping down on her bed and automatically grabbing the teddy bear that sat on the floor besides the queen-sized bed. She leaned backwards against the wall that had been hand-painted (by her) with clouds, and stared at the book sitting on her bed stand, unwilling to look at the mirror, as she already knew what she'd find.
She'd see a vertically challenged pale and scrawny girl with chest-length brown hair pulled back in a messy pony-tail with a few of the uneven strands dangling out, and wide hazel eyes staring back at her. She had never been exactly proud of her appearance, even if she was stick thin.
Hugging the worn stuffed bear tighter against her chest, Amy leaned backwards, frowning. Tomorrow she'd have to face being partners with one of her complete opposites- Tess Fields. Her other opposite –and nemesis- was Lauren, so she was happy Mr. Johnson hadn't stuck her with that prep, but still…
"Life's strange," she informed the bear as she crawled beneath the dark violet comforter on her bed and grabbing the book she was about to start reading, 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Lost Slayer (Special Edition: Whole Series)'. "It's just strange…"
~~*~~
Earth: Monday, August 11, 2003
10:31 PM
"Aw!" Tess complained, staring in exasperation at the screen of the only television in the house, so therefore the one she'd been playing Nintendo on… and the one that had just frozen up as she finally got down the boss of that particular level for the first time.
"You aren't still playing that stupid game, are you?" Mrs. Fields asked as she walked into the room, which served as both the kitchen and the family room in their small house. "Go to bed- it's a school night."
Tess rolled her eyes and climbed to her feet, manually turning off the TV as she replied, "Fine, mom…"
Since she already wore her pajamas (black sweatpants and a matching T-shirt with Linkin Park on the front), Tess hesitantly walked into the room she shared with her older sister.
Maurice was already asleep on the top bunk, looking like some princess out of a fairy tale. Tess scowled; her older sister had always been the beauty of the family. Tess was the tall one with a little flab, the one who had ended up with the tangle-prone black hair and ended up cutting it to her chin, the one with dark green eyes instead of her sister's perfect emerald ones.
She didn't have much time to pity herself though since her tiredness was setting in from pulling late nights just about every day of the weak and getting up early every day.
Climbing into the bottom bunk and pulling her grandmother's faded old quilt over her shoulders, Tess laid her head against the pillow wondering how'd she survive the next week in AP Chemistry with the biggest nerd in school.
----*----
Middle Earth
"Aragorn!" the dwarf hollered as he sprinted as fast as his aching legs would allow towards the palace of Gondor, "Aragorn!"
Halting outside the double doors, Gimli bent over, placing his hands on his bended knees, dangling his head and panting. He'd been running for so long… two days since he'd heard the news.
Regaining his composure, the dwarf threw open the door closest to him and strutted inside, only to be opposed by two heavily armored guards.
"What business do you have here?" the tallest guard demanded.
"He," A familiar voice entered the interrogation before it had hardly begun, "is a friend of mine. Stand down and let Gimli pass."
"Gimli?" the shorter guard squeaked, glancing in Gimli's direction with wide eyes. He bowed and backed away, as though he did not want to be seen opposing the dwarf. The taller guard copied his movements and backed away as well.
Gimli snorted, "Nice to know I'm welcome in your hall, Aragorn."
Aragorn strode down the steps, revealing Arwen standing in the door behind him looking elegant in her flowing white satin gown. Arwen tossed a smile in Gimli's direction before offering, "Would you like anything, Master Dwarf? Of course you would…" she walked away disappearing into the halls through the doorway to order up a feast.
Placing a hand on Gimli's shoulder Aragorn replied, "You're always welcome here… you just look… dirtier then usual…? All the while, care to announce the reason behind your visit?"
"The trees have been talking, saying things about a menace growing… a powerful shape shifter after power," Gimli frowned and added under his breath: "I told you it was a bad idea to let the elf force-teach me Tree-ish."
Aragorn sighed ignoring Gimli's comment, "Shape shifter, you say?"
"Yes. The trees say he wanders disguised as a human," Gimli informed him.
"Now that's a change…"
----*----
Earth: Tuesday, August 12, 2003
1:45 PM, Eighth period- Choir
Bring!
Amy shook her head, trying to shake sleep out of her system. A bell had just rung… her mind was hazy for a moment, trying to rid itself of the numbing sensation of exhastion of getting only an hour of sleep, but then it clicked.
'Yes! Eighth period is over!' She thought happily, pulling her books onto her lap and glancing down at the choir teacher who half the school thought was hell's spawn (the other half never met her). 'No offence to you, of course…'
Grabbing the back of her cold metal chair she pulled herself to her feet, hesitating as a wave of dizziness passed over her. "Note to self, no getting good books for a long, long time."
After a quick breath she cautiously followed the rest of the class out of the room, and as normal made it to her locker without being confronted. Nerds were social outcasts around here, anyway.
"Hey, Amy, right?" A boy's voice asked calmly, as he leaned against the locker next to hers.
"No, you cannot copy my homework," she responded without looking at him, as that was the question almost anyone who approached her asked. Pulling her chemistry book out from the bottom of a cluttered pile in her locker, she grabbed the door handle and pulled herself to her feet keeping her back to the guy.
Whoever he was laughed lightly, "Hey, I don't recall asking to copy your homework, I just want your opinion on something."
"Polls are mindless collections of other's thoughts, not reflecting one's own, and in common circumstances remodeling one's own personal opinion into that of the majority under the impression they will make more friends if they don't clash with the more populated opinion," Amy retorted, glancing at him… he wasn't that bad looking with his tall frame, messy black hair, and dark blue eyes, but since when did she start thinking about getting a boyfriend? Or, for that matter, liking guys?
He smiled slightly but gave her a completely confused look, as though unsure of what she was trying to say.
"It means no," she offered, turning her gaze to the clock. "Now, if you don't mind I've got to go…"
"Just one question, white or purple?"
Amy cocked an eyebrow at him, "Purple. Bye now."
She walked away, really fast, hoping she'd make it to next period on time. Dr. Johnson was lenient with most of her lates because she was his star student, but she didn't want to be treated like a teacher's pet.
…She made it to the classroom exactly fifteen seconds after the bell rang. Amy frowned and walked over to her desk, dropping her books down and flopping into one of the chairs.
"All right class," Dr. Johnson said as though he hadn't notice her come in, "You'll have to sit with your partner… so, get to it- chop, chop."
Glancing over at Tess, Amy rolled her eyes. The rebel had her feet on top of her desk again, and was playing with her silver thumb ring that she had had since first grade. After a few seconds though, Tess turned her gaze to her and scowled before kicking off the table and somehow landing on her feet on the floor before approaching Amy.
"Let's get this over with," Tess said, pulling out a chair for herself and sitting down. Amy didn't fail to notice the worried look Dr. Johnson sent their way.
Nodding in agreement, Amy asked, "So, do you want to go all out with this, approach it from a different perspective, or just make it simple?"
Tess glanced at her, cocking an eyebrow, "Whatever you wish, oh Smart One."
"Don't call me that," Amy huffed, they were already on a rocky start and class had only been in session for less then five minutes.
The punk rocker shrugged in response, and made a decent effort to look interested in the project.
"You know," Amy offered as she grabbed a sheet of paper to start plotting out the plan, "you don't have to waste your energy on boredom, you should be helping me out here, how much of a grade do you want."
"I want an 'A' less than you, but I'd say go all out and see if we can make little dinosaurs on this alternate plane of ours," Tess responded, now putting her energy into not sticking her feet on the table.
Amy smirked slightly; happy Tess's humor wasn't as… bad as all the other rocker chicks. "Contrary system," Amy corrected, "We do not want to make an alternate plane or universe since I honestly don't want to see you in a pink dress with a ribbon in your hair."
"I second that," Tess responded wryly, shuddering at the thoughts of pink dresses and (gulp) matching hair ribbons…
~~*~~
Earth: Friday, August 15, 2003
2:08 PM, Ninth Period- AP Chemistry
Two days had passed since their discussion about Tess in a pink dress, and it seemed their rocky relationship was finally becoming one where they could consider the other as an acquaintance, not yet a friend but some one they talked to.
The drawing board had been finished early Wednesday morning in Amy's third period study hall, so they had been working on the basics for two days, and it seemed that today they could finally do something more challenging… say, start the roots of the contrary system.
Despite her attempts not to be, Tess was hyper with excitement. She was sincerely enjoying the project- mixing things together and getting explosions and shocked was becoming the most entertaining part of her day, and her partner seemed to have the same sense of humor- making the class much more livable. So as she walked into the classroom trying to keep her expression remote and controlled, and took a seat at the lab table that Amy and her had been using for the past few days, she couldn't help but hope class would start soon.
And wow, Amy was on time. The nerd had told her the other day about the boy that had approached her near her locker, and Tess clarified that she had never seen a guy like that at their school before.
Dropping her books on the floor besides the table, Amy plopped into her seat and immediately engaged a conversation with Tess about what they had to do today.
"If we're lucky, we should be done by September 17th, giving us six class days to tweak it a little," Amy explained after she informed Tess on the necessities of the day.
"Or," Tess implied, "We could build a ray gun with the school supplies."
"Not a bad idea," Amy responded with a grin, as she began to reach for the goggles and realized they weren't there.
Dr. Johnson chose that time to stand in front of the class with a clipboard and announced, "You're supplies and experiments have been moved to the lab, which I've rented out until September 24th. Now line up class, we have to go there now."
Tess and Amy exchanged a quick glance, and Tess shrugged before pulling herself to her feet and filing out of the room behind the rest of the class.
Amy's grin widened as she entered the lab- all the supplies they needed were right there. Following Tess over to the table near the back that had all their stuff loaded on top of it, she instantly seated herself as Tess grabbed the lab coats off the hook behind her.
Tossing the nerd a lab coat and pulling on her own, Tess took a seat as well, sharing the same grin as Amy. "Allright, Smart Person, you direct me on what to do- I want to pour the stuff."
"Okay, here, take this," Amy nodded handing Tess a vile of thick transluctant blue liquid. "And add it to… um, a half cup of water."
The punk-rocker did as she was told under the careful supervision of Amy- who was trying to mix a white powder with a gooey green substance while she made sure Tess did it all right.
"Okay, how are you with matches and crap, 'cause I sincerely suck?" Amy inquired after Tess finished blending water with the blue stuff.
Tess smirked, "I'm a pyro freak, what else are you expecting?"
"Good," Amy replied after a minute, as she handed Tess whatever the gooey (and now powdery) substance she had been working on was, "Mix this with the blue liquid, and set it on fire- then we have our main root."
"Cool," Tess stated pouring the two concoctions together. Snatching a book of matches from one of the drawers, she lit one of the narrow sticks. Without hesitation, she held down into the beaker now holding the almost turquoise subject.
Strangely thick black smoke drifted up from the beaker, filling the room in a matter of seconds, and choking its inhabitants. Sparks flew up from the table where the two girls sat and Tess shouted something that sounded like a very bad curse, but it was muffled against the smolder.
Dr. Johnson blindly navigated himself through the room, ushering all the students out before calling the principle, Mr. McHede, down to the room.
"Dr. Johnson!" Frizzy-haired Gloria said urgently, trying to gain his attention, "Amy and Tess aren't out here- and there's no response from the room!"
----*----
"Eh," Tess groaned as consciousness slowly came back to her. She blinked for a few moments, her eyes burning from whatever that smoke had been, and pulled herself into a sitting position.
As her vision unfogged, it didn't take her long to notice that she was not where she had been the last time she'd seen the world. She was somewhere in a shaded forest, the sky wasn't even noticeable through the thick branches and swaying leaves of the trees. "What the…?"
She heard a moan from beside her and looked over to see Amy reviving as well. Tess shook the girl to make the process go faster- she had a good deal of questions that needed answers.
"Stop it," Amy commanded groggily, shoving Tess's arm away. She blinked a few times as well and her eyes widened, "Where the hell are we?"
"You're guess is as good as mine," Tess informed her with a frown- she had been hoping Amy knew, after all, the girl seemed to know everything anyways. "But I can tell you one thing- Toto, we're not in Kansas anymore."
"We were never in Kansas to begin with," Amy stated, frowning as well. Grabbing a low branch on a nearby tree, she shakily pulled herself to her feet and glanced around, "How'd we get here anyway?"
Tess also climbed to her feet, but without the need of a branch, "That questions easy- lab explosion."
"But that's only in the movies," Amy replied skeptically.
"Guess not," Tess shrugged, "But maybe we should focus less on where we are and more on where we're going to go."
"I know where you're going," a new, deeper, voice entered their conversation. The two girls looked over to see a tall man with messy coffee brown hair and matching eyes jumping off a horse and walking towards them. Behind him five men on horseback awaited orders. "With me."
"Um… hi," Amy greeted unsurely stepping back, noticing the five feet separating her and Tess, "We seem to be a little lost… who are you?"
"Faramir of Gondor, and I ask that you two strangers cooperate," he introduced himself as a man grabbed Tess by her left arm- she tossed him a glare yet said nothing. Faramir watched in silence as another guard grabbed Amy by her wrists.
"Did we go back to the medieval ages or something?" Tess whispered so only Amy could hear.
Amy shook her head, and whispered back, "No- unless this is a set of the movies, or a very realistic role playing game, I… I think we're in Middle Earth."
"What? That place with the gay midgets in the five-hour movies?" Tess retorted, still keeping her voice down.
Amy shot her a sharp glance yet merely nodded, deciding that the best way to make her understand was by letting her go by her version of the movie. Amy herself had never read the books either, so technically any of her theories on Middle Earth were just shots in the dark.
Faramir inspected them for a few moments before asking, "May I ask what two young women would be doing outside of their cities? Especially at a time as vital as this?"
"Well, you see… we're new here- like new to this entire place," Amy tried to explain, though not achieving the normal nerdiness she normally had while she was talking, "We're from the Earth, and we had an experiment and it sort of blew up in our faces… and now we're here."
"Uh-huh," Faramir stated disbelievingly. "Yes, well, you're cloths plainly say that… or runaway whores."
Tess loudly cleared her throat, now thoroughly insulted yet knowing full well that the horse riders had complete advantage… and they didn't believe the truth. So, she set to explaining her own way, "I'm not a prostitute, and neither is she…. Erm, Arcadia has recently come down with a disease that has made her delusional, and she ran out of our village without anyone noticing her a few days ago- I only just found her. Though I'm slightly lost and can't seem to find the way back."
Amy, or Arcadia, gave Tess a very pointed death glare but stayed quiet and pretended to be very interested in the trees- trying to keep up the "delusional" appearance.
Faramir watched silently as Amy poked at the leaves of the trees acting like the bark was sacred or something. "I see," he said after a few minutes, even though he still didn't seem to completely believe the story, "But I'll have to bring you back to the King of Gondor."
Amy immediately snapped to attention, "Aragorn?"
"King Aragorn," Faramir corrected automatically.
Pulling away from the guard since he had let his guard down, Tess punched him hard in the face and in an instant had Amy free as well. Grabbing the nerd's wrist, she attempted to drag her into the forest and away from the Gondor citizens. But horses can easily outrun humans and they were cornered within a matter of seconds.
"Bind that one, and keep the two separate," Faramir ordered as soon as the girls were once again in the custody of his men.
A particularly buff rider jumped off his horse with a rope and tied it around Tess's wrists before picking her up like a rock and dropping her onto the saddle of his horse. Another tried to tie Amy's wrists together, but she stepped away- climbing onto his horse without protest- or a word.
"May I ask your name?" Faramir asked of Tess.
She paused for a moment before responding dully, "It's impolite to ask that of someone after you've unreasonably decided to hull them back to your palace or whatever instead of letting them leave."
"Fine then," he replied, pulling on his own helmet and climbing onto his horse. And with the beckon of a shrill whistle, the riders were off to Gondor.
----*----
A/N: Wow, this was fun to write! Okay- I'll be honest; I only have limited knowledge of the books, so most of the information I'm getting here is from the movies… I hope you don't mind.
All right, can I please have at least three reviews? Please? Oh, and one question: which do you like better, Amy or Tess?