Title: Miles to Go

By: Ring Red

Disclaimer: I own NOTHING! *sniffle*

Rating: R

Feedback: THANK YOU everyone who reviewed. I'm so glad you are enjoying the stories. I'll try to answer a few of the questions. One thing I will say is that although I don't want to announce my pairings yet I can tell you that I will not be breaking from the canon with them. I will not be breaking up some couple who ends up happily married for the satisfaction of my story. None of the sisters will end up alone forever, but don't expect them to take away someone's *cough* Arwen's *cough* true love. Also don't expect them to jump into anything right away. At this point one of the sisters may be single until the sequel...lol...unless my plans change.

What forest exacty are the three sisters in? Well, I gave a pretty good hint in the first chapter, but you'll find out for certain if you just read this one.

Why did the PTB choose Buffy, Dawn, and Willow to do this with? They didn't. The Voice that did this to them would have gladly gotten the rest of the Scoobies at the same time. He just happened to only get those three. He would have loved the chance for Xander, Faith, Giles, and hell even Andrew to join them. As for what will become of the other Scoobies? Hmm...I am thinking of a possible sequel if I ever finish this one...lol

Once again, THANK YOU for all the feedback. I'm a shameless feedback hog. Please send any other questions or comments my way! Your replies made my last few days :-)

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Chapter Two

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The three women caused quite the stir as they rode their way slowly into Rivendell. First because they were three women unaccompanied by any man. Second because they were obviously not of the Firstborn. Third because of their strange attire. Their clothing appeared more suited to men than women. They wore not dressed but some strange type of trousers. The women themselves ignored the attention for their own different reasons. The witch's mind was busy with other more important matters. The key was too fascinated by her surroundings to care who was watching. The slayer did not hold any fondness for elves and Rivendell was stuffed with them.

Drawing their horses to a halt the women dismounted and stretched their legs to relieve cramps from the ride. Then they led their mounts over to be tended at the stables. The youngest winced at her older sisters. "Never going to get used to the horses thing. Why can't we just tell them how to make cars again?"

The older brunette rolled her eyes. "No interfering, remember Dawn?"

The younger snorted. "Easy for you to say Miss I-Love-Taking-Riding-Lessons. I didn't even like the pony ride at the fair."

The witch winced as she continued to rub at her backside and missed the attention the action received from the elves she passed. "Neither did I, Dawnie. We'll just have to endure."

The slayer looked at the redhead and the surrounding elves and snickered. "Willow, stop rubbing your butt. You're going to make the pesky pointy ears have heart failure."

Willow jerked and removed her hand. She shot the elves an apologetic glance as they continued on their path to the Last Homely House. "Sorry, Buffy."

Buffy shrugged. "I think it's funny. I think you should get their pointy eared hopes up and string them along and then crush them down with the 'I-happen-to-like-girls' hammer." A dreamy smile played across her face.

Dawn shot her a worried glance. "You know, this hate-on you have for the Firstborn is a little creepy, Buffy. After all, we know they're not evil."

"They shot me." Buffy growled.

Dawn was unimpressed. "You hated them before that."

Her older sister just shrugged and dismissed the conversation. She had her reasons and they were certainly not those you shared with a little sister. Dawn looked annoyed with her lack of response. Willow just smirked.

At length the three women reached the steps to the House of Elrond and faced the elves standing guard. Buffy stepped forward to request entrance and Willow followed as a less-biased voice. "We're here at the request of Gandalf the Grey. We need to speak with him."

"Please?" Willow added politely to soften her sister's harsh tone.

The two elves spoke among themselves in their own tongue. Willow didn't feel the need to explain that she spoke Sindarin and so waited until they had decided to go retrieve Gandalf before whispering the gist of the conversation to her sisters. One of the elves turned away and disappeared into the house. The other continued to hold his position before the women. "Mithrandir shall be summoned."

Dawn stepped up to join them and leaned toward Buffy. "That's Gandalf."

Buffy rolled her eyes. "I know that Dawn. I watched the movies and read the books."

"Oh, right." The girl flushed under her older sister's glare. "I keep forgetting you're not blonde anymore."

Buffy's eyes narrowed. "When I watched the movies and read the books I was still blonde."

Dawn's eyes widened. "Really? When you read the books?" At her older sister's nod of confirmation she frowned. "Why?" It didn't seem like anything she would have expected her sister to do. She'd been far too involved in her life and duty to spend time reading on the side. When they'd woken up in Middle Earth Willow had found copies of the books in a pack that showed up with them. Dawn had just assumed that Buffy read the books for the first time then. Obviously, she'd been wrong.

Buffy rolled her eyes to avoid her sister's stare. "I just...when I watched the movies I kind of liked one of the characters. So, I read the books to find out more. It's not a big deal."

Now Willow was intrigued. "Which character?"

The two other sisters watched in amazement as Buffy's skin flushed and she stared down at her feet. "That isn't important."

Willow and Dawn shared a glance. They opened their mouths to question the slayer further.

"Ah...you've finally arrived then." The three women turned to watch as Gandalf came out of the house to greet them. He nodded. "Good...good...time grows short. The council is set for tomorrow and it would have been a bother explaining your presence in the fellowship if you had missed it."

Willow and Dawn frowned over how haggard the wizard looked. If it was possible he looked to have aged years since last they saw him. Buffy just smirked. "So, how was life on top of Orthanc?"

Gandalf jerked. He looked sharply at Buffy. "You knew?" She just continued to smirk and he sighed. "Of course you knew."

Willow bit her lip nervously. "You did tell us not to interfere."

"Yes, Tasere, I did." Shaking his head at himself, Gandalf motioned for them to proceed him into the house. "Well, what's done is done and we must move on. I do not fault you for your decision. I fault myself for not realizing Saruman's defection earlier."

Buffy reluctantly felt her heart tug at the weariness in his voice. She shrugged. "Hey, we all have a hard time seeing the darkness when it's hiding behind the faces of our friends." She saw Willow wince and reached out to take her sister's hand in her own. She met the witch's eyes calmly. "I was talking about Angel and Faith."

Pushing back tears, Willow pulled on her resolve face and shook her head. "And me too. I was in deep, Buffy, and we all know it."

Buffy shrugged looking purposely unconcerned. "Was being the operative word, Wills. You fought your way back and we'll never let it get that bad again." Reaching out with her other hand, Buffy grabbed Dawn and pulled her in beside them. "We've lost too many people. We're all we've got left. I don't care what it takes or who we have to kill, we're all coming out of this one and we're getting our happily ever after. They owe us that much."

Willow and Dawn nodded with equal determination.

"Good then," Gandalf sounded almost chipper as he stepped up beside them, "shall we discuss your positions at the council?"

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Gandalf's plan was fairly simple. They were to sit respectfully silent throughout the council. When the companions of the quest were chosen, Gandalf would use his considerable influence to add them to the list. They were to act dignified and give no cause of alarm to Lord Elrond or the other members of the council. As per their usual luck in such situations, everything went to hell.

"YOU!"

The outraged gasp from across the circle of chairs drew the three sisters' attention as they moved to take the seats Gandalf pointed out to them. They turned to face the sound. Willow squeaked and covered her mouth with her hand throwing Gandalf a panicked look. Dawn just groaned and rolled her eyes. Buffy, seething with anger, growled. "That's right...ME!"

Gandalf reluctantly looked from the three women over to the furious blonde elf glaring daggers at the slayer. His expression grew pained. "Please don't tell me he's the one that shot her."

Willow shook her head. "No, different elf, same family."

Dawn fought a completely inappropriate snicker. "But they still don't get along."

"Why?"

"Probably because Bu...uh...Slayer," Dawn reverted to Buffy's chosen title now that others were around to hear them, "Slayer told him she was going to shove his arrow straight up his ass if he didn't get the hell off our property."

Throwing his hands in the air and looking very much like a man who wanted to share a few choice curses with the Valar, Gandalf tried to imagine how he would lead a fellowship with both Arato and her Elven nemesis as members.

"The Forests of Mirkwood are not your property!" The Elven nemesis in question hissed at the slayer. "For thousands of years my people..."

"Yada, yada, yada," Buffy cut him off with a glare. "There's plenty of woods to go around you overgrown Santa's Helper! And I didn't see YOU out there killing off the uber-spiders you had as your last next door neighbor." She took a menacing step toward him. "Oh no, that was me. You just sat back on your lazy tree huggin' behind while I killed off all the creepy crawlies. Then two months later you showed up with the eviction notice!"

With the perfect look of arrogance and superiority, the blonde elf stuck his nose in the air. This was quite the feat as he couldn't possibly understand all of the phrases Buffy used in her speech. Still, he got the gist. "The Forests of Mirkwood are no place for three mortal women to live alone. My father only thought of your own safety."

Buffy's lips twisted into a nasty scowl. "Your father wouldn't know a thought if it..."

"ARATO!" Gandalf cut her off before she went to far and this interlude ended in actual bloodshed.

Buffy just glared at him unashamed.

The blonde elf shot her a gloating look. He opened his mouth...

"That's enough from you as well, Legolas Greenleaf," Gandalf barked.

The elf's blue eyes snapped fire at the wizard but then he just stuck his nose back into the air.

Gandalf took the time to glare meaningfully again at both of them. "Take your seats and be quiet." Then he sighed wearily again and found his own seat next to the chair reserved for the Bearer of the One Ring.

Shooting one last angry glance at the slayer, Legolas retook his seat between the other representatives of Mirkwood. The other representatives, thankfully, were not among the elves to have crossed paths with Buffy and her sisters during the past five years. They had heard stories of the three strange mortal woman who'd taken up residence in their forests, but felt not the fire that their younger Prince did on the subject.

Buffy, for her part, finally realized that she was making a scene and that other members of the council were arriving. Even as she stepped back and moved toward her seat between Willow and Dawn the group of dwarves from the Lonely Mountain walked up to the circle of chairs and eyed her curiously. A few of the Rivendell elves were also already present and Gandalf was apparently trying to sooth their ruffled feathers about her outburst.

Then Dawn gave a gasp. Willow and Buffy frowned and followed her gaze. They eyed the subject of her fascination. Willow tried to stifle her giggles. Buffy rolled her eyes. She leaned toward her little sister. "One word, Dawnie." The younger brunette met her eyes and Buffy continued. "Arwen."

Dawn pouted prettily. "You're no fun."

Buffy's smile turned evil. "You're welcome to drool over the pointy eared dipshit."

The Prince of Mirkwood glared across the circle at her.

Willow fought another giggle. "He can't possibly know what you mean."

Buffy's smile just grew. "Oh, he knows. The tone says it all."

The elf's glare burned even hotter.

Dawn rolled her eyes at her sister. "Buffy, stop taunting the elf."

The rest of the council was less eventful by comparison. It went off pretty much how the three sisters remembered it. Boromir was tempted, Aragorn was unveiled, Sauron was trying to make a deal with the dwarves, Legolas' people lost Gollum (to which Buffy smirked at the Prince), Frodo finally stepped up and accepted his fate, and the other members of the destined fellowship all rose accordingly to join him. Some protests were made when Gandalf voiced his intention of bringing the three sisters along for the ride. Elrond was not happy with the idea, and indeed, most of the council looked doubtful. The Prince of Mirkwood would have added his objection to the mix had Gandalf not cut him off with a very sharp glance. In the end, Legolas sat back almost sulkily but kept his mouth closed.

"They are needed, Elrond," Gandalf told his friend finally. "I cannot say more, but they must join this quest. Trust only that my actions are not without purpose, old friend."

Elrond sighed and nodded. "Very well. I have yet to be led astray by you, Mithrandir, and I will trust your judgment now." He turned his eyes on the three sisters. "And who are these final members of the group?"

Gandalf motioned for them to stand and introduced them one by one to the council and their future companions. "They are Champions of Light from another world. Arato," he nodded to Buffy, "the Slayer, chosen one to stand against the forces of darkness. Tasere the Red," he nodded to Willow, "a powerful natural witch who chose to stand beside Arato in her eternal fight with darkness. And Aara the Key," he nodded finally to Dawn, "made of the blood of her sister Arato and entrusted to the Slayer for protection until such time as she finds her power within." He looked back to Elrond. "They conquered much darkness and evil in their world and now they fight to save ours as well."

After much more discussion and planning, Elrond finally stood and faced the council again. "You shall be the fellowship of the ring."

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End of Chapter

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I hope you liked it! PLEASE let me know if you did. I'll try to get more posted soon.

Ring Red