Title: Miles to Go

By: Ring Red

Disclaimer: I own NOTHING! *sniffle*

Rating: R (for language and some graphic content later)

Feedback: THANK YOU! Your replies and comments really do inspire me to keep writing. PLEASE keep sending them my way. You guys are great!

To answer a few questions and give a few hints:

-Willow and Frodo? Major wiggins. That will be strictly a friendship. Willow just knows how hard things are going to get for him and she wants to do anything she can to make the journey more bearable. I have non-hobbit plans for Willow...give me time.

-Glad everyone seems to be liking Dawn okay. I know she could be quite the little buttmunch on the show sometimes, but I think her character had/has a lot of potential. I love writing her in stories and rpgs. She won't ever really be the main focus of this story, but she may be in the sequel. So, I'll just try to make you like her enough that you'll still read the sequel.

-As the journey continues the story will tend to lean more on certain characters than others (and I won't say who just yet) and deal more with emotions and relationships between characters (not necessarily romantic relationships). This is just something that seems to be coming naturally and I can't change it that much. I don't want to leave any characters out though. I'll be working very hard to make sure I don't let that happen. So keep a watch on it for me, okay? And if you like any specific characters and would like to see more of them then let me know and I'll try to work it in - if not in this one then in the sequel.

-Everyone seems to enjoy Buffy's unique relationship with the Firstborn and I'm glad because I'm certainly enjoying writing it. We'll be seeing some twists and turns there in the future.

-The Three Sisters will be sharing more tales from home with the Fellowship along the way.

-Books or Movies? Well, I loved the books and I loved the movies. I'm picking my favorite versions from each for the story. I'll also be trying to throw in some twists that weren't in either, but I want to stay pretty true to the tale. One main point about this story is that the Sisters are only members of the Fellowship, the Fellowship does not revolve around them and the War would've ended the same way either way. Some relationships are obviously going to be different with the Sisters around, but it shouldn't be anything too drastic.

-Dawn's Crush? I'm afraid Dawn's crush is a reflection of self. Dawn is, of course, nothing like me, but I do SO love Aragorn. My sister is a die-hard Leggy Girl, and I fully admit to a secondary obsession for the Prince of Mirkwood (let's not even get started on Eomer and Faramir...*sigh*), but I first lost my heart to a scruffy Ranger in Bree. One shadowy shot of the cloaked man in the corner and I was gone. Dawn respecting Arwen's love for him is also a reflection of me. I loved Aragorn/Arwen and I ain't messing with that. Which just means that my fanfiction is now feeding my other obsessions, huh? I watched the Two Towers and all the Legolas parts for inspiration the other day. My sister is SO pissed. She says Legolas is hers...we'll see. *grin*

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Chapter Four

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The next several days passed more quickly and easily as the sisters began to regale their audience with old Scooby exploits before bed. Only the hobbits fully believed in the truth of the tales, but that didn't seem to detract from the enjoyment for any of the other companions. It was a way to lighten the mood and the burden that weighed down upon them all. Then one day during Sam and Aragorn's watch a regiment of black crows, the crebain, came flying by. Aragorn tried his best to hide them away from the spying eyes, but when the birds were gone from sight he hurried to awaken Gandalf and the rest of the fellowship.

After a short consultation with Aragorn, Gandalf walked over to the three sisters. He gave them a searching look.

Buffy sighed and rolled her eyes. "They're spies for Saruman and they did see us, but this still doesn't change anything."

Gandalf looked surprised at her attitude.

Willow shrugged. "She's right. They saw us, but we have to carry on. We have to keep to the path you intended. Trust in yourself, Gandalf, and don't start looking to us for easy answers because we won't give them."

"Well..." the old wizard looked taken aback.

"We mean it." Dawn picked up where her sisters left off. "This is going to be hard and painful and dirty and bloody. None of us will walk away from this war the way we walked into it and some of us won't walk out of it at all. But in the end Sauron's defeated and we're not going to give you short cuts and secret hints that might change that outcome."

Buffy smiled proudly at her little sister. "Tell him, Dawnie." Then she slid her eyes to the wizard. He looked stricken with sudden sadness and gloom. Buffy reached up and poked him in the shoulder. "Perk up, Gandalf. We've got a long hard road ahead of us and we're just getting started. Tonight we'll start heading for Caradhras. And let me tell ya, that's gonna be the most fun we can have without havin' any."

Willow snorted. "You're not kidding."

Dawn pouted. "I hate snow."

Looking at them strangely one last time, Gandalf shook his head and walked away.

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There was a small debate between Gandalf and Aragorn about which way they should take from that point, but finally Gandalf agreed with the Ranger and off to Caradhras they marched. They continued to travel mostly by night and tried to stay hidden as much as possible. It was not an easy task. To make matters worse, as predicted, the weather grew increasingly darker the closer they came to the mountain. By the time the group were climbing the high pass the snow had already begun to fall. The higher they marched, the harder the snow fell. It was an unnatural storm and this fact did not escape Gandalf's notice. Still the company pushed on.

When the snow was too high and the weather too cold for the hobbits to continue to endure, Gandalf finally turned to look at the three sisters again. Buffy just rolled her eyes. Willow shrugged. Dawn opened her mouth to speak, but Gandalf's glare cut her off. "If you say it was necessary..." Dawn snapped her mouth shut. Still the wizard pushed forward for he dreaded the thought of going back.

When the first eerie rumble was heard from above, Buffy grabbed Merry and Pippin and shoved them under an eave and covered them protectively for she knew what was coming. Willow did the same for Frodo while Dawn grabbed Sam. The witch threw up a shielding spell around her, her sisters, and their charges and prayed that their other companions made it through the avalanche as expected.

Fifteen minutes later the snow covering the shield began to clear and a hand appeared. It pushed against the shield and Willow sighed in relief and released the spell. The snow, fortunately, did not cave in upon them. Unfortunately the hand was still over three feet above their heads.

"Are you well?" Aragorn called down to them.

"We're fine and we've got the hobbits, Strider, just get us out of here." Buffy called back.

"Boromir and I will dig you out."

Looking down at the terrified halflings, Buffy came to a quick decision. "We'll hand the hobbits up to you first. Here comes Pippin!" She nodded to her little companion and picked him up. Lifting him carefully she guided him to Aragorn's hands and the Ranger pulled him out. Willow and Dawn quickly lifted Frodo in the same manner to Boromir. Buffy looked at Sam and Merry. Then reaching over she grabbed Sam and lifted him next. She didn't want to hurt the little guy's feelings but she wasn't sure Willow and Dawn could lift him. Her sisters quickly grabbed Merry to follow his fellow hobbits.

The hobbits all safe, Buffy then looked to her sisters. Shrugging she reached for Dawn. "You first, Dawnie."

The key's eyes widened. "No way! I'm not leaving you down here. You'll push me up and then Willow up and you'll be stuck down here. I don't think so!"

Buffy rolled her eyes. "Dawnie, I'm pretty sure I can make that jump, but worse case scenario I'll just have to wait until they dig me out. This is not dire."

Dawn wanted to continue to argue, but Buffy held firm. Then the slayer grabbed her sister by the waste and lifted her up to a surprised Aragorn. Next went Willow into Boromir's arms. As their feet disappeared and enough room was cleared, Buffy jumped and prayed. She so was not a fan of small places and being stuck in a snow hole was not looking fun. Her hands hit the snow and she cussed under her breath as they began to slip. Then with a yank someone grabbed her wrists and she was being pulled out.

As Buffy finally found herself on solid ground...or well solid packed-in snow...she looked up with a smile to thank Aragorn or Boromir for her save. It quickly turned to a frown and she narrowed her eyes. "Oh, it was you."

The elf just smirked at her.

Buffy stood quickly to her feet and started dusting snow off of her clothes. "I totally could have gotten out on my own, you know. You were not needed." She lied.

"Of course," he continued to smirk.

"And anyway," she told him airily as she spun to look for her sisters, "it was kind of comfy down there. There were no annoying pointy-eared people shooting arrows at me."

That earned her a glare. "I did not shoot arrows at you."

Buffy shrugged. "Whatever." She plastered a bright smile on her face and strutted off to join her sisters who were trying to race back over to meet her.

After all of the companions were dug up and looked over, Gandalf faced the fellowship. "We can go no further up this path. We're turning back."

The members of the fellowship were both happy to escape the harsh freezing mountain and sad to have failed in reaching their destination. Still, Gandalf gave everyone another boost from a potion Elrond supplied him with and they turned to start the journey back down. Buffy shot the old wizard a commiserating glance. "Told ya it was the most fun we could have without havin' any."

The wizard just sighed and shook his head. "Yes, Arato, you did indeed."

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End of Chapter

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Hope you liked! FEEDBACK? PRETTY PLEASE?

Ring Red