A/N: Based on Shirebound's plot bunny: What happened after Pippin risked his life to light the beacons?

As the flames licked at the tinder of the beacon shining high above the city, Pippin imagined what Merry would think when Rohan rode out to answer Gondor's cry for help, alerted by a blaze of fire. How proud Merry would be when he heard that his own cousin, his Pippin, had lit the first signal. Now Rohan would come, perhaps Merry with them, and Pippin felt a small flare of hope in his chest as he began the sickening climb down to Gandalf, to Gondor and to war.