The silver moon peeked out from behind a veil of clouds and illuminated the way for the two drivers, Aragorn and Legolas. Pippin was holding onto the rear handlebars of the BMW with his life.

"You all right back there, Pip?" Legolas called back. Pippin saw his blue eyes flash back to glance at him.

"I will be," he replied. This was his first time on a motorcycle and the only thing that was going through his mind was how fast they were going and how close the ground was.

Frodo, Merry and Gimli were piled into the backseat of Aragorn's Benz with Merry's scythe laid across their laps. Gandalf was sitting in the front passenger seat with an odd gleam in his eye. While speeding down a stretch of highway, Aragorn noticed.

"Nervous?" he asked. He looked at his passengers through his rearview mirror. The two Hobbits were anxious but were trying not to show it. Gimli was fingering his axe and wore a small smile on his face. "Clearly, Gimli is looking forward to it."

"I never look forward to war, Aragorn," he said gruffly. "I only look forward to a good fight."

"Same difference," muttered Aragorn.

"It's literally been thousands of years since I've been in a good fight," said Gandalf. "But I don't suppose there's something called a good fight. Only fair ones."

"Yeah, but where's the fun in those?" said Aragorn in an attempt to lighten the mood. Merry and Gimli chuckled ruefully at his remark while Gandalf seemed less nervous.

"Do you think it was a good idea to leave Sam alone with Smeagol?" Frodo asked suddenly. His eyes were directed to the passing buildings but they didn't see them. "I don't think we should've left him."

"We needed to leave one behind to look after Smeagol," explained Gandalf, "and Sam was the best choice to look after the creature. Gimli would have undoubtedly grown tiresome of his constant one-sided conversations. Merry and Pippin would've been in risk of being injured by Gollum. Legolas needs to go on this mission because he knows more about the location of the Horn and the effects when we retrieve it. I know more about the school than any of you and you, Frodo, seem to be holding a grudge against him. That could lead to problems if you're left alone together for a long period of time."

"Sam is used to Gollum's ramblings," admitted Frodo, "and he does know how to handle him if he gets out of hand. But why didn't Aragorn stay behind?"

"Let's put it this way," Aragorn said. "Who would you rather have on your side of the battle: Sam or me?"

"Well, when you put it that way..."

The car phone rang suddenly, rattling their already shaken nerves. As it rang, Legolas and Pippin sped in front of them. Gandalf pressed the button to answer the phone.

"Ai, mellon!" Legolas' voice called through the phone. "The off-ramp's just ahead, but I already caught a glimpse at the school and I highly recommend we park at least five blocks away from the school."

"Is it that bad?" Gandalf asked with a worried tone.

"Well, there's a lot more things moving around the schoolyard than last night. Can't tell right now if they're Orcs or Neos. Mind you, I was at the school at the break of dawn."

"So the situation is a little different," said Aragorn. "It'd be a pretty good idea to park further away and get to the school on foot. Lead the way, Legolas."

The motorcycle rumbled down the off-ramp with Aragorn's car following swiftly behind. Everybody, except for Legolas, hadn't been out of the downtown area since the Invasion. The houses all had the windows smashed into millions of shards of glass, which were scattered around the street. The silver moonlight reflected in the shards, glittering like diamonds in the night, the only beautiful thing that could be seen.

The winking glass covered the ground and everything that lay upon it. Fell trees, overturned cars, scraps of wood and plaster from rampaged houses all sparkled faintly in moonlight. Much too often they passed a large concentration of red-tinged pieces of miniscule glass. It would usually be a sign of a body nearby but they rarely saw one. Pippin had the misfortune to seeing one as they sped by.

The moonlight had showed a bony hand with its muscle torn apart with bits and pieces of skin and sinew frayed on the bones. That would have been all he saw if the motorcycle headlight hadn't unfortunately cast more light onto the body. The rib cage had been roughly opened and the insides were crudely emptied. The skull was sitting on the lawn nearby with its face, thankfully, turned the other way but hair was ripped out savagely and the ripped skin was still visible. The body was laid in a very awkward way, as if it was tossed around. Blood stained the sidewalk, showing the fact that it was a recent killing.

"Oh, my God," he moaned after seeing the body. "That is horrible."

"Get used to it," Legolas called back to him.

They quietly parked their vehicles about five blocks away from the school in a couple of garages so they wouldn't arouse suspicion. Stealthily, they made their way to the school. As usual, Legolas led the Fellowship and kept a good eye out for any immediate dangers. The Hobbits had no problem getting there without being seen, but the others, especially Gimli, needed a little help to travel without being detected. Eventually, they all arrived at the bush where Boromir had shown the school to Legolas.

"Just as you expected, Legolas," said Gandalf in a low voice. "The area is a lot more active than we first thought. There are actually fiends walking around in the fields."

"What do you suppose we should do?" asked Merry.

A faint glow appeared behind him and tapped his shoulder. He would have screamed out loud if Frodo and Pippin weren't fast enough to muffle him. Boromir grinned at Merry's reaction and bowed to them all.

"I apologize for frightening you, Merry," he said. "But now you needn't worry about the demons." He grinned again to all of them. "Just leave them to me."

He vanished and reappeared on the field, looking very solid. He got the Neos' attention by plunging a ghostly hand into one of their heads. He ran away at a mortally impossible speed but slow enough to keep the Neos following him.

Aragorn thanked Boromir mentally and motioned for the others to follow him quietly through the field into the school. They were holding their weapons tightly so they would make minimal noise and also out of extreme tension.

Inside, their footsteps echoed dispiritedly through the halls. The same slash marks that covered the buildings were present everywhere within the school. Classroom doors were ripped apart with only splinters and hinges as evidence that they had once existed there. Desks were twisted and splintered, scattered around the hallways and in classrooms. The lockers were all dented and some of them hung pathetically open, showing the destroyed items inside.

"When I said I wished the school would be destroyed, I didn't mean it," Gimli muttered darkly.

"Now that it is," said Frodo, "I think I liked it better when it was fully intact. I also hope that my stuff in my locker's still fine."

Something stirred at the back of Pippin's mind but a distant noise distracted him. It was coming from a classroom across the hall. He went to take a quick investigation.

Meanwhile, the rest of the Fellowship continued walking through the school. They cautiously looked through the main office with hope of finding the Horn. Gimli kept a sharp eye outside and promised them a warning if any danger arose. Merry went straight for the principal's desk and withdrew a cell phone.

"Hey, Pippin!" he called. "I finally got my cell phone back." Silence met his ears. "Pippin?"

He poked his head out the door and saw Gandalf tapping the walls with his staff for any magically hidden cavities and Frodo was busy looking through the cupboards and drawers. He could see Gimli's nervous back outside and Legolas and Aragorn searching through the vice-principal's office.

"Where's Pippin?" he asked, trying not to panic. "Does anybody know where he is?"

"Oh, he's just --" Frodo looked around the office and realized Pippin was absent. "Oh, shit...

"PIPPIN!"

His name echoed through the halls, but he was two floors above, trying to steel his nerves to go into the classroom. He slowly pushed the door open and peeked inside with bated breath. An image that paralyzed him met his eyes.

The classroom was infested with Neos and two Orcs, who were obviously the Neos' handlers, were dozing in the far corner of the room. The moonlight spilled in and illuminated a small knot of hunched Neos. A writhing hand stuck out from the group and gradually grew still as the snarling continued. The Orcs in the corner paid no attention, as if it happened on a regular basis. The Parasite attempted to escape and find another host but an Orc swiftly brought down its sword and the Parasite burst into halves.

"Accursed Parasite," growled the Orc. It watched as it spilled all of its black blood and slowly stopped thrashing about. "It would've went for us if it got away."

Pippin was already silently creeping away from the room when a faint sound met his ears. It should have been faint and inaudible but his fear heightened his senses and he could hear Frodo calling his name. Eyes wide, he tried to get away from the hall without getting noticed. A change in pitch of the snarling told him it was impossible.

The door burst open just as Pippin ran around the corner. He could hear the unsure growls of the Orcs behind him. It sounded like they were debating which direction to go. Over theirs and the Neos' growls, he could hear some indistinct movement in the hallways.

He suddenly realized that he passed his locker. Listening carefully for the Orcs and Neos, he doubled back and quietly opened his beat-up locker. Never thought I'd be happy to see this locker again, he thought.

Heart pounding, he heard the Neos screech with enthusiasm and their terrifying footsteps beating the floor. In one movement, he grabbed his skateboard from his locker, tossed it to the ground and streaked down the halls. The pounding of the floor told him that they were on the move.

"Pippin!" Merry's head popped out from a stairwell just ahead of him and filled with relief with he realized he was still alive.

"Get out of the school!" he yelled to him as he passed by quickly. "Neos are coming!"

Merry turned around just as the Neos came snarling around the corner. With fear and adrenaline surging through his body, he dashed down the stairs as fast as he could. Panicking, he heard the door he was just at fly off its hinges and crash down the stairs.

He caught sight of Legolas, Frodo and Gandalf roaming the second floor looking for Pippin. "We have to get out of here! Neos upstairs!"

At his yell, they started to run for the nearest doorway but a classroom door exploded in front of them and they were suddenly looking at a dozen ferocious Neos and their claws. A couple of Orcs followed them and their eyes widened at the sight of Gandalf, Frodo and Legolas.

"An Elf?" one said in astonishment. "With a wizard and... a halfling?"

The beings in question were too shocked and scared at the number of Neos at such a close range to do anything. They stood there, trying to move their legs but too frightened to move.

"Get them!" screamed the other Orc. The Neos advanced towards them but were prevented by the magic of Gandalf. Flames of Anor stung their bodies as the wizard and his companions ran away.

On the floor below, Aragorn and Gimli heard the noises above. They both tensed up when a clatter was heard just down the hall. The door from the stairwell flew open with Merry running out of it.

"Merry!" Gimli said in surprise at the hobbit's scared look. "What--?"

"Neos! Upstairs!" he panted. "I think Gandalf, Pippin, Frodo and Legolas are still up there, trapped!"

"Oh, shit." He was halfway to the stairs before Aragorn took a firm hold on his collar and pulled him back.

"Don't be so hasty!"

It was a good thing that Aragorn stopped Gimli from going up the stairs because, at that moment, a fleet of Neos had come crashing down the stairwell. A single Orc kept them at bay as he, too, stood shocked at the appearance of long-dead foes.

"Uklar was right," he said, as if he couldn't believe his eyes. "The Fellowship lives to this day."

On his command, the Neos attacked them, claws and teeth bared. Aragorn defeated several at once with a swift slice of his loyal sword, Anduril. Gimli swung his mighty axe around and many of the Neos were slammed heavily against the walls. Merry surprised them all with his skill with his scythe. Each time he twirled his staff and brought down his blade with a streak of silver, Neos would fall to the ground, dead and in pieces.

Finally, Gimli buried his axe into the back of the last living Neo in their midst. The Orc drew his crude sword in a rage.

"You will never defeat the Darkness! The Master of Shadows will soon rule over all!" He started to savagely attack Aragorn with his sword raised high. But Merry put his power into the scythe and sliced at the Orc as hard as he could.

The scythe cut through the Orc's body like a hot knife through butter. The torso fell towards Aragorn, slowly detaching itself from its lower half. He moved aside just as the split body hit the floor, sending black blood around the hallway. A look of utmost surprise stuck of the Orc's face. It's stomach fell out smoothly with a soft flump.

"Whoa," said Aragorn, after a slight pause. He quickly wiped blood and sweat from his brow. "That was a good swipe, man."

Shaking, Merry silently nodded his thanks.

A rumbling was suddenly heard on the floor just above them. Deep cracks appeared on the ceiling and dust started to fall onto their heads.

"The cracks," said Gimli, "they're coming from the Upper Gym."

"Let's go," said Aragorn. He ran, careful not to slip on the blood that covered the floor. Gimli followed him closely. Merry stayed behind a moment to fully comprehend what he had heard within the rumbling.

"Pippin," he muttered softly.

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