DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the characters in this story. They belong to Joss Whedon, J.R.R. Tolkien, and their other respective owners.
A/N ABOUT THIS STORY: As you can tell, I've taken several scenes directly from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Lord of the Rings, word-for-word in the dialogue. This is not to rip off any of the real writers because I respect their work and I am not a plagiarist. This is an artistic ploy to put the reader in the mindset of where they are and is essential to the story. The Buffy episodes used were episodes (6.1-2) "Bargaining, 1 and 2" written by Marti Noxon David Fury, (7.17) "Lies My Parents Told Me" written by David Fury Drew Goddard, (7.18) "Dirty Girls" written by Drew Goddard, (7.19) "Empty Places" written by Drew Z. Greenberg, (7.20) "Touched" written by Rebecca Rand Kirshner, (7.21) "End of Days" written by Jane Espenson Doug Petrie and (7.22) "Chosen" written by Joss Whedon. The Angel episode used was "Orpheus" written by Mere Smith. The movies used are, of course, Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring and Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, written by Frances Walsh, Philippa Boyens and Peter Jackson, based on the books by J.R.R. Tolkien (if you didn't know that, you just suck).
3. From Heaven:
A thick veil of darkness covered the small town of Hobbiton. A soft wind breathed through the town, over the Hill and across the many hobbit holes of the people in residence. The whistle of the air was the only sound that could be heard until the hoof beats of two horses racing into the town drowned the wind out. Shadowfax, Gandalf's brilliant white horse, came to a halt next to Buffy's black stallion, Anarya, as the two of them quickly leapt off of the saddles and onto the ground.
Buffy's green eyes quickly scanned the area, not having to adjust in the night, as Gandalf cautiously put his staff to his side. "Silence lurks over this place," Gandalf declared, viewing the landscape warily, "as if it were a tomb."
At the bottom of the Hill, the water of the pond near the tree waxed silently across the shore. Absolutely no lights could be seen coming from any of the hobbit holes or other establishments through the darkness. No creature made a peep save for Buffy and Gandalf's beating hearts; even the fish in the water seemed to be dead silent.
"This is twelve kinds of too quiet," Buffy whispered, shaking her head with worry. She turned around and declared with concern, "You look for the others. I'm going to find them and make sure they're safe." Gandalf nodded and turned away as Buffy gave a final order, "Watch your back."
Gandalf nodded once again and silently slipped away. Now alone, the Slayer turned back towards the dirt path and walked into the deep darkness.
The light of the newborn October moon shined down on Sunnydale, the trees of the forest near one of the many graveyards casting shadows down through the light. But it was enough to see by.
Willow sat directly across from a grey, granite tombstone as Tara sat on her left holding a lit candle that flickered in the night wind. Beside her, Xander sat next to Anya, both of them holding candles and all four of them forming a semi-circle. "Does everyone have their candles?" Willow asked nervously.
"Mine won't stay lit," Anya sighed in anxious frustration. She held her candle, being the only person with an unlit candle, in her hand while she shakily tried to light the wick with the lighter in her other hand. She squinted in the dark to see while Willow flashed her upset looks.
"Well, hurry," Willow bit off as she glared at Anya, mixed with anger and nervousness. "It has to be lit!"
"What time is it?" Tara breathed tensely, gazing at the tombstone near her with anxiety.
Xander looked down at his watch while he held his lit candle in his hand, "One minute until midnight."
"Come on, Anya," Willow exclaimed. "Do you have it ready?"
"I've got it," Anya replied as she lit her candle finally. She stared at the weak flame protectively as the wind blew, shielding the breeze with her hand. "I've got it, I've got it…"
"Okay," Willow breathed, inhaling deeply. All four of them shifted into a kneeling position, all of them with lit candles save for Willow, who held the Urn of Osiris in her hand. Willow stared at the face of the tombstone almost defiantly as she declared, "Start the circle now."
The tombstone stared back, reading with finality:
Buffy Anne Summers
1981 – 2001
Beloved Sister,
Devoted Friend
She Saved the World a lot.
Buffy rounded a massive tree quietly as she walked away from Bagshot Row near a soft, giant field of luscious green. She suddenly came to a stop as a trickle ran down her spine. She closed her eyes and listened to the stillness of her surroundings in complete silence.
At the slightest snap of a twig behind her, her eyes flung open and she spun around, tapping whatever opponent there was behind her with her foot in the form of a light kick. A short man, no more than a yard tall, flew backwards several dozen feet and landed softly in a bail of hay. Buffy stared at the hobbit in confusion as he was quickly joined by two other unknown hobbits.
The downed hobbit lifted his head up at looked at Buffy, dazed by his flight, as he said to his friends dreamily with a lopsided grin, "She touched me!"
An instant later, a burst of cheers and shouts erupted around Buffy from every angle and she was at once submerged in a wave of gleeful emotions. Hobbits leaped out of hiding places from everywhere, all cheering and laughing with giddy delight. Buffy gazed around with a bewildered look of puzzlement as Merry Brandybuck and Pippin Took popped out their hiding places and approached Buffy with grins on their faces.
"Surprise!" Pippin shouted.
"We got you!" said Merry.
Buffy looked around Party Field to see at least fifty hobbits surrounding her with arms full of food as kegs of ale pushed by hobbits rolled down the Hill towards them. "Whoa!" Buffy shouted, shocked and confused. "Wait! What's going on here?"
Buffy turned around carefully, trying to avoid stepping or knocking down any of her short fans and she faced a gigantic, seven-tiered cake dotted with lit candles carried by eleven shaky hobbits who were trying to keep it from crashing to the ground.
Samwise Gamgee rounded the mountainous cake with a shyly excited, yet humble look on his face. "We, uh…" Sam began to explain as he looked up at Buffy. "We didn't know when your birthday was…" He looked over to his side as his beautiful wife, Rosie Cotton-Gamgee, appeared and held onto his shoulder with a beaming smile on her face. Sam turned back to Buffy, a little more comfortably and finished, "So us hobbits decided to choose a day and give it to you."
"It was Sam's idea," Rosie boasted as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and he blushed and looked away with a smile in return.
"I couldn't of done it without Merry and Pippin," Sam declared, looking over at them as they joined Buffy, Sam and Rosie. Sam turned to another corner of the crowd and he smiled just a bit more affectionately, "Or without Mr. Frodo."
Buffy turned around to see Frodo standing in front of a section of the crowd as the other hobbits looked at him with a smile. Buffy and Frodo saw each other for the first time in nearly a year and they shared a warm, knowing smile.
"Frodo," Buffy grinned with sparkling eyes as she stared down at her friend.
"Buffy," he declared with a compassionate nod and a half-smile. "Happy Birthday."
Meekly, Merry approached her, holding his hand behind his back with his eyes on the ground. He finally looked up at her face with sparkling eyes and a wide, warm grin. He pulled his hand from behind his back and lifted a fragile, white flower up for her, offering it to her compassionately. "Happy birthday, Buffy..." he shyly said.
"Merry" she smiled, as she took the flower from his tiny hand and couldn't imagine any other way to react.
Gandalf the White appeared behind Frodo, the crowd parting by itself as he walked through, and gazed at Buffy with a wise calm in his eyes, "We'd hoped that you would approve."
"You're in on this to?" Buffy declared incredulously.
"You're not offended, are you?" Gandalf asked, knowing in his heart that she wouldn't be. Buffy stared into his eyes, then looked down at Frodo, Merry, Pippin, Sam and the others around her. She looked back up at Gandalf with a stern look in her eye and held it for several seconds, before letting out a small laugh.
"I've got a cake that would bring proud tears into Betty Crocker's eyes," Buffy grinned. "I'm knee-deep in friends… food… ale… and, most of all, hobbits." She looked down at some unknown mesmerized faces and then looked back to her friends, "I'm in Heaven."
"Osiris," Willow declared as she poured fawn's blood into the Urn of Osiris, "Keeper of the Gate, Master of All Fate, hear us." She dipped her index finger into the blood and marked her forehead and the apples of her cheeks with it as Xander, Anya and Tara watched nervously.
"Before time," Willow continued, "and after. "Before knowing and nothing." She took the remainder of the blood and poured it over Buffy's grave, her corpse lying six feet below. "Accept our offering. Hear our prayer."
Willow's head suddenly jerked back, her red hair flying back out of her face, as she extended her arms out in pain. Xander looked down at Willow's pale arms as deep, bloody slash marks ripped across the flesh of her arms.
Frodo gasped lightly as his eyes hit the ground. His fists squeezed together tightly as he came to an uneasy stand, looking away from Pippin as he danced on a tabletop and sang heartily with an ale mug in hand as he usually had. His breathing became more rapid as he clutched the old wound in his shoulder from when he was stabbed by the Witch King on Weathertop, a permanent reminder of how a hero is rewarded.
Buffy twirled around the table, laughing giddily as she got dizzier and dizzier, holding on to Merry's hands as he danced with her. Merry and Buffy finally came to a stop as they nearly collapsed with laughter. She let go and clutched the edge of a table, as she held her stomach and it ached with chuckles. Merry also was as ecstatic as she just to be dancing with her, but he was pulled away by a young hobbit girl as they began a dance to the song.
As she continued to laugh, she turned around to see Frodo grimacing with pain as he stood on the sidelines of the grand party filled with music and food. Her smile faded as she caught her breath and she gently whispered, "Frodo?"
Frodo retreated up the Hill and into his home, slipping away unnoticed by all except for the Slayer. Buffy looked around and excused herself, quickly following him in concerned confusion. She came over the Hill and walked down the dirt road until she came to Frodo's residence.
The small, circular door was left ajar and Buffy let herself in, ducking to fit through the doorframe and minding all of the low wooden beams across the ceiling, of which her face had become acquainted with many times.
"Frodo?" she called, gazing around the dimmed hobbit hole as she stepped past the crackling fireplace. She approached the room where Frodo spent most of his time as she found him leaning over his writing table, holding his shoulder in pain. "Still hurts, doesn't it?" Frodo turned towards her in surprise as he removed his hand. "It's okay," she answered. "You don't have to hide it from me." With a sympathetic half-smile, she entered the room and walked up beside him.
"I did not intend to cause a scene," Frodo declared with embarrassment as he avoided her eyes. Buffy looked from him to his writing table and spotted the thick red book on the tabletop.
"Is this it?" Buffy asked curiously as she opened the red cover of the book, reading the first page:
There and Back Again: A Hobbit's Tale
By Bilbo Baggins
The Lord of the Rings
by Frodo Baggins
"Your book," she declared, impressed, "you've finished it."
"It's not completely finished," Frodo answered. "Similar to our lives." He stared down at the title of his story as memories filled his mind and he added with a tired smile, "Just when you think you're finished… the story never really ends."
Buffy said thoughtfully to herself"And that's exactly why sequels suck." A moment later, she turned back to her friend. "Frodo," she began carefully as she gazed down at him, "I know you're in pain. And… I've heard about all the things you've gone through. I know how much you suffer. Don't think I don't understand."
Frodo looked away from the book and stared out the window of his home as she continued. "I want you to know something," Buffy declared. "I wasn't there for you when it happened. I wasn't there to protect you like I wish I could've. But I'm here now and here is where I'm going to stay." She stared at Frodo as he looked away from her, obviously unconvinced.
"Aragorn offered me a job," she announced. "He wants me to be captain of his army." Frodo looked over at her in surprise as she gently added, "Do you realize how many lives I could protect with a position like that? I'm not going to lie to you, Frodo, the threat is still out there. Sauron may be gone and the Ring is destroyed, but evil is still in Middle Earth."
Frodo shifted uncomfortably as he heard the mention of the One Ring of Power. "And I'm here to kill it until it's gone for good," Buffy declared defiantly. "I can protect you… and everyone in Middle Earth… Sam, Rosie…Merry, Pippin… Gandalf, Aragorn, Arwen… everyone. Including you." She compassionately declared, "I can make sure that those things never hurt you or our friends ever again."
"It's not the things that I have faced in my past that I fear," Frodo finally replied as he turned to her. He stared at her with his intense blue eyes as he explained, "It's the thing that I was that scares me."
Buffy remembered what Sam had said about the person that the Ring made him. 'The look in his eyes, Ms. Buffy,' Sam said, 'when he claimed that Ring for his own…' He wasn't able to finish the sentence, but Buffy already had a good idea.
"That wasn't you," Buffy answered. "That was the Ring—"
"And a part of the Ring still exists," Frodo exclaimed with a whisper. "In me." Frodo turned away from her and looked out the window at the population of Hobbiton as the sounds of their dancing and cheering could be heard over the popping of the fireplace. "I can't help but feel like nothing is mine. It's a feeling that I've held with me ever since the day I returned to the Shire." He shook his head slowly as Buffy watched him from behind, "Everything I see… everything I touch… even the food in my mouth… none of it is mine. Everything around me reminds me of everything I had and lost. It feels…"
The words faded away as painful memories filled his mind. "I don't suppose I can describe how it feels, Buffy," Frodo shook his head. "But as for you understanding…" He turned to Buffy with regret on his face, "I don't think that you can. I hope that you never do."
Buffy gazed at him speechlessly, her heart wanting to break. He looked away from her with pain in his eyes as she searched for the right words to say. Her eyes rested upon him as she declared softly, "It gets better." She inhaled smoothly as added, "I know it gets better."
Frodo looked up at her apologetically, "I told you I didn't want to cause a scene." She smiled and shook her head as she pushed whatever tears she might have wanted to cry away. He stared at her deeply and declared, "Thank goodness for you, Buffy. I don't think any of us would have gotten far without you."
"Willow!" Xander exclaimed in terror as he reached for her as she panted in pain.
"No!" Tara declared as she grabbed his arm. She looked over at her girlfriend in fear as she inhaled sharply and stuttered, "Sh-she t-told me that… she'd… be t-tested." She added with uncertainty, "This-this is supposed to happen."
Willow yelled even louder than before, "Osiris! Hear me! Here lies the Warrior of the People! Here lies the Champion of our Time! Find her! Let her cross over!" She gasped in agony as her blood drained from the wounds in her arms.
"We have to help her!" Xander barked.
"She's strong, Xander," Tara declared, tears brimming her eyes. "S-she said n-not to stop. No matter what. If we break the cycle now, it's over!" Anya breathed hard, as she watched Willow grimace in pain. Unseen creatures the size of Willow's palm began to crawl beneath her skin, across her chest and towards her throat. The Scoobies stared at the gruesome scene anxiously as their stomachs twisted.
"Forgive me for leaving on such short notice," Gandalf declared to Buffy and Frodo as they exited Frodo's home, "but I shall return shortly."
"Your fireworks out of pop?" Buffy asked.
With a nod, he replied, "There are a few more surprises that I seemed to have misplaced. It's just a short ride across town and I shall return." A smile curved on to his lips as he stared at Buffy, "Do not let my absence hamper your festivities."
Buffy watched with a small laugh as he turned away quickly and – dare she say – excitedly as he jumped on Shadowfax and raced off. She hadn't seen him in this much fun since… well, ever.
Frodo and Buffy turned towards the party to see the hobbits engaged in a dance while the sounds of a stringed instrument similar to a fiddle jolted them with energy. Sam pushed his way through the crowd up to Frodo and Buffy with a wide grin on his face.
"Mr. Frodo," Sam declared with a beaming smile, "Ms. Buffy. Go out there and dance."
Rosie approached her husband with a giddy feeling as she took his arm, "Samwise Gamgee."
He turned towards his blonde, curly-haired wife with a curious smile, "What is it, dear?"
"I think I have some bad news," she declared, her face turning into a pout. "Our house is too small."
Buffy blinked at her and declared, "Given your adult height, I think that's a statistical impossibility."
Rosie thought it over as she answered, "Well, I think we'll have to dig out your garden, Sam. And cut down some of the trees, which means we'll have to replant them. And you'll have to plow and hoe the field to replant the garden and the flowers… Well, that is if you still want flowers. I'm not one to push, but I wouldn't mind keeping some of our—"
"What for?" Sam asked, his eyes wide and bewildered.
"Well," she said, staring at him in confusion, "we have to build a room somewhere."
"We got rooms," Sam replied, sounding a bit desperate. "Plenty of 'em."
"Not one for the baby," she answered, looking at him with a mischievous smile. Sam stared at her in confusion for a few seconds, but then it hit him like a frying pan. His eyes went wide as he turned to Buffy and Frodo's smiling, proud faces in utter shock.
"I'm gonna be a father!" Sam declared with excitement.
Frodo let out a hardy laugh and patted him on the shoulder, "Congratulations, Sam!"
"All right!" Buffy grinned. "That's great!" Rosie and Sam burst into laughter as he turned and kissed his wife gleefully.
He pulled away suddenly and protectively, "You should sit down… You shouldn't get so excited!" Sam took his wife's hand and sat her down on a bench overlooking the crowd. "Can I get you anything? Are you too cold? Are you hungry?"
"Sam, Sam," Buffy took his shoulder. "She's pregnant, not a fish. Give her a little room to breathe."
"Everyone, everyone!" they heard Merry announce. They turned around to see Merry on top of a table with a mug in hand as he declared to the silenced crowd. Merry's eyes searched the crowd until they found Buffy, "Speech! Buffy, make a speech!" Frodo, Sam and Rosie turned to Buffy as Pippin made his way through the crowd towards her.
Buffy looked around, blushing, as Pippin took her hand and led her to the table that Merry was standing on. He dismounted the table as she took the stage humbly. Her eyes fell upon the hobbits around her as they shouted and whooped, cheering her name all together, "Buffy! Buffy! Buffy! Buffy!"
"Osiris!" Willow shouted to the sky. "Let her cross—"
Her words were suddenly cut off as she reached down and dug her fingers into the dirt of Buffy's grave. She gasped wildly as she choked and was strangled by a horrifying sight. Willow opened her mouth wide as a thick, slimy cobra slithered out of her throat and on to the grass.
"Oh, my god…" Tara breathed in terror. "Oh, my god…"
"Are you sure this is supposed to happen?" Anya asked, her eyes wide in horror. Just then, a mighty gust of wind blew through the cemetery, pushing the branches of the trees nearby as lightning began to flash in the sky.
"What can I say?" Buffy declared as she gazed out at the quiet and eager crowd. "Two years ago I didn't know any of you, and you accepted me into your homes… and your hearts." She continued, "I've never felt more a part of a family than I do now." She looked over at the four hobbits that she met when it all started, "Thank you for teaching me that there's more to life than death."
She looked back out at the others, "And I want to make sure that I protect your world for your families and—"
Thunder crashed as Buffy's grimaced in pain, grabbing her chest suddenly. Frodo clutched his shoulder in torturing agony. "Mr. Frodo?" Sam asked, turning to his friend with alarm.
"Buffy!" Merry declared, staring up at her as she wobbled on the table and panting hard, her heart beating nearly out of her chest.
A red glow surrounded and swirled around Willow as she sat up again, staring at the sky, wind blowing past her fiercely. "Release her!" she breathed hard as she glared at the sky defiantly. "Find her! Bring her back!"
"Buffy!" Merry and Pippin called out simultaneously as Sam looked away from Frodo and to his other friend. Lightning flashed again and a beam of light ripped across the space behind Buffy with a horrid, rumbling, tearing sound. The other hobbits shrunk back in terror as red light poured from the tear as if someone had slashed the air with a knife.
There was another explosion of bright red light that blinded the others as they turned their heads in fear. Silence, as if thunder were slowly recoiling and rumbling away. Merry, Pippin, Frodo, Sam and Rosie turned back to see that the Slayer had vanished into thin air.