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).
6. Other Side
The seven members of the New Fellowship stood back-to-back with their weapons at the ready as they gazed at their strange location. At first, most of them felt as if they couldn't breathe; the pollution of the city around them was vastly unfamiliar to their air passages. The light of the moon shined down on them as more horns continued to honk and a police siren wailed in the distance.
"Merry," Pippin whispered, finally breaking their tense silence.
"What?" he responded, irritated.
"Are we in the right place?" he asked.
Merry answered hastily, "How should I know?" He continued to stare around for several more moments, and then he added, "I don't see Buffy around."
"Merry," Pippin whispered again.
"What?" he replied in frustration.
The hobbit asked, "Do you think we'll find food?"
Sam leaned over to Frodo and whispered warily, "I've got a bad feeling about this, Mr. Frodo. I feel like we shouldn't be here."
"That's because we shouldn't," Frodo answered calmly. "But here we are. She must be found."
"I'm with you there, Mr. Frodo," Sam nodded anxiously.
"I mean not to cause worry, Aragorn," Gimli began, gazing around intently as he held his ax firmly in his hands, "but how do we know we are even in the right place?"
"Gandalf's spell was to lead us to the Slayer," Aragorn announced as his eyes gazed down the alleyway suspiciously, "wherever she may be."
"So… we're in Sunnydale?" Sam asked curiously. "This doesn't look much like the place Buffy talked about. Not that she did much talking."
"She was rather laconic when describing her home," Frodo observed. "She never said much about it."
Aragorn looked down in the palm of his hand to view a small, white, lacquered, non-translucent crystal and he closed his fist tightly around it, securing it in a leather pouch connected to his belt. Seeing Aragorn do this, the others repeated the same step with their crystals and their leather pouches. "Search for something that resembles a tomb or graveyard," Aragorn ordered, after he put his sword, Anduril, back in its sheath. "Lots of people, bright lights, graveyards—"
"Vampires," Legolas announced, his sharp, blue eyes fixated on the threat heading towards them. The King turned around and faced the group of seven to ten vampires swaggering down the alleyway towards them.
"Well, well, well," a tall, pale-skinned vampire in his reptilian-like vampface dressed in a simple man's garb declared as he strolled towards the group. The New Fellowship bunched together tightly as Aragorn's blue eyes burned into the yellow eyes of the demons in front. "Look at this, boys," the vampire leader said to his gang member friends. "Looks like we missed the costume party."
The other vampires grinned and laughed as they circled the New Fellowship. "Tell me what it's gonna be," the vampire leader smiled, revealing his jagged, twisted fangs. "Trick… or treat?"
Gimli stepped towards the vamp leader with fire in his eyes as he raised his ax, "Let me have him!"
Aragorn reached out and pulled Gimli back suddenly by the shoulders. His eyes came up and rested upon the vampire leader in a stately manner as he declared firmly, "We seek no confrontation here."
A second, beefy-looking vampire declared as he turned to the vampire leader, "Hey, Riff, I think we got us some foreigners."
Riff continued to glare at Aragorn, the two of them not breaking eye-contact as he responded, "I think you're right." His eyes fell upon the four hobbits, looking as defenseless and timid as ever, which made the vampire even hungrier. "You boys not from around here," Riff added, "so why don't I break it down for you. This here is my turf. I run it. This is our city now."
Aragorn looked from Riff back to the other vampires for a moment, scoping out their hungry, snarling faces. He turned back to the leader and replied, "If we are truly on your territory, we mean no intrusion. We wish only to find one of our own and return as quickly as we arrived." Aragorn nobly reasoned, "Let us proceed with no ill will and we shall leave your city at once."
"What's this about 'one of your own'?" Riff asked defensively. "Who you lookin' for?"
"The Slayer," Pippin announced quickly as the others in the Fellowship turned to him and shot him discontented looks. He blushed, suddenly realizing his error and looked away as the vampires suddenly looked very nervous.
"The Slayer!" they exclaimed, all of them whispering to each other. The beefy vampire turned to Riff, "Hey… maybe, uh… maybe we should let these guys go. They're leavin' anyhow—"
"No," Riff declared angrily. "That bitch is with Angelus!" The mood of the other vampires suddenly shifted as this realization came over them. "Come on, boys," Riff yelled. "Let's give these circus freaks a welcoming party!"
In a flash, the New Fellowship ripped out their weapons and held them at bay with the point of their swords, arrows or axes. The vampire gang froze instantly as they stared at the end of their weapons, jaws agape. The vamps looked at each other, then turned back to the Fellowship who glared at them, ready for battle.
One short vampire in the back ran away. The others quickly clashed with the Fellowship. Legolas let a wooden arrow fly and shot the heart of a vamp, dusting him in seconds. Frodo and the other hobbits, with their short swords, slashed at the legs of the vampires as they rushed through the crowd, staying tightly together.
Aragorn slashed a vampire across the chest and cut a limb off of another, then was swiftly punched in the jaw and knocked to the ground by Riff. Merry was kicked by one of the vampires and lifted off of his feet. The fearful hobbit looked up at the vampire who tightly held him, until the vamp's face contorted suddenly with pain. Pippin had stabbed the vampire in the back with his sword. Merry, still held at eye-level, brought his sword up and cut off the vampire's head swiftly and he collapsed to the ground in a pile of dust.
With a mighty war cry, Gimli raced through the legs of the vampires and tackled one to the ground, vivaciously shouting as he drove one of his axes into the vampire's neck, dusting him. Gimli pulled out his ax as the vampire exploded into dust, and he declared, "That'll teach you to counter a dwarf!" An arrow suddenly whizzed inches over his head and impaled an approaching vampire in the heart. Gimli turned to see the vampire go to dust and then turned back around to see Legolas standing proudly nearby.
"That's two," he announced.
Gimli stared at him speechlessly, "Well, I… But you…" He finally growled at the challenge, "You beastly elf! I'll show you how it's done!" Gimli drew his favorite ax and the both of them went to work.
Aragorn was swiftly punched in the jaw by Riff, who then jumped up, spun around and kicked him in the ribs. The King was knocked down, his sword falling from his hand. The vampire closed in and Aragorn kicked him away while still on the ground as another vampire approached him with a baseball bat in hand. He rolled over onto his chest, his hand finding his sword, then he leapt back onto his feet and ducked beneath the swing of the bat. Aragorn straightened up and sliced off the head of his vampire foe, the baseball bat falling freely through the dust cloud and landing into the King's free hand.
He swiftly spun around towards another angry oncoming vampire, this one missing a hand from before, and Aragorn dropped Anduril and gripped the wooden bat with both hands, swinging at the head of the vamp as hard as he could. As the bat collided with the skull of the vampire, it exploded into a mass of wooden splintered which meshed with the cloud of dust from the vampire's crushed and decapitated head.
As Buffy would've put it – Aragorn: 2, Vampires: 0
Frodo looked up at his new opponent with wide eyes – the big, beefy vampire lackey, second in command to Riff. The vampire swung his arm at Frodo as the Halfling quickly zoomed under it. The Vampire of Beef swung again, but Frodo was far too fast for his slow attempts until he finally was able to smack the hobbit into the nearby brick wall. Frodo's back hit the bricks hard as he crashed to the cement ground in pain.
"Mr. Frodo!" Sam shouted from nearby. The hobbit rushed in and began to swing his short sword at the vamp, only nicking him a couple of times. After Merry and Pippin dusted another vampire, they turned to see Frodo and Sam in peril and rendered their aid. The other two hobbits joined up and tried to slice at the demon as well, but made just about as much headway as Sam.
On the ground, Frodo was able to see past the vampire's thick, tree trunk-like legs to view a wooden crate behind him. "Everyone," Frodo ordered, coming to a stand, "push at once!" The hobbits stood up as all four of them kicked simultaneously, sending the monster backwards and crashing down into the wooden crate. The vampire fell back on the wood, a piece impaling him through the chest and him dusted seconds later.
Gimli threw his ax across the alley, slicing the head off a vampire that he'd spent much time trying to track down up until that point. "That's three!" Gimli shouted, turning back to Legolas. The elf easily fired another arrow, which shot completely through the heart of a vampire and penetrated the chest of the vampire directly behind him. Both exploded in a cloud of dust as Legolas replied to his dwarf friend, "That's four."
An inhuman roar let out as Aragorn looked up to see a vampire flying through the air at him, coming in fast at least a dozen feet away. He threw the half-bat at the vamp and the demon caught it in the heart and exploded in midair, the dust drifting peacefully to the ground.
Riff approached the now weaponless Aragorn from behind, running at him full-force. The man glanced down at his sword near his foot, kicked it up in the air by its hilt, and caught it in his hands. Aragorn slashed across the neck of the speeding vampire, cutting off the head mercilessly and swiftly.
As Riff's dust fell to the ground, the New Fellowship made eye-contact with each other and then they glared at the last remaining vampire. The vamp stared back at them like a deer in the headlights, before skittering off into the darkness.
"Legolas," Aragorn said, and that was all that was needed. Legolas raised his bow and arrow and was able to spot the fleeing vampire with his razor-sharp eyesight. An ax whizzed through the air past Legolas and decapitated the running vampire, beating the elf's arrows to it.
Irritated, Legolas glanced over at Gimli who grinned back at him, proudly declaring, "Four."
"Are you all alright?" Aragorn asked, placing his sword back in its sheath and walking towards the hobbits.
They nodded with heaving chests as the nervously tried to catch their breaths. "So I guess we really are in Sunnydale," Pippin declared, turning to Merry.
"We are not in Sunnydale," Legolas announced suddenly. They turned to the elf who stood facing them at the other end of the alley with his bow still in hand. Behind him, a gigantic, glowing sign, glittering with blinking lights that spelled out words screamed at them with pride:
WELCOME TO FABULOUS LOS ANGELES!
He added intensely, "We are in Los Angeles."
With a mighty smack, Connor caught a jarring punch with his jaw, delivered by none other than Faith the Vampire Slayer. They continued to tussle in the basement of the Hyperion Hotel as an unconscious Angel, still battling his alter-ego Angelus in a coma, lay locked in a metal cage a few feet away, while Charles Gunn, knocked out by Connor, lay unconscious on the floor. The green-skinned, red-horned demon Krevlorneswath, or simply Lorne for short, rushed into the basement and stood atop the stairs, looking down at Faith, now awake from her second coma.
Lorne's eyes were glued in awe to the Slayer, as the gently-beautiful Winifred Burkle and the ruggedly-handsome Wesley Wyndham-Pryce entered in the room behind him. "She's alive!" Lorne exclaimed, clad in his rather bold navy blue suit and light blue shirt with a big, light blue collar – the normal style for him. "It's a miracle!"
Faith, a medium-sized, athletically buff, beautiful young woman of twenty-five with wavy, dark hair and pale white skin, clad in a black pair of jeans and a black tank top revealing her thorn tattoo that circled her upper arm, squared off with her opponent. Connor was a small-framed, yet muscular teenage boy of eighteen with smooth, straight brown hair and dark eyes that could penetrate through any soul, that glowed with a mixture of menace and pain.
Faith swiftly kicked Connor in the ribs, then jabbed him in the face. He countered quickly, not being without supernatural strength of his own, and gave her a devastating blow to the face, before grabbing her by the arm and tossing her against the steel bars. Her face twisted with pain as her spine smacked against the metal, but then she grabbed the bars and kicked her legs up, both of them connecting with his chest.
Connor flew backwards and crashed into the brick wall, knocking some pieces of brick with him as he dropped to his knees. She approached him and tried twice to kick him, but he blocked both kicks before getting back on his feet. He punched her again in the face and she pulled off a spinning kick to his cheek. Connor again tried to hook her with his fist, but she caught it just in time and returned to quick jabs to the face, then grabbed his arm and threw him against the steel cage, his back connecting with the bars harshly.
Before Connor could charge at the Slayer again, he was pulled back against the cage, being held at the shoulders by his father. "It's okay, Connor," Angel declared nervously, his soul newly restored. The vampire with a soul breathed a sigh of relief as he added, "It's me. Really." Connor didn't look at his father, but had an expression of shock as Angel added, "It's all over."
Bruised and tired Faith leaned against the railing that looked out at the moonlit garden outside of the Angel Investigations headquarters. She breathed in the air calmly, finally having a few moments of peace after her jailbreak. Angel, wearing a dark, button-up shirt as he always did, walked out of the Hyperion and joined Faith on the rail outside.
"Hey," Angel acknowledged. "How are you feeling?"
Faith smiled, then it faded as she replied with a sigh, "Like I did mushrooms and got eaten by a bear."
"Guess that about sums it up," Angel nodded, sharing her emotions. "And now you're going to Sunnydale?"
"I prefer the bear," Faith nodded coolly with her deep voice that still possessed slight remnants of her hometown of Boston, "but the way Willow's talking it up, that's where I'm needed."
"Never stop fighting," Angel replied in a near-monotonous tone as he nodded.
"Hey, I was gonna," Faith replied, "but someone had to get all pep talky on me." She gave Angel a look as he returned the gesture with a knowing half-smile.
"Sorry I didn't really get a chance to see you," Angel answered. "Apart from our little brain tour, at least."
"Another time, maybe?" Faith grinned.
"I've got a lot to thank you for," Angel nodded.
"Well," she shrugged, "consider that vice a versa, too. But… if I start… then that'll lead to sappy, then sickening, then the next thing you know, we'll be hugging and—"
"And we can't have that," Angel nodded knowingly with a smile.
"Nope," Faith replied with a smirk as the two old friends walked side-by-side back into the Hyperion to see Connor plopped down in a chair with his head down as the tall, bald-headed, dark-skinned, twenty-seven-year-old Gunn stood in front of him with his arms crossed in a reprimanding manner.
"Okay, I get it," Connor rolled his eyes at Gunn, not sounding so sorry. "I messed up."
"Hey, cheer up, punk," Faith declared with good nature. "That just makes you one of us."
"You headed out?" Gunn asked her.
"No tears big guy," Faith responded, clapping his hand with her own.
"Nah, I just wish I could've seen you kicking the crap out of junior, here," Gunn answered, staring down at Connor.
"It was pretty funny," she nodded with a smile, then with a more solemn expression, she turned to Wesley. "Wes," she said, staring at the tall, ruggedly-dressed man with short blonde hair and blonde stubble on his face.
The former Watcher's bluish eyes rested upon her face as he put their years of differences and betrayals behind him, declaring with a semi-British accent, "Faith."
"See, Brits know how to say goodbye," Faith answered. "Angel here wanted a hug."
"No, I didn't," he toughly denied. They turned towards Angel's office to see two women walk out, one of them talking a mile a minute in a Texan accent.
"I think that volume's outdated," Fred declared as she and Willow Rosenberg walked side-by-side, Willow holding a thick book. "You'd know better than me," Fred added, absolutely adoring this brainy new friend. "But there's some interesting stuff about the Hellmouth that might come in handy."
"Thanks," Willow beamed, her red hair falling to her shoulders, "this is great."
The brunette beauty stared at her with an over joyous expression as she excitedly continued, "One day, I'd love to bend your ear about the Pergamum Codex. I-I think some of the really obscure passages are actually Latin translated from a demonic tongue, and they're kind of a hoot." She burst into girlish giggling, "All this stuff about Bacchanals and spells and…actually, I think it's probably funnier in Latin. You know how that is sometimes."
"I'm seeing someone," Willow blurted out, finally relieving the tension. Fred blinked at her with a baffled expression as Willow nervously turned towards Faith, who shared the same confused expression. "Okay… good… wagons west."
Angel looked over at Willow and took many moments staring at her, trying to find words that he wasn't exactly known for saying. He weakly and shyly began, "Willow…"
"He's going to try and thank you," Faith cut in, turning to Willow with a smile.
"Oh, no problem," she shrugged with a bright smile. "Hey, I got a Slayer out of the deal, so we're even-steven." Willow looked up at Angel warmly as they shared a moment.
It was still so unreal to Angel that she was here again when he needed her the most. The last time she'd come to Los Angeles was to tell him that Buffy had died a year and a half ago. And that day she had come back to re-insoul Angel, the first spell she'd ever learned and pulled off successfully five years ago. Much had happened to both of them since then.
A few moments later, Willow stretched out her arm to her brother and Angel wrapped her skinny body in his own arms and they shared a tight and grateful hug. "I'll tell Buffy you said 'hi,'" Willow declared, as they both released each other.
"Good," Angel slowly breathed in a bit – a "breathless" breath, being the vampire that he was. Just the sound of her name caused a sting in his heart, a pain that he will always have for the true love of his life, no matter who he might have feelings for – or who might reject him. "Thanks," he added heartedly, but with the realization that he was no longer the biggest thing in her life, nor was she in his.
Willow and Faith turned and began up the stairs out of the lobby and towards the door, but Willow suddenly stopped and turned back to Angel and the rest of the Fang Gang: Fred, Gunn, Connor, Lorne and Wesley. "Oh, and, um," she meekly and politely began, "next time you try to resurrect Angelus… call me first. 'Kay?"
With a glittering smile, Willow marched out of the doorway and into the garden with Faith in pursuit and they disappeared from their sight. Angel and the others watched them go for a few seconds, and then Angel turned to his army with a mellow tone.
"So… we're back," Angel declared, looking at the floor. Much pain and blood had been spilled between them and the 'team' had seemed less and less like a team as time went by.
"It would seem," Wesley answered skeptically.
"Look," Angel began compassionately. "I know things have been… pretty bleak. Things were said that shouldn't have been said. It's looked very much like the world was going to end." His dark eyes raised and looked at each of his friends, even his spiteful son, "But it didn't. It hasn't yet and it won't. Not if we work together and stay together." Angel raised the volume of his voice a bit and a little more emotion could be heard in his pitch, "We've all made… sacrifices." Angel said the last word with a bit of bitterness as his eyes fell upon Connor, who looked away from his father once more. "But that's what we do. That's what being a Champion is all about."
Angel breathed confidently as he began to pace a bit, "Things are going to change. There will always be sacrifice…" he looked over at Gunn, "and there will always be loss." Angel turned to Wesley at that last comment as he added with a positive tone, "But whatever's coming, I know we can handle it." Angel turned around and glanced at the glass door that Willow and Faith had walked out of. The glass had been shattered and it was shrewdly held together by boards, nails and duct tape. "There's nothing outside that door that we haven't seen—"
His words were suddenly cut off as Faith burst through the door, holding two short men who kicked and punched in anger, one in each hand, as two other small men beat at her legs.
"Let them go!" Merry shouted.
"Let go!" Pippin angrily hissed, and then turned around towards the door and shouted, "Aragorn! Aragorn, help!"
Lorne turned to Angel who had a shocked expression plastered on his face – an expression not easy to force him into. "What was that you were saying about there not being anything we haven't seen before?" he declared.
"Man," Gunn declared, turning to Angel, "you do realize whatever happens next is all your fault for saying that?"
"I caught these little punks listening in on the conversation," Faith declared, grasping the hobbits with all her might.
"Do you suspect they're spies?" Wesley asked.
"Wolfram Hart," Fred declared in shock. "How could they… I mean, they were slaughtered by the Beast, right?"
"What, are they trying to compensate by recruiting the little people population?" Lorne shrugged. "They're clearly not half the law firm they used to be." The team turned to him, giving him blank stares. "What? I'm tired, give me a break."
"Well, aren't you the Jolly Green Giant," Faith replied, "but can someone give me a hand with these little brats?"
A second later, the door burst open again as Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli entered. In a flash, Gimli whipped out his ax and Legolas aimed his bow and arrows directly at them, Aragorn being the last to pull out his sword. The gang looked at the strange clothing and the even stranger people.
"That's just insane," said Angel, monotone and dumbfounded.
Merry and Pippin finally jumped on Faith's back, the four hobbits all bringing her down to the ground. Aragorn bitterly ordered as he glared at Angel, "Ndengina sen." Kill them. Aragorn charged first, Legolas and Gimli leading after them.
"Angel!" Wesley shouted as he tossed Angel his 'favorite' broad sword. Angel grasped the hilt and then turned around and blocked Aragorn's first blow. Connor hopped up and rushed out of the way of confrontation before he could be seen, and then was miraculously able to hit Legolas in the back of the head. The elf dropped his bow on the floor as he landed on his stomach. Legolas rolled over and looked up at his attacker in amazement, then jumped up and ducked out of the way of Connor's next swing.
"Watch out!" Gunn shouted, shoving Fred out of the way of a flying ax that whizzed by their heads. Lorne also ducked out of the way as the three of them jumped behind the front desk of the lobby, Gimli's axes coming at them from seemingly every direction.
Wesley outstretched his arm and flexed his wrist, triggering his collapsible sword to mount itself on his hand. He joined Angel, who seemed to have a hard time of his own trying to fend off Aragorn's swift swings. Wesley countered Aragorn on the left as Angel fought him on the right, and now Aragorn was having trouble keeping both off at the same time.
"Get off of me!" Faith hissed, as she rolled around on the floor with the hobbits punching, clawing and biting at her.
Aragorn pushed Wesley's sword away and then clashed with Angel's sword. He ducked as both of his opponent's swords made a move for his neck. As Aragorn straightened out, he received a near-devastating right hook from Wesley, and figured out by now that this was how all vampires fought. Aragorn spun around and side-kicked Wesley in his chest, but then he felt the sting of Angel's sword slicing across his back.
He called out in pain and faced Angel once again, slashing across his chest. As if on reflex, Angel jabbed Aragorn in the face, knocking him down. Angel stepped back, clutching his wound and staring down at the dripping blood. His eyes rose and met with Aragorn's who was now back on his feet. With a deadly glare, Angel vamped out, revealing his inner demon once more.
Angel raised his sword, holding it back as Aragorn did the same, and the two giants rushed each other and clashed mightily. They glared at each other as their swords were still and connected at the blades.
Legolas ducked and flipped around, being just a bit too fast for Connor as the elf suddenly landed a punch in Connor's jaw, knocking him back a few feet. He was pushed against the wall and looked up to see Legolas already aiming at him. An arrow shot through the air.
"Stop!" Willow shouted and the arrow froze in mid-air. The fight stopped and every head turned towards Willow, standing in the door, panting like mad. "Everyone stop!" she ordered.
Pippin looked up at the young woman and declared giddily, "Willow!"
Willow's expression changed suddenly as she stared at Pippin's face, then at Merry, then at Frodo's and finally at Sam's face. "Oh…" Willow breathed, then exclaimed with excitement, "It is you guys!"
The hobbits stood up as Merry and Pippin ran for Willow and wrapped their arms around her waist. Sam and Frodo rushed over, though not as excitedly, as Willow bent down and hugged them all tightly.
"A'maelamin Istar," My beloved wizard, Legolas warmly grinned as he stared at Willow.
"Legolas," Willow elated replied, as she let go of the hobbits and rushed over to hug him tightly.
"I am grateful to find such a friend on this dangerous path," Gimli declared, looking up at Willow as they stood next to Legolas. Fred, Gunn and Lorne poked their heads out from behind the front desk with confused faces.
Willow bent down and hugged the dwarf who blushed shyly. She straightened up and her eyes searched the room, "Where's… Aragorn?" Aragorn and Angel continued to stare at each other, each grimacing as they held their blades together, each pushing towards the other.
"You know this guy, Will?" Angel asked through gritted teeth.
"Hey!" Willow exclaimed. "Stop it, you guys! It's okay."
"I shall not cease first," Aragorn replied.
"Don't count on me flinching," Angel answered as he continued to glare at the King. Legolas raised his arrow as Gimli pulled his axe back out.
"Wait, no, stop!" Willow breathed nervously. "You guys, it-it's okay—"
"Willow, who are these people?" Fred asked as she stared around, lost.
"They must be demons," Connor spat as he glared at Legolas angrily.
Gimli looked up at him, "We are of no such sort, lad!"
Legolas gazed at Connor intensely with his piercing, blue eyes as he softly replied, "You do not speak of demons as if you are one. You are not demon, yet you are not man."
"Story of my life," Connor crassly answered with a twisted grin.
"Narsil," Angel declared, staring down at Aragorn's sword. The King's expression suddenly changed and relaxed as both of them let off their force together.
"What do you know of Isildur's Bane?" he asked, puzzled.
"Not much," Angel shook his head. "But I've used that sword before… or… something that looks a whole lot like it."
"This is Anduril," Aragorn announced as he glanced at the sword, then fixed his gaze cautiously on Angel. "The Sword of the King. Remade from the shards of Narsil."
"Well, it sure wasn't broken when I was fighting Tall, Dark and Scary," Angel commented as he shifted his position, lowering his sword. "Sour-Ron." The moods of the Fellowship suddenly turned grim.
"Sauron?" Frodo repeated, deeply unnerved. "The Dark Lord?"
"You fought the Dark Lord?" Merry asked, staring at Angel in wonder.
"Big guy?" Angel asked. "Black armor? Six fingers? Superiority complex?" Aragorn nodded and he replied, "Yep. I fought him."
"Wait a sec," Faith shook her head as she came to her feet. She looked around at the strangers with her dark eyes and asked roughly, "What's this about a Dark Lord?"
"It has been over two years since the Dark Lord was defeated at Mordor," Aragorn announced. "The forces of Gondor, joined by the Riders of the Rohirrim and the forces of Rohan, launched an attack on the Army of Sauron at the Black Gates, distracting Sauron's eye from Mount Doom until Frodo and Sam could finished their mission."
"Which was?" Gunn asked, shaking his head with his arms crossed.
"To destroy the One Ring of Power," Frodo's small voice answered, as the gang turned towards him, catching the hint of despair in his eyes. Angel stared at him in silence as Frodo's eyes fell to the ground, lost in guilt and longing for peace.
"Okay," Gunn nodded his head slowly. "Now I'm just gonna go ahead and assume you're from another dimension, because I don't remember catching that in the L.A. Times."
"They're from Middle Earth," Willow declared brightly.
"Middle Earth?" Wesley repeated, thinking to himself. "The dimension the French sorcerer Cloutier spoke of?"
"The very one," Willow nodded.
"Eh, that's nice," Lorne stepped in, concentrating his attention on Aragorn and the others, "now, let's go back to that part about a Dark Lord and great wars and a Ring of Power…"
"The Ring belonged to Sauron," Aragorn elaborated. "He had tried to use it to rule the world, but it had found its way to the Shire."
"They eventually made their way to this beautiful place called Rivendell," Willow remembered dreamily, then said to the others, "that's about the point where me, Buffy, Xander and Spike came in."
"Whoa, rewind," Faith let out a laugh. "You sayin' B and the Scoobies went on a cruise to their place?"
"Willow, the Slayer, and her friends joined us at the Council of Elrond," Aragorn answered, "and the thirteen of us formed the Fellowship of the Ring. We were to journey on to Mordor to destroy the Ring of Power… before it destroyed us." At that last part, Aragorn glanced over at Frodo for a split second before turning back to Angel.
"Before we got there, the portal between our dimension and theirs opened back up," Willow declared.
"Oh, I get it now," Fred declared with a smile as she turned to the vampire in the room. "Angel was fighting this… Sauron while you guys were coming back through. Sort of… sneaking back in while he wasn't looking?"
"That's how it happened," Willow responded. "And we almost didn't make it in because Buffy was trying to save—"
She stopped immediately and held her tongue, sorry that she had said that much. Silence fell in the room as Willow tenderly turned towards the Fellowship, who now wore downtrodden expressions. Merry and Pippin swallowed hard, remembering the thirteenth companion who had given his life to save him. Aragorn stared down at the ground, wishing that the son of the Steward of Gondor could have been with him on the day of his coronation.
Willow began again, trying to find a gentler way of speaking, "She was… She was trying… She tried—"
"She tried to save Boromir," Aragorn declared with a somber tone. "A man of Gondor. The only member of the Fellowship to not survive the journey. He was… killed… when we faced a herd of Uruk-hai."
Pippin added sadly, "He gave his life for us."
The gang was silent, respectful to their loss as Wesley replied, "Then he died an honorable man."
"I'm sorry you lost him," Angel said to Aragorn as the two made eye-contact with each other. "I know how hard that can be."
"I can tell you one thing," Gunn let out a light sigh as he shook his head, "this day just keeps getting better and better."
"Tell me about it," Lorne replied. "And that story is wild. I mean you could write a book. Or better yet – a movie…" As he said those last words, his mind fell deep into contemplation as he turned his back to the rest of the gang and paced around.
Willow began again with uncertainty in her voice, "When we left, Giles said that order was finally restored in the universe… but… why are you here?"
"We're here to find Buffy," Pippin boldly announced, looking up at Willow.
Aragorn quickly placed a hand on his shoulder and pulled the hobbit back towards him, "We have some urgent matters to discuss with her. We must see her at once." He looked around, "Is she here?"
"No," Angel answered, looking back at Willow, "she's, uh, in Sunnydale."
Willow added, "Faith and I were just on our way. It's a good thing you caught us. Or… technically, Faith caught you, but all the same." She looked up at Aragorn, "We can give you a ride there, if you want. It'll be a tight squeeze, but, you know, hobbits are more small-space compatible anyway."
"It would be most appreciated," Gimli answered with a hefty smile. He turned to Fred with a grin and added, "Until next time, my stunning lady." Fred blushed and gave a silly giggle as she shook her head and looked down at the floor.
Angel turned to Aragorn as the King sheathed his sword, "Sorry about the, uh…"
"I would hope you would forgive me, as well," Aragorn graciously replied.
"If you ever find yourself in Los Angeles again," he shrugged, and then looked up at the ceiling, replying under his breath, "God forbid… You have a welcome place here."
"Yeah," Gunn added with a grin, "maybe you could come back and teach us some of those moves." Legolas moved towards the door, finally removing his eyes from Connor, and he said nothing to him as the teenage boy continued to glare at him threateningly. Aragorn and Angel shook hands with each other firmly as Aragorn moved towards the door.
"So," Pippin asked, "where are the horses?" Faith and Angel's gang turned towards him, then looked at each other, and then looked back at Willow.
"Okay," Willow replied, "we'd better have a little talk on the way."
From the balcony above, a pair of dark eyes watched the New Fellowship with anger and spite. Cordelia Chase, clad in a provocative black dress, her body possessed by a fallen Power That Be, glared down at the new champions that entered the area. Cordy stepped back from the balcony and reached down to her pregnant stomach and she touched the evil creature inside of it as it twisted and turned with protest and fret.
"Don't worry," Cordelia whispered softly as she looked down at her stomach. "Connor will protect us. They can't stop us." Cordelia looked down at the Fellowship and locked her eyes on Frodo and Aragorn, "No one will."