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).

7. Reunion:

"There is a price for all things," a low, deep, female voice declared softly. Galadriel stood dressed in a glittering silver gown that touched the floor as her long, soft blonde curls hung down to her chest, framing her glorious face. The bluish-silver glow of the Lóthlorien moon shone down on her as she stood before the trickling fountain that dripped down into the cool pond behind her.

Buffy stood across the clearing, the forest and trees giving both of them privacy. She was clad in a black, cotton-like dress, not as exquisite as Galadriel's by far, but she still retained her beauty. Between the two women was a white pedestal with a silver bowl of water on top of it, the water glittering as it caught the light of the moon above.

"You have a destiny, Slayer," Galadriel declared slowly. "And it does not lie here."

Buffy's green eyes were stuck on the beautiful elf-sorceress, but they were hardened and cold. "Somehow this sounds familiar," Buffy declared with an icy tone. "But this isn't real," Buffy shrugged, staring around at her heavenly surroundings. "It's all for show."

"You feel abandoned," Galadriel answered calmly. "You feel—"

"Thanks," Buffy cut her off, "but I think I know how I feel."

Galadriel stared at her with surprise, then her expression fell flat and her eyes suspicious, but not surprised as they rested on the Slayer. "Your heart has been hardened by anger," Galadriel announced deeply. "The fire that once burned inside you has diminished. All that is left is a void where peace and sanctity should be."

"You people have a knack for stating the obvious, don't you?" Buffy quipped with a sarcastically astonished tone. Her interest vanished as she then glared at Galadriel and added, "Don't get all prophetic on me now. I don't have any more time for the cryptic."

Galadriel answered as she shook her head, "I did not lead you astray."

"Like hell you didn't!" Buffy snapped with a stunned expression. A few seconds passed as she found her calm, but still added with a hard tone, "You told me that Aragorn was going to die."

"And that would've been his fate," Galadriel responded, "if you had not saved him."

"One life for another," Buffy repeated, contemplating the irony. She nodded with a half smile, "Good thing I haven't had to deal with that problem before."

Galadriel spoke to her mentally, her voice breaking through Buffy's thoughts, sounding harder than before with a hint of disapproving anger, "Stop this foolishness at once." Buffy's eyes snapped up and caught hers and the two of them stood silently for a moment before Galadriel continued, "You can not hide behind a façade from me. I know what lies in your heart. I saw it once, and I still see it now."

"You don't know me," Buffy thought back to Galadriel as the two of them held their own staring contest. "Not anymore."

Galadriel declared aloud, "I know that you are lost." Buffy looked away from her as she added, "You are afraid. And too blinded with bitterness to see the truth."

"I suppose you've got the answers?" Buffy turned back to her with a smug smile.

"You know well that destiny cannot be avoided," Galadriel answered slowly, "and fate, though uncertain, cannot be escaped. Hard times have fallen upon you, as they do to all, but you must overcome and find yourself in confusion." Buffy looked away from her with her arms crossed as Galadriel added, "You are chosen for this task, Buffy. But what you fail to realize is that you, too, have a choice."

Buffy stopped and considered this statement for a while, and then her eyes met the elf sorceress' eyes again. "Do you have a choice, too?" she asked. Galadriel nodded silently, then Buffy added with a dark, bitter tone, "Then why did you choose to let me go?"

Galadriel's expression did not change at all. She stood silently as her head tilted up a bit and her eyes glazed over, staring at Buffy intently. "Buffy," a male voice called, breaking through.

Buffy's eyes popped open as she quickly sat up in her bed that night, the moonlight casting shadows on her darkened bedroom. Sweat beaded down her forehead and down her chest, making her white, silk top stick to her skin. She shifted uncomfortably in her jeans as she sat up on top of her bedspread.

"Buffy," Spike's voice called again. She looked up to see the vampire with a soul standing in the doorway in his long, black leather duster with his platinum blonde hair slicked back. The moonlight reflected off of his pale-skinned, high cheekbones as he declared to her, "Come on. We've got some work to do."

Buffy turned away from him with a slow, disconnected expression as she looked down at the floor, "I was…" The words fell away as she remembered and softly responded, "The girls… right."

"Patrolling with the Potentials," Spike announced as a rare smile stretched his lips. "Let's go, Slayer. Time to show these girls how it's done."

A rock-hard fist slammed into Spike's jaw the ferocity of only one thing. The vampire went down on the grass of the graveyard like a ton of bricks, as he looked up at the medium-sized, voluptuous woman in tight leather clothing glaring down at him. "Planning a late night snack?" Faith asked with a twisted expression of anger.

"Nice punch you got there," Spike declared as he stood up, removing his hand from his lip. "Let me guess - leather pants, nice right cross, doe eyes, holier-than-thou glower… You must be Faith."

"Would ya look at that," Faith grinned. "I'm famous." She reared back and delivered another punch to Spike's jaw, but then the vampire blocked a following jab. Faith dug her knee into his ribs, doubling him over in pain.

"Bloody hell!" Spike spat. "What're you doing? We're on the same side!"

"Guess you didn't get the memo," Faith answered smugly. "I've changed."

"Well, so have I," Spike defended, standing at a nervous stance a significant distance away from her. "I reformed way before you did." Faith delivered a right hook, then a backhand punch, before Spike caught her wrist.

Spike jabbed her in the face, "Stop…" He punched her in the face again, "hitting…" He gave her a final, backhand punch that knocked her to the ground, "me!" Faith landed on her back, but flipped back up in a hurry.

"You we're attacking that girl!" Faith exclaimed as she pointed to a blonde, teenage girl lying face-down on the ground near her. Suddenly, from the corner of her point of view, a fist came into frame and mightily gave her a devastating blow to her jaw, knocking her back down.

Buffy looked down at the other Slayer with her arms crossed, a smug expression and a not-so-convincing innocent tone, "Sorry, Faith. I didn't realize that was you."

Faith looked up at Buffy, having to push away her intimidation, as she stood up with a restrained attitude and responded, "It's okay, B." She removed her hand from her jaw and added, "Good thing you still hit like you used to."

Buffy glared at Faith quietly until she turned to Spike and asked, "You okay?"

"Yeah," he scoffed as he rubbed his chin, "terrific."

"Are you playing Bad Slayer now?" Faith declared with a surprise as Buffy turned back to her. Faith expression was even more shocked as a new thought came over her, "Does this mean I'm the Good Slayer now?"

"We were attacking a vamp," Buffy explained impatiently.

"That's not quite the way I remember it," Faith answered as she looked over at Spike. Buffy and Spike both raised their fingers and pointed at the young teenager behind Faith as she came to a stand. Faith turned around and saw the young, blonde, teenage roar at her in vampface.

Faith stared at her in shock, "Oh, shi—"

Buffy pulled a stake out of her jacket and quickly jammed it into the heart of the vampire. The girl stopped immediately, looked down in shock, then a few seconds later with a roaring scream, exploded into a cloud of dust.

Faith turned away from the cloud of dust, unalarmed, and suggested, "You should come up with a sign or something and make them wear it."

"I think we tried the 'Hi, I'm evil, ask me how' buttons, but they didn't really catch on," Buffy answered, then got down to business. "What are you doing here?"

"Just dropping by," Faith shrugged. "Heard there was a little hell raising going on. Thought I'd lend a hand in putting it down." Faith turned to Spike, "But why don't you go ahead and explain the No-Killing-Spike clause?"

"Yeah," Buffy replied, "some of us are still having trouble adjusting to that one. Spike has a soul."

"Like Angel?" Faith asked.

"No," Spike quickly responded defensively. Buffy and Faith turned to him and stared at him suspiciously. "Not like Angel," he declared.

Buffy turned to Faith again, "Sorry we don't have a welcome banner for you, but we've got lots of long night to go around."

"Had a long night already," Faith answered. "I could use a place to crash."

"How does that go?" Buffy asked.

"Does it start with 'A,'" Spike asked, "end with 'pocalypse?' Screaming, running, hell fire, the whole bit… we've got some of that, too. You probably shoulda seen it coming." Spike stared at her boldly, then added, "And I'm really nothing like Angel. We have very different coloring."

Faith ignored the comment and answered, counting off on her hand, "More like permanent darkness, Beast, Angelus, coma… then factor in the midgets stickin' their heads out the window like dogs, then mini-Rob Zombie is whoopin' and hollerin' like he's taming a wild horse, meanwhile Tall, Dark, and Handsome's looking like he doesn't know whether to die of a heart attack or puke on my shoes, or both—"

"Wait, wait," Buffy cut her off in confusion. "Three questions: Who? What? Huh?"

"They're friends of yours or something," Faith shrugged as her mind struggled to think of a name. "Uh… Airy-horn… no… Airy-morn? No… or, is it Hairy-corn? No, that's not it—"

"Aragorn," Buffy cut her off again, her eyes fixed intensely on Faith as she was a silent as a stone, her mind thrust into contemplation.

"That's it," Faith pointed at Buffy as she smiled with sureness. "And his little side-kick buddy," she added, "Fido." Buffy and Spike were both staring at Faith in shock, Buffy staring with ominous and disturbed silence.

Spike declared, "Didn't see that coming."

The front door of 1630 Revello Drive swung open as Buffy Summers marched in with a mission. Her boots clanked on the wooden floorboards as Willow appeared in the doorway from the kitchen, Xander and Anya closely following her. Spike and Faith appeared from behind Buffy, but made their entrance quiet and almost unknown.

"Where are they?" Buffy asked Willow quickly, who also had a look of urgency on her face as well.

"Th-they're in there," she stated, pointing towards the living room. "Oh, Buffy; isn't it amazing!"

"It's really nuts, Buff," Xander declared with a smile on his boyish face. "I mean, they could've picked a better time to visit the Sunshine Portal of Hell, but still…" Buffy turned towards the living room and peaked inside to see Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, Frodo, Merry, Pippin and Sam standing or sitting on the living room furniture. Standing either on top of the stairs or peeking in and out of the other entrance to the kitchen from the living room were the Potential, at least twelve or fifteen teenage girls standing around, gawking and giggling at the strangers.

Buffy's stomach twisted tightly as she turned her attention back to the Fellowship and a knot formed in her throat. She couldn't get her voice to form a word when she saw them, and instead felt her face blush and she wanted to hit the door in shame. Suddenly, a tidal wave of long-suppressed memories came rushing back to her, making her knees weak and her stomach even weaker. She could feel herself breaking into a sweat as she breathed hard and her throat constricted.

"Well, well," Spike's voice announced, breaking her fixated trance and catching the attention of everyone in the room. Spike's eyes rested on the Fellowship as they turned towards the foyer, led by Aragorn and he remarked, "Guess the trip down Memory Lane is gonna be quite the trip…"

"Spike!" Pippin exclaimed with a broad smile as he and Merry jumped to their big, hairy feet.

Aragorn came to a slow stand as he gazed at Buffy's blank, but endearing expression, "Aratoamin." The Elfish word rang in Buffy's ears with a perfect, beautiful sound – the sound of Heaven. A long pause developed between them as the rest of the room stared at them in silence.

Xander looked back and forth between them. Having not recognized the Elfish word, he let out a long laugh with was met with blank stares. "Right," Xander said, subduing himself.

"Buffy!" Merry cheered as he and Pippin rushed over and hugged her legs tightly. She bent down and hugged them both, feeling as if her ripped out heart was now returning to her. They released her and still kneeling on the ground, Buffy looked over at Gimli, who walked to her and gave her a tight, hug.

"Good to see you, my lady," he grinned wide, then let go of her neck and stepped back. Buffy stood up and felt as if she were in some sort of dream, and then looked up at Legolas and Aragorn, hugging them both as she tried to keep her balance. She released Aragorn and begged that it wasn't some dream, and then she gazed down to see Sam and Frodo, looking up at her gently.

Both of them shared bittersweet half-smiles as they stared up at her patiently. It can't be a dream, she decided, and she bent down and hugged them both tightly, wrapping them in her arms and closing her eyes. Their smell, their mood, the force of their little arms – everything transported her back to Middle Earth.

The noise of the whispering caught their attention once more and made them turn towards the stairway. Aragorn leaned back to his friend who stood behind him, "Legolas, what are they saying?"

"It seems," Legolas eyed the girls curiously then replied, "we are hot." Aragorn and Legolas gazed at each other in confusion, then ignored the comment and turned back to the situation at hand.

Buffy stood up and looked at each of them in amazed silence, "I-I… I don't even know what to say…"

"Are you all right?" Aragorn asked with concern.

Buffy continued to gaze around dazedly, then found it in her to answer, "Yeah… I'm fine." Buffy looked down at the faces of the hobbits: Pippin stared up at her eagerly, while Frodo and Sam gazed up at her warmly, and Merry's eyes were fixed on Buffy as if she were a god.

"But-but you…" Buffy breathed as she looked up at Aragorn and Legolas, "how did you all… how did you… get here?"

"Gandalf helped us," Pippin announced. "We were worried after you—" He suddenly stopped himself, having realized that he once again misspoke out of turn. He looked up at Aragorn, waiting for his disapproving look, but instead found a warm one.

"We were concerned," Aragorn looked up at Buffy and softly answered, "after you disappeared." The horrifying memory of the portal opening in the Party Field rushed back to her.

"Well," Xander declared in confusion, "we all came back here after we left. Actually not here… more like Giles' house. But thanks for asking."

"That's not what you mean, is it?" Willow asked, eyeing Buffy and the others. The Fellowship looked at Buffy in confusion, and then turned back to her.

"No," Pippin announced. "Not that time. Buffy disappeared at her party." Buffy's eyes turned to Pippin with alarm.

"Well," Buffy began to stuttered, "it-it's a long story…"

"Buffy had a party?" Xander asked. "I don't remember that."

"It was great," Merry replied. "There was singin' and dancin'..."

"It's really complicated," Buffy explained to Willow, Xander and Spike.

"There was a big flash of light and Buffy was gone," Sam replied.

Buffy turned to him, and then looked back at her friends, "Okay, maybe not that complicated."

"Wait, when was this?" Anya asked as she gazed at them curiously.

"About eight months ago," Frodo answered, looking up at her.

"Eight months ago?" Spike declared. "That's crazy talk. Sure you haven't gotten your heads mixed up?"

"Hey, why don't we all talk about this later?" Buffy asked.

"It wouldn't be eight months ago," Willow realized. "It would be… more like… a year and a half ago, judging by their time."

"Eighteen months?" Anya repeated, then turned to Xander and Willow with worry. Willow's face clouded with a hint of guilt once again, but not as much as Buffy's face did. Spike realized what was happening, then looked up at Buffy in confusion.

"Buff," Xander declared, looking up at her slowly, "you were in Middle Earth?"

"That was your heavenly dimension?" Anya asked. Buffy looked at her, then at Xander, then Spike, and finally Willow – all of them with disapproving expressions on their faces. She didn't know what to say once again. Giles appeared with Dawn at his side from behind the crowd and finally gave her an emotion to feel.

"Why didn't you ever tell us, Buffy?" he asked in shock.

Her eyes narrowed on him, "I didn't think it was important anymore." Giles turned away from her with that remark and stepped back into the rest of the crowd. The Fellowship gazed around at the awkward moment that followed.

"We've got work to do," Buffy began again, her voice hard and commanding. "Faith told me about a girl who was stabbed…"

"She was in the middle of the road when we arrived in this city," Gimli answered.

"Yeah, she's at the hospital now," Willow replied. "I'm on my way there to see how she is. I'll give you a call when she wakes up."

"That's fine," Buffy answered, and then she turned and marched up the stairs leaving the others behind. Faith and the Fellowship had confused looks on their faces as Aragorn looked around, and then followed Buffy up the stairs.

Faith turned to Legolas who stared at the way intensely, his mind toiling over some grave problem. "What's perplexing your perplexer, Goldilocks?" she asked.

Legolas looked up at her, "I feel rather warm myself… but not 'hot.'"

Buffy continued up the stairs with Aragorn in pursuit and she rounded the railing at the top and marched into her bedroom, leaving the door open. Aragorn followed her to the top and noted her disturbed expression as he walked into her bedroom.

"Do you know how hard this is for me?" Buffy asked. "I mean, do you have any idea?" She whirled around towards him as she exclaimed, "I mean, I haven't seen you for like, a year and a half and you think you can just walk in?"

Aragorn gazed at her in confusion as he stood in her doorway, then he stepped back and stood outside her door. "No," Buffy shook her head, then looked down at the floor with a tired expression. She couldn't help but smile. "That's not what I meant, you can come in."

He walked inside as she sat on her bed tiredly. "It's just," she explained, "it's so crazy. I mean, I never thought I'd see any of you again." Aragorn sat across from her in a chair next to her vanity set and returned the benevolent smile. Her green eyes sparkled as a half-smile rested on her face.

"I am grateful that we found you," Aragorn replied. "These eight months have proven one thing: that we all need you."

"I still don't understand," Buffy answered. "How did you get here?"

Aragorn reached down into the brown leather pouch on his belt and pulled out a white crystal a bit smaller in length than the size of his palm. He held it out for her to see as she reached over and touched the jagged stone.

"What is it?" she asked.

"It is called 'irma haeannon,'" Aragorn answered.

"'Secure the rodent'?" Buffy asked.

Aragorn looked at her and shook his head, "No… um, 'dimension door.'"

"Right," Buffy nodded, embarrassed. "Did I mention that I'm a little rusty?"

"It's a very rare stone," Aragorn added. "Made from the mountain of Silvertine. It possesses many powers and when the right words are said it can do many things. But there is a limit of each stone's power. Only enough for two major spells, respectively."

"To get you here and to get you back," Buffy nodded, understanding.

"There are eight stones with us right now," Aragorn answered.

"Eight?" Buffy repeated with puzzlement.

"Eight," he nodded. "Seven for the rest of us to come home, and one for you to return with us."

Buffy stared up at him with eyes wide, "You mean—"

"Yes, Aratoamin," Aragorn replied. "We've come to take you home." Buffy blankly gazed at him with speechlessness and not a single sound could be heard. Outside the door, Willow stood up against the wall, listening to every word said as her heart pounded nearly out of her chest and her blood began to boil.