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).
11. Wield:
Frodo gasped as the hobbit's blue eyes opened wide with terror. Bodies, like scraps of paper, were consumed and in a massive ball of fire and were carried off with a wind inside a dark cavern. Galadriel's blue eyes opened and gazed at him intently and he swore he was once again standing in her presence in Lothlórien.
Aragorn grabbed his arm and jerked him awake as he struggled and gasped, letting out a final scream. "Be at peace, Frodo," Aragorn whispered to him, grabbing his shoulders and holding him still. "It was only a dream."
"Mr. Frodo," Sam exclaimed, "are you all right?"
Frodo's eyes rushed around the darkened living room from corner to corner and person to person as sweat beaded down his face. "Mr. Frodo?" Sam called again.
"I saw…" he began, fearfully. "Fire."
"Fire?" Gimli repeated, standing next to the hobbit's makeshift bedding: a blanket applied to a few couch pillows on the Berber carpet.
"A… a giant ball of fire…" Frodo whispered.
Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas glanced at each other nervously. "Like the breaching of the wall at Helm's Deep?" Gimli suggested.
"Did he have a vision?" Pippin eagerly asked.
"I fear his vision may soon become reality," Legolas declared. Aragorn turned to the elf as he stood apart from the group, cautiously peeking through the drawn living room curtains to the street outside. "The air is thick with danger. The rising sun beckons its call."
"But the sun is rising," Gimli shrugged. "The period of greatest danger has passed."
Frodo looked up at Aragorn desperately. "It's Faith. Something is going to happen; I feel it in my heart."
Aragorn stared down at him for a few moments, then swiftly decided, "We shall see to her safety." He turned to Legolas, Gimli and the other hobbits and declared, "We must awake Buffy at once."
"She's gone," a voice called from the staircase. They turned to see Spike with a look of dread upon his face walking down the stairs with a white piece of paper in his hand. "She's gone to fight Caleb," Spike added, holding up the note. "Alone."
Caleb, standing inside of the wine cellar, looked up as he heard a crash. A Bringer toppled down the staircase and landed on the dirt floor unconsciously. Caleb and Buffy/The First both gazed up at the petite silhouette as a beam of golden sunlight washed over her from behind. "Hey," Buffy said with her hands on her hips and a cocky perk in her tone. "Heard you had something of mine."
"Okay," Faith declared with an axe in her hands as she stood in the foyer of the Summers' residence, "you guys know the drill. Those of you who are coming with me, you know who you are. The ones that are checking up on B, stay invisible."
The army of Potentials, along with the rest of the Scoobies stood steadfast as they anxiously chewed her orders. Dawn turned to Faith humbly and meekly said, "I'd like to go with you."
Faith sighed, "Look, we already—"
"Yeah, I know," Dawn cut her off, the meekness gone. "But I can help you more than I can help Andrew bake cookies. I'm going." Both girls turned to Andrew at that point to see him give them a dirty look, crossing his oven mitt-clad arms.
Willow argued, "The Fellowship could've found Buffy by now. I'm sure that we could spare one on our recon team. Dawn could go with you."
Faith shook her head. "B wouldn't—"
"'B' isn't in charge," Kennedy sighed with frustration. "You are. So let her go."
Faith gave Kennedy a warning glare, then rolled her eyes, saying to Dawn, "All right, fine. Let's move."
Caleb glared at Buffy menacingly as a smile stretched his lips. "Figured you would get a little restless and would come back. It's practically the way of the Slayer. You all seem to enjoy pain."
Buffy strolled down the stairs, gliding over them slowly one by one with her arms crossed as she asked blatantly, "Where is it? You know I'm gonna find it sooner or later."
"It's not for you," Caleb snapped defensively.
"Actually," The First added calmly. "It is."
He retorted at it, "Whose side are you on, anyway?
"My side," The First declared firmly and calmly. "And now… you're on your own." Before Caleb could protest, The First vanished into thin air, leaving the ex-priest and the Slayer alone.
"Aww," Buffy frowned, "what's the matter Caleb? Loose your cheering section?"
Caleb regained his composure quickly, brushing the problem off, and turned to her with a smile. "You mean nothing to me," he affirmed. "We both know that all I have to do is lay a hand on you and you're just another dead little girl."
Buffy gazed at him dangerously from beneath her blonde brow as she answered, "All right. Lay a hand on me. If you can." Caleb stared back and accepted her offer with a twisted grin.
Caleb drew his arm back to swing at her as she felt a tingle in the back of her brain. Suddenly, for no apparent reason that she could think of, she felt as if she were weightless and a hole was forming in the pit of her chest. For a second, she was no longer in the world physically.
She struggled to concentrate as she saw Caleb's fist moving towards her, but then felt another urge. She closed her eyes tightly and leaned backwards. Caleb swung but blind Buffy shifted out of his way like air and front-flipped over him, Caleb's momentum throwing him into a barrel of wine. He turned to face her again as Buffy straightened out with her eyes still closed and her back to him.
He rushed to strike her from behind, when she dived forwards and rolled in a somersault to her feet. Like she was as light as a snowflake, she ran and leapt up at least fourteen feet in the air to the top of a mountain of stacked barrels as Caleb ran after her. She raced across the tops of the barrels, her feet barely touching them as her eyes remained closed.
Caleb looked up to see her moving with inhuman quality and was astounded despite himself. He turned back to his path movements before he smacked into a barrel, busting it to pieces and toppling over on the wine-covered ground.
"Caleb, what is she doing?" The First declared, appearing once again as Buffy. "What's happening to her?"
"I don't know!" he declared as he pushed himself up. "She just… snapped."
"Well, snap her!" The First shouted.
"I'm trying!" Caleb answered. "Would you stop distracting me?"
"Fine," The First replied. "Go. Kill."
Faith led the Potentials and Dawn down a dark tunnel beneath the vineyard with their flashlights drawn as they stayed tightly huddled and moved as a cautious group. Dawn's flashlight caught the reflection of a shiny piece of metal that caught her eye.
"Hey, guys," she whispered. "There's something down there." Faith got in front of Dawn and was the first to venture to the end of the tunnel as all flashlights turned towards an array of axes, swords, lances, crossbows, and many more medieval weapons.
Vi walked up to the table and picked up a sword. "I don't get it. Why would they just leave all this?"
Faith's flashlight shined to the corner to see a blind Bringer growling at them. "Maybe because they didn't," she answered as the other girls gasped with fright.
Suddenly a couple dozen Bringers jumped out and engaged the girls in a battle almost completely shrouded in darkness, save for a few fleeting flashlights. Faith turned to Dawn in the darkness as she punched a Bringer away. "Dawn, we're trapped. Go look for a way out!"
"I'm not leaving!" Dawn shouted back.
"Just go!" she ordered. Hesitantly, Dawn finally turned around with her sword in hand, slashed a Bringer across the throat and raced back down the tunnel in the opposite direction.
Buffy backflipped over another one of Caleb's blows as she jumped up on another barrel, up to the wall and sped across a rafter, landing on the floor behind Caleb. He gazed at her with disgust and horror. She kept her eyes closed tight, unable to open them as she ducked beneath two of Caleb's swings.
Dawn ran as fast as she could in the dark, the fear of more Bringers gripping her. A hand grasped her arm as she screamed and swung her sword at it only to hear it clash with a harsh metal ching.
"It's all right!" Aragorn declared grabbing Dawn by the arm as Anduril blocked Dawn's sword. "Dawn, it's us." Dawn shined her flashlight at the familiar faces of the Fellowship as they crowded around her.
"Don't be afraid, lass, we're here," said Gimli.
"Why are you running?" Merry asked. "Is Buffy all right?"
"No, I… I don't know," Dawn breathed heavily. "They're being attacked by Bringers."
"How many?" Legolas asked.
"A lot," Dawn shook her head tiredly.
"Wait, who's being attacked?" Aragorn asked.
"The Potentials!" Dawn answered. "And-and Faith!"
Frodo looked up at Aragorn urgently. "We've got to help them."
Aragorn turned back to Dawn and ordered, "Lead us to them."
Buffy dived over another barrel and rolled to her feet. Crouching down, she opened her eyes for the first time since the fight began. Her green irises began to glow and eerie light blue. With a quick blink, the glow was gone and she was left confused as to what the hell just happened to her.
"Whore!" she heard from behind her as she came to a quick stand and faced Caleb again.
"You know, you should really watch your language," Buffy quipped. "If you're not careful, people might get the idea you're a vulgar, woman-hating jerk."
Caleb shoved a wine barrel out of his path and a wooden hatch in the ground swung open. A loud high pitched noise emitted from it and grated Buffy's ears raw. She cupped her head and grunted, nearly being brought to her knees by the wretched sound. Caleb paused and gazed at her with even more confusion than before, but then continued, seizing the opportunity to crush her. He lunged for her, but she rolled underneath his grasp, slid across the floor and disappeared into the hole as the hatch closed after her.
Faith plowed her sword through the last Bringer and ripped it out with ferocity. She looked around to survey the damage at count heads. So far she still had all of her Potentials with her. "Someone's got to go back and get—"
"Yo, Faith," Kennedy cut her off. "I think I found something."
Faith turned to Kennedy as the Potential stood near the wall with her flashlight shining on a hidden door. Faith walked up to the door and pushed it open, leading the rest of the girls down a creaky wooden staircase into a dark labyrinth.
Buffy walked down the stone ramp into the shadows of another cavern lit harshly by a single torch. As she approached the torch, her eyes caught the sight of a glittering piece of metal. She froze in her steps, and was captivated by it.
It was an axe… or axe-shaped… with a mean-looking blade dug into a black, volcanic stone. The edge of the blade was silver with the outer tip curving out into a dagger of sorts, while the metal binding the blade to the handle was red. On the end of the silver handle there was a wooden stake that had been fastened on. This was truly a weapon of the gods and it glistened and sparkled in the firelight, taking the breath of the Slayer away.
A smile formed across Buffy's lips as she stared at it hungrily, ready at once to claim and wield what was hers.
Faith's flashlight shined around the labyrinth to an opposite wall where a metal box sat alone on the other side of a walkway over murky water. Faith crossed the walkway carefully, the flashlight lighting her dim path, and approached the metal box, gazing at the combination lock latching it closed. She kicked the lock on the box, breaking it with ease. Faith kneeled down in front of the metal toolbox and lifted up the latch.
"No! Don't!" Frodo shouted as he raced into the room with Aragorn, Dawn and the rest of the Fellowship behind him.
"Everyone get out!" Aragorn ordered as the Potentials raced out of the room.
Faith had already opened the box to see a crumpled up mass of wiring and several pounds of TNT with a timer that was already on 0:08 seconds and counting down.
The Slayer leapt up and raced for the door as Aragorn pushed the rest of the Potentials and Fellowship out, grabbing Faith and falling over her to protect her from the upcoming horror.
With a mighty blast, a ball of fire erupted and nearly engulfed the entire labyrinth, burning everything it its path to a crisp. The entire vineyard rocked as the labyrinth was covered in darkness.
Buffy stood in the cave, staring at the axe motionlessly and she slowly began to inch towards it, her fingers reaching out for it longingly. "So…" she heard from behind her. She turned to see Caleb coming down the stone walkway towards her. "You found it. Not impressed. 'Cause the question is now, girlie girl, can you pry it from solid rock before I come down there and—"
With a gentle lift, Buffy grabbed her weapon and pulled it free from the stone. Caleb froze in abrupt terror as he gazed at her with the weapon in her hand and let out a nervous chuckle.
Buffy kept her eyes intently on it as Caleb stood a safe distance away. "Now… before you go breakin' a nail with that thing, why don't you do yourself a favor and hand it over?" he asked.
Buffy turned to him, idly asking, "Yeah? You want it?" She took a step closer to him, chilling him to the bone as he stepped back.
He anxiously answered, "You don't even know what you got there."
"I know you're backing away," Buffy smiled, continuing to approach him.
Caleb swallowed hard as he backed himself up against the cave wall and was forced to stand his ground. Buffy paused and gazed at him menacingly as he replied, "You think wielding some two-sided doodad is going to save you? You'll kill yourself with that thing before you make a show—"
"Let her go, Caleb," Buffy/The First commanded as it appeared beside him. He hesitated, staring at Buffy fearfully. "I said let her go," The First repeated, agitated.
"I let her go and she slices me open with that thing," Caleb answered, not taking his eyes off the Slayer. Buffy looked around the cavern, now sensing that she and Caleb were not alone anymore.
"No, she doesn't," The First assured. "She hasn't got time." The First playfully strolled up to Buffy, the Slayer unaware to it as it whispered in her ear, "Your friends are dying."
The hair on the back of Buffy's neck stood on end as Caleb declared, "I'm not letting her outta her with that thing."
"Sure you are," The First answered. "And you'll come back for it later. When she's got her back turned." Buffy sped past Caleb and ran up the stone pathway, jumping up through the hole and into the wine cellar with her new toy. Caleb and the First stood by and listened to her fleeting footsteps as Caleb burned with anger.
Small fires burned and electrical wires popped as Frodo slowly pulled himself to a stand in the dusty, destroyed labyrinth. "Hello?" he called, gazing out at the dark horror. "Is anyone there?"
"Us," Vi declared as she and a Potential named Caridad helped each other to their feet. Not far away, Amanda stood up, helping Kennedy, Legolas, Gimli and Pippin to their feet.
"Merry? Sam?" Frodo called, then turned to see the two hobbits appear from the shadows being followed by Dawn.
"We're here," Merry coughed.
"Are you all right, Mr. Frodo?" Sam asked.
"I'm fine, but…" Frodo's eyes widened. "Aragorn! Faith!" He climbed over broken rock and twisted metal towards where he saw them duck down.
"Frodo, be careful!" Dawn called.
"Aragorn!" Frodo called, rushing over the wreckage. "Faith!" He came to their nearly unconscious bodies as he shook Aragorn frantically. "They're here!" he cried. "Aragorn, wake up! Wake up!" Aragorn's eyes opened as he jerked with pain.
"I'm… all right," he coughed.
Faith coughed suddenly, her eyes opening wide as she jerked awake as well. "Ow… God… My leg…"
"You're going to be all right," Frodo declared as Aragorn slowly sat himself up.
Faith breathed as the other Potentials reached her, "I'm getting too old for this." They slowly lifted her up to her feet, Kennedy and Aragorn taking her weight on both sides.
"Everyone's here," Sam announced to Aragorn and Faith. "Everyone's alive."
"Oh, thank you, God," Dawn breathed a sigh of relief. A screeching howl rang out through the dark, burning tunnel. Dawn added, "Oh, help us, God."
"What was that?" Merry asked.
"It's one of them!" Kennedy exclaimed. "One of the Turok-Han!"
"The what?" Pippin asked.
"They're like vampires," Amanda breathed nervously. "But way, way worse!"
"It's moving swiftly," Legolas declared as he gazed intently down a tunnel. "It knows that we're here."
"I suggest that we not be here," Faith ordered. "Move, now!" The girls and the Fellowship took off down a winding maze of corridors as Gimli and Legolas held their weapons at ready, clearing the path for the others to escape. They approached a tunnel that was nearly blocked to the top by fallen debris.
"What do we do now?" Caridad exclaimed.
"Go over it!" Dawn ordered. "Faith first, come on! Dawn and Aragorn pulled Faith over the pile of rocks to the other side. The four hobbits were next, followed by Kennedy, Vi, Amanda and the rest of the Potentials, the most wounded going first.
As the last Potential was climbing over the pile, the hideous Turok-Han appeared and reached out for her. Kennedy pulled her back with a scream as the Potentials huddled together, the Fellowship guarding them. The Turok-Han was perched on top of the pile, gazing at them as it snarled at hissed with jagged teeth and a misshapen, grey, hairless head.
The hobbits bound together tightly as their eyes watched the monster fearfully. "That is one ugly vampire," Pippin breathed.
With a grunt, Aragorn whipped out his sword and threw it across the room, decapitating the monster quickly. The sword buried itself into the ceiling of the tunnel as dust fell to the ground. The stunned Potentials breathed a sigh of relief as they turned to their rescuer gratefully.
"Wow," Faith nodded. "That was pretty cool."
Aragorn smiled as he heard something drop. He looked down to see his leather pouch containing the white crystal lying on the ground. He reached down for it just as his sword flew through the air and buried itself chest-high into the wall that he had been standing in front of. He looked up to see his sword in shock as he grabbed the crystal off the ground and turned to the pile of debris to see two more Turok-Han's standing on top of the pile.
A hiss was heard from beside them as another appeared from the other end of the hallway. They were trapped in between three horrible beasts. Aragorn pulled his sword out of the wall as Kennedy ordered, "Stay together! We can take them! Remember your training!"
Aragorn declared to Legolas, "Ela sen!" Flank them!
Legolas drew his bow and arrow and aimed at the single Turok-Han while Aragorn and Gimli guarded the back of the group from the two Turok-Han on the debris pile.
Suddenly, a hole was blown into the roof by a powerful force as it dropped down to the ground behind the first Turok-Han. The powerful force, otherwise known as Buffy, sliced the head off of the Turok-Han with her axe like a hot knife through warm butter. The two remaining Turok-Han leapt over the group of girls and landed several feet away from Buffy, one behind the other. Buffy pulled the axe back and threw it, javelin-like, through the air, the stake end first. The weapon went clean through the first Turok-Han and impaled the other with such force that the creature left the ground and was pinned to the wall seconds before it exploded into a cloud of dust.
The girls stared in awe of their former leader as she wiped the sweat off her forehead and turned to them, axe in hand. "Get the wounded. We're leaving."
"Aratoamin," Aragorn said with wonder and his jaw agape. "How did you…?"
"Is everyone all right?" she asked.
"We're fine," Merry answered, relief on his face. "Now."
"Do you think there's more?" Kennedy asked.
"There's always more," Buffy replied. "Let's go."