AN: Howdy y'all! I don't have much to say except the order of clearing up some confusion. In my last Author's Note, when I said that I killed Legolas, I was referring to his personality, not his actual character in this story. (Although he might be dead by now… Nobody knows!) Other than that, I think that's all I have to say except that I hate when people write crappy fanfics that I can't even stand to read! (Nothing intended towards and of you of course, just something I was reading yesterday.)

Rusty

Ps-Remember what was happening? Alexus's father came home… DUN DUN DUN!

Pps-Oh my gosh! Do any of you watch Kaleido Star! Cause if you don't, you so should because it's the best anime in the world! Even better than Ceres! I bet some of you probably have no idea what I'm talking about, but I just had to tell you! There's this guy in it… He's just so awesome! Nikhila thinks he's a jerk, but I still love him! Anyway, back to the sory…

Chapter Nine: The Girl who Overcame Time…

And the Man who was just Drunk

"No!" Alexus screamed.

Her father was taken aback for a moment. He stopped his advance and stared, wide-eyed at her crying, quivering figure crouching in the corner.

"What did you just say to me?"

"No!" she repeated again. "I didn't kill mom!"

Her father laughed. "You really believe that load of crap! I thought you were at least a little smarter than that! You and I both know you killed your mother! If it wasn't for you, she'd still be alive!"

He raised his arm and struck her across the face. Alexus raised her head and stared him down with a piercing glare. After shedding so many tears on her beloved Legolas and wishing that he were here with her, she thought she could almost feel his presence.

In her mind, he was standing right beside her, helping her face her father. His strength was flowing through her veins. She remembered every time he would hold her close to him when she had a nightmare about her father, every time he would try to convince her that she hadn't killed her mother, every time he begged her not to go back to a world where her own family treated her like dirt.

She stood up suddenly, pushed him aside and left the room. Her father was so shocked and so drunk that he just stood there dumbfounded.

Alexus ran from room and stopped at the end of the hallway. She wanted to get away from her dad, but after what happened to Ben-or, at least what she thought happened to him-she figured it was better not to leave her house at this hour.

She knew her dad wouldn't come after her for a while; he was pretty drunk tonight. But she wanted to be out of site when he did come to and realize what had happened. She glanced rapidly around the house for somewhere to hide.

Behind the couch? No, he'd find her there. Under on of the cabinets? Nope, there was no way she could fit in one of those. Her eyes scanned the house and soon fell across the glass door that led to her tiny backyard.

She made for the dark abyss outside. There were no lights and the moon and stars were lost behind the many clouds that blanketed the sky. No noise could be heard at this hour, not even the hum of a car or the soft whisper of midnight lovers eager to escape their parent's rules.

Alexus was all alone again. She glanced around her at the dead grass and wilting flowers. Broken pots lay scattered about, various gardening tools were strewn all around the yard from the days when Alexus and her mother used to garden. There were small piles of cat droppings from the neighbor's wandering felines and a tiny hole where a wandering rabbit had made its home for the winter.

"It's so dead outside…" Alexus muttered, shivering in the cool night air. "If I was back home, there would be birds singing and bugs chirping and… Home… I wish I knew where that was. Here with my friends or… in Middle Earth with my love?"

She plopped down against the glass door and hugged her knees to her chest. The only thing she could see clearly through the dim light that was on back inside was a small wishing well. It had been her mothers. Her father had given it to her as a wedding present, before he turned to drinking.

Thoughts of her younger days suddenly appeared in her mind. It was as if they had been buried in a dark room and someone had suddenly freed them and turned on the light. She remembered sitting at the edge of the well with Ben and Nikhila, the day after her mother died. She recalled how Jessica had cried on her shoulder all afternoon at the well the day her parents were divorced. She remembered sitting around the well with Nikhila and Jessica and Jack, all weeping for the loss of their dear friend Ben.

Wait! That wasn't how it happened! She had seen Ben die with her own eyes. Ivellios had stabbed him! Ben had been trying to save her, trying to catch Ivellios off guard and slice him to bits!

How can this be happening! How can I have these memories of things that aren't real! How can I have two sets of memories for the same thing! How can I see Ben die with my own eyes and yet remember hearing the news about him being kidnapped! And when Jessica told me he had been declared dead… What is going on!

No matter how hard she tried these thoughts just weren't going away. The minute she got used to her old life and started to feel at home again, something would force her to remember Legolas! She had been here almost two weeks and she still hadn't thought of a way to get back home!

"What am I gonna do! I can't keep living here as long as I know Legolas could still be alive and waiting for me! I don't know what to-yawn-oh man! I'm really tired… Maybe I can think better in the morning after some rest. Tomorrow's Saturday, after all, so I won't have any classes to worry about."

She was walking down a road, staring down at the ground. Not a paved road with cars and houses and other people. Just a small dirt road with no sign of life for miles around. Why was she walking down this road? What was she trying to get to? Alexus didn't have a clue! But there was something strange about this road. Something unusual, yet she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

She kept walking along without any purpose or notion of where she was headed. She hummed aloud to try and pass the time. She still couldn't figure out what was so unusual.

The more she walked the more she began to realize there was also something unusual about her voice. This she could figure out much easier than the road-she had no idea what was so strange about this road.

As she listened to herself, it dawned on her that she was singing two things at once. And although they were two separate things coming from her mouth at the same exact moment, both were still as clear as day, neither one clashing in any way with the other.

She listened closely to one.

"I'll be there for you, when the rain starts to pour. I'll be there for you, like I've been there before. I'll be there for you, cause you're there for me too..."

That was the song she and her friends always sang. It was like their theme song. And it was true. No matter what happened to any of them in life, they were always there for each other. They were like five peas in a pod-Jessica, Ben, Nikhila, Jack, and Alexus. Always together, always there for each other.

Then she listened to the next song, or rather, poem.

"Close your eyes and go to sleep, I'll watch over you tonight. Tomorrow is another day, but you needn't think of that now. While I sit here and watch you dream, I get lost in my thoughts. Your beauty entices me, your soul inspires me, I can't explain it with words. How can I say these things to you, when our worlds seem so far apart? It's a strange attraction I have for you, but that matters little to me. Please tell me, is this love or lust, It all seems so real."

"That poem! I've heard it before! That's the poem Legolas sang to me. When we first met back in Mirkwood and I was being a royal bitch! That's the poem he sang to me! I still remember!"

Alexus looked up. Then she understood! She hadn't been able to tell what was so strange about this road because she had been staring at the ground the entire time! But when she looked up she saw that, on one side of the road, beautiful trees loomed, shining in the morning sun. Elves ran about, carrying out their daily chores. Layanna and Maleena were there, smiling back at Alexus. In the distance, she could see Legolas and his father speaking. He turned to her and smiled, waving her over.

On the other side, huge buildings stood tall. The shopping mall could be seen, its many clothes and books and interesting foods drew Alexus towards it. She saw her school with all her many friends. She saw Nikhila at softball practice, Jack playing hi soul out on his trumpet, and Jessica just smiling at her. In the shadows of a tall building she noticed a very strange figure. He was so familiar, yet she didn't recall seeing him. He stepped out of the darkness and she realized it was Ben, waving at her with his goofy grin plastered on his face.

Suddenly she was standing in an open field, still on the road. The buildings and trees were gone. The only thing before her was a big fork in the road. Down on path she could see the trees of Mirkwood again. Maleena, Layanna, Gandalf, and Legolas all stood to welcome her. She ran towards them, her arms reaching for Legolas's outstretched hand.

Suddenly she stopped. Down the other path stood Nikhila, Jack, and Jessica. Mandy was there too and Rachel! All of her old friends! Even Ben was there! They were all waving at her, beckoning her to come with them. Jessica held up her D&D manual and called for her to come play.

She stood between the two pathways, looking from Legolas to Ben, Maleena to Nikhila. Somehow she knew that she could only chose one path. She had to decide. And if she didn't decide quickly enough…

Suddenly a third path appeared, in between the others. She saw her father running towards her. Alexus took a step backwards. She was terrified. He held a knife in each one of his hands and an evil grin was on his face.

He was coming closer. He would reach her within seconds now. Alexus tried to run backwards, but her feet seemed glued to the ground. She couldn't move, she couldn't speak, she couldn't even think.

"I'll save you!"

Instantly, Nikhila and Legolas, her best friend and her husband, ran towards her, flinging themselves over her protectively. Her father kept going. He had reached them. With one knife he stabbed Legolas and threw him off her and with the other he sliced Nikhila across the neck.

Now it was just the two of them. He stood over her, laughing. His knife came down towards her. She rolled to one side, but he took the other knife from Legolas and thrust it into her arm.

"Die bitch!"

"Die bitch!"

Alexus woke up with a start. Her father was looming over her with a bloody knife in one hand. She felt the sharp tinge of pain in her arm as she looked down to see that had not just been part of her dream. She rolled away from him just in time to dodge his next attack.

It was light outside now. She must have slept the night outside. Her father must have woken up and found her. He wasn't drunk, but she recognized his slowed actions as the sign of a hangover. She could escape this one.

She stood up and made a run for the well she had seen last night. It was deep enough that he wouldn't get to her for a while. And maybe by then he would have given up and gone off to the liquor store.

Her hand grasped the edge of the well tightly, the rough bricks digging into her skin. She managed to fling herself over the edge of the well without any injury. She could hear her father's yelling getting softer and softer as she fell down.

Soon it had disappeared completely. All she could hear was her own heavy breathing. She never once felt her body touch the side of the well. All she felt was the warmness of the blood running down her arm.

She was still falling.

"Something's not right here… I don't remember the well being this deep…"

As she spoke those words her leg collided with hard ground. Her knees buckled and she hit the floor, her head bumping against the side of the well.

"Ouch…"

She stared up at the clear sky above her.

"That's not right. I fell farther than that, I'm sure of it!"

Alexus stood up and reached for the edge of the well. The rocks were rough and jagged, making it easy for her to climb her way out. Her arm was in pain, but she didn't care. Years of abuse made her nearly immune to this sort of thing.

She couldn't hear her father any longer and she didn't hear a single sound aside from the chirping of birds. She couldn't even hear the cars on the street behind her making their morning commute to work.

Her hands grasped to top edge of the well. She pulled herself up with all her strength and flung her body out of the well. Surprisingly, she landed on soft grass. She was in a small meadow surrounded by trees.

"What the hell…"

"Aliana!"

She looked up, startled. Before her stood a tall man with long hair, appearing to be silver in the sunlight. His ears were pointed and he wore a red robe over his pants that draped his entire body.

"InuYasha!"

(AN: OK, I had originally made this story to be amusing, not serious. So, be prepared if I take all you thoughts about this story and turn them into sheer weirdness. Actually, I don't claim to be that funny, but I hope it will amuse you! And maybe I won't even do that. Maybe I'll leave it the way it is and change my whole plan! Who knows!)