(A/N) Hey everybody! First of all I bow before all of you for taking the time to read this. But I must warn you, random insanity runs rampant in this fic. Where does the fellowship end up when Gandalf leads them on the wrong path in Moria? Well, I'm not gonna tell ya. Just read the fic if you wish to know. I should also tell you that I prefer to use movie verse when writing lotr fanfiction. It makes my life easier at the moment. I also realize that Gandalf would never actually pick the wrong way, but this is a "what-if" story.
Disclaimer: If I really need to put anything here for you people to understand it, then you make me sad. So be it.
The Fellowship Meets Reality
Chapter 1: The Door is Shut
"It's that way." Gandalf said suddenly, looking up from his conversation with Frodo.
"He's remembered." Merry said excitedly as the other seven members of the fellowship got to their feet to follow Gandalf's lead once more.
"No. But the air doesn't smell so foul down here." Gandalf replied as he walked towards the center pathway. "If in doubt Meriadoc, always follow your nose."
The fellowship had been on the way to Mordor to destroy the One Ring. Now they were passing through the Mines of Moria beneath the mountain, Caradhras.
They had come to a great arch which split into three different passage ways. The other eight members of the fellowship had been waiting for hours for Gandalf to decide on which was the best passage to follow. The passage on the right led upwards and the one to the left led downwards. But the one in the middle simply led straight ahead. This was the one that Gandalf had chosen.
For a long while, the fellowship walked along in silence. Gandalf in the lead with Gimli and Frodo behind him. Behind them came Sam, Legolas, and Boromir. Aragorn made up the end of the line, making sure that Merry and Pippin kept up.
Suddenly Gandalf came to a halt at the brink of a black, bottomless pit.
"All right, maybe it isn't this way. Maybe we should try the right-hand path." Gandalf said as he began to turn around.
But Pippin, who was lagging behind, didn't realize that the others had stopped. So he walked right smack into Merry. Merry tumbled over backwards and tripped Aragorn. This in turn, caused a domino effect. Until Gandalf, Gimli, Frodo, and Sam were all knocked over the edge of the chasm.
Out of the darkness, the remaining members of the fellowship heard Pippin's voice.
"Was that my fault?"
"Yes, Pip, it was." Merry said with an exasperated sigh.
"What are we to do now? The ring bearer is lost. Right along with our guide." Boromir said.
"There is nothing for it but to go back." Aragorn said sadly.
"What! We can't go back! We have to save them!" Pippin shouted.
"This may come as a surprise to you Pippin, but we can't do them much good if we jump after them. We'd all end up dead." Merry said.
Just as they were all about to turn and head back to the three pathways, Boromir lost his footing and slipped over the edge. On his way down he grabbed hold of Aragorn's arm to break his fall. As Aragorn was dragged over the edge, he grabbed hold of Legolas and all three of them went tumbling into the abyss, leaving behind the two hobbits.
"Well, there are two options. Turn around and face the darkness and orcs of Moria. Or we could follow the others into the pit, and most likely to death." Merry said.
"I think I'll go with the second option." Pippin said brightly as he leapt into the pit.
"Hey, wait up!" Merry called after the younger hobbit. Then he too, jumped.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!" nine voices echoed as one.
XxX
The door is still shut
But the time draws near
Two worlds will collide
But have no fear.
The way will open
You are the one
Who will open the door
Through which the light shall run
XxX
Atalanta awoke with a start. She looked around and began to calm down when she realized that she was in her own bedroom.
That was a strange dream.
Atalanta slowly climbed out of bed and began to dress herself. She was up earlier than usual on a Saturday morning, but this morning was different. It was the first day of summer vacation and Atalanta had just passed her driver's test.
Unfortunately, she wouldn't get a chance to drive until her parents got back from their vacation in Hawaii. For now, she was stuck in Colorado babysitting her little brother and sister, Calypsa and Aaron.
Today Atalanta was just going to hang around and work on her latest fan fiction. Later tonight she would be going out with a bunch of her friends.
As soon as she was dressed and had eaten some breakfast she scurried back up to her room. She popped the Fellowship of the Ring into her television set and set to work on her computer. Normally, Atalanta only wrote Animorphs and X-men fiction but her best friend, Mila, had recently gotten her into Lord of the Rings. She had only just finished reading the books and she now owned the first two movies. In fact, the reason for the outing with her friends was to see Return of the King.
And now, Atalanta was beginning work on her first LOTR fiction. After reading the books and learning a little bit of Middle-Earth history, she had decided to write some sort of take on the life of Frodo Gamgee, first son of Sam Gamgee. She wasn't exactly sure where she would take the story but she knew that she would have some sort of inspiration once she sat down to her computer.
While Atalanta wrote out the opening scene where Frodo was born, the movie rambled on. She had watched it many times and it was more background noise than anything else by now. She continued to write for the next hour, right up until the part where the fellowship entered the Mines of Moria. Then she pulled away from her computer to watch the small monologue that Gandalf gave to Frodo about Gollum and how Bilbo had pitied him. She always loved these dramatic, passionate speeches.
"It's a pity Bilbo didn't kill him when he had the chance." Frodo said vehemently when Gandalf explained Gollum's addiction to the Ring.
"Pity! It was pity that stayed Bilbo's hand. Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them Frodo?" he asked the Hobbit in a reprimanding voice. "Do not be to eager to deal out death and judgment. Even the very wise cannot see all ends. My heart tells me that Gollum has some part to play yet, for good or ill, before this is over."
"I wish the Ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened." Frodo said in a tearful voice.
"So do all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide. All you have to do is decide what to do with the time that it given to you." Gandalf said in a grave voice.
"It's that way." Gandalf spoke up suddenly.
"He's remembered." Merry said excitedly as the rest of the fellowship rose to follow Gandalf down the passage.
"No. But the air doesn't smell so foul down here. If in doubt Meriadoc, always follow your nose." Gandalf said cheerfully.
It was then that Atalanta realized that they were going the wrong way. She had never really paid attention to this part of the movie but even she noticed when the film suddenly changed. Even she knew that the true pathway lay to the right. But now the fellowship was walking down the center path. She watched, open-mouthed, as the movie changed before her very eyes. Until Gandalf finally stopped at the brink of a gaping chasm.
"All right. Maybe it is not this way. Maybe we should try the right-hand path." Gandalf said as he began to turn around.
But at that moment, Pippin came running into Merry, who stumbled and tripped Aragorn in the narrow space. Eventually all nine of them ended up falling into the pit. Atalanta watched all of this in shock. Movies weren't supposed to just randomly change on you.
Suddenly the television began to spit smoke and sparks. Atalanta jumped up and tried to switch it off but nothing happened. It just smoked harder and the screen started glowing. Then the light filled the room and everything fell silent for a moment. When the light faded and the smoke cleared Atalanta just stood there, staring at the pile of arms and legs that greeted her sight.
"You fool of a Took! What mess have you gotten us into this time?"
"Look, I'm sorry, all right! How was I supposed to know that you all had stopped? I could barely see my own nose at the end of my face!"
"Don't start, Pippin! We're lucky to be alive right now."
"Does anyone happen to know where we are?"
"No! But if someone would kindly remove their large, hairy FOOT from my FACE, I would love to get up and find out!"
Suddenly one of the bodies managed to disentangle itself from the pile and stand up. Atalanta was staring right at Legolas Greenleaf, Prince of Mirkwood.
For a moment, he too, stood staring at her. But then he bowed.
"Good morrow, my lady. I am Legolas Greenleaf of Mirkwood. Do you happen to know where we are?"
Atalanta stared for a few more minutes, then...grabbed a pillow and promptly began attacking the Elf prince with it.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH! SEVEN DAYS! SEVEN DAYS! AAAAAAAAAAHHH!"
Hey, wouldn't you react that way after seeing the movie The Ring?
"Madam, contain yourself!" Legolas said, trying to get away from the insane human.
Finally Legolas managed to fit an arrow to his bow and aimed it directly at Atalanta's face.
"I'm sorry to do this, my lady, but I had to calm you down."
"And that's a real good way to do it." Atalanta said in a nervous whisper. "Um...now, what were you saying?"
"What is this place?" Legolas asked as he gazed around Atalanta's room.
"Earth...Colorado." Atalanta said slowly.
"Earth? Not Middle-Earth?"
"No, just plain, regular Earth."
"Another dimension? Another world?"
"I'm thinkin' so. If you guys are the real fellowship of the ring, that is."
"What do you mean by that? The REAL fellowship? Of course we are the real fellowship. But how do you know of such things if this really is another world?" he gazed at her suspiciously.
"Long story. It's..." she trailed off as she watched the other members of the fellowship climb to their feet.
"Oh...my...god." she whispered.
"ATALANTA! WHAT WAS THAT NOISE!" a voice came from downstairs.
"Oh, no! It's my little sister! I have to hide you guys!"
"Hide us from what, lady? We are willing to brave any danger." Boromir said as he drew his sword. Which was difficult with all ten of them crammed into Atalanta's bedroom.
"Not this danger. You have never faced a rabid fan girl. And that's exactly what my sister is." Atalanta replied as she hurried to lock the door.
"Let this sister come. I shall..." Gimli started to say as he held up his ax.
"Not now! No time to talk! Get in the closet!"
"What!" the Dwarf asked as if insulted.
"You heard me! Get in there!" she said as she shoved him into her walk in closet.
"Okay, you next." she said to Legolas.
Before he could protest she shoved him into the closet right along side of Gimli.
"Aragorn, Boromir. your turn."
"How do you know my..." Aragorn began to ask.
"LATER! In the closet! Now!"
Aragorn, frightened by the girl's attitude, obeyed. Boromir, however, hesitated.
"Why should..."
"Not now! Get your ass in the closet! If I get caught with the fellowship in my room, I'll be grounded for a year."
Boromir didn't even try to figure out what this meant. He finally decided that it was safe to enter the closet.
Gandalf didn't even put up an argument.
Atalanta shut the door behind him. Then she turned her attention to the Hobbits.
"We are out of room in the closet. Oooooookay, Hobbits, ummmm. The bed!"
"Excuse me!" Sam said, his voice coated with outrage.
"Get under the bed." she explained.
"Oh." Sam said, his face turning red with embarrassment as he tried to squeeze himself under the bed.
"Well, I see no point in arguing with the lady." Pippin said as he followed after Sam.
Frodo gave Atalanta a very intent stare before following Pippin. It was as if he was trying to discern whether or not he could trust her.
"Why should I? It can't be all that dangerous to stay out." Merry said with a glare.
Just then someone started pounding on the door.
"Atalanta! Open the door! What are you doing in there!"
"Oh yes it is. I insist you get under there, now."
"And if I refuse?" Merry challenged.
"Get...under...the bed." Atalanta said in a deadly whisper.
This seemed to finally convince Merry of his peril and he crawled under the bed. Atalanta quickly unlocked the door and sat back down at her computer as Calypsa entered the room.
"What was all that! How come you locked the door!" she asked angrily.
"What was all what? What are you talking about?" Atalanta asked in a very convincing voice.
But Caly new her too well.
"Who's in here?" she asked her sister suspiciously.
"Nobody." Atalanta said, trying to keep her attention on her computer and making it seem as if she didn't care.
"Then what's that?"
"What's what?" Atalanta asked nervously.
"That giant, hairy foot sticking out from under your bed?"
"Umm..."
But before she could come up with a reasonable answer Caly had grabbed hold of the foot and started to pull. The owner tried to yank his foot back but Caly was stubborn.
"Oh no you don't!" Caly shouted. Then with a mighty yank, Merry came flying out from under the bed.
"OW!" he cried, rubbing his nose. For when Caly had pulled him out she had accidentally rammed his nose into the bed frame.
For a few moments Caly sat there on the floor, staring at the Hobbit, then...
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!"
"Caly, calm down! It's just a Hobbit!" Atalanta tried to calm her sister.
"JUST A HOBBIT! JUST A HOBBIT! WHAT? DO HOBBITS JUST POP UP IN YOUR ROOM REGULARLY?" Caly shouted, clearly upset.
"All right, you guys. You've been caught. Come on out." Atalanta said in a resigned voice.
There came the sounds of a scuffle from behind the closet door as Gandalf tried to figure out how to open the door with such a foreign doorknob. But he finally managed to open the door. By this time all four Hobbits had come out from under the bed.
Caly watched in awe as the taller members of the fellowship poured out of the closet. Gandalf, Gimli, Boromir, Aragorn, and last of all, Legolas. At this, Caly completely lost it.
"Oh my god! It's ORLANDO BLOOM!" She shouted hysterically.
Atalanta had had all that she could take. She jumped up and clamped her hand over her sister's mouth.
"It's not Orlando Bloom. It's the actual Legolas. Now drop it!"
But the instant she removed her hand from Caly's mouth she began screaming again. So Atalanta covered her mouth again.
"WILL YOU SHUT UP! The neighbors might hear! Now listen to me very closely, Caly. You WILL be quiet. I'm gonna take my hand...away from your mouth...and you're gonna be quiet. Got that?"
Caly nodded her head and Atalanta removed her hand once more, and once more Caly started screaming.
"Hot Elf! HOT ELF!"
Then she shut up.
"You done?" Atalanta asked.
"Yeah."
"You sure?"
"Absolutely."
"Ooooookay then, let me explain." Atalanta said in a casual voice, as if this sort of thing happened everyday. Then she proceeded to explain how the fellowship had popped out of her television set.
Caly listened to the whole story open-mouthed. When Atalanta had finished, Caly spoke.
"This is just too cliché. It's like every parody I've ever read has suddenly become reality. Isn't there some way to send them back? Except this one. I like him. The Elf can stay."
"Nope. If the others go back, he goes with them. Besides, I don't think they'll be going back anytime soon. My T.V. is busted and I really don't know exactly what happened. But we do have to get them out of here before mom and dad get back from Hawaii. Who knows what they'll do if they find the fellowship in the house."
"And we can't take them outside either. I don't even want to see how my friends would react if Orlando Bloom and Elijah Wood suddenly popped up in our neighborhood." Caly commented as she cast another hungry glance at the Elven Prince.
"But they aren't actors." Atalanta started to say. "They're-"
"I know that. But the fact that they look like the actors is enough. Believe me." Caly said, glancing at Legolas again.
"Obviously." Atalanta said, looking at her sister with apprehension.
"Pardon me, miladies." Gandalf said, stepping between the two sisters. "I believe that if I could learn more about this world and how far we are from our own, I could find a way to get us back to Middle-Earth."
"And how long do you think that would take?" Atalanta asked him.
"I am not certain. I have never been faced with a situation such as this. It could very well take months to solve this riddle."
"Great, just great! What am I supposed to do with you guys until then?" Atalanta wondered out loud.
"They could just stay here." Caly suggested hopefully.
"Well, it's looking like that's all they can do." Atalanta replied.
"Oh yes! You can sleep in my room, Legolas!" Caly said excitedly.
"Forget it!" Atalanta said, annunciating every syllable.
Just then, she realized something.
"What are we going to tell Aaron? We can't just hide them from him." she said worriedly.
"No need to hide them from me. I can see them well enough." a voice said from the hallway.
Atalanta turned to look at her doorway and saw her twelve-year-old brother standing there.
"How much of that did you hear?" she asked him.
"All of it." he replied.
"And here I was under the unfortunate delusion that Americans had a right to privacy." Atalanta said sarcastically as she dragged her brother into the already over-crowded room and shut the door.
"Well, I hope you don't mind my saying so, but it's a little difficult to not notice these nine freaks standing in your bedroom when your door is wide open." he said as he threw her hands off of his shoulders.
"So what do you think?" Caly asked him.
"I think that since this seems to be the actual fellowship of the ring, that they could help me solve that new video game of mine. You know, The Two Towers role playing game. I vote they stay." Aaron said as he inspected each of the nine walkers.
Atalanta visibly shuddered. Caly just stared open-mouthed at her kid brother.
"Aaron, think about what you just said. The real fellowship has just popped up in my bedroom in a completely random case of fandom cliché and all you can think about is using them as a game guide. They probably don't even know what video games are!" Atalanta burst out.
"If I may ask, my lady, what is fandom cliché? Or video games for that matter?" Boromir asked her.
"Oh man, I need to think." Atalanta exhaled noisily as she flung open her bedroom door so she could get out into the hall and pace properly.
Boromir tried to follow her to see if she had even heard him.
"Excuse me-" he started.
"No, don't talk to me right now."
"But I-" he started to say as he struggled out after her.
"Don't even move!"
"But-"
"You're moving!"
"I was just-"
"uh-uh, uh-uh…just…stand there. Don't even breath!" she said irately as she pushed him back into the room with the others.
"What are we going to do about tonight?" Caly asked as she pushed her way out of the room to pace beside her sister.
"That's what I'm trying to figure out."
"I could baby-sit them." Caly suggested.
"In your dreams!"
"Oh come on. Think about it. What choice do you have? You're friends are expecting you to go. We'll just order a pizza and introduce middle-Earth to some MTV. How bad could it be?"
"Bad!" Atalanta countered.
"You don't really want to stay home do you? Come on. I thought you said Kyle was going to be there tonight."
The mention of Kyle's name was all it took. Atalanta had had a crush on Kyle ever since her Freshman year. Nothing, absolutely nothing, was going to make her miss an outing with Kyle. No matter how small. Just one glance at her sister's face and Caly new that she had her trapped.
"Oh, all right, fine! But if anything, anything at all, happens while I'm at the movie, you two will wish you had never been born." Atalanta glared at her siblings. Then she stalked away towards the stairs.
"Where are you going?" Caly asked her.
"To order the pizza. Where else? Pepperoni, I think. Maybe some sausage." she muttered to herself as she made her way down the staircase.
"What is pizza?" Aragorn asked, clearly baffled.
"And movies and MTV? What are they?" Pippin asked.
"Oh, you poor, deprived children." Caly said as she herded the strange group of fairytale beings out of Atalanta's room. "Especially you, my little hottie Elf." she said to Legolas as she turned to lead them down the stairs.
"I must ask you, young master Aaron, when she calls me "hot Elf" as she so crudely put it, is that good or bad?"
Aaron hesitated for a minute before answering.
"That really depends on your definition of the word. In this dimension, most guys would consider it a good thing. But…in your case, Legolas……I'd be very afraid if I were you."
Legolas gulped nervously as he followed the others down the stairs.
XxX