Pippin walked back to his house in the dark. Him and Merry had gone out late and made some mischief. Luckily for Pippin his father wasn't home yet. He'd be in big trouble if Paladin had been home. His mother and siblings were already asleep and he made his way to his room.
While lying down he heard the front door open and his father walk in. But instead of going to his own room, he walked into Pippin's and dragged him out of bed. 'What's he doing?' Pippin thought frantically.
Aragorn was on watch that night. The fellowship was nearing Moria and all the others were resting from the long days of travel. He heard tossing and turning coming from where the hobbits were sleeping. And he watched them for a bit. He wasn't quite sure on which one it as but one of them was having a nightmare. He stood up and walked over to them and saw it was Pippin. 'That's odd. Possibly the cheeriest person in this bunch and he's having a nightmare.' Aragorn thought as he walked back to the rock he had been sitting on.
Paladin took Pippin into the living and woke up the other members of the family from the noise. He was drunk and it wasn't hard to tell. His eyes were bloodshot and his breath smelt like beer. Fear was written all over Pippin's face for h knew what was coming next. His father back handed him and dropped him to the floor.
His mother and siblings were too afraid of their father to do anything. Except for Pippin's older sister. She walked up and tried to hold paladin back but then he punched her down as well. "Stay out of this! Pippin had been out playing tricks again!"
"Please father, leave her out of this." Pippin pleaded not wanting to endanger his family for his error.
"Leave him out of this father." Aragorn turned as he heard Pippin mutter this. He stood again and walked back over to the hobbits. He watched Pippin's face contort in pain.
"Pippin." Aragorn said quietly in compassion. "What could possibly hurt you this much?"
Pippin's father rounded on Pippin and glared. "What did you say?" He said through clenched teeth.
"I said leave them out of this. I'm the one who played the prank." Pippin said standing up.
Paladin laughed and walked away into the kitchen. The family looked at each other with tears in their eyes. Pippin's mother walked up to him and hugged him. Then they turn when they heard a glass breaking in the kitchen. Their father walked back in with a broken bottle pointed at them.
"NO!" Pippin yelled in his sleep causing Merry, Legolas, Boromir and Gimli to wake up. They looked over at Aragorn expecting him to tell them what it was. He just pointed over to Pippin.
"He's been having a nightmare. Wake Gandalf."
"That won't be necessary I am awake." Gandalf said walking up into the circle.
"What has he been saying?" Boromir asked looking at the hobbit.
"He's been talking about his father. Telling him to stop doing something."
Merry gasped and looked at Gandalf. "Not now." He whispered to himself.
Being the youngest Pippin was shoved into the back of the group. His oldest sister told him to go hide so pippin ran along the tunnels of their house and hid inside a storage room. He heard the screams of his family as his father struck them down. He started to cry and rocked himself back and forth.
'He's on a drunk rage. He's been on one before but never this bad.' Pippin thought to himself looking around for a source of protecting. He heard his mother scream and a thump on the floor. Then knew his father would come for him next.
Legolas noticed Merry's distant face and shook him. "What is it Merry? Do you know what's going on?"
Merry looked around the circle then at Gandalf. "I do, but, I can't tell you that's Pippin's duty if he wants you to know. I wasn't supposed to know anyway. It was only by accident."
Frodo and Sam joined them. "We're going to have to wake him up. None of us will be able to sleep." Frodo said looking around his back at Pippin.
Pippin screamed again and every one flinched, not because of the sound, but because of the fact that it as their friend that was having such a horrible dream.
After there was silence for a minute Pippin was sure his father had killed his sisters and mother. 'Which means I'll be next.' Pippin thought grabbing a loaf of bread off the shelf. 'Not much against a broken cup, but oh well.'
He heard his father outside the hallway looking around. "Come on Pippin. I'm not going to hurt you." Paladin lied looking underneath a table.
Pippin rolled his eyes and scoffed. 'Yeah right father.'
Then his father threw open the door Pippin was hiding behind and smirked. "Found you." He raised his hand and brought it down.
Pippin sat up screaming and raising his hands to protect himself. The group ran around him and circled him. Merry put his hand on Pippin's shoulder and calmed him down. "Pippin, it was just a nightmare. You're father's dead remember."
Pippin looked over at him coming back into reality. "Merry…" He said slowly then looked around the entire group. "Did I wake all of you?" He asked looking down embarrassed when they nodded.
"But don't worry Pippin we just want to know what happened." Legolas said.
Pippin looked over at Merry and Gandalf who shrugged. "It's up to you Pippin." Gandalf said.
Pippin sighed. "I guess you all have right. Frodo, Sam, this might explain a little to you as well." He took a breath and began. "It started when I was seven. My father would go out, get drunk, come home, and beat us. My mother, three sisters and me. It continued for I don't know how long. I didn't dare tell any body because I was afraid he would hurt them or me even more.
"Well one day I had been home late because Merry and I were playing a prank. As usual. Well I don't know how he found out about it but he did and came home. He had been drinking a lot that night because after her dragged me out of bed and woke up the family he went into the kitchen." Pippin chocked on his words and tears formed at the rim of his eyes.
He shook his head and couldn't continue just thinking about what happened. So Merry kept going for him. "His father came back with a broken piece of glass. Pip's family told him to go hide so he fled and the rest of them were-"
"He killed them all." Pippin said spitefully. "My father stabbed them all when went looking for me." Pippin shook his head sadly. "He found me in the storage room I had hidden in and brought down the glass to me. It was about to hit me but he just dropped to the floor." Pippin looked over to Gandalf and Merry.
"I had been walking by pippin's house on my way home and I heard screaming. Luckily Gandalf had been visiting us and so I ran to go get him." Merry said. "We came back as fast as we could but only in time to save Pippin. The knock in the head Paladin got killed him. He died of loss of blood. No one missed him though."
"And I lived with Merry ever since." Pippin finished waiting for the other to comment. Then Sam said.
"You're right Pippin, that does explain a lot."
The rest of the fellowship was silent. No one knew what to say after Pippin told his life story to them. "That's why I'm still childish now," Pippin explained laughing a bit. "Because my childhood was taken from me.'
"Pippin…" Aragorn said quietly. "I, I didn't know." He tried to consol the young hobbit but couldn't think of anything else to say. The group was silent as Pippin's childishness became clear. Thinking about the horrible thing this boy had to experience in his past.
"What happened afterwards?" Legolas asked. "After you moved in with Merry?"
Pippin laughed and looked at Merry. "We became legends in the Shire."
"Yeah, famous for causing problems. And creating mischief." Sam said trying to lighten the mood.
The conversation moved onto all the fiascos Merry and Pippin had caused up until now. Pippin started to forget the nightmare he and smiled around at the group. 'They really care.' He could tell by their faces that they were remorseful for what had happened but also didn't want Pippin to have to relive it.
Merry glanced over at Pippin quickly to make sure he was ok. He knew it was hard for Pippin to remember his father and his families massacre. But when he saw him smiling h was relieved and looked around the group again. "It is near time for bed." He said and everyone nodded.
Heading back to bed the group prepared for the next day ahead. They would reach Mordor and continue their quest…mission…thing.