Drifting back to you
By Complicated-KT
Middle Earth
Legolas Greenleaf climbed up to the top of the rocky hill, looking for the source of his bafflement. But, even using his heightened Elven senses, he could not find anything. His friends and traveling companions watched him from the bottom of the hill. "Legolas, what is it?" Aragorn shouted from his post.
"Yes, what do you see Elf?" Gimli the Dwarf asked, sitting down on a comfortable looking rock to catch his breath from all of this hard trekking.
Legolas made a gesture with his hand to call for silence. "No, I don't see anything, but.." he trailed off, looking out at the vast grasslands that lay before the trio. "But something is coming, something big." the male Elf said in a half whisper, looking at the sun set over the horizon. 'Whatever it is, for the sake of all Middle Earth, I pray it's on the side of goodness.' Legolas thought to himself grimly.
Present day Earth, Vancouver WA, USA
"I'm going for a walk mom!" Amaris a.k.a. Ami Johnson called to her mom from the door. The 17 year old girl grabbed her coat and opened the door, "I'll be back in a few minutes!" she yelled over her shoulder.
For some strange reason, Ami felt compelled to take a walk around her neighborhood tonight. Her short golden brown hair swirled in her's face in the cool autumn wind, making it difficult to see, but Ami was unfazed by this and kept on walking. The young woman stopped in mid step and just stood there, breathing in the silence that was almost there, save the rustling of dry leaves in the wind and Ami's breathing.
A shiver of cold went through Ami's slender form as she stood on the side walk, she pulled her varsity jacket closer around her torso to keep out the unwanted chill. Then there was a loud clanging sound that tore the beautiful silence and brought Ami out of her mental holiday. The tall young woman's sharp hazel eyes shot open in alert.
"What was that?" Ami asked herself as she turned in all directions to find the origin of the noise, but there was nothing. No tumbling aluminum cans from a garbage truck, no one working on their car, no- anything. "Hmpf. Must've been Baby knocking over something.." Ami mumbled half-heartedly, not really believing herself. But the small black cat was no where to be seen.
That was just it, there was no-one around, not a single soul was outside No one driving down the street, no one taking out the garbage, no one raking leaves that had multiplied in their yard. The only one even outside was Ami herself, but being the naive young woman that she was, Ami took no notice of the absence of her neighbors.
Ami kept on walking, but as she did so, the wind got exceedingly more fierce, and every few gusts would nearly knock Ami off her feet, but she continued on. In the bouts of wind that moaned past, Ami could hear the most terrifying thing imaginable at the moment: Screaming. Hundreds of people screaming all at once, so loud that it brought Ami to her knees, holding her head in pain.
The 17 year old stayed there for what seemed to be an eternity, doubled over in pain and at the mercy of the howling and biting winds that surrounded her. In her subconscious, Ami knew that if she didn't get up and start moving soon, she wouldn't last very long. But the pain from the screaming, the cold bite, and pressure from the wind made this impossible. Ami was about to giving in and lose all hope, as she was about an inch from death itself. Death sounded so nice right at this moment, like a long rest that was well over due. All of Ami's strength was going, going-gone.
Then, suddenly a warm feeling crept quickly throughout Ami's body, returning her strength and health tenfold.
As if the wind could sense this, it howled like a suburban hurricane in it's full destruction, throwing trash cans and recycling bins like grenades at Ami. Miraculously, none of them came anywhere near the recovering young woman; they simply bounced away from her, like there was a large shield surrounding her.
"No." the tall brunette whispered hoarsely, as she got one knee. "You will not beat me that easily." Ami snarled as she stood up completely. The wind screamed in silent fury as Ami came forward, each step feeling like a mile to her weak legs. One powerful gust of wind made Ami take a step back. "Do you hear me?" Ami roared to the abnormal wind, "Do you hear me? You. Will. Not. Beat. Me." she screamed as she made her way faster up the street.
Up ahead, in the street's dead end, there was a giant ball of light. It pulsed darker and lighter, like a beating heart. Ami had to shield her eyes as soon as she got within an arms length of it. "What are you?" she whispered to the ball. "Why are you doing this to me?" she asked louder. "What the hell is going on here?" Ami screamed to no one, but she knew someone had heard her.
"Come and see, young one." the ball of light and the air seem to say, though Ami thought it was her imagination, the voice, to her, sounded evil. Then in a flash, Ami was gone. She was traveling through time and space, to Middle Earth, the third age and right in the middle of a war. The war of the Ring and of the Free People of Middle Earth.
Middle Earth, The plains of Rohan
It was a warm and clear night in Rohan that night, and the three travelers, The Elven Prince of MirkWood, Legolas Greenleaf, The Heir of Isildur, Aragorn, and the son of the Dawrf King Gloin, Gimli were laying down watching the stars.
"This is a night to remember," Aragorn stated as he lay his head on his hands, "Never has the heavens seemed so bright and clear!" he sighed, waving his large hand to the sky above him. The stars were brighter than could be remembered this night.
"Yes, indeed.." Legolas muttered suspiciously, he was the only one who knew the heaven's secrets. A clear night such as this was a sign of something coming, something powerful and going at a alarming rate. His eyes too scanned the skies, but not just for the simple beauty of it all, but for any sign of the powerful entity that was speeding towards them.
Then Legolas spotted it, the stars to the south-west of them were spinning, like a whirling vortex. They were growing brighter and brighter, then the essence of the sky itself seemed to shift and bulge.
"What in the name of Durin..?" the Dwarf Gimli cried out, sitting up like he had sat on a iron nail. "It-It's coming right for us!" Legolas cried bolting to his feet gracefully, dragging Aragorn up with him. And whatever the vortex was releasing was speeding towards the trio like a flaming comet.
The travelers dove out of the way just in time, just as the ball of light or whatever the matter was crashed to earth. It skidded to a complete stop after creating a 50 feet long and 3 feet deep gash in the earth. The threesome shook themselves of the dust and dirt that had settled on them, unsheathed or strung their weapons and made their way to the ball of light.
"Be careful, whatever it is, it may be armed." Aragorn hissed to his friends as they inched closer to the deep crater. He motioned for Legolas to go one way and for Gimli and himself the other silently. None of them made a single noise as they crept closer.
Legolas was the first to see over the edge of the crater, inside there was Ami. Yes, Ami, just sitting there looking baffled and a bit shaken. Her jeans, sneakers, navy blue turtle neck and purple and green varsity jacket were unharmed, but very, very dirty. Her shoulder length golden brown hair was tussled, but wether from the wind or from the fact that she had been going faster than light or sound itself was unknown. Ami herself was fine, but she sat on the ground not moving or taking notice that a very confused Elf was staring at her, as if she was in a trance of some kind.
Even from where he stood, Legolas could hear very clearly what the girl was muttering incoherently. It was along the lines of: "Oh my god-oh my god-oh my god-oh my god.." And so on and so forth. By the time Aragorn and Gimli got to the edge it was more of "Oh my god-oh my god- OH MY FREAKING GOD!" Ami shouted, breathing heavily.
Aragorn raised his eyebrow at Legolas, as if to say "What the hell?" Legolas just shrugged and put an arrow in the notch of his bow. As if she head this, Ami turned suddenly in his direction-and paled severely. A small "Meep." was heard coming from the young woman's mouth and Legolas's mouth twitched in a half second smile, but he held his poise.
Ami slowly held her hands up in a surrendering motion and even more slowly got to her feet. As she did all this, a million thoughts were running through her mind. 'Oh my god, he's gonna shoot me. Where am I? Why am I here? Who the hell sent me here to this godforsaken place?' But the strongest of all of these was: 'I'M GOING TO DIE!' She was clearly frightened by the sight of Legolas and his amply positioned bow.
Legolas's eyes and bow followed Ami's every move, trying to decide if she was going to really surrender or if she was only fooling them so she could grab her secretly hidden weapon. "Who are you?" He finally asked, lowering his bow wearily, but just enough so that if he did need it, it would be in his reach.
But just as Ami was going to answer, Aragorn came out from hiding, with Gimli at his side. Since he hadn't seen how helpless Ami was, Aragorn still held his sword, Anduril, in his hands. Much the same was with Gimli and his giant axe.
By this time, Ami was beyond scared, oh no, she was petrified with terror. Her mouth opened and closed several times, but no noise came from it. It took her a moment to regain her nerve and voice, finally she croaked "Ami. My name is Ami Johnson. Are you going to kill me?" she whispered, eye the shining sword in Aragorn's hands fearfully. It was only a few minutes later she found out how idiotic she had sounded.
"No. We are not going to kill you." Aragorn said, his blue eyes dancing in amusement. With this, he pushed Gimli's axe down with his other hand as he lowered his own weapon.
After a huge sigh of relief, Ami's attitude changed in a flash. "So.. Do I have the honor of knowing you three's names?" she asked, putting her hands on her hips. The threesome stared at the girl's bluntness and change in attitude. Before any one of them could answer, Ami was standing in front of them, dusting off her clothes. "Okay, if you don't want to tell me, that's fine, but I have to be going now, so, um, bye." Ami said with a wave, but Aragorn grabbed her by the shoulder.
In an instant Ami's mind and body went into red alert. She whipped around and twisted back Aragorn's arm 'till she had him kneeling before her. Ami leaned in close to the bearded man's face and hissed "If you ever try that stunt again, buddy, I wont be so merciful." Ami hissed, her eyes burning with hatred as she released his arm with a fling.
Ami stood back up and glared at the other two fiercely, "Look, I don't want any trouble. All I want to do is find my way home." she said coldly as Gimli helped Aragorn to his feet. "I'm sorry 'bout your arm, but you shouldn't have tried to grab me." Ami said her eyes softening, but then she turned sharply to Legolas, who was about to make a grab for one of his daggers that lay in their sheaths on his belt. "Don't even think about it, Blondie. I've been trained to fight off creeps like you since I was ten and your flimsy knife thing won't help you." she was bluffing of course, but no one there knew that.
"You can't take all of us, lassie." Gimli growled, who was usually against fight women, but this whelp was an exception. He fingered his tomahawk that lay in his pocket. No one hurt his friends while he still had strength. No one, male or female.
Ami sensed his hostility and moved in stance, "Yeah, you're right, I can't take on all of you, but I sure as hell can try." She backed up ten paces and beckoned the two males to her. "Bring it." She hissed. Both of them made towards the young woman, but Aragorn stopped them both.
"No, she was only defending herself against me. Leave her be. We need no more blood on our hands." Aragorn said gravely, nodding to Ami, who just glared at them suspiciously. "See? We will not harm you, milady. You have no need to stay in your attack stance." Aragorn said showing her his weaponless hands.
Ami walked over to Aragorn and held out her hand for him to shake. Aragorn shook it gravely, "You have quite a grip, my fair lady." He said grinning, lightening the mood.
Ami returned his grip and his dashing grin with a wolf like one of her own. "I can say much the same, my fine sir." she said teasingly. But the sarcasms was lost on Aragorn. "So.. What are you're names?" she asked looking at the bamboozled twosome of Gimli and Legolas, who just stood there dumbly. "Like I said before my name's Amaris, but every one calls me Ami." Ami said cheerfully.
"Amaris.." Aragorn said, as if pondering the young girl's name, "My name is Aragorn, but you may call me Strider, is a pleasure to meet a fine young woman such as yourself," then he turned to his companions, still.. Just standing there. "My two companions are Legolas Greenleaf of Mirkwood forest and Gimli, son of Gloin." He said, rasing his eyebrow at their baffled expressions.
"Right... Nice to meet you two." Ami said, giving them a nervous half-smile. In the depths of her mind, Ami thought nervously,'They certainly look friendly enough. But that blonde dude still kinda gives me the wiggins..' Ami thought, rubbing the back of her neck anxiously.. 'He could've killed me with that bow of his, no questioned asked... I can tell neither him nor the short fella trusts me.. Well.. I can say at least the feeling's mutual...' The brunette thought with a deep sigh.
At the same instant Legolas and Gimli were thinking the exact same thing:
'We're. Trusting. Her?'
As this thought echoed angrily in their minds, Ami and Strider stared at the two of them. Ami went up to Legolas, and on her tip toes, waved her hand in front of his keen Elf eyes.
"Hello? Is anyone there, Master Greenleaf?" Ami called, as if he was far away, still waving her hand in his face. "Umm, Strider? Are you sure you're friends are okay...? They seem.. Kinda' to be in shock.. That or they're really upset..." Ami said, backing away slowly at her own statement.
Legolas blinked slowly, rolling his eyes in a look of pure annoyance at Ami who stared at him questioningly. Legolas turned his attention fully to her, his Elvish eyes seeing the emotions that were shown in the girl's bright hazel eyes. Mostly confusion and puzzlement remained in their depths.. But there was something else there. Hurt. Had he hurt her feelings when he rolled his eyes? Legolas returned Ami's puzzled look with an almost a mirror like accuracy.
Then the hurt was gone in an instant, anger replaced it and all that had been so clear in the green-blue essence of Ami's eyes. Legolas returned to scowling at the young woman, thinking bitterly 'Trouble. That's all this woman shall be on this journey, trouble, and more than she's worth...'
Growing tired of being stared at by the Elf clad in green, Ami frowned and snapped "What? What did I do? What did I do to be such a terrible hindrance towards you and you're friends, hmm Mister-I'm-too-good-for-words?" Ami snarled waving her arms around herself. "'Cause if I'm too much trouble for you, I could just leave, you know. I'm not bound to you in any way, shape or form." she said choosing her words carefully so as not to confuse the Human, Dwarf, and Elf around her.
"True, I could just leave you to your business and never return. Never darken your camp fire again, never ruin your peaceful evening again." Ami said on a roll now, not stopping for anybody. How dare this guy! She hadn't done anything to him, and yet he treated like a immature child tagging along with them. "Look, if this is about your friend's arm, I'm sorry, but I don't take well to being grabbed.." Ami said looking at Strider, who, along with Gimli, just stared at Ami. She waited for Legolas to answer or to try to defend himself from her verbal attack, but even still, the blonde haired Elf said nothing.
"Are you just going to stand there and say nothing? Can you even hear me?" Ami shouted, getting really worked up. She walked right over to him and looked him right in the eye. "Just let me ask you this.. And I want you to answer me this time.. What is your problem with me?" She asked calmly, her rage still burning in her eyes.
"My problem with you is that you do not belong here." Legolas muttered, leaning down as if Ami was a small child. "One: you are woman. Two: you can fight. Three: It is obvious that you are not of this world." He said venomously.
Ami raised an eyebrow. "Is that it?" She asked incredulously. "You're bugging out because I'm a woman, I can fight, and that I'm not from this world... Right. Man, here I was thinking that there was actually intelligent life in other worlds... Guess males here are just as bad at home..." She said looking up at the sky, then she patted Legolas's arm as if he was an old friend. "Aw well, I guess I should leave you proud strong males to your direly important business, quest type thing. After all, I'm just a poor, pathetic, good-for-nothing woman, aren't I?" Ami said in a sugary sweet voice that was dripping with sarcasm. Then she turned to Legolas once again, leaned in real close and hissed "Like you said, I'll be so much more trouble than I'm worth, aye Master Greenleaf?"
Legolas's eyes widened in shock "You read my thoughts.." He whispered, taking a step back.
"Neigh Master Greenleaf, I did not read thine Elvish thoughts, but I sensed your true feelings towards me. I found out plain and clear that you don't like me or my being here." Ami said in a false English accent as she circled around Legolas, who watched suspiciously, following the girl's every move. "Obviously you've never heard of Empathy in this world..." Ami said with a sigh. Legolas's blue eyes widened even more as he watch the girl with keen interest now. Ami smiled wryly, taking notice of the Elf's sudden interest in her. "Ah, so you have heard of Empathy.. Well, I have it and I can read your every emotion without fail. Does that ebb some of your suspicion of me?" She asked dryly.
"Some." Legolas agreed, but then he questioned further, "But that still remains why you are not of this very world.. Where did you come from and who sent you?" He asked sharply.
"I am from the Planet Earth, and I do not know who 'Sent' me herebut if I did know I'd slice the guy to ribbons, that I'm certain." Ami said angrily, clenching her fists. "I was walking around my home, when all of the sudden this wind came out from no where and I was gonna get blown away, but I kept on walking until I came to this big ball of flashing light, then it- the bloody thing spoke to me! I think whoever created the ball of light sent me here... Now... Here I am."
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