Author's note: own nada! Nice to hear from you FrodoFreak! Here we go…
It hurt, oh how it hurt. As if every muscle was being pulled flush, and even the blood was forced to thin in accommodation. Every square of skin too hot, stretched, his eyes watering from the heat. But stop they did, instantly.
Khamul gazed at him mutely, in shock.
Indur grew still, confusion on his countenance.
Both of them blazed before him, was this how Sauron had seen them? Like a flickering star muted by fog and ice? Like blue candles, flickering, fighting for life in the dark. The fellowship in the tree was vastly different, not muted as the world had appeared under the ring, but … different. Something ran through them, like a line of white fire, it wrapped about their arms, chests, and throats… Life. Something whispered to him, You see their life. The thread of their years, so easily cut short. Compare the Elvin thread to the man, the Dwarf to the hobbit. See that the Nine have it not, and that the wizard's trails like a cloak behind him.
"Mr. Frodo! Are you all right Mr. Frodo? It's Sam! Can't you hear me? It's your Sam!"
"Frodo Baggins, are you all right?"
"Can he hear you Gandalf? Look at his eyes…"
"He hears us Faramir, speak to him, we must draw him back to us. Speak to us Frodo, do you feel well?"
"Mr. Frodo! Oh I knew it was trouble! Won't you talk? Can't you talk?"
"Oh Frodo! It's Bilbo! The ring never did that for me, how is it? I will admit it would hardly have been a convenience at the time, lit up like old Smaug's breath, but how is it my boy? It looks positively thrilling!"
They are asking for you… we can make them go away, all of them, even your Nine if they displease you… do you want that? (…no. no I don't want that. We came here to help the Nazgul, all of us.) Then we will speak to them, we will do as you wish. Do we require more assistance? I can send for it… (Who? Who in this foul place is there left to call save the dark god himself? There is no one…) There is one; he is never beyond your grasp, though now he wanders past the halls of Mandos… (No! I know what you're thinking! No! It's necromancy!) Is it? Was he… double dead, here? He has been faded a long time young lord… we remember, that betrayer… we remember what he did to us... (…What he did..? what did he do?) We will show you… we will show you…traum- ! traum- ! traum- !
Flashback to Story Twisted Fate:
Those who see through this glass, have no soul…
Those who see but their thoughts, have no minds…
Those who see here their memories, they have no hearts…
Those who see them have all three entwined.
"To protect and defend, to honor, and cherish. For you were married to your people by your blood, and your oaths…"
Strange darkness,yourworld, another time…
"…you are wrong, your lord will rule the lands, but you? You do not even rule yourself."
Intervention divine and memories woken…
"…It does not have to be. I know you heed me not, but listen! For our time, both yours and mine, grows short. Will you help them? Fallen one! Will you lift up your sword for the land once more, as you did when you were new! Sauron will destroy all if he is not hindered, even his own… he cares not for you, and you know it, don't you..."
Broken oaths… broken bonds…
"Time is not easily moved, and history reluctantly changed. I can open the door, but you must find your way back from there. It will fight you, do not fool yourself. And should you get through…" Gandalf paused, "…Should you get through, you must return to the battle of Pelennor, to the field, before you were struck by the maiden of Rohan. And there, king of old …there is where you die."
Traitor! Traitor!
Back to here and now:
...Not possible… was it? They had lost the war? Eowyn had not slain Murazor? Minas Tirith had fallen… (No! I would remember! We would all remember!) Why? Why would you remember an existence that was undone? You do not remember because it was warped so that for you it never occurred. (But after the war! The possession of Strider and the race to Mordor! None of that would have happened with the Murazor you have just shown me! He betrayed Sauron!) Yes, he did, and he knew he had changed history when she slew him. But time corrects itself. It whipped his memory clean. He forgot, regressed, drew back to what he was meant to have been. It was the price he had to pay. (… … …) There are those that do remember. We remember, of course… we were their, and so does the white wizard…somewhat. But as Murazor was, his mind was swept as clean as could be done.
Shall we call him? He will heed us, he must heed us… he must… we want him back… (…Yes, call him… I have to tell him, it's not fair. I have to tell him that he died… a hero.) We will call him, we will tell him, he will be pleased, he will praise us, he will join us, and he will be ours! (I have to tell him… to die like that, to come back after so long… did he know at the end? When Sauron crushed him? Did he weep? I have to know… I have to speak with him…) We call you Witch King! We call you our oath bound! We summon you traitor and betrayer! Come to the one who rules you! You are not allowed to die!
"Ash nazg durbatulúk, ash nazg gimbatul, ash nazg thrakatulûk agh burzum-ishi krimpatul.!
-izgu bugud-z brus- -thu! We have called beyond!
–izgu dâl fiith- lat!We hold you still!
baduzg- lab thak agh ghashkrut- izishu!" Reveal your face and and answer us!
Gandalf grew pale.
Aragorn closed his eyes and trembled.
Faramir and Gimli moved to shelter the Hobbits.
Merry and Pippin looked on uncomprehending, frightened and confused.
Sam tried to climb down from the tree, but Bilbo stopped him.
Legolas clasped his hand over his ears and shuddered.
...And one by one, the Nazgul began to scream…