a/n: I grovel at your feet and pray you don't flay me for the long wait. S I am hover writing a lot as of late. And the upcoming turkey day break is just the right time for me to get some of this done. But because of my, what…two month delay you'll get a faster update this time.

Tried for something teary…I hope it worked.

---

The night felt hollow with most of their friends gone. Even though hundreds of men lay around them, Piccolo, the twins and both Hobbits felt oddly deserted. Gandalf walked past them, giving them a sympathetic and knowing smile as he went. Merry and Pippin followed him with their eyes, Merry looking away first. Pippin stared after him long after the Wizard lay down to sleep.

"Pip?" Merry elbowed his cousin, watching him with concerned eyes.

Pippin jumped, startled. "Huh? Oh, Merry." The younger Hobbit smiled shakily. "I'm tired, I think I'll just get some sleep then."

Merry nodded, eyes still wide with worry. When Pippin lay down and rolled away Merry let it go and lay down too. His eyes drooped quickly, he hadn't realized just how tired he really was.

---

Some time between days end and a new days beginning, Pippin sat up and ran a hand over his sleep wrinkled face. Some thing, some phantom, had woken him from his sleep, he knew it had. The back of his neck prickled and a chill ran down his spine at the thought.

Beside him, Merry lay sleeping, breathing deeply of the cool night air. For a long moment, Pippin thought of waking him; just grabbing his cousin by the shoulders and shaking him until he sat up and stayed awake long enough to watch over Pippin as he fell back asleep. What am I, a helpless child? Pippin scolded himself. Honestly, afraid of the dark.

Unfortunately, there are always things to fear in the darkness.

The young Hobbit turned his head until his eyes rested on Gandalf's back. The wizard was sleeping, but just under his arm firelight danced on the surface of a smooth stone. Pippin's eyes widened, though he did not know it, and without willing his body to move he found himself tiptoeing around the sprawled and sleeping bodies of friend and stranger alike. A body would shift in sleep and he would freeze, his heart pounding in his chest so strongly he was sure it would wake the whole camp.

Finally, after a minute that felt an eternity, Pippin stood over the sleeping wizard with palms that itched with sweat. The crystal orb shimmered and winked at him as it peeked around the sleeve of Gandalf's robes. Pippin bent to retrieve it and paused half-way, hand hovering in the air. Vegeta's stern voice came back to him, 'Careful boy, that could blow you into bite-sized Hobbit pieces.'

Eyes wide, Pippin leaned back until he fell soundly onto his bottom. He rubbed at the palm that nearly touched the orb's surface as though he had been burned. But Gandalf said he was only joking... Pippin made to rise, but his eyes stuck to the orb like honey and before his mind could cry out a warning, the orb was in his hands and he was running back to his bed roll.

He curled protectively around it when he lay, trying to quell his panting and feign sleep. After regaining his breath he looked down at the stone and felt guilty. He should not have stolen what was Gandalf's, especially after he had been warned.

"Oy, Pip, look what you get yourself into." He mumbled to himself. He made up his mind then, he was going to return the stone before Gandalf woke and he wouldn't think of it again. But as he set his palms to the cool glass, deep inside a fire sparked and he felt himself tumble forward through the shiny surface and was engulfed in smoke and screams.

---

Deep in his meditative sleep, Piccolo felt the darkness around him swell and release like a tide. He saw no visions, only a calm peace that made him uneasy. Never before had he had a dreamless meditation, there was always a picture there, a memory, an illusion, a possible future.

Dancing outside of his range of vision, he could feel the blur of a coming picture. A wash of foreboding crept upon him and with immense speed the picture came at him. A large fiery eye lit atop a mountain and there beneath its hot and tepid gaze lay Pippin curled upon himself and screaming.

Piccolo leapt to his feet, meditation broken, and stumbled for a moment when the scream still split the air. Confusion clouded his mind and until Gandalf ran past him he thought he had only stepped into his trance.

Lying on the ground some feet away, Pippin knelt with fists pressed to his eyes, a shrill, nearly hysterical scream ripping from his lungs. Gandalf knelt by him, anger evident in his face as he covered the orb with his cloak and shook Pippin until the boy stopped his crying.

"What have you done?" Gandalf growled, wanting to shake the Hobbit again.

"I'm s-sorry. Please..." Pippin sobbed, palms still welded to his eyes.

Gandalf sighed, "Calm yourself, little one. Tell me what you've told Sauron."

"Sauron?" Merry breathed, eyes wide as he looked down at his cousin.

Piccolo stepped forward, resting a large hand on Merry's curly head and moving him away to give Gandalf time with Pippin.

"Come on, kid." Piccolo motioned to a fire a ways off and drew the reluctant Merry with him.

"But, Pippin..." Merry looked over his shoulder.

"Pippin has his own trouble right now." Piccolo glanced from the shivering Hobbit curled into the earth and then back to the wide worried eyes of Merry. "And we'll have our own to deal with soon enough."

Merry nodded absently, not truly hearing Piccolo or his words of eerie foresight. He followed obediently and sat heavily, never once turning his head from his sobbing cousin. Only when Gandalf paled and a shadow passed across the moon did he bother to look elsewhere in fear, but when his eyes searched for Pippin again, the young Hobbit was not on his roll but running as fast as his short legs could carry him as he trailed after Gandalf.

"Pippin!" Merry stood, a great icy claw had gripped his heart and he suddenly found a thick lump in his throat that would not go away no matter how many times he swallowed. Merry took a great lunge to go after him, but a large jade hand covered the whole of his chest and held him steadfast where he stood.

"Let me go! Pippin!" Merry cried, eyes welling with tears.

"Meriodoc, stay." One of Elrond's sons dropped to his knees before the Hobbit. Merry could not tell which it was through the haze of his eyes but he did see the sorrow and determination etched along the elf's features.

Anger flared in Merry, he knew, knew, that Pippin was in trouble! He was supposed to watch after him! Pippin was the youngest, he was Merry's responsibility, he couldn't just let the Hobbit go off on his own now. He couldn't turn his back on Pippin, not when he needed him the most.

"No! Let go!" Merry fumed as angry, hot tears streamed his cheeks.

A low growl and twitching of the thick alien fingers still holding him back made him almost regret what he had said. But now he could see Gandalf talking quickly to Theoden, and Pippin was trembling at the wizard's side. Merry struggled again futilely.

"Merry." Piccolo spoke quietly, his voice rumbling just behind the angry Hobbit. "He has to go alone."

Merry hiccoughed and let out a painful sob. He nodded his head harshly and scrubbed at his eyes with the backs of his hands. Suddenly, the support that held him was gone and Merry stumbled forward a step. He turned his head and saw Piccolo watching him with cool ebony eyes. "Go on." Piccolo's voice was low with a warning in his tone.

Torn between hugging the alien and running toward Pippin, Merry chose the only choice worth his energy and ran.

"Pippin!" Merry's legs ached, his lungs burned, his eyes were blurry. "Pippin!"

They hadn't left yet, he could see Shadowfax with a Hobbit-sized bundle nestled at the front of the seated wizard. They still weren't moving, Gandalf was telling last minute instructions to Eomer so he still had time. If only his legs would hold on.

"Merry!" Pippin's large blue eyes were panicked but a flood of relief hit him hard enough to make him feel like crying.

"Pippin!" Merry slowed, stopping beside the horse and gripped Pippin's calf. "What have you done?"

The relief on Pippin's face melted and the tears he felt in his stomach pooled in his eyes. "What?"

"What have you done?" Merry's voice cracked and another hot tear fell down his face. "You have to go. Go far away, Pippin. Don't you understand?"

The smaller Hobbit withdrew into himself, shaking his head. "But...but aren't you coming, Merry? You can't leave me!" Pippin reached down for him but Merry backed away.

"I can't!" Merry bellowed. "You have to go. Alone." More subdued, resigned to his cousin's fate and hating every excruciating second of it.

"Merry?" Pippin's heart wrenched. He'd never been rejected by Merry, never. And now, scared beyond death itself, he needed him the most.

Gandalf moved and curled an arm around Pippin's waist. "Go Shadowfax, with winged feet. We need to fly."

Pippin struggled, he couldn't do this. This was all a dream. No, a nightmare. He turned, stretching his arms as far as they could to reach out for Merry, wanting only to be pulled down and protected by him like after every other nightmare. But Merry didn't reach back for him, not this time. Instead a look of hurt and betrayal and eerie calm played on his face and Pippin felt his heart seize.

"Merry?"

Shadowfax began to move.

"Merry?!"

And fast they flew while Pippin felt the tears spill onto his face.

"Merry!"

And before the horse turned so he could no longer see, Pippin watched with sobs racking his body as Merry tore off after him, the anger on his face gone and only worry and love there where it had always been.

Behind him, he felt Gandalf sigh and knew the wizard was upset with him, with his emotions. But at that moment in his grief Pippin didn't care.

Merry ran, his legs wobbly from their earlier sprint and lungs already burning with fatigue. He fell to his knees and cradled his head in his hands. "Oy, Pip." He sobbed.

He climbed to unsteady feet and hobbled his way as quickly as he could back to the fire. He stumbled over a stone and fell to his hands and knees at Piccolo's feet. The alien was startled and picked him up to set him on his feet, but Merry latched onto his forearms with his small hands.

"Please, Mr. Piccolo. You have to go with him." Merry blinked large, teary eyes at him.

Piccolo frowned. "Look, Merry--"

"Please!" Merry was desperate. "Someone has to look after him, he's libel to get into trouble. And I don't know what I'd do if...if..."

Piccolo sighed heavily; eyes twitching from Merry's tear stained face then toward the darkening outline of Shadowfax in the distance.

A voice so quiet and saddened it struck him to the bone spoke softly. "Please..."

Gazing down at the Hobbit, Piccolo fell forward into the boy's eyes and was suddenly looking at the weeping face of Gohan as the boy asked to stay with him, only one night. It had been a week after Goku had decided not to return to earth and Gohan had snuck out after dark. Piccolo had told him no immediately. But then those dark eyes, so stricken...

"Alright." Piccolo closed his eyes for several seconds and sighed softly through his nose. He opened them again as Merry released his arms and hugged him at the waist as tight as his Hobbit arms could squeeze.

Piccolo looked over the boy to the two elves that smiled softly at them. "Will you watch him?"

Both nodded. Elladan stepped foreward and pried the curly headed hobbit from him. "Of course."

Walking quickly toward the nearly impossible outline of Shadowfax, the image seen only by the sharp eyes of Piccolo and the elves, he paused. "Be careful." He leveled an eye at them and grinned slightly, a tilting at one corner of his lips. "Trunks will be upset if you get hurt while I'm gone."

They laughed lightly together, a sound of clean water on smooth pebbles. For a moment, Piccolo felt his stomach turn with a sudden flash of Legolas' face in his mind, but as quick as it came it was gone. He nodded at them and turned, running off into the night as fast as he dared.

Merry watched him go with calm face and body until the alien was swallowed by the darkness. For the second time he felt his legs go weak and he fell to the earth and wept.

He sat hunched in on himself a time before strong arms picked him up and moved him closer to the fire where he sat tucked in the crook of someone's lap. When he quieted enough to look up, Elladan smiled sadly down at him. Merry blushed, even in his sorrow.

Merry stood from the elf's lap and shuffled a few feet away, rubbing feeling back into his numb face. When he finally felt settled enough emotionally to face the others he turned and sat gingerly beside the fire. He drew his knees to his chest and ignored the bustle of the men around them. Apparently Pippin and Gandalf weren't the only ones in the need of haste.

--

Goku walked quietly beside Vegeta. The whole group were drawing closer to a deep cave entrance where no light seemed to penetrate. As Goku stared into it, trying to see something in the depths, a cold shiver ran down his spine.

Vegeta looked up at him oddly. "What is it, Kakkarot?"

Not taking his eyes from the nearing entrance, Goku shook his head. "I'm not sure. But something evil is in there, Vegeta. Something that doesn't want us there."

"Hnn." Vegeta turned his eyes to the cave and raised his chin in silent defiance. He trusted Goku's instincts more than he cared to admit. Of course, he didn't have to let Goku know that.

The troop slowed to a stop within close range of the cavern. The horses knickered and rolled their eyes as they sensed something amiss. Goku didn't blame them.

"The passage of the dead." Aragorn spoke more to himself than the others.

Gimli's eyes widened and he stared into the depths of dark. "Why would any man go this way?"

Aragorn turned to him, "It is the quickest route to Gondor. Besides, I have a debt to call upon."

Skepticism crossed the dwarf's face. "If your debt is with a dead man, I would think you'd let it be."

Behind him, Legolas grinned. "Scared of the dark, dwarf?"

An indignant harrumph sounded from Gimli's throat. "Watch what you say elf. I live underground. What a foolish notion. Scared of the dark..." But even with a steady voice, the pensive look on his face belied his words.

"Come. We'd best move along. We have much ground to cover and very little time to do it." Aragorn motioned the entrance and with one last look at those behind him, he disappeared into the dark.

Legolas followed the ranger with little less than a paused step and Trunks followed in after, right hand curled around the hilt of his sword.

Vegeta watched as Goku simply stared into the darkness, eyes hard and face unreadable. Gimli stood by the entrance shuffling his feet, unnerved. He glanced back to the remaining saiyajin and sighed. "It can't be said I have ever been afraid of the underground. But this..." He motioned feebly in the direction the others had gone.

Goku stepped forward and raised a palm to the entry, fingers playing over the open air where the darkness started as though a door sat under his palm. "I know what you mean, Gimli. I don't like it either."

The dwarf nodded, rather appeased at his weakness now that someone as strong as the foreigner admitted to his own dislike of the crater. Drawing a deep breath, he stepped into the darkness and hurried after the others.

"Well, Kakkarot?" Vegeta stood with arms crossed over his chest.

Goku sighed and straightened his shoulders. "Yea..."

He walked forward until his body was flush with the dark before turning his head and looking down at Vegeta. "I really don't like it." He whispered.

Vegeta's eye twitched. He really didn't like the look on Goku's face, nor the childlike fear that radiated off of the man as he stood in the entrance. The prince stepped forward and nodded at the younger. "Come on, Kakkarot. I'll be right beside you."

A small smile curled at Goku's face until he looked into the dark, then it fell away again. With a deep breath much like Gimli's, Goku and Vegeta stepped forward into the suffocating darkness together.

The first few steps were hesitant for the tallest saiyajin. He kept waiting for something in the darkness to stretch and swell, come crashing through them all and suffocate them. The further he went, he hoped his fear would diminish as nothing happened. Unfortunately, it stayed under his skin and festered there.

Goku's stride increased until he nearly bowled over Trunks as he caught up to the others.

"Easy, Goku!" Trunks frowned as he stumbled. He turned his head and squinted up at the worried face of his friend. "You okay?"

"Huh?" Goku blinked, eyes finally focusing on Trunks' face nearly a minute later.

Trunks turned to his father. "Dad, what's wrong with Goku?"

Vegeta sighed. "I don't know. Something about the darkness." The saiyajin prince looked up at Goku, the other saiyajin had withdrawn back into himself and was currently staring into the darkness again. He hadn't heard what either of them had said.

"The man is right." Gimli grumbled. "I know caves. But in this cave there is something sinister in the air." The dwarf cracked his knuckles and curled his meaty hand around the handle of his axe.

A snort of laughter followed. "You are only paranoid, dwarf." Legolas grinned.

"No." Goku spoke, his voice stern.

Legolas stopped smiling and the others glanced back at the saiyajin.

"There is something here. And they aren't happy to feel us intruding." Goku dropped his chin to his chest and peered out through lidded eyes. Vegeta shivered as his pupils caught minute light from somewhere and glowed a deep crimson.

"You've been to otherworld dozens of times, Kakkarot. Why is this different?" Vegeta gave him a puzzled look.

Goku blinked and the red glow dissappeared. "I'm not sure, 'Geta."

They walked along in silence for a stretch of time, each of them a little more unnerved the further they went. Finally after nearly ten minutes Aragorn spoke over his shoulder. "He is right. There are ghosts here of men who cannot rest."

Vegeta nearly smirked. Kakkarot was always right.

"Ghosts." Trunks didn't sound convinced.

Aragorn paused and took a swig from his flask. "Aye. Ghosts." He smiled lightly at the unsure look he still got from the demi. "Do not worry, you will see soon enough."

Mirai frowned and tightened his hold on his sword.

Oddly enough, Goku looked rather appeased with the information. As long as he knew what he was dealing with, he didn't have to dwell on them. He smiled at Vegeta with just his lips and sighed heavily. The ouji gave him a funny look and shook his head. He just didn't understand the way Goku's mind worked most of the time.