An- It seems being stuck at home for two months can amount to getting lots of writing done. Huzzah, I guess. I honestly am not a huge fan of this chapter, but it wouldn't get out of my head, so I wrote it anyway. Hopefully it's better to someone else than it is to me.

This is after the final battle in The Final Journey. It's after they've discovered Carla's body. The rest of the people who cared about her (AKA whoever from the Fellowship is there) would express their grief as well. This is their perspective (and I know he's not here- Legolas will get his own chapter, because I am unashamed in my bias)

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The minute he heard Niori's scream, he knew Carla had been killed. Niori wouldn't scream like that for anyone else other than her cousin. No one else was dug so deep into her heart to cause that much grief. There was no one she loved more.

He was still leaning on his axe, recovering his strength and breath now that the battle was done. Legolas stood with him, scanning every face he could see lying on the ground, already looking for the woman he loved. The Elf's head snapped up when he heard the scream. Horror flashed across his features, because he understood it as well.

"No…" he breathed out, meeting Gimli's eyes.

"Go!" Gimli commanded gruffly, and Legolas took off running towards the screams.

Gimli followed, but he did not run. He could not run, not towards what he knew he would find. He did not want to see such a remarkable woman -his friend, his comrade-at-arms- cut down. For all that they fought battle after battle together, Gimli never would have thought it would be Carla who would fall. The other girls perhaps, but not her. There had always been an air of invincibility around her. She was a true warrior, had the spirit of one. Perhaps that was why fate had gone this way, for all it was unjust- perhaps it made sense she would die gloriously in battle, a warrior's death.

He reached them just as Legolas was pulling Niori -crazed with grief, struggling and screaming- away. Gimli watched them for some time, trying to deny what had to happen. Finally, he could do nothing but look at the body they were gathered around.

The Dwarf expected her to be a bloody mess, dirty and torn from battle wounds. He had hoped she wouldn't be disfigured or brutalized from the wounds that killed her, because he couldn't stomach the idea of remembering her like that. His hope was realized. Instead, Carla laid there, immaculate and clean. There was not a scratch on her, no sign of what had killed her. Already she looked like she had been laid out for a funeral. It was though it was a story told to children, where the hero remained untarnished in death, where it was a symbol from the Valar of their purity and sacrifice. Carla looked like she would wake up at any moment and glare at everyone while demanding why they were all looking at her. Yet, despite how she looked, he knew she would never do either of those things again.

Gimli sank to his knees and wept.

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Pippin heard Niori's screams and understood what they meant, but he couldn't bear to go where they were coming from. He knew what he would find there, and he wouldn't be able to stand seeing Carla lying dead on a battlefield. The war had already taken Merry from him, and Pippin couldn't bring himself to see another dead friend, not while he was still so weary from battle. The funeral would eventually come, and he didn't even know how he would do it then.

When they had fallen through into the girls' world, Carla had been the most standoffish out of the four of them. She was the most easily irritated and least trustful. She was more prone to snapping. The other three, they were easier to like at first- Jane was kind from the beginning, Erin the politest, and Niori was laid back and fun. Carla had been the one to grow angry when mistakes were made, to stress when things didn't go how they should. Pippin never blamed her, since they were invading her home, but it took time for him to warm up to her.

It was when he looked at her with the other girls, that he saw the core of who she was. She was their strength, the one who held them up when they stumbled. If she was distrustful, it was because one of them had to be in case something went wrong. If she was angry at mistakes, it's because she's the one who worried about the backlash, so her friends didn't have to. Whether or not any of them noticed it, it was Carla who took care of their safety, even if there wasn't anything dangerous to be safe from.

Once Carla got to know the members of the Fellowship, once they made their way into her heart, they gained that loyalty and protectiveness as well. Once they were trusted, she let them see more of herself, the side she only reserved for friends. It was the moment when she steered Pippin and Merry out of trouble that Pippin came to like her, to see her as a true friend. Once they had earned it, Carla had given her all without question. She could have thrown up her hands and abandoned him and Merry when they got themselves captured by Orcs, but she ran to find them. She said on multiple occasions that they were annoying, but she still put her life on the line to rescue them. She went with Merry and helped keep him safe during the battle of Pelennor. She helped him keep his courage up by never wavering in her own. She had grieved when she heard of Merry's death, had come to give Pippin as much comfort as she could after the funeral. She had been his friend- both their friend.

And now she was gone, and Pippin could only cry for the loss.

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Frodo only went towards the screams because he knew Erin would be drawn to them. She would run and find out what he knew had to be true. Niori screamed for Carla, her grief terrible and loud. Soon, he feared, he would hear his wife's grief added to it.

When he reached them, a crowd had gathered, but was not idle. They bowed their heads in respect as they passed her. They were mourning a fallen hero, but there were still more dead to collect, soldiers to search for, and other heroes to mourn. Carla was not the only one of the dead to feel grief for, even if she was the only one Frodo's heart had room for.

Niori was gone when he got to the front of the crowd, but Jane and Erin were still there, clutching each other as they cried at Carla's side. They held onto each other, like they would fall apart if they let go. Seeing the tears running down Erin's face, all Frodo wanted to do was comfort his wife, but he held back. There was something between the two women in their grief, something he could not break. He couldn't intrude on nearly fifteen years of friendship, not now. He would go to her later, would hold her tightly and weep with her for their lost friend.

He only looked at Carla for a moment before he turned his face away, unable to look at her any longer. It did not matter that she looked peaceful…that was what made the image so much harder to look upon. It was wrong. Carla was anything but peaceful- at her best she was fierce determination and at her worst she was blind rage. She was the one who would throw herself in front of an attack to save someone she loved, but she would lash out in fury to hurt that very same loved one. She was the one started the rift between them that terrible night, but she was also the one who refused to let them stay broken. She refused to give up, to let her friends hurt even more because of what her temper had done- Erin was too angry, Jane too humiliated, and Niori too shattered to even try. Only Carla had the strength to refuse the ending that was being given to them. She wouldn't allow bonds to be broken, and through sheer strength of will, passion, and humility, she was the foundation of them making things right. Carla had a spine of steel, and the others could only bend around it.

Carla was complicated and strong, and it was not right that she should end like this. She should have been given a long life full of happiness, not faced death so young and be taken by it. She should not be still and smiling, though that made Frodo hope her last thoughts in this world were ones of joy. He hoped she would find her way to the Halls of Mandos and be welcomed there. He hoped Eomer, Merry, and all the rest who had been lost were waiting there to greet her, so she would not feel alone.

Frodo closed his eyes, but it didn't stop the tears for his friend.

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An- I hope everyone out there continues to stay safe and healthy.