A/N: This is compensation for three months of not posting. We will do better, even though Belinda is a dancing coffee cup in her school play, she will still find time to write. And me, starting tomorrow, I am reviewing for AP exam, but I will try to write too. For now, sit back and enjoy.

Chapter 9, BELINDA'S POV

"Amanda Nicolette Tailor!" I yelled, stepping into her bedroom. "You better not be doing what I think you're doing!" She looked up guiltily from where she stood by the window.

"What do you think I'm doing?" she asked, nervously wringing her hands. I glared at her, taking her suitcase away from her.

"I think you're going to run away, and I want to know why the hell you're going to do that to me."

"I'm a bad friend, I should have looked closer for your pain, you need someone who can be there for you all the time and look out for you." I sighed, she was feeling guilty again. I pointed at the bed, and she slowly sat down.

"Amanda, you need to stop blaming yourself for what happened. It was in no way your fault. I didn't want you to know, I tried to hide it from you. I was ashamed of the scars, the cuts, and the pain. You noticed before it was too late, and that is all that matters. And no matter what, you will always be my best-friend slash sister. Please don't leave." Amanda broke down in tears, throwing her arms around me. I smiled slightly as she finally let go of her heavy burden. Now if only I could get rid of mine. Opening up to people was still hard for me, talking about my feelings scared me. I still sometimes felt worthless, like I could never do good enough. Slowly though, Amanda was breaking me of that habit, and I was sure Legolas was about to join the list…

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"Belinda," I woke to someone standing over my bed. I jolted awake, ready to hit the dark figure. A hand grabbed my wrist and I could hear a laugh. A candle was lit and I could see Legolas standing over me. I blushed and dropped my arm, as he smiled at me.

"Do people usually attack you in your sleep?" he asked, taking a step back as I sat up and moved to the edge of the bed.

"A lot of people don't like me," I said with a shrug, "I guess that's what I get for being brutally honest with people." I stretched my arms, smiling as I moved my pillow. "Just be glad I forgot there was a knife under my pillow."

"Were you expecting an attack?" Legolas picked up the sheathed blade, giving me an odd look. I smiled slightly.

"It never hurts to be prepared." I said as I stood up, running a hand through my hair. "What time is it?"

"Almost time to leave. You have less than an hour to get ready." I gave him a mock glare. "Around midnight." He finished. I rolled my eyes.

"Why the hell do we have to leave in the middle of the night? I mean, honestly, we could leave in the morning… or afternoon even, and we would be more awake and alert. Don't you think that it is more obvious to leave in the middle of the night, it's like shouting 'hey, we're trying to be sneaky, watch us please.'" I quickly shut up when I realized I was rambling. Legolas smiled at me. "Whatever, I'll be ready in a few minutes."

"Do you want to go wake Amanda, or should I?" He asked, motioning towards her room.

"I'll do it. Most likely she'd yell a lot if a guy was in her room in the middle of the night." I grinned and headed for her room, "Tells you a lot about her sex life, huh?" I laughed lightly as his face turned red and I sauntered into Amanda's room. "Amanda, Amanda!" I called, as cheerfully as I could manage for just having got up a few minutes ago.

"Go 'way," she murmured, throwing a pillow in my general direction.

"Amanda, you failed your last exam." She ignored me. "Amanda, I'm pregnant!" She sat up real fast and stared at me.

"WHAT!" She screeched, staring at me. I laughed at the look on her face.

"I'm kidding. It's time to get up to head out on fun, important, very well could die a lot, mission thingy to kill evil piece of jewelry." She looked at me oddly.

"Oh no, you're in one of those moods. Forget the ring, you could drive Sauron himself crazy when you're like this… why the hell did anyone wake you up, you're always like this when you're sleep deprived…"I grinned and headed back to my room, leaving her to ramble on.

I dressed quickly, strapping on weapons that I had 'acquired' during my stay here. Some honestly, some not, but hey, that's life. If you don't want to lose your weapons, don't bet them against me in a drinking game, or any other kind of gambling for that matter. I smiled briefly, Amanda was right, when I don't sleep, I act a lot like I'm drunk, but it was fun, and mostly (to tell you the truth) all one big act. What can I say, I always wanted to be an actress when I grew up, and this was fun!

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One very important thing to know in life: at midnight, when you're hyperactive, and no one else is, it is the best time to be as insane as possible; it drives people nuts.

"So, is everyone ready to embark on the journey of utmost importance in the entire galactic universe: to rid the world of tacky jewelry?" I asked brightly, sliding down the banister of the stairs, my bags slung over my shoulder. I noticed that, while most of the company groaned, Frodo smiled. I think that was the first time he smiled since we got there. This fact, of course, led me to realize that everyone, especially Frodo, needed cheering up. I quickly ran my eyes over the group again.

Frodo was our ring bearer, who bore not only the ring, but also the fate of his world. Sam, who would die to protect Frodo and had a healthy paranoia to him. Paranoia is okay though, when the whole world IS out to get you. My eyes moved to the other two hobbits, Merry and Pippin, who were along because they spied on the meeting. I liked them; they could be great pranksters. Gimli was next in my analysis. He was a good fighter, a good drinker, and had a good, while interesting, sense of humor. Then there was Boromir. I didn't like him at all, and not only because I knew how the books went, but because he was so stiff, like someone had shoved a pole up his arse. Gandalf, I'll admit, was a mystery to me. He knew much more than he was telling, and wasn't planning to share with anyone. I got the feeling though, that he knew all about us, and why we were there. I smiled as my gaze met Legolas', and he smiled back. This was going to be an interesting trip.

Of course, just then, Elrond just had to come and make a speech about how the fate of the world rested on our shoulders, and that we were being depended on, and a whole lot of other stuff I didn't pay attention to. I was watching Frodo, who was slowly settling back into a cold mask. A mask I recognized all too well.

"AMEN, brother." I said with a grin as Elrond finished. Amanda, of course, was the only person who got that, and giggled. "If I may sum this up in a few, light words. The world will not survive long if we do not get rid of fake gold, imitation costume jewelry like this ring. Therefore, we must seek the purifying lava of a very hot volcano, and hope to god that they don't make jewelry like this fire proof." I bowed and stepped backwards, watching the corners of Frodo's mouth twitch. Boromir, however, wouldn't let my comments go that easily.

"What is wrong with you, girl? How can you make light a situation so serious?" He hissed, "The world is at stake." I smiled at him sweetly.

"I'm sure I mentioned that. Didn't I Frodo? And yes, everyone knows how important destroying jewelry is."

"She did add that at the beginning," Frodo said with a smile. I smiled back at him.

"See, Frodo understands how important this is. Think about how awful it would be if someone gave you an engagement ring like that! No jewels, you have to light it aflame to make it light up all pretty like, and it turns you invisible. Though it would make sex really interesting…"I trailed off as most of the company started laughing. Frodo laughed too, making my day seem a lot better. If he fell into depression, we, to put it lightly, were all screwed.

"Let's head out," Aragorn said, giving me a small smile that told me he knew what I was doing. Everyone began following him out, and I slipped back to walk with Legolas.

"Nicely done," he said softly, "At first I was a bit worried you were drunk, but it really was what Frodo, and all of us, needed." I blushed slightly.

"I am nowhere near this fun drunk. To be properly insane acting, you must be completely sober," I whispered back, blinking to focus as my eyes adjusted to the dark. He gave me a strange look, but nodded just the same. A bit louder I said with a smile "We ought to turn this into a musical: The Quest to Destroy Bad Taste in Jewelry, complete with sing along track." There were a few groans from the group, and Amanda turned around and gave me an evil glare.

"Belinda, shut the hell up." I looked at her, wide-eyed. Amanda didn't usually swear, so obviously she was in a bad mood. I made a face at her, and then quietly resigned myself to walking.

The night was dark, moonless, and in unfamiliar terrain, we all stumbled a little trying to follow the path. This is, with the exception of Legolas. He walked next to me, looking out around him, rather than the ground in front of him. I would have killed for vision like his, and the kind of grace that allowed him to walk without tripping. As it was, I could barely see the ground in front of me, let alone where we were going.

"Legolas," I hissed quietly. He turned and looked at me, and at my motion moved closer. "You realize that if we are attacked, we're all screwed, because I can't see a damn thing, and I doubt anyone else can," I kept my voice really low, trying not to alarm anyone else.

"I can see," he said softly. I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah, but can you defend our entire group against an attack if it happens?" I stumbled, and almost fell over a tree root. Legolas caught me and pulled me to my feet again.

"If I have to. And besides, Gandalf could light up his staff so we all could see if we needed to." He moved away and started scanning the land around us again. I made a face at him. "And I saw that."

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"How many days are in a fortnight?" I asked Amanda as we made camp at daybreak. She shrugged as she unrolled her sleeping mat, giving a sharp glance to the small rock overhang that covered us.

"Why?" She asked, stretching out on the mat. I sighed and opened up my own mat.

"Because the book said that in a fortnight the company reached the place where the black crows fly over, and I'd like to know the right day to warn about that." Amanda looked at me with a smile.

"How many times have you read that book, that you remember small details like that?" I blushed.

"A lot," I muttered, looking away.

"Don't worry about it. You'll figure it out. I think it's something like two weeks or so." I sighed and looked out over the company.

"Do you think that us being here could change the plot? Like, something we say or do will alter the entire way things go?" I received no answer, and when I rolled over to look at Amanda, she was already asleep. I sighed and rolled back over, looking at the entry way to the small cave where we and the rest of the company lay. Legolas had first watch, and was sitting up by the entrance. I laid on my mat for a while, trying to fall asleep, then finally gave up and stood, walking to the entrance, and sitting next to Legolas. He looked over at me with a small frown.

"Having trouble sleeping?" he asked. I nodded, looking around at the land where we were.

"Well, it is bright outside," I said with a smile, trying to make light of my insomnia. Legolas looked at me sternly, and I looked away.

"You are going to need all the sleep you can get on this quest. You never know when the next time we can rest will be."

"I know," I said with a sigh. "Goddamnit, I know all too well. As a matter of fact, I know pretty much everything about this whole quest. I know everything that's going to happen, and I feel so powerless. I don't know if helping you all could alter this whole quest as I know it, or if my very existence here has already altered it. There are so many ways I could help, but each with its own price. I just don't know what to do." I sighed and rubbed my temples. "And I probably shouldn't have told you that either." Legolas reached over and pulled me into a hug.

"You need to do what you feel is right. I have no doubt that no matter what happens, we will overcome it. Maybe there was a reason you ended up here. Maybe this whole quest has already been changed from what you know, and you have been sent here to fix things." He stood and helped me to my feet. "All I know is that you need sleep. You are safe here." He gently pushed me towards my mat. "We can talk more about this later." I gave him a quick hug and a smile as I walked back to my mat and laid down. After a few minutes, I drifted off to sleep.

A/N: Just in case you were wondering, Belinda's chapters are longer because she is more of a LOTR junkie than I am. Also, I'm working on my own novel to get published and that is my main focus. I did promise her though that I would try to make my chapters longer, so we'll see.

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