Disclaimer: Not mine.

A/N: MUAHAH...a small update. I got back to writing, so here I am. Writing.

It'll be a small thing. Sorry. But I am getting back into the swing of things.

The road was just a bridge made out of foreign rock leading to an abyss. Aang was flitting from rock to rock, caring not for the fall. For him, there is only the joy of flight. For Aang, landing was as simple as taking off.

Lucky little bastard.

Toph knew she would be fine. This place was her home. Deeper into the mountains of Moria they went, the air growing more stale. If push came to shove, she could just tunnel her way out. Hell, if she wanted to she could do that right now. But she knew better than to. There was a tenseness in the air along with the unnerving quiet.

Gimili's hope was dwindling as they walked further and further into the mines. By now, if anyone had survived they would have greeted them. Toph knew the truth, there were only the dead here.

They finally stopped at a location that seemed important. The wind had changed here, it was more concentrated and gusty-a downdraft. Toph accepted the ration from Sam, listening to the quiet chatter that the hobbits produced. She did some investigating, walking past the tall men to where Gandalf sat. He was talking to Frodo, the one with the metal rings on his chest.

Frodo spoke quietly, but his voice carried."I wish the Ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened."

"So do all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us. There are other forces at work in this world, Frodo, besides the will of evil. Bilbo was meant to find the Ring, in which case you also were meant to have it. And that is an encouraging thought."

Frodo said something else, before walking away his footsteps lighter.

Toph climbed up to sit on the steps, her eyes staring vacantly at nothing. "So I hear you give pep talks."

A small laugh was her reply. "Perhaps. You have a question for me?"

Toph considered it. Being near Gandalf gave her such a strange feeling, she knew Aang felt it-he was more sensitive than she was. He always had such a strange...She had no words for it, but she knew there was something about Gandalf that made Aang gain a distanced expression on his face.

"The ring that Frodo has, what is it?"

Silence was her answer.

"It feels wrong." Toph whispered. "I can hear it whispering sometimes."

If she could hear it, what about Aang?

It spoke to her, promising her great things, wealth and power...freedom. It promised her freedom from her parent's rule, from society seeing her as just a blind little girl.

"It is a dark thing, that ring. Don't trust what it says. I fear it is even beyond your power to destroy."

For once, Toph didn't disagree.

Gandalf found the right path, and they went down-further down. From here, it was to a room.

Aang was chattering again, practically bouncing from foot to foot. His mood dampened once he realized what the room actually was.

Gimili hurled his way past the group, to the tomb that sat in the middle surrounded by skeletons.

"They are coming." Gandalf had pulled up a book, opening it and reading the script. "There is no way out..."

A sudden loud clanging noise drew Gandalf's attention. Then the skeleton fell and by that point all hell had broken loose. The sound of drums started build.

By the time Aragon had shouted his commands, Toph had began making fortifications. There were multiple points to get into the room, not many to get out. She sealed the door they got in with rock, sacrificing some of the thickness of the walls. Hopefully no one would try to climb up from beneath, that might be even more troublesome.

"Cave troll." Aragon had shouted, darting back in before the wall sealed them in.

Loud booming noises, and then clanging. Something big was banging on the wall, well, that can't do. With a smirk, Toph sent a rock right into the troll's side, buying them all a bit of time. Even if a wall was between them, she was the greatest earth bender ever, this was nothing.

They were hammering again, it would take them more time but it would give the group nothing. There was no defense in this box, they will die much like the dwarfs before them. There were thousands of goblins and more cave trolls and something else in the deep. Something that had been unsettling Gandalf, a darkness has been drawn over the group.

"We have to get out of here!" Boromir had his sword out, his shield over his other arm. "I do not intend to die here."

"Neither do I." Aragon scanned the wall, looked at the single beam of light. "Toph we need a path, can you do it?"

She walked over to a wall, placing her hands on the it.

A few seconds later the door burst open as two cave trolls rumbled in. Goblins poured out like water bursting a dam.

They were buying her time, she had to concentrate.

The cave trolls were the problem, they had strength and could squash them like so many flies. Legolas and Aragon downed one, five arrows in its eyes and a dagger to the throat. The second one hounded Frodo as if lured by the power that was hanging from his neck. It was so much harder to dissuade the second one, harder still after he seemingly gored Frodo with his pike.

"FRODO!" Sam's voice rang through loud clashing of steel and the snarling language of the goblins.

Many things happened at the same time. Aang used air bending to lift the creature up, while Legolas blinded the creature with his arrows and the two mortal men hamstrung it. The creature fell crying out in pain, crushing a few luckless goblins under it.

The wall opened up to a tunnel, Aragon picked up Frodo and ran with him. The joy of having Frodo alive was dampened by the hordes of goblins that raced after them. Even after collapsing the tunnel, more came out from the cracks in the rock.

They ran and ran, the sound of drums getting louder and louder.

It was as they were passing a great expanse of ground, the goblins surrounding them, there seemed to be no hope left. Suddenly the goblins scattered flying to all four winds.

"What is that?" All Frodo saw was an orange glow that was coming close to them.

"Balrog..." Gandalf breathed out a second after Legolas. "A demon from long ago, one none of us can face."

The orange-reddish light got closer.

"Run!"

With the goblins gone it was much easier to run without fear of getting stabbed. Getting an arrow in the back was still a risk as cheeky goblins took pot shots at them.

They finally got to the source of the light, a tin bridge stood between them and freedom. That and the massive flaming creature that was gaining ground behind them. Aang simply bound across the chasm, landing silently on his feet. The hobbits were sent next with Toph. She could keep them from tripping and falling to the their doom.

Then the men, the elf and the dwarf and finally Gandalf. Of course by then, the creature had made it's entrance. It was covered in smoke and ash and fire, massive wings extending from it's back. It roared, taking a step forward.

Gandalf stood at the middle of the bridge, staff in hand. He stared up at the creature, staff and sword in hand.

As he shouted his defiance, a part of him realized where exactly he had recognized Aang.

It wasn't the body as much as the spirit.

In Aang, he felt the same spirit that was standing before him.

Maiar.

The boy was one of them.

"YOU SHALL NOT PASS!" He slammed his staff down, splitting the bridge.

They rested outside, more in shock than in exhaustion. Aang couldn't shake the words in his head, the feeling in his heart.

He ran away. He ran away and let Gandalf die.

He could of done something. He was the Avatar. He could have helped.

But he ran away.

It was like before, when he ran away and left his home.

He let them to die.

It wasn't fear that stayed his hand, not as much as the look in Gandalf's eyes. They reminded him so much of his own. He knew Gandalf-knew him from a different place and a different time. It made his death all the more painful.

Aang didn't notice the whispering of the ring as it tugged at his heart, lodged itself in one of his many failings.

Aang never did forgive himself for failing his friends and teachers.