When Worlds Collide

Chapter 9: A Hero Fallen

"Claws of Blood!" came a shout from Kagome's left right before the two orcs in front of her were shredded to pieces.

"Kagome! Are you ok?" yelled Inuyasha as he ran up to her. His arm was bleeding but other than that he looked fine.

"Ye…yeah," she stammered. If Inuyasha had been only a few seconds later…well she didn't really want to dwell on that. "Aragorn!" she suddenly shouted, remembering that he was being chased by two dozen or so orcs.

As if on cue Legolas popped out from between two huts and began to rapidly fire his arrows into the crowd of orcs bearing down on his friend. When Aragron saw that help had arrived he immediately turned on his heel and met head to head with the orcs once again.

"Cutting it kind of close, aren't you?" shouted Aragorn to Legolas. Although secretly he had to commend the impeccable timing of his friend. Maybe it was an elf thing, showing up at the last possible second to save the day.

"Sorry Aragorn," replied Legolas, still firing arrows. "But we had to fight our way out of a mass of orcs. Gimli is still fighting with Sango and Miroku. Shippo and Kirara went with the villagers to the center of the village."

"Well I'm just glad you're here," said Aragorn with relief, sidestepping a blow and watching as Legolas immediately shot the orc.

"Anytime my friend," responded Legolas, taking down an orc that was attempting to sneak up on his friend.

Inuyasha took down orc after orc as well. He hadn't even bothering with taking out tetsusaiga yet as these enemies were not much of a threat. They had numbers, but not much else. The only reason reason his arm was bleeding was because he had to jump in front of a blow meant for Shippo. As much as he thought the runt was annoying he would still protect the kid. And Kagome's wrath wouldn't be worth it either.

Seeing how the three of them had the orcs well covered Kagome took the time to run and pick up Aragorn's quiver of arrows. "Aragorn!" she shouted. "Do you mind?"

Quickly beheading an orc Aragorn looked towards the shouting girl. "Not at all!"

"Thanks!"

Kagome notched an arrow and looked for a target. She was surprised to see only three orcs left. She watched Inuyasha punch his first through an orc's stomach. Two orcs. Legolas shot another in the back. One. Aragorn sliced the remaining orc's throat. She lowered her bow. So much for that idea.

As soon as the last orc was killed Legolas immediately went about collecting his arrows. Seeing Kagome's arrows he also picked those up as well. He was actually quite impressed with the girl's ability as an archer. About three quarters of her shots had found a target, about half of which were lethal. The interesting thing he noticed was even the orcs that only had an arrow in an arm or leg were just as dead as those with an arrow in the chest. And they all looked like they had burned. He reached down and grabbed one of her arrows and was surprised to see light blue sparks crackle in the air. His hand felt slightly warm but not pained at all. He yanked the arrow out of the orc and studied it. It looked like a normal arrow, after all, he had made them. He glanced curiously at the girl who was standing and looking around the battlefield. Just what did she say miko powers were again?

Kagome, remembering that Inuyasha had been bleeding, dropped her bow and rushed to his side. "Inuyasha! Are you ok?" she asked worriedly. She raised her hands to inspect his wound.

Before she could touch him Inuyasha swiped her hands away. "I'm fine," he growled. "It was just a shallow cut." He normally wasn't this gruff with the girl, but then he did have his pride to worry about with the three newcomers standing about. Just how would it look if he had Kagome pawing over him because of a minor injury when the man was also injured? That, and he could still sense another enemy around. He just couldn't place where this enemy was.

Overhearing their conversation Aragorn joined them. He was sure to regret putting in his two cents. But then he never had been one to shy away from a confrontation. Whether it be orcs, trolls, evil lords, annoyed elven maidens, and now grumpy hanyous. "I couldn't help but notice you were bleeding Inuyasha," he began.

"Very observant human," spat out Inuyasha. What was the human's idea? Was he trying to make Inuyasha feel ashamed that he had been cut? If that was the case Inuyasha would be sure to point out the human's own glaring injury.

Aragorn inwardly smiled. Inuyasha actually was a very predictable person. "I only wish to inform you that orcs have a nasty habit of poisoning their weapons." Aragorn seemed to have failed to notice that he was also bleeding. But then had had been injured so many times in the past, and by orcs, that his body had by now probably picked up at least a tad bit of immunity from the orc's poisons.

"An idea they picked from the men of your time?" sneered Inuyasha. "Cowards." Inuyasha actually had a legitimate reason, at least he thought it was legitimate, for snapping at Aragorn in such a harsh way. He had thought the man would have protected Kagome, after all, he certainly seemed to have quite a fondness for the girl. But no, if it wasn't for Inuyasha Kagome would be dead right now. He didn't care that Aragorn was attempting to save Kagome, all that mattered was that Aragorn failed in protecting her. Inuyasha wouldn't be so quick to leave her alone with him anymore.

Inuyasha jumped in surprise when an arrow whizzed by his face. That was a bit too close for comfort.

Legolas stood 20 feet away, his bow held up and shaking in barely contained anger. He didn't even trust himself to speak. Nothing could descibe the amount of hate he had for the hanyou at that moment. He no longer felt any sort of pity for the foul creature. Inuyasha had insulted Aragorn one time too many.

To be honest Aragorn was kind of glad Legolas had fired that arrow. Because for the first time since they had joined Inuyasha Aragorn wanted nothing more than to punch Inuyasha. Only his years of dealing with others who hated him held him back from doing just that. Seeing Inuyasha's expression as the arrow flew by had an amazing calming effect on him. He assumed it was because Inuyasha knew that arrow could have been lethal if Legolas had wished it. But he still didn't feel good just letting that scathing remark from Inuyasha go unreputed.

"The men of my time are not cowards," said Aragorn softly. His voice was soft but still had an edge to it. An edge Inuyasha clearly heard. "They fight and die in a losing battle. Their hope of surviving slowly dwindles with each passing day. But when the enemy comes for them again they raise their swords and charge headfirst into battle. Anything to give their people more hope, more time to survive. Tell me Inuyasha, does that sound cowardly to you?"

Inuyasha deliberately avoided the man's gaze and continued to glare at the elf. Truth be told he wasn't exactly why he had said that about the men of the other's world. True, he was angry, actually fuming, that the man had left Kagome open to attack. But after hearing about the other's world he knew they weren't cowards. He should have verbally attacked the man about his fighting abilities, anything besides the men of his world. Now not only was the man and elf practically wishing death upon him, but Kagome was upset as well.

Kagome looked on, completely speechless. She had no idea what to say. She knew Inuyasha didn't care for Aragorn and the others, but she didn't think he would have accused Aragorn's people of being cowards. She knew, they all knew, that evil was taking over Aragorn's world. It would be a touchy subject for him. Luckily for all of them the shikon shard decided to arrive at that moment.

Inuyasha felt the ground rumble beneath him and he immediately diverted his murderous gaze from the elf to the surrounding trees. He stared intently as the trees began falling, creating a trail through the woods. Whatever the demon was it was huge.

Legolas quickly notched another arrow. This one meant for whatever enemy was coming rather than Inuyasha. He would continue his fight with Inuyasha when the others's lives weren't at risk.

Aragorn, who had previously sheathed his sword, quickly drew it back out. He stepped beside Kagome so the girl was between him and Inuyasha.

"Inuyasha, the shard," said Kagome urgently.

Inuyasha smirked. "Yeah, I kind of figured that much. Now just to see what demon it is this time."

As if it were listening for the perfect moment to show itself the demon came out. All it was was a spider demon. Granted it was huge and bright orange, but it was still only a spider.

That thing looks as big as a mumakil! thought Aragorn to himself.

Legolas's eyes grew imperciptly wider. He had fought and killed a countless number of spiders in his life. After all, he was from Mirkwood which was currently being overrun by dark creatures, and most of those being spiders. But this spider was impressive for it's sheer size and that it was bright orange. But still, it was a spider nonetheless. It should fall as quickly as the others he had killed in his world.

"That's it?" sneered Inuyasha. "A wimpy spider? Pathetic."

The spider chose at that moment to spit a stream of venom at Aragorn, Kagome, and Inuyasha.

Inuyasha quickly snaked an arm around Kagome's waist and jumped backwards. If he had been between her and the man he could have saved them both. But since he was only standing alongside Kagome he had to assume the man's fighting abilities would come in handy and get him out of the way. Getting hit with a stream of venom that strong would surely cause instant death.

Kagome stared in horror at the venom spraying towards Aragorn. She breathed a sigh of relief when Aragorn dived to safety. However, her relief was shortlived.

Legolas had an arrow notched and ready to fly, but as soon as the venom hit the ground his vision was obscured. The venom had instantly dissolved away the rocks, dirt, and water content in the ground. A hiss of steam could be heard and a wall of dirt and dust suddenly blocked Aragorn and the spider demon from everyone's view.

When Aragorn came to a stop he cleared his head and looked around for the demon. He didn't have to look long. As soon as he turned he was surrounded on all sides by jointed legs with dangerously sharp hairs protruding from them. He narrowly avoided being stepped on by a leg by rolling to the left. With a start he realized he had dropped his sword at some point. Knowing that being defenseless would mean certain death he reached behind him to draw out the dagger that Lord Celeborn had given him. He silently thanked whatever gods that were looking out for him that he remembered to retrieve it after all the orcs had been killed.

When a leg got within striking distance he lashed out with the sharp blade. He was dismayed to see the blade sink a measly inch into the leg before getting stuck. He tried to yank it out but the dagger was too firmly imbedded to be freed while he had no leverage.

Where's Legolas? he desperately thought, getting nicked on the shoulder with one of the hairs. Anytime now Legolas. Anytime you want to show up would be greatly appreciated.

Legolas let an elvish curse pass his lips when the spider demon continued to shoot steady streams of venom, effectively keeping the visibility close to zero and a wall of dirt between him and Aragorn. Not knowing what else to do he fired an arrow.

Before the arrow was even halfway to the spider it had shot venom at it, dissolving the arrow in mid-air.

Kagome stared on in shock. She had never witnessed a spider demon behave so…logically. It was completely in control of the situation and knew exactly what it was doing. It was unnerving to say the least.

Inuyasha was also quite surprised. He stood slack by Kagome's side, making no move to fight the demon. Spider demons were one of the stupidest demons around. They fought for food and territory only, and even with a shikon shard the spider shouldn't have been so eager for a fight. And then when the spider's rational way of fighting was added to the picture it left him scratching his head in puzzlement.

Aragorn managed to dodge yet another leg. But before he could stop himself he had rolled into another leg and was immediately impaled by several of the hairs that felt like knives. The spider demon took that momentary lapse in his concentration to slam a leg down on Aragorn's leg.

Aragorn couldn't help it. He yelled in pain and surprise.

As soon as Legolas heard his friend yell in pain he took off at a dead sprint towards the imposing wall of dirt.

"Hold on Estel! I'm coming!" he shouted. Leaving his bow behind he brought out his twin daggers, unconsciously twirling them into an attack position.

Before he could reach the enemy someone tackled him to the ground. Losing his daggers in the surprise attack Legolas fought with a fiery energy to free himself and aid his friend.

"LEGOLAS! CALM DOWN!" shouted Miroku, barely managing to dogdge the elf's blows.

"What are you doing? Aragorn needs my help!" yelled Legolas angrily.

"And with how you were going you would have been dead before you could reach him," stated Miroku calmly. He was surprised to say the least with the amount of loyalty Legolas showed towards the man. He had only witnessed Legolas joke and tease around with Aragorn…but the moment Aragorn was in danger the elf turned into a completely different being. He would fight tooth and nail to help his friend.

"Where is he? WHERE IS HE?" shouted Gimli, running into the battle zone. He had heard Aragorn yell and couldn't help the feeling of dread from passing through his heart.

Ignoring everyone Kagome rounded on Inuyasha. "What are you doing? Help him! He needs your help!"

Snapping out of his reverie, Inuyasha shook his head and straightened up. Gripping Tetsusaiga, he nodded to Kagome. "Stay back here," he demanded. "I don't want you getting hit by that venom. It would kill you."

"I will Inuyasha. But please, help Aragorn. I know you don't like him much but that doesn't mean he deserves to die. Please, you're the only one who can save him," pleaded Kagome.

"I never wished death upon any of them," stated Inuyasha softly before tightening his grip on Tetsusaiga and pulling it out of it's ragged sheath. Before Kagome could say a single word in surprise Inuyasha was charging down the spider demon.

Legolas and Gimli stared in surprise at the giant sword that had appeared from a rusted piece of metal. Both of them fervently hoped that Inuyasha would be able to break through the wall with his sword. The weapon certainly looked big and strong enough to.

When the spider shot venom at the charging hanyou Inuyasha deftly dodged it. His vision was partially obscured by rocks and dirt being flung by the venom and before he could regain his full view of the spider another stream of venom came shooting straight him. He quickly brought Tetsusaiga up to block it. The sword did its duty and protected its master. However, once it blocked the venom it switched back into its dormant state. Inuyasha stared at the rusted piece of metal he now held in his hands. In his shock he forgot to pay attention to the spider and so got a full blast of venom right in his chest.

Inuyasha felt his haori struggle to fight off the venom. His chest felt on fire and as he stumbled in pain he vaguely saw another stream of venom come shooting at him. Coming to his senses at the last second he rolled out of the way even as his chest continued to burn with a fiery rage. He thought he could hear Kagome screaming, but then he couldn't be sure as the pain in his chest was making his entire head throb with a vengeance.

What he definitely was sure of was when he saw one of Kagome's arrows come flying from behind him. Like the elf's arrows the spider quickly shot it down with a stream of venom. Inuyasha curiously wondered how the venom could counteract the purification which was always present in Kagome's arrows. That was when his brain jogged him into acting. Kagome had fired an arrow. That meant she wasn't listening to him. The spider would be aiming for her body next.

"No!" shouted Inuyasha with surprising strength as he regained his footing. He was oblivious to the shocked faces of Legolas and Gimli as they saw the grieviously injured hanyou stand back up, looking for all the world like he was ready for fight.

Thrusting Tetsusaiga in front of him, Inuyasha willed the sword to transform once again. When the sword listened to him he glared up at the spider demon. "Hey you overgrown pest! You forgot to finish me off before."

Kagome breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Inuyasha climb back to his feet. For a second there she thought the damage had been too great for her hanyou to handle. Her sigh of relief turned into a cry when the spider ignored Inuyasha and instead shot a stream of venom directly at her.

Cursing for all he was worth Inuyasha darted between Kagome and the venom and put Tetsusaiga up like a shield. Venom sprayed out on either side of the sword, this time Tetsusaiga was luckily resisting the venom and staying in its transformed state.

As Inuyasha blocked the venom he chanced a look at Kagome. "Get out of here Kagome!" he shouted. "And don't get the spiders attention again. This thing isn't right, I don't know what it is, but it's way too smart to just be an ordinary spider demon."

Kagome nodded, her eyes wide with fright as well as concern for her friend as she backed away and out of distance from the venom.

It was too bad that one straggling orc finally made its way out of the forest. He had been injured in the first raid against the human village and because of it was quite a bit slower than his comrades. It served him well on this day. The others were dead but the spider demon they had been traveling with had the enemy's attention. One man, clad in complete red, was too busy blocking a stream of venom to pay much attention to anything else. Everyone else was too enthralled with watching the ongoing struggle that they also didn't see him.

Smirking, the lone orc withdrew a single arrow and notched it in his bow. Pulling the string back tight he took aim.

Legolas saw the threat a moment too late. An orc standing in the shelter of the trees. An arrow pulled back. He had been too intent and trying to find a gap in the still present wall of dirt and debris to notice a lone orc. "Inuyasha!" he shouted in a panic. "An archer in the trees! Watch out!"

At the same moment Legolas began shouted the orc fired his arrow. Inuyasha turned at Legolas's warning to see an arrow flying straight towards him.

"Shit shit shit," cursed Inuyasha. There was no way to block both the arrow and the venom. It was taking all of his strength to just keep the venom at bay. But if the arrow's course held true his skull was about to be split down the center. Knowing he couldn't do much else, Inuyasha left go of Tetsugaiga with one hand and swiped down the arrow with his claws before it could do him any harm.

However, the moment his hand left Tetsusaiga the sword's power waned. Before Inuyasha could return his hand to the hilt the sword had once against reverted back to its dormant state. And this time when the venom hit him there was no fire rat haori to block most of the damage.

Sango appeared right when Inuyasha fell. Her feet slid to a halt as she stared at the fallen hanyou. She was just in time to see his eyes go wide with shock and then his body drop bonelessly to the ground. She didn't even think he'd be able to survive that. A blast of venom right in the chest. How could anyone survive that? Kirara was in Sango's arms and she mewed in sadness when she saw the hanyou fall.

Legolas was speechless. Inuyasha fell. Reacting on pure rage, Legolas flew to his feet and in a split second the orc that had fired the arrow, and ultimately caused the death of Inuyasha, was dead. Legolas didn't want Inuyasha die, he had been fuming at the hanyou, but never did he want him to die. And he had fallen in defense of Kagome and with the hope of saving Aragorn.

Gimli's eyes were wide with shock. The hard headed, stubborn, hanyou…was dead? No, it was unbelievable.

Both friends heard the choked sob of Kagome and turned to see the young girl with tears streaming down her face.

Kagome's eyes betrayed her. They showed Inuyasha had fallen. There was no way Inuyasha would fall so easily. It was just a spider, wasn't it? Just a giant, overgrown spider. How could Inuyasha fall to an overgrown bug? It was unfathomable. "INUYASHA!" she screamed before taking off for him.

At the sight of Kagome screaming and running towards the hanyou Legolas and Miroku both leapt to action and moved to intercept the girl. With his faster speed Legolas reached the girl first.

Kagome looked up when she ran into someone's chest. When firm hands grabbed her by her shoulders and attempted to drag her farther away from Inuyasha she went berserk. She formed fists and began pounding on the person's chest. "Let me go! Let me go! I have to go to Inuyasha! He needs me! He's alive, I swear, he's alive! LET ME GO!"

Legolas ignored the beating upon his chest and continued to gently herd Kagome away from the fallen hanyou. He peered over his shoulder and hoped to see movement from Inuyasha. But the hanyou was deathly still.

Kagome stared with watery eyes up at Legolas. He didn't let her go to Inuyasha. As she stared at Legolas she suddenly remembered a man that could still be saved. "Aragorn!" she shouted. "We still have to save him!" She had to do something, anything, to get her mind off of Inuyasha. She shook herself free from Legolas and ran to retrieve her bow. The spider would die. It had dared to harm Inuyasha.

Sango nodded to her distraught friend. "Kagome! Legolas! Come here!" she shouted. Without waiting for them she threw Kirara into the into. "KIRARA!" she shouted.

Taking her cue Kirara transformed into her large form in a burst of flame. She swooped down and Sango jumped with practiced ease onto her back. She flew to Kagome and grabbed the girl's outstretched hand, flinging her up behind her.

Legolas watched in shock as the giant flaming cat flew at him. Miroku tapped his shoulder.

"They're coming for you. Be ready to jump," he said.

Legolas snapped to attention and quickly slid his knives back into their sheaths. He didn't have timet o retrieve his bow as Kirara was already upon him. Forgetting about it he jumped onto her back and sat behind Kagome. He clutched Kirara tightly with his knees. Never before had he been sitting on top of a flying cat. It would be a lie to say he wasn't a tad bit nervous.

Kagome glanced at the elf sitting behind her. "You ready? We'll be able to fly over the barrier and rescue Aragorn." Her eyes betrayed her calm voice. They were full of emotion and Legolas could clearly read them. Unlike Inuyasha perhaps we can save Aragorn.

"I'm going to drop myself and Legolas on the ground," said Sango. "Kagome, Kirara will fly you back up and once Aragorn is safe you can purify it. Everyone got it?"

"Let's go," said Legolas tensely, preparing himself for battle when Kirara cleared the top of the barrier. He frantically searched the ground for Aragorn. He saw Aragorn's sword lying forgotten on the ground but no sign of the man who should have been holding it. All he saw was a giant spider.

Kirara circled lower.

"Are you ready?" asked Sango, peering over her shoulder at the tense elf.

"Of course," said Legolas, bunching his muscles in preparation for the jump. When Kirara got within 25 feet of the ground Legolas jumped. He lightly landed on his feet, freed his knives, and ran towards the spider.

Sango and Kagome stared at the elf. He had just jumped 25 feet off a flying cat and it didn't even faze him.

"Odd creature," commented Sango before she too jumped, albeit from a much lower height of five feet.

Legolas reached the spider and quickly ran between its two hind legs to search the underbelly for his friend. "Estel! Estel!" he frantically called out, straining his ears for any sound of his friend.

"Legolas?" came a strained voice.

"I'm coming Estel. Hold on!" Ignoring the flailing limbs around him Legolas followed the sound of his friend's voice. He reached Aragorn a few moments later. His heart clenched up in fear when saw Aragorn pinned beneath one of the creature's giant legs. With a cry he rushed the restraining leg and sliced at it with both of his knives. The leg shuddered but didn't move.

Aragorn watched his friend try to free him. It wasn't working, the leg had a hard covering which Legolas was having a hard time breaking through.

From the corner of his eye Legolas saw another leg coming towards him. He ducked and rolled out of the way, just narrowly avoiding being slammed by it. Suddenly Legolas had no time to even think about freeing his friend as all thoughts were on avoiding the legs that continuously rained down upon him. At every free moment he had he lashed out with his knives but everytime he barely left a scratch.

"HIRAIKOTSU!" came a shout.

Legolas froze in shock when a giant boomerang came flying through the air. The boomerang had the strength and propulsion that his knives didn't. It cut cleanly through two of the spider's legs, one of which was restraining Aragorn.

Sango caught her returning weapon and slid back five feet from its force. "You got him Legolas?" she called out.

Legolas sheathed his knives and bent down by his friend. "Can you walk?"

Aragorn nodded. "My leg isn't broken. Give me a hand and I'll make it," he said while sitting up.

Legolas swung one of Aragorn's arms around his shoulders and wrapped a supporting arm around his waist. Standing up he brought the ranger with him. He carried most of Aragorn's weight and together the two hurried out from beneath the belly of the beast.

As soon as they cleared the spider a bright light flashed behind them and the demon roared in pain. Legolas and Aragorn turned to see an arrow protruding out of the spider's back. The spider collapsed and sent shockwaves through the ground. Aragorn almost lost balance but Legolas was there to help him.

As soon as the spider fell the walls of dirt came crashing down. Kagome and Kirara flew down to join them.

"Are you all right Aragorn?" asked Kagome, trying her best to hide her grief.

"I am fine Kagome, thank you for helping me," replied Aragorn, not failing to take notice of her eyes. Something had to have happened to have put that much sadness in them. He was surprised when as soon as he answered her she ran off. "Where…where is Kagome going?" he asked Legolas.

Legolas lowered his gaze to the ground. Rather than answering his friend he simply turned until he and Aragorn looked upon a scene that would haunt both of them for years to come.

Aragorn made a very audible gasp and would have fallen down in shock if Legolas wasn't still supporting him. Inuyasha laid face down on the ground while one very distraught Kagome tried desperately to roll him over. For all he knew it looked like the hanyou was dead.

"Inuyasha…" stammered out Aragorn. "He didn't…did he?"

Last revised: December 6, 2006