A/N: Thanks for all the spiffy reviews! Wow, I'm already getting so many,
and it's only been 2 chapters!
I finally decided where they are at this moment and where they're going. I looked through the LOTR books all during school on Friday, and while I wrote this. I even got out a magnifying glass to see how far Minas Tirith and Rohan were from Emyn Muil! I want to keep this as accurate as possible, and by the end of this fic, I'll probably have read TTT and the appendixes of ROTK so many times I'll be able to quote them from memory!
My brother got a picture of me working on Why Us, so if you're interested, it should be up on my website. Fly website monkeys! Fly! Bwahahaha...Ai, never give me Enya and sweet iced tea while I write fanfiction. It makes me nutty. Enya should make me her Director of Marketing, as I'm obsessed with her music. Many plot bunnies have bitten me while I've listened to Paint the Sky with Stars (the album, not the song). If I can find some of her music to put on my website, I will.
Thanks to everyone for following along with my fic! It means a lot to me! Three people Imed me yesterday while I was working on my website, and I never got back to them. Sorry, I wasn't ignoring you, I'm just an airhead who forgets she's had her away messages on for 3 hours! I'd love to talk to you, please IM me again and I'll be happy to chat! ^_^
Enednilwen*
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Disclaimer: Silly Rabbit, Boromirs are for Tolkien!
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**Chapter 3**
Boromir awoke just as the first rays of the Sun peeked over the horizon. Steph had been sleeping far away from him, her head rested on her bag and her skimpy cloak covering her upper half. He frowned. It was more practical to wear a cloak that didn't end at your waist. The thing she had on was more like a long tunic.
He frowned at the rest of her clothing, thinking it all impractical. He struggled over the words he had learned from her while briefly in her world that described her clothes.
Jeans. Yes, those were defiantly the jeans she had been so fond of wearing. Sara wore them too, and he supposed them to be the fashion of choice for the majority of the population. He deemed them too tight, and he wondered why they flared out at the bottom. What purpose did that serve? Circling around her, he saw that they covered the white shoes she was wearing.
"To keep the mud off, I suppose." He said quietly to himself, not wanting to wake her. He hadn't seen those kinds of shoes before. Steph and her friend, Sara, had always worn shoes without coverings on the back and without anything to cover their toes. They had called them sandals.
He couldn't see her shirt for the cloak she was wearing, but he had seen it earlier. He wondered why her father let her out of the house wearing something that tight. When she raised her arms up enough or turned a certain way, he had caught a glimpse of her navel and part of her stomach. Did all the women dress like this? He couldn't remember.
Being so close to the river, there was dew on everything. Steph's face and exposed arm were covered in beads of moisture, which danced and twinkled in the sun. There was a white mist hovering over the water, so they were protected from ay unfriendly eyes. But for how long?
Boromir walked towards the water, when the blue ribbon caught his eye. He felt a twinge of regret at having thrown it at her and annulling their friendship. Carefully, he picked it up and put it inside his shirt. He had broken it when he ripped it off his arm, but he wanted to keep it.
Looking out across the water, he could see a fish jumping out. His stomach grumbled a reply. The terrible feeling in the pit of his stomach was back. How would they survive? He was weaponless, they had no food, and they were going to walk to Rohan? It was hopeless, just as walking into Mordor to destroy the blasted ring was hopeless.
Why couldn't they have gone through the Gap of Rohan, like planned? Why did the hobbit have to be so stubborn? Why was he destined to die, leaving the Fellowship, and never getting a chance to make up for what he had done? Why was the feeling of betrayal weighing on him so heavily?
He stopped mid thought and unclenched his fists. Maybe that was it. He was supposed to follow the Fellowship and..help them? Was that it?
He stole a glance at Steph, who hadn't moved. Maybe there was a reason she was sent back. Could she really help?
Boromir sat down wearily as the pain from his arrow wounds nipped at him. Though they were healed, they still caused a sharp twinge from time to time, causing him to grab which ever it happened to be and wait for the pain to subside.
All at once, every single wound sharply burned. The pain was overwhelming, and unconsciousness flooded over him like a wave.
"Boromir. Wake up." The soft voice from the tunnel was talking in his ear.
"I am awake." He said groggily, frowning at the blackness around him.
"Why were you so stubborn to fall back to sleep? I was trying to talk to you."
Boromir raised an eyebrow. "I was not tired. Where am I?"
The voice laughed quietly. "Do you mean where are you now? Or when you awoke from death, where were you? Which do you mean?"
"I meant both, but I suppose I should ask the second."
It laughed again. "Past the Falls of Rauros."
If his face could have been seen, it would have lit up. "Near Rohan, then?"
"Yes." The voice replied simply. "Travel West."
"How long have I been dead?"
"One."
"One what?"
"One." The voice repeated.
"A last question!" Boromir said quickly, feeling the voice was leaving.
"No more questions.." the voice trailed off, leaving Boromir in total darkness. He blinked his eyes, realizing he had been lying on the sand.
He got up and brushed himself off, looking West. Should he trust the dream?
His thoughts were interrupted by Steph. She groaned as she rolled over, rubbing at the clinging sand and dew.
"This sucks ass." She grumbled, grimacing at the water droplets on her skin.
She brushed past Boromir and drank from the river, rubbing at her teeth with her finger.
"What are you doing?" Boromir asked, raising an eyebrow at her. Was she mad, or was it just him?
"What the hell do you think I'm doing, assclown?" she snapped, spitting off the water that was in her mouth, "I'm stuck in frickin Middle Earth again without a toothbrush! Do you know how many cavities I got from being here last time?"
He shook his head 'no'.
"Six! Six damn cavities! I ain't doin that again!"
He rolled his eyes and took a drink from the river.
"This sucks ass." She repeated, pulling at her shirt to remove the wrinkles.
"What are you talking about?"
"Well duh!" she said irritably, "I slept in my clothes, ON THE GROUND, I just brushed my teeth with my finger, and now I have to eat gum for breakfast!"
"Gum?"
"Yes assclown, gum. I bought some from Mike today at lunch."
Boromir raised an eyebrow. "Why not bring your own 'gum'?"
"Because we're not supposed to have it at school, idiot. I left mine at home."
"You mean you purposely buy contraband items, and then disregard more rules by eating it?"
Steph snorted. "Looks that way. Want some?"
Boromir took it grudgingly and sat down next to her, staring at the West. "You puzzle me."
"Really?" she quipped sarcastically, "I hadn't noticed."
He didn't like the taste of the gum. It was too sweet, sweeter than honey, and it stuck to his teeth. The taste made his mouth feel sticky and coated. But it was better than nothing, and they really needed to get going.
"Come along." He said at length, "We need to start."
Steph looked up from washing away the raccoon eyes sleeping in eye make up had given her. She got off and followed him to the boat.
"So, what are we doing? Walking and boating?"
"Walking." He answered, putting the broken hilt of his sword in his scabbard. He refused to take an orc weapon. He clasped the gray Elven cloak and hood, touching the brooch and remembering the fair times he spent there. Touching his side sadly, he hoped that the Anduin had carried the horn of Gondor home. He wished the Fellowship had been more careful when they put it in his funeral boat. Broken or no, he still would have liked to have it.
Steph was packing up as well. She had taken off her coat and tied it around her waist. Her purse was under her arm, and the coat served as a makeshift scabbard for the orc knife.
"Put that down!" Boromir ordered, looking with disgust at the orc weapon. "You are no orc! I will not allow you to carry such a thing!"
"Screw you, Middle Earth Monkey!" Steph snapped, tightening the jacket so the knife wouldn't slip anymore. "If you want to kill us both by trying to defend yourself with a broken sword, knock yourself out. I don't care who had this weapon last, I just know that it works." She stalked over to where he was standing.
"Do you even know where we're going?" she asked, shifting her weight to one hip.
"Where is the Fellowship going?"
Steph sighed. "They're going to go save the hobbits. But the Rohan dudes will get there first, so they'll go to see Eewyn and Theeden instead."
"Éowyn and Théoden." Boromir corrected. "They are going to Edoras then?"
She snorted. "You think I actually listened? I read the book, but I hardly remember any of it. That's what happened in the movie."
Boromir looked upwards in thought. "From here, it should take us 5 days to reach Edoras."
Steph was drawing circles in the sand with her foot. "Takes the Fellowship a week."
"How do you know?"
"Sara told me when she was on one of her 'I'm-a-Lord-of-the-Rings-obsessed- fangirl' days. She was saying how hard it must have been for them to run for a week from Emma Mool-"
"Emyn Muil." He corrected.
"Whatever! Emma Mool to Eddy's rash. I just looked at her funny."
"Edoras, Steph, it's EDORAS." He moaned, holding his head. She shot him a death glare, but said nothing.
"We should have started." He grumbled, pressing the gum against the front of his teeth. He motioned for her to follow. He usually blew a note on the horn before embarking on any journey, and it pained him to not be able to do it now. Still, he must press on. Time was wasting away.
"Come," he said over his shoulder, "we have a long journey ahead of us."
"No, really?" Steph said sarcastically, following him, "I thought we were going on a picnic!" blowing a bubble with her gum, she started on the journey, dreading every step.
I finally decided where they are at this moment and where they're going. I looked through the LOTR books all during school on Friday, and while I wrote this. I even got out a magnifying glass to see how far Minas Tirith and Rohan were from Emyn Muil! I want to keep this as accurate as possible, and by the end of this fic, I'll probably have read TTT and the appendixes of ROTK so many times I'll be able to quote them from memory!
My brother got a picture of me working on Why Us, so if you're interested, it should be up on my website. Fly website monkeys! Fly! Bwahahaha...Ai, never give me Enya and sweet iced tea while I write fanfiction. It makes me nutty. Enya should make me her Director of Marketing, as I'm obsessed with her music. Many plot bunnies have bitten me while I've listened to Paint the Sky with Stars (the album, not the song). If I can find some of her music to put on my website, I will.
Thanks to everyone for following along with my fic! It means a lot to me! Three people Imed me yesterday while I was working on my website, and I never got back to them. Sorry, I wasn't ignoring you, I'm just an airhead who forgets she's had her away messages on for 3 hours! I'd love to talk to you, please IM me again and I'll be happy to chat! ^_^
Enednilwen*
~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~
Disclaimer: Silly Rabbit, Boromirs are for Tolkien!
~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~
**Chapter 3**
Boromir awoke just as the first rays of the Sun peeked over the horizon. Steph had been sleeping far away from him, her head rested on her bag and her skimpy cloak covering her upper half. He frowned. It was more practical to wear a cloak that didn't end at your waist. The thing she had on was more like a long tunic.
He frowned at the rest of her clothing, thinking it all impractical. He struggled over the words he had learned from her while briefly in her world that described her clothes.
Jeans. Yes, those were defiantly the jeans she had been so fond of wearing. Sara wore them too, and he supposed them to be the fashion of choice for the majority of the population. He deemed them too tight, and he wondered why they flared out at the bottom. What purpose did that serve? Circling around her, he saw that they covered the white shoes she was wearing.
"To keep the mud off, I suppose." He said quietly to himself, not wanting to wake her. He hadn't seen those kinds of shoes before. Steph and her friend, Sara, had always worn shoes without coverings on the back and without anything to cover their toes. They had called them sandals.
He couldn't see her shirt for the cloak she was wearing, but he had seen it earlier. He wondered why her father let her out of the house wearing something that tight. When she raised her arms up enough or turned a certain way, he had caught a glimpse of her navel and part of her stomach. Did all the women dress like this? He couldn't remember.
Being so close to the river, there was dew on everything. Steph's face and exposed arm were covered in beads of moisture, which danced and twinkled in the sun. There was a white mist hovering over the water, so they were protected from ay unfriendly eyes. But for how long?
Boromir walked towards the water, when the blue ribbon caught his eye. He felt a twinge of regret at having thrown it at her and annulling their friendship. Carefully, he picked it up and put it inside his shirt. He had broken it when he ripped it off his arm, but he wanted to keep it.
Looking out across the water, he could see a fish jumping out. His stomach grumbled a reply. The terrible feeling in the pit of his stomach was back. How would they survive? He was weaponless, they had no food, and they were going to walk to Rohan? It was hopeless, just as walking into Mordor to destroy the blasted ring was hopeless.
Why couldn't they have gone through the Gap of Rohan, like planned? Why did the hobbit have to be so stubborn? Why was he destined to die, leaving the Fellowship, and never getting a chance to make up for what he had done? Why was the feeling of betrayal weighing on him so heavily?
He stopped mid thought and unclenched his fists. Maybe that was it. He was supposed to follow the Fellowship and..help them? Was that it?
He stole a glance at Steph, who hadn't moved. Maybe there was a reason she was sent back. Could she really help?
Boromir sat down wearily as the pain from his arrow wounds nipped at him. Though they were healed, they still caused a sharp twinge from time to time, causing him to grab which ever it happened to be and wait for the pain to subside.
All at once, every single wound sharply burned. The pain was overwhelming, and unconsciousness flooded over him like a wave.
"Boromir. Wake up." The soft voice from the tunnel was talking in his ear.
"I am awake." He said groggily, frowning at the blackness around him.
"Why were you so stubborn to fall back to sleep? I was trying to talk to you."
Boromir raised an eyebrow. "I was not tired. Where am I?"
The voice laughed quietly. "Do you mean where are you now? Or when you awoke from death, where were you? Which do you mean?"
"I meant both, but I suppose I should ask the second."
It laughed again. "Past the Falls of Rauros."
If his face could have been seen, it would have lit up. "Near Rohan, then?"
"Yes." The voice replied simply. "Travel West."
"How long have I been dead?"
"One."
"One what?"
"One." The voice repeated.
"A last question!" Boromir said quickly, feeling the voice was leaving.
"No more questions.." the voice trailed off, leaving Boromir in total darkness. He blinked his eyes, realizing he had been lying on the sand.
He got up and brushed himself off, looking West. Should he trust the dream?
His thoughts were interrupted by Steph. She groaned as she rolled over, rubbing at the clinging sand and dew.
"This sucks ass." She grumbled, grimacing at the water droplets on her skin.
She brushed past Boromir and drank from the river, rubbing at her teeth with her finger.
"What are you doing?" Boromir asked, raising an eyebrow at her. Was she mad, or was it just him?
"What the hell do you think I'm doing, assclown?" she snapped, spitting off the water that was in her mouth, "I'm stuck in frickin Middle Earth again without a toothbrush! Do you know how many cavities I got from being here last time?"
He shook his head 'no'.
"Six! Six damn cavities! I ain't doin that again!"
He rolled his eyes and took a drink from the river.
"This sucks ass." She repeated, pulling at her shirt to remove the wrinkles.
"What are you talking about?"
"Well duh!" she said irritably, "I slept in my clothes, ON THE GROUND, I just brushed my teeth with my finger, and now I have to eat gum for breakfast!"
"Gum?"
"Yes assclown, gum. I bought some from Mike today at lunch."
Boromir raised an eyebrow. "Why not bring your own 'gum'?"
"Because we're not supposed to have it at school, idiot. I left mine at home."
"You mean you purposely buy contraband items, and then disregard more rules by eating it?"
Steph snorted. "Looks that way. Want some?"
Boromir took it grudgingly and sat down next to her, staring at the West. "You puzzle me."
"Really?" she quipped sarcastically, "I hadn't noticed."
He didn't like the taste of the gum. It was too sweet, sweeter than honey, and it stuck to his teeth. The taste made his mouth feel sticky and coated. But it was better than nothing, and they really needed to get going.
"Come along." He said at length, "We need to start."
Steph looked up from washing away the raccoon eyes sleeping in eye make up had given her. She got off and followed him to the boat.
"So, what are we doing? Walking and boating?"
"Walking." He answered, putting the broken hilt of his sword in his scabbard. He refused to take an orc weapon. He clasped the gray Elven cloak and hood, touching the brooch and remembering the fair times he spent there. Touching his side sadly, he hoped that the Anduin had carried the horn of Gondor home. He wished the Fellowship had been more careful when they put it in his funeral boat. Broken or no, he still would have liked to have it.
Steph was packing up as well. She had taken off her coat and tied it around her waist. Her purse was under her arm, and the coat served as a makeshift scabbard for the orc knife.
"Put that down!" Boromir ordered, looking with disgust at the orc weapon. "You are no orc! I will not allow you to carry such a thing!"
"Screw you, Middle Earth Monkey!" Steph snapped, tightening the jacket so the knife wouldn't slip anymore. "If you want to kill us both by trying to defend yourself with a broken sword, knock yourself out. I don't care who had this weapon last, I just know that it works." She stalked over to where he was standing.
"Do you even know where we're going?" she asked, shifting her weight to one hip.
"Where is the Fellowship going?"
Steph sighed. "They're going to go save the hobbits. But the Rohan dudes will get there first, so they'll go to see Eewyn and Theeden instead."
"Éowyn and Théoden." Boromir corrected. "They are going to Edoras then?"
She snorted. "You think I actually listened? I read the book, but I hardly remember any of it. That's what happened in the movie."
Boromir looked upwards in thought. "From here, it should take us 5 days to reach Edoras."
Steph was drawing circles in the sand with her foot. "Takes the Fellowship a week."
"How do you know?"
"Sara told me when she was on one of her 'I'm-a-Lord-of-the-Rings-obsessed- fangirl' days. She was saying how hard it must have been for them to run for a week from Emma Mool-"
"Emyn Muil." He corrected.
"Whatever! Emma Mool to Eddy's rash. I just looked at her funny."
"Edoras, Steph, it's EDORAS." He moaned, holding his head. She shot him a death glare, but said nothing.
"We should have started." He grumbled, pressing the gum against the front of his teeth. He motioned for her to follow. He usually blew a note on the horn before embarking on any journey, and it pained him to not be able to do it now. Still, he must press on. Time was wasting away.
"Come," he said over his shoulder, "we have a long journey ahead of us."
"No, really?" Steph said sarcastically, following him, "I thought we were going on a picnic!" blowing a bubble with her gum, she started on the journey, dreading every step.