A/N: I own nothing.

***Chapter 24***

**Deirdre's POV**

"They're dead." I informed them simply. "Somewhere in the underground labyrinth, though with the water I'm not entirely sure where they are."

"There are five thousand dead Uruk-hai underground?" Theoden asked me, shocked.

"Yep." I replied cheerily. "I talked Saruman into wiping out half of his army."

I couldn't keep the smile off of my face. It had been so long since I had been able to smile freely, and truly be myself. I was taking as much advantage of it as possible.

"You will have to explain how you managed to do that." Gandalf said, his tone was serious but there was some amusement in his eyes.

"Of course, but I think that maybe we should be heading back to Edoras now, unless you want to rest here for the night." I offered, sure it wasn't technically mine. But I was the only one left alive in Orthanc so I didn't see a problem.

"Who are you?" Theoden asked me harshly.

"Oh, apologies," I curtsied, bowing my head respectfully to Theoden. "I'm Deirdre, my lord."

The king looked over me skeptically, obviously not trusting me. But I guess I passed his inspection, as he nodded his head at me. I rose from my curtsy.

"I am King Theoden of Rohan." He informed me. "And this is Eomer, Captain of the Rohirrim."

I nodded my head as an acknowledgement of Eomer's title. He curtly nodded in return to me. His face remained impassive, while I was smiling on a massive scale.

"So would you like to stay the night in Orthanc?" I questioned. "There are a surprising amount of rooms."

"I'm afraid not, Deirdre. There is need to return to Edoras with haste." Gandalf interjected, before the King could say anything.

"Of course," I nodded my head. "I'll just collect Wormtongue's horse and my swords, unless one of you happened to grab them?"

I doubted any of them had actually grabbed my swords, but then I saw the glint of my dual blades at Legolas' waist. I smiled at him, meeting eyes for the first time with the elf that I loved. But my heart ached when he quickly looked away from me, my smile faded for the first time. But I quickly readjusted my face, smiling. I was happy that my friends were here, but Legolas' reaction to me was anything but encouraging.

I rushed to the stables, which were thankfully mostly waterproof and right next to the storeroom. I collected the horse that I had seen Wormtongue arrive on, it was also the only horse in the stable, so I thought it a pretty good indication. I fastened the saddle quickly, leading the horse out of the stable and peering quickly into the storeroom. It was completely ransacked, there was little to no usable food inside, apparently the hobbits had really gone to town on the storeroom.

"That is a horse of Rohan." Theoden observed when I arrived back at the group on horseback.

"Yes, Wormtongue arrived on this horse. I felt it was time that it was returned to its proper home." I replied quietly, I didn't want the king to hate me.

"Deirdre," Gandalf called from his place at the edge of the group. "Ride with me. I would like to hear about your time here in Isenguard."

I nodded my head and moved over to where the wizard was, with that we moved out of my personal prison and on to the freedom that was Edoras. As soon as we started riding, Gandalf began his interrogation.

"How did you convince Saruman to kill half his army?" was his first question, he wasn't pussyfooting around.

"I made up that if he sent the whole force that half would return and take Isenguard from him, and that his army needed training. This 'training' would be killing another Uruk-hai in a one-on-one battle. They weren't too hard to kill, were they?" I asked worriedly.

"No, quite the opposite." Aragorn replied from his place behind me in the group.

"Oh, thank goodness. I was afraid that I was hurting your chances." I breathed a sigh of relief.

"So you had something to do with the army that attacked Helm's Deep and killed so many of my men." Theoden practically growled.

"With respect, if I hadn't have been in Isenguard and talked Saruman into halving his army, many more of your men would be dead right now." I replied, wanting the king to understand where I was coming from.

The king nodded his head once sharply, understanding but he still didn't like it. Gandalf continued his interrogation though.

"And how did you convince Saruman that you were trustworthy?"

"I kind of told him that if he sent the Warg riders that they would kill Aragorn." I said looking down, my eyes quickly traveled over to Aragorn. "Sorry about that, by the way. It was going to happen anyway. But I still feel bad for taking credit for that, so sorry."

Aragorn shut his eyes and shook his head with a small laugh. Apparently, he wasn't too mad at me for what I had done.

"How did you know that it would happen?" Eomer asked.

"Guess the cat's out of the bag." I said quietly. "Saffron and I aren't exactly from around here. We are from another world. That has everything that happens here in books that people read for entertainment."

"So you know the future?" Pippin enquired curiously.

"Yeah, pretty much." I replied. "Though I don't know the effects of Saffy and I's actions."

"That's so cool. Why didn't you tell us earlier?" Merry asked.

"Well, Elrond kind of suggested that we didn't. And if we did than you all probably would have wanted to know what was going to happen. Which could make you act differently, which could result in a change of events, and could potentially change the future."

"So instead, you kept this from us?" Legolas stated coldly.

"I was just trying to make sure everything happened the way that it should, so that we could win this war." I replied quietly, my voice coming out childlike.

Legolas refused to meet my gaze, instead he focused on the path before him. As we moved through the trees of Fangorn forest, I felt guilt rise up inside of me. Even though it had seemed the best way to help them at the time, maybe my idea wasn't the best.

"Did Saruman tell you of any of the plans for after Helm's Deep?" Gandalf questioned.

"No," I replied. "But I know I was supposed to go to Mordor."

Legolas snorted at this, my eyes lowered once again. I didn't want to cry because of the way that he was acting, but it was rather hard not to. Maybe later tonight, when we had broken for camp we would have a chance to talk.

"Right, because you were going to be Sauron's whore." Legolas barked out, my mouth dropped as he said that.

"That was never going to happen." I growled out lowly, my sadness and shock was turning into anger.

"Deirdre, what does he mean?" Gandalf asked insistently.

"Saruman had me speak with Sauron through the palantir. Sauron told me that after the Uruk-hai took Helm's Deep, that I was to kill Saruman. Then, if I should prove my 'loyalty' to him, when he had his form back he would make me his bride and I would help him rule over Middle Earth." I explained, disgusted with the words coming from my mouth. But I had to tell them.

"He wanted to take you for his bride?" Gandalf questioned.

"Apparently, he said that Saruman's worth would be used up after Rohan fell. And that I would make a better partner in destroying freedom in Middle Earth than Saruman would." I replied quietly, though the disgust was still there.

Everyone around me was quiet, there was no comment from the hobbits. Not even Saffy was willing to say anything. My stomach was churning throughout the silence, my nerves were beginning to get the better of me.

"Interesting," Gandalf commented, breaking the eerie silence. "It seems that Sauron is confident that he will succeed in taking control of Middle Earth."

The group fell silent, no one felt very talkative. We continued riding until darkness fell, although it was somewhat hard to tell when it was dark out, as we were in the middle of Fangorn.

"We will make camp here for the night." Theoden declared as we stopped in a clearing.

Everyone dismounted and began setting up the campsite. I unrolled a bedroll and sat away from most of the group, as it didn't seem that many people wanted to talk to me right now. A fire was lit, and Saffy called me over to sit with her and Nimiwen. The hobbits sat near us, thankfully they weren't too mad at me. Aragorn offered me a small smile from his place on the other side of the fire. The only ones who were avoiding me were Theoden, Eomer, and Legolas. As the night wears on a little, the hobbits retire for the night. As do Saffy and Nimiwen, who are curling up together. Both Aragorn and Gandalf sit by the fire, smoking on their pipes. Snores echo out from the sleeping Gimli and both of the Rohinians have retired for the night.

A quick glance around shows me that Legolas is sitting away from the rest of the group, still awake. His eyes blink occasionally, which is my only sign that he is awake. I rise from my seat by the fire and walk over to Legolas. He looks up at me blankly, as though I don't matter. It is the same look that I wore through most of my time at Isenguard.

"Can we talk?" I asked him quietly.

He nodded his head and got up from his seat, he began walking away into the darkness of the trees. I followed after him, wanting a little privacy for this conversation as well. I was incredibly grateful that I was an elf, considering that I could see rather well in the dark. He stopped relatively quickly, making sure that we were just out of hearing range for the camp.

"What do you need to say?" he questioned coldly.

"How long are you going to be mad at me?" my tone was quiet and sad.

"I'm not so much angry, as I feel betrayed."

"Legolas, I would never betray you. I only left be—"

"You left because you wanted to. You knew that I was coming for you. That I would be there to save you. And yet you still left."

"Legolas," I tried once more, but he cut me off again.

"Don't. I can't trust you." He told me simply. "You could lie and get away with it to Saruman's face, for days on end. How can I trust someone like that?"

"But, Legolas I've ne-"

"Don't Deirdre. Just stop."

He looked at me sadly then reached down to his waist. He unfastened the belt which carried my swords this whole time. He shoved the belt and swords into my hands, my hands didn't want to function right.

"Why won't you just listen to me?" I asked in a pleading voice.

"Because, I can't trust you." He told me flatly. "Why couldn't you have just stayed behind and waited for me?"

"Because it wasn't what I needed to do. It may have been what I wanted to—"

"Why can't you be more like Saffron?" he almost yelled.

I stopped, I was tired of him cutting me off. I was tired of him not believing me. And I couldn't stand that he had just said that. I was my own person, not a copy of my best friend. My sadness and guilt turned to anger.

"If you wanted to court someone more like Saffron, then maybe you should have courted her." I spat out at him, my anger bubbling over.

We began to build anger off of one another, with every comment my temper rose.

"I don't know why I didn't. Maybe I should have."

"Yeah. Maybe you should have. So why didn't you?" I sneered.

"Because you were easier." He snarled, his voice coming out angrier than I had ever heard.

"You are such a bastard." I growled back at him, but my voice was steadily rising. "You know what, I'm glad I went to Isenguard. Because I finally learned how you really are."

"Maybe you should have stayed at Isenguard. I'm sure that you know all about your precious Sauron." He yelled at me.

I saw nothing but red. I couldn't believe he was actually saying this to me. A small part of me inside that had remained sane was sobbing, but that part was ignored. I continued on my path of anger.

"I would gladly go to Sauron if it meant that I didn't have to spend another minute with you!" I yelled back at him.

"Then why don't you go?" he shouted.

"I'm so out of here!" I screamed at him, turning away from him and storming off into the trees.

"Good riddance!" I heard him yell once more at me.

I walked off into the trees until I thought he was far enough away. My anger changed from being directed at Legolas to being directed at myself. I slammed my fist into the nearest tree. Pain erupted up my wrist, but it didn't faze me in the slightest. I punched the tree once more, I felt that my fist was now wet with blood. I continued to pound my fist into the tree, the pain bringing the tears to my eyes that I didn't want to bring up for Legolas. Sometime during the punching, there was a crack. But I kept slamming my fist into the tree, losing track of how many times I had smashed my fist. I began to lose track of how many times I heard a resounding crack. I wasn't even sure if it was my fist or the tree anymore. Finally, I collapsed to the base of the tree in a pile of sobbing teenager.

I cried for the pain in my hand, I cried for the pain in my heart, I cried because I was angry, and I cried about Legolas. But mostly, my tears were for the track that was running in my head, saying that no one wanted me, that I would always be alone. That it was amazing that Legolas had put up with me this long. I fell deeper and deeper into despair.

"Deirdre?" A familiar voice asked hesitantly. "Deirdre, are you well?"

I looked up behind me, standing there worried was Aragorn. I held my hand up to show him the bloody mass. His eyes widened at the sight of it.

"I think I hurt my hand." I told him in a voice close to tears.

He smiled at me sadly then he reached down and picked up my swords. Apparently I had left them on the ground next to me. I wasn't sure how Aragorn had found me, but at this point I didn't care.

"Come on, let's get that taken care of." He calmly coaxed me.

I nodded my head and rose from my place on the ground. He led me back to camp, it was much longer than I thought it had been. We arrived in the camp to find that everyone was asleep. I suppose it was Aragorn's turn to take watch, and he had left the camp to come and find me.

We sat down next to the fire. He looked at my hand and winced when he saw the damage in the firelight. To say that my hand looked like it had been abused by a meat tenderizer would have been an understatement. He took his water skin and poured some of the water onto my hand, gently washing away the blood, dirt, and the occasional piece of tree. He stood up, only to bring his healing kit over to the fire and sat back down taking my hand once more.

"What happened?" he asked me cautiously.

"I punched a tree."

"You punched a tree? And this is the result?" he questioned, shocked that punching the tree had done this much damage to my hand.

"I may have punched it more than once." My voice came out flatly.

"What would drive you to punch one of the trees in Fangorn?" he asked, he must have been amazed I was still alive.

"Can we not talk about that right now?" my voice shook. I sounded on the brink of tears, and I suppose I was.

"You should talk to someone about it." He told me. "If you like, I can wake Saffron up for you."

"No," I snapped, not wanting to ruin the peace that my friend had. "She doesn't need to wake up. She and Nimiwen are so happy, I don't want to ruin that."

"Still, you need to talk to someone. It's not healthy for you to punch trees, especially not the trees of Fangorn."

"I know." I muttered.

He continued to work on my hand we fell silent for a few minutes. He seemed to be contemplating what had caused me to injury myself to such an extent.

"I think you may have broken it." He commented.

"That would explain the cracking sounds."

"Did you continue to punch the tree after you heard the cracks?" he asked, horrified by this.

"Yeah, I think so." I responded emotionlessly.

He sighed and took a bandage from him pack and carefully wrapped it around my hand. Pain continued to throb through my hand, but I didn't give into the temptation to gasp in pain. It was my pain to bear, and I would bear it in silence. When he was done, he took my uninjured right hand and dragged me over to his bedroll. Then he walked over and grabbed mine, bringing it over to his as well.

"You need to talk about what upset you." He almost ordered.

I sighed and nodded my head, he sat down on his bedroll and I followed suit. I didn't want to talk about what had happened because I knew I would end up crying.

"I got into a fight with Legolas." I said simply, to which he nodded his head. "And I said some things that I didn't mean."

With encouragement from Aragorn, who was surprisingly good at this, I told him the entire story. When the tears began rolling down my cheeks, Aragorn comforted me. He rocked me to sleep, and my tears had stained his shirt by the time that I was unconscious. I was vaguely aware that I had fallen asleep lying against his chest, as the tears had continued to roll even as I fell asleep.

The next morning, my eyes focused to find most everyone was awake. The only one who remained asleep in fact, was Gimli. I recognized the familiar feeling of being asleep on a man's chest. But as my memory flooded back to me, I couldn't help but feel disappointed. Yes, Aragorn was an incredibly attractive man. However, he was going to be marrying Arwen and the person who I really wished I was curled up with was Legolas.

I made a small noise of disappointment and pulled away from Aragorn. He was slightly groggy still, probably just waking up. I moved away from him quite a bit, then rose from my bedroll. My face was still a little stiff from crying the previous night and my hand sent a signal pain up to my brain. I winced a little and looked down at it. The bandaging was done quite well, it was almost impossible to see the beat up parts of my hand beneath it.

"Morning," Saffy commented cheerily, happy to see that I was awake.

"Morning," I replied in a dead tone.

Even though I was glad that Saffy wasn't mad at me, I still felt broken inside. I noticed that she was eating along with the other people in the small camp. Nausea filled me. I turned away from the group eating the food and began rolling up my bedroll.

"Breakfast is ready, Di." Saffy told me.

"I'm not hungry." I told her flatly, I tried to give her a reassuring smile but it didn't work.

She frowned when she looked at me, she must have known something was wrong. Her eyes travelled over to my hand, the one that was covered in a bandage and was beginning to bleed through slightly.

"Di?" she questioned worriedly.

I put on a fake smile, trying to show her that I was fine. She wasn't buying it though. This had happened before. I had felt dead inside, and stopped eating for a few days. She must have caught on that it was happening again.

I ignored her worried looks. Instead I packed up all of my things. We moved out quickly, leaving behind our campsite in Fangorn, along with the drops of blood that I had left against that tree. The day passed slowly and quietly, Saffy would try and talk to me but my responses were always short and neutral. She was getting more concerned with every flat response.

Edoras came into sight at early evening. There was a blonde woman standing outside of the main hall, her hair and dress was blowing in the wind. We arrived in Edoras and our horses were taken to the stables. Saffy led me and Nimiwen over to the blonde woman, who I guessed to be Eowyn.

"Eowyn, this is Deirdre." Saffy introduced me to the woman.

"Hello there, I am glad to hear that you have returned from Isenguard." Eowyn said courteously, apparently Saffy had told her about my stay in Isenguard.

"I'm glad to return to kind people as well." I responded, I was trying to sound happy but my voice still sounded dead.

"Eowyn, there is going to be a feast tonight, isn't there?" Saffy asked her, clarifying this.

"Yes. But you will all need to change. Those clothes are not fit for a celebration." Eowyn commented kindly. "Come on, I'll take you to the guest rooms."

Eowyn led us to the rooms where we could prepare for the night and even returned with dresses for the feast tonight. I thanked her and began preparing for the celebration. After my bath, I fastened my corset and dressed, then sat down and brushed my hair out. There was a knock at the door and I walked over, opening it for whoever was on the other side.

Standing before me was Saffy in a dress for the celebration tonight, her hair hung down straight and loose. She came into the room, taking a seat on the bed. I turned around and walked over to her, she pulled me down beside her.

"What's wrong?" she asked me worriedly.

"Legolas and I fought." I replied in my dead tone.

"Start talking." Saffy ordered me.

So I did, I told her everything. About all the words that had passed between me and Legolas, about how I broke my hand punching the tree, and how Aragorn found and bandaged me up. All the while, she sat listening waiting for me to finish before saying anything.

"When was the last time that you ate?" she enquired.

"Not since the night after the Ents attacked." I responded.

"Di, that was almost four days ago."

"I suppose it was." I answered in an empty tone.

"I'm getting you something to eat." She said, rising from her place beside me and heading out of the room.

I stayed on the bed, not having the energy or motivation to move. Instead, I just laid back against the bed, shutting my eyes. The door swung shut once more when Saffy returned. She put a tankard of liquid down on the table beside the bed and handed me an entire thing of Lembas bread. If supposedly Lembas bread could fill a grown man's stomach with only one bite, then one bite would be all I needed for now. I took a bite out of the Lembas bread. It felt heavy in my mouth. I chewed the bread and swallowed, even though it felt like a lump going down my throat. Then I took a swig of the liquid, it turned out to only be water. I was looking forward to going to the celebration tonight there would be a large amount of alcohol there.

"What are you going to do?" she questioned, she sounded so worried about me.

"Not sure. Probably wait and see how it all plays out." I said despairingly.

"Well, let's get you ready for the celebration tonight."

"Shouldn't you be with Nimiwen?"

"She can live without me for a little while. Come on, we're doing your hair." She ordered.

I sat down at the vanity and let her do two braids running down the sides of my head. In the same style that I had worn so long ago when we had gone to the council. The style I had insisted upon wearing so that I looked like a warrior, but I didn't feel it much right now. It was also the same style that Legolas wore, and that hurt the most. When she was done, she patted my shoulders. Then she backed away towards the door.

"Come on. We have a feast to attend." Saffy said as cheerily as possible.

***End Chapter 24***

Read and Review please. Serrah needs inspiration to finish the next chapter. XD