Chapter 4: We're Going To Rohan

"So, tell me again," Roza growled in frustration as we walked through the woods, "Does he really have to come along?" She was obviously talking about Lucas.

So far, I'd gathered the following information.

~ One: he was part of my mind, so he was technically a recreation of the real Lucas Grabeel.

~ Two: that little bit of knowledge only made Laerwen hate him more than she originally hated the real Lucas.

~ And three: the cats and I were alone in welcoming him along on our journey instead of figuring out a way to return him to my mind.

"Yes," I told her bitterly because she'd been asking me all day, "He's going to be here either way and three of us prefer him this way. So, no biting."

She harrumphed at me in a way that was obviously loaded with sarcasm.

"Bite him?" Cae muttered with a dry laugh, "He's too scrawny. He wouldn't make a good meal."

I ignored her as we kept walking. "Since we're somewhere in the middle of Mirkwood, our next stop would be where?" I asked rather curiously in spite of the fact that I was still ignoring the elves.

"Isengard," Laerwen took the opportunity to inform me rather reluctantly, "All we have to do is –"

"MP!" Siltizamile stated randomly, making everyone stop and turn to look at her in surprise.

"What did you just call me?" Laerwen asked, almost horrified at what it could mean.

"MP," Siltizamile explained excitedly, "I warned you that I'd come up with a nickname for you. MP stands for Midget Phantom."

"Why?" Laerwen asked again in confusion.

"I got bored in all my free time and besides… you keep scaring the guts out of Lunabelle, here." Siltizamile smirked as I stared at her confused.

Was she talking about me? The way she looked at me told me I was right.

"Wait, who's this Lunabelle?" Laerwen asked, but it seemed we were thinking the same thing.

"Do you like the name?" Siltizamile asked hopefully.

"Lunabelle?" Roza questioned in a flat tone, raising an eyebrow at the blonde cat-girl, who just nodded eagerly. After a quick glance in my direction, she shrugged.

"Eh, pick something else," Cae stated almost sleepily – or maybe she was just bored – and I slugged her in the arm.

"I think it's cute," Jesephany told her best friend with a big smile.

"I like it," I finally spoke up before turning to Siltizamile, quickly avoiding Cae's potential punch, "It sounds really pretty."

"It means 'pretty moon'," Siltizamile explained before turning back to Laerwen, "And I figured Midget Phantom would be perfect because – well, lets face it – you're not getting any taller and… you scare people. So, MP it is." She smiled triumphantly while Laerwen – I mean, MP – crossed her arms and turned to Haldir, looking for support.

"You are small," he stated, looking down at her with a smile, "And you can be scary. It suits you very nicely if I don't say so myself."

"I'd rather you didn't say," MP mumbled before stating something in a low voice in her language.

I'd been picking up a few things and all I heard was something to the extent of 'men… what use are they if they won't even stand up for their woman'.

"All this name-changing is giving me a headache," I had to admit after shaking my head in attempt to focus on what we were supposed to be doing.

"Okay, so we'll just stick with Lunabelle and MP," Siltizamile stated, "What do we do now?"

"Well, right now, we have to head in the direction of Lothlórien," Haldir explained simply, nodding towards me as if I was supposed to know how to lead them. I mean, come on… they lived here and frankly I knew nothing.

"Well, what is that supposed to mean?" I asked him and then noticed everyone was looking at me expectantly, "Why are you all looking at me?"

Haldir chuckled to himself. "Lady Lunabelle, it was none other than little Lady Siltizamile who specifically said you were the one to lead us, was it not?" he questioned knowingly.

I sighed in defeat as I whipped around. "Fine," I grumbled and began to trudge away, not caring which way I was headed.

"Lady Lunabelle," Haldir called after me, but I ignored him, "You might not want to go that way."

"Oh, and why no –" I screamed in surprise as what looked like another elf jumped out of the trees and landed on his feet in front of me, forcing me to freeze in place and clutch my heart so it wouldn't leap out of my chest. As soon as I stopped screaming at the top of my lungs, I tried so hard to get my breath back and restore my composure, though I'm sure my face resembled that of pure terror, rendering it impossible to do so. When my brain finally began to function again, I slowly turned around halfway so I could see both the strange elf and the crowd of snickering friends.

I glanced over to watch Lucas, who seemed as confused as I was, though he was laughing a bit. I guess I did look kind of hysterical right now and I was almost positive I'd screamed out some kind of profanity before dropping almost dead silent. Stepping back a bit so I could see the newcomer and the other elves at the same time, I finally found my voice and almost screamed, "Why do you keep doing that?"

The only response I got was a slight chuckle from the newcomer, a small snort from MP, and a knowing smile from Haldir. I looked back at the elf who'd successfully managed to scare almost eight of my nine lives out of me even before getting to know me.

"I'm so sorry. That was rude of me," the elf told me, "Allow me to introduce myself."

"Yes, because it's so rude to scare the living daylights out of someone before introducing yourself," I stated sarcastically, rolling my eyes for effect, "After that, it's perfectly acceptable."

"In any case, I am Legolas, Prince of Mirkwood, son of King Thranduil," he introduced himself as I took in his long blonde hair, bow and arrows slung over his shoulder, and the curious white knives I observed were tucked away from sight in easy access, "And who might you be?"

"Why do you want to know?" I asked him carefully so he wouldn't feel compelled to spear me with any of his weapons. Seriously, though. Who could I trust, if I found it impossible to trust most of the people I was currently traveling with? Definitely not the elves, which sadly included this one.

"Being the fact this is my father's forest, I find it necessary to look out for anyone passing through," Legolas explained, "Now, who are you and what can I help you with?"

I didn't know what to say, since I was still confused about the name changing and I really didn't know what I was doing. Instead of answering, I looked over at MP and Haldir, hoping they would help.

"Morning, Lord Legolas," Haldir greeted him with a smile, "I'm sure you know me and my partner, Lady Laerwen."

"Of course, Lord Haldir. How could I forget you and the Lady?" Legolas nodded politely before gesturing towards the rest of us. "I am glad to see you fare well. Who are your friends and what brings you here?"

"Well, my Lord, this is Roza, Cae, Jesephany, Siltizamile, Lucas, and the one you recently terrified is… Lunabelle," MP explained, gesturing to us as she spoke our names, but reluctantly spoke Lucas' name – no surprise there, "We are heading for Lothlórien on our way to Rohan."

"Then, Lady Lunabelle, I am afraid you will need my guidance," Legolas informed me.

"Why would I need your help?" I asked him, realizing he was yet another elf who knew English.

"You are heading in the wrong direction," he told me as a matter-of-factly, "Lothlórien is that way." He gestured behind me and I sighed in defeat. Those elves were wearing me down. "It will be an honor to escort you that far," he continued as I just nodded and gave up my argument, "Then, please, follow me." With that, he nodded respectfully and headed off in the direction he'd previously pointed in, so we followed.

The elves hung out up front while the vampires stayed behind us and that left me with the cats and Lucas. I couldn't say I felt protected at all with two powerful creatures behind us and three equally skilled warriors up front, leading us to wherever it was we were going.

Siltizamile – our astronomer – wouldn't be of much help if we got lost at night because the sky was blocked by the treetops and Jesephany – our illusionist – really couldn't do much except scar someone for life by making them witness some horrible mental image.

Then, there was Lucas. I'd have to call him something else because just the mention of his name made everyone squirm uncomfortably, but I'd have to think about it. "Ryan," I finally spoke to myself moments later, receiving curious glances from the others, "Since we're all going through identity crises with all this name-changing, I thought I would add one more to the club. From now on, we're calling Lucas" – there was a shudder from the others – "Okay, I get the point, we're calling him Ryan."

"Hey… it works," Siltizamile shrugged, looking away into the woods, "How much longer until we finally get there, elfy?"

All three elves up front turned to her in confusion.

"She better not be talking to me," MP said, glancing at Haldir, then reluctantly towards Legolas.

I smirked. "I think she's talking to Leggy-Lass," I responded, receiving a chuckle from Haldir, a snort from MP, and a confused look from the other elf I still hadn't quite forgiven yet, followed shortly by a round of giggles from the others when he finally understood what I'd just said.

"I'll have you know it is rude and offensive to shorten an elf's name," Legolas retorted stiffly.

I smiled innocently at him. "I didn't shorten it," I told him simply, "I just tweaked it a bit to fit your personality."

"I will not dignify that with a response," was his reply and he turned away from me as we kept walking.

"But… by saying you won't give a response, you are responding," I retorted quickly and I saw him heave a huge sigh as he tried to ignore me. Good luck with that.

"We have only a bit further to go," he said in a low careful voice, returning to a somewhat serious topic, "We shall need to cross the river of Nimrodel to get to Lothlórien."

"Aye, Aye, mon Capitaine!" I chirped for the sole purpose of watching him perplex at my statement.

And so it was relatively quiet the rest of the way.

(A/N) Well, that's Chapter 4 for ya! Sry I didn't update sooner. I suddenly got swamped with work and the torment of the past school years. College is a very scary and threateningly dangerous topic. Heheh… *nervous chuckle* Well, anywhose… hope you liked what you read. I won't blame you if you didn't, but I still need to apologize for this being so late. *sheepish grin*

Sorry, I didn't write more sooner… Luthien Saralonde, out of everyone, should know how brain-dead and stressed I've been for the past… how long has it been? Well, last year was pretty bad. I shall try to uphold my promise to bring more words to paper and then transferred to Word document very soon so as not to keep everyone waiting for another year. Well, Luthien Saralonde, I hope you still think it's worth it. And I promise I won't complain about my junky writing anymore. XD Cuz I know that used to bother you.

For those who don't know and are interested in finding out, 'mon Capitaine' is French for 'my Captain'. And that's about it for Cloe's Wacky French Lesson – one of my many Wacky Lessons. =P

And in case anyone reading this hasn't noticed, I've gone back and updated the last 3 chapters… I didn't do anything severe, but I fixed a lot of the mistakes that had been pointed out to me and the formatting and grammar is much better now. *nods* So, you can check that out if you really want to… Just remember the elves, though… *shudders* I'd almost forgotten this story was rated M for a reason. =/

Posted: 10/30/11