Aggie: Bros, I just had the strangest dream about a giant hawk and it landed on these mountains, right? And then this bear, like, mauled this guy I don't know.

Ginny: Fascinating.

Moolie: And why are you telling us, dear?

Aggie: Just read…

Chapter Five: Back into the Fray

Aragorn walked out onto the balcony. Legolas stood on the corner, brooding.

"So, what can you say, bro. I really came through for you," Aragorn said.

"Uh huh," Legolas mumbled.

"Listen, everyone's already asleep. Wanna head in?"

"No, I'll stay out here."

"Whatever you say, Lover Boy," Aragorn smarmily elbowed Legolas in the ribs.

*LET THE PICKLE-INDUCED DREAM SEQUENCE BEGIN!*

Azimah was the last to fall asleep. But even as she did, restlessness filled her dreams.

Wind pulled at her hair gently. Sand crunched beneath her feet. An endless desert stretched before her; she could see the air wavering in front of her from the heat. She kept walking, but for what reason she did not know. As she stepped forward the scenery changed around her. Stone walls rose up before her and behind her, and it became dimmer. Candles were set in little niches in the walls and intricate rugs hung on the bare spaces. A curved doorway opened up before her and she stepped into a large room. A long intricate rug lay on the ground beneath her and stretched all the way across the room. She looked up. A figure stood before her, shrouded in a familiar veil.

"Azimah," her voice said. Chills went down Azimah's spine. She had not heard that voice in a very long time. "Azimah," she said again, the figure turning her head to her sister. "You have to let me go." Sand began to fall onto Amari's head, a faint rumbling sounding below them. Azimah looked around, flinching when sand fell on her too. What was going on? Sand started to fall from the ceiling all around the large room as the floor trembled. It was hard to keep her balance.

"You have to let me go, Azimah. You must go with him now," her sister said, her voice fading as the room started to fade into white. Behind Amari stepped Legolas. His eyes met Azimah's before he turned and walked towards the white light.

"But Amari, I'm afraid! I need you!" Azimah cried, reaching out to her sister as she began to fade into the whiteness as well.

"Go with him now, Azimah. If you do not, you will never be able to—"

Azimah reached out in vain for Amari but her hands met only air. The room was gone. Whiteness had taken its place. She was alone.

Azimah woke, gasping for air. The pain in her chest had returned. She quietly slipped out of the girls' chambers, wrapping her bed robe around herself as she walked into the darkness of the corridor.

…

Gimli tossed and turned and grunted in the hay pile he was using for a bed as he dreamt up this doozy:

The sun shone harshly across the plains of Rohan. One lone Elf sprinted across the grassy expanse.

"Unh. Unh. I can't go on!" Legolas gasped, tears running down his face.

Suddenly, in a cloud of dust and sweet perfume, a short and mighty blur sped past.

"Don't you know dwarves are natural sprinters!" Gimli called.

"That's my sugar pie!" Bonnie cried from the sidelines, wearing a scandalous low-cut scarlet ballgown complete with matching feathers in her hair.

Cue montage. Gimli is JUMPING, SPRINTING, and BEATING LEGOLAS at EVERYTHING. Gimli smashes five Orcs in one blow.

"That's 10 billion trillion thousand!" Gimli says proudly.

"I only have two," Legolas cries, collapsing on the ground in defeat.

"You can't beat my honey bear!" Bonnie calls as she bakes a PIE of VICTORY.

Gimli blows Bonnie a kiss. Bonnie fans herself and bats her eyelashes.

Gimli drinks five kegs of mead at once. Legolas takes a shot and passes out.

Gimli stars in 'Phantom of the Opera' with his magnificent tenor voice. Legolas whistles on the street corner for pennies.

Gimli walks on the moon. Legolas watches from Earth.

Gimli flies. Legolas is legless.

Gimli combs his hair back in a beautiful pompadour. Legolas's hair is greasy and thin.

Gimli comes home from work carrying a very successful looking briefcase. His wife Bonnie runs to him and greets him with a big, wet kiss. She's missed him all day. Their two bearded sons come to show him all the trophies they've won. Legolas sleeps alone in the homeless shelter.

It's real life.

…

Nora's eyes fluttered half-opened as she felt a shift to her right. She watched sleepily as Azimah put on her robe and walked silently out of the room. Groaning, Nora wiped the drool off her pillow and flipped over, falling right back to sleep.

Nora stood alone, her feet immersed in snow. All she could see is snow falling from the grey sky. A voice startled her. She could barely make out its figure a few feet in front of her but she could hear his rough, Nordic voice. He spoke in her native tongue.

"This is where you belong."

A man stood ten feet away. His long blonde hair was covered with a thin layer of snow. His facial features were strong and lacked emotion. Nora cried out at the sight of her father, more in disgust than panic.

Next to her father stood a smaller figure. His scarf flapped around his shoulders in the wind. Nora cried out for Pippin. Something came over her and she ran, as hard as it may have been in the snow, towards Pippin. Pippin gasped as he disappeared in the snow. In his place was a silhouette of a man. He continued to talk.

"Go home. You have duties there."

Before Nora on the snow flashed a young blonde man and children. As the silhouette disappeared into the snowy tundra, the young blonde man grew angry. He armed his battle axe and lashed out at Nora's father. Nora ran forward without a weapon, determined to save her father and kill the awful man. He struck her down with his axe. She felt no pain, gets up, and continued to fight back. She killed the man with her hands. His body and the children disappeared in the snow. Nora's father turned and nodded to her, but Nora felt no sense of relief or pride. She felt ashamed.

…

Frodo was running. White walls and high ceilings surrounded him. And people. So many people. Frodo was in a crowd of tall folk; everywhere he looked there was an arm or a leg, but never a face. He had to find her. Suddenly there was screaming. Everyone was running as the walls started collapsing. Fire and white marble everywhere. Frodo was pushed to the ground, he coughed in the smoke as trampling feet missed him by a hair's width. Frodo struggled to his feet. Through the crowd he could see a tiny form lying on its side, engulfed in flames. He wanted to yell her name, but all he could do was choke in the dust and smoke. A black figure was coming closer, it crouched by her side. Frodo tried to run forward, but the smoke had formed a chain around his neck. The ring was so heavy that it dragged him to the floor. The shadow man looked up; all Frodo could see was a mouth full of white peg teeth smiling at him. The crowd was gone; it was just the three of them now, surrounded by the fire. The shadow was on her now, his teeth lodged in her side.

"No!" Frodo choked.

The fire was fading. She was fading. The shadow was sucking life out of her. It grew cold as the fire faded to ash, Frodo shuddered.

The shadow man stood up, wiping his mouth on the back of his hand.

"Silly wench took long enough to find," He smirked. "Well, she's the last of them. You can have what's left." He patted Frodo on the head. With that he disappeared.

Frodo could move now, he held her close. She was so cold.

Frodo awoke shivering. Sam sat nearby, trying to build a fire.

"Mister Frodo?" He looked concerned. "Can I offer you some corn spoonbread?"

Frodo numbly accepted the food, unable to criticize its saturated fat content.

…

Lightning flashed as harsh rave music pierced the skull. The air was filled with thick, pink, sparkly smoke as rainbow butterflies pirouetted past. Glow sticks could faintly be made out in all the thick smoke and floating bubbles. There stood a waterbed, still quivering as if someone had just gotten off its zebra print silk sheets.

"Ah, well, back into the fray," the groovy, afro'd, young warlock's voice echoed as he stepped towards a door, wearing bellbottom pants and platform, corduroy shoes.

Gandalf rolled over in his bed. "Ah, Wizard College," he muttered to himself, smiling.

...

Legolas stood watching the night sky. He pulled his cloak tighter around himself as the cold wind rustled by. 'Well, at least she's speaking to me now' he thought. Having Azimah shun him was the worst feeling he had experienced since his mother had traveled into the West.

"Ah, the solitary lookout."

Azimah had appeared at his side, wrapped in her robe.

"What are you doing out here?" Legolas asked softly.

"Couldn't sleep, weird dreams…"

"Oh…" Legolas tried to keep his eyes on the stars, but Azimah's aura of warmth felt so inviting. His mind started to wander when he felt a hand on his shoulder blade, causing him to jump.

Azimah laughed quietly. "Calm down. It's only me."

'You have no idea,' he thought, trying as hard as he could to focus on the stars, the valley, anything…

Azimah laughed again. Had she heard him? Was he talking out loud? Legolas began to panic. Everything felt so surreal, Azimah's hand on his shoulder, then down to his chest, gliding lightly over his own hand. Legolas closed his eyes and took a shaky breath.

His arms seemed to move on their own accord, wrapping around her waist, drawing her closer.

"Azimah," he whispered with a smile, his eyes half opened.

"Legolas," she replied quietly. Legolas closed his eyes and prepared for something he had dreamt of many times before.

"Legolas!" she said again, this time deeper and louder.

Legolas's eyes opened wide. All he saw were the stars and dark valley in front of him. His heart dropped.

"Legolas!" he heard again, immediately and sadly identifying the voice as Aragorn's. He turned to see Aragorn with a scared look in his eyes. "Bro, I just had this gnarly dream where Gimli was king and I wasn't and everyone had beards, man! Even you! And there were these bears, these bears with weird scales that popped out of the ground and-"

"You were dreaming about sand bears?" Legolas asked a bit shakily, still recovering from his dream.

"Yeah, it was terrifying!"

Legolas smiled a bit to himself. He and Azimah were the only people in the company who knew that sand bears didn't actually exist.

Suddenly, he picked up on some commotion indoors. "Do you hear that?"

"No, stupid, I don't have Elf hearing," said Aragorn, a little put out that Legolas hadn't been more sympathetic to his horrific nightmare.

"There's something going on inside. Some presence…" Legolas's eyes narrowed.

"I'll go check it out!" Aragorn said. He quickly turned around, tripped slightly, and kept running into the hall. Legolas sighed, grateful that his cloak was so thick. Thankfully Aragorn hadn't noticed…

…

Aggie: See?

Ginny: Yes, well…

Moolie: Bye, guys!

Ginny: And where are you going?

Moolie: Out with Dan!

Aggie: Whatevs. Ginny, wanna play some DND?

Ginny: If you leave out machine and ray guns, then sure.

Aggie: Yesssss.