A/N: Hey there! Once again, I apologize for the lack of updates recently, but (as much as I fear this excuse is getting old) life has been incredibly busy for me. And with the upcoming holidays, it'll probably only get even crazier!

HOWEVER! I wanted to let you guys know that I plan on having two more chapters after this, and then we'll be finished with this first book! And I also plan on getting those two chapters out before the end of 2013! So you'll get a new book to start of the new year. ;) Fair deal? Haha, hopefully gearing up for the Desolation of Smaug will give me more motivation to pump these chapters out.

And until I see you all again, I hope you guys have a happy Thanksgiving! :) Enjoy this chapter!

Chaos Unleashed: Chapter Eighteen

Erin's POV

I was as gleeful as a kid on Christmas morning with the world's largest ice cream sundae in front of him. That kid had also just gotten tickets to Disneyland in his stocking. That kid was so excited that he couldn't even tell he was excited anymore. He was just on this weird kind of high that you get from LSD or something. And I was that kid. It was me. Despite the recent tragedy we were dealing with, and the impending threat of being discovered bearing down on us, I was buzzing with excitement. Why, you ask? Because I had just made a breakthrough.

"GUYS!" I screamed, bounding down the stairs and into the living room. "Guys, I think I figured it out! I think I can send you home!"

Immediately, I had everyone's attention. "Really?" Pippin asked.

I nodded furiously. "Yeah, come here! And one of you go get the others!" Merry ran out to take care of that, while Legolas, Pippin, and Aragorn quickly followed me back up to the second floor. I was a bit bummed that Kathryn was out at work. She was gonna miss the grand finale.

We all crowded into the art studio, where I'd been diligently working away on my laptop for awhile now. Kaia, Kathryn and I had all been swapping data back and forth, and I was hoping that I'd finally just worked out the last detail I needed to in order to solve the problem of the year. As I pulled up several pages worth of notes I'd taken in Microsoft Word, I could hear a few excited whisperings from the guys behind me. The smile on my face grew even more as I heard the rest of them coming in. Are we really doing this? Are we making this happen? Oh my word, we are.

I spun around in my seat as Kaia, Boromir, and Frodo arrived. The first thing I noticed was a look of curiosity on Boromir's face as he looked to the center of the room. "What's this?" The questioning expression was reflected on the faces of all the others, save for Kaia. She knew what was going on.

"This," I said, gesturing to what lay before me, "is how you're getting back to Middle-Earth." In the center of the studio, I'd cleared some floor space and placed a small table there. On top of the table was a poster of a map of Middle-Earth that I used to have in my room, and set on top of that was a small, unlit candle, next to my One Ring replica.

Aragorn looked skeptical, but also intrigued. "And how do these things work together to transport us?"

"Well for starters, my ring is apparently the key to all of this. I'm sure of it."

"How so?"

"I had it weighed," I said. "Kathryn did some snooping around and eventually found the page on eBay that I got it from, and she was able to contact some others that had bought rings from the same person. She said she was doing an experiment and got the weights of their rings, and all of them were significantly lighter than mine."

"So...this means it has magical properties?" Legolas asked to confirm.

"I guess so," I answered. "I don't know how, but it does. No one else had reported a glowing inscription and characters appearing in their house."

"But how is this getting us back home?" Merry spoke up.

I looked over at Kaia. "You want to answer this one?"

She nodded. "We did research on the theories of several different people – most of them actual scientists – and picked out a couple key things to opening inter-dimensional portals that they all had in common. One of them was that portals tend to pop up more around objects of power." She pointed to the ring. "Another one was that in order for the portal to be opened, the power of that object needs some source of energy to draw on. In our case, the energy given off by heat." She pointed to the candle.

Pippin frowned, and looked back at me. "But you didn't say anything about candles before."

"No," I replied. "We think that the first time this happened, it was drawing on the energy of sound waves from my loud music. There's also a common idea that portals need some sort of trigger to set them off; just the tiniest thing. That would be the inscription on the Ring that I said out loud, right before the power went out and it started glowing."

"And there's one other thing," Kaia jumped in. "Through researching both modern-day studies and Tolkien's work, we think the timing of when the portal is opened is a big deal. You guys know about Laurelin and Teleperion, right?" They nodded.

"Of course," Boromir said. "They are now the moon and sun."

"Right," Kaia agreed. "When Erin accidentally warped you guys here, she did it at sunset. The borderline of when the sun and moon take control of the sky. If they really did come from the Two Trees of Valinor, then that's probably another big link to traveling between here and Middle-Earth."

There was a moment of silence before a single voice spoke. "...Is that it, then? That's how we're going back?"

All eyes turned to Pippin again, and I smiled proudly. "Yep, I think so! We just have to redo what we did before, basically."

Boromir's eyes flicked past me. "And that is why you brought us up here now, isn't it? It's nearly sunset."

I laughed a bit. "Ahh, now you're catching on."

Another pause, and then Frodo spoke for the first time. "But...if you mean to do this now...Does this mean we're saying goodbye?"

And there it was. The one question that had been nagging at me for the entire day that I'd been setting this up. As happy as I'd been for finally figuring this out, it pained me to constantly be thinking that it would be the end of these crazy adventures. Kaia and I had talked about it for a long time, questioning whether or not we were ready to do this...but I knew we had to. "...Yeah." Now my voice was quieter, the initial enthusiasm dying down.

"Now?" Merry asked. "As in right now?"

I exhaled a bit and nodded. "We...we committed to getting you guys out of here as soon as we could. And we're holding to that promise."

No reaction at first, then Kaia added on to my comment. "I'm sorry, guys. We would've given you more warning, but...we figured it would be easier to just get it over with. Quick and simple."

"What about Kathryn?" Boromir asked slowly, looking up. "Does she have anything to say about this?"

I nodded again. "She knows. She gave us the ok to go ahead with it while she's at work. We can't wait for her to come home since we've gotta do this at sunset." The redheaded man looked slightly deflated at this, and I felt horrible. She's not even here to say goodbye to him. "But she did tell us that she wishes you all the best of luck once you get back to Middle-Earth, and she loves you all."

"As do we," Kaia said quietly.

Another beat of silence. "...Should we gather our things?" Aragorn asked.

"Yeah, probably," Kaia said. "We packed all your clothes up and set them in Erin's room. Be quick, though." He nodded to her briefly, and then stepped out.

"I'll grab their weapons," I said, following the ranger through the door.

oOo

Boromir's POV

As we began to file out of the room, I snagged the elf by the shoulder and pulled him off to the side, falling behind everyone else in the dim hallway. "What do we do now?" I hoped that we were out of earshot of the others.

"I do not know," he whispered back. "If they intend for us to leave now, I doubt there is a way to get out of it like we planned."

"But there must be!" I protested. "We vowed to stay behind – to help them!"

Legolas said nothing, but the look on his face told me that there was no more we could do. He stepped past me, continuing down the corridor as I looked at the floor in defeat.

oOo

Kaia's POV

The first time I'd walked into this room with the Fellowship, their faces had been curious and excited. But now, coming back, I saw nothing but somber looks as the realization hit them that they were finally leaving. And I couldn't say that I was feeling any different, either. For months now, we'd been living with them. Losing them almost felt like I was losing my brothers.

I watched as they slowly trickled in, one by one, trying to read them. The hobbits all seemed crushed, except for Frodo. Frodo was, as always, difficult to figure out, but I did sense at least a bit of sadness from him. Aragorn came in with his usual stoic face, and Legolas was basically the same way. Boromir, though... he looked really worried. Scared, even. He was just staring down at nothing, brow creased like there were a million different things flying around in his head. What's got him all freaked out? Does he not want to leave?

Once Erin came back with a mass of weapons in her arms, the mood got even more grim. Quietly, things were passed out to their respective owners, with a few 'thank yous' muttered in between. I have to admit, they looked pretty ridiculous carrying their medieval weapons while they still wore street clothes, but we were too short on time for them to change now. "Everyone got everything?" Erin asked after she'd handed Frodo Sting. The rest of them nodded, and she exhaled. "All right. Let's do it. Uhh...why don't we just all gather around the table in a circle?"

We did so, and I took my place between Aragorn and Frodo. "We should say our goodbyes first," I pointed out.

Erin nodded from where she stood across from me, next to Legolas and Boromir. "Yeah...we should." No one said anything at first, so she started. "I..I just want you guys to know that...it's been fun. It really has. Getting to know you all and doing all these crazy things we've done has been awesome. ...I couldn't have asked for a better summer."

I sighed. "And you know I feel the same way. You've all been amazing for adjusting to life here so fast. I know I wouldn't be able to do it if I was in your place, so..." I trailed off. "And again, Kathryn wanted to let you all know how much she loves you guys and wishes you could stay, too."

Then Aragorn spoke up next to me. "You have been gracious hosts to us. I cannot imagine what the situation might've been like had we appeared in anyone else's home. Thank you."

Erin smiled a bit. "It was no problem at all. If you ever find yourselves back here someday for whatever crazy reason, come find us. It's not like we'll have anything better to do than adopt you all again." A couple people laughed at that.

"One more thing," I said, getting their attention. "When you guys do go back...be careful. None of us know what Middle-Earth might've suffered without you, so just...don't get yourselves killed, okay?" Nods.

"We could never hope to repay you for all you have done for us," Legolas said, "but we wish you all the luck in the world as well."

I glanced over at Erin, and could tell she was trying not to cry. There was another long stretch of silence, and then she broke it. "...Okay. Let's get you home. Kaia, the matches?"

I nodded and reached to her desk behind me, grabbing a box of matches and striking one, then going ahead to light the candle as Erin ran to turn out the lights. The lone flame, though not very big, cast a faint glow around the room, with the only other light coming from the now orange-streaked sky outside. We all grabbed each others' hands at Erin's instruction, and I watched my best friend as she closed her eyes and began to recite the very same phrase that had gotten them here in the first place.

"Ash nazg durbatulùk...ash nazg gimbatul...ash nazg thrakatulùk...agh burzum-ishi krimpatul."

I closed my eyes, waiting to feel some sort of spark or rush of wind. Here we go...

The seconds ticked by, not a single sound filling the room as we waited...and waited...and waited. Eventually, I opened my eyes and frowned, looking around the room. "The fuck? What gives?"

"Nothing's happening..." Merry said. The confused eyes of the men looked to Erin and I. "Why didn't it work?"

"I...I don't know!" Erin released Legolas and Boromir's hands and stepped up to the table, reaching out for her ring. "Maybe...we missed the timing?"

"But it's still sunset, dude," I said. "We did exactly what we were supposed to."

"That doesn't make any sense, though!" she replied. "We must've done something wrong."

Another pause. Those are becoming way too common around here. "So...are we not going home yet?" Pippin asked.

I shrugged, also letting go of their hands. "I guess not. We fucked something up." Just as I was about to let them leave, I realized that there was one more thing that needed taking care of. "Wait, hang on." I looked up at Erin. "Should we tell them?"

Erin took a breath, then nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, I guess we should."

As she started explaining our decision to send them away to Jesse's house because of shit going on with Jared, I went back to observing the reactions of the guys. For the most part, they seemed pretty hurt or disappointed. Shit. We really should've told them this earlier. We planned for them to leave on Saturday, which was two days from now. Hopefully that would give them some time to prepare to leave. The bigger question is...will it be enough time for us to prepare to let them go? It would be hard, no doubt. It wasn't quite as bad as knowing they were returning to Middle-Earth forever, since we always had the option to drive into Baltimore and visit, but it was still weird to think about. This house is gonna feel so damn empty. Oh God, that'll kill me.

I did notice that Legolas and Boromir's reactions were different than what I expected, though. Boromir didn't seem to be quite as upset about the news as I thought he'd be, and Legolas seemed totally unfazed. Then again...that's just Legolas. He's not a terribly emotional guy to begin with. But Boromir was seriously starting to weird me out. Whatever it was, though, I didn't have time to dwell on it. Erin was finishing up.

"So...either way, you should probably keep your stuff gathered up for tomorrow," she said. "And even though you'll all still be away, we'll keep working on fixing this theory for how to get you home. Maybe someday you'll be able to come back here, but for now...this is safer."

Of course, Aragorn was the first one to come to terms with what we'd said. "I understand. If it is in our best interest to go, then we will go." Reluctantly, the other members of the Fellowship nodded in agreement. "We have trusted you this far, and you have not led us astray."

"Thanks." Erin smiled faintly, but I knew this was hard for her. Clearing her throat, she continued. "I...I guess you can go do whatever now. I'll let you know if I make any new discoveries."

And just like that, it was over. The Fellowship started leaving the studio, one after the other, leaving their weapons behind, but taking their clothes with them. Erin and I stayed, though, and neither of us moved until the last man out shut the door. As soon as it clicked shut, I saw her chin wobble, and before I knew it we were hugging each other tightly as she tried not to cry into my shoulder.

For several long seconds, we said nothing. I felt a lump in my throat as well from hearing her, and bit my lip in an attempt to keep some of my composure. "This is gonna be one of the hardest things I've ever done," she whispered.

"I know," I replied. "It'll be tough as hell to get through Saturday, but we'll do it one way or another."

"I just feel so bad about sending them back into this huge mess that we created." She let go of me and stepped back, wiping at her eyes. "It wasn't their fault that all this happened, but they still have to be the ones to go fix everything."

"They don't blame you for it, though," I said. "It was a complete accident. You didn't know."

She let out a breath. "But it's still my responsibility. I just...What if sending them back into Middle-Earth gets them killed?"

I thought about that. That's their blood on our hands. Damn. "I don't think that'll happen. You know they're all tough fighters."

"Hopefully they're tough enough to last through whatever's out there."

"They are. They'll be okay, man." I stepped forward and gave her one more quick hug. "And so will we."

Again, she sighed as we released each other. "You're the best. Have I told you that lately?"

I winked a laughed a bit as we started to walk out together. "I already knew that."