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Aragorn:
Aragorn already missed Arwen... He might never see her face again...He almost wished she had not given him the Evenstar, so she could go to the undying lands. At least then she would remember him alive, and the world still with hope left.
If she stayed, she would only stay to hear the news of his death, and even if the deaths of the Ringbearer and his companions meant the saving of Middle Earth, she would not see the goodness of the world again. She would only fade into pain and misery, and eventually, death...
Aragorn was not afraid of death...If Arwen honored her promise to him, which he knew she would, death would eventually reunite them once more.
But he would fight, so as to meet her again in the light, in life. It was almost too much to hope for, but hope he did. That hope was like a fire burning bright in his soul; a bright flame that could never be extinguished. Perhaps that was why they called him Estel, elvish for Hope...
Sapphire:
The next morning, I woke very early. Nobody was up but whoever was on guard. I think it was Gimli's watch, but it might have been Legolas or Boromir's watch. Heck, I didn't have a clue whose watch it was. Apparently they still didn't trust me to keep watch, because I had been left to sleep yet again... Although, maybe they felt that I deserved the sleep, after plowing a path through the snow for the hobbits.
I stood and quietly looked around our little camp. I saw Legolas, crouched on a small slab of rock, his keen eyes surveying the shadows. I decided I could only get his attention in one way...
I carefully snuck up on his, shifting to the right the entire time so as the stay out of his sweeping line of vision.
His ears twitched a little as I crept forward, but he didn't seem to notice. I had lots of practice with this, so I was pretty good at sneaking up on people. I was about three strides away from him now...
"And what might you be doing, my lady?" Legolas asked out of the silence, still facing the other way. I jumped in surprise, and ended up slipping on wet leaves and landing on my butt on a flat rock.
"Ow..." I muttered, and Legolas let out an airy laugh.
"Doggone it Legolas! It's no fair! You're just too good!" I pouted.
Legolas turned to look at me, and smirked ever so slightly, "Elves have keen ears."
The commotion had woke Aragorn, and he woke the others. Soon, everyone was gathered in a small circle around a tiny, smokeless fire.
"The Mines of Moria are a dark path to tread..." muttered Aragorn darkly.
"They must truly be evil if they're worse than Caradhras..." muttered Merry, grumpily gnawing on a cold sausage.
We walked until the sun was directly overhead, and finally we reached the flat wall...Hopefully, my plan had worked, and the others were long since in the Mines. Otherwise, they would be stuck on this side of the mountains. Which would mean I would never see them again...
I looked around to see if they had left any signs while Gandalf tried every opening word he could think of.
I whipped around when Boromir chucked a rock into the lake out of boredom. Aragorn grabbed his wrist before he could throw another one, and hissed, "Do not disturb the water!" Boromir rolled his eyes and slumped back down dejectedly.
"Ah! I give up! It is hopeless!" cried Gandalf, throwing down his staff in anger. It clattered on the stones, and that was when I saw it. Our gang logo. Two fancy Ms, scratched into the ground with a blade.
I grinned. My friends had made it! I wanted to scream out in happiness and relief. Thank goodness! And using the gang logo, that was smart! Clever Tyler, always thinking on another level...
"What is Lady Sapphire smiling about?" grunted Gimli to Aragorn.
"Hush, Gimli, she is thinking," whispered Aragorn.
"About what though?!" grumbled the dwarf.
"Master Dwarf, to answer your question, I was merely remembering happy times with my close friends back home," I said with a kind smile.
"Oh... That's...um...good..." stuttered the dwarf, not sure what exactly to say to that.
"I wonder...the door says, speak friend and enter..." I murmured, "Speak friend and enter...Speak Friend and enter...That's it!" I yelled, pretending to have just come up with the answer.
"What?! Have you figured out the password?!" cried Gimli excitedly.
"I think so! I think it's a play on words! It doesn't mean to speak the password if you are a friend, it means to literally SAY the word friend!"
Gandalf gave a cry upon hearing this, "Of course! How could I not have seen that! Mellon!"
And without a sound, the door slid back to reveal a pitch black tunnel.
Gandalf smiled at me, "My lady, already you prove your worth!"
I grinned back, and then turned to the fellowship, "Okay, looks like we'll be going single file for a while...Who's going to be behind Gandalf?"
Sam sent off Bill with a sad smile, and then we filed into the tunnel in this order: Gandalf, Boromir, Gimli, Legolas, Pippin, Merry, Me, Sam, Frodo, Aragorn. I made sure I was close enough to Frodo to be able to get out and slice tentacles in time.
"Roaring fires! Malt beer!" Gimli was babbling to Legolas, as Gandalf's staff flickered to life at his spell.
A faint glow cast shadows over the stone walls, creepy shadows of the skeletons grinning eerily from the floor. Arrows stuck out of some, swords and spears out of others.
Gimli was still babbling, completely oblivious to the death around him, "And to think, they call this a mine! A MINE!"
Boromir and Legolas looked around in horror, and Boromir whispered, "This is no mine...it's a tomb..."
Gimli stopped mid-sentence, and finally took a look at his surroundings. His face contorted in shock, his eyes widening till they were the size of cantaloupes, and he gasped, "What?! No! No!"
Legolas broke an arrow off a skeleton, took one look at it, and said one hate filled word, "Goblins..."
On cue, a boom shook dust from the ceiling above. Another boom followed, and the fellowship remained frozen in shock. BOOM...
"What is that?" Merry squeaked in fear, and that seemed to wake everyone out of their trance.
"Drums! It's drums!" cried Legolas is horror.
"Out! Get out! Make for the Gap of Rohan!" screamed Boromir, and everyone rushed to obey his command, not even bothering to check with Gandalf.
Three...Two...One...
The second Frodo was at the doorway, something flashed near his legs and Frodo was knocked to the ground.
"AHHHH! ARAGORN!" he screamed in fear, scrabbling at the rocky ground uselessly as a slimy tentacle dragged him towards the water.
Aragorn's head whipped around, just as Frodo went sliding past him. The other four hobbits then jumped on top of the tentacle and pounded it with their puny fists, rocks, and Sam was whacking it with a metal pot.
I sighed, drew my knife, and severed the tip of the tentacle with a swift downward stroke. The tentacle oozed black blood, and retreated.
The second it disappeared under the water, everything seemed to explode. What seemed like hundreds of tentacles burst out of the water and launched themselves straight at us.
"Back into the Mines! Run!" bellowed Gandalf, severing a few tentacles with his sword before running back into the black tunnel. I hacked off a tentacle that was going after Frodo. Then I spun around, grabbed Merry and Pippin, flung the little hobbits over my shoulders and took off sprinting into the mines.
I made it just in time. The Watcher ripped the stone door to pieces and with a thunderous crash, the whole wall collapsed. Dust and debris spewed everywhere, and we were left in the dark, coughing and choking. But I was alive...
"Is anyone injured?!" cried Aragorn, and then added, "Gandalf, a little light please!"
Gandalf's staff flickered once, and light shone on everyone's filthy, scratched up faces. Aragorn looked like he had just taken a ride in a washing machine full of cats, and everyone else was not much better off.
"We must face the long dark of Moria..." said Gandalf dejectedly, "Be on your guard. Older and fouler things than orcs dwell in the deep places of the world."
"Gee, I can't wait to meet them!" I said with a snort. Gandalf ignored me and continued, "It is a three day journey to the other side...Let us hope our presence will go unnoticed."
I snorted again, and Gandalf gave me a harsh look that clearly said, "Whatever you know, don't tell the hobbits. You'll just scare them."
He didn't need to worry. I wasn't about to tell the hobbits that there was a giant flaming demon waiting for them at the other end of the mines.