Chaos Unleashed: Part Two

by E4me100

The world has changed. With the absence of the Fellowship, Sauron's power has been growing in ways that none could ever have imagined. Destruction and doom are on the horizon, and with the assistance of Kaia, Kathryn, and Erin, the Fellowship must now race to complete the mission they once left behind. Part 2 in a series (obviously). Self-inserts. Not the plot you'd expect.

24. Descent

Chaos Unleashed: Part Two

Chapter Twenty-Four

Kaia's POV

Thankfully, the journey down into Ithilien was pretty easy. Or at least...what used to be Ithilien. Now it was just a valley of burnt, broken trees, charred earth, and trampled ruin where there had once been life. It was dark all the time, with the shadow of Mordor looming right over our heads now that we were so close. I felt like I seriously understood how miserable of an experience it had been for Frodo and Sam in the original movies, wandering around in gloomy silence all day.

Speaking of Frodo...I glanced ahead, not at all surprised to see the hobbit walking by himself up at the front of the line. He was near Gandalf, but it was obvious that he wasn't in the mood to make conversation with anyone. I narrowed my eyes as I watched Gollum come scampering back from where he'd run ahead to scout, running right up to Frodo like a puppy to its owner. It bothered me that the dark-haired hobbit did nothing to try and shoo him away.

"You should talk to him."

The sudden voice startled me out of my staring, and I turned my head sharply to face Aragorn, who had been my walking buddy for the past couple of hours. "Yeah...I know," I said quietly. "But I don't want to push him away more than I already have."

"Do not be afraid to be loyal to him, Kaia. He will need you before this is over."

"I'm not afraid," I corrected the man. "I'm just not stupid. If Frodo wants his space, he can have it. I'm okay with watching from a distance." Seeing the doubtful glance, I rolled my eyes. "Trust me, if I have even the slightest suspicion that Gollum's up to something, I'll have his insides splattered across the ground before you can blink."

At that, Aragorn chuckled. "You are a warrior at heart."

I cracked a smile, too. "Could you picture me as anything else?"

"No," he said, returning the smile as he shook his head. "In fact, I would be honored to reserve a place for you in my guard once this is all over."

I blinked, taken aback by the sudden seriousness in his tone. "...You're kidding." Pause. "...No? That was a legitimate thing?"

Aragorn nodded. "Yes, it was."

I stared at him, shocked. "Aragorn...that's...that's amazing. Thank you."

"Believe me, it is not by pity that I ask you," he said. "I have seen your strength, Kaia. I want you to spend the rest of your life somewhere where it can be put to good use."

That statement also hit me like a sack of bricks. "...Yeah," I said slowly, the realization sinking in. "The rest of my life."

He frowned. "You say it as if it is a bad thing."

"Well, I mean... Don't get me wrong, Aragorn, I love Middle-Earth as much as the next girl, but...I guess I just assumed that after this was all said and done, we'd be heading back home." My gaze dropped to the ground in front of me. "Though I guess there's no guarantee of that now."

"I would not be so quick to jump to conclusions," he advised. "There may yet be a way for you to return to Earth. But if not, my offer to you still stands. Regardless of where you go, Kaia, you will be able to belong."

"Yeah..." I trailed off. "Thanks." But my mind wasn't focused on him or his offers now. My mind was back in the halls of Minas Tirith's citadel, recalling words that I'd said just a few days ago. "You're the one that got us all here in the first place; have you even once thought about trying to get us home?" Mentally, I winced, remembering how harsh my tone had been. I glanced up at the pale brunette ahead of me. "That's not really my priority at the moment!"

In the heat of the moment, I'd been so concerned about the idea of going home. But now...now it almost seemed unappealing to me. If I go home...what would happen? We left Earth in the middle of chaos; how would it be possible to rebound from that? What if Erin and Kathryn don't even want to go home? Could I go by myself?

...Do I want to?

oOo

Erin's POV

It was so eerie, trekking through northern Ithilien and barely recognizing it. For what must've been the billionth time, my heart broke as I witnessed the destruction that my tampering had brought to Middle-Earth. I bet people died fighting to protect this land. For Ithilien, Mirkwood, Rohan...thousands upon thousands of soldiers. So much of their blood spent fighting Sauron's armies. And yet here I am, the cause of it all, living and walking and breathing freely. I exhaled, eyes scanning the trampled ground beneath my feet. It felt so...wrong. At this point, the only thing I was praying for was that the mission would succeed in the end and we could finally get rid of Sauron forever. That would at least be a start to fixing all my mistakes.

But of course, that would never come without a few minor obstacles along the way.

I felt them before I heard them. The rumbling of their feet as they charged across the earth, knowing that they had found their prey. The instantaneous fear that registered in my mind as I was taken back to a life or death chase in a forest that seemed so long ago. The first battle cry sounded, then the second, third, fourth, and I turned around as Aragorn shouted a warning, just in time to see dozens of the little black creatures come pouring over the hill behind us. "ORCS!"

"RUN!" Gandalf cried.

No...Oh God, no! In an instant, I turned again, moving fast as Kathryn screamed from somewhere further back. My heart was pounding as I sprinted, recalling horribly vivid images of the chase through Mirkwood. "Please...not again," I gasped to whatever god of Middle-Earth happened to be listening. "Please..." Please, let us outrun them.

But I knew we wouldn't. They were already too close for comfort, and this time we didn't have the element of terrain to slow them down. We had nothing to use to our advantage. Half of us didn't even have sufficient weapons. My mind raced, panic threatening to take over. We have to do something. We don't have a choice. We can't outrun them! My eyes flicked to the ranger nearby. "Aragorn!" His stormy gaze met mine, and I could immediately tell he was thinking the same thing. "We have to protect them!"

He nodded, needing no persuasion at all. I slowed to a stop beside him as he called out orders. "Those with weapons, prepare to fight! Those without, keep going! We will follow!"

"Aragorn!" Faramir ran up to him, looking doubtful. "We cannot defeat all of them, we are outnumbered!"

"We don't need to defeat all of them," I said, pulling Legolas' daggers from their sheaths. "We just need to buy ourselves some time!" I spun on my heel, looking to the hobbits who looked scared out of their wits. "Go! We'll be right behind you!" I scanned the area, looking for Gollum, but predictably, he was nowhere to be seen. As I turned back to face the oncoming horde, my eyes locked with Kaia's for a fraction of a second, and I tossed her a spare knife from my belt without thinking. Aragorn shot past me in a blur, and the rest of us quickly followed suit, running up to meet our enemies in a hard collision.

And what a collision it was. The first Orc that approached me didn't hesitate to try and slice my stomach open, but I blocked his attack just quickly enough to stab him in the arm and kick him away. The Orcs had the upper hand due to the slope of the hill, and I didn't dare risk trying to move too far forward. If I slipped and fell, it was game over. My mind seemed to switch into autopilot as I cut the hideous creatures down, dodging and swinging blindly as I stationed myself at the foot of the hill. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Boromir take a running leap towards one stray that had gotten too close to where the hobbits were scurrying off, tackling the Orc and clubbing him in the back of the skull with the hilt of his sword. Faramir had also positioned himself further back, camouflaging himself in the bushes and picking the bad guys off one by one with his arrows. As Boromir got in a tangle with a particularly burly one, I noticed another Orc lumbering up to gut him from behind and gave a shout of warning, but before Boromir had even turned around, an arrow was embedded deep in the back of the creature's neck.

Just as I was about to smile at Faramir's brotherly heroics, Gandalf's cry rang out over the sounds of battle. "Fall back! Pull back to the river!" I stuck a knife into the back of another Orc before whipping my head around and following after the others. And just as we reached a wide, shallow stream to run across, I heard a roar from behind that made my blood run cold.

I stopped in my tracks, the water halfway up my calves, and stared at the creatures coming down the hill in disbelief. They were easily the scariest looking things I'd ever seen in Middle-Earth, on two legs that faintly resembled that of horses and cloven hooves as feet. Long, thin tales with blades crudely forged to the ends of them trailed out from the base of a hunchbacked torso, some of them with broken chains trailing behind them as well – as if they'd broken free of their restraints. They had no eyes, but two huge curved blades sticking out from the sides of their skulls, and strong jaws full of canine-like teeth. Their arms were long and muscular, and where the hands normally would've been, there were only two long metal bars extending out, with hooked ends designed to rip the flesh off their enemies.

"Cleavers..." I heard Faramir whisper from beside me. He almost looked like he'd gone pale. "I will praise the Valar for every day of my life if we all live to see the end of this." Then, snapping out of his momentary trance, his gaze turned to me and he harshly grabbed my arm. "Erin, come!"

But before we had the chance to keep going, the Orcs were on top of us. I lashed out at the first one to come within reach, giving him a nice slash across the face and sending him down into the shallows with a splash. Another one quickly ran up to take his place, striking once and managing to graze my shoulder with his dirty blade. I hissed at the sting, clenching my jaw and burying one of the white knives in his side before pushing past him.

The next Orc that I met was more of a challenge, as he did not hesitate to step right up and hit me square in the face. I stumbled back, tripping over a body and falling into the river, choking on water and blood as I rolled over and pushed myself back up. But just as I broke the surface, a foot slammed into my back, forcing me back down to the riverbed. I sucked water into my lungs, groping desperately for one of my knives and trying to wriggle free.

And then, just like that, the weight was gone. A hand closed around my shoulder, pulling me up to sputter and cough up water. My hands closed around Legolas' knives as I pulled them up with me, shakily getting back to my feet and wiping the hair and blood from my face. I turned to thank my savior, and nearly fell over again when I saw Kathryn standing there, blood running down her face from a cut across her forehead. She was breathing hard, and I glanced downwards to see my former attacker laying face down in the water with a dagger in his back. She said nothing, simply nodded to me, and I returned the gesture in brief thanks before she retrieved her knife and continued making her way across the river.

But something wasn't right. I retreated back a few steps, not getting very far before two more Orcs charged at me, and I made quick work of them. Why are so many of them coming at me? I noticed Aragorn and Kaia teaming up to take down a Cleaver not far off, but there weren't nearly as many other enemies swarming around them. I don't get it. Why are they being left alone?

Out of nowhere, a grimy hand suddenly closed around my neck from behind. The other hand came flying around with a knife, and I screamed, jabbing my elbows back as hard as I could. The Orc relinquished its grip just enough for me to slip away, and he ended up quite comically stabbing himself in the chest instead of me. I watched as he crumpled to the ground, black blood tainting the water all around me (along with some of my own). That's when it clicked. Oh my God...they're not after Frodo. Sauron thinks I have the Ring. They're after me. I felt the thing in my pocket like a five ton weight. For the past few days, I'd kept it buried there, too ashamed of my palantír incident to wear it openly on my finger. And now it had drawn enemies straight to us.

"ERIN!" I blinked, my head snapping up to see Aragorn beckoning from the other side of the river. "Come, they are gaining on us!" I broke into a run again, hearing the roars of more Cleavers and the high-pitched screams of the Orcs behind me. They're all after me. I was terrified. Every single one of those things had been sent for me and my stupid ring, and they were hellbent on claiming their prize.

But then I frowned, thinking about it again as I caught up with the rest of the Fellowship.

...They're all after me.

oOo

Kathryn's POV

This was hell. This was absolute hell. I was covered in blood, sweat, and dirt. I was tired, and about ready to just give up and let the Orcs do me in. But I couldn't. We had to keep going. We had to keep the hobbits safe. They can't get the Ring. They can't.

A howl from behind forced me to spin around and cross swords with a particularly nasty looking Orc with soulless eyes. He tried to push me back, but I pushed harder, sending him stumbling away just long enough to force my knife into his chest. I turned to run again, locating Frodo as he ran further down into the valley, pretty far ahead of the rest of us. Good. Now as long as we can -

Suddenly, a massive hand grabbed me by the hair and yanked me back. I screamed in pain, dropping my knife in shock and instinctively kicking hard so the Orc would let me go, but he didn't. Instead, he threw me down face first into the dirt, and the next thing I knew my world was spinning from being kicked in the back of the head. Extreme pain burst in my head, and I groaned as he effortlessly rolled me over with his foot. I blinked, trying to regain my senses, but already I could see him looming over me, sword in hand. A malicious grin split his face, showing blackened teeth as he drew his arm back to end me then and there.

And then there was another scream, this time not mine or his. A knife came whizzing through the air, hitting him right in the head. The blade didn't catch him, but it was just enough of a distraction for him to look up and be greeting with a solid punch in the face. The next thing I knew, there were two knives buried deep in his gut, and Erin was leaning over me as I sat up. "Kathryn! Kathryn, are you okay?"

I ran a hand through my hair, wincing when I hit a fresh bruise. "Yeah...I'm fine." I shot her an odd look, hesitant to speak. "...Thanks."

Erin exhaled and looked away as she pulled me to my feet, sheathing Legolas' knives behind her. "Well, you did the same for me," she pointed out. "And...either way, I knew I had to apologize to you somehow."

Wait, what? Did I get a concussion? "An apology?"

"Yeah," she nodded. "For being a bitch." She looked over at me again as we hurried to get back with the rest of the Fellowship. "I shouldn't have said the things I said back in Minas Tirith. I'm so sorry, Kathryn. There's no excuse for what I did."

I met her gaze for a moment, thinking. "...And there's none for me, either. I was just as bad about it as you." I paused. "I'm sorry about the joke."

Erin shook her head. "I'm sorry for overreacting about the joke. I was stressed out and stupid...I mean, I still am, but I just really wasn't myself back there. Not that that's an excuse or anything, like I said."

"No, no...I get it," I said. Another pause, and I offered her a small smile. "We're okay."

She smiled, too. "Cool. Thanks for saving my ass back there."

"You too," I replied. "Now come on, let's get going. I want to get out of this mess alive first, and then we can talk more." I turned and pushed forward, moving as fast as I could to get away from the horde of enemies still creeping up behind us.

oOo

Erin's POV

I watched Kathryn go, my smile growing just a bit bigger before disappearing entirely. One down...one to go. My eyes now shifted to the remaining female in our group, and I swallowed hard as I ran. Please, God, let this work. Give me the opportunity I need.

oOo

Kaia's POV

"RUN!" Boromir shouted from a step ahead of me. "RUN!"

"Come on, Frodo!" I cried, glancing behind me. The dark-haired hobbit was moving as fast as he could, but he was slowing down. We all were. Time was running out; we needed a game-changer or something. If not, we'd all be slaughtered within the next ten minutes. I reached out and grabbed Frodo by the hand, pulling him along with me as I pushed myself to run even faster. Keep him safe. For the love of God, keep him safe.

"Kaia!" A warning shout. Frodo's hand was torn from my grasp as I stopped and turned around, gripping the knife that Erin had given me. I took three strides forward and collided with an Orc almost twice my size, wrestling with him for a few seconds before nailing him in the back of the leg and sending him down. Then it was on to the next Orc, who almost managed to knock the knife out of my hands before I buried it in his skull and kneed him in the stomach.

Pushing the body away, I glanced over my shoulder to see our progress. Gandalf had spotted a bridge leading across a much deeper section of the river earlier, and we'd been making a beeline for it ever since. If we could just make it that far, we would have a chance to escape and put some distance between us and the enemies. Then maybe we could get out of this hellhole alive.

From off to my left, there was a shout, and I looked over to see Boromir struggling against one of the giant beast-things that I'd been told were called Cleavers. I ran up to it and tried to get a stab in, ready to take down this one as Aragorn and I had been done before. "Boromir!" I shouted. "The legs! Take out the legs!" The Gondorian heard me loud and clear, as he changed his tactic and started trying to bring the thing to it's knees. The trickiest thing about the Cleaver, though, was the tail. The damn thing had just barely missed slicing my neck open back when Aragorn and I had taken one out together, and I was determined not to let it hit me this time.

While Boromir focused in on getting its legs to give out and served as a distraction, I moved to sneak around the thing and scramble up a mass of rocks nearby. Holding the knife in my mouth, I started to scale the boulders, but apparently it wasn't as easy as I'd imagined. I had a plan for how to kill the Cleaver, but it wasn't going to work if I couldn't get high enough off the ground. Come on, you fuck. I clenched my teeth even tighter and stretched to reach the next spot I could grip. You can do this.

oOo

Erin's POV

I was trying harder than anything to reach the second Cleaver that Boromir and Kaia were fighting. Kaia had disappeared from sight a couple seconds ago, and I was determined to find her again. "Kaia!" I shouted, pushing an Orc who tried to attack me out of the way. "Kaia!" Another Orc approached me, this time trying to attack from the side. I jumped out of the way and kept running. As I drew nearer to the Cleaver, I saw Boromir struggling to hold it back on his own, so I whipped out the twin knives and ran up beside him. "Boromir!" I lashed out, trying to hit the thing somehow. "Where's Kaia?" He gestured upwards, and as the Cleaver took a step to the right, my eyes widened as I saw Kaia trying to climb up a steep slope of rock. What the hell? "K-" I was cut off by a giant tail suddenly swinging my way, and without thinking, threw one of the knives up in front of my face for protection.

It hit, and the monstrous thing howled in pain, but didn't cut all the way through. The knife was lodged in the Cleaver's tail, and before I could do anything, the beast swung around again, ripping the knife right out of my hands and throwing it against the rock pile. It clattered to the ground, and I chased after it, but just as I got within reach and Orc stepped in my way. He flashed a devilish grin and hissed something in Black Speech before lunging at me. I shoved the other knife in his face, but he blocked it, twisting his weapon so that the second white knife was flung away from me.

I scowled. "Oh, come on!" Pulling out another small dagger from my belt, I tried to push him back and hit him in the shoulder, but to no avail. He swung at me first, and I had to duck in order to avoid getting decapitated. I heard another roar from behind me and stretched as far as I could for one of Legolas' knives. Just come here for one second...

oOo

Kaia's POV

Thank God. I'd finally gotten high enough. Now all that needed to be done was the final stunt. "BOROMIR!" I shouted, getting into position. "Any day now!"

I swear to God, the redheaded shit rolled his eyes, but seconds later he'd managed to hit the Cleaver well enough so that it stumbled and stopped moving back and forth. Now! With a battle cry that could've rivaled half the Orcs out there, I pushed off the wall as hard as I could and made a flying leap onto the back of the Cleaver. Immediately, the thing tried to shake me off, but it didn't get much done before I'd taken Erin's knife and plunged it straight down into its skull. It came crashing down with a thud, and I jumped back to the ground, sticking the landing with ease.

Boromir jogged over to meet me, nodding in approval. "I'm impressed."

I bowed low. "I'll be here all week."

He grinned, about to reply when his eyes flicked behind us. "More are coming," he said grimly. "We must go." Without another word, he was off.

I exhaled, looking myself over before starting to follow him, but was stopped by a hand on my shoulder. "The fuck?" I asked as Erin pulled me around to the other side of the rock pile. "What do you want?"

She looked like she'd been through hell, soaking wet and bloody like the rest of us. Her expression was unreadable. "That was some jump back there."

"Yeah..." I said slowly. "Sure. Look, if you're here to apologize or some shit, can it wait until after? In case you haven't noticed, we're in the middle of being hunted down."

There was a flash of pain in her eyes, but she seemed to perk up. "Wait, you forgive me?"

I scoffed. "Of course I do. I said things that I shouldn't have, and so did you. So did Kathryn. I'm sorry about my end of it. She's sorry about her end of it. I'm ready to move on."

Relief seemed to flood over her. "Oh, thank God. I'm sorry, too. I was being dumb for no reason."

"No, you had your reasons," I assured her.

She shook her head. "Well, whatever. Either way, I shouldn't have acted that way."

"Great. Glad we cleared that up," I said, cracking a smile. "I saw you chasing me down out there, you know."

Erin smiled, too. "You didn't think I would leave my best friend to die out there, did you?"

I laughed. "Hell no I didn't. Come on, let's get out of here."

oOo

Erin's POV

Oh God. God, I can't do this. I glanced at the bridge not far ahead. It was an old rope one...the perfect opportunity. It's now or never. I swallowed hard. "Kaia...wait."

She turned back again, confusion all over her face. "What? Erin, we have to go!"

I opened my mouth, but the words wouldn't come out. "...Yeah. Sorry, I just...yeah. We have to go." Don't you dare start crying. Don't you fucking dare. She cannot know.

Thankfully, Kaia didn't seem to catch on. She just brushed it off and motioned for me to follow. "Come on, dude. Let's get out of here." She turned and started racing down to the bridge, where most of the Fellowship had already run across. I could hear the Orcs howling in my ears. I felt the cold metal of my ring as I slipped my hand in my pocket. As I crossed the bridge with Kaia just in front of me, I briefly wondered if I had made the right choice. Guess we're about to find out. "Kaia," I said again as we returned to solid ground.

"What?" She spun around again, now looking more exasperated than anything. "What are you doing?"

I barely trusted myself to speak as I reached back and unhooked Legolas' twin knives from my back, returned to their sheaths in prime condition. "Make sure these get back to Thranduil. Promise me you'll do it."

"Erin, wha-"

"Just promise."

She hesitated. "...Sure, man. No problem."

I closed my eyes, already feeling tears rolling down my cheeks. "Tell Kathryn I'm sorry. And just...understand that I'm doing this because I have to."

"Erin, what the fuck are you talking about?"

I opened my eyes again, and I wished I hadn't, because looking at the confusion on her face nearly kept me planted where I was. "They're not chasing Frodo. They're chasing me."

oOo

Kaia's POV

I stared at her, totally lost. "Erin, I don't-" But before I could finish my sentence, she turned around and started running back across the bridge. "Erin? ERIN!" What the fuck is going on? "ERIN!" She made it across in a matter of seconds. The Orcs were nearly on top of her, and then I realized what she was doing. "ERIN!" But just as I started to run after her, she stopped and turned around. And I swear to every god in existence, I could see the regret on her face even from so far away as she pulled out her knife and cut the ropes.

"ERIN!" My voice cracked from the scream. "NO! ERIN, STOP!" I heard similar screaming from behind me, and I knew it was Kathryn. But the bridge had already fallen, and there was nothing I could do. I could only watch as she turned towards the mass of enemies, holding her ring high in the air.

"You want it?" I heard her yell. Her voice was anything but confident. "Come get it!"

"NO!" I lunged forward, but someone's arms were already wrapped around me and pulling me back. "ERIN, NO! COME BACK!" And I sobbed harder than I ever had that day as I watched the servants of Sauron stick a sword straight through her stomach.

She crumpled instantly, and I swear I saw the end of it come out through her back. Instantly, I went limp, dropping to the ground and trying to keep myself from throwing up despite the fact that I couldn't tear my eyes away. I heard Kathryn screaming and sobbing, I heard Boromir desperately trying to calm her down. I saw Pippin's shell shocked face, red and streaked with tears from the corner of my eye. I saw the sword pull out of her, painted in red, and I lost it. I threw up everything I had into the river, hardly able to think or function as hands grabbed at me, pulling me away. My face was forced up against someone's chest, and I heard someone say not to let us look. And within minutes, I was being dragged away from the edge of the river, sobbing, unable to believe that what I'd just seen had really happened.

A/N: Well

That took quite a turn, I suppose

NO ONE IS SAFE

NOT EVEN MEEEEEE