A/N: thanks to all my subscribers! and im trying to go slower on this chapter, hope you all like it(: i think i wanna watch all the back to the futures... lol

DC: I own nothing, only the girls.

Chapter 6: Strider

Merry, Sam, and Pippin searched everywhere for their missing friend. Genevieve looked behind her, that Strider dude was gone! She ran over to Merry and Sam, and pointed to the corner where he was sitting only moments ago.

"I think he might have something to do with it." she said suspiciously.

"Alright, wait, I see him! Going up the stairs!" Merry said pointing to Strider's disappearing figure.

Sam got everyone together and they all slowly creeped up the stairs. Sam and Merry decided to go in first, then Pippin and Genevieve, then Karolyn and Diamond.

"Why are we last?" Diamond whined.

"Get over it!" Karolyn said as they stood outside the door.

"Oh let me through!" Genevieve said, she pushed her way through and held her ear up to the door.

"What do you want?" she heard Frodo shriek.

"A little more caution from you. That is no trinket you carry!" Strider snapped.

"I carry nothing!"

"I can usually avoid being seen if I wish. But to disappear entirely? That is a rare gift!"

"Who are you?"

"Are you frightened?" Strider asked suddenly, the conversation was at a halt, Genevieve could hear Frodo's heavy breathing.

"Yes."

"Not nearly frightened enough. I know why hunts you.."

"I hear them, it's Frodo! Striders knows his last name isn't Underhill... He knows about some sort of ring..."

"RING!" Sam exclaimed, "I'm goin' in! Come on, ready? One, two, THREE!"

Sam burst through the door with only his fists, Pippin with a chair, and Merry with a candlestick. The girls followed behind them, to scared to do anything. Frodo looked at Karolyn and shook his head with a smile. "He's okay." he mouthed to her.

"Let him go! Or I'll have you Longsharks!" Sam screamed at him with an extremely red face.

"You have a stout heart, little Hobbit. But that alone won't save you. You can no longer wait for the wizard Frodo, they're coming." Strider warned.

"Alright, whose coming! What wizard? And this ring! WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!" Genevieve screamed. Everyone turned to look at her, she was shaking from fear and confusion and looked pretty mad.

"Okay, sit down Gen. We'll tell you EVERYTHING." Karolyn said as they sat down on the bed.

All together they spent an hour explaining the entire journey to her. The ring, how it was found, Sauron, the black riders, and Mordor. Genevieve let it all sink in, she now realized that this was an extremely dangerous task to accomplish, and wasn't so sure she wanted to go...

"So, this evil dude, Sauron, is an eye? A legit eyeball?" Genevieve asked puzzled.

"No. It is his soul. Sauron himself, physically, was destroyed. But his soul continued to linger here, searching for the ring. How he took the form he is now, I don't know for sure." Strider said suddenly. The rest of the boys had been telling the story with them as well.

"We leave at dawn. Those black riders will be searching." Strider said snuffing out the candles.

"Whoa whoa whoa! Hold up here I never said I wanted to go!" Genevieve shouted as she stood up.

"Please. Please come with us!" Diamond pleaded her friend.

"What I want to know before anything else, is where are Laura and Ginger?" Genevieve questioned in rage.

Diamond and Karolyn looked at each other in dismay, they had absolutely no clue where their two missing friends were. Genevieve had always been protective of Ginger, and now she had no clue where her younger (by three seconds) twin sister was, in a strange land they had never been in.

"Gen, we told you, we don't know. I'm sorry." Karolyn said sadly.

"Maybe their here! Like you three ended up. Maybe we'll find them on the way!" Pippin exclaimed hopefully and happily, trying to make them feel better. Karolyn and Diamond looked to the floor in sadness, Gen was right, where were they?

"Okay, I'll go. But ONLY because of what you said, maybe we will find Ginger. And Laura. As soon as I find Ginger, I'm turning around and comin' back here!" Genevieve protested with a stomp of her foot.

Sam rolled his eyes and Frodo yawned. Merry smiled to himself as Genevieve said she was coming, and Pippin fell back on the bed asleep.

"I hope we find them." Karolyn whispered to Diamond as they got into the bed with everyone else, they were small so they could fit everyone on it.

Diamond nodded, "I just hope they're alive."

"What if they aren't? I mean after all, we were, murdered." Karolyn shuddered at the word murder.

"We were killed, and we ended up here without a scratch and alive. Where were you stabbed?" she asked with wide eyes.

"My chest, side, and... the back of my my head..." she replied as she pulled up her hair. She ran her finger over the spot where she had been stab. She gasped.

"What?" Diamond asked.

Karolyn shot up from the bed, "There's a scar Diamond, a scar!" she reached down her blouse and felt another scar in the middle of her chest, and finally, slowly, she slid her hand underneath her blouse and to her side. There was a scar there to.

"Scars?" Diamond gasped.

"Where were you stabbed!"

"I wasn't stabbed..."

"What happened to you?"

"Well, I think I was shot..."

"Impossible, you were killed before me! I would have certainly heard a gunshot!" Karolyn whispered harshly.

"No, I pretended to be dead, after he stabbed you. I thought he would think I was, I don't know why I hoped that. He shot me, it was so fast, one in the shoulder and one to the head." she said as she rubbed her shoulder, there was a scar. She ran her fingers through her hair, in the middle of her head, there was a small, circular scar. She gasped and sat up.

"You have scars to?" Karolyn asked with tears in her eyes.

"Yeah. And if we have scars, then, Gen must have some to... He killed her last I know that, so I don't know how she died..." she said as they both slowly turned their heads to Genevieve.

"You two should be asleep." Strider said suddenly, making them both jump.

"Sorry." Diamond said as they both laid down.

"Do not let your dreams trouble you. Those dreams of murder you had are not real I assure you." he said to them, knowing they were still awake.

"They weren't dreams. We really did get murdered." Karolyn mumbled.

Strider scoffed and continued to smoke in the dark room.

"Were serious." Diamond retorted.

Strider only ignored them and continued on smoking. Karolyn slowly drifted off into a deep sleep...

Freddie was right infront of me, he was leaning in to kiss me, as I closed my eyes and puckered my lips, he whispered into my ear something I couldn't understand. But there was another thing to, it wasn't his voice! It sounded familiar, and I began to wonder why this person was in my dream. I pulled away from Freddie, only to reveal Frodo. There was a screech, it sounded like nails on a chalkboard and a baby wailing in fear. I knew this screech, and it was enough to wake me up.

"Holy shit!" I said bolting upright from laying down. Apparently, everyone else had heard it to because they were all wide awake and sitting up. I was panting and sweating, Diamond was covering her ears and Gemevieve was holding her knees. Frodo was sitting up on the side of the bed, while Pippin, Merry, and Sam all sat beside us staring at Strider with fear.

"What the hell was that!" I shouted.

"Shut up they might hear us! Oh please, I don't want to hear that screeching again. Oh my god the screeching..." Diamond trailed off trembling.

"What are they?" Frodo asked the oddly calm Strider.

Strider sat there for a moment, pondering this question, but continued to smoke. This guy was weird, and smoked a lot. Most of the time I felt like I was suffocating in smoke...

"They were once men. Great kings of men. Then Sauron the deceiver gave to them nine rings of power. Blinded by their greed, they took them without question. One by one falling into darkness, now, they are slaves to his will. They are the Nazgul, ringwraiths. Neither living nor dead. At all times they feel the presence of the ring, drawn to the power of the one. They will never stop hunting you."

Genevieve shook her head in shock, and I sat there flabbergasted. Never? Never stop hunting Frodo? At this point, I really knew how dangerous this was going to be. These ringwraiths were really serious about this ring, and I was going to do anything to keep Frodo and the ring safe.

"Never?" I squeaked at Strider.

"Never." he replied quietly and dimly.

"Oh man..." I said rubbing my forehead. I looked up at Frodo who was staring at me. He reached forward and squeezed my knee, "We will be fine. Gandalf will come, then we'll be alright." he reassured me. He gave me a weak smile and I nodded. I hope he is right, that Gandalf will come. Back in the Shire, Gandalf actually made me feel safer, so I could really use that feeling right now. I couldn't fall back asleep that night, so the next morning was pretty slow. We ate our breakfast, which wasn't much, and packed our things.

Diamond was standing next to me, so I figured this was the perfect opportunity to ask her about Pippin.

"So..." I said nudging her.

"So... what?"

"You and Pippin? That's real cute."

"What the heck are you talking about?"

"You like him and he likes you! It's obvious! The way you two cuddled at Buckleberry, and the way you two look at each other! You like him!" I shouted, making Sam and Merry's heads turn.

"Shut up I don't! And I don't know what your talking about at the ferry..." she whispered back harshly.

"Oh come on. It's so obvious!" I said.

"I DON'T LIKE PIPPIN!" she shouted. It was loud, and I was REALLY hoping Pippin didn't hear. Turning around, I sighed seeing Pippin looking at us. He caught my eye, and with tears in his eyes he turned away. I would be the one to ruin it for him...

"Crap." I whispered to myself.

"Well you should see you and Frodo then!" Diamond whispered to me.

"Yeah, he's cute and I'm not afraid to admit it unlike you. But we don't have a thing going on. Tell me one time you have seen us flirt or whatever!" I said back to her, but this time I made sure that Frodo wasn't listening. He wasn't even in the room thank god...

"Well! There was that one time, at that, one place..." she paused, and I placed my hands on my hips.

"Do go on." I said with a prideful smirk.

"Yeah I got nothin'." she said surrendering. I laughed and packed up the rest of my things. Genevieve was struggling still on wether she still wanted to go or not.

"Gen, if you don't go, what if we found Ginger? And you weren't there? Do you know how upset she would be? Ginger is out there, I have a feeling. And Laura to. Actually, I promise we will find Ginger. And maybe, we can go home when this is all said and done, and Frodo gas destroyed the ring, okay?"

Sam walked over to us with his hands in his pockets, "Let's hope he destroys it Miss Hadley." he said with his head down.

"What's wrong Sam?" Genevieve asked putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Norhin', homesick is all." he left at that.

We found Frodo, downstairs talking to Barliman. He gave us a pony from his stables, named Bill. Diamond and Sam took an instant liking to the pony, and wanted to be the ones to lead it.

Merry, Genevieve, and Pippin walked together, Diamond and Sam with Bill, and I up at the front with Strider as we set out from Bree. Frodo fell behind a lot, but we always knew he was close. It was foggy, and my allergies was acting up.

"What were those troubling dreams you had last night?" Strider asked turning to me.

I sneezed, "They weren't dreams, why do you keep saying they were?" sneeze, "When we find Gandalf, ask him! He knows we aren't from here." sneeze, I turned to Aragorn with a raised eyebrow.

"How does one end up in another world when they were killed in another? I cannot even wrap the thought around my mind just thinking of it right now!" Aragorn said as we began to come upon more wooded areas.

"I don't know, but I hope I can go home soon."

I looked behind me, Sam and Diamond were talking to each other, Merry and Genevieve were laughing at something while Pippin looked starving. Frodo was in the middle by himself, for once! I decided to give him some company.

"Hey!" I said.

Frodo jumped, and gave me a weak smile, "Hullo." now, I realized just how beautiful his eyes were.

"How are you?" this was going pretty lousy...

"Not to well. I hear voices a lot, and I can't sleep without waking up in a cold sweat on the middle of the night." he said, and shuddered.

"That sucks." I said.

"Sucks?" Frodo asked a little weirded out.

"Oh, sorry, what I meant was, that's too bad."

Frodo let out a small laugh, he looked happy! He hadn't smiled that big in awhile, and it felt good.

"So, doesn't, Pippin like Diamond?" I asked suddenly changing the subject.

"Yes, he thinks shes nice, if that's what you mean."

"Oh, I meant, does he think she's pretty?" I said, reminding myself that it wasn't 2012.

"I think you mean, does he have eyes for her? How did you guess!" Frodo gave a fake gasp as he laughed.

"You know, I just knew." I said with a wink.

"The way you talk must be the the way you talked at home, I find it rather odd, but extremely amusing!" Frodo said holding his stomach in laughter. But his face grew serious again, "Really, I want to know more about your world and culture."

Oh, well that was going to take a while...

"You could have asked a harder question." I said laughing.

"Well, first off, our country, the United States of America, is REALLY fat. We have these restaurants called McDonald's, and it's a heart attack in a building I swear... I don't eat there but Gen does."

"I heard that!" we heard Genevieve yell from behind us.

"Then, we have these things called cars. They are like horses, transportation. They have four wheels and you push pedals to make them go faster or slow down. You following me so far?" I asked the wide eyed Frodo.

"Maybe when we rest you could tell me more..." he said in a thought process. We began to laugh and I turned around to make my way to Diamond. She and Sam looked so bored, and Diamond should be walking with Pippin.

"Hey guys."

"Hey." Diamond said, she looked at me with a "save me from this torture of boredom" look.

I sneezed, again, and pet Bill's nose.

"Miss Hadley, do you need a handkerchief?" Sam asked, furrowing through his pocket.

"Oh no thanks..." I said. "Those are so gross!" I said to myself. Okay, I was already bores so I made my way back to Merry, Pippin, and Genevieve. Genevieve seemed to fit right in! Like they were all siblings. Genevieve stuck her foot out in front of Pippin, who made a tremendous face plant into the ground. I roared with laughter, along with Sam and Diamond behind me. Pippin stood up blushing, and pushed Genevieve into Merry, who in return tripped over a log.

"Hey it's the three stooges!" I yelled to Genevieve, who threw a piece of mud at me. Soon, EVERYONE was covered in mud and we were all laughing. So far, this had been the highlight of the journey since we had left Bree.

"I'm hungry." Pippin said. We all agreed, and stopped Bill who held all our supplies and food. poor pony! We began to unpack pots and pans, and food to cook, when Strider turned around and stared at us.

"Friends, we do not stop until nightfall."

Pippin stood straighter, "What about breakfast?"

"You've had it already." Strider replied confused.

Even us girls were slightly confused, and soon realize we were all starving now. We stopped and began to pack again.

"We've had one yes, but what about second breakfast?"

I was stooped down picking up a bowl, "Second?" I whispered to myself, I heard Frodo give a chuckle.

There wasn't a reply from Strider, who simply walked off without saying anything.

"I don't think he knows about second breakfast Pip."

"What about luncheon? Elevenses, afternoon tea, dinner! Supper! He knows about those, right?" Pippin asked with hope.

Merry only glanced at him with concern, "I wouldn't count on it."

"Darn I was hungry." I said to Diamond and Genevieve.

Strider threw an apple over some trees and landed in Merry's hands, and then threw it to Pippin. Pippin gave him a confused look as another one hit his head. We laughed and continued on, now us three girls in the back with Bill, and Sam and Frodo walking slowly infront of us.

We walked for what seemed like two more years! Strider really wanted to get some miles behind us apparently, and didn't care that he was killing us in the process! Us hobbits were basically falling asleep while walking, so we stopped for a few minutes, and looking up I saw what looked like the remains of some ancient circular building up on the top of a hill. It was dark outside, and we really were expecting some sleep soon.

"Strider can we PLEASE stop?" Genevieve asked as she sat down. Strider was looking off into the distance, at the ruins on the hill.

"This is the great watchtower of Amon Sul. We shall rest here tonight." he said as he looked back at us.

We made our way slowly up the hill and nearly fell to the ground asleep when we reached the top. Strider pulled out a bag and unraveled it, seven swords were laid out on the bag. Strider picked each one up and tossed them to us, I had ne'er handled a sword before, and it was intimidating. Was I going to fight with this? That was my worst fear, having to actually KILL something, or someone.

"These are for you. Keep them close." Strider said to us, and with that, he silently left us to go off somewhere else.

Frodo laid down and fell asleep, but Diamond, Genevieve and I were awake again, with much needed sleep. So, the rest of us silently built a fire while Frodo was sleeping. Genevieve began to braid my hair while Diamond sat in front of me and pulled out her sword.

"This is just the right size for me." she said running her hand along the blade.

"Gen, I feel like I'm sitting on something, could you see if I am?" I stood on my knees, and heard her pull something out from under me.

"Karolyn.."

"Is it something bad?" I asked startled.

"No, it's actually something wonderful. Remember this?" I turned around to see Genevieve holding my Bible from home in her hands. It still had my name ingrained into it,

"Karolyn Hannah Hadley".

"Oh my god." I said as I took it in my hands. Diamond looked around and gasped as she took it from my hands.

"How did this end up here? You didn't bring it I know that, I'm a little weirded out to be honest." she said handing it back to me.

"What's a Bible?" we heard Pippin ask behind us. Merry and Sam were also staring at us waiting for a reply.

"A book." I replied.

"What's it about?" Sam asked.

"Well, it's not exactly about one thing..." Diamond started off.

"It's a book with a bunch of different stories in it." Gen added.

"It's our holy book. Our religion's book that we follow, you could actually call it a guide to your life if you wanted." I said flipping through the pages, letting all the memories seep back in.

"Oh, could you read it to us sometime? You know, a story or two?" Sam asked curiously.

"Sure Sam."

"Want some bacon?" Merry asked changing the subject.

"Yes!" Genevieve exclaimed running to him.

"Bacon!" Diamond soon followed.

"And tomatoes!" Pippin added as he handed Diamond some.

I slowly walked to the fire and say next to Sam, who looked at my Bible once again. We were all eating in the silence, until Merry broke it again.

"Want a piece of bacon Genevieve?" he asked handing her one.

"Definitely."

"Gimme some!" I said.

"Tomatoes!" Pippin randomly blurted out.

Suddenly, we heard Frodo shift in his sleeping bag. He sat up, extremely startled, and pure fear in his eyes and rage.

"What are you doing?" he squealed.

"Eating bacon and tomatoes..." I said innocently as Diamond let out a burp.

"Whoops." she said.

"We save some for you Mr. Frodo!" Sam said offering him a piece.

But instead of him going, "Oh thank you! I'm lucky to have such great friends who cook for me! I think I'll have a bit of that bacon now." he stood and ran to the fire.

"Put it out you fools! Put it out!" he said as he stomped out the fire.

"Geez calm down Frodo!" Diamond said as she scooted away from his feet.

"That's nice, ash on my tomatoes!" Pippin said as he frowned.

"That's nice, ASH IN MY EYES!" I said as Frodo continued to stomp around, making sure the last tiny flame was gone.

Sam and Merry seemed startled and had scooted back to the wall.

"What were you thinking?" Frodo shouted at us again.

A screech pierced the cold air, and I cringed and screamed in fear. We all were to familiar with that sound, and we all waited for the sound again.

"Please not again!" I wailed.

"Please!" Diamond added.

"What was that?" Genevieve screeched as she grabbed her sword.

Frodo and Merry made their way to the edge of the watchtower and looked down. Frodo and Merry jumped, and began to retreat.

"Run! Go!" Frodo said. We all grabbed our swords, and I slipped my Bible into my inside blouse pocket. We ran up the stairs behind us and flubs ourselves on flat ground. This was obviously where the people once stood at the watchtower. We all got in a circle, back to back, swords at the ready. Diamond was trembling and Genevieve looked like this was no big deal, like she wasn't scared. I gasped as I saw a black rider emerge from the darkness in front of me, it was tall, scary, and silent.

We all began to cluster into a group now instead of a circle, for now the riders were coming in from the same side. I let out a small sob as they began to walk towards us. Finally, after a few minutes of someone to make a move. Sam pointed his sword at one of the riders.

"Back you devils!" he shouted. The rider most nearly through him to the side with no hesitation. Sam landed against a pillar with a thud and his eyes shut. Now, Merry and Pippin winced and stepped in front of Frodo. They were quickly thrown aside to.

"Go away!" I shouted. The rider I notices had what looked like metal "gloves" on. He took my sword by the blade and yanked it from my

hold, and set it flying off the watchtower. Before I could even scream, it pushed me with great force to the side, along with Diamond and Genevieve. Now, Frodo was left alone, which really wasn't supposed to happen... The riders began to close in on him, and Frodo pulled out the ring. He began to mess with it in his hands. One of the riders, the tallest, turned his wad ever so slowly to face Frodo. Frodo looked down at the ring and back. up to the rider, who was now walking towards Frodo. He tripped and fell back, inching his way to a nearby pillar. The rider walked up to him and drew his sword, oh crap...

"Frodo!" I screamed.

He vanished, he had done it, he had put on the ring. Sam gasped, and I let out a squeal. The riders let out a screech off frustration. We all watched, with wide eyes filled to the brim with fear and horror as we watched the events that unfolded in front of us.

The rider rose his sword, as if he was going to stab someone, which is what we all feared the most at this point.

"NO!" I shouted. The rider plunged his sword to the ground, and a blood curtailing scream filled the air.

"Frodo!" Sam yelled with tears.

"Oh my god no!" Diamond added, she was curled in a ball sobbing.

There was another scream, and Aragorn appeared out of nowhere. The rider pulled the sword up, and Frodo was on the ground, clutching his left shoulder. I shot up and ran in between Aragorn and the fire, Frodo was bleeding and still screaming. Soon, everyone else was around me and we were all crying.

"Frodo, don't die please come back!" I screamed with his head in my lap, I was stroking his cheeks.

Sam was crying and Diamond had fallen behind Pippin, clinging to him in fear. Aragorn fought off the riders, and made his way back to the screaming Frodo. Oh my god, Frodo was dying.

ah, i hope you liked it!:D i know i did! this is my longest chapter yet! okay, i have tons of subscriptions... but like, no reviews! please make this the chapter with the most reviews!

-Mrs. Frodo Baggins

Kendall

Mirabella Millstone of Bywater