So. I'm sorry. This has taken way too long to get out and I'm not gonna try to make any excuses.

In any case, I would like to address one thing before you get to reading the story. I understand that many of you feel mislead about the Collin/Sophie thing, but keep in mind that I've had this story planned out for over a year, and I care way too much about your pleasure in reading this to write something that I couldn't make up for. So please, hang in there with me, whether you're a Collin lover or a Boromir lover. I hope that I haven't lost any of you guys from the delay!

This is a short and rather irrelevant chapter, but I just wanted to get it out so you all knew that I was still alive.

And sorry for any spelling errors. I wrote this on my touch-screen phone and auto-correct is a jerk. I tried to read through and catch the mistakes but you know. All of these words makes it hard to read sometimes.

How long had this been going on? In ways it felt like years, yet at the same time only several minutes. Everything happened so quickly, yet so slowly. The fear I'm my heart made every second unbearable. Fear for Gondor and everyone in it. Fear for my friends, the entire world, and myself.

It's never healthy to think about your impending, premature death, but I couldn't help it. My world had suddenly become very isolated. Boromir's long-term unconsciousness had left me feeling alone and empty during the siege, and while Collin's arms were open wide it seemed wrong. Wrong to run into the arms of another man while my fiancee was recovering from near-fatal wounds. Wrong to indulge in something that could have been, probably should have been, just because the world could end for me. Wrong because no matter how good we were at being friends, there was a new part of me that craved to be with Collin. It disgusted me to even have such contradicting feelings. If only Kristy or Arwen were with me- a feminine touch was all I needed.

Boromir had been stirring in his sleep for a long time, finally waking up to Collin and I staring him down. We'd been sitting in his room for what felt like an eternity, having discovered the hard way that we weren't qualified to help with the battle. Collin could hardly work without tearing open his stitches or causing himself extreme pain, and every time I would try to help the healers I would just get in the way or throw up. We were practically useless, a fact that, paired with the everlasting darkness and Sauron's horde, nearly drove us insane.

Relief flooded over me, so much that I had to fight the urge to tackle the Gondorian. His eyes scanned the room, growing wide at the sound of pained moans and weeping coming from down the hall.

"Welcome back." Collin smiled tiredly, sounding happy but resigned. He had been laying face-down on the floor for what must have been hours.

Boromir continued to look around, sitting himself up on his elbows. He tried to speak but his voice came out as a hoarse whisper. I poured some water into his mouth and it spilled down his chin. He drank thirstily, having been without water for quite some time. He swished it in his mouth before clearing his throat.

"I'm so glad that you're awake..." I sighed, smiling in a girly way reminiscent of a fan girl. I had spent hours watching him sleep, and when he finally woke up I was at a loss for words. Where to begin?

Fortunately, he answered for me. "What is going on?" He asked, trying to find the strength to sit up more.

I placed a hand on his shoulder, tyring to make him relax. "You were knocked unconscious."

"For how long?"

"We don't know." Replied Collin. "The sky has been dark for ages."

Boromir seemed to look at Collin in a different light, his voice growing urgent. "My men... How are my men?"

Collin looked to the ground, ruffling his hair nervously. "I'm sorry... I could only save three others. There were four, but..." He sighed, shaking his head.

It was as though Boromir had the wind knocked out of him. His eyes stared blankly at my friend, unable to comprehend reality.

"This is all my fault..." He sighed, looking so weak and helpless compared to the usually mighty captain. His eyes shifted to Collin, the smallest hint of tears forming in them. "Thank you, Collin. Were it not for you we would all be dead. Do not feel sorrow for only saving four men, for were it not for me they would all be alive... I was a fool to think that I was doing the right thing- that there wasn't a way out..." Boromir looked around the room once more, his eyes resting on me. "Where is my father?"

Collin and I looked at each other, both of us wondering how he would take it.

"Err...We don't know." I said, sitting beside him. "The last we saw him... Well... Gandalf knocked your father unconscious."

Boromir's eyes widened, looking to Collin for confirmation. Colin simply smiled, remembering the moment fondly.

"It was-" Collin began, cut off by my sharp glare. I just knew that he was going to say it was 'awesome.' He talked about it for ages afterward. Instead, he looked to his hands with a sigh. "It was... Peculiar."

"Peculiar..." I grumbled, rolling my eyes. Of all the times to joke... "Boromir, how do you feel?"

"Concerned..." Replied Boromir as he forced himself to sit completely up. "What has happened?"

I took his hands and felt their rough calluses from years of fighting. This was the part that I had been dreading- telling the man I love that his beloved city was being destroyed as he slept. Taking a deep breath, I looked into his eyes and told him the truth.

"The city is under attack." I knew that this would not be entirely shocking to hear- after all, Pippin saw it in the palantir. "That's why Gandalf knocked your father unconscious- he was too distressed over your injuries to do anything but panic. So, for the sake of morale, Gandalf took control. There is a horde outside, but they have not broken through, yet. Well... Not the orcs, at least. But the Nazgul have been flying around on these dragons-like beasts. They are the worst of it, but so far the gates have held. It's hard to see what's going on so far away, and it's not safe to go outside."

Boromir nodded, probably expecting as much. He threw his legs over the edge of the bed and wrapped his arms around my shoulders. "I would have a look for myself, if you could help me."

I helped him up as best as I could, but Boromir managed well enough. We walked to the closed balcony door, which Collin quickly opened for us. The sky outside was dark, except for the ominous red glow coming from Mordor. My eyes searched the skies warily, afraid that a Nazgul might swoop down at any moment. We walked to the edge of the balcony and looked over the edge at the horror below.

All of the buildings and farmlands outside of Minas Tirith had been burned, and in their place were torches as far as the eye could see. The ground was moving in an ever-shaking and twisting mass of foul beasts. The Nazguls circled overhead, like hawks encircling their prey. The horde below sounded like a grumbling thunder, but from our height not much could be seen. There was fire spreading through the first level, just little patches of flames. A cool wind ran through the stone city, making it seem even less like a home, but more like an old skeleton. Screams could be heard all throughout the city, some out of pain, others out of panic. There was a crash barely audible from our height as the gate finally gave way- to what, I did not know. Boromir was as still as the mountain behind us as he watched the horde of torches flood into the first level of his beloved city.

Collin looked down sadly, his eyes reflecting the fire below with hate. I knew that if there was anything he could do, he would be doing it. And Boromir, the brave man who never seemed to fear, was now helpless as his city fell into ruin at the hands of a horde far greater in number than the army of Minas Tirith. There was no help, no hint of hope that lingered. At that moment, I believe we all felt death greeting us. Whether it was hours, or days away, we all felt the end near.

"How could this happen?" Boromir breathed, leaning on the balcony wall, unable to hold himself up. "Has no one come?"

"No one." I sighed, not knowing what I could say to comfort the two men I held most dear. They were always my rocks, and now they seemed as weak and helpless as me, maybe even more. "I thought that the good guys always won."

"They do." He replied, his voice empty of emotions. "But maybe we are the ones who have to die, first. Maybe our time is up."

I didn't want to believe it. Bad things didn't happen to good people. Sure, we can get hurt or lost or go hungry for a day or two, but this? Death always seems so far away when pertaining to yourself.

"I've got to help them..." Boromir pushed himself up, but he hardly had the strength to stand. He fell onto Collin, who winced as his arrow wounds took a hit.

I took Boromir's arm and tried to usher him back to bed. "There is nothing you can do. Not in this condition."

"You've been in bed for Lord knows how long..." Collin tried to convince him. "Just sit down and we'll try to find something to eat. You need to regain your strength if you want to do anything."

Boromir relented, letting us help him back into bed. The moans and agonized screams from down the hall seemed to eat into his head as he laid himself down.

"My people..." He sighed. "They're hopeless and dying and for once I cannot help them!"

"I lived in Rohan for years." Said Collin as he fell to his seat on the floor. "If I know Eomer at all, he will come. With or without his uncle, he will come. Aragorn, too. It may seem silly, now, especially after everything going on outside, but I think we have a chance. I've seen a future beyond this- Galadriel showed it to me. And while the future is never certain, I just have to believe it. After all, why the hell would I want to just sit here and wait for a dark lord's minions to come and slaughter me? No... I refuse to think that we're going to face this alone."

I was with him on that- the people of Middle-earth have always been too stubborn to avoid a fight. At least, in my experience that's how things always seemed. Things just always seemed to work out, one way or another. I couldn't imagine either Eomer or Aragorn abandoning us, and I didn't want to think that I would never see them again. They were my friends, my protectors through the years. I loved them dearly, nearly every other living being I'd come across in Middle-earth. I had to believe that I would see them again... The fear of death and what came after frightened me.

"Even if they do come... Will it be enough?" Asked Boromir, doing his best to avoid falling into despair.

"I think it will be." Collin nodded, then added with a laugh, "I mean, Harry Potter turned out just fine, right? And they seemed pretty screwed."

I couldn't help but laugh. "True, Collin, but Harry Potter was a fictional story."

"And doesn't this seem a bit like fiction?" He replied with a silly grin. "Four kids die and fall into a mystical world full of elves and dwarves? Oh, and we conveniently land right in the middle of a big war between good and evil. It all seems a little too... Convenient."

"My city under attack is convenient?" Boromir raised his brow, his expression reminding Collin and I that we'd had more time to cope with the shock than he did. After all, this was his home. He couldn't have been taking it well at all, and there we were acting like things were going to be just fine. And maybe they were, but we all take things at a different pace.

"It's not convenient." I assured him, taking his hand in mine. "None of this is."