TW: I'm aware. I have a plan, don't worry.

It had been two days since they left Edoras. Currently, The Doctor was riding beside Gimli, who was riding Eowyn's horse as she walked beside it, holding the reins. Rory was riding a little further back with Aragorn and Boromir while River had gone with Legolas to scout ahead.

"It's true; you don't see many Dwarf women. And in fact, they are so alike in voice and appearance that they're often mistaken for Dwarf men," Gimli was telling Eowyn, The Doctor and Rory.

"It's the beards," Aragorn whispered, gesturing to his own and Eowyn and The Doctor turned away, trying to hide their snickers.

"This, in turn, has given rise to the belief that there are no Dwarf women, and that Dwarves just spring out of holes in the ground," Gimli said, causing Eowyn to laugh loudly and The Doctor and Rory to snicker. "Which is, of course, ridiculous."

Gimli then accidently startled the house with his legs and it ran off. Gimli let out a startled yelp before falling to the ground. The others watched amused as Eowyn ran to make sure he wasn't hurt.

"It's all right. Nobody panic. That was deliberate. It was deliberate," Gimli protested as Eowyn helped him up.

"That is one proud Dwarf," Rory noted in amusement.

"Gimli is typical of his species. But he has a good heart," Aragorn said and Rory nodded his agreement.

Théoden then rode up beside them, watching the scene.

"I haven't seen my niece smile in a long time," he noted wistfully. "She was a girl when they brought her father back dead. Cut down by Orcs. She watched her mother succumb to grief. Then she was left alone, to tend her king in growing fear. Doomed to wait upon an old man who should have loved her as a father."

It was silent for a moment as they watched Eowyn.

"We cannot change the past. We can only look to the future," The Doctor told Théoden, who nodded after a moment.

"I agree, Doctor," Théoden said before looking at Brego. "I feared without my son, Brego would never ride again. I'm happy to be proven wrong."

No further words were exchanged as they continued on.

Later, after they had all stopped for the day, Eowyn walked around, offering everyone some stew she had made. They all politely declined as Rory found he had never longed for Amy's cooking so much.

Eowyn then walked over to The Doctor and Aragorn, who were sitting on the ground, talking as Aragorn examining his sword as he did.

"I made some stew. It's not much, but it's hot," Eowyn offered them kindly.

"Thank you Eowyn, but I'm not hungry," The Doctor politely declined, having seen the others decline it.

"Thank you," Aragorn said, taking the stew from her, not seeing The Doctor's warning look.

Aragorn took a small bite and paused. It was awful. But, seeing Eowyn watching him hopefully, he didn't have the heart to tell her and swallowed.

"It's good," Aragorn lied as The Doctor snickered at his misfortune.

"Really?" Eowyn asked happily and he nodded.

Eowyn turned away and Aragorn began to pour it out when she began to turn back. Aragorn quickly pulled the bowl back, wincing as some of it spilled on his knee.

"My Uncle told me a strange thing. He said that you rode to war with Thengel, my grandfather. But he must be mistaken," Eowyn noted as she walked back towards them.

"King Théoden has a good memory. He was only a small child at the time," Aragorn told her and she went down to her knees in shock.

"Then you must be at least 60," Eowyn said, shocked when Aragorn shook his head. "70?" Again, Aragorn shook his head. "But you cannot be 80!"

"87," Aragorn revealed to the shock of both her and The Doctor.

"Unusual for a human man to look so young at your age," The Doctor noted as Eowyn's eyes lit up in realization.

"You are one of the Dunedain. A descendant of Numenor, blessed with long life. It was said that your race had passed into legend," Eowyn said in awe.

"There are few of us left. The Northern Kingdom was destroyed long ago," Aragorn said sadly.

The Doctor nodded thoughtfully, things about Aragorn now making much more sense. He had always seemed wise beyond his years, and it was not the first time he had come across a race of people who had prolonged life, allegedly by some mystical power.

"I'm sorry, please eat," Eowyn gestured and Aragorn took a look at the stew before he hesitantly began eating it.

"87. Cute," The Doctor said with a smile, causing the two of them to look over at him.

"And how old are you, Doctor?" Eowyn asked curiously.

"I'm over 900 years old," The Doctor said surprising both of them. "But that is nothing. Rory is over 1,900."

"You are not Elves or one of the Dunedain. How can you possibly be so old?" Eowyn asked in wonder and The Doctor chuckled.

"That is a complex story I doubt you would believe even if I could explain it in a way that you could understand. Now eat up Aragorn," The Doctor with a teasing smile at Aragorn.

Aragorn shot him a dark look before looking at the stew and carefully beginning to eat, aware of Eowyn's watchful eyes and The Doctor's amusement.

The next day, the group continued their walk towards Helm's Deep. Aragorn walked beside his horse this time, flanked by Rory and Eowyn on either side. The Doctor rode behind them; River perched behind him on Brego. They couldn't hear what River was whispering in his ear, but it was enough to make The Doctor's face as red as a tomato and Boromir to shoot them teasing grins from where he rode next to them.

Legolas was scouting ahead once more.

"Where is she? The woman who gave you that jewel?" Eowyn inquired suddenly, gesturing to the snowflake necklace Aragorn had around his neck.

Aragorn remained silent for a long moment and they saw that he appeared deep in thought.

"My Lord?" Eowyn called out.

"Aragorn," Rory called and this seemed to snap Aragorn out of whatever trance he was in.

"She is sailing to the Undying Lands with all that is left of her kin," Aragorn finally said and they heard the undertone of sadness in his voice.

Rory looked at Aragorn with a heavy level of empathy. While he didn't understand exactly what Aragorn meant by that, he could understand that Aragorn was separated from someone he clearly loved deeply. Something Rory could relate to, given that he had been separated from Amy far longer than he wished to be.

Two guards rode on ahead and not long after, the group heard the screams of the guards, as well as the snarling of an animal.

"Sweetie, I think it's time I get off," River told The Doctor as she pulled out her dagger.

The Doctor nodded as River jumped off. She and Aragorn ran ahead, seeing Legolas firing an arrow, killing an Orc near a large beast, which he had already killed.

"A scout!" Legolas announced.

The two ran back, encountering Théoden as he rode over.

"What is it? What did you see?!" Théoden demanded.

"Warg! We're under attack!" Aragorn shouted.

While The Doctor, Rory and River didn't know what a 'Warg' was, given how the very word seemed to cause the group of refugees to panic, it wasn't good. The panic would have caused a stampede if Eowyn hadn't managed to calm some of the group.

"All riders to the head of the column!" Théoden ordered.

"Come on, get me up here. I'm a rider," Gimli grunted as some soldiers tried to get him on his horse. "Come on!"

A little away, Legolas jumped up on some rocks, seeing multiple Orcs on Wargs running towards them.

Théoden rode over to Eowyn as she tried to calm the people.

"You must lead the people to Helm's Deep, and make haste."

"I can fight!" she protested.

"NO!" Théoden said sharply before softening his voice. "You must do this, for me."

Eowyn clearly wanted to protest more, but she nodded, turning back to the people as Théoden rode off.

"Follow me!"

As Eowyn began leading her people away, the Fellowship rode after Théoden with the other riders.

Legolas was firing arrows at the Wargs when Théoden led his men and the Fellowship onto the scene. Legolas grabbed onto Gimli's horse, swinging himself around before seating himself in front of Gimli as they road towards the battle.

As Aragorn, Rory and Boromir drew their own swords, The Doctor drew the sword he had kept from the attack that had seen Frodo and Sam leave their Fellowship, knowing he would need it again. And he was right.

The battle began as the two sides met, and it was absolute chaos. Arrows flew and swords met, beheading the Orcs. Gimli fell from his horse but got back to his feet as a Warg spotted him. The beast snarled as him as Gimli raised his axe.

"Bring your pretty face to my ax," Gimli challenged and the Warg roared at him.

It raced towards him but, before it could reach the Dwarf, Legolas fired an arrow, which went through its head and the Warg fell to the ground, dead.

"That counts as mine!" Gimli snapped, annoyed as Legolas rode off.

Gimli turned around and found himself face to face with another Warg. He instantly struck it with his axe, killing it but it fell and Gimli found himself pinned under its corpse.

As Aragorn, Rory, and Boromir went around, beheading Orcs left and right with their swords, Gimli was attempting to push the Warg off him.

"Stinking creature," he grumbled.

To Gimli's alarm, an Orc crawled up on it. Before he could do anything, River emerged over its shoulder and stabbed in the head with her dagger, killing it.

"I had that," Gimli grumbled as she tossed it aside.

"I'm sure you did, but I was happy to help anyway," River said as she helped him move the dead Warg so he could move again.

A Warg was about to jump on Théoden from behind when Aragorn rode up from behind, beheading it with his sword. The king and ranger nodded at each other before ridding off, continuing the fight.

Behind them, another Warg rode towards River and Gimli but Rory rode behind it. With a slash, he drove his sword its back. It howled it pain as Rory removed it before falling to the ground, dead.

The Doctor was fighting off a few Orcs when a Warg rode over, knocking him from Brego. Getting up, The Doctor saw an Orc ridding a Warg. The Doctor jumped up onto the Warg, attempting to throw the Orc off. As the two fought, The Docotr managing to stab the Orc with his sword at one point, the Warg became confused on which direction to go and rode towards a cliff. By the time either The Doctor or the Orc figured it out, it was too late and The Doctor pushed the Orc off the Warg before the Warg went over the ledge, falling below. Brego watched this for a moment before turning, running away from the battlefield.

By the time anyone noticed this, the battle was winding down and the Fellowship began to notice The Doctor's absence.

"Doctor?" River called out and the other members of The Fellowship began to look around

"Doctor?" Rory called out, likewise receiving no answer as the other members of The Fellowship called out for the Time Lord.

Legolas walked the battlefield, looking for any sign of The Doctor. He found none when he heard a wheezing chuckle. Turning around, he saw the Orc The Doctor had fought on the ground. The Fellowship approached and Gimli held his axe to the Orc's throat.

"Tell me what happened and I shall ease your passing," Gimli said.

"He's dead," the Orc said with a cough. "He took a little tumble off the cliff."

"No. No, you lie!" River snarled before grabbing the Orc by his shoulders. "Tell me what happened!"

The Orc laughed before letting out a gagging sound and stilling. He was gone. River then found something that the Orc had taken from The Doctor during the struggle: the ring he had gotten from Galadriel.

Horrified, the Fellowship, now joined by Théoden, rushed to the cliff, seeing a rocky riverbank. The river flowed to the West at a great speed. There was no trace of The Doctor on the rocks or in the river.

"This can't be…he can't be…"Rory trailed off, in shock and disbelief.

For a moment, it was silent. Then, Théoden turned back to a guard.

"Get the wounded on horses. The wolves of Isengard will return. Leave the dead," the Fellowship looked at Théoden sharply as he turned back to them with sorrow on his face. "I am sorry…but there is nothing we can do for him now."

Théoden clapped a hand on Aragorn's shoulder before walking off. Aragorn closed his eyes, taking a moment to compose himself before opening his eyes.

"He is right. The Doctor is gone. But our mission remains the same," Aragorn said softly.

For a moment, none of the Fellowship moved a muscle. Then, one by one, they all walked after Théoden until only River remained. She stared at the river below, tears falling down her face when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned her head, seeing it was her father.

"Come on. We have to go. It's what he'd want," Rory said gently.

For a moment, River remained frozen. Then, she nodded, wiping her tears before following after the others.

Yes, The Doctor is the one who fell instead of Aragorn. Probably seems like a rather strange change, but I needed to happen for reasons that will make sense next chapter.