Chapter Twenty Disclaimers: Frodo Baggins comes from J.R.R. Tolkien's book trilogy, The Lord of the Rings. Transfiguration and Transfiguration class come from J.K. Rowling's book series, Harry Potter. Seraphina "Sera" and Nash Wimble are my original characters. My self-insert is me.

Chapter Twenty Song(s): Disney and Pixar's Monsters Inc. song, "If I Didn't Have You." Disney's Lilo & Stitch song, "Hawaiian Rollercoaster Ride." Disney and Square Enix's Kingdom Hearts' theme song, "Dream Eaters."

Warning! This chapter is Rated M for slash.

Chapter Twenty Summary: Frodo and Aria reunite with Seraphina and Nash Wimble. Nash shapeshifts into a cat, loving his new form. A dark portal opens up, leading Frodo and Aria to a fateful choice.

Sorry for the delay. This was another tricky chapter to figure out. Half the time, I kept wondering whether or not the characters were going to sacrifice my self-insert, like promised. So, we're starting to get there.

That said, enjoy. :)

Chapter Twenty:

Dark Portal

It took Aria a couple of seconds to realize what she just said to Frodo. It was too bold, too quick, too snappy.

She turned to Frodo, her steps slowing down, as Frodo caught up to her. "Frodo, I'm sorry. You were saying something about my arm and my bones, and I was being too harsh with you."

Frodo chuckled, facing her now. "That's what you're worried about! Oh, Aria." He dived in for a kiss on the lips. He said fast, the second he released her. "Don't worry about it. Although, it was a rather bold interruption on your part."

Aria stared at him, shocked. "You're not mad at me?"

Frodo laughed aloud, enjoying himself. "There's nothing to worry about with that." He worried a little, troubled over why she was working herself up with this. He shrugged, admitting to her, "Maybe a little worried about the way you said it, but it's no trouble. Trust me. I know what boldness looks like." He looked at her now, worried about her, "You worry over the smallest details." He kissed her on the nose, guiding her out of the Evenshire Camp, "Come on now. Seraphina and Nash await us."

Aria looked on at him in wonder, even as he dragged her along towards the nearby forest.

It was the Silent Forest, and leaving the forest now was an Oriental female cat and her spiky, bronze-haired human who trailed after her. The second they locked eyes with Frodo and Aria, the Oriental cat let out a piercing scream, before bouncing around her bronze-haired human man.

The Oriental cat zipped right up to Aria, forcing Frodo to let go of Aria's hand right away. All at once, the Oriental cat hugged Aria, leaving Aria no other choice but to embrace her back.

"Aria, I've missed you!" the Oriental cat, Seraphina was her name, purred loudly in her arms.

"Sera, Seraphina, I've missed you, too!" Aria said, enjoying the cat hug she was getting from Sera.

The male human approached Frodo. This human, Nash Wimble was his name, was donned in a brown leather waistcoat, along with a long-sleeved, dark blue shirt, dark brown pants, complete with its own brown utility belt, and tall brown boots. The way he looked at Frodo was alarming. And yet, Nash laughed up a storm upon seeing Frodo's startling reaction on his face.

Nash nudged Frodo's shoulder a bit, calming the poor gentle-hobbit, "Relax. I'm an ally, remember?"

"Nash," Frodo stated, contemplating his actions, "you're human. Are you sure you wouldn't want to shapeshift into a cat?"

Nash sighed, amazed he still had his shapeshifting abilities. "Yes, well, ever since the Nobodies returned, thanks to Father Time, my shapeshifting abilities are a little—out of sync." He shrugged telling the gentle-hobbit, "Yes, well, I suppose it's worth a shot."

"Go on then. Go ahead and try. I'll wait then," Frodo stated, encouraging Nash to go forth with his shapeshifting.

"Okay then. Here goes," Nash said, taking what he learned at Hogwarts with his transfiguration abilities. He closed his eyes, imagining he was a golden house cat. Already, he could sense his body shifting, transfiguring into a golden house cat. A golden house cat wearing his clothes, only smaller sized to fit his body.

When Nash opened his eyes, he looked at his reflection in a water puddle. He found that he had golden cat eyes. But he did look dashing for a golden house cat.

Sera stopped hugging Aria. She crept down, away from Aria, to observe Nash in his new transfigured cat form. "Why Nash, this is a surprise! What shall we call you? You obviously need a new name, if you're going to be a cat like me."

Nash chuckled, sarcastically. He resorted to admitting to his friends, "Cooper. That's what I want to be called. Cooper's my cat name then. Nash Wimble is my human name. The name I was born with. But I'll take Cooper as my cat name any day now."

Frodo nodded, smirking at him. "Then Cooper it is then. Cooper." He smirked, enjoying this. Of course, it did give him ideas. "Transfiguration class is all about shapeshifting."

"Basically," Aria stated, knowingly, "I didn't realize that's what it was, but I guess you're right about that."

Frodo chuckled, approaching her now and wrapping an arm around her. "Indeed, Aria. Indeed." He nodded to her, winking at her, and smirking at her in wicked delight. He looked back at their two cat companions, as Nash—I mean, Cooper, enjoyed his new cat form.

It was short-lived, however.

The dark storm clouds rolled in much faster above their heads, breaching the skies above the Silent Forest, as well as the Evenshire Camp.

It was then Seraphina knew the worst had come. "It's here. The Darkness."

Just as Sera said these words, the dark storm clouds crossed their path. The four companions looked up at the sky, surprised the dark storm clouds swooped overhead, covering them, but keeping the surrounding skies a lighter grey color, bright as ever.

Aria looked at the dark storm clouds wondering what was going on here.

Soon enough, a few yards from where the four companions stood, purple lightning struck the earth. It didn't strike in massive amounts. But it was just enough to form a dark portal, from which purple lightning shrouded the outer parts of the darkened mirror-like opening.

Aria felt the dark portal's gaze, beckoning her to come towards it, to approach it, and see what she could find there.

In truth, Aria felt fear towards this dark portal, fear of the unknown, fear of what her sacrifice could bring. Did she really have to sacrifice herself? Everyone seemed determined that she do this. Did she really want to do this?

Aria turned to Sera, asking her, "Do I have to do this?"

"Do what, Aria?" Frodo asked her, alarmed. Then he looked at the dark portal and understood. He moved his hand to Aria's cheek, getting her attention, "Aria, you don't have to do this. You don't have to sacrifice yourself. We'll find another way."

"Yeah, I know, but..." Aria paused, choosing her words carefully, "...what if there is no other way."

"Aria," Seraphina started, getting her attention, "if you don't do it, then more lives will be lost." She paused for a brief moment, saying to her, "Remember Parker Dooley? Remember how you relived five years of your life, Aria, and you ended up in your mid-thirties all over again. Don't let Parker's sacrifice mean nothing, be in vain. Come on! You can do this!"

"Why are you so determined to...?" Frodo's voice faltered. As soon as he released Aria, Aria bolted towards the dark portal. He looked at her, beckoning her to stay with him.

For a moment, they locked eyes.

Frodo nearly chased after her, but found he couldn't. His ankle was grabbed by Sera, who stopped him.

"Don't do this! Let her go!" Sera let out a piercing scream, thrilled at what was happening to Aria.

"Eh... get off me," Frodo said, shaking his leg from which Sera held onto his ankle tighter.

"Sera, if you..." Cooper's words faltered.

Frodo looked then, too, in the direction Cooper was staring at, right at Aria stopped in front of the portal. Frodo called out to her, fast, "No! Aria, wait! Aria! Stop!"

Twhack!

Sera was knocked unconscious for several seconds. Cooper had managed to knock her out with a thick branch, one that he found on the ground nearby. He reacted fast, whacking her so hard that she could barely think straight.

The moment Sera released her grip on Frodo's ankle, Frodo stumbled on the ground.

By the time Frodo looked up, Aria had run through the dark portal.

Frodo stood up, glancing over at Cooper for a few seconds. "Thank you."

"Don't thank me yet. Find Aria," Cooper stated. "Go!"

Frodo glanced at him with fond affection. For a moment, he wanted to hug him. Then he recalled Aria and her need to become a sacrifice for everyone. It was a noble deed, but... no. Frodo still had to see she would fix the damage done, the damage that they both started.

Whether or not Aria survived the encounter was another matter entirely. Ohh! Frodo had to find her, before she got into big trouble.

He darted towards the dark portal. Sensing it was calm, Frodo pressed a hand against the glass-like opening. He pulled his hand back, seeing it was clean. He sighed, pressing through the portal before another moment was lost.

By the time Seraphina snapped out of it, Frodo was gone. So was Aria. Where were they?

Chapter Twenty Outro Song(s): NerdOut's Star Wars: The Mandalorian song, "This Is The Way."

.x.

How was that?

The last section for this chapter was the trickiest to figure out, due to me and the characters going back and forth on what to do about Frodo and my self-insert entering the dark portal. So many ways to figure it out, but here we are. :)

I'm currently brainstorming the next chapter. So, things are getting intense for this story. :)

Thanks for reading. More chapters to come. :)

~Aria Breuer