[Leane POV]

We had been walking for days now, all ten of us dragging ourselves closer to the least desirable place in Middle Earth to destroy the One Ring– Mordor. My new elven sword and daggers from my dear friends aka teachers– Elrohir and Elladan– were strapped on my hips.

How I felt like a warrior. An exhausted one, that is.

We walked non-stop for hours, no matter what terrains we were on–rough or smooth, whether it rains or snows. The only time Gandalf allowed us rest was the time for meal or to sleep.

Despite my rigorous (I think) trainings back in Rivendell, the first four days of the journey were extremely excruciating. My feet screamed in agony everytime we stopped for a break. I was extremely exhausted, and as soon as my head hit the ground at night, I would instantly pass out, skipping dinners in favor for much needed rest.

The others seemingly noticed my weariness, especially Aragorn and Legolas who constantly threw worry glances at me, but I ignored them and refused to complain. I was determined to make it through this journey just like the men around me. I reminded myself over and over again that my body was still adjusting to the long walk.

I faked it till I make it, and I was proved right as days turned into weeks. My feet grew stronger and walking for hours everyday came more natural to me now.

One time, as we sat and fed, Aragorn decided that we rest for a while longer to keep our strength. Boromir took the time to kindly teach the hobbits to fight. The lesson he gave started off serious, but eventually ended up with shenanigans caused by both hobbits that he tried to teach.

Merry squealed in surprise as he took a hit from Boromir. Suddenly Merry rose from his spot and launched himself at the Gondorian man who was much bigger than the hobbit.

"Get him!!" yelled Pippin and Merry, pinning Boromir down on the ground. The Gondorian warrior let out a breathy laugh of mirth at the hobbits' overwhelming yet feeble attacks.

Seeing the laughter on Boromir's face reminded me of a little boy who were being attacked by golden retriever puppies.

Their playful banters brought merriment to our hearts. But at a split second realization dawned on me, that the scene before us marked an important event that was going to happen soon right after this moment.

I tensed. All amusement immediately left me.

Aragorn stood up, an easy smile graced his face, "Alright. Break it up, gentlemen," he said as he tried to help Boromir up. But soon, he too fell victim to the hobbits' mischief. They yelled a battle cry as they got Aragorn off of his balance.

"FOR THE SHIRE!" they howled. "Hold him! Hold him!"

They pulled Aragorn's feet, causing the ranger to fall on his butt, caught off guard. Everybody burst out laughing in amusement; all except Legolas and me, but none of them noticed.

I silently searched the sky as Legolas got up on a rock and looked out far on the distant. His expression remained stoic, his body stilled like a statue despite the sharp, faraway gaze his blue eyes held. I put a deliberate effort to look indifferent as much as I could, intending not to change the way fate take its course.

So I waited.

Not long after that Legolas exclaimed in alarm, "Crebain from Dunland!"

"Hide!" ordered Aragorn, wide-eyed.

Everybody quickly scrambled to their feet, getting their things off of the ground and find a place to hide themselves. Suddenly everything came to a slow; and I froze in my place. Before I could gather my wits or even find a spot to hide, a pair of strong arms pulled me quickly under a bush behind a huge rock. Legolas slipped next to me as we hid from the swarming flocks of birds squawking overhead. The presence of our enemy's spies eliciting a sense of darkness behind my mind. My whole body went stiff as I waited with dread, holding my breath. Legolas put a reassuring hand on me and briefly squeezed my shoulder.

"Spies of Saruman! The passage south is being watched," Gandalf announces, looking up at the mountains, "We must take the Pass of Caradhras. We move in the night," he said darkly, "We cannot light a fire again."

Days had passed. The events in the journey aligned with the knowledge I had. So far everything went as it should be, which both comforted and disturbed me at the same time.

We trudged towards the cruel Caradhras. Cold and hungry, treading against the snow that had began to almost reach our knees. As expected, Saruman cast a spell on the mountain. The evil wizard drew a mighty storm upon the Fellowship, sending an avalanche of snow on top of us, blocking our path. Eventually Gandalf were torn into two disturbing choices in which he couldn't make for the Fellowship, and so it was up to Frodo to decide our path: through the Mines of Moria.

I held Merry by my side, our teeth chattering at the biting cold. After Frodo's decision, we looked at our leader expectantly. Freezing.

"Then so be it," said Gandalf lowly, darkness grew in his thousand years eyes.

After a day in a freezing hell, we arrived at the west gate of Moria. The Fellowship stopped beside a dark lake, right in front of a big stone wall. I tensed as I looked warily at the dark waters. My gut clenched in a knot, knowing what lies under the water.

"Dwarf doors are invisible when closed." Gimli said as he and Gandalf inspected the wall.

"Yes, Gimli, their own masters cannot find them if their secrets are forgotten," Gandalf nodded in affirmation.

"Why doesn't that surprise me?" Legolas said sarcastically, quirking an eyebrow. Gimli looks at him sideways, with a cold, resentful look in his eyes. I sighed tiredly at their silly feud.

"Can we please not have any of that?" I complained, my lips pressed into a line, glancing almost angrily at both Legolas and Gimli. "We're all in this together," I said matter of factly.

Immediately both dwarf and elf looked away and in an instant I felt guilt for being upset at their little snarky remarks at each other. My expression softened.

"You two have to put your differences away. A house divided against itself cannot stand," I added. I tried to smile, to let them know that all was fine, but it came out of me more like a chagrin.

Gimli grunted and turned his back on Legolas, while Legolas looked sideways a bit, his expression unreadable. I sighed and walked away from them, still feeling upset at their childish dispute.

Gandalf hadn't figured out the password for the gate, so we had no choice but to wait. Despite knowing the obvious password, I remained silent, intending on not ruining the timeline, even just by seconds.

Most of us sat near the gate or by the shore, but not me. The dark foreboding feeling grew in my mind ever since I stepped foot at the door. I couldn't help but stood stiffly looking out to the water but with an effort to look indifferent. My back touched the stone wall behind me, anxious to put as much distance from the water.

"A house divided against itself cannot stand," Aragorn recited my words earlier as he approached me. The ranger tore his eyes away from me and followed my gaze to the still water. "You are wise for your age," he smiled, "That should give them something to ponder."

"Those words weren't mine. A wise man said it once," I explained.

I wasn't going to discredit and steal Abraham Lincoln's glory, or risk a visit from the Secret Service later.

Ha ha, I thought bitterly.

I looked warily at the water. For something that held a huge, terrifying monster inside it, the lake was incredibly still. Too still; nothing moved. And that wasn't comforting either.

"You've been awfully silent lately," pointed Aragorn out, standing beside me. Did he sense from me that a bad thing was going to happen soon?

"There's just nothing much to say," I answered, putting an effort to look nonchalant, but the reply came out almost too quickly.

Aragorn gazed at me and I knew he picked up the tension in my voice. Cursing inwardly, I realized my slip up; he shouldn't be worried about things he wasn't supposed to know. He needed a distraction. So I smiled at him.

"You're a skilled ranger, Aragorn. Having you in this journey is truly a blessing for this Fellowship," I said to him, distracting him with flattering words though it was an honest comment. "I honestly didn't think I'll make it this far on my own had you not pulled me out of the way of the avalanche back in Caradhras."

He looked surprised, taken aback by my sudden praise. But being a humble human being that he was, he didn't smile, only gave me a small, grateful nod.

"You're too kind. Thank you, Leane," he said.

I smiled, shaking my head. "No. It's me that should–"

I saw Pippin throwing pebbles at the water, cutting myself mid-speech. A series of profanity rang inside my head, unwillingly my body tensed even more as I fought my fight or flight response from showing up. But alas, I couldn't help my eyes that were wide in alarm. Aragorn saw this and moved away from me to stop the hobbits.

"Do not disturb the water," he warned.

That was the cue. Any seconds now.

I slid my hand on the hilt of my sword and clutched it tightly. I felt a pair of eyes boring into me. I looked and was met by Legolas' icy blue eyes piercing at me. I nodded at him. He felt something was up, so there was no point in hiding my tension from the elf.

"Mellon", Gandalf said and the gate creaked open.

"Soon, Master Elf, you will enjoy the fabled hospitality of the dwarves. Roaring fires, malt beer, ripe meat off the bone!" said Gimli smugly to Legolas.

Right after all of us realized that we were walking on the scattered bones and skulls of dead dwarves, that brief relieve in finally being able to solve the riddle and open the gate immediately forgotten. Boromir claimed that this was no mine, but a tomb, and that we shouldn't have come here.

"Goblins!" hissed Legolas in alarm as he dropped an arrow which he pulled out of a dead dwarf's body.

Then all hell broke loose.

My jaw dropped to my feet as giant tentacles emerged from the still water and grabbed Frodo. The small hobbit screamed in horror as the monster dragged him towards the water. Then the monster showed itself to us.

Holy shit!

Lo and behold. A real life giant, slimy, dark coloured octopus monster was there attacking us.

It was chaos. We swung our swords wildly at its slimy tentacles as we fought to free Frodo. I felt as if I was living one of Percy Jackson series. At some point a tentacle wrapped around my foot and dragged half of my body to the cold water. I yelped and lost my handle on my sword. Instinctively I grasped blindly at the dead grass on the ground, the soil beneath me–anything to keep me from going under. Aragorn managed to cut the tentacle that held me and pulled me back up to him.

We all retreated to the mine at the spur of the moment. The ugly monster charged at us, but its size and weight sent the gates crumbling down. The gate broke down before our very eyes with a thrunder, leaving us in complete darkness until Gandalf lit up his staff.

"We now have but one choice. We must face the long dark of Moria," the grey wizard announced grimly. "Be on your guard. There are older and fouler things than orcs in the deep places of the world."

My clothes was soaked completely with icy cold water from the lake from where the creature dragged me. I leaned in towards Aragorn next to me, shivering. He automatically put his arm around my shoulders in attempt to warm me up. It didn't help much, but still something. Legolas looked at my direction, his eyebrows scrunched, worry and other emotion that I couldn't place laced his immaculate face as he stared at me and Aragorn.

Now that I thought about it, his face and his whole appearance still remained immaculate, even after fighting off ugly, slimy octopus monster.

How the heck did he do that?

He didn't ever get cold. He didn't even get a dirt on him, as if his presence alone repelled dirt. And here the rest of us looking and smelling like strays who never know that shower is a thing. Envy filled me, even as my teeth chattered with cold.

Damn him and his elvish perks!