Save Yourself, I’ll Hold Them Back I
Title: Save Yourself, I’ll Hold Them Back [1/?]
Genre: Action/Adventure/Fantasy/Humor/Angst
Rating/Warnings: PG-13 - For mild language, violence, abuse, slight crude humor, and uh...more violence.
Disclaimer: I own none of these characters except the ones that are not related to the books/movies (fan characters, in other words). This is based on the movies, not the books, and the storyline has been altered just slightly with the new character. It’s the same story, but with the new character as an extra member of the Fellowship Of The Ring.
Summary: This is a remake of Through The Fire And Flames! Angelica (Aspen) Breann was a normal highschool girl struggling with her life, trying to keep her step-father pleased as to avoid any abuse. Although after a collision with an 18-wheeler, she finds herself and her friends waking up in a completely different world. Now they're stuck there. What a life.
Chapter Warnings: LOTS of cursing :U
Scroll One: Dreamsleep
Shuffling, paper flying, books being dropped, one never really could get things together when they're in a hurry or rushing. Or even panicked. Mostly in a panicked state. Sometimes one's mind can get clouded and forget something, or wind up packing too much, their decisions being scrambled around and being unable to choose the right one.
Aspen Breann was darting back and forth in her room trying to figure out if she forgot to pack anything, dropping a couple books in the process and cursing each time something slipped from her hand. Her extremely long dirty blonde hair flung around and whipped in her face as it was pulled into a very messy ponytail, huffing and blowing it out of her eyes once in a while so she could see.
She looked back at her door, eyes wide but focused, stopping to listen for any footsteps. When she heard none, she turned back and yanked up a few more items off the floor, stuffing them into her backpack and turning back to search for anything she might've missed.
Aspen was rushing not from being late for anything, but to avoid a certain someone who was currently raging about the house in a drunken state. Her bruised wrist was proof of this. Maverick was his name, as she dared not call him 'father'. He never deserved that title, and most likely never will. She wasn't even related to him by blood, so it didn't matter to her.
Aspen stopped while pulling a snug-fit jacket on, spotting a photo on her nightstand; a photo of two girls, definitely blood related, dirty blonde hair, same eyes. A younger Aspen and her mother, from years ago. She twisted her lip and yanked the photo from her desk, pushing it carefully into the backpack in a comfortable place. It was the only photo she had of her mother, and she took it everywhere with her. It was the only thing she had left of her, besides the Celtic pendant that was never taken from around Aspen's neck.
A sudden pause. She heard a creak on the wood floor. He was awake, and he was very close to her room. Thank God she had sharp hearing.
She very quietly began to zip up her backpack. She had enough things, she didn't need to search anymore. At least not with him looming over her. She wanted to be out the door and onto her bus without gaining another bruise.
Reminding herself, she kept her eyes on the door and slowly reached over to her dresser, pulling a good sized pocket knife from it and clipping it to the inside of her boot.
Standing, she pulled the backpack's sleeves over her shoulders as quietly as she could, walking over to her door and ready to open it. She closed her eyes, feeling sweat forming, swallowing hard, clasping the door-handle and began turning.
Quickly, she yanked the door open to dart out, heavy ruffling and thumping of her backpack heard as she skid into the living room and made way for the front door, picking up speed and sprinting to go as fast as she could. The door was right there and mere feet away from her hand.
Only, as frighteningly expected, there was a sharp tug on her backpack, yanking her back and slapping her onto the floor roughly with a loud thud, causing her to yelp out and groan. When she looked up she saw a very unimpressed...and very unhappy Maverick standing over her; his normal clean-cut look turned sloppy after having too much to drink.
“Angelica, I told you darlin', you ain't goin' to school today.”
She sneered at him using her real name. “I have a field trip.”
“Exactly why you ain't goin'.”
He had this thing where he would not let Aspen go anywhere that was too far away from him, or if it even hinted at her going as far as running away. He always had a leash on her. He would have people watching her. He could afford things like that, hiring people to make sure she didn't try anything 'funny'. She had assumed that her school field trip would have been innocent enough to let her slip by, it would be her ticket to being able to escape, she could easily run away and nobody would care. She would be free.
But...as it seems...he caught on quite quickly. He knew what her plan was...and her overly-stuffed backpack was enough of a hint on what she was going to do. She was exposed. ...But that wasn't going to stop her from trying.
“This field trip is important--”
“Why is your backpack so full?”
“Books to study and binders for notes.”
“Or maybe there's clothes an' a buncha other crap you don't need on the trip.”
Aspen aimed to stand up until he grabbed her by the arm and yanked her to her feet on his own. His grip on her set fear and panic in, and that was when she began to struggle. She tried to wriggle herself free, until he spun her around and slammed her against the wall. She shouted in pain and staggered, shaking her head before looking at him one more time. Only a fraction of a second.
That was it. She was getting out of there.
Not caring how dazed that attack made her, Aspen raised her leg to push Maverick away, her thick boot managing to wind him from the kick as she scrambled away and darted towards the door. He regained himself and chased after her, she burst out the front door, the cold winter wind hitting her in the face like a slap as soon as she jumped outside and nearly slipping on the frozen grass, though managing to arrive outside just in time to catch her bus.
Maverick began shouting and cursing, staggering outside still in an attempt to catch her. She just kept running; looking up she saw her friends looking out the windows, making her run even faster. She reached the bus, running so fast that she slipped up the stairs and screaming out in frustration, heading to the back of the bus to join her friends.
“Good God, Asp, you look awful!”
She gave her friend an irritated look. “Yeah, don't I always?” She was heaving, trying to catch her breath, flopping into the backseat.
“Ohh dear...”
Hearing that come from one of her friends, Aspen wearily turned her head to look out the window. She saw Maverick standing in the front yard, panting, and shouting something at them, not moving from the spot. The bus began to move, and he stood there glaring at Aspen until he was out of sight. She rolled her eyes shut tiredly and sighed heavily.
“...That was a close one.” She said quietly.
Aspen opened her eyes and saw that most of the kids on the bus were looking at her with either repulsed expressions or just flat-out surprised. She bit the inside of her cheek angrily.
“The FUCK you all looking at?!” She shouted.
They all turned their heads away. Thankfully the teacher wasn't on the bus with them, and the driver didn't care. The girls turned back to Aspen.
“Well...at least you got your exercise...”
“Not funny, Trish.”
“I know, I know, sorry...”
Aspen slipped off the backpack and then sprawled herself across the seat, the other two propped up looking back at her. She could finally relax. She made it to the bus. She would be okay.
“You okay, kiddo?” Trish spoke up.
“Remember when I asked to stay at your house for a while?” Aspen asked, looking up.
“Yeah?”
“After the field trip I'm gonna be needing to head home with you. I'm not gonna stop by my place since I already got all my stuff here.” She patted the backpack next to her.
Trish smiled. “Okay cool! Stay as long as ya want.”
“Okay enough chit-chat!” The brunette next to Trish cut in. “Asp, I've got something awesome here.” Aspen looked at her. “And I want YOU to be my victim for it!”
The blonde blinked. “...No. I will not have you rape my face with make-up.”
“Come on, Asp, just a little!”
“I said NO!”
“Not even a tiny bit of lipstick?”
“I hate lipstick.”
“What about some eye-shadow then? Or some blush?”
“NO, MISHKA!!”
Silence then struck the inside of the school bus. All attention was drawn to the three girls sitting in the back of the bus, one of them desperately trying to get her friend to try some make-up. Aspen sat huffed and hunched in the seat, folded arms and legs laid lazily across the back of the seat in front of her.
Noticing how quiet it got, Mishka turned around and saw the rest of the bus looking at them once again. She furrowed her brows. “Why d'you people feel the need to stare?” The others quietly turned their heads away again.
The girls turned back. “Oh come on, you’ve never worn any make-up in your life.”
“And it’ll stay that way.”
“Come on give her a break, she doesn’t even need make-up!” Trish replied.
Mishka rolled her eyes. “I know that!” The brunette seemed determined, however. “Come on, Aspen! Just once and I’ll never do it again!”
Aspen went silent, almost as if she were to consider it. Her friends had this sparkly and hopeful look in their eyes that could almost dominate the “puppy eye” look.
She twisted her lip and gave a very disagreeable expression to the two girls across from her, until finally she let out a long drawn sigh. “…Fine.”
The brunette let out a squeal and clapped. “Finally!” Aspen shook her head, not understanding how her friend could get so excited over something like make-up.
“But if you get to put make-up on me, then you gotta do something for me in return.”
Mishka blinked whilst the other next to her looked curious. A grin came across Aspen’s lips. “With that look on her face I’d be prepared, Missy.” She said.
“You get to don as many grayscale colors as I say with chains and spikes.” Aspen said, tilting her chin up confidently.
Mishka looked almost horrified but she managed to swallow, Trish letting out a laugh at the brunette’s reaction to the dare. Mishka was a prep by all means: had long wavy brown hair, wore expensive clothing and show-off type jewelry, currently wearing some gold bracelets and a small silver necklace and hooped earrings.
Aspen was more of the “relaxed” type of person with clothing, her extremely long blonde hair had natural brown strips through it, and pulled into a very messy ponytail, dressing simple and comfortably, though she liked to look at a lot of the darker clothing, as aforementioned grayscale colors and spikes explained.
Trish was similar to Mishka, though wasn’t as flamboyant with the fashion as she was, who had middle-length black hair and wore…less expensive clothing. She shared the same taste, she just didn’t believe in wasting a lot of money on fashion to look good.
They could be polar opposites, but it was entertaining.
Suddenly, laughter was heard slowly emerging from a group a seat or two away from them on the opposite row. Aspen didn't really pay attention, though Mishka and Trish turned around to see who it was, instantly not liking who it was that had begun the noise.
“Hey, Cave Girl!”
Aspen froze. Not out of fear, no. Her eyes darkened a little and she slowly turned her eyes towards the group laughing. A group of typical bullies.
“Why was daddy so angry? Did you forget to hand-scrub the toilet again?” A girl among the group said teasingly, earning laughs from the others.
Aspen just stared. “Nope. Did you forget to give Stephen a blowjob? He looks rather needy this morning.”
The group went silent and the girl, along with Stephen--the guy next to her--both looked shocked and offended. Stephen then rose from his seat to head to the back of the bus and sit in the seat next to Aspen's, giving her an angry look.
“Y'know you shouldn't go around assuming things about other people,” He leaned in towards her in an attempt to be intimidating. “it could get you in trouble.”
Aspen raised a brow. “You wanna try me?” She said, shifting her foot on the back of her friends' seat in order to draw attention towards the small spikes that perked above the metal-covered toe area of her boot. She didn't wear these for fashion. She wore them for defense. And she had used them before as well...they were pretty effective.
His eyes moved to her boot...which was only a few inches below his chin. He instinctively backed his head away and sat back down.
“Please, you wouldn't stand a chance against him.” The girl spat, then grinned. “It'd be just like daddy giving you a whipping.”
Trish turned around and looked at her with a scowl. “Melanie why don't you save that for the prom queen contest?”
The girl huffed, “I don't need to-that's already in the bag.”
“Girl, do you not know when a 'Shut the fuck up' hint appears?” Mishka snapped, earrings jingling as she whipped around to glare at Melanie. “Find someone else to pick on.”
“Like you and your crappy clothes.”
“'Least I look good in 'em.” Mishka snorted at the anger evident on Melanie's face once she said that.
“ALL OF YOU SHUT UP!” The driver of the bus suddenly shouted, rendering them all silent. “I can't friggin' see in this fog...so keep quiet while I'm drivin'!”
All of them awkwardly turned back to their own business, Aspen seem unperturbed even though she really wished this morning could've gone better. Mishka and Trish looked back down at her sympathetically, earning a very slight hint in her expression that she was irritated.
“...Is that really why your dad was angry?” Mishka said quietly.
Aspen didn't look at her. “Isn't that always the only reason?” She mumbled.
“...Oh...” Trish uttered, once she saw her bruised wrist. She twisted a lip and looked back up at Aspen, concerned.
“It's fine.” She looked up at them and grinned. “That's why I got my backpack. I won't be dealing with that anymore.” She whispered, Trish giving her a smile.
“Well you can stay as long as you want, until you're able to find your own place.” She nodded.
Then suddenly, the bus seemed to wobble slightly, the students looking up confusedly and looking around. They heard the driver stammer quietly as if he was nervous, his arms seeming to stiffen against the steering wheel.
“Oh geez, we're hitting some ice on the road-everyone grab onto something!”
The students did as they were told, gripping onto their seats, the windows, and anything else they could find, Aspen pulled her backpack onto her arm and held onto her seat, preparing for a spin as she assumed.
Looking up for a moment, and then a split second she glanced to the window before turning to look fully at an eighteen-wheeler on the road.
One that also seemed to be having difficulties with the ice on the road...moving at a rather fast pace.
...And was not braking as it seemed.
At first Aspen thought they would slow down, but as the truck neared their bus, she could see the other driver clearly, and noticed that they looked rather distressed.
She then realized very quickly that they were trying to brake...but the ice on the road would not let them stop.
They were going to collide.
Aspen had about two seconds to turn to her friends and scream: “GET AWAY FROM THE WINDOW--!!”
Her message wasn't fully received in time, unfortunately.
The truck slammed into the side of the bus, the impact sent everyone on Aspen's row flying from their seats, crashing against the floor and the opposite walls. Glass broke from the windows and flew everywhere, some trying to cover themselves as to not have any shards embedded in their skin.
Aspen screamed as she was hurled from her seat, and attempted to aid her friends, until she met the metal wall of the other side of the bus, her head bashed against the window leaving a crack in the glass, instantly rendering her unconscious.
The screams went silent, and everything went black.
*
Swirling darkness, a sharp pain in the head, body aching all over. A strange taste came about...iron? Blood? Ow...it hurt to even move. Nothing was visible, only the lingering feeling of feeling like being hit by a truck.
...Oh.
Wait.
A groan came about Aspen's lips. She attempted to move, coughing as soon as she tried to lift her head. She spluttered, her hair a literal mess and her bangs strung about her face. Her hands were cold as well as her cheek. Did she fall out of the bus and was now on the ground? What happened?
A pause.
The truck. A massive eighteen-wheeler had slammed into their bus. She hit her head...what happened to the others? She didn't smell any fire, so the bus couldn't have been in that bad of a shape...
Wait...her friends.
Where were her friends? Were they alright?
That thought alone was enough to make her want to jerk up, but as soon as she got herself onto her elbows, she yelped out at the pain in her head and fell back down, clutching her hair and groaning.
Silence lingered for a few seconds before she felt someone shaking her gently.
“Milady? Milady!”
A male voice. She coughed again-was it a medic? God she hoped it was a medic.
“Milady are you alright?”
She attempted to prop herself up on her elbows again, finally opening her eyes. Everything was blurry for a moment, as she tried to regain her sight, groaning once more.
“Oh God...help me.” She uttered out.
“You need to roll over-try to get on your knees.”
She blinked a moment. It was oddly quiet after just having a massive car wreck. As she kept her elbows propped up, she felt them sinking into...wetness? She blinked her eyes a few times to get a better look at her arms.
White. She was lying in snow. Weren't they on the road...?
Her brows furrowed, then she lifted her head up.
Again...white. Very bright white, from the sky and the ground, and littered on bushes nearby. Bushes...? What in the world? Just how far did she get flung from the bus?
“What the...”
She felt a hand slip under her arm to try and help her up. “Here, try to sit up-your head is bleeding.”
Aspen blinked. She was bleeding? Going with his help, she carefully raised herself to her knees, raising a hand to touch her forehead. When she pulled her hand away, there was indeed blood staining it. It's a wonder she hadn't gotten killed over how hard she hit her head...
Aspen looked up to look around again. She noticed something...
...There were no buildings. Anywhere. Not a single one in sight. All that was in view was the open, clear sky, and a hint of mountains around them. She then whipped around to look behind her.
...There was no bus. No truck. Not a single sign of a crash.
Her brows furrowed heavily.
What the fuck? Was her first blunt thought.
She suddenly felt panic rising in her, unaware of what the hell was going on. This place looked NOTHING like home. There were no signs of any kind of industry. Where on earth was she?!
“...Milady?”
Aspen turned to look at her helper, though much to her confusion, this man looked nothing like a medic.
He was rugged and dirty looking, and he certainly didn't look like he wore any kind of modern clothing. The previous thought she had repeated itself over in her mind. She looked him up and down, he bore absolutely nothing that looked modern. Was this guy some kind of cosplayer? Before she looked further, she noticed something under his arm: a sword. A very, very long sword...one that looked too authentic to be a fake.
“What the hell...” She spluttered. “Who are you? Where am I?”
The man looked a little confused. “Pardon?”
“Shit-I am NOT supposed to be here, I should be in a damn city! With BUILDINGS!” She shouted, scampering away from him after shock suddenly came across her features. “Where am I?! Did you drag me from the crash site?!” She pointed at him after landing on her back.
“Milady calm down,” The man said, raising his hands, “I am afraid I do not know what you are talking about. You still need to dress your wounds.”
Aspen's brows furrowed. Why the hell was he talking like that? “Who are you? Are you some freak LARPer who dragged me away?”
Before the man could reply to her, another voice was heard. “Strider!” He turned around and Aspen followed his movement, both seeing another...rather short man running from behind a bush. Wait...no, this couldn't have been a man...or was it? He bore the height of a small child but had the face of a young man, with curly hair and...clothes very similar to the ones this...Strider was wearing.
“We found a few others!”
Aspen blinked.
A few others?
Oh! The girls!
“Shit!” She spat and scrambled to her feet, running past both the men and around the bush. She skid a little on the snow, though looked up to find both Mishka and Trish lying sprawled on the ground with...three other of the smaller ones knelt down prodding them.
“Oh my God!” She shouted, running over to them and dropped to her knees. “Mishka! Trish! Wake up!” She shook them in an attempt to wake them up.
When they didn't move, she grew worried and began looking over their faces and arms to check for any severe wounds. A few cuts were seen here and there from the glass, and Mishka bore a bruise on her right cheek, supposedly from slamming it against something.
“Dammit, wake up!” Concern began to show in her voice, as she continued shaking them by the shoulders.
Then, Aspen heard a light groan come from Mishka, the brunette shifting only slightly before rolling her head over slowly, her face twisting into a pained expression.
Trish followed not too long behind, mumbling something as she attempted to roll onto her back. She managed to raise a hand to her head, gripping it like it hurt immensely.
“Oh geez...where...”
“Shit, you're awake! Wake up! Are you alright?!” Aspen urged, Mishka blinking and looking at the blonde in confusion, then to Trish.
“...Asp? Where...what happened? Ow...my head...” She raised a hand to her forehead.
“There was a truck...we were in a car wreck! A huge eighteen-wheeler rammed into us, remember?” Aspen said as the two girls tried to lift themselves off the ground, propped up on their hands and looking around, completely discombobulated when they looked up at where they were at.
“Oh...my...” Trish uttered out, breathless at their surroundings.
“W-what is this?” Mishka said. “...I must...oh dear, I must be dreaming after hitting my head...”
Aspen raised a brow and looked up. “I sure as hell HOPE we're dreaming. Urgh I still got a pain in my head...” She rubbed her forehead.
“Wait...” Trish sat up and got onto her knees. The expression on her face was in what looked like growing shock. “If we're dreaming...how are we all talking to each other in the same dream?”
“Must've been one hell of a crash.”
“I bet we're dead.”
“Mishka!!”
Aspen sighed exasperatedly, growing impatient. “Well look, we sure as hell aren't near the city anymore! ...And it's fucking freezing out here.”
Indeed it was cold. The fact that they were sitting on snow didn't help much either, sinking into their clothes and wetting them. Mishka yelped and jumped up from her spot, brushing the snow off of herself and shivering at the cold that seeped in through her clothes.
“Gah! My damn clothes are wet now!” She whined.
Trish rolled her eyes and stood up. “Your clothes are the least of our worries.”
Aspen was growing rather worried. She assumed she was dreaming at first...but the girls were here, and they were talking to each other like they were conscious. What was going on?
“Miladies?”
Aspen blinked and whipped her head around. “Shit, you're still there.” He looked at her confusedly.
“You three appear to be rather...lost, I take it.” Strider said to them.
Aspen narrowed an eye at him. “No shit, Sherlock.” She turned and folded her arms, looking at him sternly. “Where the hell are we? Where did you take us?”
The 'younglings' looked more curious than they were confused, Strider on the other hand, kept the expression about his face. “I am afraid I do not know what you're talking about. I found you lying here unconscious and investigated.”
“Ooh he's cute...”
“Shut up, Mishka...”
Aspen looked uncertain still. This man looked heavily suspicious. Especially when he has...three odd looking small fellows with him. Who the hell was he? Some LARPer? Some random creep that found them vulnerable and dragged them off? Or...maybe...something else...?
“Then where are we? We were in a city not long ago, just in a car crash. We were on a bus. Did you drag us off? Where are we?! Because I'd like to know if I'm dead, or dreaming!” Aspen demanded, looking at him angrily.
Strider tilted his head at her, showing that for one, he wasn't all impressed with her foul language, but also because he still looked as if he had no idea what she was saying.
“I still do not know of what you speak milady, but if it helps,” He bowed his head slightly at the girls. “I am Strider. These four are Hobbits traveling with me, we are heading to the Elvish city of Rivendell. And to answer your repetitive question, you are in Middle Earth.”
The three girls looked at him, completely dumbfounded. Aspen blinked, Trish and Mishka looked at him like he was crazy.
“...The fuck is a Hobbit?” Mishka blurted.
“This is the most foul-mouthed woman I've ever seen!” One of the Hobbits leaned in to the other and whispered. Aspen heard every word, unfortunately.
She looked at him. “Yeah well sorry we aren't polite enough for you.” The young one looked up at her, surprised.
Strider seemed to have his gaze fixated thoughtfully on them however. Once Aspen made eye contact with him, it was almost like a staring contest. More or less the two of them trying to understand one another. One thing she could tell...either this guy was crazy...or there was something else going on here...
They kept staring at each other, causing the rest of the group to look at them, expecting at least one of them to break the silence. The other two girls looked cautious while the halflings looked apprehensive. She could tell though, the gaze from this man didn't look entirely untrustworthy. If he were trying to do any harm to them, he wouldn't have stood there locking eyes with her for so long.
“...You are not from here.” He began.
“Oh, you finally noticed.” Aspen returned. He raised a brow amusedly at her.
He then looked the three up and down. “Your clothes are most abnormal. I'm unsure how you wound up here, though...”
“Yeah well that's just great,” Aspen flung her arms in the air. “so we're not dead and we're stuck in some weird-ass medieval world...right?”
“How do you know we're not dead?!” Mishka yelped.
Aspen turned and gave her a rather sharp punch on the shoulder, which the brunette shrieked at and gripped her arm. “Does that tell you we're not?”
“Dammit that hurt, Asp!”
“Good, that's better than me pinching you.”
“Not likely!”
Trish turned from them to look at Strider carefully. “Um...so...you're not some weird cosplayer or anything?”
Strider blinked. “...Again, I'm afraid I do not know what that is.”
Trish's brows furrowed. “...Holy shit, what the crap happened?!”
Strider took a few steps towards them, to which Aspen instantly stepped in front of them in a defensive manner. He seemed unperturbed, but stopped respectively.
“I do not know how you got here or where you are from...but where we are heading, I know someone who could possibly help you.” He offered.
The girls looked suspiciously at him. Mishka leaned over to Aspen to whisper. “You sure we can trust him? I'm still confused as hell!”
“You think I'm any less weirded out? I thought my ass just got crushed under a truck and now this.” She whispered back.
“I say we just go with it...if we're dreaming we gotta wake up at some point right?” Trish joined in. “Just playing along couldn't hurt, yeah?”
Aspen glanced back at the man and four Hobbits, as he called them, before making a decision. Trish was right. If they were dreaming, they would wake up eventually. And this was far too abnormal for them to be dead. She straightened herself before adjusting her backpack.
“Alright fine. We'll go with you. But any weird shit starts happening and we're splitting out of here. This is freaky enough already.”
Strider nodded. “Understood. Although I cannot guarantee that anything strange will not happen. Stay close to us and you should be fine.” He moved to begin walking again, though stopped once more. “And you ladies are...?”
“I'm Aspen, this is Mishka and Trish.” She gestured to them.
For a moment, Strider suddenly looked a bit...surprised? Or perhaps it was confusion again. Or both. Once Aspen said her name he looked at her almost as if she'd lost her mind, until his face twisted into a thoughtful expression.
“...You got a problem?” She asked carefully, not feeling very comfortable under his gaze like that.
“Your name is Aspen?” He asked, she corrected, nodding in a manner that said 'Duh!'. This did not cause his expression to change, but he did seem to let it slip by in order to turn to the Hobbits, expecting them to introduce themselves as well.
“O-oh...I'm Frodo. Frodo Baggins.”
“Samwise Gamgee.”
“Meriadoc Brandybuck.”
“Peregrin Took!”
The girls blinked again. “...Odd names.” Trish said quietly.
“Eyup, we're definitely not in Kansas anymore.”
“No shit.”
Aspen then turned back to Strider to follow, the girls following immediately behind her and the Hobbits keeping a fair distance away from the odd girls. She hugged herself to try and warm from the cold, exhaling out a small cloud of breath. She couldn't believe this.
Her gray eyes bore into the back of Strider, keeping an eye on him as they went. The same question running through her mind: What on Earth was going on? Who were these people? What was this place? WHERE was this place, even? The man did say they were in...'Middle Earth', so...did that mean this place was...well...in the middle of the Earth?
She didn't know. This was just messed up. Was too odd to be true...too weird to be happening...but if it was happening...it would certainly be one interesting turn of events.
Genre: Action/Adventure/Fantasy/Humor/Angst
Rating/Warnings: PG-13 - For mild language, violence, abuse, slight crude humor, and uh...more violence.
Disclaimer: I own none of these characters except the ones that are not related to the books/movies (fan characters, in other words). This is based on the movies, not the books, and the storyline has been altered just slightly with the new character. It’s the same story, but with the new character as an extra member of the Fellowship Of The Ring.
Summary: This is a remake of Through The Fire And Flames! Angelica (Aspen) Breann was a normal highschool girl struggling with her life, trying to keep her step-father pleased as to avoid any abuse. Although after a collision with an 18-wheeler, she finds herself and her friends waking up in a completely different world. Now they're stuck there. What a life.
Chapter Warnings: LOTS of cursing :U
Scroll One: Dreamsleep
Shuffling, paper flying, books being dropped, one never really could get things together when they're in a hurry or rushing. Or even panicked. Mostly in a panicked state. Sometimes one's mind can get clouded and forget something, or wind up packing too much, their decisions being scrambled around and being unable to choose the right one.
Aspen Breann was darting back and forth in her room trying to figure out if she forgot to pack anything, dropping a couple books in the process and cursing each time something slipped from her hand. Her extremely long dirty blonde hair flung around and whipped in her face as it was pulled into a very messy ponytail, huffing and blowing it out of her eyes once in a while so she could see.
She looked back at her door, eyes wide but focused, stopping to listen for any footsteps. When she heard none, she turned back and yanked up a few more items off the floor, stuffing them into her backpack and turning back to search for anything she might've missed.
Aspen was rushing not from being late for anything, but to avoid a certain someone who was currently raging about the house in a drunken state. Her bruised wrist was proof of this. Maverick was his name, as she dared not call him 'father'. He never deserved that title, and most likely never will. She wasn't even related to him by blood, so it didn't matter to her.
Aspen stopped while pulling a snug-fit jacket on, spotting a photo on her nightstand; a photo of two girls, definitely blood related, dirty blonde hair, same eyes. A younger Aspen and her mother, from years ago. She twisted her lip and yanked the photo from her desk, pushing it carefully into the backpack in a comfortable place. It was the only photo she had of her mother, and she took it everywhere with her. It was the only thing she had left of her, besides the Celtic pendant that was never taken from around Aspen's neck.
A sudden pause. She heard a creak on the wood floor. He was awake, and he was very close to her room. Thank God she had sharp hearing.
She very quietly began to zip up her backpack. She had enough things, she didn't need to search anymore. At least not with him looming over her. She wanted to be out the door and onto her bus without gaining another bruise.
Reminding herself, she kept her eyes on the door and slowly reached over to her dresser, pulling a good sized pocket knife from it and clipping it to the inside of her boot.
Standing, she pulled the backpack's sleeves over her shoulders as quietly as she could, walking over to her door and ready to open it. She closed her eyes, feeling sweat forming, swallowing hard, clasping the door-handle and began turning.
Quickly, she yanked the door open to dart out, heavy ruffling and thumping of her backpack heard as she skid into the living room and made way for the front door, picking up speed and sprinting to go as fast as she could. The door was right there and mere feet away from her hand.
Only, as frighteningly expected, there was a sharp tug on her backpack, yanking her back and slapping her onto the floor roughly with a loud thud, causing her to yelp out and groan. When she looked up she saw a very unimpressed...and very unhappy Maverick standing over her; his normal clean-cut look turned sloppy after having too much to drink.
“Angelica, I told you darlin', you ain't goin' to school today.”
She sneered at him using her real name. “I have a field trip.”
“Exactly why you ain't goin'.”
He had this thing where he would not let Aspen go anywhere that was too far away from him, or if it even hinted at her going as far as running away. He always had a leash on her. He would have people watching her. He could afford things like that, hiring people to make sure she didn't try anything 'funny'. She had assumed that her school field trip would have been innocent enough to let her slip by, it would be her ticket to being able to escape, she could easily run away and nobody would care. She would be free.
But...as it seems...he caught on quite quickly. He knew what her plan was...and her overly-stuffed backpack was enough of a hint on what she was going to do. She was exposed. ...But that wasn't going to stop her from trying.
“This field trip is important--”
“Why is your backpack so full?”
“Books to study and binders for notes.”
“Or maybe there's clothes an' a buncha other crap you don't need on the trip.”
Aspen aimed to stand up until he grabbed her by the arm and yanked her to her feet on his own. His grip on her set fear and panic in, and that was when she began to struggle. She tried to wriggle herself free, until he spun her around and slammed her against the wall. She shouted in pain and staggered, shaking her head before looking at him one more time. Only a fraction of a second.
That was it. She was getting out of there.
Not caring how dazed that attack made her, Aspen raised her leg to push Maverick away, her thick boot managing to wind him from the kick as she scrambled away and darted towards the door. He regained himself and chased after her, she burst out the front door, the cold winter wind hitting her in the face like a slap as soon as she jumped outside and nearly slipping on the frozen grass, though managing to arrive outside just in time to catch her bus.
Maverick began shouting and cursing, staggering outside still in an attempt to catch her. She just kept running; looking up she saw her friends looking out the windows, making her run even faster. She reached the bus, running so fast that she slipped up the stairs and screaming out in frustration, heading to the back of the bus to join her friends.
“Good God, Asp, you look awful!”
She gave her friend an irritated look. “Yeah, don't I always?” She was heaving, trying to catch her breath, flopping into the backseat.
“Ohh dear...”
Hearing that come from one of her friends, Aspen wearily turned her head to look out the window. She saw Maverick standing in the front yard, panting, and shouting something at them, not moving from the spot. The bus began to move, and he stood there glaring at Aspen until he was out of sight. She rolled her eyes shut tiredly and sighed heavily.
“...That was a close one.” She said quietly.
Aspen opened her eyes and saw that most of the kids on the bus were looking at her with either repulsed expressions or just flat-out surprised. She bit the inside of her cheek angrily.
“The FUCK you all looking at?!” She shouted.
They all turned their heads away. Thankfully the teacher wasn't on the bus with them, and the driver didn't care. The girls turned back to Aspen.
“Well...at least you got your exercise...”
“Not funny, Trish.”
“I know, I know, sorry...”
Aspen slipped off the backpack and then sprawled herself across the seat, the other two propped up looking back at her. She could finally relax. She made it to the bus. She would be okay.
“You okay, kiddo?” Trish spoke up.
“Remember when I asked to stay at your house for a while?” Aspen asked, looking up.
“Yeah?”
“After the field trip I'm gonna be needing to head home with you. I'm not gonna stop by my place since I already got all my stuff here.” She patted the backpack next to her.
Trish smiled. “Okay cool! Stay as long as ya want.”
“Okay enough chit-chat!” The brunette next to Trish cut in. “Asp, I've got something awesome here.” Aspen looked at her. “And I want YOU to be my victim for it!”
The blonde blinked. “...No. I will not have you rape my face with make-up.”
“Come on, Asp, just a little!”
“I said NO!”
“Not even a tiny bit of lipstick?”
“I hate lipstick.”
“What about some eye-shadow then? Or some blush?”
“NO, MISHKA!!”
Silence then struck the inside of the school bus. All attention was drawn to the three girls sitting in the back of the bus, one of them desperately trying to get her friend to try some make-up. Aspen sat huffed and hunched in the seat, folded arms and legs laid lazily across the back of the seat in front of her.
Noticing how quiet it got, Mishka turned around and saw the rest of the bus looking at them once again. She furrowed her brows. “Why d'you people feel the need to stare?” The others quietly turned their heads away again.
The girls turned back. “Oh come on, you’ve never worn any make-up in your life.”
“And it’ll stay that way.”
“Come on give her a break, she doesn’t even need make-up!” Trish replied.
Mishka rolled her eyes. “I know that!” The brunette seemed determined, however. “Come on, Aspen! Just once and I’ll never do it again!”
Aspen went silent, almost as if she were to consider it. Her friends had this sparkly and hopeful look in their eyes that could almost dominate the “puppy eye” look.
She twisted her lip and gave a very disagreeable expression to the two girls across from her, until finally she let out a long drawn sigh. “…Fine.”
The brunette let out a squeal and clapped. “Finally!” Aspen shook her head, not understanding how her friend could get so excited over something like make-up.
“But if you get to put make-up on me, then you gotta do something for me in return.”
Mishka blinked whilst the other next to her looked curious. A grin came across Aspen’s lips. “With that look on her face I’d be prepared, Missy.” She said.
“You get to don as many grayscale colors as I say with chains and spikes.” Aspen said, tilting her chin up confidently.
Mishka looked almost horrified but she managed to swallow, Trish letting out a laugh at the brunette’s reaction to the dare. Mishka was a prep by all means: had long wavy brown hair, wore expensive clothing and show-off type jewelry, currently wearing some gold bracelets and a small silver necklace and hooped earrings.
Aspen was more of the “relaxed” type of person with clothing, her extremely long blonde hair had natural brown strips through it, and pulled into a very messy ponytail, dressing simple and comfortably, though she liked to look at a lot of the darker clothing, as aforementioned grayscale colors and spikes explained.
Trish was similar to Mishka, though wasn’t as flamboyant with the fashion as she was, who had middle-length black hair and wore…less expensive clothing. She shared the same taste, she just didn’t believe in wasting a lot of money on fashion to look good.
They could be polar opposites, but it was entertaining.
Suddenly, laughter was heard slowly emerging from a group a seat or two away from them on the opposite row. Aspen didn't really pay attention, though Mishka and Trish turned around to see who it was, instantly not liking who it was that had begun the noise.
“Hey, Cave Girl!”
Aspen froze. Not out of fear, no. Her eyes darkened a little and she slowly turned her eyes towards the group laughing. A group of typical bullies.
“Why was daddy so angry? Did you forget to hand-scrub the toilet again?” A girl among the group said teasingly, earning laughs from the others.
Aspen just stared. “Nope. Did you forget to give Stephen a blowjob? He looks rather needy this morning.”
The group went silent and the girl, along with Stephen--the guy next to her--both looked shocked and offended. Stephen then rose from his seat to head to the back of the bus and sit in the seat next to Aspen's, giving her an angry look.
“Y'know you shouldn't go around assuming things about other people,” He leaned in towards her in an attempt to be intimidating. “it could get you in trouble.”
Aspen raised a brow. “You wanna try me?” She said, shifting her foot on the back of her friends' seat in order to draw attention towards the small spikes that perked above the metal-covered toe area of her boot. She didn't wear these for fashion. She wore them for defense. And she had used them before as well...they were pretty effective.
His eyes moved to her boot...which was only a few inches below his chin. He instinctively backed his head away and sat back down.
“Please, you wouldn't stand a chance against him.” The girl spat, then grinned. “It'd be just like daddy giving you a whipping.”
Trish turned around and looked at her with a scowl. “Melanie why don't you save that for the prom queen contest?”
The girl huffed, “I don't need to-that's already in the bag.”
“Girl, do you not know when a 'Shut the fuck up' hint appears?” Mishka snapped, earrings jingling as she whipped around to glare at Melanie. “Find someone else to pick on.”
“Like you and your crappy clothes.”
“'Least I look good in 'em.” Mishka snorted at the anger evident on Melanie's face once she said that.
“ALL OF YOU SHUT UP!” The driver of the bus suddenly shouted, rendering them all silent. “I can't friggin' see in this fog...so keep quiet while I'm drivin'!”
All of them awkwardly turned back to their own business, Aspen seem unperturbed even though she really wished this morning could've gone better. Mishka and Trish looked back down at her sympathetically, earning a very slight hint in her expression that she was irritated.
“...Is that really why your dad was angry?” Mishka said quietly.
Aspen didn't look at her. “Isn't that always the only reason?” She mumbled.
“...Oh...” Trish uttered, once she saw her bruised wrist. She twisted a lip and looked back up at Aspen, concerned.
“It's fine.” She looked up at them and grinned. “That's why I got my backpack. I won't be dealing with that anymore.” She whispered, Trish giving her a smile.
“Well you can stay as long as you want, until you're able to find your own place.” She nodded.
Then suddenly, the bus seemed to wobble slightly, the students looking up confusedly and looking around. They heard the driver stammer quietly as if he was nervous, his arms seeming to stiffen against the steering wheel.
“Oh geez, we're hitting some ice on the road-everyone grab onto something!”
The students did as they were told, gripping onto their seats, the windows, and anything else they could find, Aspen pulled her backpack onto her arm and held onto her seat, preparing for a spin as she assumed.
Looking up for a moment, and then a split second she glanced to the window before turning to look fully at an eighteen-wheeler on the road.
One that also seemed to be having difficulties with the ice on the road...moving at a rather fast pace.
...And was not braking as it seemed.
At first Aspen thought they would slow down, but as the truck neared their bus, she could see the other driver clearly, and noticed that they looked rather distressed.
She then realized very quickly that they were trying to brake...but the ice on the road would not let them stop.
They were going to collide.
Aspen had about two seconds to turn to her friends and scream: “GET AWAY FROM THE WINDOW--!!”
Her message wasn't fully received in time, unfortunately.
The truck slammed into the side of the bus, the impact sent everyone on Aspen's row flying from their seats, crashing against the floor and the opposite walls. Glass broke from the windows and flew everywhere, some trying to cover themselves as to not have any shards embedded in their skin.
Aspen screamed as she was hurled from her seat, and attempted to aid her friends, until she met the metal wall of the other side of the bus, her head bashed against the window leaving a crack in the glass, instantly rendering her unconscious.
The screams went silent, and everything went black.
*
Swirling darkness, a sharp pain in the head, body aching all over. A strange taste came about...iron? Blood? Ow...it hurt to even move. Nothing was visible, only the lingering feeling of feeling like being hit by a truck.
...Oh.
Wait.
A groan came about Aspen's lips. She attempted to move, coughing as soon as she tried to lift her head. She spluttered, her hair a literal mess and her bangs strung about her face. Her hands were cold as well as her cheek. Did she fall out of the bus and was now on the ground? What happened?
A pause.
The truck. A massive eighteen-wheeler had slammed into their bus. She hit her head...what happened to the others? She didn't smell any fire, so the bus couldn't have been in that bad of a shape...
Wait...her friends.
Where were her friends? Were they alright?
That thought alone was enough to make her want to jerk up, but as soon as she got herself onto her elbows, she yelped out at the pain in her head and fell back down, clutching her hair and groaning.
Silence lingered for a few seconds before she felt someone shaking her gently.
“Milady? Milady!”
A male voice. She coughed again-was it a medic? God she hoped it was a medic.
“Milady are you alright?”
She attempted to prop herself up on her elbows again, finally opening her eyes. Everything was blurry for a moment, as she tried to regain her sight, groaning once more.
“Oh God...help me.” She uttered out.
“You need to roll over-try to get on your knees.”
She blinked a moment. It was oddly quiet after just having a massive car wreck. As she kept her elbows propped up, she felt them sinking into...wetness? She blinked her eyes a few times to get a better look at her arms.
White. She was lying in snow. Weren't they on the road...?
Her brows furrowed, then she lifted her head up.
Again...white. Very bright white, from the sky and the ground, and littered on bushes nearby. Bushes...? What in the world? Just how far did she get flung from the bus?
“What the...”
She felt a hand slip under her arm to try and help her up. “Here, try to sit up-your head is bleeding.”
Aspen blinked. She was bleeding? Going with his help, she carefully raised herself to her knees, raising a hand to touch her forehead. When she pulled her hand away, there was indeed blood staining it. It's a wonder she hadn't gotten killed over how hard she hit her head...
Aspen looked up to look around again. She noticed something...
...There were no buildings. Anywhere. Not a single one in sight. All that was in view was the open, clear sky, and a hint of mountains around them. She then whipped around to look behind her.
...There was no bus. No truck. Not a single sign of a crash.
Her brows furrowed heavily.
What the fuck? Was her first blunt thought.
She suddenly felt panic rising in her, unaware of what the hell was going on. This place looked NOTHING like home. There were no signs of any kind of industry. Where on earth was she?!
“...Milady?”
Aspen turned to look at her helper, though much to her confusion, this man looked nothing like a medic.
He was rugged and dirty looking, and he certainly didn't look like he wore any kind of modern clothing. The previous thought she had repeated itself over in her mind. She looked him up and down, he bore absolutely nothing that looked modern. Was this guy some kind of cosplayer? Before she looked further, she noticed something under his arm: a sword. A very, very long sword...one that looked too authentic to be a fake.
“What the hell...” She spluttered. “Who are you? Where am I?”
The man looked a little confused. “Pardon?”
“Shit-I am NOT supposed to be here, I should be in a damn city! With BUILDINGS!” She shouted, scampering away from him after shock suddenly came across her features. “Where am I?! Did you drag me from the crash site?!” She pointed at him after landing on her back.
“Milady calm down,” The man said, raising his hands, “I am afraid I do not know what you are talking about. You still need to dress your wounds.”
Aspen's brows furrowed. Why the hell was he talking like that? “Who are you? Are you some freak LARPer who dragged me away?”
Before the man could reply to her, another voice was heard. “Strider!” He turned around and Aspen followed his movement, both seeing another...rather short man running from behind a bush. Wait...no, this couldn't have been a man...or was it? He bore the height of a small child but had the face of a young man, with curly hair and...clothes very similar to the ones this...Strider was wearing.
“We found a few others!”
Aspen blinked.
A few others?
Oh! The girls!
“Shit!” She spat and scrambled to her feet, running past both the men and around the bush. She skid a little on the snow, though looked up to find both Mishka and Trish lying sprawled on the ground with...three other of the smaller ones knelt down prodding them.
“Oh my God!” She shouted, running over to them and dropped to her knees. “Mishka! Trish! Wake up!” She shook them in an attempt to wake them up.
When they didn't move, she grew worried and began looking over their faces and arms to check for any severe wounds. A few cuts were seen here and there from the glass, and Mishka bore a bruise on her right cheek, supposedly from slamming it against something.
“Dammit, wake up!” Concern began to show in her voice, as she continued shaking them by the shoulders.
Then, Aspen heard a light groan come from Mishka, the brunette shifting only slightly before rolling her head over slowly, her face twisting into a pained expression.
Trish followed not too long behind, mumbling something as she attempted to roll onto her back. She managed to raise a hand to her head, gripping it like it hurt immensely.
“Oh geez...where...”
“Shit, you're awake! Wake up! Are you alright?!” Aspen urged, Mishka blinking and looking at the blonde in confusion, then to Trish.
“...Asp? Where...what happened? Ow...my head...” She raised a hand to her forehead.
“There was a truck...we were in a car wreck! A huge eighteen-wheeler rammed into us, remember?” Aspen said as the two girls tried to lift themselves off the ground, propped up on their hands and looking around, completely discombobulated when they looked up at where they were at.
“Oh...my...” Trish uttered out, breathless at their surroundings.
“W-what is this?” Mishka said. “...I must...oh dear, I must be dreaming after hitting my head...”
Aspen raised a brow and looked up. “I sure as hell HOPE we're dreaming. Urgh I still got a pain in my head...” She rubbed her forehead.
“Wait...” Trish sat up and got onto her knees. The expression on her face was in what looked like growing shock. “If we're dreaming...how are we all talking to each other in the same dream?”
“Must've been one hell of a crash.”
“I bet we're dead.”
“Mishka!!”
Aspen sighed exasperatedly, growing impatient. “Well look, we sure as hell aren't near the city anymore! ...And it's fucking freezing out here.”
Indeed it was cold. The fact that they were sitting on snow didn't help much either, sinking into their clothes and wetting them. Mishka yelped and jumped up from her spot, brushing the snow off of herself and shivering at the cold that seeped in through her clothes.
“Gah! My damn clothes are wet now!” She whined.
Trish rolled her eyes and stood up. “Your clothes are the least of our worries.”
Aspen was growing rather worried. She assumed she was dreaming at first...but the girls were here, and they were talking to each other like they were conscious. What was going on?
“Miladies?”
Aspen blinked and whipped her head around. “Shit, you're still there.” He looked at her confusedly.
“You three appear to be rather...lost, I take it.” Strider said to them.
Aspen narrowed an eye at him. “No shit, Sherlock.” She turned and folded her arms, looking at him sternly. “Where the hell are we? Where did you take us?”
The 'younglings' looked more curious than they were confused, Strider on the other hand, kept the expression about his face. “I am afraid I do not know what you're talking about. I found you lying here unconscious and investigated.”
“Ooh he's cute...”
“Shut up, Mishka...”
Aspen looked uncertain still. This man looked heavily suspicious. Especially when he has...three odd looking small fellows with him. Who the hell was he? Some LARPer? Some random creep that found them vulnerable and dragged them off? Or...maybe...something else...?
“Then where are we? We were in a city not long ago, just in a car crash. We were on a bus. Did you drag us off? Where are we?! Because I'd like to know if I'm dead, or dreaming!” Aspen demanded, looking at him angrily.
Strider tilted his head at her, showing that for one, he wasn't all impressed with her foul language, but also because he still looked as if he had no idea what she was saying.
“I still do not know of what you speak milady, but if it helps,” He bowed his head slightly at the girls. “I am Strider. These four are Hobbits traveling with me, we are heading to the Elvish city of Rivendell. And to answer your repetitive question, you are in Middle Earth.”
The three girls looked at him, completely dumbfounded. Aspen blinked, Trish and Mishka looked at him like he was crazy.
“...The fuck is a Hobbit?” Mishka blurted.
“This is the most foul-mouthed woman I've ever seen!” One of the Hobbits leaned in to the other and whispered. Aspen heard every word, unfortunately.
She looked at him. “Yeah well sorry we aren't polite enough for you.” The young one looked up at her, surprised.
Strider seemed to have his gaze fixated thoughtfully on them however. Once Aspen made eye contact with him, it was almost like a staring contest. More or less the two of them trying to understand one another. One thing she could tell...either this guy was crazy...or there was something else going on here...
They kept staring at each other, causing the rest of the group to look at them, expecting at least one of them to break the silence. The other two girls looked cautious while the halflings looked apprehensive. She could tell though, the gaze from this man didn't look entirely untrustworthy. If he were trying to do any harm to them, he wouldn't have stood there locking eyes with her for so long.
“...You are not from here.” He began.
“Oh, you finally noticed.” Aspen returned. He raised a brow amusedly at her.
He then looked the three up and down. “Your clothes are most abnormal. I'm unsure how you wound up here, though...”
“Yeah well that's just great,” Aspen flung her arms in the air. “so we're not dead and we're stuck in some weird-ass medieval world...right?”
“How do you know we're not dead?!” Mishka yelped.
Aspen turned and gave her a rather sharp punch on the shoulder, which the brunette shrieked at and gripped her arm. “Does that tell you we're not?”
“Dammit that hurt, Asp!”
“Good, that's better than me pinching you.”
“Not likely!”
Trish turned from them to look at Strider carefully. “Um...so...you're not some weird cosplayer or anything?”
Strider blinked. “...Again, I'm afraid I do not know what that is.”
Trish's brows furrowed. “...Holy shit, what the crap happened?!”
Strider took a few steps towards them, to which Aspen instantly stepped in front of them in a defensive manner. He seemed unperturbed, but stopped respectively.
“I do not know how you got here or where you are from...but where we are heading, I know someone who could possibly help you.” He offered.
The girls looked suspiciously at him. Mishka leaned over to Aspen to whisper. “You sure we can trust him? I'm still confused as hell!”
“You think I'm any less weirded out? I thought my ass just got crushed under a truck and now this.” She whispered back.
“I say we just go with it...if we're dreaming we gotta wake up at some point right?” Trish joined in. “Just playing along couldn't hurt, yeah?”
Aspen glanced back at the man and four Hobbits, as he called them, before making a decision. Trish was right. If they were dreaming, they would wake up eventually. And this was far too abnormal for them to be dead. She straightened herself before adjusting her backpack.
“Alright fine. We'll go with you. But any weird shit starts happening and we're splitting out of here. This is freaky enough already.”
Strider nodded. “Understood. Although I cannot guarantee that anything strange will not happen. Stay close to us and you should be fine.” He moved to begin walking again, though stopped once more. “And you ladies are...?”
“I'm Aspen, this is Mishka and Trish.” She gestured to them.
For a moment, Strider suddenly looked a bit...surprised? Or perhaps it was confusion again. Or both. Once Aspen said her name he looked at her almost as if she'd lost her mind, until his face twisted into a thoughtful expression.
“...You got a problem?” She asked carefully, not feeling very comfortable under his gaze like that.
“Your name is Aspen?” He asked, she corrected, nodding in a manner that said 'Duh!'. This did not cause his expression to change, but he did seem to let it slip by in order to turn to the Hobbits, expecting them to introduce themselves as well.
“O-oh...I'm Frodo. Frodo Baggins.”
“Samwise Gamgee.”
“Meriadoc Brandybuck.”
“Peregrin Took!”
The girls blinked again. “...Odd names.” Trish said quietly.
“Eyup, we're definitely not in Kansas anymore.”
“No shit.”
Aspen then turned back to Strider to follow, the girls following immediately behind her and the Hobbits keeping a fair distance away from the odd girls. She hugged herself to try and warm from the cold, exhaling out a small cloud of breath. She couldn't believe this.
Her gray eyes bore into the back of Strider, keeping an eye on him as they went. The same question running through her mind: What on Earth was going on? Who were these people? What was this place? WHERE was this place, even? The man did say they were in...'Middle Earth', so...did that mean this place was...well...in the middle of the Earth?
She didn't know. This was just messed up. Was too odd to be true...too weird to be happening...but if it was happening...it would certainly be one interesting turn of events.