Fan Fiction ❯ The quick and the dead ❯ Life is pain ( Chapter 2 )

 

Now where did I leave off? Ah yes, the first meeting between myself, Gandalf the gray and Elrond. I suppose now that my reaction to them was more than justified considering the shit they got me into. But then again I had agreed with them to go on this quest and I find myself wondering what the hell I was thinking. But that's enough from me. My current situation is not helping my concentration one fucking bit. You see right now I am being tortured by the ugliest perhaps most sadistic being I've ever met. I may be able to role with the punches with the best of them but the two munchkins watching these bastards harm me can't.

 

 

I can hear them screaming, telling them to stop, whimpering like wounded puppies that have just been kicked. I should be angry with them. I should be yelling at them to suck it up and ignore what is being done to me. I don't want nor need their worry, but I keep my mouth shut. If I don't then there will be no guarantee that I won't scream in pain and that's exactly what these sick fuckers want.

 

Damn it I'm getting soft, I'm starting to care and devil steal my soul I don't want to let the feeling go. You'll just have to see for yourself how I got myself into this mess because I can no longer ignore the pain that is being inflicted upon my body. There's not much more for me to say so be on your way until we meet again (Namárië) farewell.

 

The Last Homely House, Rivendell, 3018 TA, October 25

 

Kennonomoi Espada was shocked. As she stared at her host the young woman wondered for no small stretch of time if both these men had lost their minds. At least that was the more comforting thought. The idea that she had been transported into the novel of an old white guy was in a lack of a better word was disturbing. Kennonomoi turned her attention to the rest of her surroundings hoping against hope that this was just a very cruel joke. Alas her wandering gaze met with only with a room of such splendor it put the hotels back at her hometown to shame. As a matter of fact this room was better then any room the youngest Espada ever seen.

 

She looked out of the oversized window next to her bed. The morning light was almost too bright to the mostly nocturnal gaze of Kennonomoi. Philadelphia was never this bright even when the weather was hot. Nor could she hear the sounds she had long ago associated with city life. No cars, no radios announcing the morning jam of the day, it was like she was cut off from everything she once knew.

 

“Please tell me I'm just dreaming and I'll wake up in my bed and this would have been all a bad dream”.

 

Kennonomoi fought back the urge to look at either of the beings that had remained silent at her brief reflection. The meekness in her own voice disgusted her and the youngest Espada couldn't bear to look either Elrond or Gandalf in the eye.

 

“No (DurFëa) Dark spirit, we are very much real and you are wide awake” Gandalf replied dryly.

 

This time Kennonomoi did look at the Istar with a glare.

 

“Call me bee I will not repeat myself again old man”

 

Elrond wanted to scold the insolent child but once again the gray wanderer waved away his disapproving words. The wizard stood from his seat and moved to stand where the elf lord sat.

 

“Forgive me if I offended you Bee but such familiarity is not the way of Arda”.

 

“Then you know I'm not from middle earth and this has to be some very fucked up mistake”.

 

Gandalf sighed, “It is not a mistake, your arrival to middle earth was foretold long ago by the Valar itself”.

 

Before Kennonomoi could interrupt Elrond continued his old friend's point.

 

“O sing ye first born for sorrow cometh”

 

“When a child shall lead against the Darkness”

 

“Marked by the king of the nine”

 

“Yet alone he is not”

 

“For with him is his own nine”

 

“The wisdom of the gray wanderer, the cleverness of his three kin”

 

“The sword of the flame of the west, the horn of the white city”

 

“The first-born assassin prince, The Mountain axe”

 

“Upon the tenth month and look to the twenty fourth-night”

 

“For a strange star shall fall from the sky”

 

“Call her (DurFëa) Dark spirit this daughter of Tuor”

 

“(Othar en Rhun) Warrior of the east”

 

“And from her dark city shall she come being the final walker of the nine”

 

“Baring the blades of the bloodlust sunrise”

 

“Sing ye first born”

 

“To battle, to war”

 

“And the red dawn, ere ye ride”

 

The girl before them stared silently. Not in shock and not in anger but in disbelief. One she did not want to believe what she was hearing and two the description of this warrior that Elrond said hit too close to home.

 

`Dark spirit indeed' she thought bitterly.

 

Outwardly Kennonomoi continued to stare at them blankly. She had nothing to say. The youngest Espada didn't take to the idea of not being in control of her life very well. Bee could barely stand being in her mother's care as is. Kennonomoi knew that she was the girl that the poem described, fuck she even had the blades he was talking about in her bag.

 

`But they don't need to know that' she thought with a slow smile

 

Elrond frowned deeply at the smile that seemed so foreign to the girl's face. It wasn't the natural cynical smirk that graced her countenance earlier. Instead this was a devious smile meant to throw an opponent off balance. The elf lord looked at Gandalf from the corner of his eye. The wizard seemed almost amused by the strange human's action.

 

“Nice story but you got the wrong girl”

 

Elrond fought back a sigh; this was almost as hard as dealing with Elladan and Elrohir.

 

“You fit the description almost perfectly Bee for indeed you did fall from the sky when the child of the prophecy woke from being stabbed by the witch king”

 

The young woman raised an eyebrow, “your point”?

 

“Our point is that you are the one that we have been waiting for, for well over a millennia” continued Elrond.

 

Kennonomoi shook her head.

 

“Look, understand you need a hero and all that crap but I'm not it, the falling from the sky bit and the dark spirit thing I have to admit is totally true but two out of three in a prophecy doesn't count for shit”.

 

Gandalf raised a bushy eyebrow that reminded Kennonomoi of a caterpillar. The wizard removed something wrapped in white clothe from the folds of his gray robes and brought it to plain view of both Elrond and herself. Then he unwrapped the fabric to reveal pieces of wavy metal that was painted gold with slivers of red going from the hilt to the middle of the sharp looking blades. The lord of Imladris looked closely at the blades seeing that the weapons length matched exactly with the forearms that was of his current guest.

 

He turned his gaze back to the young woman before him, schooling his expression into blankness. Her reaction was more tamed compared to how she acted when she first arose from her slumber. The girl glared at the gray pilgrim blatantly with her fist clenched in her lap. Her lips were pursed in a thin line and her eyes blazed with a barely checked temper. It was then that the son of Earendil truly took notice of Kennonomoi's appearance. She would be considered beautiful among the race of men he supposed. For surely her exotic features would not be lost to the elves of his own house.

 

Her hair was a midnight black, thick, and weaved together with string. Skin like freshly turned earth glowed with a golden hue because of the sun that passed the open window. Even her strange attire seemed to fit her persona even if Elrond did not recognize the style. Most striking of all were that of the woman's eyes. They were like twin amber pools that mocked all that looked upon them. As she stared with a steely determination, Elrond wondered what his friend would do.

 

“I don't care where your from I know damn well in any place going through someone's things is illegal”.

 

Gandalf ignored her words and spread one of the pieces of metal out.

 

It opened up to be a fan that resembled the setting sun, “ If you are not the one of the prophecy then how are you in the procession of these weapons”

 

Elrond watched in mild interest as her lips curled into a sneer and her eyes narrowed seeming to take on an unholy glow.

 

“THAT” she hissed, “Is none of your goddamned business”

 

Faster than a mortal could follow the girl was up and out of the bed, grabbing the weapons Gandalf had taken and out the door. Just as Elrond was about to go after her Gandalf shook his head.

 

“Leave her be my friend, the young one is angry and confused I fear her reactions are more beast like in her state of mind right now”

 

He nodded without turning his gaze away.

 

“She is quite” he hesitated looking for the right word to describe the fleeing maiden, “Unique”.

 

Gandalf smiled wryly and laid his hand on Elrond's shoulder.

 

“Aye that she is melanin, that she truly is”

 

Kennonomoi ran down the corridors trying to find a way out. The young woman didn't want to join the fellowship; hell she didn't want to be in middle earth. She nearly ran into a bunch of tall beings with dark hair and pointed ears. The youngest Espada knew they were elves and avoided them nimbly. But all she managed to do was get lost.

 

Kennonomoi tucked her metal fans in her jacket pocket and began to explore the rooms that lined the hallway she was in. It was quiet and each room though delicately furbished was oddly empty. That was until the young woman reached to the last room in the hall. As she entered, Bee saw a giant bed that stood proudly against back wall of the room. In this bed lay a mass of curly dark hair under a white comforter. Curious, Kennonomoi crept into the room to take a closer look. And the sight of the being whose actions caused her current predicament met her.

 

“Frodo Baggins I presume” she whispered

 

Kennonomoi moved further into the room and stood just a few inches shy of being nose to nose with the slumbering hobbit. Even with his eyes closed she could clearly see the dark circles under his eyes. His face was pale and drawn with pain and dried tears paved a way down his ashen cheeks. The young woman could no longer look at him without remembering her own tears. So she turned away drawing one of her metal fans and opening it. The youngest Espada stared at the deadly blades and absentmindedly spoke to the sleeping nephew of Bilbo.

 

“I should kill you, you know”

 

She turned to look at her unresponsive audience knowing that he would not answer but needing to see the innocent face anyway.

 

“I should slit your throat and be done with it, God knows that you'd be better off with the hell you're going to go through”

 

Kennonomoi plastered a smirk on her face as she snapped fan close, “But”

 

“I have no right to choose for you now do I”?

 

“Life isn't fair and it isn't easy, it's cruel harsh and filled with constantly reaching for something that we all instinctually want”

 

Kennonomoi closed her eyes and let her smirk turn into a cold smile. She could still remember when she was too small to understand why her mother hated her so much. She could remember that she'd cry herself to sleep at night and fought back the screams of internal pain in the morning. The constant jeers had caused her to become numb. The youngest Espada missed the feelings, pain meant you were alive and fear meant you were human. It had been so long since she truly felt either.

 

“I, unfortunately or fortunately depends on how you look at it, know what we want”

 

“We want that moment that hangs between life and death that moment of complete and utter peace where there is nothing wrong no pain no happiness it just is”

 

Abruptly Kennonomoi sliced her open right palm with her closed fan. Blood oozed from the fairly deep wound onto the stone floor. Yet she did not flinch or even open her eyes.

 

“Life is pain young Mr. Baggins and all that is in it will fade, but then again the greatest wounds are that of memories”.

 

“I don't pretend to know your hurt Frodo but I do know that you need it to survive”

 

Kennonomoi opened her eyes her expression becoming stony with resolve.

 

“But I'll be damned if I let the memories of your pain kill you, to this I swear to you”.

 

She slipped her fan back into her jacket pocket and turned away to leave.

 

“I'm glad we had this talk kiddo,” she snorted at herself in amusement then left.

 

From the shadows Aragorn son of Arathorn a.k.a Strider watched the young woman leave Frodo's room. He had overheard her words even as they were soft spoken and not intended for anyone to hear. He had gone to check on the youthful ring bearer only to hear the words of a strange young lady. The ranger was weary of this female even though he did not make a move to interfere. Surely his adoptive father lord Elrond the half elven would not admit someone into his house that would harm the innocent being in his care. So Aragorn kept his peace and waited before the girl left before he entered and tended to Frodo.

 

He was shocked to find a small pool of blood on the floor that was not the halfling's. The foster son of Elrond frowned. The young lady must of hurt herself somehow. Concerned now the ranger cleaned up the blood and went after the mysterious guest.