All-Fandom, Cross-Fandom 48-Hour Color Drabble/Short Story Challenge!

[vivien]

Eee. I decided to write this about an hour ago. It's my first stab at LotR fic, and I'm kinda tickled I wrote it so fast.
Thank you, thamiris for providing me the opportunity.
Author: Vivien
Title: Dream of Green and Home
Fandom: Lord of the Rings
Pairing: None, Merry POV
Rating: G
Color: green


Dream of Green and Home
By Vivien

Set during the climb up Caradhras in "The Ring Goes South", The Fellowship of the Ring.

Merry had never known cold like this. It was a cold that pierced through every part of his body, leaving him with nothing but numbness and pain. He was covered by snow, despite Bill the pony acting as a wind block. When they had first stopped on the mountainside, he had kept the snow swept off himself and Pippin as much as he could, but he had soon grown too tired to keep up with it.

Every time he opened his eyes, the wind stung them with pellets of ice, and now he dreaded opening them at all. He didn’t want to see what was happening anymore.

He heard a whimper from his left. Pippin was much worse off than he. Merry let his eyes slit open a tiny bit, flinching from the blast of cold that hit them immediately. He brought a numb hand up to Pippin’s face and brushed off the snow that was threatening to bury the smaller hobbit. He huddled into Pippin’s side, draping his arm and cloak over his cousin’s cold form. He was barely aware of Frodo and Sam on the other side of Pippin, but he felt the shudders of their bodies matching his own.

He’d faced deadly perils since leaving the Shire, but it struck him now that this might truly be his ending. He’d known he very well might perish on this journey, but he’d imagined it would have been in a more heroic way. Freezing to death on the side of a mountain didn’t seem right, somehow. His head dropped to rest against Pippin’s stiff curls, and he felt himself slipping away from the harsh mountain pass. He was back in Brandy Hall, safe in his rooms. He was in his own bed, comfortably under thick quilts; his body stretched on the soft mattress, every muscle relaxed. The sun was coming up, and he could look out his round window to see the green and gold of the trees and fields across the Brandywine sparkling in the morning light. He sighed and nuzzled in closer to Pippin.

He was still in this happy dream of green and home when he was wrenched back into the frigid cold by strong hands pulling him out of the snowdrift. He wished then that he’d stayed home after all - oblivious to Rings and danger and duty and love - as he stood there, numb on frozen feet. But one look at Frodo’s miserable, tired face washed the wish away, and Merry reached down into himself to the core of his soul that burned hot and bright and found the strength to stand the cold a little while longer.

Comments

[misslucyjane]

I liked this! A good sketh of our brave Merry. I've been noticing in my latest re-read how devoted Merry & Pippin are to each other, and how brave they are. Lovely characters. You do him great justice.

[vivien]

Wow - thank you! Those are high words of praise coming from you :) You being such a great writer and all (I can't wait to read the Dom/Scully, by the way.)

Yes, Merry is my favorite, has always been, and I want to do him justice. He is an excellent character.

[spicedrum.livejournal.com]

(I can't wait to read the Dom/Scully, by the way.)

You really, really can't.

Don't look at me like that I just had to take a quick break. I've been at it for an hour and a half straight!

I didn't even take time out to read your fic yet. I just had to come hijack your comments for a second and say

I said don't look at me like that! I'm getting back to it, I swear!

:points behind you:

Oh dear lord, whatever on earth could that be??!

:runs away:

[silveraspen]

Whoa. I think you know just how picky I am about this fandom, and that said, this resonated with complete truth. I can see it happening, it was totally believable, and my heart broke for poor, brave, cold Merry.

Very, VERY nice job.

[vivien]

Your comments make me squee! I do know your high standards, and so your praise is just incredible. I am the teensiest bit proud of myself :)

[thamiris.livejournal.com]

I felt like cheering at the end of this. You've got Merry right at the end of his tether, overwhelmed by the snow and the monumentality of the joint task, barely able to see ahead literally and figuratively, then you let him have some hope, some inspiration, to keep going. I loved that!

You brought back to me why I love the hobbits in LotR, how they're "human," so to speak, in their foibles, their desire for comfort, but how they always come through in the end, mention to find some core of strength.

Thanks so much for participating in the challenge, for offering this little gem of a story.

[vivien]

so much for participating in the challenge, for offering this little gem of a story.

No, thank you for the wonderful comments.

I totally agree with you about the hobbits. That is why, though I love Middle Earth and its history, I still gravitate towards LotR instead of the works like Silmarillion.

Sigh, I love hobbits.

[kronette.livejournal.com]

Damn. I *love* this Merry. I adored Merry anyway, but this...wow.

[vivien]

Thank you sooooo much. I love this Merry, too. :)

Eeee, thanks for that comment - it made my day.