Disclaimer: The characters of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" belong to Joss Whedon. The characters of "The Lord Of The Rings" belong to J. R. R. Tolkein. Both are used here without permission. No copyright infringement is intended.
Crossover: Buffy the Vampire Slayer / Lord of the Rings
Characters: Buffy, Legolas, Aragorn
Challenge: Challenge 4516: Learning to Live And Love Again by AmesWhite in which after either a disagreement with her friends, failed romance or bad patrol, Buffy ends up with the opportunity to go to Middle Earth and it must include Buffy as a member of the fellowship, a friendship between Buffy and Eowyn, Slayer dreams, romance and Buffy as an immortal. Also requested is either a Buffy/Legolas romance or a Buffy/Legolas friendship.
Notes on the challenge: My beginning my not exactly meet the challenge, but it did get her to Middle Earth. :-) As for the rest of it, we'll have to wait and see. Though I'm not all that crazy about writing romance, I'll work on something for Buffy and Legolas, just don't expect anything beyond PG-13.
Pairing: Buffy/Legolas
Rating: Suitable for people over 13
Feedback: Email Beriaearwen

Living And Loving In Middle Earth
By Beriaearwen

Part 1: Arrival in Middle Earth

Letting out a sigh, Buffy kicked the corpse at her feet. “Stupid demon, can't even clean up after himself. Now I've got to bury him.”

A quick examination of her surroundings led to the discovery of a medium sized cave opening. Looking at the corpse and then the opening, she determined that the creature should just fit inside. Hopefully the cave would be deep enough to cover the odor of the decaying form.

After wiping her sword, she slid it back into the sheath on her spine and picked up the creature's feet, dragging it behind her.

When she arrived at the cave opening, she realized she would need to do a little maneuvering to get the thing inside. She couldn't help the groan that escaped. She shuddered at the thought of getting any closer to the thing, but she had no choice.

After fifteen minutes of struggling, twisting and turning, she had the corpse in the cave. Then she realized she couldn't get out past it. “Great,” she sighed, then looked up. “Would you tell Murphy to get off my back?” she asked no one in particular.

Sitting down, she pulled her knees up to her chest and rested her head on them. She just needed a few minutes before pulling her little flashlight and hopefully finding a way out.

This day had started off well. She woke up without aches or pains, her hair looked great, her bills were paid, she had a good breakfast, her negotiations with the Immortal had finally concluded so she could finally move out of Rome and she would be seeing her little sister.

How such a promising beginning could turn into something so horrible escaped her entirely. She showed up at the council to inform them of the successful negotiations. Before she could even get the words out, the rest of the Scoobies started giving her the “we're very disappointed in you” looks before slipping into patronizing tones she hadn't heard in months and informing her that they couldn't believe she would turn her back on them and all they worked toward and date someone like the Immortal. Before she could defend herself or point out that they all knew very well that the only interaction between the Immortal and her were negotiations, Dawn stormed into the room and started screaming at her about turning her back on Spike and Angel, about not being there when they needed her the most.

As far as Buffy knew, Spike only existed in their memories and Angel was working on bringing down Wolfram and Hart.

Before she could say anything to Dawn about it, they got Faith and several other slayers to force Buffy out of the council house and told her never to return.

At a loss, Buffy stood on the sidewalk for several minutes before a cab pulled up and Kennedy stepped out. Though the two women didn't get along on a personal level, professionally they could work together.

The younger girl didn't believe Buffy when she explained what happened, but when Kennedy appeared on the sidewalk next to Buffy a mere five minutes later, they knew there was trouble.

With the help of several contacts and the coven in Devon, the two slayers managed to determine the cause of the unusual behavior. As it turned out, one of the young slayers took a token off her first kill the night before. Unfortunately, the token proved to be amulet of discord. It created discord between the inhabitants of whatever house it resided and all others. Because Buffy and Kennedy were not in the house when the slayer brought it home, they were recognized as 'outsiders' and therefore, the others turned on them.

Once they destroyed the amulet, the others denied any knowledge of what happened earlier in the day. Though both Kennedy and Buffy doubted the truth of that statement, especially when none of them would meet their eyes, they let it go, knowing that each of the Scoobies would apologize in their own time and in their own way.

The events of that morning, however, reopened some old wounds for Buffy. Hurting emotionally, she decided to take over that evening's patrol. No matter how much she covered her hurt, no matter how many times she tried to excuse it, not matter how many times her rational mind pointed out that even at the time she knew their behavior to be uncharacteristic, Buffy couldn't help but wonder how much of what they said her friends actually meant.

Of course, if not for her friends, she wouldn't be here at all, she'd be safe in Heaven and not carrying around the one secret she would never share. Buffy couldn't die. Well, she could, but it would take a lot to make that happen. On one of her trips to a demon bar to gather some information, one of the passive demons sat down with her and informed her of this. Buffy had noticed that, since activating the slayers she didn't seem to stay injured, even with mortal wounds, but finding out she would live forever proved a devastating blow to her. It took her several months to fully process the information.

Her immortality allowed her to be the only slayer to go on patrol by herself. Her friends didn't know the real reason, she just told them that since she'd done it for so many years and she no longer patrolled a Hellmouth, it only made sense for her to not tie up resources. They didn't really buy that excuse, but they let her get away with it.

As for this patrol, things had been busier than normal for the area. So far, after taking out three demons and four vampires in four hours, she had three semi-serious wounds to show for her effort. Now she trapped herself in a cave.

Heaving a sigh, she pulled out her little flashlight and shown it around the area. Surprise filled her as she noted the cave went back further, following along, the cave eventually widened into a rather large cavern. She realized she must have been headed downward since the roof of the cavern towered twenty or so feet above her head.

Satisfied she now had someplace to stash the body, she turned back toward the tunnel from which she came and stopped when she saw the items on the wall.

Slowly walking over, she studied the items with a feeling of reverence. Hanging on the wall were the most beautiful longbow and quiver she had ever seen. Both were done by hand and bore intricate carvings. Crossed behind the quiver were two long knives in equally beautiful sheathes.

Barely daring to breathe on them, Buffy studied the weapons and the wall around them to see if there were any obvious traps. When nothing showed itself to her, she reached up and ran her hand along the bow, stunned when the wood felt supple rather than dried or petrified as she would expect.

Lifting it down she carefully bent it and gasped when she realized not only the power of the bow, but its readiness to be used. Once she found a bowstring, it would be the perfect strength pull for her. She quickly removed the quiver as well. Though void of arrows, it, too, remained in ready condition.

With the quiver removed she could take a better look at the blades. Each knife possessed a well-crafted bone handle. Their sheathes were decorated in some unidentifiable writing. When she pulled one of the blades, a small gasp escaped her. The blade itself had been finely etched with decorations and words in that same strange script. The second blade matched it exactly.

Replacing the blades, she removed the sheathes from the wall. They were just about the perfect length to slip into her boots. Placing them there, she then put the quiver across her back and held the unstrung bow as she headed back to the tunnel.

As she passed through the entrance to the tunnel, she felt a brief resistance but not enough to cause concern. Keeping her light on so that she wouldn't stumble over the body, she found herself growing more and more confused. She felt certain that she should have found the body by now.

Since she passed no branching tunnels, there could only be one way for her to go – forward.

Continuing along the narrow path, Buffy felt her worry rise. Could the creature have somehow regenerated and taken off? It would be odd since decapitation usually took care of that possibility, but since she didn't know what type of demon she defeated, she couldn't be certain about it regenerating.

Eventually, she spotted the silver of moonlight and knew she reached the tunnel entrance. Cursing the lack of space to draw her sword, she pulled one of her new knives and stepped out of the tunnel entrance.

The scene that met her stole her breath.

“I don't think I'm in Kansas anymore,” she whispered.

2)Welcome to your new world
Middle Earth - 2897 Third Age

The first clue Buffy had that she no longer stood in her own world were the well-tended fields laid out in the valley below, rather than the ancient cemetery she expected.

The second clue Buffy had that she no longer stood in her own world was the coloring in the sky that indicated to her dawn would soon arrive. When she'd dragged the creature into the tunnel, dawn remained several hours away.

The third clue Buffy had that she no longer stood in her own world presented itself in the form of a man roughly a foot and a half shorter than her modest five foot two inch frame, dressed in clothing she had never seen.

A curious look passed over the man's face as he studied Buffy. “Who are you, Miss and where's Kansas?” he inquired, his curiosity evident in his questions.

Buffy sighed and wondered if going back into the tunnel to the cavern and hanging up her weapons would return her to her own world. She failed to stop the groan that rose up when she looked behind her and saw no sign of the tunnel in the hillock behind her. “My name is Buffy Summers and Kansas is very far away, almost a world away, you might say. May I ask where I am?”

The short man eyed her up and down, lingering on the weapons he spotted.

Flushing slightly at forgetting herself, Buffy quickly slipped the knife back in her boot and tried to stand with as non-threatening a posture as she could. Seeing the man relax slightly, though still keep a close eye on her weapons, he pulled out a pipe and began preparing it. “You're on my farm in the Shire, of course,” he replied. Seeing her blank look, he continued, “In Buckland, near the Old Forest.” Seeing this didn't clear anything up for her, he sighed and lit his pipe. “I reckon you best come home with me until it's lighter. Then you can head off to Bree. They'll be more of your kind around there.”

“My kind?” Buffy asked, not sure if she should be offended.

“Aye. Rangers,” he replied with a nod before turning and heading off in what appeared to Buffy to be a random direction.

Feeling as if the rug had been pulled out from under her, Buffy tried to figure out what exactly she should be doing here and how she could get home. At the thought of home a chill ran through her followed by a hollow ache. She closed her eyes, swallowed and pushed away the feeling. She knew enough to know that feeling and its meaning. Home would no longer be an option. Just her luck, the Powers or some other force had sent her here with no way to get home.

As for her sister and the others attempting to bring her home, thanks to their guilt over that morning's actions, one of two things would happen. The first option, they would work themselves into a near panic because they couldn't find her and pull out all the stops to get her home. The second option, they would discover her missing and become indignant that she disappeared on them, believing she failed to forgive them for their actions of the morning. That indignation would last for a few days to a week until they realized she didn't just leave, she disappeared. Then they would start looking.

Either way, Buffy couldn't find a way to shake the feeling that every attempt would fail. After all, she voluntarily picked up the weapons, voluntarily left the cavern with them. Essentially, she voluntarily walked into a well planned trap. All of that meant that this new world would be hers and she better find out a whole lot more about it. Her heart twisted slightly at the thought that none of them would ever know what happened to her.

As she hurried to catch up with her guide, she pushed aside those feelings and focused on her current situation, wondering if all the people of this world were so short. It might be nice to be the tall one for a while.

Buffy sat back in the shadows of the Prancing Pony and waited. She really hated waiting, but had little choice.

Her hobbit guide had taken days out of his activities to lead her to Bree, not to mention giving her a small pouch of coins for expenses. Fortunately, she'd managed to win a few of the bar games the men were playing and increase her purse.

After attracting far too much attention with her clothes upon her arrival, she spent her first day in Bree shopping for clothes and having some discrete discussions with the ladies in the shop, she felt more comfortable about dealing with the practicality of life in Middle Earth. That's not to say she didn't still have much to learn, she did, but at least she could handle the basics.

The longer she stayed in Bree, the more she realized that, despite her natural affinity to civilization, she could not live happily in a city with this level of technology and sanitation, or lack thereof. If what she'd discovered about Rangers proved true, she most likely would be spending her time in the wilds or protecting small towns and farming settlements. That meant that even the few comforts the towns offered would be lost, but she truly did not fit into this world.

Taking a sip of her drink, she struggled not to make a face at the flavor. Of course, with her hood up, no one would see it, but she knew she would have to get used to the new tastes and flavors of this world.

Just as she debated going outside to stretch her legs, the door opened and a tall man entered. From the weapons on his person and the dust on his cloak, she felt fairly certain this would be the ranger she expected.

Leaning forward slightly, she listened to the soft conversation between the barkeep and the man.

“Your room is ready as always, sir. I'll have hot water sent up for the bath in about half an hour.”

“Thank you.”

“Uh. Before you go, there is a young woman who is waiting here for you. She seems... well... it's rather hard to explain. She has weapons unlike any we've seen here in Bree and her speech and dress are strange.”

“Is she a danger to those here?”

“No. I don't think so. She arrived with Odo Marchbuck and hasn't done much of anything since, other than await your arrival.”

“Then I best meet with her.”

“Certainly. She's right back in the corner, with her hood up.”

The ranger nodded at the innkeeper and turned to meet this strange woman.

His initial view of her had left him with little impression other than she was much smaller than most women he knew. Of course, all of the Dunedain were tall, men and women. This second, longer view as he approached revealed much more to him, things many would overlook.

Yes, her weapons were impressive, but the way she held herself, the way she wore the weapons and the positioning of those she removed clearly showed her to be well versed in their use. The table at which she sat offered her an unencumbered view of the room, its entrances and exits all while keeping her in a protected position.

He didn't need to speak to her to know the danger she represented.

Stopping by her table, he met her gaze evenly. “You have been waiting me, lady?”

“Take a seat.”

He noticed she did not indicate any of the other seats and knew the seat he chose would set the tone of their meeting.

With little hesitation, he took the seat beside her. The seat allowed him a good view of the room as well as giving him wall to his back for protection. It was the only seat a warrior would choose. The small upturn of her lips let him know he'd chosen correctly. Silence stretched for several moments as they waited for the inn keeper to bring over a mug of ale for the newly arrived ranger.

Taking a sip of the ale, he studied the woman beside him. She looked young, but as his own people and the elves had taught him, looks could be deceiving. His eyes widened slightly in surprise as she removed her hood and looked at him. Though he lived most of his life in the North, he knew of the people and races of other lands. No where had he seen one such as her. Her eyes were a most unusual color. He could not recall any other with green eyes. Her hair and skin tone hinted toward Rohan, but her features bespoke the fine structure of the Eldar. Her height though, rested somewhere between men and hobbits. The only description that came to mind was one he had first applied to the Elves – otherworldly.

While he studied her, he became aware that she studied him as well. He felt a bit of relief when she relaxed ever so slightly. Whatever she looked for, she obviously found.

“I am a warrior,” she stated. “I've fought the darkness for years and won. I'm new to this place, though and I need a guide, a teacher. The Rangers here fight the darkness and protect the people. I need you to teach me how to survive in the wilderness and the weakness of the dark things of this world.”

Leaning back in his seat, he studied her for several minutes, running her words through his mind. That she was a warrior he had no doubt. That she fought the darkness, he also did not doubt. If he had, the weapons she bore would have told him otherwise. He wondered, briefly, if she knew what the inscriptions meant. Training a woman to be a Ranger was unheard of. She wouldn't be fully accepted even with his support. Having another warrior, though, would only be a benefit, even if it was only for a few decades. “It's not a woman's place to patrol the wilderness. If you ride with us as a student, you know what will be said of you.”

Her jaw clenched as anger flashed in her eyes. “I'm aware. I don't agree with it, but I'm aware of what will be said. I don't care. I don't belong in these towns. I could struggle on my own, teach myself, but it would be easier to have someone show me.”

He pulled out his pipe and tapped it slightly before filling it and beginning to smoke. He ran through everything in his mind, what it would mean for him as well as for her, what would be required to ride with someone else in the wilderness, what he would and could teach her and how he would introduce her to the others. “We'll talk more tomorrow morning and I'll see about testing some of your skills.”

She nodded her acceptance.

Rising from his seat, he headed upstairs to his room. He would find out her name later, after he decided which one to give her in exchange.

To be continued....

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