The Fellowship of the Ring (Frodo x Reader)

Chapter 13: Falling Apart

Moments after speaking with Frodo, Gandalf finally realized which door the Fellowship needed to take. Though Gandalf didn't recall which door to take, the door that didn't smell as foul as the others was the one they took.

"If in doubt, Y/n, always follow your nose." Gandalf said with a smile.

Y/n smiled at Gandalf's remark as she followed behind the wizard with Frodo in tow. Once the Fellowship reached the bottom of the stair well, they came to a vast open space filled with standing and some broken columns that were tumbled and strewn across the floor.

"Let me risk a little light" Gandalf said as he lifted his staff into the air.

The light from his staff illuminated the room to show that is was a giant stone hall with massive pillars and arched ceilings.

"Behold: the great realm and dwarf city of Dwarrowdelf." Gandalf announced.

"Now there's an eye opener and no mistake" Sam voiced everyone's thoughts.

Everyone stared around in awe as they walked forward through the hall but were pulled from their thoughts as Gimli made an audible gasp and ran to a doorway illuminated by light.

"Gimli, wait!" Y/n called after the dwarf.

Following after Gimli, the Fellowship ran into the chamber but stopped in their tracks. Many bodies and weapons were scattered about the chamber. Gimli had stopped and knelt by a crypt that was positioned in the center of the room. The crypt was illuminated by light that was shining through a hole in the wall. Gandalf first went forward and peered at the tomb's surface.

"'Here lies Balin, son of Fundin, Lord of Moria.' He is dead then. It's as I feared." Gandalf read the runes that were on top of the tomb.

"No! No! No!" Gimli sobbed as Boromir placed a comforting hand on the dwarf's shoulder.

Y/n buried her head in Frodo's shoulder, not wanting to look at all the bodies strewn about any longer than she needed to. Frodo held her hand and stroked her hair trying to comfort her. The Fellowship gathered around Balin's tomb as Gandalf gave his staff and hat to Pippin. He bent down to pick up a large book that was battered and coated in a layer of dust from a dwarf corpse's hands. Gandalf blows on the pages of the book as he opens it.

"We must move on, we should not linger here." Legolas said to Aragorn, as they surveyed the chamber. 

" 'They have taken the bridge... and the second hall. We have barred the gates... but cannot hold them for long. The ground shakes. Drums... drums... in the deep.'" Gandalf read out loud from the book.

Gandalf slowly turned the smudged, bloodstained pages. The Fellowship begins to glance around uncomfortably. Pippin, still holding Gandalf's hat and staff, backs away.

"'We cannot get out. A shadow moves in the dark.'" Gandalf continued.

Pippin backing up, he made contact with a corpse with an arrow in its chest, sitting on the edge of a stone well. Feeling the corpse behind him, Pippin turned to face it.

" 'We cannot get out...'" Gandalf stopped as he looked at the last, single line, a scrawl fading out at the bottom of the page, "'They are coming!'" Gandalf finished.

Moments after Gandalf had finished speaking there was a resounding crash. Everyone whipped their heads around to stare at Pippin. Curious of the corpse, the Hobbit had twisted the arrow that was in the corpse which caused the skull to fall from the corpse into the well which caused the crashing noise. Pippin looked away from the group with a guilty look on his face. A moment later, as if the first crash wasn't enough, the rest of the corpse slipped into the well after the skull. As the corpse fell it dragged along a chain attached to a bucket making a even louder resounding crash that echoed in the halls below the well. Everyone's shoulders tensed as each crash sounded off from within the well. They all made sighs of relief when the echoing had ceased.