Rise (Lord of the Rings)

56 - Reunited

            With the way Merry, Pippin, and I ran for each other, you would never guess that we had just been in a battle for our lives.

I was nearly overtaken by the boys as we collided. Tears burst from my eyes as they hugged me.

"Gandalf just told us!" Pippin exclaimed. "You've got your memory back!"

"I do," I agreed, laughing. "And I was told everything that I supposedly missed, even though I didn't really miss it. It's confusing to say out loud. I'm glad you're both okay. You don't know how worried I was about you both after you were taken by those Uruk-hai."

"Well, you don't have to worry about us anymore!" Merry assured me.

"Do not crowd her, you two," Gandalf warned them. "She is still recovering. Now, I'm heading off to find some food. Who wants to join me?"

"I think I'll stay," I passed on the offer. "I'm not really hungry."

"I'll stay with you," Merry volunteered.

"I'll go with you, Gandalf," Pippin piped. "Don't lag too far behind, you two; otherwise you might not get anything!" With that, he tore after Gandalf.

"It's not a coincidence that they just happened to leave us alone, is it?" I asked Merry.

"No. They know." He blushed.

"Who did you tell?"

"Only Pippin, I swear to you. I don't know who told Gandalf."

"Probably Pippin." I shrugged.

"Well, that doesn't matter." He held me close to him. "I'm glad you're back."

"Aragorn told me what happened to you and Éowyn, with the Wraith and everything." I lowered my voice. "Are you feeling better?"

"Loads, even more so now that you're back to your old self. Believe me, if you thought you missed us when we were taken, I worried about you from the time they nabbed us."

"Gandalf and Aragorn told me about how I was when I saw you in Edoras."

"It hurt us all to see you in that state, Marlena, it really did." Merry dipped his head a little. "It hurt me the worst. When I saw you, I saw only a shadow of the girl I'm in love with."

"Well, I'm here now, and I'm not going away again," I said proudly. I took his face in my hands. "I'm not leaving you or anybody else."

"I don't think I could handle something like that again. Once is more than enough."

Merry did something that hadn't happened for a while between us: he took my lips in his. Tingles shot through my body, my legs wobbled slightly under me. This kiss wasn't a desperate one, like we were in a life or death situation. Instead, it was warm and loving, something that I had craved ever since we had gotten separated.

I didn't know about Merry, but I was a happy Hobbit right now.

"Some things seem right again," I noted, our foreheads touching. "Nothing is keeping us apart now, which I'm grateful for."

"Hopefully nothing pulls us apart again."

I hoped that nothing did either.

The day mainly belonged to Merry and I, being in each other's company. Since I couldn't recall any of my past during the blank period I suffered, he told me what happened to him ever since being taken by the Uruks. He didn't dive into the parts of being in the beasts' capture, he left that out.