A Dream within a Dream

You know that moment when you're dreaming after falling asleep and yet you know that what you're seeing is, in fact, not real at all?

Those are called Lucid Dreams. It basically means that you know you're dreaming while you're asleep. I, myself, usually have them, but I always tend to forget them when I wake up. But that's not what happened to me one day. At least, I don't think so. It was just so…so surreal.

Even now, I can hardly believe it.

You see, I had just decided to go to sleep after rewatching the three Lord of the Rings extended version movies and I was beat. I mean, I had been watching TV all day, not to mention my admittedly unhealthy consumption of fast-food and cupcakes that probably left my cholesterol and sugar levels crying in despair.

So when I went to sleep, I crashed so hard that I fell asleep before my head even hit the pillow. I don't know exactly how much time it took for me to start dreaming, but as soon as I did, the first thing that I saw was a freaking - broken? - sword swinging towards me and so my first instinct, as any living being's would be in the face of danger, was to get the fuck away from the pointy end of the weapon.

I was standing over the man with the sword, so just as it was about to slice me into tiny pieces, I jumped away, and just in time! I would have liked to say that I then valiantly started fighting my attacker like a brave knight from King Arthur's Round Table, but I'm ashamed to admit that instead of that I ended up tripping with my own feet and sprawled on the floor like a pitiful puppet.

It wasn't my fault! My body just felt super weird, like…like an overgrown toddler!

And not just a normal toddler, an armored one, if the metal plates covering me were anything to go by. And let me tell you now, wearing armor is freaking heavy. Erza Scarlet had my eternal respect.

I also seemed to be wearing some sort of helmet, but oddly enough, I couldn't feel my face, as if there was actually nothing within the helmet, but that was impossible…was it? Then again, this was a dream…and not the weirdest I had ever had.

A yell took my attention away from my introspection and I saw the man from before jumping from his place on the floor and running towards me, the same broken sword – and didn't it seem familiar? - in his hand poised to strike me. I freaked out again and dodged the blow by an inch of my hair – wait, did it count if I was wearing a helmet…? Meh. – smashing my right leg against his chest while I was at it.

The man cried out in pain and fell to the floor, and I used that short moment of respite to figure out where the hell I was. I looked around, swaying just a little this time, and promptly blanched.

I was in the middle of a freaking battlefield, and I literally towered over everyone else – was I a giant of some sort? Had I grown to extreme measures?

Well, that or this wasn't my body at all, but I had never had a dream where I was someone else, let alone one as detailed as this.

Keeping an eye on the man still groaning in pain on the floor, I looked down at myself and my brain promptly black-screened.

I was covered in black armor that looked downright intimidating, but that wasn't what shocked me.

It was the hand. Because there, on the index finger of my right hand, was a very, very familiar golden ring with markings on it. A ring that I knew didn't belong anywhere but in a fantasy book.

I wildly looked at the man lying before me, and a hysterical laugh almost left my lips.

Isildur himself was giving me a death glare from his place on the floor, although I could see that the man was clearly terrified of me. And who wouldn't?? I was freaking Sauron!!

"Curse you!" Isildur yelled at me with unadulterated fury. "I will end your devilry for killing my father and my brothers in arms! I so swear that you will never see the light of day again!" And then he proceeded to spit on the floor in front of my feet.

If I had been more present, I would have probably recoiled in disgust. As it was, I was much too out of it to even acknowledge whatever the man was throwing at me. Or, well, spitting.

I just knew that this was simply no dream because my mind wasn't capable of producing something like this. It was just too realistic, so unless I was in a coma and this was a product of it or just some sort of hallucination, there was only one other option that frankly sounded completely insane.

But as Sherlock Holmes once wisely said; when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.

And by eliminating the impossible, there was just one other option that, frankly, sounded impossible too.

I had somehow gone to sleep and woken up in Sauron's body in the Battle of the Last Alliance.

In that moment, there was only one thought that crossed my mind.

Fuck.

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After my completely understandable identity crisis – I didn't even want to think that I'd stay like this forever, there must have been some way to get back, I just needed to figure out what that was – I looked at Isildur again, who was starting to show a slight wariness when he noticed that I wasn't moving to attack him. And why would I?

I had absolutely no reason to continue with canon. I wasn't an evil murderer psycho like Sauron, so why would I fight against the good guys?

Besides, I didn't want the One Ring to be lost and end up in my baby Bilbo's mind – or heaven forbid, Frodo's! – like in canon. They were innocent, sweet summer children. No way I would let a freaking Horcrux mess with their sunny selves!

So there was only one thing I could do. I needed to commit Sauron-cide.

But first…

"Fight me, you monster!"

…I needed to deal with Isildur. God, I was so glad that Aragorn hadn't followed after the man. He was insufferable, and he was the main reason the One Ring was lost in the first place. But then again, I didn't condone murder of intelligent human beings – unless they had done something irredeemable multiple times, in which case I would show them no mercy – and I also didn't want to erase Aragorn's existence by accident.

"There is no need for us to battle anymore," I calmly said while looking around to see if I could find Mount Doom in the meantime.

I needed to throw this…thing into the lava as soon as possible.

Isildur didn't seem to like my response. The sudden deep growl he let out was not unlike that of a bulldog. It probably translated to something like 'you have three seconds to measure your next words carefully. Pray, for your sake, I find them satisfactory.'

"I have no desire to fight any of you any longer," I explained slowly as one would do to a small child, hoping it would clear the confusion. It didn't.

"Are you running away?!" Isildur yelled at my face, completely incensed. "Not only are you without honor, but you are a coward as well?!"

I simply looked on with a dead stare and gave up. There's no way Isildur would listen to me, let alone believe me, so I just turned around and walked away from the moron.

This would all hopefully end soon anyway, so I didn't really care to try and convince the stubborn mule of a man that I was, in fact, not going to fight him anymore.

I did get why the man was so angry at me, though. Well, at Sauron. But I was him now.

Ah, you know what I mean.

Sauron had killed Elendil, Isildur's father, and so many soldiers that Isildur probably had known personally for quite some time. Also, I distinctly remembered Sauron killing Oropher and Gil-Galad too at some point…I didn't really remember all the details from the books, though, so I could be wrong.

Whatever the case, there's no way anyone would believe anything that came from my mouth, so it was better to ignore them altogether and just focus on getting rid of the One Ring.

Isildur was still yelling from behind me, trying to get up. "Coward! Come here and fight me like a ma-"

Whatever stupid drivel he was going to say got cut off by a small stone impacting with his forehead with the speed of a rocket.

Isildur's eyes rolled to the back of his head, and he fell to the floor in a dead faint.

I looked on in disbelief, my arm still raised after throwing the pebble I had found on the floor. There's no way that worked.

I walked towards him in mild bemusement and poked the heir to the throne of Gondor with a finger.

Yep. He was completely K.O.

Welp.

At least I didn't kill him. That would have been really bad.

And that's when I noticed that the sounds of fighting had stopped. At least the ones closest to me, as I could still see orcs fighting in the distance.

Elves, dwarfs, men, and orcs alike were all looking at me as if they were expecting me to combust into flames or something like that.

One of the human soldiers looked at Isildur's crumpled form and a scream left his lips. "Isildur! You killed the prince!!"

I looked down at Isildur and kicked him slightly with my feet to be sure he wasn't actually dead. The man let out a small grunt.

"Oh, he is still alive," I said, "unfortunately," I grumbled under my breath, but I forgot how keen the elves' ears were, because they must have heard me and believed me to want to kill Isildur, which, fair.

Sauron undoubtedly wanted to kill Isildur. Him and everyone else, really.

I wasn't Sauron, though, and as much as I despised Isildur, I didn't particularly wish for him to die - mostly because; hello Aragorn, but my point still stood.

I stepped forward and every combatant that surrounded me flinched away, all of them raising their weapons against me – even the orcs, who had seemed to forget that Sauron was supposedly on their side, and they actually had to kill the ones from the Alliance, not me! – which would have looked more intimidating if it hadn't been for the small fact that all of them were trembling in some form, although the elves did look more put-together than the others – they had had several hundred years to perfectionate their poker faces, after all.

Thankfully, I didn't get any sort of weird, villainous reaction like say, laughing maniacally at their terrified forms, so at least that meant that Sauron wouldn't be back in his body anytime soon. I hoped.

I raised my arms slowly to try and placate them, although the dwarf closest to me looked anything but.

"I am not going to harm you," I said clearly so that they could all hear me, "so if you would not mind standing aside and letting me pass, I would be most thankful."

Speaking formally like this was a pain and a half, but it was unfortunately needed, or else they would all start regarding me with suspicion when I said something like 'hey guys, mind letting me through?' or 'I'm not going to go crazy and kill you all, so you can chill'.

That or they would think it was witchcraft or some sort of dark sorcery.

Yeah.

"What sort of trickery is this, deceiver?!" An elf demanded from the crowd, and I inwardly gaped when I saw it was Thranduil. He looked really similar to his movie counterpart, although he wasn't like the actor. I figured it would be the same for other characters, seeing as I had recognized Isildur even if he looked a bit different from the movies as well.

I didn't remember if Thranduil had been in the Battle of the Last Alliance originally, but it made sense because at the time Thranduil had still been a prince. Hell, Legolas wasn't even born yet!

I shook my head, noticing that the ones around me were still waiting for a response.

"No trickery at all. As I said before, there is simply no need for us to fight anymore."

Everyone gaped at me in incredulity. The ones that I guessed were on Sauron's side shifted apprehensively, probably wondering what the hell was wrong with their master. Too bad for them that I wasn't really him.

A man who hadn't appeared to hear me before pointed at the still form of Isildur behind me. "And yet you killed my Lord Isildur! You speak naught but lies!!"

"He is not dead," I rebutted, starting to feel offended at their apparent small brains. Had I not said that already? Weren't they listening to me? For god's sake!

"He is merely unconscious. He was annoying me."

"You killed our king Gil-Galad!!" A no-name elf screamed accusingly from the crowd.

At that I winced guiltily, even if it wasn't really my fault. "I guess I did," I admitted, inwardly cursing Sauron for putting me in this position – although I was pretty sure the guy didn't have anything to do with me being here.

In fact, I don't know if he was still here, as I had taken over his body.

"Sorry about that?" I offered hesitantly, "I will call off my army," I added to try and calm them down, "so you may all return to your homes."

There was shocked silence for three whole seconds, and then the crowd went crazy.

"Lies!"

"Why should we believe you!?"

"You are nothing more than a liar!"

"Wordsmith!"

"Deceiver!"

I dropped my head on my hands while the onslaught of words continued. I probably should have expected that to happen.

It would have been too much of a stretch if they had believed me. And I could understand their point of view. After all, I/Sauron had just killed Gil-Galad and Oropher and who knows how many more people, so everyone was out for my blood.

In retrospect, it made sense that they would think I was trying to trick them into a false state of security by saying I would surrender.

Oh well. At least I tried, right?

Everyone started fighting each other again while I just looked at the destruction happening around me and contemplated my life choices. I was just about to head out to…anywhere but here when one of those mounts the Nazgul used landed behind me and the Witch King himself dismounted, letting himself down on the floor to kneel before me.

"My Lord," he uttered, his voice almost giving me chills, "if I may ask, I was of the mind that you wished to annihilate your enemies once and for all. Is that no longer the case?"

I just stared at him. While I knew that the Nazgul were loyal to Sauron, I didn't think that they would simply just let me destroy the ring, which was what actually let them be "alive" in the first place.

Then again, what the Nazgul didn't know wouldn't hurt them.

"There has been a change of plans," I started carefully, trying not to give anything away. "I find myself in need of something I hid inside Mount Doom that will aid us into winning this pitiful war, so I will need you and the others to distract the enemy while I am gone. Do try not to kill them though," and before he could grow suspicious of this, I quickly added, "I find myself in the mood for prisoners. They will work for us when we create our new world and will serve as…entertainment."

The Witch King stayed silent but ended up bowing his head in deference. "As you wish, my Lord."

He let out a high-pitched scream that had everyone except me and the other Nazgul covering their ears. The Witch King jumped on his mount and they both flew away to where I guessed the other Nazgul were stationed.

Hopefully, he would convey my new orders to them.

I turned around and plucked an orc from the ground while I was at it, who gave a terrified whine.

I looked at him and sneered.

"You. Where is Mount Doom?"

The orc looked ready to piss itself, and it slowly raised a trembling arm to point behind me. I turned to look at where he was showing me, and sure enough, just in front of some trolls that had been blocking the view before was the volcano where I would throw the ring and hopefully end this madness once and for all.

I was an avid fan of the Lord of the Rings, but this was, frankly, too much.

"Thank you," I said to the orc – never let it be said that I wasn't polite – and before it could utter another sound, I threw him towards a group of orcs and men from Harad like they were a bunch of bowls.

A dark-haired elf who had been fighting one of them gave me a startled look, and I just raised a hand in acknowledgment – which probably freaked him out, whoops - and strode off.

I had places to be in and things to do, and as much as I liked Elrond I had no time to stop for a chat.

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There were some who tried to stop me, but they soon learned to get out of my way if they didn't want to become a stain on the ground after meeting my mace. I did take care to only get those from Sauron's side, though, while I just moved the good guys out of the way by the scruff of their neck like they were a bunch of unruly kittens. They made such a hilarious face too when I did that.

And because I had sent away the Nazgul, they never stopped me.

In no time at all, I found myself on the base of the stairs that led inside the volcano. Funnily enough, no one seemed to have followed me, and those closest to me were at a considerable distance from my current position.

I went up the stairs and looked at the gigantic entrance. Well, as a wise man once said, out of the frying pan…and into the fire.

Literally.

Whoever had designed the interior of the volcano clearly hadn't accounted for safety measures. The only thing separating me from the hot, 100% deadly lava below me was a thin catwalk made out of the mountain's stone that looked as if it could crumble down at any time.

I walked forward until I found myself standing on the very edge of the platform. That's when I removed the One Ring from my finger.

Strangely enough, the ring didn't try to tempt me, or at least I didn't feel anything. Maybe it was because it still recognized me as his master even if I wasn't really Sauron.

It didn't automatically reduce me into tiny bits either, which surprised me because in the movies Sauron had fallen just by removing the finger on which he wore the ring.

Anyway, just as I was going to drop the damn thing into the lava, someone yelled from behind me.

"I do not know what you are planning, Sauron, but I will stop you!"

To be honest, at first I didn't even process what the guy said.

I was too busy screaming in fright, taken by surprise by the sudden yell.

It came from nowhere! Here I was, preparing for an epic scene, and someone just comes in and talks to me when my back is turned! What was I supposed to do? Stay cool and collected?

Hah!

Such was my alarm that the ring slipped from my hand and fell down below. And when I say down, I mean down. Into the lava.

"What did you do?!" The man from before exclaimed, and he ran next to me to look down just in time to see the ring dip into the golden, orange deadly liquid and disappear under it.

And when I turned to look at him completely dead-eyed, I realized it was Elrond.

Honestly.

"This is your fault!" I exclaimed hotly, "now I will never get my dramatic scene again! Why, oh why could you not just wait 5 seconds for me to-" and then the armor I had been wearing, or Sauron's "body", to be precise, just fell onto the rock floor with a clanking noise.

And I thought, that was it, you know? Sauron was finished, Middle-Earth was safe, and now I could just wake up and continue with my boring, regular life.

But of course, the Universe had other plans, and instead of that happening, the whole place started trembling, warning us of the upcoming volcanic eruption and the subsequent explosion that would come from that, killing everything and everyone in its path.

And Elrond; kind-hearted, stupid Elrond, was still here, gaping at the ground where I once had stood that now only held the blackened pieces of armor which were slowly decaying before me.

I didn't even have to think about it. I knew, rationally, that I had no body whatsoever now. I was literally some sort of ghostly spirit, and I shouldn't have been able to touch Elrond, let alone move him.

But that's exactly what happened.

One moment I was pitying my miserable existence, and the other I was almost soaring through the air, carrying Elrond in my arms like some sort of Disney Princess.

I don't know why, or how, but I seemed to have a new physical body, one which I would have classified as human, but the reaction of the elf while he gaped at my face changed my mind pretty quickly.

I don't know if he was just surprised or, and this was painful to admit…my new body was gorgeous.

There. I said it.

I had never cared that much about my looks, although all my friends used to tell me I was one of the most handsome guys in our school, but, to be honest, I didn't see it.

There were plenty of people who were prettier than me, after all, and anyway, I had never thought someone's looks were everything, but I had to admit that most people didn't think like that.

So when I caught sight of how Elrond looked at me, that awe that he couldn't seem to be able to hide, well.

I turned my attention back to the matter at hand. "We need to get out of here," I announced, masterfully ignoring the fact that even my voice sounded perfect, and I looked at all the falling rocks and the rumbling volcano which was seconds away from erupting. "Do hold on."

And with that last piece of advice, I took off running from Mount Doom faster than you could say Sauron.

Elrond gave a shout of alarm and clutched onto me with all the desperation of a drowning man.

To be honest, I would have, without a doubt, joined him in his hysterics if it were not for the fact that I was the one who was getting us out of here, and if I stopped and freaked out, we would both die.

Yeah. I wasn't keen on that idea.

I risked a glance back while I was running out the chamber and almost yeeted out of my skin when I saw a gigantic wave of lava almost catching up to us.

Nope, nope, nope.

I needed to go faster than this! I didn't want to get smoked, damnit! I was too young to die!!

The rational part of my brain sassed that I was running as fast as humanly possible and that there was no way for me to go even faster. I grabbed that part of my brain and tossed it into the lava.

No pesky human limitations were going to stop me, damnit!

And just as I thought that, I took off like a speedster.

I say speedster because it truly felt like I was the Flash in that moment.

Well, maybe not the Flash, but we were truly going really fast.

I didn't even feel my legs moving, I just saw the landscape pass us by so quickly that it even made the usually dignified Elrond scream in fright.

There was a big group of orcs and trolls just in front of us, and they looked at us menacingly, although most of them started trying to run away when they saw the ground crumbling down during the eruption.

I laughed brightly and jumped, running on top of their heads, Legolas style, while the ground gave way beneath us.

This was clearly too much for the elf in my arms because he just let out a high-pitched scream that only served to make me laugh more.

We must have made a ridiculous sight.

It was glorious.

A long-haired beauty – obviously me, and yes, I had long hair now! – holding the Lord of Rivendell in a princess carry while jumping on orcs' heads; one looking as if they were having the time of their life and the other terrified beyond measure.

Ah, I could already hear the stories.

I finally reached one of the groups of the Last Alliance and helped Elrond get down, who stumbled forward and would have fallen to the floor if it hadn't been for a golden-haired elf that ran to the front and helped him stand upright.

I almost jolted when I noticed it was actually Glorfindel, who I thought wouldn't arrive to Middle-Earth until the Third Age.

Then again, there was a more popular version which said Glorfindel had actually returned sometime in the 1000's of the Second Age.

That explained why he was here, but Gandalf was not. Pity.

I would have loved to meet Gandalf in person.

Oh well. 

Glorfindel fluttered anxiously like a mama-bird around Elrond, who was still looking a little winded but seemed to be recovering from the experience, and I had to hide a smile when I remembered the elf's face just moments before.

I would treasure that memory forever.

Elrond threw me a look as if saying 'I know what you're thinking, you punk', but that just made it funnier.

I coughed softly on my fist to hide my laugh and pretended I didn't see the elves, dwarfs, and humans around me tense because of the sudden movement.

They seemed to remember now that I was still there, but it was clear they hadn't yet connected me to Sauron because no one had made a move to take my head. Yet being the key word.

Elrond patted Glorfindel on the back and shifted his attention back to me, his eyes seeming to see into my soul in that peculiar ability that older elves or meddlesome wizards always seemed to have, but I didn't let that make me nervous.

I just smiled blandly at him until he broke and gave one of the deepest sighs I had ever heard.

"You are not Sauron," the elf stated clearly, and everyone gasped at that declaration. I almost rolled my eyes at them. So dramatic.

"I am not," I said amusedly, taking a quick look at my new robes and pristine skin. Lord, if my face was as beautiful as the rest of me it was no wonder people looked at me as if I were God reincarnated. I really needed to gaze at myself in a river or something before I left.

When Elrond seemed to notice that I wasn't going to say anything more, he just nodded and gave me a small smile. "I see. Thank you for your timely assistance. It was…appreciated."

No wonder it was. If it hadn't been for me, Elrond would have ended up in Valinor the painful way.

Then again, if it hadn't been for me none of this would have happened in the first place and things would have continued like in canon.

I still wasn't convinced this all thing was real, to be honest, but there was simply no way that my brain could conjure something like this, so…Yeah.

Thank God I was here.

"Ah, I could not just let you sink into the lava. Such an end would have been…unfortunate."

The elves shifted, no doubt uncomfortable at being reminded that they were, in fact, as mortal as humans in that aspect.

"Is this it, then?" Glorfindel piped up, his keen eyes as annoyingly piercing as Elrond's. "Is Sauron gone at last?"

I hummed and thought about what to say to them. Without the ring, Sauron was, in fact, gone, and yet I was still here, somehow. Did that mean I was the new Sauron? Or would this body disappear once I left?

"The Dark Lord will not be returning to Middle-Earth," I finally decided to say. "By destroying the ring, it has been made impossible for him to come back, although whether he is gone forever is yet to be seen."

There. I told them Sauron would not be coming back to Middle-Earth, which was true as his physical body was gone, and as Gandalf explained in the story, Sauron would be maimed forever, destined to stay as a mere spirit of Malice in the shadows but he would not be able to grow again or take shape.

Hopefully, he was gone forever like I had told them.

"That is a relief. But there is still the matter of what exactly happened today," Elrond said, a troubled expression in his face. "Sauron himself threw his own ring into the fire," – cue shocked gasps and my own eye-roll – "but why would he do that? And he was behaving strangely, as if he were not Sauron in his last few moments…," his train of thought trailed off and he looked up abruptly, his shocked eyes meeting mine when he finally started to realize, what, exactly, had happened in that chamber.

"It cannot be…," he whispered in shock.

Glorfindel's eyes were shifting between Elrond and me. "What? What is it, my friend?"

Elrond ignored him. "Who are you, exactly?" He asked me, looking as if he feared the answer I would give him.

I smiled and felt my body glow brightly in response. "I am Mairon," I simply stated, and inwardly cackled at the elves' wide eyes and some of the oldest dwarves' faces when they finally recognized me as Sauron, right before he turned.

And I just couldn't resist saying what came next. "Or, rather, Mairon as he should have been."

Canon Gandalf would have been so miffed at me. I was so proud of myself.

Yes, I was completely bullshitting my way through this conversation.

Was it working? Absolutely. And I was glad it was.

To be honest, introducing myself as Mairon, Sauron's alter ego, was a stroke of genius on my part. And who knows? Maybe it was even the truth!

This, too, wasn't my body, so maybe it was Mairon's, and in a moment of need and desperation I had, somehow, been able to take Mairon's body and use it to save Elrond, and, well, destroy the ring and stuff, although that had been done while in Sauron's body. Did that still count as being Mairon?

My head hurt. This was confusing.

Elrond and Glorfindel were still gaping at me.

"How is that possible?"

"How indeed?" I asked in return. "My only regret is that I could not stop this sooner. The actions of my counterpart were undoubtedly so, horrifying, and terrible. I cannot return the lives of those who were lost until now, and you will have no choice but to move forward from hereon, but still, I know that despite the adversities you may still face, this darkness, too, shall pass, and the light will shine on us all once again."

And now I was quoting Sam. This was a dream come true. 

After that incredible speech, I started feeling something…tugging at me, like some sort of rope that was connecting me to the real world. Or, well, my world.

And I knew it was time for me to go.

To be honest, I was reticent on leaving. Middle-Earth was a place where I would not mind living in, more so with me being as I was now, but I knew there was no way Mairon would be accepted, if not here, then in Valinor.

And I wasn't sure the Valar and Ilúvatar himself would even buy my story. The Valar I could still fool, maybe, but Ilúvatar was a literal god.

I was shocked that he hadn't intervened yet, to be honest.

Wasn't I a multiverse traveler or something like that? That sort of thing should have been detected by someone like Ilúvatar, shouldn't it?

My body slowly started to vanish, drawing shocked gasps from everyone around me.

Glorfindel stepped forward. "Are you…leaving?"

I smiled and looked at my hand, which was disappearing in a shower of light. "I am afraid this was always a temporary thing, Goldilocks."

Glorfindel mouthed 'Goldilocks' incredulously and Elrond face palmed.

It was incredible. I had broken Elrond.

"Oh, do not look so unhappy for me," I chuckled when I noticed both elves seemed to be sad that I was disappearing, of all things. Good I may have been now, but I had been Sauron until some time ago.

They were too sweet. That's why they were my favorites, although Glorfindel still took the top of my list. Sorry, Elrond.

"I am merely…going home," I whispered.

"Could I ask you something?" Glorfindel said hesitantly. At my nod, he asked, "what made you decide to help us?"

I smiled. "I knew what the future would bring should the One Ring not have been destroyed today. Too many gone, centuries of fighting...I saw all that and more, and I thought, why not change it? I had the ability to do so, did I not? Why let people suffer when I could do something to help them? So I did."

"Besides," I piped up, and just as I felt the rest of my body vanishing, I said, "I was never that fond of jewelry."

The last thing I saw was Glorfindel bursting into incredulous laughter, Elrond at his side with an exasperated smile while everyone else tried to pick up their jaws from the ground after hearing my absurd declaration.

And then I woke up.

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I gasped and fell on the floor, my legs tangled on my bed sheets.

I shot to my feet and looked around wildly, slowly processing that, yes, I was back in my room, and it was 6 o'clock in the morning.

I threw myself back on my bed and groaned.

"Some dream," I muttered, and I grumpily got up again in order to start my day.

I walked past the full length mirror I had in my room, lazily looking at my reflection as I passed it by, only to take an incredulous second glance at it after I caught glimpse of something impossible.

There was no way.

Because looking back at me, there was a face of pure perfection taken straight out of a fairy tale.

He had a fair face, akin to that of a High-Elf, although the ears were not pointed but round.

He had long, red hair, reminiscent of the color of fire, and his eyes were a brilliant gold that seemed to shine with inner light.

My mouth fell open.

"What the fuck!" I screamed.

Some dream, indeed.