Fellowship Guardians

Chapter 11: Grief

Chen and Sehun nodded. "Of course, my lady." The youngest said then began to introduce everyone. As he spoke, Galadriel's gaze swept across them. "It is my pleasure to meet you, Guardians of ice, healing, light, shadow, fire, and force. I am relieved to know that sending young Chen and Sehun to Rivendell would allow them to reconnect with you all and equally relieved to know you are part of the last hope for freeing Middle Earth from these dark times." She said, with a soft smile. 

"Lady Galadriel we are still missing two more members, have you perhaps heard of their whereabouts?" Lay politely asked, hoping to hear some good news. The other guardians looked hopeful as well but were disappointed the Lady of the Wood shook her head, a sad expression on her face. "I am very sorry Guardian of Healing that I have not seen them. Perhaps they will find you as you continue on," 

"There was more that you wanted to talk to us about isn't there?" Xiumin inquired after a few moments of silence and Galadriel nodded. "I fear that this Red Force I was informed of is more powerful than I thought." She admitted with a sigh. "Don't worry about it. We'll take care of it as we've always done. Just have some faith in us," Yeona said, smiling as she took her hands in her own. 

"Thank you, Guardians. I believe there is too little of it, but I will do just that." Galadriel said, gaining eight smiles in return. "Return to your companions. I'm sure they are wondering where you all have gotten to," "Thank you, my lady," Pinpointing where their remaining companions were due to their scents, the eight guardians headed to the small courtyard where they were all gathered.

Suddenly as they appeared and started to relax, gentle singing in elvish filled the air. It was a beautiful song, and even though most of the Fellowship didn't understand the words, they knew it was a beautiful song. "It's a lament for Gandalf," Legolas lamented as he stared off in the distance. "What do they say about him?" Merry asked.

"I have not the heart to tell you. For me, the grief is still too near." Baekhyun and the rest of the guardians part of EXO all wore similar expressions  guilt and sorrow upon hearing the translation. Yeona looked at them, narrowing her eyes a little in confusion before a thought came to her. Getting up from her spot beside Sam, she sat between her twin who was getting his shoulder healed by Lay and Sehun. "You're thinking about the song promise and Jonghyun oppa aren't you?" She asked quietly, leaning on her brother's uninjured shoulder, causing the guardian of light to look down at her in surprise. Seven pairs of eyes looked at her and as one, the seven boys nodded. "How'd you know?" D.O asked and Yeona shrugged. 

"Judging by your expressions when Legolas have us translation to the lament." She said, not looking at anyone but from the corner of her eye, she saw Legolas, and Aragorn looking their way. "I guess we're that easy for you to read, huh?" Chen asked, trying to lighten the mood. He did get some chuckles for his efforts. "No, I just know you better than you think," She bantered and brown-haired boy pouted only to be brought into a hug from Baekhyun and Chanyeol that soon turned into a short wrestling match before they were stopped by D.O. 

The Fellowship looked at their youngest members in amusement, glad to see they had each other to lean on even after from their harrowing escape from Moria. It was then that one of the hobbits, Pippin, asked a question that had popped up. "Who is this Jonghyun person?" With the sad but proud smiles that adorned the guardians' faces, Merry roughly nudged his partner in crime's shoulder. "You shouldn't have asked that," he hissed. "It's alright, Merry. He...He was a very dear friend to us who sadly took his life," D.O answered. All of them, except Yeona, had been very close with their fellow idol in their world. 

"I'm very sorry about your friend guardians," Boromir said. Xiumin looked at the Beagle line and Sehun then muttered something to them to which they stood up from their spots, shifted to their wolf forms, and ran off into the forest leaving Yeona, Xiumin, Lay, and D.O with the rest of the Fellowship. "Where are they going?" Sam asked. "They're the more sensitive out of the group. Talking about Jonghyun is a sensitive topic to many in our world especially to those who actually knew him," Lay answered, briefly glancing in the direction they went.  

"I think it's best we turn in for the night. It has been a long day," Legolas suggested and the hobbits, bar Frodo looked eager to sleep in a bed after many days on the road. "You guys go ahead and do that. Full moons are when we spend time with each other," Xiumin said, standing up soon followed by the others. "We'll also keep an eye out if any orcs were dumb enough to keep following us,"

Aragorn opened his mouth to reply but was interrupted by multiple howls in the distance. "That was Sehun. Trust us, Strider, we'll be fine. Go get some rest." Yeona said as Xiumin, Lay and D.O were already in their wolf forms, their red eyes casting an eerie glow. One of them, the brown, gray, and white one Aragorn recognized as Kyungsoo, nudged her shoulder and she pat his head. "Alright alright, I'm coming," she said, chuckling slightly then shifted to her wolf form. Giving the three men a look, she and the others ran off to join the rest of their pack.