Hobbit and Lord of the Rings One- shots/ imagines

Merry #1

Ok, so like the first half doesn't actually have Merry in it BUT I did it to create backstory and Breña's character before she met him

When you woke up that morning, you had no idea that your life was going to change forever. It began like any other normal day, rising an hour after the sun and joining your mother in the sitting room to help her weave clothes. A few months ago, it was your favorite pass time because of all the different colors you got to use but not now. Something had happened in the court, no one was really sure what, but King Theoden had changed and as you understood it, not for the better. His son had even declared a period of mourning, no one knew when it would end. Until it did, all clothes worn had to be black or at least dark, all heads were to be covered when outside, not a single laugh was to be heard throughout the village, and no one was to talk in public unless it was necessary. You were on the verge of stealing a horse and running away. Life was so monotonous now. You couldn't even take a walk without getting yelled at by a guard.

But that all changed at noon when three horses bearing two men, a dwarf, and an elf entered the village. They all looked travel-worn, one of the men wore a long gray cloak and the others travel clothes. What troubled you is that out the window, you spotted several tears or rips in all of their clothing. The man even had some recent-looking scratches on his face!

Later that day, we set out for Helm's Deep after King Theoden had emerged from his palace for the first time in months, Grima had finally been run out of the city, and a funeral had been held for the late Prince Theodred. A few days later, the warg attack happened, giving me a sick feeling in my stomach when you saw all of our men go off to fight, leaving the villagers defenceless. That was replaced with joy when you finally reached our destination but your happiness was quickly dashed when you saw only a fraction of men return from fighting the wargs. You noticed that one of the man in white had left us before we departed from Edoras and now the other man was not among the survivors.

The next day was one of the most stressful in your life. Waiting for an invisible enemy to attack. It was also your birthday but that was buried under the tension in the fortress. You could not have been more sad or disappointed. Out of all of the birthdays to be forgotten, your coming-of-age one was the worst. Had you been back in Edoras, a feast would have been held tonight in your honor but now, even your own parents seemed to have forgotten about your special day. You were furious. They, of all people, should be the last to forget about something as important as their daughter's birthday. Let along her coming-of-age birthday! In your blind rage, I silently wished all the people of Rohan dead and your wish came frighteningly close to coming true when ten thousand orcs attacked Helm's Deep that night. You got no sleep from sunset to well past sunrise, the noises of battle were too loud, as was the constant pounding of feet on the ground above you. You were going to lose the fight. Already, you could hear terrified screams that would haunt your dreams forever as the fortress was overrun. Perhaps what scared you the most that night was the massive BOOM that shook the entire cave. For some time after that, your ears rang and you were convinced that the ceiling was going to collapse and kill you all, but it didn't.

By the time you got out of the caves, it was several hours after sunrise. The wall of the fortress had been blow to bits and there were bodies everywhere, of elves, men, and orcs alike. The survivors were all in the Great Hall being given attention from healers. The entire field before the fortress was covered in bodies as well and the walls had been splashed in blood. The entire scene made me gag but I was curious to see just how we had pulled off a victory.

"Breña. Come back. That is no place for you." My father, who had miraculously survived the battle, pulled me away from the field.

"What happened? How did they break the wall like that? How did we win? Where do the elves come from? W-"