Rating: PG -> PG-13

Warnings: [violence] [language] [het] [shounen-ai]

Pairings: Takeru/Ken & Ruki/Legolas

Notes: Wai~! *squeals* Last chapter! Last chapter! Sequel = "Digital"!

Dedication: Everyone! Chapter 20 is dedicated to everyone who's been supportive and given be loving reviews through this entire fic! Domo arigatou gozaimasu! *huggles everyone* Go and read the sequel, too! ^_~

Disclaimer: They say if you tell yourself something enough times you'll start to believe it? I do not own Digimon and Lord Of The Rings... I do not own Digimon and Lord Of The Rings... I do not own Digimon and Lord Of The Rings... I do not own Digimon and Lord Of The Rings... I do not own Digimon and Lord Of The Rings... I do not own Digimon and Lord Of The Rings... Hee, hee....yosh! On to the final chapter!

Company
Chapter Twenty: Broken
by Senashenta

"Patamon, go!"

"No."

"Go, damn it!" Takeru shouted at his partner.

"No!" Patamon shouted back, "I'm not leaving you here to fight by yourself!"

The blonde eyed the Orcs that were beginning to make an appearance over the horizon. They were seeping from between the trees in unbelievable numbers, and some of them looked... different... than the ones they had fought before. Takeru had his bow out and ready, and beside him Aragorn was gripping his sword tightly, but Patamon...

"Shit! Patamon!" Reaching up, he yanked the digimon from his head and brought him town to eye level. "Fucking go! You can't do much here, okay? Have you tried Evolving? I doubt it'll work, and you'll do us more good if you go and get the others!!"

Patamon glared, "how do you know it won't work?!"

"Don't you think Renamon would have Evolved to fight if she could? She wasn't a wolf, Patamon, she would have if she could have!"

A blink. "Lemme' try!"

Takeru gritted his teeth; Patamon was as stubborn as him now and it was terribly aggravating. "Fine." He snarled.

"Patamon Shinka...!" The digimon closed his eyes. Nothing. "Patamon Shinka...!" His eyes remained closed and he strained for the Evolution. "Come on! Patamon Shinka...! No! Come on, come on! Shinka! Patamon Shinka-! Shinka-! I-" he opened his eyes sadly and looked at Takeru. "You're... you're right I can't!

Takeru tore his eyes away from the Orcs -- which were only a few hundred yards away- and met Patamon's gaze. "Patamon!" He snapped, "I repeat; Go. Get. The. Others!" At the hurt look on Patamon's face, he softened, "I know you want to help and you're used to protecting me, but getting the others is the best idea right now."

"..." the winged-digimon fluttered above the ground and cast a worried glance over his shoulder at the Orcs. Then he nodded. "You're right, I just... wanted to help. But-" he flapped away a few feet; "I'm going now! I'll be back!"

Takeru only half-heard what his partner had said, instead focusing both his attention and his bow on what was coming. The Orcs were slowing now, stalking closer as opposed to running... brandishing their weapons... snarling...

Takeru loosed an arrow and it struck one of the closest Orcs, making it stumble back into the horde... the other Orcs swarmed forward and it's body vanished in the mass of black-green creatures.

<Oh hell...>

"Get ready."

Takeru's eyes flicked to Aragorn, even as he was firing another arrow. It struck, but the Orc that was hit simply vanished as the first one had. "Aragorn-" he said, reaching for third arrow, "we're not going to win this, are we?"

"...probably not." The Ranger responded.

"That's what I thought."

The next arrow whirred, taking out another Orc. Six more took it's place. Takeru swore mentally and fired again. One Orc went down and several more appeared. He fired again. And again. Again. Again. Again...

<...I'm so glad I don't run out of arrows... not that they'll be good for long...> suddenly the shrieking of the Orc horde stopped and they paused in their approach. Takeru saw another Orc... larger... darker... fiercer, if it was possible... appear over the horizon. It stood there, and the rest of the Orcs waited for something... "oh boy..."

The larger one shouted something that Takeru couldn't understand-

-and the mass of Orcs shouted, snarling, and surged toward them.

"Fuck!"

Takeru barely had time to cast his bow aside and draw his knives before they were hit by the first of the creatures. He brought his right dagger up, managing to catch the first attack on him... with no room to spare; the Orc's weapon nicked his shoulder, leaving a scratch that began to ooze blood...

He fell back a step, glancing to the side in search of Aragorn; the Ranger had retreated, backing up the steps to the top of the platform. A good plan, Takeru could see -- the Orcs were trying to get at him by way of the stairs, which narrowed their ranks; they could only come at him one-at-a-time.

<Unlike with me! There are way too many-!> The Orcs that weren't going after Aragorn were focused on him, since there were no others nearby, and he was beginning to be surrounded. <Where the hell ARE you, Patamon-?!>

One of the creatures -- an Orc that was larger and different than most -- lunged at him and he blocked, stumbled from the sheer weight of the thing. He fell backward into yet another, pushed into it's chest. The closeness of them made him shiver. They were simply revolting...

Struggling with the Orc that was in front of him, he could do nothing about the one that was behind... it grasped his waist, ripping him from the grip of the first Orc, and threw him to the side. He landed on the ground with a muffled thump and a loud groan, his head hit the dirt with an audible impact and one of his knives fell from his hand to be kicked away.

<Not good.>

Clutching his remaining dagger, he tried to get his head to stop spinning long enough for him to defend himself. Pain lanced through his temples and his spine ached. He hoped he hadn't bruised something that shouldn't have been...

The tittering, snarling Orcs that surrounded him were the kind he had seen before... what of the newer breed? He blinked a few times, managing to clear his head of most of the fog. But before he could do anything besides begin to sit up, one of the larger Orcs shoved it's way past the smaller ones and reached for him.

He slashed with his remaining weapon, catching the creature's hand and severing a finger. It screamed, didn't even bother to recoil, and knocked the dagger from his grip. It flew to the side and was lost in the throng of Orcs that were crowding around him.

<Oh shit, of fuck, or shit, oh fuck, oh fuck, oh FUCK!>

The larger Orc reached down once again, smearing blood from the stump of a finger onto the front of his tunic, and jerked him up from the ground. Takeru gasped at the sudden pain that flared in his head and struggled fiercely as he was lifted clear off the ground to dangle from the Orc's hand.

<I'm dead! I'm fucking dead!>

Thwack!

The Orc suddenly shrieked, releasing him, and spun around. Takeru dropped back to the dirt, gasping, and stared at the arrow that was protruding from it's back in confusion. Aragorn was the only one there, and he didn't have a bow...

Thwack!

Thwack!

"Takeru!" A ball of beige flew toward him, over the heads of the Orcs, and fluttered above him.

"Patamon?" The blonde blinked, "how-"

"Get up, get up!"

"I-"

A hand grasped his arm and he was again hauled from the ground. Thinking it to be another Orc, he whirled -- not sure what he was planning to do, as he didn't have any weapons -- to find Gimli holding on to him. The Dwarf set him back on his feet roughly and without a words before turning, axe in hand, to face the Orcs... they were still coming...

...from under the platform, Legolas emerged with Ken and Ruki right behind... the source of the arrows that had saved his life, no doubt... Wormmon wasn't with Ken. The bluenette must have hidden the digimon before...

<I should have done the same with Patamon->

Takeru shook his head, trying to figure out what to do. His knives were gone, he had very little hope of finding them, never mind finding them in-tact... and his bow...

"My bow!"

Ducking out of the way of arrows and Orcs, he ran for where he had discarded the weapon. Where it was now was just beside the platform, near where Legolas, Ken and Ruki were standing... he could see it half-leaning against the stone...

<I can't do this with no weapon!>

"Legolas!" He shouted to the Elf, who was standing closest to it; "my bow-!"

Legolas glanced to the side as he continued firing, and nodded shortly.

Taking a deep breath, Takeru dug his heels into the ground, and, with Legolas cover him, made a dash for the bow. Legolas was managing to keep the Orcs at a relatively safe distance, but the Elf couldn't keep them back forever. Dodging arrows that the ORCS were shooting, he dove for the weapon even as the creatures were breaking through the arrow-line that the others had set up...

Grabbing it, he stood and spun around quickly, arm already going back for an arrow.

A foot away, Legolas ran out of time and was in the process of reaching for an arrow of his own then the first Orc reached him. Instead of loading his arrow, and Elf simple stabbed forward with the one he was holding -- putting the tip through the Orc's throat -- before bringing it back and into the waiting bow to fire...

Takeru would have been amazed, had he had the time...

"Takeru!"

He spun at Ken's voice, "shit!"

The Orcs, as in Moria, were focused on the bluenette. Why the Keeper of Kindness was something they were particularly interested in was something Takeru didn't know... he had no idea... but Ken was surrounded by the swarming Orcs, and he needed help...

"Ken-" he started forward, shoving through the horde....

-and the sudden call of a horn sounded, making everything on the battlefield freeze including the Orcs. There was a silence, and then the horn sounded again, loudly. The Orcs paused, then, snarling and shrieking, spun to race in the direction of the sound.

Gasping, Takeru stopped to stare after them. "What-"

"The Horn of Gondor!" Aragorn called from the top of the platform, "Boromir!"

"He's drawing them to himself!" Legolas cried.

"What can we-?" Ken began.

But Ruki was already sprinting after the Orcs, bow clutched in her hand and a determined expression on her face. A blur in the trees appeared to be Renamon, leaping from limb-to-limb and following her Tamer.

"Come on!" Takeru ran after her, catching Ken's arm on his way past and dragging the other boy with him.

"Takeru, what are we-"

"I may not like Boromir very much!" The Child of Hope cut him off as they ran, the trees beside them an almost-blur; "but I don't want him dead, and that's exactly what's going to happen if we don't get there to help him!"

Ken was silent, and then the blonde glanced to the side he could see the same determination on his face as had been on Ruki's. The same determination as he had shown when volunteering for the quest in the first place...

<Maybe this is why we're here. For this moment...>

"Look!" Ken shouted, "there-"

Skidding to a stop, Takeru scanned the area; they were standing at the top of a low hill; Boromir was near the base of the same rise; Ruki and Renamon were just in front of them, Ruki with her bow out and ready and Renamon looking about to kick-something's-ass. Pippin and Merry were there, behind Boromir... Orcs were swarming around them as the man attempted to protect the Hobbits, despite the face that a large, thick arrow protruded from his shoulder.

"Boromir!"

Looking past the Orcs, Takeru searched for the archer... and found it at the top of another hill, it's bow ready and loaded for another attack. Before he could even shout a warning, the Orc -- another of the larger ones that weren't in the least bit 'Orcish' -- drew the bowstring back and fired-

-the arrow struck Boromir's side below the one that had already hit him-

"No!" An arrow was out and in his bow before ha was even aware of the fact, and Takeru loosed it. It launched across the forest and imbedded in the Orc's arm... and the creature simply reached up and pulled the arrow out again... and then it prepared to fire once more.

Boromir continued to fight valiantly, blood oozing from his wounds and the Hobbits standing behind him, horrified, but unable to help...

"Ruki!" Ken called.

The girl was lining up her shot; "I'm on it-" she pulled back her arm... and then she and Renamon began to fade from sight.

"What-?!"

"Ruki-!"

Ruki spun, a shocked expression on her face, "what the h-"

And then she and Renamon were gone...

Takeru gaped, "what the flying fuck just happened here?!"

"I-" Ken began, then stopped, his eyes widening; "Boromir! Takeru, look-!"

The blonde's head snapped up and he immediately reached for another arrow. The Orc was about to fire a third shot... Boromir was fighting, but slowing, and the other Orcs were advancing as he slowed.

Beside Takeru, Ken had his bow out as well. They would worry about Ruki and her digimon later...

Takeru closed one eye, aiming-

"-Takeru!"

Whirling, the Child of Hope faced Ken just as the bluenette began to vanish as Ruki had.

"Ken!"

Ken's eyes were wide as he looked down at himself; then he turned translucent eyes to Boromir, "you've got to stop it-!"

"I-"

"Ken!" Wormmon's voice suddenly shouted, and the digimon scuttled toward them as fast as his legs could carry him. Where he had been hidden, Takeru didn't know, but now he could see through the bug as well... "Ken!"

"Wormmon-" Ken reached for his partner-

-and they, as with Ruki and Renamon, disappeared.

<Oh shit, oh shit... shitshitshitshitshitshitshit... what the hell is happening?>

"Takeru!" Aragorn's voice called, and he turned to see the Ranger, as well as Legolas and Gimli, running toward them, "what's happened? Where are Ken and Ruki? Where is Boromir, wha-" he broke off when he saw what the other man was going through below; "Legolas, Gimli, come on! Takeru, you see if you can take out the archer!"

"..." Takeru shook his head again, "uh, right!"

Raising his bow, he took aim again as the others raced down the hill to Boromir's aid. He lined up his shot perfectly and drew his arm back to fire... and then he noticed his own hands beginning to fade.

<No!>

Determined to beat the fading, he released the arrow. It flew straight, it's aim true, toward the Orc, even as it prepared to fire the third arrow into Boromir's chest... and then, much to Takeru's horror, the arrow disappeared in midair.

"No!" He screamed, shrieked really, catching the attention of everything in hearing range.

The others paused and turned to face him... in time to see him fade into nothingness, followed quickly by Patamon who had been approaching from behind. Takeru's eyesight faded and the sounds of battle were suddenly gone...

...and then he found himself standing in the living room of the apartment he shared with his brother, clad only in the boxer shorts he remembered going to sleep in before waking in Middle Earth, and the cape that the Elves of Lothlorien had gifted to him, with an identical one for each member of the company...

"No! No!" He shouted, looking around frantically, "no! Fuck! Fuck!"

"...Takeru?"

A door opened and Yamato stepped around the corner from his bedroom. The blonde musician blinked at him several times, looking shocked, then relief washed over him. "Takeru, is that really you?"

Takeru ignored him.

"Shit!" Yamato rushed out of the room and toward his younger brother; "where the hell have you been, Takeru? You were gone for so fucking long, we thought you were dead or something, and Ken, too? I mean-"

Yamato continued to talk as Takeru's mind raced.

<No, no... Boromir! What about Boromir and the others? I'm here... I'm home now, but what about them?! They... they'll die! They need my help... Boromir and Aragorn and Legolas... what the fuck happened? What the hell? I have to go back and help them, I have to->

"-I mean, I know you're an adult now and can do what you want," Yamato was ranting, "but you just disappeared from the face of the Earth for six months! Hikari was panicked, you didn't tell anyone where you went! Ken was gone too! Holy shit, you should have seen Mom and Dad! They thought you were -- and Ken's parents! Holy crap! We'd stopped looking for you-!"

Takeru wasn't hearing a word of his brother's speech. <I'm here. Home... Ken! What about Ken? He's here too, right? And Patamon? Wormmon? Ruki and Renamon must be in their world... I have to find him... I home, and I have to find Ken.>

Starting forward, he brushed past Yamato roughly.

"-what the fuck are you doing?" His brother demanded, "where are you going?"

"Out." Takeru replied shortly. Grabbing his coat from the rack by the door, he put it on over the cloak and stuck his feet into his shoes. Not caring that he looked like an idiot, he turned to leave and then stopped. "Yamato... where's Patamon?"

"...um, in the Digital World with the other digimon?"

"Fine." Takeru stated. <I'll check later.> Then he stepped out into the street, heading for Ken's apartment. <He's here. He'll be here. I'M here, so he will be too...>

He was only halfway down the street when a familiar figure coming toward him caught his attention; Ken was dressed much the same as he was, wearing his pyjamas. He hadn't bother to grab a coat, however, and was wearing only his pyjamas -- long pants and a shirt -- and the cloak, as well as his shoes.

"Ken!"

The bluenette looked up. "Takeru!"

"Hey!" Takeru caught him, and the two hugged tightly. "Ken! Holy shit, I thought-"

"...I know, I know."

"Ken!" A small voice gasped, "tell him to -- oh, never mind! Takeru, let go, I can't breathe!"

"Huh?" Blinking, Takeru stepped back and watched a digimon's head appear from the hood of Ken's cloak. "Minomon!"

The little digimon nodded. "Hi."

"But-"

"He was in the Digital World." Ken explained, "I checked as soon as I got back... Takeru-" he looked at the blonde pleadingly; "the others, did they-?"

"I don't know." Takeru shook his head. "I was... yanked back before I could do anything..."

"Then they could be-"

"I don't know." The blonde repeated.

Ken's eyes brimmed with tears and he hugged Takeru again. "We can't go back..."

"I don't see how," Takeru whispered.

"...I don't suppose we'll ever see them again, will we?" The Child of Kindness asked softly after a moment; "Takeru?"

The Child of Hope sighed sadly, then; "we may yet." He replied, "we may."

And little did he know that in another world, a loyal Hobbit was echoing the words...

Owari?

When the cold of Winter comes

Starless night will turn to day

In the veiling of the Sun

We will walk in bitter rain.

But in Dreams

I still hear your name

And in Dreams

We will meet again...

(From "In Dreams"; featured in the "Breaking Of The Fellowship" -Words by Fran Walsh & Howard Shore, Music by Edward Ross)

Me: Wai! *squeals excitedly* I've never finished a chaptered fic before! Yosha! I'm so happy with myself! So, what do you think of the ending? It's a bit different than what I originally planned, but...

Takeru: You jerked us back! What happened to the others?

Me: *blinkness* You're not happy to be home?

Ken: They were our friends...

Me: Sorry, can't tell ya'...

Takeru: *glares* Tell us, damn you!

Me: Gomen. Wait 'til the sequel!

Wormmon: ...sequel?

Me: Yup!

Patamon: ...oh boy...

Me: What? Got a problem with that?

Takeru: Hell yes!

Ken: At least we'll find out what happened to the rest of the company, ne?

Me: Exactly! As I said before, always look on the bright side! TTYL, minna-san! =^-^=