The next day, the goblins came back. Except this time they left Merry and Pippin alone and only took the other four. Merry and Pippin had stayed up all night and now were terribly tired as they blurrily watched their friends get taken away. Pippin had caught a cold and was sneezing and his nose kept running.

"Where are you taking us?" Boromir asked the goblins.

None of them answered and Merry and Pippin were alone and everybody was gone. They were still sitting in the same corner as before. Their eyelids were getting droopy and Merry finally closed his eyes and rested his head on Pippin's shoulder. They were asleep a split second and he awoke to Pippin's voice,

"Where do you think they brought the others?" he asked his voice stuffy from his nose.

"Probably to the king goblin..." Merry whispered and trailed off into thought.

"Do you think they will be back soon?" Pippin asked, "Boromir might get cold without his coat,"

Merry smiled,

"I'm sure he will be fine,"

After that, it was quiet and they both drifted off to sleep quickly.

-----

Merry and Pippin both jolted awake at a horrible scream and then the booming voice of the goblin king.

"What was that?!" Pippin exclaimed startled.

"It sounded like...," Merry said frightfully but couldn't finish the sentence.

Pippin got up and walked to the cells bars. Surprisingly his head could fit through them, so he peeked out into the hallway. The others were still gone.

"What do you see?" Merry asked still sitting down. He didn't want to get up because of his leg.

"Nothing..." Pippin responded, "Wait... I see a group of goblins coming this way,"

"Are the others with them?"

"I'm not sure. They are too far away,"

About three minutes passed and then Pippin said,

"The goblin pack is really close now and I can see they others. But..."

"But what?"

"Something's wrong,"

They could hear the chatter of the goblins now. They were close. Pippin took his head out of the bars and scurried back to the corner next to Merry and sat down as he sneezed again.

"What's wrong?" Merry asked.

"Aragorn," Pippin said and wiped his nose and sniffed.

"What about him?" Merry asked getting impatient.

Pippin was about to answer, but their attention went to the goblins that now walked into the dungeon hallway. They first watched the goblins push Legolas and Gimli into their cells. Legolas kept looking back with concern and fear written in his eyes. Gimli was murmuring to himself again. Then they saw Boromir be shoved into his cell across from them and then they both gasped as they saw Aragorn go in after him.

Aragorn was pushed into the cell and fell to the ground and landed on his stomach. Boromir went down to Aragorn's body as the goblins slammed the door and crawled away. Boromir flipped Aragorn over onto his back and Merry and Pippin could hardly believe what they were looking at. Their mouths fell open and their eyes budged.

They were both staring at Aragorn's stomach. There was a huge hole through it and his blood was everywhere on him and the ice floor. He started coughing and looked so different this way. Boromir was at his side partly helping and panicking himself. Legolas and Gimli were asked questions through the walls that were separating them from Aragorn.

"What happened?" Merry finally asked, "Is he going to be okay?"

Boromir didn't look up from Aragorn but said,

"The goblin king stabbed him,"

"Boromir..." Aragorn rasped, "Stop..."

"We aren't loosing anyone from the Fellowship. You least of all," Boromir blurted out suddenly.

His face got red with embarrassment and he sighed. Then he continued to dab the blood with the cloth he was using. Aragorn smiled weakly and closed his eyes.

"Hey, stay with me okay?" Boromir whispered.

"You will be..." Aragorn started but then grunted in pain and coughed.

"Don't talk," Boromir said.

"...You will be a fine king," Aragorn finished ignoring Boromir's warning.

"No! No! No! Don't talk like that. You are the rightful heir to the throne and you are going to make it," Boromir rebutled, "I'm so sorry for all I said. I was always wrong and he were always right," tears formed in his eyes, "I'm so sorry..." he bowed his head in shame over Aragorn.

It went silent except for Boromir weeping over Aragorn. Everybody was scared to death and knew they were losing Aragorn. Boromir wiped his face free of tears and looked up to the Hobbits. They were both staring at him and Aragorn. Merry and Pippin were both standing at the bars of their cell with their fingers wrapped around the bars. Merry was standing on his one good leg and putting most of his weight on the bars.

"Why?" Merry squeaked.

Boromir sighed and knew he had to explain what was going on.

"Alright you deserve to know," Boromir finally said, "The goblin king said he is going to... eliminate one of us each day until we are all gone,"

Merry and Pippin stared at him in horror and wondered how it had turned out like this. They remembered the Shire and joining the Fellowship in Rivendell. They shouldn't have even been there. Boromir continued,

"And he is going to do this by making us suffer through it like this,"

Boromir looked down to Aragorn and shook his shoulder. He opened his eyes again.

"Who-who-who's next?" Merry asked softly.

Boromir shook his head and said,

"I don't know. It's a surprise each day,"

Pippin couldn't take it anymore and he sat in the corner again, but with his back against Aragorn and Boromir. Merry limp followed him and sat down next to him. They started whispering to one another as Boromir watched them suspiciously.

"Aragorn?" Legolas said.

Aragorn moaned in response quietly.

"He's doing fine," Boromir said simply.

"Has the bleeding stopped?" Legolas asked.

"Almost,"

"How much has he lost?"

"A lot, okay?" Boromir asked in annoyance and frustration.

Legolas stopped talking and it was quiet for the moment.

"I'm sorry it had to end this way," Aragorn whispered his eyes closed again.

"Can you stop talking like that? You are going to be fine," Boromir said.

"Tell Legolas I should have listened to him back in the cave," Aragorn struggled to say, "Tell him it's my fault and I'm sorry. Forgive me,"

"I'm not talking to him," Boromir said and waited for Aragorn to say something else, but he did not.

"Aragorn?" Boromir whispered, "Aragorn?"

There was no response from him.

"No! Aragorn wake up! Please!" Boromir begged.

"I'm here," Aragorn said in the quietest possible voice. Boromir could hardly understand him.

Boromir sighed and all went quiet after that besides Merry and Pippin's whispering voices. It made Boromir feel uncomfortable not knowing what they were talking about. He was always there for them.

A/N: Just when you thought things were bad, they just got worse... (I have a picture i drew for this chapter. I will post it when I'm done coloring it. ;)