Sometime in the midnight hour, Merry and Pippin stood up. Boromir had been watching over Aragorn and his breathing. He was asleep and his heart rate was slowing down. Boromir possibly knew this was his last night if they didn't get out of the cells now. Boromir looked up to the motion of the Hobbits moving around in their cell across from him. He watched as they looked up at the window in their cell and Boromir stopped breathing for a second. Pippin was about to jump out, but Boromir said,

"Hey! What are you doing?"

Both Hobbits jumped and turned around to Boromir.

"Getting out," Pippin said innocently.

"No you aren't. You will die out there in the cold!" Boromir said trying to make his voice steady. Merry your leg will fail you and Pippin, you have a cold,"

Boromir stood up and wrapped his fingers around the bars of his cell.

"Don't worry, we are planning on getting you guys out too," Merry said.

Boromir shook his head and for the first time since he joined the Fellowship he felt like the leader.

"That's not the point..." Boromir started.

Pippin interrupted and asked,

"Oh, I'm sorry. Do you want your coat back?"

Boromir grinned, but said,

"No. The point is, is that I don't want you getting killed in the process of trying to get us out. We must all except death in these nasty cells,"

"You don't get it," Merry said, "If somebody doesn't do something, all of us are going to die. Aragorn first...now, I know I'm no knight like you guys... you guys are capable of such great deeds and have so much strength. Pip and I are just Hobbits and we know we can't save Middle Earth, but in the end we are still part of the Fellowship. We have to try something and you can't blame us for that," Merry finished.

Boromir started at Merry. Nothing he said Boromir could argue with. The Hobbits were right.

"I- I don't know what to say," Boromir stammered.

"You don't have to say anything," Merry said simply, "Goodbye, Boromir," he gave a small smile.

Pippin waved and said,

"Thank you,"

Boromir didn't know what to do. He knew this would probably be the last time he saw their small smiling innocent faces ever again and he took every second of it in. He watched in horror as Pippin squirmed out of the window easily and then helped Merry get through. It had all happened too fast and the Hobbits were gone within seconds. Boromir was left staring at nothing, just an empty cell across from him.

He shrank to his knees at the bars and bowed his head in sadness. A tear trickled down his face, but he wiped it away not wanting anybody else to see. He looked over to Aragorn and to his surprise; he was awake and looking at him. They looked at each other for a moment and then Aragorn said,

"I know it's hard," Aragorn said quieter than a whisper, "but you did the right thing," he let out a harsh breath and coughed.

Boromir only closed his eyes and rested his head on the bars.

-----

Outside in the cold snowy air, Merry and Pippin scanned the area. They both were snuggled into Boromir's warm coat. Pippin looked to the bottom of the snowy mountain and to his surprise saw something moving.

"Merry, look!" Pippin pointed at the figure below them.

Merry looked and saw that same somebody at the bottom. Pippin leaned over to get a better look, but fell into the deep snow. The sun from the previous day had been melting the snow making it slippery and wet. Pippin rolled down the mountain quickly taking Boromir's coat with him too.

"Pippin!" Merry screamed.

Not thinking, Merry went into a running position to rescue him, but as Boromir said his leg failed him and he did a face plant into the snow. He then also started rolling down the hill which hurt his leg a lot. A couple times rocks from the mountain scratched him. But one time in particular towards the bottom of the hill, his hurt leg skidded across a very sharp rock. He yelped in pain and then crashed at the bottom of the mountain.

Pippin had landed at the feet of the figure. He looked up and almost screamed as he saw... Gandalf!

"Gan- Gandalf!" Pippin chattered and then sneezed again.

"I might have known," Gandalf said gravely.

Pippin stood up and pulled Boromir's coat around himself more. The snow down here went up to his chest making him feel practically buried.

"Where are the others?" Gandalf asked.

"Everybody got captured by goblins and we were all put into a dungeon. Merry and I escaped just now, but Aragorn is badly hurt. You must..." Pippin explained.

"Yes, yes. Stay here, I will be back," Gandalf said, "and stay put!"

Pippin nodded and Gandalf started heading up the mountain Merry and Pippin had come from.

"Merry!" Pippin called.

"Pippin!" Merry called back. His voice sounded close, but stressed.

"I'm coming," Pippin said, "Keep talking,"

"I'm too scared to," Merry replied his voice sounding strange.

A couple feet away, Pippin found Merry. His pant leg was torn and the stitches Boromir had put into his leg were destroyed. The string was gone and Merry's dark red blood was covering the snow around himself.

"Gandalf is here to help. He told me to stay here," Pippin said and sat next to Merry in the snow.

Merry nodded and closed his eyes and rested his head on Pippin's shoulder again. He tried not to look at his leg in fear he might faint.

"You'll be alright. Gandalf can help," Pippin said trying to find a positive. He sniffed and took in a deep breath. The cold that he had was making him feel sick.

"I hope so," Merry responded gloomily.

-----

Gandalf was almost to the top of the mountain when he saw a moth in front of him. Perfect timing, he thought. He drew it closer to him and gently caught it in his hand. It was as big as his hand, brown, and fuzzy. He whispered some quiet words to it and then set it free.

Gandalf continued up the mountain and he saw small square windows. There were lots of them in a row. He held his staff high and then pointed it at the wall in front of him. A powerful blast came out and the dungeon walls cracked and then exploded.

"Gandalf!" Gimli shouted excitedly. It was the closed cry of happiness that anybody had heard from him yet on this journey.

The dungeon was officially all in pieces and Gandalf and the other companions just looked at one another. Gandalf rushed to Aragorn first. He held him up into a sitting position and said,

"What happened?"

"He was stabbed," Boromir responded.

Aragorn's head bobbed forward and no one was sure whether or no he was alive or if he was just sleeping. Gandalf felt for a heartbeat.

"We have little time. We must go now,"

"Where are the little ones? Did you see them? You must have!" Boromir exclaimed.

Nobody had a chance to answer him because from above six enormous eagles circled and called out. One of them lifted Gimli off the ground and another Legolas. Then Boromir got lifted by another eagle away from Aragorn. Gandalf was next and lastly Aragorn was gently picked up in the talons of another eagle. Gandalf pointed a command to the last eagle to the bottom of the mountain and it swooped down to the bottom of the mountain and snatched up Merry and Pippin.

The stars twinkled above everybody making them feel warmer and comfortable by the second. Pippin held tight to Boromir's coat not wanted to accidently drop it onto the earth below. Sounds from below kept everybody silent. They heard wolves howling and the gentle whoosh of the wind. Not knowing where they were going or what the future held, they flew away into the night...

The End

A/N: Don, don, don, donnnnnn!!!!! So, what did you think? ;D