Imagine requested by anon; So the idea I had was with merry and a human. She's an incredibly shy goth girl who expresses herself best through music or art and doesn't feel like she belongs with the fellowship especially when merry isn't exactly friendly with her at first and after she runs away the rest of the fellowship make him realise what he did and he goes after her?

I didn't want to use the goth girl stereotypes so instead she is just a girl with a deeper layer who happens to be goth. 

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Samantha is sitting against the tree, just a little removed from the others. Her notebook is resting against her legs. Her pencil hurries over the pages as the ideas are born in her mind. 

More and more lines form words that transform into sentences. 

It doesn't take too long before they are full sections. And all too soon there is a complete story on the pages that had once been completely blank. A drop of sweat was sitting on her forehead. Everything she had was poored into this drabble that no other living soul would ever read.

'Maybe you and I were destined to be a fairytale

Filled with wonders and grand ideas but uncertain if we were real

We move and act like them with our hands made of spoons

Everything we take is a scoop for ourselves

Here, you have some chocolate with a hint of mint

Me, I will take the hazelnut to keep me from sin

Our hands can't carry the labor of our minds

They start to bend right before we're spend'

"What are you writing?"

Samantha slams her notebook shot. It is too late though.

Merry huffes, taking a step back. "It is strange, isn't it? Not many folks can read in this world." He puts one foot behind the other, holding his left arm up a little. "That reminds me, you still haven't told us where you're from."

"Merry" Aragorn says.

The hobbit doesn't stand down. "What? I'm just saying. She is traveling with us. We are on an important quest. Maybe she works for the enemy and was send here to murder us in our sleep!"

Samantha looks down at her notebook, her lower lip starts to quiver. 

"That's enough" Aragorn says. He moves closer to Merry. "Some have their own reasons for not sharing their identity. We will respect that."

"No, I agree with the little one" Boromir jumps in. "We are to take this ring to Mordor itself. If we are to trust one another than we have to know who we are. All of us have shared our story. Except for her!" he points at Samantha. 

She stays where she is, unmoving. 

Merry frowns. "Well, speak up! We want to know who you are!"

"I said, that is enough" Aragorn spoke sharply.

With everyone focused on Merry and Aragorn, they didn't immediately noticed it when Samantha ran off. Her feet carried her fast and silently to wherever she was running to. 

"Samantha!"Frodo called out. But it was too late. She was already gone. He tried to follow her together with Sam but she was out of their sight before too long. 

"What were you thinking? Look what you did!" Aragorn could be heard yelling as Frodo and Sam returned to camp. "You should be ashamed of the way you treated that young woman. Do you know what type of danger is out there in the woods?"

Merry didn't meet his eyes. "I just think it's fair if she shared her story with us" he murmured. 

Aragorn sighed. "We all would like to know who she is, small friend. However it is not our choice when someone else shares their story with us. If and when they feel inclined to do so, they will do so. Until then you will treat them the same way as you treat others. No differently. Am I understood?"

"But-"

"I'm sorry,did that sound as if there was any room left for 'buts'?" Aragorn knelt down. "Samantha is very withdrawn. One can only imagine why that is. How would you feel if someone pushed you to share your personal stories with others when you weren't ready?"

Merry looked up at him. "I get it. I'll go after her."

"We'll all go after her. Show her that we think of her as a valued part of our fellowship."

Frodo runs up to them. "She left her notebook behind. It must have fallen when she took off" he says. He hands it to Aragorn who puts it away. 

"Everyone on their horses. We are to look for Samantha."

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"Samantha! Samantha where are you?" 

They had all gone off in different directions. For the first part they'd stayed together, but then they got to a point where they didn't know in which direction she went. 

Merry went off on his own. Aragorn told him to because 'he needed to think'.

Right before he could call out again, he heard someone sobbing. "Oh great," he thought, "now she is crying. How am I supposed to comfort someone I wronged?" He took a deep breath before continuing onwards. 

He saw her before she saw him. She was sitting at the edge of a lake. Her tears mixing with the water that cooled her feet. 

"Samantha?" he asked. 

Her head shot up, her wide eyes looking at him. She almost fell backwards but was able to stabilize herself with her right hand right before she fell completely. "W-what?"

Merry sat down next to her. A decent space sitting in between them. 

"So... how are you doing?"

She turned her head at him. "Good?"

He nodded. "That's good then."

Silence falls, seemingly filling the entire forest. Merry rubs his hands together even though the sun is shining brightly down at them. Samantha slowly moves her feet around in the water, focusing on the rimples that created in the water.

Merry starts rubbing the back of his neck. "I just want to say that... You see... I'm sorry for what I said back at the camp, and... well. That."

"What are you sorry for?" she asked quietly. 

He stilled. "For what I said... I shouldn't have pushed you to tell your story when you didn't feel like sharing it. I'm sorry."

She laughed, but when Merry looked over, he didn't see a smile on her face. 

"Are you alright?"

Samantha closed her eyes. "You said you're sorry. You can go now."

Merry frowned. "Did I say something wrong?" She didn't reply. "So... it is alright if I go now? Tell them that I said I was sorry and that you chose not to come back? I mean, maybe it is better if I go back now, it is getting darker by the minute."

"Yeah, it is alright. I understand. You can leave. They all do" she whispered the last sentence.

Merry stayed where he was. "What do you mean?"

Samantha looked out over the water, at the shore on the other side of the river. "Nothing."

"Come on now, no one says something like that without meaning anything by it." Merry closed his eyes. "My apologies. What I meant to said was; do you want to tell me what you meant? When you're... when you're ready to tell me?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

Merry pursed his lips, clapping his hands together. "Alright then. That's fair." He got up, holding up a hand in front of Samantha. "Will you come with me though?"

She looks up at him. "Why?"

"Because I value you as a part of our company. We need you. Besides, you left your notebook at camp and I thought you might like it back." He smiled down at her. "Will you come with me? I promise we won't leave you alone, we'll always be there for you. And I promise that none of us will bug you for your story again."

Samantha hesitated, but then she let herself be pulled by Merry.

Together they walked back to camp.