Moria

        They passed a giant old aqueduct on the way to Moria, which was pretty cool. Other than that, travel was much the same as always. Suckful. Oh, one good thing happened though! On the way down from Caradhras, he made another charmed bracelet. It was for warmth, since he'd been slowly getting warmer while decending the mountain, but still wished to be warmer. He just wished he didn't have to be so nice and immediately pass it off to Pippin. The smiles he got were worth it, though.

        At least Elliott wasn't freezing anymore. And he actually had time to ponder the case of the missing memories. When he looked further into it, it turned out... almost all of his memories from before he came to Middle Earth were jacked up. Most of them were gone, some were blurry, and some were plain weird. Like, a giant flying metal tube? That had to be his mind playing tricks on him. It felt like he'd woken up from a dream, but it couldn't be because that was his entire life. If that was just fabrications, then why couldnt he remember anything before it?

         These thoughts troubled him greatly, though he kept them to himself. He didn't want to trouble the others, or look like some crazed loon. 'Oh, I'm from another world which I can't remember' yeah, right. Even he wouldn't believe himself.

       "The walls... of Moria!" Gimli exclaimed, staring up at... nothing. It was a sheer cliff face. Seriously, come on Author. Why send them to a dead end? 

        ...Where did that come from? Author? He remembered that he thought he'd been sent into a book, but... anything about being written was gone from his memory.

        "Dwarf doors are invisible when closed," Gimli said, explaining the lack of a door. Suddenly, Elliott felt mildly idiotic. Of course it wasn't a dead end.

        "Yes, Gimli, their own masters cannot find them, if their secrets are forgotten," Gandalf said, walking forwards.

      Legolas rolled his eyes. "Why does that not surprise me?" he sighed. Gimli grumbled, glaring at the elf, yet said nothing.

       Frodo accidentally stepped into the great black pool next to the cliff. He gasped and pulled his leg back, and Elliott could understand why. Water you couldn't see the bottom of? Gross, disgusting. Anything could be down there, ready to eat your face clean off.

 "Now... let's see. Ithildin..." Gandalf muttered, running his hand over the cliff face. Beneath his hand were thin, cobweb-like silver lines, only faint. "It mirrors only starlight... and moonlight." In a feat of extrordinary timing, the clouds passed from the moon and it became visible, sending down light to reveal the doorway on the cliff.

       "It reads 'The Doors of Durin — Lord of Moria. Speak, friend, and enter.'," Gandalf spoke, and Elliott snapped his head up, being pulled from his thoughts by those words.

      "Ooh! Ooh! I know this one!"

        Those that heard him gave him an odd look. "How could you possibly know a secret dwarfish passcode, laddie?" Gimli asked.

        Elliott's face fell. "Passcode? I thought we were doing riddles," he muttered, face heating up as he turned away. Gandalf shook his head. 

        "No, go on. What did you think it was?"

        "'Speak, friend, and enter.' Thought it was friend," he grumbled. Gandalf looked appraising.

        "Well, we might as well give it a shot. Mellon!"

        With that mmention of a delicious food item, the door cracked and slowly creaked open. Elliott brightened again, since he'd managed to help rather than be a complete dunce. And he got a hair-ruffle from Aragorn as the man passed to unhitch Bill the Pony's bridle, so that was a definite plus.

        "The Mines are no place for a pony, even one so brave as Bill," Aragorn said, patting Bill's neck. Sam grew slightly tearful at the fact that Bill was leaving them.

        "Buh-bye, Bill," he said, patting the pony's nose.

        "Go on, Bill, go on. Don't worry Sam, he knows the way home," Aragorn said as Bill trotted off. Merry, meanwhile, kicked a rock into the water. This was stopped by a glare from Aragorn, who said; "Do not disturb the water."

        The fellowship shuffled into Moria. only a few of them unsettled by the ripples in the water, namely Aragorn. Gandalf placed a crystal on the top of his staff, rubbing dust off it. 

       Gimli entered eagerly, boasting to Legolas; "Soon, Master Elf, you will enjoy the fabled hospitality of the Dwarves! Roaring fires, malt beer, ripe meat off the bone. This, my friend, is the home of my cousin, Balin."

        And again, the perfect timing kicked in. Gandalf's staff lit up right at that moment, revealing the skeletons of dwarves all around, arrows in them.

        "And they call it a mine. A mine!" Gimli was still saying, then fell short at the sight of the corpses.

Boromir looked horrified, tucking the hobbits close to his sides. Elliott almost wanted to curl in there with them, but he was about eighty years old, give or take a few... however long it was that he couldn't remember. Maybe it was time to start acting like it, just a bit. Also he was still riding the high of getting approval, there was no need for comfort. "This is no mine, it is a tomb!"

       Gimli seemed distraught, as he should be, and Legolas plucked an arrow from a dead person. He examined it, then his face twisted in disgust and he threw it away. "Goblins!" he exclaimed. Everyone drew their weapons and started backing towards the door.

        "We make for the Gap of Rohan. We should never have come here," Boromir said. "Now get out of here, get out!"

        And then the perfect timing kicked in yet again, with a large tentacle slinging out of the water, grabbing Frodo and dragging him away. Everyone cried out and ran after him.

         "Frodo!"

        "Strider!"

        "Help!"

        Sam sliced at the tentacle with his little mini-sword, "Get off him! Strider!"

        "Aragorn!"

        The hobbits, and Elliott, because he wasn't a piece of shit, tried to pull Frodo away from the creature. Miraculously, the thing let go. Not so miraculously, it immediately drew a ton more tentacles from the water, grabbed Frodo by the ankle, and dangled him in the air, too high to reach. Then there was more yelling, and Legolas shot a few arrows at the tentacles around Frodo's face. 

        Aragorn and Boromir ran into the water, hacking at the beast withtheir swords. Against their best efforts, Frodo was lowered towards the monster's gaping mouth by a tentacle. Of course, since Aragorn and Boromir were just that good, Aragorn leapt up and sliced through the tentacle holding Frodo, making it drop him into Boromir's arms. They then immmediately ran, which was probbably the smartest choice.

        "Into the Mines!" Gandalf yelled, herding people in.

        "Legolas!" Boromir called, still carrying Frodo. Another tentacle started to follow after him and Frodo.

        "Into the cave!" Aragorn yelled, which Elliott felt was pretty redundant. They were already running for the cave. Then again, Elliott had done next to nothing to help out in this battle, so he couldnt judge others. Legolas short an arrow at the beast, hitting it in it's right eye and making it recoil with a loud roar.  This gave everyone just enough time to get inside Moria before a tentacle swung around and caused the doorway to collapse.

        Great. Now they were stuck in here.

~~~~~~~~~~~

If you see any typos, feel free to point them out to me. I wrote this, like most of these chapters, in one sitting with a single look-through for revisions, before uploading them.