INVISIBLE SCARS

(A/N – Wow. You have been brave enough to click on this story and see what it’s all about, and I thank you! Now, would you be brave enough to hang around read it? And possibly consider reviewing it? Haha… It’s okay; I’m not trying to freak you out, though I’m probably doing a great job of it. Sorry. I just want a chance! LoL. All right, I’ll stop. The full summary’s below just there, and I appreciate all and any feedback! I also reply to my reviewers because it’s common decency. I hope you’re intrigued to read more, because so much more develops after this. Thanks! And just to be clear, the top half of every chapter is when the hobbits are younger, and the bottom half follows the story of the One Ring. A different set-up for me, but I enjoy it. I hope you do as well! Also, I’ve made the hobbits similar in age. It’s based mainly on the movie, but I’ll still be throwing in some book references here and there. I hope it suits!)

. X .

Angie is not like the other hobbits. You'd expect her to be girly and lazy and troublesome-free, but she wants adventure, helps cause the trouble, and her best friends are all boys (Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin to be exact). Only two things she hadn't expected have caught up with her - her feelings for Frodo and the War of the One Ring. Now she refuses to leave Frodo and the Fellowship to go to Mordor without her, and all the while, Angie's only desire is also watching her, wondering why she has grown so much more than a friend to him.
Now Frodo, Sam, and Angie must brave the powers of the alluring power of the Ring as they make for Mount Doom. Their pasts are revealed, and after all they've been through, will Angie and Frodo finally get what they've always wanted? Or will the Ring destroy them and their dreams as well as all of Middle-Earth?

. Chapter One .
..The Shire..

Out of breath as they ran into a wide open field under a sky of twinkling diamonds, three small hobbits fell to the cool grass on their stomachs listening intently as the barking subsided far off from where they lay. They looked at each other and started to laugh when they were certain they were safe.

"Close one," the first said. "You almost didn't make it out of there alive, Pip," Merry laughed.

"Nope, but I did make it out with a bag of mushrooms!"

Pippin held up the bag proudly as they laughed more, and he opened it, allowing the aroma to escape into the fresh night air. All three of them took a deep breath together, devouring the heavenly scent of their night's reward.

"Oh, they smell so good..." a third voice said. "Wish we could have 'em now, but I best get home before Mum finds out I've been out this late."

"We'll save you some, Ang," Merry said as they stood and dusted off their fronts.

"Yeah, don't worry," Pippin, added. "We'll let you know how good they were." Merry laughed at Pippin's comment as he smiled at Angie.

"Oh, get lost," she laughed. "See you tomorrow."

"And if you're not alive?" Merry asked.

"Stay away from my funeral," Angie joked. "Good night."

"Night."

"Bye!"

Angie walked down the hill to the road that lead to the front door of her home. To her horror, there her mother was on the doorstep waiting for her. Her eyes never left her daughter as she went inside. Angie kept eye contact on the light inside the door so that her mother could not attack her immediately. Once inside, her mother slammed the door, causing Angie to stop dead.

"Where were you?" she asked angrily.

"Out," the young hobbit girl replied coolly.

"I told you not to leave! And now you return to me dirty with filth as always! Why I didn't throw you into a well I will never understand!"

"I'm not going to be little forever! I don't want to be here!"

"You are a disgrace!"

The girl's mother threw a vase across the room at her and it shattered on the wall right next to her.

"You are not to leave this home again! Do you understand me?"

"Mother-"

"Hush! I've had enough of you, Angela!"

"Angie! I like Angie better! Merry and Pippin gave me tha-"

"See! Running around with those two... those rats-"

"They aren't rats! Those are my friends!"

"Brandybuck and Took your friends! Absurd! They've poisoned you."

"Well at least I can go off and be happy with them unlike staying cooped up here with you!"

"You will not leave again!"

"I will if I please!" the young hobbit said bravely and loudly.

There was a silence between her and her mother for such a long time Angie thought she could bear it no longer, and she half-wished she hadn't said that.

"You shame us!" her mother yelled suddenly. “You shame your family! Curse the day you were born! Hobbits are not meant to run ramped in the Wild looking for... adventure! Let alone a girl."

"I will not be treated differently because-"

"Ooo, it's that Baggins, isn't it?" he mother said with fierce eyes, moving towards her. Angie backed up into a wall even though her mother was halfway across the room from her feeling small and meek as opposed to a few moments ago when she was shouting loudly.

"No, mother-"

"You and those fools have been visiting him more and more, haven't you?"

"He teaches us many things!"

"He fills your head with lies! Lies and dreams and-and-and stories of that adventure! Makes you believe in folklore! Lets you think you can do anything!"

"It's not true," she began to cry. "Bilbo's a great hobbit. A brave hobbit."

"Don't speak of him!"

"But-"

Her mother wielded a plate across the room at her now. Angie ducked and ran up the hall with hot tears of anger blinding her sight.

"And if I ever find you leaving this house again to go see those filthy hobbits or that Baggins, you'll regret ever stepping foot outside!" her mother bellowed.

Angie reached her room and slammed the door.

"He is a great hobbit. A wonderful hobbit," she sobbed, falling onto her bed.

She leaned onto her windowsill and watched the moon rise above the high branches of the Party Tree far off on the top of the Hill. It was calming, but what would ease her tears and hate best right now would be a story from Bilbo. And that's just what she decided to do.

She grabbed up her dark blue cloak and opened the window quietly. She left the room dark, and shut the window quietly as she fell to the soft earth underneath her window. She had begun to plant a few things there last week, but no sprouts yet. She frowned and ran off up the path.

There was no need to bring Merry and Pippin this time. Even though they had been there through everything and she loved them both, she had already gotten them in enough trouble today. Though she knew that they would come in heartbeat if she had asked them to, sneaking out should be the last of their troubles after they got caught smashing Farmer Maggot's pumpkins...

Angie ran to the tree she often loved to go to when she was sneaking out at night. It was towards the edge of the River, and its overlook was beautiful under the silver moon. She got a clear view from this tree of Bilbo's hobbit hole, which comforted her enough at this point. Usually one of the windows was glowing warmly, but tonight, especially at this late hour, it was quite strange to see the hobbit hole lit entirely with figures moving in and out of the house.

She couldn't make out anything said because of the distance, but she could hear the voices below. A carriage had drawn away from the gates of the hobbit hole, and she saw Bilbo coaxing a smaller hobbit inside. This new stranger carried bags in each hand and still more were left outside. Its head was low and sadness seemed to be upon it. Poor thing.

"I know how you feel," she whispered.

Perhaps this was a dwarf, but it seemed too small, even for a dwarf child. And besides, what would a dwarf be doing in the Shire even if it were one of the thirteen from his great stories told? It was odd, very perplexing, and still it looked to her like a small hobbit.

She sat in the tree watching Bilbo's hobbit hole as lights slowly dimmed throughout it. Tomorrow she would have to meet this hobbit new to the Shire. Tomorrow, if her mother hadn't skinned her alive by then.

. x x x ..

Bright was the morning as Merry and Pippin slid quickly (and very loudly) into the strawberry patch under their friend's window. Merry nudged Pippin rather hard for making his loud entrance beside him, but Pippin merely smiled and placed a small rock in Merry's hand.

"Me?" Merry asked.

"None better," Pippin answered. "Quiet now!" he said as Merry rose up out of the strawberries.

He nodded and threw the rock at the window. He ducked immediately waiting for the yells, rants, raves, and gripes to start, but none came to their surprise.

"You try, Pip," Merry said.

Pippin stood up, rock in hand, and threw another one this time. Merry pulled him down and they waited again, but still they heard nothing. What was it gonna take? A boulder?

Another hit the window. Inside, a young hobbit girl opened her eyes and heard another tic on her window. She sighed. It only took one tic on her window to tell her it was Merry and Pippin again (seeing as it was their favorite way to wake her up), but two more tics came before she got up and did something about it.

"Curse you two hobbits to your graves..." she muttered angrily as she got out of her warm bed.

She opened the window wide and saw Merry and Pippin stand up together laughing and sniggering, but they stopped dead when they had seen the daggers in Angie's eyes pointed right -at - them.

"Morning, Angie!" Pippin said happily.

"Ay! Beautiful day, don't you think?" Merry said.

"If you throw one more rock (or eat one more of my strawberries! Drop it, Pippin!), I will be the one throwing the rocks. At your heads. While you're tied to trees."

Pippin dropped his armful of strawberries as they both gaped at her.

"Geez, Ang, it was just harmless fun," Merry said.

"Yeah, lighten up, woman," Pippin said. "Frodo sent us."

"Frodo?" Angie asked quickly before hardening her tone. "Why?"

"To tell you bout Bilbo's 'levnty-first celebration tonight." Pippin said.

"And...?"

"And... that's it," Pippin said.

"You had to wake me for that?" Angie asked, thoroughly fed up. "I already knew!"

"Well of course you did," Merry said. "Must've slipped our minds, Pip." He looked down at the strawberry plant and picked off the biggest one, taking a bite just to make her mad. It worked really well after he added, "Delicious strawberries, by they way."

Angie smiled as they grabbed a few more quickly.

"Oh, get out of here!" she laughed as they ran up to the path with more of her strawberries. "You ignorant fiends!"

"Thank you!" Pippin yelled to her.

"Just you wait!" she called back.

She smiled in defeat as she watched them run off until they were out of sight, and then Angie walked away from the window to throw on her dress. After that, she picked up the book on her bedside table, and she left the hobbit hole to do some reading somewhere off in the Shire's warm welcoming meadows.

After a short walk, she found her favorite tree in the small grassy forest glade. She climbed only a few branches and placed her book in the fork of the long wide branch where she laid to read.

x x x

Frodo was wandering aimlessly through those parts as well; book in hand (whenever he had the chance; today he had the opportunity to get away and read a while), when he came to that same tree. He looked up and saw Angie lying there as she always did. They had shared this tree as their 'reading tree' since they had met, and it made the day even brighter to see her there again.

She amazed him. He had never recalled knowing someone for so long that looked so lovely, could do more than he could (in some ways), and still have time to read almost everyday. What kind of hobbit girl is like that? She was sort of an outcast to her family, but it didn't seem to bother her or him. She was wonderful no matter what.

Yeah, he had really had her on his mind a lot. And that's an understatement. Constantly was more of the word he'd use. It never used to be this way, but suddenly, she was penetrating his mind; crossing every thought, occupying every dream, never letting him concentrate fully. What she did to him now when he just saw her was incredible. It was as if he'd found everything worth living for. And yet he hated this spell she had over him. It really did make him miserable.

Then Angie saw him standing there, and all he could do was smile as he walked up to the tree. He was powerless. This is why he hated, yet loved, her.

"Ah, Frodo," she said evilly with a smile upon seeing him.

"Hullo, Angie," Frodo said, stopping at the base of the tree and looking up at her.

"I ought to give you a good beating, I should," Angie said. "You sent Merry and Pippin to me this morning while I was sleeping! And they ate my strawberries and threw more rocks at my windows..."

"Sorry," Frodo said. "Never meant for it. I just wanted them to remind you about the town's party for Bilbo tonight."

"Frodo Baggins! I already knew incase you forgot that you yourself had told me yesterday, the day before that, and two months ago! And Merry and Pippin have thrown rocks at my window for years! You think they're just gonna up and change overnight?"

"One day maybe," he laughed.

"Yeah, well next time send Sam, or I will have the sheer enjoyment out of beating your head in so's you don't forget," Angie threatened. "At least he'd wait til I was awake or wake me up without the help of flying rocks."

"Will do," Frodo said as she turned round and continued with her reading. He sat at the base of the tree imaging the scene of havoc Merry and Pippin had done (as explained by Angie) to barely escape their deaths again. He laughed at this image, and then began to read.

But not a minute had passed and Frodo couldn't concentrate on his book. He looked up at Angie, deciding to blame her. It was her fault after all. She would not go away no matter how hard he had tried. He didn't know why she had grown so much more than a friend to him in the past few months, but he did know that he now liked her and that it was driving him absolutely crazy.

He just might have to kill Merry and Pippin. It wasn't Angie's fault, it was theirs! She was all they talked about when she wasn't around. 'How pretty Angie is this' and 'how great Angie is that...' Frodo and Sam agreed a long time ago that they had covered just about every inch of her in describing her beauty in which he was blind to until recently. Yep, he had been brainwashed. Merry and Pippin must die. He now wished Angie had hurt them this morning.

Frodo again tried to return to his reading, but no good; this time the sound of an unfamiliar cart coming up the path beat Angie to disrupt him. He closed his book (now thankful for having a reason to) and stood up with a smile. The stranger was singing a familiar song, however, and at this, his heart lightened. He walked to the edge of the glade and stopped.

Angie had seen him get up, and she followed curiously at the sound of the carriage and singing as well. She jumped out of the tree, abandoning her book, and she ran to Frodo, but he was in the cart heading up the path with this strange loner whose pipe was emitting colorful smoke rings.

The wagon continued going, and Angie ran after it fast as she could through a short cut in the wood. Was he insane? She lost count of how many times she had asked herself that question, but 'yes' was the usual answer. Within a mile she had caught up with the strange cart and dived onto it. She fell into Frodo who helped her sit upright from her messy entrance.

"You all right?" he laughed, helping her up. Angie felt a blush coming to her cheeks when she saw his irresistible smile upon her, and she sat herself straight without every leaving Frodo's eyes.

"Ah, she looks fine," the man under the blue hat, said.

"Gandalf!" Angie cried excitedly after looking passed Frodo for the first time.

"Yes, yes! It's me!" the old wizard chuckled. "Haven't been here for quite sometime... so Frodo, how is the old rascal on his eleventy-first?" he asked, continuing a conversation Angie had obviously just interrupted.

"You know Bilbo," Frodo laughed. "He's got the whole place in an uproar."

"But of course! Isn't that just like him?" Angie asked. "What are you doing here anyways, Gandalf? Will you be staying for the party?"

"He's brought his fireworks for the party tonight," Frodo explained.

"Well, wonderful!" Angie said with a smile. "That's great!"

"Yes, yes... Bilbo should like them," Gandalf said.

"Half the Shire's been invited," said Frodo. "And the rest of them are turning up anyway!"

The three of them laughed as they approached and saw Bag End coming around the bend. The entire grassy hill was a bustle of energy and excitement, but Frodo frowned a bit.

"To tell you the truth, Bilbo's been a bit odd lately," he said in a concerned tone. "I mean, more than usual. He's taken to locking himself in his study. He spends hours and hours pouring over old maps when he thinks I'm not looking."

"And whenever anybody comes over, he's very short with them," Angie said in a similar tone to Frodo's. "Just a hurried 'hello' when you come in and 'good day' when you leave."

Frodo nodded in agreement before looking back up at Gandalf.

"He's up to something."

"Oh really?" Gandalf asked in a low voice.

"All right then keep your secrets," Frodo laughed. "But I know you have something to do with it."

"It would seem that way, wouldn't it?" Angie asked. "Gandalf, you're nothing but a bad influence," she smiled.

Gandalf gave her a quick glance which Frodo caught sight of.

"Well I agree with her wholeheartedly," he said. "Before you came along we Bagginses were very well thought of," Frodo said to Gandalf.

"Is that so?"

"Never had any adventures or did anything unexpected."

"If you’re referring to the incident with the dragon, I was barely involved. All I did was give your uncle... a little nudge out of the door."

"Psh... nudge indeed," Angie muttered.

"Well, whatever you did, you’ve been officially labeled a disturber of the peace," Frodo said.

It was silent a few moments longer in which they heard shouts of children behind them yelling for Gandalf's fireworks. Angie and Frodo watched Gandalf as he ignored them, but they knew it was only a facade. Suddenly, fireworks began shooting out of the cart and the children behind them started cheering.

"Well, I'll go tell the others of you're arrival," Angie said.

"Others?" Gandalf asked, half afraid to.

"Goodbye, Gandalf!" Angie laughed, standing up. “See you both tonight!"

With that, Angie jumped from the cart and dashed off. Frodo watched her long red hair chase after her as it caught the sunlight, making it appear as a raging fire behind her. The last of her disappeared behind a few trees, but his eyes still didn't let her go.

"She's grown so beautifully," Gandalf said, catching Frodo off guard.

"Oh, yes... she has," he said awkwardly as he looked back at those last few trees she had run through. And now, Frodo decided he must kill Merry and Pippin, especially after muttering under his breath to himself, "Don't I know it..."

Gandalf smiled at Frodo.

"Boy may not be as blind as his old uncle after all..." he muttered.

"What was that?" Frodo asked.

"Oh, nothing for you to worry your little self over, Frodo Baggins," Gandalf said. "Now I believe we are near Bilbo's nice cozy home... Let's have that small yet long awaited talk, shall we?"

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