I know I've been getting slack with this story, but I've been losing my LOTR inspiration due to the fact of joining the Supernatural fandom, but the other day I finally got inspiration to do the next chapter of this story. So time to see what Frodo faces in the Cave of Trials :)

Frodo was relieved to see Tirwen come out of the Cave's exit looking far happier than she had going in. Though he had barely known her for any time at all, he was a caring person and so that had quickly extended to the Elven maiden. Tirwen didn't seem like she wanted to share too much of what went on in the Cave, but she was more relaxed and calm, which was good enough for Frodo.

He stepped towards the entrance once they returned, ready.

A hand on his arm stopped him and he looked up to see Galadriel. "Young Frodo, remember: you will not necessarily face the same Trials as Tirwen did. The Cave is designed to morph to the needs of the one who enters. Good luck."

Frodo nodded. The news came as a surprise to him, but he wasn't going to let a bit of a surprise stop him. He was sick and tired of the Ring's influence on him. It had made his life horrific for the time he carried it, nearly ending his life more than once, and even now it's cold, ethereal claws still gripped his soul. The Ring was dead, but the lingering will within Frodo was not. He begrudged it this power, this feeling inside him.

Because the tiniest part of his soul still desired the Ring. Though it was destroyed. Though Mount Doom lay far beyond his reach. There was a part of him, a part he despised, that yearned for it's power...

As he stepped inside the Cave, he was determined. By the time he had been walking for a few minutes, he was scared.

He had not the faintest idea what the Cave had in store for him. Would it mess with his head? Would it make him remember things? Things that he'd much rather never revisit again.

He shivered, though it was quite humid. The Cave - well, more of a tunnel - walls were brightly lit, but it didn't seem that way to Frodo. Hobbits, by their very nature, weren't claustrophobic, yet being down here, so alone with his own thoughts and his own memories...it made the hairs stand up on his feet and the back of his neck.

The tunnel also reminded him of the one that led to the Cracks of Doom.

A couple of minutes later, to Frodo's absolute shock and horror, he saw an orange glow appear as he neared the end of the tunnel. It also got a lot warmer.

Surely he had begun hallucinating. Surely this could not be real.

But it was. Two hundred more steps and the sides and roof of the tunnel melted away into a long, thin strip of rocky ground, surrounded by molten lava. What was even more horrific is that, as Frodo looked down, he saw and felt the Ring hanging around his neck again. Gripping it, he ripped the chain off his neck, holding it as far away from him as he could.

"What sort of healing is this?" Frodo asked to empty air. He was shaking all over. "What is going on?!"

Frodo doubted he could be more surprised and shocked than he already was, but he jumped when a voice replied to him.

"Be patient, Frodo Baggins, and you will understand."

It was a woman's voice; the most beautiful voice Frodo had ever heard. Her words and the tone they were said in seemed to calm his racing heart slightly. He swallowed, trying to remind himself that this wasn't real even as the memories resurfaced.

His memories of that last day were vague. Fire. The Eye. The Ring. Exhaustion. Fire. It was an endless cycle. Sometimes he forgot that Sam was with him, sometimes he remembered. The closer they got to the top of the mountain, the more often he forgot. The Ring surrounded him, covered him almost lovingly like a blanket.

Constantly it whispered. Told him that he was a fool for wanting to destroy it, when it could grant him anything and everything he ever wanted. Bring his parents back. Bring Gandalf back. Take away the pain and the weariness. Whatever he was desiring most at the time. Sometimes it was as simple as a drink of clean water. But somehow, every time, he found the will to refuse. He must destroy it. He could not master the Ring, he could not go up against Sauron, so he must destroy it.

The feelings weren't quite the same now. More like shadows, remnants of memory swirled around him in the heat from the lava, in the fluctuating weight of the object dangling from it's chain...

"Walk to the edge." The voice suggested. It was a suggestion, not a command. For the first time Frodo realised that, unlike in the real Mount Doom, Frodo was welcome to turn back and leave the Cave. But he did not. He trusted the voice.

In a few seconds, he was standing on the same place that he had stood at not so long ago. Sam wasn't with him and neither would Gollum show up to wrestle the Ring from his grasp. He looked down at the stump of his missing finger...

"You must face what haunts you the most."

What haunts him the most? Frodo ponders that for a moment. Whenever he remembered this point in time, what is it that taunts his mind and threatens to drag him into everlasting despair? Is it the pull of the Ring? The physical weariness? The hopelessness?

No, he realises. What upsets him the most is that he gave in. At the pinnacle moment, the end of the road, he gave in and claimed the Ring as his own. It was such a struggle, those few minutes standing where he stood now. He had resisted, by Eru, he had resisted so hard. But he was so tired...so tired...and the Ring had appeared so beautiful to him, promising to remove all pains.

He looked down at the replica in his hand. It looked nothing but pure evil now. The curve of the metal representing the endless cycle that his mind went through in those long days in Mordor.

What haunted him the most is that he failed. In the end, it was not by his hand that the Ring was destroyed, it was by Gollum's.

And that was okay.

That thought shocked him more than anything else. But slowly, he realised that it was true. Gandalf himself had hinted that Gollum would have an important part to play in the end. Frodo realised that he should not be disappointed, but glad that there was someone to destroy the Ring, when he was unable to...

It still bothered him.

"Do it now." The voice said gently. "Drop the Ring into the fire now."

He looked down at it. Though he knew it was not the real Ring, it looked real enough.

He raised it over the boiling lava and, as easy as anything, let the chain slide out of his hand and it and the Ring plummet into the fire. As he watched it fall, Frodo felt an elated feeling of satisfaction fill him. His mind and heart felt lighter. He felt a small smile cross his face.

Between one blink of his eyes and the next, the replica of the Crack of Doom vanished and Frodo was standing in a large round cave. At the far end there was a ladder illuminated by a beam of sunlight from the exit above.

A glowing light appeared in front of him, manifesting itself into a woman: the source of the voice.

Frodo had never seen her before, never even seen a painting, but he knew who she was.

He approached her in awe. "Lady Este..."

The Vala smiled warmly. "Frodo Baggins, your task was most arduous but also incredibly important and necessary. The Ring was an evil unlike any other currently in existence; few could have carried it for so long and so far. The closer you grew to Mt Doom, the more powerful the Ring became. Yet still you resisted. You resisted until no one, living or dead, could have possibly resisted anymore. You did not fail, Frodo, you saved Middle-earth. The Ring is gone. Let go of its attachment to you."

She reached out and placed a soft hand on his chest, over the area where the Ring had hung.

Frodo took a deep breath and closed his eyes as he felt an incredible weight leave him. The part of him that still desired the Ring was gone, the guilt over his assumed failure had melted away.

When he opened his eyes, Este was gone. Slowly, feeling almost like he was in a dream, he walked over to the ladder and climbed up.

Friendly hands reached for him, pulled him back to the surface. He nodded and smiled at each of them, barely registering the faces. Gandalf, Galadriel, Elrond, Celebrian, Bilbo...

He sought out the one face who he knew would be anxious, but would not be right there. As his eyes met Tirwen's worried ones, he dipped his head in a nod of acknowledgement that the Cave had gone a long way towards healing him, and he saw her smile in relief and joy.

For the first time in such a long time, Frodo felt like a free hobbit again.

Well, that was intense. I hope it came out alright. Reviews are always appreciated. The story is not ending here, there will be probably a couple of more chapters. I hope everyone enjoyed it, till next time ^_^