Let me fall
Let me climb
There's a moment when fear
And dreams must collide

The journey up the slopes of Mount Doom was nothing short of sheer agony for both Frodo and Sam. When they had awakened that morning to start the last walk of the Quest, both had been startled to discover that Frodo's strength was all but gone. He had not even the strength to rise from the hard ground that had become their perpetual bed over the last year of the Quest.

When Frodo could not rise, and since taking the Ring for him was out of the question, Sam scooped him gently into his arms. "I'll carry you to the top, Mr. Frodo, even if it breaks my heart and my back, I'll do it."

Frodo smiled weakly. "Dear Sam, thank you."

"That's all right now, Mr. Frodo. You just rest now and your Sam will walk the rest of the way for you," Sam said. Frodo nodded and closed his eyes, his hand griping the Ring even as he fell asleep. For a moment, Sam felt his heart contract painfully as the sight of Frodo's dependence, need for the Ring even as he slept.

Sam kissed his brow, whispering, "Oh, Mr. Frodo, what will you do once it's been given to the fires of the mountain?" With tears in his running down his face, Sam began a slow trek up the slopes of Mount Doom, knowing that Frodo would never again the hobbit he had been before the Quest.

~~*~~
After hours of slow but steady walking up the slopes, Sam stopped outside of the entrance to the heart of the mountain. He set Frodo down, propping him against the stone of the mountain. Kneeling beside him, Sam shook the water-skin to see what was left of their water.

"Hardly a mouthful," he muttered, not drinking as even now his thoughts were for his poor master.

Frodo opened his eyes, looking startled. "Sam, where are we?"

"We just outside the entrance of the heart of the mountain, I think," he replied, holding out the water-skin, "Here, Mr.Frodo, you take the last bit of water."

Frodo nodded no. "No, Sam, you take it. You've done more of the work this day." His eyes turned towards the entrance where he could see the flames of the mountain leap and already he could feel the heat.

Someone I am
Is waiting for courage
The one I want
The one I will become
Will catch me

So let me fall
If I must fall
I won't heed your warnings
I won't hear them

"Well, I suppose it's now time to end this," Frodo said after a moment, and to Sam's surprise he was able to rise to his feet.

"Mr. Frodo! You've recovered your strength!" Sam exclaimed.

Frodo smiled sadly, extending his hand to his friend, "Not completely, Sam, but enough to walk the last few feet to the heart of the mountain."

Sam took the offered hand, stood; "I'm ready when you are, Mr. Frodo."

Frodo nodded as he continued to clutch Sam's hand one of his own, his other hand griping the Ring as they walked nervously into the fire-lit caverns of Mount Doom...

~~*~~
A narrow but solid causeway was the only pathway into the fiery caverns. The further they walked in, the more the ground began to tremble and the hotter it felt underneath their feet. Frodo began to sway from the heat and his previous loss of strength and Sam found himself having to steady his master.

The heat was becoming unbearable the further they went in and neither of the hobbits could draw in a breath that wasn't a short puff. Frodo pointed towards the ledge of the walkway when they had nearly reached the end of it. Nodding, Sam began to guide them towards the spot his master had pointed to.

As they halted at the edge, Sam stared down into the molten lava as it moved as though it had a life of its own. In someways it did, he thought, this is the place that had given birth to that cursed Ring and this would be the place where it died. Finally tearing his eyes away from the lava, Sam looked over to Frodo and what he saw there frightened him.

So let me fall
If I must fall
I won't heed your warnings
I won't hear them

Let me fall
If I fall
Though the phoenix may
Or may not rise...

Frodo had taken the Ring off its chain, and was now holding it in two of his fingers, staring at it instead of the lava below them. He seemed entranced at that evil thing he now held in his fingers, and slowly a smile that Sam could only describe as malevolent crept across his features. The change that had come over Frodo didn't end there as he began a mirthless laugh in a low voice...

"I have come," he said, "But I choose not to do what I came to do. I now claim the Ring as my VERY own!" He moved as though he were going to slip the malicious golden band onto this hand when Sam quickly laid his hand over Frodo's and the Ring.

"No, Mr. Frodo, don't. You know you don't really want to claim the Ring. It's evil and its put into your mind the idea of letting you be its master but it really only has one master and that's the Dark Lord. Not you."

Frodo's hateful, malevolent gaze turned on Sam and he snarled, "You simple fool! You don't know about anything about power, least of all the Ring. How can a simple gardener imagine the power that IS the One Ring wrought by the Dark Lord?"

Surprisingly tears didn't spring to Sam's eyes, as he knew Frodo's words were not his own but were rather those of the Ring itself. He locked eyes with the older hobbit, and for the first time in his life, Sam defied Frodo's wishes.

"Remove your hand," Frodo spat the words as he tried none too gently to pry Sam's hands off of his.

"No, Mr. Frodo, I can't let you do this," Sam said, his heart breaking at having to speak the words.

"REMOVE YOUR HAND NOW or I shall remove it for you!" Frodo said through clenched teeth, his free hand reaching for Sting.

Surprising even himself, Sam pulled at the Ring that was still in Frodo's hands, pulling them both away from the ledge, back to the causeway's heart, where Frodo fell onto the ground. Frodo's fingers lost their grip on the Ring and Sam took it into his hand, readying to throw it into the fire before his master could regain his balance.

However, with lightning speed, Frodo was up in a flash, knocking Sam over in an effort to grab the Ring from where it had fallen on the ground. Sam wasn't about to let him have the Ring though. Just as Frodo rose and started towards it again, Sam grabbed his legs and Frodo fell again.

With an unearthly snarl, Frodo turned onto his backside, his hand reaching again for Sting. But before he could unsheathe the sword, Sam had pinned his hands down at his side.

"RELEASE ME, you thief! You want the Ring for yourself! Admit it, Samwise," the older hobbit said harshly, "Samwise...what an astute job your father did when he named you 'halfwit', for that is what you really are!"

Tears streamed down Sam's face as he looked at the stranger before him. "I made a promise, Mr. Frodo, a promise...." he whispered.

>--+--<
They were only a day or so more away from the Mountain of Fire, and had just stopped for the night when Frodo spoke the words that broke Sam's heart.

'Sam,' he whispered, 'When we've come to the Mountain...I-I don't know if I'll be able to cast the Ring into the Fire. If worse comes to worst I want you to promise me something...'

'Yes, Mr. Frodo?'

'I want you to promise me that you will NOT allow me to put the Ring on and I want you to promise me if I claim it that you will do WHATEVER it takes for the Ring to be cast in the Fires,' Frodo said.

Sam nodded, 'I promise, Frodo.'

Sadness was in Frodo's eyes as he spoke, 'I am almost under its power now, Sam, and I might not be able to do what I came to do with the times comes. The Ring may claim me at last, Sam, and if it comes to that...you may have to fight or even kill me to see to it that the Ring perishes.'

'Kill you? Oh no, Mr. Frodo, it won't come to that! You only have to hold out a little longer against it and then your burden will be ended,' Sam replied.

'Oh, Sam, my strength to resist against its power is all but gone. If I should fail and claim the Ring as my own you MUST promise me that you'll not allow me to leave that place with it. Promise me, Sam, that you'll do whatever it takes to rid Middle-Earth of that cursed thing...' Frodo said, now holding onto Sam's hand.

'Please, Sam, for if worse does come to worst it won't really be me who you'll be fighting, it'll only be a monster that looks like me if it comes to that. Promise me, Sam.... Promise me.'

It was a long moment before Sam was able to speak but when he did, it was to Frodo's relief. 'I promise, Mr. Frodo.'

>--+--<
Frodo saw Sam's moment of temporary distraction and with a strength that surprised Sam he flipped the other onto his back. In a moment before Sam could react, Frodo was on top of him, Sting in his hands as he brought the blade down to kill.

Again all that saved Sam here was his strength from his years spent as Frodo's gardener as he held off the blade from plunging into his heart. However as strong as Sam was, he began to feel the blade coming nearer and nearer to him as Frodo's strength increased even as his decreased.

Sam began to feel panic swell in his heart as the sword's blade was almost upon him and he began to search for something he might use as a weapon. On his right side he saw a fairly large rock on the ground. He used one hand to reach for the rock while keeping the blade at bay with his other. Finally when the rocked was in his hand he spoke softly to Frodo, hoping against hope that he could reach his master by some other way than the rock.

"It’s me. It’s your Sam. Don’t you know your Sam?" he breathed.

Frodo only snarled in reply and with renewed determination, pushed harder against the blade. With tears streaming down his face, Sam brought the rock up and into hard contact against Frodo's temple. Immediately, Frodo fell limp against Sam, Sting falling safely away from his hands.

Sam struggled to sit up against the weight of the unconscious Frodo against him. As he finally made it up into a sitting position, he gazed down at Frodo's face where blood ran down his face from the wound inflicted by the rock that Sam still clutched in his hand.

Sam threw the rock away from him, and taking a tattered piece of his shirt, and after wetting it with the precious water left to them, he dabbled at Frodo's bleeding head wound, stroking the filthy curls as he did so.

"Oh, Mr. Frodo, I am so sorry," he muttered, his tears flowing anew. He kissed Frodo's brow and continued to stroke his curls in hopes that Frodo would awaken as himself.

Sam looked up, startled at the sound of a voice whispering his name. The voice that spoke sounded gentle and kind like Frodo's, but there was an evilness to it that sent a wave a fear down to the very core of Sam's being. Fifteen feet away from them, the Ring lay glistening in the Fire's light.

At that moment, Sam knew that the Ring was calling out to him, wanting him to pick it up, to save it from the Fires of its birth, and that were now its doom...

After he shed and folded his cloak as a pillow for Frodo's head. Standing Sam walked slowly over to the Ring, kneeling beside it once he had reached the spot where it sparkled like a jewel. Picking it up, he noted that the Elvish script that marked the Ring as the One Ring of Power was visible again as it gleamed in his mind.

Someone I am
Is waiting for my courage
The one I want
The one I will become
Will catch me

So let me fall
If I must fall
I won't heed your warnings
I won't hear

Images began to flash through Sam's mind, images of things he wanted more than anything in the world...

In his mind he saw things as they once had been before the Quest, before they had set out from Rivendell. Sam saw himself living at Bag End with a Frodo whose eyes were amused to watch Sam playing with his children - for yes, Sam had married the most beautiful hobbit lass in all of the Shire. In this vision, his Gaffer lived to be a ripe old age and the garden he planted was renowned throughout all of Middle-Earth...

For a moment, the Ring had a hold over Samwise Gamgee with its lies and false promises of peace and contentment in the Shire...

"No, you don't!" Sam all but shouted as he threw the Ring onto the ground. "You cursed thing, you are evil and I won't fall for your tricks! You won't claim me as you have my master!"

Knowing he didn't dare touch it again, Sam searched for something to pick the Ring up with so he could cast it into the Fires of Mount Doom. He looked around and the only thing he saw that he could use was Sting and so he picked up the Elven blade. Using the tip of the blade he guided the Ring onto the sword and picked it up.

After it was on the blade, he walked slowly towards the pit of molten lava, standing at the edge of the pit. He looked down into the Fires for a minute before he moved to drop the Ring.

Sam let the Ring drop to its destruction...

He watched at the Ring hit the lava and quickly sank beneath it...

"Goodbye and good riddance you cursed thing!" he said.

The Quest was fulfilled...
 

Wearily, Sam returned to his Frodo's side, and falling to the ground he pulled the older hobbit to his chest, hugging Frodo's limp form. He cried as the realization that Frodo was dead sunk into his heart...

"No, Mr. Frodo, no - you can't be dead. You can't be..."

Let me fall
If I fall
There's no reason
To miss this one chance
This perfect moment
Just let me fall

FIN

Note: The song used is "Let Me Fall - From Cirque de Soleil by Richard Marx and Linda Thompson" as it is sung by Josh Groban...