A/N: This came to me while I was bored in class a little while ago. I was trying to write a sad story, and I hope I succeeded. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I own nothing!

I found him standing on the edge of a cliff, looking down into the foliage below. I approached him cautiously, knowing that if I startled him, he would fall. Beside him, I stared down to the bottom of the cliff with him.

Finally, I spoke. "Isn't this the cliff we fell down all those years ago?"

He didn't look at me, but a small smile played across his features. "Of course it is." He peered over the edge calculatingly. "It seemed so much bigger back then."

I tried to laugh, but the sound stuck in my throat like honey. "We were much younger then. And much shorter."

He chuckled slightly and I smiled at the sound. He hadn't laughed since Diamond had passed away. It was good to hear the familiar sound again. Sadly, he wasn't as light-hearted as he once used to be.

"Yes," he said solemnly, the laughter fading away. "Yes, we were."

My legs were beginning to shake. I was old and couldn't stand well anymore. Trembling, I sank to the ground.

He noticed and sat down beside me, frowning. "I'm sorry," he whispered. "I had forgotten about your legs."

"I'm fine," I replied, waving his apology aside. While I had grown older in body than him, somehow he was older in spirit. The days when he would pick on me for being so serious were over and would never come again.

He nodded and looked off into the distance. "I miss them," he said suddenly.

I sighed. "I know you do. I do too."

As he turned his head to look at me, I saw a tear fall from his eye. "Why did you come up here?"

I reached into my pocket and pulled out a letter. "I received this from King Eomer." He fixed me with a stare of wonder. "He's dying." Anguish filled his eyes and I could tell he was having a hard time keeping his tears at bay.

I was having a hard time too. I hadn't realized how much Eomer meant to me until that moment. I swallowed the lump in my throat and spoke again. "He wants me to come see him."

If he had looked devastated before, it was nothing to how he looked now. Through sheer force of will he was keeping most of the tears back.

Looking at him, I decided that I would rather be stabbed in the stomach and smashed into a wall than see him so upset. It would have hurt less.

"You… you can't go," he said pleadingly. "Please! You can't! We're old now. It won't be a 'there and back again' journey. You'll die out there in the world. And I'll die here. Alone. Without you."

This had been an issue for him ever since we were separated for so long during the war and had almost lost each other. I understood completely.

I touched his shoulder gently. "Come with me then." He hesitated. "There's nothing for us here. Our wives are gone, our children are grown up, and I have to see…" I swallowed. "I have to see him again."

"Then we could go stay with Strider for a while afterwards. What better company to die in?"

It was starting to get dark. "Let's go back to Brandy Hall and make the arrangements," I said. I stood and began to walk away. I stopped when I realized that he wasn't following me and looked back.

He was back on the edge of the cliff, staring up into the heavens.

I stepped up beside him and touched his shoulder. "What's wrong?"

He turned his face to me. It was lit with an inner joy that I couldn't fathom. His eyes gleamed like they once used to, and, for a moment, he seemed young again.

"We'll see them soon, won't we?"

I smiled and put my arm around his shoulders. "Yes. Yes, we will."

And we left the cliff behind; we left the Shire behind; and, together, we traveled into the West.

A/N: Review!