Disclaimer: I own nothing… Everything belongs to Tolkien… unfortunately. (sighs)

A/N: I was only going to have this story be a one shot but then my muse started to take over. So, if anybody wants me to continue this story please let me know. Comments, suggestions, and constructive criticism are welcome. Flames are not.

Prologue

An elfling skipped toward the village she called home on the outskirts of Mirkwood forest. Her midnight black hair streamed behind her as she glanced at the bouquet of wild flowers in her small hand and thought gleefully of how happy her mother would be when she brought them home. She could just see the looks on her parent's faces when she would skip through the door.

In her mind's eye she saw her father say, "Well, well. Just look at what my sweet little elfling has brought me! Why, these flowers are absolutely beautiful!" And then he would say with his blue eyes twinkling merrily, "But they are not as gorgeous as my daughter."

She could imagine her mother saying in her singsong voice, "Those are very beautiful sweetling. I shall put them on the table immediately." The elfling willed her small legs to move faster, childishly excited about being embraced by her parents again.

As she neared her village however, a strange stench filled the air. 'Smoke?' The child thought as she saw a tall plume of dark cloud drift forebodingly into the air. She approached the outer most edges of her village as sounds reached her delicate ears. Screams…so many screams. The child dared to move closer and stood just inside the dense cover the forest around her provided.

Her eyes saw the scene in front of her but her mind would not… could not process what she was seeing. Elven bodies littered the ground in bloody heaps. Homes were burning. But what her blue eyes remained fixed on were the ugly black monsters that killed anything and everything in their paths.

The bouquet, now forgotten dropped from her numb fingers. One thing kept repeating itself in her mind like a mantra. 'Not Ada. Not Naneth. No, no, no…'

The child hid her small form in the undergrowth and circled around the village to where her home was located. Remembering her father's lessons about being safer in the trees than it was on the ground, she quickly climbed into the nearest tree. What she saw made her heart stop. The monsters were surrounding her home. Some of them had already managed to get to her door and were attempting to knock it down.

The elfling watched in utter horror as three of the creatures began to storm into her house. One of them dropped immediately, an arrow imbedded in its head. The other two fell quickly as her father charged out the door, his twin blades flashing in the dying light. The child's mother came out directly behind her husband, firing off arrows so fluidly that the bow seemed to be an extension of her arm.

The elfling realized with a jolt that her parents were out numbered by far. For every monster that fell two more charged at her parents. They were surrounded by the black demons that screeched their fury at the two fighting elves.

What the child saw next would haunt her dreams for the rest of her long life.

Her mother was shot twice from behind. She jerked as the arrows sliced through bone and flesh. The child watched helplessly in her perch as her mother fell to her knees, seemingly in slow motion. One of the hideous monsters came forward with a sickening smile on its face. It sneered at the fear in the she-elf's eyes and then brutally slit her throat. The creatures roared triumphantly as the elf's life-blood spilled onto the ground.

Tears flowed freely from the child's eyes as her father let loose a cry so filled with anger and grief that it sent chills down his daughter's spine.

Her father's blades moved with impossible speed as he immediately cut down the monster that had so mercilessly killed his wife.

But suddenly he wasn't just fighting one of the ugly creatures anymore. He wasn't even fighting two. He was fighting four… and he was losing. His sword swung wildly, barely keeping his attackers at bay. So great was his concentration on the four he was fighting that he did not realize that a fifth creature had come up behind him.

His daughter, however, watched the scene unfold below her with terror in her heart. The black monster smiled with pure malice and ran her father through from behind. Her father gasped, gazing down at the blade that protruded from his chest in pure shock. He choked and sputtered and, very slowly, fell to his knees. The monsters, apparently satisfied that their prey was dead, moved on to find another victim to unleash their fury upon.

The elven child let forth a whimper and amazingly, her father seemed to have heard it. He looked up into the tree that his child crouched in. He tried to smile, and ever so slowly, he lifted two of his bloodstained fingers to his lips and extended them to her.

And so it was that the last sight that the elf – a proud warrior, a loving father, and a courageous creature- saw, was his beloved daughter, two fingers pressed to her lips and reaching out to him. The elf then closed his eyes… and breathed his last.

It was still several hours before the hideous creatures decided that their work was finished and took leave of what once was a bustling elvish village. They left behind a bloody slaughter and no survivors. Or so they thought.

One child numbly sat in a tall birch and waited until the last of the monsters had left. Then she painstakingly climbed down from the tree, her muscles screaming in protest at the sudden movement after having stayed immobile for so long. The child silently crept over to where her parents lay slain. Tears made tracks down her dirty cheeks as she looked down at what was left of her parents.

The elfling knelt down next to her father and clutched at his bloody hands.

"Ada, do not leave me here alone."

No reply.

"Saes Ada!" The child pleaded desperately. "You said you would always be here for me! You promised!" Her small hands pounded desperately on his lifeless chest. "You promised." She repeated weakly.

The child then crawled over to where her mother lay dead. "You told me that elves are immortal! We are not supposed to die!" She accused bitterly. "I'm not supposed to grow up without you." She said as tears fell unheeded down her cheeks. Her small hands slowly caressed her mother's pale face.

And it was then that the small child snapped. She screamed and wailed for her parents to come back. She called them liars for telling her that they would always be there for her. She screamed for them to take her with them, that she would die here on her own. The little elfling sat down next to the lifeless corpses that were her parents and cried until she had no tears left.

A soft wind swept through the clearing then, caressing the child's tear stained face. It kissed her hands that were full of her parent's blood. It gently lifted her tangled black hair to softly touch the back of her neck.

A whisper filled her leaf shaped ears then. "Never alone." It said. "Never alone."

A/N: So? Likes? Dislikes? Suggestions? Please leave me a review and tell me what you think. Oh and I'll be the first to admit that I am no Tolkien expert so if my small usage of elvish was wrong please let me know. I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks!

Heart's Whisper