Title: Namárië, Fair One

Author: B-witched83uk (bwitched83ukaol.com)

Rating: PG-13

Summary: Galadwen and Legolas spend their last moments together.

Disclaimer: I do not own The Lord of the Rings. The whole of Middle-earth belongs to Tolkien

Additional info: The ending of this story has been re-written due to the upset of die hard Galadwen/Legolas fans, who made death threats towards me.

Beta: The Last Evenstar, a great friend and a great editor.

Archive: fanfiction.net. Any others please ask.

Feedback: I would absolutely love some because yes I am a praise junky.

Namárië, Fair One

Legolas sat on the bed, clasping Galadwen's hand tightly. He brought it up to his mouth and closed his eyes, letting the heavy tears stream down his face.

Her free, cold hand came up to his face and stroked him lovingly. "No tears, my love. We have had our time for happiness, it is someone else's turn perhaps."

He looked into her shadowed eyes and felt his heart begin its eternal ache. His wife's beauty was now cold and drawn like winter imposing on spring. The pink tint in her cheeks was gone, and so was the light that shone from behind her starry eyes.

Galadwen was dying. Soon she would live only in his memories and in his ten-year-old son's eyes.

"I cannot do this without you." He pleaded with her, desperate to make her stay in this world just a little longer. "I cannot take care of our son alone."

Galadwen sat up, exhausting herself and causing her to cough violently. Legolas poured her a glass of water from the decanter on the bedside table. She took it and sipped it slowly.

"My family will help you in any way possible, but you will not need them. He is already a beautiful little boy. You will do just fine." A small tear escaped her eye; the knowledge that she will never see her son grow into a man was ripping at her insides, blackening her soul for the rest of her short life. He would never again pick her wildflowers, never smile at her to get away with whatever he had done wrong, he would never creep into her bed for a cuddle in the middle of the night again.

If death was coming for her, she wished it would just come and ease the torture that leaving her husband and son had caused.

Legolas wept unashamedly as he watched his wife begin to fade. So long had they fought to be together, so many trials they had overcome. Was fate so unkind that it would take her from him now, when their life together had really just begun?

"After all that we have been through, is this really how our story is meant to end?"

Galadwen forced a small smile. "Though our time together has been brief, I would not change a single second of it."

"Galadwen, if you go then I shall soon follow, for my heart shall be broken and my light eternally quenched." His usual ice blue eyes were red and swollen. He had sent his son from the room, knowing full well that it was Galadwen's last moment on this earth. Aragorn and Arwen had left also. Galadwen had asked them to leave, not wishing their tears to be the last thing she saw.

"You will not follow me. You will stay, you will live, and you will be there for our son." She felt the call of death singing to her like a nightingale, bringing comfort in a world without trees.

"How can I live in a world without you?"

"Because you must. Because you have no choice." Fear ran through her entire body as it began to get deathly cold. She reached out her hand to his mouth, wishing to feel its warmth one last time. Legolas bent over her and kissed her gently, the cold making him shiver.

"I would rather die here with you then live a single day without you. This cannot be fair!" He wept hard, causing his whole body to shake.

She held out her arms for him, knowing it would not be long now. Legolas laid down his numb head on her breast and breathed in her scent. Where wild roses once grew, weeds now choked the life from them. He could feel the rise and fall of her chest slow. Fear to face the truth then took him, and although he knew it would not go away, he continued to find comfort in her embrace. When her breathing hitched and finally stopped, her arms fell from him. He sat up slowly, taking with him her limp body.

"Galadwen? Galadwen! No, please, come back. No don't leave me, I need you. Come back! Galadwen, come back!" He shook with the pain of losing the love of his life. Every inch of his insides was screaming at him to lie down and die with her, to follow her into her eternal slumber. How easy it would be to leave this cruel world and once again find peace in her touch. But Legolas would never again have peace, and he would never again have love.

"Ada?" A small voice from behind him brought him crashing back to the real world. Legolas turned to his son, who had tears running down his chubby cheeks. He lay Galadwen's body back down and kissed her frozen lips one last time.

"Namárië, fair one."

Legolas knelt down on the floor and held out his arms for his son to walk into.

"Is she gone?" He choked as he sobbed into his father's neck.

"Yes son, she is at peace now."

Together, the father and son sat on the floor for what seemed like a lifetime of agony, clinging to one another, the only good things left in their lives.

Legolas awoke with a violent start. His brow was drenched and his hands were shaking badly. He quickly turned to face his wife, who was sleeping peacefully. His breathing was shallow and he felt faint from it. Reaching over to the bedside table, he took a glass of water and downed it in one go. He ran a hand through his hair, which was damp, and closed his eyes tightly, telling himself it was just a dream.

He looked over at Galadwen again. She sighed softly and twitched her nose. Legolas smiled, still gulping down air, and snuggled back down next to her. She instantly pushed herself against him, her arm draping, loosely over his torso.

Legolas spent the rest of the night wide awake. He was afraid to sleep, for he was afraid to dream. Instead he watched her, and felt his heart ease. He loved her almost painfully sometimes, and he was faced with the knowledge that some day she would die, she would be ripped from this world, she would leave him. It was the price he must pay for loving a mortal.

The End