Authors note: Something quite different from my usual writing. No humour in this so apologies if it is not what you expected!
This is my Legolas and Elrohir trying to say goodbye before the quest to destroy the one ring. If you have read them in my other stories you will know they usually don't let others see them being quite so deep and meaningful!
The Last Time.
He reached out and touched his lover's face. Fingers swept across soft warm skin.
They traced the brows above unfocused eyes, brushed over beautiful lips parted in sleep.
Of what did he dream? The wood, dappled sunlight, browns and greens?
His friends, lightness and joy? Or did he dream of him...of them?
He closed his own eyes, placed his hand gently over a smooth cheek and remembered.
The first look, their first touch, first kiss. He wished to hold it all, the feel of this skin against his, within his heart.
Someone spoke his name, a bright pair of eyes met his gaze.
"What are you doing?"
"Remembering you."
A slender hand reached up to cover his.
"I am still here."
He could not speak, overcome with fear and loss. He turned his head and broke their look before he was undone.
"I am afraid." The words spilled out though he rushed to contain them. It was spoken between them now and made real.
Hands cupped his face gently turning it to look into the eyes of the one he so adored. To never see the beauty of this again... he could not bear the thought of it.
"I will return."
"You cannot promise that even though I know you wish to."
"Ever have we been apart, farewelled each other into danger. This is not so different is it? It is what we do, have always done."
"I am tired of it." and he was. So very tired of being without him.
"Then this will be the last time."
And his walls collapsed. The tears contained behind them fell, streaming down his face, he was weak yet he felt no shame.
The last time... time rushed on, determined and unstoppable, despite his desperate need to hold it back, cease its flow. A day of last times beckoned.
The last time they spoke, the last touch. The last time they kissed, they loved, they slept.
The last time he heard that laugh, saw that smile, perhaps he had missed them already.
Strong arms embraced him and pulled him close. Was this the last time he would be held like this. Feel that heartbeat next to his, that soft hair falling across his face.
"You have never tried to cage me and I love you for it." The words brushed his ear and filled his heart.
" I have never tried to cage you," he replied, " It would break you, I would lose you." The crushing endless pain of grief bore down upon him.
"But now, I wish I could.
Oh...I wish I could."