Elendra sat in silence under the heavy veil of night near the Fall of Rauros remembering the events of the last 12 hours; the last moments of Boromir son of Denethor II.

She had been on a separate mission than of that of the fellowship, having been delayed two days in Fanghorn, fighting off orcs who had wandered into the forest from Isengard. The Ents were ever so thankful for her aid in those matters.

Although she was on a time sensitive journey to relay a message to the steward of Gondor for aid in the upcoming war against the dark lord, Elendra felt her allegiance was to nature first. Having been found as child by Tom Bombadil, she was a child of nature.

Still, she could not stay in Fanghorn long, even after seeing the army of Saruman grow stronger. It pained her to see the forest decimated but she knew that in order to save it, she had to complete her task bestowed upon her by Gandalf the Grey and Lord Elrond.

Being a Ranger and daughter of Man herself, she was the most fit for the job. Gandalf had hoped the steward would heed her warning and join the fight for Middle Earth.

The day they left Rivendell it pained Elendra to part ways with her kin. She was not related to neither Aragorn nor Boromir; however, they might as well have been.

Aragorn had been her travelling companion for many ventures; they would constantly run into one another in the wild. He called their common meet-ups fate, that a string had been tied to their souls. Elendra called it coincidence. She was aware of his royal lineage, but she treated him like an older brother, nonetheless.

Boromir, although very stubborn and hot-headed, was a good man. The love he had for his people was unlike anything she had ever seen. She had met him halfway on his way to Rivendell while she was scouting the wood for corruption. Lord Elrond had to her that he expected the younger brother to come and represent Man. Boromir had only mentioned the reason of his departure in passing; it had seemed he did not want to speak of his father's decision.

Nevertheless, they had ventured past the Misty Mountains together and arrived at Rivendell where the Fellowship of the Ring was created. She had no part in it, nor did she desire to but knowing the extreme danger of the task of bringing the ring to Mordor, Elendra could not help but suggest to the wizard that she go with them.

"To the eye of Sauron, you are but a mere traveler. He has no reason to stalk you." Said Gandalf to her, placing his hand on her shoulder. "You must be the one to relay the message to Gondor of the oncoming war. Théoden of Rohan is another matter to be dealt with. I need the speed of your horse and the strength of your faith to gather the men of Middle Earth in this one endeavor."

After her small purging of Fanghorn, Elendra found herself passing a wooded hill by the Anduin river around Amon Hen on her black mare, Nyx.

All was quiet but the slow stench of Uruk-hai filled the road. She proceeded with caution, steering off the road a little. Then the air filled with an alarming sound coming from within the wood: the horn of Gondor.

Elendra stopped. She desperately looked around and focused everything into her hearing. The fellowship was near but not in good spirits.

Then she urged Nyx to follow the sound as fast as she could. Not a minute later, after delving into the wood, orcs appeared. They were scattered like maggots on a corpse. Elendra drew her bow, steadying herself on her galloping mare, shooting down each orc in her way.

The horn sounded one last time from the South. Nyx strategically maneuvered her way around fallen orcs and standing trees towards the sound.

Then the orcs around her began to retreat. She knew it wasn't because they saw her as a threat. She was clearly outnumbered. It must have been something else. They got what they came for. Elendra feared the worst but she tried to push those thoughts out of her mind.

She came upon a clearing, bodies scattered, but one standing. Its back facing her, but she could see a kneeling Boromir in front of it, vulnerable to an arrow staring him in the face.

Elendra stifled a scream and shot at the orc, hitting its drawn arm causing it to miss Boromir. It turned to her and roared. She jumped off of Nyx and angrily drew her two-handed sword after swinging her bow across her back.

The Uruk-hai leader shot an arrow at her but she deflected it with her sword. She ran up to it and swung at the monster, but it dodged and reached for a sword. Elendra kicked it in the chest before it could swing, pushing it down to the floor. It left itself wide open for her to stab it in the abdomen and twist her sword to finish it.

Believing it was dead, Elendra ran over to a panting Boromir after throwing down her sword, almost slipping on the forest floor's collection of dead leaves and orc blood.

"Ele-," he struggled, "Elendra?" Neither could believe their eyes. He had been pierced with many arrows; blood trickled down his chin from his gaping mouth. He hadn't seen her since parting ways outside of Rivendell.

She was never one to cry in the presence of a dying companion believing it would bring them solace regarding the new path they would soon follow but this was different.

"Shh-I'm going to help you," she whispered. Her voice quivered. She looked down at his punctured body then at his fading eyes.

"They took the little ones," he cried. Elendra placed one hand on his neck and the other pushed back some loose strands of hair stuck to his face with sweat.

"Frodo?"

"No. Frodo ran off… I went after the ring," his tone was dripping in guilt. Elendra shut her eyes, fighting back tears. "That doesn't mean anything," she said. "Come on," she was about to get up when he kept her down with a weak grip.

"Go to my brother, you must be the one to tell him."

Elendra shook her head, refusing to accept this turn of events. "We-we'll see him together. You've been wanting to introduce me, remember?" She tried to give him a smile; her eyes burned more with every second.

Tears rolled down his cheeks. "You must tell him. I trust no one else to. Take my horn to him."

The horn had been broken in two; she could imagine Faramir's heart would be the same if she were to show him before even saying anything.

He brushed his shaking hand across her cheek, wiping a tear or two away, "Please, friend. See to it that he is protected and lives to see his old years." She gripped his hand, hoping she could pull him from the darkness.

Elendra had been too caught up in her emotions to notice the orc had creeped up behind her, still alive only to have been beheaded by Aragorn.

She gazed up at her king with tears in her eyes, holding Boromir close. The look she gave Aragorn was that of desperation. His healing hands could do nothing for Boromir now.

Elendra felt a hole in her chest. Of all the dreams she had ever dreamt, this nightmare had to be the one to manifest itself. There must have been something she could do. For some reason, there was that desperate cling to hope she had always had but this time, it felt as if she was reaching for it in the dark; it was slipping away.

Aragorn stumbled down onto his knees next to Boromir's other side. Aragorn had looked awful; clothes torn, skin caked with dirt, tired eyes that had tears in them.

Aragorn had to let Frodo go which led Boromir to believe that he had failed to do what Aragorn could. "Take care of your people," Boromir's strength was fading. He held the hilt of his sword across his chest with the last of his might, pledging allegiance to Aragorn, as his captain, as his king.

Legolas and Gimli stood a distance from the children of Men. Elendra kept her eyes on Boromir until he drew his last breath as did Aragorn. Elendra hadn't noticed that she had been holding her breath the whole time until he let go. The image of the two Rangers gazing down at their fallen brother in their arms would forever be instilled in the minds of the elf and the dwarf.

Elendra closed Boromir's eyes and kissed them, resting her forehead on his cheek and crying into his neck. "Be at peace, son of Gondor." Aragorn whispered, kissing Boromir's forehead.

Elendra was at least grateful to give her friend a proper "burial" but letting go of the boat with Boromir's body laying in it was like giving up the search for hope in the dark that she had been reaching out in.

What had made everything worse was finding out from Legolas that Gandalf had not made it out of Moria. A Balrog of Morgoth. The darkness of the world had been manifesting itself all too quickly. Elendra felt she had to do everything she could to stop it.

She especially felt encouraged when Aragorn had strapped on Boromir's vambraces on his own forearms. The Ranger of Dunedain took his first steps to accepting his fate of his bloodline.

Frodo was let go, but Elendra felt comfort in knowing that Sam was there with him. Merry and Pippin had to be found, though.

"Still don't think it is our fate to cross paths like this?" asked Aragorn with sad eyes. Elendra shook her head slightly, "This… was a sad coincidence. I'd rather not meet like this again."

The Ranger placed a hand on her shoulder, knowing they would have to go separate ways again. She looked up at him with determined eyes, still red from weeping for Boromir.

He then pulled her into a brotherly embrace.

"But if you're still alive, I'd very much like to see you again no matter the circumstance," she whispered, taking in his presence for one last time in a long while. This quest was much different than others they had been on.

Elendra returned to her current state, sitting alone in the darkness all too close to Mordor. Well, she wasn't all alone. She had Nyx and the natural world around her to protect and keep her company.

A/N:

Hello fellow LotR fans (or stans, if you wish; idk how to use that word tbh) and fellow fanfic readersss; it has definitely been SO long since I have posted ANYTHING on here and I rarely keep up with my own damn stories but I have finally come around to jot down some day-dreams that I have been dealing with since first laying eyes on David Wenham's Faramir when I was a youngling all those years ago (such a dreamy guy omigosh). Sure, he's more of a jerk in the Two Towers' film adaptation than he is in the book BUT I'm still going to go off of the movie with slight variations, obviously. I may make him a little nicer than he was when he dealt with Gollum, Frodo, and Sam. IDK, we shall see.

Obviously LotR is not mine. I am not the great J.R.R. Tolkien nor am I Peter Jackson. Just a 20-something woman with a laptop and daydreams. Elendra and Nyx are my only characters along with some random extra oc's.

Rating this M just in case lmao please enjoy!