Last chapter. *cries*
Disclaimer: I own only Alice. Luna belongs to LUNA GURLZ. All else belongs to J.R.R. Tolkien and Peter Jackson.
Frodo lays asleep in his over-sized bed. Birds sing in the distance. Slowly, he awakens. He sits up in the bed, and looks around. Immediately, he sees Gandalf sitting on the edge of his bed. He stares at the old man drowsily.
"Gandalf?" He asks slowly, and the wizard's eyes twinkle. He laughs, and Frodo quickly joins him. Merry and Pippin arrive a breath later, very pleased to see him awake.
"Frodo!" Merry cries, and the two run forward, leaping onto the bed. Gandalf laughs even harder at his young friends, who laugh and hug each other. They are all pleased to see each other again. A Dwarf walks in.
"Gimli!" Frodo calls, his smile showing his happiness to see his odd friend. Gimli claps his hands and strides forward. Legolas comes in and offers the Hobbit a smile, who's quick to return it. He's surprised, however, when Aragorn follows the Elf, instead of Alice. "Aragorn!" The former ranger smiles at him.
They all stand around the bed, and Gimli wipes away a stray tear. Finally, Sam appears, and stares at Frodo warily. Frodo, however, smiles upon seeing him, and Sam quickly returns it. Frodo glances about.
"Where's Alice?"
"WOULD YOU PLEASE GET OUT OF MY WAY?" Comes a loud screech from down the hall, and everyone instinctively flinches. "I HAVE A SAVIOR OF THE WORLD TO GO GET REACQUAINTED WITH, THANK YOU VERY MUCH!" Frodo glances up at Gandalf, a slightly scared look crossing his features.
"Don't worry, she's just…" Merry starts.
"Excitable." Pippin finishes. Gimli snorts.
"Ya shoulda seen the lassie at Helm's Deep." Aragorn winces again, and Frodo quirks an eyebrow at him. The King shakes his head. Legolas, however, has gone to the door.
"Miss Luna," He calls, "if you value your life, please, let Alice do as she wishes."
A moment later, their female companion comes hobbling through the door, in an obvious great amount of pain. However, she manages to mask it long enough to give Frodo a huge smile. Legolas holds her elbow gently, trying to not allow her to follow but also not incur her wrath. Luna stands in the doorway, ready to assist at any moment. Frodo tilts his head to the side.
"What happened to you, Alice?" She shrugs.
"When we were having the battle to distract Sauron, I kept having visions of what was going on with you. When you felt great amounts of fear or pain, I was evoked into your mind." She rolls her eyes. "I'm a bit pissed at the Valar for doing it, but hey, apparently it was 'important' or something or another. Cost me my back." Sam's brow furrows.
"Whaddya mean?" Alice gives him a bitter smirk.
"I felt, from behind Frodo's eyes, the pain of Gollum biting off his finger." Frodo's eyes widen. "Oh yes, I was there. That was the pain I was referring to earlier." She subconsciously rubs her hand, the same finger that Frodo lost. "I watched you grapple with Gollum for the Ring. But, before I could see what else happened, an Orc came up behind me and sliced open my back, from my left shoulder to my right hip." She nods towards the healer behind her. "Luna here says it's probably going to scar really bad, but as long as I keep exercising, it shouldn't hurt me later." Frodo nods slowly, pursing his lips. Alice rolls her eyes again, and turns around. She carefully lifts up the back of her shirt, hissing quietly in pain as she stretches the sutures. A harmony of quiet gasps follow, and she lowers her shirt.
Frodo can only describe the scar as hideous. It's a mangled, knotted thing, showing how much poison the blade had been dipped into before that Orc had gone to battle. Even though some kind of anti-dote has obviously been applied, it wasn't fast enough to stop the skin from scarring. The cut is deepest towards the center of her back, where bits of her spine are almost showing through. Part of her left shoulder-blade had been, at one point, totally exposed, judging from how thin the skin was over it. The widest point, and where the most poison was pushed in, is at her shoulder. The scar, including the mottled skin about it, is about four inches wide. The thinnest point, down at her hip, is just where the cut of the blade is now healing. The scar, as a whole, reminds Frodo distantly of a hill range, with the way that it's raised where the poison caused an infection, but the scar from the blade itself is lowered like a tiny valley in the middle. It's a disturbing comparison. When Alice turns around, he can tell that every breath is labored, every moment filled with pain, and she's barely managing to keep it in check, probably for his sake.
A week later…
Alice leans heavily against Legolas, who's helping support her. Her back still pains her, but she's well enough to stand for an hour or so without the urge to collapse at any second. They stand in the courtyard of Minas Tirith, along with a huge crowd. Legolas gives her a soft kiss on the forehead.
Aragorn is being crowned King.
He stands on the steps to the Hall, and Gandalf holds high the crown. He lowers it onto Elessar's head.
"Now come the days of the King. May they be blessed." The white wizard moves back, and Aragorn quickly takes his place, turning and smiling for the assembled crowd. They applaud and cheer loudly.
"This day does not belong to one man, but to all. Let us together rebuild this world, that we may share in the days of peace." The people cheer and clap again, Alice being the exception, unable to due to the pain. She smiles at Gimli, however, who looks up in wonder as flower petals begin to fall. Aragorn softly sings.
"Et Eärello Endorenna utúlien.
Sinome maruvan ar Hildinyar tenn' Ambar-metta!"
A thought strikes Alice. SHE NEVER ASKED HIM ABOUT THE SONG HE SANG IN THE WILDERNESS BEFORE THEY GOT TO RIVENDELL!... She slaps her forehead with her palm, feeling incredibly stupid for having forgotten. Legolas quirks an eyebrow at her, but says nothing as Aragorn walks down among the people. Faramir and Éowyn bow low to their new King, and he gives a soft smile to the newlyweds. Éomer, who is now King of Rohan, also respectfully bows. The Elves, Alice included, then walk forward to greet him. He clasps a hand on Legolas' shoulder, and holds Alice's free hand, being careful to not cause her pain.
"Hannon le." He says softly, and they both smile. Legolas gestures behind himself with his eyes, and Alice ribs him gently. Aragorn, however, looks behind the Elf Prince. A banner with a white tree is there, and Arwen appears from behind it. They move forward towards each other, and Alice grins broadly. Aragorn takes the banner from Arwen, and hands it off to someone else. She has tears in her eyes, and lowers her head to him. He lifts her face gently, holding her chin in his hand, and she smiles. Aragorn simply gazes at her for a minute before wrapping her up in a passionate kiss, lifting her up and turning around with her as he does so. Everyone claps, and Elrond, who stands nearby, smiles. The two kiss again, and Arwen laughs.
The two continue to walk on, and come to stand before the four Hobbits. All four bow to him.
"My friends," Aragorn says in a slight reprimanding tone, and they look up at him, "You bow to no one." He lowers himself, kneeling before the Halflings, and everyone else quickly follows. The Hobbits are obviously embarrassed. When Aragorn stands, Alice hobbles forward, ignoring the aid that Legolas is trying to insist on giving her, and touches his shoulder gently. The King turns around. His brow furrows at the sight of tears forming in her eyes. "What is it, Alice?"
"When that which is gold, glitters again…" She says quietly, and realization dawns in the former ranger's eyes.
"No, Alice, no. Not now, not after…" She clasps his shoulder, quietly hissing in the pain it causes her.
"It's time, Aragorn." She holds up the vial Galadriel gave her all those months ago, and immediately, the members of the Fellowship swarm up. "I have to go. I have to go home." She turns to face them, "I've learned everything I can here. There are other worlds, other free people who need my help."
"Alice, no!" Pippin cries, and he and Merry rush forward, grasping her legs.
"We won't let you go!" Merry says. A sob catches in her throat, and though she wants to shoo them off, she can't for fear of her back.
"Merry, Pip, stop it!" They look up at her with tears, "Believe me when I say that this is just as easy for me as it is for you! I want to be selfish, I want to stay here forever…" She looks at Legolas, "I want to marry you, and live with you forever in your castle and meet your parents and, and, and-" she hiccups, the tears falling, "And go to Hobbiton and see the Shire, return to Rivendell, see the Misty Mountains, visit the Ents, see the Last Lonely Mountain, go see the Golden Hall of Rohan, dance under the leaves of Lórien…" A sob escapes, "But I can't. I have to go." She looks at Frodo, who stares at her, stock still, "It was your destiny to destroy the Ring. It is mine to go home."
"But, but, isn't home where the heart is or something?" Pippin asks, still trying to come up with a feasible excuse. She laughs bitterly.
"Yes, and I do consider this place to be my home, but…" She kneels down painfully to look her Hobbit friends in the eyes, "You guys have to take over now. Make sure these clumsy Big Folk don't get into too much trouble." The four laugh a bit, the tears now falling on all of their faces. The Halflings hug her, "Be strong, guys. Only a few more miles to go." She wipes off the tears from Sam's face, "Besides, this isn't goodbye… It's just, 'I'll see you later'." Pippin hiccups.
"Then why does it feel like goodbye?" Sam asks, and she gives him a soft smile.
"Because it's a very uncertain later." She laughs bitterly, "I could be back tomorrow. I could be back next week. I could be back… yesterday." Gimli weeps openly. She holds out her arms, and he comes forward to give her a hug too. "Don't let any Dwarf tell you that you were foolish for becoming friends with Legolas, okay? You did a great thing, you just don't realize it. You didn't let something as foolish as prejudice get in the way of making a friend. Remember that." He nods, crying too hard to trust his voice.
Arwen helps her stand, and the two embrace, not needing words to express what they want the other to know. When they release each other, Aragorn also gives her a hug, and again, no words are necessary, although she does whisper, jokingly, that he would have never given someone a hug when they first met. He laughs a bit, and when they pull apart, he rolls his eyes at her. She turns to face Gandalf, who doesn't look for an embrace, but simply eyes her. A thought crosses her mind.
"This scar… it isn't going to go away when I go home, is it?" He shakes his head, and she purses her lips, staring at the ground. Suddenly, white robes envelop her vision as Gandalf gives her a hug, which she quickly returns. "I might miss you most of all." She says with a bit of a laugh, and he laughs a bit too.
"I doubt that very much." When they pull apart, Elrond has approached from the side.
"You have done a great many things in our world, Alice, daughter of Roxanne." She holds up a hand, and he quirks an eyebrow.
"You're wrong," She smiles, "Alice, daughter of Elrond of Rivendell." He smiles too, and clasps her shoulder with one of his hands.
"I could not be more proud of you, my daughter."
"Diola lle, ada." She whispers, and he nods his head.
"Alice…" whispers a soft voice. She turns around, and sees Legolas standing there, his fists clenched at his sides, and his eyes filled with pain. "Please. Don't leave me." Her mouth goes dry, and she tries to swallow despite it. "Please…. I love you." A tug like no other pulls on her heart.
"I wish desperately to stay…" She shrugs, feigning nonchalance poorly, "But I can't." She laughs grimly, "I have my orders, Legolas." It strikes her how most of the crowd has left, with the exclusion of the Rohirrim and the Steward. She sighs. "I lo-"her mouth is caught off guard by his suddenly claiming it. She engrains the feeling of his body pressing against hers, his want for her obvious, and the desperation of his love that is communicated across the kiss they now share into her mind. She prays to whoever's listening this moment will last forever… or, at least, that she will never forget this feeling. Finally, she pulls away, if only for the need of air. She looks into his eyes. "Do you remember that oath I made to you? All those months ago?" He nods. "I intend to keep that oath. Okay?" He nods again, not trusting his voice due to his tears. She walks past him wordlessly, unable to tell him goodbye.
She shakes hands with Éomer and Faramir, who both tell her that she is the greatest warrior they have ever had the pleasure of fighting with. Éowyn gives her a silent hug. Finally, tears staining her cheeks, she backs away from the group, who has closed in close together. She holds up the vial, and after a minute of fighting with it, manages to uncork it. She rolls her eyes, as though to say, 'of course I would be the one who would have an awkward moment during the tenseness'. She holds it up to them as a salute.
"See you on the other side, Alice." Frodo calls, and she looks at him with great pain.
"No… you won't."
She drinks the entire tiny vial in one swift swallow. Relaxing her body, she lowers her hand to her side and her gaze lands on Legolas as she seems to freeze. The vial slips from her hand, shattering on the stone ground below. Suddenly, she tips forward, and lands face-first on the hard parapet by the white tree. Her body, upon making contact, shatters into a thousand pieces. When the pieces stop moving, having lost all their momentum from the crash, start to smoke, and disappear into vapors in the air. A voice on the air sings softly past their ears as it catches up the smoke and disperses.
"I'll come back, when you call me…
No need to say goodbye…"
Song credits: "Song of Elendil" (I THINK!) by unknown, "The Call" by Regina Spektor.
Reviews:
Luna - You're welcome! Yeah, tis short. Most of the story is about Frodo and Sam, and she isn't there for all that. -_- Thank you for being a faithful reader! I hope you stick around for Narnia! =D
THE END OF ALICE IN MIDDLE EARTH: THE RETURN OF THE KING
...
OR IS IT?