Chapter Seven.

Grace saw nothing but blackness, her heart was wildly crashing against her ribs making it almost impossible to breathe. She knew she was having a small panic attack but she felt extreme pain in her left leg, as if reminding her she was still alive. She could hear shouting but it was faded and distorted, had she hit her head when falling? She slowly placed her left hand onto her head feeling the sticky substance of blood.

"Grace!" Haldir's voice bellowed and she winced, parting her lips to call out but she couldn't find her voice. The darkness in her vision was slowly fading, her vision was recovering and she could now make out figures fighting one another.

"T-there you are!" Haldir breathed as he came into view and Grace felt relief fill her heart, he had survived it. She took this second to look down at herself, flinching at what she discovered. She was trapped beneath the rubble, her left side was covered up to her waist. She looked up at Haldir, noticing fear in his eyes as people started shouting 'retreat'.

"Leave me be Haldir, it is too dangerous" she managed to breathe but Haldir desperately looked around at his surroundings, noticing Aragorn nearby.

"Aragorn!" he shouted, trying to gain his attention. It took the ellon several times to gain his attention and he beckoned him over, the mortal man near enough crying in despair when finding Haldir's problem.

"Watch my back, I need to get this off her" Haldir commanded and Aragorn worriedly looked down at his partner before defending Haldir. It took a couple of attempts before Haldir managed to push the rubble of Grace making her cry out in agony. This got Aragorn's attention as he turned, bending down to grasp onto the woman. He took her in his arms, whispering something to Haldir. Grace didn't hear his words, she doubted she wanted to, and she could do nothing more than cling onto Aragorn's clothing as both he and Haldir made their retreat.

When they found a moment of safety both Aragorn and Haldir paused, looking at one another. There was anger in Aragorn's eyes but there was also fear. Haldir was much harder to read, it was as if he was holding something back.

"Take her to the caves" Aragorn ordered but Grace shook her head, gathering her wits as she wiggled out of Aragorn's grasp.

"I can last a little longer" she stubbornly replied and Aragorn's eyes welled up. He moved himself closer, grabbing her shoulders in the process.

"You're injured and you nearly got yourself killed, you have done enough Grace" Aragorn told her and she bit her lip, thinking of something to respond with. A strained grunt from Haldir disturbed their moment and they both looked over, watching him slowly keeling over in pain.

"What's wro-" Grace worriedly asked but her words fell silent as she noticed blood flowing down his side and onto the floor.

"I'm fine" Haldir tried to express but Aragorn moved away from Grace, inspecting the elf. Grace did the same, noticing a long, deep gash on his back. Aragorn and Grace looked at each other and he parted his lips to call for some help but Grace shook her head.

"I'll take him to the caves" she stated, placing her arms on Haldir to support him.

"You can hardly walk" Aragorn protested but Grace's eyes hardened in determination.

"We'll be fine, try not to get yourself killed while I'm gone" Grace said, trying to add humour to her words but none would be heard, instead it was a quiet plea. Aragorn nodded, grimacing before leaving a lingering kiss on her lips. Grace tiredly smiled, shifting Haldir's arm around her shoulders to support him as he started struggling to stand. She gave Aragorn one last look before slowly turning and walking away with Haldir. Aragorn knew that look; it was a 'forgive me' expression. He tried erasing the look as he returned to battle.

Returning to the caves was harder than Grace first imagined, as Haldir lost more blood he became weaker finding it hard to walk. Grace was biting her lip, droplets of blood running down her chin as she supported Haldir. She was in a lot of pain, letting out low cries every step but she was determined to get him to safety.

"Come on Haldir, we can make it" Grace whispered after falling to the floor for the sixth time, Haldir crying out in pain from the harsh landing. The elf was now shaking, his body slowly giving up on him. Haldir fearfully looked up at Grace making her grip onto him harder, lifting herself and the elf back up. Tears were now streaming down her face as she forced herself to continue walking. She knew that if Haldir could find the strength to speak he would tell her to leave him behind. She couldn't though, he had risked his life to save hers and he was now paying the price for it. Four lone guards stood guarding the entrance of the caves, two rushing over to grab Grace and Haldir before they fell to the ground again.

"They've made it through the first wall. Please help us to the caves… we need to tend to our wounds" Grace breathed, her voice weak as the guards nodded. Two guards remained guarding the caves as the other two helped Grace and Haldir down to the caves, some women crying out in despair when noticing them. Grace managed to thank the guards before collapsing on the floor next to Haldir where the other guard had sat him.

With shaking hands she started to undo Haldir's armour, looking into his eyes every couple of minutes to ensure he was still awake. She was finding it hard, her fingertips feeling numb as she fumbled with the buckles.

"Here, let me help you" Eowyn's voice strongly requested and for once Grace was glad to see her. Some of the other women had tried to help as well but Grace shooed them away, only concerned about Haldir. Together both Grace and Eowyn removed Haldir's armour, Grace keeping the elf calm while Eowyn tended to his wounds. Haldir continued to grunt as the deep wound was tended to and Grace took a hold of his face, keeping him focused.

"Stay with me" Grace requested, tears still in her eyes. She could see the defeat brewing in his eyes.

"Don't you dare Haldir, you are not going to give up after I had to carry your sorry backside up here" Grace continued making the elf weakly laugh, amused by her words.

"This is the best I can do" Eowyn told them and Haldir gratefully nodded to her. Grace wobbly stood before Eowyn could begin to tend to her wounds, taking one of the spare bandages Eowyn had to wrap around the remainder of her left leg. Eowyn and Haldir noticed she bandaged it to support the leg rather than stop the bleeding.

"You plan to return to war?" Eowyn asked in amazement making the stubborn, worn woman nod.

"They need every abled body, I can still walk so I return to war" Grace responded. Haldir wearily sighed, as if disheartened by this news, while Eowyn looked up at her with a sparkle in her eye. Eowyn couldn't lie, she admired this strong hearted woman… she hoped she would survive the battle in order to learn the art of fighting from her.

"Take my sword" Haldir requested, breaking Eowyn's trail of thought. Grace weakly smiled, leaning down to plant a friendly kiss on his brow.

"Thank you my friend" she softly said, taking his sword from his sheath. She glanced over at Eowyn, a new fire in her eyes.

"Please watch over him Eowyn" Grace asked and Eowyn felt honoured, nodding her head in reply. Grace deeply breathed in, turning to leave the cave.


Hey everyone, can you believe this story is nearly over? I thought I'd have at least a few more chapters to go but instead there's only one more chapter left for this story which I'll hopefully upload at the end of the week. If you've enjoyed this story and like my style of writing then feel free to check out my other stories. I'm still running a poll for what to base my next main story about so if you guys could take a second of your time to vote it would really be helpful.

Also if you really like this pair, Grace and Aragorn, then feel free to contact me and let me know - if I get a lot of interest then I may be tempted to continue writing short stories based on these two based on main events in Lord of the Rings. You can either leave a review, pm me on this or leave me a tweet about your thoughts on this - also any suggestions on events or other characters to write about would be amazing. Once again I'd like to say thank you for the support and happy reading in the future. :)