Chapter 37
Hermione's POV
The ride to the fortress was a dull one indeed. I numbly rode my horse next to Legolas and Remus. Remus had lost all colour in his face. Gimli's face held distress. Legolas looked as if the devil had pulled out his soul. We were broken beyond repair. The loss of Aragorn was a great loss indeed. A soring pain fell upon my heart. I was suddenly being drowned from the inside. Why did it hurt so much? Why did I feel as if I had lost half my soul? Legolas looked over at me,
'Elves are very in touch with their feelings. A human may feel sadness but an elf will feel heartbroken. Elves can die of a broken heart.' He said as if reading my thoughts.
I could not find it within myself to reply so I nodded my head hoping he would leave me alone.
'Do not fall into a place that I cannot follow.' He continued to say, his eyes pleading with me.
'It hurts,' I whispered, 'so much so I can feel myself hyperventilating,'
It was the truth, my hands were shaking numbly as it took all my strength to take the next breath. Legolas swiftly jumped of his horse and placed himself behind me on a borrowed horse.
'Lean back into me. I am in pain, let us bear this pain together.' One hand held onto the horse as he directed it the other was holding me.
I allowed my head to lean on his chest, even after a battle he still smelt of a fresh forest. I must admit it was nice and familiar.
'When we get to wherever it is we are going we will find somewhere to regroup.' I nodded my head liking the sound of that.
I felt safe against his strong body, safe and relaxed. My heart was breaking but Legolas just held me tighter. I knew it was taking him a lot of effort to comfort me so I accepted it for I was fearful of losing him too.
Before I knew it we were at the fortress. I jumped off the horse and allowed someone else to care for it. Usually I would not have minded to brush the horse but today I just wanted to be alone.
'Come Hermione,' I blinked in confusion, ' let us move away from prying eyes,' I allowed Legolas to lead me away.
We came to a very small room which was out of the way. There was no bed but there was a few blankets. Legolas sat down and leaned against the wall. For the first time I saw how old he was. His life had also come crashing down. He guided me down next to him. I leaned into his body accepting whatever comfort I could.
The tears finally rolled down my face as I cried into him. I know not how long we sat there for. But it felt nice to be in a dark room away from people.
'Hermione, we should go. We need to assist the King.' The thought of leaving made me want to jump of a cliff and end it all.
I cried harder and held onto him. No longer ashamed of my tears. No longer caring what happened to me.
'Do not do this to yourself, you must fight it. I am also feeling what you are feeling. But we are very much needed. We cannot abandon our friends in their time of need.' He whispered in my ear, his breath sending shivers up my spine.
Without thinking I turned to face him and planted a kiss on his lips. Before I could stop myself I was prying his mouth open with my tongue. The kiss deepened as he moaned sending vibrations throughout my body. In an instant Legolas jumped up and moved away and turned to face the door.
'We are grieving we do not want to do something that we will regret later on.' He said thickly, 'I apologise, my actions were vile.' With that he swiftly walked out the room.
I sat there trying to figure out what had just happened, and why I had kissed him. I was lonely. No that's not it. I was trying to forget about what happened. Hm nearly there. I wanted to feel like my heart was still working. I guess. I have no idea – I thought angrily to myself as a new set of tears washed over me. I've created such a terrible mess please someone come and shoot me – I thought.
I held myself and cried for what seemed like hours but was only half an hour. With shaky legs I made my way to the door. Making sure I had dried all my tears I opened the door and walked out. My next problem was where was I? I decided to turn left and follow the flow of people. I had to double back a few times as I hit dead ends. Crying in frustration I decided I would have to ask someone.
A solider was sitting on a bench waiting for something, though I don't know what. He looked friendly enough,
'Uh Excuse me,' he looked up and smiled, 'I'm a bit lost,'
'I see my Lady, well I will do what I can to see that you find your way. Where is it you going?' he asked,
'I'm trying to find a friend of mine, he's an Elf, blond hair blue eyes.' The man frowned,
'Hmm well let us go for a walk and hope to run into him. Did he say where he was going?' I thought back to what he had said to me in the room,
'Ah yes he said something about finding the King,' the man smiled,
'Very well, I shall escort you to the main hall. My name is Lord Salbert,'
'Please to meet you, I'm Hermione,' I replied.
We walked swiftly through the crowed and exchanged some small talk. Soon he was leading me into the main hall and there stood Legolas and Gimli. I smiled,
'Thankyou for showing me the way. I very much appreciate it.'
'It was my pleasure, Lady Hermione I bid you good day now.' with a slight nod of his head he left.
I inched my way to Legolas he did not even bother to look at me. I could see hurt in his eyes. I had hurt him after he told me about elves being more in touch with their feelings I had used him. I would not blame him if he never spoke to me again.
Gimli was the one who spoke to me first,
'There you are lassie, you have missed a fair bit. But first there is someone whom I am sure you would love to meet.' I frowned looking at him in confusion
I suddenly jumped as I felt someone touch my arm, I spun around quickly and there he stood. More rugged than ever.
'Aragorn,' I whispered, not believing my own eyes. I touched his arm. It felt real,
'But how… I thought you were dead.'
'It is not my time,' he said and pulled me into a hug kissing my head.
I let myself fall into his body. Tears blinded me, but this time they were tears of joy. My heart was not so heavy. And each breath he took my heart became lighter and lighter.
I looked over his shoulder opening my eyes, I saw Legolas standing there watching us. He looked much happier than before. But there was still hurt in his eyes.
'I never want to ever feel like this ever again. Please don't leave me. I thought I was dying. My heart it ached for you. I can't handle losing another friend.'
'Shhh… I am here. I will do everything in my power to never have you feel like that again.' He whispered. When I looked back Legolas had left.
Just a quick thankyou to all my readers for sticking with me on this story, and for reviewing it means a lot. I know I take forever to update so I do thankyou. As I said already I am going away at the end of next week for a month - So I plan on posting a few more chapters up at once the morning I go away so I won't post anymore chapters up until then! Just so you guys can have a few solid chapters to read..
As always review let me know what you think your thoughts are always welcome. :)
The same thing goes for my other story I am writing - Dark Lonely Warrior - I will also post up a few chapters on the same day I leave.