She watched silent.

As the mortal fell, the third arrow having hit its target in his heart.

Still the mortal fought, with his last strength, he struck.

Her heart—if she did have such a thing, clenched at the sight, though she could not deign the reason why. For had she not, seen this many times before? On the mortal battlefields, where they strove to cut each other down, causes forgotten, righteous they may be.

The bravest of them all, who truly wished to defend with their last breath, or the ones merely determined and steadfast in their will to kill as many as possible before their own Death came.

This one, he was atoning for his sins—she had seen those as well. The ones who atone in their last breath, for all the wrongs they have done in life. She loved them well, giving every kindness.

But again, the chord struck within her heart, as he gasped, "The little ones, they've got the little ones".

Nothing more pitiful, than to watch a dying man on his knees, surrounded by uncaring, mindless enemies walking past. …Though mindless, may not be the truth, was that one—the same darkling who had let loose the arrows of his downfall—considering putting him out of his misery?

No, the other one, a mortal human like him, the rightful king—had come, he struck it down, though too late to save his comrade.

Ah, well then, he shall be mine…it is fitting, no? Thought the silent watcher.

The king went through the burial rites of a human dead in battle, at last, the eyes had closed.

As Death moved in.

Boromir opened his eyes, sighing blissfully at the comforting presence all around him.

"Who are you?"

The presence smiled. "Death" the slightly feminine whisper echoed through the tree-branches.

*****this, written at 1/2am right after I'd finished reading Oedipus…WEEKS after I saw the movie, turned out better than i thought. It was inspired by the scene when Boromir died. I personally don't like him very much, but his death scene was inspiring, though it reminded me again of how IDIOTIC they seemed in the movie! They could've saved him! And Gandalf! (well, Gandalf'll be okay—being a wizard and all...but the *way* they die is pitiful…they could've been saved! :p) …anyways, I've had this idea runnin' through my head about the comforting presence of death for quite a while, I wanted to comfort the various characters I've seen in pain in books and movies etc. now that I'm officially procrastinating for finals, I had an excuse to write it down. So whatdy'a think? (I know its kinda shaky..and blame the oddness on Oedipus..lol).