Author's note: Sorry I haven't updated in a while! I've started a new job and it's kept me pretty busy so far. That and my internet keeps going out! Grrr.... Thanks to everyone who reviewed!!!

This chapter should be pretty vivid for everyone since the release of the movie. And I hope you all brought your kleenex boxes! I've got my towel ready! :p Oh, and I used words from the movie during a particular scene. I hope I got it all right! Feel free to let me know if I didn't! Enjoy!

Elenya by Shelly

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE


She quickly grabbed her quiver and slung it around her chest, buckling her sword around her waist as Legolas stood beside her. "Where are you going?" he asked.

"To find Frodo," she answered. "With Boromir gone, I'm afraid that it could only mean one thing."

He nodded his head once. "Then I'm coming with you."

"Legolas, you don't need--"

"Don't you remember what nearly happened to you last time?" he interrupted her, touching the spot on her cheek where the bruise Boromir had given her had been. "I will not let you go alone this time."

She swallowed deeply then turned to walk into the trees that surrounded the lawn. Legolas looked back at Aragorn, who nodded silently, telling the elf without words that he would stay here. He finally caught up with her, and they searched for some time before they ended up standing near Amon Hen itself. They stayed there a moment to catch their breath, and she suddenly became aware of a strange feeling coming over her, and she knew what it was when Frodo materialized almost in front of her. "Frodo, are you all right?" she asked as she noticed he appeared to be out of sorts.

"Boromir," he breathed as she helped him to his feet. "He tried to take it from me."

She looked up at Legolas then back to Frodo. "Where is he?"

"I'm not sure," he answered.

She felt Legolas' hand on her shoulder. "I will go find Aragorn."

She nodded and heard him leave, turning her eyes to Frodo and seeing a firm determination there that she had never seen before. "What is it?"

"I'm sorry, Lilli. I have to go the rest of the way alone."

Her breathing stilled as her grip on him tightened slightly, and she fought against arguing with him. He had honored her decision once to go alone and she had to return the same respect for his decision that he had done for hers. "Are you sure?" she asked.

He nodded. "I can no longer bear the thought of what might happen to each of you if I were to stay. I must continue on by myself."

Tears welled in her eyes. "Then I wish you a safe journey, for I fear that our paths may not cross again."

His eyes also filled with tears. "You're not making this easy, Lilli."

"Farewells never are, my friend. Especially not after all we've been through."

He smiled, his blue eyes bright. "I want to tell you something that I've felt within my heart lately. You've been the dearest friend I could ever have, and I hope that I can be as brave as you have been these past few days."

She brought her hand to his cheek. "You are brave. Braver than I for you have managed to bring the ring this far without giving in to its temptations. I am not sure I could have done that."

"It's because I have had you, Lilli. I'm not sure if I can survive from now on without you beside me to give me courage."

She removed the ring Galadriel had given her and handed it to Frodo. "Take this with you. That way I will always be with you whenever you need me."

He looked at the ring in his hand and threw his arms around her neck, tears flowing freely down his face. "I love you," he whispered.

She released him and brushed the tears from his cheeks with her thumbs. "I love you, too," she replied, kissing his forehead and standing up when she heard Aragorn approach. She walked apart from them as they spoke but heard nothing of their words as she became aware of an evil presence that neared them. She spun around and hurried back to Frodo. "Draw your sword, Frodo, and please prove me wrong."

He unsheathed Sting only a little before they all saw the telltale glow of the blade. She looked to Aragorn and they both drew their own swords, Aragorn bidding Frodo to leave now. Frodo turned to her one last time then disappeared just as the first of the uruk-hai met them in battle. They fought for what seemed like an eternity as they shed the blood of their enemy on the ground, both of them thinking of nothing else except keeping them away from Frodo.

Then they heard the mighty blast of the horn of Gondor and knew that Boromir also fought for his life, the sound giving them a renewed determination to come to his aid. Soon they neared the area where they had last heard him, and she stopped in horror at what she saw before her. Boromir was down on his knees on the ground, three arrows buried deep in his chest, and what appeared to be the mightiest of their enemy was standing nearby, preparing to add a fourth. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Aragorn rushing towards the orc, and she spurred her own feet into action as she ran over to Boromir's side, kneeling down beside him as she eased him to the ground.

He reached up and caught her hand in a painful grip, and tears came to her eyes as she realized the amount of pain he himself was in and yet he had still fought on. "Lilli, I'm sorry," he breathed. "I wasn't strong enough to resist. I failed you and Frodo both."

"Ssh," she quieted him. "Don't speak of that now. Conserve your strength."

"I don't have much time. They have taken Merry and Pippin. I tried to stop them."

"You fought bravely, my love," she whispered, brushing her hand across his cheek. "And you'll continue to do so. There's no way I'm going to let you die on me."

He brought a gloved hand to her cheek. "It is the way it must be," he replied, yanking the glove off of his hand to better feel the softness of her skin. Her eyes widened when she felt how cold his skin had become. "I love you so much, Lilli. You can't imagine how much. You brought so much into my life, a happiness that I never dared hope for as well as a love that I thought I would never feel. I cannot bear to think of what my life would've been like without you there to share it with me."

"Which is why you cannot give up on me now," she pleaded. "Please, Boromir, I cannot live without you. I love you so much. I always have and I always will."

His eyes closed for a moment as a wave of pain washed over him, and she breathed a small sigh of relief when they opened again. "If I could ask one last thing, my lady," he whispered.

"Name it, my lord. I will do whatever you wish."

He smiled. "I believe that in my current state I am unable to do what I truly wish." She laughed weakly through her tears. "May I be so bold as to ask for a kiss?"

"You've never asked for anything in your whole life, my love, so why start now?" she teased, leaning forward and kissing his forehead, and when she pulled back she smiled at the stern look in his eyes.

"You are cruel indeed to tease a dying man," he said then was silenced as she brought her lips to his, kissing him softly as her tears fell and mixed with his own.

When she drew away she saw Aragorn kneel on his other side, and Boromir's attention shifted to the ranger. She would have stood to allow them some privacy, but his hand grabbed her own to keep her there. "They took the little ones," he gasped as his movement caused him a sudden jolt of pain.

"Be still," Aragorn calmed him.

But the warrior refused to be soothed. "Frodo. Where is Frodo?" he asked anxiously.

"I let Frodo go."

"Then you did what I could not," he breathed. "I tried to take the ring from him."

"The ring is beyond our reach now."

Boromir lay quiet for a moment. "Forgive me. I did not see." He turned his eyes briefly to Lillisandra. "I have failed you all."

"No, Boromir," he replied. "You fought bravely. You have kept your honor." He started to remove the arrows, but Boromir stopped him.

"Leave it. It is over," he whispered. "The world of men will fall. And all will come to darkness. And my city to ruin."

"I do not know what strength is in my blood. But I swear to you I will not let the White City fall," Aragorn vowed vehemently.

"Neither will I," she said, finally finding her voice. "I don't care what it is I have to do, but I will not let it be destroyed. I promise this to you with all the love in my heart and soul."

He tried reaching for his sword and Aragorn lifted it up off the ground, pressing it into his hand and laying it against his chest.

"I would have followed you, my brother, my captain...my king." Then he looked over to his beloved and touched her face once again. "I will love you forever, even in death."

She smiled through her tears and leaned forward to kiss him, resting her cheek against his. "I, too, will love you forever, my beloved, for you will take my heart with you." Then she heard his last breath pass his lips, and she wept bitterly as she mourned for one who she had loved more than anything in her whole life, the tears coming faster when she heard Aragorn's words of farewell.

"Be at peace, son of Gondor."



Lillisandra helped them arrange the funeral boat of Boromir and leaned over into the boat to give him one last kiss, not noticing that the ring she now wore on a chain about her neck touched him, nor did she see the faint flicker of light within the stones. She stepped back onto the shore to join the others as they watched the funeral boat disappear down the falls and out of their sight, unable to shed anymore tears as her eyes were red from weeping. The others quickly laid out plans to find out in which direction the orcs were traveling so they could free Merry and Pippin, plans which she intended to take no part in. She remained by the river, silently charting her own course.

"Lilli?"

She turned to see Legolas' concerned gaze as he approached her.

"Will you come with us?" he asked, his heart saddened at the light that had died within her at Boromir's death.

She looked down at the ground. "No."

"Why?" he whispered.

She looked up into his eyes. "I must return with all haste to Silmarion so that I may give my father Ardya to keep my people from suffering the same fate as he. I will continue down the Anduin to Minas Tirith where I will go from there on land. I realize the danger involved, and I think that one person traveling in a boat will attract little attention."

"And I must warn you against this," he protested. "The enemy knows that you once traveled with us, and the closer you get to Minas Tirith, the more danger you will encounter."

"Then I will fight if I have to," she answered. "I have my own path to follow, just as Frodo did. He is in more danger than I, but he chose to face it alone, as will I. The path you propose will only delay my arrival longer, and I cannot afford to waste anymore time."

Her cruel words pierced his heart, and he resisted the urge to demand why she was being so cold to him. "Just because Boromir is dead doesn't mean that you have to throw your life away. You are too important to lose right now."

"Yes, I am aware of that," she scoffed. "Right now the only thing I have left to live for is this accursed ring." She turned back towards the river. "Maybe I should just follow Frodo instead and throw myself in along with the ring."

Legolas grabbed her shoulders and jerked her around to face him. "Don't you dare talk like that," he demanded. "I wasn't talking about the ring. There are others who need you just as much as Boromir did."

"Like who?" she asked, her voice softening somewhat.

"Well, like me. And Aragorn and the hobbits. Lilli, there are so many lives you have touched, so many that would mourn your absence from this world."

"Yes, but there was only one person that I ever wanted or needed, and now he's gone. How am I supposed to live with the fact that I will never look upon his face or feel his breath against my skin..."

Seeing she was close to tears, he tightened his hold on her. "Do not torture yourself like this. Remember that he chose to die this way, protecting others that were in danger. He could've just stood by and let them go without a fight, but would you have really wanted him to do that? Be proud of the sacrifice he made for them instead of mourning his loss."

Although she tried to hold back the tears, they spilled over anyway. "But I miss him so much," she cried as she let herself be pulled into his arms, her own hands coming up to hold onto him as her grief ran its course.

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*sobs for an hour* I can't believe you let him die, Shelly!!! And after he and Lilli just got back together! But I hope you all like what I have planned! Hee-hee! It's a little far-fetched, but I think it'll work! Thanks for reading!