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A/N: This is a vignette. A little piece that came to me around the, eh, third time I saw The Two Towers and had been listening to "Nearer my God to Thee", violin ensemble. Non-slash. Men did kiss men affectionately back then and were not homosexual, it kind of irks me that I have to mention that, but I hope you enjoy it all the same.
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Companions Have I Lost
Smoke rose in wisps above the quiet of the battlefield, catching the sun and giving only soft shades of gold to the scene it fell upon. While craning their neck back, looking into the sky with eyes that had seen crimson bleed into every aspect of their vision, one might have wondered how the nature around them could go so unheeding and remain reposing and pacific, still and calm without a second thought of the losses and blood spilt upon the stone.
With his victory in his eyes, his sword at his side, and his sorrow locked away, Aragorn descended to a crouch before the familiar face of a friend. Too many times had he been here, and too many times would he again cradle one he loved in their last moments. The grief was ever merciless, but the tears eased his wound. He rested a bloodied, dirty hand in the paleness of Haldir's hair tenderly. It was nearly as white as his skin but nothing, he thought, could compare to the pale shade of lifelessness.
Haldir had passed with his eyes open, and when he had fallen all Aragorn had time to do was prop him against one of the stone ridges so his body would not have been soiled by the charge of passing Uruk-hai. One might have thought Haldir could still see him, but Aragorn knew it was not so, and so reached over slowly to close the dark blue eyes that had once been so full of life for the final repose of his dear friend.
"Another companion have I lost," Legolas' melodious voice, clear and high and deep all at once came softly at his side when the elf crouched next to him. Aragorn gave Haldir's hair another affectionate stroke and closed his eyes; unable to bear seeing Legolas grieve. The archer of Mirkwood seldom understood the emptiness of grief, and when Mithrandir had fallen he had plunged head first into it, but remained calm and resolute. To part with a friend he had hoped to meet in the Undying Lands forever was, to Legolas in words, raw and unpalatable. His voice was unwavering as he spoke. "A valiant captain of Lorien, always fighting, always hoping. Haldir should have liked to be the last to fall."
Aragorn forced himself to see the eyes of Legolas: wide and glassy with tears that would not fall. "You know you do not dwell in this grief alone." he said quietly, and the Elf gave a single nod and outstretched a hand to brush the side of Haldir's cold face with the tips of his fingers.
"Aye. We will bear it together, as always we have. Since the early years of my youth, he has always been here. How welcome he was…how selfless to aid us in this dark hour." Legolas said evenly, drawing in a breath to gain control, but found only a shred of it. He shook his head, and he was cold and shaking as a last leaf on a bare tree in the dead of winter.
Legolas crumbled, and lowered himself further to the level Haldir was at, pressing his cheek against fallen Elf's forehead. "It was never meant to end this way, Haldir." Legolas almost broke into a sob, and the last sentence had been spoken to the captain as if he were still alive and well. He closed his eyes tight and was silent for sometime. When the wind picked up again he began to sing, very softly, in his tongue.
Aragorn's eyes were red and swollen with tears that solved nothing, and he inhaled deeply, murmuring in a brokenly slow voice, "Haldir." Legolas stopped and looked at him from under wet lashes. "Boromir." The ranger took his hand from Haldir's hair and ran both hands through his own, lowering his gaze to the ground in unmitigated rage and defeat and anguish. "How many more will The Deciever take in all of his scourings? Legolas, in all of my folly and my negligence and my defeat I have let yet another comrade die. Their passing comes all too quickly, those I love. I failed to save Haldir, as I did Boromir."
Legolas regarded him quietly, and the chilled air swept past them, fleeting and filled with the scents of smoke, blood and the voices of the fallen. He moved slowly and elegantly back into the crouch he had been in before grief overcame him. His eyes did not leave Aragorn's. "When their times are called there is none who can stop it," Legolas said softly, and his delicate but strong fingers found Aragorn's forearm – he clutched the gauntlet that had once been that of Boromir, and then curled his hand tighty into Aragorn's. "You were too far off to save him. You did not fail, and time will bring you together one morning in the winters of this life. Do not grieve long, my friend. You will see them in time."
Aragorn was silent for a long while, only breathing softly. He turned to face his friend. "But you will not. When you and I part we will part forever, my friend."
Legolas' face fell and he was once again very pale, his pale hair lifted slightly in the breeze. He knew this, but for Aragorn to speak of it was painful. "Why do you speak of things that you and I already know?"
"Because sometimes I forget them," Aragorn risked a smile, and moved his eyes to Haldir – the peaceful face was closed, as if he were taking a light nap. "I forget how I will miss being parted from you; you who have been my friend and trusted me and followed me through this darkness. The joy and sorrow of now, and being able to have you to bear it with, takes these thoughts to a different place."
"The gift of the one to men," Legolas murmured thoughtlessly, even bitterly. "To call it a gift is something I cannot understand."
"Perhaps, when the years have become long and weary, you will one day find it a gift," Aragorn reminded him softly. He met Legolas' eyes, quizzical and blue, and pulled the elf into his arms in a great embrace of love and loyalty that did not go unseen by the soldiers at Helms Deep, the living or the fallen. When the Elf's arms came around him he felt a great burden lift from his chest and his heart – Legolas told him through their shared glances, quiet words and silent embraces that whatever he would have to bear he would not bear it alone.
After sometime, Aragorn pulled away and caught Legolas' head gently in his hands, placing a tender kiss on the soft skin of his temple, and then stood; extending a hand to aid Legolas to his feet. Together they regarded the silent Haldir.
"Come, Legolas. The three hunters; you, Gimli and myself will lay rest the Captain of Lorien, just as we laid rest the Captain of Gondor so many days ago beneath Amon Hen." he said, and closed his eyes, inhaling deeply and turning his face towards the warm rays of the golden sun above. That was what Haldir and Boromir had died for: the sun. Until the last they had refused to allow the world to be covered in shadow, and would never see the veiling of the sun. "Perhaps at the end of our days, our fallen comrades may one day meet, and await our coming." Aragorn looked to Legolas, who gave a single shouldered shrug and tears shone in his eyes. "Do you think they will?"
"I believe they would."