A/N - This is the third and final part of what was only supposed to be a one shot story! I hope you like it!
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We made it.
After all of the struggles, the tears, the loss of life. We did it.
The Ring was destroyed, we knew that, but we thought our world had been destroyed with it.
We were wrong.
Partly.
Something inside me perished with the Ring that day, some final flame was extinguished, and even as we awoke in the Houses of Healing I was aware that something was amiss.
After all, tales are never told of those who commit their lives to one purpose and then remained on this earth when that purpose was fulfilled. What happens to them? Of course there was Beren and Luthien, but theirs was a different and more terrible quest entirely. They did not have the consuming presence of the Ring. For so long I lived for that Ring, and now it is not there. I have suffered many a great hurt in both body and mind and there is now nothing left.
What have I got to live for?
Beren and Luthien still had each other.
What have I got to go back for?
It is said that when you return to a place you can never view it in the same light because everything is different and your heart has moved on. The Shire, which I so longed for in times of trouble, has changed. Even now, after its scouring and restoration, it is a place that holds no comfort to me.
I have seen too much.
I have felt too much.
I try and be happy, for Sam's sake, but nothing feels right.
I had not expected ever to return. I had not expected to even finish.
What is left when you have lived for so long without hope?
So much of my life I have lost. So much I gave up. Gone. Just like the Ring.
It no longer taunts me, but there is silence now. A void in my head and I my heart.
I long for its voice, it's screaming, a sense of normality.
I have no purpose now.
I long for the sea.
To be at peace.
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A/N - I hate to say it, but I'm glad that I've finished with Frodo for the moment. When I've been thinking about his feelings in the final stage of the quest it has made me very sad, and it has actually been very hard to write this fic!
I would like to say a HUGE thank you to shirebound! I am honoured that you appear to be enjoying my writing so much! A good review from you is worth a lot to me!
I would also like to thank Michelle for being wonderful!
Rachel xx