A/N: Not mine. Sorry this took so long to get out, I was suffering from a block. Parts pulled from LOTR, particularly ROTK. Incubus lyrics and in there too:) The end is upon us...but not yet. Thanks to all the reviewers. Enjoy.

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Untitled

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That night he stayed in her chamber.

Arwen had asked him to stay with her and he was content with just sitting in a chair across the room. Legolas watched her for a long time as she fitfully slept in her bed. He could only wonder what she was dreaming about, what hellish nightmare was torturing her. He knew that he, himself, could never really sleep anymore. Thoughts of Aragorn haunted him day and night, but seemed to come alive when the shadows crept into the world.

They were both suffering their own mental torture.

A cry from Arwen snapped Legolas out of his mediation. She was now thrashing about in bed, entangling herself in a web of twisted sheets and blankets and her anguish was made apparent with her verbal cries and streaming tears.

Legolas rushed to her side, trying to capture her flailing appendages in a vain attempt to stop her from entangling herself even further in the mess.

"Arwen..." he called, as he gently shook her. She paid him to notice and continued in her madness.

"Arwen, wake up!!" he shouted at her and shook her even harder.

She stopped her movement and he knew she had awoken. Legolas saw that her violet eyes were now awake with fear and tears continued their descent upon her cheeks as she registered her reality. Arwen covered her face with her hands, which only proved to muffle her sobs. Legolas gathered and held her as she shook and wept in the darkness of the room.

"It was so real..." she whispered between sobs, "He was there and I- I...couldn't..."

He, in turn, murmured what words he could muster to try to bring her some comfort, not knowing what was happening but understanding all she said.

"It was so real," Arwen repeated over and over as he rocked her gently in his arms.

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When Arwen woke the next morning, she found that she was alone. Paying no attention to his absence, he was always coming and going as he pleased, she dressed in her usual black mourning attire and prepared to spend another day with the trees.

Arwen saw her swollen and bloodshot eyes in her reflection, and her nightmare came rushing back to her. Aragorn seemed so alive...talking with her, walking towards her...breathing. She forced it out of her mind and shrouded her face again in defiance of life.

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When she descended, she found Legolas waiting for her at the bottom, idly twirling a niphredil bloom in his hands. He offered his arm to her and she took it silently. Then they started their turn in the woods.

Sometimes they spoke, most of the time they didn't. They just took their time roaming over the land and their own thoughts, thankful for each other's presence yet in a world completely of their own.

Finally, Arwen asked the inevitable question.

"Legolas," she whispered and removed the veil from her face so he could face her, "why did you come to Gondor that rainy night so many years ago...and made us all believe that you were to leave us for the last time?"

Legolas stared into the night sky, as if the stars could take him away from having this conversation. "I did not mean to deceive anyone. Indeed, I had every intention of sailing."

"Why didn't you?"

He exhaled slowly and focused those penetrating blue eyes of his on her violet ones. "Do you really have to ask?" A small smile pulled on the corner of his mouth, "like always, because of you. My business in Gondor that night was with Aragorn... I had no plan to encounter you at all ... and yet, Undomiel, I never seem to be able to escape you."

"My mind was set on leaving," he continued, "you and I both know that I have no real purpose for staying in Middle Earth. And your last letter reminded me of the fact. We are completely independent of each other, and perfectly capable of carrying out without one another ... you never needed me to survive."

"So I ventured to Minas Tirith to make my peace with Aragorn. I told him how I loved you and how you wouldn't have me. I don't know that it changed anything, except confirm what Aragorn already suspected. In the end, somehow, we were able to walk away without secrets or mistrust." Arwen's eyes brimmed with tears, Aragorn had never told her what had transpired in that meeting.

"I was ready to sail ... but then, you came along. There was something about the look in your eyes. Something I noticed when the light was just right. It reminded me twice that I was alive, and it reminded me that you're so worth the fight."

"So why did you distance from me? From Aragorn?"

"Because ... there was no place for me. And Aragorn had to believe I was gone. So that way...he could have his peace of mind before he passed on."

There was silence.

"I once said that my place in this world was wherever you are. I stand by that. I shall remain yours, as long as you shall have me."

Arwen was once again so grateful to have him in her life.

"Still that was a cruel joke to play," she said. "When you told me that you were leaving, my worst fears were confirmed. But as much as my heart wanted, I couldn't stop you. For how could I deny you the Blessed Realm? I knew it was inevitable, but I was not prepared to hear those words from your mouth. And when you left..." she choked on her words.

"I tried my best to get along with you in my life," Arwen continued after a moment, "I followed my daily routine down as I had always done, but my heart felt like it had died. I would lay awake at night and think of you...always of you..."

"You were always so tortured and I know it is my doing. So tortured..." she caressed his cheek and he gave into her touch.

"I needed you," he whispered, gazing deep into her eyes. "But it wasn't enough...I wasn't enough. I gave you my whole heart openly and you crushed it with your love for him." Legolas' tone was not bitter, but simply stated as his heart's truth.

"Legolas, do we have to play this game? It has been drawn out far too long. It was never about me loving Aragorn...it was always about me loving you. Not about me choosing my life with Aragorn, but about not choosing my life with you. Not about him...but about us."

Arwen grasped his hands and squeezed them tightly.

"I'm sorry that you got hurt and I am sorry I put you through such pain, but what more can I say or do? How can this be right again?"

Her glittering tears fell upon their intertwined hands and Legolas was moved to tears but remained silent.

"I think we haven broken each other's hearts enough in this lifetime. My love, he was a good man. The father of my children...there was a time that I loved him. He was never undeserving. "

Legolas nodded. He knew this...he knew all of this. So was it that he couldn't get over his misery? He didn't blame Aragorn, he didn't blame Arwen ... he just could not forgive himself. His self-loathing would not let him have peace.

Arwen could see that she was not reaching him. Her heart was already so weak and could not stand to see his torture. She clung to him then, covering his body with her own.

"Legolas, my darling, you were never undeserving either. Never. I would have loved nothing more to have you as my lord and my love, you know this. Why is it that you cannot accept that my decision was never based on you being unworthy? That you continue to doubt yourself and my love for you?"

He could not meet her eyes. In truth, he could not answer her questions. Arwen wiped away his tears and kissed his brow, forcing him to look at her.

"Please my beloved, let your heart have peace," she pleaded. "For I cannot bear to lose another."

Then taking his hands she placed them over her heart, "This is real... I love you, Legolas Greenleaf."

He embraced her then, needed to feel her and know in his heart that she was real. She felt his body tremble as he tried to squelch his sobs and Arwen wondered how they both became so broken.

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It wasn't about forgetting Aragorn, but learning to live in a world without him. And the life they made for themselves was beautiful. The days didn't seem so long, the sky so dark, the world so hard; Arwen began to see color again and breathing no longer seemed like such a chore. Legolas found softness and gentleness once again in his surroundings, and he allowed himself the luxury of rest. Her nightmares ceased, and they would fall asleep in each others arms.

They rarely spoke, not for lack of things to say ... but because words just seemed to hinder all that they were already communicating. Words held no meaning and had no place in the space they were living in now.

They spent the remnants of fall and winter together in Lorien. Some days were better than others, but they always had each other to seek refuge from bitter memories.

Slowly, the guilt they felt for being alive...and for being together subsided.

Later, when they would take their walks Legolas would softly sing songs long forgotten. At first they were always sorrowful and cheerless, rendering the tune of both their hearts. Eventually, however, he sang once more of lighter things, of joy and nature, of stars and love. On rare occasion would Arwen join him, her voice and song so powerful and moving that all nature stopped at its soothing melody. Sometimes she would surprise him and dance while he sang, and at her feet was strewn a mist of silver quivering.

Now, more than ever, Lothlorien seemed to be a place where things of the past still lived on. When Legolas and Arwen journeyed in its woods with starlight shimmering on their hair and in their eyes, like the light of the moon above the rim of the hills before it rises, it did not seem like the time of the Elves had passed at all.

Joy crept back into their lives. Laughter also. And love was always present. Arwen and Legolas were happy and content.

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But all good things must come to an end.

At the start of the new year, Legolas started to notice that during their walks together, Arwen would grow tired and not journey as far until she felt like she could not venture out at all. Legolas became increasing worried and grew afraid. He did not want her to die also, not when they had just found a place where they could be together. Not so soon after losing Aragorn. Not when she was his very reason for getting up in the morning...for breathing...for living. Not when he did not know life without her.

Legolas could not remember his life when he did not yet know Arwen.

He came to her while she was resting in the light of the day.

"My love," he whispered and her eyes fluttered open, "is there anything I can do for you?"

The sight of him made he smile, but then a shadow passed over her face. She had much she had to discuss with him. She reached for him and he held her hands.

"My darling Legolas, I am beyond even your help," she paused, "I am dying. I know that I have the semblance of youth and vigor, but I am tired, beloved...so tired..."

These were not words he wanted to hear. Why did it feel like every time they had even a moments bliss together, they were torn apart by the cruel and unforgiving world?

"Please Arwen ... let it not be so," he begged her as he kissed her hands.

"In sorrow we must go, but not in despair," she repeated words of her husband in hopes to bring Legolas comfort, "we are not bound for ever to the circles of the world, and beyond them is more than memory."

He kissed her lightly then and she held him close to her heart as the end to their story was laid at their feet.

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Arwen's condition grew worse as the days crept by. She slept long during the days and nights with Legolas by her side. She had no strength to eat and he could see that what life was still left in her was slowly dissipating.

Whenever he was around her, Legolas tried to be pleasant...if only for her sake. What precious hours they had when she was awake were filled with hope. But when he would watch her sleep, looking to peaceful but lifeless ... the pain in his heart grew until the magnitude of his grief became too much to bear and he cried for her.

Upon returning from his daily walk, he found Arwen not in bed. Panic shot through his body at the thought of where she could be...if she was even still alive. He cursed himself for his ignorance. Rushing to search the immediate grounds for traces of her, he willed himself to not give up home.

Dusk was upon him when her trail led him to Cerin Amroth.

He found her laying amongst the grass and there were elanor and niphredil blooms were scattered around her. She lay still and clothed in a dress of the purest white, she was deathly pale.

Legolas stood fixed to the ground. His heart stopped and fell to his stomach at the sight of her. Dread and death crept slowly through his veins and he grew afraid to approach her. Not knowing what he would find.

Yet he could not give up hope that he was too late. "Arwen!!" he cried as he finally reached her.

Relief spread warmly through his body when her eyes opened to meet his gaze. He cradled her in his arms and noticed her labored breathing and crying eyes. Her skin was cold to the touch when she reached with her limp hand to touch his cheek.

"My love, I tried to spare you this sight...but alas, you have found me and I am glad," her voice was weak. "Legolas...I am afraid," she confessed to him.

He clasped her hand as if to give her strength and her tears fell upon them. Legolas tried to control his voice as he spoke to her, "Be not afraid, Undomiel. There is a place between sleep and awake, where we shall live on forever. Death has no hold over us..." he cried into her hair.

"Sing for me..." she asked in a voice barely above a whisper. He nodded and wiped the tears from her face.

"She walks in beauty, like the night..." he began and tried his best to remember the words that he no longer cared for. She closed her eyes while he sang, comforted by his voice, and if not for the pressure he still felt from her hand, he would have thought her dead.

When he finished, she once again opened her eyes and struggled for air, "My darling, I regret nothing." Her fingers went to her ring that peaked from the top of his tunic.

"Oh Arwen...please do not do this...stay with me!" Legolas begged her as if he could stop the next moments from happening.

"You were always the best part of me..." she smiled and paused for breath, "I love you Legolas Greenleaf."

She reached for his lips with her own and his tears mixed with hers. Legolas couldn't describe what he felt when he kissed her then for there were no words and in a brief moment, there was nothing. He opened his eyes and looked upon her fair face, now peaceful and serene. No more tears flowed from beneath her lids and no air rushed from her mouth. Her body was lifeless in his arms, her hand now limp in his.

And Legolas let out such a cry of agony ... none ever heard, nor heard since, so painful a cry that all nature stood silent and still ... and felt his pain. And all the world mourned the fallen star for it was she that they loved best.

Uncontrollable sobs racked his body and he stayed with her yet a while, holding close to him the love of his life that was lifeless.

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"There at last when the mallorn-leaves were falling, but spring had not yet come, she laid herself to rest upon Cerin Amroth; and there is her green grave, until the world is changed, and all the days of her life are utterly forgotten by men that come after, and elanor and niphredil bloom no more east of the Sea..."

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Just one more chapter left!!