Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to LOTR… or LOTR itself…

A/N: please r/r… and don't flame if it's bad… I put a lot of effort into writing this… =)

Thanks to baby-bubblz and Kristy for being my beta-readers… - you two are awesome!!!…and thanks to Angel 1, Kaz & crazyLOTRfan for reviewing… =D (I'm a hopeless romantic)… =D

By the way: this story's theme is kind of like that of "my immortal" by evanescence… so if you play that song while reading this story… maybe it'll make a bit more sense…

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ represents the start and the end of a flashback…

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The tainted Blood of the Insane

And it did come, when it chased the sun above the horizon. Holding hope close to their hearts, the fellowship departed once again from another home of the Elves. Each had their own gifts from the Lady Galadriel, and each had its own meaning. And they looked back as they journeyed down the Anduin River in boats provided by the Galadrhimm; there stood Galadriel in her normal serene manner, her hand raised in a final salute. The river glistened and glimmered in the sunlight. Aragorn looked up for a second, and saw two statues towering over the Anduin, the Argonath, and their left hands raised up as a warning. Aragorn smiled briefly to himself for a second. It felt good to look upon the Kings of Old, and to be in some familiar territory. His smile faded when he thought about the kings of Old. He wondered if he would ever set foot upon the paths of Minas Tirith, the White City ever again, or look upon the White Tower of Ecthelion… Only time would tell.

Aragorn decided that they would stay at Amon Hen for a while. The view from the high seat would be especially essential if they were going to figure out where to go next.

They reached Amon Hen, and the entire fellowship dropped all the gear they were holding in their hands or carrying upon their backs.

"Please don't wander off, you're no longer safe if you're away from us. The world is no longer a safe place," Aragorn warned them all. Aragorn noticed that Legolas was extremely fidgety, and wouldn't stop notching his bow with an arrow every time he heard a noise.

"Legolas, can you please quit it?!" he asked, slowly getting annoyed with the way Legolas was acting.

"We should leave," Legolas was worried. He knew something was out to get them, and they weren't Orcs. They were something else, something much more dangerous and enduring of the rough conditions of the wild.

"No. Orcs do not patrol these shores in broad daylight," Aragorn answered, trying his best to reassure Legolas that they were safe.

"That's what I'm afraid of, Aragorn," and he walked off again, grabbing another arrow. That was when Merry whipped around on hearing Legolas' malcontent. Someone was missing about their midst.

"Where's Frodo?" Aragorn looked around the group after hearing Merry's question. Someone else was missing, and it wasn't just Frodo. Legolas, check. Merry and Pip, check. Gimli, check. Frodo, missing. Now who else was missing?

"Boromir," he whispered quietly, and he ran off before anyone could ask him what he was up to.

Meanwhile, Boromir was having his go at persuading Frodo to give him the ring again. Apparently it wasn't quite ending up the way he wanted it to.

"Give me the ring Frodo!" Boromir seemed to be going insane. The quest so far hadn't been exactly what he expected. Gandalf was dead; Gondor was going to be attacked any day now, the woman of his dreams would never be his, and apparently Galadriel could read minds.

"You are not yourself, Boromir!" Frodo obviously wasn't having the best time either.

"Give it to me! Gondor will not fall!" He was both desperate and afraid for the fate of Gondor. These two worries only caused him to get even more worked up and crazy.

"Get yourself together Boromir!" Frodo needed to knock some sense into Boromir, but unfortunately reasoning with men who are going insane isn't the best idea in the world.

"Just give the ring… to… me... FRODO!" Boromir lunged at Frodo, but Frodo slipped the ring onto his finger. He needed to get away from Boromir right away before he could cause any serious damage.

"ARGH!" Boromir lunged at the air in hopes of catching Frodo, but Frodo grounded him as he kicked and thrashed at him while being invisible. "You will betray us all Frodo! You will bring the ring to him! And he will kill us all!" And Boromir muttered to himself while sitting on the ground, cussing to himself once in awhile.

Frodo thought silently to himself as he ran away, "I'm only trying to make you understand Boromir, that the ring does more harm than good. You have to learn how to solve these problems on your own,"

Countless thoughts were flooding back into Boromir's head, and all the problems he had pushed away so long ago seemed to creep back to him again. Boromir remembered promising to Faramir before leaving on the quest that he would not let Gondor fall no matter what.

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The two were sitting opposite each other in the dining hall. Each was drinking a mug of beer, celebrating the fact that they had yet again tied in a swordfight. Faramir looked at him and smiled.

"Today, Boromir my brother, life is good. It isn't so harsh on us. Perhaps it is a sign, a sign that something good is going to happen," declared Faramir.

"Yes, perhaps…" but then his smile turned into a frown. It was time he told Faramir. "Faramir, I'm leaving today.  I had this dream and… and…" he paused, how was he supposed to explain this to Faramir? But Faramir understood.

"You heard a voice that said:

Seek for the sword that was broken;
In Imladris it dwells;
There shall be counsels taken
Stronger than Morgul-spells.
There shall be shown a token
That Doom is near at hand,
For Isildur's bane shall awaken,
And the Halfling forth shall stand."

"How did… how did you-" Boromir was utterly confused.

"I have had that dream for many long nights now… And each time it leaves me in a state of confusion… But why must you go Boromir? Why don't we go together, or perhaps I should go alone?" Faramir was worried because Boromir was to be the Steward of Gondor after Denethor, and he was the captain of the White Tower of Ecthelion… if anything should happen to him…

"No.  I'm older than you are, my time's running out. You're young; you still have a lifetime ahead of you… Live it up, kiddo,"

"Nonsense! You're not any older than I am!" Faramir protested.

"Listen to me Faramir, I'm only doing this for your own good. I have my own reasons as well to why I need to leave for Imladris. Stay here and protect the home front for me… Do this for me okay?" Boromir asked Faramir sincerely. Faramir nodded.

"You won't let Gondor fall right?" Faramir asked.

"Of course not. I promise that whatever happens, I will not let Gondor fall," Boromir answered. In his mind he knew exactly why he was leaving. First of all, he didn't want his brother to die, who knew what was waiting to taste the flesh of men out there in the wild? And secondly, he needed to get away from her… Morwen… He needed to get away as soon as possible; he really didn't want to stay behind and watch as she married another. He loved her, and he really had, but every time he tried to prove his love to her, by words or by actions that somehow always backfired… she never took him seriously. All her sorrows he had taken from her and drunk the deadly poison, she had such a happy life. And now she had finally realized whom she loved, and he was all alone. There was nothing he could say or do to bring her back. And now he was leaving. He didn't need to inflict any more pain upon himself than he already had. Faramir and Boromir left for the stables.

"Well this is it then…  Farewell Boromir… my Brother…"

"I'll come back some day, don't you worry about it… Farewell Faramir… my brother…"

"Oh, aren't you going to bid farewell to Morwen?" asked Faramir innocently. He knew how much his brother loved her, and it would be a shame to leave without saying goodbye to her at least.

"Don't… say… that… name… please…" hissed Boromir. Faramir was taken aback. "She doesn't care, and even if I died, she wouldn't even notice that I'm gone,"

"I'm… I'm… sorry… I didn't know…" answered Faramir.

"It's alright… I didn't really want anyone knowing… but here, give this to her if you should ever see her… I was going to give it to her yesterday evening… but then… yeah… um… farewell!" he dropped the small package into Faramir's hand and rode away. Inside the package was the ring he was going to give her… he was going to ask her to marry him! That was before… it didn't matter anymore. And on the note he had written to her explaining about how he felt… but he knew that she would probably throw it away before even reading it… He concentrated hard on the promise he had made to Faramir, and the long road ahead to keep his mind off of other problems…

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He had no way of keeping that promise with him now. There was no way he was going to escape this hellhole this time.