Hey y'all! This is a song-fic off of the song My Last Breath, by Evanessance. I don't really know why I wrote it, I was cruising song lyrics and found this one and I figured that it would make a great story thing. Please R&R when you're done!

I own nothing of Tolkien's, nor the song "My Last Breath" essentially, if you have even the smallest recognition of something, I don't own it. I only own Tari.

My Last Breath

Legolas gripped the shaking form in his arms. As he ran, he looked down at the face he had loved for more than a hundred years. Her hair was matted with blood, and deep black bruises colored the face of the elleth in his arms.  Gently, he lowered her body to the ground. 

As his eyes raked over her body, his lips formed a thin line in anger. Mentally, he cursed himself. This was his fault. He should have been more aware of his surroundings. He was brought out of his condemnations as the elleth stirred in his arms. She moaned slightly as he shifted her weight. Legolas caught his breath and quickly stopped moving.

After a few moments, she stopped moving and continued her ragged breathing. Legolas quickly shook his head, clearing his eyes of the tears that were threatening to fall.

He and Tari had been on their way to Lothlorien from Mirkwood, when they were ambushed by a band of orcs. They had been greatly outnumbered and soon were overtaken. The orcs bound their hands and marched them towards their nightly cave where they stayed for the day. Once there, the foul beasts had driven Legolas and his wife to the back of the cave. There, they tied them up, facing each other, and proceeded to torture them, one stoke of the whip at a time, keeping it painfully obvious that they would do the exact same to each of their captives.

Then, they had stopped beating the prince, and turned all of their attention to the elleth in their cave. After the first stroke that fell, that wasn't also directed at Legolas, they quickly realized that if they harmed the she-elf, and not the prince, they would cause just as much damage to both of them. So it continued until the orcs became too tired to continue. But by that time, irreversible damage had already been done. Everything after that was a blur to the elf prince, somehow he had gotten himself and his wife out of the cave and out of harms way.

Legolas cradled the precious cargo in his arms. Looking up at the cloudy sky, he silently begged the Valar to save his wife. Another moan made him look down at the elleth in his arms. He held his breath as her eyes slowly fluttered open. Her eyes locked on his and he felt a stab of pain shoot his heart when he saw the amount of pain in them. After a moment, she looked away and closed her eyes again.

"Tari?" he asked softly. Tari turned her head back towards him and tried to open her eyes. When she finally succeeded, they were tired and anyone could clearly read the message in them. Just let me go.

When Legolas saw it, he immediately shook his head. "No." he whispered, his voice thick with emotion. "You can't leave me." His eyes glistened with tears.

Tari smiled wearily. She reached up and gently touched his cheek. "Hold me, melamnin" she whispered hoarsely.

Hold on to me love

You know I can't stay long
All I wanted to say was I love you and I'm not afraid
can you hear me?
Can you feel me in your arms?

Legolas gently gripped the shaking form in his arms. His breathing hitched as he realized that he might be losing his beloved. Slowly, he started rocking back and forth. "Tari," he whispered, "Don't leave me. I need you!" Tari started to speak when a fit of coughing came over her. Pain lanced through her body, and the fiery ache in her chest confirmed that she had internal injuries. Panic ran through Legolas as his wife started coughing up blood. Closing his eyes, he placed his hand on her chest and willed the coughing to stop. Finally, after a few moments of desperate tension, the chest wrenching coughs slowed, and then stopped. The Silvan elf opened his eyes, and noticed that Tari had closed hers again. Panicking, he gently shook her, trying to keep her awake. Tari swallowed hard, and forced her eyes open again. Legolas' heart clenched painfully when he saw that the light in her eyes, which was usually so bright, had almost gone out. He shook his head, trying to deny the inevitable.

Holding my last breath
Safe inside myself
Are all my thoughts of you
Sweet raptured light it ends here tonight

From her place in his gentle embrace, Tari smiled weakly. Her thoughts were only on him. Their times together, whether good or bad. The first time they met. It had been at an archery contest, and against all odds, she had made it to the final bracket and to her dismay, she found out that her opponent was the King's son himself. At the time, she had despised all types of royalty, thinking that they were rich snobs who cared nothing of the troubles of others. How wrong she was. Even though she had lost to the prince, that defeat had led to the most unlikely friendship imaginable. That friendship had turned into a romance, then eventually ended up with Legolas popping the question. Now she was lying in her beloved's arms, on death's doorstep, and all she could think about was him. Her very own prince. She took in a shaky breath as pain exploded through her senses. "Legolas," she started, fighting to stay for a few more moments, "You and I both know that I am leaving." She swallowed. "Promise… Promise me that you will go on and live your life to the fullest. Do not grieve for me." She stopped, unable to go one without losing complete control of her emotions. After a few moments, she said, "Wait until you hear the call of the sea before passing over the waters. I will be waiting for you in the white forests of Valinor."

I'll miss the winter
A world of fragile things
Look for me in the white forest
Hiding in a hollow tree (come find me)
I know you hear me
I can taste it in your tears

At her words, a broken sob escaped Legolas' lips. He feverently shook his head "No…No, don't say that, I'm going to save you." He choked out. "And together, we will go back to Mirkwood." His voice quivered.

"Promise me!" she said urgently.

Legolas closed his eyes. "I promise." He vowed.

Tari smiled sadly and gripped Legolas' hand in her own. "You already did." She said softly. "When you stayed with me, when you got us out." She paused to catch her breath. "When we first met." She stopped and closed her eyes, trying to save her strength. Something warm hit her face and slowly rolled down her cheek. She could faintly taste the saltiness of his tears. She forced her eyes open again and found Legolas with tears streaming down his face. Tari reached up and gently brushed them away with her fingertips.

Holding my last breath
Safe inside myself
Are all my thoughts of you
Sweet raptured light it ends here tonight

"Don't cry, melamin." She whispered softly. "We will see each other again. And when we do, nothing will ever be able to separate us." Legolas pulled her hand to his face and kissed the back of it. Slowly, he nodded.

"Nothing will ever be able to separate us again." He agreed.


Closing your eyes to disappear
You pray your dreams will leave you here
But still you wake and know the truth
No one's there

His mind told him that this could all be a horrible dream, and that he would soon wake up and find his wife lying sleeping next to him on the bed. But deep in his heart, he knew. He knew it was real. So real it hurt.

"Legolas." The softly spoken word made Legolas look down again. Tari was looking at him, her eyes full of love. "Legolas." She said again, a little more strongly. "Amin mela lle."

Legolas' eyes filled with tears anew as he heard the simple words from his beloved's mouth. He squeezed his eyes shut, willing the tears to stop flowing. He had to be strong now, for her. Opening them, he was greeted by Tari smiling wearily up at him.

As well as he could, he returned it. "Amin mela lle." He whispered. Slowly he lowered his head and brushed his lips against hers. He kissed her long and tenderly, telling her of his love, and his promise to her. When he pulled away, his heart clenched when he saw that her eyes had closed again. "Tari?" he whispered unbelieving. "Tari?!" But there was no response.

Say goodnight
Don't be afraid
Calling me calling me as you fade to black…

The elleth could hear him. She wanted nothing more than to open her eyes and see his smiling face looking down at her. She was about to go back when she heard a call. It was the most compelling call she had ever heard before. A bright light approached her and she shielded her eyes from the blinding whiteness.

"Come, my child." A deep voice said. Tari hesitated, looking to the spot to where Legolas would have been. "I am Mandos. There is no need to fear me. I come to bring you to my halls." Tari bit her lip.

"But…" she started, but Mandos cut her off.

"Do not worry for your Prince. He will pull through this and come out stronger than he was before." The mighty Valar locked eyes with her. "You will see him again." Then he smiled. "In the white forests of Valinor. I promise you."

Taking a deep breath, she smiled and placed her hand in his and together they disappeared into the light.

Outside, Legolas watched helplessly as wife's breathing became shallower and shallower. By now the tears were falling freely down his face. With one final sigh, Tari's spirit fled her body, and departed to the halls of waiting.

The clouds opened up and it seemed like the heavens were crying with the lone elf prince as he cried over the lifeless body of his beloved princess.

Calling me calling me as you fade to black…

Wow…sniff that was sad… I had a friend pre-read it for me and she was like this…oO… (After she read it she ran around saying that I was depressed) lol.

I hope you like it, and there will be and epilogue after this, so check back later to see the long awaited reunion!

ElvenStar