Disclaimer: Geez, y'all! Get off my case! I don't own anything that you recognize, except for Mirime, Calime and the plot changes. Satisfied?
I don't know what happens right after Helm's Deep, and the good parts are in Edoras, so we shall go on there. (After finding Merry and PIPPIN of course. ;))
Ducks flying objects from readers I am SO sorry for not having this up sooner!! Two months! Bad Sunni!!! If y'all really want to know why, it will be in my profile. SORRY!!!
Chapter 20: I didn't choose my Fate
"What are you doing?" Aragorn repeated as Calime dropped the knife. It fell with a clatter to her feet, but she didn't bend to pick it up. Panicking, she yanked the ring from her finger. Hurtling through space and time, she heard Aragorn shouting. Suddenly she was nestled in a soft bed. She could hear beeping and hushed voices, but all she saw was blackness. She tuned in to what the voices were saying.
"Mrs. Hudson, your daughter has suffered extensive brain damage. She cannot breathe on her own, and there is no upper brain movement."
"What does that mean, doctor?"
"It means that Solsken has no chance of survival without machines."
"What are you suggesting that we do?"
"I would recommend turning off the machines. It would be futile to leave them on, and it would be cruel." Sunni didn't hear her mother's answer, only the sound of someone crying. Then, a soft voice was heard.
"Can we say good-bye?"
"Of course. I'll be in the hall. Call for me when you are ready." There was the sound of a door clicking shut, and then steps approaching the bed.
"Sun, you're one of my best friends. The best sister I could have asked for. I'm going to miss you so much. Save me a place in heaven, eh?" Adam said, squeezing her limp hand. He placed a kiss on her forehead.
"I'm so sorry for all the times I made fun of you, and for the things I said, and how I wouldn't let you hang out with my friends, and how I blackmailed you into doing my chores. I'm going to miss you something awful." Evan's voice cracked, and her mother's came instead.
"Maybe you were the child I forgot the most, Solsken, but that never meant that I loved you any less. It just meant that your brothers were more trouble. Now I regret not telling you every day how wonderful you are, and how much I love you. Well, dakka, I love you more than life itself, and I know Papa will take good care of you in Heaven." Tip placed a soft kiss on each of her daughter's cheeks and brushed a bit of hair from where it lay, trapped underneath the ventilator tube. Sunni felt at that moment like that bit of hair: trapped, unable to do anything but lay there and listen. She wanted to cry out 'I am alive!! Don't kill me!!! I love you! Please!' But she couldn't. No words would come to her lips.
"Ss Dun gon t'Pap?" Hope asked in her mangled speech.
"Yes, Hope, Sunni is going to Papa," Adam answered.
"Sun, you are my best friend ever. I love you so much, it hurts like I am dying myself right now," Maja said, her tears falling on the lifeless hand she held in her own hand. "This is yours." Then, Maja slid the silver ring onto Sunni's hand, but she didn't go to Middle Earth. Instead, she heard the door open, and the doctor enter.
"It's time." There was a pause, then a long beep and a long, painful wail that gradually faded as Sunni returned to the small room in Helm's Deep.
"Calime? What is wrong? You look as though you have seen a spirit," Aragorn said.
"Close enough," Calime murmured, running her hand over the thin cuts. A patter of footsteps marked Legolas's entrance.
"There you are! I was beginning to think you had fallen in the fighting, Calime," he remarked.
"I wish!"
"What??"
"I said I wish I had died out there instead of dying a pathetic, meek death that my family had to watch! I wish I hadn't died at all! Death is the worst idea ever! It never does any good, it just makes people hurt." Legolas looked at her in confusion, but Aragorn simply hugged her.
"It does hurt, doesn't it? But it gets easier. Not better, but easier to handle."
"You don't get it, Aragorn!! I DIED!! I no longer exist in a world where I belong!!"
"What are you talking about?" Legolas asked. Aragorn interrupted.
"Legolas, please." Aragorn's arms left her, and Legolas picked her up and carried her to a wide wall in the hall of the wounded, where he laid her down. Carefully, he cleaned her cuts and smoothed salve on them, and held her hand as she fell in to an exhausted, distraught sleep.
A little over a week later
Calime stood near a wall, a cup of ale in her had, watching Merry and Pippin dance on a table surrounded by laughing onlookers. She smiled softly to herself at their antics, but she didn't join in on the merrymaking. The pain of leaving 'home' was still too raw. Before long, her Elven ears were ringing from the loud singing and her heart was heavy, so she set down her untouched cup of ale and slipped from the hall and into the crisp, clear night.
Standing outside on the edge of the terrace was a cloaked figure. Calime grinned in spite of herself.
"Hello, Legolas."
"Calime," he replied. A smile spread over his fair face as he reached for her hand. "How are you?"
"I am better. Why are you out here all by yourself?"
"It was too loud. I needed some quiet." Calime murmured her agreement, and they both fell silent.
Several moments had passed when Legolas removed his hand from hers and, before she could protest, wrapped his green cloak around her, then slipped his arm around her waist, pulling her closer. Calime looked up and her green eyes met his crystalline blue ones. Their gazes held for several long, breathless moments before Legolas leaned his head down to hers. Their lips met softly. As the kiss ended, Calime grinned up at him.
"What was that for?" Legolas didn't answer, just pulled her closer and, burying one hand in her raven hair, kissed her more deeply and tenderly than she had ever been kissed before. Her arms slipped around his neck, pulling him closer to deepen the kiss, and neither stopped the kiss until they heard a throat clearing suggestively.
"Aragorn, why do you always have the best timing?" Calime groaned.
Solsken: Sunshine in Swedish. (IE 'Sun'ni.)
Reviewers:
Lil Eimeim: Thanks!! Aren't you always hyper? LOL, that's okay, so am I! Being hyper is fun!! Aww, baby cousins are great, don't you think? Erin is a great name!! And thanks for reviewing my poem!
Nilimade: Thanks. I plan to keep on writing. ;)
FrodoFever: Thanks tons!! ;) I hope you can read more soon!! Yup, my policy is: y'all read and review, I write. ;)
Legolas's Bride: LOL, you crack me up!! I took part of your idea? Huh? I want a Legolas!! Hey, who said anything about Legolas finding Calime?
Inwe: Thanks! Sorry, my computer has been sick, so to speak and won't let me upload chapters and I was busy with soccer. Sorry! Read and review please!!
Lainfaer: I love Pippin! He's so sweet and adorable. Legolas is great, and so is Faramir. At least, I think so! Thanks!
Elenya: Thanks! I'm glad you liked it!! I keep MYSELF in suspense until the last minute, usually, so no promises! Keep reading and reviewing, please!!!
VampireKat(?): Thanks for liking my story! And thanks for the other stuff you said. Life has been pretty crazy for a while, but it's starting to look up, hopefully! Keep reading and reviewing, please!!
I don't know what happens right after Helm's Deep, and the good parts are in Edoras, so we shall go on there. (After finding Merry and PIPPIN of course. ;))
Ducks flying objects from readers I am SO sorry for not having this up sooner!! Two months! Bad Sunni!!! If y'all really want to know why, it will be in my profile. SORRY!!!
Chapter 20: I didn't choose my Fate
"What are you doing?" Aragorn repeated as Calime dropped the knife. It fell with a clatter to her feet, but she didn't bend to pick it up. Panicking, she yanked the ring from her finger. Hurtling through space and time, she heard Aragorn shouting. Suddenly she was nestled in a soft bed. She could hear beeping and hushed voices, but all she saw was blackness. She tuned in to what the voices were saying.
"Mrs. Hudson, your daughter has suffered extensive brain damage. She cannot breathe on her own, and there is no upper brain movement."
"What does that mean, doctor?"
"It means that Solsken has no chance of survival without machines."
"What are you suggesting that we do?"
"I would recommend turning off the machines. It would be futile to leave them on, and it would be cruel." Sunni didn't hear her mother's answer, only the sound of someone crying. Then, a soft voice was heard.
"Can we say good-bye?"
"Of course. I'll be in the hall. Call for me when you are ready." There was the sound of a door clicking shut, and then steps approaching the bed.
"Sun, you're one of my best friends. The best sister I could have asked for. I'm going to miss you so much. Save me a place in heaven, eh?" Adam said, squeezing her limp hand. He placed a kiss on her forehead.
"I'm so sorry for all the times I made fun of you, and for the things I said, and how I wouldn't let you hang out with my friends, and how I blackmailed you into doing my chores. I'm going to miss you something awful." Evan's voice cracked, and her mother's came instead.
"Maybe you were the child I forgot the most, Solsken, but that never meant that I loved you any less. It just meant that your brothers were more trouble. Now I regret not telling you every day how wonderful you are, and how much I love you. Well, dakka, I love you more than life itself, and I know Papa will take good care of you in Heaven." Tip placed a soft kiss on each of her daughter's cheeks and brushed a bit of hair from where it lay, trapped underneath the ventilator tube. Sunni felt at that moment like that bit of hair: trapped, unable to do anything but lay there and listen. She wanted to cry out 'I am alive!! Don't kill me!!! I love you! Please!' But she couldn't. No words would come to her lips.
"Ss Dun gon t'Pap?" Hope asked in her mangled speech.
"Yes, Hope, Sunni is going to Papa," Adam answered.
"Sun, you are my best friend ever. I love you so much, it hurts like I am dying myself right now," Maja said, her tears falling on the lifeless hand she held in her own hand. "This is yours." Then, Maja slid the silver ring onto Sunni's hand, but she didn't go to Middle Earth. Instead, she heard the door open, and the doctor enter.
"It's time." There was a pause, then a long beep and a long, painful wail that gradually faded as Sunni returned to the small room in Helm's Deep.
"Calime? What is wrong? You look as though you have seen a spirit," Aragorn said.
"Close enough," Calime murmured, running her hand over the thin cuts. A patter of footsteps marked Legolas's entrance.
"There you are! I was beginning to think you had fallen in the fighting, Calime," he remarked.
"I wish!"
"What??"
"I said I wish I had died out there instead of dying a pathetic, meek death that my family had to watch! I wish I hadn't died at all! Death is the worst idea ever! It never does any good, it just makes people hurt." Legolas looked at her in confusion, but Aragorn simply hugged her.
"It does hurt, doesn't it? But it gets easier. Not better, but easier to handle."
"You don't get it, Aragorn!! I DIED!! I no longer exist in a world where I belong!!"
"What are you talking about?" Legolas asked. Aragorn interrupted.
"Legolas, please." Aragorn's arms left her, and Legolas picked her up and carried her to a wide wall in the hall of the wounded, where he laid her down. Carefully, he cleaned her cuts and smoothed salve on them, and held her hand as she fell in to an exhausted, distraught sleep.
A little over a week later
Calime stood near a wall, a cup of ale in her had, watching Merry and Pippin dance on a table surrounded by laughing onlookers. She smiled softly to herself at their antics, but she didn't join in on the merrymaking. The pain of leaving 'home' was still too raw. Before long, her Elven ears were ringing from the loud singing and her heart was heavy, so she set down her untouched cup of ale and slipped from the hall and into the crisp, clear night.
Standing outside on the edge of the terrace was a cloaked figure. Calime grinned in spite of herself.
"Hello, Legolas."
"Calime," he replied. A smile spread over his fair face as he reached for her hand. "How are you?"
"I am better. Why are you out here all by yourself?"
"It was too loud. I needed some quiet." Calime murmured her agreement, and they both fell silent.
Several moments had passed when Legolas removed his hand from hers and, before she could protest, wrapped his green cloak around her, then slipped his arm around her waist, pulling her closer. Calime looked up and her green eyes met his crystalline blue ones. Their gazes held for several long, breathless moments before Legolas leaned his head down to hers. Their lips met softly. As the kiss ended, Calime grinned up at him.
"What was that for?" Legolas didn't answer, just pulled her closer and, burying one hand in her raven hair, kissed her more deeply and tenderly than she had ever been kissed before. Her arms slipped around his neck, pulling him closer to deepen the kiss, and neither stopped the kiss until they heard a throat clearing suggestively.
"Aragorn, why do you always have the best timing?" Calime groaned.
Solsken: Sunshine in Swedish. (IE 'Sun'ni.)
Reviewers:
Lil Eimeim: Thanks!! Aren't you always hyper? LOL, that's okay, so am I! Being hyper is fun!! Aww, baby cousins are great, don't you think? Erin is a great name!! And thanks for reviewing my poem!
Nilimade: Thanks. I plan to keep on writing. ;)
FrodoFever: Thanks tons!! ;) I hope you can read more soon!! Yup, my policy is: y'all read and review, I write. ;)
Legolas's Bride: LOL, you crack me up!! I took part of your idea? Huh? I want a Legolas!! Hey, who said anything about Legolas finding Calime?
Inwe: Thanks! Sorry, my computer has been sick, so to speak and won't let me upload chapters and I was busy with soccer. Sorry! Read and review please!!
Lainfaer: I love Pippin! He's so sweet and adorable. Legolas is great, and so is Faramir. At least, I think so! Thanks!
Elenya: Thanks! I'm glad you liked it!! I keep MYSELF in suspense until the last minute, usually, so no promises! Keep reading and reviewing, please!!!
VampireKat(?): Thanks for liking my story! And thanks for the other stuff you said. Life has been pretty crazy for a while, but it's starting to look up, hopefully! Keep reading and reviewing, please!!