Aragorn jumped suddenly, drawing his sword. A frightened, panicked look ghosted over Frodo's face before he realized what made the ranger draw his weapon seemingly on him: Sting was glowing blue. Orcs were close by! "Run," Aragorn ordered. Frodo stared at him, his brain refusing to register his words. "Run!" he ordered again, louder and more urgent.

Frodo finally turned and ran. Aragorn faced the oncoming orcs. For now, all fears and doubts had left him. He'd faced the temptation of the ruling ring and was able to defeat it. 'After that,' he mused confidently, 'an army of orcs is nothing.'

The uruk-hai were on him soon enough and he fought each one that came, up to the top of the ruins. "Elendil!" he shouted, jumping down on to land on top of even more uruk-hai. Yes, for he was not only Isildur's heir, but also of the line of Elendil, the rightful king of Gondor, and the lover of Prince Legolas Thranduilion. Right now he felt like he could take on all of the forces of Isengard and Mordor single-handedly and triumph.

Legolas and Gimli came from the forest, their weapons drawn at the sight of the uruk-hai. They ignored Aragorn's look of surprise and question and searched the battle for any sign of Frodo, Sam, or Boromir. None of them appeared to be in this fray. "Aragorn, go!" shouted Legolas. 'Find the hobbits and Boromir,' he added silently, not daring to say it aloud. What would happen if the uruk-hai knew that some of their company were by themselves was a thought he didn't even want to entertain.

Aragorn understood the sentiment, if not the full reasons, behind Legolas' urging and ran off. The elf turned his mind to the uruk-hai. 'Don't think about how many there are and how you can't kill them all,' he instructed himself gravely. 'Think only about the ones you can kill.' He fired off a couple of shots, hitting an uruk-hai each time. Drawing another arrow, he was accosted by one of the disgusting creatures. He was too close to shoot! Acting on pure survival instinct, Legolas thrust the arrow forward, jamming it through its skull. He then quickly drew back the arrow, readied his bow, and killed another creature that was trying to get close.

Gimli snorted with approval between axe swings. "Two birds with one stone," he commented. "You're getting the hang of this, laddie. One day you might even be as good as me!"

Legolas would have retorted had he not seen the predicament that Aragorn was in. The ranger hadn't gone too far from the fray when he'd been attacked by an uruk-hai that now had its filthy hands around his neck. 'Concentrate on the ones you can kill,' he smirked with no mercy. 'And there's one I can definitely kill.'

Aragorn was struggling, trying to suck in enough air to not pass out before he could pry the uruk-hai's fingers from around his throat. If this kept up any longer, he was going to die! Suddenly, the creature's grip slackened and it slumped to the ground with an arrow sticking out of its back. Gasping for air, he looked from the arrow to his elven lover. Legolas was a mess - at least according to the standards of his people - with his hair slightly unruly from the action, his cheeks red with emotion and exertion, and the beginnings of a bruise on his forehead. To Aragorn, he looked more beautiful now than he ever did even in his finest clothes. The man was startled to realize that he was proud of Legolas. He never before thought himself worthy enough to be proud of anything that the elf did; rather he felt awed by almost anything he did. Aragorn always thought that being proud of someone was something awarded to someone by their betters, but now he understood what Legolas meant every time he said he was proud of him. It wasn't just encouragement and appreciation, but also the happiness of seeing someone you care about doing something you knew they could do all along. It was a new feeling for Aragorn and he wished he had more time to ponder all that it meant.

Before he could even utter a word of thanks to Legolas, the sounding of a horn filled the air. Legolas whipped his head in the direction of the sound. "The Horn of Gondor!" he cried in alarm.

"Boromir!" Aragorn took off, fighting any uruk-hai that got in his way. Any anger he felt towards the other man was long gone. After experiencing for himself the power of the ring, Aragorn knew all too well the temptations it offered. It promised to fulfill your fondest dreams in a matter of moments. Now he felt sympathy for Boromir's plight. After all, he had the love of Legolas, who knew the ring was evil and wanted him to resist it; while Boromir had tot live up to the expectations of Denethor, who would undoubtedly want his son to bring it to Minas Tirith.

He finally reached the bottom of the hill and was horrified by the sight that greeted him: a large uruk-hai was about to shoot Boromir execution-style. The Gondorian just looked up at the bow, too weak to fight back with three arrows already in him. Well, he wasn't too weak to fight! He lunged at the monster and a fierce fight began. 'Legolas,' he thought as they exchanged punishing blows. 'Legolas, Ada, Elrohir, Elladan, Frodo, Sam, Merry, Pippin, Gimli, Boromir!' He wouldn't and couldn't be slain, for their sakes.

The thing, however, refused to die or even falter, not even when Aragorn chopped off its arm. He stabbed desperately, putting his sword through its torso, but the creature only pulled it into his body even more, pulling Aragorn along with it. The smug growl he made in his face turned any fear Aragorn felt into disgusted annoyance. 'Live through this,' he thought and beheaded the uruk-hai in one swift motion. The body fell to the ground and Aragorn used his last remaining strength to stumble to Boromir's side.

Boromir was in obvious pain but still alive. "They took the little ones," he sobbed out.

'Which little ones?' thought Aragorn, but before he asked the question out loud, Boromir asked, "Frodo. Where is Frodo?"

Thank the Valar that Frodo hadn't been captured! "I let Frodo go," he said.

"Then you did what I could not," Boromir told him, a look of shame filling his face at the memory. "I tried to take the ring from him and this is the price I must pay for failing you all."

"You didn't fail us," Aragorn comforted. "You fought bravely and kept your honor."

"You were right about not taking the ring to Gondor," Boromir choked out. "Forgive me; I did not see it. Men couldn't resist it and for that the world of Men will fall and my city fall into ruin."

"I swear to you by whatever strength there is in my blood that the White City will not fall," vowed Aragorn. "There is still valor and honor in the world of Men and I will make sure that our people don't fail."

"Our people?" mused Boromir. Aragorn nodded and Boromir gave him as strong a smile as he could manage. "Our people. I would have followed you, my brother. My captain. My king." With those last words, Boromir died.

Aragorn closed his eyes. "Be at peace, son of Gondor," he whispered, kissing Boromir's brow.

Legolas, with Gimli close behind, had come during the final exchange between those two. Now he watched as his confusion mingled with grief. Boromir was injured, very injured, and now...

He'd seen many dead orcs and many orcs die on this mission, but this was something different. And it wasn't like seeing the dead body of an enemy of Sauron. Moria had been filled with those, but they had just been skeletons. This, this was someone he knew, someone he recognized. He was suddenly grateful that he never had to witness Mithrandir's last moments; to have to watch the light go out in him as it did in Boromir at this moment would have been unbearable. Was this what everyone looked like when they died? He was sure he'd find out no matter how much he didn't want to and that thought brought forth fears he'd managed to hold at bay since the company left Moria.

Aragorn came over to them. "Boromir said that the uruk-hai took 'the little ones,'" he reported grimly. "He didn't say who those little ones were. I don't think one was Frodo; he asked where Frodo was. Where are the other hobbits?"

"Sam slipped away from the camp," said Legolas. "That's why we were so close to where the uruk-hai attacked. We hid Merry and Pippin before we went looking for him..."

His voice trailed off as he whirled around and took off. Aragorn and Gimli followed as best they could to Merry and Pippin's hiding spot. Legolas was already leaning over, looking into the cutout. "They're not here!" Legolas lamented. "They said they weren't going to leave this spot. I should never have left them on their own."

"Maybe someone's back at the campsite," suggested Gimli gently. They trekked to the camp, but there was no sign of any of the hobbits. Legolas scanned the area in desperation and almost cried out in relief. "Frodo and Sam are on the eastern shore," he announced.

"That means the uruk-hai have Merry and Pippin," Aragorn concluded.

"Who do we follow?" asked Gimli. "Either way, the fellowship has failed."

"Not if we hold true to each other," declared Aragorn. "Right now, we have to save Merry and Pippin before they torment to death. Frodo's fate in no longer in our hands."

Legolas heard the hitch in Aragorn's voice. ""Did something happen?" he asked.

Aragorn looked him in the eyes and smiled. "I found out that I'm not Isildur," he answered simply, knowing that Legolas would understand.

Legolas' eyes shone with pride. "I knew you could do it," he whispered.

Gimli, not understanding the meaning behind their words, went on. "We just can't leave Boromir's body on the ground to rot and be despoiled," he pointed out.

"We don't need the boats where we're going," said Aragorn. "We'll give him to the Anduin to protect and preserve. After that, we'll hunt some orcs."

To be continued...

A/N: Thank you to Musicstarlover, Nienna Coamenel, Tanin, Raven, and Rain for suggesting some websites for The Two Towers elvish dialogue, and to anyone else who made a suggestion that I haven't seen yet (I've yet to check my e-mail today).