Title: I Thought You Loved Me.

By: Queen-of-Sporks

Disclaimer: I don't own anything that isn't mine. No matter how much I want to own Aragorn and various other people from that book and others, I don't. Damn. Oh well, on with the story.

--------------------------------------------------------I thought you loved me.------------------------------------------------------

She paused by a tree, tears in her already red eyes. She leaned against the rough bark, replaying the events of what had happened only a short while earlier in her mind. ---Flash back to a few minutes before---

"What are you talking about? I do not understand." She was confused and showed him openly that she did not comprehend his last statement.

"It would never work. You are an elf. You should be with your people."

"I want to be with you," she interjected.

He ignored her and continued. "Go to the Undying Lands with you kin. Go to Valinor. Do not stay on my account for we are too different." He turned away to hide the fact that this pained him as well.

"Do I not have your love?" She asked quietly.

Forcing aside the feeling of guilt welling up in his stomach, he unfastened the chain about his neck and turned to face her again. "I cannot accept this. Give it to someone who loves you as you deserve to be loved." He held the necklace out toward her.

She took all his words stoically, fighting hard not to break down and cry. "Keep it. It was a gift." She took his hand in hers and closed it around the pendant. She smiled at the man she loved, turned and walked away. She moved quickly and quietly through the woods until she out of his line of sight and out of hearing distance. ---End of flashback---

"Why?" she asked no one in particular. She turned her head towards the sky and wept. "He loves me still. I know it. Why, then, must he torture me so, denying the feelings in his heart? I swear to all who hear, I will not leave these shores 'less all the Valar themselves are against the Evenstar." She saw no sign in the forest that anyone was trying to stop her. "Nay, love. I will not forget, nor so easily forsake our promised love. We will be together once again, melamin. I chose to leave my people for you and you alone. I have forsaken my Elven kin in the Havens. I will not depart unto Valinor like the rest." She threw her hands into the air. "I choose a mortal life!" She yelled to the sky. "I cannot alter that choice now when my very life hangs on small fears and doubts."

She had stopped crying but her eyes were still tinged with crimson. She returned to her room, laid down on her bed, and waited for news that the Fellowship was departing. She slowly shifted in and out of consciousness. The day's events mingled with dreams to the point where she was not sure which was true. So enchanting were these dreams that she was only awoken when her father shook her.

Elrond looked down at Arwen, his beautiful daughter, with almost sympathetic eyes. He had not meant to cause his beloved daughter grief. He felt he was doing both of them a favor and sparing them much heartache and sorrow.

"It is time, Arwen. They are about to leave." His voice, hardly above a whisper, barely found its way to her ears. She heard him, but from a distance. "If you wish to see them off, you must go now."

She slowly sat up. She moved in a zombie-like manner, as though she was still in a dream. Her eyes showed no emotion; they were simply brownish- gray orbs that seemed to have no point of focus. She did not recall how she got out of the room and to the place where the whole of Rivendell was waiting to see the Fellowship off.

He was there, standing straight and tall and fair. She looked at him long and hard, trying to discern what he was thinking. Finally, their eyes met and she saw no anger in his gray orbs. They seemed more apologetic than anything. She then understood why he had told her to go to the Havens. He did love her, so much so that he did not want her to bear the pain of a mortal life, and she saw in his eyes how it tormented him not to have her. She nodded.

"I will not give up hope," she mouthed slowly. "Not while our love for each other is still alive."

He nodded slightly in reply. As she watched the man she loved go, probably to his death, a lone tear streaked town her cheek.

"I will wait for you until then end of my days," she whispered to the empty space where Aragorn, son of Arathorn, had recently stood. "Arwen Evenstar will always wait for the Elfstone."

FIN

Author's note: Melamin is "My love" in Elven. Also, please tell me if you would want more. I was thinking of writing this story only from Aragorn's perspective. Please tell me if I should or not.