A/N: Hey guys! I'm excited to get to this chapter, cause we've got another deleted scene coming up! :D Quick question: What did you guys think of me adding a song in at the end? I think that one fits Íverin pretty well, seeing as she's got a long road ahead of her. Where do you think she'll end up after all this is over?

Disclaimer: Íverin is the only thing that's mine. I don't own anything else!

I took a quick drink of water from my flask as we rode on. The air was cool, the sun was high, and there weren't many clouds to be seen in the sky above us. We had left Ithilien two days ago, and had only stopped once to rest. The rumbling of Mount Doom was growing stronger, and the men were growing quieter as we rode on. We were close. So close to Mordor.

Hasufeld was growing nervous, too. I could feel it. Gently, I reached down and stroked his mane. "We are almost there, nîn mellon (my friend)."

Aragorn rode up beside me, looking absolutely regal in his new clothes that Faramir had provided him with. His cape flowed down from his shoulders, rippling slightly in the breeze. "This is it," he sighed.

I nodded. "The final battle. Are you nervous?"

He shook his head. "Not much. I have a feeling this plan will work."

"And if it does, what do we do next?"

Aragorn paused for a moment. "...we go home."

I exhaled. "For you, I suppose. Not for me."

"What do you mean by that?" he frowned.

"I don't know, I just...I feel like I do not have a permanent home anymore. I would be happy living in Gondor for the most part, but none of my friends live there. Rivendell, maybe, but I do not want to leave Legolas behind, either. I was considering going to live in Lothlórien for awhile, since that would be closer to Mirkwood, but I am not sure I would be content there, either."

"I know how you feel, cousin. I know I have a responsibility to my people in Gondor, but I do not want Arwen to be separated from me, for that would weigh to heavy on her heart, I fear."

I smiled a bit. "Perhaps we should just wait to see if we get through this day first, and then let our hearts decide."

He smiled. "Perhaps we should." We laughed for a moment, but that was cut short when we rounded a rocky bend. There before us stood the entrance to Mordor, the Black gate. It was made of filthy, hard black metal, with two menacing towers on either side, embedded into the mountains surrounding it. The sky beyond the Morannon was nothing but dark, rolling clouds, riddled with ash and dust. The air was thick with evil and darkness, and it felt like we were walking into death.

Our army huddled together in a large circle in front of the Black Gate. Aragorn and I took our places at the front. Legolas sat on his horse next to me, and reached over and squeezed my hand for support. I looked over and gave him a small smile.

Aragorn looked over at us. "Come on," he said quietly. I nodded, and a small group of us rode up closer to the Black Gate: Legolas, Gimli, myself, Merry, Pippin, Éomer, Gandalf, and Aragorn. Once we arrived, Aragorn shouted, "Let the Lord of the Black land come forth! Let justice be done upon him!"

For a moment, all was silent. I looked around, wondering if anyone had even heard him.

Then there was a loud creak, and then another, and slowly, ever so slowly, the entrance to Mordor opened a crack, just enough for an Orc on a lone horse to ride out. He reeked of evil, and wore thick black armor, with a jagged helmet so large that it covered every inch of his face except his abnormally large mouth. The skin around it was grey and cracked, somewhat bleeding in a few spots. We all watched in silence as he rode out to meet us.

"Who is that?" I whispered.

"I believe it is the Mouth of Sauron," Legolas whispered back. I looked up, and he was staring at the Orc with pure hatred in his eyes.

The Mouth of Sauron spoke, his voice deep and unnerving. "My master, Sauron the Great, bids thee welcome." He smiled, and I did everything I could not to cringe at the sight of his horrible brown teeth. Then, with more hostility, he said, "Is there any in this rout with authority to treat with me?"

"We do not come to treat with Sauron, faithless and accursed," Gandalf said sharply. The Mouth of Sauron growled. "Tell your master this: The armies of Mordor must disband. He is to depart these lands, never to return!"

To my surprise, the hideous thing had a twisted grin on his face. "Ah, old Greybeard. I have a token I was bidden to show thee." He reached into the depths of his clothes, and pulled out a shining silver shirt of mail.

I recognized it instantly, and my heart froze. Frodo's mithril...

Gimli gasped.

"Frodo..." Pippin whispered.

Horrible memories of my latest nightmare came flooding back to me. It could not be true. There was no way. He...Sauron...he had killed Frodo...it was...no...

The Mouth of Sauron growled again and threw the shirt at Gandalf, who caught it, staring at it in disbelief. I blinked, and felt hot tears come to my eyes.

"Frodo!" Pippin said, louder this time.

"Silence," Gandalf warned.

"No!" Merry cried out in despair.

"Silence!" Gandalf said firmly, but I could hear the unsteadiness in his voice.

That was just what Sauron's servant wanted to hear. "The Halfling was dear to thee, I see." I closed my eyes and lowered my head, trying to restrain myself from sobbing. Frodo and Sam...dead...two more of my close friends...gone...We had been too late. "Know that he suffered greatly at the hands of his host." Looking back up, I saw that even Aragorn seemed grief-stricken. I took a shaky breath, and Legolas put a hand on my shoulder for comfort, but even he looked shocked. "Who would've thought one so small could endure so much pain? And he did, Gandalf, he did."

Right as the dirty Orc said that, I saw a tear slide down Gandalf's cheek. Instantly, a burning anger rose in my heart. He had crossed the line right there. I shrugged Legolas's hand off of my shoulder and rode forward a bit so that I was in front of Gandalf, face to face with Sauron's minion. "Pain? You do not know the meaning of the word," I said lowly, glaring at him.

"Íverin!" Aragorn hissed. I knew he didn't want me getting hurt by this beast, but I didn't care.

The Mouth of Sauron smiled again. "Íverin? That name is familiar to me. Tell me, elf girl, why did you have your companions come when you knew of the Halfling's death before they?"

"My business is my own," I replied. "At this point, it would be better off for you to leave my sight, before I remove you from this earth myself." I never stopped giving him that cold glare, but subtly put my hand on the hilt of my dagger.

"My master has spoken with you, this I know. You know what awaits you here, do you not? Pain..." he turned his head to look at the rest of us, or Legolas in particular. "...and death to those you love.

That was it. Faster than any man or elf could follow, I ripped my knife from its sheath and plunged it deep into his cold, black heart. The Mouth of Sauron coughed and tensed in pain, and I pushed it in deeper, a fire in my eyes. "You can belittle and torture me all you like...but keep...your foul fingers...away from my loved ones. And your dirty army can tell Sauron that that message came from me personally," I said, my voice choked with rage. I removed my knife, and the Orc's corpse fell lifelessly off of the horse and onto the ground. His horse turned and ran off.

"I guess that concludes negotiations," Gimli muttered.

I turned back to the rest of our company. "We are not done here. We must fight for...for Frodo."

Aragorn nodded. He had a look on his face that told me he would've liked to kill the Mouth of Sauron, too. To the Black Gate, he shouted, "Come forth, armies of Mordor! Stop cowering behind your mountainous walls!"

The Black Gate creaked again in response, and opened once more, this time revealing a huge army of Orcs, marching and chanting as they made their way to our own army. My eyes widened as they approached. There were far more than ten-thousand Orcs now. Possibly fifty-thousand, or maybe even more than that.

Aragorn noticed their numbers, too. "Pull back...Pull back!"

Without hesitation, we rode back to our positions in the army of men, now looking increasingly smaller by each passing second. The Orcs were moving quickly now, closing in around us, so that we had nowhere to run. My heart raced, with both fear and adrenaline. I looked up at Legolas, who had dismounted his horse. I did the same, and leaned over to whisper a command in Hasufeld's ear. "Run back to the borders of Ithilien, my friend. Wait for me. If I live, I will come back for you." With a soft whinny, he obliged. I turned to Legolas and grabbed his hand. "Do you think we're going to make it through this?"

"Honestly? I do not," he said. "But I will fight with as much passion as I always have nonetheless."

I nodded. "As will I."

The Orcs, now having completely trapped us, gave a loud battle cry. Many of the Men cringed in fear. Aragorn, who was still on Corror, began riding back and forth in front of our troops. "HOLD YOUR GROUND! Hold your ground! Sons of Gondor! Of Rohan! My brothers! I see in your eyes, the same fear that would take the heart of me!" His gaze swept over every one of us. "The day may come...when the courage of Men fails. When we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship. But it is not this day! An hour of woes, and shatter shields when the age of Men comes crashing down! But it is not this day! THIS DAY WE FIGHT!" A small smile grew on my face. That was the Aragorn I knew.

"By all that you hold dear on this good earth, I bid you STAND! MEN OF THE WEST!" With that, he raised his sword, and was answered with the clatter of hundreds of others, including my own. Aragorn turned and held Anduril high, with his horse reared up in its hind legs as he faced Sauron's army. He truly did look like a king fighting for his people.

The Orcs continued their chants, and the light of Sauron's Great Eye bore down on us. As Aragorn finally dismounted his horse, I turned and gave Legolas one last kiss. "I love you, Legolas. Always remember that."

"I love you too, Íverin. I shall not forget it."

After a moment, Gimli said, "Never thought I'd die fighting side by side with a couple of elves."

Legolas looked at him and smiled. "What about side by side with your friends?"

Gimli looked at us for a moment, and returned the smile. "Aye. I can do that." The three of us stood there for a moment, waiting, just like every other warrior behind us.

And then I looked up at Aragorn. He looked strong, ready to fight...when he lowered his sword. I frowned. "Aragorn?" He did not respond. He was staring at the Great Eye. I gasped. Oh Valar, please don't tell me Sauron's trying to seduce him now...not now... "Aragorn!"

My cousin turned, and for a moment I half expected his eyes to turn red. But instead, he simply smiled. "For Frodo." With that, he gripped his blade once more and ran forward, charging straight at his foes with confidence.

Merry and Pippin also gave cries of battle, and ran after him. A moment later, the rest of the men joined in, and I found myself running alongside everyone else, with my blade held high, ready to tear into some Orc flesh. "FOR FRODO!"

Legolas started shooting as soon as we started running. "Íverin! Stay with me!"

"No promises, Legolas! But I'll certainly try!" Within seconds, I had stabbed my first Orc. Then I felled another, and another, and another. I moved with agility and precision, using every move I'd ever been taught when I was young. The entire time, I never stopped thinking: Fight for Frodo. Fight for your father and mother. Fight for Sam. Fight for Boromir. Fight for Théoden. Fight for those who cannot fight anymore.

I shot my fist out and punched another Orc in the face, then brought my blade across his chest, knocking him down. Another one came up beside me, and I stabbed him in the stomach. Yet another tried to knock me down, and I hit him in his soft spot and killed him as well. More and more Orcs kept coming at me, and I kept on killing every last one of them. Fight for Rivendell. Fight for Gondor. Fight for the Shire. Fight for Rohan. Fight for Middle-Earth.

Whipping out my knife in my other hand, I slashed three more Orcs across their necks, sending them down with their comrades. Another one tried to attack me from behind, but I spun around as fast as I could, swinging my blade, and got rid of him and about four other Orcs in the process. I had to keep going. I couldn't stop. I wouldn't stop.

Right when I was in the middle of cutting of one Orc's arm, an earsplitting screech filled the air. I looked up. The Nazgûl, riding their Fell Beasts, were swooping through the air, ready to run right through us. If they got into this fight, we were as good as dead within the next thirty seconds.

In the moment that I looked up, I made the fatal mistake of forgetting about my opponent for a split second, and that was all he needed to land a solid punch at my neck. I clenched my teeth and swung my sword down again, finishing him off.

Suddenly, another thing swooped over my head, and I ducked on instinct, thinking it was a Ringwraith about to end my life. While I was down low, I grabbed an Orc's legs and toppled him over, who managed to knock down a few more of his friends. But when I looked back up to the skies, I saw that five eagles had come, and were now starting a brawl in the air with the Nazgûl and their winged monsters. I smiled as I heard Pippin's chant from nearby. "Eagles! The eagles are coming!" They cawed majestically in response, and attacked with no mercy.

I refocused on killing as many Orcs as I could, my knife and blade moving faster than I had ever thought possible. Stab, spin, slice, repeat. It was a smooth method. For me, the battle seemed to be going well.

I heard another shout from nearby, and snapped my head up to see Legolas shouting for me and pointing at something. I followed his gaze to see Aragorn going at it one on one with a troll twice his size. He was doing alright, until the troll shoved him back and sent him flying, landing hard on the ground. Without hesitation, I ran towards them, screaming his name. "Aragorn! Aragorn!"

I pushed my way through the crowd of Orcs as fast as I could, but they kept slowing me down. I pressed on, beheading several unfortunate souls who happened to get in my way. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Legolas trying to get to him, too. As I ran, I watched in horror as Aragorn rolled over and tried to stand, only to have the troll walk up and pin him down with his foot, crushing him. "NO!" I screamed and broke through to the troll, slashing at his side again and again. "YOU! WILL! NOT! TOUCH! MY! COUSIN!" I ducked as he swung his arm out to bat me away, but I was too late, and he flung me off to the side as well. "ARAGORN!" I screamed. He ripped out his knife and drove it deep into the troll's foot, who roared in pain.

I sat up on the ground, and a second later, Legolas lifted me up onto my feet. He looked panicked. "Íverin! Are you alright?"

I nodded and turned around to stab another Orc in the gut. "Yes! I am..." Twisting to the left, I hit another one in the shoulder. "...fine!" Orcs had surrounded us again, so that we were cut off from Aragorn once more. I could still see the large form of the troll towering over him.

The two of us went back to cutting our way through the army of evildoers. We were making little progress, and pain throbbed in my shoulder again. Then Legolas said, between slashes of killing more Orcs, "Íverin! There is something...I have wanted to ask you...for a very...long time!"

"And...what would that be?" I said as I struggled against another Orc.

He paused to catch his breath and looked me in the eye. "Will you marry me?"

My mouth dropped open slightly in shock. I was about to respond, when suddenly, there came a great shriek and roar from somewhere inside of Mordor. Every single breathing being stopped at that moment to look up, whether they were our friends of foes. And what we saw...was perhaps the greatest thing anyone of the Third Age would ever see.

It started with our enemies fleeing. Every Orc that had just been fighting us and showing no mercy two seconds earlier suddenly turned on their heels and ran, pushing us aside, no longer fighting us, just wanting to get away. Turning around, I saw the huge troll that had been crushing Aragorn to death the moment before stumble through the crown in fear, running away with the rest of Sauron's minions. The rest of us who were fighting for Middle-Earth's freedom, stopped what we were doing and stared into Mordor, wide-eyed. If they were running away...that could only mean one thing.

And then came the crumbling of Barad-Dur. Sauron's Eye widened in fear, and for once in my lifetime, I saw what he looked like when he was afraid. The black stone cracked and began to break, and the Eye continued to shrink, growing smaller and smaller as his fortress fell farther. A huge smiled appeared on my face. They were alive. Frodo and Sam had been alive the whole time, and to top it off, they had succeeded. We had won.

I turned and tackled Legolas in a hug, kissing him hard. He returned the kiss and spun me around. "We did it!" I shouted. "We won!" Tears of happiness flowed down my face.

Sauron continued to shrink even more, until finally, he was no more than a ball of flame the size of my palm. Then he exploded, and a great force swept across Mordor and all over Middle-Earth,

"FRODO!" Merry shouted beside us. "FRODO!"

We all watched in awe as the very earth that made up Mordor began to sink into a bottomless chasm, taking every Orc in existence with it. The Morannon also buckled and fell to ruin, and in the midst of it all, Legolas looked down at me and beamed. "So...should I take that as a yes?"

I grinned and kissed him again. "Of course, my love. I accept." I closed my eyes and relaxed, soaking in the glory and triumphant feeling of it all. I had just watched the enemy of the free peoples of Middle-Earth be destroyed, there would be no more evil in the world, I had made it through alive, and on top of all that, I was now engaged to the prince of Mirkwood. My life was perfect. This whole moment was perfect.

And then Mount Doom exploded.

I smiled and continued to kiss my future husband. No more Mount Doom...no more...wait. Frodo and Sam. Were they?...

I ripped away from Legolas, and I could tell that he had just realized it, too. Mount Doom. Frodo and Sam had been in Mount Doom. And it had just exploded, with them in it.

We all stopped mid-cheer. Tears started flowing down my face. "No...after all they've done...F...Frodo...Sam..." I didn't even care that the fire spewing from Mount Doom was easily taking out the Fell Beasts and the Black Riders. They were gone. They had sacrificed their lives to save all of us, and now they were gone. Dead. Never to return.

Pippin was on the ground next to us, sobbing. "Frodo...Frodo..."

I jumped out of Legolas's arms and ran up to Gandalf. "Oh Gandalf...they...they..."

He nodded. He was crying as well. I buried my face in his robes for a moment, when an idea came to mind. "Can...can we not look for them?"

At this point, the rest of the original Fellowship had gathered around us. "Íverin, I...I do not think that they-"

I looked up at him. "Please!" I cried desperately. "It would not hurt to look for them, at least! We must try...please!"

After a long moment of silence, Gandalf finally sighed and gave in. "I suppose we could look. But...do not get your hopes up." He called out to the heavens in some odd language I'd never hear before, and three of the great eagles swooped down and landed behind him. Turning to me, he asked, "I assume you would like to come with me?"

I nodded and climbed on the back of one. Legolas got on behind me. Gandalf climbed atop another, and we took off. The entire ride, we sat in silence, eyes frantically searching the lava-covered land, headed towards Mount Doom. Although the closer we got, the lower my spirits sank. Nothing could be seen for miles but boiling hot lava and a few dark islands of rock. There was no way they made it. To spend time searching this barren wasteland was folly. We both knew it, but said nothing.

And then, just when I thought we should turn back, I saw it. Two tiny, exhausted, dirty figures, no bigger than a speck of dust to the regular human eye, but to my own, they were perhaps the most wonderful specks of dust I had ever seen. "Gandalf! GANDALF!" I cried, my voice cracking with relief. "I see them! They're alive!"

Legolas saw them, too, and together we guided the eagles to our poor friends. Sure enough, there lay Frodo and Sam, hungry, starved, and tired beyond measure. Gently, Gandalf had the eagles pick each of them up in their large talons. I watched as both of them remained still in the clutches of the eagles, not even so much as opening their eyes as we flew back to Minas Tirith. I closed my eyes, took Legolas's hand, and prayed that we were not too late.