Disclaimer: Steph is mine, Boromir is Tolkien's. Go us.
Chapter 22 – Death
Boromir knew it was her. Even from a few feet a way, it was not hard to tell. Steph was sprawled on her face, as though she had tripped and not made an effort to break the fall. It was still odd, as from where he was, he could not see any arrows or stab wounds in her back…at least then her position would make sense.
He hadn't realized that he had stopped. Yet there he was, two feet or so away from her, staring at her body. He was almost afraid to see if she was still alive. If she was, he would have to care for her. If she was dead, as he feared, then her last bit of energy would not sustain him for very long. After a moment's hesitation, he raced to her, dropping to his knees as he reached her side.
Indeed, there were no wounds on her back. She might have been hit in the head, he thought, beginning to panic. Or, she might have been stabbed and then collapsed. But somehow, he doubted both.
Gingerly, her turned her over, and cried out when he noticed her shallow breathing. She was still alive! He called her name, but she did not respond. The pool of blood had been created by an ugly gash in her forehead, and he quickly tore a piece of her shirt to stem the flow.
"Steph, can you hear me?" he asked, trying to pull her into a sitting position.
Her eyes fluttered open, though they were unfocused. "What is it?" she mumbled, her words slurred.
"What has happened, Steph?" he asked, pulling her around the pool of blood. She was dead weight, and did not object to being pulled like a sack of potatoes.
"You fell off horse," she slurred, feebly batting at his hands, "and I jumped off. I ran after you." She put a hand to her forehead, closing her eyes as a wave of pain washed over her. "Got separated, and…stabbed me…back…"
Boromir's face went pale. "I saw no wounds on you, Steph…"
"My back, assclown." She hissed, her eyes coming into focus. "Someone stabbed me."
Seeing that she was now capable of conversation, he tried again. "But you had no wounds on your back, Steph." He insisted, dabbing at the gash.
Steph cried out in pain, clutching her forehead. "I think I would know when someone plunges a sword through my middle, idiot!" she snarled, lifting her shirt to show him.
Both gasped in surprise. There was no wound, only a long, red scar. Steph gave Boromir a disbelieving look before she made a choking sound and fell over limply, her eyes rolling back into her head.
Boromir started to pull her up when she began to speak. The voice was unearthly, yet strangely familiar.
The Unseen One.
"Did I not tell you the time remaining was waning, Boromir?" asked the Unseen One.
Boromir reached for Steph's hand. "What have you done to her?" he demanded, his grey eyes flashing.
He flinched at the Unseen One's voice, disgusted by the sound of it coming from Steph's mouth. "I have completed her destiny, Boromir."
"You tried to kill her!"
"Was that not her destiny?"
Boromir glared at the lifeless Steph. "What do you mean?"
"She is your life source, Boromir. As your life source, if the life she serves should call upon her to sacrifice herself, she must do it. She has no other choice."
He stared at Steph's body in horror. "I have never called upon her to sacrifice herself for me!"
"On your journey, you have taken bits of her energy everyday. Combined with what remained of your soul, it kept you alive. But in battle, the remainder of your soul was used, and without it you would die. So, who else to turn to in your time of need than your life source?" Obviously noting the look on Boromir's face, it laughed. "Yes, you fool. You have taken her soul, and therefore condemned her to death."
Boromir drew a long, shuddering breath. "I never meant to kill her."
"Of course not."
He held his head in his hands. "What am I to do?"
"She lived to nourish you and pulse the blood through her veins, Boromir. Surrender to the truth. She is gone. You could do nothing."
Slowly, Boromir held his hand to his neck, feeling his pulse. Then, he reached and felt Steph's neck, feeling the feeble, slow pulse beneath his calloused fingertips.
"Not gone." He growled. "Not yet."
"It will not be long, Son of the Gondor. Both of you will die eventually." It laughed, "Though some faster than others."
He started to snap back when Steph gasped, as if being choked. Clutching her throat, she made frantic hand signals to Boromir, still gasping for air. Boromir reached out to help, though the instant he touched her, she stopped.
"What the hell was that?" she gasped, panting for breath. "Someone was choking me!"
He looked at her gravely. "I do not know, though I fear we will both die today." Ignoring the horrified look on Steph's face, he knelt down and tried to pick her up. "Stand Steph, there is no time to waste."
She attempted to stand, though only managed to fall again. "I can't!" she moaned, clutching his arm for support.
With an annoyed sigh, he lifted her up, ignoring her protests.
"We must find a steed."
While tending to Steph, the battle had been pushed from his mind. Now painfully aware of it, he set Steph on the ground and drew his sword. Their horse could not have been able to get very far. Sure enough, he located it after a bit of searching, and rode it back to where he had left Steph.
She was lying on her back, pretending to be dead.
"What are you doing?" he snapped. "I thought you had been attacked!"
"I'm protecting myself." She slurred, wincing in pain as she sat up. "You can't kill a dead person."
Rolling his eyes, he carefully lifted her onto the horse, noticing how clammy her skin felt. "Take deeper breaths." He commanded. "You do nothing for yourself with shallow breathing."
"Spoken like a true zombie." She paused to attempt a deep breath. "How do I know if I'm dying?"
"You will know."
It was as he said this that he noticed the black sails on the Anduin. Choking back a cry of surprise, he fumbled with his sword. "The Corsairs of Umbar," he said, the color draining from his face, "Surely, all hope of victory had left us."
"What's so bad about black sails?" asked Steph, her heart now pounding in her ears.
"There is no time for explanations. Gondor is in need." He dug his heels into the horse, trying his hardest to keep his mind from wandering to every worse case scenario involving himself and Steph. "A curse upon Steph." He snarled under his breath.
He noticed that the horse had stopped moving. Everything had stopped moving. He switched to cursing the Unseen One.
"It will end here, Boromir."
Boromir quickly dismounted, pulling Steph along with him. "Make your meaning clear, Unseen One." He snarled, "Your presence brings nothing but trouble."
An orb of light danced in front of Boromir's face, and he realized with a start that it was the Unseen One.
"Then I will get right to the point." drawled the Unseen One. "You will have to make a choice. You can protect Steph, or you can protect Gondor."
Slowly, he looked from Steph, who was looking terrified, and then to the fallen and fighting men about him. He sighed deeply.
"It is no choice."
"What have you decided?" asked the Unseen One, its voice devoid of emotion.
Boromir drew his sword. "My allegiance will always be to Gondor. Though it pains me to do as such, if sacrificing Steph will save Gondor, it is my duty to sacrifice her. My thanks to you Steph for allowing me a second chance to protect my country."
Steph's knees buckled underneath her. She looked up at him from the ground, and though her mind was addled by near death, she felt his words sink in. "Y-you're going to kill me?" she whispered.
"May your soul find peace, Steph. Remember that you served Gondor through your death." Swinging the sword in an arc, he aimed for her neck, hoping that her death was quick and painless.
Too terrified to move, she waited for the blow that was to come. She felt the feel of cold steel against her neck, though she felt nothing else…
Boromir stared in shock as Steph's body disappeared before his eyes. The sword had barely made contact with her neck before she had simply vanished. He started to touch the spot where she had been sitting when the Unseen One flew around his head.
"Go you fool! The deed is done and your time runs short! Defend your country!"
Mounting his horse, Boromir sped off to meet the enemy, trying to ignore the sharp pain in his side. The arrows were coming back, as he had expected, but he would have to work through it. Trying his best to block the flashbacks of Parth Galen, he fought on.
The ships had been Aragorn, not the Corsairs of Umbar as he had feared. But it mattered not now. He had fought the enemy until he was unable to stand, when the arrows fully returned and he succumbed to crying out in rage and pain. He lay there on the ground, trying to take deeper breaths, as he had instructed Steph to do moments before. He thought he felt someone draw near to him, and silently, he prayed it was Aragorn. The familiar journey to the light was before him now, and the Unseen One was at his side.
Boromir knew his time with the living was short. He could see the outline of a man standing above him.
He reached for the person. "Please," he whispered, "I wish for my remains to return to Minas Tirith." With these words, he closed his eyes, looking forward to finding the light. Peace had come to Boromir of Gondor at last.
Steph touched the fresh scratch on her neck. Somehow, she had survived it-all of it. Here she was now, in the science chair she had left what seemed like a century ago.
"Oh dear God," she murmured, flexing her hand and feeling more youthful than she ever had in her life, "I can't believe any of that just happened."
She took a deep, shaky breath. "I can't think about this right now." She said to herself, massaging her temples, "This is way too much."
So, in true Steph fashion, she chose not to think about it by thinking up a unique way to get out of the locked science room. She threw a chair through the window and crawled out. Steph stepped around the broken glass, waiting for an alarm to sound. When it didn't she paused, looking over the deserted moonlit streets, and sighed.
"This has been the most ironic day of my life." She said to herself, kicking rocks as she started the long walk home, "Wouldn't you believe it, the assclown kills me, and yet I'm alive." She paused, a smirk creeping onto her lips. "And I get sent back to school! The irony of it all!"