Aragorn woke with a start. As he opened his eyes he slowly realized that he was in a very unfamiliar forest. Every muscle ached in his body and as he tried to push himself to his feet his head spun and forced him back to the ground. He took a few deep breaths and tried to remember what had happened to him. He could see the warg and its rider and he remembered the empty feeling in the pit of his stomach when he and the creature fell over the edge of the cliff. A shiver went through his body and he realized that his clothes were soaked with water. But he did not remember any forest near this particular river.

Finally he had gathered himself enough to stand up, that's when he noticed the sky. A black velvet canvas stretched over his head, eerily dark with a strange lack of stars. The moon shone bright above his head casting shadows all round the clearing where he stood in the forest.

The night sky was not the only strange thing about that place. There were no sounds coming from the immense sea of trees. Even for the time of night, he would have at least expected the sound of an owl or creatures of the night moving amongst them. But nothing of that sort reached his ears where he stood.

Aragorn was contemplating this silence when his thoughts were interrupted by a movement from inside the forest. He saw it out of the corner of his eye and quickly spun around drawing his sword. He could see the outline of a figure coming towards him. The silhouette resembled a tall man of strong build. "Who goes there?" he called.

The figure stayed silent, slowly walking closer and closer towards the light of the moon. Aragorn became nervous, which is not something that usually happened to him. His cold hands could not grip his sword as tightly as he would have liked and being in this unfamiliar place didn't help calm his nerves. The ranger solidified his stance as the stranger entered the clearing.

As the light shown on the outline of the man Aragorn could see it was not a man at all, "Mellon?" Aragorn asked surprised, his elven friend was the last one he would have expected to see here.

"Were you expecting someone else?" the elf replied, his face still in the shadows. His voice sounded deeper than usual, Aragorn concluded that it was because he had a long day of searching for him and for that he was grateful.

Aragorn wanted to embrace his friend but something held him back. "How did you find me here?" he asked.

"Does that matter?" Legolas replied. His voice sounded distant and cold. The lack of humor in his tone made Aragorn uneasy. He kept his ground, sensing that something here was not right. In the dark he could only see the light glinting off of the elf's blonde hair and could just make out the features of his face.

"What ails you my friend?" he asked. Legolas stayed silent and for a moment Aragorn thought he saw a crooked grin on his elven companions face. This caused the man to take a slight step backwards and as he did this Legolas walked into the light.

Aragorn could now see what was different about his longtime friend. The elf's bright blue eyes had been replaced by ones black as coal, and his once friendly demeanor was replaced by one of pure evil. Aragorn's breath was stolen away from him at the sight of this.

"What happened to you?" he breathed.

"You couldn't defeat him" Legolas said coldly, "You failed." Aragorn raised his sword as Legolas came further towards him.

"What do you speak of?"

"You alone are responsible for the destruction of middle earth," the elf continued, "Because you could not defeat Sauron."

Aragorn had no words left, his breathing became heavy and he was more aware of the weight on him then ever before. He dropped his sword and watched it fall to the ground. That is when he noticed them. The rest of the fellowship closing in on him, all with the same black eyes, all with the same evil in their hearts. His heart was felled when he saw the once friendly and peaceful hobbits possessed by the same evil that they had been ignorant of in the shelter of the Shire not a few months before.

"Sauron did this to you" he said, facing Legolas again, who was now less than an arms length in front of him. He was no longer able to control his breathing and he almost had to gasp for air. His body was paralyzed as Legolas moved closer towards him.

"Sauron made us stronger," Legolas said, "So that we may carry out his will"

Aragorn's breath was stolen from him as cold metal pierced his flesh. He looked down to see Legolas gripping the elvish white knife, burying it deep into his side. As Aragorn looked up Legolas' eyes were no longer black, but filled with the fire of Sauron's eye. "I'm sorry" he breathed as his world became dark.

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Aragorn gasped when he woke beside the river. Reality slowly made its way back to him when he heard the rushing of the water and the chirping of the birds overhead. Everything about his dream, or rather his nightmare, seemed so real and some of the dream had even followed him to reality.

His clothes, of course, were soaked with water. He also found it hard to breath because of a pain that was ripping through his side. But the most outstanding thing that stayed with him was a feeling of utter hopelessness. His dream had made him realize that Sauron had more power than he ever feared and should he fail, there will be no future for middle earth.

His heart sunk in his chest at the thought of this. Was all hope lost? Would he indeed fail the people of middle earth, leaving them to be slaves to the will of Sauron?

As he pondered his bleak future, Brego, the horse he had once ordered to be set free, decided to return to the one man who seemed to truly understand his spirit. Aragorn felt his equine friend nudge him and for as much physical and emotional pain he was in he welcomed the gesture. When he realized that this was the same horse that he had watched run freely towards the sunset a few days before a small shining glitter of the hope he had just lost, made its way back to him. For he was comforted by the fact that a creature he had once thought never to see again, would come to his aid unrequested.

However, this comforting notion was broken when he remembered Théoden and the impending battle that the King and his people were now facing. Slowly he mounted Brego and began riding to Helm's Deep and to his destiny.