I'm quite surprised at the amount of people who are still shooting for Collin and Sophie. I admire your determination! It's rare to hear of people choosing an OC/OC pairing over an OC/legitimate character pairing. Quite odd. Collin is pretty amazing, though.

Forgive me for the short chapter. It just felt right to stop where I did.

Another chapter of Lord of the Zombies should be up soon, too!

I don't own Lord of the Rings.

(Sophie)

"This is your fault!" Denethor yelled at his youngest son as he hovered over the still body of the eldest. "Had you simply done your duty, your brother would be fine!"

Faramir stood by his brother, who had been stitched up and treated as well as the healers could manage. He was stable, but his future was still in question. That lack of hope was enough to send Denethor off of his rocker.

"Father, it was you who wanted Osgiliath recaptured..." Faramir tried to get his father to understand. This was all his fault.

"I wanted you to go to Osgiliath! Not him!" Denethor cried. He let out a deep sigh, reaching down to stroke Boromir's hair. "My boy... Our only hope. What can we do, now? Who is worthy enough to lead our men?"

"Do not be so quick to underestimate your men, Denethor." Gandalf tapped his staff on the ground, demanding the steward's attention. "Boromir would not want you to be standing around idly. We must prepare ourselves! Sauron's armies are at our doorstep!"

Denethor pretended not to hear him. Instead, he found it fit to continue to fuss over his unconscious son. I didn't know exactly what to do. More than anything I just wanted to go and sit by Boromir. If I could just hold his hand, I would be fine. When I moved towards him, Gandalf stopped me.

"Not yet. Wait until Denethor has left." He whispered. "Go to Collin, for now."

"Yeah, hasn't anyone come here to see me?"

I turned at the sound of his voice, just as strong and joyful as ever. At least I had the comfort of knowing that he would never change. He was in the room across from Boromir's, his door wide open. It was a wonder that he knew I was there at all, considering the fact that he was face-down on the bed. As I entered the room he arched his head and raised an eyebrow at me.

"I think that I'm done with this whole hero thing..." He sighed. "I always end up getting shot."

I somehow laughed at this, despite the fact that life just wasn't working out for us at the moment. "Nonsense, Collin. You'll always be a hero to me."

He smiled at this, burying his face in his pillow. It was just the two of us, Gandalf and Pippin having disappeared. I closed the door and took a seat in the stool nearby, pulling it up so I could sit by his side. He turned his head again and watched me carefully.

"Your eyes are really red."

"Of course they are. I was worried sick about you guys." It even hurt to close my eyes. That's fine, I guess, since I wasn't going to be getting any sleep, anyways. "So..." I began, not exactly sure how to go about it. "Why do you do it?"

"Do what?" He asked, and I would have punched him had he not been injured. He knew exactly what I was talking about.

"Why do you keep sacrificing yourself for Boromir? I mean... Look at what's happened to you." His back was bare, except for the thick layer of bandages covering the arrow wounds.

Collin laughed, wincing at the pain that shot through his back. "Is it weird to die for a friend?"

"No." Especially not if you're Collin. He'd die for anyone. "But today was a little strange. You knew that Osgiliath was a hopeless cause, yet you went after them."

"Clearly it wasn't as hopeless as everyone thought. I did manage to get four men out of there alive, including myself."

Only four? So one must have died. Hopefully, no more will have to go.

I let out a sigh, pursing my lips in frustration. "You know what I mean. Why are you eager to take an arrow for that man?"

"I've taken four arrows, actually..." The glare I sent him finally made him serious. "Well, it's because he makes you happy, and it's my job to make sure you're happy."

"Doesn't your own happiness matter? Surely you don't enjoy being a pincushion." Not that I wasn't grateful for him saving Boromir, because I was. It just seems like Collin has some kind of death wish.

"I actually think that the pincushion look works for me." Collin shrugged his good arm. "Besides, Boromir can take care of you. Even if that stunt he pulled today was bloody foolish. I think he'll think twice before doing that again."

"Or not." I laughed, knowing Boromir better than that. "He likes to be the hero."

Collin pretended to frown. "He'd better not try it again! I'll just keep going after him until he stops. Or one of us dies. Hopefully not that last one. Preferably not the last one... Unless I ended up in Narnia... That'd be okay."

I rolled my eyes, doing my best to not laugh. "You're really willing to risk your life so I can be happy?"

He didn't even have to think about it. "Absolutely. I've done it before and I'll do it again." He watched me, waiting for a response that I couldn't find. I knew that he was telling the truth, but I couldn't conjure up a reasonable response. After some time, he spoke again. "Do you honestly not know why?" He asked. "After all of this time?"

I did know why. He loved me. "I don't deserve you..." I sighed, fighting the tears that threatened to emerge. "You're too good for me." What made me even more upset was knowing that he cared for me in a way that I couldn't reciprocate. Not that it was an impossible notion, but because I'd already set my mind and heart on someone else. Believe me, I cared about Collin more than I wanted to admit, but so long as Boromir drew breath, I couldn't possibly bring myself to leave him. It is something that almost made me mad at myself. After everything that Collin had done for me, the least I could give him was my heart. I just couldn't do it. It took his supposed death for me to realize everything that had been there, and everything that could have been. But by then it'd been too late for me.

"I completely disagree." Collin frowned. "I find you quite worthy."

"Well, you're wrong."

Collin sighed, giving me a frustrated expression. "Well, let's agree to disagree... But I'm right."

"Collin..." I sighed, rubbing my forehead. "If we survive this war, you know that things will change, right? I'm going to marry Boromir and have kids. No more traveling around with you and Gandalf... Is this how you imagined it would be?"

"It's not how I wanted it to be." He answered without hesitation. I could tell that this wasn't the first time he'd thought about us. About our future. "But I think that I've always known something like this would have to happen."

"What do you mean?"

He sighed. "I knew that you would be better off marrying someone established. Someone who could take care of you. To be honest, though, I'd always expected it'd be Eomer to be that man, but hey. Boromir's cool, too. The point is I knew that no matter what I did, I'd never be able to take care of you the way I'd like to."

"Are you serious?" Did he not know the kind of hero he would be after all that he'd done? "You are friends with nearly every noble in both Gondor and Rohan. Everyone loves you, Collin!"

"Just not you."

That stung. "You would be surprised, Collin." Were circumstances different, I could be more open about it. Shaking my head, I tried to get back to my original point. "You are someone worthy of love. Worthy of all of the love a woman could give. Not the complicated love of someone who also loves another. You are an amazing man, and that has not gone unnoticed by the people of this world. You could have half of the riches of Gondor if you were to ask for it."

"And do what with it?" He laughed. "Parade around the city in finery? Go slay some dragons with my super expensive swords?" He paused for a moment. "Actually, that last bit doesn't sound too shabby..."

Who could keep from laughing at that? I let out a short giggle, shaking my head. "No matter how serious a conversation may be, you always have to be funny about it."

Collin chuckled, wincing as his it stung his wounds. "It's one of my best traits, I think. Keeps things from getting too sad."

It also does a great job at getting us off topic. "So, I guess you don't want to talk about this anymore, do you?"

"Nope. I'd rather not." He gave me an apologetic smile and took my hand. "Don't you worry about me, Soph. Believe it or not, I'm happy. For you, for Boromir..." He trailed off, the seriousness of it all coming back for a short moment. "You know how I feel. But I think we both know better than to think things would work out in a place like this. I want to go on adventures, and you want to settle down. I'll have you know that I'm ecstatic to simply be your best friend. It's enough for me, Sophie. Don't go throw a pity party for me."

Hearing him say that gave me more relief than I could possibly explain. "Oh, please, Collin. The only things I pity you for are the gaping holes in your back."

"They're not gaping holes! They're not even that deep!"

"Whatever you say, Collin." I laughed, ruffling his fallen faux-hawk. "You nut."

.

Sigh...

I sat in the chair next to Boromir's bed, my legs curled up to my chest. Soon after the conversation ended, Collin had fallen asleep, so I'd decided to check up on Boromir. Denethor had left, to where I didn't know. I was just happy to have some alone time with Boromir, even if he was unconscious. His room was relatively quiet, considering the fact that a massive army was about to attack the city. It was something that I tried to avoid thinking about. After all, Helms Deep was enough of a siege to last me a lifetime.

Healers would walk in from time to time to apply new medicine to Boromir's wounds, or to pour water into his mouth. They would give me comforting smiles, assuring me that I had nothing to fear. Whether they were talking about Boromir's death or the inevitable battle, I wasn't quite sure.

The sun had set completely, and people began to suggest that I head home. But would anyone be waiting there for me? Gandalf, I'm sure, was awake and running about the city preparing for battle. Collin was face down in the bed across the hall, sleeping into oblivion. My only hope was Pippin, but he'd probably be with Gandalf. After all, no one wants to be alone at a time like this. So, I stayed by Boromir's side, praying that he would wake up.

There was a soft knock on the door. This was odd, since the healers simply came in whenever they pleased. The door slowly opened when I didn't answer, and a familiar head of curly hair peeked inside.

"Pippin!" I sighed, thrilled to have a familiar face come to visit. Well... A conscious familiar face. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to check up on you. I went home, but you weren't there."

"Yeah... I wasn't really feeling up to leaving." I sighed, slumping back in my chair. "Being stuck in an empty house alone drives me crazy." Especially when my fiance's dying down the street. That wouldn't really be romantic of me, would it?

Pippin closed the door behind him, moving closer to inspect Boromir. "He looks alive..." Was all he said, and for whatever reason I found it appropriate to laugh.

"Well... He is alive."

Pippin nodded. "I tried to check on Collin, but he threw a pillow at me when I tried to wake him up."

"How anyone can sleep in a time like this is beyond me." I yawned, feeling exhausted. "I just want to enjoy the last moments of my life awake."

"So you think we will die, then?" Pippin looked down to the ground, disheartened. "I wonder what it is like..."

My heart sank at the sight of sad little Pippin. I silently kicked my self in the butt for mentioning death at all. "We won't die." I said, trying to convince myself as well. "Even if we do, the last time I died I just ended up here in Middle-earth. Maybe this time we'll fall into the world of Harry Potter." I couldn't complain about that. At least they have toilets, and a guaranteed happy ending. Bittersweet, but happy.

Pippin surprisingly didn't ask about Harry Potter. Instead, he let out a sigh and pulled a small envelope from his pocket. "I found this..." He said, handing it to me. "It was laying on the table beside your bed. It's addressed to you."

I took the letter and studied the handwriting, almost expecting it to be Collin's. Instead, I found it to be the usual swirly mess of letters that people use in this world. Collin could never have the patience to write like that.

"Thank you, Pippin." I smiled, flipping to the back so I could open the envelope. That's when I noticed the seal of Gondor. "Official..." I laughed, half expecting it to be some letter of apology from some noble or other, regarding Boromir's condition. I only doubted that they would take the time to write at all, considering Minas Tirith's dangerous position. I picked off the wax seal and tore open the envelope. The letter was small and hardly legible. My first instinct was to look at the bottom to discover the writer.

It was from Boromir. It was nothing more than a note; a final goodbye.

Forgive me, Sophie. Know that I have loved you from the start, and I will love you until the end.

Yours, now and forever,

Boromir

Although tears were falling down my cheeks, I couldn't help but laugh.

He never was good with words, but maybe it's for the best. One doesn't need a poem or a monument of dedication to express love. For me, the note was enough. A simple sentiment written by a simple man. A simple man whom I would simply slap should we survive this.

Pippin and I sat together quietly, waiting for the sun to rise. But the sun never did rise again. At least, if it did, one could hardly tell. A darkness had covered the sun, leaving us with an even more dreadful feeling as Sauron's armies approached. They were always there in the distance, almost taunting us. Maybe they were hoping to drive us mad before the battle even began. Collin was up and about in the morning, disregarding the healers' advice to stay in bed. Boromir's health was even improving. Even if all else seemed hopeless, at least I was a little bit happy. Besides, Collin made sure to assure me that everything would be alright.

"The good guys always win, Sophie." He told me, even as we looked out at the horde of orcs approaching. That was the day that the siege began.