Everyone saw the daughter of Imrahil as the beautiful flower of Gondor. They saw her delicate features and gentles smiles. They were drawn to her like moths to the light. But none came close enough to see that she was not a warm-hearted person. No one saw the demons haunting her at night. No one heard her pace restlessly around her room. No one felt her anguish as she stared outside her window. No, she was perfect in every way. All they saw, heard, or felt was that nothing was wrong.
Nothing was right. The walls were too close, too cold. She felt like the room kept flipping on her. Sometimes, the floor seemed like the ceiling with the roof underground. She imaged that door leading to the outside would reveal a passage in the cliffs. Demons whispered to her from the window, from the walls. All around her, they tortured her. Her mother died because of her. Her father and brothers would fall because of her. The Corsairs would turn Dol Amroth into rubble. Thoughts running in her head. Death surrounding. Destruction bringing. An omen of misfortune. Helpless. Powerless. Weak. Nothing.
She tried to turn off the voices in her mind, tried to live. Instead, she opened her mouth in a silent scream when alone in her room at night. No one heard. No one knew Not even the stars could hear her. It was all inside her mind, and she dared not let it out. In these thoughts, she was drowning. She told herself that she was fine. Every day, every hour, she said these words on repeat. She was fine. There was nothing wrong. From her childhood and onwards when she found herself as a young healer in Minas Tirith. She had duties to attend to. After all, many men counted on her to bring them from the plains of death back to life. She was hardly the right person to guide them, and yet she did. It was a strange twist of fate. She faked a smile, and no one could see that there was no life behind the upward pull of her facial muscles.
He saw her while he was in the Houses of Healing. One look in her eyes, and he knew what she felt. He saw her sister in her. He saw himself in her. All his failures since his parents' deaths weighed him down, crushing him until he could barely breathe. He told himself he was alright, told himself that he was fine. But he was not until one day. He did not know how the burdens started getting lighter. Maybe it was the fall of Isen. Maybe it was finding the unlikeliest of hunters in the plains of Rohan. Maybe it was the white wizard on his white steed. All he knew was that the demons were less powerful than they used to be. He was not nothing. He was someone. He was someone because he said he was.
By some miracle, he drew her away from her tasks into a quiet corner in the garden. He did not speak a word, only gently forcing her to meet his eyes. And he let her see everything in him. His sorrow, anger, grief, despair. His joy, patience, hope, life. He told her what he saw in her. She was powerful. She was strong. She was everything she needed to be. There was a light within her, and she just needed to see it.
Tears slipped from her eyes as she read the soul of the tired, yet hopeful soldier from Rohan. A man who never expected to be king. She did not deserve his attention. She was too broken to be mended. Then she spotted something shift in his eyes. Then his eyes were like fireflies, guiding her away from the dark thoughts and the whispers of her demons. She had been so cold, so numb for so long, she had forgotten what it was like to feel. Yet, she saw something to believe in his eyes. The light that was dying in her sparked a little. It was enough to make her realize that he was holding her hands. To feel the warmth of his hands. They grew warmer until it felt like the burn of a flame. It was the sweetest pain, for this time she comprehended it.
No one would know of the hidden pain they endured, of the demons that haunted them. The dreams no longer led them to dark places. It took them to worlds of infinite light. No one would know of the hurt they suffered. Yet, he saw her. And she saw him. One touch from her, and he would ignite. One touch from him, and she would ignite. All it took was a single touch, burning the skin to reach the heart, to feed the light within. They were daylight to their nights. They were survivors of the same kind. They were diamonds. And together, they danced under the sun of each other's warmth.
And when the darkness of death came for one, it could not keep them apart very long. She heard him calling for her. From across the vast sea beyond the plains of death, she heard him calling her home. She did not hesitate to answer his call. Following his voice, she made her way quickly through the plains of death where she once wandered. She left the earth in a shower of shooting stars, for that was the quickest way to her light. And she reached him and felt his hand in her own, the brightest light surrounded them. Together, they crossed the heavens on a shooting star.
Author's Note: inspired by "fake a smile" and "ignite" by Alan Walker. Also, this may be one of the one-shots that will get an expansion :)