Return Of The Shadow

Chapter 11: Farewell

Legolas awoke quicker than he'd expected. He sprang to his feet and remembered everything that had happened

Those beasts had taken him! They were going to kill Pippin and it was all his fault, he should have known that it was a trap!

How could he have been so blind? So naive...

It slowly dawned on him that if he had been more focused, he would have seen what was happening. He would have known that Sauron was trying to trap him.

He should have let the orcs do what they had wanted to Pippin, in the end he knew that they wouldn't have killed him.

But he'd ignored all of the things his mind had told him and now his friend was gone.

Legolas heard footsteps. Orcs.

He watched as they approached his cell door and opened it. They threw in a small bundle that Legolas recognized immediately.

Legolas ran and knelt down beside the hobbit. He rolled him carefully onto his back and held back a cry a anguish.

The hobbit's eyes were closed. He was bleeding heavily from his stomach where Legolas knew he'd been stabbed by a sword.

What had he done?

He had promised to keep him safe! That he wouldn't let anything happen to him!

Legolas heard a soft moan from the hobbit. Legolas couldn't believe it.

He was alive, but not for much longer.

Pippin opened his eyes and stared weakly at the elf.

"Legolas?"

The elf took the hobbit's small hand in his.

"I'm here Pippin."

Legolas tried to hold back his tears. He didn't know what to do, how could he just sit here and watch him die?

Yet he'd done it before, a long time ago he'd sat and watched helplessly as a close friend of his had bled slowly to death, for a moment he became lost in his memories.

"What happens when we die?"

Legolas was brought back by Pippin's voice whose question caught him off guard. He knew what happened to elves when they died, but he had no idea what happened to men, dwarves, and hobbit's.

Pippin looked up at the ceiling and squeezed Legolas's hand tighter.

"I'm scared."
"You do not have to be. Death is not the end."

Pippin looked at him in confusion. Legolas had no idea why he said that. What did he know about death? All he knew was an idea he'd come up with after his mother died... He'd been so young then.

"You'll feel like you have just woken from a long sleep. You will not have the injuries or scars you once had. You will no longer feel any pain or suffering and you'll walk beneath treetops and sleep underneath the stars. Those you lost will be with you again, and you'll never have to say goodbye."

Pippin smiled softly.
"That doesn't sound too bad."

Legolas returned his smile. A single tear ran down his face.
Pippin looked up at Legolas.

"I-it wasn't his fault. H-he made him do it."
"Hush Pippin. Rest now."
"P-please f-forgive him. He didn't-"

Pippin began to cough up blood. Legolas helped him into a more comfortable position, laying his head gently on his lap.

Pippin began to shake. He was fading, Legolas knew it. The hobbit was still uneasy. Legolas wanted him to be at peace before he died.

Legolas then did something he hadn't done in ages. He took a deep breath and began to sing softly to his friend.

May it be an evening star
Shines down upon you
May it be when darkness falls
Your heart will be true
You walk a lonely road
Oh how far you are from home

Mornië utúlië
Believe and you will find your way
Mornië alantië
A promise lives within you now

May it be the shadow's call
Will fly away
May it be you journey on
To light the day
When the night is overcome
You may rise to find the sun

Mornië utúlië
Believe and you will find your way
Mornië alantië
A promise lives within you now

A promise lives within you now....

Legolas finished his song. It brought back another memory, a memory of his mother, holding him tightly in his arms while she sang to him.

He had always felt safe with her, had always felt that as long she was with him, nothing could ever harm him.

It brought back another memory: one that was not so distant. One of someone he loved, laying lifeless in his arms, while snow had fallen gently onto her hair...

Legolas looked down at Pippin. The hobbit's eyes stared blankly at the ceiling, his chest had stopped rising, his hand was cold.

He was gone.

Legolas could tell from Pippin's face that he had been calm, his friend had found peace before he died. Now he was safe and beyond the reach of Sauron.

But still, his life had been taken from him too soon. Legolas had lost the only friend he had.

Legolas closed Pippin's eyes. The hobbit almost looked like he was sleeping but Legolas knew better.

All the anger and grief Legolas had been holding back was released in violent storm.

He screamed and held his friend tightly in his arms. His body shook and tears fell from his eyes.

Throughout the tower of Barad-Dur there had never been a sound more devastating or terrifying than the cries of grief that came from Legolas as mourned the loss of his friend.

Whom he knew he would never see again.