Mist

Mist

Posted: April 2004
Title: Mist
Author: Bernsteinnixe
Type: FCS
Characters: Haldir/Legolas
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: I do not own either of these characters.

Summary: Legolas remembers the night he lost Haldir, and breaks a promise he couldn't keep.

*****

In the still hours of the night an elf lays upon a grave. A mithril circlet set with a red jewel adorns his forehead. He remains sill as the mist slowly covers his livid face. With his hand he clenches something tightly. He whispers a name. A melody carried in the mist. Memories of a dreadful night, long passed, fill his mind.

‘I was so happy when you arrived that night. Having you by my side gave me something else to fight for. I realized that I could no longer hide my feelings. I decided that when the battle was over I would come to you. I would pour out my heart and tell you everything I was too afraid to tell you before.

‘My heart stopped when I saw you fall to the ground. I ran to your side and put my arms around you to hold you. I tried to tell you, at last, ‘I love you,' but the wind ate my words. When I looked into your deep blue eyes I saw what I have failed to see before: you loved me too. A single tear streamed down my face. With a trembling hand you struggled to wipe it away. I took the hand and held it in mine, pressing my face against it.

‘I can barely hear your plea, ‘kiss me.' For years I have dreamed of kissing your lips that so quickly grew pale before my eyes. I lower my head, letting our mouths touch for the first time. For the last time… Your lips are cold, not fiery and warm as I have always imagined them every night before falling asleep. I searched your mouth for a tongue that I found too weak to respond. It wrenched tears from my eyes, tears that fell to your face and were washed away by the rain. I knew the end was near. Why was this happening to me? Why were you leaving me before we'd ever spent a day together as lovers, or a night in passionate embrace? I wished that I could hide my pain as easily as I have hidden my love, but I couldn't.

"Promise me you won't fade." I heard you say.

"Fade I shall not, as long as I remember our kiss. I will never forget the feel of your lips against mine."

With one arm I held you tight, still squeezing your hand as I watched you draw your last breath. You became still in my arms. I cried out your name to the heavens and prayed to the gods to bring you back, to rewrite our fate, but my prayers went unanswered. I buried my face in your neck and wept until I had no more tears left.

I don't know for how many hours I held you like that until, with a heavy heart and a pain in my chest, I let you go. I slid a silver ring from your finger, needing something of yours to carry with me, and stepped aside, watching as your brothers carried you away.'

For over three millennia he kept the promise he made to his beloved Galadhrim, holding onto the memory of that one kiss that helped him stay strong. His eyes were completely vacant now. He was soaked from the mist in which he had lain the entire night. His hand went limp, and a silver ring dropped to the earth. Those cold, weak lips he had kissed so long ago; he did not remember them anymore.

*****

THE END

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