Falling For You

Chapter Nine

Arcturus walked with the king, he had given his horse to Legolas as the prince's horse had ran off at some point during the time they spent speaking in the clearing. Thranduil seemed a little grumpy that his elk had been killed during battle as well.

Thranduil looked over at Arcturus, noticing his quiet and unnatural behaviour.

"Did you find her?" The king asked, Arcturus tensed and Thranduil took note of it, he noticed the distant look on his face. He knew it all too well.

"I did and I was too late." Arcturus spoke, in only a whisper. Thranduil nodded, silently. He was never too big in emotions, he usually left that to his wife.

"I am truly sorry for your losses, Arcturus." Thranduil gave Arcturus a couple pats to the shoulder, although it wasn't a lot, Arcturus greatly appreciated it. Made him feel a little less alone.

Tauriel was walking slowly behind them, she wasn't speaking to anyone and she was still crying.

Arcturus sighed, sure he was still upset with Tauriel for caring more about the dwarves than her kingdom but he also knew that Fili, Kili and Rae had been killed in the war so he felt slightly bad for the redhead, he was also mourning quietly over the deaths of his friends.

With a small sigh, Arcturus quietly excused himself from the king's side and gracefully stepped back to walk beside his redheaded friend.

"I forgot to thank you for saving my life." Arcturus spoke, keeping his eyes ahead. Tauriel's head shot up at the sudden voice and stared, wide-eyed at the brunette.

"I thought you hated me." Tauriel muttered, Arcturus didn't look at her. The brunette sighed deeply, Tauriel hadn't taken her eyes off him since he spoke.

"I did... for about two hours. But you're my only friend as of right now since Legolas left. You're also the closest thing I've got to family and I don't want to lose you too." Arcturus frowned, he was slightly shorter than Tauriel so he had to look up to meet her gaze.

"Oh.. I do apologise for continuously running off after the dwarves. I was.."

"Protecting your friends. I know. I did the same before. Like literally ten hours before." Tauriel smiled, wrapping her arms around the short brunette's shoulders, she slightly laughed at his words as well.

"Looks like things just aren't going our way, is it?" Tauriel sniffed, she wiped her eyes, getting rid of the tears that threatened to fall. She looked down at her friend and noticed he wasn't even trying to hide the fact he was crying.

"You lost your dwarfish best friends. I lost my sister and my mother. How lucky are we." Arcturus spoke, sarcasm quite clear in his tone. Tauriel pulled the elf closer to her, into a small embrace as they walked.

"It'll get better." Tauriel grinned, causing Arcturus to smile up at his best friend. They spent the rest of the walk chatting together, trying to distract their aching hearts from the tragedies that took part hours prior.

It didn't get any better.

About a week after the battle, Tauriel had died of a broken heart- the death of the she-elf had affected many elves of Mirkwood, but not as much as it affected Arcturus and Adreanna.

Arcturus was finding it hard to cope with all the deaths and having nobody around. It hurt. It really really hurt. Losing loved ones takes a toll on one's mental health but losing everyone you love in a matter of weeks?

He had begun to distance himself from everyone else, he became ruthless on patrols and tended to stay locked up in his room whenever he wasn't training.