All Shall Fade (LOTR-Wattys 2014)

All Shall Fade - Chapter 44 - Last Night, Goodnight

All Shall Fade

Chapter 44

Last Night, Goodnight

***Alice’s Point of View***

I wandered aimlessly around my bedroom, singing quietly under my breath as I carefully placed my boots under my bed and hung up my coat – overdoing the simple activities in an attempt to push down the fluttering butterflies that were rising so high in my stomach that I thought the metaphorical insects were about to come spewing out of my mouth. What were the chances of us surviving tomorrow? Zero. Well, being generous it could be around one in a million… I sighed and ran one hand through my tangled hair, just as soon as the door to my bedroom flew open and I jumped about a foot in the air.

“Jesus Aragorn!” I yelped, my hand flying to my chest as I spun around and saw him standing in the doorway, his hand still on the handle of the door as he stared at me. I could immediately tell that something was wrong; there was something unsettling about the way he was looking at me. “What… What’s wrong?” I panted, catching my breath as his eyes searched mine. It was a stupid question really, what wasn’t wrong right now?

Aragorn didn’t say anything; he just closed the door and quickly walked over to me, catching me in a tight embrace and burying his face in my neck. “Aragorn, what’s wrong?” I repeated in a whisper as I wrapped my arms around his neck. I could feel him sighing as his warm breath tickled the delicate area of skin that surrounded the bite marks that I had sustained in the battle.

“Do you… Do you still wish to fight tomorrow?” He asked hesitantly, and I pulled away.

“Aragorn…”

“Please.” He murmured, keeping a hold of my arms. “Please reconsider your decision. I could not bear it if you were harmed. I wish for you to stay.”

I opened my mouth, preparing to argue and launch a full on fight, but as I stared up into his eyes I realised that I’d never seen him so sad before. It was almost like he was on the verge of heartbreak. “I have to do this.” I breathed, reaching up to caress his face with one hand. “I don’t want to, but I have to. I still have a responsibility to my world. I need to do everything I can to make sure that it is safe. I owe it that much.” I spoke softly, hoping to reason with him as he sighed forlornly.

“I can not help but think that you would have been safer if we had never met.” He half-whispered, refusing to meet my gaze as he lifted his hand to cover mine.

“No.” I almost gasped, moving closer to him so our foreheads brushed together. “You can’t say that…” I could feel tears gathering in my eyes at his words, even though I knew that he didn’t really mean them. “You can’t… You have no idea how much you mean to me.” I brought up my other hand to gently cup his face and sighed quietly. “Whenever I first arrived in Middle Earth, you were the first person I met, you kept me safe in this foreign world, even though you didn’t know me and could have left me to die.” Aragorn shuddered a little, realising how greatly our past decisions had influenced our present, and what was left of our future.“You are the one who holds me here and stops me fading away. You are the one I fell in love with.” My voice dropped to little more than a whisper as I closed my eyes. “You are my world, Aragorn.” I murmured, “Without you I’m so lost.” I could feel him leaning closer to me so that our lips hovered over each other, occasionally brushing with each breath we took. “I would rather die tomorrow, than live a thousand years without knowing you.” My hoarse whisper was accompanied by a small tear that slid down my cheek, just as Aragorn moved and closed the minute gap between our lips, pulling my body tightly against his chest. He lifted his hand to gently wipe away the tear that had continued to slide across my skin as I relaxed under the gentle pressure of his lips and closed my eyes.