Love Lead Me On - A Legolas x Priestess!Reader Fanfiction

Chapter 12

Celine finally allowed herself a pathetic little wail as she punched the man's sturdy chest, "And that's exactly why I hate it! What is there left for me to linger in the past anyways?!" She yelled, not caring about anyone hearing them anymore. Rising a hand to her chest, she went on,

"Besides from having my heart torn over and over again with memories of a love that had and never will be requited! Do you know how hard it is becoming for me to hear my own heart beating now?" She never really had this much urge to tear her own heart out of her chest before now,

"Knowing that I had carelessly engraved this torturous love's name out of blind dedication and admiration that had never been returned. That I had brought this apparent doom upon myself all because of loving a person who would never even look my way!" Her voice was hoarse from all the shouting she had been doing, all the foreign strain her throat is currently enduring. Never had she completely lost control to anger like this before.

And then she was on her knees clutching the hem of the ranger's tunic for dear life. Her eyes blinded by tears and her ears deafened by her thudding heartbeat along with her muffled cries and her quivering broken form.

The ranger instantly caught her in his arms and joined her on the floor.

"If every single beat of this forsaken heart would only remind me of how much I still love him, I would give everything for this heart to finally cease beating." She whispered, laying her head on Aragorn's shoulder as she let the rest of the tears fall, exhaustion finally threatening to claim her.

"You are strong for being able to keep all of these storming emotions to yourself for so long." He pressed his cheek against her head as he held her closer, "It must have been hard."

Left with nothing else to say, Celine allowed herself to bask in the comfort the Dunedain was offering.

"But do you know what hurt the most?" She spoke after awhile, still on the floor with her hands curled on the fabric of the man's tunic, looking up at him with tired eyes from underneath her lashes.

Shaking his head, he freed one of his hands that was cradling her close to him and used it to tuck a stray strand of blue behind her ear, patiently waiting for the answer that eventually came.

"It was seeing him get hurt because of the person he loves or for any other reason when all I ever wanted for him to do is to smile and live in bliss.

Even if I'll have to die over and over for it."

And with a final shuddering breath, she fell unconscious and succumbed to a sleep induced by overwhelming pain.

Aragorn could feel himself clench his own eyes shut as he helplessly shook his head and moved himself towards one of the many stone walls in the balcony.

"You truly are selfless..." He sighed.

Upon opening his eyes, he was met with the figure he had been expecting to emerge from the shadows, "I would have asked you why you preferred to linger in the shadows but we both know that I already knew you were there,

Legolas."

-----

"Shall I help you get her to bed?" The elf offered, trying not to give any of his unsorted feelings away.

Aragorn only shook his head at this, "Help me settle her in a comfortable position here instead." As he made a move to lay her head on his lap.

Legolas sent him a frown at this, "Leaving her out here at this time of the night would not be wise."

"Whoever said a thing about me leaving?" The Dunedain rose a brow at him that the prince was still yet to tell whether it was the ranger challenging him to do something or entirely something else, "I will stay." He announced "With her." And the fond look that crossed his face when he looked down at her had been entirely unintentional.

Legolas blinked, once, twice, before moving out of stunned silence and managing a feeble, "I see..."

"You could take my place you know." The man offered, sending his friend smile that was both knowing and rueful on his weathered features.

The ellon only shook his head as he helped settle the girl's body in the most comfortable position one could get on the floor. Once done, he took his cloak off and gingerly laid it over her seemingly vulnerable form before standing up.

"She deserves to see the sky when she wakes up." He mused and returned the knowing look his friend had sent him earlier.

Aragorn only shook his head,

"All she needs to see is her moon, Legolas. She is not asking for much. One could give her the world and she would not be the least closer to being happy if it would not be you."

Blond brows draw together at this as a stern look settled on one perfectly sculpted face, "I am only trying to protect her, Aragorn."

This caused a very displeased look to fall over the ranger's face, "Well, do you see what your protection is doing to her?" He paused and prompted the elf to answer -which he doesn't- and so he goes on, "It's slowly killing her. Is that what you want? And who are you protecting her from anyway?"

It took a few beats for Legolas to compose himself and answer, "Myself."

"Yourself?!" Aragorn was beyond enraged at the reason he was given and had he not been pinned to place by the girl that is sleeping on his lap, he swears to the Valars that he might have just punched the elf on the gut that very instant.

Piercing blue eyes narrowed down at the Dunedain as if desperately willing him to understand, "You know elves could only fall in love once during their lifetime."

"And you know that Celine is neither of the race of men or the elves, she obviously isn't a dwarf but she lived this long without aging. She was a priestess yet she also get to be a swordsmaster and lives to be both. Everything about her defies all rules." Aragorn countered, his own glare at the elf intensifying. He could only take so much of the blond archer trying to defend his own emotional instability.

"What are you trying to say?"

"Take your leap of faith, Legolas. She loved you long enough to deserve your trust. Allow yourself to fall."

And with that, Aragorn tipped his head towards the dark blue skies and closed his eyes, leaving the elf to his thoughts.

But it wasn't his own thoughts that bothered him that night. But rather, a memory of a past and a future that would be.

-----☆To be continued