Should I Stay

Sensations swelled inside me as I listened. Should I stay? Nana was waiting in Mandos' Halls but Ada was here. He said he needed me.

Should I stay, all would be as it was. The Shadow would continue to rise and we would continue to drive it back. At some point, we might lose...

It hurt so much to try to come back... the pain lying on the edge of wakefulness was so fierce, it encroached upon me and should I stay I would be forced to embrace it.

I heard quiet sobs from my adar. He thinks I have left him--and have I? I could choose to steal his hope, and he would die as well, for grief would assault him and he would not fight back, leaving our people without a king. To go or to stay--I believe I have a choice; I also believe I have a destiny.

Should I stay?...

I took in a shuddering breath. My oxygen starved lungs screamed for more and I began to cough, injuries thence making themselves known. Joyous exclamations surrounded me and I felt Ada's strong embrace gently encasing me. Yes, light had won and I had stayed.

___________________________________________________________________________________

Middle Earth; Third Age: 2952

The battle was over but I had been hit. The injury was one thing I could recount for certain. Little else was relevant in my thought process as I lay collapsed on the leafy ground, my own blood staining the greenery surrounding.

I was acutely aware of that around me, as shouts were lifted up announcing the dead or wounded, but still thoughts relating to it were vague and I could not concentrate. It was as if glass walls surrounded me, muting all noise and even the peaceful murmur of the trees.

The silence was deafening.

I saw feet pounding across the terrain but no sound accompanied the steps; lips moved with no vocal exclamation; rain fell with no patter. Suddenly a shadow passed over me, but it was a shadow I knew all too well. Aragorn, son of Arathorn, to me Estel, but to the people around us: Strider. We were among his people--the Dunedain, Rangers of the North. I had agreed to accompany him on this journey, a decision that placed me here.

Estel's lips continued to move, but for some reason, even his words could not be heard. I wished with all my heart that the glass was thinner or that they would understand that they spoke to ears that did not hear. Estel looked to be explaining something, but what struck me was the look in his eyes every time he glanced at the blood seeping from my abdomen.

I believe he called more Rangers over, and my suspicion was proved correct when other shadows joined his, one being Halbarad and another being a novice I had met some time earlier. A stretcher was laid out beside me, and I wanted to tell them that I could stand but my voice would not project any sort of sound. Now that my mind allowed the thought, I realized none of me would respond. The three began to move me

And

The

Glass

Shattered.

The pain ignited and fire burned everywhere. I screamed and heard my own voice resounding in my ears. Clenching my jaw, I willed my back to stop arching and after what seemed to be hours I won the small battle, falling back upon the stretcher I had been transferred to. Seconds later, blessed unawareness arrived to claim me.

The last words I heard were whispered by Estel in my own tongue, "Goheno-nin, Legolas, saes, goheno-nin..." Forgive me, Legolas, please, forgive me...