Aragorn x fem!reader
Requested: Yes! Anon requested: "Hi! I was wondering if you could do an imagine/one shot with ma boi aragorn? So the reader is a traveler and is very well-versed in surviving on her own, and maybe meets Aragorn in the Prancing Pony? Or maybe just on the road. They kinda find each other every once in a while and soon grow feelings for each other. And the next time they see one another, they confess? Sorry if it's too vague or whatever, let me know if it is and I'll add more! Also, reader is female, please! Thank you!"
Warnings: some f-bombs, several mentions of blood, description of injury, bad writing.
This gets pretty angsty towards the end, but it has a happy ending!
A/N: Wow... I can't tell you how much I struggled with this one and I'm still not happy with how it turned out. But I'm afraid that if I keep editing it, I will ruin it even more.
And I learned that I can't write fight scenes for the life of me :)
This was sitting in my drafts for weeks, taunting me and tutting every time I posted someone else's request. I wrote and rewrote this oneshot so many times, I can't even tell you which version this is :)
'Don't Worry About Me' by Frances was the song I kept playing to get in the mood for this story.
You were a traveler by nature. Wandering from one place to the other, with no destination in mind.
Nature was your home, no permanent residence needed. You'd probably feel trapped if you had to stay in the same place for too long.
Being a wanderer meant that you were also a bit of an adventurer. You weren't actively looking for danger, but you didn't shy away from it either. Damsel in distress? You didn't know her!
If you encountered an Orc or other scum, you killed it. It's as simple as that.
That was one of the many reasons why you and Aragorn got along so well.
He was your travel companion most of the time. You didn't talk too much, mostly kept a comfortable silence while you crossed half of Middle Earth together.
Sometimes one of you would stray off the joined path for a sidequest or personal matters, but you always found your way back to each other.
Right this moment, you were waiting for him in the Prancing Pony.
It had been ages since the last time you were here. You weren't a fan of people in general, and the loud noise and the stench of ale mixed with sweat and men made you remember why you didn't return here earlier.
You kept your face hidden, hood pulled over your head as far as you were able to. The last thing you wanted was to draw the attention of the drunken men around you, thinking they had some kind of claim on you just because you were female and alone.
Aragorn was late, as usual. You hadn't seen each other in months, since he had other business to take care of, and you were more excited than you'd care to admit when you received his request to meet up in Bree.
Spending a lot of time together cannot stay without consequences. Feelings were involved - at least on your side - no matter how hard you tried to suppress them.
Aragorn was handsome, sure, but his heart was good. A kind soul, fighting for the little guy and protecting those in need, ready to help whenever he could. He respected everything and everyone, being the perfect gentleman. How could you not fall in love?
It was because of his good nature that you two had met in the first place. Well, you didn't have that good of a start, arguing about a rabbit of all things. You still chuckled every time you thought about it...
*
You were walking through a forest in the North. You really didn't have a destination in mind, you were just wandering around. Seeing what life would throw at you.
Forests always had this calming effect on you. The rustling of the leaves, the warm colours, the life it contained... it was a home to many, including you.
When you were looking for a place to rest for the night, you noticed a fire in the distance. Deciding not to disturb whoever made that fire, you kept enough distance and found a nice, big tree to rest in.
You sat down, leaning against the tree, enjoying the silence. Everything was peaceful and quiet, and you took a couple of deep breaths.
You felt yourself slowly dozing away, it would be best to climb the tree before you were too tired to do so. Whoever made the fire could be friend or foe, you weren't taking any chances.
You scrambled to your feet and threw your bag up the tree. You were about to climb to your makeshift bed for the night, when you heard something rustling in the bushes near you.
You froze and stared at your bow and arrow, neatly tucked away in your bag, mocking you from the tree. Stupid move, you mentally facepalmed yourself. You were still too careless back then, a tad bit naive too.
Was it the camper who came to check on you? See if you were a threat?
You hoped so because if it were anything else, you were royally fucked.
"Who goes there?" you shouted, trying to sound confident. Stupid move number two.
Because as soon as you finished your question, the bushes moved again, scaring you shitless. You screamed. A very high pitched scream too.
You clutched your chest, feeling your heart almost bursting out of it. When the first shock subsided, you started laughing. This was ridiculous!
Your laughter soon died down when a hand clamped itself over your mouth and you felt your back being pressed against something sturdy.
"You've drawn too much attention to yourself," a male voice whispered right next to your ear. "You should know better than to scream in these woods."
You mumbled something in his hand, and tried to look at your 'attacker'. Aragorn didn't look very different than he did today, so you were caught off guard by his appearance. Suddenly being kidnapped or even murdered by this man didn't seem so bad anymore...
The rustling in the bushes started again, and you raised one of your arms pointing towards the source of the sound, suppressing the urge to roll your eyes at him.
Aragorn removed his hand from your mouth, signaling you to keep quiet. He apparently had decided that you weren't a threat to him. Or in general.
He pushed you behind him. In any other situation you wouldn't let a man do that to you, you were independent after all - damsel in distress who? - but this time you let it slide. You were probably no match against whatever was hiding in those bushes without your weapons.
Aragorn drew his sword and slowly walked towards it. When he was close, a rabbit bolted out of the bushes startling the both of you. Before you could protest, Aragorn had killed it.
"What did you do that for?" you yelled at him indignantly. He probably didn't mean to kill it, and it was comforting to know the man had some wicked swordskills but this all seemed highly unnecessary to you.
"Care to join me for dinner?" he asked with a big smile, raising the dead rabbit. "I made camp not so far from here."
"I'm a vegetarian..." you mumbled, but you climbed the tree to retrieve your bag anyways, and followed Aragorn to his campsite.
*
It was the start of your friendship, and you never regretted it.
You kept each other safe, always looking out for one another when you had to fight, trusting each other blindly. He taught you a lot of things, making you more experienced in fighting and surviving on your own.
You always kept your feelings a secret, not willing to risk your friendship.
Cheesy right? But if you lost your friendship with Aragorn, you would be left on your own. And you weren't exactly ready to face the world alone again.
"But he still has to learn to be on time," you muttered, twisting your mug between your hands.
"A wise man once said you can never be too early or too late," Aragorn's voice sounded. You smiled, taking a sip from your drink.
"We both know you just made that up on the spot, ranger."
Aragorn took the seat in front of you, his eyes full of mirth.
"It's good to see you again," he said, and he stared at you intently. You forgot about everything else for a moment and let yourself get lost in his eyes. Somehow they gave you the comfort you needed. Like you finally found your home. Silly girl, you thought and you reluctantly teared your eyes away.
With your hands still clutched around your mug, you tried to control yourself again.
"So, why did you want to meet up? Everything okay?"
Aragorn leaned back in his chair and sighed.
"That doesn't sound convincing," you laughed. He rubbed his face with both hands.
"I'm just tired. There are so many sightings of Orcs around these parts, I don't understand where they keep coming from. And I can't handle them all on my own. I need your help."
You shook your head.
"As much as I want to help you, you know I'm not a fighter. Not like you, at least."
He scoffed. "Y/N, you're an excellent fighter. Are you forgetting who trained you in the first place? I have faith in you and so should you."
He took your hands in his and squeezed them.
"You know I will always protect you. I won't let anything happen to you..."
Oh, why did he have to say these kind of things? Didn't he realize the effect he had on you?
"Aragorn, I-..."
You were interrupted when the door of the Prancing Pony swung open, and someone yelled, "Orcs! Orcs in Bree!!"
Aragorn jumped up, pulling you with him. "That's our cue!"
You tried to keep up with him, slaloming through the little streets of Bree in an attempt to track down the Orc pack. You knew Aragorn would want to try and lure them out of Bree, into the surrounding forest.
Anything to get them away from the villagers.
*
Aragorn had tracked the pack all the way into the Old Forest. You were hiding a few yards from the place they had chosen to rest. It was an open place, surrounded with half a circle of trees, the other half was the edge of what seemed to be a small cliff of some sorts. They were trapped.
There were about fifteen Orcs, easy enough to handle just the two of you. He looked at you, silently asking if you were ready.
You took a few deep breaths, and tried to hype yourself up. Fighting a single Orc now and then was no problem, you had to have eyes for one enemy. Only one opponent. But fighting against several Orcs, that was something entirely different. Multiple opponents, multiple ways to die.
At least you had Aragorn by your side.
You faced him and nodded. You weren't exactly ready, but you'd probably never be. Might as well get it over with. You took your two knives, you couldn't use your bow since you were too close.
With a battle cry so loud you were surprising yourself, you both jumped out of the bushes towards the Orcs.
Using the element of surprise, you and Aragorn easily took out half the pack. They were tired, disoriented maybe and truly not that bright.
You started to like this, fighting back to back with your ranger. It was like you had done nothing else, your moves were fluent and coordinated.
But it made you too confident. A little too cocky too.
So when there were only two Orcs left - the toughest too, no wonder they were the ones who had survived thus far - and Aragorn was busy fighting a third one, you thought you could handle them on your own.
It became clear to you very quickly that you had overestimated yourself. The Orcs attacked you together, and they were stronger than you. Your muscles hurt from all the previous fighting, and you struggled to fight them off.
"Y/N! Hold on," Aragorn grunted, when he saw the Orcs driving you towards the edge of the cliff.
One of the Orcs took a swing at you with his blade and you crossed your knives to stop him, succesfully. But you didn't realize it was a distraction, because this way the other Orc had a free spot to attack you.
You felt the blow to your head before you saw it coming, immediately collapsing to the ground.
Your vision was blurry and your ears were ringing. You felt something warm trickling down your forehead. You wanted to get up, but fell over as soon as you tried.
Aragorn knocked out the Orc he was fighting and immediately came to help you. He saw you lying on the ground, your head bloody and something in him snapped. He threw himself onto the last ones, letting his anger guide him.
Aragorn however was so focused on fighting your last two Orcs, that he failed to notice the one he had struck a few moments before wasn't actually dead.
It slowly got back on its feet, and made its way towards him. In its hands he carried a dirty, black dagger, planning to stab it in Aragorn's back.
You tried to warn him, but the sound that left you was nothing more than a faint squeak.
Ignoring your throbbing head the best you could, you scrambled to your feet and ran towards Aragorn. He slayed both Orcs with one blow of his sword, and turned around when he saw you approaching in his peripheral vision.
Before he could react to the oncoming attack, you had thrown yourself into the Orc with everything you've got.
The relief he felt by seeing you on your feet was quickly replaced with shock when he watched you both fall over the edge.
He ran to the edge, looking over it with a small heart. To his relief, you were only a few yards below him on a ledge, the Orc lying a few feet away from you. But what scared him the most was that you made absolutely no move to get up.
"Y/N!" Aragorn yelled, sliding down to you and decapitating the Orc while it was still on the ground. He wasn't going to make the same mistake twice.
The pain in your head was gone, but replaced by a thick fog. You blinked a couple of times, trying to regain your focus but to no avail. What did get stronger with each passing second, was a burning pain in your stomach.
You noticed someone kneeling beside you, shaking your shoulder.
"Y/N?" Aragorn's voice sounded worried.
He slowly turned you over and gasped when he noticed the dagger in your stomach.
"No, no, no..." he muttered, his hands wavering over your stomach, to your head and back, not knowing where to begin first.
You groaned, and he cupped your face with his hands, relieved you were still awake.
"Y/N? Y/N! I'm so, so sorry," he said, his voice shaking.
"Don't be," you said, forcing a smile. "It's not like you did this..."
"I promised! I promised to keep you safe and I failed!"
"It was about time I saved you for a change."
He grabbed your bloodstained hand and placed a soft kiss on it.
"I can't remove the blade here, you'll bleed to death. I have to take you back but..." He didn't finish his sentence, he didn't want to think what could happen.
"It's okay," you whispered, your eyelids getting too heavy to stay open. Sleep sounded very good at this moment.
"Y/N?" Aragorn asked. You didn't react, too focused on trying to stay awake.
He tore a piece of fabric from his tunic and wiped the dried blood from your forehead. The wound on your head wasn't as bad as he initially thought.
He placed his arms under your shoulders and knees, and very carefully lifted you up.
"I've got you, Y/N," he whispered, and placed a kiss on your head.
He shifted you so your weight was on his chest, your head lolled forwards.
"Don't leave me... You can't- I love you," he choked, before you felt yourself slipping away in the darkness.
*
You opened your eyes, and panicked for a moment, not knowing where you were.
Aragorn, who was sleeping in a chair beside your bed, jumped up when he heard your whimpers.
"Hey, shhh, it's okay," he cooed, taking your hands in his. "You're safe."
You relaxed immediately, and it made his heart swell. The fact that he was the one who could put you at ease with a single touch, made him oddly proud.
"How are you feeling?"
You tried to speak, but your throat was so dry you couldn't get anything out. Aragorn chuckled and handed you a glass of water.
When you tried to sit up, a painful stab in your stomach made you flinch.
"Easy now, I don't want you to tear your stitches."
You groaned. "You had to stitch me?"
He frowned, trying to suppress the memories and the anxiety he felt when he treated your wounds just a few hours before. It had been close, too close. He almost lost you. The thought had crept into his mind the minute he had finished your stitches. He hadn't paid attention for a split second and it almost cost you your life.
Seeing you pale and small, so small in the large bed you were in, sheets red from all the blood you were losing. But you were breathing. He did what he could, hoping it was enough. He shook his head to get the images out. You were awake and you were fine. You were going to be fine.
He took the blanket and silently asked your permission to throw it back. When you nodded slightly, he pulled it from your upper body, revealing the bandages.
"It was a pretty deep wound, I had no other choice but to stitch it..."
It was silent for a few minutes.
"Aragorn?" you asked, tugging at his hand so that he sat down on the bed.
He waited for you to continue.
"I uhm... I want to thank you, for..."
He smiled. His hand went to your face, tucking a few stray hairs behind your ear. "No need to thank me. You would've done the same. It's what friends do."
"Friends... Yeah, about that..." you began, suddenly feeling not so confident anymore. There was something you wanted to ask him, but it would change everything if it was true. And you didn't know if change would be a good or a bad thing.
"Yes?" Aragorn urged you to continue.
"You said something to me... In the forest, right before I passed out. It's all a blur, I could be wrong but... I thought you said that you loved me."
Aragorn froze. He thought you were unconscious at the time.
"You caught that, huh?"
You laughed. "I might've been pretty out of it because of the blood loss, but it's hard to miss the one thing you've been dying to hear for years..."
His eyes widened. "Years?"
You hummed. "I just didn't think you would feel the same, so I kept it as my secret."
He closed the distance between you, careful not to touch your stomach.
"It's funny because I did the same thing..."
"So it was a good thing I saved your life today," you said, licking your lips.
"That's not how I would put it, I never want to feel that way again. I thought I lost you. But yes, I don't think I would've told you my secret otherwise."
"Aragorn, can you promise me something?"
Your lips were ghosting over each other, but not yet touching, keeping the tension at a maximum.
"Anything," he breathed.
"From now on, no more secrets?"
He laughed, and finally closed the remaining distance between you two kissing your lips.
"Deal."