Author's note: I love each and everyone who send a review! Thanks so much! I usually don’t say this, but I like this chapter a lot and hope you enjoy it as well. I don’t remember where exactly this battle took place, but I’m sure you will recognize it.

Disclaimer: Everything belongs to J.R.R. Tolkien.

Love is all that matters

Chapter 5: Dreams can become true

By Marylou

       

~~~~ Aragorn ~~~~

When the battle finished, I was exhausted but unharmed. I scanned the battlefield with my eyes, looking for my beloved.

I found him collecting his arrows from the opponents’ bodies, not too far away. I was relieved to see that he was alive and looked around to see what had happened to my other friends.

I found most of them alive, except from one. Halbarad. I began walking around, calling my cousin’s name in agony.

I got no answer and no one seemed to care about me, except from Legolas who lifted his head and threw me a concerned look.

I had no time to concern myself with that, as I continued striding around the battlefield. And then I found him. His body was lying in front of me, in lake of blood, with an arrow pinned at his throat.

I fell on my knees and let out an anguished cry. I covered my face with my hands to stop the tears.

I did not question for a minute whose hands were the ones who covered my body. I clutched to them with all the strength that I had left and buried my face in his shoulder.

"Let it out, Aragorn," Legolas whispered, as he gently straddled my hair, "Let it out, cry. It will be better."

I did as he instructed me and soon his shirt was all wet from my tears. I wasn’t even sure why I was crying. Was it because I had lost my dear cousin, or was it because of my unfulfilled love to the person that held me so tightly in his arms?

"I need you," I cried, "I need you so much." I was aware that everyone was standing around me, watching me in these moments of weakness. They did not understand whether I was calling for Halbarad or not.

But Legolas knew. "I am here," he whispered in my ear, as his smooth fingers caressed my back, "I will always be here."

"Don’t ever leave me," I pleaded and grasped his shirt so tightly that I almost teared it off.

"Never," he promised reassuringly, "I will not leave you. I cannot." His last words gave me the spark in this moment of despair, to finally tell him what I always wanted to.

I slightly pulled away from him to look him straight into the eyes. "You are my everything."

       

~~~~ Legolas ~~~~

After endless years, he had finally said it. I had long suspected his feelings and now he had at last confirmed it.

He had spoken loud and clear, so everybody had heard him. I felt so very uncomfortable about the strange looks I was receiving.

I looked up and saw Gimli gasping when he heard Aragorn’s words, but when our eyes met he gave me a broad smile.

I smiled as well, but buried my face in Aragorn’s shoulder to make it less obvious. "You better don’t say anything else, because you might regret it afterwards," I whispered in his ear.

He did not speak, but he tightened his grip around my waist, as if to reassure me that he would not regret what he had said.

As he continued sobbing, I tried to think what would happen from now on. I had two options. I could either choose to ignore what Aragorn had said to me and live the rest of my life with a broken heart and an unfulfilled love, or I could choose the most forbidden way and accept his feelings.

Where would that lead us? To a secret relationship built on hiding and sorrow and with the constant threat of his upcoming marriage to Arwen on our heads.

What should I do? What should I do? Alas, the feeling of Aragorn in my arms was so damn right! I could not let him go. It would be like committing suicide.

I was lost in my thoughts, so I did not quite understand when Aragorn stopped crying. Suddenly, I realized that he had gone completely still in my arms.

I pulled away and cupped his face with my hands. "Are you all right now?" I asked, "Is it over?"

He merely nodded as an answer. "Can you walk?" I asked again.

He tried to stand up but stumbled and almost fell down. I put my arm around his waist to steady him. I looked around to see if anyone else was going to help us, but obviously, they were all taken by surprise from the king’s weak moment and from his words to me and were frozen.

Only Gimli run to support Aragorn. He threw me a meaningful look as we helped him to his horse.

"Can you ride?" I asked him with concern when we reached the horses. He nodded and put a hand on my shoulder. "Thank you," he told me. He sounded tired and his voice was husky.

"Do not think about it," I said, as I tucked a strand of brown hair behind his ear. Where did I even find the nerves to do that, I asked myself.

I rode next to him, with Gimli sitting behind me, as usual. "What are you going to do?" the dwarf whispered to me.

I shook my head. "I do not know, Gimli. I feel lost," I told my friend earnestly. He was the only one I had ever talked to about my feelings towards Aragorn. Of course, lady Galadriel knew about it, but she had figured it out herself.

"I think that you should follow your heart, Legolas, " he told me earnestly.

"What of the consequences, Gimli? You know how many people will get hurt," I whispered with a desperate tone in my voice.

"Why do you always have to think about the others?" he hissed angrily. He had raised his voice and Aragorn turned to look at us. I smiled at him reassuringly. It warmed my heart to see the love in his eyes. I had sensed it before, but it had never been as obvious, as it was now.

"Keep your voice down," I advised the dwarf.

"Why do you always have to think about the others?" he repeated, "Think about yourself for a change. Do not try to fool me. I know that you will die if you reject him now."

I closed my eyes. How right he was! Letting Aragorn go, would break my heart into a million pieces from sorrow. "What shall I do?"

"Tell him you love him," Gimli whispered with confidence, "You heard what he told you. You are his everything! Legolas! You do not get to hear that everyday."

I smiled. What Aragorn had said was indeed very intense. I only wished that he had meant it and had not just said that in the heat of the moment. "You are right. Thank you, my friend," I told him and squeezed his hand thankfully.

Later, as we finally reached the citadel, Aragorn announced that he was tired and that he would go and get some rest. Eomer tried to talk to him, but Aragorn shoved him away.

On his way to his room, he turned around to look at me. With a nod, he invited me to follow him. I nodded in agreement.

Gimli had caught his move as well. I turned to speak to him. "So this is it," I said and in my mind I sounded like a young foolish child, "This is really going to happen!"

He smiled with understatement. "Yes, Master elf, this is really going to happen!" he said, "So let me give you an advice. Do not rush things. This is something you will remember throughout your whole life, which means forever. Make it perfect."

"That’s wise advice, Gimli. Thank you," I said and tapped him on the shoulder, before I made my way to Aragorn’s room.

My dream was finally becoming true...

       

~~~~ Aragorn ~~~~

I walked up and down in my room impatiently, waiting for the love of my life to come. I could never believe that his dream would become true, but it really did.

My heart leapt from joy as soon as he entered the room and shut the door behind him. For a few moments, I just stood there, motionless, admiring the beauty I had in front of me.

Then I started moving towards him, but he stopped me with his hand. I felt mortal fear creeping into my soul when he did that, as for one moment I was sure that he would reject me.

But then he just smiled and took my hand in his affectionately. "I will carry the memory of this night in my heart throughout eternity, so I want everything to be perfect," he told me quietly.

I smiled and taking his hand in mine, I led him out to the balcony, never breaking eye contact. I felt my heart so close at breaking by the intensity of these moments.

It was full moon and the balcony was bathed in the moonlight. Legolas’ pale skin and golden hair glowed brilliantly under the moon and made him look like a vision.

I almost chocked when I realized what was going on. This creature of ethereal beauty, the most dazzling thing I had ever seen, was standing there in front of me, looking into my eyes, holding my hands and I was ready to make vows of eternal love to him...

This was beyond any imagination. Suddenly, I realized that I was shaking like a leaf and decided that I could not wait any longer.

"Legolas, I have waited for this moment my entire life," I whispered, "And now it is finally time to say it. I love you."

I watched him as he closed his eyes and a broad smile brightened his face. When he opened them again, they were filled with love and longing. "And I love you as well, my king."

And then, for the first time in my life, my mouth covered the lips of my beautiful prince. They were sweet and smooth just like I always imagined they would be and yet, they surpassed every fantasy that I had ever made.

I put a hand behind his head to bring him even closer and wrapped the other around his waist. For the first time in my life, I felt complete, like one missing part of my heart had just found its way back.

When we finally parted, he brought me close to a tight embrace. "I have longed for this, since the first moment I laid eyes on you," he whispered as he tenderly straddled my hair.

I smiled and kissed his nose affectionately. "Me too, my love. I just wish I had made my move earlier. That would have spared us of all that waiting and suffering," I told him, before I placed a kiss on his sensitive ear- tip.

"Do not regret something that you cannot change, Estel," he told me earnestly, "We have found the strength to speak the words and that is all that matters now. We are... " he suddenly paused and bowed his head to the ground.

I cupped his face in my hands and lifted it to make him look at me. "What is wrong?" I asked with concern.

He buried his face in my chest and let out a long sight. "I wanted to say that we are now together, but that it’s not true. We cannot be together. You have other obligations."

"We are together, dear heart, do you hear me?" I assured him, as I drew him even closer. And to prove my point, I claimed his lips again, in a slow, deep kiss in which I reflected all the passion and love I had kept locked in my heart for the last years.

So lost we were, in exploring each others mouth, that even I did not quite understand it when I lifted the thin elf in my arms and carried him inside my chambers and to my bed.

I lay him softly on the bed and climbed up as well. "Do you know, my prince, how many nights I have dreamed of this? Uncountable nights of loneliness and longing, I would close my eyes and see you coming to my sleep, taking me to paradise. It all seemed but a distant dream to me and now... now I have you in my arms and there are no words in which I could describe you the feelings inside of me."

"I have dreamed of this too, Estel," he whispered, as his long, delicate fingers travelled all the way from my shoulders to my hips, causing me to shiver uncontrollably, "You were always in my heart. Ever since I saw you, I could not love another. You are my destiny."

I shushed him with a sweet kiss on his lips. He didn’t have to say any other words. Now it was time to let our bodies speak.

To be continued... [Don’t miss out the next chapter, it’s gonna be THE wedding of Aragorn and Arwen. Very interesting... I’m warning you!]

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