Title: Thank You For Loving Me
Author: Erica ( demona875@aol.com )
Rating: R (Just to be safe. It gets a little graphic at the end)
Pairing: Aragorn/Legolas  (implied)
WARNING: CHATACTER DEATH!!!
Summary: Set sometime after the War of the Ring, Aragorn is king. 
Aragorn finds a note from Legolas.
Disclaimer: None of this belongs to me, except the plot and the wicked 
headache I have now from writing this. Aragorn, Legolas, and anything 
else I may have used from LotR belongs to J. R. R. Tolkien. The song, 
“Thank You For Loving Me,” belongs to Jon Bon Jovi.
Author’s Note: I have no idea where this came from. It could have 
something to do with it being 2:00 am right now, could be the caffeine 
buzz, could be this blasted song rattling around incessantly in my head… 
It could be a lot of things. But, I’m not a big fan of son fics, and I really 
don’t like character death, so I really have no clue how this idea 
manifested itself in my brain.

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Aragorn awoke with a start. He had been in a deep, peaceful sleep when 
he was permeated with an overwhelming sense of dread. Something was 
not right. He reached out to feel his love sleeping soundly next to him, but 
all his hand came in contact with was a piece of parchment. He moved 
slowly out of his bed, the numbing fear nearly paralyzing him. He finally 
reached the desk across the room and lit a single candle by which he could 
read the parchment. His heart froze at the words written on the sheet:

	The first thing I want you to know, Estel, is that this is not your 
fault. The fault lies heavily upon my own shoulders. I just don’t know who 
I am anymore. I don’t know where my life’s path is leading me. I am being 
pulled in so many different directions, and I just can’t take it anymore.

	I want to thank you, though. You have always been there for me. 
You have saved my life so many times. But now… There is nothing you 
could have done to prevent this, so please, do not blame yourself. No one 
could have saved me. You have been the light of my life for these long 
years that we have been together, and you always will be. But my own 
light is fading away. I cannot live in the darkness of my own soul, nor do I 
want you to see the detached, distant, and cold being I would become if I 
tried. My inner strength fails me, and I no longer have the will to live on. I 
have lived through many centuries in this land. I have seen many beautiful 
things, but the most beautiful, by far, was you. You, Aragorn, are noble, 
wise, and loving. You would risk your own life for those you care about. I 
wish I could be like you, my love. I love you, and I will carry that love with 
me to the Halls of Mandos There it will grow. And I shall wait for you 
there, until your own mortality claims you, and our souls may be one 
again.

	I do not wish to leave you, melethron nín… I love you so much. I 
want to be with you forever. But I do not have the strength to go on in this 
world any longer. In Mandos we may be together forever. Just think of this 
as me scouting ahead to make sure the road is clear and safe for your 
eventual passage. I love you… I never meant to hurt you. I will always 
love you…

Legolas

‘Thank you for loving me. For being my eyes when I couldn’t see. For 
parting my lips when I couldn’t breathe. Thank you for loving me. When I 
couldn’t fly, you gave me wings. You parted my lips when I couldn’t 
breathe. Thank you for loving me.’

With tears streaming down his face and obscuring his vision, Aragorn ran 
blindly out of his room. Despair was slowly rendering his body useless, 
and he knew he had to find Legolas, his beloved, quickly.

He prayed and pleaded silently to the Valar that he wasn’t already too late, 
while running through the halls of the palace calling out for Legolas.

He didn’t know how, but by some means his blindly running legs led him 
to the palace gardens, where he was met with the most horrific sight of his 
life. Legolas lay on his side, his back to where Aragorn had entered, amid 
a growing pool of blood. As the Man came around to the Elf’s front, he 
saw a bloodied elven dagger lying in limp fingers. A single, long, deep, 
bleeding wound adorned each of the fair arms from wrist to elbow. 
Aragorn fell to his knees in front of his dying lover, and gathered as much 
of him as he could into his lap.

“Legolas,” he sobbed.

Unfocused blue eyes tried to center on the figure hovering above them, but 
they refused to do so.

“Estel?” a broken voice whispered.

“I‘m here, love,” he cried. “You‘re going to be alright.”

Aragorn tried all he could do to try to stop the bleeding wounds on the 
elf’s arms. He franticly attempted to tie off the blood flow, but to no avail.

“Don’t leave me, Legolas,” he wept into the golden hair of the Elf. “Please 
don‘t leave me.”

“Thank you… for loving me,” Legolas sang out with his last breaths as a 
shudder ran through his entire body. “Thank you…”

Those were his final words. His eyes fluttered closed, and shortly, he 
stopped breathing. A single tear slid down the unmarred face.

“No…” Aragorn cried as he rocked the lifeless body against his own numb 
one. “How am I supposed to live without you, melethron?” he asked, 
kissing the cooling face of his best friend, his true love.

Belatedly, he looked around, frenzied, trying to find someone, anyone, 
who could help. But no one was around. Everyone else was peacefully 
asleep; blissfully unaware of the events taking place just outside their 
windows.

As he looked, a silver gleam caught the Man’s eye. It was the dagger that 
Legolas gad used on himself, the Elf’s own blood drying quickly on the 
otherwise flawless blade. Aragorn gently laid Legolas’ motionless body 
back on the ground and tenderly kissed his cold lips before picking up the 
discarded knife, weighing it in his hand.

“Thank you for loving me…” he echoed into the night before plunging the 
dagger, all the way to the hilt, into his own chest. He fell limp across 
Legolas’ body.

They could now finally be together forever, without the cares, burdens, 
and responsibilities of this world.

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Author’s Note 2: Sorry for going all “Romeo and Juliet” at the end. It 
wasn’t originally going to turn out that way, but that’s where my muse led 
me. Blame her, not me. Feedback would be much appreciated. Send to 
demona875@aol.com