Title: Left Behind
Author: Tuxedo Elf
Characters: Rúmil
Prompt: 035 He felt as if the whole dark
world was turning upside down.
Word Count: 345
Rating: PG13
Summary: The aftermath of the battle of Helms
Deep.
Author's Notes: Movie-verse!
The
desolation before him stretched for miles, dark, torn earth,
stained with blood both red and black. Strange shapes littered
the land, twisted, deformed remnants of things that had once
been living beings. Those that had been Orcs he did not care
for – but some had been Men… and some had been
Elves.
As
if in a dream he walked amongst them, the smell of death still
fresh on the air. His heart died a little more with every
body and every face he recognised.
By
the body of an Elf he paused, fighting back tears as he gazed
upon the torn body of one who he’d long called friend.
With a shaking hand he knelt and removed an ornate clip from
the bloodied hair, determined to bear it back to his friend’s
family.
Standing
again, he uttered a soft prayer before moving away, continuing
his lonely walk. So many had been lost and he felt as if the
whole dark world was turning upside down. Nothing would ever
be the same again – it could not possibly be.
A
flash of colour caught his eye – a strip of red fabric
caught on a rock. He froze, reaching out for it, pulling it
from the rock and letting it rest in his hand. Then the tears
did fall, the magnitude of his loss hitting him like the crumbled
wall of the keep. He knew Haldir was dead – he had seen
the broken body, borne away by some of the other surviving
Elves. They would return him to Lórien, lay him to
rest in the land he loved.
But
he had not found Orophin and discovered that he feared to
do so. Feared to find what was left, to have another memory
stained by a desecrated body. Better not to know, to remember
his brother as he had been not long ago – alive, vibrant
and laughing.
Yet,
as he stood alone in the carnage, seeing nothing but bodies
from horizon to horizon and feeling the dampness on his cheeks,
he wondered if it wasn’t already too late.
END
