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Chapter 20: Vision – Haldir

A/N: Who knows what happens to Elves that fall in battle on Arda? :/ Gah...I'm so sorry guys, I really don't have an excuse this time. Well, I'll hush up now and let you read this chapter. Thank you so much to all of you who reviewed, favorite-ed, and alert-ed this story!

The breeze whispered through the trees.

I drifted along with the warm wind, still—after over two centuries—uncomfortable with my ethereal being. As I had fallen in battle, rather than sailing West when I grew weary of Arda, I was one of the few Elven ghosts inhabiting Tol Eressëa. Not long after my passing, I had come to realize that I only appeared to those whom I wished to see me. I did not utilize that power very often.

The wind carried me across the island to where Elrond's sons frolicked on the shore. The twins, though they were at least a thousand years old, were still childish as ever. Aragorn and Legolas, adoptive sons of Elrond, retaliated mercilessly, and their laughter, I knew, warmed the hearts of all who could hear them.

Legolas stopped to shake the water out of his hair, which glistened in the bright midday sun like gold. I willed myself to become invisible to them, so I could be left to my own thoughts.

I still clearly remembered the fateful Battle of Helm's Deep, how my archers were slaughtered mercilessly by Saruman's army. But I remembered friendship also, not least between the two adoptive Elrondion.

My archers and I had come to Helm's Deep under orders from Elrond and Galadriel, and Legolas had just finished briefing us about the battle plan. Aragorn, who had been resting at Legolas' insistence, slipped into the room quietly as we were preparing to go out to the ramparts to ready ourselves for the battle. "Legolas," he whispered, pale and shaking.

The Elf turned immediately at the sound of Aragorn's voice, his brow creasing in confusion at the Ranger's obvious distress. "What is it, Estel?"

The man took a shuddering breath, not looking him in the eye. "I...I had a dream that you were...dead. Killed in this battle."

The Wood-elf's alarm showed only in his eyes for the briefest of moments, before he moved to embrace his friend in comfort. "It's all right, Estel," he reassured the man softly. "I'll be careful."

"What if..." Aragorn swallowed back his tears. "What if it's not just a dream? You know that my dreams have been prophetic visions more than once."

Legolas hesitated for a moment. "Estel, please don't dwell on this," he said finally. "With your luck, it'll distract you at just the right moment during battle for an orc to sneak up behind you, and then I'll have to rescue you and your dream might just turn out to be true."

Aragorn simply tightened his embrace around Legolas, his strangled sob muffled by the Elf's shirt. "Amin hiraetha," he murmured after a moment. "You're right, Lassë."

It turned out that Aragorn had misinterpreted his dream, that the Elf who was going to die was actually me. But from the friendship I had seen between them (and from Galadriel's words), I knew that it would tear them apart if the other was gone.

A/N: Elrondion = son of Elrond. I think this was a request from CC. V. RG. Feel free to drop a review!