A hundred days have made me older,

Here Without You

Author: Cortheira Blackelf

Rating: G-it's clean, just a little romance.

Summary: Aragorn daydreams about Arwen, and their love stretches across the miles.

Disclaimer: I don't own LOTR, which is too bad, but that's how it is. Also, "Here Without You" is by 3 Doors Down, not by me.

Spoilers: The FOTR book and TTT movie.

****

A hundred days have made me older,

Since the last time that I saw your pretty face

Aragorn looked up at the stars.

They were so beautiful tonight, or maybe it was just that he had not seen them in the many months in the cold, dark dungeon where he had laid. There, the stars seemed to only be a myth, a bedtime story for late at night, the one thread of faith in the black abyss.

A thousand lies have made me colder

And I don’t think I can look at this the same

How long had he been there, he did not know. The only thing he could remember was the whip and the pain and the foul words from his captors. Though he hated to admit it, he had been scared more than any other time in his life. He had thought that no one would ever find him, or even try. He had given up all hope…

All hope? He sat up on his cot. Every thing had seemed so bleak, so why hadn't he just given up? Why didn't he just cross the line and enter eternal peace?

The answer came to him with clarity so vivid; he wondered why he had never thought of it before.

Arwen.

But all the miles that separate
they disappear now when I’m dreaming of your face

Yes, Arwen had been the one thing that the orcs hadn't stripped of him. Her face strayed clearly into his mind as he slid back into unconsciousness.

****

Arwen looked up at the stars.

"They're so bright tonight!" she whispered in Elvish. "Bright like the night me and Estel…"

I’m here without you baby but your still on my lonely mind

She scanned over the treetops as if expecting him to come running to her. She hadn't seen Aragorn for over 20 years now, but her love was as passionate as ever. But she wondered if he still loved her. In the back of her mind, she wondered if, in all his travels, he had found another human that he loved and forgotten her.

"Aragorn," she cried softly to the wind, "do you still love me?"

****

I think about you, baby, and I dream about you all the time

Aragorn tossed and turned on his bunk, trying to get to sleep. Seeing it wasn't working, he stood up, stretched, and, as quietly as possible, walked out of the clearing and out onto a small ledge overlooking Middle Earth below.

In his mind's eye, Evanstar was running on a green meadow, spinning and falling down. Aragorn caught up and grinned at her.

"Do you still love me?" his image of Arwen asked with a smile.

"More than ever, love." He replied, unconsciously slipping into Elvish.

****

"More than ever, love." The wind whispered to Arwen's ears. "More than ever."

She looked up sharply at the surrounding landscape. Where had that come from?

But still, all she saw was the Misty Mountains, their cliffs rising high into the air.

I'm here without you; baby, but you're still with me in my dreams

She thought back to the dreams at night, where she could see Aragorn just across a stream, but he didn't see her. She tried wading across, but the current pulled her down. She tried jumping, but it was a little bit past her jumping distance. She tried calling, but he didn't hear. The memory of this nightmare frightened her, and a shiver ran down her spine.

She replied in a normal voice to the air, "And nothing will come between us?"

****

He smiled. "Nothing, for time and all eternity."

And tonight girl, there's only you and me

****

The balcony on which Aragorn and Arwen sat faced the yellow sun, setting in the west. But they weren't watching it. They only had eyes for each other.

"Do you still love me?" she whispered in her love's ear.

He smiled. This conversation had become a game with them. "More than ever, dear."

"And nothing will come between us?"

"Nothing, for time and all eternity."

She sighed and looked sadly to the horizon. "Tomorrow, you leave Rivendell. I do not have the foresight of my father, but I feel that it will be a long time until we see each other."

He smiled. "That long period will only prove that even apart, we can stay together."

"But Frodo has the Ring." She sighed. "You can't be sure that you will survive its destruction. You will be going into the heart of Mordor!"

"No snuff will put out my love for you, no matter how dark it is."

Everything I know, and everywhere I go,

It gets hard but it won't take away my love

Arwen placed her head on Aragorn's shoulder. "The Ring has been known to chase away sanity in even the most noble souls. How do I know that you will survive its temptations and the orcs that pursue it?"

He tensed for a moment, staring out into the horizon, and then placed his arm around the elf's slender shoulders. "My love will stay, even if I do not. Remember that."

And when the last one falls, and it's all said and done,

It gets hard but it won't take away my love.

****

The dead orcs were scattered over the plain that Aragorn was surveying. He knew he was lucky to have gotten out of Helm's Deep alive. He had been relying purely on luck in that battle. Eowyn had definetely made a point of that.

Eowyn. He thought of her golden hair, his first mysterious sighting of her in Edoras, and that look they had shared on the day when the Wargs attacked. The White Lady of Rohan. That was what Eomer had called her. It was fitting for as beautiful as someone as she.

Arwen's perfectly formed elven face suddenly pushed his musings about Eowyn away. His face pained her, knowing he would never see her again.

"Do you still love me?" she whispered softly from her.

He paused. "Yes, I do."

She smiled. "Think about the night in Lorien." She paused for a moment. "Now, Do you still love me?"

"More than ever, love." He whispered in Elvish, wishing Arwen would just go and not take him with her.

She sobered. "Estel," she comforted, "I won't leave Middle Earth without you. Do you think I would abandon you?"

'Of course.' Aragorn shook his head. 'She loves me more than life itself.'

"And nothing will ever come between us?" her image coaxed.

"Nothing, for time and all eternity."

I'm here without you, baby, but you're still on my lonely mind,

I think about you, baby, and I dream about you all the time,

I'm here without you, baby, but you're still with me in my dreams,

And tonight girl, it's only you and me

The End

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