A Halbrand x Galadriel oneshot! (fanfic)

in the meadow

Galadriel's POV

Halbrand sat beside Galadriel on a broken stone. The wind was calm, the place damp, and the birds chirped gently, echoing. Through the spaces between thick leaves, the rays of the afternoon sun passed through. The meadow looked innocent.

"Thank you," Galadriel whispered. "For pulling me back."

Halbrand's gaze was far. In his eyes danced the past he yearned to escape from, and the vengeance he tried to seek in Adar's throat until...

"Was you," he said. "Pulled me back first."

Galadriel remained silent. Yes, Adar had to be kept alive for questioning, this was her first priority. But if she didn't stop him from committing murder, Halbrand, the king of the Southlands, would've learned that bloodshed in the name of vengeance was just.

Yet if things were different – Galadriel couldn't help but wonder – if it were Sauron who lay on the ground, helpless and vulnerable, wouldn't she stab him in the heart with no room for second thoughts? Guaranteed, it would save her from the abyss she was sinking in, free her from her sorrow and guilt. How could she think Halbrand's case was any different?

They may have shared the same heart-clenching pain of loss and want for retribution, but their peace was not the same – Galadriel realized this. She remembered how Halbrand craved peace and rest when she beckoned him to come with her to Middle-Earth, to fight, to rule. She recalled how he wanted to stay in Numenor and surrender to the smiths to better his craftsmanship and offer aid. His peace couldn't be found in his foe's death. It could be found in the silen,

But Galadriel's was different, because it couldn't be found in the comforts of a home or with the company of good friends – no. She must fight and kill the shadow that lurked before it could spread. Her peace would come when Middle-Earth's peace was ensured. And it could only begin with Sauron's death.

But Halbrand? His freedom was close. Attainable. The only thing imprisoning him was his own mind.

Halbrand's POV

"Whatever it was he did to you, and whatever it was you did," Galadriel paused, "be free of it."

Be free of it.

The words chimed in Halbrand's mind like sweet bells in heaven – forgiving, welcoming, inviting. He had thought of this, thought of freeing himself. But it didn't feel possible unless someone accepted him, forgave him.

So when Galadriel said those words, he felt the chains of the past that had gripped and dragged him to the shadows unlock. No more darkness. The light at the end of the tunnel was near. He only needed to reach her hand and go to it.

"I never believed I could be..." Halbrand's voice was soft as a sinner confessing. But then the memory of midnight and fire burned in his memory. A reminder.

Could I truly ask for freedom?

Flashing before his eyes, he recalled cries of mercy, nails scraping, blood spilling. The suffering and pain he had caused were too great for him to want to be freed of it. How audacious of him to ask for silence when he started the tumult.

Be free of it.

Be – free of it.

"...Until today." He continued as his eyes glistened.

Until you came to me.

A realization.

Until you showed me I have the strength to forgive myself and walk the path of goodness.

A want.

Her.

Galadriel was the light and goodness he missed. His – missing piece. She saw strength in him when he thought he had none left, pushed him to victory when he thought of surrendering, and led him to free himself when his guilt and loss were a prison.

He needed to be by her side. Wanted her to be by his side.

"Fighting at your side, I..." He paused, the fervor still rushing in him. "I felt..."

Just. Righteous. Powerful. The feeling that I could heal everything I had wounded because you are with me.

"If I could just hold on to that feeling, keep it with me always, bind it to my very being, then I—"

I could be so much more. You could be so much more.

"I felt it too." Galadriel's voice was silk.

He turned to look at her, brows knitted. Did he hear her right? How could the light feel something the darkness felt?

Halbrand waited for her to look back so he could search for the answer in her eyes. Yet when she did, when she turned to meet his gaze and saw the truth in it, how she meant every word – the whole world dropped.

Suddenly, there was only them.

Time ceased to exist, and in that moment, her gaze was all that mattered, locked with his in the silence of their want. He could feel the gravity between them, the power between them, pulling them in. Yet both resisted the urge to come nearer.

His stare only deepened, his brows creasing, wondering if there was another meaning to her words. And as he sought the answer in her eyes, fair beauty arrested him.

Galadriel's cheeks were flushed and stained with mud and dry blood. Her eyes blue, cold as the frost, focused and unrelenting yet gentle as the sky. Her braid was a mess, and a fair loose strand dangled by the side of her face. Lost in thought, Halbrand reached to tuck it behind her ear, and as his knuckle brushed her skin, Galadriel pressed her eyes closed and sighed softly.

Complex, bright, and beautiful she was. The last fire standing still under a gale. Noble darkness before her foe and the kind drizzle on a hot summer's day. Fit to be queen. Fit to rule.

Oh, how he wanted to raise her on a pedestal.

"Lord Halbrand," a soldier's voice.

Galadriel looked away. Halbrand's hand retreated.

"The queen reagent wishes to speak with you."