Dragon Fire (Thranduil Fan-fiction) #Wattys2016

Chapter 56: Remember me

Authors note: 3rd person again! XD I seriously need to make up my mind with these things. Anyways, this is (sadly) the second to the last chapter. :) which will be dedicated to all my followers, voters, silent readers and commenters. I am sorry I cannot dedicate it to all of you by means of tagging and such but I hope I do you justice still. :D

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The air around the unfamiliar garden was warm and thick with a heaviness Mantheniel could not understand. She stares at the little girl before her, whose eyes were so much like her own. Her brows furrow and she frowns, feeling something knocking at the back of her head. A soft breeze passes through, they felt like hands as they grazed her cheek and touched her hair, carrying it with them. It was then Mantheniel noticed the little girls hair, which was unique and she only knew one person with such distinct hair. Her heart heavies as the breeze wraps around her like a cloak, carrying with it a soft whisper of nostalgia. The sun was rising from somewhere and yet stars were still up in the sky, blinking and dancing above her. The place itself felt peaceful and safe.

She was surprised when soft hands held hers and her eyes glance down briefly at the little girl who had touched her arm. Her touch felt like a touch of air. She felt tears fall down her eyes although she could not fathom why she had shed them. Something about the place and this girl was making her feel like she had forgotten something. Something important. Something that was a part of her. Was that why, no matter what she did, she always felt like she belonged somewhere else? Like she lost something and she could never be complete without it? She thought as small arms tug her own. The little girl takes her arm and clasps the bracelet on her wrist. She watches the little girl, her tears causing a blurry picture before her.

"It is broken. It will not fit me." Mantheniel was surprised at the own vulnerability of her voice but she knew in her heart the bracelet was meant for her. She knew it would fit this time. She heard the sound of something like puzzle pieces finally fitting together. Her scars fade away, taking with it the darkness that gripped her heart. The fear of her own loneliness. The little girl does not say a word before letting her hand go and running away, into another passage that lead further into the unknown, although something was calling for her there. Something distant and yet familiar. Something she had been searching for. She takes slow steps to follow where the little girl had run off to, stopping slowly to glance at the fountain in the middle of the garden. It was shaped like a tree, its roots spreading across the base as if it were real. There was an engraving on the corners, written in elvish. The phrase had struck something in her, although she could not remember how she came to know of such phrase.

"A moment for eternity."

She stops then, her fingers brushing on the words slowly. A moment. Her eyes fall on the silver circlet on her hand. Her fingers touch it tentatively, as if she was recalling a memory. She remembered warm hands. Tender touches and a voice of pure honey. She breathes in as images flood her mind. Shouting. Anger. And a kiss. A kiss that started it all. She stumbles backward, falling on the hard ground as she continues breathing deeply. Images hit her, causing her eyes to blur and her mind to spin. She looks up at the stars, they seemed to be the only thing that was not moving. A star. Her eyes drop to the silver circlet on her wrist. A promise. Thranduil.

She repeats the name in her head. Again and again. Thranduil. Thranduil. Thranduil. She grips the circlet on her wrist as she felt her lungs would burst any time soon. She had forgotten him. She had forgotten him. She felt the guilt as his face appears in front of her in a hazy image. Right before he fell. He had loved her then. He loved her still. And she had hurt him again by not knowing who he was. She sucks in oxygen like she was drowning as she shakily got to her feet, all the while turning around to see the little girl smiling at her.