"I am a Queen," you grumbled to yourself. "And one of these days I am actually going to buy myself a horse instead of being squished between Arod's neck and Legolas."

"Aw, I thought you loved me Y/N," your boyfriend teased.

"I do!" you exclaimed immediately. "There's just literally no room on this fucking horse."

Gandalf sighed. "Sometimes I wonder if the Dunedain made the right choice to elect you as their leader."

"Oi!"

"Where's the army?" Pippin interrupted a probably extensive argument you were gearing up to start, peering through the holes of his helmet.

You looked around Arod's neck, seeing that there was, indeed, the noticeable absence of a several-thousand-monster army. "Well, shit."

Aragorn stared silently for a couple seconds, before tilting his head subtly towards the Black Gate you were in front of. Legolas kicked Arod forward, as did Gandalf, and Eomer on the horse he shared with Gimli since his spot with Legolas had been taken by you, ever since you'd started courting.

"Sauron!" Aragorn yelled, and you were impressed by the levels of noise his voice could reach. "Show your face, you fucking coward!"

There was an awkward silence, but the Gate actually creaked open.

"Shit, I didn't think that would work," Gimli admitted. Aragorn treated him to a withering glare.

"Um," Eomer spoke up, pointing at where a horse and rider were nearing by the second. "I know I'm new, but I'm 90% sure that's not Sauron."

"Correct," the thing answered, and you couldn't help letting your lip wrinkle in disgust. "My Master bids thee welcome."

It was hooded, but you could see its horrifically large mouth as it bared its teeth in an awful attempt at a smile. You couldn't look at it, and decided to turn your face away.

"Tell your Master this," Gandalf insisted, holding the gaze of the Mouth. "We're not making deals. We're here to banish him, for once and for all."

"And if he doesn't get it ugly ass out, the-"

"Y/N!"

"Sorry."

The Mouth just laughed. "What a poor excuse for a Wizard. Can't even keep his little travelling companions under control! But never mind that - the Eye has a token for you."

It threw something at your face, and you barely grabbed it, tuning out the Mouth's dry laughter as you stared down at your hands.

A pearly vest of mithril that twinkled in the low light.

"No ..." tears filled your eyes and you fisted the mithril so tightly that it cut into your palms. You'd given up so much for this journey, every single member of the Fellowship, and to have it just end like this ...

"Calm down, melleth nin," Legolas whispered in your ear. "There is still hope."

You let a few angry tears fall down your cheeks before you swiped furiously at your eyes. One way or another, this would end today.

You tuned back in to the current exchange, hearing the two remaining hobbits wail loudly.

"One Halfling suffered so much pain," the Mouth lamented with faked sympathy. "I did not think it to be possible."

Aragorn spurred his horse forward and beheaded it, anger glinting in his eyes as the hood fell to the ground.

"When they said don't shoot the messenger, I didn't think that they meant decapitation as a second option," you mumbled.

Gimli was unable to stop himself from barking out a laugh. "I think we've sufficiently concluded negotiations, lass."

The Black Gate creaked, reminding you of where you were, and your eyes widened as they tried to take in the immense scale of the army marching from them.

"Fall back!" Aragorn screamed, kicking his horse into motion. Legolas's arms clung tightly to your waist as you clenched the reins.

"We can't retreat further!" you yelled to him over the sound of Orc chants and hoofbeats. "We need to stand our ground."

He nodded, almost imperceptibly, changing his instruction to, "Hold! Hold!"

"My brothers and sisters," Aragorn called to the assembled army, throwing you a wink even as the Orcs advanced further. "I see your fear, but there is no shame in being afraid. A day may come when our courage falls, but today is not this day! This day - we fight!"

You yelled loudly, thrusting one of your swords in the air, the army filling the previous silence with deafening cheers.

"Now stand!" Aragorn shouted.

You and Legolas slipped off Arod, allowing him to be used as cavalry, and unsheathed your other blade.

Gimli grunted as you and your love stood on either side of him. "Never thought I'd die side-by-side with an Elf and a half."

You laughed loudly. Legolas smiled.

"What about side-by-side with friends?"

The Dwarf's eyes looked misty as he nodded. "Aye. I could do that."

"I love how you're just assuming we'll die here," you interjected.

"Should be fun," Gimli shrugged.

Sauron's immense forces stood in front of you now, and you saw what Gimli meant. If you were going to go down, it would preferably be in a fight like this, with honour and sacrifice.

Although you'd had enough sacrifice for one lifetime.

"Aragorn ... Elessar ..."

Everyone's heads snapped up at the voice, the awful voice, that belonged quite surely to the Eye of Sauron.

Aragorn turned back to you, and you nodded encouragingly, testing your swords with a quick spinning trick.

"For Frodo," he declared, and though it was almost nothing more than a whisper, the entire army heard it.

He ran forwards, followed very quickly by Merry and Pippin, and it took you a second to realise that this was it, this was the end of it all.

One way or another.

You sprinted with every drop of Elf in you, meeting the first line of Orcs with a vicious slash. Everything else faded away, your battle instincts controlling your body, letting your swords twist and twirl around you in a dangerous dance.

The Ringwraiths who patrolled Mordor began letting out agonised screeches, and you looked up briefly to see them being sieged by ...

"The Eagles!" yelled one of the hobbits - a faint cry, but quite audible with Elven senses.

You spent the next ten minutes, twenty, you weren't sure how long just fighting. And for the first time, your confidence in your combat skill was restored.

Not a single scratch marred your skin. Every enemy you'd faced had been taken down. Your only worry was the fact that you'd been separated from Legolas, but you could both handle yourselves.

A bright flash of light made you quickly decapitate three Uruk-hai at once and spin to look up towards the Eye of Sauron.

It was groaning and wailing with horrendous amounts of noise. And the Tower of Barad Dûr began to fall. You weren't sure if you were crying or not, but you wouldn't've been ashamed if you were.

So much sacrifice. So many losses. All leading up to this.

The Eye itself collapsed in a blink of light, sending an orange shock wave outwards, followed by a larger shockwave from the impact of the tower itself on the ground.

The poisoned earth began to collapse around the Army of the West, pulling the Orcs into deep chasms and letting the people of Middle-Earth finally be free of all this evil.

You pushed through the crowd of soldiers you didn't know, desperately searching for,

"Legolas!" you screamed, throwing yourself into the ellon's arms. He spun you around with a laugh, finally bending over with you hanging tightly from his strong arms, and kissing you right there and then.

You didn't care who saw - you just cared about him.

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