iamisaac (iamisaac) wrote in 52fandoms, @ 2009-03-23 14:37:00 |
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Entry tags: | iamisaac, lord of the rings, pg |
Iamisaac Fic #7 - Lord of the Rings
Lord of the Rings
Sam/Rosie, Sam/Frodo
PG
475 words
(apologies for probably misquoting slightly - books unavailable just now)
It was hard, you see, settling down after everything. They all felt it, not just Frodo. For Merry and Pippin, nothing could quite live up to the excitement of battle; the adrenaline rush of fearing for your life. Sam – well, it was different for him. Living with Mr Frodo, when he'd got used to protecting him... Rosie said he fussed like a mother hen, and Sam knew she was right, but he couldn't quite get out of the mindset that Mr Frodo needed him, somehow. Not because he was better than Mr Frodo, for he wasn't, but because he'd spent so long being Frodo's only companion – such a long time when it had just been the two of them against the world.
I'm glad you're here with me, Sam, here at the end of all things.
The line floated through Sam's mind at unexpected moments. For it hadn't been the end of all things but the beginning of a brave new world, where Aragorn ruled the lands as King with Arwen beside him; where races who traditionally had hated each other now formed friendships. The world was – yes, it was – better for all of this, and yet... coming back, and seeing The Shire spoiled by Saruman; coming back to find hobbit turned against hobbit as the twisted revenge of one man...
All the way through their travels, Sam had taken comfort in the fact that The Shire was safe, was content, was carrying on as it always had. Wizards might battle; orcs might plunder and destroy, but in the depths of The Shire, all would still be well. He'd thought, when Gollum fell into the fires, that they'd kept The Shire safe forever. And he'd been wrong.
He could forget it in his wife's arms; could forget it when he danced his daughter on his knee, when he watched the children laughing in the fields. Even when Mr Frodo left to sail away, Sam had come back to Rosie and the family and felt a sense of belonging, of right-ness. But it didn't last, it couldn't, because Sam had seen too much, had been through too much, had borne the ring of power, albeit for the shortest of times.
He hadn't meant to go, but the line came back so many times. I'm glad you're here with me, Sam, here at the end of all things. And Sam knew he must go, because he wanted that more than anything. When the end of all things, when the end of himself and Mr Frodo came – they needed to be together.
Rosie watched until the very top sail of the ship went out of view. Then, rubbing the tears from her eyes, she went home. Sam, like Frodo, might be gone, but the children would still need tea.