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“You are still every bit as beautiful as you were the day I first laid my eyes on you...”
Thranduil does not stop the tear that slips down his cheek. It is grief well warranted.
“Don’t cry, my love.” The old King of Dale whispers weakly, reaching a tired, wrinkled hand out to wipe the tear from his elven lover’s ever flawless face. “We knew this would happen. I am mortal. You are elf kind.”
“We knew it, yes.” Thranduil speaks softly. “But I never thought it would come to pass.” He blinks again and two tears fall this time, one down either cheek. “I was a fool to tell my heart such a lie. I see that now.”
“It was a pretty lie to live, Thranduil.” Bard smiled up at him, hoping to give his beloved some sort of peace. “I wouldn’t trade one second spent with you. Not for all the gold in Middle Earth.”
Thranduil can’t hold the sob that escapes him as he squeezes the man’s hand in his own, as if trying to hold onto his life that was fading away. “Oh Bard...Unad nuithatha i nîr e-guren nalú aderthad vín...I shall never love again...”
“Don’t say such things, my heart.” The dying king pleads, bringing Thranduil’s hand to his lips and lightly kisses it. “You’ll find better than a bowman.”
Thranduil bends to kiss him properly one last time.
“No other will compare to you, dragon slayer.” He promises his love before Bard draws his final breath and quietly slips away, far beyond Thranduil’s grasp.
The great King of Mirkwood lingered just long enough to see his beloved’s children live lives of their own.
His own son had gone far away to Valinor with the dwarf he had chosen to spend his own eternity with.
Bain ruled Dale for many years after his father’s death. In fact, he managed to hold the throne all the way up until his own demise. His son, Brand, took the crown after.
Sigrid was next to go. She’d clung tightly to life far longer than most humans, and she had many children and grandchildren that were left behind her.
Once Tilda, their last little joy, had left him, Thranduil could stand it no longer.
The elven King threw himself upon his own sword soon after Tilda’s passing, and finally, he joined his dragon slayer in the next life.