The Return of the King

Even though he had known it was coming, even though everything up to this point was directly leading to this moment, Alfred's stomach churned with nerves. He stood there in the long marble hall, staring up at the throne- his throne. The throne that had not been touched in ages, that had once belonged to his ancestors, that had been lost due to their greed and carelessness. Alfred's hands clenched at his sides. He was their heir. The blood that had made them turn to darkness also coursed through his body. Thanks to Feliciano and his companions, he could not make the same mistake as his forefathers, but that did not mean he was impervious to equally dangerous mistakes.

He tried to force his thoughts away and allowed his mind to wander, far along the roads he had traveled to reach this hall, back to the ancient and beautiful haven of Rivendell. His thoughts lingered on one face, one body, with wide green eyes and tousled blonde hair. He could feel his lips quirking up into a smile at the memory of the time they had spent together- the long months of arguments, first hostile, then friendly, and finally loving. Their confession had been informal and abrupt, and had lead into the most exhausting, irritating, and wonderful relationship either of them had ever experienced.

Alfred reached into the neck of his ceremonial breastplate, pulling out the pendant he had been given so long ago. It glimmered in the light. His smile flickered briefly, before fading as he slid the necklace back into its place, as close to his heart as it could rest. The Evenstar was the only link he now had to those memories- Arthur was gone. He coughed lightly, willing his eyes not to water.

"Alfred?" The kind voice drew him from his thoughts, and he turned to see Toris standing at the other end of the hall, leaning on his staff. The wizard smiled. "Are you ready?"

"I…" Alfred cast one more look up at the throne. It would be a lonely seat in the many years to come. He let his eyes slip shut for a brief moment, allowing the memories of Arthur to fill his mind one more time, and then turned back to Toris. "I am."

The ceremony blurred in Alfred's mind. Handfuls of flower petals fluttered through his vision. He heard Toris say something, and then the solid weight of the crown- the crown of Gondor, for he was now their king- settled onto his head. He stood, eyes wide but barely seeing, and looked out at his people. There were so many of them. From this point forward, they would all depend on him. He heard himself speaking, or maybe it was singing, but the exact words eluded him. And then his feet were moving him down the few stairs, through the petals, into the aisle that his people had gathered around to see him take up the crown.

Alfred recognized some of them. Vash stood off to the side, his hands resting on the head of his axe. He nodded, so slightly that it could have been a trick of the eye, and smiled in his lopsided way. Beside him, Francis smiled a little more widely and inclined his head, his carefully plaited hair brushing over the tips of his pointed ears. Alfred felt his lips move, and hoped that they had formed a smile in return.

Further along his path waited Matthew and Yekaterina, arm in arm. They were both fully healed of the wounds from their personal battles against the Dark Lord, and Alfred knew he smiled this time as he recalled how he had helped them along their way. He clasped hands with Matthew, nodded in respect to Yekaterina and the astounding victory she had obtained, and continued along. They had no real need of his approval or aid- he may have saved them from death, but it was the two of them who had truly healed one another.

Alfred could faintly see the heads of Feliciano and the other Halflings down at the other end of the aisle, but as he moved towards them, someone stepped out in front of him. He stared silently at Alaric, unsure what to make of the Elf's sudden appearance. Before he could ask anything, though, Alaric gave him what would have been a fond smile had it been from anyone else, nodded his head, and stepped aside.

Now there stood before Alfred a banner, emblazoned with the blossoming White Tree. Below it he could see the feet and legs of the bearer, clothed in elvish boots and tunic, but their face was hidden. Alfred gently pushed the banner aside. It was indeed an Elf, with tousled blonde hair, over which rested a jeweled circlet. Alfred's breath caught in his throat as two wide green eyes stared back at him. For a moment they stood in silence, Arthur's fingers wrapped tightly around the banner pole, Alfred's hands twitching by his sides. Someone took the banner from Arthur, but Alfred was not watching where it had gone. He swallowed heavily, reaching up to touch the Elf's face, to run his thumbs across those pale cheeks. Arthur smiled at him, lips trembling.

One of them moved forward, or perhaps they both did, because their mouths met in the middle, and Arthur's hands clenched in Alfred's hair and cloak, and Alfred swept Arthur off his feet and crushed him to his chest. The cheers of the crowd around them might have been deafening, but neither of them noticed. In that moment, all of Middle-Earth vanished save for the two of them. And when they finally pulled apart, Arthur was crying and smiling, and Alfred knew immediately that it was going to be all right. With Arthur by his side, he could become the just and fair king that everyone expected. Gondor would prosper under their rule. He leaned down to rest his forehead against the Elf's, returned that joyful smile, and kissed him again.

A/N- A bit of a crossover with Lord of the Rings, if you couldn't tell. There are parts of it that I like, and parts of it that I don't, but overall, I'm somewhat content with the way it turned out.

Obviously I changed things up here and there, as there are many differences between this and the scene from the film version that this was referenced from. Also, in case anyone didn't understand who was supposed to be who, it goes like this- Alfred is Aragorn, Arthur is Arwen, Feliciano is Frodo (the other three hobbits are Ludwig, Lovino, and Kiku), Vash is Gimli, Francis is Legolas, Toris is Gandalf, Matthew is Faramir, Yekaterina (Ukraine) is Eowyn, and Alaric (Germania) is Elrond.

Oh, and I definitely envision Alfred as having that stubbly but nice beard that Aragorn sports. Just because.