One Shots » LotR

Fallacy

Samwise wept.

In vain, his trembling hands clutched at Frodo's limp frame, as if he could protect his master from the terrors of death. The cavern was silent and cold, black blood staining a pathway on the stone from where Shelob had clawed herself back into her dark hole.

Dead.

Frodo was dead.

"Frodo, please Mister Frodo," Sam wept tears of true and raw pain, pressing his face tightly against Frodo's unmoving side. "Please don't leave me alone. This is your Samwise calling, please. Don't go where I cannot follow. Don't leave me here."

But even as he lifted his head, searching Frodo's bloodless face, death stared back at him. Frodo's eyes were colder than the air itself, the sound of dripping water breaking through Sam's miserable thoughts.

For Frodo was dead.

"Oh, Frodo, please, no." Tears ran in a steady stream down Sam's face, dripping from his chin and spotting his face red. He wasn't sure he had ever felt such utter hopelessness, the darkness claiming his heart in an iron hold. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."

He failed. He had failed. He had failed and Frodo was dead.

Frodo was dead.

Sam was left alone.

He felt himself lean back on his heels, but his thoughts were too numb for Sam to feel much of anything other than hollow, crushing sorrow.

Still, Frodo didn't move. Didn't breathe.

A faint flash of gold made Sam blink and slowly, his eyes fell on the Ring, fallen out halfway from Frodo's tunic. He knew he should fear the horrid object-- hate it-- but Sam felt nothing.

His soul longed not for the Ring. It never had.

Pushing himself to his feet, Sam stumbled back a step, tearing his eyes from Frodo's limp frame. He gazed forward, down the shadowed pathway, then over his shoulder, back the way they had come.

The air was thick with soot and ash, making breathing nearly impossible. As Sam gazed forward once more, the crushing feeling of hopelessness seemed to dunk him deep underwater, a quiet terror grasping his heart and claiming his mind.

He could go home. He could turn away from it all now, turn his back on the even more malicious horrors that awaited him beyond Shelob's lair.

For he had failed. What was there to go on for?

Or, Sam knew, he could lay here. Fall beside Frodo's limp frame and just let sleep take him, wait for Shelob to return. He could die alongside his master, end the suffocating guilt.

But once more, the golden gleam of the Ring caught his eye and Sam's hands began to tremble. Or... or he could continue on. Finish what they had begun, destroy the wretched trinket.

Frodo could not.

For Frodo was dead.

Suddenly, Sam fell to his knees, chest heaving as he sobbed. He gripped his hands into tight fists, wave after wave of both rage, terror, and sorrow washing over him like a storm. His heart twisted in his chest and the shadows screamed-- Sam clenched his jaw tightly.

He knew what he had to do. What he had to finish.

Crawling to Frodo's body, he gently gripped the ring, pulling it from around Frodo's head. His hands were shaking so badly that he almost dropped it, tears making small trails down his nose.

"I--I'm sorry, Mister Frodo," his voice was a hoarse whisper and carefully, Sam slipped the ring around his neck. He couldn't bear to make himself gaze at Frodo, eyes blank and skin a horrid pale. "I'm so sorry."

Standing, he gazed at the ground. Then slowly, his heart twisted in his chest, he gazed at Frodo, hoping in vain to see a flutter of breath.

But Frodo was dead.

Samwise turned away, swallowing hard.

"I have something to do before the end. I must see it through, sir, if you understand." He would see it done. He would finish their quest.

Sam turned, a final tear leaving his eye. He would do it for Frodo.

A/N: I don't know about you guys, but in both the book and movie (but especially the book) the part where Sam thought Frodo was dead just made me sob. I couldn't help it.

So... erm... here we are. In the book, Sam gets a lot of PoV in his thoughts, but I really wanted to broaden it and magnify his thoughts/belief of Frodo being dead. Plus, writing one shots is a bit of a therapy for me to get through writer's block. Fun times!