Forgiven
Talion gazed up into the infinite night sky. A dark void with only the sparse light of distant stars, so much larger than him. He felt small, vulnerable, helpless. ‘I thought I was supposed to bring light into Mordor,’ he thought. ‘But now I’ve made it even worse,’
Tears began to well in the corners of his icy blue eyes, but he quickly blinked them back when he heard footsteps approaching. It was probably Akoth, Gulnaz or one of the other Orc captains who worked for him. But to his surprise, it wasn’t any Orc he had branded. It was an Orc who had assisted and accompanied Talion of his own free will; Ratbag the Coward. “‘Ello, ranger,” said Ratbag with a smile that would be sweet if it didn’t expose such crooked teeth and wasn’t framed by such thin, pallid lips. “Long time no see, eh?”
“Ratbag?” Talion was amazed. He hadn’t seen his old ally in weeks now. Or was it months? He was beginning to lose track of time. He was losing track of everything. Everything seemed to be happening at once. And yet, it felt like nothing was happening at the same time. How did he go from simply being Talion, to the Gravewalker, to the Bright Lord? And why did Ratbag, of all people, keep coming back to him?
“Yeah, that’s me name, don’t wear it out,” Ratbag chuckled. “Ratbag knows we haven’t seen each other since the whole, ahem, abduction incident, but I, well, I wanted to see you,” “Why?” Talion instinctively said. “Because, if I’m bein’ honest with meself, you and Ranger are the closest things to friends I’ve got,” Ratbag replied. Talion’s dark heart was touched with pity. The tears came cascading down his face before he could stop them. He quickly buried his face in his hands and turned away. “Talion, are you alright?” Ratbag quickly rushed to his side, afraid that he had somehow said the wrong thing.
“Hey, look, if something’s wrong you can talk to me about it,” His broad shoulders heaving with sobs, Talion looked at Ratbag from between his fingers. “How on Earth could you consider me a friend?” He asked. “I’ve done terrible things, Ratbag. I’ve enslaved Orcs, I’ve terrorised Ologs, I...I frightened you away, after you risked so much to help me. I’m a monster.” Ratbag gently removed Talion’s hands from his face and, cupping his cheeks, gently wiped his tears away with his thumbs. “The fact that you’re sayin’ that right now proves you’re not a monster.” He said quietly. “If you was a bad person you’d be proud of it. But you ain’t, so you ain’t, if you see what I mean,”
“I can’t repair what I’ve done,” Talion whispered tearfully. “Can I?” “Maybe you can. As long as you put in the effort. Recognising what you’ve done wrong is already half of the progress completed. If it helps you in any way, I forgive you,” “Ratbag?” Talion smiled in spite of himself. “Are you sure you’re not an Elf or a Halfling or something, disguised as an Orc?” Ratbag shrugged. “You certainly have a golden heart, and a large one at that,” Talion continued. He was somehow feeling happy and sad at the same time, but with a new feeling; the feeling of a void inside of him slowly being filled with love.
“Ranger?” “Yes?” Ratbag wrapped his arms around Talion in a tight hug. The man was caught completely off-guard and almost began crying again in surprise. After a second or so of stunned silence, he reciprocated the hug, holding the lanky Orc close. He could swear their heartbeats were in sync or something. The sense of a close bond forming between them was incredible. As they stood there, enveloped in each other’s embrace beneath a peaceful night sky lit up by a thousand twinkling stars, Ratbag whispered a few words that Talion had previously lost faith in, but regained faith in now. “Everything’s gonna be ok,”
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Sooo, I’ve been absent for a while, but that’s due to a combination of uni work piling up and mental health issues. But I am getting the necessary help for that and doing my best to hold on to who I am. I felt like I just needed to write this mini fic as a form of catharsis/relief (plus I was listening to Prayer by Secret Garden which is basically my muse in the form of a song). I hope you all like it, and I can’t wait to see The Rise of Skywalker.
I love you all so much ✌️💕
