The War of our Fathers

By: Karine

Rating: R

Disclaimer: *looks up from force feeding the pesky lawyers memory repressants* Why hello! I do not own this. *feeds lawyers more* *looks at lawyers* Now, who owns them?

Lawyers: uhh...........

Kar: Who?????

Lawyers: ...................we can't remember...............

Kar: *grins evilly*!!!!!!!!!!! *looks up at Tolkien reincarnated* Uh.....eh heh.....I was just ........reminding these ......brilliant.....lawyers that everything belongs to YOU! Of cource, oh mighty and powerful Tolkien! .........please don't smite me!........

Tolkien: *raises eyebrow, taps foot*

Kar: *looks innocent as possible*

Summary: Legolas, Elladan and Elrohir are caught in the middle of a fight between their fathers. Tired of this pointless hatred, they all run away, heading for Lorien. Their escape is cut short when the trio gets captured by a band of orcs roaming the border of Rivendell. With all the warriors of Imladris on another mission, will Elrond and Thranduil, with the help of Glorfindel, be able to get pass millennia old grudges to save the life of their sons?

A/N: This fic is based around the lyrics of the song Meant to Live by Switchfoot. The twins and Legolas are barely out of adulthood (more then 100 years old elvish wise), with Legolas being a few years younger then the twins. Also, I'm twisting canon, making Celebrian having already been attacked and having already sailed and the twins were too young to go get her.

Also, huge huge huge thanks to Trin who beta read this, as usual, and make it readable cuz it would su..*ahem* if she didn't.

Anyway, on with the fic!

Chapter One


A Timely Meeting


No one knows exactly when or why it began, but it was well known throughout the elven realms that the Lord of Imladris and the King of Mirkwood shared a burning hatred for each other. A feeling that only grew as the time passed, but, unbeknownst to them, that feeling was not shared by their respective sons. It would in fact come to be quite the opposite.

*~*~*~*~*

Legolas loudly cursed; this simple errand to Lothlorien was definitely not going as it should. He had lost his horse the day before when they had ran into wargs, and Legolas could only pray that the poor beast would make it back to his father's realm. So now he was left to make the travel to Lorien on foot, which would take him a lot longer than usual. To top it all off, he had been caught in the biggest snow storm of his somewhat long existence while crossing the Misty Mountains. So, two weeks after his departure, he was just reaching the Redhorn Pass instead of strolling in the beautiful city of Caras Galadhon.

"The scouts said that the way up to the Misty Mountain was clear my son, it shouldn't take you but two weeks." Legolas muttered under his breath the words of his father. This was probably the Valar showing their sense of humor to the Mirkwood elf. Or perhaps Thranduil knew it all - except about the wargs, since no one could predict those beasts - and hid the facts from him. At this the young prince growled, but was jerked away from his thought as the sound of metal clashing together floated to his ears.

He immediately rushed toward the sound; what he saw made him stop dead in his tracks, completely frozen.

In a small clearing near the rock path of the Pass stood an elf, sword drawn, and at his feet laid another elf with a small pool of blood under him. That would have been enough to make Legolas freeze, but the thirty-something orcs surrounding both elves was probably the real reason.

It was in times like those that reason often came after actions as battle strategies went out the window; what really mattered was getting rid of all the orcs in the least amount of time possible. And that was what Legolas intended to do.

He stealthily crept his way closer to the clearing and took out his bow. From where he stood, he could hear the orcs taunting the standing elf, telling the surrounded being that soon both him and the other would belong to them.

That made Legolas' blood boil. There would simply be no way in Arda that an elf would belong to an orc, not if he could help it. With that thought in mind, the blond elf sprung into action.

So before the orcs knew what hit them, ten of them lay dead, an arrow piercing their heart or throat. Soon enough, the others also went into battle mode, deciding that charging the elves before them was better than looking out for the other that was hidden in the trees.

Legolas had about half a second to decide his next move. He could either stay here and resume shooting at the orcs, or fight his way toward the other elf. A split second later, he was out in the open, his twin knives shining in the moonlight. He had came to the conclusion that he would be more effective while standing at the other elf's side than continue picking the orcs off with arrows and taking the chance that the other would be overtaken by the vile creatures.

By the time the other orcs had realized that there was another elf in their midst, he had already taken two more down.

*~*~*~*~*

Elladan sent a soft prayer to the Valar when he saw the elf leave the cover of the trees and charge the orcs from behind. It wasn't like Elladan could not protect his twin from those twenty orcs, but he welcomed the help brought by the blonde elf with arms wide open.

Before the creatures had actually reached Elladan, the newcomer was already at his side, beheading yet another orc. So together they fought the wave of orcs, never straying from the fallen elf.

*~*~*~*~*

Legolas breathed a sigh of relief as he felled another orc and saw Elladan do the same with the last of them. Finally, after an intense battle, all the orcs lay dead ... or so they thought.

With the last of his energy, one of the beasts threw his scimitar at the weakest elf. The weapon sailed through the air, aiming directly for Elrohir's head.

Elladan, his warrior instincts still high from the previous skirmish, shot the orc has soon as the weapon had left his dark hand. But, in doing so, he now stood frozen in place, helpless in front of the flying weapon aimed to take his twin's life.

But Legolas didn't; his sharpened hearing had picked up the "whizz" sound the thrown scimitar made. He whirled around just in time to see it heading for Elrohir and without hesitating he threw himself into its path, taking the blow meant to end the fallen elf's life.

*~*~*~*~*

The blonde elf grunted as he picked himself off of the ground, only to crash down on his knees as a powerful wave of dizziness assailed him. Ruling out walking, he instead opted for crawling to where the elf was kneeling beside the other.

Elladan cast a worried glance at his brother's savior, his eyes expressing the question that was burning on his lips.

"Landings are always hard, and standing up so soon after it was definitely not one of my best ideas. And this," He nodded toward his bleeding arm, "is only a mere scratch, nothing that won't heal by itself in a few days."

Legolas glanced down at the injured one and immediately noticed the likeness of the two; he figured out that they were most likely twins.

"But, your brother looks terrible, what happened to him?" He asked, concern evident in his voice.

"Well, he is alive thanks to you," After Elladan gave the other elf a grateful smile and Legolas had nodded in welcome, Elladan continued. "We were about to prepare a camp for the night when he got hit over the head by a thrown weapon, knocking him out completely. As soon as he fell, a wave of orcs came in the clearing, and you know the rest."

"I see. He'll need tending for his head wound. Do you have anything for it?"

"Well, if our horses did not run away too far from here, then yes." Elladan said, then let out a bird like shrill whistle.

Soon enough, two horses came galloping into the clearing, stopping beside their masters. Elladan was beside one of them in a flash, taking a pack from it, then kneeling back down at his twin's side.

He carefully tended to it, cleaning it then bandaging it in a soft cloth. Satisfied that it was well done, he then tried to rouse him but to no avail. He needed him to wake, even if for only a minute, to be sure that the head blow did not caused permanent damage.

Legolas saw his dilemma, and without a word, he took out a small pouch from his pocket, opened it and took a small amount of the herb inside. He slowly brought it to the unconscious elf's nose, under the apprehensive but trusting look of the other, and waited. A few seconds later, his hand was being weakly swatted away, but he stood his ground until the injured had to open his eyes.

Elrohir's eyes flung open, and the first thing he saw was a relieved Elladan. He waited until he could clearly see him to whisper.

"You did kill the troll that stepped on my head, right?"

Elladan slightly grinned and replied,

"Of course I did brother. How are you feeling gwanunig nin?"

"Terrible," A pause, "But I can move my arms and legs if that was what you were wondering."

"You know me too well brother. Rest now, you need to recover." Elladan sighed, his fears having just been proven unfound.

It wasn't long before Elrohir was deep in an healing sleep and Elladan turned to the stranger, a question burning on his mind.

"What was this herb?"

"Benethias," Legolas replied, "This is mostly use for cooking, but back home we always have some of it on us because it can rouse elves from the spiders' venom."

Something in Elladan clicked when he heard about the spiders. The only elven realm that had spiders was Mirkwood, and the other elf with his blond hair and the brown and green tunic he wore definitely looked like an elf from this realm.

"Who are you?" Elladan tactlessly asked.

"I'm sorry, with all the commotion, I completely forgot to present myself. I'm Legolas, of Mirkwood."

"Thranduil's son?"

"Yes..." Legolas hesitantly replied, wondering where this was leading.

"I am Elladan, and this is my brother Elrohir, sons of Elrond. My father hates yours." Elladan stated, glaring at Legolas.

TBC…

*shake head* This is a poor cliffie considering my high standards, buuuut, it's only the beginning, so I can make it up in later chapters >:)