Two Friends in the Dark
Word Count: 1,864
Rating: K+/PG
Disclaimer: Normally I'm wittier, but... I got nothing. I would say I own nothing, but that's not true. I created the original characters that are driving the plot, so... I guess I own something.
Summary: Pre-fellowship. After Legolas and his friend play a prank, they find themselves locked in a cellar in revenge. Legolas starts to feel a mild panic in the darkness, but the dark his friend fears comes from another source: himself.
Author's Note: This incident, like the one in All Creatures Great and Small, was mentioned by Legolas in chapter six of Storms in Middle Earth. This one is not as funny as the other one, more like... bittersweet at best.
Two Friends in the Dark
"I think we have to give him back that stupid paper," Legolas said, frowning as he poked his head around the door, listening for the sound of one angry elfling. "Where did you put it?"
"I hid it in one of the cellars."
Legolas blinked. He knew Firyavaryar was not a wood elf, and it might not bother him as much to be deep in the underground like that, but those places unsettled him at best and scared him at worst, not that he would admit it. He was not allowed to be scared of anything. He was the prince of Greenwood. "In the cellar?"
"Yes," Varyar said, using that tone of his that made everyone else sound like an idiot. "It was one place I knew that Idhrenion would never go to look for his treatise, even if he insisted that he didn't believe we burned it."
"I thought after he almost forgave you for the tree we weren't going to do anything like this again."
"I know," Varyar agreed. He sighed. "Apparently, I am just not good enough not to tease my brother. All this time without doing anything to him, being nice and polite, it has been like having something crawl upon my skin until the itch must be relieved. It was—when I told him that I burned that treatise."
Legolas shook his head, trying not to laugh. It should not be amusing, this habit of Firyavaryar's, but it always was. He liked the slightly wicked side of his friend. "Are you going to the cellar to get it for him, then? You do intend to end this, don't you?"
"Yes, I do. I will go get the paper now. Are you coming with me?"
"To the cellar?"
"Are you afraid, little prince?" Varyar asked, and Legolas glared at him. His friend laughed, slipping past him and out the door. Legolas chased after him, bumping someone as he did. He thought it might have been Idhrenion, but he had passed them too fast to be certain.
Varyar wove his way through the palace, ignoring the glares from the older elves as he did, and Legolas tried to smile at them in apology, but they did not approve of him, either. Firyavaryar would be blamed, he always was when Legolas misbehaved, but neither of them would care. They could laugh about the adults' expressions later, once they'd given Idhrenion back his paper.
Legolas stopped outside the door to the cellar, folding his arms over his chest. "I think you are the one that is scared, mighty Varyar, protector of all. You couldn't go in without me."
"I could have, but I would rather see the prince pretend that he is not scared," Varyar said, opening the door. "It's not far. I will grab it and return in a moment. You may wait here."
Legolas glared at him, giving the other elfling a shove, pushing him down first. He would not wait behind—Varyar would forever say that Legolas was afraid of the cellars if he stayed up here. No, he could go down, just once, and never have to journey there again.
"Where is it?" Legolas asked, trying to adjust to the darkness of the cellar. He could see the stores that someone had placed here, supplies for the later months, but he did not know where Varyar would have placed his brother's treatise.
"Over here," Firyavaryar said, crossing to a crate stacked against the back wall. He took out the bundle and smiled. "See? All is well, Legolas. We can return to the upper level again, and you may tell all of your bravery in facing this terrible cellar."
"Sometimes I think I should hate you."
"I think you should hate me all the time," Varyar told him, and he started back up the stairs. Legolas shook his head, not wanting to have another debate about the Avari. The door shut before Firyavaryar reached it, throwing the room into darkness. Legolas heard Varyar pushing against the door, but it did not move.
"Open the door."
"You can stay in there for the next century for burning my papers," Idhrenion called through the door. "I hate you, Varyar."
"I have your papers. I didn't burn them. Please, open the—"
"No."
"Lock me in here if you want, but do not do this to Legolas. You know how being underground is for a wood elf." When silence was his only answer, Varyar sighed. "Idhrenion?"
Legolas grimaced. "I think he left. I also think we are going to be down here for a while."
Time had never seemed to pass so slowly before, Legolas thought, leaning against the wall and trying not to give in to the feeling this place gave him. He knew it was more his mind than it was real—this was a part of the palace that was his home. This should not be so oppressive, so evil, and it should not feel like it was crushing him on all sides.
"Varyar?"
Beside him, the other elfling shifted. "Yes, Legolas?"
"Next time you need to tease your brother, leave me out of it."
"I did not involve you this time," Firyavaryar said, almost sounding annoyed. "You should have stayed back at the door. Then neither of us would be down here."
"Oh, yes, do blame me. This was all your doing. You were the one that implied I was a coward for not wanting to come down here. You baited me."
"It is your fault for being easily provoked. You should know better by now."
"Varyar—"
"Did you know there are things that are much worse than a bit of time in the dark? This is nothing to fear," Firyavaryar said, and Legolas shoved him again. He did not want to be teased. He wanted to be freed from this dark, dwarf-forsaken place, and he would not be happy until he was. This was not amusing, and Varyar could not make a joke of this.
"Stop teasing."
"There are evil things in this world, things not even part of the legends. People know to fear the dark lord's return, to fear him finding the ring, but they do not know to fear the monsters that can pass as something else, something more... mundane. The enemy is not always obvious. Sometimes he hides, sometimes he tells you things that make you doubt all you have ever known. He comes, bringing with him a great darkness, as he seeks to gather all young elflings under him, to corrupt them into doing his will. This monster keeps hunting, looking for more that he might take and mark as his..." Varyar paused. "He taints what they love first, and then he binds them, taking away even the hope of release in death by fading. He drags them down into his darkness, hurting them that their mind might be weakened with their bodies, that they might agree to serve him in desperation for release. They tell themselves they are doing it to be free, that they will betray him, but what if they no longer can?"
Legolas shuddered. He did not like this tale of Varyar's. He did not know that he was as afraid of the darkness as he had been, but he did not feel that this story was helpful, either. "I don't think you should ever tell this story to Idhrenion. He will never sleep again."
"Do you think, if you have been marked, that you can ever be good again? I do not know that it is possible. Perhaps the mark goes into the skin and down under it, spreading like a poison inside a person, and they no longer have a will of their own. They are his," Firyavaryar whispered, and Legolas thought his friend might believe such a terrible thing was possible. "I think I am poisoned."
"You are not. I know sometimes Idhrenion makes you angry and I know that you have teased him in ways that other might see as cruel, but you are not poison. Not evil."
"Ogol is."
"Yes, evil is evil, and it does exist, but you know what I believe?" Legolas gave Firyavaryar a moment to answer, but he did not respond. "I believe that there is no evil that you and I cannot face and defeat together. That is the sort of friendship that we have. What evil never understands, what always becomes its downfall, is that it overestimates its power and underestimates that of the good. It never accounts for love. It sees that as something that can be twisted, used against someone—"
"Elves fade when they lose the ones they love."
"Not always. Look at the strength in your family. That love has sustained you and will always do so. You and Idhrenion and Sérëdhiel are so close and so strong, and it is love that gives you that. Remember that song about Beren and Lúthien? Their love helped them to steal a jewel from Morgoth himself. That is power."
"You are such a fool," Varyar muttered, leaning his head against Legolas' shoulder. "Good does not always win just because it should or because it has this fabled love on its side. Great evil has been done in the name of love."
"Love of power, perhaps. That sort of greed is good at corrupting all, but you are not greedy or ambitious."
"I think I would do terrible things if it meant protecting my family."
"So might we all," Legolas said, putting his arm around his friend's shoulder. "I do not know why you have chosen to make yourself into a source of evil, but you do not have to distract me from the cellar like this."
"Is that what you think I was doing?"
"Are you going to tell me now that you were trying to scare me? I'm going to lock you down here by yourself if you did."
"I think, someday, when you are legend yourself and have long since sailed to Valinor, you will be remembered for the friend you are—the most stubborn, loyal, noble, devoted, and loving friend that has ever graced Middle Earth, greater that those ones in the myths you like to read." Varyar shook his head. "You are a better friend than I will ever deserve."
Legolas would have argued that, would have told him that he was just the same, but the door opened, and he was on his feet as soon as he saw light. He rushed to the stairs, stopping at their base.
"Idhrenion told me he locked you both in here," Sérëdhiel said, leaning down into the darkness. "He was going to come and let you out, but I told him you should stay right where you were until you learned something from this."
"We have," Legolas assured her. "Tell her what we learned, Varyar."
"We learned that Legolas will always hope regardless of the darkness that surrounds him."
"No." The prince didn't know what made Firyavaryar think that was an answer. He walked back, taking hold of Varyar's hand and pulling him forward. "Friends do not leave friends alone in the dark."