Title: Legolas & Eldarion: Escape

Author: Sivan Shemesh

Beta: Aranel

Rate: G/K

Disclaimer: Tolkien owns them, I'm just playing.

Warning: Angst, family, friendship, AU.

Summary: King Elessar found out that locking Legolas and Eldarion was really not his best idea.

A/N: Written for B2ME2013. Day 1: Prompt: Escape: "They will think we had a very strong magic to pass through all those locked doors and disappear."

A/N2: Mention of a particular scene from "Boiling Point".

Gondor

Finally! Legolas and Eldarion were now locked securely in the room and the key was with him. For a king, Elessar was not that powerful after all. Now, all he had to do was hope that he would not need to patch up either of them, but what could possibly happen?

Those two were nothing but havoc and chaos, and as a king he would teach both of them some manners; it was entirely unbecoming of Lord Legolas to act like a five-year-old as the elf played with his son. King Elessar had found that very surprising indeed.

But he had enough!

He left the castle from the sheer need to breathe fresh air. That was where the queen caught up with him.

"Where is Eldarion, Aragorn?"

He could see the tears of worry in her soft eyes, a frown marring her beautiful face.

"He is in safe place, with Legolas," he replied.

"Estel, what exactly did you do?" Arwen asked pointedly.

"I had to do something, you know that," Elessar pleaded and then he added, "Now I know how Lord Elrond felt about Legolas and I; it was enough for him to tie both of us up to keep us from getting hurt."

"Did you tie your son to Legolas?" Arwen asked, possibly looking more concerned than ever.

"Nope, I have a better plan," he replied with a grin, suddenly like a child again.

Arwen was suddenly suspicious. "What exactly is the plan?"

"I locked them in the abandoned area in the castle, in one of the rooms there and I'm keeping the key with me," Elessar replied, proudly showing the key to his wife.

"Are you planning to let them out of the room soon?" Arwen asked as she glanced at the sky, noting that it would soon be bed-time for Eldarion.

"I thought that I should give them at least one hour or two," Elessar replied and tucked the key back into his pocket.

A few moments later…

The stable boy dashed as fast he could toward the king and the queen, gripped with panic, fear and sheer nervousness. What was he supposed to tell the royal family? What were the right words he was supposed to say?

When the boy finally burst into the castle, he found himself face to face with the king, the queen watching on in silence.

"Your-your Majesty, Your Ma-Majesties..." he stammered.

"Breathe, my child, and tell me what is wrong," Elessar guided the boy calmly, not wishing for him to be afraid of him. "What is it?"

"They need you in the stables; Lord Legolas is hurt," he blurted out, then quickly added, "The prince is all right."

"How did that happened?" Elessar asked at once.

The boy hesitated for a very long moment.

"Let's go and find out," the king decided.

Arwen could not help smiling as she followed him out. "Were you expecting an answer, Elessar?" she teased him in an undertone. "I told you so." She was relieved to know that her son was well. Legolas would never let her precious boy get hurt.

In the stables…

It was hard to miss Legolas lying on a high stack of hay. His leg looked odd and he was grimacing in pain as he tried to move.

"Are you going to be all right, Uncle Legolas?" Eldarion asked his uncle for what must have been the millionth time.

Arwen hurried toward her son, embracing him tightly in a long hug.

"Thank you, Legolas, for keeping my son safe," Arwen smiled at him.

Legolas nodded appreciatively and turned as Aragorn climbed over to embrace the boy.

"You should have stayed in the room." Aragorn glared at him. "What in the name of the Valar happened?"

"Well, you do know that I have a problem with being locked in small places," Legolas said rather defensively, "We did wait an hour or two and then I opened the window and jumped… And I couldn't leave him behind, could I?"

"You jumped? Legolas, do you understand that you could have caused my son serious harm?" Aragorn was practically snapping at him. "Thankfully he was not hurt at all or–"

"Aragorn, that is quite enough," Arwen cut off his tirade, touching his arm lightly.

Aragorn could see the pain on his son's face as he turned.

"Uncle Legolas will never let me get a scratch…" Eldarion told his father and clung on tightly to Legolas.

Aragorn sighed in resignation. "That did not go as planned after all," he tried to apologize, "Forgive me?"

"I forgive you, daddy," Eldarion replied cheerfully.

"I already have," Legolas smiled. "Now would care to check on my leg?"

Aragorn turned to him. "You certainly did not land on your feet as well as you intended to." Aragorn sighed heavily before he added, "You broke your leg in three places. That is why your leg looked odd. You will need to stay in bed till the fracture heals."

"Did you hear that, my dear child?" Legolas asked Eldarion, brightening up suddenly.

"I did, Uncle Legolas. I will be there to keep you company," Eldarion promised.

"I guess that you should send a messenger to Ithilien to let Gimli and Faramir know that I will stay here till I am back on my feet," Legolas grinned at Elessar.

"I brought this upon myself, didn't I?" Aragorn mumbled.

His only response was from a grinning elf, with eyes sparkling almost in childish excitement. "But of course!"

The End…