Author's Note: Hello Everybody! Happycabbage here. Just to let you all know, I did not write all of this fic. The first chapters were written by Cheysuli, who recently decided to retire from her fanfiction career and put all her stories up for adoption. I was lucky enough to claim this one, Hidden Darkness, before anybody else. So please remember, the intial idea and the first couple of chapters of this story are not mine or written by me, but by Cheysuli.
This fic will contain slash, mpreg, and violence for certain.
Disclaimer: Lord of the Rings belongs to Tolkien, this particular fanfiction was orignally Cheysuli's, but I am taking over. My writing won't come in until after the first chapters, which were written by Cheysuli.
IMPORTANT! PLEASE READ! While Cheysuli originally had eleven chapters of this story, I noticed they were almost ridiculously short compared to the length of chapters I write for my stories, so I will be combining some of her chapters together to make them longer. This post spans the first two chapters that Cheysuli wrote. I'll try to keep them as close to her original writing as possible, though I will be doing some editing for spelling and grammar. EVERYTHING between the rows of T's at the top and bottom of each chapter is Cheysuli's writing and author notes.
Okay, enjoy!
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Hidden Darkness
By
Cheysuli
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
A/N: Special thanks to EtheLeA for letting me use one of her ideas.
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"Crazy Elf, what do you think you are doing?"
Legolas froze and slowly turned to face the angry dwarf. Gimli was sitting in a soft chair next to an empty bed and was glaring at the blonde elf. Legolas sighed. Gimli had been asleep only a moment ago and Legolas had hoped to escape the room unnoticed. Unfortunately, it seemed Gimli had not been as deeply asleep as he had hoped.
"Well?" Gimli asked again, when it seemed as if Legolas' attention had slipped. He was angry, but was also worried about the elf.
"I have work to do, Gimli," Legolas answered, looking longingly at the closed door. "The gardens-"
"Can wait," Gimli interrupted. The dwarf stood and walked towards his friend. "You need to rest, Legolas," he said, placing his hand on the elf's back and gently pushing him back towards the bed.
Legolas frowned and moved away from the dwarf, moving again to the door. "I am not tired."
Gimli swung around and placed himself between his friend and the room's only exit. He glared up at the tall elf, but his expression softened when he saw the fatigue in his friend's face. "Legolas," he said gently, "Ever since the War ended, you have worked non-stop to restore Gondor's gardens. You are exhausted." He frowned, suddenly remembering something. "And when was the last time you ate?"
Legolas cocked his head, thinking. "I….I don't know, Gimli. I guess I forgot."
"Forgot?" Gimli shook his head. "Only an elf would forget to eat." He stared worriedly at Legolas, who seemed about to fall asleep on his feet. He took the elf by the arm and once again tried to lead him to the bed. "You need to slow down, Legolas. Do you remember what happened this afternoon?"
Legolas tried to get his tired mind to focus and didn't protest when Gimli helped him sit on the bed. He remembered being in one of the palace gardens, trying to decide where to put the plants his father had sent from Mirkwood, and then….nothing. He shook his head and let Gimli push him down so he was lying on the bed. "I don't know, Gimli."
Gimli pulled the blankets over his friend and made sure Legolas was comfortable. "You collapsed, Legolas. One of the guards found you unconscious in a garden." He took a deep breath and smoothed Legolas' hair away from his face. "You gave me quite a scare."
Legolas closed his eyes, finally realizing how tired he actually was. "I'm sorry."
Gimli smiled and kissed Legolas on the head. "Get some rest, Legolas. I'll be right here." He smoothed Legolas' hair and laughed quietly when he realized that the elf was already asleep.
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Gimli yawned as he watched the sleeping elf. He had been sitting by the bed for hours now, knowing that if he went to sleep Legolas would be gone when he awoke. 'Crazy elf,' he thought while trying to get more comfortable. 'Doesn't even know enough to take care of himself.' He sighed and leaned closer to the bed, pushing Legolas' hair out of his face.
He moved away when he heard someone tap quietly on the door, not wanting anyone to see how worried he was. He stood and quickly walked to the door, opening it and letting Aragorn in.
Aragorn smiled when he saw Legolas; the elf looked like a child beneath all those blankets. "How long has he been asleep, Gimli?" he asked, whispering.
"Three hours," Gimli answered, glancing over at the bed. "Is there something you need, Aragorn?"
Aragorn nodded, frowning. "I was going to examine him before I went to bed," he said, turning back towards the door, "but seeing as he's finally asleep, I think I'll wait until morning."
Gimli nodded and followed Aragorn. He was about to close the door when Aragorn turned back and looked at him. "You'd better get some sleep yourself, Gimli. He's not going anywhere." He smirked, glancing over at the sleeping elf. "If he even tries to leave this room, there are five guards between here and the gardens."
Gimli chuckled, shaking his head. "And I suppose you ordered them to return him to his room if they see him."
Aragorn nodded, laughing. "You know me too well, my friend," he said, looking back at Gimli. "Are you going to get some sleep?"
Gimli frowned and shook his head. "I think I'll stay and keep an eye on him. Someone has to take care of him since he won't."
Aragorn studied him for a moment before nodding. "Very well. Good night."
"Good night," Gimli said, closing the door. He turned and walked over to the bed, glaring at the hard wooden chair. He glanced at the bed, then back at the chair. If what Aragorn had said was true, and there were guards that would watch for Legolas, then he could get some sleep. But he couldn't sleep in that uncomfortable chair. He yawn and looked back at the bed, shrugging. 'It's not like we've never shared a bed before,' he thought, pulling off his boots and crawling under the covers.
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Gimli blinked and tried to stretch as he woke up, failing when he realized something was on top of him. 'What?' he thought, tiredly. He lifted his head and looked down, smiling when he saw that Legolas was using him as a pillow.
He rested his head back on the pillow, hugging the elf closer even before he realized that sometime during the night, he had wrapped his arms around Legolas. Gimli sighed and closed his eyes, waiting for the elf to wake up.
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It was just ten minutes later when Gimli felt Legolas start to wake. The elf sighed, moving closer to Gimli, and opened his eyes.
Legolas stayed still for a moment, trying to remember where he was. He relaxed when he recognized the body he was up against and looked up, blinking. "Gimli?"
Gimli smiled and pushed the elf's hair behind a pointed ear. "Yes, Legolas?"
Legolas frowned, looking confused. "What happened?" he asked, yawning, before burying his face in the dwarf's beard.
"You fainted in the garden, remember?"
Legolas shivered and tried to move even closer to Gimli's warm body. Gimli frowned. 'He can't be cold, can he?' He reached down and grabbed the blanket, pulling it up to Legolas' neck. He tucked the blanket around the elf before wrapping his arms around Legolas, fully aware that Legolas was not about to give up his pillow anytime soon.
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End Chapter 1
HC's notes: Like I said before, I've chosen to leave the first eleven chapters intact and the way Cheysuli originally wrote them. I'm just grouping a few chapters together at a time to make the posts longer. I'll be posting these once a week, so I should have time to get a start on the part I get to write. w
Please review! And please keep in mind, I am mostly looking for thoughts on what could happen later on in the story. I only have what Cheysuli wrote; she had no notes to pass on to me, so I'm just as clueless as everybody else is on where this story was originally meant to go! So if you are one of the ones who read this before I took over, please tell me any and all ideas you had about what Cheysuli was going to write next!