Fly The White Flag
UnfathomableEnigma
AN: Victoria Alamatir-Wan's Prophecy inspired me to write this, so if you like this story, please read that one! You will love it! Anyway, this is sorta based off the same idea that Thranduil wages war on Gondor, so don't flame me for that AU either. Anyway, ENJOY!And I borrowed the character Jonath from Cassia and Siobhan's Mellon Chronicles!
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How could he do this?! King Thranduil, father of the Elven prince Legolas, had waged war upon the realm of Gondor. The prince's best friend, Aragorn II Elessar, ruled the realm of Gondor. None knew why the Elvenking waged the war, only that he was angry with his son and with the king of Gondor. For Aragorn, while in a trade meeting, had received the following letter from a messenger:
You have kept my son from me too long, Edan. He has not returned and I have received no news of his fortune from him or you. For this, and for all the hurt you have caused Legolas and therefore me, I declare that the realms of Eryn Lasgalen and Gondor are now at war. I expect my son at my side before battle begins.
Thranduil.
The king had never liked Aragorn, he had thought that one day the "brutish Edan" might get his son killed. He had almost been right more than once. The pair seemed a magnet for trouble. But to do this! This would tear Legolas apart, that much the man and king knew. The prince loved his father, and he loved Aragorn as a brother. To choose between them would break his heart.
"My lord?" Elessar's captain of the guard, Jonath, asks. The king had stopped the meeting as soon as he had read the letter. He had ran. Ran to a place where none could find him, except apparently Jonath.
"I thought Legolas had sent word to his father! I did not know! Why, why must he do this? It had been barely 2 months. We would have in-informed him if anything had happened to Legolas. This is foolish of him, Jonath, it will break Legolas' heart!" Aragorn cries, throwing all pride and dignity aside. Jonath kneels down next to his distraught king, and, placing one hand on the other's shoulder, says,
"I know, my liege, I know. He will not go through with it. Not when he knows you are the closest friend to his only son and heir. He will not, this I swear!"
"Thank you J-Jonath. For now, I must go find Legolas. He must return to his father's side before Eryn Lasgalen's armies arrive." With that, Aragorn nods to his captain before starting quickly off to find his closest friend and brother.
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"Legolas!" Aragorn calls. The elf is nowhere to be found. He is not in his room, nor in the great hall, nor the marketplace! Where else could he have gone to…
The gardens!
"Ah, there you are, elf. I've been looking for you for ages." Aragorn growls affectionately as he sets himself down beside the prince.
"Yes, I am very good at hiding. Bet I sense something off in you, is there something you wish to tell me?" Legolas teases, but quickly sobers as he looks into the man's eyes. "What's wrong, Aragorn?"
"Legolas… How do I say this? Your- Your father… Thranduil… has declared war on Gondor. He is marching here as we speak and he demands that you join him before his troops get here. Go to him, Legolas, I do not wish you to be torn between your father and I." The man says quietly. He means it; he will not keep Legolas here against the elf's will. He would never put that pressure on his best friend.
"Aragorn… Estel… No…" The prince's blue eyes lock onto the man's silver ones. There is pain, and terror filling the elf's eyes that Aragorn had never wished to be there. He had meant to make it easy for the elf. This was not supposed to happen.
Suddenly, the elf stands.
"I will go to my father and convince him that this is folly! I will not let this happen, Estel, I won't." The elf exclaims confidently. He is off and running out of the palace before Aragorn can even register his words. Always so stubborn…
But father, you cannot do this!
I can and I will, Legolas.
Aragorn does not deserve this!
Do not defy me,!
But, Ada!
LEGOLAS! I have said what I think and it is final. Tomorrow, we ride to meet Gondor.
Ada… No
There were tears in Legolas' eyes as he fought. These were innocent men, kind men. He could not kill them. Rather, he hit them with the blunt of his blade just lightly enough that they would fall unconscious but not hard enough to hurt them terribly. He just couldn't. These were Aragorn's people, he could not hurt them. Not even for his father.
It was not until a large man charged him with a sword that Legolas realized that these men did not feel the same way. The large man tried to cut his thigh and missed, and it was not until there were a dozen men attacking Legolas that the prince finally fell. One, a young man, had stabbed his sword straight through the elf's chest. Only when he sees the blade come out the other side of his chest does Legolas realize that he has been stabbed. He does not feel the pain, not until the man rips his sword our of his chest and turns to fight another.
"ESTEL!" No. Why? It was imple reaction after years of friendship with the man, but why did he scream? Aragorn would surely hear, he always did. What had Legolas done.
"I'm… sorry…" These were the prince's last words before he drifted into darkness and lost consciousness.
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"ESTEL!" He hears. Who could possibly be yelling his name? Who would cry out his childhood alias in what must be their final moments? Who…
Legolas.
Without even thinking about it, Aragorn is dashing through the battlefield in a desperate flight to find his fallen brother. He cannot be dead. He cannot be dead!
And then, lying on the ground in a pool of red, he sees him! Legolas!
Elessar drops to his knees beside the elf, lifting the elf's torso so it can lean back against his chest. His healing instincts kick in and he throws Anduril down beside him and rips off a piece of his cloak, pressing it to elf's wound. The wound, he realizes with start, that is no longer bleeding.
"Oh, Legolas," he whispers into a pointed ear. "I am so sorry." And then, when the prince does not respond, all walls come crashing down and the man beings to cry. Harsh, broken sobs lose themselves from deep within his chest as he cries, bent over the form of his best friend. He is too upset, too distracted to notice the silencing of all conflict as, one by one, people turn to look at him. This man, this proud and brave and regal king, sobbing over the body of his best friend.
The elf is gone, and this realization hits every man on the battlefield simultaneously. The prince, head of Thranduil's army and closest friend to their Gondorian lord, is dead. And Elessar knows this.
All the elves drop to one knee and bow their heads. They have lost their beloved prince, their general and, for most, their friend. A great heart had stopped on this day, and with it's fleeing spirit it had taken another.
"LEGOLAS!" Aragorn hears. It is Thranduil. The king is dashing towards them man and his son with blind desperation. His son is gone, his son is dead…
And it is all his fault.
With a heavy heart, Aragorn lets go of his greatest friend so that his father may hold him. But neither stands. Tears stream down their two dirty faces, leaving tracks in their wake. This is one loss they will never recover from; no one will ever recover from.
"Fly the white flag," Jonath says quietly to his soldier. "Gondor surrenders."
"No need," Thranduil's closest advisor, Faiel, says simply. "Eryn Lasgalen does as well."
Neither king responds, they just kneel side by side and weep. Thranduil will have to sail and choose a new king from the people. Aragorn, though, could not sail. He is a mortal. Mortals are forever bound to Arda.
He will have to live. If he can.
Gondor's king lost a brother that day. A brother whom he thought would outlive him by many years. The man that killed Legolas was pardoned and Thranduil sailed. And, as for Aragorn, Aragorn lived on. But always he remembered his greatest friend and closest companion, for a brother of the heart is not a comrade so easily forgotten.