Summary: He was hurt, deeply. He could not turn to the hobbits or to the men. There were no others around, so he turns to a dwarf. An unlikely friendship is formed. NON-SLASH!

Disclaimer: I don't own Lord of the Rings or its characters.

a/n this came to me as I was watching LotR: FotR. This is one shot. Please review!

He was shot down. Bleeding and in pain he stumbles towards the river. He starts to reflect on what had happened.

He swore that there had been someone in the woods. He knew that there was something out there; he had felt it for a long time. Legolas had gotten up to go and investigate what was causing him to have a shadow in his mind.

He left camp, claiming me had to relieve himself. He walked only a couple of feet when there was a noise in the bush in front of him. He slowly crept up, drawing his bow and an arrow from his quiver. In the darkness of the night all he saw was a shadow, even with his keen elvish sight.

When he reached the bush there was a pause, the silence was so thick it was choking him. He then heard a rustle in the bush to his right. He turned and shot, but the threat had moved and his arrow hit nothing but air.

The rustle was behind him this time, but it did not wait. It leapt into the night and hit Legolas' back. He was thrown forward, his head hitting a rock. The creature turned him over and he saw that it was a goblin. It bore the white hand of Saruman.

Legolas struggled to get free, but to no avail. The creature was strong, too strong and heavy to lift. Legolas looked around, desperate. He found a rock and scrambled to reach it. When he finally got it in his grasp he threw it into the goblins head. The goblin rolled off Legolas, who jumped up and reached for his bow. He couldn't find it.

The goblin whistled and Legolas looked to it. It was standing there; holding Legolas' bow in its hand, then it turned and threw the bow into a hole in the Earth, too deep to reach without climbing down.

Legolas knew he was in trouble, but never cried out. The goblin drew its sword and slashed Legolas across the chest, slicing his shirt and revealing a pale sliver of skin that was turning crimson at an alarming rate. The goblin then slashed at Legolas knees and he fell to the ground.

The goblin walked over and towered above Legolas before looking up. He heard or sensed something that Legolas could not. The goblin never thought twice, it took off and never returned.

Legolas then heard the voice of Boromir and Aragorn.

"Legolas!" Aragorn cried.

'They're searching for me!' Legolas thought with happiness, but then realized that if they saw him like this they would all worry. 'I can't let them worry. Not with the ring there, letting down their guard for me will get us all killed.'

"Where could he be?" Aragorn voice is worried.

"I'm fine," I call back, trying to sound confident, "I'll be back soon, just getting a drink!"

"Are you sure you're alright? You sound tired," even Boromir was concerned.

"I'll be back in a second, I just need to walk a bit," I was running out of excuses for being gone so long.

They did turn around though, much to Legolas' please.

Legolas climbed down into the hole. He saw that there were remains of creatures, what they were was hard to tell, there and was sure that the goblin had camped there. He quickly got his bow and climbed back out.

He stumbled toward the river and into the soothingly icy water.

That's where he now sits, staring as the coldness bites at his skin, burning the slashes that the goblin had left.

There's another rustle in the brush, this one louder though, not a secretive.

Legolas lifted his head to see Gimli son of Gloin.

"Elf," Gimli's voice is gruff.

"What do you want?" Legolas' voice is forlorn and lost of hope. He hangs his head so the dwarf does not see the tears of pain that are streaming down his face.

Gimli's face turns soft, "What's wrong?"

Legolas does not want to say, he doesn't want people to worry, he wants them to remain objective. Then he realizes something, he can't hide all the pain and blood that the goblin drew. He can't, without help. There is no way of telling one of the humans, they would tell the other and start to worry, and he refused to worry the hobbits further. In this one time of need, Legolas would have to turn to the elves greatest rival besides Sauron and Saruman themselves, a dwarf.

Legolas lifts his head and Gimli sees the shiny tears that reflect the silver moonlight. He tilts his head to the elf.

"A goblin," Legolas starts.

"You had your bow, didn't you?" Gimli knew how keen elves were at archery.

"He took it from me," and now Legolas leaves the water, showing the crimson cuts in his chest and on his knees. He starts to fall from the pain of the pressure on his knees, but Gimli catches him and sits him down more comfortably.

"Do you know about plants?" Legolas knew but couldn't stand to get the plants he needed to treat the cuts. He needed them fast though, the slash on his chest was deep and making it hard to breathe.

"I can get Aragorn," Gimli tries.

"No!" Legolas knows that the others must not find out.

"I'm sorry," Gimli says solemnly.

"Don't be," the strain of talking was becoming apparent in Legolas' voice.

"Rest, I know where the healing kit is, I will get it and come back," Gimli is now determined to help.

"Will the others see you?"

"No."

"Then please hurry," Legolas couldn't speak anymore, and his breathes were starting to come in heaves instead of evenly.

Gimli got up and ran as fast as he could back to the camp. He silently climbed up to the supplies and took the healing plants and sprinted back to Leagolas.

All the while Gimli is gone Legolas is holding on. His breathes are gasps and he doesn't know how much longer he'll last like this. He hears someone approach and smiles when he recognizes Gimli shape in the darkness of the night.

"Here, I don't know what to use," Gimli was out of breathe.

"Thank you," Legolas managed and searched through the bag. He finally found the right plant and grounds it in his hand. When he becomes confident that its fine enough he places it on the wound on his chest, instantly his breathing is easier and more confident. Gimli lets out a sigh of relief and Legolas shifts to take care of his knees.

"Looks like it was better you got to figure out what's what," the uncomfortable atmosphere from the pain and silence was eating away at him.

"You would have found them right, I trust you," what he said only hit Legolas after it escaped his mouth.

"Why? You have no reason to and plenty of reason not to!" Gimli wasn't hiding his surprise.

"Because you're the only one out of the group that can truly be both a friend and an enemy. Our people fight over nothing and everything with your people, yet I know for some reason that I can trust you," Legolas was always one to be trusting.

"Thank you, but even you must know that we can't change what we do in front of the others, not this suddenly."

"I know," Legolas stands, patched and ready to go.

Legolas covers his shirt with an arm when he returns to camp and sits, quickly covering his knees.

"Sorry about the clothes, elf," Gimli knows that Legolas can't hide the slices forever.

"What happened?" Aragorn doesn't hide his curiosity.

"I turned around while chopping wood and accidentally ripped his clothes at the knees and across the chest later on," Gimli was too quick to be thrown off by Aragorn.

"Here, let me see, Legolas," Aragorn invites.

Legolas uncovers the cuts in his clothes and quickly tries to hide the, now, almost disappeared cut on his chest.

"Don't worry, I can fix that," Aragorn turns and starts to search through his stuff pulling out a needle and thread.

"Thanks," Legolas responds, removing his shirt, showing a light scar of a cut.

"What happened?" Aragorn asks, referring to the scar.

"Oh, I made a friend the hard way," Legolas responds smiling, he looks from Aragorn to his new friend, sitting, pretending like they still were enemies, but smiling when he was sure no one was looking.

a/n: I know, not the best and VERY one shot but please review.