Chapter 2

Gloin stormed down to the healers. How dare that elf shout at his son! Gimli gave the elven prince the chance to gain some dignity for his race. How is that a wrong thing?

As he entered the room, he shouted, "How dare you shout at my son you pointy eared brute! You aren't his father so you have no right to do that. He did nothing wrong . If your son wasn't such a wimp, you wouldn't have to worry about him getting hurt all the time!"

Thranduil left the bedside and towered over him, "Would you call someone who enters countless wars, including ones that are for your races benefit, a wimp! Do you not feel concerned at all for your son when he is out of your sight?"

Gloin immediately replied, "Yes I do feel concerned for Gimli, but I wouldn't be so concerned that I would kiss my child when I got him back. Is that an elf thing? Or are you just a pervert? Don't deny it because one of my men witnessed it. "

"My son wasn't breathing! And trust a dwarf not to come to someone's aid when they are severely injured. Trust a dwarf to cause trouble."

"Gimli didn't cause any trouble."

"Legolas could have been killed!"

"By ONE uruk-hai with no weapon! He was armed with knives, a bow and daggers but he couldn't kill one uruk-hai!"

"He suffers panic attacks in small spaces – damn it - he's claustrophobic!"

"So he won't have the strength to fight with his knives, but why couldn't he shoot him? Well, he can't shoot when he's in good condition can he? Just look what happened in Helms Deep. He couldn't shoot one uruk-hai so hundreds of elves were killed in an explosion.!"

After that comment, Thranduil punched Gloin to the floor. He was dragged off him by an angry Gimli who kept repeating,

"GET OFF HIM!"

But the King didn't listen. He kept punching and didn't stop. This crazy elf was gonna kill him! Gimli continued trying to pull the King off but it just didn't stop him. Eventually, he stopped when Gimli said,

"Thranduil, Legolas is gone!"

Thranduil turned and saw that the bed that his son was sleeping in a few minutes ago was now empty. He completely forgot about the fight and ran after his son.

Gloin chuckled, he ran away, so I win! Or so he thought.

As soon as the king left the room, Gimli cried, "What did you say that for! Legolas was listening, he heard everything and the worst thing is he believes it! You fool! What were you thinking... You shouldn't shout in a ward, people are trying to rest."

After that, Gimli left the room. He had upset Thranduil as planned, but he had also upset their sons.

Legolas was awake the entire time. He wanted to curl up in a ball and die when he heard his father shout out his weakness to the world. But when he heard what Gloin said, his heart stopped.

He didn't want his father to find out about that incident. He deliberately left that part out.

My ada's going to disown me; he won't love me any more. I'm a murderer!

He didn't get far before he could feel his father pulling him back. He tried to fight back, but turning his head too quickly made him throw up. He passed out before he hit the floor.

"Legolas!" the king yelled as he caught his son. He put his child back into bed before screaming for help.

Nobody came.

Thranduil was horrified when Legolas started fitting. He cried out again,

"Somebody help me please!"

The door flew open as three healers rushed into the room. Two of them ran straight to Legolas whilst the other one dragged the frightened father out of the room.

He tried to get back into the room, back to his son but the healer held him back before locking him out of the room.

There was nothing he could do. He sank down to his knees and wept.

Gimli didn't think Thranduil could cry. But he could, and he was.

Gimli couldn't help feeling sorry for him: he had only known Legolas for four years and they were now closer than brothers. How frightened must his father be after knowing Legolas for his whole life?

Gimli knew what he had to do. He had to make his father apologise. It wouldn't make Legolas better, but it would make some sort of peace between the two fathers.

He left the weeping King and set off to his father's headquarters which was in the North of Moria. The two races were separated after the war. Elves and dwarves healed differently so they decided not to help each other on the medical part. Because of this, he was in the South of Moria (were the elves were being healed).

There were no dwarves around.

Gimli tried to ignore the evil stares he was getting from the elves around him. He guessed that they had heard his father's argument.

As he turned the next corner, he was roughly shoved against the wall. It was an elf.

Two other elves came; one of them opened the door to an empty room whilst the other one helped drag the dwarf into it.

Gimli struggled but elves are amazingly strong, and there was three of them.

Two of the elves held Gimli's arms while the remaining one spoke, "You dwarves are all the same. Even Lord Elrond said that dwarves are greedy and don't care about the troubles of others."

"Lord Elrond said that before the fellowship was created. His views have changed since then" he boldly replied.

"Then you have twisted his mind like you twisted Legolas' and our Kings'. We helped you. Our people died to help you retake your realm and in return you injure our Prince and weaken our King. I don't think that's very fair. I think we need to teach you a lesson…"

They gagged Gimli and bound his hands.

And then they let him have it…

When Legolas opened his eyes, he gasped at the sight before him. His father looked awful: the delicate skin around his eyes were burning red, his dirt stained cheeks had streaks down them and he was slumped over Legolas' bed. He was exhausted.

The young elf lightly shook his father's shoulders. As Thranduil woke up, his son shuffled down the double bed so his father could rest properly. Thranduil took his son's invitation and lay beside him. Legolas tried to avoid having a conversation with his father by pretending to fall asleep again. Unfortunately, it didn't work. His father spoke, "Ion nin, we can't just ignore what Gloin said. Can we talk about it please?"

"Ada, you need to rest and you won't be able to sleep properly if you such horrors in your head. Trust me when I say you don't want to know."

At first, Thranduil didn't speak. His fingers traced the elfling's hairline down to his temple where he stopped.

Legolas couldn't do anything to stop his father from reading his soul. As soon as Thranduil looked into his son's eyes, he could see everything…

The wall hadn't been breached yet. But they wouldn't hold for much longer. The men of Edoras and of course the son of Gloin, struggled to fight off the waves of uruk-hai storming up the ladders.

Legolas expertly shot a rope that was pulling up one of the badly crafted ladders, killing thirty of the slimy creatures.

All of the Lothlorien elves were shooting at the enemy. Each shot was always a hit. But the ladders soon sent the creatures to them as well so they had to draw their swords.

A lone uruk-hai drifted through the sea of filth with a flaming torch. Somehow they had managed to transport several mines under the wall.

"LEGOLAS!" Aragorn screamed. Legolas started to shoot at the fiend but it didn't fall.

"KILL HIM! KILL HIM!" Estel ordered. Legolas shot again and again desperately trying to take him down.

But he failed.

The wall exploded, killing all of the elves that had fought above it. Aragorn fell off the wall and lay unconscious in front of the uruk army.

Gimli bravely hurled himself off the wall and battled the animals but it wasn't long before he was pushed under water.

They charged through the wall, trampling on the elves that Legolas had failed to save. One of them was Thranduil's best friend, Haldir.

Thranduil couldn't watch anymore. He didn't know Haldir was dead. The elf that he grew up with, who had helped him tackle every obstacle was gone.

He snapped out of his trance when Legolas bolted from the room. Before he could follow, Gloin entered the room. He was surprisingly quiet. Two elvish healers followed him in. Their knuckles were grazed and glowed red. A third healer walked in – carrying Gloin's dead son.