Title: Perplexed, But Not in Despair
Author: Calenlass Greenleaf
Disclaimer: Aragorn and Legolas belong to Tolkien. The Mellon Chronicles belong to Cassia and Siobhan. I own nothing, save a few words.
Spoilers: Big time spoilers for the MC story, "Cell Number Eight". Go read it first if you have not.
Rating: PG-13, same as the story itself. Rated for angst. No slash or smut in any way. I don't support it, like it, etc. Any love is brotherly, fatherly, or familial. Nothing more.
Summary: A prose poem on "Cell Number Eight". Features Legolas and Eldarion. Post-LotR. Don't flame me if you don't like my interpretation.
Perplexed, But Not in Despair
Endless days of torment,
Of trials,
Of fighting.
My hands are stained with blood
Blood that is not my own.
oOo
Oppressed in a frenetic world,
I fight for my life,
But I have become a spectacle
One to be stared at,
As a warrior, this is no honorable fight.
oOo
Surrounded and beset in a cruel surroundings,
The mortals here are little more than animals,
Desperate, and ravenous,
Ravenous for entertainments,
Their appetite for such things is insatiable--
They disgust me.
oOo
I can no longer count the days of my captivity.
The only thing that keeps me going,
The one hope that I have,
Are the stars in the heavens,
Shining and glimmering high in the skies.
oOo
But even that hope is fading.
Cloud gather, enshrouding Eru's gift from me.
The celestial bodies are gone from my sight,
Like my hope.
oOo
Desolate in this place,
I am holding on, barely,
Ever tiring,
Ever weakening.
It is a wonder I am still alive.
oOo
I try to remember the days of the past,
When I was still carefree,
When I was like a leaf in the spring.
oOo
No more am I,
I have become a shadow of myself,
As a dying plant in the turning of the seasons.
oOo
My memories are slowly fading,
Fading into this unbearable reality,
This despairing, wearisome reality.
oOo
Doomed to die in this place,
A captive,
Forgotten.
—Legolas
TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT
But you didn't want to do this.
It wasn't your fault,
This wasn't your plan.
oOo
I can't offer you much,
But I can give you hope.
oOo
Clouds can't cover the whole sky,
Neither do storms last forever.
Though stars are hidden,
They're still there,
Shining in the darkness.
oOo
I know you're hurting,
In and out,
I wish I could do more for you,
I want to take away the pain,
The pain that I see in your eyes.
oOo
But I'll be here for you.
Just be with you.
oOo
You helped me with my fears,
And comforted me when no one else did.
oOo
You showed me love,
Love just like my parents'.
oOo
You showed me kindness,
Something I haven't seen for so long.
oOo
It's the least I can do,
To stay with you here.
oOo
One day, we'll get out of this place,
And escape into the sunshine,
Leaving behind the troubles,
The bad things.
oOo
Don't despair, Leg'las.
I'm here,
You're here,
We're together in this,
Together,
You and I.
—"Dari", aka Eldarion
Finis
Calenlass Greenleaf, Keeper of Legolas' Pronunciation of "Aragorn" and the brotherly bond between Aragorn and Legolas.
