#10: Breathe Again
by Caelhir
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Year 1620 Third Age of Middle Earth
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Legolas flew through the air, colors dancing around him as the sun flashed off of the water. With a great splash, his form slipped into the water and it closed over his feet. The cold shocked him but he smiled under the water at the sight of the sun's rays slanted above him. He kicked his feet and his head broke the surface.
"Six," came a voice from the bank.
Legolas pulled himself out of the water.
"What?" came another familiar voice. "That was at least worth a nine!"
Legolas laughed as the twins argued about the rating of his dive. He laid back on the grass, letting the sun soak into his skin, rejoicing in the simple happiness he felt.
Patrols in Greenwood had been getting longer and more dangerous. It had been more than fifteen years since his last visit to Imladris, and he had cashed in his time off to take a week-long excursion to Elrond's house, safely nestled in the green valley of Imladris. The last time he had been here, he and Elrohir had met with unpleasant circumstances. The still-fading scar on his stomach attested to that.
Sudden silence around him caused him to crack open his eyes just in time to see a large wave of water speeding at him. He shouted and tried to roll out of the way, but the water caught him nonetheless.
Elrohir and Elladan, standing by the edge of the water, were laughing uproariously.
"The look– on your face!" Elrohir choked around his laughter. "It was– absolutely priceless!"
Elladan, for his part, could barely stand for laughing and snorting with mirth. Legolas hopped to his feet, and ran at the twins. Elrohir and Elladan made to run away, but ended up smacking straight into each other and toppling into the lake. Now it was Legolas' turn to double over laughing as the twins spluttered and began to shout at each other. These were the moments that he lived for, the joy of sharing happiness with friends, being at peace, being safe.
With a shout of laughter, he leapt into the lake at them, sending up a huge splash of water, dousing the already-wet elves in even more icy water. It was late April, so the water from the mountains wasn't yet fully warmed as it would be in June or July.
The three elves had been swimming for a while when Elrohir challenge Elladan and Legolas to another diving contest. Both accepted eagerly, and the three made their way to the top of the rocky ledge they had been leaping off of before.
Elrohir volunteered to go first, performing a perfect swan dive into the lake. Elladan followed with an excellent dive as well, and last, Legolas pulled off a jack knife dive, snapping his legs and arms out at the last second to enter the water like an arrow. The three conferred for a moment and decided to run the contest again, as they had all done well. Again and again, they dived and ran to the ledge again. The morning turned into the afternoon, and the three took a break for lunch.
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After lunch, the three resumed their contest, determined to elect a winner. Finally, Elrohir was knocked out of the running due to an unstable entrance on a particularly difficult dive. Laughing, he agreed to judge as he sat on the side of the lake in the sun.
Legolas and Elladan dove again and agin. Finally, Elladan performed a truly complicated dive, consisting of a flip and two twists before entering the water backwards. Legolas let out a gusty sigh, wondering how on earth he was supposed to top that.
A memory came to him from a long time ago. He and Thoronsul had tagged along with their older cousins to a swimming hole. The cousins, brothers named Maegthor and Firieth, had told Legolas and Thoronsul not to fall in the water, because they and their friends were having a diving contest. The two young elflings had watched with wide eyes as the older warriors had twisted and flipped like fish into the water. Legolas recalled a particular dive he had seen Maegthor perform, a series of twists and spins. Legolas decided that would be the winning dive of his present day contest, for it had won the contest he had watched all those years ago.
Visualizing the dive as he knew it, he crouched, and leapt into the air.
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Elladan and Elrohir both laughed as Legolas spun through the air, twisting like a top, spinning and whirling into the water, leaving a small dancing patch of water in his wake as he vanished into the blue water.
Elrohir whistled.
"Wow. I think that beats your dive, Elladan!"
Elladan tried to look indignant, but agreed. "It was very good. Perhaps a seven, this time?"
Elrohir and Elladan laughed and turned back to the water expecting to see Legolas emerging. But there was no sign of the prince at the water's edge.
Elrohir glanced at Elladan, smirking. "How long can he possibly hold his breath for, do you think?"
Elladan grinned as well.
"We'll just have to wait and see, won't we?"
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Legolas wasn't holding his breath under the water.
Upon the entrance from his dive, he had come into the water at a slightly different place than he had already. He had flashed into the water and had shot straight to the bottom.
On the way down, however, he had felt his head thunk heavily into one of the rocks jutting out from the side of the pool. His limbs no longer responded to his prompts, and his mind was panicking, yet he could not move, or breathe. The light slanted down upon him, creating a beautiful and terrible prison. He was trapped beneath the water, unable to move or breath, and all was beginning to go dark around the edges of his sight.
He tied to move, to swim, or make some air bubbles to let Elrohir and Elladan know where he was, but couldn't. He wold be here forever, at the bottom of the pool. His eyes strained to see the surface, but nothing came to him.
Peacefully, all went dark.
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Elladan frowned.
"Do you think he's still joking with us?"
Elrohir frowned as well.
"Maybe, but let's just..."
He stood and walked to the edge of the pool. When he got there, he shouted for Elladan to follow him, then jumped into the water. Elladan raced over and stood at the edge, heart thumping painfully. He could vaguely see his brother's shape travelling deeper, deeper to where he could see a light patch.
Legolas.
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Elrohir stroked powerfully to where he could see Legolas' still form. A haze of red hung about his friend, leaking from a cut on the other's temple. Legolas' face was eerily pale under the water, eyes closed and mouth slightly open. No bubbles came form the prince's mouth. Elrohir flew into action.
Elrohir wrapped his arms about Legolas' chest and pushed off with his feet against the side of the pool, praying desperately that he wasn't too late.
He broke the surface with his head and struggled over to where Elladan waited, looking fearful. Dragging Legolas' deadweight through the water was much more difficult than he would have thought.
He pushed Legolas at Elladan, who grabbed the prone elf and pulled him higher on the bank. Elrohir clambered out of the water and over to where Elladan was checking Legolas' pulse and breathing.
"Anyhting?" asked Elrohir fearfully.
Elladan shook his head, and Elrohir lowered his head, despair clouding his sight. Elladan shook his brother's shoulder.
"Breathe for him."
Elrohir looked up. "What?"
"Breathe! Remember when that elfling fell in the river in Greenwood those years ago, and Ada brought him back? He had no pulse and wasn't breathing, but Ada had a warrior breath while he pressed on the child's chest, and the elfling was all right! Breathe for him now."
Elrohir complied, lowered his mouth to Legolas' face, hesitating only for a moment, glancing at his brother. Elladan rolled his eyes.
"It's not a kiss; you're saving his life!"
Elrohir thought no more on his and breathed for his friend as Elladan began to compress Legolas' chest rapidly, prompting the prone elf's heart to beat on it's own. After a minute or two, Elladan told Elrohir to stop and leaned his head to Legolas' mouth, felling for breath and pulse.
Smiling at Elrohir, the brothers leaned back, relief washing over their faces. It had been perhaps five minutes since Elrohir had pulled Legolas out of the water, but five tense minutes had put enough stress on the twins to last them a life time.
Legolas appeared to be slowly coming around. He groggily raised his head from the ground, mouth twisting into a frown as he furrowed his brow.
"Did I win the contest?"
Elrohir and Elladan froze in shock, then burst into laughter. Trust Legolas to drown himself and be resuscitated, and the first question he asked was if he'd won or not!
Elladan and Elrohir howled with laughter as their friend sat up slowly, memories of being underwater slowly filtering through his mind. The twins quieted down and regarded their friend carefully.
Elladan asked Legolas if, beyond feeling like a drowned rat, did he feel all right? Elrohir, for his part, had lapsed into quiet contemplation.
It seemed that every time Legolas was here in Imladris, he was injured, and every time it was because Elrohir himself had some part to play in it. Guilt assailed him and he lowered his eyes, even though he knew that save calling off the contest, he couldn't have done anything to help Legolas.
Legolas rose to his feet and regarded the other two elves at his feet. He raised an eyebrow.
"Well?"
Elladan and Elrohir glanced at each other, then back at Legolas.
"Well what?" Elladan said confusedly.
Legolas sighed.
"Did I win?"
Elrohir and Elladan grinned and rose to their feet as well.
"Yes," said ELrohir, "I think you did. That dive was amazing, bu tI think points will be deducted for the terrible ending!"
Laughing, the three set off under the heat of the afternoon sun. On the way, Legolas brought up a point that the twin;s father would be sure to make.
"Elladan, Elrohir?"
What, Leafling?" responded Elladan, using the permanent nickname Legolas had been given.
"NO more diving contests for a while, all right?"
Elrohir smirked.
"I agree!"
Elladan seconded this statement, saying, "We'll stick to drinking Glorfindel under the table, then, shall we?"
"You Noldor can never beat a Sinda in a drinking competition!" Legolas cried joyfully, opening a new challenge to the Peredhel brothers.
Shouting at each other, the three elves raced back to the house of Elrond to prove who was that champion of this endeavor.
Later, upon hearing their brush with death, Elrond sighed heavily.
"Glorfindel," he asked of the golden haired warrior, "Will they ever learn?"
Glorfindel chuckled.
"My lord, do you really want to know?"
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*sparkle-heart to JaydeRayne*