CHAPTER ELEVEN


The room flickered from the light of a large candle. Eerie shadows danced along the various skulls that littered the floor. Sounds of a distant door groaned under its heavy weight echoed, as a lone spider twisted from a thread of web that hung down from ceiling. An eerie laughter cried out just as a dense mist rose over the rim, floating down and covered the floor surrounding a caldron by the fireplace.

A rather large and hairy spider sat still on a large wooded table, and Legolas reached out his hand to pick it up. His movement had caused the spider to react by crawling. He jumped backward and threw a wary glance over to Amanda, who bit her lip as she tried to hold back a laugh, at his reaction.

"Motion censored." She said, as she grinned and shook her head. "I thought our small spiders didn't scare you."

"I was not expecting movement." He responded, and reached out and picked up the crawling spider that had landed on the floor.

"So." Amanda said as she directed a wave of her hand across the room. "How's the creepy factor?"

His gaze traveled over the room. "It is disturbing."

"Good." She replied and smiled proudly.

His looked at her. "I find the sounds quite unnerving."

Amanda reached, over and held up a grotesque decorated CD. "Halloween Sounds Mega pack."

She watched him as he observed the decorations. It was agreed that she would decorate the living room while he put the final touches on his costume. Their trip to the costume shop earlier that week had not gone so well.

The bell above the door jingled which signaled their arrival in the brightly lit store. There was a massive array of costumes to from which to choose. Legolas stood and peered at one he held up. "This is deplorable."

Amanda glanced up at what he was holding and gave a laugh. "Aww come on. You would be a good Peter Pan."

He glanced from the awful green costume to her while raising his brow.

"If you be Peter, I'll be Wendy." She told him and held up an outrageously decorated costume.

"I can craft far better." He stated as he shook his head.

Amanda tried to hide a smirk. "So elves don't just make shoes then?"

Legolas actually rolled his eyes. "I know the tale you are referring to."

She reached for another costume. "What about batman? Everyone wants to be batman!"

"I think I still prefer to stitch my own." He stated as he scanned various racks of choices. "This is poor craftsmanship, and it leaves a lot to be desired."

She looked around. "So none of these will do?"

Legolas sighed. "Do you not have stores that have fabrics?"

Amanda shrugged, seeing that the Elf was at least willing to dress up for the occasion was good enough for her. "Your right, these are really terrible."

They had agreed that she would drop him off at the fabric store with some money, while she made a run elsewhere.

He spent most of the day distracted, creating whatever it was he was making in the smaller room upstairs, which usually held her PC and a spare bed. He refused to show her even the fabrics he had purchased.

"So much longer on your Tinkerbelle costume?" Amanda asked him and was rewarded with an annoyed look.

"It is not the child's fairy." He informed her.

She shrugged, "Don't matter, until I see it that is what I will call it."

"I will not yield to your harassing ways." He said with a smirk.

She furrowed her brows in consecration on something, and then did her best to straighten her face to question him. "Aren't Elves and fairies supposed to be related?"

Legolas shook his head and walked off.

Amanda pulled out several bags of candy, and emptied them into a rather large bowl that sat on the coffee table. She opened a smaller bag, and walked over to Legolas and dangled a piece in front of him.

He gave it a withering glance, then looked at her. "I do not see how one would find a worm appetizing."

She bit off into piece then smiled. "Slimy yet satisfying."

Legolas gave a disgusted look, and shuddered.

She held another one out to him. "Here, try one."

"I rather not." He replied and he leaned away from it.

She smirked, and then replied teasing him. "Awww is the big bad Elf scared of candy?"

He glanced from her to the offending gummy worm. "It looks revolting."

She smiled and shook her head. "It supposed to look that way."

Legolas took the worm, and eyed it warily before he tasted it. "It is not completely vile."

She rolled her eyes, walked over to the candy bowl, and threw a chocolate bar at him. "I doubt you will complain about that."

He tore open the wrapper and sniffed it. There was less hesitation this time as he bit into the snicker's bar. His eyes closed slightly at the taste, then opened them widely. "I hope you have a great amount of these."

"Always." She said, and in one quick motion the Elf had leaped over the back of the couch and landed on the coffee table, he kneeled down as he riffled threw the bowl.

She shook her finger at him. "Those are for tomorrow." She approached him. One of his arms folded to hold what he had already pulled from the bowl.

"Legolas." She sighed in frustration, and amusement.

She reached out to grab the stash, realizing that she had a better chance of the loosely held candies then the ones in his iron grasp. He had leapt back, which left a trail of candy. "Legolas put them back."

"As you wish." He dumped the armload of candies into the bowl. "I have yielded to your demands." He said, as she shook her head with a grin then plopped onto the couch. As soon as she was down, he had grabbed the bowl and ran out of the room.

"Legolas! Sheesh. Put it back." She laughed.

"You said nothing about the bowl, just that the candies had to sit within it." She heard him call from the dining room.

With the Elf otherwise occupied, she gave into the need to bring her palm up to her forehead. The resounding smack of course had reached the ears of the Elf that now stood at the doorway and looked at her in annoyance. "Must you do that?"

"Hey, there were no elves here to prevent it." She said, with a shrug and a triumphant smirk.

Legolas placed the bowl back on the table, and walked over to her swiftly, he sat on the edge of the coffee table facing her, as he grabbed the wrist of the hand that had moments earlier been the culprit of the well-known face palm. He looked at it for a moment as if lost in thought. "You know I wish you did not feel the need to do this."

He then glanced up, as he scanned her face. Amanda raised an eyebrow at his reaction. However, the awareness of his sudden proximity, and the tension of the moment seemed to drum in her ears. A part of her wanted to pull away from the intense gaze. She doubted she had the will power to move, as if something held her there, no matter how she wanted to struggle. He leaned in and placed a light kiss on her forehead.

When he pulled away he looked her in the eyes, as if he was trying to read something deep within her. "I am aware of humans that cause themselves pain. They feel they need to punish themselves. You do not need to feel this way. I was merely jesting."

She exhaled, shivered, and tried to calm her erratic heartbeat. "Legolas, it is ok."

"You have done nothing in which there is a need to punish yourself." He said, as he leaned in and cradled her hand in his lap. He was too close, and the moment was too serious.

"Legolas, seriously, this is nothing. It isn't meant to bring me pain. It doesn't even really hurt." She tried desperately to get him to understand.

"Feeling the need to hurt yourself is far from nothing." He told her.

"Oh god, look it's what people here do, it is not a punishment. It's a habit by now." She tried to explain he was overreacting.

He glanced down, and traced an invisible pattern on her wrist, she shuttered. The action had chased any argument from her mind. Amanda seized the feeling in her head to run, but all she managed was to tense her muscles. Her feet remained rooted as she willed for body to work.

He met her eyes then. "A habit you must break."

He finally let go of her hand and smiled at her. He rose, leaving the bowl on the table and walked out of the room. All she could do was sit there while she tried to calm her heart rate and breathe.

"Elves are way too intense at times." She mumbled, as she tried to shake the moment from her mind.


To my awesome Reviewers:

Black-Moon-Onaa-Inu - Yeah, I figured a Prince would know about how to handle a situation. Sneaky Elf.

Lilo – Thanks for the cookies.

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TheGoldenHairedMockingjay – Thanks I appreciate it.

Glory Bee - Thanks, I am giving it my best. The world keeps intervening. It helps to have people commenting and pushing me forward.