Finally Ecphen lifted the knife from Legolas' wound and quickly smeared some of the thick herb paste over it before wounding bandage around Legolas' middle.
Legolas was on the border of unconsciousness and didn't seem totally aware of what was going on around him. Aewon had taken the knife out of his mouth and there had been clear marks from Legolas' teeth on the sheath. Legolas was breathing shallowly and quickly, and his eyes were closed.
"Legolas…" Thranduil choked as he came out of his reverie and moved towards him.
Aewon's head snapped up to look at Thranduil the pain of having to inflict pain on Legolas was instantly replaced with cold anger. "Don't even think about coming close to him." He hissed and glared at Thranduil, "Legolas may believe that you have changed, but I still don't trust you. You could've killed him!"
Hithel looked up from Gwaur's chest and looked at her father. She recognized the expression in Thranduil's eyes from before her mother had died and she wanted to forgive him, but the fact remained that Legolas had taken care of both her and Kirion the last years and at that moment he was lying wounded in a pool of blood and Thranduil had been the cause.
A choked back sob escaped from Hithel and she ran out of Gwaur's arms and out the room. Gwaur let her do this.
"Legolas are you with me?" Aewon asked gently and wiped the sweat from Legolas' forehead. Legolas grunted weakly in response, causing Aewon to smile.
"Is he going to be okay?" Gwaur asked Ecphen softly.
Ecphen sighed and answered, "He's strong and I think he'll be fine, but I can't say for sure before he's over the worst. He had lost a lot of blood both from his previous injuries and this one. It seems he was slightly run down even before that. He's probably going to be confined in bed for some time, I know he'll love that."
"…Thrilled…" Legolas murmured.
Gwaur nodded and said, "I'll tell Hithel and Kirion. All right Legolas? I'll take care of Kirion and Hithel. Don't worry about them."
Legolas nodded almost unperceivably, but they could discern some relief in his expression almost hidden by the pain.
The door closed behind Gwaur as he left the room to go after Hithel. When he was gone Legolas coughed weakly and grimaced. His whole body was trembling.
"Legolas when was the last time you slept through a whole night without it being because you were injured?" Ecphen asked.
"…Don't… remember…" Legolas breathed.
Ecphen sighed and then moved slightly closer to Legolas' head. "Open your eyes Legolas." He said. He knew that he could always ask Legolas of the condition of his body, but he also knew that sometimes Legolas could tend to downplay things. In comparison to that his eyes couldn't lie.
Legolas slowly cracked his eyes up. They closed almost immediately again and then opened once more slower. Ecphen hid his shock when he saw that Legolas' eyes were dark blue. Thranduil and Aewon drew in breath sharply.
The room spun as Legolas opened his eyes and he soon closed them again with a groan. He was dizzy and lightheaded, sure signs that he had lost too much blood. The wound in his stomach was still burning with pain and the rest of him wasn't much better. He could feel darkness tug at his consciousness and knew that he couldn't fight it indefinitely.
Faintly he heard someone scramble around beside him and soon a cool cloth was placed on his forehead and was gently run down over his cheeks and neck before getting rewetted.
He was becoming slightly detached from his body and he could only faintly feel as Ecphen started to take care of all his other wounds.
"Please isn't there something I can do to help?" Thranduil's voice begged from his right.
The hand that was running the cool cloth over his forehead stopped and Aewon snarled, "You should just leave."
"Please he is my son."
"How could you do something like this to your son?" Aewon growled. "You don't have the right to even be here! Look at him! Haven't you caused enough pain?"
"I know. I know." Thranduil choked, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I don't know what happened. I… I just… I don't know. But please, he's my son. I can't lose him. Please you have to let me stay. I beg you."
"Well you should have thought about not wanting to lose him before you stabbed him!"
"Oh Valar, I'm so sorry." Thranduil continued, "Legolas I am so sorry. Ecphen you have to do everything in your power, please I will give you anything, just please don't let him die."
This was the best shot he had. The best shot of getting his father somewhat normal again. He didn't want the shock to wear off and leave Thranduil as he was before. Hithel and Kirion needed a father, well mostly Kirion. He couldn't continue living as he was. He couldn't keep being called devil and he couldn't keep being shunned.
"Let him… stay…" Legolas breathed.
Aewon's eyes snapped to look at Legolas, he hadn't been aware that Legolas was still conscious. "But Legolas!" Aewon protested.
Legolas persisted, "This is… my decision…"
"Will you both just leave my patient alone?" Ecphen finally snapped. "Legolas needs rest, not talk all around him, not questions and certainly not protesting! Now if both of you don't stop talking I will throw you out!"
Legolas smiled weakly at the outburst. It was brief however and he was soon just concentrating on breathing once more. He could feel his heart beating frantically in his chest as if trying to pump an extremely small amount of blood around, which probably wasn't far from the truth. Slowly his breathing started to speed up as well in attempt to get the air his body needed, but it only seemed to enlarge his feeling of dizziness.
"Damn…" Ecphen whispered. He reached up and placed his finger against Legolas' pulse and felt it speeding and getting erratic.
"Ecphen what's going on?" Aewon asked frantically, "Ecphen answer me!"
Ecphen ignored him and instead moved up to Legolas' head. He placed his hands on either side of Legolas' cheeks and his worry increased when he found his cheeks cold. "Come on Legolas." He whispered. "I know that you're still conscious, but I need you to open your eyes for me, all right? You're stronger than this Legolas, come on. Show me that stubbornness I know you for."
Legolas' brows furrowed together and his eyes slowly opened. He blinked sluggishly and seemed disorientated.
"That's it Legolas." Ecphen said softly and reached behind him to take a vile out of his bag. He uncorked it while lifting Legolas' head slightly. "I need you to drink this Legolas." He said and held the vile to his lips. Then he tipped some of it in and watched as Legolas swallowed it. Legolas grimaced and coughed, but Ecphen didn't stop until he had drunken the whole thing.
Ecphen then lowered Legolas' head down once more and said gently, "Good. Now sleep Legolas. Gather your strength."
Legolas' eyes slid shut and not even a second passed by before his breathing deepened and his head rolled slightly to the side.
"What happened?" Thranduil asked weakly, "What was that?"
"I told you Legolas lost a lot of blood before we were even here. His body was in shock." Ecphen sighed, "I gave him something strengthening, but whether or not he will survive this, I cannot say."
Ecphen bandaged the rest of Legolas' wounds in silence and then made Thranduil find some loose fitting clothes for him to wear. He gently put them on Legolas instead of the blood soaked ones he was wearing at the moment. Afterwards he placed his arms under Legolas' knees and back and carried him to his room. He laid Legolas down on the bed and pulled the covers over him. Legolas was starkly pale even in comparison to the white pillow under his head.
Thranduil brought a chair over to the bed and sat down heavily. Aewon was on his way into the room as well when Ecphen grabbed his arm.
"Back to the healing wing with you." He said, "Your wound isn't healed enough to be walking around and you need rest. You're certainly not going to look after Legolas."
"I am not leaving him alone with the king." Aewon hissed and tried to get past Ecphen.
"You're not staying with him. I'll find Gwaur or Hithel and send them in." Ecphen said as he started dragging Aewon from the room. He looked back at Thranduil before he was out the door, "If you so much as hurt a hair on his head while I am gone you'll wish you were never born. I am going to come every hour or so to check on him."
Then the two of them left Ecphen dragging Aewon with him.
O
Scenes from the last years flashed painfully through Thranduil's mind as he sat next to his unconscious son. He wanted to take one of Legolas' hands in his own and hold it close, but he didn't know if he had the right anymore. Although it was something he preferred if he couldn't, he could remember every single episode when he had hurt Legolas over the years and this last one was also clear in his memory. The feeling of blood starting to run onto his fingers after he had stabbed his son sickened him.
He buried his head in his hands. How could he have done that? What had possessed him to do that? He couldn't understand half of it. The past years he had been controlled by vast amounts of anger and he had acted on it unable to hold it back.
He had seen how his family had changed over the years. The only one who had stayed with him was also the one who had been hurt the most, Legolas. Legolas had taking hit after hit through the years and now he couldn't explain his actions. Now he had no idea what could have driven him to do it and now he had no idea if he was ever going to get his family back after what he had done.
Did he even deserve to have his family back?
Legolas had almost died and that was his fault, his entire fault. He had been the one who had stabbed Legolas. He had been the one who has grabbed the knife and buried it in his own son's stomach. None of it had been Kirion's fault or someone else's fault. Everything had been his fault. He got nauseous just thinking about it now.
Tears started pouring down Thranduil's cheeks. He leaned forward in the chair and brushed his hand over Legolas' forehead.
"Valar. I am so sorry Legolas." He choked as more tears started flowing down his cheeks, "I'm so sorry. I've been terrible to you. I've been terrible to everyone, your sister, your brother… but most of all you. I don't see how you'll ever forgive me for what I have done, but I know that I will fight for your forgiveness till there is nothing left of me. I am so sorry Legolas…"
"It might work better if he were awake to hear it."
Thranduil's head jerked in the direction of the door. Not in anger or menace, but curiosity he looked at the elf standing there.
This was the man who had married his daughter. Gwaur. He was a teacher. He stood in the doorway to Legolas' bedroom wearing an expression of calmness, but Thranduil also noticed that Gwaur's eyes were very guarded and watched him as if every move he made would end up hurting someone.
He swallowed thickly knowing that they hadn't exactly gotten off on the right foot or rather he had given him the cold shoulder and he was almost certain that he would've hit him once if Legolas hadn't rushed between them and taken the blow. The things he had shouted about him and Hithel hadn't exactly been comforting.
Gwaur had been there for Hithel when he had not. When he had been the cause for Hithel's unhappiness Gwaur had been the one to comfort her, to take care of her.
"I owe you an apology as well." Thranduil said hesitantly. He really didn't know what he was supposed to do.
"I won't accept it." Gwaur said as he walked into the room, "Not until Hithel makes up her mind about you. She's the one you have hurt the most out of her and I so she should be the one to make the decision. You are also her father, not mine."
Thranduil swallowed thickly and looked down on the covers of the bed, "How is she?" He asked softly.
"She is upset." Gwaur said as a matter of fact as he dragged a chair over to Legolas' other side. "Her brother almost died this evening, stabbed by her own father who by the way maybe turned back to the normal father she remembers before her mother died. She is confused and doesn't know whether to kill you or hug you."
Thranduil buried his head in his hands once more muttering, "Valar what have I done…?"
"I think you know exactly what you have done." Gwaur said, "The question is, can you make it right? And how?"
"Kirion is afraid of me…" Thranduil whispered, "Hithel is confused and hurt… I don't even now about Legolas… Valar I could've killed him… He'll never forgive me."
"If I know Legolas right," Gwaur said slowly while looking at Legolas. Thranduil looked up at this. "Then he will be your first ally. From the moment he wakes up he will not shun you, or get mad at you, he will support you and help you with Hithel and Kirion, but he will never give you his heart again."
"Then I have lost him…" Thranduil whimpered.
Gwaur nodded and looked seriously at Thranduil, "Do you have any idea what you have put him through? The first part of your mourning you were unable to take care of anything. That means that Legolas, who had just lost his mother, took care of the kingdom, his sister, a new infant brother and you. Obviously he had to have gotten some help, but he had no one to lean on. When you started to change he had no one to lean on either. He didn't even tell anyone because you were a good king even if you weren't a good father, and no matter what you did you were his father."
"You weren't here at that moment…" Thranduil breathed, "How do you know this?"
"Hithel told me. She has always felt guilty for not taking some of the burden off of her brother's shoulders, but she didn't have the heart to do anything after her mother died and she lost her father in the same day."
Thranduil swallowed thickly and then asked hesitantly, "Will you tell me about Kirion?"
A smile found its way to Gwaur's lips when he thought about Kirion. "He is a small bundle of joy. Legolas raised him mostly, Hithel helped a bit, but Legolas had the most responsibility. He can melt everyone with his smile and his eyes show clearly the emotion he's feeling. He doesn't have that much self-esteem and he tends to feel unsafe when he isn't by Legolas' side, but we both know whose fault that is."
Thranduil winced.
