A/N Wow, what an amazing journey this has been! THANK YOU to everybody for making this possible and fun!

Disclaimer: mine

Chapter Twelve

Thranduil saw the ranger slump over his son and felt a surge of fear course through him, despite the fact that the youngsters where being protected as more and more of his warriors managed to penetrate their way in past the wall of spiders. The battle was far from over, however.

In fact, the limited amount of warriors Thranduil had with him where struggling to keep the spiders at bay. The evil creatures far outnumbered the elves, and had the clear advantage as they crawled over the fair beings, dropping down from the trees with their webs ready to trap anybody they could.

Despite all this, though, the elves where putting up a square fight, there just was not enough of them.

Then, through the trees, came the sound of several arrows whistling through the air, where appeared Arminas and his group of warriors a minute later. Exclamations of joy filled the air as the elves cheered, and Thranduil smiled as his eyes light up with hope.

The spiders, however, did appear to be intimidated. They just continued scouting out elves to poison or kill, feeling that they had this in the bag.

They were sorely wrong. Arminas' elves where strong and fresh, full spirit, ready to dish out death to any spider that so much as glanced at them. And so it was, that within minutes the tide had been turned and the spiders began to flee, hissing and screaming as they scuttled back to their dark, sinister, webs.

Most of the elves stood still, breathing heavily and warily scouting the area with their senses. Thranduil, though, wasted no time in rushing to his son's side.

"Legolas!" he called softly, falling to his knees on the ground next to him and urgently stretched the webbing away from his face. Legolas was so pale that he looked dead, and Thranduil gave a small moan of fear.

But then he saw Legolas' chest rise slightly, and the moment of terror passed. An elf knelt next to him, lifting Aragorn so that he could be cared for but Thranduil's attention was rooted on his son. Sliding out his knife, he wiped clean on the ground, before pushing it into the webbing so that he could cut his son free.

Within in a few short minutes, however, his plans where changed. Many of the elves around them where fearful to stay in this spot for long less the spiders returned with aid and the king had to agree with them. They would not be able to hold the spiders back for long if that was too happen.

So they sat off, the wounded riding doubled with their friends or family. Thranduil clutched Legolas tightly to his chest, glad to have him back to safety. Their love for each other was complicated at times, both of them too alike to the other, but at moments like this is shone forth how much the older elf truly loved his son.

THEREWILLALWAYSBEHOPE

The fire light glinted softly in Legolas' room, illuminating the beautifully carved furniture and decorated walls with a soft orange glow. Here Thranduil sat, deep in thought, besides the bed where Legolas lay under the warmth of the blankets, still deeply sleeping.

This did not have the healers worried. According to them the venom that was still in the prince's system was in deep control, especially considering how little blood had been in the prince's body at the time of injection. Legolas' wound had been taken care of, though, with the webbing cleaned off him as much as possible and all in all te elf looked much better.

A soft rapping on the door interrupted Thranduil and he got up, going to the door and opening it. Not to his surprise, a healer stood there giving support to Aragorn, who it seemed had finally convinced the healers that he could be out of bed.

"Estel." He said formally, opening the door a little wider. The human inclined his head in respect, murmuring a response as he and the healer shuffled past. Sitting the human in a chair, the healer silently left, leaving an awkward silence behind.

"How is Legolas?" Aragorn finally asked, playing with his fingers nervously. Thranduil glanced at the human, moving gracefully around to the other chair, where he sat in a kingly manner.

"He will live, though, he will have to be confined to bed for quite some time." Thranduil began, eyeing the human out of the corner of his eye to see his reaction. "The worst of his injuries is obviously his back. The healers had to take out all the old stitches and replace them. Their main concern is loss of blood; in fact I am lead to believe that he would have bled to death if not for the webbing acting as a bandage."

Aragorn bit his lower lip, staring at Legolas as if his gaze would wake the elf, before suddenly bursting out "Listen, King Thranduil, I am so sorry. This is all my fault! — I didn't mean for things to turn out this way!"

Looking away, Aragorn gazed at the ground, unable to look the king in the eyes. Thranduil was silent for a long time, his face unreadable.

"I do not deny that you are partly to blame." Thranduil said softly, causing Aragorn to start slightly after the long silence. "But I also know that my son played his own part…and so did I."

Neither of them looked at the other, both looking determined at different spots, but Aragorn had a look of great relief on his features. He knew that Thranduil admitting he was too blame to a human was the best forgiveness that he could except for the elf, and he took it gladly for he knew that this was a huge milestone in his acceptance in Legolas' home.

The fire crackled merrily in the fireplace, giving Aragorn a sense of security and safety after their long adventure. Legolas didn't blame him, Thranduil didn't, well, hate him, and the only person left to forgiven him was himself. Sitting there, the human let the healing process began.

THEREWILLALWAYSBEHOPE

Legolas was drifting, drifting in warm blackness. Pain was radiating somewhere around him, attacking him if he came to close to breaking through the veil of darkness…but for some reason he felt the inexplicable need pull through to the surface.

Legolas…" a soft voice called overhead, a voice he knew and loved. "Come back to me…"

Now fighting even harder, Legolas gasped as the pain washed over him, promising to send him straight back from whence he had come and he began to drift again.

"Open your eyes, Legolas!" the voice was back, making Legolas want to fight to come back, despite the pain. "Don't disobey me, Legolas, I know you can do it." The voice continued, sounding stern.

I'm trying! Legolas cried out, or tried too, but his voice didn't seem to be working. Frustrated, the prince put all his strength into prying his seemingly paralyzed eyelids open. Forcing them open, Legolas attempted to focus in on the golden blob above him.

"Ada…" Legolas whispered weakly as his father materialized from the blob.

"Yes, Ion-nin, it is I." Thranduil said softly, brushing back a stray piece of hair off his son's face and replacing it behind a pointed ear.

"What happened?" Legolas slurred, looking blearily around as he tried to force his mind to more wakefulness. "Where…"

"Shh, just relax." Thranduil soothed, lightly stroking the younger elf's brow with his thumb. "Everything is fine." Legolas nodded with unease, something tugging at the back of his mind, but stopped with a grimace as the headache he hadn't noticed shot through his head.

Suddenly Legolas bolted upright, his eyes wide with fear. Reaching out he clutched his father's arms painfully hard in emphasis. "Spiders —Estel in danger!" he gasped out, swaying alarming as all the blood drained from his face.

"Legolas —Legolas, listen to me!"Thranduil stressed, pushing Legolas back against his pillows with a stern face. Legolas wouldn't listen, however, fighting against his father's grasp as he continued to gasp out the four same words.

Thranduil closed his eyes in exasperation, pressing his finger firmly against his son's lips to silence him.

"Estel. Is. Fine." He stated so loudly that he shocked Legolas to silence. Lowering his tone, Thranduil said more gently, "Look, he is right here, just look." The prince froze, moving his eyes in the direction in which is father pointed. Sure enough, Estel was right there, sound asleep in a chair.

Breathing out in relief, the prince let his Ada push him back onto the bed, feeling very tired as weariness washed over him like like a wave.

"Hannon le, Ada, hannon le." Legolas began, closing his eyes and drifting back into the darkness as his father watched over him.

The next time that Legolas awoke, it was Aragorn who was leaning over him, smiling as if summer had come early and blocking the light. Legolas smiled back, voicing the first thing that came to his mind.

"Estel, you are all right!"

"Of course I'm all right!" Aragorn snorted, rolling his eyes, "It's you who have everybody worried."

"I'm fine." Legolas replied stiffly, trying to hide a wince as the mention of his injuries remained him of just how much they hurt. Casting around for a change in subject, Legolas glanced around, noticing his father's absence.

"Where is Ada?" He asked, slightly suprised that his father had left.

Aragorn shrugged ungracefully. "He stepped out, I don't know where." Legolas glanced sharply up, as sudden suspicious look on his handsome face.

"Did anything happen between you and Ada?" he questioned, narrowing his eyes. Aragorn looked startled, before shaking his head.

"Nothing has happened…"

"Good." Legolas said firmly, sinking further into his pillows with relief. He had worked far too hard to let it go to waste while he was unconscious.

"I really should thank you for coming after me." Aragorn said, to break the silence that had once again fallen. Legolas shook his head, meaning that it was unneeded, and attempted to sit up.

It was the wrong move. Intense pain ripped through his body and he tensed up, closing his eyes and breathing heavily. Aragorn sat up straighter, leaning forward he laid his hand soothingly on the elf's shoulder's trying to comfort him.

Legolas felt the warmth and heaviness of the limb, but wasted no energy in giving him a response. When the flare up had died, he leant even more heavily against his bed, eyes watering. Aragorn opened his mouth, eager to ask his friend if he needed anything, when the door opened behind them.

Twisting around, with his hand remaining on Legolas's shoulder, Aragorn saw Thranduil standing there, and could not help but remember what had happened the last time he had turned to find the king in this exact same doorframe.

This was bound to turn out much better than that time.

Thranduil slid graceful into the room, giving his offspring a quick look over, before sitting himself on a chair.

"Please leave us. I want to have a word with my son." He said sternly, his eyes meeting Legolas'. Aragorn instantly stood, abruptly very eager to leave the room. When the door had closed behind the human, Thranduil stood, pacing back and forth in front of the bed.

"Why, Legolas, why did you leave the palace without seeking my help?" he asked, his tone steely. Legolas gazed down at the blankets, fumbling slightly as he tried to come up with the right words that wouldn't offend or upset his father.

"I knew that you wouldn't, well —I feared that you would make me wait for daylight before seeking out Estel and by then I was afraid that it would be too late." He finally said, hesitantly meeting his father's firm gaze.

"But you where injured! Did not you not think of the havoc that you would cause by suddenly disappearing without a note, without telling anybody." Thranduil began again, his eyes unwilling betraying the hurt he had felt all through that long night in the palace.

Legolas had the grace to look ashamed of himself, and bowed his head. "It was foolish…" he finally agreed. "But I did what was right. It would have been too late to save Estel if we had waited any longer."

Thranduil sighed quickly in exasperation, pressing his lips together in a thin line, but he could not deny the truth of his son's words. "I don't know what I am going to do with you…" he finally said, shaking his head.

Legolas smiled softly. "I won't do it again, Ada, I swear." He promised. Thranduil, much to the surprise of Legolas, scoffed lightly.

"Yes, of course you wouldn't. Unless, of course, you find yourself in a similar position, because I am sure that you would do it all over again."

The younger elf could not dispute that, and smiled guilty, pushing himself up lightly so he was resting higher against the pillows. "You would do the same." He retorted, crossing his arms. Thranduil didn't reply but Legolas could read his father well enough to know that the gentle smile there was an agreement to his words.

"I hope you are aware that you are confided to your room for the next several days." Thranduil said, slowing his pacing and sitting back down, reaching out he gentle smoothed back the blond locks that Legolas had inherited from him. "After you are healed, trust me, you will not be leaving the palace without my permission."

Legolas gaped at his father. "I'm an adult!" he protested indigently. But Thranduil ignored his words, standing and moving back to the door. Before he could reach it, however, Legolas called back a request.

"Ada, can you send Aragorn in, please?"

Thranduil paused his hand on the door before nodded slightly. "You need rest, though, Legolas. Don't forget how weak you are currently." He warned, his voice filled with a special softness for his son that Legolas only heard occasionally now that he was grown.

Leaving the room, he watched as Estel slipped in behind him. After a minute it was followed by laugher and the king sighed. The world was changing around him, his son was changing. Never once for the past several thousand of years would he had suspect that Legolas would befriend a human…

Walking down the hallway he heard more laughter echoing out the room and smiled. Things had changed, and a small voice inside of Thranduil told him that it wasn't about to go back to how it use to be either. Besides, sometimes events happened for a mysterious reason only known to the Valar. After all, who knew what great and important deeds the prince and the ranger might accomplish together in the years to come?

THE END

Well, the close of this story is at hand...however, on the up side, look for my next story, "The Worth of a Friend", sometime near the end of August. (I know, a rather long wait, but for unfortunate reasons it is what has to happen.)

It involves Aragorn and Legolas getting mixed up with a town full of people who are prejudice against elves...things are going to get interesting!

Review Replies:

Nameless(Kayla): Lol, sounds like me! I always make weird faces and blouses when I am reading! And I totally agree, ff are awesome. Thanks so much!

Guest: Thanks! Thranduil can be rather unforgiving at times, the stubborn elf! I would feel sorry for anyone that had to face him when he was in a foul mood...that would be scary.