Author's note: Hey there! Thanks for all the wonderful comments I've been getting for this! I really appreciate it, makes me feel so happy when I read them! :D

Sorry, not much Legolas in this one, but he'll be more in the next one I promise!

Hey look! It's a really long one this time! More coming very soon!

Keep reviewing and commenting please!

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Aragorn stifled a groan and rose from the floor, his father's steely gaze following his progress, watching for any hint of permanent damage to his son. He still felt like there was a party of Dwarves hammering against his skull with glaciers of ice.

The world spun as he stood straight but he managed to walk in a straight line as he made his way over the last portion of the bridge. The cold had left his body but it still resided in his mind, like the remnants of a nightmare, threatening him with more pain.

Lord Elrond, although he stood tall and proud as always, was in turmoil inside. Had he been right to stop the flood for Aragorn? Will this prove for better or worse? He felt terrible but good at the same time. Like he had done the right thing and the wrong thing.

He knew he shouldn't be letting this woman into Rivendell but he may as well kill Aragorn himself if he refused her entry. And that was something he couldn't do.

Nerea smirked as the Ranger walked. He was doing a good job not falling over but it was funny for her to watch the defiant Man struggle. It was what she had wanted since she had met this annoying Man. And she always got what she wanted, no matter the price.

Aragorn approached his father and knew he had to tell him the news. He hated to cause him pain, and he knew he was already suffering, but he had to know.

Lord Elrond pulled his son in tight to his chest. He could sense something was wrong with him, and had been for a long time. Then he noticed.

"Ada-" Aragorn started but was cut off by his father.

"Where is Legolas?" He asked.

This wasn't right. Legolas wouldn't have left his son with this woman, even without his Elvish senses and the river's reaction he could tell she was pure evil and not to be trusted. So where was he?

He watched, horrified, as tears welled up in Aragorn's eyes.

"Legolas is gone." He stuttered out. "He left me."

The tears started to fall but it was unclear to the Elf Lord what exactly had happened to the young Elf.

"What happened ion?" He asked gently.

"It was my fault." He said and the sadness and blame in his voice made Lord Elrond wince.

"I was … confused. And I was going the wrong way. There were orcs and … her … behind us. He lead me towards the trees but I thought he was leading me to them. I struggled. I said such horrible things!"

He gasped, the full impact of what he had said just hitting him.

"His father! Oh Valar what did I do?"

Lord Elrond started to panic. The young Prince and his father had a rocky relationship but each were incredibly loyal to the other and loved each other very much. If Aragorn had said something about him, there was no telling what could have happened.

"Continue Aragorn, what did you do?" He asked, gentle but firm.

"I … said terrible things about him and Legolas and if he hadn't cut me off I don't know how much damage I would have caused. But I am so very ashamed of even thinking it."

Lord Elrond pulled him into another comforting hug and Aragorn wrapped his arms around him, clinging as if he was his only comfort left in the world.

Elrond gently eased him away.

"Ion, I need to know, what happened to him?"

Aragorn took a deep breath, "He said something, and I deserved it too, but I got so mad that I drew my sword. He drew his, but to fight the orcs that were coming at us, and I attacked … him. I did no damage, but then the orcs were on us and went for him. When they parted … he was gone … I couldn't save him. I failed him." He finished, salty tears still streaming down his cheeks were absorbed in his father's tunic as he was pulled close again.

Lord Elrond was in shock. Legolas, dead? Impossible! He couldn't die, not like that.

Aragorn suddenly remembered something, something very important, and he jerked his head from his father's shoulder and dropped his voice even lower than a whisper.

"He asked me to call him Amin son of Adar, though I don't remember when."

"Then it is probably still important we use this name around this woman." Elrond agreed.

Nerea sidled over to them.

"Had a nice chat?" She asked, he voice sickly sweet. "Get all the tears out?"

Elf and Man glared at her and she hastily moved away from them, under the arch, and into the Last Homely House.

Elladan and Elrohir were struggling. Having placed him the nearest bed the had come to, they had set about analysing their friend's ailments. There were a lot of them, and even more complications and problems. And the professional healers still hadn't come to their calls.

Legolas had lost a lot of blood but he couldn't hold down any fluids they gave him. They were afraid to do much under the threat of him passing out. As if he did, he may never awake again.

They worked fast in as much of him as they could. His bruises had started to heal but many of his cuts were infected, with dirt, grass and more stuck inside them and one, that looked like a hot poker had been stabbed through him, was poisoned. Elladan mixed antidote after antidote for his friend while Elrohir cleaned and bandaged as best he could but both knew they needed their Ada for him to survive. And they needed him soon.

They turned him over and found the cause of the major blood loss. His back. Their eyes widened as they saw how deep the cuts went, tearing some of the muscles in his back. How he had managed to row with these wounds was completely beyond the twins and Elladan winced as he imagined the pain his friend must have put himself through to get here, and Valar only knew how long he had had to endure it.

Elrohir yelled once more down the hallway for help. Where was everyone?

Ranger and Elf Lord entered the Last Homely House close behind Nerea.

She stood, in the centre of the entrance hall, hands on her hips and a frown etched on her fair face, looking for all the world like a little spoilt child who can't get what she wants.

"What is this?" She asked the Elf Lord.

Lord Elrond merely raised his eyebrows.

"Where are all your servants? Your armed guard? Your mountains of gold? Where is everything?" She demanded.

Aragorn and Elrond shared a knowing, amused, glance that Nerea missed as she turned back to inspect a beautiful, hand painted, vase filled with flowers near the right wall.

"I have none." Elrond replied calmly.

She whirled around, her eyes ablaze in fury.

"What?"

Elrond stared, quiet and still, back at her and only the slight twitch of his jaw betrayed his calm demeanour.

He had heard something from down the hall. His sons had found the being in need of Rivendell aid, and now they needed his.

All his healers had been present in the room for all had seen Aragorn fall to his knees in pain on the bridge and all wanted to do something to help the Man they all loved.

He gave a slight nod to them and they started to make a move towards the corridor but something flew at them and smashed against the wall. The head healer, now crouched on the floor, had been the target.

"Stop!" Nerea screamed. "You are staying here." She gave an evil grin. You are my servants now." She declared.

"No they will not." Lord Elrond said, a hint of dangerous anger in his voice.

He sensed the air around him grow humid as he suddenly felt cold. He frowned at the unexpected feeling, fighting the cold with his heat. The cold was gone.

A tiny smile appeared at the lips of the Elf Lord.

Nerea however was clutching her head in her hands. Great waves of agony now surging through her head.

'He's too strong.' She thought, despair taking over.

Then she sensed a movement to the Elf Lord's right.

Aragorn waved his hand at the healers, signalling for them to hurry to the injured one.

"There's nothing you can do." He mouthed.

Lord Elrond felt the room grow sticky and humid and electricity was in the air. Everything went quiet and he was struck with a saying Gandalf usually said.

'The calm before the storm.'

He tensed, waiting. The healers were still moving away, making good progress, when Aragorn let out a wail.

His head was exploding in a world of ice. There was no escape this time, there was no warmth left. Amin was gone, he had betrayed him. His father would be next, he had failed him, failed them all. Again waves of despair and hopelessness blinded him in agonising hurt, he felt a crushing misery he couldn't see the end of and tears streamed from his eyes as his mind replayed all the hurts of the past in full force.

Lord Elrond was at his son in a second, pulling him close, whispering soothing words in Elvish but it didn't help.

"What are you doing?" He demanded.

"He is going to die." Nerea responded, her voice cold and unfeeling.

Elrond shook his head. He couldn't die. He desperately tried to think of what to do, becoming more frustrated by the second as his son writhed in his arms. All he could think of was breaking the news to the twins. Both their brother and their best friend had been killed.

And he could do nothing about it!

Healers flocked around him, ignoring Aragorn's last request, and intent on helping the young Man.

He cupped Aragorn's face in his hands and felt a tinge of cold creep up his hands.

An idea came to him. It was not sensible, and by far one of the worst he had ever had, but it would assure Estel's safety for a long while.

Elrond waved the healers away, uncharacteristically impatient.

He took a deep breath in, closed his eyes, and placed his hand on Aragorn's forehead.

He slowly started to drain the cold from his mind, filling it with warmth from himself that Aragorn desperately needed.

Wrapping his own thoughts up, like a blanket, he cushioned them against the blackness he was almost positive he was to experience, he let all the ice flow into him.

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Translations

Ada - Father

Ion - Son

Amin son of Adar - Legolas' fake name meaning I son of Father.