Author's Note; Hello all! Christmas is coming up! Excited? What's everyone getting?
I'm also very sorry about the bold thing that has been happening to my chapters. I don't know why but i hope it is off now. If it is not, please tell me and i will fix it. :)
The next update, as a special present from me, will be on Christmas day. And if I have to write myself silly getting it to you then I will!
Have a good one, read, review and enjoy!
Elrond's nerves felt as if they were about to explode as he anxiously listened to Aragorn's tale of what he had done.
How did his children always end up in trouble?
The Elf Lord waited patiently until his son had finished to take a great shuddering breath to calm himself down and still the rising fear that Aragorn would suddenly drop down, unconscious, in the same condition as Legolas.
"How do you feel?" He asked.
Aragorn considered the question. He hadn't felt any different immediately after making a connection but now he thought he felt a little funny. This could, however, be because he was thinking there was something wrong with him, a psychological illness.
He chuckled inwardly. Of course it was psychological, there was no other choice in the matter.
He found himself shaking his head.
"I didn't feel any different than before, other than the fact I was happy."
Elrond sighed with relief. He worried far more about his remaining family than he would ever let them know.
Suddenly another thought struck him. He had said that the place he arrived in was a bright place, he said that Legolas was dancing, singing even. If this was true, and Elrond had no doubts that it was, then the effect of being in such a place may have destroyed anything Nerea had left behind.
It was possible, but not definite.
"I do not think she has left anything for us." He paused, "But it is always wise to be careful."
Aragorn nodded. He knew how dangerous she was now, he thought sadly looking down at his still friend.
"Now," Elrond said, getting back to thinking of how they were to cure him, "How did it happen?" He asked.
Aragorn paused, his brow furrowing in careful a while, he answered.
"I don't know."
Legolas bathed in his happiness from his meeting with Estel. They had broken the bonds holding him to the darkness together, but only the Ranger could keep them fully at bay. Without him, Legolas had no doubt that he would slip back into the world of his nightmares, almost certainly, never to return.
He knew exactly where he was and just seeing the place in all it's splendour and glory sent his spirit soaring and made him feel like a child again.
He was in his Greenwood, before the Shadow invaded and covered the beauty, like a blanket of black snow.
He was home again.
Occasionally a thought would come to him. A thought of a person, an animal, an object. And they would come to him. Everyone and everything that he thought of, except Estel. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't make his friend appear like the others.
They wouldn't speak directly to him, instead they repeated the most memorable words they had shared with them. Some would sing. Others would dance. But it was all memories and dreams however this did not make him sad, like it should have done when he remembered particular people. Like an old friend of his that had been killed long ago in one of the many battles that had raged through his homeland. He only felt the joy the memories brought, the misery somehow being drawn away from him and sucked into the looming shadows.
His left hand was tightly clenched in on itself and he knew, with complete conviction, that he could not let go.
"Well, how did it happen last time?" Elrond asked, gently.
"I don't know!" Aragorn replied. "It all started when I held his hand."
Elrond nodded, urging him on. He knew that the key lay in the connection the two had with each other and that a physical connection, through Aragorn touching his hand, could have opened up a channel between the two of them.
"And then it all just happened!" Aragorn exclaimed desperately, as if his father could find meaning in the unhelpful sentence and interpret the words to actions.
A slight creak of the door informed the two that the twins had arrived, but Elrond kept his eyes on his youngest son, determined not to show his anxiety and terror at the possibility that they could only ever enter Legolas' mind once.
"What else did you do?" He asked, "You must have done something else."Aragorn hesitated, thinking back to what had happened.
"I looked at his eyes." He slowly remembered. "But that can't have helped the connection because his eyes were," He paused, "are," he sadly added. "Closed." He desolately explained.
Elrond thought once more, his head dropping. What other factors could have resulted in a connection between the two?
The twins shared a look, each wondering what had happened.
"I, somehow, got inside Legolas' mind before. And now, when I need to get in, I can't." He explained miserably, feeling the pressure settle firmly on his shoulders along with the guilt and possible blame for his friends downfall.
Elladan and Elrohir looked at their father and brother, each stressed, each miserable, and each looking very hopeless.
The brothers began to think, something they were very good at, but would never let anyone know they enjoyed.
"What were you feeling at the time?" Elladan asked.
Aragorn knew instantly but immediately struggled to think if the best word to describe it.
"Desperate." he whispered.
Elrond's head came up.
"I want you to do everything you did before. Do nothing different. Even the slightest of things could put it off."
Aragorn nodded obediently.
"Then, when you get in." He instructed, stressing when and ruling out all possibilities of doubt that he would not succeed. "I want you to ask him where the gate is. He should understand but if he doesn't go with him and look for it. Do you hear, go with him! Do not get separated, hold on to him."Aragorn nodded again."It is very important, Estel, that you do not let go of him."
Don't let go.
Aragorn gasped as the words echoed around his head, unprompted by memory. They seemed to have been spoken to him.
A bright, warm feeling spread slowly through him. It swallowed up all possibility, anxiousness or fear that he would come to any danger or trouble whilst with Legolas or any chance that there was something waiting for him.
Aragorn nodded to his father then closed his eyes and fought to remember every last detail of what he had done last time.
He leant his other arm over the bed and focused his eyes on Legolas' closed lids.
Nothing happened.
He stayed there, stock still, completely focused but still nothing happened.
"Are you sure you are doing everything you did last time?" Elrohir said.
Aragorn nodded, feeling despair hovering like a thunderstorm over his head.
He looked down once more at his friends closed lids.
And burst into the light.
