A/N: I am going to have a pretty long A/N at the end, so I am gonna sorta skip this one, give you a break to prepare you…

Chapter 36

It was a few weeks later that Legolas was declared officially allowed to leave the bed in the healing wing in Rivendell, where they had returned to after they had discovered that Legolas would be alright.

"YEEEEEEEEEEAH!" he cried, rushing past Elrond, who had just told him he was allowed to get up, and grabbing his bow and knives on the way out.

They had never seen him move so fast.

"Whoa, Legolas, slow down!" called Elladan as he and his twin immediately began to rush after him.

Aragorn laughed and he and Gimli immediately began to run as well. Glorfindel, Thranduil, and Elrond shared an amused look and began to follow at a much more leisurely pace.

When the twins and Aragorn and Gimli arrived, Legolas was already shooting, his aim as true as ever. He was using training arrows from a bin at his side, so as not to ruin the ones he had made himself for battle.

The arrow that he had shot the second before they had arrived was sudden barraged with a series of others, all of which went right through and split the one before in two. The arrows were fired in such quick succession. Aragorn blinked, and there were suddenly another two in the target.

The arrival of his friends did not break his intense concentration, and his eyes were hardened and focused. Everyone who had been on the training field before he arrived were staring in awe. Even the best archer in Imaldris only saw archery as more of a hobby, considering the eternal peace in the valley. But this was the shooting of a battle-hardened warrior who had defended his home against any and all darkness for centuries. Others, some not even warriors, gathered around to watch

A small elfling standing by saw it and immediately ran to her mother, pointing and crying out in her excitement. In her glee, she wanted to get close to the action, and she stepped very close to the target. And closer. And closer. And as she stared at the arrows flying into it, she barely noticed herself getting within range.

But Legolas did, and so did the rest of the elves. There was a collective gasp as they all realized that Legolas had already shot the most recent arrow, and it was already a foot away from him.

Unbelievably fast and graceful, Legolas's arm that was holding the bow snapped out, and his grip loosened. Though he still held it at the very end, the bow was able to reach its full length out in front of him. The timing was so perfect and practiced that he got it exactly right, and the fletching of the arrow was caught right where the string joined the wood in a loose grip.

Giving a sigh of relief at the potential disaster he had just avoided, Legolas was completely unaware of the people gathered around him as he took his bow with his other hand and gripped it normally, removing the arrow from where it was held at the very end of it.

Then the applause started.

Once they had gotten past their complete awe and unbelieving amazement, the crowd began to clap wildly for the wonderful and life-saving performance they had just seen. People never trained that seriously in the Last Homely House. It was not needed, it was unnecessary. But if it had been one of them shooting the arrow toward that little girl, she probably would have died.

Legolas's eyes snapped up, and a sudden fear and rage filled them, but it was gone in an instant when he realized the people around him were not enemies. The girl's mother grabbed her child and ran to him, begging forgiveness and thanking him over and over.

"I…no, really, It's nothing," said Legolas, his cheeks reddening at the attention. "I'm just glad she's alright."

The woman, still gushing her praise and gratefulness to him, was washed away by the crowd. A boy, a little older than the girl had been, approached the prince.

"Master Legolas, sir?" he said, looking extremely nervous and embarrassed. "Could you show us some more fighting things?" his cheeks were dusted with rosy blush.

"Of course!" said Legolas, and the child beamed.

"Elladan!" Legolas called, in a sing-song voice. Elladan's head snapped in his direction from where he had been laughing with Elrohir and Aragorn about something. "Care to spar?"

Elladan gave him a look that said 'this is completely unfair,' and Legolas grinned. A thought, somewhat wicked, came in to Elladan's mind. What better way to even the completely uneven stakes?

"Alright," he said, grinning, "Come on, Elrohir, let's go." Elrohir looked surprise but he soon found himself joining in his twin's desire to win.

Legolas's eyes widened when he saw both of the twins coming toward him, but then they gained their mischievous spark.

"If that's how you want it," he murmured in Elladan's ear as he walked by to get his knives.

"This time, can we make a perimeter, please? No one can come within ten meters of us," Legolas called as the twins grabbed their swords. He smiled in sympathy to Aragorn and Gimli, who would not be able to see clearly from that distance like the elves could.

Everyone backed the appropriate distance, and Legolas and the twins cleared the space so it was only a patch of grass with nothing to give an advantage.

Fast as lightning, the twins were on either side of him, their eyes dancing with the longing for victory. Legolas had never fought them two-on-one before, but he had beat them one at a time. And now it was time for their revenge.

They both struck at the same time, their bond making it possible for them to go in perfect sync. The sound of clashing metal filled the silence of the clearing as Legolas lifted both his knives, one on either side, to intercept their swords.

Legolas lifted his knives up and the swords slid off them. The twins tried another perfectly timed swing, poised to stop should they actually reach his throat.

But the prince knew it was coming, and he arched his back and rolled backwards out of harm's way.

No trees, he thought as he rolled away. And there are two of you with just as much strength as me. Dang it, this is not even close to fair, Elladan. He looked into the twin's calm gray eyes, and scowled at the mirth which danced there.

You want to play that way? Fine. Let's do this.

Completely letting go of all the reserves he had, like not making the twins look like fools in their own home, Legolas leaped into them, going on the offensive.

He did a slice downward for Elladan and a swipe at the legs for Elrohir, knowing that he needed to break up their sync. Even as they met his blades with their own, he was moving again, and he began an aggressive series of parries, slices, and stabbing motions. The twins struggled to keep up with him. That was his only advantage: speed.

Seemingly had enough of the constant attack, Elladan dodged instead of parrying and brought in his own stab, knowing that Elrohir would know what to do while he had the prince's attention. Legolas knocked the stab away with a flick of his wrist and accidently turned his back to Elrohir.

The younger twin saw his chance and took it, swinging for the prince's neck. Legolas's ears picked up the sound of the blade just in time, and his second knife instinctively jerked up to meet Elrohir's sword and eyes with a hard glare.

From where they stood, the twins thought Legolas had never looked more princely. His head was held high and his eyes were raging despite his deceptively calm face, and he was wearing the "Thranduil glare". They shivered.

Using their distraction, Legolas did a stabbing motion with one knife into the air before Elrohir's chest and put his other to Elladan's throat, signaling the end of the spar with what would have been their deaths in real battle.

And then he smiled brightly at them, not even worrying about their loss and his victory, but his face showed that he was just glad to still be here, in this moment, in this lifetime, standing in the setting sun on the training field.

These moments were his reason to live.

A/N: And that, my friends, is the end.

So, apparently you all want a sequel, so I'll start that after a little break. Next week, maybe. Of course, that will continue the story from this ending, not the sad one.

Please, if you liked this story, keep reading anything else I post.

And please review. This is kind of your last chance. Anything from a long rant about what you loved and hated or a well written critique (I love both of those, they're my faves, so if you have the time, please give me one :D) or a simple "I liked it" (or "I hated it") also means a lot to me. So please tell me what you think, and if you have any story requests, just PM me!

Thank you guys so much for reading. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.