Disclaimer: I own nothing Tolkien created.

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Mirkwood's Plague

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A/N: Thanks to everyone who reviewed. Here's chapter 21 for you. Enjoy.

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Chapter 21 ~ The Fate Of The King

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Legolas walked slowly back to the Great Hall and reluctantly opened the double doors. Thankfully, the Hall was much quieter by now; the healers and Aragorn seemed to have better control over the patients and were continuing to help as many people as possible with increasingly limited resources. Their faces were consistently sad and tired. A few looked up wearily when Legolas entered and nodded their respects. He nodded back at them and then looked to the patients. There were a few waiting to be seen in the triage section but no where near as many as there had been earlier. The Great Hall was still full to capacity with patients. The healers were sitting amongst them, silent in their own desperation and misery. Most were either already sick or simply exhausted. Legolas knew exactly how they felt because he felt it too – both the sickness and tiredness. He walked over to the lead healer and stood by him until he was finished seeing to the patient he was bending over.

The healer was surprised when he turned around and saw his Prince standing before him. "Your Highness, is everything alright?" He sounded concerned and Legolas wasn't surprised. He couldn't have looked as well as normal.

"How is everything here?" the Prince asked quietly as they walked through the patients.

"Much calmer, my Lord. Your speech was most effective, I think."

"Good." Legolas stopped walking and looked down at a patient covered in a white sheet. He knelt down and pulled the blood-spotted sheet back to reveal the face of a young girl, her face still, cold and pale in death. Staring into her wide but glassy eyes, Legolas tenderly stroked her soft, golden hair out of her face. "She's so young," he muttered brokenly to himself.

"Are you alright, Your Highness?" the healer asked in concern, having never seen his Prince show so much emotion in public. It was rather unsettling.

"What was her name?" he asked the worried healer, ignoring the question.

"I don't know, my Lord," the healer answered truthfully. There hadn't been time to note everyone's names down as the healers worked.

"Find out."

"My Lord that might not be…"

"She might have a family that's still alive and worrying about her. They deserve to know the truth. Find out her name and then get all these people just sitting around doing nothing to begin identifying these patients. I want names and direct kin if possible."

"But Prince…"

"It wasn't a request," Legolas uncharacteristically snapped. He rarely used his positions to shout out orders and when it was necessary it was always calmly and kindly. However, the stress of the past days had taken their toll on even his patience. He turned back to the little girl and respectively replaced the sheet over her. He stood up, leaving the healer standing a little stunned, and left the room.

The next place Legolas headed for was his father's healing room. He walked slowly though, trailing his hand along the wall simply because he didn't entirely trust his legs to hold him up much longer and soon, as he expected, his mind no longer had control over his body and he desperately gripped the wall to remain upright, willing his head to stop spinning. He took deep breaths against the nausea as Elrond had instructed him earlier and closed his eyes. He instantly regretted this last action though as images of the dead again assaulted him. Feeling his stomach churning even more ominously, he forced himself to open his eyes and ignore the thousands of stars that filled his vision and threatened to overbalance him, not wanting a repeat of the incident in the bathroom to occur here in the middle of a public corridor.

When his head had finally ceased spinning and his legs could again move as commanded, Legolas took his hands away from the wall and stood up straight. Looking around him to check no one had seen his moment of weakness he straightened out his tunic, pulled his robe further around him and walked towards his father's healing hall.

As he approached the room he heard a lot of commotion from inside. Thinking the worst had finally happened, he ran forward as fast he could and flung open the door so hard that it nearly cracked the stone on the wall. Bursting into the room, Legolas immediately looked to his father, ignoring the others crowded around.

"Ada?" He ran towards the bed.

"Legolas." Elrond grabbed the prince and pulled him back before he could reach Thranduil.

"Ada. What's wrong?" Legolas frantically demanded of Elrond, looking to his father again.

"Nothing's wrong, mellon nin. He's fine," Elrond smiled gently. "Look, Legolas. He's fine." Elrond finally moved out of the way and allowed Legolas to see his father. Amazingly, Thranduil was awake, although still looking rather sick and extremely pale. However, he smiled brightly upon seeing his son. Elrond released the prince and let him go to his father.

"Ada," Legolas whispered shakily, walking unsteadily over to his father.

"Ion nin," Thranduil croaked. "Come here." Thranduil held out his hand to his son and Legolas obediently came to him as if he had absolutely no control over his movements; it was almost mechanical. "My son," the King smiled. Legolas all but threw himself onto his father and Thranduil placed his arms around his son, who was sobbing pitifully into his father's nightshirt.

"Ada," Legolas cried desperately, his arms holding onto Thranduil as tightly as possible as though afraid he might suddenly leave or slip back into his unnatural sleep.

"It's alright. I'm here now," Thranduil reassured his son in a soothing whisper, tears in his own eyes at seeing his youngest son in such a terrible state. When he heard this, Legolas cried even harder in utter relief. For so long he had been unsure of his father's fate, now that he knew Thranduil was alright he could release all his fears on the King safe in the knowledge that he was on the mend and Legolas was no longer solely responsible for the kingdom. "Shhh, shh, it's alright," Thranduil whispered weakly, stroking Legolas' hair in comfort.

Unnoticed to Legolas, Aragorn, Gimli and Gandalf were also in the room. Elrond had summoned them when he learned the cure had worked. They were all stood silently watching the heart-breaking scene unfolding before them. Even the Dwarf had tears in his eyes.

Elrond finally walked over to the bed and placed a firm hand on Legolas' trembling shoulder. He didn't even look up but continued crying into his father's chest; he couldn't have stopped even if he had wanted to. Elrond spoke anyway. "I'll go and replicate the cure and start dispensing it." He rubbed Legolas' back when he could do nothing but whimper in response. "It's alright, mellon nin. You just take your time," Elrond said gently to Legolas, who nodded but still didn't remove himself from his father. "We'll be right outside if you need us," he said, rubbing his hand reassuringly over Legolas' back one last time before stepping back.

"Thank you," Thranduil said softly when his son still didn't say anything. Elrond merely smiled knowingly.

"Let's leave them alone for a while," the Elven Lord discreetly prompted the others to leave the room. They nodded and left the King of Mirkwood to comfort his son. Elrond was the last to leave and closed the door quietly behind him.

Aragorn sighed softly once the door was closed. "Do you think Thranduil will be alright?" he asked Elrond.

"Everything looks good so far. Keep an eye on him, let me know if anything changes but don't disturb them for a while if you don't have to."

"Poor Legolas," Gimli said softly to himself.

"Yes, quite. I fear these past days have taken their toll on our young prince. He will need you all before long," Gandalf said pointedly, looking directly at Aragorn.

"Well, I'm not leaving any time soon. I still haven't had a proper tour of this place," the Dwarf grumbled. The others just smiled, knowing Gimli was just as dedicated to Legolas as any of them even if he didn't show it in the same way.

"I had better start with this cure. Gandalf, I would appreciate your help. Estel and Gimli, stay here just in case you are needed. Let me know if you need anything." With that, Elrond and Gandalf left. The two remaining friends sat down on the chairs which had been positioned outside some time ago and waited.

Legolas' sobs had finally died down but he was still crying silently onto his father's chest and Thranduil was still comforting him as best he could through gentle gestures and soft words. Eventually, Legolas composed himself enough to sit up. He looked down at his father, who was smiling gently up at him.

"I'm sorry, Ada. You must still be so tired. I didn't mean to…"

"Shhh." Thranduil placed his hand on Legolas' wet cheek. "Come here." Thranduil pulled the trembling prince into another hug, stroking his son's flaxen hair back.

To Be Continued…

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Translations

Ada – Dad

Mellon nin – My friend

Ion nin – My son