The Touch of A Friend Chapter 2
By Rose G
A/N -This chapter concerns Legolas and Aragorn during their first night in Moria. Again, you could take this as slash if you want, but it isn't meant to be.
Aragorn looked around for Legolas as they prepared to make their fist camp in Moria. The Elf has seemed unaffected by the journey, walking silently in the middle of the Hobbits and yet the Ranger had long ago realised that Legolas disliked the darkness. The others seemed almost at ease in the mines, apart from Boromir and Aragorn did not care over much about the Man from Minas Tirith.
Gandalf offered to take the first watch, but it was Aragorn who ended up pacing the outside of the group on watch, never daring to take his hand from the jagged stone of the walls for fear of losing his way in the pitch dark that his eyes seemed incapable of adjusting to. It had taken only a few minutes for the rest of them to fall asleep, and he could hear their breathing, magnified by some freak of the building, and Legolas muttering to himself.
He walked slowly over to the Elf, grimacing at the stagnant water dripping from the roof, which made the ground so difficult to walk over safely. 'Legolas? Is anything wrong?'
The Elf made no answer and now the Ranger was close enough to see him, he saw that he was laying looking up at the roof, blue eyes wide open in order to see as much as he could through the gloom. His fair hair was spread in a fan around his head, and his body was only covered with a light blanket, yet Aragorn could see the sweat glistening on his pale skin. His breath was harsh, rasping as though he had run a long race.
'Legolas?'
'I cannot sleep in this accursed Dwarf hole' Legolas whispered.
'Why? I have been through Moria before, and although the memory is still evil, I am not afraid, for what troubled me here before is gone forever. Orcs may still be here, but they are nothing that we can not cope with. What are you afraid of?' Aragorn kept his voice un-judgemental, knowing how the Elf was most likely to react if he thought he was being questioned.
'The dark. I am drowning, choking in this tide of darkness. It strikes terror into my very heart and soul. Happily, I would brave the snow of Caradhas alone if it meant I could leave this dreadful place.'
Aragorn crouched down alongside the Elf, deciding that there was little chance of anything creeping up unheard on the stony paths. Anduril clattered loudly on the stones making the others start in their sleep and Legolas jumped as he hadn't seen what the Ranger was doing.
'To take the paths over Caradhas would be death, my friend, and darkness, however frightening it may be, cannot hurt. There is no need to fear it.' Aragorn felt shame rise in him, aware that the dark bothered him almost as much as it bothered Legolas, but he was not going to admit it.
'Aragorn, I fear it and that I cannot change. Nights are long in Moria, and I am weary from the march, yet I cannot rest. More of the same lies ahead, and I will endure it as best as I can but I thank you for your words, useless to me though they are.' He drew one hand over his face.
'Why should you endure this alone, Legolas?' The Ranger spoke softly, his firm voice echoing slightly, and he clasped Legolas's hand in his. For both of them, the darkness and fear lifted at the contact.
Legolas looked at him, catching a dim glimpse of the stern commanding face half hidden by shaggy grey flecked hair and smiled briefly. He felt some of the panic leave him, and his breath came easier than before, although he did not speak to Aragorn. The pair had met for the first time at the Council of Elrond, but great friendships can be formed in less time than they had spent together.
Aragorn felt Legolas relax and spoke in an undertone to him. 'I am on watch, Legolas, so sleep free from fear while I stay by your side. Friendship can conquer even the most dreadful fears and you need fear no dark shadow while I am here.'
Legolas exhausted by the day's march and by fear was already asleep, his hand still in Aragorn's, who looked down at his sleeping friend and smiled.
I wasn't going to write a second chapter for this, but I got several requests for one, so I wrote it. In response to one question, it's based on the book, not the film. Please review, this is the only Legolas fic I've wrote, and I'm not sure if I've got it quite right.