Ok, this is a dark AU, which is based lightly on a personal experience,
just from the other side of the incident. If you don't like dark writing
then this isn't the story to read. Also, there is a conversation in Sindar
that is rather long, so for those of you who don't know much, when it comes
to that bit just scroll down the page to the bit labeled 'In English.'
Here I have put the whole thing, (just copied the text and put in words in
English so it will read just like the story.) It just seemed too important
not to have it in Sindar. I wrote this with tears in my eyes, so please
let me know if there is anything really wrong with it, or if I should take
it down. Normally I would say that I hope you enjoy this, but it's not
that kinda story.
The Call of Death must be Answered.
A silver tear trickled down a pale face, leaving a gleaming tail in its wake. It ran over a high cheekbone, following the path the tears before it had left. It stopped near the corner of a quivering mouth, where the lips pressed themselves together to stop the loud choking sobs that rose up in the throat, threatened to make themselves heard. The tear lingered here a moment, waiting for its' shinning tail to catch up to it, collecting all of the salty substance it could, waiting to fall. It swelled up, getting bigger and bigger, until finally gravity took its toll and it fell. Down it went and while leaving the pale face behind, it started to pick up speed. Then without warning it exploded. The tears' life over, it shattered like glass upon a tree branch. On the very spot where those that flowed before it fell.
I did not see its demise, but I knew it happened. I could feel it shatter, fell the slight vibration it sent through that tree I'm perched in.
The moment the tear left my eye, the moment it was born, I felt it knew of its death. It was unavoidable, there was nothing it or I could do to stop that moment from coming to pass. And it knew it, it *knew* yet it still went forth, setting out on its journey, aware of what would befall it.
Another tear slipped from my eye, taking the same path and ending and fate as the last. It then occurred to me that once one fell, the rest would follow, no matter how hard they tried, they would all share the same fate. Death.
Lothlórien holds no beauty for me anymore. Its golden trees, once so bright in my eyes, have faded, faded to look like the dark lands of Mordor itself. The songs that rise form the Elves are nothing but meaningless sounds, all jumbled together, not making sense. I know of what they sing, they sing of death, death of a great good yet hope still rising and triumphing over the darkness threatening to swallow as all.
But I have no hope, and never will again. My throat tightens as the sobs try harder to pass through my lips. But I can fight it no more, and the cries come clamorously, broken by gasps for air when I feel my lungs empty. Tears are born and sent to their death quicker and quicker, but I no longer feel the vibration of their passing as I am shaking too much.
The shaking, oh Elbereth the shaking. It won't stop. I lift my hands, and look upon them with horror. At first glance I see that they are covered in blood, bright and red, dripping down my arms, glistening as it flows onto my tunic, staining it a rusty red. But it is not my blood, it is that of a friend, a dear friend only just lost. One that I should have done more to save, to stop him from having to face his fate alone and unaided.
At this sight I cry out, squeezing my eyes closed tightly, willing it to leave. After what seems like years I again open my eyes, and see my hands, clean and blood free. *Clean* yet still they shake. My steady hands, hands that when paired with my bow and arrow never miss their target, and yet they shake beyond control, like leaves in a breeze.
The sobs are coming faster and louder now and only through luck did I have to take a breath when I heard it.
"Legolas? Where are you?" came a voice below my tree. Aragorn. Aragorn had come looking for me. I bit my bottom lip, tasting blood, in order to stop the sobs. I didn't want him to find me, not like this.
As blood flows down my throat from my lip, I look at my friend. He looks scared and frantic, searching everywhere with his eyes. 'eyes almost as keen as an Elfs'' I thought as I move closer to the trunk of the tree I sit in, concealing myself further from his view.
"Legolas?" he calls again, my name choking his voice. I realize that he is scared for me. That he is frantically looking for me, and as I peer into the darkness I—'dark?' I look to the sky. The sun had long set in the west cloaking the world in a thick black and I hadn't even noticed. 'Have I really been here this long?' I had climbed this tree midmorning and had not left it once, but now the moon was high in the sky and a handful of stars shone through the dark and heavy clouds.
A sob burst from Aragorn s' lips and I turn my attention quietly back on him. He is crying now, I can see his tears flow in the moonlight, yet he still searches for me.
"Legolas? Do not do this! Do not hide form me! Don't shut yourself away because of what happened!" he cried out and again I had to bit my lip so not to cry out to him. "Legolas, Mithrandir would not wish you to do this!"
'Mithrandir!' At the mention of his name I could not fight it any longer. A dreadful scream fills my ears. A scream that comes from my own mouth and I clutch for my heart. I see Aragorn spin around and look up at me, a look of pure terror is in his eyes, but I have no time for him.
My scream has not yet stopped and I couldn't make it do so. But my heart, my heart pulls my attention away from my mouth. It burns like fire, it feels crushed, crushed by the weights of time, of pain and sorrow. I feel it intensify and the word around me spin.
"LEGOLAS!" my ears are ringing from my now silent scream, but I still hear Aragorn calling my name, desperately trying to get my attention. Yet it does not work, and as the world blurs beyond comprehension, I feel myself falling.
"NO!" I hear Aragorns'' distressed voice again. But he has no time to try and break my fall and I land hard, pain jolting through my entire body. I cry out in surprise and agony, crushing my eyes closed to try and hide it. Sobs and gasps come uncontrollably and I then feel something.
A touch. A hand has grasped my face gently. I feel another move from my shoulder down my arm while the other tenderly pats my face trying to get me to open my eyes.
"Look at me Legolas, please open your eyes!" Aragorn pleads with me.
I am aware that I am still crying out, but I force myself to breathe and to open my eyes. "Aragorn?" I question, shocked at the strain on my voice.
"I am here my friend, I'm here." He soothes while gently moving me into his arms. I welcome the warmth and the comfort I find there and it eases my aching body slightly. But not my heart.
I know what is going to happen and I know, just like my tears did, that I could do nothing to stop it. I look into Aragorns' grey eyes, and I see them wet with tears yet filled with confusion. I stare at him, my eyes tell him the words I can't seem to find.
After only a moment, realization hits him, his face turned from concerned to distraught, but somehow he managed to find words, choked as they were, but still words.
"Legolas don't! Don't do it, not that, you can fight it, I know you can!"
He is wrong, I can't do this anymore, I can't stop the grief that has befallen me. It is too much to handle and weighs too heavily on my heart.
I raise my hand to touch his face, and he grasps it, holding it close to his cheek. As he looks into my eyes a look of understanding comes over him and it is reflected in his still weeping eyes. I know he understands why I have to go, he knows the pain I'm in, and he is aware of my choice. He managed to say my name again while brushing hair from my face.
My heart feels as if it is shattered, or worst, being pulled form my body, and I know there isn't much time left.
"Aragorn?" I said through sobs, "promise me something."
"Anything Legolas, anything." His voice was just above a whisper.
"Promise me that you be able to do what I could not." My sentence trailed off as a sharp pain rips through me, he pulls me closer, leaning my head against his shoulder, holding on to me like he was an anchor, keeping me in this world. "Promise me that you will be strong and will lead the fellowship on" I continued, "and that you will find the hope I could not. Gar Estel anna n i Elenath sila! [Have hope as long as the stars shine]"
One of his tears falls on my face, "I promise I will, Legolas, I promise." I brave a smile while closing my eyes.
***
I can see him, hugging my lifeless body close to his chests, crying on my head. Although I don't feel the grief and pain I felt before leaving, I am pained for the distress I caused him. I long to touch him, to tell him that everything will be all right but I don't know if I can. I walk to him, avoiding looking at my pale face under his chin and caress his cheek. To my surprise he looked right at me. I can see in his eyes that he could not see me, but he knows that I am here.
"Gar estel anna n i Elenath sila, ir gil galad sila goref. Arad o nain or. Estel ath tol ned le!" I whisper into his ear.
"Im gar al Estel!" he whispers back, breaking my heart for the second time.
"le ath!" I choke out, "Gwend na hae ath on i gurth."
"Dartha ah enni Legolas, car al nor!"
I only wish he could see my tears as I kiss his forehead "Im gar ned! I Elenath can nin. Cuinar ehtele min mellon! Namarie Aragorn, im ath gar te ned rin!" But I could not bring myself to leave his side, so I merely sit here, watching him hold my lifeless and pale body in his arms.
"Gilgalad bain a faen,
Talt moe am la thir
Aglared awarth
An panna nin ereb nain.
Legolas Evellon, Elenath sail erin le! Gar sidh nin mellon!"
His words haunt me as I watch. He holds me long into the early hours of morning, crying and shaking while occasionally he says something in my language. He is begging me to return to him, and I would now, with all my heart I want to. But what is done cannot be undone, especially when it comes to life or death.
I hear a noise approaching from the east and look up to see Gimli looking for Aragorn and I. The look on his face is so hard to bear, so hard that I finally find my strength and turn towards the stars, leaving one last promise hanging in the wind.
"Gil galad sila goref, Estel na tol! Im ath beria le a heb nin bend!"
The end
******* In English *******
"Have hope as long as the stars shine, A stars light will shine through. Days of tears will soon be over. Hope will come to you!" I whisper into his ear.
"I have no hope!" he whispers back, breaking my heart for the second time.
"You will!" I choke out, "Friendship is far beyond death."
"Stay with me Legolas, do not go!"
I only wish he could see my tears as I kiss his forehead "I have to! The stars call me live well my friend! Farewell Aragorn, I will hole you in remembrance!" But I could not bring myself to leave his side, so I merely sit here, watching him hold my lifeless and pale body in his arms.
"Starlight fair and radiant,
Falling soft upon your face
Glorious abandonment
To fill my lonely tears.
Legolas dare friend, Stars shine on you! Have peace my friend!"
His words haunt me as I watch. He holds me long into the early hours of morning, crying and shaking; occasionally he says something in my language. He is begging me to return to him, and I would now, with all my heart I want to. But what is done cannot be undone, especially when it comes to life or death.
I hear a noise approaching from the east and look up to see Gimli looking for Aragorn and I. The look on his face is so hard to bear, so hard that I finally find my strength and turn towards the stars, leaving one last promise hanging in the wind.
"A stars light will shine through, hope is coming! I will protect you and keep you safe!"
The end.
*****
Please review if you liked it. Sorry it was so dark and kinda haunting but that is how I feel at the moment.
Minka Greenleaf
The Call of Death must be Answered.
A silver tear trickled down a pale face, leaving a gleaming tail in its wake. It ran over a high cheekbone, following the path the tears before it had left. It stopped near the corner of a quivering mouth, where the lips pressed themselves together to stop the loud choking sobs that rose up in the throat, threatened to make themselves heard. The tear lingered here a moment, waiting for its' shinning tail to catch up to it, collecting all of the salty substance it could, waiting to fall. It swelled up, getting bigger and bigger, until finally gravity took its toll and it fell. Down it went and while leaving the pale face behind, it started to pick up speed. Then without warning it exploded. The tears' life over, it shattered like glass upon a tree branch. On the very spot where those that flowed before it fell.
I did not see its demise, but I knew it happened. I could feel it shatter, fell the slight vibration it sent through that tree I'm perched in.
The moment the tear left my eye, the moment it was born, I felt it knew of its death. It was unavoidable, there was nothing it or I could do to stop that moment from coming to pass. And it knew it, it *knew* yet it still went forth, setting out on its journey, aware of what would befall it.
Another tear slipped from my eye, taking the same path and ending and fate as the last. It then occurred to me that once one fell, the rest would follow, no matter how hard they tried, they would all share the same fate. Death.
Lothlórien holds no beauty for me anymore. Its golden trees, once so bright in my eyes, have faded, faded to look like the dark lands of Mordor itself. The songs that rise form the Elves are nothing but meaningless sounds, all jumbled together, not making sense. I know of what they sing, they sing of death, death of a great good yet hope still rising and triumphing over the darkness threatening to swallow as all.
But I have no hope, and never will again. My throat tightens as the sobs try harder to pass through my lips. But I can fight it no more, and the cries come clamorously, broken by gasps for air when I feel my lungs empty. Tears are born and sent to their death quicker and quicker, but I no longer feel the vibration of their passing as I am shaking too much.
The shaking, oh Elbereth the shaking. It won't stop. I lift my hands, and look upon them with horror. At first glance I see that they are covered in blood, bright and red, dripping down my arms, glistening as it flows onto my tunic, staining it a rusty red. But it is not my blood, it is that of a friend, a dear friend only just lost. One that I should have done more to save, to stop him from having to face his fate alone and unaided.
At this sight I cry out, squeezing my eyes closed tightly, willing it to leave. After what seems like years I again open my eyes, and see my hands, clean and blood free. *Clean* yet still they shake. My steady hands, hands that when paired with my bow and arrow never miss their target, and yet they shake beyond control, like leaves in a breeze.
The sobs are coming faster and louder now and only through luck did I have to take a breath when I heard it.
"Legolas? Where are you?" came a voice below my tree. Aragorn. Aragorn had come looking for me. I bit my bottom lip, tasting blood, in order to stop the sobs. I didn't want him to find me, not like this.
As blood flows down my throat from my lip, I look at my friend. He looks scared and frantic, searching everywhere with his eyes. 'eyes almost as keen as an Elfs'' I thought as I move closer to the trunk of the tree I sit in, concealing myself further from his view.
"Legolas?" he calls again, my name choking his voice. I realize that he is scared for me. That he is frantically looking for me, and as I peer into the darkness I—'dark?' I look to the sky. The sun had long set in the west cloaking the world in a thick black and I hadn't even noticed. 'Have I really been here this long?' I had climbed this tree midmorning and had not left it once, but now the moon was high in the sky and a handful of stars shone through the dark and heavy clouds.
A sob burst from Aragorn s' lips and I turn my attention quietly back on him. He is crying now, I can see his tears flow in the moonlight, yet he still searches for me.
"Legolas? Do not do this! Do not hide form me! Don't shut yourself away because of what happened!" he cried out and again I had to bit my lip so not to cry out to him. "Legolas, Mithrandir would not wish you to do this!"
'Mithrandir!' At the mention of his name I could not fight it any longer. A dreadful scream fills my ears. A scream that comes from my own mouth and I clutch for my heart. I see Aragorn spin around and look up at me, a look of pure terror is in his eyes, but I have no time for him.
My scream has not yet stopped and I couldn't make it do so. But my heart, my heart pulls my attention away from my mouth. It burns like fire, it feels crushed, crushed by the weights of time, of pain and sorrow. I feel it intensify and the word around me spin.
"LEGOLAS!" my ears are ringing from my now silent scream, but I still hear Aragorn calling my name, desperately trying to get my attention. Yet it does not work, and as the world blurs beyond comprehension, I feel myself falling.
"NO!" I hear Aragorns'' distressed voice again. But he has no time to try and break my fall and I land hard, pain jolting through my entire body. I cry out in surprise and agony, crushing my eyes closed to try and hide it. Sobs and gasps come uncontrollably and I then feel something.
A touch. A hand has grasped my face gently. I feel another move from my shoulder down my arm while the other tenderly pats my face trying to get me to open my eyes.
"Look at me Legolas, please open your eyes!" Aragorn pleads with me.
I am aware that I am still crying out, but I force myself to breathe and to open my eyes. "Aragorn?" I question, shocked at the strain on my voice.
"I am here my friend, I'm here." He soothes while gently moving me into his arms. I welcome the warmth and the comfort I find there and it eases my aching body slightly. But not my heart.
I know what is going to happen and I know, just like my tears did, that I could do nothing to stop it. I look into Aragorns' grey eyes, and I see them wet with tears yet filled with confusion. I stare at him, my eyes tell him the words I can't seem to find.
After only a moment, realization hits him, his face turned from concerned to distraught, but somehow he managed to find words, choked as they were, but still words.
"Legolas don't! Don't do it, not that, you can fight it, I know you can!"
He is wrong, I can't do this anymore, I can't stop the grief that has befallen me. It is too much to handle and weighs too heavily on my heart.
I raise my hand to touch his face, and he grasps it, holding it close to his cheek. As he looks into my eyes a look of understanding comes over him and it is reflected in his still weeping eyes. I know he understands why I have to go, he knows the pain I'm in, and he is aware of my choice. He managed to say my name again while brushing hair from my face.
My heart feels as if it is shattered, or worst, being pulled form my body, and I know there isn't much time left.
"Aragorn?" I said through sobs, "promise me something."
"Anything Legolas, anything." His voice was just above a whisper.
"Promise me that you be able to do what I could not." My sentence trailed off as a sharp pain rips through me, he pulls me closer, leaning my head against his shoulder, holding on to me like he was an anchor, keeping me in this world. "Promise me that you will be strong and will lead the fellowship on" I continued, "and that you will find the hope I could not. Gar Estel anna n i Elenath sila! [Have hope as long as the stars shine]"
One of his tears falls on my face, "I promise I will, Legolas, I promise." I brave a smile while closing my eyes.
***
I can see him, hugging my lifeless body close to his chests, crying on my head. Although I don't feel the grief and pain I felt before leaving, I am pained for the distress I caused him. I long to touch him, to tell him that everything will be all right but I don't know if I can. I walk to him, avoiding looking at my pale face under his chin and caress his cheek. To my surprise he looked right at me. I can see in his eyes that he could not see me, but he knows that I am here.
"Gar estel anna n i Elenath sila, ir gil galad sila goref. Arad o nain or. Estel ath tol ned le!" I whisper into his ear.
"Im gar al Estel!" he whispers back, breaking my heart for the second time.
"le ath!" I choke out, "Gwend na hae ath on i gurth."
"Dartha ah enni Legolas, car al nor!"
I only wish he could see my tears as I kiss his forehead "Im gar ned! I Elenath can nin. Cuinar ehtele min mellon! Namarie Aragorn, im ath gar te ned rin!" But I could not bring myself to leave his side, so I merely sit here, watching him hold my lifeless and pale body in his arms.
"Gilgalad bain a faen,
Talt moe am la thir
Aglared awarth
An panna nin ereb nain.
Legolas Evellon, Elenath sail erin le! Gar sidh nin mellon!"
His words haunt me as I watch. He holds me long into the early hours of morning, crying and shaking while occasionally he says something in my language. He is begging me to return to him, and I would now, with all my heart I want to. But what is done cannot be undone, especially when it comes to life or death.
I hear a noise approaching from the east and look up to see Gimli looking for Aragorn and I. The look on his face is so hard to bear, so hard that I finally find my strength and turn towards the stars, leaving one last promise hanging in the wind.
"Gil galad sila goref, Estel na tol! Im ath beria le a heb nin bend!"
The end
******* In English *******
"Have hope as long as the stars shine, A stars light will shine through. Days of tears will soon be over. Hope will come to you!" I whisper into his ear.
"I have no hope!" he whispers back, breaking my heart for the second time.
"You will!" I choke out, "Friendship is far beyond death."
"Stay with me Legolas, do not go!"
I only wish he could see my tears as I kiss his forehead "I have to! The stars call me live well my friend! Farewell Aragorn, I will hole you in remembrance!" But I could not bring myself to leave his side, so I merely sit here, watching him hold my lifeless and pale body in his arms.
"Starlight fair and radiant,
Falling soft upon your face
Glorious abandonment
To fill my lonely tears.
Legolas dare friend, Stars shine on you! Have peace my friend!"
His words haunt me as I watch. He holds me long into the early hours of morning, crying and shaking; occasionally he says something in my language. He is begging me to return to him, and I would now, with all my heart I want to. But what is done cannot be undone, especially when it comes to life or death.
I hear a noise approaching from the east and look up to see Gimli looking for Aragorn and I. The look on his face is so hard to bear, so hard that I finally find my strength and turn towards the stars, leaving one last promise hanging in the wind.
"A stars light will shine through, hope is coming! I will protect you and keep you safe!"
The end.
*****
Please review if you liked it. Sorry it was so dark and kinda haunting but that is how I feel at the moment.
Minka Greenleaf