Chapter 2
By Crystal
Author's Notes: I need to know what a Mary-Sue is!
*Screw the disclaimers ^^;;*
I winced in pain as the arrow came in contact with my left shoulder. I saw Legolas shoot that Orc, then he looked at me and I looked back for a mere second before looking away. I knew what he saw... I knew he saw a flicker of pain. Years and years of not showing emotions to no one... Not even myself. It took one single arrow to break all that.
I saw him run to me, "Are you all right?"
"Yes." I answered. I have been in more pain than this... But why did this hurt so much?
He looked back at his friends Finrod and Amras, both people I didn't know. At least I don't think I know them. "Finrod, Amras! I am going back first to treat to Lady Mithwen's wound." Mithwen... It sounds... just so... so... wrong to hear that coming out of his mouth.
"I am fine, your highness." I said quietly. I saw him raise his eyebrow and I looked away.
"I have told you, Lady Mithwen... Legolas is fine. I do not like anyone calling me 'Your highness'."
But calling you Legolas hurt... Because you would never call me Mith again, for whatever reason. At last, I nodded, "I shall keep that in mind..." We reached Mirkwood a while later and he left me with the healers, telling me that he would be back after he found Finrod and Amras. I nodded again.
The healers began to dress my wounds... Yes, wounds. I had scratches on my arms, but other than that, I was fine. It had not taken long for them to dress my wounds and then, I stood up from the bed. They insisted I go back to rest and wait for 'Prince Legolas', but I had my way around healers. I was stubborn... very stubborn. After a few minutes of arguing, I finally got away from them and then headed towards Thranduil's study. I had to talk to him anyways.
I knocked on the door, he told me to enter, and I did. "Thranduil..." I said, my heart suddenly lighter and I saw someone I consider as my father.
"Mithwen... How have you been doing? I am terribly sorry to not be able to talk to you last night... But Legolas was there."
I nodded understandingly, "I have been... better, you can say. At least I was better off around a thousand years ago."
He looked at me caringly, "I know how your sister's death was to you... Is that why you decided to leave in the first place?" I nodded my head, "I see... Do you... ever regret?"
I looked at him straight in the eye, "To be truthful... I do regret... A tiny bit. And you know what I am talking about... Though, it seems like he has already forgotten me, I do not blame him, of course. It was my own mistake to leave in the first place. He has probably gotten a nice wife to live with to spend the rest of his life."
"No." He shook his head, "He would never forget you." I frowned, "If he had the choice. He does not have a wife, though I have arranged a marriage for him, even though it is terribly wrong for an elf to do that. I only did that because I did not think you would ever come back. It has been a thousand years, Mithwen."
"If he had the choice? What do you mean?!"
"After you left... He was terribly heartbroken. It did not take a wizard to figure out what was wrong. The whole palace had known that he had loved you and you had loved him too. But one day, for some unknown reason, he fell of a tree and hit his head on the floor. The healers said that he lost some of his memories. And those memories were those that you had shared... The one hundred years you two had shared together."
"He did ask where you went, but since I did not want him to die of a broken heart, I told a lie. He has been happier after he lost his memory and for that, I am terribly sorry. I had told him that your whole family moved somewhere across the lands because your family thought it dangerous here in Mirkwood... Then I had banned anyone to talk about it."
I nodded, "I see..." I stood up abruptly, "I have to go, Thranduil. Legolas will be worrying about me."
"Mithwen... You should have your own room back... All your stuff will be moved there now."
I sighed and nodded, then opened the door, walking out and turned around, "It was a pleasure meeting you again... Thranduil." My old room... I wonder if it is the same... Doubt it.
"Same my dear, same. We shall talk again some other time, Mith." I felt the corner of my mouth quirk up slightly. That was the most to a smile I had gotten for a while. It was great for someone to call me Mith again... I definitely loved it. I closed the door silently, then looked to my left, I knew another emotion had passed through me again that day. Surprise. I was surprised to find him there.
"Lady Mithwen, I think it would be better if you rested." I heard him say.
I shook my head, "This wound is nothing, I will be fine tomorrow." I replied.
"I am sorry, it was my idea to bring you out riding."
I hated it when he took all the blame, like he did all the time... It seems like after a thousand years, he still
hasn't changed the slightest... Except
he had matured a lot and his eyes held more wisdom than I had ever seen in his
eyes before. When he was younger, all
he had was playfulness. I shook my
head, "It was my choice to go riding with you and you should not be
blamed. The only ones to blame is the
Orcs." I was about to walk straight
pass him when I heard footsteps echoing through the hallway.
"Whoever you are..." I heard someone say, definitely a she-elf. "I don't think it is very wise to try to steal someone's husband."
"Husband?" I asked, confused, then turned around. Reality struck. Ah yes, Thranduil said something about Legolas having a fiancée... I am sure that is her talking to me.
"I am not your husband yet, Lady Elanor." I had to restrain my smirk that was forming from my mouth. Surprise, surprise... I haven't had the urge to smile nor smirk in years... This place sure changes everything...
I saw her smirk, "oh, but you will be, Legolas. Your father arranged us to be married, did you forget that?" I sooo wanted to wipe that ugly smirk of her face.
I turned around, looking straight at the wall all the while feeling Legolas' gaze on me. "Lady Elanor, I have not a care who your husband is and why he is getting married to you. Although I must say, I pity the elf who must marry you."
"At least I am getting married. I do not even think that you have someone that loves you." Well, that certainly struck a nerve. I felt anger radiate from my body... Anger that I have not felt in ages... Anger I have not felt since my sister died. Legolas loves me... No, he loved me. Thranduil still loves me... Everyone loves me... Don't they?
"Many loves me, I know that." Liar, Mithwen... Everyone has left you... Even Legolas, he does not remember you... He never will. "Even the Prince's father loves me. If you do not want to be kicked out of the palace, I suggest you watch your mouth when you are speaking to me, Lady Elanor. You were not born here and you had moved here only a few hundred years ago. Speaking without respect to the one the King treats as a daughter is not wise. That is all. Good day." I walked away without glancing back, afraid that the tears that were just started to come out would fall.
Lady Elanor was right though... Who was I to say that many loves me? My mother left me... Same with my father. There was also my sister... My whole family has left me. The only one I came to love so much had forgotten about me. The only ones that remember me are the ones that I am not too close to... And the only one I know that really loves me was Thranduil... Who was I to say that many loves me? Perhaps they did in the past... But all this way my fault. I left a thousand years ago... Coming back... was certainly a mistake.
I felt hot tears trail down my cheek. Weak. I was weak. Damn it. With blurry sight, I walked to the path that was so familiar to me. A path I would always go to when I was sad and needed someone to talk to... Then...a minute later, Legolas would always show up. But that was all the past... He won't even remember this place...
I choked on a sob, crying my eyes out for the first time in five hundred years. Why could my life not be any easier? I did not get why. Why it always had to be me. Why my mother had to die, my father and sister slaughtered... Why my love forgot about me... Why the other people I loved killed each other... I do not get my life at all... I heard soft footsteps on the grass, but I knew it was my imagination... After all, why would Legolas come here? He forgot about me. No one cares about me except Thranduil... And he's working. No one would be coming. Damn you, Mithwen... You are a disgrace to the whole family...
The footsteps keep getting louder... It was my dream... Legolas would walk to be quietly as usual, hoping he would not surprise me... Then when he got close enough, he would embrace me... Then whisper words of comfort in my ears... Suddenly, I found myself in that familiar embrace once again and immediately stopped crying and looked up... The familiar blue eyes I had always dreamed about were filled with concern. I knew he still didn't remember me, but for now... I can dream... Dream that he really cared for me... "...Legolas?"
"Yes, it is me. Are you all right, Lady Mithwen?" He asked.
I let out a horribly hollow laugh, "Why wouldn't I be, your highness? After all, what Lady Elanor said was true. No one loved me..."
"That is not true...
Father loves you as a daughter...
He told me that... And..."
"There is no other, your highness..." I
said quietly... "There is no others..."
He frowned, "What about your family? What about me? And it's Legolas."
"Legolas... I... I do not have a family... You know that..." then I asked quietly, "you? Do you really love me Legolas? I really doubt it... There is no family for me except your father, Legolas... Why do you think your father treated me as a daughter?"
"Silversnow... You're my friend that moved away from Mirkwood a thousand years ago!"
I nodded, "in a way... You're correct... But, all that information is wrong... And why it is wrong, I will tell you... When Thranduil thinks it is the right time to tell you... My family died a thousand years ago, Legolas... You just forgot about it all. There is no one."
"There's always me... And you always have Father, is that not enough? And I do not see why Father will lie to me."
"You will find out why your father lied... There is only two people in the world alive that loves me... The first one, is your father... The second one..."
Legolas finished for me, "Is the man that forgot about you..." I nodded sadly. "Can you... tell me the whole story?"
I took a big breath, "All right... I guess you deserve to know... The whole story... But I will not mention things that...your father would not want me to mention, and it would be better off that way, I agree."
"But do I not have the right to know too? After all, it is my own past!"
I shook my head, "You will find out sooner or later, Legolas... Now listen..." Then I launched into my whole past... "When I was first born, I did not have a mother anymore. My mother died giving me birth... Father, he was one of the high councils for Thranduil, as you know... Elerossë Silversnow was his name..."
"As you know, one day, while I was around a thousand years old, he got slaughtered by Orcs while going out hunting. Since then, your father took care of us and took the two of us, my sister and I, under his wing. Valaina, my sister took care of me all the time and we lived in the palace...
At that time, I was already your friend... We can skip this part. The main thing that made me cry... Or you can say the main person who made me cry, was this elf I met... We fell in love... Kind of, but we did not tell each other until... Wait, I am getting ahead of the story. Okay, around when I was eighteen thousand years old... My sister got slaughtered by Orcs...
I was so crushed by the whole thing, that after half of year of being depressed, I decided to leave Mirkwood... And he had asked me to promise him that I would return... I promised him and we both told each other that we loved another... This is your story here that I will not speak about... And then a thousand years passes, I come back... And find out... That... That..." I just could not find the strength to carry on. I had left it vague, hoping he would not make a single connection...
"He forgot you." I nodded, "Tell me who it is, after all, you have to have seen him to know that he has forgotten you."
"I cannot tell you who it is... That is one thing I will regret doing later on... But I will keep that to myself... Because... It will only cause him pain." Without a warning, I stood up and walked towards the palace, then whispered, "Thank you for being there, Legolas..." Then added, "Once again."
He froze for a second, then stood up abruptly, "wait! What do you mean by 'once again'?"
Completely clueless... "You'll find out soon enough, Legolas..." Then I turned around to face him again, "And... I'm leaving..." I had already made my choice. Legolas was going to marry Lady Elanor... I should not stay, or I might burst into tears at the wedding... I should never have came back... I thought I would never regret coming back, but it seemed like I was wrong...
"Manke naa lle autien?" (Where are you going?) He asked.
I smiled faintly, a completely happy smile for once. That was the exact thing he had asked me a thousand years ago... It would seem right that I replied with the same answer I had, "Away from here... For a while." I answered, then turn around and walked away.
Oh how I wanted him to pull me into a tight hug and touch my ears again... How much I had wanted that. But he had embraced me a while ago... That was enough to last me a lifetime... At least I hoped it was enough... "Will you return?"
"Uma, mellon..." I shouted back, then added very, very quietly, "Uma... melamin..." I should tell Thranduil about my decision, although he might not be too happy with me... I regretted the first time, I could not regret more the second time, after all, I had nothing to lose...
Had Mithwen Silversnow turned around that very second, she would have seen the Prince suddenly freeze up as if something important came to his head, and then realization suddenly clear in his eyes... Realization of part of his past.
Author's Notes: I need to know what a Mary-Sue is... A lot of the past might not make sense yet... And I might have made some mistakes... Hopefully, I didn't.
Prantis – Queen of Hearts – Thanks for reviewing!
Elvish Fairy – Ah, of course not... Legolas belongs to Mithwen ^^ Although there's going to be twists.