Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters in this story that appear in the world-renown bestseller, The Lord of the Rings trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkein. I do, however, own any original characters seen here.
A/N: I wrote this a really, really long time ago, and it now occurs to me that this is totally incorrect in Tolkein's universe… but I must finish it, so please bear with me. Please? =( Also, I'm not very fluent in elfish; you'll have to excuse me if I get anything wrong.
Storm Clouds
By
Brin
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Chapter 9, Alt Ending 2: …Die ForThe pain was unlike anything he had ever felt before. Tears of pain and sorrow fell down his face and mingled with the blood and dirt there, stinging his cuts and yet soothing his bruises. His cheeks felt as if they had been set aflame and his head throbbed like the pounding of the goblin's war drums. Deep gashes like whip marks across his back made the simple act of just laying there as painful as could be. He wasn't sure if his arms and legs were still attached anymore. It didn't feel like they were, but he subconsciously knew they were there since they were the only parts of his body that didn't feel like they were on fire. In fact, he couldn't feel them at all. But, somehow, through all the pain, he could hear someone talking, their voice dull and quiet as if far off in the distance, but getting louder…
"Legolas, when we get out of here I'm taking you on a long, long vacation. We'll get away from here and go to an abandoned beach and surf. Aeriela told me you liked the sea a lot. In fact, you're borderline obsessed with it. She told me a lot about you," Eve rambled, tears spilling over her face as she wiped him down and wrapped his wounds the best she could. It seemed to be helping; he wasn't as unrecognizable now as he had been a few minutes before. "If you die, I'll kick your ass, do you hear me?"
Legolas tilted his head a bit. "In your dreams," he croaked.
Eve's eyes widened. "No, no, no! No talking! I didn't mean for you to answer me!" she cried, her face full of both anger and sorrow. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. No more questions. Just lie there and try to… try to relax…" She finished wrapping his legs and arms in cloth and moved onto his torso. Clawing at the tears forming in her eyes, she pulled another roll of bandages from the pack Haldir had given her. "This is all my fault. I should have been more alert."
"No," Legolas protested. She tried to shush him again, but he shook his head weakly. "It's not your fault, Eve. If anyone's to blame, it's me. I sent you out alone. I didn't make sure the goblins were gone."
The young woman chewed her lip a bit before responding, "Okay, since I don't feel like arguing with you, it's no one's fault. You got me?"
Legolas nodded.
"Good. Now—"
Before she could finish, the door burst open and a group of goblins and Elves tumbled in, fighting amongst themselves. One of the goblins rolled onto its knees, only to be run through with a half-broken sword and tossed aside like a doll.
Eve screamed as an Elf and an Orc shoved each other around the room, smashing into things and seemingly taking turns punching one another. They almost landed atop Legolas, who was attempting to move out of the way, but, in a wave of bravado, Eve pushed them away and kicked the Orc in the side. Angry, the Orc jumped off the Elf and ran towards her. This gave the Elf the break he needed and, in one swift movement, he shot the Orc between the shoulder blades. It fell just short of Legolas.
The rest of the fights were settled and the Elves exited the room, leaving the corpses behind. Eve jumped up, closed the door behind them, then felt the contents of her stomach quickly rising north as she spotted a dead Elf lying atop the body of a goblin, five arrows protruding from his chest and one from his forehead. She turned away, her eyes straying to Legolas as he lay there, helpless.
"I'm sorry you have to see this," he whispered, eyes closed. "I'm sorry."
Eve shook her head vigorously as she walked back and kneeled next to him. "It's opened my eyes."
Legolas opened his bottomless blue eyes and lifted a hand to her cheek. "I love you."
Eve leaned into his touch, placing her small hand over his large one. "I love you, too."
"And no matter what happens," he continued, "that will never change. Not rain nor sleet nor snow" a smile crossed his features as he said this "will keep me from returning to you."
"Returning?" Eve's voice cracked. "You're not going anywhere. You're staying right here with me."
He moved his hand to her chest, where he could feel her heart beating rapidly against her ribcage. "I will until, the end of time, be right here, Eve. Always remember that."
"Look, Legolas!" shouted the young woman, grasping his hand tightly. "You are not going to die! All we need to do is finish wrapping your wounds and get you out of here. It is not as bad as it seems…" She looked deep into his eyes and shook her head. "I won't let you go."
Legolas gave her a rueful look. "All the long years that I have lived, I have not loved one as much as I love you. Not Aeriela, not Marie. Our souls were meant to convene, and at the same time… meant to part."
"I'm not going to forget you, Legolas," she whispered back. "I will never spend a moment without you on my mind; in my heart." And then she leaned down to pressed her lips against his.
When she pulled back, Legolas murmured, "You have been poisoned. I taste it on your lips. I have been poisoned as well, and with the same toxin. The poison will move slower in your body since it is meant for Elven blood."
Eve remembered the contaminated blade that Draeg had made. Her heart sank down to her toes. "No. NO!"
"I have not the strength to find the antidote, but I can save you," he said softly.
"I'd rather die than live without you," Eve replied miserably. "Don't you see?"
"Eve, I need you to promise me something. Promise me that if I die, you won't follow me to the other side." Legolas' face was full of anguish. "Promise."
Not able to stand it any longer, Eve buried her tear-stained face in his shoulder and began to sob hysterically. "I…"
"Promise me!" he begged, weakly pulling an arm around her. "Please." When Eve hesitated, he mustered what was left of his strength and grabbed her face. "Promise me! Right now! Do it!" he pleaded, his voice rising steadily.
Startled by his sudden rush of aggressiveness, Eve nodded, though she didn't stop weeping. "I promise… I promise…," she repeated, then jerked her head away from his grip.
As if a great burden had been lifted from his shoulders, Legolas' body relaxed against the ground, his eyelids drooping. He looked so small and frail compared to the fierce warrior Eve wanted to badly to return home. It was now that Eve noticed her arms were getting heavier, her eye struggling to keep open.
"The poison is moving," whispered Legolas, as if reading her thoughts.
Eve pulled back a bandage and looked at one of the cuts on his arm. Long red lines had developed from it, heading up his arm and towards the middle of his chest. These streaks joined together with the lines from other cuts that Draeg had made. They were deadly close to his heart. "Legolas!"
He simply nodded in return, eyes closed.
Eve clung to him for dear life, wishing more than anything in the world she could just wake up from this nightmare. Legolas' breathing was ragged and shallow and he hugged her back with what strength was left within him.
"I'm sorry… I'm sorry…" whispered Eve.
Legolas shook his head and coughed. "This was bound to happen someday… I'm just glad you're with me." He kissed her lightly.
"You're gonna be okay," she declared with false bravado. "Don't leave me, please… I don't want to hear a goodbye."
"You'll be fine," he said quietly.
Eve stared at his face. He was beginning to look peaceful, and that was not necessarily a good sign. Peace in Death; that's what they always said. She could feel his pulse weakening underneath his cold, pasty skin. He was dying… there was no doubt about it. So she made a decision.
Outside, the battle raged on, but the incessant clank-clank of metal upon metal was beginning to ebb off. Legolas' sword sat a few feet away, forgotten until Eve's eyes settled upon it. She rose to her feet and picked it up.
"What are you doing?" croaked Legolas.
Eve didn't bother to reply. She hefted the Elven king's mighty sword. It was heavy in her hands, but as she slashed pretend enemies with it, she found that it was expertly made. The balance was perfect, the blade crafted to an edge so sharp that she was unable to see just where it ended. At the same time, if she pulled on the tip of the blade, the metal would bend back and forth, then spring back into place.
"Eve?"
The young woman glanced over at the Elven King, gave him a rueful smile, and then said, "We're getting you out of here."
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Tethir raised his sword in triumph as the goblins fled deeper into the mines of Moria, though inside he knew that they were only pulling back to regroup, and then retaliate with a better-prepared army. For the time being, it was victory! He turned his head this way and that, searching for his fellow leaders. Philendel stood not too far off, dispatching a few straggling goblins. Kiendos was shooting Orcs as they passed, and indeed there was already a large pile around him. Gimli and Madoc were chasing the retreating goblins, laughing and enjoying themselves. Haldir was being rushed away to be treated for his amputated hand, but otherwise he had no perceptible injury. There was no sign of Legolas.
He jerked his head up as an Orc challenged him. His sword flashed and the Orc fell to the ground, along with his leg. Tethir cringed. When he raised his head again, he spotted a group of goblins gathered around a door, howling and shrieking angrily. Curious, the young man approached. He gasped.
Eve was in the middle of the fray, wielding a sword unfit for her delicate hands, and doing a fairly good job of getting rid of her goblin foes. Behind her lay a bloodied mass of… Elf?
Tethir jumped into action as he realized that the heap of blood and bandages was, in fact, Legolas. Unexpectedly undaunted by the thought of taking life, the young man mowed down the goblins one by one. This, combined with Eve's gauche swings at them, scared the goblins enough so that they finally fled with the rest of their miserable kind. When they were gone, Tethir looked at Eve questioningly. "Milady, what happened?"
"I'll explain later. Help me get him out of here! We've got to get him to a hospital!" insisted Eve, gesturing to the still Elf whom she had laid upon a blanket in order to drag him across the ground. "There's something I need to do."
Having a bit of medical training, Tethir knelt next to Legolas and felt his neck, then placed his palm upon the Elf's forehead. "He is weak. He hasn't much time." He peeled back the bandages to examine the poison lines. "Poison moves slower as it reaches the chest. He has but a short time before it will kill him, if the wounds do not do him in first."
Eve nodded. "Alright. Get him out of here. I'm going to go get the antidote."
Tethir's eyes widened, but the look upon Eve's face was so steadfast and determined that he dare not object. "As you wish, milady." He placed his hand over hers. "Go fast, for no amount of stitches save him. Be wary of lingering goblins."
Thankful for his lack of argument, Eve smiled and then ran off.
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Loitering goblins did, indeed, block the passage to Draeg's chamber. Eve fought with all her might against them, hoping and praying that some higher power would aid her in recovering the antidote. Her own limbs were beginning to feel heavy, but she hoped it was from fighting fatigue and not the poison moving through her veins. She was so engrossed in her determination to save her beloved Legolas that, even as their blades broke open her skin and tore her flesh, she moved steadily forward until the goblins were forced to retreat.
"Yeah… run you cowards!" she weakly called after them, then stumbled against the cavern wall. Blood was covering her, but she didn't know where it was coming from. Her entire body was numb. Despite this, she placed one foot after the other and headed down the corridor. She traveled for some time before finally reaching her destination: the end of the barracks. To her great surprise and relief, Draeg's body lay where it had fallen. Staggering over to him, she clumsily searched the corpse. It took her a few minutes, but she finally found it – a small vial in his pocket.
She turned around and saw a soldier that had obviously been sent after her by Tethir. He picked up his pace as she began to sway, the word growing hazy. Just before he reached her, her body gave up and she fainted, falling over the body of the one being that had caused it all.
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Beep. Beep. Beep.
Eve's eyes cracked open slightly. Blurry faces looked down at her, hushed voices whispered. She lifted her hand to rub her eyes and found herself hooked up to several different machines, an IV in her arm. As her vision cleared and her ears began working again, she slowly returned to full consciousness.
"…she's waking up…"
"…lucky to be alive…"
"…when should we tell her…"
"…is she ready for it?"
Eve blinked the last of the blurriness from her eyes and half-grinned. "Aeriela? Tethir? Madoc?" she whispered hoarsely.
Aeriela had moved to the side of the bed to study Eve's drip. After a moment or two, she turned and said, "Hello, sunshine."
The young woman was surprised to see tears in the she-Elf's eyes. "What's wrong?" A pause. "Where's Legolas? Did you give him the antidote?"
Her visitors exchanged unsure glances before Aeriela quietly spoke up, "He's… in a coma. You have been, too. For the last month, in fact."
"A month?!" Eve gaped. "I've been out for a month?" She tried to sit up, but it caused a sharp pain in her chest so she decided against it.
"Yeah." Tethir licked his lips self-consciously.
"I want to see him!" begged the young woman. She looked at each of them with pleading eyes. "Please."
Madoc touched her hand gently. "We don't want you to see him like he is. The poison really messed with his metabolism and…"
Eve grabbed his collar and whispered harshly, "Let me see him."
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Tethir made sure not to go too fast as he wheeled Eve down the white-washed hospital hall. Aeriela and Madoc had stayed behind, choosing instead to go visit other hospitalized soldiers.
Eve was debating with herself over whether or not to ask Tethir to turn around. Her heart was beating hard, her hand gripped her IV so tightly that her knuckles turned white. Would she recognize him? How terrible would he look? Would she ever be able to forget what she saw? She took a deep, shuddering breath and steeled herself. There was no turning back.
"Here we are." Tethir stopped her chair in front of a door, opened it, and rolled her inside.
A small gasp escaped the young woman. Legolas lay there, shrunken and frail on the ugly blue bed. He wasn't wearing a gown like Eve's, instead he was wrapped in endless bandages around his torso and head, while the bed sheet was pulled up to his stomach. His arms lay in an unnatural position on either side of him. His skin was no longer the healthily fair color Eve loved, but a ghastly grayish shade. A light sheen of sweat covered his face, still slightly swollen from his injuries.
Eve put her hand to her mouth to stifle a cry.
"I'll be outside if you need me," declared Tethir quietly.
The young woman paid him no attention as he left the room. She wheeled herself to the side of the bed, then somehow managed to pull herself into a standing position using her IV pole. Her legs wobbled beneath her, but she could concentrate on nothing but the elf before her. He looked so small, not the powerful king Eve once knew and loved. Would he ever be the elf he once was?
"Legolas," she whispered, taking his hand. "Chris? Please, wake up. I don't wanna see you like this. You gotta wake up. I know you're in there somewhere." Her legs were threatening to give, so she climbed onto the bed next to him. "I got the antidote to keep you alive, but if you're like this I don't know if I can bear it." She brought his hand to her lips. "Please, I love you. Wake up." Ever so lightly, she brushed his knuckles against her lips. Then, something happened that Eve hadn't seen coming…
Legolas' eyes fluttered open.
EPILOGUE [for alt ending 2]
A year passed in the blink of an eye. Many things happened, too many to count, but they were all of good outcome. Slowly but surely, Legolas and Eve together faced the task of recovering from their injuries. In no time it seemed, they were up and about once again. Christopher Bowman was hailed as the detective who destroyed the goblins, though the details of the great battle were left in considerable haze for obvious reasons. He was given the key to the city by the mayor of Seattle, and a great payment was awarded to him by supporters all over the globe – more than enough to retire early.
Since the fall of the Seattle goblins and Draeg himself, all over the world Elves sprang into action, destroying the problematic goblins around their area until all were decimated and there was finally peace in the heads of those who had been fighting the goblins all their lives. The Book was found to be powerless buried miles underneath the surface, and it troubled the Elves no more. The evils of Middle Earth had been put to rest after countless thousand years of fighting it.
Eve moved into the castle with Legolas while Aeriela found interest in Tethir. So it was that the Elves and men were reunited once again.
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"More lemonade, my prince?"
Legolas held up his arm to shield his eyes from the sun. "Eve, you know that's not funny." He sat up on the picnic blanket.
"I think it's very amusing, so there," she replied with a smirk as she set the lemonade canister next to the picnic basket and sat down next to the Elf. "Where'd Aeriela and Tethir go?"
"Eh, he chased her somewhere," replied Legolas. He put his arm around her.
I cannot help it
I couldn't stop it if I tried
The same old heart beat
Fills the emptiness
I have inside
And I've heard that you can't fight love
So I won't complain
Cause why would I stop the fire
That keeps me going on
Eve smiled as she rested her head on his shoulder. All around them, the tall grass danced in the wind, glinting like emerald shards in the afternoon sun. The sky was nearly empty save the occasional fluffy cirrus cloud. Squirrels chattered away to each other in the trees behind them. Birds chirped happily, wheeling over the two lovers and casting an occasional shadow across the ground.
'Cause when there's you
I feel whole
And there's no better feeling in the world
But without you
I'm alone
And I'd rather be in love
With you
After a while, they lay down next to each other and Eve laid her head upon Legolas' shoulder once again. They stared up at the sky in pleasant silence until the Elf finally spoke, "When I was a boy, just a little lad, I asked my mother what love was, because I had heard the word and used it, but didn't know what it meant. She sat me on her knee and explained it to me."
Turn out the lights now
To see is to believe
I just want you near me
I just want you here with me...
And I'd give up everything only for you
It's the least that I could do...
"What'd she say?" asked Eve with a smile. She craned her neck to look at her beloved Elf.
"She told me," he answered, "that love is something two people have." A pause. "That it should be cherished like the miracle it is and, above all else, acknowledged often." He smiled nostalgically. "She told me a lot about how she was betrothed to my father from birth and that, even though she didn't love him in the beginning, she began to love him as they spent time together. Then there was me." The Elf laughed in spite of himself. "I was what sealed their love, you could say."
And when there's you
I feel whole
And there's no better feeling in the world
But without you
I'm alone
And I'd rather be in love
With you
Eve rolled onto her stomach, ending up half on top of the Elf. "I love you."
Legolas put his arms around her and whispered back, "And I love you. No matter what happens, no matter how many bad things happen… there's no better feeling in the world to me than being with you." He took a deep breath before diving into a painful subject, "And even though someday you'll leave me, I'd rather be in love with you than live a thousand years without ever knowing you."
'Cause when there's you
I feel whole
And there's no better feelin'
I'm alone
And I'd rather be in love
Yes, I'd rather be in love
Oh, I'd rather be in love...
With you
And I feel you holding me...
Tears formed in Eve's eyes. "Legolas, I…"
"Shush," he insisted, pressing a finger to her lips. "Later. I just wanted to express how I felt. We'll talk about it later."
"Alright," said the young woman reluctantly. She looked up as she heard the sound of Aeriela and Tethir approaching. "Love you, Elf."
"Love you, Maiden."
They kissed lovingly, then broke when Tethir and Aeriela broke through the line of trees and rejoined their friends. As they ate and drank, laughed and talked, thoughts of later perils melted away, replaced by reflection on the future.
And so ended the tale of the Dark Maiden and King of Mirkwood, but even so, it was only the beginning.
finis