Lisette - I know! I watched Matrix Reloaded on the weekend and I couldn't help but snicker, waiting for him to say: "this task can only be completed by you, Neo."
Leaving
A soft rap on the door brought Legolas out of his semi-sleeping state. He looked over at the door to find Buffy peering in cautiously with a slight smile gracing her face.
"Sorry. I didn't mean to wake you. I just thought maybe you were hungry." She apologized.
Legolas waved her over with his good hand. "Come in, please."
She shimmied around the door, carrying a tray laden with steaming soup and a glass of water. She juggled the tray with one hand while she closed the door with the other, breathing a sigh of relief that she didn't spill the contents with a spectacularly clutzy move. She placed the tray on the bedside table and stood beside it, fidgeting with her shirtsleeve. "Did you need any help?"
Legolas glanced up at her with a puzzled frown. "With what?"
Buffy shook her head while shrugging her shoulders slowly, fighting to remember her original train of thought. "With…eating."
Legolas chewed his inner cheek to keep from laughing. "No." He replied.
"Good." Buffy nodded, fighting to regain some sort of cool composure. "So…Strider tells me this might all be over soon."
Legolas followed her wandering eyes with a steady gaze of his own. "Yes."
"I guess you'll be glad to get home."
"Yes."
There was an awkward silence. "Although-" Legolas started.
Buffy cut him off with: "But there's probably somebody waiting for you back home."
Legolas thought for a moment. "Well, my family."
For once, Buffy met his eyes. "No. I meant like, a, um, you know. Girl."
"A wife?" Legolas' eyes grew wide, and if it were possible, he may have blushed. "No. I have not taken a wife."
"Oh." Buffy sounded very surprised. "Well, that's good." She started stammering again when she saw his confused glance. "Well not good. But, you're just so young and if you're going to live forever then I guess you sort of want to see what's out there first and…I should really work on this babbling thing."
"You're young too." Legolas replied.
Buffy gave a half-hearted smile. "And I don't live forever."
There was another awkward silence. Legolas broke it. "In our world, mortal men were said to have been given a curse and a gift from the Valar. The curse was that they were not blessed with immortality like the Elves."
"And the gift?" Buffy prompted.
"That they were not blessed with immortality like the Elves."
They both laughed slightly, and Buffy felt comfortable enough to sit beside him on the bed. "So your gift is life." Legolas nodded, smiling. Buffy played with the comforter that was draped over his body. "My gift is death."
The smile left Legolas' face abruptly. "Why do you say that?"
Buffy shrugged. "It sort of goes with the Slayer's life. We're born to kill, kill, kill and then when it's done we leave a good looking corpse." She noticed his furrowed eyebrows. "It means we die young."
"Why?" Legolas looked genuinely concerned.
Buffy shrugged, as though it wasn't all that important of an issue. "It just goes with the territory."
"That's a tragedy." Legolas stated.
It was Buffy's turn to look confused. "How come?"
Legolas' blue eyes bore through hers with a steely countenance. "Because a life that is so pure should not be ended so prematurely."
Buffy laughed. "Oh, I ain't pure mister."
Legolas smiled. "And humble." He touched her cheek with his right hand, until her blushing face was facing his. "You are pure. And beautiful. And that is why it is a tragedy."
He traced her lips with his finger, reaching up to play with the hair that fell out of her ponytail. She shivered slightly under his touch but didn't think of resisting when he slid his hand under her hair and grasped her neck, drawing her in until their lips met.
Aragorn emerged from the guestroom wearing his original black layers, holding his borrowed clothes in a neatly folded pile in front of him. Dawn took them and smiled at the Ranger.
"Guess you're not too sad to be rid of these, huh?"
Strider smiled widely. "It's not exactly appealing to my tastes."
"Well," Dawn shrugged, "if it's any consolation, I thought you were a total hottie in them."
Aragorn cocked his head and eyed the young girl. "Thank you?"
"You're welcome." She said aloofly. She placed the clothes in a hamper and faced the Ranger as he buckled his sword onto his belt. "I'm going to miss you guys."
Aragorn looked up at her and smiled sadly. "I feel the same."
"Nah," she said as she sat down on the top stair. "You're just saying that."
Aragorn took a seat beside her and patted her knee. "I assure you that I am sincere."
Dawn sighed with a far-off look in her eye. "Is it really all that different from here? I mean, is it better?"
Aragorn studied the stairs. "Different, yes. But not always better."
"Can you take me there?"
Aragorn saw the pleading in her eyes, the strong desire to escape. "Why would you want to leave?"
Dawn shrugged, but struggled to keep the lump from rising in her throat. "Sometimes I feel like I don't really belong here. I'm not like everyone else." She felt embarrassed saying it, especially to someone like him. "Really, REALLY not like everyone else." She emphasized.
Aragorn felt an immediate empathy for the girl. "That is something to be cherished, not hidden from. I knew from the moment I met you that you were different. You are right that you are not like everyone else, but that is what makes you a rare treasure."
Dawn couldn't help the tear that spilled free. "So your world wouldn't take me, huh?"
Aragorn gave a short laugh. "Dawn, where I come from, I am not wanted either."
"Yeah right." She said cynically.
"It's true. I live with the Elves."
Dawn's eyes grew wide. "You mean with Legolas?"
"No, I live with the Elves from Rivendell. Legolas is from a distant kingdom."
Dawn sat up, rigid. "Did you say kingdom? What, he's royalty too?"
Strider had to think quickly, but couldn't stop Dawn once he unleashed the Elf's secret.
"Is he rich? I knew he was regal! He's like the Prince William of your world, isn't he?"
Aragorn sighed as he began to descend the stairs with an overly excited Dawn at his heels carrying on about what it must be like to marry a prince.
"I should love the chance to study it. It's not everyday that we receive something from another dimension." Giles stated emphatically as he examined the blue sphere from every angle.
"And it's not everyday that big holes open up and spew out ugly looking demons. Can't have your cake and eat it too buddy." Xander reminded him.
Giles blissfully ignored him. "Just look at the craftsmanship."
"It's a ball." Xander pointed out.
"It's magnificent." Giles exclaimed breathlessly.
"Yes, it's very pretty Giles. But if you leave it alone I'll buy you an ice cream." Xander tempted.
"It's amazing how perfectly sculpted it is. Can you just feel the magic emanating from it? It's utterly fascinating."
"Giles, I'm running out of witty comebacks here." Xander began tapping his foot but Giles expertly dodged acknowledgement of his presence. Xander huffed and was about to give up until he spotted a tea towel. He swiped the towel off the fridge's door handle and casually flung it on the palantir. Giles backed away from the counter with an impatient scowl on his face.
"Oh, don't give me that look. You were told." Xander wagged a minatory finger in the Watcher's direction.
"Is it here?" Both men looked up at the Elf in front of them, dressed in his familiar garb and looking much more poised.
Xander scooped up the covered palantir before Giles could object, and indeed the older man already had his mouth open to do so. He placed the large sphere in Legolas' good arm; his left was hanging in a sling that Strider had constructed for him. "Where's Buffy?" Xander asked.
The question seemed to take Legolas by surprise, for his jaw hung slack as he searched for an answer. He didn't struggle for long as a cheery "I'm here!" announced Buffy's arrival into the kitchen. She bounced on her heels and met everyone with an exuberant and somewhat flushed grin.
Spike entered the kitchen and eyed her suspiciously.
"Wow." Xander said. "Aren't you the perky one."
"Yeah." Spike agreed, although much more dryly. "You look like you've been as busy as a bunny."
Buffy shot him a quick warning glare. The vampire gave her a challenging smirk before sauntering into the living room and flopping on the couch.
"Well," Giles clapped his hands together, effectively killing the tension and commanding the attention in the room. "Now that we're all here, I suppose we should plan our next course of action." He looked Legolas in the eye. "Which means getting you both home. Although, how that happens is anyone's guess."
"Why don't we just do like we always do?" Buffy suggested.
"How's that?" Legolas asked.
"Wing it."
"Mithrandir, are you sure that you know how to free them of this spell?" Thranduil eyed the grizzled wizard severely as Gandalf muttered under his breath examining the scorched bark of a tree.
Gandalf whirled around, bristling at the insinuation that perhaps his knowledge was limited in this area. "Of course, King Thranduil. A wizard always comes prepared."
"So does a king." And Thranduil motioned to his armed and stern-looking bodyguard.
Gandalf harrumphed at the indignation and went on with his studies, although one keen-eyed Elf did not miss the flinch in his whiskers.
"Is it almost time, old friend?" Elrond's voice was low and steady, and served more as a warning than as a question. When Gandalf did not answer as promptly as he should have, Elrond went on. "Gandalf, Estel is still out there-"
Gandalf pivoted and stared Lord Elrond in the face earnestly. "I will find a way. I promise."
Elrond clapped the old man on the shoulder. "I know you will. Whether out of love for Aragorn or fear of Thranduil's wrath, I know you will find a way." He smiled encouragingly, but his words did nothing to appease Gandalf's wariness towards the king of Mirkwood. As Elrond strode away with hands clasped behind his back, Gandalf threw another prudent glance at the bodyguard. The forbidding Elf fingered his bow lovingly while glaring at the wizard. Gandalf did his best to suppress his shudder and whispered a prayer to Elbereth.
"Hopefully when we get the palantir close to the portal something…will…ah…happen." Giles stood in the graveyard with his hands jammed in his pockets speaking to anyone who would listen. Which, at the time, was not very many.
Buffy sat on top of a raised tomb with her legs crossed underneath her and one hand supporting her chin. "And if it doesn't?"
"Ooh, then we could build a campfire and tell stories from our respected homeworlds." Willow looked at Strider and Legolas with a hopeful grin on her face. "I bet you guys never heard the one about the little mermaid."
"Poor Willow." Sighed Xander. "Missed your chance to be a girl scout, didn't ya?"
Willow kicked a pebble by her foot. "I got sent to computer camp." She muttered.
Dawn popped off the tree stump she was sitting on. "Well, that's it. Portal didn't open. We should all go home and try again in a week." And she started off in the direction of the Summers' household.
"Dawn, we've only been here for ten minutes." Buffy declared.
Dawn turned around and blushed slightly. "Oh, really? Huh, it felt so much longer than that. Lets give it another five and if it doesn't open then we should head back." This time she sat closer to Legolas, who stood facing Buffy.
Spike glared at him from behind a tree.
"I would say that we should exchange phone numbers or emails or addresses but you probably wouldn't-" Buffy stopped midstream in her sentence when she saw the completely blank looks on their faces. "Even have a clue what I was talking about." Buffy saw the slight grin on Aragorn's face but nearly missed the downcast glance from Legolas. If only there were more time.
"It's opening!" Giles announced.
Sure enough, the all-too familiar crackling and swirling wind filled the air and cast an eerie bright glow on the darkened grounds. As the scoobies took cover, Legolas and Aragorn started forward towards the portal with Aragorn clutching the palantir in one hand and his sword in another. They struggled to gain footing, but found themselves sliding back. The force of the portal had increased.
"Gandalf!"
Gandalf couldn't help but think that Calenuil needn't have shouted; he could see and hear the portal just as well as the rest of his Elvish companions. He held onto his grey wrinkly hat with one hand for fear that the thing would blow off with the strength of the wind. The Mirkwood Elves were fighting to stay upright against the gale winds that whipped their long tresses of hair violently. So absorbed was Gandalf in watching the portal that he nearly missed Calenuil's call.
"Gandalf, how do we stop it?" He shouted.
Gandalf looked at him blankly, feeling momentarily powerless. He searched his memory and readings but found his mind had failed him.
"How do we reverse it?" Calenuil questioned in a booming voice that strained to be heard above the tumultuous roaring.
And it suddenly hit Gandalf, so hard that he would have slapped himself had he forgotten his dignity entirely. The Istari used the swaying trees as handholds to help slow down his chances of being propelled into the approaching fissure but he needed to get closer, otherwise how would Aragorn hear him?
Aragorn could not explain the feeling that drew him towards the electrifying opening, but only that he knew it well. He fought with all his might to take simple steps towards it, bowing his head to shield it from the thunderous wind. It called to him…
Legolas was frustrated by his lack of forward mobility but continued to press towards the gaping hole. A soft touch made him jump, and he looked down at the small hand lightly grazing his fingers. Buffy looked at him with a pleading in her eyes that made him want to stop. She mouthed the words 'good-bye' and he was about to reply when Aragorn shouted his name.
"Legolas! I can hear Gandalf!" The Ranger bellowed with excitement dancing in his eyes.
Legolas looked from Aragorn to Buffy and for a moment his being ripped asunder. He opened his mouth to speak but Buffy's look turned from pleading to resignation. "I know." She said and despite the background noise, Legolas heard her perfectly. "Go." She let go of his hand and urged him on with a small push.
Elrond felt his heart leap in his throat when he heard Aragorn's voice. The young man could barely be heard; even with Elrond's sharp hearing he could not make out what he said. But Gandalf was communicating with him and after carefully blocking out the raging portal, Elrond could discern the wizard's instructions.
"Throw it in! Throw the palantir to us!" He had to repeat it several times, each time his voice cracking with effort.
Aragorn had to repeat what he thought the wizard had yelled to him in his own mind. To him it did not make an ounce of sense but considering their week thus far, it really shouldn't have surprised him. He took one glance at the palantir before shrugging and throwing the heavy sphere with all his strength.
There was a sound of an electrical explosion followed by a drastic change in the direction of the wind. The palantir disappeared into the fissure with surprising velocity.
Aragorn and Legolas now found themselves struggling to not enter the fissure so quickly. Aragorn gave one quick look at the strange world called Sunnydale and the people he'd grown to admire for their quirky courage before letting himself be taken by the sucking wind.
Legolas knew he could not hold back. He turned his head to watch her, to say one last thing, but couldn't finish as his body was flung into the portal as though he were a rag doll.
He heard Buffy calling his name, just as his father had the first time. And again, he felt regret for not saying a proper goodbye.
