((Author's note: sorry this took so long…I had league preliminaries for track this week and a the county speech meet (which went all stinking day) I'm writing this in between school and League Finals and the play tonight. So…I hope you all enjoy. This is not a really action oriented chapter….it sets the stage for the final big action thingy…))
Dedicated to Brennan…(and my sister who puts up with my infatuation)
Disclaimer: I own nothing. So stop asking.
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Always
By Eck
Legolas awoke. His first conscious thought was how hard the stone was beneath him. His second was to complain about the brightness of the sun. Taking in a deep gasping breath, he experimentally moved his limbs. He was not surprised to find them all in working order with no bindings.
A lovely sunrise and a cool breeze revealed that he was not indoors either. Smells of hot foods and noises of people talking were assaulting him from every direction.
Anger surged over him and he pounded his fist onto the stone. He turned his face away from the sun and bit his lip, relishing the pain that shot out from it and the tangy taste of blood in his mouth.
Games. It was all a game…showing who had the power, who was in control. It was a mind game. Why did he could continue to torture him so? The least he could do was finally put Legolas out of his misery instead of plaguing him with the little things like this?
He had been in the North, roaming the villages and cities there. Within a year he had made his reputation as the best hunter, tracker, and archer in the land. Know one knew what he looked like; he was an enigma, a legend.
Legolas had liked it that way, his mind still hurting over Éowyn. He was never quite sure when he had started taking risky chances, but he had. Before long he had made quite a few enemies, people who wanted to prove that they were better than his "legend".
It had started out small, like all things do. A knife lying next to him when he awoke in the morning, where it had not been before. His favorite shirt slashed into tattered cloths.
Then it had gotten bigger. Going to sleep in his own bed and then awaking in a place he had never seen before, never bound, never injured in anyway; just relocated. A knife stabbed into his pillow, mere inches from his head. All meant to instill fear, to prove who was in control.
Legolas had tried to hunt down the person or people responsible but at every corner he was met with a dead-end. And then it had happened.
Even at the memory, his eyes closed tightly and his breathing quickened. No! He would not think of that now. There was no need to. No need to remember the fire, the screams, the bodies, the one body of the child. Of his…
A sob choked him and he rubbed his forehead against the cool, rough stone of the paved ground.
He had given up after that, secluding himself in the woods. Allowing the ancient trees there to comfort him when no man could. He had created a small home for himself there. Very humble, but it had become his place of comfort. A place where he could escape from the world gone wrong that was all around him, haunting his every single step.
Then one morning he had awoken to find a portrait of Éowyn hanging on the wall of his room, where had none been before. It had been brutally slashed with a knife and animal blood had been drizzled across the fair skin. The next night the same thing was done with a portrait of Aragorn.
Within a week, he had packed his bags and started off on the long trek towards Gondor and the two people who meant the most to him in all of Middle Earth, hoping against hope that he was not to late to save them.
Pushing himself up onto his hands and knees, Legolas felt his stomach heave in protest of the after affects of the drug he had inhaled. He gagged several times before finally feeling his stomach settling back down. His blonde hair fell in sticky strands around his face. Slowly, he lifted his tired head and stared down the alley way at the bustling street.
Footsteps sounded behind him and he spun, hands reaching for knives that were no longer there.
He half expected to see the face of the man who haunted all his worst dreams and nightmares behind him, finally ready to deal the final blow to his victim. Almost disappointed, he noted it was a young man wearing the uniform of one of Aragorn's personal palace guards.
"Sir?" the guard said, holding one hand out as if soothing a frightened animal.
Legolas absently wondered how scary he actually looked right now. "What?" he whispered. "What do you want?"
The man, or boy (he could not have been more than 19 by man's standard, Legolas noted), looked up and down him. "Are you an elf, sir?"
"That would explain the pointy ears," Legolas retorted.
The boy flushed. "Sir, the king has all of his Guard out looking for an elf by the name of Legolas Greenleaf. Would you be he?"
Legolas nodded, he had to give the boy some credit, holding a professional tone despite Legolas' insults. "I am." He ran his long fingers through his hair. "Tell Aragorn to stop worrying about. I shall be home within the hour."
"But, sir, we were told to escort you home immediately."
Legolas sighed loudly. His head was pounding, his ears were ringing, and his stomach felt like it was going to jump out of his throat. "Look, I will be back to the castle within the hour. I shall take whatever punishment gives you for your breach in conduct of not escorting me home. Understand?"
The boy nodded. "Yes, sir. Do you need any help?"
"No, just go along back to the castle and inform Aragorn. I am positive he has been up all night worrying."
The guard bowed slightly and ran off the way he had come. Just before he reached the corner to disappear, he cast one last glance over his shoulder, eyes wide with uncertainty.
As soon as Legolas was sure he was gone, he turned to stagger off in the opposite direction. Then a white piece of paper caught his eye.
It was lying a few feet away, secured underneath a heavy stone.
Carefully, he knelt and removed the paper with nimble fingers. The black words seemed to jump out at him.
Not all stories have a happy ending…mellonamin.
Legolas groaned and crumpled the note into a ball. Rising gracefully to his feet, he spun wildly, looking for anyone that could be connected with his haunter. "What do you want?" he shouted at last. Then softer, "what do you want?"
A few passerbyers turned to stare at him, but he took no notice.
Golden sunlight smiled down at him.
"Please, please. Do not hurt Éowyn," he murmured, closing his eyes. "I beg of you, I will do anything, give anything. Just do not hurt her."
There was no answer, not as if he expected one.
Sniffing quietly, he looked down at his hands. They were covered in dirt and grime. He wrinkled his nose. He needed to take a bath badly.
It was only a half hour later when a much cleaner Legolas paused at the tall iron gate before a smaller version of Aragorn's castle.
The guards glared coldly at him so he strolled onward, his blue eyes alert to all of his surroundings.
When he had turned the corner of the castle, he quickly jumped on to the vine covered walls and boosted himself over with one smooth motion. Landing soundlessly on the grass, he crept towards the cover of the nearby trees.
Elvish singing touched his ears and he stiffened imperceptibly.
On silent feet, he moved across the courtyard towards the sound of the voice. He knew who it was. It was the voice that had haunted his dreams on the long nights, the voice that had chased him all the way to Gondor in the past few months.
"Are you an elf?"
Legolas looked down in surprise. He had been so wrapped up in the singing he had not noticed the small one coming towards him. Slowly he knelt to a crouched position. "I am, young one. And you are?"
She had large brown eyes and golden hair that fell in waves to the small of her back. Reaching out one tentative hand, she felt his golden locks. "Pretty," she declared softly. Then paused, "Mommy said they were looking for an elf. Then she cried," the child informed matter-of-factly.
For a moment air refused to enter his lungs and Legolas jerked back in surprise. "Who is…" he swallowed hard, "who is your mother, child?"
"I am, Legolas."
Jumping to his feet, Legolas felt all the breath whoosh out of his lungs as his eyes met Éowyn's and he remembered just how much she meant to him. Why he had risked everything to come her. Then he noticed the child nestled in her arms. "Éowyn…"
"And this is also mine," she murmured and held the small child up for Legolas' inspection
Huge blue eyes, so much like Éowyn's blinked at Legolas.
"His name is Claron," she said to his unspoken question. "And this Lina."
The girl waved. "I am almost two!" she said proudly.
Legolas smiled at her and then looked back to Éowyn's eyes. "Your's and Faramir's?"
She nodded. "I did marry him, Legolas."
The pain must have showed on his face, because Éowyn dropped her gaze immediately.
"Lina, take your brother and go back to the house. I will be along shortly." Her voice was soft and full of hidden pain.
Lina nodded and carefully took the burden her mother handed to her and ran back towards the house.
Once they were alone, the silence seemed to penetrate both of them.
Legolas took several deep breaths and then stepped forward. "Éowyn," he began.
She held up her hand. "Please do not. I could not bear it."
"Are you happy?"
She looked up, surprised at the question. "What do you mean?"
Legolas waved his hand at the gardens and in the direction the children had just went. "With this. Are you happy with all of this?"
Éowyn took a quick glance back at her children. "I love my children and I love my husband."
Legolas looked away.
"But…" she continued. "I would have a very difficult time refusing your offer to run away with you," she paused. "If you should offer," she quickly added and then looked away.
Looking up sharply, Legolas' mind tumbled around. Was this an offer? Should he ask now?
Éowyn gestured to a small bench sitting a few yards away. Once they had both been seated, she began to speak again. "When I married Faramir, he knew that I did not love him. He was always aware that my first love was not he."
Legolas started to speak but she held up a hand to stop him.
"That ghost of my first love was always with us, haunting us. He knew that I could never love him completely if that ghost, you, were still so in control of my heart." She sighed softly. "He knew who you were, the moment he laid eyes on us in the garden yesterday. When you disappeared, he came to talk to me. He told me that he loved me greatly, but that if I really desired, he would let me go with you and leave him behind. Even though it would break his heart. He hoped that maybe if I did return to him, your ghost would be gone."
Legolas reached out one hand and stroked her face, this time she did not protest. "Oh, Éowyn. You know that I love you and my heart desires nothing more than to be with you forever." Legolas swallowed and felt his heart break. "But if you are truly happy, I would never draw you away from here."
Éowyn closed her eyes and gathered her resolve. "I love him, Legolas. Not as I loved you, but I do love him greatly. It hurts me to know that he is scared that I may not return to him. He has been good to me and it would do my heart wrong if I would leave him now."
"I understand." Legolas stared at her, trying to commit her fair face to his memory forever. "I love you, though. And if you ever need me, I will be here for you."
She nodded. "And I thank you for that."
Legolas glanced downward at his hands and then back up at her. "So this is goodbye?"
"No!" She cried, reaching out to grab him. "Please, never leave me again! I could not…I could not bear it. Please, be my friend! Let this just be the close of a chapter in our lives."
Legolas nodded, even though he wondered if he could ever bear to see her as Faramir's wife and know that she would never be his. "As you wish." He stood. "I must leave now. Aragorn should probably be ready to behead me by now." Legolas made an effort to smile. "Until next time, Éowyn, mellonamin."
She nodded and he walked towards the wall whence he had come. "Legolas!" she cried suddenly.
He turned.
"You do know that I will always love you?"
He smiled at her though it seemed rather forced. "Always." And then he was gone.
((HAHAHAHA!!!! I bet none of you can guess my ending…))
