Disclaimer: I don't own LOTR and I own none of the characters in this fanfic except for Helaku, Helaku's mother and her sisters. So I beg you not to sue me plz! Author's Note:/{word}/ now means Legolas' thoughts. Hope you like and please r&r.

Chapter 5: Facing Reality

I feel a soft breeze on my face and strong arms hold me close - protecting me from and danger we might encounter.

"We will rest here for tonight."

The grass tickles my legs as I am gently placed on the ground. Reluctantly I open my eyes to see a beautiful forest illuminated by the setting sun.

"You're awake!"

"How long have I-"

"You've been unconscious for a little over a day."

I'm still trying to see who is talking to me, but my eyesight hasn't become that clear yet.

"Who are you?"

I'm Legolas. Don't you remember me, the Fellowship?"

"Yea, I'm sorry, it's just that my sight isn't clear yet. But where are we?"

"That's okay, and we're at the base of Caradhras."

"Thanks, Legolas."

"For what?"

"For taking care of me when-"

"Think nothing of it. I told you that I would protect you."

Suddenly the strong scent of burning healing herbs fills my nose, awakening my senses once again. I jerk back at the unpleasant scent, but someone stopped me from falling backwards.

I turned expecting to see Aragorn or Gandalf, maybe even Boromir, but no one was there.

Then a soft voice whispered, "Tenna' ento lye omenta, Helaku."

"Did you?" "Did I what?"

"Nothing, I thought I heard something that's all."

"It was just you imagination," Legolas chuckles and places a soft kiss on my forehead, as if he were an older sibling, "I'll go get you some food."

~*~*~ A Few Hours Later ~*~*~

Damn! It's freezing cold on this mountain. I don't care if I can walk on snow. I'm freezing.

Legolas is leading the Fellowship - making sure we don't get attacked, and I'm at the end of the line doing the same thing.

If we get attacked, we're in deep trouble because everyone else is plowing through the snow and the men are carrying the hobbits.

"There is a foul voice on the air."

"It's Saruman!!!"

A ton of rocks tumble down the mountainside.

"He's trying to bring down the mountain. Gandalf, we must turn back."

"No!"

More rocks start to fall. I slowly back up to lean against the mountain. Only is I'm walking backwards and fall into the gap everyone else made from plowing through the snow.

I hear muffled voices and then a ton of snow falls on top of me. This is just great. I don't even think they know I have fallen. Wonderful.

I strain my ears to hear above the snow, but it's not working too well. I can only guess that they have climbed out of the snow by now.

Okay, it's time to pull out Grandmother's little trick. I concentrate very hard, and suddenly I can feel Legolas' mind present in mine. I don't say anything because I just want to know what he's thinking.

/Okay, either to take the Gap of Rohan which is controlled by Saruman or to go through the mines of Moria which will doom us all OR we can stay here. These are just WONDERFUL choices./

Come on, Legolas notice I'm not present.

/ Wait a second. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, te-. Where is Helaku? She must be under the snow!/

I then vanish from his mind and focus on my surroundings again. I can hear someone digging through the snow. It's about time.

"Legolas, what are you doing?" Boromir asks.

"Where did you see Helaku last?"

Answering a question with a question. Not bad.

"Why? She's fine; she is right-" Boromir replies slightly annoyed, "Well, she was right behind Aragorn."

"Find her."

"Helaku! Say something."

I can't. It's too cold. I try and manage to move a little.

Aragorn notices the movement of the snow and digs me out. "Are you alright?" he asks pulling me into a hug.

"Wh- what t-t-took you gu-guys s-s-so long?"

"We got a tiny bit distracted, and because you were at the end it was going to take a little longer to notice you weren't there."

"We will go through the Mines." Frodo say a little uncertain of his choice.

"So be it."

The mines?! This is not good. It can't be good.

~*~*~ At the Base of Caradhras ~*~*~

"Where's Legolas?" I complain loudly, " He should have caught something by now."

"Are you saying that I am a slow hunter, Helaku?" Legolas asks trying to act insulted as he enters camp.

"No, I'm just saying that while we are starving, you are taking your sweet time with catching dinner."

Aragorn glares at me, warning me to watch what I say.

I'm sorry, but when I'm hungry I tend to be a little over talkative.

About 2 hours later everyone is sleeping while Aragorn keeps watch for the night.

Everyone is sleeping peacefully, except me. For some reason, my captivation in Mordor is always on my mind and it's a bit scary.

I get up and walk over to the rock Aragorn is sitting against.

"Can I join you?"

"You should be sleeping."

"I can't. So can I join you?"

"I'd love some company."

We sit together for a while just enjoying the presence of the other.

"Aragorn, tell me about one of your adventures."

"Are you sure you want to hear it?"

"Yes."

"They are a little scary." He teases.

"I'm not a little kid anymore."

"Okay, okay. I'll tell you of one of my adventures. Maybe it will put you to sleep." Aragorn's gruff voice is very soothing as he tells me of what happened while he was a Ranger. As his story continues, I drift off to the Elven dreamscape.

~~~~ A Dream ~~~~~

My eyes open as I feel something brush my cheek.

"Grab the mother." An animal like voice orders.

"No, let me go!" I hear my mother scream.

"Mother! No let her go!" I try to run to her side, but one of the other Elves catches me.

"Don't worry, Helaku. Someone watch over her!"

"NOOOO! Mother!"

I break free of the elf that grabbed me and run towards my mother again. Another Orc grabs my wrist. I throw a punch to the face hoping he knows I will not let him hurt me without a fight.

Suddenly two more Orcs appear, and the one I hit joins them.

I start lashing out - kicking, punching, anything to keep them away from me.

Eventually they pin me down.

"No, it hurts!"

"Helaku!"

My mother is running to me as I fall to the ground. I see an arrow sticking out of my leg.

She starts defending me as I break the arrow in half because I'll bleed too much if I take it out.

One of the Mirkwood elves comes over and picks me up, and he tries to convince my mother to come with us.

"No, protect her. Make sure she gets to Thranduil. He'll help her."

"Mommy, noooo! Don't leave me!" "I love you."

Suddenly a voice I don't recognize right away cuts in.

"Helaku, wake up. You must wake up."

~~~~~End of Dream~~~~~

The next morning I wake up and shudder slightly at the memory of last night's dream.

"Get Helaku up, Aragorn, we are leaving soon." Gandalf says gently.

"Good morning, everyone."

"Good morning." Gimli says stiffly.

"What's with all the bruises the Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli and Boromir have? Was there a battle?" I ask my smile fading slowly.

"Not really." Legolas answers in a cold tone.

"Then why are the four of you bruised?"

"You were fighting in your sleep last night." Aragorn says gently.

"I did it again."

"Again?" Legolas asks shocked, "Who did you hurt last time?"

"Ummmmmm, I gave Elladan a broken wrist, Elrohir a bloody nose and black eye, and I pulled out a piece of Glorfindel's hair."

"May the Valar help us." Aragorn whispers.

Well I don't blame him.

Legolas' hands move defensively to his hair.

"What's wrong?" I ask tilting my head to the side.

"I like my hair the way it is."

"I won't pull it out intentionally."

"Intentionally! What about when you-. Helaku, just stay away from my hair!"

Boromir turns slightly to a chuckling Gandalf.

"What's so funny?" Boromir asks slightly annoyed.

"Nothing." Gandalf says trying to keep a straight face, but he fails miserably.

"Gandalf?" I ask as the thought he never told the hits me, "you did tell them this happens? Right?"

"WHAT?!?" Legolas explodes, "YOU KNEW AND DIDN'T SAY ANYTHING!"

"I didn't want it to be a cause for concern, and I must confess, it's been quite a while since I've had a really good laugh."

"So you do it at our expense?" Boromir hisses.

"Leave him alone! It was Elrond's idea."

All three men (Legolas, Aragorn and Boromir) turn and glare at me.

"He set it all up."

"My own father plotting against me." Aragorn says.

"Well since we have had this good argument let's go!"

"Shut up!"

~~**~~**~~Later on that Day~~**~~**~~

All day, we have been walking from Caradhras to Moria, which isn't fun cause it's going to take another day to get there! Not that I exactly want to be there anyway, but I have no choices. AGAIN!

"Gandalf!" I call out.

Everyone stops and looks at me.

"Yes?"

"Can we make camp now? Please?" I ask letting myself fall to the ground. "Yes, we can."

Everyone starts gathering firewood, and Legolas walks over to where I am sitting.

"Will you help me hunt?" he asks.

"But. that involves moving." I complain.

"Yes, it does, now come on; you should know by now that you have to help out."

"I'll cook."

"You hate cooking." He reminds me. "Last time we asked you to cook you said you would rather hunt."

Damn, his memory is too good, That needs to be fixed.

"Fine, I'll hunt if it means that much to you."

"It does."

Legolas and I walk off with our bows and quivers strapped to our backs.

"So what are we looking for?"

"Food."

A rustling sound alerts us both. We have our bows ready to kill a possible attacker.

"What is it?"

"I don't know." I answer, "It's either an enemy or dinner. Either way I get to kill it."

A few minutes later a stag jumps out of the bushes, and I let my arrow fly.

"Nice shot. But that should be enough."

"Okay, you can carry it."

"How generous of you."

~*~*~Two Hours Later~*~*~

Everyone is sleeping except for Legs and me. He's keeping watch, and I'm stargazing.

All of a sudden I hear someone crying. Then three voices are trying to calm the other.

I walk over while Legolas wakes everyone up.

"What are you doing?"

"Just incase." He whispers back.

"What happened, Pippin?" I ask gently.

"He had another nightmare." Merry answers.

"Did not!"

"It's okay, but you need to go back to sleep."

"I can't sleep with those images of dead people."

"I'll help you." I tell him. "The four of you lie down and listen because I haven't done this for a while."

They all smile and lie down. The others join us and stand a bit behind me.

I take a deep breath and start to sing one of my favorite songs.

May it be an evening star Shines down upon you May it be when darkness falls Your heart will be true You walk a lonely road Oh! How far you are from home.

Mornie utulie (darkness has come) Believe and you will find your way Mornie alatie (darkness has fallen) A promise lives within you now

May it be shadows call Will fly away May it be your journey on To light the day When the night is overcome You may rise to find the sun (from Enya's May it Be on the LOTR Soundtrack)

I look at the hobbits who have fallen asleep.

"That was beautiful." Aragorn whispers so he won't wake the hobbits.

I stand up and wipe away the tear that escaped me. Gandalf walks over to me and gives me a hug.

"She would have been proud of you." He whispers.

"Who?" Legolas asks.

"My mother. She taught it to me. Good night."

"Goodnight." They whisper.

~*~*~The Next day~*~*~

We walked for four hours and now everyone is waiting for Gandalf to open the doors of Moria.

Finally, Frodo gets the doors to open, but I have to tell you this doesn't feel right.

Frodo gets pulled to the lake by a dark creature, but much to my surprise this monster also grabs me.

When we are cut free Boromir catches me and Aragorn catches Frodo.

"Don't worry, my Helaku, I'll keep you safe." Boromir says placing me on the ground once we are in the mines

"Amin feuya ten'lle, Boromir." (You disgust me)

"Are you okay?" Legolas asks as he walks over.

"Me? Boromir's lust for me is sickening. Ha naeg nin." (it pains me)

"I'm sorry. Forgive me."

"U-moe edhored, Legolas." (there is nothing to forgive) "No, it's not about Boromir. It deals with. how I."

"How you what?" I ask gently.

"Oh never mind."

"No please tell me, Legolas."

"I'm going to talk to Aragorn."

"But."

As I watch Legolas walk away I feel and unknown emotion rise within me.

What is wrong with me? I just let him walk away.