Disclaimer: Everything belongs to Tolkien. Anything unfamiliar belongs to me. No money is being made.

Author's Notes: Elenmírë isn't in this chapter...I know it's short, but I wanted to focus on Mary Sue and Legolas in this one.
01/19/06 - Grammatically, I couldn't find much to edit with this chapter, but I may have overlooked a few mistakes.

The Imperfect One
By: JDArc

Chapter Fifteen: A Confession

Boromir remained puzzled as he watched his betrothed flee from him to tackle the gentle slopes of Cerin Amroth, and a million thoughts ran through his mind as he tried to figure out what exactly was bothering her. Her Elven glow was almost completely gone, and her skin still remained a sickly pale tone. She was fading from him and from the world, and although he could feel it, he was at a loss as to how to even begin to help her. It was a distressing business to feel such helplessness when watching his beloved future wife slowly disintegrate before his very eyes, and the grief he still felt from Gandalf's fall did not help ease his anxiety.

Boromir watched as she disappeared between the outer ring of white trees, and he debated whether or not he should go after her and comfort her of whatever she was feeling. Gandalf's fall had definately hit her the hardest, and he wanted nothing more than to be there for her when she needed him, but if she had wanted to find solace in his embrace, she wouldn't have fled from him the way she did. He sighed and deduced that she needed time to herself, placing aside his need to hold her, to feel the solidity of her love for him in the beating of her heart against his chest.

"What did you say to her?"

Boromir whipped around to face a seething Legolas, whose face was growing red with rage.

"I said nothing to upset her," Boromir growled angrily, his eyes flashing dangerously, "and what happens between me and my betrothed is none of your concern!"

"Are you blind, Man?" Legolas spat. "She was obviously disturbed before she ran away to Cerin Amroth-"

"But it was none of my doing," Boromir defended, narrowing his eyes. "She has been unbalanced since we left Moria, Legolas, and I cannot help but wonder whether or not your meddling has been a cause in all this-"

"Meddling!" the Elf cried out indignantly.

"Your comforting her outside of Moria was more than friendly," Boromir sneered. "Did you honestly believe that this entire time I could not see the way you look at her, not hear the soft Elvish words you speak to her? Do you take me for a fool, Elf! Can you not see how happy she is with me? Your desire to force your feelings upon her when she obviously does not return your sentiments does nothing but inflict more stress than she needs already!" Boromir was breathing heavily with anger. "You had no right to carry her, and when I had insisted on taking on the task, you had no right to declare in front of the entire Fellowship that her heart lies not with mine, but with yours!" His eyes had grown glassy with unspoken rage, and his hands were clenched, as if he were ready to deliver a blow at any given moment. "She is mine, Elf. We are betrothed, and you damn well better accept that fact and leave us be." Legolas stood silent as Boromir stalked away, his wrath engulfing the Elf as he hung his head in quiet regret.

"Legolas." He turned around and faced a dispirited Mary Sue. Her large violet eyes were wide with vulnerability, and the golden hue of the wood only enhanced the shine of her wondrous jet black hair. She was beyond stunning, and with her features riddled in melancholy, she could have been an incarnation of Nimrodel herself. "Look, I know I shouldn't have, but I couldn't help but overhear your conversation with Boromir-"

"Please." His voice was pained as he looked away from her and moved to leave.

"I know we made a truce to remain just friends, Legolas, but when I see you hurting that way, I want to help you," Mary Sue said softly, and Legolas paused but did not turn. "I know how you feel; believe me, I do."

"What do you know of how I feel at the moment?" he demanded, a tinge of bitterness lining his words. "What can you possibly know of what is going through my mind?" She flinched and hesitated before she closed her eyes and took a deep breath, knowing that she was risking an even greater broken heart by revealing her feelings now.

"I know that everytime you look at her, your heart skips a beat before beating in a rhythm so fast you can hardly breathe, and yet, you wouldn't give up anything in the world to feel any different," she began, and Legolas started at her description. He slowly faced her as she continued. "Everytime you see her, you feel your heart cry out with joy but at the same time, you feel the most repressing sort of pain because you can't be free to run to her and hold her in your arms and whisper the words of love that are dying to be released." She locked her eyes with him, and he saw with surprise that they were rimmed with tears. "It pains you every single second because no matter how hard you try, she never ever seems to see what you go through. She doesn't understand what you're willing to endure just to be close to her again."

"How do you know all this?" he asked softly, the agony in his heart making him wince at how exact her account really was.

"Don't you get it, Legolas!" she finally cried out, the tears slipping from her eyes. "I know how you feel because I feel the same way! I suffer as you do because I'm in love with you." She recoiled back when the words finally slipped from her mouth, and she was unable to look into his eyes. The silence that lay between them was deafening.

"What?" he finally let out blankly, blinking.

"I've been in love with you, Legolas," she replied tiredly, still incapable of eye contact, "for the longest time. At first, it was because you were so beautiful. No one, absolutely no one I've ever known struck me the way you did when I first saw you. But in Rivendell, when we finally made that truce and became true friends, I realized that...that I was beginning to fall for more than just your looks. You were always so kind to me, even when I knew I annoyed you at times. You were patient with me, and there were times when you were actually interested in what I had to say, especially when it came to talking about my world. But I was just so frustrated with you! Whenever Elenmírë was around, I would catch you looking at her the way I wished you looked at me, and..." Her voice trailed off as she sniffed. "I got jealous. I had to grab onto you to make you notice me, to get you to stop looking at her. I'd say the rudest things to her in hopes that maybe she'd act so incredibly diabolical that maybe you'd finally look at me favorably. I know you told me before that you always felt so trapped when girls here would relentlessly pursue you, so I tried to tone down my actions a bit, but...jealousy makes you do crazy things." She gave a shadow of a smile as he nodded in agreement, thinking back to the way he protectively went to Elenmírë the moment she collapsed outside of Moria, denying even Boromir access to her.

"Words fail me," Legolas muttered, his cheeks flushed at her confession. Her unpleasant attitude suddenly made sense, and as he looked at her, with her beauty emanating from her, he felt his insides constrict. There was no doubt the girl was lovely, but with her confession, she now looked different to him somehow. He could not see her as the whining young child he once thought her to be. All that was a mere visage to how she really was, and it was unnerving.

"You don't have to say anything, Legolas," she answered, biting her lip. "I know I said more than you were ready to hear, but I..." She paused a moment to think. "I just want you to be happy, Legolas, and I think you deserve someone who actually sees you and wants to be with you." She shuffled her feet. "All I know is that I hate seeing the pain in your eyes every time you look at her. Unrequited feelings are never pleasant. I...I'm just here for you when you can't talk to anyone else. That's all I wanted to say before I went on a tangent." Her cheeks colored slightly. "Right then." She turned to leave, and Legolas felt a lump in his throat.

"Wait." His voice was strained and hoarse, but when she looked back at him with hope shining in her eyes, his breath caught. He was in love with Elenmírë, there was no doubt, but he knew he was not perfect. Mary Sue was beautiful, and with her honest avowal, chasing after Elenmírë suddenly became an even more difficult feat to accomplish because the temptation of falling for Mary Sue was now an even more realisitic option. He reached his hand to her, and surprise crossed her features but she took his hand nonetheless.

TBC.