A familiar warmth pressed against Nimoë's lips, and for a split second she was aware of something outside of the terrible power dragging her towards the Chasm.  What is that taste?  Why do I ache for this?  Her eyes flashed open and she was startled to find another pair, blue as the dawn and brimming with unshed tears, staring down at her.

Immediately the face pulled away, and with it went the tingling sensation that had overwhelmed her lips and her senses.  Come back!  I need you…  Then there was nothing but the pull of the Chasm, and the beckoning gesture of the black Hand reaching out for her.

Legolas looked down at Nimoë with stunned surprise.  She had seen him!  Really seen him.  The look of wonder on her face as she recognized him gave him hope, but when he pulled away from the kiss, horror swept back over her, the will of Morgoth again driving her back to her single-minded purpose.

With all the strength in his body he held her captive and, although his eyes were drawn to the tunnel entrance, where soon the Balrog would loom into view, and back over his shoulder to the Hand of Morgoth, he pressed his lips to hers again.  It had worked once, surely it would work again.

The response was instantaneous.  Instead of struggling against his grasp, Nimoë melted against him, clinging to his body with an intensity that spoke to the magnitude of her terror.   He dared not break the kiss, not even to reassure her, for it was evident that the tangible demonstration of his love was the only thing holding her will to her body.

"Hai!  Legolas!  It comes!"  cried Gilmin, who backed away from the demon which materialized from the mouth of the tunnel.

It was just as Legolas remembered from the Mines of Moria: massive, seething with molten fire, black skin crisping with the heat of its own internal flame.  Its burning orange eyes glinted with malice as it strode forward into the chamber, its bulk dwarfing the five who cowered before it, struggling to keep their footing as its clawed feet shook the earth.

Legolas heard a groan from behind him, and felt Caldarion sink down to his knees.  The overwhelming terror that the Balrog brought with its very presence shuddered down through him to his toes, and Legolas could begin to understand why Caldarion had surrendered his soul.  But only begin.  He would rather die, or suffer eternal pain, than to betray his fellows.  This was an essential part of his nature, which was why he was such an effective leader, why his people loved him so fervently.  If he could have, he would gladly have sacrificed himself then and there to ensure the safety of the others, but such an option was not open to him.

It felt infinitely strange to him, staring down a Balrog over the head of his wife, while he kissed sanity into her being.  This was no way to fight!  There had to be a way to return her own mind to her, while freeing her lips to sing.  It was the only chance they had to survive.

Even as he pondered this, they were being driven back.  The Balrog advanced upon them, brandishing its whip of flame, cracking it threateningly over their heads.  While Gilmin and Raven remained between the Elves and the demon, they both cowered backwards, awed and frightened, knowing themselves unable to survive an assault.

"Why does it not attack?" shouted Raven, voicing the question which ran through the Elf Prince's own mind.

"It seeks to drive us to the Chasm.  To bring Nimoë to its master.  It need only force us back," replied Caldarion, in a weak voice, from behind Legolas.

With a tremendous roar, the Balrog opened its gaping jaws.  The screams of every innocent it had killed echoed out, magnified tenfold.  Raven fell to his knees, dropping his sword, and tried to cover his ears, to block out the sound.  Gilmin staggered backwards and tripped over Raven.

Legolas watched it horror as the Dwarf toppled, his arms waving like windmills, trying to right himself, but it was no use.  He fell hard, and crashed into Nimoë's back.  Legolas could no more stop their fall than single-handedly beat back the Balrog.  He tried to pull Nimoë close to him, to cushion her fall, to keep his lips locked with hers, but as he staggered backwards, he in turn tripped over Caldarion's prone form.

With a crash he landed, and his grip was broken by the force of the fall.  Nimoë rolled off of him, skidding across the heated ground.  Legolas vaguely heard his own scream of, "NO!!!" as she came to a stop, directly beneath the seeking Hand of Morgoth.

Like a serpent it struck, lifting Nimoë high into the air, where she hung suspended.  Heedless of his own safety, Legolas leapt to his feet and pulled his sword from its sheath.  Brandishing it in front of him, he ran towards the swirling mass of black haze that held the Elf maid in a vise-like grip.  Before he had taken five steps, he was thrown back, bowled over by a wave of power like nothing he had ever felt.

Nimoë was singing.

Her eyes were rolled back into her head, showing only the whites, and her body was stiff as death.  Legolas tried to rise, but found that he was pinned to the ground.  He looked behind him and saw that the others were similarly bound, trapped beneath a power stronger than their ability to fight.

The Balrog ceased its advance, and it lowered itself down on one massive knee, head bent as if awaiting command.

The singing stopped, but the crushing weight remained, and Legolas struggled futilely.  A strange, resonant laugh rang through the chamber, echoing off of the domed ceiling, bubbling in counterpoint with the molten magma that flowed about the base of the walls.

Legolas watched in horror as Nimoë's mouth opened and a voice, deep and undeniably masculine, poured forth, as strong as the sea, but full of venom.  "Foolish creatures!  You are weak.  Your minds are so easily toyed with."

Legolas heard a choked sob behind him, recognized it as Caldarion.  So easily toyed with…

"Now you will bear witness to my rebirth.  You have brought me the vessel.  Such a fair jewel…  To be the mother of a God!"

Legolas strained impotently to rise, to pull Nimoë away from the grip of the Hand of Morgoth.  What was the Valar suggesting?  That he would be literally born into the world?  How?

The very thought of his beloved bearing the essence of Evil within her womb was too much to bear, and the Elf Prince let out a roar of rage.  "Never!!!"

"SILENCE!!!"  The true power of Morgoth rolled over the four men, struggling on the cavern floor, so loud as to bring about momentary deafness.  Legolas felt his consciousness slipping with the sensory assault, and he gritted his teeth, doggedly hanging on to his awareness.

He knew then when Nimoë began to sing.  Her voice rose strong and true, a melody like none he had ever heard, calling to mind the creatures that slink in the mud of the deepest swamps and, at the same time, the inevitability of the tide.  No.  NO!!!

As he watched, unable to intervene, her body began to convulse in the grip of the talon tipped cloud.  The fabric of her song wavered, then ceased, as she bent in half, clasping her arms around her belly, her face twisting in agony.  Her skin went sheer white, and for a moment Legolas saw her raise her face to his.  He could see the grey irises of her eyes, pleading with him, begging him to stop the pain.

Tears fell unheeded down his face, for he could do nothing.  He could not fight the power of Morgoth, given substance through her song.

The sounds of sobbing behind him went almost unheard, along with mutterings of, "I cannot…  He will kill me…  But the power is not enough…  I can fight him…  But I must not…"

Then Raven's voice spoke out, "Now is the time to prove your worth, Elf.  You have already shown yourself capable of treachery.  Yet now you can save us all.  Save the girl, and your debt shall be paid."

Unable to comprehend what he was hearing, Legolas glanced over his shoulder.  Caldarion was in a half-crouch, his features twisted in a death rictus, but his eyes burning with the fire of conviction.

With a howl, the young Elf launched himself forward.  Legolas heard the crunching sound of bones snapping as Caldarion broke through the barrier of power.  Ignoring the pain, he staggered forward, screaming, "You shall not defeat me!!!"

His sword raised high, he swung madly at the base of the cloud arm, slashing through the swirling mass, severing the Hand of Morgoth from its link to the Void.

As Nimoë crashed to the ground, the stump of the cloud arm flailed wildly, and before Legolas could react, it crashed into Caldarion's broken body, sending him staggering forward.

The last words he spoke before he plunged headlong into the seething Void were, "Save them all, Legolas!"