@namarie2legolas : You want some gum? Will bubble-gum do? Of course he will name the wolf 'Wolf'. He's so uncreative!
@Will_gurl : Thank you! I won't give up on this story, I promise. My motto is 'It's not over till it's over'. I'll try to post new chapter everyday so you won't be waiting too long and losing the story flow.
@Fire Breathing Ferret : A moose with a fan on his head? Ha ha ha!!!!! Oh, wait! Here comes a fat bulldog with side mirrors sticking out of his neck, barreling straight at me!!!! And what is that in his mouth? Oh no! It's your precious ferret!!
@Aranel of Mirkwood : Be naughty and read my story when you shouldn't. Rules are meant to be broken! (Sorry about that. I'm quite rebellious sometime! He! He!)
@purplesmackers : I'll try not to be so pessimistic. So, Hallmark, here I come!!! Talented writer? Who, me? Naw….(I love it though!) Stop that. You're making me blush!
@LOTRFAith : Yes. Leggy is in denial and refusing any help. Stupid elven pride!
@Alkvingiel : Hugs you too!!!!
@bloodkittie : Thranduil is going to 'knock' some sense into Legolas, all right. I mean, really 'knock' him good! You'll find out why in this chapter.
@tbiris : Thranduil didn't get yelled at? Hmmm, I don't think so…
@Vana E : A positive and O negative. Well, nice combination. Do you have any recipe for blood cooking? Anyway, listening to your alter egos speaking, they remind me a lot of the film 'Identity'. You are not going to kill me after this fic is finish, are you?
@Sailor Elf : Don't go in there, pal. He's NOT in the good mood.
@szhismine : So shoot me! I hope you won't hit Thranduil this time! Ha! Ha!
@Kayo : You hate Arwen too? Okay. No comment. LOL!!! Jack Sparrow? I have bribed him with a full tanker of rum! He's mine!!!
@DiamondD : I also fear if my mom knows how colorful her daughter's mind is! I really like Éomer. He is hot! Good luck on your exam!
@Lomiothiel : Legolas had blown his fuse somewhere! That's why he acted thus like a wounded grizzly bear! And the best features of riot are the flying Molotov Cocktails! Awesome!
@IrishQT : I used .html to upload. Oh. Beware of this chapter. Get some tissue on hand!
@Menthol : Err… yes. Love to torture Leggy.
@feanen : Thranduil is a lifesaver. For now.
@twinlakesghrl : I'm sorry to make you so sad. So, I'm going to give you more to cry about!! Beware of this tear-jerker chapter!!!!!
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Legolas was dreaming.
He knew it was only a dream for he could clearly see Narasene, his fiancé, smiling lovingly back at him. She was clad all in white; her dress was of the softest silk and her shawl of the sheerest material. Her long raven hair cascaded down her back almost to her hips, swept away from her fair glowing face by the kissing breeze. His royal signet ring hung by the thin golden chain she wore around her neck, and it glittered in the moonlight as she touched it with her long tapered fingers.
"Legolas…"
He heard her melodic voice calling his name. Strange. Her pale pink lips didn't seem to move at all.
I love you, Nara! he shouted, reaching up for her. I love you!
She seemed to be gliding further and further away from him.
No! Don't go! Nara!!!
"Legolas?"
He jerked awake instantly. Narasene's image completely vanished and everything returned to black once more. "Father?"
"Yes, son. You were talking in your sleep. Were you dreaming?"
"I…I dreamed of Nara," Legolas softly told his father as he gingerly rose himself to a sitting position.
Thranduil smiled at that. "She sends you her love."
"She stays in Rivendell?" asked the prince, half hoping that his fiancé had also come along with his father to Minas Tirith.
"She really wanted to come, but Glorfindel is not so eager to let his niece outside the realm even though the Darkness is defeated. Sauron's servants are still roaming all over Middle Earth, who mostly come from Dol Guldur, and they are getting more dangerous now because they have no leader and no purpose. They are killing at will, aimless and without direction. We even met a party of orcs on our way here. Thankfully, their strength was not as strong as ours."
Legolas was silent for a long time before replying, "It's good that she hasn't come along with you, father. I can't bear to have her see me like this. She will be very disappointed."
Thranduil was startled. "Why do you think that way?"
"Because I'm not whole anymore! I'm blind! I will only bring her disgrace and hurt. I can't do that to her."
Sighing, the king cupped both his son's cheeks within his palms. "Legolas, you will never be a disgrace. You are a prince, a warrior, and one of the Nine Walkers. How can you be a disgrace to us all?"
"A burden then. I'm nothing but a burden to all of you!"
"That's not true. Now stop saying this nonsense. It's not going to help."
Legolas shrugged off his father's hands and faced the other way. "Then what will help me, pray tell!"
Thranduil shook his head at his son's despair. He was about to reply when knockings came at the door. "Enter."
The door opened and Éowyn walked in, her arms laden with a tray of morning meal for the patient. Faramir was right behind him, carrying a flask in one hand. Éowyn smiled and bowed slightly to the Mirkwood king. "My lord. I've brought some hot tomato soup for your son."
"His son doesn't want it, thank you very much!" Legolas said from the bed, still facing the wall.
Thranduil frowned at the prince. "Legolas. That's not the way to talk to a lady."
"Oh, how is it then? Forgive me, my lady Éowyn, I have no desire to feed on the same terrible soup that I've tasted these previous awful days. Don't you have anything else edible on the menu? Is that how it is?"
"Legolas!" The king was flabbergasted at his son's churlishness. Never had Legolas behaved so impudently before. But Éowyn only smiled as he placed the tray on the table. "You must be getting better now to have come out with such long speech, Legolas. Mostly you answered me with not more than a three syllable word."
Legolas muttered something under his breath in Sindarin. Faramir and Éowyn looked at each other as they didn't understand what he was saying, but obviously Thranduil did. "Cease that, Legolas! You are being incredibly rude!"
The prince only smirked in reply. Thranduil threw his hands up in the air in total exasperation. Éowyn almost chuckled at the king's gesture. To see such a great ruler of a powerful kingdom emit that kind of reaction was not only rare but also nearly impossible. She took the flask from Faramir and poured the content into a cup. "Lord Aragorn wants you to take this potion that he has freshly made. And you need to have it at your every meal and finish it off by the end of the day."
"Aragorn and his blasted potion can go to…"
"Legolas!!" Thranduil yelled in warning.
"I hate it! It tastes vile and smells even worse than pig waste! Curse Elrond for teaching its making to that human!"
"Stop this, Legolas! Can't you see that you're hurting everyone that cares for you?"
Legolas growled, "See? What it is to see? I'M BLIND, REMEMBER?!"
Long silence then. Thranduil took a deep long breath to calm down. He could feel the extreme hurt coming from his son. The king wished that he could do something to appease it. "Legolas, don't despair so. Your sight will return, but you need to let us help you to heal. So drink the potion that Aragorn had made for you."
As if on cue, Éowyn sat down on the bed and gently placed the cup to Legolas' lips. "Here, Legolas."
The elf prince immediately exploded. "I SAID NO! LEAVE ME ALONE, BLAST YOU!" He swiped his hand and Éowyn was hit smartly on her forehead. She cried out in shocked pain as she tumbled to the floor, the cup of draught flew off her hands.
"Éowyn!" Faramir instantly reached down and help her to her feet.
Thranduil finally lost his patience. He swung his arm and slapped his son's face. Hard.
"HOW DARE YOU!!" Thranduil yelled, slapping at Legolas again. "How dare you spurn the hands that try to help you?! Haven't I taught you enough?! Have you no respect for others?!"
Legolas cried out as his father's palm landed again and again on both his cheeks. Faramir and Éowyn watched wide-eyed as Legolas scooted backwards to lean against the headboard, cowering in terror.
"Please, my lord, stop," Faramir voiced out tentatively as his heart went out to Legolas. The scene he was seeing reminded him a lot of his own father's abusive hands. Denethor favored Boromir more than him, and Faramir had always suffered the brunt of his father's anger and dissatisfaction. He had heard of Legolas' closeness with his own father and Faramir envied that. Never had he thought that the elven king would hit his own son like this, like Denethor always did to him.
"My lord, have mercy on him, please," he tried again, his arms wrapped tightly about Éowyn's trembling form. She was already crying.
But Thranduil was not finish. There was desperation in his voice as he yelled, "You are a noble prince! You have not failed! Why are you like this? Why are you so weak and full of disrespect to us and yourself?! WHY?!"
The king had stopped hitting Legolas and was glaring down at the prince. "Right, then. We do it your way. You want to be alone? We'll leave you alone. Don't expect us to return. You can rot in here for all I care!"
Thranduil then turned to Faramir and Éowyn who looked extremely shock. "Leave him to his woe!" He put an arm around the Rohan lady and steered them both towards the door. Both Faramir and Éowyn started to protest, but Thranduil interjected, "We give him what he wants. If he doesn't need us, then we don't need him!"
Legolas listened with increasing horror at their retreating footsteps. They are really leaving me? Then the sound of the door slamming shut hit his eardrums. They left me! No! They can't do that!!
He quickly scrambled over the bed and fell in a heap on the floor. Great pain shot up his injured thigh when his wound was brutally jarred by the fall, but he didn't care. "No. Don't go," he pleaded as he crawled on all fours towards the direction of the door. "Come back! I'm sorry! Don't leave me, please! Come back! Please, I'm begging you!!!"
Legolas stretched out his arms and found the wall. But where is the door? "Éowyn, I'm sorry! Father! Father, forgive me! Please, father, I beg you…Come back…please, come back…"
He collapsed there in a fitful of sobs, only a yard away from the door. Tears of despair and agony slipped through from under the cloth covering his eyes and ran down his reddened cheeks. So deep he was in his misery that he didn't realize that another presence was still in the room.
Thranduil himself was already in tears as he witnessed his son's anguish. He had pushed Éowyn and Faramir through the door but he had not followed them out. What he had said and done just now was only to strike some sense into Legolas' head but, oh, how painful the outcome was! His heart had broken to pieces when he watched in silent as Legolas crawled on his hands and knees, calling and begging for forgiveness and mercy. Thranduil couldn't take it anymore.
Legolas gasped in surprise when a pair of strong arms wrapped around him and pulled him into a warm familiar embrace. "Father!!" He buried his face deeper into the king's chest, clutching desperately at Thranduil's tunic. "Forgive me, father! Please don't leave me!"
Thranduil swallowed his tears. "I would never leave you, my son."
"I was wrong to give in! I'll be strong, father, I promise! I will take the potion, every hour if you want me to! I'll do anything you say, anything! Just don't leave me…I'm so scared…"
"I know, Legolas. I know." The king kissed his son's temple and whispered words of assurance. He couldn't help but recollect the one time that Legolas had begged him in quite the same fashion. The prince was only 500 years old then and was just rescued from the Mirkwood dungeon after being lost in there for a week. Legolas had hated the dark ever since. And to think that he was going to see the black void forever was too much for the king to bear.
Thranduil placed an arm under Legolas' knees. Gently, he lifted his son off the cold floor and carried him back to the bed. Legolas refused to release his hold on his father. Cradling the prince with one arm, Thranduil reached behind him to grab the flask on the bedside table that contained the rest of the draught. One handedly, he opened the lid and placed it at Legolas' lips. "Here. Take some of this, son."
Legolas obeyed without fuss. He gulped it down almost greedily, uncaring of its foul taste and smell. When he knew that his son had taken enough, Thranduil pulled the flask away.
"I…I can finish it, father," Legolas said, slightly quivering.
"That will be enough for now. You can take the rest of it tonight." Thranduil settled his son more comfortably in his arms. He pulled the coverlet and covered the young elf to his waist. "Sleep now, little one. Be scared no longer. I'm right here. I won't leave you." The king leaned down and planted a kiss on his son's cheek. "You are not alone."
Just outside the door in the hallway, Éowyn and Faramir were holding on to each other as they listened to Legolas' pitiful cries, begging them to return and forgive him. Éowyn almost relented and had reached for the doorknob but Faramir stopped her. "Don't. Let the king help his son. Legolas will be fine."
She looked up at him, this man that made her heart flutter, and asked softly, "Will he, Faramir? He looked so hurt…and lost."
Faramir nodded as he touched her pale cheek that was wet with tears. "Thranduil is a good father. He will never let his son be hurt and lost forever. His father's love is all that it takes to heal Legolas of his maladies, Éowyn. Trust me. I know."
Éowyn kept staring at Faramir's handsome face, searching for the real man behind all that stiff façade. There was some pain as well as longing in his clear green eyes. She knew of his troubles he had had with his own father, and she understood what he meant. "I trust you, Faramir."
After a long silence, Faramir lowered down his head and kissed her lips. She didn't resist and leaned fully against him. This is the man, she thought. This is the man that Legolas had told me about that will bind my soul to his. He is the one. This is where my future and heart truly lies.
On the other side of the door, Thranduil was gently rocking his son back to sleep as he hummed a long-time lullaby. His sight will return, he vowed silently. My son is going to see again and nothing will stop it! He has suffered greatly for others for too many times already! It is now his turn to receive the great mercy he has bestowed upon them! My little Greenleaf will heal, and be damned to those who stand in the way!
TBC…