Author's Note: Sorry, this update took a bit longer than usual, but writer's block tends to plague me sporadically, anything to make my life more difficult. But anyways, all that is behind us now and we can get on with the show! As always, I love you guys so much for your reviews, and to those who are actually recommending my writing, thank you for the honor, I love being word of mouth! Okay then, I'm sure you've waited long enough for the chapter so I'll shut up now, and my last name's still not Tolkien so hopefully fanfiction will not become a liability anytime soon.

Chapter 18

As Gimli watched, the elf drew the bow string taut once more, an arrow fitted expertly to it. But before Gimli could even bring himself to say anything, before he could call out to his friend and ask him what he was doing, Legolas' form wavered slightly and he blinked.

The elf paused for a moment, and then his arms went slack, bringing the bow and arrow down from their readied position. Legolas blinked again.

"Gimli?"

Gimli finally pushed himself up from the ground, gritting his teeth against the pain radiating from his arm as he did so. He turned all the way around to face the elf properly. As he turned, something in the back of his mind noted that Bergel was standing still behind him, his face pale and drawn. But Gimli could hardly be bothered with him right now.

"Legolas?" Gimli finally said as he steadied himself, his voice cracking as he spoke.

"Gimli," Legolas said again, "did you not feel it?" Legolas stopped and looked down at the bow and arrow still held in his hands. He glanced up and stared right at Gimli's shoulder, at the arrow piercing through him before dropping his gaze to his own hands again. He dropped his weapons.

"Gimli," he said one more time, his voice soft and terror stricken.

The dwarf closed his eyes and grabbed a hold of the front shaft of the arrow with one hand. Taking a deep breath and steeling himself, he deftly snapped the arrow head off. As quick as he had been, he could not help the small cry that escaped from his lips at the wave of fire that passed down his arm and through his chest.

He re-opened his eyes in time to see Legolas take an unsteady step towards him and then stop, uncertain.

"Legolas," a voice called out from behind him.

Legolas did not even turn, he could not tear his eyes away from the arrow shaft still lodged in his friend's shoulder.

A hand placed itself on the elf's shoulder, but he did not even flinch to acknowledge it. "Legolas," the voice started again, "you should not be up." But the voice faded away as Aragorn took in the scene before him. He saw Gimli standing a small ways off from them, his stout form trembling as he tried to stave off pain. He then saw the broken shaft still in his shoulder, and his eyes traveled slowly to the bow and arrow laying on the ground at the elf's feet.

Faramir came up to the side of Aragorn and Legolas, his own eyes taking in everything quickly. "What has happened?" he asked quietly.

"The gold-haired elf," came a small moan from a distraught Bergel who was now sitting down in the dirt, his knees drawn up to his chest. "Gold- haired elf," he mumbled to himself as he began rocking back and forth.

"Aragorn," Gimli gasped out, stumbling forward a step. "It is not what you think."

"It is my fault," Legolas interrupted him. He finally took his gaze away from Gimli and turned to look straight into Aragorn's face. "I am the killer."

Aragorn's expression did not change, revealed nothing about whether he believed nor disbelieved the elf, but he did draw his hand away from his shoulder and took a small step back, his eyes glinting hard as he scrutinized something only he could see. Behind him, Faramir's face was openly doubtful.

"No," Gimli panted, taking another step forward, "do not listen to him Aragorn, he is not in his right mind."

Legolas said nothing, but Aragorn stepped away from him, immediately making his way for Gimli. "Please," he told the dwarf, "sit down and let me see to your wound."

Gimli complied, but he continued talking as he did so. "Legolas does not know what he is saying, it is not his fault."

"We will figure that out later," Aragorn cut Gimli off, his voice unusually terse and near anger. "Right now your shoulder is my largest concern."

Without a word of warning, Aragorn grabbed onto the back end of the arrow that Gimli had not broken off and jerked on it, pulling the shaft cleanly through. Gimli let out another cry at this, one that was more anger than pain, and glared at Aragorn.

"What did you have to go do that for?" he demanded.

Aragorn was busy clasping his hands over the wound to keep blood from pouring out. "Would you have preferred I left it in there?" he responded in a voice torn with many different emotions.

"Faramir," Aragorn called out to the young man still standing beside the elf, "help me get him up and back to the Houses of Healing."

"I can walk myself," Gimli grumbled, pushing Aragorn away. Aragorn ignored the dwarf and kept his place next to him, waiting for Faramir to come up and join them. Faramir, his face still confused and doubtful, came quickly to them. Aragorn glanced up at the elf who was still standing still, his blue eyes still trained on Gimli's shoulder.

"You are to come with us," Aragorn said, "there is a lot of explaining that needs to be done."

"I have already told you all that you need to know," Legolas said softly, his eyes not moving up to meet Aragorn's.

Aragorn let out a breath through clenched teeth. His own anger was growing, not at his friends, but at the situation itself. He was not going to stand by and idly watch all of this happen. He was going to figure it all out once and for all.

"Then if you are the killer you are to stay in my sight until I decide what is to be done with you. That means you are to come to the Houses of Healing with us now." Aragorn's tone was not one to be argued with.

Legolas said nothing and only turned, walking ahead of them straight to the Houses of Healing. He had paused momentarily before stooping to collect his fallen bow and arrow, but now he held them loosely in his hand, as if he truly did not wish to be carrying them at all.

Nothing was said when they all reached the small building that was becoming all too familiar to them and Aragorn quickly and expertly bound Gimli's shoulder. He also mixed together a drink in which he placed several herbs he had on hand and ordered Gimli to drink it, telling him it would help for the pain. Gimli grumbled something about not needing to douse the pain, but he drank it anyway.

"Now," Aragorn said when Gimli had finished his drink and was as comfortable as possible, "will everybody kindly tell me what is happening, starting with why you send for us when you are not even here."

Gimli's eyebrows shot up. "What do you mean?"

"I mean when you came to get us not a long while ago. You said that Legolas was up and wanting to see me. Yet when Faramir and I came in here he was not here, and you had already left yourself. I had wondered if it was some small conspiracy between you two, but I guess other deeds were afoot."

Gimli's face was a mask of confusion. "I had left because I had already heard what the elf had to say and I must confess that I did not like it one bit. I had hoped that you and Faramir would be able to talk some sense into him." Gimli looked over at the elf leaning against a wall in a corner, his arms crossed over his chest. "Why did you leave?"

Legolas did not look up as he spoke, his gaze trained on the stone floor. "No sooner had you gone than I sensed some evil in the back of my mind. Since there had already been a murder tonight, I assumed that the murderer had not yet gone too far and I had every intention of going out to stop him. But then everything went wrong," Legolas' voice trailed off.

Aragorn was staring hard at the elf. "But if your intentions were to go out and catch the killer, then why are you so quick to say it was yourself?"

"That is what I had wished to talk to you about," Legolas replied, his voice monotone and his eyes still on the floor. "I had already explained to Gimli that I am responsible for the murders."

"And I say that is the most ridiculous tale I have ever heard," Gimli interrupted, struggling to get off of the stone slab Aragorn had put him on. Aragorn held out an arm and held the dwarf back. Gimli looked over at him and glared before settling back down.

Legolas went on as if Gimli had never interrupted and quietly told Aragorn and Faramir what he had told the dwarf, what he had meant to tell them the first time they had come to him. He explained the odd memory loss and then him suddenly remembering and how he had been present for all but one of the murders. He also told them what had happened earlier that night with the mob of men after another murder and how he had been too late to see who had actually done it.

"And then I went to seek him again, I had a strong sense of the murderer," Legolas finished, "but then Gimli was there and I shot him." Legolas still kept his eyes trained on the floor, his voice still quiet and emotionless. "I shot my best friend."

"You see," Gimli declared, "something is wrong with his mind. He admits not being able to remember and he has it in his head that he is responsible."

"And now I am a danger to my own friends," Legolas cut in dryly.

"Danger," Gimli scoffed, "I know your aim better than that elf. If you had wanted to kill me I'd be dead."

Legolas said nothing but finally lifted his eyes, and the darkness that lurked in the depths of them stilled Gimli's tongue. His wound flared up painfully and Gimli shrugged his shoulder absently.

Gimli looked away from his friend and then remembered something else. "But none of this is important at the moment. The important thing is I know who the killer is now."

Aragorn looked over at Gimli. "What? How do you know?"

"It was after I left you two when I had assumed you would come straight in here to find Legolas. I wandered down the streets and ran into Bergel. He told me that the killer has been using him and that he is trying to frame Legolas."

Aragorn frowned. "That is what he said, in those words?"

Gimli thought for a moment. "Those were not his exact words, but that was what I gathered. He said the real killer looks like Legolas and is an elf but not from around here. He's also scared to death of this elf and says he's going to kill him next."

Faramir spoke up for the first time. "Where is this Bergel?"

"He was the man who was behind me in the street," Gimli said absently. Then he looked over his shoulder and towards the empty doorway. "Did he not come with us?"

Aragorn looked behind himself as well. "No, I did not think to ask him to come with us at the time."

A feeling of apprehension overcame Gimli. He climbed off the slab, and this time Aragorn did not hold him back.

"We left him alone, and the killer is still out there."

Aragorn was already moving for the door. "He is our only lead towards the killer." Aragorn stopped and thought of something before exiting the structure. He turned and held out an arm to stop Gimli.

"You stay here, your injury is not healed yet and I do not want you disturbing it."

"Injury or no, there's no way I'm staying idly behind," Gimli declared, "Bergel's a friend of mine, and it's my fault he's in danger, I made him tell me what he knew. I told him we would look after him from now on, that he would be safe."

Aragorn glanced back at Faramir and Legolas who were still standing in the room. "You two stay here," he said after a moment's decision. "We will be back quickly."

Faramir nodded once and Aragorn turned to go, Gimli following after him.

Legolas remained where he was.

His mind was still being overshadowed by some kind of dark menace, but he could no longer trust it. He would not be going out there again, especially with his friends out there. He would not risk putting them in danger. Closing his eyes, Legolas tried to will the feeling away, to clear his mind so that he could think straight. He did not want that hazy and overshadowed feeling to come over him again, the one that had overcome him right before he realized he had shot Gimli.

Faramir went to the door and looked outside it. He could see Aragorn and Gimli moving quickly down the street, hoping to get to Bergel before the killer did. He let out a sigh and stepped back from the doorframe. So much had happened in Gondor in such little time. Aragorn had just barely finished filling him in on all that had been happening and the rising suspicions over Legolas when Gimli had come to get them. For his part, he believed that the elf was responsible no more than Aragorn did. He had gotten to know the elf during the restoration of Ithilien and the two had become friends as they worked together. Though the elf was at times aloof Faramir was confident in his knowledge that Legolas was kind and noble, he would never harm an innocent.

Faramir turned to regard the elf now, who had not moved from his position and was standing with his eyes closed. The man wanted to say something to the elf, to either reassure him or explain something to him, but he did not even know what to say. The elf did not seem approachable at the moment, and it was almost as if he was not quite all there. Something was going on with him, there was no doubt about that, and Faramir was reluctant to disturb whatever he was doing at the moment.

So Faramir looked back at the door, hoping it would not be too long before Aragorn and Gimli returned, hopefully with Bergel.