Title: Light After the Storm, Chapter Three: "Stop the Wedding!"
Author: Nefertili
Fandom: Lord of the Rings
Pairing(s): Aragorn/Legolas
Rating: PG
Genre(s): Romance, Angst
Warning(s): SLASH, meaning same gender relationships. If you are disturbed by this, read no further. Don't say I didn't warn you. There is also violence in here.
Author's Notes: Well, well, I'm going pretty fast now. Ahem, the first line in this chapter…I have to use the words a priest uses in a wedding 'coz I am not in the mood to make mine! Well, nothing much to say but…read on!
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"Aragorn, son of Arathorn, do you accept Arwen Undomiel, daughter of Elrond Peredhel, as your lawful wife, to love and cherish from this day forward, till death do you part?"
Aragorn blinked several times and looked at the priest presiding his wedding then his bride Arwen. His body was in the temple, but his mind was somewhere else, therefore he hadn't found a sense on what was happening around him until now. He opened his mouth, but no sound came out. I must say yes…I must say yes…But he just couldn't. The image of Legolas flickered in his mind; no smile was on his face, only an impassive expression was shown on that fair face…save for some tears that slowly trickled down from his sapphire eyes. I can't say it…Legolas…
Arwen blinked her eyes repeatedly at her groom in an aristocratic manner, as though enticing him to say what he ought not to say.
"I…I…I…" Aragorn muttered, but the word, no matter how hard he tried, would not just form and come out of his mouth.
"STOP! STOP THE WEDDING!"
Aragorn reeled about, so did all the guests and Arwen, to see the keeper of the voice that gave such order. At the entrance was Legolas seated feebly on Hasufel, but he hardly looked like the Prince of Mirkwood at all. His moonlight blond hair was disheveled and out of the usually neat plaits he captured them in; he was wounded all over as though he just faced Sauron himself; his skin took on the color of a slightly grayish tint and trooped behind him were thick drops of sweat, blood and tears. His eyes were half-closed due to prolonged crying.
"Aragorn…" Legolas muttered weakly, his voice barely audible as he dismounted unsteadily from Hasufel.
"Legolas…" Elessar answered his love, taking a step forward, but he was rooted in the front of the altar by Arwen, pulling him closer to her and preventing him from doing any assistance to Legolas.
"Just you try," Arwen hissed at him, her grip on his shoulder tightening.
"Aragorn…" Legolas muttered once more. He could hardly walk; he slipped halfway through the aisle. He reached out for the heir of Gondor, who was beyond his reach. "I traveled; here flesh and blood, please, Aragorn, don't let all my trials fall into nothingness. I came here for you…you…" Legolas suddenly gasped. To everyone's horror, drops of blood fell to the carpeted ground as he coughed.
"No, stop, Legolas…"
"Aragorn, do…I…not…matter…to…you?" After every word he pronounced, he hacked up small amounts of the red liquid from his mouth and he breathed shallowly in short pants.
Aragorn could not take it anymore to see him as such. He pushed Arwen's hands which were restraining him away and kneeled down beside Legolas. He gently took the quivering Elf in his arms, no minding whether the blood from his numerous cuts stained his garments.
"Elessar!" Arwen hollered. "You can't be doing this! You-'' she pointed a commanding finger of hers to Legolas. "-you have not the right to be here, Greenleaf! Leave now before you force this Elven Princess to carry out an order you really shall regret!"
Astoundingly, Aragorn answered back. "That is enough! I am tired of your persistence!"
"WE ARE TIRED OF YOUR PERSISTENCE!"
Arwen looked about her carefully and demanded silently, "Who said that?"
All that remained of the Fellowship of the Ring stood up from their assigned pews, along with several of the inhabitants of Gondor, and Faramir and Éowyn, the Shield Maiden of Rohan.
"Was your concern for your fellow people put to waste, Lady Arwen?" Gandalf said, walking out of his pew and standing between the Elven lady and the lovers.
"Legolas is injured, can't you see…or have you really turned blind from your age?!" Gimli the dwarf added, following Gandalf's suit, his axe drawn.
"Well, those injuries do not give him the permit to interfere in this sacred ceremony, do they, Strider?" Arwen snapped back at all those who contradicted her. She turned a haughty eye at Aragorn. A great shock awaited her; the son of Arathorn was wiping Legolas' bloody, sweat-bathed face with a golden cloth draped around his tunic.
Arwen cried out with dismay as she ran down the stairs with her raven hair flying behind her. She pushed Gandalf and Gimli aside recklessly and grabbed the cloth from Aragorn's hands. "You are not a fool, are you? This very cloth already cost us more than what you think it does. I do not want, and it is not meant, to be used on so shameful an Elf like the one lying before you!"
Several of the guests gasped and Lady Galadriel and Lord Celeborn nearly stood up the moment the harsh words exploded from their granddaughter's mouth. Arwen of Imladris, insult an Elven Prince?
"That does it!" Gimli growled, brandishing his axe at Arwen. The hobbits of the Fellowship, Frodo, Sam, Merry and Pippin jumped from their seats held him back. They were alarmed by the threatening look Elrond, Arwen's father, had given him.
"What do thou mean, Lord Elrond?" Gandalf said, upon realizing and understanding the situation. "Arwen may be your daughter, but you would not let her go astray. You are wise enough in matters like this, I know it."
Elrond remained silent and did not answer, but he did give his daughter a piercing look that meant a warning to keep silent.
"Please, honorable guests, let us stop this misunderstanding!" Aragorn yelled above the argument so he can be heard. The whole assembly took on some silence and fixed their eyes on the heir of Isildur, carrying the bedraggled Prince Legolas face up on his lap.
"We stumbled upon some confusion. If not for me, none of this might have happened," he said, loud enough for the whole hall to hear.
"Es…es…tel," Legolas said, choking on his own words, dashes of red escaping from his mouth.
"Shh, save your energy," Aragorn told him in an unusually tender voice, closing his love's lips with a gentle touch of his fingers. He then faced the whole crowd stationed before him, a whole crowd of heads, of different races and nations. He took his time in examining each and every corner of the place before saying, "If I were to do something for the welfare of everyone gathered here, in this hall of the heart of Elvendom on earth, I would like to take back all that I hath said the day before this present date."
Aragorn continued in a lot more stern voice, "I would like to take back what I said that I shall unite myself with Arwen of Imladris, daughter of Elrond. This ceremony is made for love, and true love at that, isn't it?"
He looked at the crowd for a reply. "Isn't it?"
"Yes, yes!" they all answered in unison.
Aragorn nodded. "And so it is. I would like to express my sincere apologies to some persons now with us. First, to Lord Elrond and his daughter." He took a deep breath. "I apologize for giving you all the responsibilities in arranging for this marriage, but I…I am really sorry but my heart already belongs to someone else." Lord Elrond nodded serenely, though his face was free of all expression. Arwen got angrier all the more.
He then scanned all the guests. "Second, to all those who are invited and made it to this fateful event. Thank you for answering our invitation openly, but I apologize, for I cannot marry the Elf as mentioned today."
Aragorn closed his eyes and bowed. When he finally opened them, he stared at Legolas' face for some time. This is not Legolas…The Legolas he knew had the smooth, radiant face which was always brightened by a smile. No, this Legolas is different…only a mask of pain and torment.
"Lastly, to Legolas, son of Thranduil, I express my most sincere request for forgiveness." Aragorn gazed at those dimmed, pained eyes that belonged to Legolas. Judging by the despair shown in the orbs, he knew his heart was breaking, and Aragorn knew his was close to being ton as well. He spoke solemnly. "I avoided telling you about this wedding because I don't want you to break your heart. All my intentions are good; I thought it is better for you to live eternally rather than be a low mortal like me. But I was wrong. I hurt you all the more; you underwent severe trials for my sake. I broke your heart all the more. Legolas, forgive me.
I swore to myself and to all gathered now that I shall only be with the someone I love more than my life itself; I will have that someone alone. And do you know who that is, Legolas?"
Legolas, all weak and exhausted, pain tearing all over his body, shook his head very slowly and closed his eyes to rest them for a while.
Aragorn asked the crowd. "Do you know who that is?"
When no one answered, Estel once more looked at Legolas lovingly and said, "It is you, my Legolas! It is you whom I love, no one else." He placed a calloused hand on Legolas' gashed cheek. "I love you, Legolas. I love no one else but you, from the bottom of my heart."
Legolas wasn't able to move, but a tear slid from his eye the moment he heard this declaration of love.
"Do you not know it hurts me to see you cry, my charming Prince?"
Legolas managed to sigh with relief and closed his yes once more. More tears flowed to Aragorn's hand. He longed to hold his beloved's hand, but his own strength wasn't enough.
"Es…tel," he whispered weakly, though he meant to say I love you too.
"NO!" Arwen shrieked, pulling at her long locks. "NO! NO! NO! Aragorn, take back what you said!"
"You can't give me orders like that," Aragorn replied sarcastically.
Arwen was enraged to be denied her wishes. "You might be forgetting before whom you stand…" She addressed the guests, "Anyone willing to side with me for my love for the Elfstone, raise your hand!" But there wasn't a difference. There wasn't a hand in the air.
"WHAT! NOT EVEN YOU, FATHER?!"
Lord Elrond stood up from his seat and approached the aisle, where his daughter and the two lovers were. He had on an expression one couldn't read.
Legolas trembled all the more and clung to Aragorn's robes like a child to its mother. What will the Peredhel do to them? Will they receive an order for punishment, or worse, an order for them to separate?
Amazingly, Elrond did neither. He gently touched Legolas' forehead, smiled and said, "Be healed, Prince of Mirkwood."
Legolas dared to raise his hand, and he found out his strength had returned. Aragorn took the Prince's hand and touched Legolas' cheek with it. Smooth and unblemished…He was healed.
"NO! FATHER, HOW COULD YOU?" Arwen yelled at the top of her lungs.
"What, my child? The thing that amazes me is that, how can my daughter, whom I raised up cultivated with love, turn away a wounded kin?" Elrond replied, helping Legolas and Aragorn stand on their feet.
"He's ruining my wedding, that's why."
Then, in the midst of the stricken-faced guests, Elrond did the impossible a father could do to his child. He pulled Arwen's cheek, shouting, "Let go of this mask, impostor! You are not my daughter!"
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What do you think is Elrond playing at? *wink, wink*