Color of Distress
Discalimer- I am absolutely tickled pink. I will never be able to write something as amazing as Lord of the Rings. Meaning that it is not mine.
A/N: It's been a really long while, and I apologize for keeping you waiting. It's been a hectic month for me with my final exams, but once they were over, I rushed to my computer and began writing. So enjoy!
Chapter 6 - "I do not like killing."
Gimli was happily speaking of the gift he received from Galadriel, three strands of her golden hair. Legolas continued paddling along in the boat, staring straight ahead. Gimli was so elated with his gift he barely noticed that Legolas clutched the oar so tightly his hands were white.
"…generous, beautiful, kind…. I shall never again…."
If she cannot cure me… then who will?
Legolas shook his head, refusing to think any further.
"…fairest that I have ever laid my eyes upon…"
"Gimli, what will become of me?"
Gimli started and twisted around to look at Legolas. "What do you mean by that?"
He shrugged lightly. "What will I do now?"
"Well, to start, you and I will help Frodo along to Mordor." Gimli said, grabbing the sides of the boat as it began to sway from his movements.
"Will I make it there, do you think?" Legolas asked.
"And why ever not? Out of all of us, you'd be the fastest to nip in and out of that cursed place." Gimli said.
"So what you said at the council was not true, after all." Legolas bit back a small smile. His spirits rose from his melancholy thoughts with the light banter they began exchanging.
"What did I say at the council?"
"Something about not liking the idea that the ring would fall into the hands of an elf."
"Ah. Well, you see… that was before I discovered that….er…" Gimli searched for a snappy answer. Finding none, he chuckled at himself good-naturedly. "By the hells, Legolas, you were right. It was not true."
Boromir suddenly called over to their boat. "There is a small clearing ahead. Shall we stop there for the night?"
"Yes!" Gimli yelled back, rising from his seat slightly in excitement. "I've had enough of these damned boats. If there are three things that this dwarf hates, it is trees, boats, and horses!"
"No." Aragorn said from in front of them, turning around slightly. "We must make haste."
"But surely we need to rest somewhere and eat!" Gimli said stubbornly. "Ask the hobbits. I'd say they would like to stop."
"Of course, they would want to eat." Legolas said dryly.
Aragorn hesitated for a moment, and then looked at Gimli and Legolas. "Very well. But we begin early tomorrow."
"That's more like it!" Gimli forgot himself and jumped up in the boat.
"Must you insist on drowning us?" Legolas muttered as the boat began to rock dangerously. He leaned to the left to try to balance it out. However, Gimli over balanced and fell off the side of the boat, armor and all.
"Gimli!" Legolas shouted, peering over the side of the boat. His heart began to pound in his chest.
Where is he? I must get him out! What if he can't swim? He'll be pulled down by his armor…
"Gimli!" he yelled again, beginning to panic a little.
Aragorn began to paddle closer. "Legolas, did Gimli fall in?"
"Yes, yes!" Legolas looked around frantically.
Aragorn shouted over to him again, but he saw only his lips moving. He heard nothing.
You've failed Mithrandir, dear Legolas… and now you will fail Gimli.
He saw Sam and Frodo looked at each other worriedly. Pippin and Merry looked terrified.
How will they depend on you now?
"No!" Legolas screamed. "I will not listen!" In a blind rage, he threw himself onto the edge of the boat and thrust his arms into the water, searching for something to grab onto. Instead, he felt Gimli's hand grasp his firmly.
He pulled in him the boat with all his strength, uncaring that the boat was now filled with water.
"You took long enough, elf." Gimli said, shaking water off of himself and splattering Legolas with droplets.
Aragorn's boat touched the side of theirs.
"Gimli, what happened?"
Legolas saw, however, Aragorn was watching him intently and that Frodo and Sam were whispering to each other. He steadily avoided looking at them.
"Naught but my own clumsiness." Gimli said, rolling up the end of his cloak and vigorously squeezing water from the ends. He looked sideways at Legolas. "It is a good thing I can kick hard in the water."
"Why did it take you so long to get Gimli?"
Yes, why?
"I was looking for him. There was no point throwing myself in after Gimli if he could have taken my hand." Legolas said coolly.
"It is nice to see that you would not risk wetting your hair for me," Gimli grunted, taking off his helmet and shaking his head.
"I suppose we should stop here for the night. It would be a shame for Gimli's armor to rust if we do not dry it quickly." Aragorn said. He turned around in his boat and began paddling back.
Legolas had a dark suspicion that they were stopping because of him, not Gimli. But he kept silent and went along with it.
Aragorn took Gimli aside as they landed.
"Gimli, how did he look?" Aragorn asked in a whisper so Legolas would not overhear.
"You mean when he pulled me back into the boat?" Seeing Aragorn nod, Gimli went further. "He looked determined enough. And a bit afraid as well, if you ask me."
"I think he is being haunted again. He was acting very strangely when you fell."
Gimli stared at Aragorn in horror. "But… he was joking with me. Legolas was normal."
"He is an elf, Gimli. He hides his weaknesses and fears well. You will see it in his eyes." Aragorn said softly. "But my concern is how to give him more of the potion."
"Put it onto his food."
"We cannot put liquid on lembas. He would notice." Aragorn replied, frowning as he thought. "In his water?"
Gimli shrugged. "We can try."
Legolas watched with a sick heart as Boromir came back to the camp holding four dead rabbits, and looked away as quickly he and Sam began skinning them.
Thank goodness for lembas bread…
He went to the boat and pulled a piece out, breaking it into quarters. Legolas took a one and went to stand by a tree. He chewed on it thoughtfully, tuning out the hobbits' conversation of how to cook the rabbits.
"Legolas!"
Legolas jumped and looked to his side. "Oh, Gimli. I did not hear your approach."
"You get jumpier and jumpier every time I speak with you. Surely you're not afraid of me?" joked Gimli.
"Of course not." Legolas replied, looked out to the river.
"Well, I've brought you some water." Gimli held a small wooden cup out to him.
Legolas scrutinized it so carefully that Gimli began to get nervous. "I thought we only had flasks with us." He said as he took it.
"I brought it along with me." Gimli said, truthfully enough.
"And you are so nice as to let me use a dwarven cup?" Legolas asked, with a small teasing smile.
Gimli snorted. "Of course. You got me out of that river." He grinned suddenly. "Although you were very slow about it. So maybe you can use it this once and never again."
"My thanks, Master Dwarf." Legolas took a tiny sip and looked over to the fire, where Sam was merrily cooking the rabbits. "I will never know why hobbits insist on eating poor rabbits like that."
"What?" Gimli roared suddenly. "They've found meat and did not tell me about it? By everything that is holy, I am part of this fellowship as well, and I deserve some of it!" He marched over and positioned himself next to Sam.
Legolas frowned and sniffed the contents, then poured away the water Gimli gave him. He rinsed the cup out by the river, and put it into their boat, and went to join the rest of his friends by the fire without a word.
The smell of the cooking rabbit was overpowering and hit Legolas like a brick. His mind wandered off to his days at Mirkwood, to when he still was but a child.
Two soulful brown eyes stared blankly at him.
A much younger Legolas approached it hesitantly. " Niben meldir-tol! Eria, car-al thel an nedh…" he called out softly. He crouched by the rabbit and nudged it with a finger. "Tol..." (Stand up, little friend. I did not mean to hurt you. Stand up…)
It did not move.
"Ai, tira-im." Legolas spotted an arrow, and gently gripped it and pulled it out of the rabbit. (Oh, I see.)
He took the rabbit into his arms and sang to it comfortingly. When it still did not move, he felt both tears and frustration well up in him. Legolas bit his lip for a moment, trying to keep his tears in, but failed and began wailing.
Hurried footsteps approached. "Ennas Legolas!" (So here is Legolas!)
Legolas looked up. "Ada!" he cried in relief, and began to send a torrent about the poor rabbit he was clutching while tears streamed down his cheeks.
Thranduil gathered both his son and rabbit into his arms. "How did this happen?" he asked, stroking Legolas' head, trying to calm him.
"I... I was playing with arrows and I…" he hiccupped, wiping his tears. " I sent…sent them into this bush." Legolas buried his face into his father's neck for a moment, quelling more tears, and went on. "And when I came to… to collect my arrows… this rabbit was lying here."
Thranduil looked at his son, smiling slightly. "Maybe you should be a hunter." He was surprised when Legolas shook his head vehemently.
"I do not like killing, ada." Legolas said with a dignified air, regardless of the fact his face was wet with tears and his nose red.
Thranduil remained silent for a moment. "Legolas, you are a prince, and you will one day be a warrior, perhaps fighting in wars. You cannot cry over everything that has been slain."
Legolas pondered this for a while. "Maybe not an orc." He finally conceded, drawing a smile from his father.
Thranduil left his son alone and let him bury the dead rabbit. At least Legolas' first conscious experience of death was not of an elf, nor a human. The shock and confusion of finding that the rabbit was gone and could not come back would be a lot less, but it still ached him to know that his tender-hearted son had to kill out of necessity one day.
To be continued.
Here are the new reviews, to whom I apologize yet again for the lateness of this chapter. I feel unbelievably horrible for delaying it.
Houki - Thanks. Wow. I've just realized you been here from the beginning. Faithful and loyal reviewer, I salute you!
Erhothwen – Ahem… you mean OUR baby. Just joking. You can have Legolas, and I'll take Orlando. Thanks for the review!
Silent Star - *grins* You know, you're quite persuasive with the Update, Update, Update! Thing you did. ^_^ Maybe it was the capitals.
Poetic Muse – I was afraid I would end it at 5 chapters as well. Well I first thought about writing this, I expected it to turn our longer so I could end it at Lothlorien, but yep, it's a lot shorter. And I've had so much fun writing this I had to keep going.
Gwyn – emotionally attached is not the word for just how attached I am to Legolas, but you do have a point about torturing a character you're fond of. I couldn't torture anyone else as wholeheartedly. (That sounded so funny!)
Analorien – Wow… if we're still Merry Christmas'ing', I'm a lot further back in updating that I thought. Yikes.
Muchacha – Lol. Unfortunately, it won't be slash. But the movie made me wonder why Legolas looked so devastated after Aragorn threw a hissy fit and yelled at him. I must repeat to myself: they are FRIENDS.
Whisper - *winces* Oh dear. If you keep checking back it means you were disappointed every time because this chapter took so longer to come up. *goes off guility.*
Cheysuli: You keep hitting upon what it is I have in store for Legolas. Just how exactly will he be able to fight???
Lady Daine - You're mind has not left you… I have read up till Helm's Deep when I saw the movie, and I was the wacked out person in the theatre that wailed "BUT HALDIR DIDN'T DIE!"
Ithildin: *hides behind a rock* Okee… I updated. I'm not Sauron's dinner anymore, am I? (And, how exactly would Sauron eat… does he even have a mouth? ^_^)
Milu – I'm not so sure about the grammatical aspects of my elvish, but I'm using Sindarin. I hope…. As for other original stories, I am working on something else right now, but it isn't up on FF.net yet. It's a whole catastrophic end of the world sort of plot. I've found it impossible for myself to write something cheerful.
EQJS – I'm so glad that Legolas got a slightly larger role in the two towers as well. My friends couldn't shut me up every time he was on screen.
Katherine - *hands her a kleenex* It must officially be said that I cannot write anything happy.
Silent Angel – My favourite Legolas move is when he mounts the horse from the front. I went crazy and began cheering the in theatre at this point. I also received very nasty looks.
Crys Ritter - *gasp* You break keyboards too?? Lol.
WerewolfIncognito – I love Orlando like crazy, and even more so because of his awesome portrayal of Legolas.
Liana Greenleaf – *jumps back at the caps* Okay… I hope you got the e-mail.
Moonbean – It'll come back, that's for sure. Thank you for the review!
Shaan Lien - *runs to read the fic by Yours Truly* Holy… it IS similar. However, I don't think my fic will fit in that tightly with the original LOTR story as the one by Yours Truly. It's going to wander off a bit in the future. Thanks for pointing that out.
Vana Everyoung – rotflmao. I love your reviews, they are hilarious. And I haven't thought about the ring thing. Hey, that rhymed.
Seriously psyco person – Yup, it's sort of meant to be horrifying.
The Omniscient Bookseller – I bow to thee in return, o great reviewer. ^_^
Dream Keeper – I noticed that as well, but I was really stressed out when I wrote those chapters (over exams…). I might fix it up again and re-post it, but it's still undecided. Glad you liked it.
Shinzui – Goddess….. me…. In the same sentence…. Hoo boy. * That's an amusing thought…. I couldn't stop laughing when I read your review… and THANK YOU, what you've said was absolutely wonderful.
Hope you liked this chapter, and I'll see how quickly I can write the next one. I'm in a bit of a post exam slump, and my new term in beginning soon…. *sigh* Again, if you'd like me to send you an e-mail telling you when the fic is updated, just let me know in your review. I don't know if you've noticed, I've just changed the category from angst and drama to angst and horror. I've convinced myself that the bloodied tree scene merits as horror!