At the top of a tall tree half an hour away from the palace, Calaen tensed as his sharp Elven hearing picked up soft noises from somewhere below him. A smile flitted across his face though, when he recognized the familiar light footsteps of Legolas. It sounded as though the Prince was alone. That was good.

Calaen let his gaze travel to the base of the tree he sat in, and the sparkle in his eyes intensified. Airëlus was still down there, arms tied behind his back and eyes shut to the world. The knife had been removed from his chest, and he still lived. But only just. It would not be long before he was taken. Even a skilled healer with powers such as Lord Elrond had would be unable to save the Crown Prince of Mirkwood.

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"Valar…" Legolas breathed. He sprinted across the clearing, feeling as though a band of Orcs were fighting in his head. But he blocked it out – he had to.

"Airëlus, it's alright. I'm here now, and nothing is going to…" He trailed off into stunned silence as he noticed the blood.

The Crown Prince's eyes slowly opened, and he looked around, struggling to focus on anything. "Le…Legolas? Go…not safe," he murmured.

"Hush," the younger Elf whispered. He cut the bonds around his brother's wrists, and pulled off his own cloak and outer tunic. "I will take you back to the palace. Ada and Lord Elrond will heal you in no time at all." As he spoke, he ripped the pieces of clothing into strips, and wrapped them around his brother's wound.

"Listen…to me," Airëlus coughed. "Get away…from here. Go. Please."

Legolas shook his head, and wrapped his cloak around the Crown Prince's shoulders. "Do not worry. I will get away from here, as will you."

"You might want to think again," came a silky voice from behind them.

The Prince jumped to his feet and whirled around, eyes narrowing when he saw who it was. "You…" he hissed.

"You look well," Calaen commented, running his eyes over his brother's body. "The last time I saw you, you were just a weak, pathetic, crying brat. But look at you now. You look ready to take on the whole of Middle Earth."

"Not the whole of Middle Earth. Just you," Legolas corrected.

Calaen's eyes danced, and he flashed a smile. "Are you challenging me?"

"Do you really think that I will let you get away with hurting Airëlus?" Legolas asked softly, taking out a white knife, and twirling it in his fingers.

"It is touching that you are willing to die for him," the dark haired Elf commented, drawing his own blade.

"There will only be one person dying this night, and it will not be me. Nor will it be Airëlus," the Prince replied.

The two brothers locked eyes and stared each other out, both determined not to look away. At the base of the tree, Airëlus' eyes filled with tears. He so wanted to protect Legolas, but his life's blood was flowing out of his body, and he knew that to move would lead to almost immediate death. He knew that his time was near.

"I was thinking of something earlier which struck me as ironic," Calaen remarked. "This is the same place that Naneth was…murdered. Did you notice? Well, I found it funny that you and Airëlus will be dying in the same spot."

Legolas hissed in anger and leapt forwards, swinging his blade in a wide arc. Calaen brought his arm up and blocked his brother's attack, the laughing sparkle not leaving his eyes. The younger Elf laughed bitterly and neatly sidestepped as his opponent's knife was directed towards his stomach.

"Nice move," Calaen murmured. "But you are a fool. You cannot beat me."

"Think what you want," the Prince hissed, throwing himself at his brother, and knocking him to the ground. He raised his knife and slashed it across the dark haired Elf's arm.

"You little…" Calaen gritted his teeth as blood began to flow, and, pulling his knees up to his chest, kicked Legolas off him. "Do not worry. I have just the thing to pay you back."

The younger Prince tried to get up, but found himself pinned down. "You fight unfairly," he murmured.

"What of it?" Calaen laughed. He dropped down to Legolas' side and ripped open the blue shirt that he wore, revealing the white bandage. He smirked as he tore it apart with his knife.

Legolas fought to get to his feet, but Calaen grabbed his head and slammed it down on the ground, hard. Black dots swam in front of his vision, and he looked across at Airëlus, defeat in his eyes. The Crown Prince shook his head slightly, and silently cursed himself for being so helpless.

"I see that this has not yet healed," Calaen mused, looking down at the word he had marked his brother's body with.

"What are you going to do, Cal?" Legolas asked softly. He was unable to keep the fear from his voice.

Calaen's eyes flickered, and he paused. "You used to call me that when you were younger," he muttered. But before he could get caught up in the past, he shook himself mentally, and pulled a phial from his pocket.

"Oh Valar," Airëlus breathed, as he realized what his brother held. He tried to push himself off the ground, but failed. "Calaen, don't do this to him. You have taken this too far as it is, but please, go no further. Legolas does not deserve this."

"I think he does," the dark haired Elf murmured, as he pulled the stopper from the phial.

Airëlus drew in a sharp breath, and screwing up his eyes, turned over so that he was on his hands and knees. "I will not let you touch him," he hissed, crawling over to his brother, and grabbing his arm.

"Get off me," Calaen snapped, turning and throwing the weakened Elf across the clearing.

Legolas cried out as Airëlus fell to the ground and hit his head, but was momentarily silenced by a harsh slap to his cheek. Anger fuelled by the treatment of his eldest brother, his eyes flashed, and he swung his arm up to hit Calaen away. But the older Elf merely grabbed it, and twisted it as hard as he could.

The young Prince hissed at the discomfort and tried to pull away, though that proved to be a mistake. His arm was thrown savagely backwards, and the angle it was at was a fatal one. A sickening crack was heard, causing even Calaen to flinch. Legolas tried to hold back the pain, but he could not help letting out a yell of agony.

Calaen drew in a sharp breath, and reached down to touch his brother's cheek. "Ai, why did you try and hit me? I would not have done that otherwise."

"Don't," Legolas breathed. "You have done enough. Will you not just kill me now? Let Airëlus go."

The dark haired Elf looked down first of all at the unnatural angle of his brother's shoulder, and then glanced across at the blood covering Airëlus' body. "Very well," he said slowly. "I will let both of you go. But there is something that I must first of all do. Just because I am going to spare your life, it does not change the way that I feel about you."

"Do what you must," Legolas whispered, ignoring Airëlus' cry of protest.

"It is not enough that I know what you are," Calaen said softly. "Everyone else must know. And you yourself must be reminded every day of what you did."

The young Prince looked up and locked eyes with his brother, the pain in his dislocated shoulder still there, but momentarily forgotten. As though in slow motion, Calaen raised his arm, and tipped the phial. A translucent liquid fell from it, landing lightly on the crimson letters scaring Legolas' stomach.

"Ai Elbereth!" Airëlus breathed, as his youngest brother let out a heart wrenching scream of pain.

Legolas slammed a hand onto the ground and tossed his head, the excruciating agony rendering him unable to try and fight for freedom. Fresh tears streamed from his eyes. It felt as though his whole body had been set on fire, and there was nothing he could do to help himself. He knew that this was physically worse than anything else he had been put through at the hands of his brother.

"Peace," Calaen soothed. "It will hurt a lot less if you keep still."

"No more!" Airëlus cried, as more of the liquid was spilled. "Leave him! You have done enough!"

And then without warning, Legolas' uninjured arm swung up and hit the phial away. It was sent upwards into the air, and it seemed to hang there for a split second, before dropping back down. Its contents spilled, landing on the Prince's already burning stomach, and into Calaen's eyes. The phial itself shattered on the ground.

The dark haired Elf yelled in pain, and sitting back on his heels, rubbed frantically at his eyes. Everything had gone blurry. In fact, his vision was so slighted that he could not even see what was in front of him. He did not see his younger brother grabbing a fallen knife and launching himself upwards.

Inhaling sharply, Legolas pushed the blade into Calaen's stomach, hesitating for not even a second. The elder Prince looked down in amazement at the protruding weapon, before falling to his knees on the ground. And then slowly, he keeled over, eyes fluttering shut. Blood flowered on the front of his tunic, and stained the leaves beneath him.

Tears of pain, anger and guilt continued to stream down the young Prince's cheeks in rivulets, but he forced his gaze away from his fallen brother, and crawled over to Airëlus, who was resting once more against the tree. His face was devoid of any color, and as Legolas noticed the mist in the pale blue eyes, he shook his head in disbelief.

"You killed Calaen," Airëlus said softly.

"I am so sorry," Legolas whispered, mistaking his brother's words for a harsh accusation. "Forgive me. I had to do it."

"I know that you did," the Crown Prince murmured. "You fought well, and I am proud of you. But now… this is my time."

"No. No, it's not. I can take you home and you can be healed," Legolas said, his voice choked. He leaned forwards and buried his face in his brother's shoulder.

"Do not cry for me," Airëlus said weakly, raising a hand and stroking the younger Prince's hair.

"But you are my brother," Legolas whispered.

"You must go…home," Airëlus breathed. "I do not want you to be here when I…when I go. It will be soon."

Legolas shook his head and threw his uninjured arm around the Crown Prince's neck. "Please, don't leave me. I need you with me. You must fight through this."

"No, you have to go on without me. You have so much ahead of you, so many chances," Airëlus said. "I always looked forward to…to seeing you join your first patrol, going out on your first scouting expedition, having you under my command in the troops so that I could…could give you orders without being told not to take advantage of your age."

Legolas smiled weakly at that. "You can still see all of that, just please….please hold on."

"Remember that I will always be with you," Airëlus murmured.

"But how can that be if you are not here?" Legolas choked out, drawing away from the embrace.

Airëlus smiled, and touched a hand to his brother's heart. "Here. And you will always be with me."

"Please, fight this," the young Prince pleaded. "I love you so much, and I need you more than you can imagine. You would always fight away my fears, and dry my tears. Who will do that for me if you go?"

"You will have Ada," Airëlus muttered. "Will you tell him…tell him that I love him? You must remain strong. If not for your own sake, then for his."

"We both need you," Legolas whispered.

The Crown Prince drew in a sharp breath, and his eyes flickered. "I am going. There is nothing that you can do."

"No…"

"No i Melain na le," Airëlus said softly. He paused, and smiled weakly. "Im meleth le."

"And I you," Legolas breathed. He took his brother's hand in his own, and bowed his head. "I love you so much."

"I will…always be with you," Airëlus whispered. His darkened eyes went out of focus, and slowly closed. His head fell back against the tree trunk, fair hair spilling over his shoulders.

Legolas screwed up his eyes and pulled his fallen brother into his arms, tears slipping from under his lashes. He sat like that for a long time, shoulders shaking as grief overcame him. He would not let go of Airëlus, for deep inside, there was a glimmer of hope that he still lived. But really, he knew it not to be true. He knew that the Crown Prince of Mirkwood was finally free from pain.

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No i Melain na le...................May the Valar be with you

Im meleth le………………...I love you