A/n: Hello, darlings. I'm back once more on a mad escapade! I plan
to... [dramatic pause] ... write fanfiction!!!!!!
*cue manic laughter in background*
Disclaimer: If you keep bugging me about it my mind is just going to go 'snap!' like a bundle of very dry twigs. But the plot is really mine. All mine!
Chapter Nine: The Dark Man
He leaned against the door, thinking about what Legolas was doing, and how much hate he had for the Lorien elf. Haldir was his name.
Legolas was his. His alone. He did not care what anyone else said or did. The perfect elf would always love him. Only him. No one else could even come close to knowing Legolas the way he did. Valar, he could almost read the Elf's mind.
He had embedded his prescence firmly into Legolas's mind. Thinking about him was a reflex for the Prince; gods, it felt so insanely good to hear his name echoing in Legolas's head and in his speech.
//"The Dark Man will hurt me."//
He got up, and melted into the shadows. Damn right, he would hurt the prince. But not right now. Now was the time to wait.
A few minutes later Gwaloth walked back into her rooms, noticing with a dull sense of worry that someone had left her door open and sat on her bed once more.
She sighed softly as she lay down, the air and her feelings flowing out of her in unison. Breathing at a steady, almost meditative rate, she could get herself to sleep.
But by no means was her sleep an easy one. Not by a long shot.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Legolas ate his bread-bowl of soup slowly as they walked back to Haldir's talan, wanting to keep his fingers warm. Said Elf was walking beside him, hands in his pockets. The silence wrapped around them, comfortingly different from the noises of the kitchen. The wind blew in meandering gusts across the courtyard, the odd flake of snow working loose and tumbling in the air.
Legolas took the time to look inside. He knew that he was supposed to do as the Dark Man said. But it didn't feel too right. He wanted, really wanted, to remember what happened when Haldir was with him. He didn't want to forget.
He didn't want to look at Haldir and not know his face.
One day, he woke up, and he hadn't remembered anything of the day before. Faces had started to slip. That was all he could remember of the time. Sometimes he would wake as if from a trance with blood on his knuckles. Life was like a dream, fading in and out of his perception.
That was the way the Dark One had said it had to be.
Legolas knew, with a feeling of regret, that the Dark One would make him forget Haldir when they saw each other next. He looped an arm around Haldir's and leaned his head on Haldir's shoulder, swallowing the last of the bread.
He didn't want this to end.
The talan was cool, the fire mere embers in the hearth. Rumil was sitting distractedly by the fire. Haldir frowned. Why would Rumil be here?
He ushered Legolas over to his bed and sat him down, then walked over to his brother's side. Legolas seemed a bit perturbed by the abruptness, but soon lost interest and looked out the window.
"Rumil, what's wrong? You look strange," Haldir said in a soft voice. Rumil said nothing, gazing into the fire.
Haldir's brow creased. "Rumil?"
"We were watching them the whole time," Rumil said oddly, his features bemused. "It was easier that way, you know- to make sure they didn't vomit whatever food they managed to eat, out of habit more than reason. Really. They were making excellent progress."
Haldir remembered who Rumil had been assigned to. //The anorexic brothers. That must be who he's talking about.//
Rumil's eyes burned.
"And then- right in front of my eyes-" he said, emotion making his voice tremble, "the older brother- he- he just- He stopped breathing... turned red, then purple- I begged him to stop, tried to see if anything was blocking his throat and nothing was- then... then his face turned white...
"He was doing it, all by himself, not caring, just dying. Gwaloth couldn't even stop him, in the end. She went to bed a while ago. I don't think she'll sleep much.
"He just- wouldn't breathe- no matter how hard I pleaded, he wouldn't! He just looked at me, sad, and he slipped away- I could feel his soul slip away-"
Sobs racked Rumil's frame as he began to cry onto Haldir's shoulder. Haldir wrapped his arms around his brother, still numb with shock, and whispered soothing sounds, letting Rumil weep.
Legolas was sitting cross-legged in his bed, gazing disconcernedly out of the window.
He couldn't hear them. Life was like a dream.
Anyways, if life was going to be sad, why bother living it? He was supposed to slip away, fade into nothing, according to the Dark One. Rumil's voice echoed, meaningless, in his ears; as meaningless as if Rumil had been speaking another language.
Maybe he was. Legolas didn't want to listen. The Dark One didn't want him to.
Life went this way.
He was merely accepting his commands.
******************************************************************
Orophin sat silently in his bed, listening to the regular sound of the younger brother breathe. His eyes were wide and frightened.
Once he fell asleep the dreams would come. He had to stay awake. He had to, if only to preserve his sanity. He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to shut out the images. It was to no avail.
Unlike his brothers, Orophin could see things. Not often- just when magic was present. He could see Gwaloth; a blackness hiding within her shadow twisting before his eyes, and reeking of evil. He could see the black noose around the elf's neck as he struggled to breathe. He could see Gwaloth, her eyes wild with concern and fear as she tried to stop everything from going to hell, unaware of the monster behind her.
Moaning softly, he opened his eyes. The elf's brother- Lalwen- was wide awake and watching him.
Lalwen began to cry, and Orophin walked wearily over to his side, wrapping his arms about the smaller Elf and making small noises of comfort.
//If the Valar are listening, you owe Lalwen. You owe him so much.//
******************************************************************
Legolas stood warily by the window as the shadows lifted, wondering abstractly why the Dark One had not come yet. He was getting worried. What if the Dark One never came?
The thought, although he did not know why, filled him with an intense sense of panic. He gripped the edge of the windowsill, his knuckles gone white. A wave of nausea hit him, and he shook silently for a few minutes as he tried to fight the collapse.
Finally the feeling that he was about to black out lifted. Legolas breathed rapidly, trying to fill his lungs. He had not realized he had been holding his breath.
Taking in a large gulp of air, he calmed himself. The blackouts meant not remembering, he knew that much. What scared him was that his near-collapses damaged his short-term memory. After a few hours it would come back, but it took longer and longer the more times the convulsions happened. Legolas shuddered.
Haldir was still asleep. Legolas flushed, smiling to himself. //I was silent. I did not wake him.//
Haldir had fallen asleep in his chair by the fire. Legolas wasn't tired- he had been awake all night, in fact. That was because he had been asleep during the entire noon the day before.
Dawn was creeping stealthily into the night sky, sending out tendrils of orange and fiery red. Legolas sighed. He loved the starlight more than anything. It was comforting, somehow, to see the eyes of the heavans gazing upon him. To know, that somewhere out there, some power was watching over him, whose abilities were so infinite they surpassed the boundaries of the imagination...
Legolas sighed, and for an instant, he had a fleeting memory of golden light through the trees, and warm hands wrapping around his. Then it was gone, and he was alone with Haldir once more.
Sunrise stained the snow a light vermillion, and then the crimson was gone and the sun was rising above the treetops.
Haldir stirred. Quietly Legolas crept back over to his bed, and lay down, pretending to be asleep. After a while, he really was.
Haldir stretched his arms above his head. //Vala. Yesterday was an unfortunate day for everyone. What with that suicide and all, I wouldn't be suprised if Lalwen and Rumil sleep for the whole day.//
Yawning a bit, Haldir walked softly over to where Legolas was slumbering. He smiled. //It looks like Legolas is going to sleep all day, too.// Haldir decided not to disturb the Prince, and instead began to put on his boiled-leather armor and warm clothes for the day.
Haldir shut the door behind him as he walked out, heading down the stairs to the kitchen.
*****tbc*****
A/n: Sorry about update thing- school is in the way, and I'm doing badly, so I need to get back on track. Peace out!
~NbSb
*cue manic laughter in background*
Disclaimer: If you keep bugging me about it my mind is just going to go 'snap!' like a bundle of very dry twigs. But the plot is really mine. All mine!
Chapter Nine: The Dark Man
He leaned against the door, thinking about what Legolas was doing, and how much hate he had for the Lorien elf. Haldir was his name.
Legolas was his. His alone. He did not care what anyone else said or did. The perfect elf would always love him. Only him. No one else could even come close to knowing Legolas the way he did. Valar, he could almost read the Elf's mind.
He had embedded his prescence firmly into Legolas's mind. Thinking about him was a reflex for the Prince; gods, it felt so insanely good to hear his name echoing in Legolas's head and in his speech.
//"The Dark Man will hurt me."//
He got up, and melted into the shadows. Damn right, he would hurt the prince. But not right now. Now was the time to wait.
A few minutes later Gwaloth walked back into her rooms, noticing with a dull sense of worry that someone had left her door open and sat on her bed once more.
She sighed softly as she lay down, the air and her feelings flowing out of her in unison. Breathing at a steady, almost meditative rate, she could get herself to sleep.
But by no means was her sleep an easy one. Not by a long shot.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Legolas ate his bread-bowl of soup slowly as they walked back to Haldir's talan, wanting to keep his fingers warm. Said Elf was walking beside him, hands in his pockets. The silence wrapped around them, comfortingly different from the noises of the kitchen. The wind blew in meandering gusts across the courtyard, the odd flake of snow working loose and tumbling in the air.
Legolas took the time to look inside. He knew that he was supposed to do as the Dark Man said. But it didn't feel too right. He wanted, really wanted, to remember what happened when Haldir was with him. He didn't want to forget.
He didn't want to look at Haldir and not know his face.
One day, he woke up, and he hadn't remembered anything of the day before. Faces had started to slip. That was all he could remember of the time. Sometimes he would wake as if from a trance with blood on his knuckles. Life was like a dream, fading in and out of his perception.
That was the way the Dark One had said it had to be.
Legolas knew, with a feeling of regret, that the Dark One would make him forget Haldir when they saw each other next. He looped an arm around Haldir's and leaned his head on Haldir's shoulder, swallowing the last of the bread.
He didn't want this to end.
The talan was cool, the fire mere embers in the hearth. Rumil was sitting distractedly by the fire. Haldir frowned. Why would Rumil be here?
He ushered Legolas over to his bed and sat him down, then walked over to his brother's side. Legolas seemed a bit perturbed by the abruptness, but soon lost interest and looked out the window.
"Rumil, what's wrong? You look strange," Haldir said in a soft voice. Rumil said nothing, gazing into the fire.
Haldir's brow creased. "Rumil?"
"We were watching them the whole time," Rumil said oddly, his features bemused. "It was easier that way, you know- to make sure they didn't vomit whatever food they managed to eat, out of habit more than reason. Really. They were making excellent progress."
Haldir remembered who Rumil had been assigned to. //The anorexic brothers. That must be who he's talking about.//
Rumil's eyes burned.
"And then- right in front of my eyes-" he said, emotion making his voice tremble, "the older brother- he- he just- He stopped breathing... turned red, then purple- I begged him to stop, tried to see if anything was blocking his throat and nothing was- then... then his face turned white...
"He was doing it, all by himself, not caring, just dying. Gwaloth couldn't even stop him, in the end. She went to bed a while ago. I don't think she'll sleep much.
"He just- wouldn't breathe- no matter how hard I pleaded, he wouldn't! He just looked at me, sad, and he slipped away- I could feel his soul slip away-"
Sobs racked Rumil's frame as he began to cry onto Haldir's shoulder. Haldir wrapped his arms around his brother, still numb with shock, and whispered soothing sounds, letting Rumil weep.
Legolas was sitting cross-legged in his bed, gazing disconcernedly out of the window.
He couldn't hear them. Life was like a dream.
Anyways, if life was going to be sad, why bother living it? He was supposed to slip away, fade into nothing, according to the Dark One. Rumil's voice echoed, meaningless, in his ears; as meaningless as if Rumil had been speaking another language.
Maybe he was. Legolas didn't want to listen. The Dark One didn't want him to.
Life went this way.
He was merely accepting his commands.
******************************************************************
Orophin sat silently in his bed, listening to the regular sound of the younger brother breathe. His eyes were wide and frightened.
Once he fell asleep the dreams would come. He had to stay awake. He had to, if only to preserve his sanity. He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to shut out the images. It was to no avail.
Unlike his brothers, Orophin could see things. Not often- just when magic was present. He could see Gwaloth; a blackness hiding within her shadow twisting before his eyes, and reeking of evil. He could see the black noose around the elf's neck as he struggled to breathe. He could see Gwaloth, her eyes wild with concern and fear as she tried to stop everything from going to hell, unaware of the monster behind her.
Moaning softly, he opened his eyes. The elf's brother- Lalwen- was wide awake and watching him.
Lalwen began to cry, and Orophin walked wearily over to his side, wrapping his arms about the smaller Elf and making small noises of comfort.
//If the Valar are listening, you owe Lalwen. You owe him so much.//
******************************************************************
Legolas stood warily by the window as the shadows lifted, wondering abstractly why the Dark One had not come yet. He was getting worried. What if the Dark One never came?
The thought, although he did not know why, filled him with an intense sense of panic. He gripped the edge of the windowsill, his knuckles gone white. A wave of nausea hit him, and he shook silently for a few minutes as he tried to fight the collapse.
Finally the feeling that he was about to black out lifted. Legolas breathed rapidly, trying to fill his lungs. He had not realized he had been holding his breath.
Taking in a large gulp of air, he calmed himself. The blackouts meant not remembering, he knew that much. What scared him was that his near-collapses damaged his short-term memory. After a few hours it would come back, but it took longer and longer the more times the convulsions happened. Legolas shuddered.
Haldir was still asleep. Legolas flushed, smiling to himself. //I was silent. I did not wake him.//
Haldir had fallen asleep in his chair by the fire. Legolas wasn't tired- he had been awake all night, in fact. That was because he had been asleep during the entire noon the day before.
Dawn was creeping stealthily into the night sky, sending out tendrils of orange and fiery red. Legolas sighed. He loved the starlight more than anything. It was comforting, somehow, to see the eyes of the heavans gazing upon him. To know, that somewhere out there, some power was watching over him, whose abilities were so infinite they surpassed the boundaries of the imagination...
Legolas sighed, and for an instant, he had a fleeting memory of golden light through the trees, and warm hands wrapping around his. Then it was gone, and he was alone with Haldir once more.
Sunrise stained the snow a light vermillion, and then the crimson was gone and the sun was rising above the treetops.
Haldir stirred. Quietly Legolas crept back over to his bed, and lay down, pretending to be asleep. After a while, he really was.
Haldir stretched his arms above his head. //Vala. Yesterday was an unfortunate day for everyone. What with that suicide and all, I wouldn't be suprised if Lalwen and Rumil sleep for the whole day.//
Yawning a bit, Haldir walked softly over to where Legolas was slumbering. He smiled. //It looks like Legolas is going to sleep all day, too.// Haldir decided not to disturb the Prince, and instead began to put on his boiled-leather armor and warm clothes for the day.
Haldir shut the door behind him as he walked out, heading down the stairs to the kitchen.
*****tbc*****
A/n: Sorry about update thing- school is in the way, and I'm doing badly, so I need to get back on track. Peace out!
~NbSb
