A/n: LAST CHAPTER!!! Oooh, the end approaches!!!! You'll read it in a few moments! But not just yet. I think this is the last chapter... I may do an epilogue. ;_;. Bless you darling reviewers. Bless y'all!!!!!! Oh, and March 20th is Ostara!!!! Happy Ostara, everyone! *passes out lilies and green ribbons* ^.^ The story is ending now, and everything is explained. I will miss you all, and I hope that all of you enjoyed this story at least as much as I did. *huggled especially to Silva* You all rock!!!!! Now, watch out for Intrigue, please, and review! Mwah! Kiss!

Disclaimer: Le sob... Non. I don't own the Lord of the Rings. I own Erin though, and Helle, and Gwaloth, and the plot, so please ask if you want to borrow them. Yes. You can borrow them, at whatever mental state. ...As long as you tell me!!! ^.^

Chapter Sixteen: Exit Labyrinth

Part One

Gwaloth smiled brightly. "Of course I'll watch out for Legolas, Haldir! I want him to get well again just as much as you do."

Haldir smiled with obvious relief. "You're sure?"

"Of course. I have nothing else to do, do I? I'll come over right away."

"Thank you, Gwaloth. This means more to me than you know."

The door to Haldir's talan swung open noiselessly as the pair stepped inside. Legolas was sitting up in bed, rubbing his eyes and yawning. He smiled when he saw Gwaloth. "Hello," he said with a grin. "I remember you."

Gwaloth looked at Haldir in amazement. "He really is getting better," she said in an astounded voice. "He couldn't even speak coherently when he came here a week ago. You've done a world of good."

Haldir flushed, and looked down to hide the silly grin that spread across his face. "I care about him. That helps. Well, Galadriel will be waiting for me, so I should be going now." He gave Legolas a short hug, and the door shut behind him with a small click.

Gwaloth looked at Legolas, and he looked back at her. As he looked, the evening sunset staining the windowpanes a dull red, something seemed to change within her. Her eyes grew remote and chill; her mouth firmed to a thin and angry line. She looked at him impassively, and then sat down, taking out a book.

"You just sit and rest yourself for a bit, love," she said in a singsong voice. "Later, we'll go outside."

Inside Gwaloth's head, the other chuckled.

Legolas nodded, and looked out the window. Haldir walked by, underneath the trees, and he sighed, blushing. //Haldir...// He shook his head, afraid he was fogging the glass.

The game that Legolas most enjoyed playing with himself was creating the story and life of everything he saw out the window. Every single tree, every leaf, every blade of grass had a story to tell. But they didn't tell the story, so Legolas pretended, making it up as he went along.

The sun slipped completely below the horizon. Gwaloth had not removed her cloak, and her cowl cast her face into shadow. Her arms stiffened, and her fingers clenched spasmodically, dropping the book. She stood up, her face invisible.

Legolas winced as she grabbed his arm and hauled him to his feet. "G- Gwaloth?" he asked in a small voice. She didn't answer. He gulped.

"W-where are we going?" he said as she opened the door and began to lead him away from Caras Galadhon.

She said not a word.

Finally, after several minutes of the hurried pace Gwaloth set, she stopped abruptly, causing Legolas to trip and fall. He got up, brushing the snow from his body and wincing. He turned around. Gwaloth was pulling things out of a hollow tree that he did not recognize. "Gw-"

Anything he might have said dies on his lips. Gwaloth had pulled back her cowl, and it wasn't Gwaloth any more.

Legolas knew the Dark One by now.

He fell utterly silent, and braced himself for the pain.

******************************************************************

The beating was worse this time. This time, the pain was absolute and complete. The Dark One, he, she, it, was enraged. The Dark One wanted to make him see death and bring him back, to hurt him as much as possible and force him to live.

//valar...//

The needle and thread came first. The Dark One rammed it through Legolas's nose, his ears, his cheek, and pulled down to punch through the lip of skin over his navel. Then, since the thread had been oil-soaked, the Dark One set it alight with a flint and stone. It hurt intensely, brutally burning his skin.

//daro....//

Then came the knives. This time, the Dark One did not make it nagging pain. The Dark One rammed the two stilettos through his calves, lodging them there and keeping them there. Legolas fell to the ground.

//Haldir, daro...//

The Dark One pulled out a nasty-looking club, spiked with iron pegs broken off at jagged points. He, she, it, slammed it down onto Legolas at his collarbone, and then dragged it down his back. The Dark One rained blow after blow upon the tendons of Legolas's legs, each impact causing a sickening crunch.

//no... trust? Trust Dark One? Hurts... vala hurts hurts hurts pain pain pain hurt hurt hurt trust? trust?//

Finally, the Dark One brandished a whip, and quickly began to flay strips of skin off of the Prince's back. They were still attached to his body, and hung limply off of him like torn cloth, staining the snow red. Everything was red. And the Dark One went on and on and on, flipping him over and making him watch himself be flagellated to a nauseating, disgusting crimson pulp.

//can't... feel... nerve endings must be gone. no... it... it aches a little... no do not think about it, it will hurt if you concentrate don't think...//

Legolas was beyond pain.

He floated in a haze through his mind, vaguely looking at his memories. The pain that The Dark One was giving to him was incredibly intense, worse than anything he had ever felt in his life. It made the barrier between him and his memories weak, in comparison. Legolas reached out with the tip of his fingers, and broke it...

He began with his earliest memory of the Dark One's pain.

*****
Legolas looked up at the stars and breathed deeply. He didn't dare sigh.

He was told to never make a sound.

He smiled and opened his mouth, laughing silently in joy. He loved the stars so much, it was almost painful when the sun came up and hid them. They were beacons of light and their purity wrapped around his heart like a bandage, soothing and protecting him from people.

There was only one person who wouldn't hurt him.

Legolas hated all the others except her.

She was beautiful. She was the one who had warned him; she had given him the most important warning of his life.

Her warning had protected him from everything.

Never make a sound.

Soft footsteps warned him of her presence. He could tell it was her from the confidence of her feet upon the flagstone path, from her steadiness. Everyone else treaded softly around him.

He spun about slowly, to avoid making noise on the ground. She didn't like him to make much noise.

She was there, as beautiful as ever. He knelt soundlessly before her, and she laid a soft hand upon his forehead.

"Did you speak?"

He shook his head.

"Did you make a sound?"

Legolas shook his head again. She smiled at him, and Legolas smiled back, pathetically relieved he had not displeased her. Then she, still smiling sweetly, scraped her nails across his face.

Legolas didn't even wince. The Dark Woman looked pleased.

"Remember, Legolas. You must not make a sound even under torture to be worthy of me. Have you been strengthening yourself?"

Legolas nodded mutely. The Dark Woman smiled dangerously, and she raised the whip and club that were ever by her side. The handle of the whip reflected moonlight onto the willow trees that swayed in the wind.

"Let us see how strong you are," she said, and Legolas grinned in pleasure. The whip uncurled.

There was a crack throughout the circle of willows, but they kept it secret and muffled it from the rest of the world.

Legolas bit his lip and steeled himself to remain kneeling. Wetness dribbled down his back, and he relished the Dark Woman's strength.

This was what he craved.

After all, he loved her.

Further back, another memory.

***************
The Dark Woman, telling him over and over and over again that he couldn't trust anyone, making him scared and frightened. And she would comfort him, stroke his forehead, and tell him that he could trust her. Him. It. She was many, many people, and all of them but the one which showed during the day would teach him.

The Dark One would teach him about many things. About how he was vulnerable and weak, and needed to be protected. About how his adar hated him and wanted to hurt him. So did his nana. In fact, everyone hated him, because he was worthless.

But she didn't hate him, she would whisper. She would care for him all the same, even though everyone hated him.

Year after year, decade after decade. He was like a fly, caught in a web, being spun into a tighter and tighter space by the spider. He had heard what the Dark One said so many, many times, and had believed her totally. He had made her words his mantra. She was his goddess, god, deity. She would control him, keep him safe, and never let anyone hurt him. All he had to do was follow these three rules...

Never make a sound.

Never trust a soul.

And, finally, to hurt himself. Hurt himself and to enjoy it, because pain meant life. He had to hurt himself to be worthy of her. He had to. She told him to, and he did it.

************
Still earlier, before her, before anything. He was playing happily in the courtyard after lessons, his laughter echoing throughout the halls. His ada was waiting for him with open arms, and a huge smile. He was loved, so loved here, that it was almost painful to stop the embrace. Legolas smiled at his ada.

"I love you, Las."

"I love you too, ada."

*~*~*~ ? ~*~*~*

A dam broke then, and Legolas began to cry, the tears spilling down his bloodstained face as the Dark One continued to whip him.

He had been living in a dream world. Legolas looked back, sickened, at the pages of his life. He had had so much promise, so much love, such a high sense of right and wrong. How had the Dark One done this to him? When had he started to hate his ada? How long had it been since he could really think straight?

How could he have let something so important, his sense of what was right and what was wrong, slip away?

Gods.

Legolas shook as he stood, mutely, gazing into the face of the Dark One. His wounds were bleeding harder, and his world was going dim.

//I never should have listened. You....//

Something hurtled into the Dark One. The Dark One screamed as a pair of shapes wrestled her to the ground and caught her, writhing and twisting. She glared furiously at Legolas.

//In the end, you were the only one...//

Voices screamed his name. Familiar voices. Rumil? Orophin? Haldir? He was sinking into darkness, his mind going to a peaceful rest for the first time since he was a small child. Legolas sighed as he felt Haldir's hands pick him up. He knew it was Haldir, without having to be awake or with open eyes.

//... the only one...//

//...who wanted to hurt me.//

A last memory, warm and soft, came to him. Strong arms, supporting him. Sweet mouth, warm lips. A haven from the pain. Haldir. This was what love really was, Legolas knew with quiet certainty. Love wasn't supposed to hurt. Whoever had told him that, whoever the Dark One really was, he was wrong.

He slipped into oblivion.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Part Two

"Being in love is the scariest thing in the world. That a person could mean the world to someone is frightening, don't you think? Sometimes, all that person would have to do to stop someone from killing themselves is smile at them. And to smile at the wrong person at the wrong time could send the one who loves you into despair. They could even kill themselves."

Legolas looked up at the sunlight, streaming through the infirmary window.

"It's not right, that a person should have so much power over another person. It's downright terrifying." He looked up at Haldir and Galadriel from the healer's bed he was lying within.

"When I was very, very small, and Gwaloth first arrived, I had a childhood crush on her. I was convinced I loved her, to the point at which I was ready to believe whatever she told me. That was how her dark sides, the others and the Dark One, got a hook into my mind. Then, they fed me lie after lie over the years, until I was so wrapped up in them that I couldn't think straight. I guess she was insane, wasn't she?"

Galadriel opened her mouth to speak, but someone else beat her to it.

"Yes," Erin said, walking into the room with a warm smile. "How are you feeling, Legolas?" She sat down next to the bed, her brushed hair swaying gently down her back. Her eyes were bright and alive. Galadriel smiled at her, dressed in a simple white gown that mage her look almost radiant.

Haldir sat forward, interested. His clothes were pale blue and silken, creasing slightly under his arms and around his chest. He was sitting in a gently carved willow chair, painted a soft shade of white. Legolas was lying in his bed, nearly every inch of his skin covered in bandages. Haldir smiled softly. The Healers had formed a circle around him all night, working manically to prevent scar tissue from destroying the Prince's face. Haldir knew, though, that he would have loved Legolas even if he had been scarred.

After all, his eyes- those beautiful, deep blue eyes- were alive.

"Erin? You're... you're all right," Legolas said in excitement. "How did it happen? When?"

Erin looked away. "It happened... last night. When you were..." She looked at Legolas, her face an unreadable mask.

"Gwaloth. She died, Legolas. She killed herself. Orophin and Rumil were the ones that found her with you, and they shut her in one of the hospital talans. When they came in later- She was hanging from the ceiling in the safe room."

Legolas stared at her numbly, his face pale. Finally he broke the silence. "Gods. How did you know?"

Erin smiled wanly. "I think I have a very long story to tell."

"The first thing you need to know is that Gwaloth and I were twins, and like most twins, we had a connection. I was the larger one, she was the smaller. We had a little sister, but she was bigger than Gwaloth, too. I guess you could say Gwaloth was the runt.

"Now, our mother was a bit insane as well, but it was truly harmless. You must understand that we all loved her deeply. She especially cared for Gwaloth, because Gwaloth was the 'runt', so to speak." Erin cleared her throat.

"Our father, on the other hand, had something inside of him that wasn't insanity, but it was a sick and twisted part of him. None of us felt comfortable around him, but our mother encouraged us to spend time with him.

"For a runt, Gwaloth was extremely strong. She worked at the heavy labor in the fields, and did all the hard labor. Only adar was stronger than her.

"One day, the three of us went looking for strawberries. Our mother loved them, and she had been gone for two days. It was normal for her to go camp by herself, in the woods, because she would do it once a year. We didn't know anything was wrong, until my third sister suggested we take a drink of water.

"That was when the madness began. Gwaloth was the one, you know, who lifted the lid of the well, and she was the one who saw our mother down there, rotten and disgusting after two days of death. Nana had thrown herself in.

"Gwaloth grew very, very still. Neither of us had realized just how much Gwaloth had depended on our mother for emotional support and protection, but when she saw our mother's corpse, something inside of her snapped. She went totally berserk." Gwaloth dropped her head.

"She didn't recognize anyone, but she knew enough not to harm me, because of our mental link. But our other sister..." Erin choked. "Gwaloth- she- she strangled her. Right there. With her bare hands. I didn't know what to do but run away. I eventually became a noble of Eryn Lasgalen, but my mental condition deteriorated steadily as Gwaloth killed again and again. Rabbits, deer, a halfling, a squirrel or two, every insect she could get her hands on- she was a monster at times. But every once in a while, her old self would break free.

"Gwaloth wasn't evil. Seeing our mother drove her to... something like schizophrenia. At times she was a normal Elf. But then at other times, she became a liar, or a thief, or a killing machine. Finally, a personality developed which made us both insane- the Dark One. Whatever the Dark One was, it was sadistic. It took pleasure from pain, torturing its victims endlessly, never letting them die until it had driven them over the edge.

"It was about that time that she killed our father."

Gwaloth shuddered for a moment, as mental images of blood everywhere, sinking into the cold, cold snow, once again rose, prodding her mind and making her feel the heat of the kill once again, all of it sent to her from Gwaloth.

"Then, she moved to Eryn Lasgalen, got a job as a nurse, and the rest is common knowledge." Erin sighed.

"She was completely, utterly herself- utterly Gwaloth- for when she killed herself. She was perfectly sane. As I said, she fluctuated. The problem for me was that, I could only be sane if she was."

For an instant, Gwaloth shuddered, and couldn't say a word. But then, after a short drink of water, she breathed deeply and composed herself once more. Clearing her throat, she began to speak once more, her heart plainly aching.

"She wanted to get out of this world, to go to somewhere else where she had control over her own life again. And so she decided that she had to end it all. I was with her for nearly the whole thing. I asked her, then, why she had killed our adar, why losing nana, her great protector, had made her go mad."

Erin looked up at Legolas and Galadriel and Haldir, and they could then see that she was weeping. "I- I didn't know until yesterday," she said, gulping in air as she choked out the words, "that the sick and twisted demons within our adar... had taken control. Her memories- she shared them with me. Rape after endless rape, abuse, torture, slavery- oh, Valar!" She began to sob.

"He was doing it to her, even while nana was alive! Nana must have been worse in the head than we thought.... somehow, nana had blamed herself for what her husband was doing. And Gwaloth had her worst nightmare come true- adar had always threatened her, telling her that he would kill nana so that Gwaloth had no one to protect her. And then, nana died anyway. Gwaloth had no one, nobody but me. You know, Legolas," she said, her voice sick and tired, "she really did love you. Deep down, in the part of her that was still Gwaloth, she wanted to keep you safe.

"She wanted to protect you from your own nana and adar, because... she couldn't save herself..."

There was a silence as Galadriel tried to find something to say and failed.

Finally, Haldir laid a comforting arm on Gwaloth's shoulder. "It's okay," he said gently. "It isn't your fault, and I don't blame you. You didn't know. How could you have known? A twin's connection is never that strong when they're young. You aren't to blame."

"Thank you," Erin mumbled under her breath. She took out a handkerchief, and blew her nose. Then she stood up.

"So. When my dear, darling, deceived sister killed herself, the monsters within her, her insanity, died as well. I am no longer insane; far from it. All that was making me insane was my connection to Gwaloth; I got the backlash. Now, I must leave you all, to explain things to the Archivists. They're dying to study me, you know- they want to write more psychological drivel. Haldir..." She paused at the door, and looked over her shoulder with a small smile.

"Take care of Legolas," she whispered, and left the room. Galadriel raised her eyebrows at the two Elves, who ducked their heads in embarrassment.

"I hope you remember to thank Orophin and Rumil for coming to the rescue, you two. And Legolas, we'll have to send word to your parents as soon as we can get you out of bed, understood? Thankfully, we could give you emergency healing. All you'll have from the incident will be a few white lines." Then she winked, and headed after Gwaloth.

"Just don't try anything while he's injured, Haldir," Galadriel called over her shoulder, shutting the door behind her.

There was a brief silence.

"Well, scars aren't that bad. I have plenty of them, from earlier times with the Dark One." Even if Legolas had blamed Gwaloth for her insanity and his mutilation, he knew, deep within himself, that she had not been the one in control. Out of respect, he called his attacker the Dark One.

"Well indeed. How are you, really?"

Legolas chuckled. "Better than I've been in a long, long time."

"That's good."

"Yes," he said, leaning forwards to Haldir and breathing lightly on his cheek, "it most definitely is."

//My name is Legolas. I'm the Prince of Mirkwood, son of Thranduil and Eilphdi, and in love with Haldir of Lorien. I don't know what the future holds. All I know is that I'm getting out of the long night of blindness, with Haldir by my side.//

On Legolas' and Haldir's hands were two shining silver bands. Haldir said that his mother had given them to him, to give to someone he loved. Legolas had accepted, of course. He knew with absolute certainty that Haldir was the "one". It had been a tremendous shock to him that someone loved him deeply enough to stay with him forever. Upon all the unpleasant discoveries he had made earlier in the day, like the truth about Gwaloth and Erin, and his own past, the rings had made him burst into tears.

Legolas had had to work hard at calming Haldir down after that. But in the end, Haldir was relieved, and he was happy, and Legolas was happy, and the world, for the first time in a long while, was good.

//And I know that as long as Haldir lives, he will help me make sure of something...//

//That never am I trapped, once more...//

Haldir put his hand at the back of Legolas' head and tilted it backwards, leaning closer.

//in the Labyrinth.//

And the kiss was warm.

THE END

A/n: Love you ALL. Bye and if you want more of my stuff, check out Intrigue, Forget, or I don't wanna be a Mary-Sue. *sobs* MISS YA ALL!!!! BYE!!!!