YAY!!! Third chappie! I'm so proud of myself. Niwayz, yes this IS a A/L fic, it may not appear to be at the moment, but don't worry. Gotta make our beloved characters suffer a little ^-^ PLEASE REVIEW!!!!

~Cinnamon-Sweet-Heart

Warnings: all previous warnings still apply, this is a *slows down* slash fic. Do I need to spell it out? S L A S H F I C, so no flamers about that fact.

Disclaimer: *yawn* need we always go through this? I don't own LotR blah blah blah... The characters belong to Tolkien blah blah blah.... All except Legolas! HE.... is MINE!!! My preciousssssssss.... @_@' okie, not really ^_~

Fear of the Forbidden

Chapter 3

A feast and Some Shocking News

Aragorn sat up with a jolt as cold water brought him out of his well of confusion and self pity.

"Wha...?" He began, stammering partly from the surprise, and partly from the fact that he was now cold, and dripping wet. He looked around, and saw the twins, Elrohir and Elladan. His foster brothers. Not for much longer.

The twins were grinning from ear to ear and holding between them, a large bucket which was empty but for the occasional drip of the small amount of its previous contents that remained. The contents that were now all over him.

Snarling he leapt out of bed, but before he could kill them 50 times each, Elladan stopped him by holding up a hand and saying

"Aragorn, my father wishes to see you" Sighing, Aragorn chased the two of them out of his room while he changed into dry clothes. Aragorn. Always Aragorn, never Estel anymore.

It was so strange to have been called one name all of your life, and believed yourself to be one thing, when you were in reality someone else all together.

// "My father wishes to see you" //

That had hurt. He had always been Estel, adopted son of Elrond. It seemed that the moment he had become Aragorn son of Arathorn, he had been estranged from the elf he had once called father.

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In Lord Elrond's Study

"I just wanted to let you know that the feast will take place tonight" Said Lord Elrond to Aragorn. Aragorn who was wondering what this was for and why he was being called to be told privately, nodded.

Elrond mistook the look of confusion on his face as something else.

"Don't worry, the guests are already beginning to arrive" With that, Elrond Dismissed the three of them. Aragorn was even more confused then before.

"Guests? what guests? feast for what?" Elrohir chuckled.

"Come Aragorn..."

"Estel." He growled from between clenched teeth. Elrohir was using that superior tone he and his twin sometimes adopted when they were out to stir up trouble, and it always set Aragorn's teeth on edge.

"Estel then. You know what ada means..."

"He was talking about the banquet..." Elladan interrupted his twin.

"For the announcement of you engagement to Arwen." Elrohir finished. Aragorn blanched, coming to a complete stop.

"What?" he whispered. The twins stopped and looked at him with identical frowns of confusion.

"What, does this not please you?" Aragorn could not bring himself to answer. In truth it pleased him not at all. Though he hadn't the slightest notion why. No, that wasn't true either. He did have a slight inkling why, and it had to do with a certain blond prince. Shaking his head, Aragorn backed away before turning to retreat to the relative safety and seclusion of his own rooms.

The twins stood looking at each other.

"I don't know what you think you are doing Ro'hir, but don't you think we should have explained the situation to ada?" Elladan demanded of his brother. Now that Aragorn had fled, the worry for their foster brother was now evident. They had known that they could not let him see that they knew. It would only make things worse. Elrohir shrugged."

"He knows El, he's doing the same thing we are. Hoping that in forcing this upon Estel, he will come to realize what he truly wants. There is a risk... but there is always a risk. We must hope that Estel can do the right thing for him." They looked sadly towards where Aragorn had disappeared. All they could do was try to help as best they could.

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Legolas crept silently into Aragorn's rooms. The future king wasn't there, just as Legolas had wanted it. Tears still slid unheeded down his face as he snuck about. He didn't really know what it was he was looking for, perhaps he was just getting one last look at the belongings of the one he loved; for had no doubt that it would be the last.

Shaking his head at his childlike foolishness, he slipped the chain off his neck, and left it on Aragorn's pillow. Quiet as a mouse, the Prince of Mirkwood slipped out of the room and down the hall.

He made his way to the stables, keeping to the shadows, for he wanted no one to find him and figure out what he was doing. All he wanted was a fast get away. He did not want Aragorn to find out and follow him. At least, not until it was too late.

Quietly saddling a horse, Legolas soon rode out of Imladris in complete secrecy. He felt more tears slide down his face. He knew that what he was doing was for the best. Obviously, Aragorn did not care for him as more than a friend, so the least he could do was spare his friend the humiliation of remaining at Rivendel.

Still, there was the nagging feeling in his heart that cried out that Aragorn did love him. Legolas paid no attention to it. He knew that if Aragorn did indeed love him, that he would come after him. All Legolas would have to do was wait. No matter what he did, he could not push aside the hope that Aragorn would do just that.

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Aragorn walked into his rooms, more confused than he had been when he left it. He could not believe that all of a sudden he was becoming engaged to Arwen. He wished that he had not been told so suddenly on today of all days.

With a sigh, he flopped down on his bed, and cursed as his head hit something hard. Sitting up again, he reached out for whatever the offending object was. It was a necklace with a ring hanging from it.

The chain was gold, and the ring was a work of art. Gold and silver wire wrapped together several rime to form a band, with several emeralds glittering in the centre, arranged in such a way that they formed a leaf. Aragorn frowned. He knew that ring. Leaf... greenleaf... suddenly he had it.

Legolas....

He leapt up, ring in hand, and ran to Legolas's room. He was not there, and neither were his belongings. Aragorn stood there in shock and dismay, before taking off once again. He ran into the stables. The stable boy looked up.

"Where is he...?" Aragorn managed to get out around gasping breaths. "Where is Legolas?"

"He left sir..." Aragorn swore so viciously that the boy backed up a few steps as Aragorn turned and left, heading back towards the house of Elrond.

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Elladan and Elrohir looked up as the door to their shared room slammed open. There stood Aragorn, liking much worse for wear.

"Was there anything you needed Estel?" Elrohir asked innocently. Aragorn was fuming and was in no mood for his brother's tone. He stormed up to Elrohir and grabbed the front of his shirt.

"Where is he?" He growled. Elladan laid a hand on the human's shoulder.

"Calm down Estel, Ro'hir and I had nothing to do with Legolas leaving, despite what you might think. In fact it is not our fault at all, it is yours." Aragorn dropped Elrohir's shirt and stood there with his fists clenched.

"Why did he leave?" The twins sighed.

"Little brother, you were the one who pushed him away. Legolas was fading when he was brought here. Now there are precious few things that can ,make an elf die, but one of them is a broken heart."

"Get on with it."

"Well, Legolas is most obviously in love with you," At this Aragorn clutched the ring in his hand even harder than before, but he managed to keep himself from replying. "I don't know what happened between you two little brother, but its obvious that it was not what either of you might have wished. Prince Legolas left, I would assume, because his heart has been broken again. Unfortunately he may not survive it this time."

Aragorn had gone white at this last comment. It couldn't be true, it just couldn't be. He could not bring himself to realize that what the twins were saying was the truth. And until he could admit it to himself, he would do nothing about it. The twins had been watching Aragorn suspiciously and worriedly.

"What do you plan to do about this Estel?"

"Do? I plan to do nothing! If the elf is going to be so pig headedly stubborn as to run off like that, then I don't plan to go after him. If he loves me so much he will return." With that he whirled around and left the room, slamming the door behind him.

The twins sat there looking at each other rather stunned.

"I'm not sure that this is going to work El," Elrohir said after a time. Elladan shook his head.

"No, it should."

"But remember, both of them are hurt and prideful and each as stubborn as the other."

"You're right. I don't know what we can do."

"I don't think that there is anything we can do brother. we've made a real mess of things this time and now I think we just have to let it work itself out. I don't think there is anything else we can do." Elladan looked worried.

"Estel really does love Legolas. It's plain for everyone to see except the two of them. He will come to realize it eventually, lets just hope that he does so before its too late for Legolas."

Okie, there were way to many of you to thank you individually, but thanx to all you who reviewed! *cries* I love you all! Please don't hate Aragorn... too much. I love to torture them ^-^ I know I know.... sadistic kind of pleasure isn't it. Anyway, I hope to have another chapter up soon, as I have all of Easter break to work on one. (tomorrow through to Monday =^-^=) So watch out for that, and please review!