Chapter Nine: Give 'em something ta talk about.
This world, this world is cold
But you don't, you don't have to go
You're feeling sad you're feeling lonely
And no one seems to care
Your mother's gone and your father hits you
This pain you cannot bare
But we all bleed the same way as you do
And we all have the same things to go thru
Hold on...if you feel like letting go
Hold on...it gets better than you know.
-Good Charlotte, Hold On
"If I go, Theoden dies," said the King, being pinned to his throne by the magic from Gandalf's staff.
"You did not kill me, you will not kill him!" said Gandalf.
"Rohan is mine!"
"Be gone,"
The king lunged at Gandalf, but was thrown back.
The king then started to moan, and Eowyn ran to him. His face started to shrink, his eyes cleared, and his hair grew shorter and red.
"I know your face," he said to Eowyn, "Eowyn, Eowyn. Gandalf?"
"Breathe the free air again, my friend," said Gandalf.
"Dark have been my dreams of late."
"Your fingers would remember their old strength better, if they grasped a sword." Hama approached the king, holding out a sword. The king drew it from its sheath, and it seemed he was truly restored.
Then a scream was heard from the hallway. The people in the hall seemed to come out of a trance, and they looked around. Legolas only now noticed that Melanie was not there.
"Where is Melanie?" he asked in panic.
"Let us hope she is not who made the scream," said Aragorn, running with Legolas across the Hall, to where the noise had come from.
They opened the door that led out into the hallway, and a slightly humorous, but very frightening scene met their eyes.
Melanie was standing, with a bloody nose and a slightly tattered dress, above a man who was lying in a bleeding, shivering, and, basically whipped pulp.
"What the hell is the matter with you?" yelled Melanie, who didn't notice Legolas and Aragorn watching her.
"Don't you get the hint?" she continued, "I don't like you! Got it asshole? I hate you! You disgust me, you motha fuckin, sonofabitch-" That was when she noticed Legolas and Aragron.
"Uh . . . help?" she said.
"I believe you have things under control," said Aragorn.
She grinned sheepishly. "Well, maybe I'm not as helpless as I thought . . ."
"No!" said Legolas, "I pity whatever fool annoys you next!"
Artimas stopped whimpering. "I would never strike a woman!" he said.
"Oh yeah buster?" said Melanie, "What about the left hook my face took? Does that count as a strike?" Then a batch of guards came running into the hallway, and then skidding to a hault. 'Here comes dumb, dumb, and dumber.' Melanie thought as she watched them all try to speak at once.
"The king is taking revenge on Grima!" They finally managed. Then they noticed Artimas and Melanie. "You two," they said to Aragorn and Legolas, "May go. Gandalf wants to speak to you," said Hama. Legolas and Aragorn reluctantly left. Then he turned to Melanie. "What seems to be the problem?"
"What?" said Melanie, "Hama, you know what got reported, well, he tried to do it again." she looked at Artimas, to find he was not there. "What-?"
Hama shook his head, looking at Melanie. "I would think that by now, a child of your age would know better than to lie to her betters."
"WHAT? MY BETTERS?" she yelled. Hama shook his head, and it almost appeared as though he was amused.
"You must learn to control your temper. I believe that a good and swift punishment must be dealt . . ."
"Oh no way!" she said and she turned and started to walk away, but a cold voice stopped her. "You will not lie to me!"
"I'm not lying! Ask Legolas and Aragron!" she said .
Hama shook his head, ignoring her. "I do not have time for this, you will be confined to your room for the remainder of the day."
Melanie looked at him with disgust. "You really are a moron Hama."
With extreme force, he slapped her across the mouth. She looked at him with a gaze burning with hate. Then she began to yell.
"I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE! THIS IS SO STUPID! I HATE YOU!" She bellowed like a wounded hippo.
She flew down the hall and slammed her door. She ran up to her mirror and punched it hard. It shattered into a zillion pieces. Her hands bloody, she screamed in fury.
Then she stood there for a while.
She walked to her bed. She picked out the glass from her wound and wrapped her arm with a bed sheet. She breathed in, and then she breathed out, "One. Two. Three. Four. Five..."
"Boy do I have a temper!" Melanie said aloud when she had calmed down a lot. She looked at the remains of her mirror. If she looked close, she could see droplets of blood. Nasty.
She waited in her room, serving out her punishment. She wondered what the others were doing. Melanie decided to hum a bit. Maybe it would lift her spirit. So, sitting on her bed, her arm wrapped in her bed sheet, her spirits low, she began to sing. A silly song that always cheered her up.
'THIS IS THE SONG THAT NEVER ENDS, IT GOES ON AND ON AND ON AND ON AND ON AND ON AND ONN MY FRIENDS...Oh, I'm singin THIS IS-' and she found that she could not continue. She had been interrupted. The interruption was her door opening.
"Melanie!" Legolas said, eyes darting to the sheet covering her hand.
"What?" said Melanie, harshly.
"What have you done to yourself?"
"That's obvious, isn't it?" she said bitterly, gesturing toward her mirror with her good hand. Legolas stepped toward her, and she decided maybe she should abandon her nasty-ass attitude.
"I'm just not having a good day."
Legolas nodded. "Let me help you with your hand. You have no idea how to properly dress a wound, do you?"
She nodded. Wordlessly she followed him into the bathroom. "Now, first off, you must clean the wound." And he took her hand in his and put it into the bowl of water. It was blood red within seconds, but that did not seem to matter to Legolas. He gently washed it. Then he took it out of the water.
"Now, you apply pressure to the wound, so as to stop the bleeding, since yours does not need sewing back together." And he applied a small amount of pressure to her hand.
"Do you mean stitches?"
"If that is what you know them as," he said.
"I had stitches once, on my chin. I was five, and I was climbing a tree. I fell out of the branch and landed on concrete."
"What is concrete?"
"A type of stone." Legolas shivered. Once he had stopped talking, Melanie noticed what position they were in . He was behind her, holding her hand in front of her, and she was caught within his embrace. Legolas seemed to notice the position too, for he drew a shaky breath. Melanie repressed a snort.
"Uh, I think I'm going to have to get injured more often." she said, without realizing it. Legolas looked down at her head in disbelief. Melanie sure had no qualms about telling what she really thought! Then Legolas mentally laughed at himself, for he had been thinking along the same lines as Melanie, but then reason caught up with him.
"Do not be foolish, I would not like to see you injured again. Now, since we-uh-have some time," he said, looking down at her hand, "Why not tell me of your home? There must be some aspects about it that you like?"
Melanie nodded. "Actually, my dad is about the only bad thing about living there. I live in a farming community. It is so beautiful there, you can see the stars at night, and the morning air is always fresh. That may not seem like much to you, but in my world, there aren't many places where you can see the stars properly, and the air always smells of fog."
"That sounds terrible. Why can you not see the stars in other places?"
"In most places, the ground is so lit up that you can't see the light from the sky, and there is so much pollution, that the air smells terrible, but not were I live. I ride the bus each morning to school, my favorite place to be is the Sunken Gardens, and I have a few friends at school. I have no best friend, but I think that the girls might care now I'm gone. I haven't really been thinking about them."
"What is 'Sunken Gardens?'"
"Oh, it's the loveliest place. It is located at the city park. It is a bunch of water plants and small ponds filled with giant goldfish. The land is sunken, so you have to climb down stone steps to get to the paths that walk through the gardens."
Legolas tried to picture this, and he decided it was indeed a lovely spot. Melanie was speaking again, so he listened. "Where is your favorite place?"
Legolas smiled. "It is in Greenwood, no, the proper title is Mirkwood," he said, a little bitterly. "It is a clearing surrounded by trees, and, at first, it seems to be just ordinary. Then you look, and the ground is covered in clover. And then, at night, when the moon shines down on some of the tall grass, you realize that it is not actually grass at all, but flowers. The flowers burst into white blooms. It is the most beautiful spot I know of."
He looked down at her hand, and realized it had stopped bleeding a while ago. He let her go. She turned around and looked at him mournfully. "I would like to see that," she said, almost in a whisper. This, however, brightened Legolas. "Perhaps I will take you there when the war is over. But you may not want to meet my father." he said, grinning.
"And why not?"
"Because."
"Because why?"
"He is not too found of children," Legolas said, wanting to see the effect of his words. Melanie huffed. "I am not a child."
"I beg to differ," he said teasingly, "For in my father's eyes, Aragorn is but an adolescent."
"How old is Aragorn? I never asked him."
"I believe he is eighty."
"Uh-huh, because his mommy was an elf?"
"Yes." Then Legolas looked at his feet. "Perhaps we should go to dinner?"
"Yeah, listen, you go. I've gotta stay in my room as punishment for "lying." Legolas nodded. "I will bring you some food." and he left.
He came back, depressed. He handed her some bread and meat. And sat down on her bed. She stuffed her face, and then sat next to him. "What's up Legolas?"
His eyes flicked to the ceiling. "The ceiling, and this is no time for stupid questions." Melanie laughed, his bitter tone making it all the funnier.
"No, when I say, 'what's up' I mean, what's going on, what's your problem?"
Legolas nodded in understanding. "I apologize for being short. King Theoden has decided to flee to Helm's Deep, and Gandalf has gone to retrieve Eomer and the others. I fear for Aragorn, he has decided to stand by these humans, I worry for the people, too, they will have to fight Urak-Hai, and-" he hesitated.
"And?" Melanie said.
"And I fear for you." Melanie opened her mouth a tad. No, it was because her kid could destroy the world, that was it . . . he was worried she would get captured. When he told her that he was attracted to her, that wasn't true, he must have just got caught up in the moment, or something.
"Yeah, Dameon could do a lot of damage, right?"
"Dameon?"
"That's what I've decided to name the little bastard." Legolas looked as if he could not believe what he was hearing.
"Are you saying that you plan to go to Sauron?"
Melanie rolled her eyes. "No, I'm saying if I was captured, that be a whole lot of hell for you guys, so you're worried I'll fuck up your whole world."
Suddenly, Legolas was the one who seemed angry. "Is that what you truly believe, that I only worry for you for that? Is that what you truly think?"
"Well, since you put it that way, I'm rethinking." she said. Legolas managed a weak laugh.
"The King has ordered us to pack whatever we need, so I must go to my room. I will see you momentarily."
He walked out the door. To his surprise, Melanie followed him into his room.
"Ahhh, Melanie, I need to change."
'Time to see how much he really likes me,' Melanie thought. "So?" she asked.
He smiled impishly, as she laughed. Then he took off his shirt. She abruptly stopped laughing. A gargling noise came from her open mouth. Three words.
DAMN. HOT. ELF.
This world, this world is cold
But you don't, you don't have to go
You're feeling sad you're feeling lonely
And no one seems to care
Your mother's gone and your father hits you
This pain you cannot bare
But we all bleed the same way as you do
And we all have the same things to go thru
Hold on...if you feel like letting go
Hold on...it gets better than you know.
-Good Charlotte, Hold On
"If I go, Theoden dies," said the King, being pinned to his throne by the magic from Gandalf's staff.
"You did not kill me, you will not kill him!" said Gandalf.
"Rohan is mine!"
"Be gone,"
The king lunged at Gandalf, but was thrown back.
The king then started to moan, and Eowyn ran to him. His face started to shrink, his eyes cleared, and his hair grew shorter and red.
"I know your face," he said to Eowyn, "Eowyn, Eowyn. Gandalf?"
"Breathe the free air again, my friend," said Gandalf.
"Dark have been my dreams of late."
"Your fingers would remember their old strength better, if they grasped a sword." Hama approached the king, holding out a sword. The king drew it from its sheath, and it seemed he was truly restored.
Then a scream was heard from the hallway. The people in the hall seemed to come out of a trance, and they looked around. Legolas only now noticed that Melanie was not there.
"Where is Melanie?" he asked in panic.
"Let us hope she is not who made the scream," said Aragorn, running with Legolas across the Hall, to where the noise had come from.
They opened the door that led out into the hallway, and a slightly humorous, but very frightening scene met their eyes.
Melanie was standing, with a bloody nose and a slightly tattered dress, above a man who was lying in a bleeding, shivering, and, basically whipped pulp.
"What the hell is the matter with you?" yelled Melanie, who didn't notice Legolas and Aragorn watching her.
"Don't you get the hint?" she continued, "I don't like you! Got it asshole? I hate you! You disgust me, you motha fuckin, sonofabitch-" That was when she noticed Legolas and Aragron.
"Uh . . . help?" she said.
"I believe you have things under control," said Aragorn.
She grinned sheepishly. "Well, maybe I'm not as helpless as I thought . . ."
"No!" said Legolas, "I pity whatever fool annoys you next!"
Artimas stopped whimpering. "I would never strike a woman!" he said.
"Oh yeah buster?" said Melanie, "What about the left hook my face took? Does that count as a strike?" Then a batch of guards came running into the hallway, and then skidding to a hault. 'Here comes dumb, dumb, and dumber.' Melanie thought as she watched them all try to speak at once.
"The king is taking revenge on Grima!" They finally managed. Then they noticed Artimas and Melanie. "You two," they said to Aragorn and Legolas, "May go. Gandalf wants to speak to you," said Hama. Legolas and Aragorn reluctantly left. Then he turned to Melanie. "What seems to be the problem?"
"What?" said Melanie, "Hama, you know what got reported, well, he tried to do it again." she looked at Artimas, to find he was not there. "What-?"
Hama shook his head, looking at Melanie. "I would think that by now, a child of your age would know better than to lie to her betters."
"WHAT? MY BETTERS?" she yelled. Hama shook his head, and it almost appeared as though he was amused.
"You must learn to control your temper. I believe that a good and swift punishment must be dealt . . ."
"Oh no way!" she said and she turned and started to walk away, but a cold voice stopped her. "You will not lie to me!"
"I'm not lying! Ask Legolas and Aragron!" she said .
Hama shook his head, ignoring her. "I do not have time for this, you will be confined to your room for the remainder of the day."
Melanie looked at him with disgust. "You really are a moron Hama."
With extreme force, he slapped her across the mouth. She looked at him with a gaze burning with hate. Then she began to yell.
"I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE! THIS IS SO STUPID! I HATE YOU!" She bellowed like a wounded hippo.
She flew down the hall and slammed her door. She ran up to her mirror and punched it hard. It shattered into a zillion pieces. Her hands bloody, she screamed in fury.
Then she stood there for a while.
She walked to her bed. She picked out the glass from her wound and wrapped her arm with a bed sheet. She breathed in, and then she breathed out, "One. Two. Three. Four. Five..."
"Boy do I have a temper!" Melanie said aloud when she had calmed down a lot. She looked at the remains of her mirror. If she looked close, she could see droplets of blood. Nasty.
She waited in her room, serving out her punishment. She wondered what the others were doing. Melanie decided to hum a bit. Maybe it would lift her spirit. So, sitting on her bed, her arm wrapped in her bed sheet, her spirits low, she began to sing. A silly song that always cheered her up.
'THIS IS THE SONG THAT NEVER ENDS, IT GOES ON AND ON AND ON AND ON AND ON AND ON AND ONN MY FRIENDS...Oh, I'm singin THIS IS-' and she found that she could not continue. She had been interrupted. The interruption was her door opening.
"Melanie!" Legolas said, eyes darting to the sheet covering her hand.
"What?" said Melanie, harshly.
"What have you done to yourself?"
"That's obvious, isn't it?" she said bitterly, gesturing toward her mirror with her good hand. Legolas stepped toward her, and she decided maybe she should abandon her nasty-ass attitude.
"I'm just not having a good day."
Legolas nodded. "Let me help you with your hand. You have no idea how to properly dress a wound, do you?"
She nodded. Wordlessly she followed him into the bathroom. "Now, first off, you must clean the wound." And he took her hand in his and put it into the bowl of water. It was blood red within seconds, but that did not seem to matter to Legolas. He gently washed it. Then he took it out of the water.
"Now, you apply pressure to the wound, so as to stop the bleeding, since yours does not need sewing back together." And he applied a small amount of pressure to her hand.
"Do you mean stitches?"
"If that is what you know them as," he said.
"I had stitches once, on my chin. I was five, and I was climbing a tree. I fell out of the branch and landed on concrete."
"What is concrete?"
"A type of stone." Legolas shivered. Once he had stopped talking, Melanie noticed what position they were in . He was behind her, holding her hand in front of her, and she was caught within his embrace. Legolas seemed to notice the position too, for he drew a shaky breath. Melanie repressed a snort.
"Uh, I think I'm going to have to get injured more often." she said, without realizing it. Legolas looked down at her head in disbelief. Melanie sure had no qualms about telling what she really thought! Then Legolas mentally laughed at himself, for he had been thinking along the same lines as Melanie, but then reason caught up with him.
"Do not be foolish, I would not like to see you injured again. Now, since we-uh-have some time," he said, looking down at her hand, "Why not tell me of your home? There must be some aspects about it that you like?"
Melanie nodded. "Actually, my dad is about the only bad thing about living there. I live in a farming community. It is so beautiful there, you can see the stars at night, and the morning air is always fresh. That may not seem like much to you, but in my world, there aren't many places where you can see the stars properly, and the air always smells of fog."
"That sounds terrible. Why can you not see the stars in other places?"
"In most places, the ground is so lit up that you can't see the light from the sky, and there is so much pollution, that the air smells terrible, but not were I live. I ride the bus each morning to school, my favorite place to be is the Sunken Gardens, and I have a few friends at school. I have no best friend, but I think that the girls might care now I'm gone. I haven't really been thinking about them."
"What is 'Sunken Gardens?'"
"Oh, it's the loveliest place. It is located at the city park. It is a bunch of water plants and small ponds filled with giant goldfish. The land is sunken, so you have to climb down stone steps to get to the paths that walk through the gardens."
Legolas tried to picture this, and he decided it was indeed a lovely spot. Melanie was speaking again, so he listened. "Where is your favorite place?"
Legolas smiled. "It is in Greenwood, no, the proper title is Mirkwood," he said, a little bitterly. "It is a clearing surrounded by trees, and, at first, it seems to be just ordinary. Then you look, and the ground is covered in clover. And then, at night, when the moon shines down on some of the tall grass, you realize that it is not actually grass at all, but flowers. The flowers burst into white blooms. It is the most beautiful spot I know of."
He looked down at her hand, and realized it had stopped bleeding a while ago. He let her go. She turned around and looked at him mournfully. "I would like to see that," she said, almost in a whisper. This, however, brightened Legolas. "Perhaps I will take you there when the war is over. But you may not want to meet my father." he said, grinning.
"And why not?"
"Because."
"Because why?"
"He is not too found of children," Legolas said, wanting to see the effect of his words. Melanie huffed. "I am not a child."
"I beg to differ," he said teasingly, "For in my father's eyes, Aragorn is but an adolescent."
"How old is Aragorn? I never asked him."
"I believe he is eighty."
"Uh-huh, because his mommy was an elf?"
"Yes." Then Legolas looked at his feet. "Perhaps we should go to dinner?"
"Yeah, listen, you go. I've gotta stay in my room as punishment for "lying." Legolas nodded. "I will bring you some food." and he left.
He came back, depressed. He handed her some bread and meat. And sat down on her bed. She stuffed her face, and then sat next to him. "What's up Legolas?"
His eyes flicked to the ceiling. "The ceiling, and this is no time for stupid questions." Melanie laughed, his bitter tone making it all the funnier.
"No, when I say, 'what's up' I mean, what's going on, what's your problem?"
Legolas nodded in understanding. "I apologize for being short. King Theoden has decided to flee to Helm's Deep, and Gandalf has gone to retrieve Eomer and the others. I fear for Aragorn, he has decided to stand by these humans, I worry for the people, too, they will have to fight Urak-Hai, and-" he hesitated.
"And?" Melanie said.
"And I fear for you." Melanie opened her mouth a tad. No, it was because her kid could destroy the world, that was it . . . he was worried she would get captured. When he told her that he was attracted to her, that wasn't true, he must have just got caught up in the moment, or something.
"Yeah, Dameon could do a lot of damage, right?"
"Dameon?"
"That's what I've decided to name the little bastard." Legolas looked as if he could not believe what he was hearing.
"Are you saying that you plan to go to Sauron?"
Melanie rolled her eyes. "No, I'm saying if I was captured, that be a whole lot of hell for you guys, so you're worried I'll fuck up your whole world."
Suddenly, Legolas was the one who seemed angry. "Is that what you truly believe, that I only worry for you for that? Is that what you truly think?"
"Well, since you put it that way, I'm rethinking." she said. Legolas managed a weak laugh.
"The King has ordered us to pack whatever we need, so I must go to my room. I will see you momentarily."
He walked out the door. To his surprise, Melanie followed him into his room.
"Ahhh, Melanie, I need to change."
'Time to see how much he really likes me,' Melanie thought. "So?" she asked.
He smiled impishly, as she laughed. Then he took off his shirt. She abruptly stopped laughing. A gargling noise came from her open mouth. Three words.
DAMN. HOT. ELF.