Why do you look so sad?

Tears are in your eyes,

Come on and come to me now.

Don't be ashamed to cry,

Let me see you through,

Because I've seen the dark side too.

When the night falls on you,

And you don't know what to do,

Nothing you confess could make me love you less.

So if you're mad, get mad.

Don't hold it all inside,

Come on and talk to me.

What have you got to hide?

I get angry too,

I'm a lot like you.

When you're standing at the crossroads,

And don't know which path to choose,

Let me come along,

Because even if you're wrong,

I'll stand by you.

When the night falls on you

And you're feeling all alone,

You won't be on your own.

I'll Stand By You, Girls Aloud

………………………………………………………………………………………………

King Thranduil paused outside Calaen's door, taking a moment to both calm himself and prepare himself for what he was going to do. Never had he imagined that he would have to face this on his own, without the support of his wife. But part of him wondered if it was better this way. Had she been alive, Findilan would hate for her children to know of her past.

'But in a way, I am glad that it happened,' Thranduil thought. 'I despise Deorfel for what he did, but I cannot deny that if he had not, then Calaen would not be here. My son was the good thing that came out of it all.'

Taking a deep breath, the Elven-king stepped forwards and opened the door. He exhaled sharply as he was greeted by the destruction in the Prince's room. Calaen, who was sitting in silence on the bed, looked up with cold eyes. He had planned nothing, he had not thought of anything to say or do when the time for this inevitable conversation came.

"Did you do this?" Thranduil asked in amazement.

"No. I opened my door to see everything flying around on its own," Calaen deadpanned. "It must have been wizardry."

The King sighed as he stepped over some books. "Why? Were you that angry?"

"No. I was overcome with joy," the Prince replied. He looked up, and smiled humourlessly. "I suppose you have come to lecture me now? It was inevitable, really. But can I be perfectly honest with you? I do not care."

"What has gotten into you?" Thranduil asked incredulously. "Calaen, something must have happened to make you behave this way. Will you not tell me? I want to help you."

"Oh, no lecture?" The dark haired Elf laughed softly.

"No. No lecture," Thranduil replied. He paused, and reached down to pick up the ripped sheets from the floor. "Destruction is a good way to vent anger. I can remember when I was your age. All I wanted to do was train with my friends, and go out riding, but my father wanted to teach me all about ruling a kingdom, and diplomacy. He had me sit in the council room for days, so that I could listen to the discussions and arguments that he and his advisors had. But I just did not care for any of it."

"What does this have to do with me?" Calaen said sullenly.

"One day I had made plans with my friends, but Oropher told me that he was holding a council, and it would be beneficial if I was to sit in on it," Thranduil continued. "I was so angry that I stormed away from him up to my own rooms, and proceeded to destroy everything I could lay my hands on."

"Really, what does-?

"After the council had finished," Thranduil cut in, "my father came to me. He was angry at first that I had caused so much damage, but then I told him everything. I felt better for talking to him, and he finally understood how I felt."

Calaen looked up, and said carelessly, "So, what then?"

"He gave me the freedom that I had so desired," Thranduil replied, smiling vaguely at the memory. "So you see, everything worked out for the best."

"And, the moral of this story is…?"

The Elven-king sighed, and sat beside the Prince. "The only reason everything worked out the way that I wanted it to, was because I told my father what the problem was. He helped me. I can help you."

"Maybe." Calaen paused, and locked his green eyes onto Thranduil's blue ones. "I do not think that you came here to find out what – if anything – is troubling me. There was another reason."

"I will not lie to you," Thranduil replied. "There was something else. But now that I see how upset you are, I do not wish to burden you with anything more. It can wait."

"Then, it was not important?"

"No. No, it was very important, but…" Thranduil paused, and closed his eyes as he realised what he had just said. "Calaen, I am thinking of you. This is not something that you should hear – not if you have other thoughts on your mind."

The dark haired Elf nodded slowly. "Would you do anything for me? Anything at all."

"You know that I would."

"Well, then…"

"Calaen, I…." Thranduil leaned forwards, and rested his head in his hands. "Very well. I will tell you everything, though it is against my better judgement. But I must ask one thing of you. What you will hear may give you cause to believe that things have changed, or will change. Do not think that, for they have not, and nor will they ever."

The Prince nodded slowly. His mind had been spinning as he had wondered what to do. He had been torn between admitting that he knew everything – this would also save Thranduil from repeating a story which clearly still pained him – and continuing to feign ignorance.

It did not take long to make his mind up. He chose the latter. Calaen had forced himself to accept that there was nothing he could do about Deorfel. He could not change what had happened in the past, no matter what he did. But he wanted to stop being lied and pretended to. He wanted to hear the words said to him by Thranduil.

"Tell me," he said softly.

The Elven-king looked across at the Prince, and touched a hand to his shoulder. "I…Calaen…" He closed his eyes briefly, trying to calm himself. "Calaen, I am not your father. Not by blood."

"Right." The dark haired Elf rose, and went to the other side of the room. "I see."

Thranduil blinked in surprise – this was the last thing he had expected. "Do you have nothing more to say? I thought that your reaction would be different."

"It was," Calaen replied. "It was very different."

"I do not understand," Thranduil said slowly.

"No, nor did I at first. But I have resigned myself to the fact that I cannot change what happened a long time ago. I was very confused to start with, but I have been alone for a while, and I have had time to sort things out in my mind, and now I understand things a little bit better," Calaen said.

Thranduil's heart thudded painfully against his chest as the full realisation hit him. "Valar…you know," he breathed.

"Yes, I know." Calaen turned back to face the King, and smiled sadly. "You did not expect that. After all, you kept the secret so well hidden, how could I possibly find out? But I did."

"When? How?" Thranduil asked. "How did you…?"

"This morning. Might I give you some advice? If you wish to keep what you say private, then invest in a new door for your study. The one that you have at the moment is useless." Calaen reached up a hand, and tapped a delicately pointed ear. "I heard everything."

Thranduil closed his eyes tightly, wondering when he was going to wake up and realise that this was all a nightmare. The fact that Calaen had found out in the way that he had was enough, but knowing how much pain the Prince must be going through, physically hurt his heart. He looked up and shook his head, not knowing what to say.

"I did not want to believe it at first," Calaen said slowly. "This is something that I have heard about – a child being brought up to believe various things about his family, I mean. But I never imagined it would happen to me. So when I overheard you talking with Airëlus, it did not seem real. But after shedding a few tears, destroying my room and assaulting a soldier, I realised that I had to accept it."

"So that is why you fought him," Thranduil said. He paused, and sighed heavily. "Overhearing a conversation is not how I would have you find out. By the Valar, Calaen, I am sorry. I am so sorry."

"Don't be. It is not your fault that this...human manipulated Naneth to do what he wanted; it is not your fault that the door to your study is a useless barrier; it…" Calaen turned away as tears gathered in his eyes, and his voice choked. "It is not your fault that I…that I happened to be there."

Thranduil moved from the bed and was instantly at the Prince's side. "No, none of that was my fault. But I blame myself for your pain. I could have made it easier for you by telling you a long time ago."

"I heard your reasons," Calaen sighed. "It was the last thing that you promised Naneth before she died. I understand why you kept your silence."

"In doing so, I hurt you even more. You are my son, and the last thing that-

"Am I?"

"What do you mean?"

Calaen turned back to face the Elven-king. "I heard you tell Airëlus that you have never stopped loving me and you never will, but…" He trailed off and lowered his gaze. "I want to hear you say it to me. Please."

Thranduil put both hands on the Prince's shoulders, and locked eyes with him. "Calaen, I love you. You are my son, and I swear by all that I hold dear, I will kill anyone who says anything different. I love you more than life itself. I would willingly die for you. That we are of different blood means nothing – I am your father. Nothing will change that."

Calaen lowered his eyes so that the tears of relief would go un-noticed. "Ada…I was afraid. Afraid that…it sounds stupid, but I was afraid that I would never again be able to call you that, and-

"Why would you think that?" Thranduil shook his head sadly at the words. "No Calaen, that should not have crossed your mind."

"But you understand why it did?" the Prince asked. "I was confused, and because I had no-one to talk to about this, it just made things even worse."

"But you have someone to talk to now," Thranduil replied. "You can tell me anything that you want to about how you are feeling; you can ask me any questions, and I will answer them as best as I can. Do you want to ask me anything?"

Calaen bit down on his lip, and raised his eyes slowly. "Ever since I was born, you have lived with the knowledge that I am not your son by blood. Did that ever make you feel certain things that you did not feel with Airëlus or Legolas? Was I different?"

"Yes. You were very different, but never in a bad way," Thranduil replied. He smiled as various memories came flooding back. "When you were only a few months old, your mother left you with me for the day so that she could go out riding. You cried for hours, and nothing I did would stop you. I had never had such problems with Airëlus, and I did not know what to do. By the time your mother had returned, I had convinced myself that you could somehow sense the truth, and you did not like me because you knew that I was not your father by blood."

"Really?" Calaen asked softly.

"Yes. It was a ridiculous notion. And whenever people commented on your dark hair or green eyes, my heart would miss a beat. Paranoia would always set in – I was afraid that they also had guessed. Of course, many of them did," Thranduil said. "But eventually, I realised that it did not matter what others knew or thought or said, because I had a child who I loved with all of my heart, and no-one could ever take that away."

Calaen smiled – a real smile, perhaps for the first time in months. "Thank you. I have been thinking of what could have happened."

"What do you mean?" Thranduil asked.

"My life could have turned out so differently. What if you could not stand to look at me, so you sent me to live with humans?" Calaen replied. "What if every time you looked into my face, you saw Deorfel staring back at you? What if-

The young Prince gasped as he was suddenly pulled into a tight embrace. For a split second only, he felt slightly uncomfortable, as though he did not deserve this comfort. But then he relaxed both physically and emotionally, and buried his face into the Elven-king's shoulder. Tears were in his eyes, but they were tears brought on by the emotion of the moment that was being shared.

"There is only one answer to those questions: nothing would have happened, because I never felt that way," Thranduil said softly. "Not even once in your whole life have I felt anything but love for you."

"Ada, I…." Calaen leaned back from the embrace, and locked eyes with the King. "Ada, I love you too."

The Elven-king smiled softly. "Do not think of what may have been. Think only of what is, and what will come to be. The past cannot be changed, but your future is your own. Whatever you choose to do in life, I will support you, and I will be proud of you."

"You cannot know what the future holds," Calaen said quietly. "For any of us."

………………………………………………………………………………………………

IwishChan: Don't worry, I cry over lots of things too! I still cry over ROTK. How silly is that?!

Haldir's Heart and Soul: I agree!

Irish Anor: Yes, he is, isn't he? We really do need to start thinking about sending him to see this shrink that you mentioned.

Utsuri: I feel bad for Legolas, too! He doesn't understand why Calaen is being so mean. Poor Elfling. And yes, I want to help Calaen also. But if I did, then the next two stories after this wouldn't exist!

Legolas-gurl88: Yep, it's definitely cold out here! I reckon that it's cold enough for snow! I hope it snows at Christmas, because that would be really magical! Anyway, I don't have much to say, because all that I want to say, I'm going to put in an e-mail, and to type it twice would just be silly. Like me!

Halimanya: Oh dear, I didn't mean to make you cry!

Elvendancer: I live in England. ROTK EE was brilliant! I loved it so much!!!

Jedi Gollum: Yeah, Cal is ok with the wrapping. He'll probably feed it to Legolas anyway, so it doesn't really matter.

Lombadia Greenleaf: Oh dear, poor Rick. I don't have a clue who these people are, but I'll be sad for them anyway!

Elven Kitten: Do you still want to hurt Calaen?

Little-Legolas-Lover: Yep, there are gonna be a few more chapters. I won't say how many, because normally I give a number, but it ends up being a lot more! But yeah, there are definitely a few more.

Pippin the hobbit-elf: Wow, that would be great! I tell you what; I'll send you an e-mail with my address, because obviously I don't want to put it up on here!!!

I know that this chapter took a long time to get up, but that is for a number of reasons. One: I had trouble writing it. Two: I have three pieces of coursework to do by Monday. Three: I have got a new job. Four: It's coming up to Christmas, and I've been very busy with shopping for presents and everything. But I'm hoping that the next one won't take as long. I've got a day off from college today, so although I've got work to do, I'll still have a bit more time to work on this. So, see you all soon!

Misto

x-x

PS: Has anyone seen ROTK EE yet?