Calaen turned, and silently pushed open the door to his little brother's room. His sharp eyes caught the tensing of Legolas' body underneath the covers, but he ignored it, and went straight over to the desk. As he picked up the pieces of parchment, and scanned each one, his green eyes narrowed to mere slits, and he was suddenly filled with an intense hatred.
He turned back to the bed, and took a few steps towards it. "You are not asleep, Legolas."
The Elfling slowly lifted his head, hoping against hope that his brother had not seen…Oh. He held them in his hand. "What are you….what are you doing in here?"
Calaen did not answer. He went forwards and sat on the edge of the bed, noting and enjoying the fear that the other Prince's eyes held, the nervous anticipation that he knew the child felt. There was silence for a long while until eventually, Legolas opened his mouth to speak. But he was cut off as the dark haired Elf raised both hands, and slowly ripped the drawings.
"Did you think that I would not find out about these?" Calaen asked softly, continuing in the destruction. "You cannot hide things from me. I always find out."
Legolas watched as the shredded bits of parchment fluttered down to land on top of the covers. "Why are you doing this?"
"Because you clearly did not listen to what I told you earlier. I said that you do not have the right to name Naneth as your mother. So, what makes you think that you can draw these horrible little pictures of her?" Calaen replied. He smiled at the look on his brother's face. "Oh, did you not take me seriously? Why not?"
"Because…because she was my Nana," Legolas whispered.
"Really?" Calaen leaned forwards, and threw the small pieces of parchment at the Elfling. "Think again."
Legolas closed his eyes, and shook his head. "I hate you."
"That's funny. Because I seem to remember you saying earlier today that you love me," Calaen said slowly.
"I do," Legolas replied, his voice shaking.
"So, you don't hate me?" the dark haired Elf pressed.
"No, I do hate you," the child whispered.
"So, you don't love me, then?"
"No, I do love you, but…" Legolas rested his head in his hands, tangling them in his hair. "Stop this, please. Please don't do this to me any more, Calaen. Please."
The elder Prince shrugged carelessly. "What am I doing?"
Legolas shook his head violently. These mind games were pure torture. "Please, just stop."
"I am bored of this. So, back to what we were saying before. You still have not given me an answer," Calaen said. "Why did you draw these pictures of my mother?"
The child looked up, and his silver eyes flashed. "Because she was my mother, and there is nothing that you can say which will make me think that she wasn't. If she was here, Cal, then she would not love you any more. She would hate you for doing this."
Calaen's eyes narrowed. "Shut up."
"Not this time," Legolas said vehemently. "I am going to Ada tomorrow, and I am going to tell him everything. And then he will also hate you."
"Shut up."
"No. And then I will tell Airëlus, and he will hate you," the little Prince spat. All the anger and hurt that he had felt over the past months was finally coming to the surface. He did not care for the price he would have to pay. "And then everyone will hate you. No-one will love you, and it will be your fault. Yours!"
Calaen leaned forwards, and caught the front of Legolas' sleeping tunic. "Do you want to run that by me again?"
"Everyone will…they will…" The child looked away, and shook his head. Of course he did not mean it. He knew that his words meant nothing, and he prayed that the other Elf would also see it that way.
"You said that everyone would hate me."
Calaen's voice was low and dangerous, and as he looked into his brother's green eyes, Legolas felt real fear for the first time in his life. He was dimly aware of the trembling of his own body, and he tried hard to stop it. But he could not. And then suddenly, without warning, the dark haired Prince pulled him from the bed, and threw him to the ground.
"I will make you pay for that!" Calaen hissed.
Legolas tried to get back to his feet, but was immediately pushed down again. "I'm sorry," he said desperately.
"So am I," Calaen said in a low voice.
He paused, and the two locked eyes for a moment. And then without pausing to consider his actions, he pulled his fist back, and swung it into the Elfling's face. Legolas cried out as his lip split, and blood ran into his mouth. Tears immediately filled his eyes, but they stirred no emotion in Calaen – he struck his brother two more times, and kicked him in the chest.
Legolas pulled his arms over his head and curled in on himself, trying to both protect himself and still the pain. This had never happened before, and he had never expected it to. Cruel words and mocking laughter: yes. But this? He began to cry softly, hoping and praying that this was all he would get, that Calaen would do no more.
"You will think twice about saying such things in the future, will you not?" the elder Prince growled. When there was no answer, he leaned down and grabbed the child by his hair. "Will you not?"
"I'm sorry," Legolas sobbed. "Please, no more."
Calaen threw his brother from him, and watched through narrowed eyes as the Elfling curled up again on the floor. "Ah, look at it crying."
Legolas shuddered at the name, and wiped some tears away. "Don't call me that," he whispered.
"Why not? Because that is all you are to me," Calaen said cruelly. "In fact, you are not even an it. You are nothing. You are not my brother." He paused, and looked down at the small Prince. "Now, are you going to tell anyone about this?"
"They…they will see my cut," Legolas said shakily, trying hard to control his tears.
Calaen rolled his eyes, and reached down to catch the child's face. "Let me see it. Alright, you get back in that bed, and if the door opens, you pretend to be asleep until you know who it is."
Legolas pushed himself unsteadily up so that he was resting on his hands. "I don't understand."
"Get into bed. I will be back in five minutes or so," Calaen replied. "But if I get caught roaming the corridors at this time of night, then I will be blaming you."
The young Prince wanted to point out the unfairness of that, but he was both too afraid and in too much pain to do so. He was still as his brother left the room, but as soon as the door was silently closed once more, he stood shakily, and made his way over to his oak wardrobe. He held a hand to his aching chest, and with the other, he rummaged around until he found what he was looking for.
Blinking back tears, Legolas turned and went back to bed, making sure that he lay facing away from the door, just in case Thranduil or Airëlus should come in. He wiped some blood from his lip, and hugged the blanket that his mother had made him, close to his chest.
"I am so scared, Nana," he whispered. "I wish that you were here. But even if you were, I don't know if you could help me, because I wouldn't be able to tell you what's happening. I want all of this to stop, but I can't tell Ada either. If I did, then Calaen would…I don't know what he'd do."
Legolas sniffed, and held the blanket tighter. "He has changed so much. I love him because he is my brother, but I am afraid of him, and I hate him also. Is that wrong of me? Maybe. But I can't help it, I just…I just hate who he is, who he has become.
"He tells me things. He says things that hurt me," the child continued slowly. "Today he told me that I…No, I don't want to say it. But it made me cry, Nana. I don't believe him, but it still upset me. He will be coming back soon, I think. I don't know where he went, but before he left, he…"
Legolas raised a hand and swiped at his eyes. "Before Calaen left, he hit me. I have never been hit like that before, and it hurts so much. He doesn't want anyone to find out about this, but I think that Ada and Airëlus will see the cut on my lip. That will make him even angrier, and maybe he will hurt me again. I don't want that."
The child drew in a sharp breath as the door handle suddenly turned. "That might be him. I love you, Nana."
Legolas pushed the blanket under his pillows and immediately lay still again, making sure to keep his breathing even. As the door opened, some blood from his split lip ran into his mouth, and he desperately wanted to spit it out. But he forced himself to keep still. It seemed an age before the door closed again.
"It is me."
The child say up, and watched warily as Calaen came over and sat on the edge of the bed. "Where did you go?" he asked softly.
"I got you this," the dark haired Elf replied, passing his brother a cup of water. "Drink it. It will help to calm you down. When you have finished, let me clean up that blood."
"Why" Legolas asked quietly.
"Why what?"
"Why do you want to clean the blood?"
Calaen laughed cruelly. "Do you think it is because I wish to make you feel better? No. It is because if that cut is not healed by the morning, then Ada will realise that something happened. And we do not want that, do we?"
"No," Legolas whispered. He took a few sips of the water to try and calm himself, as his brother had said it would do. But it helped little. He sighed deeply, and put the cup onto the desk beside his bed.
"Alright, this will sting a little bit," Calaen said, lifting a damp cloth and holding it against the Elfling's lip. "But it will heal you."
Legolas closed his eyes tightly as he was tended to. It seemed as though the elder Prince's temper had cooled down, but still, he knew that he had to be careful. The smallest thing could set him off again, and that was the last thing that the already hurt child wanted.
"I do not understand you, Legolas," Calaen said slowly. "You know that I get angry with you, so why do you do these things?"
"I don't mean to," the Elfling whispered. "Before everything changed, there was nothing I could do that would make you want to hurt me."
"But that's just it," Calaen sighed. "Things have changed. I have changed. You know that."
Legolas looked up, and shook his head slowly. "Will you ever get better?"
"I am not ill!" the dark haired Elf snapped.
"But you have a problem."
Calaen threw the cloth at his brother, and stood up angrily. He began pacing up and down in front of the bed. "Do not speak of things that you know nothing of. Stay out of my life, Legolas. I do not want you in it."
"But I am," the Elfling said softly. "I am in your life. If you really hate it that much, then do something about it."
"Are you suggesting what I think you are?" Calaen asked.
Legolas nodded slowly. "You have hurt me, and you are still hurting me. You will probably carry on hurting me. Why? Is it building up to something?"
"What do you mean by that?" Calaen snapped.
"My tutor told me that everything is done for a reason. Like…" Legolas fell silent as he tried to remember the example that Ameldir had given him. "Oh yes. If there are soldiers who train everyday, they don't do it for fun. They do it because there will be a battle, and that is what they are building up for."
Calaen stopped pacing, and looked carefully at his younger brother. "So, what are you saying?"
"Is all this hurt building up to something else?" Legolas asked softly.
"By the Valar, you think that…you think that I would…would kill you?" Calaen drew in a deep breath, and shook his head. "Do not be so stupid."
"But am I being stupid? I don't know what to think any more, I am so afraid now. So, if you said that you did want to kill me, then I…I would not be surprised," Legolas said quietly.
Calaen stood in silence, running over what had been said to him. He had enough power – both physical and emotional – to hurt, but…kill? Such a thought had never even entered his mind. And as he looked into his brother's eyes, he wondered if he would ever be able to do something like that. It would take a lot.
"Would you kill me?" Legolas asked softly.
The dark haired Elf shook himself mentally, and narrowed his eyes. "No. You see, I am not like you. I would not commit murder."
Legolas did not reply. He knew that his question had caught the elder Prince off guard, and at first, Calaen had been more than surprised. The Elfling himself did not and would not believe for one second that his brother would even contemplate trying to take his life. But all he had wanted was to see a reaction. And he had got one.
"You are taking up too much of my time," Calaen said coldly.
"You do not have to be here," Legolas replied.
The elder Elf stormed over to the door, and was just about to wrench it open. But then he paused, as he realised that the sound of it would echo through the corridor. Yet he could not just walk calmly from the room without another word – that would seem to be weakness on his part. He turned back to his brother, and smiled.
"I would not kill you, Legolas," he said softly. "Not yet. But neither of us can foresee the future, can we?"
Without waiting for an answer, Calaen left the room in silence, and softly closed the door behind him. Legolas let out a deep breath he had not known he held, and closed his eyes in despair. His brother had sounded deadly serious, and when the dark haired Prince of Mirkwood sounded deadly serious, the Elfling knew to be on his guard.
Legolas sighed, and pulled his mother's blanket from under the pillows. He lay down again, holding it close. "I know you would not hate Calaen if you were here. And I know that Ada and Airëlus would never hate him either. Please forgive me for saying that. But Nana, please forgive Calaen also – for what he is doing now, and what he will do in the future."
………………………………………………………………………………………………
Lombadia Greenleaf: EastEnders is a British soap that has been running for nearly twenty years. Its set in East London, and it's the best thing on British TV! Except, most of the time, the storylines are really depressing and angsty. Its rare to get a happy storyline! Only tonight, a family got kicked out their home and this one guy saw his adopted daughter kissing her brother. Nice, hmm?!
Jedi Gollum: Well, I'll send you an e-mail after Christmas telling you about the stories I have planned, cos otherwise it'll take ages here! But don't worry. They'll be full of angst, and the main characters will, as usual, be Legolas, Thranduil, and probably the Rivendell lot. I'll e-mail you about it!
Halimanya: No, I think that the Xmas party last year was better. But did you not see the actual episode? Oh no! It was really good! There was this really amazing plot twist with the money that Sam had collected for Phil. It turns out that Marcus was only using Phil as an excuse. He took off with all the money!!!
Haldir's Heart and Soul: Yeah, I thought that bit was amazing. I love it when men cry, but my friend thinks that it just makes them look really stupid. She also thinks that when male actors cry, it looks really fake. Like, Sam crying in ROTK, and stuff like that. I really like it, though! Oh yeah, as to what else you said. Berian went off to Rivendell, and then in 'Jealousy' he came back and did that thing for Calaen, and then when Calaen left, he became one of his followers.
Utsuri: Well, in England, Boxing Day is the day after Christmas Day. It's celebrated because in the 18th Century, Lords and Ladies would 'box up' their leftover food and gifts, and give them to people who worked on their lands. It's also a traditional day for fox hunting, but that doesn't count now, because Parliament has put a ban on fox hunting. I actually didn't know all this – I had to look it up on the Internet. But at least I know now!
Kelsey Estel: Don't worry about it! I totally know what its like to be busy! I had two drama exams a couple of weeks ago, and then I had to do a twenty page report on how the performances went and everything. I just wanted to die!
Legolas-gurl88: I just read the e-mail that you sent me, and I saw the e-card. It nearly made me cry! I'll try and reply to you later, but as its Christmas Eve, there's loads to do where food is concerned, so I'm not sure if I'll have the chance. So if you don't hear from me for a couple of days, you'll know why!
Right, this is the penultimate chapter. I was thinking about leaving it here, but I have decided to put an epilogue up. That will be up within a couple of days. I know I said that it would be up tonight, but as its Christmas, it's hard to find time to type. But don't worry – it will be up in no more than three days.
Misto
x-x
PS: Happy Christmas! Have a great day tomorrow, everyone!