Hey everybody, I'm happy to say that my sister's birthday was a huge
success. You should have seen her face when she opened the gameboy and
later the game. We are now both addicted but I ashamed to admit that I
can't get past the Mines of Moria, the green trolls keep killing me, and
the annoying wargs kill me as well. . . grrrr I need more practice I guess.
Thank you all so much for your ideas on how I should continue, I gave this a lot of thought and I have to agree with the most of you. I'm gonna do a combination of all four so enjoy.
Danceingfae: Hmm, Rita confronting Elrond is interesting but I don't see that happening, I mean would you go and confront the guy that unconsciously reminds you of your father?
Dani: Thanks for the idea and the compliment, I appreciate them both.
American Elf: Don't worry about not being able to review last chapter, I know all about big sisters (I am one) and we solved that problem by getting a secondhand computer for my little sister, so she can play all her games without bothering me.
Musicgrl: You're not evil, at least I don't think you're evil. I don't have exams yet but I had to make this test at home to get the day off so I did that.
Shinigami29: The idea was not crappy, I'm not sure if I'm going to use it all but it made me think so thanks.
The Lady Sorcha of Sevenwaters: Thanks for thinking with me, all I have to do now is find a good way of fitting it all together.
Anime Elvengirl: I hope you think this update is fast enough, I already know this chapter will take a lot of time so I hope it's any good.
Leithendel: First of all, thanks for brainstorming with me, I love to hear what my reviewers think. Second of all, I am no genius!!! I have no idea how old Elladan really is, I just picked an age. Let me know when you post your fic so I can read it.
Nindë: Expect a huge blow-up between father and son, I am so looking forward to writing that scene.
Sailorverystupid: Yep, I dug a deep, deep hole. Now I have to get out of it. You're suggestion made me think about how I'm gonna place Haldir in this chapter. . . hmmm well I'll have to see what comes out of me.
DarkChylde: Aaaah, you remembered the herbs. Don't worry, I have big plans for those and I'm being evil by not telling you what those plans are.
D-Chan: Thanks for your insight, now you see why my updates have been less frequent, I have too many choices to make.
Smalldiver: Locking them in a room? That's a thought, I'll keep that one in mind, thanks.
Faulkner: You're right, she does it to them all the time so why shouldn't they do it her. But something tells me Rita won't see it that way.
The Story Weaver: Don't apologize for writing a long review, I love long reviews. I seem to say that a lot. Anyway, thanks for your idea, I might use some of it.
Kate: It will be a happy ending, sometimes I like a sad ending but when one of my fav fics The Cold Touch of Rain had a sad ending I yelled at the pc. Some fics deserve a happy ending, and I don't think I could let it end badly after all the effort I put into the story.
Miste: Your fav movie is Monty Python? I have to laugh every time I see that.
Iluvenis: I am so happy you forgive me ;) My sister turned 10 and she is getting smarter and smarter, she really is something sometimes. When she unwrapped my gift a piece of tape fell of (my wrapping-skills are non- existing) and you know what she said to me? 'I bet this one is from you'. She loved the gift though (I still have a bruise from when she jumped on me for hugging) A recipe for lembas? Mail it to me please, what does it taste like?
Lady of Legolas: This chapter will be extra special as I promised so I hope you will like it.
Elvish princess: You know, I might borrow a little from your idea so thanks for the help. Transport you to Middle Earth? Are you sure ME could handle that? ;)
Lil kawaii doom: I don't think it's good when you can't bend your arm, is it better already? If not go see a doctor or something ok, I need my reviewers healthy. ;)
Passion Lover: An overly complicated plot? That's what you want? Have you no mercy for this poor author? *lol* Just kidding, I like the idea and I will see what I can do for you. Just don't expect some soap-opera-drama kind of thing, cause I'd rather shoot myself then write something like that.
Blahblah: Humor between Aragorn and Haldir? I'll put that in, I love the idea of those two joking around.
Arwen-evenstar: Thanks for your idea Arwen, you are one of many who said that to me so I'm gonna try to make a good chapter with a combo of the four options.
Kukume: You are not the only one who hates confrontation, so do I so I dread writing a fight between Rita and Elladan. And your reasons are exactly why I was stuck, I hope to complete the chapter today.
Mellon: You helped me a lot so thanks, I hope you didn't have to wait too long for the chapter and I hope that you like it as well.
Siren: No you can't knock some sense into her, that's someone else's job. ;)
Aurumlupi: Lucky you, you will see the running off and a fight between Elladan and Elrond. I hope you'll like it.
MaverickGirl: Thanks for not minding and I hope you enjoy this chapter.
Cat: You think Rita runs to Haldir and Aragorn too much? Never thought about that but I don't think Rita will gather enough courage to confront Elladan. She always sticks with her decisions and I don't think it's in her character to do something like that. I do appreciate the idea though.
Lavender of the Shire: I can't wait to see how it turns out either, it's still a mystery to me as well. I just think of what to do as I write so that is a tiring process sometimes.
Aislin: Thanks for the idea, I liked it. You have the LotR game, can you tell me how to get past the evil green troll thingie cause it keeps killing me!!!! I can't wait till you send me the chapter, I feel honored that you thought of me so keep typing please.
Tarilenea: You like the interaction between Tári and Legolas? Maybe I'll put some more Tári in this chapter, I'll have to see about that.
Kagome Ayla: I hope this update is soon enough and that you like it.
AragothwinElfBlade: Thanks for the suggestion I hope you like this chapter.
Bloomin_Nicki: Thanks a lot for the compliment, and yes this is really my first fic. I hope you like this chapter because it will take a lot of time, I can tell that already.
Great One: I hope you'll like how I am going to make this chapter work, maybe I'll have to divide it into two chapters if it's too large.
Corinna: Thanks for the suggestions and enjoy reading the chapter.
DISCLAIMER: NOPE NOT DOING IT ANYMORE :P:P:P:P:P:P
*Water is good* Rita thought *Water is heavenly, scratch that, water is everything*
Rita lay in her bathtub, bathing in very hot water. She was hoping the water would make her muscles less achy and more relaxed.
She rolled her shoulders and groaned when she felt all the knots in them while doing that. The tension of the anxiety of seeing Elladan and Legolas's archery-lesson were taking its toll.
Legolas was a sweet elf and if Rita was very honest, he was a very good- looking elf as well. She could understand why so many she-elves were after him. But she saw him as a big brother of some sort. The entire Fellowship was like family to her after all they had been through.
But family or not, sweet or not, Legolas was even worse than Haldir in teaching archery. Now she knew why he was one of the best archers, if not the best, in Middle Earth.
The guy never gave up! That and the fact that he was a perfectionist made the lesson very tiring to say at least. She was sure to have muscle-ache if she was able to get out of the tub.
Archery wasn't the only thing they did though, they had also developed a plan for that evening to get rid of Tári.
In total they spent seven hours just doing archery and talking. She believed that was the longest she had ever spoken to Legolas. During the quest they spoke but there were always distractions.
Legolas had told her about Mirkwood and some of his childhood. King Thandruil sounded like he was a good man, though he did seem to have some anger problems seeing how he handled the dwarfs from Bilbo's adventure.
She loved the stories about the spiders, she couldn't believe there were actually spiders that were that big and deadly. Legolas joked that the spiders would run away once they would see her since she was the fearless Lady of Gondor.
When the sun was starting to set they had made their way back to the castle while Legolas apologized for keeping her for so long. He said he was sure she had other things to do.
After he had said that she had just rolled her eyes and gave him a shove before she went to her room, but inside she was happy that they had spent so much time together.
Cause to Rita it was like this. The more time she would spend with Legolas, or someone else for that matter, the less she would think about Elladan and her decision. Plus it was a great excuse for avoiding Elladan.
Suddenly there was somebody knocking on her door and Rita was woken from her reverie.
"Rita, Rita are you ready?" she heard someone yell. After some thinking she identified the voice as that of Legolas.
*Oh no the plan, I spent too much time in the bathtub* She got out of the tub as fast as her aching limbs allowed her and started to dry off in a record pace while she yelled back at Legolas.
"Just give me 5 minutes Legolas, and ooooh" she had raised her arm to fast "On second thought, make that 10 minutes okay?"
She heard him laughing on the other side of the door. "Poor Rita, did the lesson give you some muscle-ache?"
Rita had finished drying of and grabbed the first dress she could find, it was one of the ones Fioma had made for her, a blue one with some simple embroidery, and pulled it over her head.
Her voice was a bit muffled as she was still fighting to get it over her head right when she answered Legolas.
"Some muscle-ache? A lot of muscle-ache you mean. I never knew my arm had so many muscles. Handling a sword for a long time hurts as well, but it's nothing compared to this."
Finally the dress was on right and she started to brush her hair as fast as she could. Thankfully she had washed it with some special shampoo Arwen had given her. a shampoo that made sure her hair would be without any tangles for three days.
"Hey Legolas." Rita yelled "Do you think they would mind when I show up with wet hair?"
There was a smothered chuckle from the other side of the door and Rita glared at the door when she heard it.
"Well Rita, I do not think it would be very appropriate to sit with wet hair but it's not like you have a choice. Just hurry up will you, dinner will start in 10 minutes." Legolas was leaning against the door as he was speaking and what happened next he had not expected.
The door flew open and he fell on the ground, looking up to a pissed off Rita.
"If you would stop making fun of me and actually help me I would make it to dinner, right now I am stressed out."
He jumped up again and dusted his pants off before he commanded her to sit down.
Rita didn't ask him why and did as he said. She battled with her unwilling shoes as Legolas braided her hair within a matter of seconds. If you didn't know Rita had been a blond, you wouldn't be able to tell that her hair was wet.
"Okay" Rita panted a little "I think I just set a record for getting ready for dinner. We are still on time right?"
Legolas gave her an arm and they started to rush downstairs. As it turned out they actually still were on time and they sat at Aragorn's table.
As they took their place, nobody noticed that Rita had taken a seat next to Legolas and Éowyn, instead of her usual place between Legolas and Elladan.
Both of them were still panting a little from the rushing they did and they were both chuckling. "What do you know" Rita joked "We made it, now you won't be able to joke about women taking too long with dressing."
"Not necessarily." Legolas retorted. "If you had spent less time in the bathtub, you wouldn't have had to rush at all."
Rita glared at him. "It was your fault in the first place I was in the tub for so long. My muscles are all achy and sore because of you. You are an evil tyrant of a teacher."
"A tyrant? I am no such thing, it was your idea to have archery lessons in the first place."
"Yeah, to save your ass from getting cornered by the lovely Tári. You know I could still blow the whole plan off and leave you to her. It's your choice."
Legolas opened his mouth a few times before shaking his head. Meanwhile Éowyn was trying very hard to keep her composure. . . and she was failing.
As soon as they had stopped bickering Éowyn burst out in laughter. "Can't the two of you have any conversation without fighting. Honestly. How was your lesson anyway?" she asked Rita.
That started a long conversation between the two, something Rita was very grateful for. She had seen Elladan enter the room and he had hesitated to approach her. Apparently he didn't want to disturb the conversation since he sat down without coming to her.
During dinner Rita kept talking but her mind was wandering all the time. Her heart was thumping in her chest with nervousness and she had absolutely no desire to eat. She just ate half from what was on her plate and played with the rest.
Then she felt a kick under the table and she turned to glare at Legolas, the one who had kicked her, until she saw why he had done so.
Dinner was ending and there were already some couples on the dance-floor and Tári was zooming in on her target.
"Let operation: save Legolas begin." Rita mumbled as she prepared herself for what was to come.
Legolas smirked and the people around them shot them confused and amused glances. They had gotten used to the banter of the two but they had no idea what to expect at this moment.
Right after this Legolas stood up and Rita went along with him, they both disappeared from the room. Aragorn looked at Arwen, who just shrugged and told him to wait and see what would happen.
It was very amusing to see the look on Tári's face because she had no idea what just happened, then again nobody knew what just happened.
Seeing how her victim had left Tári went back to sit with her friends, the high-class she-elves who thought they were above everyone else.
Rita watched from behind a door and thought to herself how much she hated these types. They were the ones who had ruled the school back on 'normal Earth' and that group of elves reminded her of their annoying behavior.
She had no friends in High School, hell nobody ever noticed her. She was the quiet one that was always studying so she was considered a geek.
Rita liked it that way because if she had no friends, nobody would ever ask questions about her bruises or why she was so protective over her sister.
The downside of being a geek was that she was looked down on by the popular kids. They would tease her relentlessly and Rita would never react.
One day however, they had gone too far.
~flashback~
It was Carol's first day at Capetown High (my creation, I know it doesn't exist) and she was very excited and also a little scared.
Rita was in her normal corner of the hallway, reading her favorite book, which was Romeo and Juliet. From where she was sitting she could see her sister bounce a little while she was searching for her friends.
Then Hallie, the most popular girl in the school, crashed into Carol because she hadn't paid attention. Being the 'queen' she was she stared to yell at Carol.
It was amazing how many foul words could come out of someone who praised herself for being so 'pretty'.
Carol was shaken up by this and before Rita could come into action one of Carol's friends stood up to Hallie.
After some yelling back and forth Hallie suddenly hit Carol in her face, she hit very hard. The sound of the slap echoed through the hall.
A shocked silence fell immediately, all that was heard were some whispers and Carol's ragged breathing as she tried to keep herself from crying from the sting and the humiliation.
One of the teachers broke the crowd up and Rita was forced to go to class. She watched her sister's friend put her arm around Carol and guide her to their class.
Rita didn't know what she had said but Carol was laughing already.
That day Rita got her revenge. Sometimes she wondered if there really was some evil force inside her like her father always kept telling her. Because she came up with a very evil plan.
~End flashback~
Rita was woken from her thoughts when Legolas tapped on her arm. "All is set." He said and he flashed one of his brilliant smiles at her.
She couldn't help but smile back and the two hurried back to the dining room. The 'prank' they were going to pull was the same one Rita had played on Hallie, and it was diabolically evil and Legolas loved it. He couldn't wait to be rid of Tári once and for all.
Rita sat back in her chair while Legolas took a few deep breaths. "Good luck Legolas, I hope you'll survive."
He glared at her before he made his way to the table Tári was sitting on. Everybody watched in amazement when he asked her to dance.
"What is he doing? I thought he hated to be with her and now he approaches her on his own?" asked Aragorn. He then turned to Rita. "What did you do?"
She put on her most innocent face. "Do? I didn't do anything. Why would you ever think I had done something, aren't I the nicest and sweetest girl ever?"
Aragorn shot her a piercing glare and he narrowed his eyes. "Now I know you are up to something but what does it have to do with Legolas and Tári. . . and why is Legolas taking her outside?"
All eyes were now on the two elves as they slipped out of the room. Rita now had a very evil smirk on her face and she was counting.
"You'll just have to wait for the answer Aragorn, he'll be back in oh, ten minutes. Well, while you are waiting here I am going to sleep. Legolas is an evil teacher and I'm dead tired."
She moved to leave the hall and when Elladan stood up to escort her to she made him stay. "Stay, sit, you do not want to miss what is going to come."
Elladan had shrugged and sat down again, whispering to his twin what on earth could be happening. Rita literally ran to her room and locked the door behind her.
*That was close* she thought *Well day one of avoiding Elladan was a success*
She had just changed into her nightgown when she heard a shrill scream and Rita started to laugh. If she were not mistaken that scream had belonged to Tári and the plan had worked. She let herself fall onto the bed and allowed herself to get lost in memories once again.
~flashback~
Rita had found out one thing in her years of High School. Teachers loved to help the 'outcasts'. They would give her extra credit assignments and praised her every time she did something right.
The librarian of the school, Mrs. Wentingthorn, had actually given her the key of the library since Rita spent almost all her time their anyway.
Hardly any students ever entered the library so Rita had it all to herself. On that particular day Mrs. Wentingthorn was not there and the library was locked. The prank Rita was preparing was nasty but hopefully effective.
She had bought a very large pot of honey and had mixed it with jam and put it in a bucket and put it on top of one of the shelves, one of the shaky shelves.
Rita had put a note in Hallie's backpack in name of one of the popular guys. The letter said something like, come to the library at 15:00 and I'll give you a surprise.
Knowing Hallie would never be able to resist something like that she had prepared the joke. She had been right, at 15:00 precise Hallie showed up.
She sat on the chair while she was looking for any sign of the guy from who she had gotten the message. Hallie never noticed Rita on the other side of the bookcase.
A feral grin had crept on Rita's face when she pushed a little against the bookcase. Enough to make the bucket on the shaky shelf wobble and. . . . . fall right on Hallie's head.
The girl screamed loudly as the goo stuck to her like glue.
Rita sneaked out of the library and ran home while sniggering about a plan well executed.
~End flashback~
When she emerged from her memory once again Rita crawled under the covers and tried to get some sleep. She knew she would need it.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
The next few days went by in a blur. Even with Tári out of the way Legolas kept teaching Rita archery and to her huge surprise she was actually getting the hang of it.
She was now able to hit the outer ring of the target instead of missing it all the time. Legolas had praised her on her progress while telling her it took him centuries to get to the level he was now on.
Avoiding Elladan was also going fine. She just made sure she had a very busy schedule. She was helping some of the she-elves in the kitchen, or aiding the men who were rebuilding the walls. Or she was just too busy playing games with the children.
She still looked awful and Aragorn kept pestering her about going to see a healer. Rita knew why she looked the way she looked, she hardly ate a thing and sleep was a thing that came very infrequently.
Mostly she would stare at the stars at night after she had woken up after only and hour or two of sleep. More than once people asked her if she were okay and if she wanted to rest but Rita kept ensuring them that it probably was just a case of the flu and she was in no mood to rest in her bed since she did that already.
But she should have known that avoiding Elladan wasn't going to be easy, especially when she found him in her room when she slipped out of the dining room early to escape him.
She had no idea how he had gotten to her room before she did, but somehow he did. And now she had to get ready for battle.
The room was dark since there weren't any candles lit. Rita could only see the outlines of Elladan's body and she was actually happy that she wouldn't have to look him in the eye, she didn't know if she could bear that.
The silence in the room was thick but Rita made no attempt to break it, she was trying to postpone the inevitable.
Finally Elladan broke the silence. "I haven't seen you in private for a long time now Rita, we have hardly spoken at all. You are avoiding me and I want to know why."
"I needed time." Rita decided to keep her answers as short as possible, hoping the conversation would end quickly.
"Time for what melamin? Did I do something wrong or did something else happen?"
"I needed time to think Elladan. Time to think about me and the war and also about us, I thought a lot about us actually."
She couldn't see it but she could imagine he was frowning by now. "What about us?"
"About the future, our future, and if this relationship is worth the sacrifice you would have to make to be with me."
"Of course it is Rita. What you and I have, our bond, it is special. I would gladly give up the chance to live a hundred lifetimes if it meant that I would be able to spend one lifetime with you. I now understand why Arwen has made the choice for a mortal life."
Rita squeezed her eyes shut as he said this. Before her conversation with Elrond these were the words she was dreaming about. Now she had to make sure he would never do this.
"You're wrong Elladan. This thing between you and me, it's nothing but a crush. You don't love me, you can't love me. You may think you love me now but in the end when you would grow old and die, you would blame me and curse the day you ever made that fatal decision."
"But" Elladan tried to say something but Rita was faster than he was.
"You deserve to live an eternity with your family and friends, you deserve to sail to Valinor when your time here in Middle Earth is ending. You deserve more than a mortal life and you deserve more than me."
The word was finally out and Rita's heart was beating rapidly as she forced herself to finish it once and for all.
"You and me, the two of us together, that was all a dream. A beautiful, but a dream nonetheless. It's something that will never happen, something that can't happen. We're over Elladan, our relationship was great while it lasted and I have to thank you for all that you did for me, but we were never meant to be together. You are meant for another and there is nothing I can do or say to change that."
Elladan had taken a step back and now leaned against the wall. Once again Rita was happy for the lack of light, now she didn't have to see the confusion or the pain in his eyes.
"What happened to you melamin?" Elladan asked his voice a little raspy from emotion. "This is not you, this is not the person with whom I fell in love."
"I haven't changed Elladan, I just saw the truth, a truth you are unwilling to see."
"The truth?" he chuckled but it didn't sound happy. "It's your truth, not reality. Look at Aragorn and Arwen, they made the decision and they are happy."
Rita had figured he would throw that argument at her so she had prepared herself for it. "There are a few differences between their situation and ours Elladan. First of all Aragorn is a king, a king of the blood of Numenor. He will live longer than me, longer than a normal human. I would die before you would even show a sign of aging."
"Maybe you are right about that but. . . "
"No buts Elladan. It's the simple truth, we can't be together. I just want you to leave me alone and let me live my life."
Silence followed her words and Elladan started to walk towards her as she backed up in order to keep the distance between them.
Eventually she was no longer able to back away because her back was against a wall. Elladan pinned her to the wall, one arm on each side of her head.
"Really, you want to left alone. Fine I will leave you alone when you can tell me you don't love me anymore in my face, right here and right now."
Rita forced herself to keep breathing and keep her cool. She closed her eyes and tried to find the determination to say the words that would make Elladan go away. The words that would eventually save his life.
"You can't say it, can you?" Elladan said, triumph in his voice. "You can't say you don't love me because you still do. You still love me as much as I love you ."
Rita tried to shake her head but found she couldn't move because his arms still had her pinned down. *Why can't I say it?* she thought *Damn it Rita you have faced tougher challenges than this and you survived them without a hitch and now you fail at this.*
"I will find out what is going on with you Rita but until then. . . " Elladan suddenly pressed his lips onto her hers roughly. He slipped his tong inside her mouth and ravaged it.
No matter how much she fought it, Rita couldn't help but give into the kiss and she felt her knees go a little weak.
When he broke the kiss as abruptly as he had started it they were both panting. Elladan rested his forehead against hers as he fought to catch his breath again.
"You feel it as strongly as I do Rita, the connection. You can't back away from that and you can be sure that I will get to the bottom of this and I will find the proof that our love will survive whatever is needed."
He left the room, leaving a dazed Rita behind.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
When she snapped out of her daze Rita knew what she had to do. She got out of her dress as fast as she could and changed into a pair of pants and a shirt with long sleeves, her bra and tank-top under the shirt. To finish the ensemble she put on her boots.
She grabbed her backpack and started to fill it with clean pants and shirts. She threw her brush and some hair-bands in there as well.
After grabbing her slightly worn bedroll, cloak and her weapons she made her way to the kitchen as fast and quietly as possible.
She gathered some fruit and bread, but she hit the jackpot when she found ten loafs of lembas. They were tightly wrapped in the leaves to keep them fresh and Rita packed them all in her backpack.
After filling her waterskin with water she started to walk towards the stables. Somehow she was able to avoid all the guards and she sighed in relief when she was able to enter the stables undetected.
The horses were snorting as she entered and Rita found she couldn't tell any of the horses apart. "Asfaloth" she whispered "Asfaloth, where are you boy, Asfaloth."
She heard a neigh and started to walk in the direction it had come from while softly calling for the great steed.
Eventually she reached him and she petted his head as he rubbed it against her arm. "What do you say about a ride boy, will you let me ride you?"
He shook his head up and down and once again Rita was in awe of the intelligence of the horse. She was only faced with one problem. She had no way of getting the saddle and bridle in this darkness.
"Ok boy, I can trust you right? I mean you won't throw me off if I would ride without the saddle and stuff right?
Asfaloth snorted and stomped his hoof as if he were offended by the mere question. Rita had to chuckle about this and led him out of the stable.
"Now hold still so I can mount you." she said to the horse and she climbed on top of some barrel to climb on his back.
Once she made sure her weapons didn't hurt him and she was sitting secure she grabbed his manes and whispered three words to the horse. "Noro lim Asfaloth".
As the horse sped away Rita could think only one thing. *Where will I go from here*
A/N: Okay I decided to split the idea in two parts, I should be able to post next part on Sunday so I hope you all like this one, do you believe me when I say this is ten pages in word with Arial 10, I worked hours on this and I hated to write it but I hope you all like it.
Thank you all so much for your ideas on how I should continue, I gave this a lot of thought and I have to agree with the most of you. I'm gonna do a combination of all four so enjoy.
Danceingfae: Hmm, Rita confronting Elrond is interesting but I don't see that happening, I mean would you go and confront the guy that unconsciously reminds you of your father?
Dani: Thanks for the idea and the compliment, I appreciate them both.
American Elf: Don't worry about not being able to review last chapter, I know all about big sisters (I am one) and we solved that problem by getting a secondhand computer for my little sister, so she can play all her games without bothering me.
Musicgrl: You're not evil, at least I don't think you're evil. I don't have exams yet but I had to make this test at home to get the day off so I did that.
Shinigami29: The idea was not crappy, I'm not sure if I'm going to use it all but it made me think so thanks.
The Lady Sorcha of Sevenwaters: Thanks for thinking with me, all I have to do now is find a good way of fitting it all together.
Anime Elvengirl: I hope you think this update is fast enough, I already know this chapter will take a lot of time so I hope it's any good.
Leithendel: First of all, thanks for brainstorming with me, I love to hear what my reviewers think. Second of all, I am no genius!!! I have no idea how old Elladan really is, I just picked an age. Let me know when you post your fic so I can read it.
Nindë: Expect a huge blow-up between father and son, I am so looking forward to writing that scene.
Sailorverystupid: Yep, I dug a deep, deep hole. Now I have to get out of it. You're suggestion made me think about how I'm gonna place Haldir in this chapter. . . hmmm well I'll have to see what comes out of me.
DarkChylde: Aaaah, you remembered the herbs. Don't worry, I have big plans for those and I'm being evil by not telling you what those plans are.
D-Chan: Thanks for your insight, now you see why my updates have been less frequent, I have too many choices to make.
Smalldiver: Locking them in a room? That's a thought, I'll keep that one in mind, thanks.
Faulkner: You're right, she does it to them all the time so why shouldn't they do it her. But something tells me Rita won't see it that way.
The Story Weaver: Don't apologize for writing a long review, I love long reviews. I seem to say that a lot. Anyway, thanks for your idea, I might use some of it.
Kate: It will be a happy ending, sometimes I like a sad ending but when one of my fav fics The Cold Touch of Rain had a sad ending I yelled at the pc. Some fics deserve a happy ending, and I don't think I could let it end badly after all the effort I put into the story.
Miste: Your fav movie is Monty Python? I have to laugh every time I see that.
Iluvenis: I am so happy you forgive me ;) My sister turned 10 and she is getting smarter and smarter, she really is something sometimes. When she unwrapped my gift a piece of tape fell of (my wrapping-skills are non- existing) and you know what she said to me? 'I bet this one is from you'. She loved the gift though (I still have a bruise from when she jumped on me for hugging) A recipe for lembas? Mail it to me please, what does it taste like?
Lady of Legolas: This chapter will be extra special as I promised so I hope you will like it.
Elvish princess: You know, I might borrow a little from your idea so thanks for the help. Transport you to Middle Earth? Are you sure ME could handle that? ;)
Lil kawaii doom: I don't think it's good when you can't bend your arm, is it better already? If not go see a doctor or something ok, I need my reviewers healthy. ;)
Passion Lover: An overly complicated plot? That's what you want? Have you no mercy for this poor author? *lol* Just kidding, I like the idea and I will see what I can do for you. Just don't expect some soap-opera-drama kind of thing, cause I'd rather shoot myself then write something like that.
Blahblah: Humor between Aragorn and Haldir? I'll put that in, I love the idea of those two joking around.
Arwen-evenstar: Thanks for your idea Arwen, you are one of many who said that to me so I'm gonna try to make a good chapter with a combo of the four options.
Kukume: You are not the only one who hates confrontation, so do I so I dread writing a fight between Rita and Elladan. And your reasons are exactly why I was stuck, I hope to complete the chapter today.
Mellon: You helped me a lot so thanks, I hope you didn't have to wait too long for the chapter and I hope that you like it as well.
Siren: No you can't knock some sense into her, that's someone else's job. ;)
Aurumlupi: Lucky you, you will see the running off and a fight between Elladan and Elrond. I hope you'll like it.
MaverickGirl: Thanks for not minding and I hope you enjoy this chapter.
Cat: You think Rita runs to Haldir and Aragorn too much? Never thought about that but I don't think Rita will gather enough courage to confront Elladan. She always sticks with her decisions and I don't think it's in her character to do something like that. I do appreciate the idea though.
Lavender of the Shire: I can't wait to see how it turns out either, it's still a mystery to me as well. I just think of what to do as I write so that is a tiring process sometimes.
Aislin: Thanks for the idea, I liked it. You have the LotR game, can you tell me how to get past the evil green troll thingie cause it keeps killing me!!!! I can't wait till you send me the chapter, I feel honored that you thought of me so keep typing please.
Tarilenea: You like the interaction between Tári and Legolas? Maybe I'll put some more Tári in this chapter, I'll have to see about that.
Kagome Ayla: I hope this update is soon enough and that you like it.
AragothwinElfBlade: Thanks for the suggestion I hope you like this chapter.
Bloomin_Nicki: Thanks a lot for the compliment, and yes this is really my first fic. I hope you like this chapter because it will take a lot of time, I can tell that already.
Great One: I hope you'll like how I am going to make this chapter work, maybe I'll have to divide it into two chapters if it's too large.
Corinna: Thanks for the suggestions and enjoy reading the chapter.
DISCLAIMER: NOPE NOT DOING IT ANYMORE :P:P:P:P:P:P
*Water is good* Rita thought *Water is heavenly, scratch that, water is everything*
Rita lay in her bathtub, bathing in very hot water. She was hoping the water would make her muscles less achy and more relaxed.
She rolled her shoulders and groaned when she felt all the knots in them while doing that. The tension of the anxiety of seeing Elladan and Legolas's archery-lesson were taking its toll.
Legolas was a sweet elf and if Rita was very honest, he was a very good- looking elf as well. She could understand why so many she-elves were after him. But she saw him as a big brother of some sort. The entire Fellowship was like family to her after all they had been through.
But family or not, sweet or not, Legolas was even worse than Haldir in teaching archery. Now she knew why he was one of the best archers, if not the best, in Middle Earth.
The guy never gave up! That and the fact that he was a perfectionist made the lesson very tiring to say at least. She was sure to have muscle-ache if she was able to get out of the tub.
Archery wasn't the only thing they did though, they had also developed a plan for that evening to get rid of Tári.
In total they spent seven hours just doing archery and talking. She believed that was the longest she had ever spoken to Legolas. During the quest they spoke but there were always distractions.
Legolas had told her about Mirkwood and some of his childhood. King Thandruil sounded like he was a good man, though he did seem to have some anger problems seeing how he handled the dwarfs from Bilbo's adventure.
She loved the stories about the spiders, she couldn't believe there were actually spiders that were that big and deadly. Legolas joked that the spiders would run away once they would see her since she was the fearless Lady of Gondor.
When the sun was starting to set they had made their way back to the castle while Legolas apologized for keeping her for so long. He said he was sure she had other things to do.
After he had said that she had just rolled her eyes and gave him a shove before she went to her room, but inside she was happy that they had spent so much time together.
Cause to Rita it was like this. The more time she would spend with Legolas, or someone else for that matter, the less she would think about Elladan and her decision. Plus it was a great excuse for avoiding Elladan.
Suddenly there was somebody knocking on her door and Rita was woken from her reverie.
"Rita, Rita are you ready?" she heard someone yell. After some thinking she identified the voice as that of Legolas.
*Oh no the plan, I spent too much time in the bathtub* She got out of the tub as fast as her aching limbs allowed her and started to dry off in a record pace while she yelled back at Legolas.
"Just give me 5 minutes Legolas, and ooooh" she had raised her arm to fast "On second thought, make that 10 minutes okay?"
She heard him laughing on the other side of the door. "Poor Rita, did the lesson give you some muscle-ache?"
Rita had finished drying of and grabbed the first dress she could find, it was one of the ones Fioma had made for her, a blue one with some simple embroidery, and pulled it over her head.
Her voice was a bit muffled as she was still fighting to get it over her head right when she answered Legolas.
"Some muscle-ache? A lot of muscle-ache you mean. I never knew my arm had so many muscles. Handling a sword for a long time hurts as well, but it's nothing compared to this."
Finally the dress was on right and she started to brush her hair as fast as she could. Thankfully she had washed it with some special shampoo Arwen had given her. a shampoo that made sure her hair would be without any tangles for three days.
"Hey Legolas." Rita yelled "Do you think they would mind when I show up with wet hair?"
There was a smothered chuckle from the other side of the door and Rita glared at the door when she heard it.
"Well Rita, I do not think it would be very appropriate to sit with wet hair but it's not like you have a choice. Just hurry up will you, dinner will start in 10 minutes." Legolas was leaning against the door as he was speaking and what happened next he had not expected.
The door flew open and he fell on the ground, looking up to a pissed off Rita.
"If you would stop making fun of me and actually help me I would make it to dinner, right now I am stressed out."
He jumped up again and dusted his pants off before he commanded her to sit down.
Rita didn't ask him why and did as he said. She battled with her unwilling shoes as Legolas braided her hair within a matter of seconds. If you didn't know Rita had been a blond, you wouldn't be able to tell that her hair was wet.
"Okay" Rita panted a little "I think I just set a record for getting ready for dinner. We are still on time right?"
Legolas gave her an arm and they started to rush downstairs. As it turned out they actually still were on time and they sat at Aragorn's table.
As they took their place, nobody noticed that Rita had taken a seat next to Legolas and Éowyn, instead of her usual place between Legolas and Elladan.
Both of them were still panting a little from the rushing they did and they were both chuckling. "What do you know" Rita joked "We made it, now you won't be able to joke about women taking too long with dressing."
"Not necessarily." Legolas retorted. "If you had spent less time in the bathtub, you wouldn't have had to rush at all."
Rita glared at him. "It was your fault in the first place I was in the tub for so long. My muscles are all achy and sore because of you. You are an evil tyrant of a teacher."
"A tyrant? I am no such thing, it was your idea to have archery lessons in the first place."
"Yeah, to save your ass from getting cornered by the lovely Tári. You know I could still blow the whole plan off and leave you to her. It's your choice."
Legolas opened his mouth a few times before shaking his head. Meanwhile Éowyn was trying very hard to keep her composure. . . and she was failing.
As soon as they had stopped bickering Éowyn burst out in laughter. "Can't the two of you have any conversation without fighting. Honestly. How was your lesson anyway?" she asked Rita.
That started a long conversation between the two, something Rita was very grateful for. She had seen Elladan enter the room and he had hesitated to approach her. Apparently he didn't want to disturb the conversation since he sat down without coming to her.
During dinner Rita kept talking but her mind was wandering all the time. Her heart was thumping in her chest with nervousness and she had absolutely no desire to eat. She just ate half from what was on her plate and played with the rest.
Then she felt a kick under the table and she turned to glare at Legolas, the one who had kicked her, until she saw why he had done so.
Dinner was ending and there were already some couples on the dance-floor and Tári was zooming in on her target.
"Let operation: save Legolas begin." Rita mumbled as she prepared herself for what was to come.
Legolas smirked and the people around them shot them confused and amused glances. They had gotten used to the banter of the two but they had no idea what to expect at this moment.
Right after this Legolas stood up and Rita went along with him, they both disappeared from the room. Aragorn looked at Arwen, who just shrugged and told him to wait and see what would happen.
It was very amusing to see the look on Tári's face because she had no idea what just happened, then again nobody knew what just happened.
Seeing how her victim had left Tári went back to sit with her friends, the high-class she-elves who thought they were above everyone else.
Rita watched from behind a door and thought to herself how much she hated these types. They were the ones who had ruled the school back on 'normal Earth' and that group of elves reminded her of their annoying behavior.
She had no friends in High School, hell nobody ever noticed her. She was the quiet one that was always studying so she was considered a geek.
Rita liked it that way because if she had no friends, nobody would ever ask questions about her bruises or why she was so protective over her sister.
The downside of being a geek was that she was looked down on by the popular kids. They would tease her relentlessly and Rita would never react.
One day however, they had gone too far.
~flashback~
It was Carol's first day at Capetown High (my creation, I know it doesn't exist) and she was very excited and also a little scared.
Rita was in her normal corner of the hallway, reading her favorite book, which was Romeo and Juliet. From where she was sitting she could see her sister bounce a little while she was searching for her friends.
Then Hallie, the most popular girl in the school, crashed into Carol because she hadn't paid attention. Being the 'queen' she was she stared to yell at Carol.
It was amazing how many foul words could come out of someone who praised herself for being so 'pretty'.
Carol was shaken up by this and before Rita could come into action one of Carol's friends stood up to Hallie.
After some yelling back and forth Hallie suddenly hit Carol in her face, she hit very hard. The sound of the slap echoed through the hall.
A shocked silence fell immediately, all that was heard were some whispers and Carol's ragged breathing as she tried to keep herself from crying from the sting and the humiliation.
One of the teachers broke the crowd up and Rita was forced to go to class. She watched her sister's friend put her arm around Carol and guide her to their class.
Rita didn't know what she had said but Carol was laughing already.
That day Rita got her revenge. Sometimes she wondered if there really was some evil force inside her like her father always kept telling her. Because she came up with a very evil plan.
~End flashback~
Rita was woken from her thoughts when Legolas tapped on her arm. "All is set." He said and he flashed one of his brilliant smiles at her.
She couldn't help but smile back and the two hurried back to the dining room. The 'prank' they were going to pull was the same one Rita had played on Hallie, and it was diabolically evil and Legolas loved it. He couldn't wait to be rid of Tári once and for all.
Rita sat back in her chair while Legolas took a few deep breaths. "Good luck Legolas, I hope you'll survive."
He glared at her before he made his way to the table Tári was sitting on. Everybody watched in amazement when he asked her to dance.
"What is he doing? I thought he hated to be with her and now he approaches her on his own?" asked Aragorn. He then turned to Rita. "What did you do?"
She put on her most innocent face. "Do? I didn't do anything. Why would you ever think I had done something, aren't I the nicest and sweetest girl ever?"
Aragorn shot her a piercing glare and he narrowed his eyes. "Now I know you are up to something but what does it have to do with Legolas and Tári. . . and why is Legolas taking her outside?"
All eyes were now on the two elves as they slipped out of the room. Rita now had a very evil smirk on her face and she was counting.
"You'll just have to wait for the answer Aragorn, he'll be back in oh, ten minutes. Well, while you are waiting here I am going to sleep. Legolas is an evil teacher and I'm dead tired."
She moved to leave the hall and when Elladan stood up to escort her to she made him stay. "Stay, sit, you do not want to miss what is going to come."
Elladan had shrugged and sat down again, whispering to his twin what on earth could be happening. Rita literally ran to her room and locked the door behind her.
*That was close* she thought *Well day one of avoiding Elladan was a success*
She had just changed into her nightgown when she heard a shrill scream and Rita started to laugh. If she were not mistaken that scream had belonged to Tári and the plan had worked. She let herself fall onto the bed and allowed herself to get lost in memories once again.
~flashback~
Rita had found out one thing in her years of High School. Teachers loved to help the 'outcasts'. They would give her extra credit assignments and praised her every time she did something right.
The librarian of the school, Mrs. Wentingthorn, had actually given her the key of the library since Rita spent almost all her time their anyway.
Hardly any students ever entered the library so Rita had it all to herself. On that particular day Mrs. Wentingthorn was not there and the library was locked. The prank Rita was preparing was nasty but hopefully effective.
She had bought a very large pot of honey and had mixed it with jam and put it in a bucket and put it on top of one of the shelves, one of the shaky shelves.
Rita had put a note in Hallie's backpack in name of one of the popular guys. The letter said something like, come to the library at 15:00 and I'll give you a surprise.
Knowing Hallie would never be able to resist something like that she had prepared the joke. She had been right, at 15:00 precise Hallie showed up.
She sat on the chair while she was looking for any sign of the guy from who she had gotten the message. Hallie never noticed Rita on the other side of the bookcase.
A feral grin had crept on Rita's face when she pushed a little against the bookcase. Enough to make the bucket on the shaky shelf wobble and. . . . . fall right on Hallie's head.
The girl screamed loudly as the goo stuck to her like glue.
Rita sneaked out of the library and ran home while sniggering about a plan well executed.
~End flashback~
When she emerged from her memory once again Rita crawled under the covers and tried to get some sleep. She knew she would need it.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
The next few days went by in a blur. Even with Tári out of the way Legolas kept teaching Rita archery and to her huge surprise she was actually getting the hang of it.
She was now able to hit the outer ring of the target instead of missing it all the time. Legolas had praised her on her progress while telling her it took him centuries to get to the level he was now on.
Avoiding Elladan was also going fine. She just made sure she had a very busy schedule. She was helping some of the she-elves in the kitchen, or aiding the men who were rebuilding the walls. Or she was just too busy playing games with the children.
She still looked awful and Aragorn kept pestering her about going to see a healer. Rita knew why she looked the way she looked, she hardly ate a thing and sleep was a thing that came very infrequently.
Mostly she would stare at the stars at night after she had woken up after only and hour or two of sleep. More than once people asked her if she were okay and if she wanted to rest but Rita kept ensuring them that it probably was just a case of the flu and she was in no mood to rest in her bed since she did that already.
But she should have known that avoiding Elladan wasn't going to be easy, especially when she found him in her room when she slipped out of the dining room early to escape him.
She had no idea how he had gotten to her room before she did, but somehow he did. And now she had to get ready for battle.
The room was dark since there weren't any candles lit. Rita could only see the outlines of Elladan's body and she was actually happy that she wouldn't have to look him in the eye, she didn't know if she could bear that.
The silence in the room was thick but Rita made no attempt to break it, she was trying to postpone the inevitable.
Finally Elladan broke the silence. "I haven't seen you in private for a long time now Rita, we have hardly spoken at all. You are avoiding me and I want to know why."
"I needed time." Rita decided to keep her answers as short as possible, hoping the conversation would end quickly.
"Time for what melamin? Did I do something wrong or did something else happen?"
"I needed time to think Elladan. Time to think about me and the war and also about us, I thought a lot about us actually."
She couldn't see it but she could imagine he was frowning by now. "What about us?"
"About the future, our future, and if this relationship is worth the sacrifice you would have to make to be with me."
"Of course it is Rita. What you and I have, our bond, it is special. I would gladly give up the chance to live a hundred lifetimes if it meant that I would be able to spend one lifetime with you. I now understand why Arwen has made the choice for a mortal life."
Rita squeezed her eyes shut as he said this. Before her conversation with Elrond these were the words she was dreaming about. Now she had to make sure he would never do this.
"You're wrong Elladan. This thing between you and me, it's nothing but a crush. You don't love me, you can't love me. You may think you love me now but in the end when you would grow old and die, you would blame me and curse the day you ever made that fatal decision."
"But" Elladan tried to say something but Rita was faster than he was.
"You deserve to live an eternity with your family and friends, you deserve to sail to Valinor when your time here in Middle Earth is ending. You deserve more than a mortal life and you deserve more than me."
The word was finally out and Rita's heart was beating rapidly as she forced herself to finish it once and for all.
"You and me, the two of us together, that was all a dream. A beautiful, but a dream nonetheless. It's something that will never happen, something that can't happen. We're over Elladan, our relationship was great while it lasted and I have to thank you for all that you did for me, but we were never meant to be together. You are meant for another and there is nothing I can do or say to change that."
Elladan had taken a step back and now leaned against the wall. Once again Rita was happy for the lack of light, now she didn't have to see the confusion or the pain in his eyes.
"What happened to you melamin?" Elladan asked his voice a little raspy from emotion. "This is not you, this is not the person with whom I fell in love."
"I haven't changed Elladan, I just saw the truth, a truth you are unwilling to see."
"The truth?" he chuckled but it didn't sound happy. "It's your truth, not reality. Look at Aragorn and Arwen, they made the decision and they are happy."
Rita had figured he would throw that argument at her so she had prepared herself for it. "There are a few differences between their situation and ours Elladan. First of all Aragorn is a king, a king of the blood of Numenor. He will live longer than me, longer than a normal human. I would die before you would even show a sign of aging."
"Maybe you are right about that but. . . "
"No buts Elladan. It's the simple truth, we can't be together. I just want you to leave me alone and let me live my life."
Silence followed her words and Elladan started to walk towards her as she backed up in order to keep the distance between them.
Eventually she was no longer able to back away because her back was against a wall. Elladan pinned her to the wall, one arm on each side of her head.
"Really, you want to left alone. Fine I will leave you alone when you can tell me you don't love me anymore in my face, right here and right now."
Rita forced herself to keep breathing and keep her cool. She closed her eyes and tried to find the determination to say the words that would make Elladan go away. The words that would eventually save his life.
"You can't say it, can you?" Elladan said, triumph in his voice. "You can't say you don't love me because you still do. You still love me as much as I love you ."
Rita tried to shake her head but found she couldn't move because his arms still had her pinned down. *Why can't I say it?* she thought *Damn it Rita you have faced tougher challenges than this and you survived them without a hitch and now you fail at this.*
"I will find out what is going on with you Rita but until then. . . " Elladan suddenly pressed his lips onto her hers roughly. He slipped his tong inside her mouth and ravaged it.
No matter how much she fought it, Rita couldn't help but give into the kiss and she felt her knees go a little weak.
When he broke the kiss as abruptly as he had started it they were both panting. Elladan rested his forehead against hers as he fought to catch his breath again.
"You feel it as strongly as I do Rita, the connection. You can't back away from that and you can be sure that I will get to the bottom of this and I will find the proof that our love will survive whatever is needed."
He left the room, leaving a dazed Rita behind.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
When she snapped out of her daze Rita knew what she had to do. She got out of her dress as fast as she could and changed into a pair of pants and a shirt with long sleeves, her bra and tank-top under the shirt. To finish the ensemble she put on her boots.
She grabbed her backpack and started to fill it with clean pants and shirts. She threw her brush and some hair-bands in there as well.
After grabbing her slightly worn bedroll, cloak and her weapons she made her way to the kitchen as fast and quietly as possible.
She gathered some fruit and bread, but she hit the jackpot when she found ten loafs of lembas. They were tightly wrapped in the leaves to keep them fresh and Rita packed them all in her backpack.
After filling her waterskin with water she started to walk towards the stables. Somehow she was able to avoid all the guards and she sighed in relief when she was able to enter the stables undetected.
The horses were snorting as she entered and Rita found she couldn't tell any of the horses apart. "Asfaloth" she whispered "Asfaloth, where are you boy, Asfaloth."
She heard a neigh and started to walk in the direction it had come from while softly calling for the great steed.
Eventually she reached him and she petted his head as he rubbed it against her arm. "What do you say about a ride boy, will you let me ride you?"
He shook his head up and down and once again Rita was in awe of the intelligence of the horse. She was only faced with one problem. She had no way of getting the saddle and bridle in this darkness.
"Ok boy, I can trust you right? I mean you won't throw me off if I would ride without the saddle and stuff right?
Asfaloth snorted and stomped his hoof as if he were offended by the mere question. Rita had to chuckle about this and led him out of the stable.
"Now hold still so I can mount you." she said to the horse and she climbed on top of some barrel to climb on his back.
Once she made sure her weapons didn't hurt him and she was sitting secure she grabbed his manes and whispered three words to the horse. "Noro lim Asfaloth".
As the horse sped away Rita could think only one thing. *Where will I go from here*
A/N: Okay I decided to split the idea in two parts, I should be able to post next part on Sunday so I hope you all like this one, do you believe me when I say this is ten pages in word with Arial 10, I worked hours on this and I hated to write it but I hope you all like it.