Sorry for not updating this in a really long time! =S

Estel Elven Enchantress; Yes dear; you're the first reviewer!

Lainfaer; Well, I know I took my time... but it wasn't 7 months for this update, was it?! =)

Anarya; I take it that you're pleased with this now? helps Anarya polish eyes LOLBERRIES! Right; now I dare you to write a story called Fighting the Squirrel, about LOTR, with Legolas in it... go on, I dare you!!! LOL! I hate clichés... they're so... clich... lol!

Irish QT; Irish QT, Yoda-Impersonator... hmmm, I guess it has a ring to it, lol! Thanks for reviewing Irish!

Amunet; I know! Well, I mean, I know now... damn Elves and their names; why can't they be simple?!?! Tathiel's name means 'charity'... yup!

Mellaithwen; Oi cheeky!!! =) Ooh, mothers... why must we suffer them?!?! They go through the agony of childbirth, we teens go through the agony that can only be described as nagging...

elfstar54321; Ooh! -.- Thank you!

Lexial147; Thanks!

Gozilla; Thank you!

Kawaii Elf Girl; I should think it DID hurt! =) MWUHAHAHAHAHA!!! Thanks for reviewing though!

Kitsune; Thank you!

So, now that I'm done with those... the chapter...

.: Chapter Two :.

Far off in the Shadow Realm, where darkness rules with an iron fist and all flickers of light are erased the moment they are struck, a spirit broke his contact with the Realm of the Living. He did not notice the darker shadow behind him...

"Hey Greenleaf, you're in trouble now!" cackled Dilathnior. She swooped in her ghostly form down to where the spirit was sitting.

"Dilathnior!" moaned Legolas. He was moody and tired after linking, a task that drained most of his limited spirit-energy. He sat, crossed-legged, floating a few feet off the ground. "You know why I'm doing it and you are just jealous."

The girl spirit looked hurt, before her expression returned to a scowl. "Jealous? Of you Greenleaf? Ha!" she spat. "Why would I be jealous of you?! If this little plan of yours goes awry, you'll be spending the rest of your afterlife being tortured by our Master. What's he going to say when he finds out that you've been telling mortals to rescue you?!" she cried.

Legolas laughed heartlessly. One moment he was seated, the next he was standing directly in front of Dilathnior, glaring in her face. "It would probably help you if you had all the correct facts. I'm bringing them to him. I mean, we're both immortal souls, just like everybody else here, but imagine what he could do with those mortal souls!"

Dilathnior knew what Legolas was talking about. They had seen what could happen to mortal souls. They were twisted and deformed into the most powerful servants of their Master... and they would stop at nothing to see his will done. Even the spirits of those who used to be Elves were terrified of them.

Legolas also knew this. "It's corruption of the highest kind..." Suddenly a slight grin curled at the corner of his mouth; not a warm smile, no... this was cold, like ice on a frosty day. "Then there is my sister... I think that's a good deal."

With that, the Elf who was once known for being a hero of Middle-Earth disappeared, all the while mulling over his master plan...

...............................

Tathiel pattered down the cold stone stairs towards her father's chambers. It felt soothing against her hot feet, just like the stars outside were soothing to her soul.

She reached the old oak door and knocked on it lightly. When there was no answer, she rapped harder and called out.

"Ada!"

This evoked a response from King Thranduil. He woke from a deep yet troubled slumber to the voice of his daughter outside. He opened the door.

"Tathiel... did you have another nightmare?" he asked gently.

The young Elf-girl nodded, tears brimming. "It was him again Ada. Legolas was calling me again. He said where he was..."

Thranduil put a light finger to his daughter's lips. "He's gone my sweet." he sighed. "I know it hurts, but you'll have to let him go." Hot tears were also swelling in his eyes.

"I know I do, you've said it before, but I swear Ada, they're real, Legolas really is calling to me, it's just that nobody will believe me... why won't you believe me Ada?" she sobbed.

Thranduil held his young daughter close, just like he'd held Legolas when he was that age. They were bitter memories- his son ought to still be here. He was a hero of Arda, and to succumb to a fate like that... it was too much to bear.

"What did he say to you?" he inquired softly, hoping to just reassure the youngster that he was there for her and would listen.

"He said that he was in the Shadow Realm..." whispered Tathiel. She was confused when Thranduil shot back, holding her at arm's length, his eyes open wide.

"What did you say?!" he gasped.

"The Shadow Realm. What's wrong?" said Tathiel, brushing away tears in light of this new shock she had obviously caused.

Thranduil was silent for a moment, mulling over this revelation.

He had never told any of his children of the Shadow Realm, the universe where he had banished Saurar to after he willingly murdered another Elf- a young girl, though not as young as Tathiel. Her name had been Dilathnior, a beautiful charming youngster, due to be wed in one year, but the Shadow-Lord had claimed her life and soul... much the same way as he had killed Legolas.

For, in truth, they were not dead.

Only in body. But in spirit, they were very much alive...

On a daily basis they witnessed the tortures of their peers and were forced over to the dark side. What seemed like their own thoughts and devices swam about in their heads, yet they were not really their own, merely thoughts projected into their minds by Saurar in order to make them still feel somehow real. It was a fate worse than death; doomed to wander in the Shadow Realm forever more, never to enter the Halls of Mandos, but to meander like ghosts for the rest of Time.

"No..." Thranduil broke down. "Not my son..."

..........................

Aragorn twiddled the white lily between his fingers. He detested funerals. He had only been to a handful in his life, but he had seen many processions along the white streets in Minas Tirith, the mourners cloaked in deep midnight black contrasting immensely against the stone.

He had never been to the funeral of a close friend. He was unsure of Elven death rites; all he knew was that the reed bed on which the victim was laid was burned on a pyre, sending them back to live in the wind and be amongst the trees, or sail to the Sea on the backs of the birds as their spirit wandered the Halls of Mandos.

He lay the delicate flower between his best friend's hands, now folded tightly across his chest. Even in death, Legolas still looked as ethereal as always. The glow was gone though. That wonderful, incandesant glow that marked life in all Elves.

Heavy footsteps behind him signaled Gimli's arrival into the airy room where their friend now lay in eternal slumber. "I thought, if I didn't come here, it might not be true. That I'd wake up and it would all have been a dream... just a dark, terrible dream..." whispered Aragorn, his voice cracking from the lump that had settled in his throat. He did not look up to acknowledge the Dwarf at all.

"Aye, I thought the same. We cannot just let him go without saying goodbye though, can we? After everything we all did together, that would not be right." sighed Gimli. He sat down next to the King of Gondor.

"He was a stupid Elf, wasn't he?" he blurted suddenly. Aragorn looked up at him at this, confused as how to take it. Instead of the usual grin that normally accompanied such banter, there was instead a deep melancholy expression. In their hearts, they were both replaying the reply that used to accompany that insult.

Yet, in spite of it all, Aragorn found himself smiling. "Yes," he said. "Yes he was. Remember that time in the tavern... he would have made an excellent court jester."

"True, but you would have to get him drunk first." laughed Gimli weakly. The mood of the room returned into them, drawing sighs from them both.

"I miss him."

"As do I."

And they both cried bitter tears over their friend...

An Elf poked his head around the door. There he saw the two friends of his Prince whose body now lay in front of his eyes. He still looked as peaceful and calm in death as he had in life before all the troubles, and it grieved the young messenger greatly to see one who the people of the Elven Kingdom loved so much now cold and pale in the forever wintry grasp of death, lying with ice cold skin in the pale light that filtered into the room, making everything more eerie still.

"My Lords?" he whispered. The pair turned to him.

"Yes?" said Aragorn, his voice dry and cracking under the strain of a lump in his throat that wouldn't shift.

"King Thranduil requests your presence in his hall. He says it is of urgency." said the Elf. Aragorn stood, putting his hand on Gimli's shoulder.

"Come Gimli. We shall return soon. He will not leave." he said sadly, never taking his eyes from the Elven body that lay limply before his eyes.

"He already has." whispered Gimli, never looking up.

Aragorn fell silent with shock. Never before had he heard his Dwarven friend sound so detached and despondent. The pain was easy to hear.

The Dwarf stood, and bearing each other they wandered out of the Hall of Remembrance, leaving Legolas' spiritless self behind...

........................

As Aragorn and Gimli walked into the Great Hall, they saw Thranduil sitting on his throne.

"My Lord?" asked Aragorn, looking up into the crystal blue eyes of his best friend's father. 'Strange,' he thought, 'Legolas is... was so like him.'

Thranduil sighed, and immediately the pair knew that something was greatly troubling the Elven King besides the death of his son. Dark eyes looked at them both painfully.

"What do you know of the Shadow Realm?" he whispered. Gimli and Aragorn thought for a moment.

"I know nothing of it," said Gimli, Aragorn nodding in agreement. Thranduil cleared his throat.

"The Shadow Realm is a blackened world where terror resides. The purest of hearts can be corrupted there, bent towards the foul Evil," he paused, breathing heavily. "I banished Saurar there after he murdered a young She-Elf, as I'm sure you know about by now."

The King and Dwarf nodded, staying silent so as not to interrupt Thranduil.

"Tathiel had a dream in which Legolas came to her. He said that's where he was..."

Aragorn's brow furrowed in doubt. "You do not think this could just be borne of her grief in his passing?" he asked.

"No..." whispered a voice from behind them.

They turned to see little Tathiel standing there, her large blue eyes red-rimmed and bloodshot, Gandalf next to her, a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"I know what it is I saw. He called me," she sobbed brokenly.

Gimli took a few tentative steps towards the young princess. "I know it's hard, but he is gone-"

"He needs our help!" she cried loudly, not letting the Dwarf finish his well-meaning consoling. More hot tears spilled over and ran down her cheeks. "You call yourselves his friends, but he really needs us now and you decide to leave him be!"

"Tathiel!" hollered Gandalf above the young one's noise. His voice softened. "We believe you. I know that you speak the truth."

"How can you be sure Gandalf?" queried Aragorn. If there was a way to bring back his friend, he was willing to try.

"Sit down, all of you, and I shall tell you..." said Gandalf.

................................

"Legolas gave you that necklace, am I correct Tathiel?" asked the wizened Istari.

"Aye," replied the Elfling. "Before we left the Palace, before..." Her throat closed up. "Before..."

"It's all right ai'ear," soothed Thranduil, hugging his daughter close. He wanted to hold her tight and never let her go, lest she come to the fate of his other seven children and his wife. Death had hit this Elf far too many times...    

"I have researched it since your father told me about it. I believe it can be used as a passage, or key into the Shadow Realm. It was created many thousands of years ago, before Saurar was banished. What is needed to make it work are three people with great feelings for the one they are trying to reach; in this case, Legolas. Therefore, I guess the best to send would be Aragorn, Gimli, and Tathiel."

Thranduil's head snapped up. "No!" he barked. Tathiel jumped in his arms. "I will not let you make her go to that dreadful place! I have lost too many already to gamble the life of my only living daughter!" Tears sparkled in his eyes.

"Thranduil," said Gandalf. "She is the bearer of the necklace. She must go."

"No." pressed Thranduil. "I will not let her go!"

"Ada..." whispered Tathiel despairingly. "Please. Let me go. I can do this; if we want Legolas home, then you must let me leave..."

Thranduil's heart was slowly being ripped in two. On the one hand, he had already lost his son to a dark foe yet kept his daughter safe in the warm Palace halls... on the other, a chance to regain his boy yet risking his other child's life. If the worst happened... he could lose them both...

Well, tell me what you think and I'll try to get a QUICK update done this time!!!