Here's some more, this fic is going to be very long, FYI. I find it's growing harder and harder to plan it out, for it has now, a life of it's own. Last two paragraphs devotedly dedicated to gwanuig-nin in homage to her own demented mind and writings.

Peaceful Ruin

I will be the answer

At the end of the line

I will be there for you

Why take the time

In the burning of uncertainty

I will be your solid ground

I will hold the balance

If you can't look down

If it takes my whole life

I won't break, I won't bend

It will all be worth it

Worth it in the end

Because I can only tell you what I know

That I need you in my life

And when the stars have all gone out

You'll still be burning so bright

Cast me gently

Into morning

For the night has been unkind

Take me to a

Place so holy

That I can wash this from my mind

The memory of choosing not to fight

If it takes my whole life

I won't break, I won't bend

It will all be worth it

Worth it in the end

Because I can only tell you what I know

That I need you in my life

And when the stars are all gone out

You'll still be burning so bright

Cast me gently

Into Morning

For the night has been unkind

-Sarah McLachlan "Answer"

Chapter 3 - Answers

Estel crept past Elrohir to where Legolas knelt unmoving. "What's happened to you?" Estel whispered, terror evident on his young face.

The blond raised his head slowly and fixed his gaze on the human. His eyes were cold, but not empty like Elrohir's. His face was angular and beautiful but now cut sharply and etched with pain. He turned without replying and vanished into the waiting tree tops.

Estel watched him go with concern then turned back to his brothers, although he knew he would find no comfort there. Elrohir was staring up at the trees with open disdain. His eyes followed Legolas' every movement and his hand never wavered from his sword. Elladan hovered quietly at his feet. "Do not approach him. That elf is suicidal and insane."

Elrohir's callous words caused anger to rise quickly in Estel who rounded on his brother. "He was once your friend as much as mine."

Elrohir's eyes narrowed, he disliked being reminded of the past. "I don't know how you know what you do but in this you are right, he once was, long ago. Now there is nothing left of him to befriend."

Estel bent his head, trying to prepare himself for whatever horrors his brother was about to tell him. "Tell me then, what changed him so much?"

Elrohir paused and stared long and hard at Estel. "If you truly are who you say you are then your not ready for that story yet."

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Time passed slowly as they made their way back to the shelter that Elrohir had constructed to protect his brother. The sunlight no longer even felt warm to Estel. His fear had materialized inside him suddenly. His reality was fading from his memory. His friends and family were still clear but the details were leaving him. Ever so slowly and subtly Estel feared that he was losing parts of his past. They were melting away as snow in spring.

He clung to his memories of his brothers, their pranks and their loyalty. He could still remember how many times Legolas and he had been lost in the woods or captured by orcs or any other numerous accidents. It all seemed so far away. Those times were dreams that he had finally woken from.

The threesome ducked into the shelter. Estel began the decent upon the old stairs when Elrohir suddenly grabbed his arm from behind and spun him around.

Estel avoided looking into his empty eyes. He couldn't stand the sight anymore. "Human. This is a sanctuary known ONLY to myself and Elladan. If that is violated..." Estel nodded vigorously stopping Elrohir's threat. He released him just as harshly. "Good." He then pushed past Estel and lead his twin into the cage.

Estel pushed down his feeling of remorse and sat down against the cold metal wall. The irony of locking up an elf into a metal box was not lost on Estel. He knew that Elrohir hated it but dealt with it for the sake of his brother. There was no limit to what a twin would do for the other one. Estel closed his eyes in abstract despair. And there used to be no limit to what they would do for him.

The shadows lengthened as night fell around them. Estel sank into a dismal half sleep perilously filled with dreams of death and darkness. He woke early, before the sun and saw Elrohir standing away from him, his eyes fixed on his brother, his head against the bars.

"You think you know, but you don't." His voice was distant.

Estel question was weary, halfhearted. "Know what?"

Elrohir turned his head and Estel was shocked to see the new tears on his face. "You think you know us. You don't. You remember us from this other place, but it is not this place. There you loved us and we loved you but here, here there is no love, only shadow and death." He paused a moment, then with a breath continued. "You seem to trust the prince with your life, there he may have protected it, but here he will take it from you."

Estel's eyes were pleading. "That can change, Elrohir. I can find--"

Elrohir turned quickly, locking eyes for a moment with his twin. "You should not place your trust in him, nor in me." Elrohir picked up his knives. "I must go hunt for Elladan." And he left as silently and quickly as he had arrived.

In the cold basement of the sanctuary, Estel turned his back to the bars and began to cry. His tears weren't cleansing and they brought him no relief. There was no relief in this place.

"Whom to you weep for?"

Estel spun up to his feet so fast that he staggered at the top of his stance. Perched immobile on the stairs was Legolas. His eyes stung like daggers to look upon. They were yet bright and fierce but hopeless. "You should get out of here." Estel cast a quick troubled look towards his sleeping tortured brother then back to the best friend he'd ever had. "Elrohir will kill you if he finds you."

Legolas lowered his eyes gazing over at the orc. "I don't care." His voice was flat, unemotional. "I simply wanted to know why you are crying."

Estel ran his hands through his hair in frustration. "I miss... I miss my family."

The effect this simple statement had on Legolas was as instantaneous as it was frightening. His entire demeanor changed. His expression rocketed to anguish. His legs began to shake as he sank to the ground. He raised his hands to his face, trying to block the thoughts that coursed through his head. Overwhelmed with sympathy for his dear friend, Estel rushed to his side and pulled him into his embrace. He held him close, entreated him to cry, to express his sorrow but Legolas pulled away. His eyes reverted to their cold, haunted luster and he regained his feet. He turned to leave.

"Legolas, stop!" Estel's voice froze him in place. "Legolas, please. Let me help you. Tell me what happened to you."

Legolas stood on the stairs, caught in a choice. Finally his spoke, slowly and deliberately picking each word. "I've never spoken of it. If I don't put it to words, perhaps it won't have happened."

Estel turned him around gently. "It doesn't work that way, as much as we wish it did."

Legolas nodded slightly then led Estel up into the forest. The trees looked almost healthy in the night, the stars glimmered above. "It's peaceful here at night. My people love the stars and the trees." Legolas began his story, his voice calm. "It wasn't so long ago really. Before Sauron reclaimed the ring, even then our..." he stopped, for his voice had cracked. "Even then Mirkwood fought the never-ending darkness. The King led his people in constant battles to keep the palace free and safe. Even before we lost it all, we fought everyday. I was sent on a quest to Imladris so I wasn't home when ... " He stopped again, emotion choking him.

Estel automatically placed his hand on his shoulder, trying to sooth him. "It's alright. You can tell me."

Legolas's eyes were full of doubt but he nodded again and pressed on. His voice no longer gentle. "I too, like your friend's twin was captured in Mordor the night Sauron achieved his victory. But my fate, was much different. I escaped the dungeons and made it all the way back home unfettered. I was so proud of myself, I was SUCH a fool to think that he would just let me go. Yet still I pressed on into my beloved home, right to the very arms of my father, my King. I was given a grand reception. The whole kingdom was there. They toasted my safe return." Legolas was shaking fiercely now. Tears finally flowing freely down his face. "By morning, they were all dead. For what they didn't know was the plague I was carrying, killed everyone I touched except me."

Estel's eyes went wide. His body too began to tremble with horrible doubt. This wasn't happening. This couldn't be happening.

Legolas's voice, where before it was harsh and grating, now leveled out. It was as if this statement was so obvious that it couldn't be painful. "So that's why I deserve to die and why I can't kill myself. It wouldn't be fair to those that I murdered. They deserve their vengeance."

"But how-?" Estel's voice was torn, sharp and jagged as an open wound. "There's no one-"

Legolas looked straight at him then, the tears drying on his cheeks as if they had never fallen. "There's one left that I didn't kill. For as I was immune to the plague, so was he."

Estel couldn't breath. His mind twisted and plummeted as a hawk playing the sky. How could this be true? How much pain could be caused by one being? "Legolas..." He didn't know what to say. How could he do what he had offered?

The strange, mixed self-hatred and open curiosity fell upon Legolas again. "I've never told anyone what I've just told you. In a way, you've made me realize that it's time to end this." He stood pulling the shocked Estel to his feet beside him. Legolas's eyes sparkled deep red as the sun cast on the horizon. "I'm going home."

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

The palace stayed cold now in defiance of the sun. Their white walls now black and thick with oil. His hands were stained from the liquid but he continued his job mechanically and methodically. He circled the beautiful walls, covering them with oil as the sun rose cold and pointless. He began a small fire in the corner where his wife had grown roses lifetimes ago. The flames always began small then grew and grew as they engulfed the walls, eating through the oil and burning up to the sky.

He stood back and watched the building smolder to ash before him. One more part of Eryn Lasgalan gone now, one less responsibility between him and the end. Fire was the only creation he could make that held any purpose anymore. It erased the past. It's bright beauty played before his eyes flashing red in their depths. A splitting image of his son, at that exact moment in time, Thranduil, King of Mirkwood let his city burn to the ground.

~