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He's Gone
By Nefhiriel & Imbecamiel
Rating: T (PG-13)
Genres: Action/Adventure/Angst
A/N: Well, we have managed to grab a couple of minutes of internet time (lol, and it did take some doing too. At the place where we're staying, we've got no internet, no TV, no cell phone, and at the moment, not even a regular telephone). So, let's see if we can manage to get this posted… Oh, and I haven't had a chanc to do my usual last-minute check for problems, so hopefully there won't be any unplesant surprises in the chapter :-P
For disclaimer and notes see chapter one. Reviewer responses at bottom of chapter
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He was blissfully warm and comfortable. For the moment, there was nothing else he wanted to know. Legolas had a vague feeling that something very unpleasant awaited him when he came to full awareness, but right now he had absolutely no desire to find out what it was, so he wrapped himself further in dreamy relaxation, resolutely refusing to wake up and remember where he was. He reveled in the softness of the bed. It really was lovely just to lie there, listening to the quiet...
Or, he had thought it was quiet. Now he began to be aware of a sound. Was that someone snoring? Yes. He was becoming more aware now, and there was definitely someone snoring softly nearby. Legolas sighed.
I suppose I will have to wake up now, after all.
He still didn't want to, but against his will his body was becoming more and more alert to its surroundings, so he decided that he might as well give in.
Opening his eyes, he was not altogether surprised to find himself in Rivendell - the healing ward, to be exact. He had certainly been here often enough to know. The only question was, why? Ah yes. His body chose that moment to be obliging on that count, its growing awareness bringing a myriad of aches and pains to his consciousness.
Still, the pain was nowhere near overwhelming, his injuries clearly having been well tended. Anyway, he still had not found out who was in the room with him, so for the moment he set aside his body's signals in order to continue exploring his surroundings. Turning his head slightly to the left, he discovered nothing particularly enlightening, so he tried the other side. Well, that certainly answered the question of who else was in the room.
He surveyed the twins with an amused smile. Elrohir was slumped in his chair, head tilted forward, feet propped up on a nearby table. Elladan was sprawled in an even more awkward position, one leg thrown over one arm of his chair, an arm dangling loosely over the other. His head had slipped off the chair back, and now hung back. It was from his slightly open mouth that the quiet snoring was emanating.
In short, they both looked the very picture of well-earned, exhausted rest. Legolas thought they were both sure to be dreadfully sore when they woke, sleeping like that, but he would not disturb them. They truly did look as if they had not slept in days.
Besides, there was also the fact that the moment they knew he was awake, they'd be hovering all over the place, and probably forcing all sorts of foul tasting potions down his throat as well. The only person better than them at mothering him when he was hurt was Estel.
Come to think of it, it was extremely odd that he wasn't here... He only had a moment to wonder where his friend was, before memory and grief came crashing back. Estel was dead.
He wished now that he had not woken up at all. The gaping hole in his life which his friend had once filled hurt more deeply than any physical wound. For the first time, he allowed himself to really think about his loss, fully realizing it as he had not dared to earlier. Tears tracked down his cheeks, as he finally gave his body permission to grieve.
He cried for a long time, and when at last he finally began gradually to stop, he realized that he was terribly thirsty. He recalled seeing a glass of water on the table - dangerously near to Elrohir's feel, as a matter of fact, but the thought failed to bring him any amusement.
Wiping his tears away, he began pulling himself up, stiffly and slowly, to see if reaching it was a reasonable proposition. And then he froze, as his eyes caught on something across the room. Or rather, someone.
For a moment, he could neither move, nor make a sound. His mind only screamed. It couldn't be. He was dead! He couldn't be here!
And then the spell broke. Legolas gave a strangled cry, as shock, disbelief, and bewilderment battled inside him. The arm that had been holding him up collapsed under his weight, dropping him back down on the bed with a painful jolt.
The effects of his cry were instantaneous. With a startled yelp of his own, Elladan fell out of his chair, landing with an extremely undignified thud. Elrohir jerked awake, accidentally kicking the glass, sending it crashing to the floor to further add to the confusion.
Even after having been so suddenly awakened from a sound sleep, it took the twins only a little more than a second to figure out what must have happened. They glanced with slightly guilty concern between their brother's bed, which they had all thought far enough away to avert such an occurrence, and Legolas' pale, shocked face, which obviously proved otherwise.
Knowing his brother was the more skilled in such situations, Elladan quickly whispered, "Try to calm him down. I'll go find Ada." At Elrohir's answering nod, he set off, confident in his brother's ability to calm their distraught friend.
Retrieving another glass, Elrohir filled it with water, then carefully helped Legolas sit to drink it, all the while offering soothing reassurances. He knew well enough that Legolas registered not a word of what he was saying; however, the tone proved calming enough, and Legolas soon recovered his voice, at least, if not exactly his composure.
"Estel...What...He...?"
Elrohir kindly relieved his friend of his stammering attempt at voicing his thoughts. "Estel is still alive. He was badly hurt, but Ada says he'll be alright." He sighed. "Legolas, I'm so sorry. We didn't mean to both fall asleep like that. We'd hoped to tell you the news rather more gently..." He trailed off, stopping to allow Legolas time to absorb the information.
"How?" Legolas finally whispered.
"We don't know. He hasn't woken since he was found. Though," he paused, suddenly recalling what Glamdil had told them, "he seemed quite convinced then that you were the one who was dead."
Legolas frowned, for a moment as confused as Elrohir, then his eyes widened. "He... Oh Eru, he must have seen me go over the cliff."
But before Elrohir could demand further explanation, Elladan returned, their father following closely, and the telling of the story was put off for later.
Sitting down on the edge of the bed, Elrond placed a hand on Legolas' forehead, and was relieved to discover no more signs of fever. His eyes full of gentle concern, he asked Legolas quietly, "How are you feeling, penn neth?"
Legolas, however, was still too desperate for reassurance to answer any concerns for his own health. Brushing aside both the question and the hands that were attempting to check whether his shoulder wound had been aggravated by his recent abrupt movements, he gripped Elrond's arm tightly. Looking at him with pleading intensity, he asked, "He will truly be alright? He is not dead? It is not just another dream?"
"No, Legolas, it is no dream. He will be alright." Elrond smiled at him. "Now, if you will allow me to tend to you...? I should very much like for you to be alive to greet him when he wakes up."
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Legolas sat in a chair next to Aragorn's bed, watching anxiously as Elrond examined his friend. Several days had passed since the elf first woke, but as yet the human had shown no indications of following his example.
In truth, Legolas had no business being out of bed for a good long time yet, but the Peredhil family had been forced to resign themselves to the fact that trying to keep him from his friend's side when he was this worried about him was a hopeless endeavor. Moving him to the bed next to Estel's had contented him for no more than a day, and in the end Elrond had reluctantly given his permission for Legolas to sit in the chair - provided that he remained warmly wrapped in a blanket, and did not exert himself in any way.
Straightening now, Elrond smiled at Legolas, answering his unspoken question. "Yes, Legolas, I am certain that he will recover. The fever is all but gone, and he is out of danger. It is only a matter of time now." Seeing Legolas open his mouth, he cut off the second question as well. "No, penn neth, I still can not be certain when he will wake. However, I do not think it will be much longer. In fact, I do not see any reason why he should not wake within the next day or two."
Legolas answered his smile with a slightly sheepish one of his own. "Have I really asked that many times?"
Coming up behind them, Elrohir answered for his father. "Only a dozen times a day."
"Ah, but you are mistaken, muindor!" Elladan corrected his brother, cutting in with a mischievous grin. "The first day he only asked ten times."
"But that hardly counts!" Elrohir countered, "He spent most of the first day sleeping! Besides, as I recall, he asked fourteen times yesterday, so that makes up for it."
Before Elladan could come back with an argument about whether the were talking about averages, or the precise number of times per day, Elrond decided to take control of the situation. "As fascinating as I'm sure we're all finding this conversation, I'm afraid I must insist that you leave my patient be. You may torment him as much as you like after he has recovered - out of my earshot. Understood?"
Attention was diverted from the twins' nods and chorus of "Yes Ada"s, however, by a groggy voice from the bed. "But Ada, it was just getting interesting."
Everyone spun around to face a faintly smiling Estel. Legolas started to his feet, uttering an exclamation of surprised delight. He would have crashed to the floor immediately afterwards, when the lightheaded dizziness from the sudden change of position caught up with him, had not a firm pair of hands caught hold of his shoulders, steadying him until he regained his balance.
"Easy Legolas." Elrond said, gently pressing him back down into the chair.
The half-smile on Aragorn's face gradually faded into a look of bewilderment. "You're not dead." His face lit up. "Legolas! You're alive!"
Elladan laughed. "Brilliant deduction, muindor! I'm glad to see that Ada has taught you the healing arts so well."
"Enough, ion-nin. What have I told you about tormenting my patients?" Elrond's attempt at a stern look, however was rather spoiled by the smile that he couldn't quite hide.
"Sorry Ada," Elladan replied cheerfully, sounding perfectly unrepentant.
Shaking his head ruefully, Elrond turned back toward his patients. "You have quite a bit of explaining to do, Estel." He smiled gently, glancing back and forth between his youngest son, who still had an expression of dazed joy on his face, and Legolas, who, despite his happy smile, was beginning to look rather pale and tired. "I will not press you for that now, though. If I am not mistaken, the two of you will wish to talk for a while." At their eager agreement, he continued. "Well, I will not forbid it; however you, Legolas, can talk just as well from your bed." A slightly rebellious look entered the younger elf's eyes, but Elrond gave him a stern look. "No arguments. You will lie down in your bed while you talk, or I will give you both sleeping draughts and move you to separate rooms."
When Legolas was comfortably installed in his bed, the twins made as if to settle into some chairs themselves. Elrond, however, had other ideas. "The two of you will be coming with me."
"But Ada-" Elrohir cried.
"You will be coming with me," Elrond repeated. "You are bad enough when I'm here. I don't even want to imagine what you would do when I was gone." An amused, sympathetic smile softened his firmness. "Come, you need not look as if I were banishing you forever. You can come back in later."
So, with a parting smile for their brother and Legolas, the twins reluctantly followed Elrond from the room. Suddenly, Elladan's head reappeared in the doorway. "We'll be back as soon as we can get away," he whispered to them, for fear his father would overhear. Before they could respond, Elrond's voice was heard calling from down the hall, and Elladan quickly disappeared again.
Legolas chuckled softly. "How is it that he manages to make that sound more like a threat than a promise?"
Aragorn grinned back at him. "I have no idea"
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"It's still so hard to believe," Aragorn said. "I was so sure that this time at least one of us was not going to make it."
"So was I," Legolas replied softly.
They had spent some time talking, both asking and answering dozens of questions. Even now, they were reluctant to give in to the heavy pull of sleep, despite its ever more insistent tugging at them. Both still held on to fears that it might really be some beautiful dream that would dissolve if they dared to loose their hold on it for a moment.
They looked up as the door opened with a soft click. Elladan poked his head in, glancing around the room warily. Seeing no one save Aragorn and Legolas, he stepped in, silently gesturing to someone out in the hall. When Elrohir had joined him inside the room, the older twin looked furtively up and down the hall one more time before shutting the door as quietly as possible. The twins pulled chairs up near the beds, meeting their brother and friend's quizzical looks with mischievous smiles.
"Ada thinks we're still chopping up some herbs," Elrohir informed them, keeping his voice low.
"Does he indeed?" inquired a deep voice from the doorway. Leaping up as if burned, the twins spun around. Elrond studied his sons. "I thought I might find you here."
"Ada! I- Ah, we-" Elladan began stammering, while Elrohir had the wide-eyed look of a cornered rabbit.
Unexpectedly, Elrond simply smiled, shaking his head at them. "There is no need to invent an excuse, Elladan. I am not here to scold you."
"You aren't?" Disbelief echoed in Elladan's words.
"No. Actually, I was attempting to find you in order to tell you that you may rejoin Estel and Legolas. However, you seem to have taken care of that on your own." Elrond raised one eyebrow slightly, and the twins had, at least, the grace to look slightly chagrined.
"I know that you wish to discuss… recent events with Estel and Legolas. However, they both are very much in need of rest. I will allow you fifteen minutes to talk." He looked at the Aragorn and Legolas. "When I return, I expect you both to be well on your way to being asleep. And if either of you," He added, returning his gaze to the twins, "do anything to hinder that I will not hesitate to remove you from this room and not allow you back in until they are recovered." Elrond turned to leave the room. Knowing that, despite their mischievous and over exuberant nature, the twins were really very concerned about their friend and brother, and would not do anything that might harm them, he was not really overly concerned.
The twins reassumed their seats, leaning forward eagerly. "Alright then," Elladan began, "first things first. What on Arda happened to the two of you!"
Reviewer Responses: (Note: I'm afraid we won't be able to respond to anyone who reviewed after last Friday. If anyone did review, we'll try to catch you next time. Sorry about that… )
Slayer3: -starts making pillow barricade between herself and sharp pointy objects- No need to use those! Heh, no more bad stuff's going to happen to them... THIS time, that is! -attempts to smother evil, maniacal laughter- Ooo, I love that quote! It's so beautiful :-) Thank you so much for your review! Hope you like the chapter.
Erulasse: -g- Yup, they're both alive! And as you can see, they're both finally convinced of that fact as well ;-) He! Elessar is a wonderful name for a cat! Aw, and Sam's such a sweet name too. Our dog's name is Strider (hehe, also commonly called little black Spider... but that's another story), and we call him "Aragorn Elessar" when he's bad ;-) Yup, our little brother is Eric, aka Erhoss (which for some reason I can never remember how to spell... wonder if it's got anything to do with the fact that he's got about half a dozen different versions he uses himself...) -g- Unfortunately, our "little" brother is now taller than me, and considerably stronger, sooo... We've got to be nice. Most of the time ;-) Thank you for your review! Hope you enjoy the new chapter.
jacquelinestel: Hey, glad to see you again! (hehe, and yes, Nef's 'out there' too -g- she's been reading all the reviews, and giving input on responses, and she's very happy to see you again too ;-) Aw, that wasn't very nice, Estel and Legolas, deflating her ego like that. You'd best be careful, or she might decide to leave you home during her summer trips! Hope you have lots of fun with your summer activities! And hope you enjoy the end chappies, whenever you get a chance to read them :-)
CKlovesme2040: Hehe, you are most welcome for returning your favorite guy to Imladris ;-) Couldn't have any permanent maiming, now, could we? Well, they did manage to avoid death by shock, even if Legolas did come rather close -g- LOL, yup, aside from whatever the twins manage to stir up, they're safe from harm for the time being. Oh, I hope you all have a wonderful time at camp! Thank you so much for reviewing! Hope you like the new chapter- in which they actually manage to avoid completely killing themselves, and thus several of our readers, and probably us as well, with the mob we'd have... ;-)
QueenofFlarmphgal: Hehe, well, I'm afraid our poor boy are safe for the time being - but ONLY for this story! The only ones doing any torturing for the rest of the story will be the twins ;-) Yep, Nef's hard at work on the sequel, and I know I'm loving it (lucky me, I get to be her editor and read everything before anyone else ;-), so I certainly hope you all will like it too! -sigh- I absolutely adore her new villain... But then, I've always had a soft spot for cool bad guys -g- Thank you so much for reviewing! Hope you like the chapter.
Daethule: Yay! I'm so happy you like it so much! Hehe, yup a little bit of confusion over just who's supposed to be alive and who's not... -g- At least they've got everything sorted out now, and they both finally realize that they're BOTH alive :-) Thanks so much for your review! Hope you like the new chapter!
Deep Sorrow: Charge hourly? Hmm, there's an idea! Too bad we're not supposed to make money off fanfiction... Except Scarlet Pimpernel fanfiction, at any rate, since the copyright on SP has now expired, and we could actually PUBLISH that stuff if we wanted. Scary thought...and also totally off subject... Hehe, ok I'm moving on. -g- Yup, it is a good sign that Estel's finally arrived home. Now the only people who can torment him for the moment are the twins. LOL, well, I haven't quite finished the epilogue yet. I suppose we could have the orcs invade Rivendell in the epilogue... Eh, maybe not. I think the poor guys deserve a bit of a break. At least until the next story ;-) Thank you so much for your review! Hope you like the new chapter.
lindahoyland: As you can see, both Estel and Legolas have finally discovered the truth :-) And now the poor guys finally get a bit of bedrest and happiness... Until the next story, at any rate -g- Glad to hear you're enjoying all the angst! Not much of that in this chappie, but I hope you like it :-)
crazyAZN kid: LOL, yep, plenty of confusion all around this time, but at least they've all finally got things sorted out now. -snickers- My, Elladan certainly is a thoughtful, kind older brother, volunteering Elrohir like that... -puts on serious manner- Now Elrohir, we can't just kill some orcs off and call it a day! Just think of all the poor angst-addicted fans around here! We'd all be going into withdrawal so fast... Believe me, as bad as you may THINK it is now, just wait till you see what happens when thousands of fangirls go into simultaneous angst withdrawal. And really, I'm afraid not too many people go in for orc angst these days ;-) Yes, things are pretty much winding down now. Just a bit of recovery, and wrapping things up left :-) Thank you so much for your review! hope you enjoy the chapter.
Ainu Laire: Well, well, what a surprise. I don't normally get Rangers reviewing my story! Dragons, lunatics, various degrees of royalty... but not often Rangers. Yeah, sure, Shire-leaf may not have nicotine, that doesn't mean it's safe! Obviously you've never seen anyone choke to death before... Ah, my dear Strider, you may well be the soon-to-be Chieftain of the Dunedain, but I fear you still have very little control over fangirls, or what they may choose to believe. Unfortunately for you, odd ideas about fake silver and gold stars are no exception. A word of advice: never try to disillusion a fangirl once she's convinced of something. Laire certainly seems to be... well, possibly a little more reasonable than most (or possibly her madness just tends toward slightly less dangerous outlets), but still... Generally, it's better safe than sorry. -scowls- I am NOT a child! I've been legally considered an adult for a while now, I'll have you know. And don't you dare give me some line about still being a child compared to you - I know perfectly well you've had the same discussion with your brothers on more than one occasion! Oh, I see Gandalf has finally decided to make an appearance. Still into the whole speaking-in-riddles thing, though... Honestly, between the elves and the Wizards, it's a wonder the younger races ever learned anything! Ah, the SNWCG... that would be the "Society for Nerve-Wracked Computer Ghosts". I other words, those who always have panic attacks when posting stories, and wind up "haunting" the computer, waiting to find out what people think. My friend, polingly, is the president, and a founding member, Nef - another founding member - is vice president, and I happen to have the honor of being the newest member :-) Well, thanks for seeing to the reviewing, even while Laire's sleeping! Hope she wakes up in time to enjoy the new chapter ;-)
polingly: Aw, not to worry, gwathel-nin, we do know just how busy you've been lately :-) Hehe, well, they've now finally figured out just who is NOT dead around here ;-) I absolutely love Glorfindel too! He's really a terribly underused character. Really there are hardly ANY good Glorfindel fics out there. Hmm, maybe I should write some myself... -hugs- We're going to miss you while we're on vacation! -sniff- Farewell, my friend... -sniff- Namarie... We will meet again... Well, actually, that'd be kind of hard, seeing as we've never actually met in the first place... Alright then, enough with the melodrama ;-) Thank you so much for reviewing! hope you like the new chappie ;-)
Tinorial Peredhil: -growls at stupid Wouldn't let you see the chapter, hmm? Well, I'd threaten to go after it and teach it a good lesson, but it seems more than a few people have tried that already, without much success... Besides, all our computers have a grudge against me already, and I really don't need to be antagonizing and more technology-related things at the moment ;-) LOL, bad twins, lying to your Ada! Hehe, to quote The Princess Bride, "He's not dead, he's just MOSTLY dead. There's a difference." Yup, Glorfy's got a Voice too! Oh dear, got to watch out for those nasty, rogue voices though. They can be positively insidious! Imagine, telling you not to take Guard places with you! -pats Guard- Don't worry, she would NEVER believe such a nasty Voice as that! Oh no, can't knock the nice WK out! He- he might decide he didn't want to be friends any more, and then he might try to get that invitation to Dol Guldor retracted. Well, at least he's got his good friend Guard to take care of him. I'm sure that will cheer him up ;-) Hehe, yup everyone came pretty close to emotional break downs here... But now everyone's safe back in Imladris, so no fears for elf fading this time around :-) Yup, we're going on vacation. -sighs happily- Ten days to just lie around, read, relax, go fishing, boating... -g- Only slight drawback being no internet connection at all. But we'll survive that ;-) Thank you so much for the review! Hope you like the new chapter :-)
SmilingDragonGirl: Congratulations on your great victory! -hands the Balrog Slayer award- Believe me, not too many people manage to get these. By the time they've earned one, most people wind up being too... well, dead to care much. Glad to hear we didn't lose you, though ;-) Hehe, nope. As you saw, it was Legolas who got to do the hovering this time -g- I agree, memory-of-friendship stories would NEVER measure up to a good friendship fic :-) Aw, I'm sorry to hear that you had such a bad day! -hugs- I can definitely sympathize with you. I've had a pretty awful week myself, and wound up spending most of Friday afternoon crying/trying to stop, and most of Saturday trying not to start again. I'm so happy that our update was able to help cheer you up, though! -hugs again- I hope you're feeling better now. Well, I hope the part where they finally discovered that each other weren't dead lived up to your expectations :-) Personally, I think this chapter has some of my favorite parts in the whole story. Oh, I'm glad you liked Glorfindel's little "guest appearance" :-) I absolutely love him, too, and I really think he's a very underused character. There are so few good Glorfindel fics! I've contemplated doing a Glorfindel story myself... Only problem being that I have yet to find a story idea with him that really catches my fancy :-) Well, thank you so much for reviewing! And I really hope that you're doing better now! -starts to hug again, then freezes- Um, wait a minute... -looks nervous- Is hugging dragons allowed? -shrugs- Oh well. -hugs anyways-
HarryEstel: Yup, everyone's FINALLY all back in one place - and they managed to do it without being permanently maimed too! LOL, as you can see, they did indeed have a bit of a surprise when they woke up. At least this time it was a happy one ;-)Thank you so much for reviewing! Hope you like the new chapter.
Erasuithiel: Hehe, we are mean to them, aren't we? And totally unrepentant too... -eg- I'm SO glad to hear that you're enjoying it so much! I hope you liked their reactions to finally finding out that each other are alive :-) Ah well, no need to fear poison - THIS time. Our poor boys are finally getting a bit of a rest (as much of a rest as El and El will allow, at any rate...), so they can be all nice and happy in time for the next story, at which time they'll probably wind up in just as bad shape as they are now... They just can't win, can they? Hmm, so orcs stole your poisons? Well, we'll certainly let you know, should they happen to come our way. Might have to steal the recipe from the for future stories first, though... ;-) Thank you so much for the review! Hope you like the new chapter.
Well, the next -and last- chapter should be out either Monday (the 20th) or Tuesday. Um, note that that's SHOULD be out then, as we'll be just getting back from vacation, and really can't absolutely promise on the exact date. We can, however, promise to do everything in our power not to leave you guys waiting any longer than necessary ;-)
Imbecamiel, proud member of the SNWGC
