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He's Gone

By Nefhiriel & Imbecamiel

Rating: T (PG-13)

Genres: Action/Adventure/Angst

A/N: Well, seeing as this is the last chapter, I thought I should do something kind of... you know, special, for the Author's Note. Unfortunately, I'm not quite brilliant enough for that, so I'd just like to point out that this happens to be the only chapter in this story which we gave a name to other than "Chapter 1" "Chapter 2" etc. Yes, we really pulled out all the stops for this one! Ladies and Gentlemen, I present you with - drum roll please! - The Epilogue! My, aren't we just the brilliant, creative ones?

For disclaimer and notes see chapter one. Reviewer responses at bottom of chapter.

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As the days passed, Aragorn and Legolas' dissatisfaction with being "imprisoned" in the healing ward increased along with their strength. At the moment, their primary complaint was the amount of Elrond's "special" tea that they were required to drink. Between the amount of pain they denied being in and the slight return of Estel's fever, Elrond had seen it necessary to dose them - in their opinion - far too frequently.

Being the ones to most frequently receive the responsibility of bringing aforementioned tea, and seeing to it that they drank all of it, Elladan and Elrohir did not escape their share of resentment.

"I'd like to force it down their throats, and see how they like it!" Aragorn grumbled.

Legolas nodded in agreement. "With all the times they've been through this, it would seem reasonable to expect that they, at least, would be on our side, even if no one else is."

It was hardly the first time they had had this conversation, but they seemed to be running out of fresh topics, and really there are only so many times one can re-count the cracks in the ceiling before losing interest. Besides, complaints about the wrongs being done them could be kept up so much longer than debates about which ceiling cracks should be counted separately, which ones were really connected, and whether the especially long ones should be counted as two or not. This time, however, their conversation was cut short by the entrance of those very offenders who had been their most recent subject. As was hardly unusual for them, the twins came in mouths first.

"I tell you, I didn't do anything!" Elrohir's voice, full of indignant innocence - perhaps too indignant?- could be easily heard as he paused just outside the door to answer some accusation from his brother.

Elladan turned the knob, entering the room as he made his response to Elrohir's assertion. "Is that so? Then why is it that he bolted just when-"

"Are you two still arguing about that riding accident?" Aragorn cut in, "That was nearly a week ago!"

"Accident!" Elladan exclaimed. "That was no accident! I tell you he-"

"Enough!" It was Legolas who interrupted this time, with a laugh. "Are you planning on feeding us, or letting us waste away while you 'discuss' whether or not Elrohir spooked that horse?"

Suddenly recalling their mission, and the trays they held in their hands, the twins headed toward the table between the two beds to set them down. Halfway to the table, Elrohir paused, frowning slightly and glancing between the tray he was carrying, and the one that his brother held.

"Wait a minute, El. Was I carrying their food, or were you?"

Both trays held two plates of food, and two mugs. There was, however, one vital difference: while on one of the trays, the mugs were filled with tea, flavored with honey, on the other tray the mugs contained tea "flavored" with Elrond's special herbs. Since the twins had absolutely no desire to dose themselves with sleeping herbs, it was clearly of the utmost importance to determine which tray was which. After some sniffing, careful tasting, and much memory-wracking, a decision was finally agreed upon.

"Alright, better put theirs at the back, and ours in front. That way we won't get them mixed up again," Elladan instructed his twin as he set his tray down on the table.

This whole operation had been witnessed with a mixture of annoyance and amusement - not to mention some eye-rolling - by Aragorn and Legolas. Now as Aragorn looked at the two trays on the table next to him, a sudden idea came to him. Quickly glancing up at Legolas, he caught the mischievous sparkle in his friend's eyes, and instantly realized that the same plan had occurred to both of them.

Without warning. Aragorn broke into a harsh coughing fit. As he had expected, the twins were both at his side in a moment, helping him sit up, offering him water, asking in alarmed tones whether he was alright... In short, perfectly distracted.

Estel watched out of the corner of his eye as Legolas reached out, quickly switching the mugs around, the slight clinking covered up by the sound of his coughing. He had to struggle not to show his amusement, and the combination of suppressed laughter and feigned coughs soon turned into a real coughing fit. He winced as the still-healing wound in his chest was strained. This had better work, he thought as the coughs finally subsided and he settled back onto his pillow.

When the twins were finally assured that, yes, he really was alright now, they helped Aragorn and Legolas arrange their pillows so they could sit to eat - ignoring with practiced ease all protests that they did not need the help - and after being satisfied that the two were comfortable, finally settled down with their own meals. After a couple minutes of silence, Elladan recalled a piece of news they had intended to share.

"We received word from Glorfindel today. Apparently they're found the orcs that captured you. Or at least, most of them." At the quizzical look Aragorn shot him, he explained further. "Of course, the rain has washed away a good part of the tracks by now, but from what they could tell, it looks like quite a fight broke out after Legolas went over the cliff. Judging from what you've told us of their numbers, nearly all of them managed to kill each other off before they were through. Most of the survivors were either wounded, hopelessly lost, or both, and Glorfindel's party caught up with them shortly after finding the main group. They're doing one last sweep of the area, but he says if there are any more left alive, they're likely far away from here by now."

Aragorn and Legolas simply nodded. What more was there to be said? It was over now, and time to get on with the business of living.

Just then, Elrohir let out a yawn, and Elladan began to blink slowly. Aragorn and Legolas began to grin, as amusingly identical expressions of confusion spread over the twins' faces. Elladan slowly picked up the mug he had been drinking from, sniffed it suspiciously, then glared at the two with increasingly drowsy ire.

"That was a dirty trick," was all Elrohir managed to mumble as he began to drift off to sleep.

As the twins' bodies began to relax, their heads rolling back slightly, and the empty mug slipping from Elladan's hand, Estel and Legolas finally allowed their merriment to escape, laughing until the tears came to their eyes. When it finally subsided, the two lay back, panting slightly, the odd chuckle still escaping now and again as they recalled the expressions on the faces of their two victims.

Suddenly, a sobering thought occurred to Legolas. "You do realize, mellon-nin, that they're going to make us pay for this when they wake up."

"Probably." Aragorn really didn't seem unduly worried by the prospect, a contented smile still lingering on his mouth.

Legolas shrugged. Ah well, there was time enough to worry about that later. He just hoped Elrond wouldn't let them do anything too permanent.


-sighs happily- Well, there you have it. Everyone finally safe, happy, andwell on their way to recovery :-)

Reviewer Responses:

Slayer3: Whew! Glad to hear I'm safe from the sharp pointy objects... at least for the time being... And even more glad to hear that you liked the chapter! Hmm, unfortunately, the link for your blog didn't show up completely :-( I tried every combination I could think of, but I can't seem to find it. I'd really like to see it, though! Could you send it to us again? Thanks so much for reviewing! Hope you like the last chapter.

ariadne: Thank you! I'm so glad to hear that you're liking it!

Deep Sorrow: Oh I do love writing the twins! LOL, if you think your friends give you weird looks when you laugh at what you're reading, you should see the looks my Mom gives me when I start laughing at what I'm writing. She's constantly asking me what I'm grinning at... ;-) Rather sad, I guess, laughing at my own work... -shrugs- Oh well, at least I'm having fun! Well, I did include the orcs in the epilogue after all... sort of. Just couldn't bear the thought of their wandering off to live unhappily ever after ;-) But I do agree, it can get incredibly frustrating when an author suddenly introduces a new plot, just when the story ought to be winding down. Mind you, I think things like that can be done well on occasion, but when it doesn't really have a purpose, other than to keep the story going longer... :-P Well, thank you so much for reviewing! I hope you like the Epilogue too :-)

Evergreene: Yup, no one thinks anyone is dead anymore! Eh, then again, they may both be as good as dead once the twins wake up... Ah well, at least Elrond won't let them damage them too badly until after they're recovered ;-) Thank you for reviewing! Hope you like the final chapter.

CKlovesme2040: Well, I'm glad neither you nor Legolas actually died from shock! Hard to say which would be more disastrous, losing a main character, or losing a wonderful reader... Aw, I'm sorry to hear that camp didn't work out for you :-( I hope you still managed to have a relaxing time at home? Yes, we did have a lot of fun on vacation! Lots of reading, swimming, vanquishing my evil writer's block to finish this chapter... -sighs happily- Very relaxing. Well, not the part about vanquishing writer's block, that's pretty strenuous exercise, but the rest of it was ;-) Ah, so he's your elf now, is he? -looks around furtively and whispers- I'd be careful how loudly I said that around here, if I were you. You could have a major battle on your hands! Well at any rate, no need to worry about him... for the rest of this story. However, in the next story, he's likely to get quite his fair share of angst, so you'd better prepare yourself ;-) Thank you so much for reviewing! Hope you like the last chapter.

lindahoyland: Yes, it is nice for them to finally realize that no one's dead, isn't it? I'm glad you liked the chapter! Hope you like this one too!

fan33: I'm so happy to hear that you like the story! Oh, please do take a look at Nef's other stories! This is my first, but she's done several excellent ones already :-) Thank you so much for reviewing! Hope you like the last chapter.

Ainu Laire: -shakes head sadly- From all appearances, I begin to believe that your attempts to reform Aragorn have been about as successful as his attempts to "reform" you... Stubborn Ranger ;-) Ah well, at least if you're not that bad for a fangirl, he's probably not that bad for a ranger either. Being raised by elves, he's probably much better than most! Eh, on the other hand, with El and El for brothers he could be a lot worse than most... Oh dear, it's never a good sign when Aragorn doesn't know how old he is. In an elf, it might be understandable, but even a Númenorian doesn't live that long. Hmm, what do you have to do to join the SNWCG? Well, there's the membership fees, rites of entry, oaths of eternal obedience to the senior members... Hehe, j/k. Actually, I'm not sure. Since at the moment the only members are myself, Nef and our dear president polingly, we haven't really discussed what to do about new members. The society's been going for some time (since shortly before Nef started posting The Wrong One), but you and Smiling Dragon Girl are actually the first ones to ask about membership. So... I'll talk to polingly about it, and we'll let you know by e-mail ASAP :-) Yes we do plan on doing more stories! We've got several planned, and all with lots of A&L. Well, except for one, which may wind up focusing more on the twins and Elrond... We'll see ;-) LOL, at any rate, anything we come up with is sure to have lots of humor, angst, or both. Hmm, so Aragorn's 26, and 11 years older than you? That would mean you're... one year younger than Nef. And it also means he's not too many years older than me! And no, I'm not saying how many -eg- I suppose a mix-up in space-time continuum might cause some... minor difficulties... Still, that wasn't a very nice thing for Gandalf to do! It seems Aragorn and Legolas aren't the only ones who like to pull dirty tricks with sleeping drugs. To mis-quote Treebeard, "A wizard should know better!" ;-) Ah, well, thanks for so much for reviewing! Hope you like the epilogue.

crazyAZN kid: We do always try to get things out when we say that we will, or, when RL and the evilness of a certain website-which-shall-remain-nameless interfere, at least at the earliest possible time :-) I've certainly read enough stories from unpredictable authors to know just how frustrating it can be when people don't update when they say they will :-P Hmm, no "deeper meaning" that I'm aware of... Just a bit of fluff left, and some wrapping up of loose ends. Maybe real life doesn't always work out neatly in the end, but I, for one, just couldn't bear the thought of letting those orcs disappear completely unpunished! Well, here's the new post! Hope you like it ;-)

HarryEstel: LOL, yep we just had to put the poor elf through one more shock... At least this time we relented enough to make it a nice one ;-) Hehe, the poor twins really can't hope to get away completely undetected with Elrond around. You'd think that after nearly 3000 years, they'd have learned that it was no good trying to sneak behind their Ada's back... Then again, I suppose they've managed to succeed just enough times to keep their hopes up :-) Besides, they wouldn't be nearly as much fun if they didn't keep trying! Well, thanks for the review! Hope you like the last chapter.

SmilingDragonGirl: Oh I'm glad to hear that pink dragons like getting hugs, because I like giving them! -hugs- Also rather a relief to hear you're not related to the type who like to eat those who give hugs... ;-) Oh, I can definitely sympathize with your story about the MC, because as a matter of fact, that's exactly what happened to start me off crying too! Of course, the fact that things are pretty chaotic in RL for me at the moment didn't help at all. It's pretty tough moving away from the house I've lived in for13 years, the church I've been going to for 16 years, the only two friends I've got in RL... But yes, I'm feeling a lot better now. A very relaxing vacation, with lots of good books definitely helped ;-) -g- Glad you like the award! If I were you, though, I'd stick it in the closet if any of Sauron's minions happen to come visiting. They can get rather easily offended by things like that sometimes ;-) LOL, yes, I can just picture it. Elrond: "No, Estel, Legolas did not die falling off that cliff. As a matter of fact, he managed to make it all the way back here alive." Estel: "Well then, where is he?" Elrond: "Well, you see... He was worried about you, and wouldn't let me treat his wounds, and he managed to break them open and bleed to death right here in the healing wing. That was a couple of days ago. Sorry you missed him. He did say to tell you 'hi', though." Estel: "...Oh..." Hehe, that would NOT have worked out too well. I'm so happy you
liked the interaction between Legolas and Elrond, though! I was rather nervous about trying to write Elrond, so I'm really happy to hear that he came off well! Hehe, I do love writing the twins so much! Of course, then I wind up laughing at my own writing (which is rather sad, I suppose), and getting strange looks from my Mom... But it's worth it :-) Ah yes, will they survive El & El is indeed the question... Or perhaps it may rather be, will El & El survive them? Or maybe it's more like, will Elrond still be sane by the time they've recovered? No, I don't believe I have read any of Alinah's stories. Thanks for the recommendation, I will definitely be checking them out! Have you read anything by Stories From Angel's Falls? She's done several excellent Glorfindel stories, set during the time when Gil-Galad was king. Rather short stories, but some of the best Glorfindel-centered ones I've seen. Hehe, believe it or not, I actually don't know if it's possible to apply for membership in the SNWGC or not. It's been going for some time (since a while before Nef started posting The Wrong One), but since we haven't "advertised" the group too much, we haven't really had anyone interested (you and Ainu Laire are actually the first people to ask about membership). As a matter of fact, our entire membership at the moment consists of myself, Nef and our president, polingly. Sooo, the long and short of it is, we haven't yet discussed what to do about new members, but I'll be e-mailing polingly about it, and let you know by e-mail ASAP :-) Hmm, now I wish I could speak German, so I could read your stories when you start posting! Sadly enough, being one quarter German does not give one an automatic comprehension of the language... LOL, maybe I'll just have to write a really weird review, and pretend I could actually understand more than the words "Aragorn" and "Legolas" ;-) Thank you so much for reviewing, mellon-nin! Hope you like the last chapter.

Tinorial Peredhil: Yes, we managed to get it up! Daring the evil website which was determined to force us to fail in our duties, wrestling dangerous strange computers into submission, capturing the elusive wild internet connection, we actually got it posted! -pauses- What, no applause? -sighs- Truly, the dangers of this job are vastly underappreciated. Well, I suppose I'll just have to move on with life then... ;-) Oh yes, I think the twins aren't going to appreciate Legolas' new piece of blackmail very much at all -g- Enjoy your humiliation? Oh Guard, you're just looking at this all wrong! Think of it as your own unique job as a healer! They do say laughter is the best medicine, after all. What's this? LR still hasn't learned how unhealthy it is to interrupt a fangirl's appreciation of angst! -shakes head- I have a feeling that he may need to be doing "Live" reminders for himself if he's not careful... Glad you're so happy that he found out Estel's alive! Um, just don't go telling anyone I'm responsible for that deafening shout, ok? –looks nervous- I really don't need any lawsuits just now. Ah, so you've got voices in your head? Now me, I've just got an incredibly sarcastic Mind, who enjoys mocking me at every possible opportunity. (Mind: And you do provide a lot of them, too...) See what I mean? Poor Legolas... Here we've drug him through so much, we've reduced Mirkwood's finest warrior to sounding like a sweet, desperate child... And enjoyed doing it too! -eg- Heh, at least we made him happy now -attempts to look sweet and innocent- LOL, nope, no coma. I really don't think the poor Prince would've lived through that. Hehe, glad you liked Elladan's parting "threat" ;-) I'm afraid it's rather to late to avoid getting the computers mad at me. I've only got to look at my Mom's laptop over her shoulder to get it to freeze up! And don't even get me started on my dearly loathed Chrysophylax... -growls at computer- Reminds me of a line I read today: "I love my computer! It makes a wonderful paperweight!" Aw, I'm so glad to hear that your trip to Dol Guldor went so well! Sounds like such a lovely party... Those Nazgul must really like you and Guard, to go to all that trouble! And they even invited you both back! My, my, Guard certainly is the social butterfly, isn't he? Yes, we did have an absolutely wonderful vacation! I even got a bit of a tan! Well, sort of, it was kind of... pink... and painful... -shrugs- Ah well, it was lots of fun anyways :-) Thank you so much for reviewing! Hope you like the last chapter! -sniff- Yes, it is rather sad, isn't it? But now we can get started on another one!

polingly: I missed you too! -hugs- Oh, and I hope I didn't wind up forgetting anything too major in the letter I sent last night... Chrysophylax seems to have changed his mind yet again, and is now determined to live for a while longer at least, so disaster has been once again averted! For the moment. -mutters under breath about computers determined to drive her mad- Anyways, the result is, I'll probably be getting back to your other letter within the next couple of days :-) Yay! I'm so happy you liked it! -g- The twins really can't get away with too much around Elrond, can they? I do love writing humor! Of course, then Mom keeps asking me what I'm walking around grinning about... but that's a small price to pay ;-) Thank you so much for reviewing, gwathel-nin! Hope you enjoy the last chapter :-)

Niroveka: Thank you so much for the lovely e-mail review! I believe Nef's already sent out a response to it... But I just though I'd thank you here too ;-)

A/N from Nef: Well, there you have it, the epilogue… Unfortunately, I won't be able to post anything for at least the next month, due to the fact that we're moving, but I have LOTS of plans -eg- First of all, I have several vignettes almost ready for posting, and I'm also hard at work on the sequel to The Wrong One. Sorry it's taking so long. I'm already to chapter thirteen, and although I've run into a bit of writer's block, hopefully I'll be able to get rid of it, and finish up. -huggles- Thank you, all, for the wonderful reviews: I cherish, save, and reread all of them : )

Imbecamiel and Nefhiriel, proud members of the SNWCG