Hello nurse! Eh…to much Animaniacs. (I miss that show, and Pinky and the Brain too!) Sorry for not updating sooner. My schedule has been awful. We have been having to take those darned PASS test's for the past week or two. We had three, count them three math tests! A high school placement test, the PASS one, and next will be the three hour long Algebra one. It's also nearing the end of the school year, so we have a billion trips and stuff planned that I've been dealing with. Plus, we're also getting our house ready to sell and looking for other's to buy. I will be updating at least once a week, and if I don't, something really important came up. I'm also gonna be sold as a slave next week for our Student Council. *gulps* I really think I ought to remind them that Lincoln abolished that…
~~~
Haldir watched his brother sleeping peacefully. He let out a breath of relief that he didn't know he'd been holding. Of course, who could blame him? His brother had just been brutally attacked, nearly killed in the woods of Lothlorien. There were still scratch marks on his face. The march warden frowned a bit. How could this have happened? His brother, as distracted as he may have been at times, was not stupid or weak. He should have been able to fight off a pack of wolves.
Although, the way Rumil had described them, they had been no ordinary wolves. They had had thick black fur, completely black eyes, and razor sharp claws and fangs. They had been thirsty for the blood of an elf, too. Or so Haldir and some of the other elves thought, after they had assessed the damage which had been done to Rumil.
Orophin and some other men had been scouting around the woods. They had come upon a badly beaten Rumil and quickly rushed him back to Lothlorien. Orophin had come to deliver the urgent news to the march warden as soon as they had arrived. It had just been when he and Akira were arguing.
When Haldir had been taken to Rumil's room, he had been shocked to see his brother so badly injured. When asked what had happened, he'd said that wolves had attacked him. The story was strange, even for Rumil.
He said he had been standing in the woods. He had been feeling the shadow thickening over the horizon, and had been trying to scout out something. Suddenly, a pack of wolves had been upon him before he could even pull out his bow or sword. Rumil said it was if they had been trying to tear him apart. He had fought, but it appeared that the animals were ruthless, and were not going to give up. Then, just as suddenly as they had attacked him, they left.
Haldir shook his head. It made no sense. Why would a pack of wolves of all creatures attack his brother? And even so, why would they just leave him so suddenly? He scrunched his brow together. The question had been plaguing him for many days now. Wolves in Lothlorien? No other elves had been attacked.
Sighing, he knew he should probably ask the Lord or Lady about it. But he and Orophin, as well as the other elves who had found him, had barely left Rumil's side in the past few days. He had been injured very badly, but now was beginning to heal. Thanks mostly of course to Anfarawen. She seemed to be very busy lately; healing Rumil and young Akira.
He let out a sigh as the thought came to him. Akira. He wondered briefly what she was doing at the moment. A small frown came onto his face. His thoughts had been going to her more and more often. Ever since they had kissed. Or, he had kissed her. He still wasn't exactly clear on that. He could have sworn she was kissing him back. Well, until she'd pushed the march warden to the ground and accused him of having happy hands.
"How is he?" asked a soft voice. The march warden had been sitting beside Rumil's bed, leaning his back against the wall. At first he thought that maybe it was Akira. The thought made him feel a bit better. He recalled the words she had given Frodo when he first came here, and thought she possibly came to console him.
"Fine," Haldir answered.
Lathline walked closer, looking down at the sleeping form of Rumil with sadness in her eyes. The march warden mentally cursed himself. Why did he think Akira would come? She was probably still angry with him. There was a large part of him, though Haldir chose to ignore it, which wanted to go and speak with her. Apologize for what he'd said yesterday. He wanted her to talk to him like she had to Frodo. He narrowed his eyes in annoyance. The captain didn't like thinking like this. He didn't like feeling as if by simply talking to that young woman, she would make things better. He did not need to depend on her to ease his mind.
Or did he?
He shook his head. Of course he didn't. Why would he? She was just a young human girl. An inconvience that he was putting up with at Lord Celeborn's request. Akira was nothing more to him then some kind of assignment.
So why did he kiss her? Why did he want her to come and give him soothing words like she did for the young ring bearer? Why did he want so badly for her to trust and even care for him?
It wasn't as if these feelings had just suddenly come up. He'd thought some of these things before, but simply pushed them to the back of his mind. Somehow, Haldir had let these thoughts come closer to the surface. He glared at the wall. He should not be feeling like this. He should be worrying about his brother, thinking about the war of the ring, trying to fight the impending shadow of doom hanging above his home, not worrying about some teenage girl and whether or not she liked him.
But he was. It wasn't as if thoughts of Akira were all the plagued him, or that she was the visions which filled his dreams. Haldir was still thinking about all of these other terrible things that seemed to surround him, but some of his attentions, more so then he would have liked to admit, were completely fixated on the young woman.
Vaguely, the march warden noticed as Lathline sat next to his brother. She smiled softly and brushed a piece of blond hair out of his eyes. Looking around the room, Haldir realized that he was the only one in the room. He must have dozed off earlier. And he was so deep in though he had not noticed that every one else had gone.
"Is he healing well?" Lathline questioned the march warden.
Haldir looked at her, sighed, and then went back to glaring at the floor. "Yes. So Ruali says," he answered.
The elfin woman nodded. "I hear he was attacked by wolves?" The captain nodded his head. "How awful. It seems unusual, doesn't it? For wolves to be in the Golden Wood is queer enough on its own. But attacking Rumil like this..." She trailed off. Haldir watched her curiously. The woman seemed to be so entranced by simply starring at his brother. Her blue eyes were soft as she ran her fingers through his blond hair. Suddenly, it hit him. Lathline was in love with Rumil.
Unconsciously he let out a heavy sigh. His brother had finally found love. Well, that was wonderful for him. He frowned. Shouldn't he be happy for his brother? For an elf, finding the one whom you loved, the one whom you could give our heart and soul to forever was one of the most wonderful things that could happen to you. As this thought came to him, Haldir also thought of Akira. He shook his head again. Why would he think of her? He felt nothing for her. Nothing at all.
~~~
Akira flipped a fallen strand of auburn hair from her face. She tired to blast the volume on her CD player, but it was all ready up as far as it could go. The red head was trying to drown out the thoughts of the past few days from her mind. There were so many things going on in her head at the moment, and all of her thoughts were jumbled together, leaving nothing but a big mess. Haldir, Rumil, Galadriel, Alana...
She shut her eyes, closing them tightly. She didn't want to think about her. Or Rumil for that matter. He had been viciously attacked by wolves a few days earlier. Nearly killed, from what she had heard. The teenager refused to think about the injured elf. Rumil reminded her to much of Alana. It was her fault that Alana was gone. And she had this feeling, twisting in the pit of her stomach, that somehow it was her fault that Rumil had been attacked.
It sounded stupid, especially in her own head. Akira knew there could be no way that it was her fault. She had no way of controlling wolves. Besides, if she did, she wouldn't use them to attack Rumil. The red head had nothing to do with Rumil's injuries. So why did she feel so guilty?
She couldn't help but think about her conversation with Galadriel. She had told her she wasn't evil. That she was good. And Akira didn't believe a word she said. She knew the elfin Lady had been lying. It still didn't make any sense.
Akira tried to convince herself that she was just being paranoid. But she couldn't. The young woman had always been a good judge of character. She could tell when people were lying. And Galadriel definitely had been. So what did that mean? Did that mean she was evil? Did that mean that she *had* brought pain to Lothlorien? The red head couldn't bare the thought that she had done anything to harm such beautiful people.
With the thought of beautiful people, a vision of the march warden popped in her head. She closed her eyes, and opened them again, willing such thoughts out of her mind. She could admit that Haldir wasn't bad on the eyes, but beautiful? Yeah right. People who were beautiful were kind, warm, brave, and strong. Her mother was a beautiful person; her sister was a beautiful person.
They weren't anything like Haldir. Not arrogant or heartless. Well...maybe Haldir wasn't *completely* heartless. He did save her from those orcs. He even took an arrow for her. He even kissed her...
But yesterday he had said he didn't care about her. Had he been lying? What did it matter to her? It's not like she cared about him. Nope. Not one bit.
Maybe a little bit. He had saved her life from those ugly little orc things after all. And, he wasn't all that bad. He taught her how to defend herself. He protected her. He kept his promise to keep her safe. And he wasn't a bad kisser...
No no no. Wrong thoughts. Very bad and wrong thoughts. This was the same Haldir who had refused to feed her when she first came here, and had walked in on her naked, and had told her he could care less about her. She couldn't have feelings for him. Could she?
Not any of those kinds of feelings. No lovey dovey kinds of feelings. Nu-uh, no way. All right...so maybe she was kind warm for his form. But other then that, nothing. Nothing at all.
The memory of seeing the elf, sprawled out on the forest floor with an arrow embedded in his chest came to mind. She had been worried about him. For the first time in years she had been scared, not because she was in danger, but because she could lose someone she kind of sort of almost cared about. She scrunched her brow in confusion. Stupid elf.
~~~
He didn't know what had possessed him to come. But he had. Maybe it was that he couldn't stand just sitting around doing nothing. Maybe he really *did* need her to ease his mind. Or maybe he was just getting sick of seeing Rumil and Lathline making googly eyes at each other. Haldir sighed. Probably a little bit of all three. He stepped into the room silently, not really knowing what he was coming here for. All the march warden knew was that he needed to talk with her. What about...he wasn't sure exactly.
When Akira noticed his presence, she quickly turned off her CD player and threw her headphones down. The two regarded each other for moments that seemed like an eternity. An awkward silence falling upon them, neither knowing exactly what to say or do around the other. Unknown feelings and words teetered on the edges of the elf's lips, threatening to spill should the young woman not speak soon. Thankfully, she did.
"How's...how's he doing?"
"He is...doing better. We believe Rumil will be healed soon."
He continued to stand there. Akira glanced up at him. She frowned, noticing how completely out of place he seemed. Her talan, which had been almost completely bare, save the small mat which she slept and an ornately carved wooden chair in the corner, was now covered with crumpled drawings and wrinkled clothes. Haldir was standing there, appearance calm and clean, not a singly strand of glowing blond hair out of place. Now that she thought about, he really *did* look like an Angel.
"Wow," Akira said softly. "Awkward silence."
For some strange and unknown reason, a small smile appeared on the captain's face when she said this. Cautiously, he went to sit by her. The red head watched him and frowned. He was moving slowly, almost as if each step closer to her pained him in some way. He took his seat, sighing softly as he looked around the room.
"It makes no sense," he whispered.
This caught the young woman's attention. She turned her dark brown eyes to the man sitting beside her. His usually cold and stoic mask had been replaced by a look of worry, concern and confusion. She could understand this. He was worried about his brother. She could relate.
"There..." he began softly, unsure of why he was speaking to her about this. He had never felt it necessary to share his feelings with people before. "Wolves are not common in the Golden Wood. A vicious pack attacking an elf is unheard of. There is no explanation for any of it. Rumil could have been killed, yet we know nothing of why he was attacked. No thoughts as to who or what brought such vile creatures into our realm. It is..." he trailed off, sighing. She remained quite. What had he been expecting? An uplifting speech, kind words of wisdom, and genuine concern for him? Well...yes actually...
Akira watched him. The elf had his head in his hands. His usual tense composure was forgotten, and his shoulders were slumped, strands of long hair falling over them. The young woman wanted to comfort him then. To say something, anything that could ease just a little bit of the pain that she knew first hand he was feeling. She gathered it up to the basic human want to help those in need, and the fact that she had experienced the same thing he was going through for her next actions.
She placed her hand on one of his shoulder blades. Slowly, cautiously, she began moving it in soothing circles. Feeling the muscles underneath them relax, the red head continued with the comforting motion. Haldir looked up, shocked and confused as to what she was doing. His shock flickered in his aqua blue eyes as he saw a warm smile gracing her features. Her lips, a somewhat grayish color from her lipstick, pursed into a soothing gesture which made him lean in slightly to her comforting touch.
"It's frustrating," she said softly. "It...it just really sucks. It's not fair that something like this happened to someone you loved. It's not your fault, you know," she whispered.
The captain blinked. "I never said it was," he told her.
Akira raised an eyebrow at him. She scowled, realizing that she had indeed been spending too much time with the elf sitting next to her. She knew she needed some friends when she started communicating with her eyebrow movements.
"Didn't have to," she told him. He wondered how she knew what it was he was going through, but decided not to ask. If he asked she might stop rubbing his shoulder. And that would be bad...because it felt rather nice...
He looked up into her eyes, seeing general concern in her chocolate orbs. Was it sympathy, or pity? Haldir didn't want her pity. He refused to be seen as weak or pathetic. He wouldn't be. He let out a long breath. She was very good at that rubbing thing...
The march warden vaguely realized that Akira was once again talking. Finding it surprisingly, and annoyingly, difficult to reopen his eyes which he hadn't known he'd closed, he looked back up at her.
"...and you're not listening to a word I'm saying," she finished with a sigh.
"Yes I was," he lied, frowning at himself slightly. He had been so soothed by Akira's touch; he had drifted out of the conversation.
She smiled softly at him. Haldir found himself thinking about their kiss, and realizing that he had the sudden urge to do it again. Bad thoughts. Very bad thoughts. He silently cursed himself. She was talking again.
"...have you talked to Galadriel or Celeborn yet?"
Haldir noticed that although she had stopped rubbing his shoulder, something he found greatly upsetting, but her hand still rested on his back. And he was still leaning into her. "No," he answered. "I have been so worried about Rumil...I suppose the others must have gone to speak with them. My mind and thoughts are scattered at the moment. I don't seem to be thinking straight," he said, mumbling the last sentence mostly to himself.
Akira removed her hand from his shoulder, realizing that she had been rubbing his back for a bit longer then she had planned. She shook her head a bit, sighing heavily. "No one expects you to snap back the day after your brother was nearly killed," she told him. "You've just gotta give it a little time."
He nodded, giving her a smile, but very rare smile. As he watched the slow smile spread across her own face, he found himself absently raising a hand to brush away a strand of her dark hair. He allowed his fingers to run over the strand for a bit. It was soft underneath his fingertips. He quickly released it, stood up, and with a small nod of his head, left the talan. Haldir really needed to get out more.
~~~
Did you like it? I liked it. Haldir/Akira cuddlies yet again! Hey, there was plot points in here. 0_0...now how in the good name of Deryck Whibley did that in there?
Haldir- Gee, I've no clue. Pass the ketchup.
Um…ok…on to the reviews now!
Jade, the fan who loves Haldir- Your reviews are quite humerous. So you're the bad twin eh? I'm the bad twin too! Except…err, my twin is really just my best friend who kind of looks like me but same dang thing. And I do not know what the Author Alert thingie dealy whacker mabob thing is! If anyone does know that that little thing is for, it would be appreciated.
Daughter of the Roses- Haldir, she want's a turn.
Haldir- I don't want to be a two timer. But hey, I can put myself in that cloning machine over there…
OK!
*five minutes later about twenty Haldir clones come out*
WOW!
Haldir- All righty then. *gets out a sticker and puts DOTR on it* There. Perfect! You now belong to daughter of the roses! And as her elf, you must sing for her.
Haldir clone- OK!
Puff, the magic dragon, lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honalee.
Puff, the magic dragon, lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honalee.
That was fun!
Wow. He's so much…nicer than the other one. To daughter of the roses, maybe you should name him, you know, so he doesn't feel left out or anything.
Gothic Angel of Death- Hey look! A Haldir clone that looks as if he's ready to commit!
Haldir- I'll get that lil critter. *pulls out shot gun*
Don't shoot him! *takes gun away* You really have been spending to much time with us rednecks…
Haldir- *gets out another sticker and labels him* This is fun.
To Gothic Angel of Death, you should probably name him too.
Johnnydeppsgirl7- Well, I didn't really know what the other song was, and since I am the lazy person that I am, he shall sing 'This Love'. That CD is the BEST, even thought that song is getting somewhat annoying since they play all the danged time.
Haldir- This love has taken it's toll on me
She said goodbye to many times before
And her heart is breaking in front of me
But I have no choice, cause I won't say goodbye anymore
Fanfictiongeek36- *waves like an idiot* HI! E-mail me ok baka?
Haldir- 1) Yes, I have wiggled my toes toDER, and I loved every second of it!
2) My favorite color is SHINY! I mean err…green.
3) Yes, you are pretty.
4) I believe in a thing called love. *voice gets really high* Just listen to the rythym of I's heart.
Are you forgetting something?
Haldir- Oh yeah, your frosted flakes song. *mumbles about idiots*
Frosted flakes their more than crap, their shite!
Commodores R Ppl 2- Howdy there partner! Yup, the plot has definetly thickenededed.
Haldir- *reads review* NOO! ANYTHING BUT COUPLES THERAPY! I'LL SING!
I said, what's the d-d-dealliyo, dealliyo
What's the d-d-deal, deal
What's the d-d-dealliyo, dealliyo
What's the d-d-deal!
Dealliyo, by Mest, the funniest song ever, and I don't own it!
Raptorcardfreak- I am sorry I didn't put you in my reviews for the last chapter! I didn't see 'ya there but I'm making up for it.
Haldir- Yo! LEGS!
Legolas- You rang?
Haldir- You are loved.
Legolas- Really? I feel all warm and cuddly inside!
Uh-kay, please review. And if you want one, you can have a Haldir clone too. Just don't forget to name it!