- - - Legolas - - -

Grace turned to mount with Aragorn. I fought with my inner self quickly and finally quieted it. I grabbed Grace's hand and as she turned I stepped closer to her. She was close enough that I could see the fear in her eyes. Praying I wouldn't regret it, I briefly touched my lips against Grace's and turned away before she could release more anger towards me.

I mounted Arod and minutes later, we rode out of the Keep, just as the sun began to rise. Fighting furiously, on horse-back and off, both men and Uruk-hai fell. New energy had come to all of us with the rising of the sun and I watched as Aragorn and Grace killed orc after orc. The horn blew loud behind us and it seemed to bring strength to the King and his men. Uruk-hai fell like wheat being harvested and it was at that moment I realized victory would be ours.

I knew it for a fact as I watched Mithrandir lead men and horses down to help finish the battle. Uruk-hai tried to run. But there was no escape. Men took out anger and sadness and all their other emotions out on them. They stood no chance against the Army of Helm's Deep.

- - - Éomer - - -

The battle had been over for several hours. Women and children came out of the caves to search for husbands, fathers, brothers and sons. Some they would never find. My sister, Éowyn had come running to me, asking for Grace and Aragorn. I had seen them and they had been taken to a private room with the dwarf and the elf.

I was relieved to see my uncle had recovered well from whatever that snake, Wormtounge, had done to him. He walked around trying to comfort those who had lost loved ones. Gandalf had found us and led us to the aid of my people. Many owed him their lives.

- - - Grace - - -

Well, well, well. This was all too familiar. I was laying on a mattress between Gimli and Aragorn. And not just any mattress. Oh, no. The DIRTY one! In the room, you got it, with the cracks in the wall. Anyways, both Aragorn and Gimli were sleeping. I had been but had woken when Éowyn had opened the door and poked her head in. I pretended to be asleep as I watched her smile down on us before exiting as quietly as she could (which wasn't very quiet) to go be with her brother or uncle or some other distant relation.

I only remember Legolas being there when we had all come in. Almost immediately, I had taken off anything resembling armour and my boots and extra shirts until all I was wearing a thin shirt and pants. I had fallen onto that mattress so fast (not really caring about the diseases that would probably try to eat me) that Gimli thought I had passed out from exhaustion. Drifting in and out of sleep for the next half an hour, I caught parts of the conversation between the three men.

"How did she get out? You had told Éowyn to keep her there, had you not?" Legolas asked.

Aragorn sighed and said, "There was no one guarding the door to prevent her from leaving. I had expected that Éowyn would keep her there because I knew she would try to get out and join the battle. But she did make it through virtually unscathed, which is saying a lot."

I drifted off again after that and when I woke up later, Gimli was sleeping on one side of me and the other two were still talking. This time it was in elvish and I couldn't understand a word of it. After listening to that for so long I was almost sleeping again, I heard the door close and felt someone - Aragorn - lie down very close to me. Feeling cold without any heavy clothes on, I slid closer to him until my back was right near him. I heard a quiet laugh come from him and then he slung an arm around me and pulled me even closer until I was right up against him. Half-asleep, I reached up and grabbed one of his hands lightly and gave it a squeeze as if to say thanks or to tell him I was glad he was okay. After that I fell asleep for hours.

As I said before, Éowyn woke me up. I turned around and found myself face-to-face with Aragorn. I smiled and studied him for a moment. Then I realized we had been sleeping all day and Legolas was out wandering around by himself. Let him wander, I was tired again. I closed my eyes and plunged back into sleep once more.

It must have been night when I woke up for good. Aragorn wasn't beside me anymore, he was applying herbs and stuff to a small wound on his hand. Gimli was dozing beside me and Legolas had finally decided to grace us with his presence. He sat there watching me until I yawned and waved at him. With a small wave of his fingers, he turned his gaze away from me. I shuffled my way over to Aragorn's side to see if I could help him.

Big mistake.

That's when he saw the cut on my collarbone an Uruk-hai had given me. I had totally forgotten about it until then and when he started touching it, it started to hurt again. Then he insisted it needed stitches. When I found that out, I freaked. I didn't want anyone poking me there with needles. But that didn't stop him. Legolas held my one shoulder while Aragorn leaned over my other to pierce me with needle and thread.

"Ow, sonofabitch!" I cried as the needle penetrated my skin the first time. I jerked and Aragorn tsked at me. Tsk this!

"Don't move, it will only make the pain worse," he advised me as he shoved the needle like five feet into me again. Yeah, easy for you to say. How about I get to sew you up? How would you like that? Yeah, that's what I thought.

After he had sewn me shut, Aragorn tied a knot in the thread and bent down to bite it off. I froze as I felt his lips brush my upper chest. This was my brother figure, I wasn't supposed to feel that when he came close to me! It'd be different if it was Legolas. But then again, everything with Legolas was different. I didn't even know what was happening with us. After that kiss I was totally confused. Wasn't I supposed to be mad at him? It was hard to be mad at someone who kissed like that. Granted, it was a short kiss, a peck. But damn!

I looked down at my collarbone and found it was pretty gross looking. I think it looked better before he had sewn it. But what did I know? It looked like it would scar. Wow, I had quite a few. My wrists, the arrow from Legolas, and now this.

"Just what I need, more scars," I commented, smilingly. I saw the colour vanish from Aragorn's face and Legolas' eyes almost darkened several shades at that. Gimli let out a loud snore and turned over. "It's okay," I said. "Don't look so damn serious you guys. You can talk about it."

Legolas ran a finger gently up and down my wrist and I shivered slightly. "Why?" he asked.

I knew he was going to ask that and it was the hardest question to answer. I tried to explain quickly because it wasn't my favourite topic. "Pain. Loneliness and despair. It was hard to take it by myself. I couldn't." It was almost as if I was describing someone else's life. It wasn't me, it was a story I heard about some crazy girl. Maybe that's why it was so easy to talk about.

"Did it hurt?"

Aragorn's question took me by surprise. "Did it hurt? Well, yeah. Does it hurt when you get hit with a knife when you fight? It was like that…" I trailed off. Maybe question time hadn't been the best idea. I was losing my composure because all the talk was throwing me back into memories. I could almost feel the searing pain in my wrists and I wondered how I had stood it the first time. Trying to clear my head, I shook it and stood up. "I'm going for a walk."

I met Éowyn wandering around with her brother, Éomer after being gone for mere minutes. I was greeted with a hug so hard I almost fell over. Patting her gently on the back, I smiled at Éomer over her shoulder. He raised an eyebrow but grinned, nonetheless. Looking around, I sobered. There were injured people lying on blankets on almost every available space.

Just as I had escaped from questions, I now wanted to escape from seeing all this. I walked to the main door (if you could call it a door anymore - it looked more like firewood now) and stepped outside, enjoying the feeling of fresh air on my face. The people of Rohan had already buried their people that had fallen during the battle. I touched the mound gently and then walked until I stood on the other side of the huge rock in the middle of the field. Sitting and soaking in everything made me feel better.

I didn't hear Legolas until he was right behind me. I turned quickly and he smiled at me. He put one hand on my shoulder as we looked out together. Again Legolas caught me by surprise by catching one of my hands in his. He looked right at me and I felt like he was looking into my soul. Before I knew it, I felt his lips on mine gently, tentatively. The last thing I wanted to do was to stop him but I knew I should before he got the wrong idea. Pushing him off gently, I looked at him and then started to walk back to the Hornburg. What was happening to me? I barely recognized myself anymore.

And the thing was, I didn't know if that was good or bad.

(A/N: Okay, this chapter was basically pointless. It was to show relationships and emotions because my story can't be all like FIGHT FIGHT, KILL KILL! One of my friends did this in her story and I liked the idea: FLAME ME! Well, not really. But tell me what I'm doing wrong you guys. If I make a mistake in grammar or spelling, point it out! If I get a name wrong or people are OOC, tell me! Constructive criticism is good! This story is going to be long; eventually I might have to break it into another because I will be covering the last book in the series too. We're about half way through The Two Towers so we still have a long way to go! Next chapter: travelling to, and being in Isengard.)