Well, my readers, we've come to it at last: the end of the story. The plotted story, anywho. There will be the epilogue, just for the sake of some finality, but this is where it all really ends. I'll save all the sap for the epilogue. Hehe… But yees. Aren't you impressed with, considering my recent productivity, how quickly I got this chapter done, even if it is short? You can all thank flying stand-by for that! Yeaaaa for 7 hour waits in the airport. Aaaah, good stuff.

Lady Golodwen: That was quite the review, you know. As much as I would like to reply to all of it, I can't. You understand though, right? Hehe. Wooorm… "insolent WORM!" Ha. I think it'd be cool to manipulate people, period. Hm. Odd things do look nicer… it's the symmetry. And tiredly apparently is a word for spellcheck didn't flip. Ha… Sauron. That's sums it up. /sways a bit, smirking/ I had wondered if the bleeding thing was a bit much. Obviously decided I didn't care. Ooh yea! Clever things. I guess those are just luck. Hehe. And of course the writing has improved. I've had the grammatical nazi after me, haven't I? I mean that fondly. Yeaa Erik! That was the point, yes. Stupid emotions. That all sounded very random.

Legolas's Girl 9: Ooo… nice. Didn't your butt get sore, or did the breaks help? Pitstops. Haha.

Napolde of the Council: Crazy people are the best… but he might be an exception. I believe Lalaith will be able to recover cause she's just that sort of girl. Mhm. Haha… it'd be nice if he did get a 'noble' scare from that.

kingmaker: Romantic gestures from Sauron, frightening? You don't say! Just think about writing it. Haha. /bows/ Thank you very much for the many compliments. I'd drag this story out simply for your reviews. It's veray nice to know that I pulled the chapter off, as it was very odd to write.

XNemesis: It is hard to get use the words 'emotions' and 'Sauron' in the same thought, isn't it? Oh, Morgoth would probably do one of those nice gawk things before throwing a complete conniption, I'm sure.

Crystal113: Brothers… oh yes. So helpful sometimes. I wonder how much more awkward that whole living arrangement could get, haha. I'm not sure about the cut; the shell could be as good an explanation as anything. Haaa… yes, the Valar no happy. I'm glad you enjoyed the chappie!

Avaril: Lately, I've been noticing a knack for combining rather conflicting and odd characteristics together… like drawing pictures that are disturbing and cute at the same time. That's talent. Hahaha… hum. Yes, this is the last real chapter, but there will be the epilogue! I hope you enjoy the story just as much when you re-read it.

Spoofy: Grebo. Still a weird name. Under the porch? I bet there are slugs there. There were slugs under all the porches in Seattle. I could tell you lots of random weird stories about that. You did wear the nose shirt? Nice! Hahaha… well, didn't the description you wrote about it on the site say that it was "sure to start many conversations"? Hahaha… awesome.

Ace of Black Hearts: I'm very pleased to hear that you like it so much! Thankfully, I was able to get this chapter written a bit quicker.

Haldir woke up in the morning and, for the first time that he could recall, actually remembered everything that had happened the previous day without having to wait for his wakefulness to burn off the fog of sleep. Every detail of the events were clear in his mind, too clear, in fact, as the errors he had made were shown to him in sharp realization. It was nothing like his usual wading into thought; it was downright jumping in, head first.

He did what seemed a fitting response to this: he groaned.

After some consideration, he figured that it would probably be better to let Lalaith alone now that he had done his part. To be honest, he'd done much more than he should have, but it seemed to Haldir that it was hard to judge when a good time to stop was during the moment. Second guessing actions usually came long after they had been carried out, and it was obviously too late to change things then.

"I have a remarkable talent for opening my mouth," he remarked sadly to his reflection as he pushed back his bangs, which were by now getting rather long.

At that moment, there was knock on his door. "Are you awake yet?" an annoyed sounding Sauron asked from the other side.

"Yes," Haldir replied indignantly. "I'm even dressed, too. Isn't that impressive?"

"You can dress yourself? Utterly remarkable," Sauron drawled, none of the sarcasm in his voice dulled through the door. "Are you coming?"

Haldir's hand was in fact on the doorknob, but he now removed it. "Maybe."

There was a pause. "Haldir, hurry up. You have guests."

"Guests?" he asked, opening the door and looking at Sauron in surprise.

Sauron nodded, and now that Haldir could see him, it seemed that Sauron was rather distracted. "They are waiting at the door."

Furrowing his brow, Haldir slowly followed Sauron down the hall. "Who are they?"

Although he threw Haldir a sidelong glance, Sauron didn't reply.

"Sauron!" Haldir hissed quietly. "Who are they?"

"Those elves. The ones who… accompanied us when we first arrived here."

Somehow, this wasn't a convincing answer, although it might have been true. "And?"

"And what?" Sauron asked in a clipped tone.

"That isn't all."

Another sidelong glance.

"Who's there? Why are you acting so solemn?" Haldir questioned, growing both a bit upset and unnerved.

"Eonwe."

Haldir stopped for a moment, shocked. "Why is he here?"

"I don't know," Sauron replied, sighing. "I don't have any idea. Initially, I had figured it was something I had done, like going out last night, but they asked for you." He stopped thoughtfully, fingers tapping the banister next to him. "I… do not think they are here for a chat."

Haldir bit his lip and nodded. "Alright."

He tugged out what wrinkles he could from his tunic and ran his fingers through his hair to make sure it was behaving. Then he descended the stairs with all the poise and dignity he could muster.

They were, as Sauron had said, waiting right inside the door for him. Haldir instantly saw Terendul and Vanimo and deduced the third to be Eonwe.

Even if he hadn't known the other two, Haldir was certain that he would have been able to point out Eonwe. He was a great deal taller than the others, which Haldir was quickly beginning to think was a normal attribute of maia. More importantly, he had that uncanny light to his eyes.

It seemed that at that moment the uncanny light of his eyes fell on Haldir. "Haldir of Lothlorien, I presume?" he asked smoothly.

Swallowing, Haldir nodded. "Yes."

"You are to come with me to the Mahanaxar."

For a moment, Haldir was rather speechless.

"Are you positive you have the correct individual there, Eonwe?" Sauron interjected casually, adopting his condescending tone again, which, Haldir just then realized, had been rather absent lately, or at least not as strong.

"Interestingly enough, I am," Eonwe replied. "'Haldir' and 'Sauron' seem to be two names that are rather different, and one would therefore assume that there could be no confusion between the two."

"I can't help but be curious as to why he would need to go before the Valar."

"That is none of your concern," Eonwe answered, smiling. He then turned his attention back to Haldir. "If you would follow me…?"

Haldir nodded and made his way to the door. Instantly, he found himself flanked on either side by Terendul and Vanimo.

Eonwe did not wait a moment longer and strode outside, leaving Haldir with no choice but to instantly go along.

The pace was a bit quicker than Haldir was entirely comfortable with, but, considering that Eonwe was the one leading, there wasn't much that could be done about it. While he briefly considered asking if they could slow down, he had a feeling that it would sound childish, something he wanted to prevent if possible. He merely had to hurry along the best he could.

After a couple minutes, Haldir's mind was able to truly catch up with all that was going on. "Why do I have to come?" he asked, half to himself.

"The Valar need to discuss something with you," Eonwe replied. "You apparently did something you weren't really supposed to do."

Haldir pondered that for a second, coming to what he knew the answer must be instantly. He ran a hand down his face.

Eonwe noticed. "You know exactly what I'm referring to, don't you?

"Yes," Haldir mumbled, feeling the blood leave his face.

"That is good for you. It is always better if you can show them that you know what you did, because then there is a chance that you might have a legitimate excuse," Eonwe said as they turned onto another street.

"Always…" Haldir said absently.

There was no discussion during the remainder of the walk, which Haldir found more preferable as he realized that he was going to be before the Valar. It hit him all at once, the knowledge that the figures of Arda's history would be present on account of him. He shivered.

After a handful of minutes, spent trying to quell his suddenly rocky stomach, Haldir suddenly found himself in front of a rather intimidating pair of gates. He wasn't entirely sure how they had gotten there, but figured that such could be expected when one spaced out for as long as he had.

Eonwe motioned for him to stop as he opened the gates and disappeared within, leaving Haldir to pace nervously under Terendul and Vanimo's supervision.

"Why did I tell Lalaith? Why did I tell Lalaith?" he asked himself repeatedly. It had seemed like a decent idea at the time.

Somebody cleared their throat, and Haldir turned to find Eonwe waiting for him. "They're ready for you."

While Haldir only paused for a moment, it seemed like it must have been much longer before he found his feet and walked up the path to the Mahanaxar.

There were a number of things that could have explained the uncomfortable pressure that Haldir felt settle around his heart when he passed the gates. The most probably answer, he knew, was that he was in the presence of Valar, all of whom had their attention focused on him.

Once he looked around, Haldir felt slightly better, although he still felt overwhelmed. Many of the seats were empty, so that he found only Namo, Nienna, Vaire, and two others present. Haldir came to the conclusion that the others were Aule and Yavanna. It was very uncomfortable to be there, but at least it wasn't all of them.

Haldir vaguely saw Eonwe bow and exit the floor to stand behind one of the empty chairs before Haldir was addressed.

"Haldir," Namo said in his grave voice, looking at Haldir with an expression that clearly spoke of slight exasperation. "Do you know why you have been summoned here?"

He paused for a moment, and finally nodded. "Yes."

"To make sure that we're on the same page, what did you do?"

"I revealed Sauron's identity to my sister."

There was a beat of silence before Namo continued. "Do you want to explain why you felt that doing so was necessary?"

Against all hopes, Haldir felt himself flush. "My…" His throat was suddenly dry. "My sister had been in a relationship with him."

"Sauron!" Eonwe exclaimed, before hastily shutting his mouth and trying to look as though he hadn't spoken.

Haldir glanced at Namo and, after a nod from him, continued. "When Sauron found out that Frodo was in Eressea, he wanted to… visit him. I did not think that it would be a very good idea to allow this, and therefore denied him." He stopped for a moment before plunging into the rather awkward part of the tale. "My sister, unaware of his true identity, began to take a liking to him. I made the mistake of alerting Sauron to her feelings. He went about doing whatever he could to assure her affections, and told me that he would continue to do so until I took him to see Frodo."

"So that was why you took him to Eressea," Namo said, nodding slowly. "Olorin told us that you had been out there."

Again, the blood that had flooded his face and had not really retreated came forward again as Haldir wondered at just how much Mithrandir had said. "Yes, we saw him as well before we returned home yesterday. When we got back, Sauron did as he had promised and ended the relationship. My sister was… devastated." He stopped, swallowed, and then continued. "She hadn't been in a relationship like that before, so it was rather painful for her. I thought that perhaps by telling her just who she had been involved with, and so showing her that she wasn't missing anything, might help the wounds heal quicker."

Nienna snorted, or did something that sounded suspiciously like one before covering her mouth and coughing. The rest were silent, looking back and forth at each other. Finally, Namo looked back at him, his expression rather gloomy. "You never thought to come to us when he began to make that threat?"

"I did… but… I was too embarrassed," Haldir admitted weakly.

"So, you decided to compromise your safety by telling your sister something that you were directly told not to reveal simply because you were embarrassed?"

Haldir opened his mouth to respond, to try to make it sound a little less horrible, but found that he could not. "Yes," he replied in a defeated tone.

"You realize that, if his identity were to get out, there would be no hope that Sauron could ever be brought back into an impartial society. He would be, while deserving it, labeled, as I'm sure you are aware, and whether he harbored any malicious intentions or not, he wouldn't be accepted. All the time since you both were released from Mandos would be for naught."

Haldir was silent. What could he say? Namo was right. Now all he could do was wait for what he was sure was an imminent punishment.

Right at that moment, however, there was a disturbance beyond the gates. First Haldir could hear Terendul and Vanimo shouting angrily, then the dull metal clank of the gates being thrown open.

And the next thing Haldir knew, Sauron was striding into the circle and standing next to him, trying to brush Terendul and Vanimo away.

The Valar were silent, their expressions placid, yet an air of surprise had arisen.

"Would you please get off me?" Sauron said agitatedly, shaking Vanimo from his arm.

Vanimo looked to Namo, who slowly nodded his head.

With Terendul and Vanimo backing off, Sauron straightened out his clothes and regained the air of stateliness he had been try to scrape together with his entrance. He cleared his throat and then looked around the assembly as though he was suddenly unsure about what he was doing there. It didn't take him long, however, to regain his purpose. "I believe you should let Haldir go," he said plainly, hands clasped behind his back. "He was only trying to protect his sister. I would assume that to be a rather common undertaking for a sibling."

Everybody there still seemed too surprised at Sauron's appearance to say anything to this.

Haldir, unfortunately, was the first to find his voice. "What are you doing?" he asked incredulously.

This caused Sauron to fidget in such a way as to hint that he had considered this question and rather hoped that it wouldn't be asked. He shook his head, although it was clearly at himself by the shocked tone in his next words. "I'm going to take the blame."

Haldir felt his jaw drop, but Sauron didn't get the benefit of seeing it as he had turned back to the assembled Valar.

Namo was regarding Sauron was an expression that betrayed just a flicker of shock. "You have come here to receive whatever punishment we were to give Haldir?"

Sauron nodded. "I put him in a position where there was no possible outcome that could turn out well for him. In the end, the thing he had hoped to prevent by finally taking me to Eressea had occurred anyway, and he was simply trying to reverse this, which I'm sure he did quite effectively." He moved his weight to his other foot and messed a bit with his belt. "Had I not done what I had, Haldir would have had no need to console his sister, and therefore would not have revealed my true identity. The fault lies with me, and in that case, the punishment should too."

There was silence. Absolute silence, the sort which didn't necessarily seem to be the absence of sound but a thing unto itself. It was rather unnerving and uncomfortable.

There were more wordless glances between the Valar, which clearly irritated Sauron by the impatient tapping of his foot. He was quite obviously unused to being around such 'conversations' without being able to participate.

They seemed to come to a conclusion, and looked back to Sauron. Namo, who must have been the head of the meeting by all the talking he had done, spoke again. "Very well."

There was a small pause, but it was long enough that Sauron raised a brow. "Well, don't stop there. I'm curious to see what you're going to nail me with."

Namo shook his head. "Nothing."

"Nothing?" Sauron replied, now puzzled.

"You did something honorable," Namo explained, "which we decided earned something of a reward. The reward is that there won't be a punishment. You both simply go back to the house and carry on as you did before."

Sauron looked shocked. "I'm not going to get a punishment?"

"No, unless you want one."

Sauron didn't respond.

Namo gave the smallest hint of a smile. "Just don't try to hatch anymore plans like that, and-" Here he turned his attention to Haldir. "-don't tell any more people."

There were few mumbled acquiesces at this after a moment of thought. Then Sauron and Haldir left the Mahanaxar, the gates shut behind them by the rather ruffled looking Terendul and Vanimo.

Neither of them spoke until they were quite a ways away from the gates. It was Haldir who first ventured to talk. "So…" he began awkwardly, "what made you decide to do that?"

Sauron frowned at him. "I do not believe that you would be able to fathom the complexity of the thoughts leading to my choice."

Haldir snorted. "You got a conscience, didn't you?" he asked simply.

After flinching at this, Sauron shook his head. "Oh, if Morgoth saw me now…" he muttered with a rather dejected expression. "I've gone so soft."

"Not soft, noble," Haldir said with a laugh.

Sauron made a face. "Noble is just a word you people use to make yourselves feel better about being soft."

Haldir continued to laugh, and after a moment Sauron cracked a smile, although he tried to smother it. "Don't get used to it, though," he continued gruffly. "I still plan on unleashing ordered chaos upon you and your family on a regular basis."

"I believe you," Haldir said seriously. "I wouldn't expect any less."

They walked on for a while, until Haldir finally got the courage to speak up once more. "Thank you for that, by the way," he said, aware of how utterly twisted it was that he was thanking the previous evil power of Arda. "You obviously didn't have to… and it wasn't expected. I really appreciate it."

Sauron shrugged nonchalantly. "Well, if you were off fulfilling your punishment, I wouldn't have you to pick on."

"If you were off fulfilling it for me, I wouldn't have been around to be picked on either," Haldir pointed out with a smirk.

"Don't make me regret coming here and doing all that," Sauron said, giving Haldir a small look.

Still smiling, Haldir shook his head. "I wouldn't dream of it!"

"Oh yes you would, but just refrain."

Haldir tried to be somber. "I do appreciate it, though. It was very nice."

Sauron grimaced, brows drawn together. "I know," he said in an almost pained voice. "How disgusting is that? Please don't keep bringing it to my attention that I did something kind without any thought of getting something out of it for myself. It's giving me a headache."

"You know, sometimes doing good things can make you feel good as well."

"Please," Sauron snorted. "I don't want to hear about the warm, soft fuzziness you think you feel when you do good acts. It's not worth your time to try to get me thinking that I should go and…" He paused, apparently trying to think of something that would be kind. "…make toys or something to give little children."

Haldir shook his head, both smirking and cringing at the thought. "I wouldn't want to ever see you do that. It would be a much too disturbing image."

"Well, at least we agree on that," Sauron said as he opened the door to the house.

Huzzah hip hip. I guess I'll go off an work on that epilogue of doooooom now.