Okay guys, sorry about the wait. Enjoy, and the next one will be out shortly, I hope.

Legolas moaned, twisting in his friend's arms. Aragorn's eyes snapped open. "Legolas? Are you awake?"

"Valar, I hope not," the elf replied in a voice barely above a whisper.

"How do you feel?" Aragorn rubbed the sleep from his eyes, guilty that he had slept at all. He had meant to stay awake to watch over his friend.

Legolas only nodded.

The ranger shook his head, but decided not to say anything. He did a once over of Legolas' wounds, then put a hand to the elf's forehead. "Well, I think you're going to live."

There was a pause, then, "Are you sure?"

Aragorn smiled. "Yes, you'll live."

Time passed slowly for the two friends. Legolas' wounds were healing well, except for his right arm. All the other scars had disappeared, but the lightning bolt scar on his arm remained. He almost stopped talking completely, dealing with the horror of the situation by himself. This made Aragorn apprehensive; Legolas had always been so strong. Now, it seemed like he was giving up.

Finally, the lady came and forced the two friends apart.

"You are not to see him again," she told Aragorn. "He will die by nightfall. You would do well to leave this town. And no, I'm not afraid that you'll tell someone where we are. They'll never find us. But please, go ahead and try."

Elladan jumped from his perch in the tree when he saw Aragorn come from the gate that surrounded the wretched city. He ran and met his little brother halfway, grabbing the man in a tight embrace. "I was so worried! I almost left for Ada, to get him to come and help. Great Eru, why were you in there for so long? Where's Legolas? Did you find him?"

He barely noticed how exhausted and down Aragorn was. The man look towards the horizon and noted the setting sun. "He is dead, Dan."

"What? What happened?"

Aragorn dropped to the ground, holding his head in his hands, and just cried. Elladan knelt next to him. "We need to go to Mirkwood. We need to tell Thranduil what has transpired. He is surely very worried."

"We needn't go to Mirkwood, Estel. The king is just back there, in the forest."

Aragorn gave his brother a quizzical look.

"He just arrived, maybe an hour ago. He finally made Elrohir tell him where we were."

"I failed him, Dan. Both him and Legolas. He died thinking I betrayed him. I will never forgive myself for this."

"You did what you could, what you had to do. Come, I will tell the king that Legolas is dead, and you can wait to give him details if you like."

Aragorn was shocked to see Thranduil with a small contingent behind him when he and Elladan took cover from the trees. Among them was Telemnar. Elrohir looked at him and shrugged apologetically.

"Where is my son, Strider?"

"My lord, I am so sorry—I failed him."

"No! Where is he?" Several elves rushed forward to restrain the king, who was quite intent on storming into the city.

"You can't go in there, my lord, they will kill you."

"Then you go in there and bring my son back!"

"My lord, please. . . he is dead."

"No! I will not accept that!"

"Estel," Elladan broke in, "look." He pointed towards the city, and everyone looked. The walls and buildings were slowly disappearing.

"What devilry is this?"

Aragorn, as well as a few elves, began running back down the dirt road.

But there was nothing there. 'This is okay,' Aragorn thought. 'This means it's just a dream. Which means Legolas is still alive.'

"I don't understand this."

"What's happening?"

"Where did it go?"

Aragorn sighed as consciousness fled.

2 weeks later

Aragorn woke in a Mirkwood bed, where he and his brothers had been staying. Elrond had come down too, in order to take care of his wounded son and the grieving father.

He glanced around the room, trying to discern why he awoke. His eyes finally met Elladan's smiling face. "Good morning, Estel."

"Hi, Dan. How is he?"

"The king is actually quite distraught. That is why I am here."

The human sat upright, his breath lost. "What happened?"

"Legolas is here."

"He is alive?"

Elladan frowned. "No, I'm sorry. I mean, his body was left just outside the gates sometime last night."

"Where is he? I have to see him!"

"He is in the main hall. His body, I mean." It was so hard admitting that Legolas was gone. "But Estel, I don't think you should see him. You don't want that to be your last memory of him, do you?"

Ignoring his brother, Aragorn leapt from the bed and hit the ground running. After a few turns, and once getting lost, he skidded into the Great Hall. Five elves turned their attention to him. Thranduil was holding his son's lifeless hand, while Elrond had a comforting hand on the king's shoulder. Telemnar and Elrohir sat at a table some distance from the king. Minastir stood and walked up to him before he could say anything.

"You need to leave, Strider. The king is grieving, and you only make it worse."

"But-"

"I know, he doesn't blame you, believe me, but it's still hard for him."

"No, you don't understand," he had a wild theory, and he was determined to prove it. "My lord!" he called around Minastir.

"Estel," Elrond started with warning.

"No, Ada, let me talk. My Lord," he said, addressing Thranduil, "That is not your son."

"Estel!" Elrond was moving to his son.

"Strider, go," Minastir whispered. "Do not do this."

"It is not him. Legolas isn't-" He prayed he was right about this. Being wrong meant. . . so many things. "He isn't dead."

"Strider, look," Thranduil pointed at the body before him. "How can you tell me that my son is not dead?"

"I know I sound insane," Aragorn started, but Elrond interrupted him.

"My son, you sound like someone riddled with grief. Please go. Now is not your time."

"My lord, please trust me. Please just hear what I have to say."

Thranduil paused, then nodded for the other elves present to leave. Telemnar and Minastir stayed. Elrond hesitated, but Thranduil nodded again. As he walked away, he put his hand on Aragorn's shoulder. "Do not give him false hope, my son. He could not bear that now."

The human waited until he and the king were mostly alone before he spoke. "My lord, I know that you are grieving, but please just listen to me. I was not there to see Legolas' death. It makes no sense that they would kill him, not like that. It makes no sense that they would have let me leave. I. . . I know you will not believe me, but I would know if he had died. I would have felt it. There is something amiss here. There is something deeper behind all of this."

"Strider, come here. Look at him."

The human slowly made his way to the king's side and cringed when he saw the elf's dead body. It was mutilated, but the lightning-bolt scar was still visible, if only barely. By all inspection, it was Legolas.

"I know, my lord. I know. But please trust me. He is alive."

"Strider, no father should have to see his own son dead. I want more than anything to believe you, but I am holding my own son's hand. How can you tell me that this is not my Legolas? That this is not true?"

"I know it looks like him, but. . ."

"It is him. Strider, do not make me believe that he is alive if you cannot prove it."

"Let me take Telemnar with me, and I promise I can find him. Alive."

The other elf wanted to protest, but the look in his king's eyes made him stay silent.

The king shook his head. "Child, Legolas and Telemnar are my best warriors. One is dead, you cannot take the other from me. What if something should happen?"

"You have many able-bodied warriors. Telemnar is a good friend of your son. He will be able to help me immensely. Please, just have faith in me. Just this once."

"I want to believe you, but Strider, look. This is my son. He is dead, can you not see that? Just look at what is before you!"

"I would know if he was dead. This is not Legolas. Please believe me!"

Telemnar said nothing during their journey. It was not until they made camp on the fourth day that he spoke. "Where are we going, Estel? As you say, the city disappeared."

"It will be back," the man replied coolly.

"Right. Because cities are known for disappearing and turning up again. It happens all the time."

"Tel, stop it. You have to trust me on this."

The elf stopped fumbling his bag to turn his attention to the human. "Legolas is dead, Strider. Dead! You've managed to convince my king that there's a chance his son might still live, yet his body is in Mirkwood! This will kill Thranduil."

Aragorn smiled as a fire came to life. Ignoring the elf's small tirade, he slid into his blankets and closed his eyes. "We'll reach the city by tomorrow afternoon. Get some rest."

He smiled again to himself as Telemnar mumbled curses at him.

To my reviewers:

I have no excuse this time. I've been busy, and my life still hasn't straightened out yet, but I have had the time to do this. You all know that I'm usually really good at updating, so give me a second chance, it will get better. I'll update more often!

Mellaithwen: Yeah, there was a (&(& bad period there. I was so mad. . . but it seems to have worked itself out. Yeah, Legolas in pain is dementedly satisfying 

Sky14: She does seem to have some strange motive, doesn't she?

Spanishgoddess86: Hm, yeah, a couple people got confused about that. I went back and read it and yeah, I kind of made everyone make assumptions. It was supposed to be that they knew all along it was him, and they finally let him know it, and captured him. Sorry about that. . .

Deana: Wow, is there any story on that you haven't reviewed? Lol. Thanks!

Jazi: I'm hoping to kill off Brouhaha again this time around, lol. I think Fal and Olay are lost causes in this romantic, girl magnet thing. Longer reply next time, I promise!

LalaithoftheBruinen: Haha, yes, you may have Erithia to do with what you will when I'm finished with her. Trust me, be my guest!

Faerlain: Okay, I'll stay. I'll get better at updating too. Yeah, poor Aragorn. . . Lol.

Coolio02: Lol, lol, yeah, you might consider being dead being in trouble 

Aranna Undomiel: I like elf torture too. . . quite a bit, actually, lol. Hm, yeah, a couple people got confused about that. I went back and read it and yeah, I kind of made everyone make assumptions. It was supposed to be that they knew all along it was him, and they finally let him know it, and captured him. Sorry about that. . . Thank you so much for your compliments, too!

Lindele: Haha, Legolas, swallow his pride? Lol. It would be considerably healthier for him, that's for sure!

Joy: My apologies. I'll try and get the next chapter up really soon to make up for the delay.

Washow: Ah, I'm really sorry. I'll try and get the next chapter up ASAP, to try and make up for it. Thanks for the compliment, by the way, and again, I'm really sorry! I was planning on finishing it, by the way, I hadn't planned on just leaving it, because I hate when authors do that. Of course, I hate when they wait three months to update to, so who am I to speak?