I promised a quick update; sorry that it's taken me a while! Still, despite all hurtles, I have chapter 16 here for you.

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Romen

16. Legolas

"What about him?" Elrond asked, followed by Thranduil. Arwen was surprised that Elrohir and Estel looked down their shoes guiltily. Elrohir cleared his throat, obviously thinking that since he was older he was the one who should do the explaining.

"He's not injured, is he?" Thranduil asked quickly.

"Uh..." Elrohir looked around. "Maybe we should all sit down for this conversation. Estel is weak." Elrohir gave him a small nudge with his elbow.

"I am very exhausted," Estel admitted, and Arwen thought that it didn't seem too far from the truth.

"I will go prepare some tea," Arwen said, trying to seem upbeat. The mood didn't lighten any.

In a few minutes they were all sitting in a parlor, sipping tea and silent. When Estel and Elrohir had finished, Elrond and Thranduil immediately jumped back onto the subject, barrading them with questions. Elrohir put his hand up in protest.

"Please, wait, I will begin." He took a deep breath and sighed, becoming very interested in the dregs of his empty cup. "Our problems began when we received news that Estel was dead."

"What problems?" Thranduil inquired, just as Elrond asked, "What do you mean, Estel was dead?"

Elrohir sighed. "Well, Ada, Estel was trapped under a burning home in a Wild Man camp during battle and Legolas was very upset. We all were, as you can imagine. Anyway, Legolas went to lie down and Elladan and I went to sleep shortly after. The next thing that I knew, I was being shaken awake by my brother being told that Legolas had decided to take on a whole camp of Wild Men on his own."

Arwen gasped. This was not the Legolas that they all knew.

Before anyone could ask, Elrohir quickly continued. "We went after him to find that he was perfectly capable of killing every single one of them. There were several left by the time that we got there, and they were heading for the woods. Legolas was planning to fell them with his bow, but I tried to stop him. He grabbed his knife and cut my arm."

"You must have done something," Thranduil snapped. "My son would not just do something like that without any reason whatsoever."

"My lord, this was not your son." Elrohir shook his head sadly. "He was different. I fear that he has released the madness within."

Elrond began choking on his tea as Arwen felt her cup drop from her hand. She heard it shatter to pieces on the floor as Thranduil stood.

"This is an outrage!" he cried. "Legolas would not do something like that! This is not my son!"

"Please, sir, I tried to tell you before; this is not Legolas!" Elrohir's face was red. "He was not acting normally. Something has changed in him."

"I hate to interrupt," Estel said, causing them to all fall silent, "but what is the madness within?"

Elrond sighed. "Estel, I had hoped that I would never have to tell you this, but it seems as if now I must."

"This is ridiculous," Thranduil muttered under his breath, glowering at Elrohir, but no one looked at him. They were all staring at Estel and Elrond.

"Elves are born just as humans are," Elrond began. "They are innocent. Just as humans, they have the risk of turning to the darker side of their soul. Unlike humans, who usually make this decision early on in their short lives, Elves may open their hearts to darkness after being exposed to something traumatic. In Legolas's case, your death."

"What would he do?" Estel pressed, feeling slightly naive. "From what Ro has said, it sounds as if he's gone on some kind of killing spree."

"Well, Legolas would behave differently." Elrond paused, as if thinking. "He may have odd moodswings and lose controll over his feelings at times. He may seem obsessive. He would no longer be kind or care about people as he used to. The only thing that would matter to him would be the task at hand. Thus, he would treat his friends just like his enemies, no longer able to distinguish them. Elves in this kind of state are very dangerous."

Estel swallowed. "After hearing this, I have to agree with Thranduil. This just doesn't seem like something that Legolas would do."

"Finally, someone with some kind of sense!" Thranduil roared, standing once again. "Thank you, Estel, thank you very much."

"Mellon-nin, we are all worried about Legolas," Elrond began, but Thranduil cut him short.

"I am worried about him, but all of you have gone insane. I think that Estel and I are the only ones with any sanity at all in this room."

Estel, who wasn't too happy about being paired with Thranduil at the moment, cleared his throat but no one was paying him any attention.

"Does anyone know where he is?" Thranduil turned to look at Elrohir. "When was the last time that you saw him?"

"I...The last time that I saw him was that night, but-"

"Aha!" Thranduil clapsed his hands behind his back. "So you really don't even know what he's like now, do you? Just as I..."

"My lords?"

Everyone turned to see Erestor standing in the doorway, looking urgent. "Yes?"

"A human woman has arrived, along with our Elvish prince."

Klia sat on the horse, feeling quite nervous. She clutched Legolas's arm to see if he was still alive. The Elf that had just ran off seemed to recognize him, and she was beginning to wonder if he was someone of great importance. At that moment, a slew of Elves appeared, along with Estel.

"Ion-nin," Thranduil whispered, his hands on Legolas's face.

"We need to get him to the healing houses," Elrond breathed. "Go get a litter." Several servants ran off, obeying him.

"Klia?" Estel asked softly. His family looked at him questioningly. "She is the reason that I still live."

"We thank you, my lady, for the return of Estel and the prince," Elrond said, offering a hand to help her off of the horse.

Klia froze. "Prince?" she squeaked, but the servants had appeared with the litter, and everyone was focusing their attention on getting Legolas off of the horse.

Klia took Elrond's hand. As soon as she was on the ground, he turned to Arwen. "Take her to the guest room where she can relax."

"Adar, I..."

"Go, Arwen."

Arwen sighed. "All right."

As Arwen accompanied Klia to the guest quarters, the others hurried towards the healing houses with Legolas.

Estel looked at his friend worriedly. He was extremely pale and his clothes had both old and fresh bloodstains. He had dark circles under his eyes, and he was covered with dirt and mud. It frightened Estel to see his friend in any kind of injured state but this was the worst condition that he had ever seen him in.

The healers laid Legolas gently on a bed and removed his tunic, examining his wounds. "Can you do anything?" Elrohir asked, sounding tearful.

Dolenion, the healer nodded, his brow furrowed. "He needs some stitches on the slash on his waste and the wound on his arm, and we can do that. The rest of the fight lies with Legolas."

As they prepared to start the procedure, Estel was shocked to see that they were being shooed from the room by one of the healers. They all began to shout in protest.

"Legolas is my best friend, and it's my fault-"

"I'm his father!"

"I'm the prince, do you hear me, PRINCE of Imladris and if you think that for one minute-"

"Thranduil can stay," Elrond said wearily, beginning to assist the healers. "My sons, go."

"Ada!"

"Now, Elrohir; you hear what I said."

Elrohir and Estel glanced at each other before obeying their father and leaving the room.

TBC...

Sorry, no responses this time. I'm using someone else's computer and the internet is crazy. Please keep the reviews coming, and hopefully I will be able to respond a different time.

Another thing: I finished planning the rest of the story, and it's gonna be a looong one. Hopefully I will be able to have more frequent updates in the future.