A/N - I'm trying to get these last few chapters out as soon as possible so I can start posting the sequel.

Chapter 9 – Gateway
The Mountains of Shadow
(Ariedel's POV)

Randle pointed to what looked like a shadow in the side of the mountain face. We galloped up and dismounted.

I grabbed a torch and rushed in, not waiting for him to follow.

"Hey, wait up, goddammit. I'm picking up two facehuggers still alive in there." Randle jumped in front of me as we made our way through the tunnel.

"What happened to the alpha?" I asked, waving the torch back and forth to light the path ahead of us.

"It's gone," he said as he looked down at his locator.

The sound of scrambling feet made us freeze. Randle pulled out his blaster and disintegrated the two facehuggers charging at us.

"That's it. They're all gone."

"What about the eggs? Any of them still around?"

"I'm picking up seven." He reached into a pack slung over his shoulder and revealed a piece of equipment.

I recognized it. Affectionately called "The Bomb", it had the potency of a nuclear bomb, but without the radiation. Randle planned to place it somewhere inside and detonate it when we were a safe distance away.

Something shiny on the ground caught my attention. It was one of Legolas's long knives. I picked it up and realized it was covered in alien saliva. "Legolas!" I called. The only response I received was my own voice echoing back at me through the tunnel.

Randle ran behind me as I moved further down the tunnel. We came to a cavern where we saw the bodies of those that had died from the aliens bursting through their chests. They were all dead. Some of the eggs resting in the center of the cavern were unopened.

Randle moved silently to position The Bomb near them, then he pulled out a device to sync the frequency. "Okay, it's done. Now what?"

"I'm not leaving until I find Legolas. He's in here somewhere."

" Crystal, he's probably dead, just like everyone else in here."

"Then I want to see his body. I'm not leaving until I do." There were two other passages beside the one we had just come through. "You take the one on the left and I'll take the middle. Holler if you find him."

Randle pressed his blaster into my hand and disappeared into the left tunnel. The blaster was unnecessary at this point because the aliens and the queen were all dead. Unless, of course, one of the eggs decided to open up.

I rushed down into the middle tunnel, waving the torch around. Then I froze in my tracks when something caught my eye. A glimpse of long blonde hair on the ground, near the entrance to another cavern. "Legolas!"

In the center of the cavern I could see a grouping of eggs that were on fire. I ran forward dropping to my knees in front of his slumped form. "Legolas," I said as I felt for a pulse and was relieved to feel it, faint as it was.

His face was covered in fresh blood, as well as dried blood and his nose was smashed and bloodied. There was a deep hole in the side of his head where blood had flowed and dried on his face and neck and all over his hair. His clothes were torn in so many places, shredded and bloodied. His left shoulder had a large flap of skin missing like something had taken a bite out of him. There were holes burned in the front of his tunic and I could see charred flesh beneath. And the skin of his left leg was mangled from what looked like a dose of acid blood and God only knew what else. If he had been a mortal man, he would have already been dead. Shit, he was a mess.

Then he began squirming in panic and crying out in pain.

I put my hands on his face, trying to get his attention. "Look at me, baby, look at me."

Legolas was gasping from the pain he was no doubt feeling. He opened his tear-filled eyes and looked at me, recognition coming to him. "Ari…Ariedel…"

"Shhh, save your breath, Legolas." I looked up. "Randle!" I heard Randle's footfalls echoing through the tunnel.

A quick glance around the cavern told me the story. This had been the last stand. Alien drones were scattered dead all around. Nearby was the queen, a tangle of skeletal limbs, her acid blood flowing from a dozen places all over her, arrows sticking out in various places.

I glanced back down at Legolas. He stared up at me, laboring to breathe, face scrunched up in pain. The poor Elf had killed all of these aliens by himself and suffered some serious damage in the process. "Randle, get over here!"

"The white gulls…they call to me," Legolas said breathlessly, his blue eyes paling to gray and glazing over before he passed out.

I knew what that meant. I heard him talking about white gulls with fascination and wonder on many occasions. The dreaded birds called to Elves, luring them to sail West. I didn't understand any of it and just figured he was talking about Heaven or some equivalent to it. No way was I going to let him die. "No fucking way. You are not going to die on me, you stubborn Elf."

Randle appeared and quickly began scanning him. "He's got a queen inside him."

My eyes widened. "What? Check it again!"

"I'm looking right at it, dammit!"

I grabbed the scanner to check it myself. "Son of a bitch!"

Randle grabbed the blaster out of my hand.

"What're you doing?" I asked wide-eyed, watching him point it at Legolas.

"We have to kill him," said Randle.

"No!" I pushed his blaster aside.

"He's on his last breath, Crystal. Why would you want him to suffer through the thing bursting through his chest?"

I couldn't stop the tears that exploded from my eyes. "Don't you touch him!" I wanted to hug Legolas, but he had so many injuries, I didn't know where it was safe to touch him.

"Then what do you propose we do?" asked Randle.

I wiped at my eyes. "We take him back with us and we get the little bitch out of him."

Randle gawked at me, but he knew I was serious as a heart attack. "Oh, that'll go over real well with the director, a good reason for him to fire you."

"Fine. Let him fire me because if he doesn't, I'm going to quit."

Randle put his blaster away and pulled out another device. This was the translocator. It would take us directly to the platform on Gateway Station, bypassing the effects of the transmutation device. The real Ariedel wouldn't be returning to Middle Earth in my place. He held two of the translocators in his hand and handed one to me.

"What about you?" I asked him.

"I'll take the horses and get them far enough away before I detonate. I want to make sure the explosion happens. Then I'm coming home."

I carefully raised Legolas up by the shoulders, trying to ignore the serious injury to his left one, and wrapped my arms around him before activating the device. Middle Earth faded with a flash of bright light.

Ithilien

Aragorn drew his horse to a halt when he saw two horses galloping in his direction. He called for everyone else to halt. Just then the rider on the gray horse vanished into thin air. Everyone gasped and started whispering among themselves. The horses stopped upon reaching the group. It was Legolas's horse, Arod and Ariedel's horse, Blade.

And then something else drew Aragorn's attention. There was a massive explosion some distance away. The very top of the tallest of the Mountains of Shadow had just blown its top. The tremendous force of the explosion rained stones on Aragorn and his company. They shielded themselves from the onslaught.

Aragorn stared in complete amazement and confusion at the mushroom shaped cloud rising over the demolished mountain, wondering what could have caused its destruction.

Gateway Station
(Ariedel's POV)

We materialized on the translocator pad in the lab. "Get me a gurney!" I yelled to whoever was in the room.

A minute later Legolas was being wheeled down to the Emergency Operating Room. And ten minutes later he was prepped for the extraction. The doctors on Gateway had done this thousands of times. They rarely operated on civilians, only important dignitaries and station personnel. But I called in every single favor and pulled some strings and now they were working on my Elf.

A few minutes later Randle stepped into the observation room. I looked up at him expectantly. "Well?"

"It's done. The mountain's history." He removed his long Elf wig and studied me for awhile. "Have you seen Warner yet?"

"No. He's not on the station." I knew I was never going to hear the end of it from Director Warner. He'd have my hide for this. The main objective of the missions was to stop the spread of the alien species, which meant exterminating any of them wherever we found their signatures. It was not our objective to socialize with the people on the planets, nor try to save them from chestbursters. We were simply supposed to destroy the aliens and dispose of any host carrying an embryo. There was no way I could have killed Legolas. He wasn't even supposed to be involved in any of this.

If it hadn't been for Hawke…

And speaking of the devil…Raymond Hawke stepped into the observation room overlooking the operating room. He actually looked happy to see me.

The sight of him spun me into a whole new dimension of 'pissed off' I had never been in my entire life. I walked up and punched him hard in the face. "You fucking bastard!" Then I attacked him, knocking him to the ground and punching him in the face again.

Randle had to pull me off of Hawke, but not before I got the chance to slam my boot right into his family jewels.

Hawke glared at me through clenched teeth as he wiped at the blood on his lip. "I see you had a little fun down in fairyland," he said as he got to his feet.

"Shit, Hawke. Do you even know what you caused? Do you know how many people died because of you?"

"Hey, it wasn't my fault it took you so long to do your goddamned job."

I moved to jump on him again, but Randle held me back.

"Will you cool it, Crystal?" Randle turned to Hawke. "Get the fuck out of here. Just get the fuck out…before I kill you myself."

Hawke gave me a final sneer before he turned and walked back out of the observation room.

I was seething inside, trying to calm my frazzled nerves as I turned back to watch the progress in the operating room. Before they could work on anything else, they had to extract the queen. There was no telling when it had designs to break out, so this was their first priority.

The operating room was equipped with the appropriate machines to dispose of the infant queen. After they cut Legolas open, they would shock the queen into stasis, extract her and then dispose of her in some method I was unfamiliar with.

When they began to cut into Legolas's pale chest, I turned away, unable to watch.

Randle touched my arm. "Come on, let's get you something to eat."

I pulled away from his hand. "I'm not leaving him, Randle."

He held his hands up in defense. "Okay, fine. Just thought I'd ask."

I turned to him with a frown, knowing that he didn't deserve my anger, not after he had risked his life to rescue me. "I'm sorry." In reality, if it hadn't been for Randle coming to get me, there would have been no way to save Legolas from the queen that would have burst from his chest.

"It's fine. I can understand what you're going through." He turned toward the observation window, to look toward the Elf lying on the operating table. "It's obvious how much you love him."

My eyes immediately filled with tears. The thought of Legolas fighting the aliens and the queen by himself, the pain he had felt from every wound that had been inflicted upon him…I just couldn't bear it. When I broke down in sobs, Randle wrapped his arms around me and I let him comfort me for the moment.

Gateway Station
(Legolas's POV)

…I ran out of the tunnel as fast as my feet could carry me, which seemed odd to me with all of the injuries I sustained. The creatures were behind me…so close that I could hear their raspy breathing behind my ear. The sun was out and the heat was comforting. But the creatures continued to pursue me, even in the light. It had been my understanding that they slept when it was light…yet there they were, running behind me in full light of the sun. A pain suddenly seized my chest and I gasped. The pain came again with such intensity that I lost my footing and collapsed in the dirt. I began coughing in spasms, turning to lay on my back. The creatures were upon me in the next moment, surrounding me, but not attacking. Saliva dripped from their grinning jaws as they leered and hissed at me. Another spasm of pain seized my chest and I clutched at it with both hands. Something was moving inside me. It was one of them. It was inside me. Nooooooooo… And then it burst from my chest. I saw pieces of my bone, flesh and blood spray out at the creatures standing around. My heart had stopped, yet I still lived as the chestburster gurgled and turned its tiny head in my direction, parting its jaws to hiss at me…

I woke up gasping for air. My hand automatically moved to my chest and I was relieved to see that there was not a large gaping hole in it. With a heavy sigh I realized that the creature bursting from my chest had only been a dream. My vision was blurred and I blinked rapidly to focus my eyes. There was an incredibly bright light to my right and I avoided it by turning my head in the opposite direction.

My fingers felt numb and I raised my left hand to look at it. They were still there…all five of my fingers. But there was something white wrapped around my hand all the way up my wrist, like a thick bandage, only it was made of a hard, yet light material. Further up my arm were more bandages.

I remembered the blow to my head and raised my hand up to my left temple, feeling for the wound I knew was there. There was a bandage wrapped around my head. Out of pure reflex, I tore the bandage off and felt the wound beneath it. My skin had been sealed somehow, or it had healed during the time I had been unconscious, of which I knew not the length.

A glance further to my left revealed a strange looking chair made of shiny metal. There was a table nearby, also made of the same shiny metal. Right beside me was another metal table. On it was a goblet made of clear glass and it was full of water. I reached to touch it. The glass felt cold, and despite my parched throat, I left the water alone.

I turned my head to the right to inspect the bright light. It was the shape of a large square on the wall, the flame behind it did not move. The light just glowed from whatever source was within. I decided not to dwell on its mechanics at the moment and continued the inspection of myself.

There was something imbedded into my forearm with a thin clear rope attached to it. I followed the rope to where it ended at an object resting on a metal rod above me. The object resembled an oilskin with a clear liquid inside. I touched my arm and felt something hard and thin under my skin. What was this? Why was it inside my arm? Just as I was about to pull it out, the wall in front of me opened as if by magic.

A dark-skinned woman entered wearing very strange white clothing. She smiled at me and moved to one of the tables. "It's good to see you finally awake, Mr Greenleaf."

My eyes narrowed at her. Who was she? How did she know my name? I suspiciously watched what she was doing. She had something sharp in her hands and raised it up to the light, tapping the edge of it with her finger.

"Here's something that'll ease the pain," she said as she advanced upon me.

I panicked and quickly rolled to my left. The metal spike came out of my arm, spraying blood into the air and I fell to the hard floor. The impact forced a howl from my throat and then I gasped for breath from the intenseness of the pain that hit me. Never in my two thousand years had I ever felt such severe pain.

The woman came around the bed and I scrambled away, finding myself blocked into a corner. "Nabad o nin!" I yelled out, my voice sounding gravely and strange to my ears. (Get away from me)

The woman finally moved away and the wall opened again to let her out.

I gathered my legs up, staring at the polished floor I was sitting upon. Every bone in my body ached with blazing pain and I shook uncontrollably. The throbbing on the side of my head made me dizzy and lightheaded with nausea. The sound of voices reached me through the magical wall that had opened and closed and I listened, hoping to discover where I was and what was going to happen to me.

"I was just going to give him a shot for the pain and he freaked out, yelling at me in some weird language," said a voice, the one that belonged to the dark-skinned woman.

"I told you to keep him sedated at all times. He's not from this world and won't understand anything around him," said the second voice. This voice was familiar to me, but I could not focus enough to search my memory.

"I'm sorry, Miss Schuyler," said the first voice again.

The wall opened again and I closed my eyes, not wanting to look at anyone. I just wanted to be left alone. I wanted to heal myself and be rid of the frightening images that kept appearing in my mind's eye. Grinning jaws that dripped saliva. I shuddered.

"Legolas?"

The female voice was very familiar, but I did not want to see who spoke. I covered my head with my arms. "Gwanna erui nin." (Leave me alone)

"Legolas, look at me."

The voice finally registered. It was Ariedel. I felt like a complete coward, afraid to open my eyes. Her hand touched my head and gently smoothed my tousled hair.

"Baby, I'm so sorry this happened to you."

The sudden need to look upon her eyes overwhelmed me and I removed my arms from over my head. As I turned toward her, she laid a warm hand on my cheek. "Ariedel…" I uttered in a whisper.

"Yes, it's me," she said, pushing my loose hair away from my face.

I pulled her into an embrace, squeezing my eyes shut to the pain that came with the simple movement. "Man sen sad? Mas im?" (What is this strange place? Where am I?)

"Legolas, I don't understand what you're saying."

Then I realized I had spoken Elvish to her. I switched to the Common Speech. "Where am I? This is a strange place."

"It's all right. You're in a place to help you heal. You suffered some serious injuries, Legolas. You nearly died."

I pulled back slightly to study her tear-filled eyes and saw that she spoke the truth.

"Come on," she urged. "Let me get you back in bed."

I allowed Ariedel to help me up on my feet. I needed to lean on her as my legs were very unsteady. She helped me to the bed and helped me lay down, adjusting the short tunic to cover me. It was then that I realized my left leg was heavily bandaged, in the same material that covered my left arm.

Ariedel pressed something near the bed and spoke into it. "It's okay now. You can come back in."

The wall opened to admit the dark-skinned woman again. She approached with a small tray of things and I started to move away from her.

"It's all right, Legolas. She's just going to give you something for your pain. It'll help you sleep."

"I do not want to sleep." If I slept, I feared that I would dream of the creatures again.

The woman stood beside the bed and I watched as she stuck the sharp object into my arm with a slight sting and squeezed the other end of the object. Then she extracted it and proceeded to reattach the thin needle into my forearm where it had come off. I watched her hands carefully and felt another sting. When she finally walked out of the room, I turned to Ariedel. The pained expression on her face made me feel as though she could not stand the sight of me. Had my face been disfigured during my battle with the aliens?

"See? That wasn't so bad, was it?" she softly asked as she came around to the right side of me.

I felt a soothing heat beginning to spread all over me and the sharpness of the pain began to slowly fade.

Ariedel pushed my hair away from my face and then caressed my cheek. "My poor Legolas. How did you ever survive?"

Tears involuntarily filled my eyes. I did not want to remember the ordeal. I wanted the images to go away. To think that I survived Orcs and Uruk-hai of the fiercest kind, grizzly wargs, cave trolls, giant spiders. I had confronted a demonic fiery balrog and screeching Fell beasts carrying Nazguls. I had ridden atop a giant mûmak to bring it down on the fields of the Pelennor during the War of the Rings. I had feared nothing. But I feared the sightless, stoic creatures I recently battled. Grinning jaws with dripping saliva. I closed my eyes and frowned.

Ariedel leaned closer and kissed me. "I love you," she said against my lips. "Please get better quickly. I miss being with you."

I opened my eyes as she began to move away and I quickly reached for her wrist. "Nay, please stay with me. Do not leave me here alone."

"I'm not going anywhere." Ariedel took my hand and squeezed it.

Even this simple gesture caused me pain. But I desperately tried to hide, for I did not want Ariedel to release my hand. Then she carefully climbed into the bed with me, slipping under the sheets and turning toward me.

I slowly rolled to the right toward her and my eyes settled on her beautiful face, wet with tears. When she caressed my cheek again with gentle fingers, I closed my eyes. Her fingers brushed over my brows and I felt her lips touch mine once again. I wanted to kiss her back but I was beginning to feel numb and unable to move.

Then I felt nothing at all.

Gateway Station
(Ariedel's POV)

I laid next to Legolas and gently caressed his cheek as he faded into a drug induced sleep. My tears just kept flowing. He had always held a sense of power, his mere presence always commanding and fearless. But he looked so helpless and vulnerable like this, all bandaged up, his normally perfectly groomed hair loose and erratically hanging in his eyes. I pushed it aside, tucking it behind his pointed ears.

His breathing was shallower than normal. I had lain next to him enough during my time in Middle Earth to notice this slight change.

When presented to me, the doctor's final diagnosis had been beyond startling. An entire list of injuries…enough to kill any mortal man. But evidently, not enough to kill an immortal Elf.

On his right side, Legolas had three fractured toes, a bruised kidney, a punctured lung and four broken ribs. The latter two injuries were what caused his shallow breathing.

His left side was even worse. He had a sprained ankle and a fractured wrist. He had needed skin and muscle tissue grafts for his mangled left shoulder from what looked like his flesh and muscle, down to his bone, had been torn by sharp teeth. His left leg had also needed similar grafts from the melted flesh caused by the alien acid blood. His nose had also been broken and had to be rebroken to realign it properly, which accounted for much of the bruising on his face.

I studied his serene, yet scarred face. Aside from the many scratches and scrapes on his normally flawless skin, and the bruising from his broken nose, he had a deep purple bruise over the left side of his face. It was mainly over his brow and the white of his eye was blood red, from the blow he had received, which had also cracked his skull. When I had first seen the gory injury back in the cave, I immediately knew what had caused it. I bit my lip and tried to block out the image of an alien's inner set of jaws slamming into the side of his head with the force of a jackhammer and seriously wondered how Legolas had survived it. Such a blow from an alien was meant to kill the recipient. Even a fresh kill could be used to carry an embryo of a drone that only needed a period of one to two hours to gestate. A queen normally took much longer…sometimes even as long as a week.

I just couldn't imagine the severity of the pain he probably felt all over. Aside from all those injuries, the extraction of the queen had gone without incident and left Legolas with a faint scar down the middle of his chest. It would fade with time, as would the rest of his physical scars.

But I seriously worried about the mental scars…his sanity. Many people, even the bravest of the brave, never recovered from the mental damage suffered when confronted with such extreme circumstances. When I saw Legolas cowering in the corner as I entered the medical room earlier, I knew he had really suffered.

These alien demons did that to a person. It was as if they had some kind of telepathic connection into the human mind, causing the fear and the anxiety. For those fortunate enough to survive, they were left with a constant reminder of the ordeal…scary dreams that woke you in a cold sweat in the middle of the night. It frequently led to a destructive downward spiral into insanity where some subjects actually committed suicide, choosing death over a life plagued with alien nightmares.

Before my mission to Legolas's planet, I had only been assigned three other missions that involved the aliens and with the use of my specialized weapons, it had been easy to dispose of them. Even so, they haunted my dreams, putting me in impossible situations where I would never be able to survive.

My fingers brushed over Legolas's slightly parted lips. "You're alive, that's what's important." I moved closer to him and kissed his lips lightly before pressing my face against his and closing my eyes.

§

I hadn't realized I had fallen asleep until someone woke me with a light shake to my shoulder. When I turned I saw it was the nurse on duty.

"I'm sorry to disturb you, Miss Schuyler, but Director Warner is looking for you."

I gently pried myself from Legolas, kissing him lightly on the right brow, the only uninjured spot on his face, before walking away from the bed with a yawn.

This was the moment I had been dreading. Jonathon Warner, the director of Lifesource, the company I currently worked for, had been down on Earth when I first arrived with Legolas. Apparently someone had thought it important enough to notify him of the situation. And now here he was.

I found him in my office, pacing in front of my desk.

The minute he saw me, he stopped pacing. "What in the hell were you thinking?" asked Warner in rage.

Despite the fact that I wanted to holler right back at him, I kept my anger under control. "All right, I know bringing Legolas here was a bad idea. But if it wasn't for him, the people on that planet would be in a lot worse shape. I couldn't just leave him there to die after all he sacrificed and suffered. Those aliens nearly ripped him to pieces."

"It's like bringing a caveman into our century, Crystal. What happens when he wakes up and freaks out over all this shit around him that he doesn't understand?"

"He's not a caveman, Warner. His people are far more advanced than that. Besides, I left strict instructions that he be kept heavily sedated."

"He's not even human. How do you know that sedating him won't kill him?"

I blinked several times, the thought never having occurred to me. He wasn't human. He was an Elf. What if Warner was right? What if the drugs going into Legolas's body were poisoning his system? "I can't take him back there looking the way he does, Warner. He's still is critical condition."

Warner paced again, like a caged animal. "Do you realize how much it's costing Lifesource to keep him here? Our facility is not geared toward long term hospitalization."

I couldn't believe all he cared about was the costs involved. And now I couldn't control my temper. "Hey look, I wasn't the one who fucked up! You can give that lecture to Hawke. I was ready and willing to do my job and that little prick put me on that planet with no weapons and in the wrong body. The lack of weapons and being in a body which held no authority over herself or others was a substantial nuisance. Eliminating the threat, which quickly turned to a hell of a lot more than one alien, fell out of my hands and into those of the Elf whose care Lifesource fucking owes him."

Warner sighed heavily, mulling briefly before turning back to me. "Has the threat on his planet been eliminated?" His voice had gone down to just above a whisper.

"Yes. Randle made sure of it."

Warner rubbed his jaw. "As soon as his health improves, I want that Elf off this station."

I frowned as he turned and walked out of my office. "Right, and I'm going with him," I seethed to myself.

But was it right for me to go back to Middle Earth with Legolas when the real Ariedel had more of a right to be there than me? After all of this, I had forgotten that she was here on Gateway, probably scared senseless, when I had been transmutated into her world, to replace her. If she were to return with Legolas, would she even love him as I did? Would Legolas know that she wasn't me?

Maybe it was time for me to confront the real Ariedel. I needed to know what she was like. I needed to know if Legolas would have fallen in love with her as he had fallen in love with me.

Minas Tirith

Aragorn's troubled expression had turned to anger throughout the ride back to Gondor and to the white city. He had taken his men to the demolished mountain and they had found no trace of anyone or anything. At least nothing visible above the enormous piles of boulders that would not be simple to move. It would have been easier to think that Legolas had never even gone to the Mountains of Shadow, that somehow he was further south, safe and away from the destruction.

But Aragorn knew the path of the creatures had led Legolas to this place. To be certain, they would have to dig for weeks in the rubble, to find his remains and of those that had also been unfortunate. He could not bring himself to give such an order to his men. Instead he turned Brego and headed home.

Arwen had met him at the first gate of the first level and she knew from his brooding expression that Legolas was dead and so was Ariedel, his new bride. And now he would have the unfortunate task of informing the Elf king.

Thranduil knew before Aragorn even entered the chamber which he had been temporarily using during his stay at Minas Tirith. His son was dead and so were any prospects of continuing the Thranduilion line. But he had already resigned himself to the news. He had been watching from the top level of the white city and witnessed the destruction of a mountain far off in the distance. He had immediately known that it was where Legolas had gone. Nonetheless, Thranduil steeled himself for Aragorn's words that would confirm what he already knew.

Aragorn walked up to the Elf king, his eyes quickly filling with tears. He was afraid to speak because his lips were trembling. But he knew the words were not necessary. Thranduil was plainly aware of the news he had come to tell him. "I am sorry," was all Aragorn could get out. And then Aragorn broke down, falling to his knees at Thranduil's feet. Legolas had been like a brother to him almost all of his life while growing up in the Elrond household in Rivendell. They had been on so many adventures together and he cherished the time they had spent in each other's company. Aragorn could not believe that Legolas was gone. The Elf had been indestructible. And now he was gone forever.

Thranduil lowered himself to the floor with Aragorn and took the man into his arms before shedding his own tears of grief.

Gateway Station
(Ariedel's POV)

Someone informed me that the real Ariedel was in the station's Arboretum with Randle. The large double glass doors of the Arboretum slid open when I approached them. After a quick glance around I found the two sitting together on a bench in front of the bird fountain. I moved a little closer and observed them from where I stood behind a tree.

Randle was talking very animatedly, his hands moving to describe whatever it was he spoke of. The real Ariedel had long pale blonde hair, compared to mine which had darker streaks in it. Even from this distance I could tell that her eyes were light amber, almost like a cat's. Her pale skin and soft features made me think that I was looking at an angel. She giggled and covered her mouth bashfully at whatever Randle told her. She was utterly beautiful and angelic.

My heart sank because I knew Legolas could have easily fallen in love with her, this sweet and gentle young woman that was probably the complete opposite of me. Then I observed something totally unexpected. Randle reached up and removed her hand from over her mouth. She was staring wide-eyed up at him, but unafraid as he leaned in and kissed her lightly on the lips. She responded by wrapping her arms unsurely around his neck. He reassured her with a deeper kiss.

I felt a little strange watching their private interlude, but I needed to speak to the real Ariedel. So I tried to make as much noise as possible to warn them of my approach.

They quickly pulled apart and Randle turned to see me coming. " Crystal, how's your Elf doing?" he asked as he stood up.

"He's…uhm…he's still in critical condition, but I think he'll be all right."

Randle reached down for Ariedel's hand and pulled her up on her feet. She seemed so tiny beside him, almost like a child. But then again I wasn't exactly an Amazon. Anyone standing beside the towering Randle seemed small. "Ariedel, I want you to meet Crystal," he said, turning to her.

The real Ariedel studied me with her pale amber eyes. It was apparent that Randle had told her about me. How much, I didn't know. She timidly cleared her throat before speaking. "Tis a pleasure to finally meet you, Crystal. Randle has told me so much about you."

Even her voice was sweet. My heart just kept sinking further and further. If Legolas ever got the chance to meet her, he'd dump me like a hot potato to be with her. "All good things, I hope," I replied with a smile.

She continued on. "How does my father fare? And Alma, my handmaiden?"

I glanced up at Randle, wondering how much I was allowed to tell her. He gave me a nod. "They're both well," I replied honestly. Although I hadn't really seen them since I had left Anfalas with Legolas, immediately after we were married.

Her brows furrowed slightly as if she wasn't sure whether to say something. Then she spoke even more timidly. "Did the marriage occur?"

"Marriage?"

"To Prince Yardell?"

"Oh, that marriage. No."

She sighed in relief. "I thank you for not allowing it to happen. I did not favor him much."

"Yeah, he really was a…" I tried to find the right word without sounding too harsh. "…total loser. But…I'm not sure you'll be happy when I tell you the rest."

"The rest?" She looked worried again.

"You're married to an Elf."

Her face went even paler. "An Elf." She said it as if left a bad taste in her mouth.

"Legolas Greenleaf."

She gasped and looked even more shocked than she had been when I told her she was married to an Elf. "Son of Thranduil of Mirkwood?"

"You know him then?"

"My archery mentor? I was but a child when I knew him." She reached for my hand in desperation. "Please, I have no desire to be wed to him."

Randle cut in when he saw that she was getting upset. "Ariedel, honey, why don't you go over there and feed the squirrels. I need to speak to Crystal alone for a minute."

The real Ariedel continued to look at me with her timid imploring expression, then nodded her head in Randle's direction before walking away.

" Crystal, I'm taking Ariedel to Earth in the morning."

"I take it you haven't told her yet, based on her reaction to being married to Legolas."

"No, I haven't. But I know she'll go with me."

"Are you sure this is a smart move?"

"She's not going back there. I want her to stay with me."

"Randle, you asshole," I uttered through clenched teeth. "Don't you dare hurt that poor young girl. She's been through a lot."

"I know what you're thinking. I'm sorry for all the shit I did to you in the past, but…I think I'm in love with her."

I glanced over his shoulder to watch the real Ariedel smile as the squirrels came down from the trees to take peanuts from her fingers. She was like a fragile young creature, innocent and demure. Was this the kind of woman Randle desired? Someone who needed his protection and guidance? "So she's not going back to Middle Earth?"

"No."

My eyes shifted to look into Randle's. "And you're sure she'll be fine with it?"

"She has no love for her home. I'm sure especially now, knowing that she's married to an Elf. Besides, everyone will think she died in the blast when the mountain exploded."

His statement made me realize that those in Middle Earth would think that Legolas was also dead. "How long did it take her to get accustomed to all this technology?" I asked, waving my hands at everything around us.

"It took a pretty long time and it was scary at first, but I think she likes it now." Randle smiled. "She really gets a kick out of plumbing."

I couldn't help but smile. Plumbing. Yes, the simple things we took for granted. Middle Earth had no plumbing. No sinks and no toilets. It was a freshwater lagoon and a bush when outdoors, or a basin full of water and a chamber pot when indoors. "Well, good luck to you then, Randle. Don't hurt her like you hurt me or I'll have to hunt you down and kick your ass." I think I wounded his ego when I said that. Or maybe he felt bad for dumping me the way he had, to pursue other skirts.

"I'll be seeing you," he said before he turned and walked over to the real Ariedel.

She smiled at his approach, then turned to look in my direction. When I waved to her with a smile, she waved back. Then I tried to swallow the lump in my throat. If she had no intention of returning to Middle Earth, then Legolas would be alone there. Did I want to leave everything I knew behind me? Leave Avalon forever? Did I want to spend the rest of my life with Legolas in his world? Somehow I had a feeling that Legolas would have no desire to stay in mine. He was a Prince and heir to an Elven throne. He had too much to lose.

I needed to make a decision and soon.