ChirikoFan – I will alleviate your suspense once and for all, but be warned that I will add more at the end of this final chapter. Hehehe…
Linilya Elf – Isn't Gandalf a hoot? I just love him. Yeah, yeah, I think I've got the first chapter of the sequel ready to go, but I'm gonna make everyone wait until October. (evil laugh)
Frodo01228 – Well, die no more, here it is!
Author's Note – Well, this is the last chapter of this first installment of the Alien vs Elf series. I'm thinking to make a trilogy out of this, but I'm not sure what to do with the third one just yet. I'm sure something will jump out at me sooner or later. I'd like to thank everyone who read this fanfiction and stuck with me from the very beginning. There's still a long road ahead and some surprises in the sequel which I hope will traumatize you…(ducks just in case someone throws something). Expect angst, gruesomeness, humor and possibly a character death or two…(ducks again)…but don't ask me who because there is a method to my madness.
Chapter 16 - Redemption
Gateway Station
Legolas would have run to the fallen Hover had the queen not suddenly charged him. He tore his eyes away from the wreckage and focused on shooting multiple arrows into the queen's face. There had to be over a dozen arrows in her face, yet she still lived.
"Aragorn, help Ariedel. She is trapped in there." Legolas ran down one of the paths of the Arboretum and the queen immediately went after him.
When the queen disappeared into the resin-covered trees, Aragorn and Gimli rushed over to the pile of resin chunks that had fallen over the Hover. The Man and the Dwarf quickly pushed the heavy pieces of resin aside, until they had uncovered the metallic object that had flown around the queen earlier.
Through a circular glass cover, Aragorn saw Ariedel inside. She was not moving and he saw blood pooling around the seat beneath her. In a panic, Aragorn pounded on the glass until it shattered. Then he pulled Ariedel out and onto the floor.
From the corner of his eye, Gimli spotted several approaching aliens. He grabbed Aragorn's blaster and whirled around to shoot at them. The five aliens screeched as they dropped.
Aragorn turned Ariedel over on her stomach and saw where she was bleeding. There was a thin piece of metal lodged into the back of her thigh. Just as he was about to pull it out, Ariedel regained consciousness.
Ariedel coughed and gasped and then fought against the hands that were on her, thinking they were aliens. She cried out at the pain in her thigh.
"Fear not, Ariedel, tis I," said Aragorn.
Ariedel looked over her shoulder. "Aragorn," she said as she smiled and then howled in pain when Aragorn quickly yanked the metal out of her thigh.
Legolas moved to higher ground, scrambling up the white lattice walls of the Arboretum. When he was high enough, he checked his crossbow and reloaded the maximum number of arrows he retrieved from his quiver.
The queen was seething below, stomping loudly back and forth, her face turned upward to where he was. She attempted to latch onto the lattice, but it couldn't support her weight and she fell back down to the floor.
Legolas took the opportunity to fire more arrows into her chest. He felt cold satisfaction with every arrow that struck her. All of those innocent people killed on this station. Even though he realized that the fault was not with him, guilt still flooded through him. He had warned Warner. Perhaps he should have been more persistent, or remained to see the young queen killed instead of thinking of his own self and leaving the station.
Not able to climb the lattice walls, the queen attempted the resin-covered trees. She crawled up the nearest tree and reached her hands out to grab the Elf.
Legolas ducked out of the way and then quickly moved higher until his hands reached the ceiling rafters. He pulled himself up and balanced on the thin beam.
The queen below attempted to reach the rafters, but was too far away.
Legolas aimed his crossbow and shot several more arrows into her just for good measure. He could sense that the queen was weakening. But he wondered how she was able to last this long. The queen he had fought back in Middle Earth had been strong, but it had not taken this many arrows to bring her down. The idea that this queen had gained some of his Elven traits came to mind. Elves were resilient and stronger than mortal men. Had this queen acquired more strength and resistance to harm as an attribute along with the pointed ears?
Just then the queen hurled herself upward and her large claws wrapped around two of the rafters. Legolas nearly lost his balance. Holding on with one claw, the queen used the other in an attempt to grab him. Legolas hopped along several more rafters. He aimed his crossbow and shot arrows into her hand and arm. She screeched and hissed and gurgled in anger as she found she could no longer use the limb.
Feeling a sense of triumph, Legolas hopped back to the beam directly above her. He crouched and glared down into her arrow-riddled face. She opened her mouth to reveal her jagged teeth. His entire head would have fit in her mouth if she were able to pull herself up to grab him. But he knew she was unable to. Her other arm was now limp and useless beside her, thanks to his tactical shooting. "I tried to see things from your perspective. But I find nothing good in you. You deserve to die like the rest of your kind."
In a last ditch effort to kill the Elf, the queen whipped her tail up at him. It struck the beam beneath his feet with a loud clang. Legolas backed away and the tail came at him again. The force of the second blow dislodged the beam from the ceiling. The beam, the queen and Legolas tumbled the fifty-five feet down to the ground with a tremendous crash. Athletic as Legolas was, he could not withstand such a drop without injury and he took the brunt of the fall on his back.
The others heard the crash, thinking the entire ceiling had come down.
"Aragorn, where's Legolas?" asked Ariedel, her teeth clenched in pain from her injury.
Aragorn exchanged a worried look with Gimli and then he got up. "I will return shortly." He headed down one of the paths at a jog and continued until he came across a heap of white ceiling rafters. Beneath them was the queen. She squirmed and screeched unable to get up from the tangle of beams. Aragorn noticed that one of them had impaled her into the floor. He looked around for Legolas and then saw him stand up.
Legolas felt a stabbing pain in his back, but he had felt worse not too long ago. The crossbow was still in his hand, much to his amazement. He stepped over several beams and went right up to the queen's immobile face. Even now, while impaled to the floor, she still attempted to get to him. She could not move her head, but her jaws opened and her inner jaws shot out toward Legolas's leg. But she was shy by four inches.
With clenched teeth, Legolas slammed his foot down on the protruding inner jaws and shot two arrows into the muscle and bone. A dozen Elven curses spilled from his mouth. Then he staggered backward, finally feeling some satisfaction. He heard Aragorn coming up behind him and he turned. "Ariedel…is she harmed?"
Aragorn sighed with relief at seeing his friend still alive. "She has an injury on the back of her thigh, but she lives."
With a final look at the squirming alien queen, Legolas stepped over the fallen beams and headed back down the path to the main entrance of the Arboretum.
When Legolas and Aragorn reached Ariedel, she had a worried look on her face. "Legolas, we only have a few minutes before the marines blow this place up. We'll never make it back to Lab B in time to retrieve the translocator."
Aragorn went into his pouch and pulled out the translocator device. "Is this what you are looking for?"
Ariedel ripped it out of his hand. "Yes!" She saw that the green light was engaged, meaning the device was properly programmed. Then she turned to Legolas. "Bishop?"
Legolas shook his head sadly. "He was in pieces when we found him."
Ariedel bit her lower lip and then turned to see a dozen aliens rushing in their direction. "Everyone get together."
Legolas picked Ariedel up in his arms and Aragorn and Gimli put their arms on his shoulders. Ariedel pressed the green button and a bright light surrounded them. When the light disappeared, so did they.
The aliens charged the spot where the humans had just been, only to find they had disappeared. They frantically looked around and called out to their dying queen, knowing that they were not going to get much of a response from her.
Just a few million miles away from Pluto, the USCM ship named Nostromo II came out of hyperspace. It settled into its reduced speed and only a minute passed before a surge of blue light blasted in three pulses from one of its protruding gun ports.
A blast echoed through the circular corridor surrounding Gateway Station and then a wall of flame blew through into the Arboretum, rushing over the perplexed aliens.
Seconds later the station incinerated into a fireball before the vacuum of space killed the flames. Gateway Station ceased to exist.
The Nostromo II, its crew still in cryosleep, slowly lumbered around Pluto to face the direction it had originally come. It automatically sent a transmission to Earth that the task was complete before it accelerated and jumped back into hyperspace.
Mirkwood
(Legolas's POV)
When the bright white light disappeared, we were no longer surrounded by the cold steel white walls of the station known as Gateway. In front of us stood Gandalf, Elrond, Arwen and my father. They all stood staring at us with their mouths open, as if they had not expected us to suddenly appear out of nowhere. I suppose their wonderment was warranted.
I glanced down at Ariedel in my arms. She had lost consciousness. Thinking of nothing but her well-being, I carried her across the glade of grass, vaguely aware that a large statue in my image stood at the center.
I jogged down the path to the bridge and crossed it. The footfalls of everyone else came to my ears. They were following. I carried Ariedel inside my father's caverns and down a series of corridors to my chambers. After laying her face down on my bed, I ripped the material on the back of her right thigh, exposing the wound. It was not very deep and was no longer bleeding
As I retrieved a bowl of water and some healing herbs, the others had entered the room. I proceeded to tend to the wound while I heard Aragorn recounting to the others what had happened to us.
Both Gandalf and Elrond had many questions and Aragorn answered them to the best of his knowledge and ability, while my father remained silent.
Moments later Ariedel stirred and came awake. "Legolas?"
"I am here." I reached out to push the hair from her face when she turned toward me.
"Are we still on Gateway?" she asked with worry.
I smiled. "Nay. We are in my home in Mirkwood."
Her eyes instantly filled with tears. Then she raised herself up so she could wrap her arms around me. I quickly embraced her in return. "It's finally over," she said softly. "God, I'm thirsty."
"I will get you something." I stood up and turned around, thinking about what I could get for her to drink. My father stood before me. I frowned at the tears in his eyes and then remembered that he must have thought me dead. The thought of my father suffering this knowledge for the time I had been gone brought on a wave of guilt.
"Legolas…I thought I lost you…" said Thranduil.
I knew he was trying desperately to keep his emotions inside. The only other time I had ever seen my father weep was when my mother died.
He suddenly threw his arms around me and embraced me fiercely. My father was not normally very emotional or affectionate, but I could not imagine the pain he had suffered thinking me dead. "Goheno nin, adar. Im ú-ind lin presto." (forgive me, father. I never meant to worry you)
"Ú-moe edaved," he replied in my ear. "Ha maer gar lin bar ad, ion nin." (it is not necessary to forgive. Tis good to have you home again, my son)
He finally released me and grinned. I turned back to Ariedel and she smiled at me with tears in her eyes. When I turned to the others in the room, everyone was hugging each other. What had father started?
When I returned with a goblet of water for Ariedel, all the others had left the room. She was sitting up, mindless of the pain at the back of her thigh, and staring down at the device that had brought us back to Middle Earth. I sat down beside her, sensing her grief. "Tell me your thoughts, meleth." (my love)
She sighed heavily. "I can't get over the fact that Gateway is gone."
"We do not know that for sure."
She turned to me. "Oh, I do know. The United Systems Colonial Marines always get the job done or they die trying. In this particular case, as Bishop said, the computer did all the work. There's no doubt in my mind that it obliterated the station without recourse."
"There was no one alive on the station anyway," I said, trying my best to soothe her troubled thoughts.
Ariedel leaned her head on my shoulder and glanced down at the device in her hand again. "I know I made the decision to come back here with you. But now that I'm here, I just can't stop thinking about how much I'll miss Seth."
I took the device from her hand and inspected it absently. "Is there a way to return by using this device again?"
"No. It was programmed for the translocation platform on Gateway. That's gone now."
I caressed her face and turned it so she would look up at me. "Perhaps someday your brother will come to visit you."
She smiled at me. "Maybe he will."
Mirkwood – Eleven years later
(Legolas's POV)
I crouched on a tree branch, trying to make as little noise as possible. Across the small brook was a doe and her two small fawns. It had been many years since I had seen any this close to our homestead. The little ones dipped their noses into the water to drink while the mother remained vigilante. I smiled at the sight before me.
" Ada…" (daddy)
The doe and her fawns darted back into the trees and were gone. I glanced down to the ground and saw my young daughter bounding up. I jumped from the branch and greeted her with a hug and a kiss on her little pointed ear. "Man ha lin, Anwar?" (what is it)
"Naneth lin tirio." (mom is looking for you)
"Na hín?" (is she)
"Aye and tis not good." Anwar sounded grave as she reverted to the Common Speech.
"Am I in trouble again?" A smile spread across my face as Anwar snickered scandalously. Her name meant 'overwhelming wonderment' in Elvish and she truly was. She hopped on my back and I gave her a piggyback ride as we headed in the direction of our cottage along the river.
We passed Alma along the way. She was playing some sort of game with my two sons, Brendan and Elril. I had to stop and kiss their foreheads which seemed to repulse my older son, Brendan and embarrass him in front of his older sister.
" Ada, stop it, I am not a baby!" he cried out.
"Aye, I keep forgetting that," I called over my shoulder as I continued on with Anwar on my back.
When we reached the cottage, the sight that greeted me nearly broke me into fits of laughter. There was my beautiful wife, covered from head to toe in red mud. In her arms was one of the three abandoned white tiger cubs I had brought home several weeks ago. Only it was not white at the moment. It was covered in the same red mud as Ariedel.
I set Anwar down and she ran off to chase one of the other tiger cubs. "What happened?" I asked, trying to sound serious without laughing.
"This little beast of yours decided to drag a bucket of water into that pile of red dirt I had back there. You know, the one I planned to use for my herb garden. I tried to get him out of it and one of the other two little bastards pushed me in."
Again I attempted to stifle my laughter, but could not stop the smile. Ariedel had the look of death in her eyes. She wanted to kill me for bringing those tiger cubs home. But I knew what I had to do to make things right. As I approached, I locked my eyes on hers.
She shook her head in warning. "Cut it out, Legolas. This is not a good time for that. I am really, really ticked off right now."
When I reached Ariedel, I pulled the cub from her arms and tossed it on the ground where it bounded away to find its siblings. Then I wiped the mud off her face with my sleeve before devouring her lips. It was but a few seconds before she melted in my arms. I knew I had this affect on her and I shamelessly used this power to my advantage to get what I wanted. But Ariedel held the real power. I desired her every moment of every day. Even when she was heavy with child, of which luckily she was not at the moment. Three Elflings in eleven years…that was plenty for the moment.
I pulled away from her lips and picked her up in my arms. "I have an overwhelming desire to bathe you."
"Oh God…" she uttered breathlessly.
I smiled because she was well aware that there would be more than just bathing involved.
The Mountains of Shadow
A flock of fell beasts swooped down from the night sky toward a new pile of rubble of what used to be the tallest of the shadow mountains. There had been plenty to eat in the last few years as the rubble created many places for critters to hide and they were easy pickings for the fell beasts.
One solitary beast rummaged through a pile of small stones. It smelled something beneath the pile and began to dig, using strokes from its powerful claws. Several minutes later it uncovered a grayish-green oblong object. The fell beast sniffed around it, catching the scent of something live. Then there was movement within, causing a growl to rumble deep within the fell beast's throat. It was about to break the object open with its razor sharp teeth when the top pealed open. The movement brought the fell beast closer to sniff…
The facehugger inside leapt on the unsuspecting fell beast's face. The fell beast opened its mouth and swallowed the facehugger whole. But the facehugger continued to do its job. It planted the embryo of its queen.
At another mound, another alien egg was uncovered, but the fell beast was unaware and flew off to find other more interesting things to feed on.
The alien egg opened a moment later and the facehugger emerged. Finding no hosts to attach to, it scrambled off into the night on its spindly legs.
The End
The saga continues in Alien vs Elf- Nemesis.