Haldir heard the blast and turned to see the rock hurtling past him. He saw Aragorn on the ground nearby.

'I wonder what happened to the Mirkwood siblings. I lost track of her several moments ago and the same with him,' Haldir thought to himself.

He fought through several of the Uruk-hai to see Aragorn was now rising from the ground.

"How bad is it?" Aragorn had to ask.

"Pretty bad," Haldir replied.

The two looked at the wall to see that the Uruk-hai were now starting to pour in, past the broken wall. Aragorn looked up to see Gimli near the egde of the broken wall, not noticing that Haldir was slowly creeping away from him.

"Aragorn, I'm coming," called Gimli.

The dwarf jumped off the wall, into the crowd of creatures.

"Gimli!" Aragorn cried out, stepping forward.

He glanced around him to finally see that Haldir was nowhere around him.

'Where did he get to now? What is he looking for? I'll find him later and ask,' Aragorn thought to himself.

He hurried to help Gimli with the fight, charging in with the elves. He pulled the dwarf out of the puddle. They watched as the Uruk-hai continued their way inside.

"Where's Legolas?" wondered Gimli.

"I don't know but we can't search for him now. He's a grown elf, he can take care of himself," Aragorn replied.

In the distance, he could hear Theoden barking out orders to keep the place from being overrun. The king appeared to be shocked with what was happening.

00000

Haldir looked around the place, near the wall. He sensed something was drastically was wrong with Legolas. He killed a few Uruk-hai along the way as he soon spotted a familiar figure on the ground nearby.

"Oh no," he quietly said.

He hurried over to unconscious form to see that it was indeed Legolas. The elf's body was twitching and Haldir figured it was in part from what was happening to him. He pulled back the elf's sleeve slightly to notice the discolouration of the skin.

"This doesn't look good," he murmured to himself.

He place one of Legolas' arms around his neck, one of his own around the limp body and he slowly pulled the elf up. In the back of his mind, Haldir noticed something on Legolas' back as he wondered how he was going to get the elf into a safe place until two other elves hurried up to him.

'What happened to him?' they wondered in Elvish.

'I'll explain later. I need to get him inside,' Haldir replied.

The two nodded and began to make a path so Haldir could get Legolas inside. Haldir glanced back, in hopes he could see Nanaylia amongst the crowd they were leaving behind. In the back of his mind, he really hoped that nothing happened to her without him.

'Her father's going to have my head, I know it for losing both his daughter and grandchild,' he thought to himself.

The three elves managed to make it to the doors leading inside. Haldir hurried in with Legolas before turning back to the two elves.

'Head back out without me. I'll be all right,' he told them.

The two nodded before hurrying out. Haldir watched them before heading towards a corner. He carefully placed Legolas onto the floor and hurried back to the door.

'I sincerely hope I can find your sister. I know she can't help you but she knows a lot more about this than me. She should know how it feels,' he thought to himself.

Haldir hurried out the door and headed back up to the ledge, hoping he could find Nanaylia. Almost immediately, he heard his name and couldn't believe his luck.

'To the Keep!' Aragorn yelled to him in Elvish.

Haldir nodded as he called his troops back. He continued to fight, not noticing the Uruk-hai heading towards him until it was almost too late. He gasped as the weapon headed towards him. But it never made contact. Barely. The Uruk-hai gasped out in pain before falling to the ground, revealing Nanaylia standing behind him.

"It's good to see you again. I thought something happened to you," Haldir told her.

"Not yet, it hasn't. These creatures haven't figured out yet that I'm not on their side. So I'm taking my time with them. But watch your back old friend. You're afraid of my father getting mad at you if something should happen to me? I don't want Lady Galadriel getting mad at me if something should happen to you," Nanaylia replied with a smile.

Haldir smiled back. It turned to one of horror as Nanaylia pulled out an arrow and notched it. She released it almost immediately and it struck one of the Uruk-hai coming up from behind him.

"Watch your aim. I think that was almost heading in my direction," he told her.

"Well excuse me for not being as good as you or my brother. I have my own strengths, as do you," she retorted. "Archery is not one of mine."

Haldir shook his head, giving a small laugh. Aragorn hurried up to him. He never took a second look at the elf standing next to him as Aragorn began to talk to Haldir.

"Are you all right?" Aragorn asked.

"Yes, I am. Thanks to one of my elves. If it wasn't for his quick actions, I would be dead right now," Haldir replied.

Aragorn glanced at the elf next to him before nodding.

"Head to the Keep. I'll take care of things up here," Aragorn told them.

Haldir nodded before taking the still hidden Nanaylia down the stairs. He watched as Aragorn headed into the crowd via ladder.

"Nanaylia, there's something I should tell you about your brother," he quietly said,.

"What's wrong with him?" she frantically asked.

"He's gotten worse. Right now, he's inside unconscious," he replied.

She started to quickly head inside but a hand grabbed her arm. Nanaylia stared at him for a moment.

"From here on out, you're not going anywhere without me," he told her.

"I need to get to my brother," she protested.

"I know you do but right now is not the best time," he told her.

He glanced to one side to see Aragorn and Gimli jumping onto the ramp, fighting the Uruk-hai. He led her back up the stairs.

"Where are we going?" she wondered.

"To help Aragorn and Gimli," Haldir replied. "I just heard the king tell them to get out of there."

Nanaylia nodded and she followed him. Haldir threw a rope down to Aragorn, who started climb up. Once up, Theoden called out to them.

"They've broken through! Get out of there! Fall back!" Theoden called out.

Aragorn, Gimli and the two elves began to hurry away from the scene. Aragorn soon realized that he hadn't seen Legolas since the wall was blown up. He was slightly worried that something might have happened to him.

The four hurried into the main hall. Aragorn looked around the room and saw a figure in the corner. Theoden looked in the same direction, narrowing his eyes.

"Who's that?" Aragorn wondered out loud.

He stepped towards the figure but an arm grabbed him as a growl was suddenly heard from the figure. Gimli noticed that the elf accompanying Haldir stepped forward, as if in total disbelief.

"Do not go near. You do not know how he is going to react," Haldir quietly told him.

Aragorn looked between Haldir and the other elf, who suddenly ran up to the person in the corner. He could hear the elf saying something but couldn't make out the words. A louder growl could be heard as the figure jumped onto the elf, pinning him to the ground. Haldir's eyes widened at the sight.

"By the Valar, I never expected this," he barely said.

Before them, was someone who looked like Legolas but didn't at the same time. It almost looked like he was in the middle of some sort of transformation. His skin had a slightly different complextion than normal and he had what looked like wings coming out of his back. Fangs were now visible in his mouth and the growling could be heard even louder. His clothes were now in tatters and his hair a mess. Haldir readied an arrow and released it. It landed in the creature's thigh and he yelped in pain. He slowly made his way back to the shadows and stayed there yet carefully watched the group.

"I wish this hadn't happened to him. He doesn't deserve this," Haldir mused as he walked over to Nanaylia.

He helped her to her feet and noticed that she had a hand on her chest. She appeared shocked with what just happened. He placed a hand on her shoulder. Aragorn stepped up to them, a slightly angry look on his face.

"Is that Legolas? You knew about this and you didn't tell us?" Aragorn demanded to know.

"Yes, I did know. But I couldn't say anything until I knew for certain that it was happening," Haldir replied.

"Whatever is happening to him, we must leave him. We cannot do anything to help him," Theoden said.

Nanaylia growled once she heard that. She grabbed one of her knives and advanced on the king. Haldir grabbed her and tried to hold her back.

"This won't help him," he told her.

"Let go of me! Let go of me! Let me at him! He can't say that about Legolas!" she cried out. "We cannot leave him!"

Aragorn was very surprised by this, as was Gimli and Theoden. Nanaylia pulled off the helmet and threw it on the ground.

"No one here can help Legolas. You can't help him and neither can I. The only person I think who can help him now is Mithrandir," she snarled at him.

"You know what has been happening to Legolas? How long have you known?" demanded Gimli.

"I didn't realize it until after you had left Lothlorien. This was the only way I could help him at all. It's progressing faster than what I anticipated. He shouldn't be changing this quickly," she protested.

Silence lingered in the air after that comment. The same question was on everyone's mind.

"Then what is he changing into?" Aragorn finally asked.

"Into one of them," Nanaylia reluctantly replied, turning to face the man.

She almost spat the sentence out and Aragorn noticed this. He wondered how bad it really was.

"'One of them'?" repeated Gimli.

Nanaylia glanced over at Haldir, wondering if she should tell them in front of Theoden. Haldir raised his eyebrows and hand slightly, indicating that it was her choice to tell them. She finally looked between them and sighed.

"Shentree did this to him. She and the others meant to do this to him for centuries. Looks like she finally did so outside Moria. He's changing into the same thing that she is. A gargoyle," she finally replied.

TBC...