Thanks to those who reviewed, especially Estelstheone, for your comments. Constructive criticism is always welcomed. Keep reviewing, I love hearing comments, good or bad. Anyway I'm sorry I haven't updated in like a month, but with school starting soon, I have so much summer homework to do.

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Chapter Four: A Father's Anger

Legolas gasped in pain as he leaned heavily against the side of the abandoned building Golradir said his father and the others were staying at. He gritted his teeth as he tried to force the pain away, angry with himself for getting injured. He knew that he had no one to blame but himself. Aragorn was not supposed to find out about his identity. His own carelessness created this mess, he thought as he put more pressure on his wound. A small cry of pain escaped him, but he could see that the bleeding had almost stopped completely.

Legolas leaned his head back and closed his eyes, wishing he could forget the look of anger on Aragorn's face. When did I become such a lovesick fool? Legolas sighed as his thoughts turned to his father. He too would be angry with him. No, no he'd be angry with Aragorn. The elder elf was very protective of his only son and he would certainly stop at nothing to kill the man who had hurt him.

Legolas carefully stood up, silently swearing that he would not tell his father who did this to him. He closed his eyes tightly as a wave of dizziness passed through him. He groaned and walked towards the doors, one arm touching the building for support.

As he pushed the doors open, he saw his fathers and several other elves resting quietly. The sound of the doors quickly woke them. They looked up and finally rested their eyes on Legolas, his blood brightly contrasting again the lighter colors of his clothes. Thranduil was among the first to reach Legolas. His eyes were wide as they took in the disheveled appearance of his son.

"Father…" He broke off shortly as another wave of nausea hit him. He collapsed into his father's welcoming arms and the other elf guided him to the closest bed. "Legolas! Legolas!" Thranduil shook him lightly waiting for a response. He started to get impatient, as Legolas remained silent. "Son, who did this to you? Legolas?" Legolas didn't answer him, keeping his eyes firmly shut, wishing he could just pretend he didn't hear his question.

Golradir brushed the king aside as gently as he could. The king looked absolutely livid. "I need to tend to his wound," he explained. Thranduil nodded but did not stray far from his son's side, watching as Golradir carefully cleaned and bandaged Legolas's wound. By the time he had finished, Legolas had fallen in a deep, healing sleep.

As Golradir stood to put his supplies away, Thranduil harshly grabbed him by the arm and pulled him aside. "Who did this to him?" He demanded. Whoever had hurt his son would pay for their actions.

"I'm afraid I don't know," Golradir's voice was soft, not wishing to wake the prince. "I was not there,"

"But you said you had spoken to him! Did he mention anyone to you?" Thranduil persisted.

"Well, there was this one man… a human…" He started, remembering seeing Legolas with him that very afternoon. "Aragorn was his name,"

"Aragorn?" If anything, Thranduil was more furious. "The descendent of Isildur, no less. I should have known". He turned to the rest of the elves, his guards. "Come, we're going to find this man and make him pay."

"Now? But it's the middle of the night! And what about Legolas?" Golradir looked at the sleeping figure.

"You will stay here and watch him, make sure he's alright. The rest of you come with me. I'm going to find that fool of a human and kill him for his actions!" Thranduil left with his soldiers, leaving Golradir silent, not knowing what else to do. He sat down next to the sleeping Legolas and watched him, wondering how he'd react once he woke up.

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A soft moan filled the room. Golradir immediately sat up straighter as his prince started to awake. Legolas gently stirred in the bed, slowly opening his eyes, not sure where he was. "My prince?" he said softly. "My prince, are you well?" The elf had been worried about Legolas since he had told him to return to the king. Now that Legolas was wounded, his worry for him had doubled.

Golradir leaned forward to aid Legolas in sitting up. The prince winced slightly, glancing down to notice the white bandage. "Are you alright?" Golradir repeated.

"I'm fine," he replied curtly, though he clearly wasn't. Legolas looked up, for the first time realizing that they were alone. "Where are the others? Where's my father?"

Golradir hesitated, "Your father, he uh…"

"What did he do?" Legolas looked around the room, no guards, no weapons, empty… "What did you do? What did you tell him?" panic and fear starting to grip him.

"Your father, went to find Aragorn," he said softly.

"What?" Legolas gasped, he pushed the covers back and stood up. "How could you tell him? Why?" He had to go after them. If his father found Aragorn he'd surely kill him. Golradir immediately tried to get Legolas to sit down.

"Legolas, calm down, please, you're injured."

"I can't be calm" Legolas looked furious. "I have to find them," He pushed past him, running towards the door.

"Legolas wait!" Golradir quickly caught up with him, grabbing his arm in hopes that he would not go any farther. "You can't go!"

"Excuse me?" Legolas replied incredulously. "I believe I give the orders here. Now you can either come with me and help me, or I'll go find them myself." He quickly turned and left without waiting for an answer. Having no choice, Golradir sighed and hurried after him. There was no way he was going to leave the prince to go out alone.

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Aragorn slowly walked through the streets. The darkness gave him no comfort, only loneliness. He couldn't help but feel a stab of guilt as he remembered the look in Legolas's eyes as he was on the ground. A part of him wanted nothing more than to take the elf into his arms and hold him until the tears left his eyes. Yet he couldn't understand why he was falling for someone who could kill without feeling remorse. He didn't even regret his actions! How could he love someone like that?

Suddenly he heard footsteps, many footsteps, and realized too late that he was being followed. He turned around, and to his dismay found himself surrounded by elves, all of them with bows and arrows pointed towards him.

He swallowed nervously, knowing there was no way he could fight his way out of this. "May I help you?" He stuttered.

One of them stepped forward, "I'm looking for a man named Aragorn," he sneered.

Who were these people? What do they want with me? "That would be me," He said uncertainly.

"I thought so," He quickly drew his sword and pointed it at the man's throat. Aragorn quickly backed away from the blade. "Who are you?" he demanded.

"I believe you had a run-in with my son," Thranduil said icily.

Aragorn's eyes widened in surprise. "Legolas is your son?" He finally understood. "I suppose that makes you the King of Mirkwood. Do you want me to bow at your feet for I never will,"

"No," Thranduil replied. "No, I want you to die,"

"Are you going to kill me? I should have expected this from Mirkwood." Aragorn scoffed, deciding to show that he wasn't afraid, "Your son is a fine representation of your realm. A killer, a cruel, heartless, killer."

"You shall not speak of my son in that way!" Thranduil yelled. This human was getting on his last nerve. His grip on the handle of the sword was so strong he was sure he was about to break it.

"If you're going to kill me, just get it over with and—"

"No!" They all turned to see who had interrupted them.

"Legolas!" Thranduil drew the blade from the man's throat and watched his son step between him and Aragorn. Golradir stopped besides Legolas. They were both panting and seeming out of breath, Golradir reached out an arm as if to steady his prince, but Legolas shrugged him off harshly. "What is the meaning of this?" Thranduil demanded.

"I tried to stop him, but he is quite stubborn," Golradir replied more to Legolas than to the king.

"Father, please don't kill him," Legolas whispered.

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't,"

Legolas remained silent. He tried to think of one, but he had none that his father would accept.

"Get out of my way." Thranduil pushed Legolas aside and raised his sword. Legolas quickly grabbed his father's arm, shaking his head, "Please don't, don't do this," He felt a strange feeling going through him, a feeling he couldn't quite explain. He just knew that he couldn't allow his father to kill this man. "Don't kill him,"

Aragorn stepped back from the frenzy, not knowing what to do.

Thranduil carefully observed his son. "Do you love this man?" He asked sternly.

Legolas's eyes widened. "No! No, no father, I wouldn't. You know I wouldn't, no…"

"Good…" Thranduil said softly, before looking at the nervous man and stepping forward. "Then you won't mind me killing him,"

Aragorn looked between the father and son, wondering if maybe he should try to run. Then he remembered the other elves had their arrows pointed towards him. He then noticed that Legolas had tears running down his cheeks. Why is he trying so hard so save me?

"Please, father, don't kill him. I've never asked you for anything like this my whole life, so I'm asking you now. Please don't kill him." Legolas begged his father. Thranduil looked at him, in wonder and surprise at how he could cry over this human. He looked at Aragorn, this man had tried to kill his son and Legolas was trying to save him! "No" he said softly, "No, Legolas, I'm going to kill him,"

Legolas slowly stepped back from his father, as if in acceptance, when he looked up his tears had stopped. Aragorn was sure that Legolas had given up, and that he would now die.

Legolas continued to back away from his father, closer to the other elves. Then he quickly pulled a sword from the belt of one the elves. As Thranduil turned his gaze from Aragorn to his son, he saw Legolas quickly bring the blade to his own throat. "Legolas, what are you doing? Put that sword down now!"

Legolas shook his head. "I'm not going to ask you again. Let him go!"

Thranduil immediately tried to step closer to his son.

"No!" Legolas shouted, "Stay where you are, or I swear I'll end my life right now."

"Legolas, no," Golradir started, but stopped when Legolas held the blade closer to his throat.

"Father please, I'm your only son, I've never asked you for anything…" Legolas said softly. "Is it really too much to ask for you to spare his life?"

"No son of mine would do this." He said anger dripping off every word.

"I'm sorry," He whispered.

"Let's go," Thranduil said to the others, and turned to leave.

"But wait," Golradir persisted, "what about the prince?"

"I said let's go!" He replied angrily.

Golradir cast one last look at Legolas. After offering a silent apology he turned and followed Thranduil and the other elves.

Legolas watched as they left him. He let the weapon fall from his hands as he dropped to his knees, softly sobbing, finally realizing what he had just done. How could he betray his own father like that? He looked up when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Aragorn slowly got down next to him. "You didn't have to do that," he said softly.

"I know, but I couldn't let him kill you," he said not meeting his eyes.

"So, what now?" Aragorn asked after an awkward moment of silence.

"You should go," Legolas whispered. "Before my father changes his mind."

"What about you? I can't just leave you here," Aragorn didn't want to leave the elf alone. He looked so broken and numb and lost.

"I'll be fine. You should go," Legolas repeated.

Aragorn nodded, before getting up. He started walking in the opposite direction of the elves. He looked back behind him at Legolas for a moment, before disappearing into the darkness.

Legolas watched him leave from his spot on the ground. He gently wiped the tears off his face before reaching for his abandoned sword and slowly standing up. He headed in the same direction as Aragorn, silently following the man with an unreadable expression on his face.

TBC