A/N – Thanks, Linilya Elf, for reminding me that something in my continuity was lacking.

Chapter 16 – Where Is Everyone?
Minas Tirith

Alma was out of breath as she rushed up the cobblestone roadway to the Citadel. When she entered the great hall, she could barely breathe.

Éomer and Faramir were conversing near the Steward's throne when they noticed Ariedel's handmaiden bent over in agony. They both rushed forward to aid her.

"What has happened?" asked Éomer.

Alma took a long gulp of air. "Anwar…"

"Legolas's daughter? What has happened to her?" urged Éomer.

"Gone…I…I cannot find her." Alma suddenly broke into tears between gasps of breath.

At that moment Éowyn rushed in, an expression of panic on her face. "Eldarion was not in his bed when I went to wake him."

Éomer handed Alma over to his sister and turned to Faramir. "They must be here somewhere. Does the son of Aragorn have places he often goes?"

"There are some that I know," replied Faramir. "I will call the guards."

Valinor

Eldarion knew they were no longer in familiar territory. Somehow or another, the winged metal beast they had hidden inside had taken them to a location that neither he nor Anwar had ever been before. When the sun had risen, he determined which way was east. With that in mind, he climbed one of the tallest trees and looked in that direction, seeing a large body of water quite a distance away. At first he thought the reflection of the sun played tricks on his eyes. But then there was no mistaking it. He only knew of a body of water to the west, having gone to the Grey Havens once with his father.

But he knew nothing of what lay to the east, much less if there was any water there. He was convinced that they had gone to the east, beyond even the Lonely Mountain and Rhûn. Not for a single moment did the thought of Valinor come to his mind.

"What business does my adar or yours have to the east?" asked Anwar. "And besides, how could we have traveled such a great distance in so short a time?"

At the moment they were continuing their trek in the direction they had last seen the metal beast fly. It had gone to the tall mountain in the distance. "If I knew the answers, then we would not be lost."

Anwar jogged forward as they reached what looked to be the crest of a hill and came to a screeching halt. "Eldarion, look!"

Eldarion came up beside her and looked down at what lay ahead.

Just beyond a smaller hill was a village comprised of several stone buildings of Elven architecture. A large fountain rested in the center of a courtyard.

Anwar turned to Eldarion with a smile. "They will have food and water."

Eldarion smiled in return. "Then let us greet the people and hope they will welcome us."

The two Elflings ran down the hill and over the next one. When they came upon the main road of the village, they slowed their steps and walked hand in hand.

"Do you notice something odd, Anwar?" asked Eldarion as his eyes darted left and right, inspecting the silent buildings on either side.

"Tis awfully quiet." Anwar figured it was mid-morning. There should have been some people about, some kind of activity. "Where is everyone?"

Eldarion began to notice other strange things. Various articles of clothing or personal objects lay strewn about doorways, as if they had been accidentally left behind. "This village is abandoned." He noticed a wagon with a broken wheel, left in the center of the road. "The people that lived here left in a great hurry."

Anwar tightened her grip on Eldarion's hand. The fact that these people had abandoned their homes in a rush left her with a frightening thought. What had forced them…an entire village to flee? "Could Orcs have attacked?"

"If that were so then these buildings would not be here. Everything would have been burned or demolished. Orcs destroy everything in their path and leave nothing standing. There are no signs of an attack. Something frightened these people into leaving."

Chills ran up and down Anwar's spine. But as frightened as she was, hunger soon took control of her thoughts when she spied a bakery. Without thinking, she released Eldarion's hand and rushed to the doorway.

"Anwar, wait!" yelled Eldarion before Anwar disappeared inside. He quickly scanned the area a final time before following Anwar into the bakery.

Anwar found bread still wrapped in cloth on a shelf. It was still soft. She quickly pulled pieces of it apart and devoured whatever she could fit into her mouth. When Eldarion entered, she tossed a piece of bread to him.

Eldarion sniffed the bread before he ate it. It was still fresh, perhaps only two days old. He glanced around the small room, recognizing it as a place where breads were sold. There were two tables with several chairs. On one of the tables rested a clay jug. He reached for it and gave it a shake. Something sloshed around inside. After sniffing the contents and realizing it was full of wine, he took a long gulp from it.

Anwar walked up to him. "What is in it?" she asked, her mouth still full of bread.

"Wine." When she reached for the jug, Eldarion pulled it away from her. "You are not old enough to drink wine."

"And neither are you," she countered and reached for the jug again.

This time Eldarion handed it to her and watched as she also took a long gulp. "If there is wine then there must also be water."

Just then a sound came from outside, followed by the crashing of something breaking. Both Eldarion and Anwar froze and then slowly walked to the window. Something caught Eldarion's eyes and he quickly pulled Anwar down to the floor.

Anwar frowned at him. "What are you doing?"

"Shhh." Eldarion slowly raised himself enough where he could peer just over the edge of the window frame. More crashes were heard from across the main road. But what caught his eye was something moving on all fours. It was black with a long tail and an extremely long head. At first he thought it was some kind of large lizard. But it looked as if it lacked any skin and its dark bones were visible.

Another one came out of the building where the crashing sounds had come. When the two creatures confronted each other, it was a duel over a basket, which they eventually tore apart.

Anwar could no longer stand the wait. She also raised herself up to see what Eldarion stared at. Her eyes narrowed upon seeing the creatures. "Are they Orcs?" she asked in a whisper.

"Like none I have ever seen."

Both of them quickly ducked back down when one of the creatures suddenly turned its elongated head in their direction.

(Ariedel's POV)

Ripley and I were making our way down a narrow dirt road. So far we hadn't run into any aliens along the way. I was actually itching to confront some, wanting to rip their hides to pieces with the pulse rifle slung over my right shoulder.

"Does he always try to prevent you from risking your life?" asked Ripley, breaking the silence.

I knew she referred to Legolas. She had been in the room when he tried to keep me from going out. "Most of the time, yeah." I sighed heavily. "He worries a lot. I suppose its justifiable. He was left without a mother at a young age. He doesn't want the same for our kids."

"So who was that woman I saw with Thranduil earlier?"

"Oh, well…that's Legolas's mother."

"So she's not dead."

"No."

"And she lives here, instead of the eastern continent."

"Right." I had a feeling Ripley didn't really understand why that was the case, so I felt compelled to explain further. "This continent here in the west is called Valinor. It's where the Elves come to live out their eternal lives. Kind of like holy ground. From what I've been told, many Elves who suffered great hardships sailed here to the west."

"I can understand needing to find peace after suffering a hardship. But why leave behind your family, those you love?"

"Good question. In truth I never knew Legolas's mother was even here. He hardly ever talked about her. I'm thinking either because it hurt too much to talk about her or that he was so young when she left that he hardly remembered anything about her. When this is all over, none of us that came on the Dropships will be allowed to remain here."

"Why is that?"

"Only Elves are allowed here."

"So that rules you and Aragorn out, right?"

I frowned a bit, remembering that I would not be allowed to sail here if Legolas ever decided he had had enough of Middle-Earth. Would he leave me behind? Would he take the children with him, leaving me to die alone? Somehow I didn't think he'd do it.

"What about Thranduil and Legolas? They'll have to leave too?" she asked.

"Traditionally, Elves can only come to Valinor by sea. This planet has a lot of strange customs."

"But then again so do some of the races that came from Earth. If you've been to any of the outland colonies, those that are really far out there, you'd know what I'm talking about."

"I've been to some, mostly while I worked at Lifesource. But that was over a decade ago."

Ripley gave me a crooked smile. "You were a bug hunter?"

"Yeah, imagine that. Incidentally that's how I ended up here on this planet. I was pursuing a drone, who happened to have an egg. Well, you can figure out what happened next."

"The aliens multiplied."

"Legolas single-handedly killed the queen and whatever was left of the horde after we fought them when they attacked. He was hurt pretty bad so I took him to Gateway."

Ripley laughed softly. "Good old Gateway. Great memories from that place," she added sarcastically.

"It's no longer there," I told her.

"I know. I read about what happened."

I decided not to bring up the fact that Legolas and I had been there before the USCMs destroyed it. Maybe she knew and maybe she didn't. I didn't know how much information Freak might have passed on to her. It wasn't important anyway. The station became infested with aliens because of a greedy director. Legolas and I had nothing to do with it.

"You miss technology? You know, plumbing and ovens that cook in three seconds?"

I laughed. "Plumbing. Now there's something that's lacking around here. Flushable toilets. And showers. Oh God, the kind that washes and then dries you."

Ripley laughed again.

I studied her as she laughed. She was human afterall. And she was actually attractive when she smiled. I still wasn't sure what to make of her. Her presence had disturbed me when I first met her on The Rebel. I wanted to trust Ripley and that's the reason I decided to team up with her, to have an opportunity to feel her out. Something about her continued to leave me uneasy. It wasn't because she was a clone, I could live with that. But the idea of her having alien traits was bothersome. Her blood was red, Freak told me, but it burned like acid. What else was alien about her? "Can I ask you a personal question?"

"How about you ask it and I'll let you know if I can answer it?"

I wasn't sure why I wanted to ask her such a question. It wasn't anything I was that concerned about. "How is it that you have memories from…you know?"

"You mean before I was cloned?"

"Right."

"I didn't in the very beginning. Then as time passed I began to remember who I was, the things that happened to me. I didn't understand it fully when it was explained to me, but they told me that remnants of certain brain activities were passed on to me. All this from just a single drop of blood. Hard to believe, isn't it." Ripley looked away.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable."

"I'm not uncomfortable. I'm just listening." She looked to her right. "If we head that way we'll run into a couple of them."

(Legolas's POV)

I waited until I could see their black heads emerging from the bushes below. Glorfindel was crouching on the branch directly above me, in the tree we had chosen to use as our scouting perch. Two more steps and three aliens were in full view. "Now!" I dropped from the branch and landed in a crouch, remaining in that position. The startled aliens hissed and moved forward. I raised my pulse rifle and pressed the trigger, spraying dozens of projectiles at once. Screeching filled the air as the aliens were torn apart.

Glorfindel landed softly behind me and fired his pulse rifle over my head. Together we slaughtered the dozen aliens that had been lurking in this small section of forest. When nothing else moved, we stopped firing.

I stared ahead and reached my senses out, feeling for any others that might still be hiding. "No others approach."

We made certain that those lying on the ground were indeed dead before we moved on through the forest. The sound of birds chirping lightened my mood. There had been none when I had sensed the approaching aliens. Now that the threat was removed, the birds had returned to sing.

I turned to glance at Glorfindel, the infamous Balrog Slayer. Stories of his countless accomplishments even reached Mirkwood back in my younger years. I had only met him once when I attended Lord Elrond's council during the discussions of the One Ring. He spoke highly of my grandfather, telling me that he had fought side by side with Orophor. The thought of my grandfather brought a twinge of pain in my heart. Why had Orophor not appeared to greet me or my father? Although I was afraid of the answer, I asked the question nonetheless. "Tell me something, Glorfindel. Where is Orophor?"

Glorfindel halted his steps and I turned to face him. "Do you truly wish to know, Legolas?"

The expression on his suddenly solemn face told me all that I needed to know. But I think that I had known it all along. I could not remember my grandfather's face for I was but an infant when he left Middle-Earth. So many faces had I seen in the visions projected to me by the aliens. One of them could very well have been Orophor. "Aye, I wish to know."

"Your grandfather sacrificed himself so that others could flee."

I swallowed the lump in my throat, pondering my grandfather's noble act of selflessness. I made a mental note to remember to tell my father when next I saw him. Thranduil would be proud to know that his father was not such a selfish tyrant afterall.

When Glorfindel resumed walking, I fell into step beside him. "You are lucky to have a wife such as Ariedel," he said. "She is righteous and spirited."

I smiled at the mention of my beloved and glad that Glorfindel chose to change the subject. "She is that indeed."

"You could have gone with her instead of me?"

I shook my head and continued to smile. "The fact is, her presence is a distraction to me. Besides, she is a formidable fighter. We fought Orcs together many times, when they were still a threat. Her abilities are never in doubt."

"Then why did you not want her to fight now?"

I frowned at the question. Why indeed? "Orcs are one thing. But these alien creatures…they are…" I searched for the words to describe what I felt. "I truly fear them. Even more than the Balrog we encountered in the mines of Moria. I fought them once with just my bow and my knives. And now, despite these modern weapons, I still fear every single encounter."

"Your fear is justifiable, Legolas. They are unlike anything anyone of us has ever encountered. I have heard that the way in which they multiply is loathsome and I hope I never have to experience it. Tis the worst kind of torture for any being of this earth."

"Aye," I said quietly, recalling the few times I had actually witnessed the birth of the creatures from the chests of those that had accompanied me to the horde from Minas Tirith so many years ago. "I have seen it firsthand. Once a creature has started to break through, there is nothing anyone can do to save the victim. Except perhaps to end their life quickly before they feel the ensuing pain of their chest being ripped open from the inside."

Glorfindel nodded in sympathy. "Let us find more to kill and rid ourselves of them."

We took up a steady jog through the forest along the base of Mount Taniquetil and continued on until we heard something strange. Someone was singing and it sounded like a child. Glorfindel and I rushed forward toward several bushes and crawled behind them until we were closer to the source of the sound.

I slowly parted the leaves and peered out. Several feet away, in a clearing and sitting together near a grouping of rocks, were two Elflings with dark hair.

"What do you see?" asked Glorfindel.

"Two male Elflings."

"Alone?"

I glanced around the immediate area. "Aye. I see no one else."

"Let us take them back to Ilmarin."

I grabbed Glorfindel's arm before he could move further. "Nay, something is not right." Glorfindel gave me an odd look. "We are near the human base that Freak spoke of. I sense something amiss here. Go back to Ilmarin and return with Freak."

"And you?"

"I will remain here until you return, to make certain the Elflings are not attacked by the alien creatures."

Glorfindel placed a hand on my shoulder. "I will return swiftly."

I watched Glorfindel crawl away and when he was far enough, he stood up and ran. Then I turned back to look through the leaves of the bushes. The two Elflings continued to sing, each taking a turn. I could not shake the feeling that there was something oddly familiar about them. Their voices sounded as identical as they appeared. They giggled when one could not remember the words to the song. What were they doing out here…alone? Where did they come from?

"Who do you suppose will come for us?" asked one.

"Perhaps with luck, it will be our adar," said the other. (father)

I frowned at the familiarity of their voices and delved deeply into my mind, trying to recall where I had heard them. Without thinking of the consequences, I decided to approach them, even though I had told Glorfindel I would wait until he returned with Freak. As I stepped through the bushes and stood up in the clearing, the two Elflings jumped and turned in my direction.

"Legolas?" uttered one.

I was surprised to hear my name coming from a child I did not know. "How do you know my name?"

The one who spoke first stood up. "I am Elladan."

The other stood up. "And I am Elrohir."

I stared at them with my mouth open. How could these children possibly be the twins I had known all of my life? It had to be a trick of some kind. I could not believe it so I halted my steps, cautiously glancing around. There was no sound except a strange humming. I continued to feel that something was not right. Even the air around me felt wrong.

"I know we do not look as we did when we last parted, my friend," said the child who called himself Elladan.

"You cannot be who you say you are. I saw Elladan and Elrohir die by the hands of an alien creature." Even as I tried to convince myself that they were not my long time friends, I wondered why these children would say such a thing. What did they have to gain from this lie?

The two Elflings shared a glance and the one who called himself Elrohir spoke next. "Although we do not understand the meaning, we have been told by our new friend Jordan that we are a product of the original. Our memories come to us randomly. We immediately recognized you, Legolas. Why are you here in Valinor?"

"Did you sail here alone?" asked the other. "What has happened to Ariedel?"

The mention of my wife's name brought a lump to my throat. How did they know of her? I glanced toward the area behind them, looking for anything that might prove that these children before me were illusions…perhaps a figment of my imagination. Things were not as they should be and the sense of my impending doom quickly emerged in my mind.

"He said someone would come for us," said Elrohir.

I turned back to the twins. "Who said?"

"The man who brought us here," replied Elladan.

There was a sound behind me and before I had a chance to turn, something struck me on the back of the head. The excruciating pain blurred my vision and I fell forward.

"You said you would not hurt anyone," said one of the twins.

I tried to get up, but found that my strength had left me and I slumped back down. All I could manage to do was turn my head to see a pair of dark boots in front of me. The owner of the boots crouched and I could barely make out his face as my vision soon began to fade.

"I lied," he quietly said.

That was the last thing I heard before blacking out.

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