A/N: Early update! :))
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We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars. –Oscar Wilde
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Moonlight flashed and stabbed through the pines like daggers. Legolas ran full speed. His feet were as fleet and silent as a wolf. Snow glowed white, hazy and alive. This was where he belonged. Running the woods, bow in hand.
Aragorn crunched through the snow, blade shielding his eyes. He heard their foul whisperings spitting in the dark...but he couldn't see. He couldn't make them out! Why was it so dark? The moon shone bright. Why were his eyes so dull? Legolas was running a perimeter of the property, trying to get an approximate on their numbers. He couldn't hear the elf…man's, he corrected…footsteps anymore.
Inside the cabin, Kristy fumbled with a box of bullets, loaded the pistol in her shaking hands, and jammed the rest in her pocket. Legolas said to guard Tauriel. That meant fighting whatever was out there. Right?
She didn't bother keeping the safety off. The weight of the gun felt good in her hands. It was familiar. It made her feel powerful. Her trembling fingers stilled and a surge of energy raced down her limbs. She strode to the door, cracked it open, and peered out.
A tiny gas porchlight hung overhead. All was quiet. The clawing woods past the yard threw long, scratching shadows waving slowly over the house. She felt every one, cold on her face. She peered into the barring line of darkness.
And it moved.
Kristy blinked.
Slowly, she latched the door tight and moved out onto the landing, butt of the gun on her shoulder, and she sidestepped her way to the stoop. What was that? Porch rails crept over her legs. She kept her fingers off the trigger, glancing to it constantly to make sure of it.
… And suddenly, just as she jumped off the bottom step and looked around, a hunched figure scrambled around the side of the house and flew through the snow straight toward the driveway. Kristy gasped. White flakes exploded behind desperate scrabbling, kicking legs.
"Legolas!"
A figure, definitely human leapt off the garage roof and crashed into a snowdrift. Kristy spun around. Aragorn. He rolled and absorbed the impact, snow flying, before chasing after the monster with a fierce cry. She just stared, wide-eyed. A guttural scream pierced the dark an instant later.
"Aragorn, what the hell are they?" she shouted.
Crashing blades echoed from the woods. Estel yelled something at her, but she didn't understand. It sounded like 'goblet'.
"Aragorn!" she insisted, stamping her boot. "You're fighting those things with a freaking knife?"
The only answer was a glimpse of silver bolting from the woods and Legolas ran full speed. A pack of black limbs and teeth were after him, waving beaten blades.
Suddenly, to Kristy's shock, he reached open ground and spun around. His whole body tensed, bracing himself. He was outside the porchlight though and she saw flashing blades, arms flying. He ducked and spun on one leg, driving his knife through a black knee, before spinning around and crossing blades through a throat. Steel flashed and throaty cries stained the white snow red. It made her sick. Limbs flew. Entrails landed in the snow.
"Legolas!" she exclaimed, staring at his silhouette in a new perspective… respect, she thought, or fear. She wasn't sure. But he was already up and running again. "What are they? Why are they here?"
He sidestepped and redirected his run toward the woman. As he skidded into the porchlight though, she saw the knives. His knuckles were bruised. He was panting. And the blades gleamed blood red.
"Goblins," he spat. Aragorn shouted something at him, and he spun around, scanning the trees. "Twenty! I -" and then he shook his head, repeating it in Westron.
"Goblins?" she interrupted, unconsciously grabbing the gun in her hands tighter. "Like real, real goblins? Real goblins?"
Legolas flashed sharp blue eyes at her. They pierced like arrows. "Why are you out here? I told you to stay inside and protect Tauriel!"
"She's plenty safe in there." She shot back, "Worry about yourself for once! What's happening here? Don't you see? What are they attacking us for?"
"I see perfectly, Kristine." He strode forward through the snow. Kristy scrambled back a step, suddenly terrified of the fierce, killer look in his eyes. That wasn't Legolas. Or maybe it was…? Maybe this was just a side of him that she'd never seen before. The side that beat up four men in an alley with his bare hands. "They are attacking because they seek to exterminate anyone different than themselves."
"But it doesn't make sense! They're dying and they're not running," she insisted. Aragorn was taking on three more in her peripheral vision. He was winning, too.
"Get inside, Kristy," he said. She was right, but it didn't matter. "I have no time for this."
The woman gasped, fuming, but she refused to move. Legolas was already turning away. He wasn't listening. Again. Well she sure as hell wasn't going to go hide under the bed. She was-she was going to-
Oh, damn that elf.
Legolas heard the sound a moment before he saw it. He was looking back, about to order her inside again. But he didn't make it. His eyes went wide. Run. Why didn't she run? Didn't she see it?
And suddenly, Legolas was throwing a blade over his head, blocking off an attack. He was boxed in. He couldn't move.
"Kristy!" he barked, hoarse.
Kris looked up at the sound. The first thing she saw was a surge of fear in his wide blue eyes. She saw it in the dark and it stunned her. That look was grossly out of place on Legolas' face.
"Get down!" he shouted. He twisted in and under the beaten, battered blades coming at him.
And suddenly, she spun around. Goblin. Kris threw her hands up instinctively and a black, scrambling shape careened down the roof head-first. It was coming so fast! It scrambled down the roof straight for her, blinking furiously and spilling drool.
A thousand memories flashed through her head. She remembered a mask, a smudged stocking-face, dark and a gunshot. She remembered that feeling of frozen terror, unable to move. Knowing you have to and you just can't.
But that's not what happened this time.
Kristy tripped and slammed on her back in the snow. She could see the gleaming yellow eyes and black nails clambering over the shingles. It was jumping! And suddenly, a sharp gunshot kicked her back a step. She almost fell, but not quite. She braced herself and a guttural scream pierced the air. The goblin tumbled head-over-heels and landed with a crunch in the snow.
In the same moment, Legolas yanked his blade out of the last of the orc pack. Aragorn looked up at the explosion. Blood slicked his blade red.
Kris stumbled to her feet, staring at the thing sprawled in the trampled snow. A goblin. What else could you call that thing? The sinewy arms sprawled in the snow, bald gray body in the porchlight. A long blade lay limp in dark flat fingers.
Legolas and Aragorn stared at the woman and the barrel in her hands. It was still steaming in the cold.
"Th-that's a goblin," Kristy said stupidly, eyes wide.
"Yes."
"Hah!" she looked up, a numb shock slowly rising up in her chest. She grinned. "And it's dead."
"Yes," Legolas muttered reluctantly, before sharing a look with Estel. "I told you."
"…a different place." Aragorn agreed.
"They are still coming in from the east." He and Estel took off into the woods. He refused to see if Kristy followed after. If she had that…weapon with her, it was her business if she wanted to be a fool.
They ran into another pack just further in the woods. Kristy chased after them as fast as possible in the trampled snow. Black shapes were leaping through the trees. She threw her head up and saw them jump from limb to limb, slipping and scrambling in the upper branches. They were retreating!
Or so she thought.
They broke into a glade where the trees were sparser, not far from the cabin. Legolas skidded to a halt and Kristy almost slammed into him. Ahead, Aragorn ran to a stop.
"W-what's the matter?"
Legolas back-stepped, staring wide-eyed into darkness. "That is the matter," he said breathlessly. That's when Kris saw it.
A roar shook the earth and she staggered back.
Boom.
The crash of a club on tree trunk smashed through the woods and an explosion burst from the earth in snowy white droplets.
"W-what's that?"
"A troll." Legolas growled in answer, before pushing her back. "Stay behind me!"
Kris didn't even protest. What the hell? It was huge! And it was stomping straight towards the cabin.
With a fierce battle cry, Aragorn ran forward and blocked a blow from the massive club. It sent him flying backward, but he absorbed the hit and rolled. Legolas was right after him, pulling the bow from his back. Kristy couldn't even see the arrows he let go until they were flashing and spinning through the night. Legolas was all grace and fury. If she wasn't so fixed on running full-tilt out of the troll's way, she could have just watched him.
"Get back to the house!"
"I will not."
Legolas didn't have time to fight over it. "Then make that weapon of yours useful!"
The first time Kristy shot the pistil, the goblins froze where they clung to the branches. She spun around behind a broken stump, hiding from the beast. Over the cries of the troll, she could hear their wild, frenzied snorts and whisperings.
She threw both fists into the air and aimed. Another gunshot brought down a screaming orc until it landed flailing in the snow. She was so intent, heart pounding in her ears, swiveling back and forth and shooting down bodies from the dark branches, she didn't even notice the flinching black eyes as they turned. The troll snuffled the frigid air, searching blind for the gunshots.
"Kristy!"
No answer. Just another goblin falling from the trees and Legolas pulled his arrow from the bloody ribcage in the dirt. He was nearly out, and he was cut off from her. He couldn't move.
"Damnit, Kristy! Answer me."
Aragorn appeared, the troll between him and the girl. A goblin dropped from the trees and Legolas –between dodging knives and flying entrails- saw it knock the gun out of her hands.
"Kristy!"
Just as it happened, the troll reached out a massive hand and grabbed her ankle. She landed with a yelp. Aragorn's blade slashed through the fleshy tendon in its heel, spraying blood, but not deep enough.
Legolas spun around. He heard her scream and she was upside down. The cry stabbed him like a blade. He couldn't move. She was going to die. Why didn't she listen? Why didn't she stay inside?
But the troll didn't crush her, it didn't throw or shake her…it just stared, grabbing at her as if to find the weapon she had. Legolas saw it in the snow. He was too far away to get it. His quiver was out of arrows.
"I will get it!" Aragorn shouted. "Catch her!"
Estel fought his way through the snow and squealing goblins. They were screaming in a frenzy and cheering the troll on. But Aragorn didn't have time to figure out how the metal thing worked. He looked up and shouted. "Kristine!"
She was still writhing in the troll's fingers, shouting curses that would make a dwarf blush. The monster stumbled through the woods, batting away trees and yrch in the way with a massive, scarred arm. Aragorn threw the gun at her and Legolas almost thought she wouldn't catch it. She wouldn't catch it...
She wouldn't fascinate the monster long enough. It would kill her. She'd die and it would be his fault.
But her fumbling fingers grabbed onto the barrel, still fighting upside down. Just as Legolas looked up, she forced her arm up and fired blind. More screams.
"Catch her!"
Legolas jammed his knife in the sheathe on his back and dove into a run. The troll threw her. Its head was partially blown away and Kristy was plummeting. He'd catch her. He wouldn't let her snap and break, smash into the ice.
And suddenly he felt impact.
Kristy's face slammed into his chest. Legolas was thrown to the ground and he landed in the snow, grunting.
The next thing he knew, he was staring straight up at the sky, gasping. Kristy was crumpled face down on his chest…and the moment Legolas realized it, he also realized she was shaking.
"Kristy…" he forced out, making his lungs work. In, out. Up… down. He was soaking wet and freezing cold, buried in snow. The goblins saw the troll crashing to the forest floor and they were retreating, hooting and screaming. Aragorn didn't bother chasing after them.
His ears rang and the world went quiet.
Panting, Legolas' fingers touched her hair, spreading his hands across her ribs. She was shaking so hard and her heart pounded so furiously, he felt it through the heat of her clothes. Her coat was gone. Kristy was trying to breathe and couldn't. She coughed violently.
"Kristy, talk to me," he said, lifting his head.
She gulped and swallowed once more, before dragging her head up, bracing her arms on his chest. "… I-I-I'm okay. I'm fine." Kris coughed deep down in her chest, before shakily peering up at him. Legolas winced. Her face was scraped and bleeding. She looked terrified and brave. And soaking wet. Legolas almost smiled. "Thanks f-for not letting me crash." She managed.
"Anytime." He lifted his knees, feeling her settle between them. Gods, she felt good here. And she was so cold. He could feel her body crushing him and warming him at the same time. Kristy looked over his wet face, his heartbeat fluttering fast under her palms.
"Hey."
He blinked. "What."
"I killed a troll." She sounded terrified and immensely proud of herself.
Why did she not get off him?Why didn't he make her? He just looked.
"I-it's dead, right?" she whispered a second later.
And suddenly, the trance was broken.
"Yes. Come on." Legolas forced himself to focus. They weren't sitting out in the snow all night. Not with orc in the woods.
Aragorn staggered sideways and strode over, before dragging his fallen sword out of the snow. "The goblins will not be scared off for long."
Kristy let Legolas up out of the drift and he shook himself off. Blood rushed from her head instantly and she staggered, dizzy. Kris wasn't going to make the damn elf catch her again, though. She forced herself to stay upright. Legolas was hitting the snow off himself and batting it from her shoulders.
"Come!" Aragorn grabbed the woman's arm and Kris stumbled. He looked around, scanning the moonlit trees, before dragging her back down the sharp wooded slope after him, with Legolas a step behind. "No time now. This place will be flooded with yrch before the moon wanes."
"We cannot leave!" Legolas protested. "What of Tauriel?"
"We take her with us."
It was just a half-mile before they skipped up a rise and the cabin appeared, nestled between hilly pines. Estel slowed his furious pace, clamping his unshaved jaw in a determined line. Suddenly, Legolas froze. The three were just above the homestead and Kristy twisted around as she ran, staring at him.
Legolas' eyes were ice blue. He was staring at the cabin like a cat after an angry mouse. He stood poised, coiled like a spring.
"Legolas…what is it?" she panted.
He didn't move. His fingers turned cold. Tauriel. "Did you leave the door open?" he asked quietly.
Her heart dropped into her stomach. "No."
"Legolas!"
The elf bolted down the slope, exploding snow behind him. Estel curled his fingers into fists, before taking off after him. Kristy almost cried, but nothing came out. She didn't forget it open. She didn't!
There was movement in Tauriel's window. Legolas ran full-speed. He didn't even hesitate. Pulling the blade off his back, he shielded his face and leapt through the glass. It was already cracked from the earthquakes and it shattered on impact. Legolas' boots hit the floor and a shocked hiss came from the corner.
"Get away from her!" he spat viciously.
The goblin looked up with fierce yellow eyes in the dark.
Legolas didn't wait. He jumped on the bed where Tauriel was stirring awake, vaulted over it, and thrust his knife through the goblin's throat. Black blood choked and spilled from pointed teeth, and then the putrid eyes rolled in his head and it collapsed.
"Tauriel…" he whispered, dropping the blade. His fists were stained with gore, cold and bloody, but he caught her face in his hands. She wasn't hurt. She was just jarred awake. "Can you hear me?"
"W-where is this?" she hissed, blinking furiously. Sweat still clung to her face, fever and fear. But she was awake. "What happened?"
"Your name is Tauriel," he panted, collapsing down beside her. He stroked her face, felt her shaking in his arms and her fiery, rumpled hair in his fingers, "…my dear Tauriel. You are safe. Do not fear. I know you don't understand yet, but do not fear and do not fight."
She shook her head, looking around the darkness wildly. Tauriel's mouth clamped tight and her eyes flashed like hot green fire. She was afraid.
"Your memory will return, I swear it. It is just…too much, too much for you to take in. Not now, right away. You-" He cut off, catching his breath, searching her face. She was unconscious again. Her eyes slit closed and she went limp in his arms.
Tauriel, sweet Tauriel, nearly killed because- because -
"… Legolas?" came a shrinking voice.
"You fool."
Aragorn stepped slowly into the room behind Kristy. The ranger kept back, noting the way Legolas' fingers covetously roamed the fiery locks of the captain's hair. He saw the raw, fiery terror in his eyes as he stared at Kristy, like a cornered animal. Time was short, but Estel didn't move.
"You nearly killed her!" he hissed venomously. "You said she was safe."
"I…I shut the door. I know I did."
"Goblins can open doors, fool of a woman!" he shot back savagely. The fury in his voice shocked him. Legolas didn't mean to put it there. But it was there and he couldn't take it back.
Kristy back stepped, panting. "I didn't know."
"You should have!" Legolas spat. "You should have obeyed me. You never listen. Never."
"I-"
Legolas cut her off. "The next time put your ownlife at risk, not hers."
"Legolas," Aragorn snapped. "Calm yourself. There is no time for this."
The elf whipped his eyes to Estel, remnants of panic and fury in that look. There was't time. Legolas knew that. And he didn't argue. He forced his head down, still holding Tauriel, breathing fast.
"Hurry." Aragorn looked between them. Kristy stared at him, panting. The static in the air eased a little. "Tell Kristy to pack her things." He told Legolas. "We are leaving."
. . .
Snap, whir… snap, whir… Aragorn stared through the windshield wipers. Snow melted down the glass.
"Do you know the way?"
Kris held onto the steering wheel in the dark. Aragorn was in the passenger seat. Legolas bundled an unconscious Tauriel in a heavy blanket, then into Legolas' arms. Kris glanced at the rear view mirror, at the ice blue of Legolas' eyes. He stared out the window into darkness. His eyes were like wet, bitter pools of midnight water. Empty.
The elf refused to interpret for him. So Aragorn let it go.
"Where are you going?" he asked.
Kristy didn't answer. But Estel had the sneaking suspicion she understood him and was simply too upset to answer. Another wave of orcs came down from the woods just as they were loading into the car. They barely managed to escape unscathed. Legolas already had his arm slammed in the door to crunch a goblin. It tried getting inside with them.
"Talk to her, Legolas," Aragorn muttered from the front seat. He stared at the road ahead, but the elf's eyes just turned harder.
Legolas wouldn't answer.
"At least tell her to stop this 'car' when she can." Estel said, "She is bleeding."
Still no answer.
"I am as well, Legolas, and so are you. Tell her…please. Talk to her."
The cold blue eyes shot a look at him, knowing exactly what the Dunedain was doing, before Legolas said flatly. "Stop the car when you find a place to acquire supplies, Kristine."
"Don't tell me what to do, highness," she growled.
Highness? "Do not speak to me like that, woman."
"Or what? What are you going to do about it?"
"I'll-"
"Legolas!" Aragorn hissed. "You are not a child."
A tense minute passed, Legolas fuming and holding Tauriel tighter against his chest. He was cold and damp, arms buried in the warm blanket.
"I'm getting out of these woods," she mumbled, mostly in Westron.
Ah…so she did understand. Aragorn thought as much.
They pulled into a grocery store an hour's drive south. Aragorn was nervous inside the car, but Legolas told him about it and he focused on bigger problems. The parking lot of the gas station was well lit.
Kristy got out, cast one look at the back of Legolas' head pressed against the window…and slammed the door shut.
"Legolas," Aragorn said. "Come with us."
Legolas' boots were propped on the seat on either side of Tauriel's, her head on his chest.
"You are brooding."
"I am not."
"Leave the captain here," Estel urged. "She will be fine. Come inside and get what you need."
"By asking Kristy?" Legolas snapped.
Kris was waiting on the curb with a hard, burned expression, arms folded. His words played over and over in her head…that fierce, burning anger. It was like he hated her and she couldn't forget it. Filthy damn elf, he had no right!
Aragorn didn't answer. But his gray eyes darkened. He stared at his friend and the woman clutched in his arms, before sighing and walking away. He left the door open.
The lights were bright inside the grocery store. Kristy followed Estel through and as they moved down the aisles, she walked so close, her hand brushed his with every step. Her fingers were shaking and no matter how hard she kept her mouth shut tight, it shook. She hit her face with dusty hands to keep tears from falling.
"W-we need food and some first-aid stuff," Kris mumbled.
"Legolas needs water," Aragorn added.
Nothing.
"Kristine?"
The woman wordlessly snatched a water bottle from the shelf.
Aragorn rubbed his unshaved face. This wasn't going to be easy. Maybe they'd simply have to sort it out themselves.
Outside, Legolas through the window as Estel appeared. With Kristy. She was bleeding and Aragorn took care of it. Legolas rubbed strands of copper hair in his fingers, staring through the glass.
"I don't need bandage or anything. Really." Kristy muttered, "I'm fine."
Estel ignored her, examining a jagged slash running up the inside of her arm. She winced as he cleaned it. He used a swab of alcohol and cotton.
"What about highness?" she muttered. "His arm was bleeding pretty bad, wasn't it?"
Aragorn glanced up. It was strange, the way she pieced bits of Westron into what she wanted. "Legolas' injuries are not serious."
"Yeah… I'll bet."
Kristy dipped her head to peer sidelong at him through a shroud of hair. He was still in the car, holding Tauriel, watching them. Watching. Why didn't he look away?Or come out here, snap, say something angry so she could fight back? Sitting in silence was killing her.
"He doesn't understand," Kris said finally. She didn't know why she couldn't keep it down. It just spilled out. "I try to talk to him sometimes and it's like he doesn't hear me. He wasn't always like that. And for days, all he can do is worry over Tauriel. It's like she's so tiny and fabulously beautiful, she needs him there doting on her and gazing her back to life every second of the day."
"Do not be so hard on him, Kristine."
"Hard on him? He's the one that-that-" she spluttered and broke off.
A few minutes passed in silence. And Aragorn chose to speak again. "He is not himself. My friend is changed some since last I saw him."
"Changed?" she repeated in Westron. Is that the word he said? It was hard to know sometimes. "Changed how?"
Aragorn just sighed. "He has lost much. You should know he meant nothing of what he said, in the woods." Then the man looked over to the car where he saw a glimpse of Legolas' stormy eyes, and he said more to himself than her. "It seems he has difficulty maintaining perspective. As if perhaps he cannot keep up with himself."
Kris stared at him. A long minute passed. She couldn't be sure if she understood or not. But instead of pushing it, she dropped her eyes. "How come she's so sick?" she muttered, fidgeting with her fingers. A cold night wind shivered through her thin coat, but she ignored it. She didn't want to go back to that car…with him.
"I-it's like she's in shock, or something, like him. You didn't, and you remember everything."
Almost instantly, Estel's eyes sharpened again and he snapped his chin up. "I…" he took a deep breath. "I am unsure. Perhaps because elves are immortal creatures, of magic and light." He glanced around. "I'm afraid there is little magic in this place. It is as if it's been…taken from them. I am mortal, you see, Kristine. I am of the Dunedain, not elves. I have only one lifetime to live, and one life to remember."
She nodded slowly. "I hope you do, anyway. If my government finds you, I don't think you'll have that either." Kristy cast one more look at the shadow of Legolas, letting fear, anger and a miserable tinge of remorse flood through her chest, before dropping her eyes.
"I don't know how we're going to get back to the city. I don't know how you're going to get back, or fix this or… or anything. I'm sorry, Estel. I'm so sorry."
Aragorn lifted a worn, tired hand and touched her arm. "We will find a way…if there be one."
Kristy nodded slightly, staring at her hands, before whispering. "Sure."
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A/N: Thank you for reading. Also! Apologies for spelling 'orc' as 'orch' the last chapter. I'll fix that. It looked right and I forgot to check with the book. :))