A/N: Hey people! Hope you're all having a good weekend.
. . .
I wake up every day planning to be productive, and then a voice in my head says: "Haha good one" and we laugh and laugh and take a nap.
~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~
. . .
Roger leaned on a white doorframe, just outside a small hospital room. The lights were dim in the hall: reserve power after the storm. The fluorescents flickered and snapped every few minutes. Two Marines stood at his side, standing guard. He wasn't particularly worried though.
Sterling glanced inside again, at his 'prisoners.' One was unconscious. Kristy on the other hand, couldn't be forced out if he tried, not without injuring her. It wasn't worth it. The thing was in a coma.
It looked like all this was for nothing, hunting him…supposedly the first of all these aliens. He was as good as dead now, most likely. She was still protective of him. She had some kind of bond with this creature. He could give her tonight for old times' sake. It was nearly morning.
Roger glanced inside one last time, before shaking his head, shutting the door and striding away.
Poor, foolish girl.
. . . . . . . . . . .
Beep…beep…beep... Dammit.
The noise hurt. Something hurt, anyway. Or maybe everything.
Things came to him slowly. The rasp of his own breathing, a bleeping monitor. He heard the murmur of voices outside, rattling wheels, wind whistling against glass. But more than that…the cool scent of familiar hair.
Legolas forced his eyes open a crack.
Fog, blur, and dark filled his vision. But then he glanced down. A sight matched the scent, butterscotch in the pale glow of a bedside monitor.
Hospital bed. That's what this was. Low, protective rails fenced them in. Legolas blinked. Kristy. She was curled up against him, fingers on his chest, head tucked under his chin. The weight hurt him a little when he breathed, but he didn't complain. She was warm. She was always warm.
What happened?
The field…Galadriel…the vision and everything she told him sank through his head very, very gradually. Legolas lifted his fingers, skimming them up Kristy's sleeve and around her fist. He almost smiled. So small…so tight. Her knuckles clenched white in his. Even asleep.
"Kristine…"
Yes, still asleep. Legolas tilted his head, somehow feeling it more than seeing. Blurred, foggy feelings hovered at the edge of his consciousness. It was worry, quiet worry, and sleep.
Hm. Strange.
Legolas glanced around as he waited. He could see the head of a Marine outside the hospital door, through a tiny window.
Armed Marine. Wonderful.
"Kristine." He traced circles on her fist with the pads of his fingers. It took all the strength he had, that gentle caress.
It took awhile. Her brows scrunched together and the fringe of hair hiding her eyes shifted. Her head lifted and she blinked.
"Why Kristine…" he whispered, straining to focus on her face and red, black-streaked eyes. "You look terrible."
At his faint, tired smile, she choked. "You're…you're awake."
Well, that was obvious.
"You're alright. You-" she gaped, breathing fast.
Oh no…
Kris' body tensed under his hands and she grabbed him in her fingers, like claws, grabbing him slowly, as if making sure he was real. She stared at him. He felt waves of distress from the creature. Yes, that powerful feeling was Kristine. He felt it and Legolas grimaced, unsure of how to respond to such a thing. This was much stronger than that of feeling another elf's fea.
Stars, what had Galadriel done?
"Are you alright?" he asked.
"Me?" she rasped, shattering his frown and grabbing him by the collar. "W-what the hell is wrong with you?" she gasped, and Legolas reached up, touching her face. She was shaking, beginning to hyperventilate. Tears streaked down her dirty face.
"Don't." He shook his head, which took effort. "Don't. Please. I have to talk to you…I-"
He didn't make it.
Kristy crushed her face in his neck and let out a gasping sob. He didn't know what to do. For some reason, the instinct to slip his hands around her didn't come to mind. It didn't feel right. He glanced down, and only because he wanted to comfort her, he stroked her hair.
"Please, Kristine, do not carry on so." He sighed, feeling suddenly weary.
"What's wrong with you? You-you nearly died. You did die! You were dead, and then you were breathing again, and-and…I-"
Legolas blinked. He died? Well yes, he did feel different. Tired, yes but…better, more like himself. He felt more in control. His feelings were more schooled and-and he could sense things. Yes. Not just Kristy, but the small fly on the window, the men outside, a nurse walking past. And then he was smothered in warmth again. He felt different. The air smelled odd.
But despite all the foreignness of the room, Kristy was still Kristy. Though her scent was stronger. And now, instead of seeing her, so used to that now, he could feel her as well. Her very presence. It was…it was soothing.
Strange.
"Where is Estel? And Tauriel?" He asked, letting her kiss his chest, his neck, bury her face against him, knot her hands in his hair. It wasn't particularly unpleasant. But it felt strange. He felt every brush of skin and he was hyperaware.
Or human senses had just been…dull.
"Where are they? Are they safe?" Legolas insisted.
"Th-they're with the car. I don't know where, but he has my phone. He-he said he'd find us when we needed to! I couldn't leave you. Y-you were dying, I-"
"Tis alright," he whispered, deepening his caresses. He massaged the back of her neck as she clung to him. He felt it help. He felt the ripples of calm trying to soothe her panic. But then, that gave way to the rest of what she was feeling and…oh. Yes, that feeling.
Sweet Manwe.
That feeling, it was overpowering. She was terrified, yes, but she-she… Legolas slid his eyes in her direction, even as the side of her face came against his, panting, desperate. Her cheek was warm.
"You...you love me," he whispered without realizing it.
Kristy instantly drew back, staring at him. The tears froze in her eyes, and her mouth hung open.
"You're in love with me. I…" He forgot to breathe and then had to take a quick burst of air. "Oh, I did not know." He spilled out. "I am sorry. I-"
Kristy just shook her head, letting her eyes narrow more and more. Confused.
"Kristine, there is something you should know." He said quickly, "Galadriel visited me, using her ring of power. She's done what she can to restore me, to what I was, so we may escape." Legolas explained. "I-I am changed…a little."
"What are you talking about?" she asked in a low voice.
Legolas didn't like that expression in her eyes. And he didn't like the feeling that replaced the last. This one was cold and guarded.
Maybe he could have been more tactful.
"There is something you should know, Kristine. About me. I-"
"You're dying." She said. Her expression melted. He saw emotion again. "I know. The doctors told me. Legolas, you mean she did this to you?"
"No, it would have happened eventually. A few years, I…"
"She did this to you. Legolas," Kris shook her head violently. "They said your body is h-hyperactive. It's like you're trying to fly and you can't. Your head is using three times as much of its capacity as its supposed to. Y-you're dying, and it's getting worse, and she did it to you. It's all her fault."
"She did it to save us." He insisted, capturing her neck so she couldn't pull away. "Kristine, we have to leave. Estel, Tauriel, I? We must leave now, before it's too late. The storms, Kristine, they are dissipating. They are unstable. Only with the power of Galadriel's ring will we make it through, if then. But we have no choice. It is try, or die."
Kristy shook her head, grimacing and trying to keep her eyes clear. "Legolas…"
"Try to understand, little one," he murmured softly. "It is time to go. Two days is what we have. The cabin, in the woods where I first came. Where all of us came. It is the link, the tear. If fate or just a cruel twist of chance brought us here, we must make it right again. Else all of Arda may fall."
"How do you know?" she kneaded his shirt without realizing. "I don't care what the damn book says. Someone else can kill the r-ring thing and the demon. Why you? Why now?"
"We must now."
She dropped her head and covered her face. It was too late to fall apart. It already happened. The instant she looked up and all that worry, all that fear…for nothing. When he was awake and looking at her; he wasn't dead! He was alive and breathing…
And he was leaving! Kristy couldn't put herself together. Not yet. She didn't cry, but she held on, panting, trying to. One night, one terrible, never-ending night and everything was wrong. She was going to lose everything. There was nothing to stop it.
"I can't lose you," she whispered into her hands. The night was so dark, so cold and lonely. "Not again…"
He dropped his head and caressed her cheek with his. The room was mostly dark, a couple hours before dawn. Once her face was safely in his neck again, the blankets stopped him from pulling her closer. No matter.
"Come here." He whispered and forced himself out of the sterile pillows. His fingers found her dirty jeans and pulled her underneath. There was nothing left to do, for a few brief moments, then stare down at her as she hugged him.
"How did you get in here?" he dared ask, glancing out the window to where, thirty stories below, lights struggled to flash. The hospital clothes were thin and under the warm sheets, all he could feel was Kristy's breathing, her ribs panting up and down mutely as he rubbed her.
So emotional.
"The hospital is full of p-people hurt in the storm." She mumbled.
"And Sterling let you in?" he pressed.
"No." She shrugged a little, still breathing down his chest. Something about the way her feelings shifted, she was guilty now. Legolas didn't press it.
"You do understand, don't you, little one," Legolas said, after he gave her a few minutes of quiet. He rested his head back in the pillows, stroking the nape of her neck with his thumb.
No answer.
"This must happen, Kristine. There is no other way."
Still nothing. Her body tensed.
"Kristine…"
"-Why are you calling me that?"
Legolas stopped. "What?"
She didn't move, fingers curled around his neck. Her voice shook. "Why do you keep calling me that?" she asked. "Kristine?"
He didn't understand. "I, it is your name."
"You know I don't like it, Legolas." She was breathing faster again. She was upset.
Legolas felt panic rise.
And then, he understood. He felt it through the link he shared now. She was feeling abandoned and cold. Yes. Somehow Kristy knew what he was feeling. Need, indifference, just a part of him…the part that was a warrior and wanted to go home. The part of him that had no room for a precious thing to hold. He was leaving her behind. And she didn't want that.
Kristy was love: sweet, precious, impulsive. She was confidant when he needed someone to talk to and didn't know it. She was power to build or break him down. She was lover. Kristine on the other hand, was friend, a friend who helped him when he needed it, a friend he had to let go, a girl he didn't want to hurt.
…He didn't want to think about Kristy. And he certainly didn't want to talk to her.
"Kristine," he said very, very softly, "There's no time for this now. We must leave this place and find a way to escape."
Kristy narrowed her eyes at him. "Escape. That's right, isn't it?"
"Krist-"
"If she's so goddamn powerful, why can't she help you? I mean really help you? Not just make everything worse!"
"She has helped me."
Kristy wasn't leaning up against him anymore. The white tracks on her dusty face were dry. She was sitting up now and glaring. "Oh really? How? You think you're going to be happy back there now? After everything you've done? Seen? Just-just…go back to the way things were?"
"Things are never as they were." He snapped, sitting up too. "I know that. That doesn't mean I can run from my destiny, either."
"That's exactly what you're doing! You're running. You think all this has-has happened by accident? That I found you? That we found Estel and Tauriel?"
"Galadriel sent us to them," Legolas said, even as he reached to the bedside and retrieved his shirt. It was a clean one; Kristy must have brought it. "Just as she sends us now. What else do you want me to do, Kristine?"
"I want you to have a choice." She spat, "She had no right to do this. If she has that kind of power, than she has the power to-to fix you, too. It isn't fair!" Kristy pushed off the bed and started to pace.
"There's no point discussing it."
Legolas tugged the strings behind his neck loose, yanking the hospital clothes down, before pulling the shirt over his head. Legolas raked his hands through his hair and slid out from between the sheets.
"Oh, right. That's the answer. Follow blind, run! Run home."
Legolas clamped his mouth shut hard, buckling his pants and pulling on boots.
She didn't understand.
"Well, you can't do it." Kris spun around and folded her arms. "I won't let you."
"It's not your choice to make," he said quietly.
"Fine! But I'm not helping you make it."
"Kristine-" he snapped, feeling a flare of anger.
She stepped in front of the door, narrowing her eyes fiercely. "She's forcing you and it isn't fair. You've fought everything else since coming here. Fight her! Not me."
"Don't you understand?" he spat, stepping forward to stare down in to her face. "No one is forcing me. I want to go home. I want…" he paused. "…to go home."
Kristy stared at him, breathing fast. She didn't say anything.
"It's what I wanted ever since coming to this God-forsaken place!" He shook his head. And because she was upset, he knew she wouldn't listen to anything else. Steeling himself, curling his fingers into fists, he asked. "Nothing's changed. What do you think could possibly make me want to live in this hell any longer?"
She looked at him. Her mouth moved, just a flinch…as if to say something. But nothing came out. Kristy stared furiously at the floor, before lifting her chin.
He thought she was going to step aside. He thought she was going to take his message and accept it.
But she didn't.
"Me." Kristy stared at him head-on and he felt her eyes burning into his. "I thought I changed that. I thought you might…have actually…thought twice…about leaving me here." Kristy stepped forward, glancing over his face, and she reached up.
Legolas flinched. Her fingers brushed his chin. Her eyes dropped to his lips. He felt her eyes soften; he felt the anger melt to the same…fathomless feeling. It was so alive and bright, the sensation burning fiercely into his own. He knew it was hers, what she felt for him. And it left him breathless.
"I thought…" she whispered, placing her fingers lightly on his cheek, staring at his stony mouth as if trying to decipher an impossible, angering puzzle. "I thought I changed that."
Legolas couldn't bring himself to answer... He just stared down into the glimpse of her face, as if he'd never seen it before. A part of him, a part that felt foreign and distant, like another man, was going to slip his fingers around her waist and tug her forward. That man was going to run his hands through her hair, because the feeling beginning to burn and swell inside him was…was insatiable.
But he wasn't that man anymore. He knew who he was, and what he wanted to be again. He was Legolas, Prince of Greenwood, and an elf.
"I thought so, too." He said softly, "Once."
Kristy didn't flinch. She didn't even blink.
"I cannot stay," he said softer yet. Carefully, gently, he brushed a stray strand of hair from her eyes. He tilted her chin back with a finger. "I cannot be what you need, Kristine. A safe place, a man. I am an elf. And I do not love you."
"Really?" she asked too quiet. Kristy looked up and she pushed her hands up from his chest and slid them behind his neck. She clawed his hair gently in fistfuls. "You really think that?"
Nothing.
"If you don't…love me," she said more fiercely. "Then why are you still here? Because you need my help? No."
"What are you talking about?"
"Why do you call my name when you're dying?" she hissed. "Dying? Why wasn't it Tauriel?"
What? He called her name?
Legolas shook his head, feeling panic and frustration rise. He pushed her away from his chest, stepping away. "I don't have time for this."
"Why do you bother?" she asked, staring at the place he was. Her hands dropped uselessly to her sides. "Why don't you just leave? Why don't you steal a car? You can drive." Kristy spun around. "Why do you care enough to make me understand a lie? If you don't love me?"
"It's not a lie." He spat, "You're deluding yourself. You're just a little girl with little girl fantasies. And I'm bothering making you understand because…because you helped me when I needed it. I want you to help me again."
"That's right! And what did I get for it? Nothing but pain and trouble."
"Then you shouldn't mind dispelling with that trouble. Now should you?"
"You know what?" she bit back. "You're right. I will help. I'll help get rid of you."
"Fine."
"Fine!"
Kristy shoved past him in an angry whirl and yanked the door open. And as she did, she grabbed a glass vase from the tableside. Legolas was confused. He almost stopped her, but there wasn't time.
"Hey! You-" the guard outside.
Before the words were out of his mouth, glass shattered over the hospital floor and a nurse screamed. The man crumpled to the floor.
Legolas stared in shock.
"What are you waiting for?" Kristy pointed to the elevator. "You're so anxious to leave. Come on!"
Legolas shook his head. Damn female.
"Roger is bound to have more guards downstairs."
Kristy stalked toward the waiting elevator. "Which is why we take the fire escape."
. . . . . . . . . . .
A/N: Thnx for reading, all! And for being patient through these long update gaps, too. I so appreciate your reviews. :))