Scars- Chapter 28- Faithful in Adversity

Disclaimer: This story is being written for enjoyment only. I do not own any of Tolkien's characters.

Authors Note: Thank you all once again for your continued kind words and support, especially those in regard to Chapter 27. Well here is Chapter 28. I hope you enjoy what follows.

Legolas was only to be startled further when his hands came in contact with what felt like an arm instead of the firmness of ground he expected. In his growing excitement his hands rushed over the folds of fabric, which covered the unmoving muscles to find the shoulder attached until at last he was rewarded when his hand closed about a long fall of hair.

"Sweet Elbereth!" He muttered in anticipation as he frantically pushed himself into a sitting position, so he could gather up the inert form beside him. Then turning the body over towards what little light the moon above provided him, tears sprang within his blue depths while his throat tightened with emotion. For the sparse light from above revealed to him that he had at last attained his long sought after goal, and that it was indeed Aragorn, whom he now held within his shaky embrace.

But as these moments of final determination grew worn, Legolas' initial joy at rediscovery gave way to horror as the moon's pale cast served to further illuminate his friend. Numerous hurts covered Aragorn's broken and bloodstained body.

"No! No! What have they done to you?" The Elf cried out.

Moving tremulous hands over Aragorn's injured frame, Legolas desperately began trying to check the flow of the life sustaining fluid, still oozing from his friend's many wounds. His hurried efforts had little effect. Aragorn, like a discarded rag doll, lay lifeless within his embrace, unresponsive to his friend's continued ministrations and his frantic attempts to draw the Man out of this unconscious stupor affecting him. Legolas' tense fingers at last reached towards the crook of the Ranger's throat searching for some sign of hope in the midst of all this misery that surrounded him.

Moving his seeking hand away from Aragorn's body, Elladan allowed it to drop to his side in futility. Bowing his head in utter resignation, he at last accepted what these past few hours, spent in ministration, had been relaying to him. Aragorn was slipping further from this life.

Except for the initial acceleration of his youngest brother's heart rate, whenever the Elf's searching fingers met with Aragorn's flesh, the Human's pulse was growing steadily weaker and more erratic. The muscle, which governed the chambers of the Ranger's weakening heart, would not be able to keep up with such an incompatible rhythm for much longer before failure would begin to set in. Death was near. Its lurking shadow hovered above them, threatening to draw its heavy mantle down upon his brother no matter how steadfast Elladan's attempts were at keeping its encroaching touch at bay.

Even the incognizant Legolas seemed to recognize its impending doom, as Elladan noted the archer's once lax grip, encircling Aragorn's forearm, grow more fervent in its claim. It was as if the Silvan Elf was wrestling with death for custody of his friend.

Legolas' shaking hand dropped from the crook at Aragorn's neck to rest upon his friend's chest feeling its weak rise and fall. The Elf's bright eyes registered the grim situation now facing him as he looked back towards the Ranger's face in despair. The waxen mask of death was settling over Aragorn's once youthful features.

"No! Please do not let this happen!" He beckoned to the Man. "You must live, mellon-nin! It is not your time! Do you hear me, my friend?" The Elf finished brokenly as tears of torment replaced his earlier tears of joy.

Lifting his gaze towards the starless heavens above him, the archer's hands tightened into fists of rage as his anger and frustration with what was happening took full rein. "You can not take him! Do you hear me? I will not let you have him! It is not his time!"

Sobbing now, Legolas dropped his head back towards his friend's as he gathered Aragorn still further into his embrace. Wiping his tears against the Ranger's dark mane, he whispered roughly. "It is not your time, Estel. Fight this! Do not leave me!"

Yet the Human remained unresponsive to his friend's fervent pleas.

Legolas, however, was not to be deterred. And rejecting this useless despondency settling over him, he took hold of one of Aragorn's cold clenched fist and began once again attending to his friend. Briskly rubbing the lifeless forearm above it, he hoped to renew the flow of blood back towards the Ranger's chilled extremities, left bereft by the shock assaulting his system.

"No! No!" He continued arguing. "Do you hear me? I will not allow this to happen! I will not give in so easily to this dark fate. If you cannot defend yourself against it, mellon-nin, then I shall fight for you!' Legolas asserted as he reached to take hold of the Ranger's other clenched hand to repeat the process, hoping somehow to instill within his friend whatever healing capabilities he, himself, could muster while reawakening within the Man some last vestige of his once indomitable spirit as he still clung to life. "You shall live, Estel!" the archer vowed. "I shall see to it!"

Elladan realized he should awaken Elrohir now to allow his twin the time needed to say his final farewell to their brother, for there were Aragorn's fellow Rangers to think of too. They would want time to gather around their Chieftain to make their last goodbyes. Yet as the raven-haired Elf readied to stand, he could not make move. It was as if he were suddenly cast into stone, though he knew that such a supposition could not be possible, for at this very moment the heart, beating within his breast, was shattering with grief. Looking up towards the darkened heavens above him, he spoke out his lament.

"I am not ready for this! I am not ready to make my goodbyes! Please…please do not take him from me! There is still so much left for him to do…so much left for me to say…Do not take him away so soon…"

Dropping his head in despair, the Elf repeated again. "I am not ready…"

Yet instead of receiving some supernal response to his mournful appeal, it was his father's voice which gave answer to his distress.

"What do you wait for? Do not lose this chance. Go to him…Seek him out, Elladan. For now is the time! Do not let it slip away from you…"

Sputtering with emotion, Elladan answered. "I have waited too long, Father! I have lost the chance! It has slipped away! All is lost now…. For he leaves this life behind him believing he has failed me, and my last words to him were spoken in anger…."

"There is nothing lost, Elladan, that cannot be found…" Elrond's calm voice reassured. "For nothing is ever lost while love still abides. Let go of these scars which haunt you, my son. Cast off their stifling restraint! Go to him now…speak with him, for he will surely listen…He loves you deeply, more than words could ever convey. Allow this healing to at last take place."

"But I am not worthy, father…I have waited too long…" Elladan responded to the Elf lord's final entreaty while lifting his troubled countenance to seek out his father's comforting presence. Only the still darkened vista greeted his mounting gaze, as the Lord of Imaldris was nowhere to be found. Yet Elladan's breath hitched deeply within his throat as another sight greeted his searching stare instead.

"No, it can not be…" He muttered in disbelief, as his startled gaze took in the long, narrow stalks swaying before him in the night's chill breeze, while humbled heads of white stood out in stark contrast to the inky blackness enveloping them.

"How?" The Elf exclaimed at last when he could find his voice, though he knew that such an unexpected manifestation was not totally impossible even this late into the autumn.

"But here, in the middle of the Wild?" He muttered unbelievingly. "It cannot be so. It is the stress of the moment. Yes, I have gone too many hours without proper rest, while I've worried over those, who still suffer. For this is not possible… not here, not now…not so deep within the hinterland." The Elf responded.

Then moving his balled fists towards his tired eyes, he tried to rub the disturbing apparition away. But when he looked outward towards the horizon once more, what he had witnessed short seconds earlier was only to be reaffirmed as his heart quickened within his breast.

Though plentiful throughout Middle Earth, seldom if ever was such a sight to be found so deep within the Wild. Only one other time had he come upon such a startling spectacle. It had been the winter following his brother's attack. He had been tracking an errant Estel.

The boy had gone missing, or so he had thought for few words had passed between the two of them as Elladan kept his distance. He had become a stranger in his brother's life, listening only from the sidelines, watching only from the shadows. He could not bring himself to reconnect with the child, to forgive the crimes he believed committed.

"But you were not missing, were you? You struck out deliberately." Elladan spoke out at last.

Later on, his father would identify Aragorn's impulsive journey, out into the hinterland, as a quest towards healing, though this latter estimation had done little to ease the fiery tensions and fears that plagued his own soul and the rest of the household while the boy went missing. The signs leading up to his brother's reckless pursuit had been unmistakable when looked back upon in hindsight, though no one had picked up upon the importance of his activities until Aragorn's disappearance was discovered. For the boy had pushed himself mercilessly, during the months preceding, to recover the strength and mobility lost to him during his attack. He drilled himself relentlessly in the skills and the lessons imparted to him by his brothers and Legolas. His solitary excursion, out into Wilds of Eriador, had been an attempt to accomplish the same merit for his beleaguered and troubled spirit. He had set off to confront the demons left plaguing him.

"Once more you make ready to set out alone …" Elladan finished gruffly. "Only now you go where I cannot follow…. Do not leave me, Estel!" He beckoned fervently.

Moving his troubled gaze back towards the unexpected vision which had greeted him only precious seconds before, Elladan whispered breathlessly. "Is this some sign from our past history? Is this the Valars' attempt at answer to my prayers?" The Elf questioned.

Then turning back to his brother the Elf reached out to quickly take the Man's limp hand between his own two, holding onto it now for dear life. "Galanthus, Estel! It is here before us!" Elladan beckoned urgently. "Its fragrant white carpet covers the terrain, much the same way it did over…" The Elf's voice broke for he could not continue on, though his mind traveled back to reclaim the memory.

With his back turned to his younger twin, Elladan finished reloading the supplies he had used the previous night.

A few minutes earlier, riders from Rivendell had entered their camp carrying dispatches from their father. Believing these documents to contain an update on the pockets of subversive activity thus noted since their departure three weeks prior, Elladan called out to his brother as he loaded the last of his belongings into the leathered skin satchel beside him.

"What does Father write, Elrohir?"

A long, uncomfortable silence followed his inquiry. Turning impatiently towards his twin, whom was known for the lavish amount of attention he paid towards their father's discourses, Elladan was unprepared for the look of shocked disbelief that filled his brother's now pale countenance.

"What does Father write?" Elladan pressed onward, this time more urgently, unable to the control the tremor of uneasiness which accompanied his words.

"Estel…"

"Yes, Estel?" Elladan answered, his heart now in his throat, as he took in the look of anxiety filling his brother's grey depths.

"He has left Imladris. He is missing…."

After long minutes spent in ceaseless ministration, Legolas finally drew halt to his continued attempts at revival. Aragorn's flesh remained dangerously cold beneath his touch revealing the Ranger's grim circumstance.

Staring outward towards the gloomy vista, which threatened to swallow them up, Legolas spoke out. "No chance at recovery is possible within a land that only speaks of death. I must get you away from here, Estel, if there is to be any hope. Hold on, mellon-nin!" The Silvan Elf asserted as he struggled to stand.

Lifting his lifeless friend with him, he endeavored to examine the hostile terrain, which stood between them and the distant horizon he had left behind him. Then pushing his own injury laden body forward, the Elf took the first of many shaky steps needed as he embarked upon the perilous journey back towards what he believed might be Aragorn's only chance at salvation. Legolas' determined gaze was so focused upon what laid ahead of him, that the Elf failed to notice the small shower of white that had fallen from Aragorn's weakened grip when he had lifted the Ranger upward, drifting lightly downward to remain upon the forsaken landscape they were leaving behind them.

TBC

Author's Closing Notes: Well if you've reached this point, then thank you for reading Chapter 28. I hope you enjoyed it. I also hope the constant back and forth didn't prove too confusing, especially with all the changes in font. I was trying to separate the present (story time), with Legolas' other world experience, and finally Elladan's flashback. Gee just writing all of that sounds confusing enough. Lol!

Thank you all once again for you kind and generous words in regards to my story. Congratulations, Nerfenherder! I hope the conclusion of this story comes before the birth of your next child. :)

For those of you following Never Alone , I hope to update it soon.

Until next time! Sue a.k.a. Quickbeam1