Story Name: Echo of the Night: What if?
Pen Name: ElenaRoan
Disclaimer: Don't own any of them, written purely for enjoyment.
Rating: M
Warnings: DEATHFIC!
Summary: What if Legolas and Aragorn didn't return to their homes in time during Echo of the Night?
Betas: Geris (Grammar and Spelling), Michelle (Comprehension)
Timeline: III 2991 (Aragorn 60 years old)

Prologue: Delays

"You are leaving?"

"Yes," the ranger stated calmly, "I need to go home."

"Why?"

"Just a feeling that I need to be there."

"Oh." The other ranger looked disappointed.

"What is it?" Aragorn asked, his grey eyes piercing the other.

"I was just hoping I could ask you to take a look at something with me. It is not far, only a day there and back, but if you must leave immediately then I can ask another."

Aragorn frowned in thought. He took his duties with the rangers seriously and if the other ranger wished him to look at something then it was likely that it required skills that he was considered the expert in. The feeling that he needed to get home was nagging at him, he could tell the other that he would take a look when he returned. But what was a day? He could take a look, then go; the other rangers could carry on with whatever was found while he journeyed home to find out why he needed to be there.

"I shall delay my departure until I have looked at what you have found."

"Thank you."

---

"Everyone is exhausted, it is time to head back and send others out here." The voice was soft, weary.

"We have nearly broken this nest, caun nín (my prince)," the voice of his second replied. "Let us break them, then head back. Our replacements will have an easier time removing then. If we leave now the spiders will have a chance to regroup and recover."

Legolas nodded tiredly, his instincts warring inside of him. "Very well," he stated softly, ignoring the instinct that told him to go home immediately in favour of the warrior's instinct to break their enemy. "But we shall return home tomorrow regardless of whether we have broken their strength or no."

The trip home would take until near sunset, if they left immediately, regardless, they would only arrive a day later and would hopefully have more to show for the delay. They would leave at first light the following day and use the day they had ahead to do as much damage as they could to the dark spiders that infested their wood. While it was true that they may take injuries during the day they remained, that was true of any time they left the fortified palace to carry out a patrol, particularly in this region of the forest. One day this time would make no more difference than at any other time.