Aragorn
Aragorn fought the urge to call his Ada. Elrond would be back to check in on Legolas in a few hours. Legolas wasn't in any imminent danger, but Aragorn was still deeply worried. His friend didn't even seem to hear him. He wasn't asleep, but seemed completely disconnected.
He watched Legolas for hours, but there was no change. When Elrond finally came back with a plate of food, Aragorn leapt up to speak to him quietly in the corner. "He won't move or speak, Ada. He doesn't react to anything I do. I can't tell what he's thinking, but I'm sure it can't be good."
"Give him time, Estel. Bringing back that memory the way we did makes the trauma fresh. If I'd known what had happened, I never would have agreed to make him that potion."
Legolas didn't seem to notice their conversation, nor when they approached with a tray of peeled grapes. "Here, let me help you sit up." Aragorn put his arm under Legolas' shoulders, but the elf was completely limp. He flopped like a rag doll as Aragorn positioned him upright against his headboard.
Aragorn sat next to him and took a grape. "Open up, mellon nin."
Legolas turned his head away. Aragorn had been expecting trouble eating and wasn't discouraged. "Come on, gwador, just a few grapes, then I'll leave you alone."
No response.
Elrond tried. "Legolas, you must eat. Come now, let us help you."
Still, no response.
Aragorn tried to gently place the grape in the prince's mouth, but he clamped his lips shut. "Legolas! Please, don't make this difficult."
No matter how Aragorn pleaded, or what vile concoctions Elrond threatened him with, Legolas would not eat. In a fit of frustration, Aragorn even tried to pry the prince's mouth open and force the food into him. That got a reaction. Legolas fought fiercely against him. It was only the panic in the elf's eyes that convinced him to stop.
Eventually, Elrond sighed. "I will come back in a few hours. Please, Legolas, you need to eat. Think about it."
Aragorn knew that Elrond could force Legolas to eat if necessary, but it wouldn't be pleasant. With memories of a horrendous assault fresh in the prince's mind, he was loath to force any kind of physical contact on him, even if it was to ensure he didn't starve. He knew his Ada felt the same.
He lay back down beside Legolas, trying to think of what he could do. There had to be some way to get through to him. Unable to stand the silence, he hummed Thranduil's lullaby, and when he tired of that, he talked to his friend.
He reminisced about some of their crazier adventures, and reflected on how many times Legolas had saved his life. He couldn't tell if the elf was listening, but he kept at it. Aragorn listed every positive thought he'd ever had about the prince, trying to assure him that he did not need to make himself perfect, because he was already all that he needed to be.
The sun was setting by the time he got a reaction from Legolas. "Stop." The word was whispered, but they were close enough that Aragorn had no problem hearing.
"Why?"
"It hurts. Please, don't parade my fallacy in front of me anymore."
"What are you talking about?"
Legolas turned anguished eyes to his. "You think I don't know what I've done? I've spent centuries convincing you all that I'm someone worth saving, someone who deserves your love and devotion. Not only am I broken, but I am a liar too."
"No, mellon nin, please, don't think that of yourself. Every word I have spoken is the truth. You are worth everything to me."
"I am not! Stop this, Estel, just stop it! You don't know what they did to me… that day, I was broken, spoiled. You don't know…"
"Then tell me."
He couldn't read his friend's expression as Legolas looked at him. Aragorn held his gaze, silently begging the prince to open up to him. Maybe, if he understood, he could help. Something in his face must have encouraged his friend, because Legolas started speaking quietly.
"I was swimming in a lake. Velil was there, guarding me. I heard her cry out…"
Aragorn listened, trying to control himself as anguish and rage flooded him in equal measure. Had this not been hundreds of years ago and these men long dead, he would already have their heads on pikes.
"He positioned himself behind me…" Legolas broke off with a gasp. Tears were leaking from his eyes. Aragorn reacted instinctively and moved closer, pulling the prince into his arms, relieved when his touch was welcomed. Legolas curled his hands into the man's tunic as he spoke.
By the time the story was over, Legolas was once again shaking with violent sobs. There was a desperation and desolation to the sounds that tore at his heart.
"Please, Estel… I can't – I can't go on feeling like this. I should never have been born. You should have let me fall from that tree. You should have let me…"
"Shh, I have you gwador. Whatever you suffer, I promise, you will not suffer it alone. I am with you and I will not leave you."
"I don't deserve it," Legolas cried, his body curling in on itself as he shook with misery.
"That is not for you to decide, is it? Who I give my love and regard to is a matter for my own heart."
That only made Legolas cry harder. "I can't…"
"Tell me what I can do, gwador."
"You can do nothing! I am pathetic, broken, despicable, probably beyond any hope of ever being perfect."
Aragorn shook his head, pressing a kiss to Legolas' brow. He knew that arguing would do no good at this point, so he just held his friend as he cried. He wrapped himself gently around the prince, mindful of his stitches and his burns.
"I love you, gwador," he murmured. He didn't know if Legolas heard him or not, but he hoped that his words reached his friend somewhere deep down in the desperate, despairing place he was in.
"I couldn't stop them," Legolas moaned. "I was so weak… I begged and cried like the pathetic thing I am."
"You were but a child, mellon nin, and even a grown man would have every reason to beg and cry had he gone through what you did."
"I deserved it."
"You did not, I promise you. Don't you trust me, Legolas?"
"I – I t-trust you, mellon – nin," he gasped out between sobs.
"Then trust me now. You did not deserve it. No one deserves that. No one."
Elrond must have heard them from the hall when he came to bring food and decided to leave them be, because no one bothered them. The night darkened and the lamps ran dry, and still, Legolas cried, utterly inconsolable. Aragorn held him close, murmuring his love, wiping the prince's tears and stroking his hair.
Legolas usually cried himself into sleep by now, but tonight, sleep eluded him.
Near dawn, he started mumbling. "Help, Estel, help me…"
"What do you need, gwador?"
"I can't stop crying. Why can't I stop?" Legolas looked up at him with the heartbroken eyes of a child who has been treated as no child should be.
"Because it hurts," Aragorn said softly.
"Hurts too much," Legolas breathed. "Make it stop. Estel, please…"
"If you are willing, I can call Ada and ask him to make you something to put you to sleep."
Legolas nodded jerkily, and Aragorn yanked on the gold cord that had been added to the growing collection on the bed. Several minutes later, Elrond appeared.
"Legolas? Estel?" Concern lighted his features as he hurried over to the bed.
"Legolas needs to sleep, Ada. Can you make him something to knock him out?"
"Of course. I will be but a moment."
Legolas still clung to him in desperation, as though fearing Aragorn would leave. No force in middle earth would pry him from the prince's side right now. Aragorn just wished his friend believed it.
When Elrond returned with a cup, Legolas eagerly gulped it down, only to choke on it as a new round of sobs wracked him.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry…"
"Shh, it's alright, there is no harm done. Ada can make more."
"Indeed, I can. Do not worry, penneth."
When Elrond returned with the second dose of sleeping potion, Aragorn helped Legolas sit up and sip at it slowly. Once it was done, Legolas wriggled under the covers, pulling them right over his head.
"Thanks, Ada," Aragorn said softly. Elrond gave him a swift kiss on the forehead before leaving, closing the door behind him.
Aragorn held Legolas until the brew took effect and his friend was mercifully taken by sleep.