Previously on Chapter 6...

"- 'Besides, that survivor you're talking about, the one who was able to beat the gûr-thûl out of his system...' the elf took a deep breath, 'was me.' "

Chapter 7

"He does not look like a peredhil to me."

Estel internally frowned as he realized two people were sleeping. He hadn't realized he had ever fallen asleep but right now, it seemed that he was lying on a makeshift bed and by how uncomfortable it felt, it seemed the bed was made of acorns. Had Legolas drugged him? He did not dare open his eyes though, for...yes, some of the twins' mischievous attitude had passed on to him and he wanted to eavesdrop very badly. You could not judge him! He was just a curious boy and what had his foster father said about it? "A man who seeks knowledge and wisdom should only be nurtured and encouraged, not pushed away."

He heard a snort and immediately identified it as Legolas. "Of course he is not, Treebeard. He's just a little adan boy. I've known it all along. He's being lying to me the whole time...and that is a smart move. Besides, he barely knows me and it is most likely that after this,he will never see me again."

Treebeard? Who was that? Estel fought the urge to open his eyes but he couldn't get caught eavesdropping, perhaps this Treebeard was just a friend of Legolas. He heard Treebeard response. He had a warm voice, low and thick but full of joy and wisdom. "And yet there is something inside his blood I cannot quite register..."

"Indeed, I felt it too when I first met him," replied Legolas. "I know he will not spill but I am curious of him. Tell me Treebeard, why would a young boy be found alone in the woods?"

"I know not. Your tale is wild and the Entmoot and I at first had trouble believing it...but I do believe it is true. This boy survived far longer than most do with the 'death breath' in his veins. He has something inside him, something that makes him different from the other humans I saw before in past centuries." It was obvious in his tone that this Treebeard wasn't fond of humans...but well, neither was Estel so he didn't judge him. "Tell me child of the forest, what do you think is the story of this child?"

There was some silence before Legolas started his analysis. "Well, he being human led me to do nationalities: either he was part of the Rohirrim or the Gondorhim. By his frame and coloring though, he looked more like someone from Gondor. And yet...his name, Treebeard, his name. It is Elvish, hope...and why hope? I have been thinking this all the time...and I finally thought of the answer. He must be a spoil of war."

A spoil of war. Estel almost shuddered but didn't. It meant he was the remains of war...could it be, though? When he had asked his mother, the twins or his foster father of his heritage, they had always avoided the topic or said that it was something 'for later.' But could it be? Could his real father been some soldier that died in the War of the Alliance or any battle after that? Or had he been a higher ranking General, a friend of Dan and Ro's?

"Your analysis is fair, child of the forest. And yet I can see you are fond of this child...if you do not know of him, why do you protect him so?"

The answer came quickly enough. "He's a child, nothing more. He's defenseless and alone in the wild, reminds me of myself I suppose. I vowed no child, regardless of being a human, should suffer what I did. As soon as I get the last material for his remedy, I will leave and do what I originally came to do."

"Ah," Estel heard a slight crunch and thought that this Treebeard had leaned back wherever he was sitting. "I had wondered when you'd speak of that. Your little quest...you do know it is a mad idea, don't you?"

"Mad, yes," admitted Legolas although he was defiant. "But not impossible."

"It is a suicide mission," said Treebeard. "We owe much to your kin...that is why we vowed to protect your kind as your has to us. It would not be wise if we let you go on this mad mission and see your corpse returned to us."

"This is what I am talking about!" said Legolas. "Nobody believes in me...I am a liability to my family! They think I am a weakness! I do one mistake-although of course I do admit it was my fault-and all the other good things I did in the past are forgotten! Am I really so useless to Mirkwood? I can do this...I have faced worse odds-"

"But never alone," said Treebeard and since Legolas did not speak to interrupt him, he continued. "Do not take their words deep into your heart, child. For sometimes, words are said in a rush and are careless. In the heat of the moment, there is no straight thinking and anger that is not truly meant to come out, does. They love you Legolas and there is no denying it. You have given them nothing but worry since you left."

He heard Legolas stand up and leave, uttering another snort. "Thank you for your advice and comfort Treebeard, I do appreciate it. Really. I would believe it more, though, if my very own father hadn't called me a disgrace to our line."

Estel thought about what he just heard. He, himself, wanted to snort out loud. How could Legolas ever be called a liability? He was...well, perfect! He was a flawless warrior, a good-looking elf and with a witty but kind personality. How could someone like him be ever called something like a 'disgrace?' Besides, he was an elf...he was just like the rest. He wasn't looked down at just because he was of another race and that race just had to be the one that made that one mistake that brought all this darkness upon Middle-Earth. He wasn't a clumsy adan who no matter how many times he tried, couldn't get things right. He wasn't a 'foolish' person that had rumors and insults spoken about him behind his back. And yet, Estel found himself siding with Legolas in this argument...

Because Estel felt just like Legolas was.

O-O-O

How many times had Thalos stood in front of this door?

The numbers seemed infinite to him and yet, he could not quite recall if he'd been as nervous as he was right now. He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down. This was no strange door...this was the door to his Adar's office. This was the door where he had basically spent his entire childhood in, training to be his father's heir and the future king. This was where he had grown up, surrounded by maps and treaties. This was where he and his Adar had worked together and he'd known an Adar different than the one right now. A time before Aurell and Legolas had yet to be born...where it had just been him, his Nana and his Ada, the funnest, most caring and bravest elf he'd ever known.

But that elf vanished just as soon as his Nana had died, cruelly raped and mutilated by orcs. His Adar's heart had been twisted to the point of darkness and he'd fallen into a state of depression. Everything to the Elvenking had been dull and colorless and everything, even living...seemed useless. Thalos then had been forced to be his father's regent, dealing with court prematurely and facing a new huge perspective of the world. And he'd been prepared of course...but oh, how afraid had he been. Nobody had been there to guide him. The Adar whom he had looked up to so much had simply crumbled. The one he'd always thought to be the bravest and strongest of all elves...so weak and vulnerable. And although everyone thought his Adar was going to fade away and as much as he almost believed them...

He had hope.

He had hope because once, unlike Aurell and Legolas, he'd seen a laughing Adar. An Adar who would be willing to ignore his work for a while just to make mudpies with you. An Adar who would stay with him at night and tell him stories until you fell asleep. An Adar that had always been patient, using his warm hands to guide you and teach you the right way to hold a sword. An Adar who loved his child so, so much. And even though that side of his Adar might never show again and his little brother and sister might never know how he had once been, he had hope he would change and that he would persevere.

Thalos sighed, hesitating to knock.

He shouldn't be afraid...he was the crown prince, the heir. How could he be afraid of his own father? To face him? He was supposed to be perfect. Handsome and fair. Polite and diplomatic. Strong and agile. Witty and sly. Clever and leader-like. Brave. And hadn't he achieved all of that? And yet...he wasn't perfect. He didn't want to be perfect. He didn't want everyone looking up at him expectantly. He wanted the freedom to be free, to be true to himself. And he wasn't perfect either...only the Valar could achieve such greatness. He couldn't.

He shook his head. He was being stupid. He was thinking too much...he was just going to check on his Adar, for god's sake! He smirked as he thought of what his siblings would do. Aurell, as defiant as always, would make a plan, choosing her words carefully before knocking and going into their Adar's office, shouting some pretty soap-worthy curse words and using some high volume. And Legolas? His smirk only grew larger. Legolas wouldn't even knock, he'd just barge into the office, shouting his arguments and starting another heated fight with his Adar. And no matter how bad things ended up, Legolas would always hold ground. Which was when Thalos knew he had to intervene before things got ugly.

He knocked.

He heard nothing except for a few muffled sounds. He supposed his Adar was telling him to not enter but he shrugged it off and entered anyways. He opened the huge oak doar and closed it behind him. Immediately, he nearly choked and covered his nose with the cloth of his shirt. The room was a mess. Books had been pushed out of their bookcases, scrolls were crumpled up in the ground and almost everywhere, were pieces of broken glass.

"Adar, this smells terrible, how long has it been since you've cleaned the room?" asked Thalos as he walked towards an armchair where the Elf-king sat.

It certainly wasn't one of the best days for King Thranduil. His robes were dirty and wrinkled. His hair, normally described as one of the most beautiful things in Middle-Earth, was a pale, sick yellow, unlike its usual golden color. His eyes were bloodshot from the lack of sleep and his face was quiet, emotionless but filled with a strange sort of darkness.

"I do not bother anymore," he muttered. He looked up and his blue eyes, the feature only Legolas had inherited, met Thalos' gray ones. "It's my fault."

Thalos sighed and there was a moment of silence (although his father's whispers of "it's my fault" kept echoing through the room) while he cleaned up the mess. He knelt down, picking up all of the fallen scrolls and he rolled them up again, inserting them where they needed to go. He picked up the books and put them back in their book case. Thalos organized them all in alphabetic title order...just because his Adar liked it like that. Then he started picking up the pieces of glass, making a pile with them and putting them into a waste basket.

After that, he sat down in an armchair in front of his Adar and started talking. "Adar...he's not lost. We cannot lose hope...he is out there somewhere. We are not sure where but we've been looking everywhere. We have found clues though and have also alerted all other elven kingdoms. In fact, Aurell is in Lórien right now, they said they found some crucial clues to the search." The truth was Thalos knew that his sister also had other reasons to go to Lórien. He wanted to smirk but he wouldn't betray his sister...not yet.

"And tell me," said Thranduil, a small spark of sarcasm, "have you found Legolas? Do you even have the most remote idea of where he might be heading? Or are you just going to expect to find him riding back towards Mirkwood with his hair flowing in the wind, firing arrows into the sunset?"

Thalos wanted to snap back at him but calmed down, replying in a restrained form. "Of course not but this is no easy task. Legolas is our best tracker...if he chose to hide from us, he would and he could do it...very well. He knows the terrain much better than most of us-"

"It's useless! Can't you see? He's gone to who knows where and once Legolas is involved in something there is no way you can disuade him," growled Thranduil, veins bulging in his neck. "Miluneth's last gift to me, my youngest son...gone. Just gone. And it's my fault."

The crown prince's temper broke. "Well! If you loved him and truly cherished him, maybe you wouldn't be sitting here like a drunk idiot, doing absolutely nothing! You would be trying to find him, not sulking about it!"

Without realizing, their voices had raised and so had they. They stood before each other, their heights just about the same. Thranduil's dark blue hues cutted through Thalos' silvery gray but there was something mutual in there: anger.

Sighing, Thalos sat back in his chair, knowing this was no way to solve anything. His eyes and voice softened, "I'm sorry Adar, I shouldn't have spoken like that."

"I suppose you have my apologies as well," said Thranduil dryly. Then the Elf-king looked down with a sad look in his face, his words coming out as whispers. "I lost my temper...although I have lost so much."

Suddenly, the crown prince realized how much his Adar had actually done. A teenage Thranduil had gone to one of Middle-Earth's largest wars, the War of the Alliance and he'd actually fought there and seen whatever horrors there were. Then, he'd seen his very own father get killed by orcs...and as the only child, he had become king. Then, he'd had two-thirds of his army annihilated in the war and only returned with one-third to his home, which was now starting to get plagued by a strange evil source that brought Greenwood filths like orcs and spiders. Then, he'd faced a mourning, crumbling kingdom which he, a teenager, had to fix by himself. His very own mother abandoned him, too depressed to live and had sailed to Valinor. Only to find that all of teenage Thranduil's efforts in war had been a waste, because of Isildur's mistake. And his wife, the only hope that had kept him going, had died a few thousand years after that and King Thranduil had been left a widower with three children to raise.

And just like that, he forgave his father. "We have all lost things in life, Adar..." whispered Thalos. "The important thing is that we still have some things left and we should cherish them to our hearts, to make sure those things don't go away."

Then they said nothing, because sometimes...silence is more powerful than words.

O-O-O

Estel thought he was dreaming...when he woke up, the first thing he saw was a tree.

And not just any tree. A tree with a face...and arms and feet and everything! For a while, all Estel could do was gape at the massive tree. It was at least five times larger than the average man and yet, the tree's face was kind, cracked into a warm, shy smile. Estel started shaking his head. Maybe all this sickness was finally getting into his head! He pinched his arm, whispering to himself, "No, I must be dreaming..."

"I am afraid you are not, child," smiled the tree and Estel immediately recognized the voice as the one who had spoken to Legolas earlier. "My name is Treebeard. I am the oldest of Tree Ents from the Entmoot. Welcome to Fangorn Forest, young one."

For a while, all Estel could go was keep gaping at the tree. "T-Tree Ent?"

"Yes child, Tree Ents," said Treebeard. "Your surprise was expected of course. Little of us are left. Especially after the loss of our Entwives. We have not been able to conceive Entings for a long time and as the darkness increases, our population does the opposite."

"Y-You speak!" exclaimed the boy.

The tree laughed. "Indeed we do. For when the elves came from Valinor, they gave us the gift of speech and they cured our dumbness. That is, I suppose, what differs us from our other tree kin. Whilst they can only speak with their minds, we speak physically."

"Oh," said Estel as he sat up the makeshift acorn bed. "I see. Um...thank you for having us. I hope we weren't a bother."

"It was my pleasure having you two here," said Treebeard. "We're generally to all those who don't want to chop us down or who aren't orcs. Besides, you two were delightful, almost no bother at all. Besides, the entire Entmoot didn't hesitate to help you when you came to us. You certainly do look better as well...when Legolas had brought you here, you looked like death had claimed you already."

Woo hoo! Because Estel totally wanted to know that.

He shot a look down at the nestad-gond, the healing stone, that rested in his chest. If it weren't for this amulet, he would have died already. He wondered how something so small could do something as big as block out a fierce, dark Mordor poison. He shrugged it off, he didn't have time to think about magical jewelry.

"Talking about Legolas," said Estel jumping down from the bed and facing the huge Tree Ent sleepily. "Where is he?"

"He went to search for the last ingredient for the remedy but a few hours ago," said Treebeard. "He'll come back today at night or tomorrow morning at most. We only need the leaves of a rare flower that is located in the southern part of the forest," and he added after seeing Estel's eyes of concern, "he'll be fine by the way. He knows the way."

Suddenly, Treebeard pointed towards a table that was beside Estel's makeshift bed. "Oh, I also agreed to make breakfast for you. I reckoned you would need some food and strength after all you've been through. Are you hungry?"

Treebeard had no idea.

As Estel ate his breakfast, a hearty meal full of fish, mashed up taters, sausages and eggs, he sat down and listened to Treebeard speak. Besides being a tree, a fact Estel still couldn't seem to fully comprehend, he found the Tree Ent just as normal as any person. He was likeable and kind and soon, Estel found himself just as entranced in Treebeard's stories as he had been in Legolas'. The tree told stories of Fangorn old, when it had been much larger than what it was now and where every moment was full of happiness. He told him of the different Ages and the different wars and battles he'd fought, something that Estel thought was slightly amusing to picture. A tree fighting? That was unusual, give it that.

After the meal, Estel was shown around Fangorn. He met the Entmoot, who gave him some strange stares but kept a polite tone with him. Estel didn't mind...elves gave him that glance a lot anyways. As he followed Treebeard around, he soon realized Legolas was right. Fangorn Forest was truly beautiful...in it's own way of course. It was eerie and strange yet there was something strangely familiar in this forest. Something mythical that brought all that nostalgia in you out.

And talking about Legolas, he wondered how the elf was doing...

O-O-O

AN: Yes, yes...I know. This chapter was much more sentimental rather than action-packed. But hey! I left it in a cliffie! Aren't cliffies simply EXCITING? *Dodges tomatoes from angry readers* Haha...just kidding. Cliffies are terrible...but you guys will have to wait! And the FIFA World Cup is going to give the players two days of rest (today and Thursday), so I'll have more time to write if I'm not watching it...

BUT OMG! FRIDAY WILL BE SO FREAKING INCREDIBLE! FRANCE VS. GERMANY WILL BE THE BEST GAME EVER! And although I love Germany and Thomas Muller, Mario Gotze and the whole lot of them are awesome...France has a good chance of winning with Benzema, Matuiti, Valbuena, Giroud and the rest of them! And BRAZIL VS. COLOMBIA! And hey, I have a friend who's Colombian but...BRAZIL ALL THE WAY! :)

*Coughs* Sorry, you can ignore that. Usually I don't really like soccer but I got kind of interested and started some research with all this excitement from the World Cup!

Anyways, the responses to my beautiful reviews! :) EEK! So many compliments! I liked how y'all really loved Chapter 6! Especially the part with the twins...that's actually my 2nd draft, my first draft of that part was going to be in Chapter 5 but it was HORRIBLE so I erased it and waited for my muse to come and...BAZINGA!

Tsuki Hikaru: Well...since I'm not so good at converting elf years to human years, I'll just tell you Legolas' elf years. This story is ten years before the Battle of Five Armies, or seventy years before Lord of the Rings. So Legolas is around 2,930. The thing is that I might have phrased it wrong. I suppose I meant AT LEAST three inches. Besides, Estel is a pretty tall ten year old, he ends up beating Legolas out of height in the future anyways. AND he does have some Dunedain blood in him you know. But good catch, my friend!

Blonde Fanatic: I will try! Thanks! :)

Guest: Thank you! I'm glad you think it's amazing! And sure, this chapter is not very exciting but around Chapter 8 or 9...let's just say Estel's seen better days. *Dramatic cliffhanger music*

Guest: As I said...unexpected! :D There'll be plenty of surprises in the future too...mwahaha! Just kidding, I promise not to hurt Estel and Legolas too badly.

Luin: Haha, yes! Because everybody loves the twins. :) Did you know that they were also the ones who trained Legolas to be a prankster too? And thanks! Of course I'll keep going! As I said, about Legolas getting the death breath...unexpected!

Guest: Hahaha...yup, I think that's pretty self-explanatory! :)

Masked Man 2: OMG, I loved your review so much! :D Thank you for all the compliments! First of all, Legolas' family problems do make the story a bit darker and in the future, it'll be something key that brings him and Estel together. And I'm glad you liked the Lórien part! It seems a lot of people liked it! I do appreciate it...it took me a lot to perfection it! And really? EIGHT TIMES? I had to go back and double check. :) In other words, thanks a lot! I'm glad this chapter was your favorite (and it's my personal favorite so far) and I hope you'll like other chapters in the future as much as you did with Ch.6!

Schattenjagd: Thanks for tuning in and deciding to keep reading! :) I appreciate your support. In the future, I will reveal how Legolas survived, using flashbacks so you'll know...but just sayin', it's not going to be pretty. And thanks! I kind of combined the best of both Legolas. In the book, he's much more serious and determined but he's still very defiant and fiercely loyal to everybody in the Fellowship. In the movie, he's much more childish and cheery, more carefree. And although he's the quietest of the fellowship, he shows a lot of emotion and does create very tight bonds with everybody. I combined all of the good things and some other stuff of my own to create my very own gorgeous version of Legolas! :)