BELINDA'S POV
It had been four days since the start of my imprisonment. I could already feel myself slipping away. I held onto what I had of my life, my sanity, to keep alive. I couldn't sleep, couldn't think. Memories assaulted me every time I closed my eyes, every time I tried to think of better times. My past would never stop haunting me, not ever, and this wasn't helping anything. I couldn't give in though, couldn't let him win. The longer I stayed here, the more I was reverting to my old ways. Amanda was worried, she still felt guilty about not noticing my desperation the last time I got this down.
On the third day or so I began to lose all my feeling. Nothing mattered to me anymore; I was having trouble keeping everything straight. I gave in to the old me, the one to which nothing mattered, and everything was a game. Some part of me yelled at myself, the last time I played this game I nearly died.
I was considering apologizing, but there was no way I would ever be able to make it to him, let alone get the apology out without collapsing. I could wait until he came to me, or I collapsed. Somebody would find me eventually. The last time I had gone this long without food was 3 years ago, when I was 14. It was a punishment then, a way to hurt my body that could feel no emotional pain. It got out of control and I ended up trying to end my life. Amanda stopped me then, and I have no regrets now.
The birds out my window were the only things to look at; singing to myself was the only thing to do. My voice was fading with my strength, and I could barely hear myself. I set myself to wondering, why I was here, why Elrond had decided on this punishment. Mostly I reflected on my life. My life, as short as it had already been, was full of too much pain, too much sorrow. I sat at the foot of my bed trying to remember the last time my parents had said they loved me, and found I couldn't. I wondered if my body was still on my Earth, or if I had just disappeared. I wondered if they had had a funeral for me, if anyone had attended. I tried to imagine my father pretending to be distraught, but couldn't even remember his face. Home was a mere shadow in my mind, a place I never wanted to return to, never wanted to see again. There really was no reason to go back, I hoped I had died there.
I thought I was going crazy when I heard a knock on the door. Amanda never knocked, and I could never imagine Legolas apologizing. I had forgiven him long ago anyway; it didn't really matter if he said sorry or not. I never would have imagined him giving in, so I thought I was hallucinating when he stepped through my door. His hair, as I expected, was back to blonde. Trust an elf to figure out how to undye his hair. I stood at the foot of my bed staring at him, clutching the bedpost for support. I looked up from the floor into his eyes, wondering if he was really there.
"She was right," He couldn't tear his eyes from my face. I wondered if it was snow white or something. "Your eyes are haunted, filled with pain," He added. I looked at him wearily, hoping he would either apologize or leave. "I'm sorry I stayed away this long, let it get this bad. I apologize for acting like a child," I coughed weakly, clearing my throat.
"Apology accepted," I whispered back, it was a loud as my voice would go. My vision swam, the world moving as I held onto the bedpost for dear life. He looked at me with pity, and I turned away from him. Pity was the one thing I didn't need from him right now, and I was about to tell him such when my grip on the post slipped. I felt my legs give out from beneath me as I crumpled on a direct path to the floor. Legolas caught me before I hit the ground, and I could hear him yelling for the guards. I could hear the panic in his voice, thinking dazedly that he actually cared, before my world went black.
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I drifted in and out of consciousness for a while, I didn't know how long. I caught snatches of conversation when I was awake.
"Will she be okay?" This was Legolas' voice.
"She should be fine," Elrond replied, his voice continued, but I couldn't hear as I drifted away again.
"I hold you responsible if she's not okay!" My best friend Amanda hissed, her voice an octave higher then normal, worry lacing her tone.
"I hold myself responsible if she's not okay," Legolas returned. I tried to open my mouth, to tell them that I was fine, but my eyes were to heavy to open, my throat too dry to speak.
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I finally opened my eyes to a dark room lit by one candle at my bedside. I looked around slowly at the dim room. A blonde sat at my bedside, and as my vision cleared, I could see it was Legolas.
"Legolas?" My voice was stuck in my throat; my words were not even loud enough to be considered a whisper. Human ears would not have heard them, but my watcher was not human. He looked down at me and smiled upon seeing me awake. He handed me a glass of water, which I drank thankfully before trying to sit up.
"How long have I been out?" I asked him, putting down the glass of water.
"Less than a day. We were worried that you would get a fever on top of what you had, but it appears you will be fine," I nodded.
"Where's Amanda?" I queried, expecting to find her by my side.
"I sent her to bed. We don't need her getting sick. She has pretty much refused to leave your bedside."
"Yeah, like you left her side," I looked up to see Aragorn in the doorway. "I had to threaten him just to get him down for meals." Legolas glared at him before replying shortly.
"Well considering it was my fault that she's like this, it was the least I could do," I looked up at the elf, who, just four days ago, I was convinced hated me.
"Sure. I'll go tell Elrond that she's awake," He left as soon as he'd come.
"So how do you feel?" Legolas asked, turning back to look at me, lighting another candle so I could see.
"Fine," I replied shortly, evasively. Things still weren't making much sense to me and I didn't want to talk about it now.
"Honestly?" He asked me, and I looked at him with a sigh.
"I'm hungry, my head hurts, I have this overbearing feeling of sadness and fear, I'm tired and very confused," Well, he did tell me to be honest. He looked concerned, but appearances can be deceiving. At his words though, I could feel his worry, his guilt.
"Your friend said something about you having to relive things from your past that you shouldn't, that she was worried a lot about you. Do you want to talk about it?" I shook my head quickly.
"I don't want to talk about that right now. I'm sorry, and you deserve to know someday, but I can't talk about it yet, not now. I'll tell you when I'm ready," He nodded, acquiescing.
"I'll always be there if you want to talk. Can we now put these silly differences aside and just be friends?" I smiled slightly.
"Sure. Just understand that the next time you call women weak, me emotional, or toss grapes down my shirt, know that I will retaliate. I am sorry for the hair thing,"
"How did you do that without me noticing?" I giggled slightly.
"I slipped a sleeping remedy into your drink," He smiled in disbelief before laughing.
"I can't believe you did that. I can't believe I didn't see you do that. That was sneaky," We laughed together as Elrond entered the room.
"It is so nice to see you two getting along so well," He looked at me. "How are you feeling?" I rolled my eyes. It was going to be a long night.
888888888888888888 A few days later
"Get him 'Manda," I hollered, watching Amanda spar with Aragorn. Nearby Merry and Pippin, two others of our Company, sparred with Boromir, who I really did not like. "It is way too hot in here," I muttered, wiping sweat off my forehead.
"You could wear shirts with shorter sleeves," Legolas replied from behind me, making me jump.
"I told you not to sneak up on me like that. And besides, I have my reasons for long sleeves," I glanced up at him. He was examining my arm. I looked down and quickly pulled my shirtsleeve down, covering my scar back up. If he had seen it, he said nothing.
"Shall we fight?" He asked, putting a hand to the sword at his waist.
"Sure, but no weapons, no rules, just us trying to pin each other to the ground," I replied. My way of fighting, no rules, no restrictions, nice and "fair," except for the fact that everyone cheated. I wore my nails long and my hair up just for fights like this. There was no way I was going to lose.
We dropped our weapons in a pile at the edge of the room. We circled each other, looking for a weakness. I briefly noticed that everyone else had stopped fighting to watch before my eyes flickered back to Legolas. I put on my best maniacal grin, saved especially for fighting. People seem to be unnerved by a grinning opponent. His eyes left me for a second to look at something behind me. That was all the opportunity I needed. I swept my leg into the back of his kneecaps, sending him to the floor. He hopped up quickly and tackled me. I grabbed him by the shoulder, using what all Star Trek fans would call the Vulcan Death Grip. He gasped and let me go and I locked my arms around his neck, my legs wrapped around his stomach as I sat on his back. Now I am not really a light person, so I was surprised when he stood with me on his back, as if I weighed nothing at all. I was so surprised that I almost let go, but quickly remembered that I was not going to let him beat me. He tried to slam me into the wall, but I slid off quickly.
"C'mon, you're going easy on me. Well don't, 'cause I can kick your scrawny ass any day," I trash-talked him, hoping he'd try to charge me. But I had no such luck. Finally I hauled into him with my fist, catching him in the stomach. He seemed to sort of snap, and hit me in the jaw. My head snapped sideways and I spat blood on the floor. He looked concerned, but I glared at him and inched closer and closer to him. Finally I was close enough to accomplish what I wanted to. I brought my knee up, hard, into his groin. He went down and I could see the other males in the area flinch. "1…2…3…4…5…He's down!" I helped him off the floor, where he lay in pain. "Sorry 'bout that," I said, wiping blood from my face.
"Elrond," He pointed behind me. I turned and looked into the face of Elrond. I grinned at him
"Wanna fight me some time?" He shuddered and shook his head.
A/N -Fight, fight, fight- Sorry, got caught up in the moment. Nice job, Anne, on another great chapter. My chapter will be brought to you all in a week or so, if I have time. School has now kicked in full time for me. Projects and tests galore! What fun :( Unlike Anne, on the other hand, who doesn't have as many difficult classes as I do. Lucky girl. Anyhoo, read, review, all that jazz