Estel was walking down the hall towards his room after dinner and, to be honest, he was being paranoid and jumpy lately. He knew the twins would seek revenge, who wouldn't after being hung up in trees wearing dresses? But with Legolas gone, he would have to face their revenge alone. He got to his room and almost reached for the door handle to go in when he abruptly pulled his hand back. What if it was a trap? What is there was some prank waiting for him in his room? He decided not to risk it. The twins would set any trap they had in his room, he decided, so it's logical that Legolas' now empty room would be prank-trap free. Estel changed his course and went to Legolas' room. He pushed the door open and was surprised when he saw Legolas there.

"Legolas!?" Estel exclaimed, simply surprised that his friend was still there. He did not even notice the fact that Legolas was brushing something sticky out of his hair, or the fact that parts of Legolas' exposed arms were shiny or the fact that the room smelled strongly of furniture varnish.

Legolas pulled the brush he was holding through his hair once more and turned to Estel. "Yes?"

"You're still here?" Estel asked, and then noticing finally the three aforementioned things he didn't notice before, "What happened?"

Legolas grimaced and told him about the twins prank. Part of the human was relieved that he hadn't been there to be soaked in furniture varnish, but the other part of him wished he had been there so he would have an excuse to do more fun revenge on his brothers. Oh well, he could still help Legolas get revenge. He told Legolas this.

"I'm afraid not, mellon nîn." Legolas said, "At least, I cannot do anything too elaborate this time. I am already late getting home. I sent my father a messenger telling him I was delayed and would meet him tomorrow. As much as I would like to, I cannot stay to get revenge." Estel rolled his eyes in an annoyed fashion.

"Fine Legolas, The twins will be delighted that they have won." He started to leave feeling disappointed, as he realized now that the twins had already played their revenge so it was safe to go back to his room.

"Sorry." Legolas apologetically, keeping himself from snapping that the twins had not won.

Estel walked to his room and opened the door and saw a string pull automatically and before he knew it he was drenched in water head to toe. Estel stormed back into Legolas' room

"Estel, what happe-" Legolas started but got cut off by Estel

"No time to explain Legolas! But now I insist we get revenge!"

"Agreed." Legolas replied, surveying the soaking Estel. "But I still cannot promise anything elaborate. Perhaps a simple scare prank." Estel was just fine with that.

"Alright. What do you have in mind?" Estel asked,

Legolas pulled the brush through his hair again and set it down. He went to the closet and opened the doors, starting to sort through the contents of the back of the closet.

"Legolas, what are you doing?" Estel asked.

"Yes!" Legolas exclaimed, pulling out two things from the closet. Estel looked at them, not sure what they were at first, but he quickly recognized them. They were orc helmets! Estel looked from the helmets to Legolas.

"Where did you get those!?" demanded the human.

"I stole them last time I went on an orc hunt with your brothers." Legolas stated, "I don't know what I was thinking to use them for, but it seems they are going to be useful."

Of course, Elladan and Elrohir were not nearly stupid enough to be scared by Legolas and Estel wearing orc helmets in broad daylight, but in the dark, it just might work. So Estel and Legolas formulated a plan;

There was a closet; it was close to the main hall and it was big enough for five people to stand in at once. It was placed so that if you were to walk into it and then walk out, it would be impossible to avoid walking through either the kitchen or the main hall on your way to the hallway where the twins', Legolas' and Estel's rooms were. The placement of this was perfect. The two friends went to Estel's room and studied the water-bucket trap that had been set off in Estel's room. They found a way to set up a similar trap in the doorway of the closet. In the end, the plan was simple; Estel would lure the twins into the closet and then follow them in, Estel and Legolas would put on the orc helmets and when the twins saw the 'orcs' they would scream and try to run out of the closet, setting off the trap and be drenched in furniture varnish for a taste of their own medicine. The only thing that was semi-hard was trying to explain to the furniture builders why they needed furniture varnish.

=========O=========

The next morning, after breakfast…

Elladan and Elrohir had heard that Legolas was back, and they were disappointed that they hadn't got the chance to 'greet' him. However, they knew he was going to ride out to meet his father again that afternoon. They were sure any prank he could even think of playing would take too long to set up.

"You know, the thought just occurred to me," Elladan said, "We have won the prank war."

"Yes." Elrohir agreed, "But we both knew we would."

Suddenly, a tense looking Estel ran around the corner. "Elladan, Elrohir! Come quick! Legolas can't hold them off much longer!" He said.

They looked at Estel, alarmed. "What happened!?" Elrohir exclaimed.

"Quickly!" Estel replied. With no explanation, the young man ran off around the corner. Now, usually, the twins would be more suspicious, but they were not the kind of elves who would brush off such an anxious looking Estel as a prank attempt. Plus, even if it was a prank attempt, they would never be able to live with themselves if something happened to Legolas and it wasn't. With one look at each other, they both sprinted off in pursuit of their little brother.

They ran through the kitchen and down the hall. They got there just in time to see Estel slip into the closet. They heard a crash inside. Both the twins ran in after Estel, but right after they entered, the door slammed behind then (They didn't know, but that was thanks to Legolas). It was dark, save the small amount of light coming through the crack in the door. With that little bit of light, they could see two shadows in the corner, it took them a second to realize what the shapes were – they recognized the orc helmets at once. What Legolas and Estel failed to take into account was the fact that Elladan and Elrohir were trained warriors. There was no thought in the next moves of Elladan and Elrohir, only instinct. There were orcs in their home! The twins automatically reached for the closest weapons they could find and found two brooms. Even though brooms are not meant to be used as weapons, the twins made almost deadly use of them. Elrohir thrust the end of his broom hard towards Legolas' stomach. Legolas, surprised but also adept in battle, leapt out of the way before the strike could find him. Estel was not so lucky. He too tried to dodge Elladan's swipe, but it knocked him over and he scrambled over to Legolas who helped him up. Legolas and Estel were about to call out to the twins to stop, but before they could say anything, the sons of Elrond whirled around their brooms and knocked Legolas and Estel back, into the wire that activated the varnish.

Two buckets of furniture varnish tipped and spilled onto Legolas and Estel. Even with the helmets on, the varnish soaked into some of the cracks and spilled all over Legolas' (and Estel's) hair. Legolas got up quickly, but Elladan jabbed his broom into Legolas and the elf took a step back to dodge it too late. However, just behind him was Estel and the two stumbled back and toppled onto the door of the closet. The two furniture-varnish covered friends tumbled out and onto the floor. Light streamed in and the twins had a good look at the 'orcs'.

"Ow." Estel moaned, crawling out from under Legolas. Legolas said nothing, but pulled off the helmet that he was wearing. Estel did the same. The twins gaped. They were not sure what to think. Were they to be angry because Legolas and Estel had tried to get revenge by covering them in varnish, or were they supposed to laugh because – well, what wasn't there to laugh at? They settled on the latter. They burst out laughing and Legolas stood slowly, feeling around the tender area that Elladan had bruised with his broom. He helped Estel up as well.

"That did not go as planned." Legolas said quietly to Estel.

"Far from it…" Estel agreed.

Elrohir stopped laughing for just a moment and managed to say; "Now that is irony!"

"Ironic, all right." Legolas said, already dreading washing the varnish out of his hair again. On top of that, he would have to tell his father why he was three hours late (Three hours being the approximate time it would take to get all the varnish out). Estel was thinking about what he was going to tell Glorfindel when he either didn't show up for practice, or came there soaked in varnish.

"This is hilarious!" Elladan said, a wide smile on his face.

"Oh yes." Said Estel.

Legolas sighed in annoyance and finished sarcastically; "Hilarious."


(Ynnealay)

The End-ish? My sister says this seems final, so she hasn't written a reply chapter to it. But then, how could she? This won't be the last chapter though, there is a bonus chapter that I'm working on. It will include a beginning to this chapter (How Legolas got back) and a story about how Legolas and the twins get their dye (Set before Estel was born).

My sister says that she's not opposed to writing another chapter, but for now she's not going to. What do you think? Would you like another chapter? If not, then this is the last chapter in the prank war. There is going to be a bonus chapter regardless.

==Reviews Please==

~*Ynnealay*~