A/N I really want to go live in Middle-earth today….maybe if I just click my heels together and say there's no place like home, I will end up there! Thank you for all the wonderful reviews they brighten my day!
Disclaimer: not mine
Chapter Six
Aragorn looked up, his face shocked.
"No, no, this can't be happing." He said quickly, his legs crumpling so that he ended up in a chair. "Legolas will die, unless I turn myself in." he mumbled, his hands covering his face.
"No, nothing like that is going to happen, Estel. It is still two weeks till the end of the month. We will figure something out." Elrond said fervently, taking his son tightly by the arm. "We will find a way to make an antidote, Legolas will not die and you will NOT turn yourself in, do you hear me?!"
"Indeed," Elladan contributed, in a slightly shocked voice, wrapping his arm around his brother's shoulder.
"How are we going to tell Legolas?" Elrohir suddenly asked, thinking of how the elf prince would react.
"We are going to wait until Legolas has rested some," Elrond said firmly his voice telling his sons that he had his under control, before glancing out the window where the sun was just casting light into the new day.
Aragorn nodded, leaning forward and covering his face in his hands again. It was clear that the human was still upset, and who could blame him when they all were as well. Elladan patted his brother's shoulder gently, before getting up and restocking the fire.
Silently they waited, and soon enough the prince emerged, pale and shivering. The elf's normally flawless balance seemed a little off and he wavered where he stood. Immedtially noticing the change in the atmosphere, Legolas looked around, a knowing glint in his eyes.
"What has happened?" he asked, wrapping his arms a little tighter around his lithe frame.
"Nothing," Elrond lied calmly, "Do you want to sit by the fire or go straight back to the bed?" he asked, changing the subject.
"The fire…" Legolas said softly changing his direction; a note of hesitation was still in his voice, as if he wanted to press the matter. Aragorn swiftly stood, pushing his chair towards the prince. "Don't Estel, I'm fine here." the archer stated, rolling his eyes while gesturing to a different chair.
"No, Legolas, this one is closer to the fire." The human insisted, grabbing the elf gently and pushing him down. "You're still freezing! Elrohir, throw us a blanket would you?" the youngest twin did so, and Aragorn wrapped it around his friend's shoulders despite his protest. Sitting himself on the arm of the chair, the ranger pulled the wet locks of hair out from under the elf's tunic.
"Aragorn, stop it!" Legolas growled, pushing his hands away.
Legolas's shivers eventually stilled, thanks to the firer's warmth and within minutes, the elf was sound asleep, exhausted from his ordeal. The elf's eyes were half lidded, making the others who were present wince slightly. It was another few hours before Legolas awoke.
Shifting under the heap of blankets that had been laid over him, the elf blinked his eyes open, squeezing them shut briefly when the bright light blinded him. The prince struggled into a sitting position, one hand subconsciously rubbing at his neck. Sleeping in chairs was never the smartest of things to do.
"Legolas," Elrond stated from behind him, causing the prince to jump. "There is something you need to know."
"Yes Hir Elrond?" his voice was scratchy and weak, even to his own ears. Elrond heaved a soft sigh before getting directly to the point.
"You've been poisoned…" the lord said gently, kneeling so that he would be facing the young elf.
"That really doesn't surprise me for some reason…" the prince muttered after a long moment, though the way his face had paled somewhat belied that face that he had been caught off guard. "I've been poisoned enough times to know what it feels like." He explained further at Aragorn's surprised look, though his mind was racing through all the things he had done and when he could have possibly been poisoned.
"Read this." Aragorn offered, handing the elf the note from where he sat on the floor. Legolas read the note before glancing worriedly down at the human, wondering how he was taking the news.
"Aragorn, whatever happens, you must promise me that you won't turn yourself in!" the elf said whispered, knowing the human would readily do just that. He reached down to where the human was sitting on the floor below him, squeezing his shoulder forcefully. "Please, promise me this!"
The ranger only smiled sadly up at his friend. "You ask for the one thing I can't give you." he whispered back.
"No, Aragorn!" Legolas fervently, slipping form the chair so that he was next to the human. He gripped his friend's arms tightly. "You are Isildur's Heir, nothing can happen to you! And even if you weren't, do you think I would sacrifice your life for mine!"
"Legolas, we can discuss this later." The man said calmly, though his voice wavered slightly and his eyes were glisten with unshed tears as he pried the elf's hold off his arms. He could not live with himself if he did have an opportunity to save the elf and didn't. Taking Legolas firmly by the forearms he helped him back up and into the seat. The prince looked ready to protest, his eyes shining with fear for his friend, but Elrond stop him with a look. The father and son would be taking about this.
"We put together a list of symptoms," Elladan said quietly, handing Legolas a second piece of parchment. "Can you think of anymore?"
"Not much…" Legolas said.
"What else? Everything is important." Elrond prompted, placing a hand on Legolas's shoulder and gripped it tightly.
"I've had an…an ongoing headache." He admitted, his tone low.
"Anything else?"
"No," Legolas promised, his eyes speaking the truth. The room was silence for a few seconds. Suddenly Aragorn stood, making for the door.
"I have some things I need to do." He said swiftly, jerking the door open and leaving.
"Aragorn!" Legolas called, striving to get up from his chair.
"No, sit." Elrond said pressing the elf back down. "I will talk to him." With that he followed his son out the door. Besides, he didn't want either Legolas or Aragorn alone till they caught the assassin.
He found Aragorn in his room, leaning hard against the balcony, shoulders shaking.
"Estel," Elrond asked walking slowly forward. Aragorn jumped, quickly turning around and wiping at his eyes.
"Ada, please leave me alone." The man said in a hushed voice.
"No, Estel, I'm not going to." The lord of Imladris moved next to his son, wrapping an arm around his back. "Talk to me it will help"
Aragorn let out a sniff, hanging his head as his shoulders shook all the harder. A sob escaped his lips and the ranger buried his face in his arms.
"Oh, Estel." Elrond sighed, pulling his son into a hug.
"A-ada, Legolas is going t-to die for me" the human cried, unable to stop the filling of guilt racking his soul. "I'm the one responsible f-for what happened. I don't care about my life, let me go to Rhavan!"
"No, you will not." His father harshly stated, clutching his son tighter. "That is never going to happen."
"But I can save his life!" was all that the human managed to get out. His father said nothing, using physical ministrations to calm his son. Soon the man's shoulders stopped shaking and his sobs quieted. His breathing only hitched occasionally now. Seeing that his sons had calmed, Elrond pulled back.
"Aragorn, we are going to pull Legolas through this. There will be no need for either of you to die" The silence stretched on until the ranger finally looked up, meeting his father's eyes.
"Hannon le." Aragorn finally said his voice husky.
"Clean your face and let us get back to Legolas." Elrond said, drying his son's cheek. Aragorn hastily swiped at his face, feeling suddenly very foolish.
"I don't know what happened…" he muttered sniffing again.
"It is understandable, Aragorn." Aragorn nodded slowly before walking back towards Legolas's room. Elrond quickly caught up, throwing an arm around his shoulder. As they walked, Aragorn's discovered that he was ready to face whatever this would throw at him; he would not leave Legolas alone.
BYYOURSIDE
The next real attack of the poison came a few days later, in the middle of the morning. The four friends were resting comfortable on the chairs in Aragorn's room, discussing things of the past when there tones turned suddenly serious.
"The poison has yet to do any real serious damage that we know of" Elladan was saying his voice unusually grave. Legolas symptoms had let up since the last encounter, or at least that he was willing to admit too.
"Let's not discuss it. " Legolas said, waving a hand, trying to dismiss it. The other three glanced at Legolas, taking in his peaked complication.
"Whatever you want, Legolas," Aragorn said carefully, not wanting to upset his friend.
"Fine, discuss it if you want to!" Legolas suddenly said, thinly veiled anger clear in his eyes.
"Legolas, what did we say?" Elrohir asked, placing a concerned hand on his friend's arm.
"Nothing" the prince hissed, shrugging the younger twin's hand off.
"Right, nothing, look Legolas if it is about the poison ― "Aragorn started.
"It's not the poison."
"Then what is it." the ranger pressed.
"Just….just please stop treating me like I am fragile! Like I am something that is going to break at any moment! The last few days all it has been is what will happen to Legolas if I say or do that! I want you to just be yourselves, I am being smothered!" Legolas almost shouted, his heart begging to pound harder with anger. He was sick of the pitting looks he was seeing in his friends eyes, they way they followed his every move. How he would often woke in the night as one of them came in to check on him.
His friends sat in stunned silence, Aragorn finally opened his mouth to apologize, but Legolas stood abruptly, cutting him off.
"I need some time alone." He said, making his way to the door. Just as the prince's fingers touched the door knob, a suddenly agonizing pain shot through his heart. Crying out at the unexpected pain, Legolas slide limply to the floor.
"Legolas!"he heard his friend's frantic shouts and the pounding of their feet as they raced towards him. Another jolt of pain raced through him and the elf doubled over, his forehead touching the wooden floor. His body was attacked again, this time the pain coursing through him without mercy. Whimpering slightly the elf curled up into a ball, warping his arms around his middle as the agonizing pain grew.
Aragorn crouched near the prince, talking softly to him while trying to uncurl his body. Legolas refused to be though, only whimpering pathetically in pain. The human touched his friend's face gently, glancing up at his brothers who were kneeling on the other side.
"What do we do?" he begged, needing to do something to stop his friend's pain.
"Hold him." Elladan instructed, knowing that was all they had to offer at the moment. The human nodded, reaching out and trying to lift Legolas's upper body. It didn't work very well. The twins moved to help the ranger and soon Aragorn held his friend's lithe body gently. Pressing Legolas's face into his chest, the human ran a hand threw the long locks of hair all the while whispering soft words.
"Shh…it's alright. I've got you…" he tried to sooth, but Legolas cries of pain were only growing louder and in intensity. Reaching down, the man found the prince's hand, clasping it. Thus far Legolas had been unresponsive to anything that they had done, but when he felt the ranger take his hand, the elf immedtially returned the grasp squeezing hard.
Aragorn winced, but did not move his hand away. The twins gently took their friend's vital signs, noticing the increased heart rate and shallow breaths.
Feeling something wet drip down onto his tunic, the ranger froze his eyes widening with horror. If Legolas was actually crying because of the pain... Aragorn gently pried his hand free of Legolas's grip and took the elf's face, turning it so he could see. Partly to his relief, the man found that Legolas's nose was yet again dripping blood.
"Elrohir, I need a towel." He said urgently, already pinching his friend's nose. The elf complied and Aragorn tightened his grip.
Eventually, Legolas's pain began to diminish, his breathing turning heavy as he tried to deal with what his body had been put through. The prince laid still in Aragorn's lap, eyes closed.
"Legolas?" Elladan asked, taking his pulse again. Legolas's heart was still racing under his fingertips. The archer shifted in Aragorn's arms, eye lids fluttering open. It was then that Aragorn noticed how much the elf was shaking.
"El, Estel…" Legolas tried to say, but his voice was faint and almost unhearable.
"shhh…" Aragorn whispered back, placing on a hand on the elf's chest to still his movements with his other, he checked the statue of the bleeding. The blood flow had not stopped much and Aragorn pinched all the harder.
TBC…
Uh oh, they less than two weeks to fix this up, that plenty of time…right? *smiles nervously*
Review Responses:
The Phantom Dragon: lol! I don't know if they will ever learn to deal with it, but that's all the more fun! They can't do anything without getting terrified out of their wits!
heawee: Thank you very much!
csiwannabe99: Nah, Thranduil is nice, I'm too much of a softie to make him mean (haha I don't know if people would use that word to describe me)
MarMighty: haha, that is funny. Good for you, having the willpower to do it, I don't know if I could and thank you very much, mellon!
Snowy: Thank you! I am very glad that you have this to read then! Slash is just not cool.
world-classgeek yah, that is defiantly going to be a problem later on! Thanks!
AmazingWriter123: I'm glad it was! They are in a very great dilemma indeed, Aragorn or Legolas…they can't have both!
robinsmum: I know that I wouldn't want to be him! He made some enemies that I am sure he will regret making. I hope you had an awesome Ester!
ShadowHawq35: Tanks you very much, mellon-nin
LILVILONE96: I'm sure Legolas would appreciate that a great deal! And you are very right, both are them are going to feel pretty horrible (though different kinds)
sarathestarkidranger: That would be like one of the best things ever created, just behind angst! Poor Legolas, I don't know how he will ever live that down!
Moonlight900: Thanks for the suggestion! I will do my best to mention him more. I was going to put him into his chapter but it didn't quite seem to fit anywhere.
DragonElf: That would defiantly be nice! We will just have to wait and see if it happens!