A/N: Woah, hey! Sorry for the delay in uploading this chapter...but if I'm being honest, I've kinda been dreading writing this. Mostly because it means I get to write for Thranduil. I've been looking forward to these next few chapters, too, though. Mostly because it means I get to write for Thranduil (side note: it's also because I started watching Pushing Daisies last week and I love it).

In all seriousness, though, I do really hope I got his character right. He's definitely one of my favorite Tolkien characters, right up there with Legolas and Faramir. I mean, he just has such an interesting background and it's so complex and now that DoS is out there's all these headcanons for Thranduil floating around... So, yeah! Let me know what you guys think of him! C: Hope you enjoy!

*prays desperately that I didn't butcher Thranduil*

Chaos Unleashed: Part Two

Chapter Two

Erin's POV

I stared straight ahead at the sealed door from where I sat up against a pillar on the ground, waiting. After a moment of briefly explaining that he was alive and deflecting the many questions his friends of the guard peppered him with, Legolas went into the halls of the elves alone, assuring the rest of us that we would be summoned shortly. He'd wanted to give his father a bit of time to soak in the fact that his only son and heir was perfectly fine and returned home, and then also warn The Elvenking of our arrival. Normally, I would've been totally okay with that, but Legolas had been gone for awhile. I hoped that nothing had gone wrong inside.

I felt a finger poke my side and turned to see Kathryn sitting next to me. "Hey there, beautiful," she winked as she whispered to me in a low, overly sultry voice.

I smiled. "Hey. You ready to get out of this rain?"

"Yes." She glanced back at the gloomy skies behind us where it continued to pour. "It doesn't look like it's coming down quite as heavy now, though."

"Figures," I scoffed. "The moment we finally reach shelter, the rain lets up."

"Thanks, Obama," she said in an obnoxious tone.

I laughed. "Dude, that joke is so old."

"Still gold," she replied. I nodded in agreement. "Oh, there was something else I wanted to ask you."

"What?"

"When we get inside, are we gonna be interrogated or something?"

"Probably. Why?"

"Okay. I just don't know if you want me to not say certain things about how we got here."

I thought about that. "...I don't know. I don't think there's anything that we really should be hiding, but I'll try and answer all their questions about the portals and stuff just in case."

At that moment, there was a loud clang as the great gates swung open. I looked up to catch a glimpse of what lay beyond, but I didn't catch much before an elf with brown hair and keen amber eyes slipped out. Kathryn and I both got to our feet, and Boromir stepped closer from where he'd been standing off to the side. The unnamed elf looked at me somewhat expectantly. "The King wishes to see you." I nodded to him, and then once to my friends before turning and following him inside. Oh God, this is it. We're going in. This is gonna be horrible oh my word I don't want to do this anymore why are we here – Woah.

Any and all apprehension I'd felt a second ago was washed away as I stepped through those doors.

It was... indescribably beautiful. The caves were enormous, twenty times bigger than they'd ever appeared on screen. Every inch of stone was carved expertly to look like wood, so much that I was convinced we were walking on pathways of tree branches at first. Waterfalls from the outside river cascaded over areas of the walls, disappearing into clear rivers far below us. Pillars sprouted out of the ground everywhere, branching out into more stunning feats of architecture that connected to the high ceiling. Ethereal lights glowed a soft gold from where they hung in midair, giving the entire place a surprisingly warm feel. And I unashamedly gaped at it all as we walked along, speechless beyond measure. Even my description of these halls just now don't do it justice. It was otherworldly.

I was finally torn out of my awestruck state when I caught sight of the centerpiece of it all: the impressive structure of the throne lying just ahead. That was when I fully turned my focus forward and my jaw went slack for the second time within the past five minutes. I could see it. I could actually see the throne...the carven pillars surrounding its three levels connected by brief flights of stairs; the guards standing completely still as they protected it. As we drew even closer, I could make out more details, but the one thing I couldn't draw my eyes away from was the figure seated in the grand chair itself. I swallowed thickly and closed my mouth as we slowed our pace and ascended the first set of stairs, then the second that led to the plateau before the king.

As soon as I hit the top step, I felt his eyes on me, assessing our little group. I continued to avoid eye contact and moved to the right, letting Boromir and Kathryn stand next to me. There were a few other guards stationed around us, and I heard a few others assembling behind us by the base of the stairs to keep us from running off. Legolas stood right in front of us, directly beneath his father's throne, but held a grim expression. I caught his eye and shot him a questioning look, confused when he only shook his head. A stony silence settled over the area for a few long seconds, then shattered by a smooth, powerful voice.

"It is a strange thing for fate to bring three mortals into these halls."

My eyes snapped up to finally look at the owner of the voice. Thranduil's cold blue irises trailed over the three of us, intimidating enough on their own. I tried to match his stare as proudly as I could, but I knew it was a wasted attempt of bravery. "Though according to my son, it is not fate which has brought you here at all." Here his gaze lingered on Kathryn and I. "I do not take kindly to trespassers, as you may have guessed...so choose your words wisely, unless you would enjoy spending the remainder of your days in my dungeons." More silence, and I swallowed again. Were we expected to reply?

Surprisingly, it was Kathryn who found her voice first. "Whatever you'd want to know, we would tell you."
The Elvenking's sharp eyes flicked to her, and I could tell she almost immediately regretted speaking out. "Who are you, and how are you responsible for the disappearance of my son?"

She glanced at me for a moment, silently crying for help. I opened my mouth to answer, but Boromir jumped in first. "I, at least, am no stranger to you, or at least I should not be. Boromir, son of Denethor." Impressively, he was able to nearly match Thranduil's stare with authority of his own. I guess years of being the steward's son will do that to you.

"Denethor? The Steward of Gondor," the king mused. "Your father and brother have long been searching for you." I glanced sideways, noticing the smallest flash of emotion pass over Boromir's face. "It would do them well to see you again...though there is rumor that the steward is not who he once was." He looked the man dead in the eye. "He has become withdrawn, rarely keeping up appearances as a king should."

"He is not a king," Boromir said, though I knew that wasn't an easy thing for him to admit, "but still a noble man."

Thranduil seemed to almost not acknowledge his comment at all. "And I have also heard tell that he draws on information from a secret, hidden source as well." My breath caught in my throat. I knew exactly what he was talking about, and I'm sure Boromir did, too. "Yes...he would do very well to see your return." He then turned to me. "And what of you? You are not from these lands."

I shook my head. "No. My name is Erin...daughter of James, I suppose. And Kathryn." I gestured to her. "My best friend."

He looked us over again. God, that'll take some getting used to. Then, in one fluid motion, he rose from his throne and began descending the stairs to our level. "And where, if not from Middle-Earth, do you come?"

I continued to make eye contact as I spoke. "I know it sounds hard to believe, but... we come from a different world entirely, known simply as 'Earth.' I don't know where it would be in relation to here. It's something like a parallel universe."

Thranduil stopped in front of me, a dangerously low amount of space between us. He easily towered over my meager five foot four. "Another universe?" He seemed to smirk the tiniest bit for a fraction of a second, and I realized how ridiculous it sounded out loud. Suddenly, he lowered his voice, getting right up in my face as I stood totally still. "And how would you expect me to believe that? For all I know, you could be a spy of the Enemy."

I stared right back, a sudden spike of boldness coming over me at his accusation. "You don't have to trust my word. You trust your son's."

An unreadable expression was in his eyes before he stood upright and stepped away from me again, now speaking at his normal volume. "You have nothing to fear. Legolas has told me of your companionship, and I have no reason to doubt what he says is true." He had now moved back to stand beside the prince. "Though still, my second question is unanswered. How were you involved with his vanishing?"

Another beat of silence before I spoke. "The fault is mine, if anyone's. It was completely by accident, but somehow I opened a portal connecting our worlds for just long enough to pull Legolas and his...ah, companions out of Middle-Earth." I wasn't sure whether the Fellowship of the Ring was still supposed to be a secret or not by now. "I'm sorry for any trouble I may have caused you," I said to the king.

I was surprised to see a dark look pass over his features for a second, but the Elvenking recovered quickly. "And I assume your return to Arda along with them was unintentional as well?"

"Yes," I said.

Thranduil turned to look at his son for a moment, then back to us. "As of now, I can find no fault in you. Your account matches exactly with what Legolas has told me," he said, "but still through all of this, there is one glaring mistake that no one has been able to explain. Where are the others?"

I shared a look with Kathryn. "We don't know," she said. "They...they weren't with us when we crossed over."

Thranduil thought about that for a moment. "And these two are the only one who returned with you? There were no others?" I wondered what he was getting at. Whatever it was, he didn't seem too happy about it.

"None," Kathryn replied.

Another silence. I was watching Thranduil intently, trying to figure him out. Judging by the look in Legolas' eye, he was doing the same thing. That look of worry mixed with anger returned to the king's face for just a moment until he blinked and returned to his normal stoic expression. "If that is all you can tell me, then worry not. I have all the information I need." I frowned. He's lying. He has to be. "You are welcome to remain as guests of Legolas and I until you have decided what your next course of action will be. I will have Tauriel escort you to the guest chambers."

My face dropped. Really? Really? Out of all the elves in Mirkwood, it had to be - "Ben iest dhîn, Aran nin." [As you wish, my King.] All three of us turned to watch as she stepped up behind us – Had she been there the whole time? - and gave us a nod of acknowledgment. I suddenly felt very self-conscious with my muddy clothes and stringy wet hair. "If you would, follow me." With that, she briskly turned and began walking away from the throne, but not before shooting a smirk at the prince behind us. I clenched my teeth and tried not to punch her as I fell into step behind Boromir, leaving the two royals of Mirkwood in our wake.

oOo

Legolas' POV

"Why did you do that?" I waited until the three were out of earshot before asking the question and turning quickly on my father. "You knew the answers to all those questions; I gave them to you."

"No," he corrected me. "I did not know the locations of the others, and hoped they would reveal such information. There were nine of you, Legolas, they must be somewhere." I said nothing as he turned to one of the guards, Landíron. "I want a notice sent out to every allied kingdom possible to alert them of potential travelers passing through. There will be a man, three Halflings, and a woman. If found, hold them captive and notify me of them immediately." He then took off down the twisting pathway, and I stayed right behind him, as I knew he expected me to do.

"So you proved their alibis. What then? What are the significance of the rest of the Fellowship to you?" There was something he was not telling me. I did not like that.

"I need to know if the Ringbearer made it back to Middle-Earth alive," he said. "If he is not, then we must find a way to get him here as soon as possible."

"To continue the quest?" I was confused. "We lost the dwarf and other hobbit, and Mithrandir. It will not be easy to regroup from that."

He never faltered in his pace or turned to look at me over his shoulder, but suddenly his voice was different than before. It carried fear, something that was rare for him to show in front of any other, even me. "Your quest must be fulfilled at all costs. If not...the end of Arda itself may be upon us."

I frowned as we reached the great oak doors leading to my father's private library, which was, in its simplest form, a large room formed only out of tall pillars and the massive shelves of books, scrolls, and any other documents he deemed useful stretching between them on all sides. When the doors closed behind us loudly, he spun on his heel and faced me directly, engulfed in the shadows from the dim lighting of the room. "What is going on?" I asked.

He looked at me with the anticipated steel gaze. "Much has happened in your absence. While your Fellowship was off enjoying the company of those women in another life, darkness has been destroying Middle-Earth piece by piece." My eyes widened slightly. "Sauron's power has grown stronger, and now with the White Wizard Saruman as his puppet, they are shaking the very foundations of the kingdoms of men as we speak."

"How?"

"Théoden's people were the first to fall," he explained, striding over to where a large map of Middle-Earth and all the major kingdoms was splayed across a slab of stone on a pedestal. "Saruman poisoned the king's mind, and he fell prey to the whisperings of the evil some time ago. Rohan was easily overrun." I stared at him, not believing what I was hearing as he pointed to the south. "Gondor is now the next target in the Dark Lord's sight. He has been kept out of Osgiliath and much of its surrounding territory thus far, but it will not last for much longer. Denethor has all but withdrawn from his position as steward, leaving much of the responsibilities to the young Faramir in his stead. They are weak...and the Enemy knows this."

A paralyzing fear began to creep up my spine as the unthinkable rose in my head. "What of the elves?" I asked quickly. "Have we been taken?"

My father exhaled slowly, moving his finger up to our neighbors in the west. "Lothlórien has been able to withstand many of Sauron's attacks, but their numbers are dwindling. Elves are leaving Middle-Earth faster than ever before, taking their chance to escape across the sea while they can. Rivendell has also gone mostly untouched by the evil forces. Saruman has not managed to break through Elrond's defenses yet, but much of the area between there and Isengard has been infested with evil."

When he hesitated, the knot of worry in my gut grew larger. "...And Mirkwood?"

He stared at the great forest drawn on the map for a moment, then raised his head to look at me. "The Nine have been sent to Dol Guldur."

My jaw tightened. It had been long since that sense of dread had taken me. "All of them?"

"Three," my father replied. That did not lessen the severity of the situation much. "Two more have taken the abandoned area of Hollin, though it is suspected that one may move to Amon Sûl soon. The other four remain in Minas Morgul."

"But if one does station itself at Amon Sûl, that would greatly increase the danger to Rivendell," I said.

"Yes, and all of Eriador as well," he nodded. "It is troubling...but not the worst of our plight."

I looked up at him again, still frowning. "What do you mean?"

At this, my father stalked away from the map and towards one of the shelves containing many scrolls. "Sauron is doing much more than overtaking kingdoms. He has grown in strength from the over taking of Rohan and other lands, and has been making considerable advancements in other ways as well."

I stared at him as he pulled a few parchments out of their places and came back to me. Enough stalling. "What other ways?" He set the papers on top of the map in front of me, and I looked down, my eyes widening again as I took in what was on them. Drawings...of... "...What are these?"

"Sauron's advancements," my father replied. "He has been experimenting and breeding creatures such as these constantly." He pointed to one of the crude sketches, depicting a being with a human-like body, but feet like a canine's and thick arms that stretched to the ground. Its clawed fingers and hunched back reminded me vaguely of a troll, but its head was horned with two smaller extrusions protruding from its cheeks. A large, gnashing mouth and two wide-set, sallow eyes completed the drawing, which I felt uncomfortable just by looking at. "Men are calling these 'slinkers.' They are likely the mutilated form of a troll. Tall and slow moving, but fairly aggressive and difficult to defeat once provoked. They are more commonly spotted in forested areas."

He then moved to the next one, which highly resembled the Wargs that most were familiar with. "The 'wilks,' as dubbed by the Rohirrim. Much more vicious and intelligent than Wargs, and can also stand on their hind legs alone when needed. They have been seen in areas of open plains most often."

The next drawing was an incredibly frightening creature whose origin I could not place. Its legs closely resembled that of a horse's, but the rest of its body did not. The arms seemed human, though in the place of hands there were only two long, crude iron blades, hooked at the edges. A single fin-like extremity stuck out from its upper back, attached to a chain that had since been broken. It had no eyes and a small mouth, the facial features of note being the two large, curved plates of metal sticking out on either side. A long tail with a bladed tip also stood out on the hybrid creature. "These are the most deadly of our new enemies. Cleavers, as the men call them. No sight, but exceptional hearing and agility. There are rumors that these monsters were not released by Sauron's will, but their own – broken free from wherever they were held within the bowels of Mordor and escaped into the world. Few that encounter these barbaric creatures have survived."

My eyes flicked to the last of the four images, and though my father's description of the last beast had been terrifying enough, this was the one that made my blood run cold. What horrified me about it most was the fact that it looked completely human, save for its one prominent feature: a large metal blade in the shape of a T covering nearly all of its skull, save for the abnormally large mouth. The metal covered all traces of nose and eyes, though there were four eyes painted onto the flat front of the helmet instead. "...This is not a creature created entirely by Sauron's own hand," I stated, looking up to my father in the faint hope that he would correct me.

Unfortunately, he could not. "No." He paused for only a second, and I knew the origin of this monster turned his stomach as well. "Though it was unlikely to think they would waste so many bodies." I turned back towards the image as he explained them a bit more. "Seekers. These are the ones that have infested Mirkwood the most, as they have been reportedly coming out of Dol Guldur more often than anywhere else. They also seek out enemies using sound instead of sight, with an odd form of clicks and groans used as echolocation." I stared at the drawings for a second longer before he spoke again. "Legolas." Turning my eyes to his, I could see his fear. "These enemies are coming out of the lairs of Sauron by the dozens every day. They are still mysteries to us, though we have been collecting as much information on them as possible. Sauron is advancing his armies in brutality and intelligence with only one goal in mind: total conquest of the free realms of Middle-Earth."

"And you think destroying the Ring will still be enough to stop him?"

He looked at me gravely. "It may be the only thing now."

I swallowed, the gravity of the situation finally setting in. "I noticed the forest was...burned. The trees were all dead, even so close to these caves."

My father closed his eyes and took a breath. "The attacks from Dol Guldur have been ruthless with the Nazgûl commanding them. We have been able to fend them off well enough, but outside of these walls, the entire forest is overrun. Spiders have returned to their nests we once destroyed with a bitter vengeance, and the new enemies that stalk these woods make it an even greater danger to step outside. We have continued trading with the men of Laketown, but I fear that will not last much longer." His eyes flicked east. "They are bound to collapse under the weight of Sauron's evil soon."

I hesitated asking the question that was on the tip of my tongue. "...And our people?"

A much longer pause. "...They are leaving."

He would not look at me, and I knew it was out of shame. My father worked tirelessly to care for the elves of our realm; he would do nearly anything for the safety and prosperity of his kingdom and its subjects. And to know that they were losing faith in his leadership enough to leave Middle-Earth would break him. "It is not something you can control," I said quietly, hoping to offer some comfort. "Sauron's wrath is fierce, and none could have predicted his rise would come this swiftly."

"But I surely could have done more to protect my people from it," he said sharply, still staring at the map. "They leave because they have no hope...because I failed to give it to them." His voice held its near-emotionless edge, but I could still detect the traces of underlying guilt within it.

"They make their own decisions."

"And they chose to distrust me."

"Ada -"

He snapped his head up to meet my gaze, a sadness lingering in his eyes behind their stone-cold mask. "Go, Legolas. Your friends will be eager to see you, I am sure."

I closed my mouth and nodded once before quickly leaving the library. I knew when to leave my father alone, and this was one of those times. Though as I walked, an unwelcome thought gnawed at the back of my mind – would he ever believe that I was losing trust in him, too?

A/N: Before I respond to a guest review, I'd just like to point out that the imagery for these new creatures of Sauron's were provided by the drawings of a wonderful artist on deviantART by the name of StilleNacht. I HIGHLY recommend that you go look through his gallery for the pictures that I'll be using as reference when describing these creatures – in the order they appear in this chapter, they're titled "Tall Troll," "Werewolf," "Demon Soldier," and "Painted Eyes." Go look them up. His work is fantastic! And also, if you guys have any better names I could use for these new creatures, let me know! The ones I'm using now (I think) are kinda lame, but I wanted to get this chapter out for you guys, so... :P

Now, on to that review...

To KitsuneWarrior: Let me start off by saying that I'm insanely flattered by your request! :D I have some of the most amazing readers ever, I swear. As far as a reading of my fanfics on YouTube go... I guess it depends on which ones you specifically plan on reading. There are a couple that I still have up on my profile that honestly, I'm not proud of anymore, but I keep them there to please others who still enjoy them. Also, is your YouTube channel name just KitsuneWarrior? I found that one, but not one named 'thekitsunewarrior' like you said in the review.