Within Dreams [A Legolas love story]

Mind Games

"...margarine, nightshade, Oedipus, plant, quail, race, soot..."

"Shut UP!" Falcon snarled, "The plan, the plan-- does it involve Legolas? That dark-haired friend of yours? Think of the plan, of why you are here!"

"Now I have to start over," I said irritably, thinking of an assortment of things unrelated to any plan. He would not know. I resumed thinking of words that fit the first letter of the alphabet. "Apple, bear, crystal, devious, elephant, fish, gold, hatter--" I was stifled as Falcon pressed a hand over my mouth. Desperately seeking a way to prevent my mind from returning to the inevitable, I mentally began to list the periodic table of elements.

Hydrogen, helium, lithium, beryllium, boron, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen...

"You can't control your thoughts anymore than I can," he said angrily. "Think. The plan. Which plan?"

Ah, I had a new plan. It had just popped into my mind. He was wrong, I could control my thoughts.

Before Falcon could comprehend it, I replaced all my thoughts with those sure to distract him. I remembered the last time I had been here in vivid detail. How close Falcon had gotten to me, how frustrated he was that I was not open to his advances.

How close he was, how frustrated. Frustrated, angry, he was desperate. He felt deeply how much he wanted me, how he wished I were his--

"Stop it," Falcon snapped. "I am not--"

"Then do not try and read my thoughts," I suggested. "It is not a hard choice for most people. If you don't like what you see, stop looking."

"You're distracting me," he hissed.

"Good," I replied, pleasantly. I resumed arranging my hideous collage of memories in my mind.

Falcon came for me, in the night. He leaned over me, holding a knife to my throat. He was so close, he could see every detail of my face, smell my scent clearly--

"STOP!" Falcon said again, more forcefully. It came out more like a plea than an expression of rage.

This was too easy. Wickedly grinning, I couldn't help myself.

Falcon, his green eyes meeting mine, his face closer and closer, his breath hissing by my ear. I was powerless as he lazily, carefully, placed his lips on my neck...

He blinked, abandoning his attempts to overcome my mind, instead overcome with something else. Holding his purpose above all else, he seemed to be winning his mental battle until I recalled another detail.

Chains. I was chained and couldn't move. Falcon approached me again, like a predator hunting his prey...

I could invent things. I could fabricate thoughts, twist his reality. I had powers now he couldn't ever have.

Falcon roughly pushed me into him and kissed my forcefully, his hot breath hitting my face...

"Gianna, you--no--the plan..." he trailed off, breathing heavily.

"Perhaps I am showing you the plan," I said, in my best seductress voice. "Pay attention."

So badly wanting more, he did not withdraw from my mind, so I weaved another memory. And another. He reached for me and held me down again, trying to hold what he could not have as one's fistful of water eventually closes on air.

I did not stop.

"You seek to...distract...me with this?" he exploded vehemently.

"Maybe," I purred, though I moved away from him. "Concentrate, now, perhaps you'll be able to decipher the plan."