Caught (a legolas fanfiction)

A dream

Chapter 18

A scream in the dead of night pierced the hearts of every living being in all of Rivendell. Every elf jolted awake in their beds, clutching at their ears, which rang, and then their hearts, which ached. Even the guards outside heard it, and the caretakers at the stable tried to calm their horses' frantic whinnying, as well as their own fluttering hearts.

There were seven, in particular, that were startled by the sound. But instead of following the same protocol as the others, they immediately leaped out of their beds, and they were all running down the halls from their respective rooms and toward the healing wing at full speed.

Elladan, Elrohir, and Elrond arrived first, because their chambers were closest to the room they were headed to.

Legolas had known it was all a dream. Now, it was all dark again. He hadn't been saved. He was in his cell. He was alone, and Cyras would come back eventually, and it would all continue.

He couldn't take it anymore. He screamed and screamed and screamed.

Elrond and his sons fumbled around in the darkness. The elven lord grouped around on the shelves, eventually coming upon a candle and the matches next to it. The screaming continued, and it drowned out his curses when he dropped the match.

He searched around on the floor with his hands, eventually finding it after feeling around for almost a full minute. The entire time, the cries did not cease.

He struck the match and lit the candle. At that moment, he saw Thranduil, Aragorn, Gimli, and Glorfindel enter the room, panting.

Legolas suddenly saw a spark of golden light, and his screams faded into silence. It illuminated the face of Elrond, who looked upon him in concern. Not knowing whether it was real, he held out his hands, much like a child would when requesting that a parent pick them up. Elrond came over and placed the candle in his hands, holding them within his own so they would stop shaking.

He looked in relief upon the tiny light, and he tried to calm his racing heart. His panting eventually faded into quiet breathing, and another light flared from the torches on the wall. Elladan blew out the candle he had used to light it.

And still he held his own tiny light in his hands, and Elrond didn't try to take it away from him. He simply held it there as Legolas stared at it. It was the one thing he had that was his. He wouldn't let anyone take it from him.

In a sudden flurry of activity, they were all surrounding him. Elrond took the candle, and he was about to cry out for it, but it was placed only about a foot away, on the small table by his bedside. He reached out and took it back.

Elladan was holding his hair back so it wouldn't get caught in the flame. Elrohir was speaking to him softly, Glorfindel was holding his hand, Gimli was patting his knee, and his Ada was supporting his grip on the candle. Elrond reappeared, holding a cup of water and trying to practically force it down his throat. He whimpered at the way they came so close to him.

"Whoa, whoa," came a voice from behind them. "Give him some space, everyone. You're scaring him."

They parted like the sea for Aragorn, who made his way to his friend. He kneeled by the bedside, taking the long-fingered hand within two of his.

"Hello, mellon-nin," he said. Legolas was looking on with interest. Not fear or gratefulness in his eyes, only mild interest. "How are you?"

There was a small shrug of the shoulders, and Aragorn smiled.

"Well, that's better than bad, isn't it?" he said. "Why don't you drink some of this? It will make you feel better if you have some fluids, Legolas." As he took the cup of water from Elrond and offered it to Legolas, he unconsciously tucked his hair behind his ear with his other hand.

Legolas suddenly wrenched his hand away at the sight of the rounded ears on his friend. He shuddered as he thought of the same ears, rounded and human, on Cyras behind a curtain of blonde hair. He closed his eyes tightly and shrunk back into the pillows.

Thranduil took the cup from Aragorn silently and stood in front of his son.

'Legolas, please, ion-nin, look at me,' he said, and he touched Legolas's chin with two fingers and made it so they were looking eye to eye. 'You need some water, Legolas, otherwise your body won't be able to heal.'

He held the cup out to Legolas, who took it slowly and stared at it for a while. Everyone in the room held their breath, wondering if the stubborn elf would accept the offering. Eventually he looked up at his father with pleading eyes.

"Alright, alright, we'll leave," Thranduil said, seeing the question in his gaze. "But do you promise to drink it after we leave?"

Legolas gave a small nod, so Glorfindel blew out the torch, but he left the small candle on the table ablaze. The man, dwarf, and elves filed out of the room. "Goodnight, Legolas. Sleep well, ion-nin," Thranduil said. The door shut with a click.

"His lack of speech this entire time worries me," Elrond said, looking at the others who had just left the room.

"Aye, me too," said Glorfindel. The others nodded in agreement.

"He should've atleast said something by now," said Gimli. "The silence seems so unnatural."

"Tomorrow, our main goal should be convincing him to speak to us," said Aragorn.

"We also have some things that may be of use," said Thranduil. "And we can tell you what we know of the story. But it shall all have to wait until morning."

Legolas waited until their footsteps faded.

'I'm sorry, Ada,' Legolas thought.

He poured the water onto the floor.

A/N: Woooo! Fifteen minutes to post this before tomorrow.