Who Lives On Love Lives On Forever
Chapter Two - The Revelation
By Marylou
Author's note: Thank to anyone who reviewed. You're great!! I hope I'll get more for this one.
Disclaimer: The ones you love belong to Tolkien, the evil Sarina belongs to me!
Warning: This is SLASH! If you can't stand it, please don't read it!
Who Lives On Love Lives On Forever
Chapter Two - The Revelation
By Marylou
"The heart has its reasons which reason knows nothing of..."
- B. Pascal
~~~~ Arwen ~~~~
I was very surprised to see Aragorn coming back soon. I hadn't expected him for a few hours. But there was something else that troubled me, as well. He seemed to be in agony, riding as quickly as the wind. When he came closer, I saw that he was carrying someone with him, but I couldn't recognize the thin figure. Something had to be terribly wrong. I had never seen my husband so upset before.
I ran down and commanded the guards to open the gate. In less than two minutes, Aragorn was there. He jumped off the horse and carried the other person with him. That was when I recognized him.
"Legolas!" I screamed, " What happened? Where did you find him?"
Aragorn didn't seem to have heard me. "Quickly call all my healers and help me bring him to my room," he said to the guards.
I followed them, the expression of fear and agony written all over my face. When we reached our private chambers, Aragorn carried the unconscious Legolas and laid him on our bed. I saw that his chest was red and the bleeding hadn't yet stopped.
"You must get out. We have to work in peace," one of the healers told us. I began walking out, but I saw that Aragorn refused to make a step. "I want to stay with him. Please let me!" he screamed, until they were forced to drag him out of the room.
As soon as they closed the door, Aragorn collapsed. He fell on the floor and started crying and hitting his head on the wall.
I was shocked. I hadn't seen that side of my husband before. I kneeled down next to him and put my hands around him, to comfort him. He seemed to notice me for the first time, but he didn't stop crying.
I didn't know why that incident had upset Aragorn that much. Of course, Legolas was a good friend, but he had seen other friends get hurt before and had never acted that way.
It was one of the moments, I wished I knew him better. The first years of your marriage were quite normal. He was always a bit silent and distanced, but I thought that it was all because of the many responsibilities he had as a king. But as the years passed, I knew that he wasn't the same man that I had fallen in love with.
He didn't love me anymore. His thoughts and his heart always seemed to travel to someone else, someone whose name he whispered in the nights, but I was never able to hear. He barely kissed me anymore, until two months ago he asked me to start sleeping in separate bedrooms. I refused, saying that I hadn't give up my life, only to become a typicality in his life. He seemed to understand that, but, still, he preferred to sleep alone in his office.
At first, I thought that it was one of the maids that had stolen his heart, but as I saw the sorrow in his eyes, even more often, I realized that it was someone far away.
I was very angry and upset about his behavior, but as I saw that he was a nervous breakdown, full of sorrow and misery, I couldn't do anything but forgive him. I still loved him deeply and had to stand by his side, no matter what his feelings towards me were.
Just like now, when we both sat on the cold floor, crying, each for their own reasons...
~~~~ Legolas ~~~~~
The last thing that I remember, before everything went dark, was Aragorn chasing me across the streets. He had screamed to me to come back, not to leave him again. Even the thought of that hurts me right now.
I never intended to leave him in the first place. I had planned to spend a lifetime with him and even die for him, if necessary. But all of my hopes and dreams were destroyed by one person, Sarina.
Sarina was one of the remaining Dunedains in Middle Earth. Aragorn had always trusted her and told her all of his secrets. Among them, his relationship with me. I was never quite comfortable with that, since I never fully trusted her.
Her eyes were dark and she always seemed to examine me so critically. Almost from the beginning, I had felt that her intentions were dark. And, unfortunately, I was proved to be right.
I knew that Aragorn had given his vow to Arwen to marry her, but he had promised me that he would find a way out, so that he could be with me. I believed him, since I could see that he loved me.
But, when Sarina came and told me that Aragorn was finally planning to marry Arwen and had only played a trick to me, my whole world collapsed. I didn't want to believe her, but the thought that he trusted her and told her everything, made me have doubts.
I decided to confront my lover immediately. I started searching him around the gardens, until I spotted him. But he wasn't alone. He was with Arwen and he was in fact, holding her hands.
Anger and frustration took over me. My only thought was to get away, away from the man that I had loved so deeply and who had betrayed my trust. I prepared my horse and rode off, without even throwing a look to my beloved. I run off and never saw him again for 15 years, until now.
As I began to doze of my sleep, I saw a dark figure sitting next to me and fell his warm hand on my face.
"Legolas," Aragorn whispered and bend closer to me. I was confused. I didn't know where I was and why he was there.
"Where am I? What has happened, Aragorn?" I slowly asked. I could see clearly now and I noticed that he had tears in his eyes.
"You're in my bed, Legolas. In Gondor. One of the guards accidentally shot you and you were severely injured. You have been laying unconscious for three days."
"Three days?" I asked, confused. I didn't know what to do. Part of me wanted to push Aragorn away, in memory of the pain that he had caused me, but my heart and my body ached for his touch so much that I couldn't resist. His face was only a few inches away from mine.
I covered the distance with a tender kiss on his sweet lips. Yes, I said to myself, this is what heaven must taste like.
He was startled at first, but he soon responded with a warmer kiss that set fire in my whole body. I moaned softly, as the kiss deepened and his hands caressed my hair.
Suddenly, an image went through my mind. He and Arwen holding hands. He and Arwen kissing.
I pushed him away. "No," I whispered, "We cannot do this."
He looked at me with surprise. "Why Legolas? I love you."
I laughed ironically. "Love? What do you know about that? The only thing you know is to deceive the ones who trust you."
~~~~ Aragorn ~~~~
When he said those words, I knew immediately what he meant. When Sarina had this terrible accident with her horse, three years ago, she thought that she would die, so she confessed everything to me. If I wasn't so sure that she would die, I would have killed her with my own hands.
She told me that she was in love with Legolas and was always so jealous to see us together, so she had decided to break us up. She had told Legolas that I planned to marry Arwen after all and sent him over to find me.
When he did, I was in the garden with Arwen trying to explain her that I wouldn't marry her. I was holding her hands, so Legolas thought that I was still in love with her and was foolish enough to leave without saying a word. Instead of him, Sarina appeared and asked if she could talk to me for a while.
I followed her and she told me that she had seen Legolas running away with someone else. I couldn't believe that, so searched the whole castle, but I didn't find him anywhere. When I reached the market some of the people told me that they had seen the young elf running away.
I was devastated. I wanted to run after him, but my anger and my pride kept me back. If he had decided to leave me for someone else, I thought, then I should move on and marry Arwen, as I ought to.
Despite all that, I still loved him and couldn't get over him, for he was the only one ever to touch my heart in such a way.
When Sarina explained everything to me, I immediately went out to look for him. I was away for more than a half year, but I hadn't discovered anything. It was like he had disappeared from the earth. So, I gave up hope and return to my kingdom, only to suffer more than before, 'cause I knew that I had lost him for nothing.
As soon as I came back, I banished Sarina from the palace and never talked to her anymore. She had tried to approach me several times, but I refused to see her, for the pain she had caused me was unbearable.
When I finished my story, I saw that Legolas had tears in his big emerald eyes.
"So, we lost all these years, without a reason? We've been through that pain and sorrow, only because of a lie?" He trembled as he said those words and then buried his face in his hands, his arms shaking by his sobbing.
I hugged him and softly kissed his blond hair. "Hush, my darling," I whispered in his ear, "We're together now and nothing can tear us apart. Nothing, my love."
As I said these words, I heard a door closing somewhere near me, but I was too distracted to pay any attention to that.
To be continued...