The Unexpected | LotR Fanfiction

Chapter 38

Yeah boiiiii

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I'm violently thrust from the memory, causing me to stumble back. The world spins as light sears my retinas. I raise a hand to my mouth, feeling bile rise in my throat. Not at the experience, but at what I had seen.

Innocents tortured in a way that made every part of me ached, an elven prince broken not in body, but in mind.

I had recognized Sauron as soon as I felt his dark presence in the memory. The fact that Legolas had been at his mercy filled me with horror, anger, and sorrow.

And how can Sauron and orcs take joy in torturing innocents? My mind simply cannot wrap around it. And frankly, I don't want it too. I've had enough of dealing with the pain in the world.

I just want to go home.

Legolas's rough panting caught my attention. He leans against the wall, a sheen of sweat making him glisten. The horrid Ring hung out of his tunic. I was shocked to see tears swimming in his eyes as he beheld me.

"Oh, Legolas." He held such a dark secret away from the world and from himself. Now he just relived it. My mind went back to when I saw him staggering through the forest, gagged and bound, blood of his fellow warriors and his own drenching his body. The blood had seemed to devour him, a red void of shattered innocence.

I advanced towards him. He had always comforted me, now it's my turn to comfort him.

But he turned his back to me.

"How can you even look at me?" he whispered, the words trembling like a leaf in the wind.

"What?" How can he say that? Why?

"I'm a monster. A murderer" Disgust dripped from the words.

"No, you're not. Don't say that." Hot liquid welled in my eyes.

He whirled around. "But it was I that led them to their deaths!" His face contorted in some emotion I couldn't place.

"And it was you who had the safety of your Elfdom in mind!" I closed the distance between us and gently took his hands in mine. Examining the way my hands sat in his, I saw that my skin was only slightly darker than his, although he had far more callouses than I. Years of existence had hardened him, not just his mind but his skin as well.

"You thought you were doing what was best for your people. You have changed much since then." I let go of one hand and press my free one to his soft cheek.

"I do not blame you." My thumb wiped away an escaping tear. "I only blame the Dark Lord."

His wide eyes held mine, searching to see the truth in my words. But his eyes didn't see it, he only felt the guilt and horror crushing him.

I gripped his hand tighter, "It is the Dark Lord who is destroying your home. He took away your friends. And he'll take away many more if we do not stop them." I pleaded with my voice, hoping against hope that he'd see reason and truth.

"He harmed you, didn't he?" The sudden change in topic stunned me into silence. Although, maybe it wasn't a change, not for him.

I didn't want to answer, but if it meant pushing him in the right direction then I will.

I nodded and couldn't stop my eyes from leaving him, wandering away to a not so distant memories.

My hands were almost crushed in his sudden vise-like grip. "I'll make him pay. I promise." The hardened steel in his voice made me glance back at him.