Broken (sequel to Caught)

Free

There was a warm darkness around him, and it was beautifully comforting for reasons he could not explain. The silence was endless and perfect, and he reveled in the feeling of being alone. There was no expectations of him here. He did not need to be the perfect prince he always had to act as. He did not need to hide the way that the sea was crying for him every moment, he could let it go.

The feeling of freedom swelled inside of him, and Legolas finally stopped trying to suppress the overwhelming emptiness he had felt since the cry of the gulls had first reached his heart, and let the feelings surge through him. He envisioned the sea, its pounding waves, its melodious voice, and let out a strangled cry, which soon turned into a full-blown scream.

"Legolas!...Calm...ion-nin...you must calm down..."

Legolas felt his barriers and his masks go back up, all of them slamming down on him the instant he heard his father's voice. It wasn't supposed to be like this. He was not supposed to have to hide anything from his Ada. They were supposed to be completely honest with each other.

But he could not tell his father the one thing that was hurting him most. He could not cause him that kind of pain. Better for one of them to suffer than both of them.

Finally returning to his body, Legolas felt himself breathing heavily. Drops of sweat were rolling slowly down his face, and he wanted to reach up and move them away, but he couldn't. His arms felt like lead, and he was held down on the bed on which he was lying by the sheer weight of his body.

"A...A-ada..." he croaked, his throat dry and his voice weak. He looked up, the effort of moving his head unbelievably draining. He looked blearily up at his father, who smiled sadly down at him, stroking his hair with one hand.

"Go back to sleep, ion-nin. It was only a bad dream."

'If only that was so, Ada.'

He fell back into the world of unconsciousness.

Thranduil looked at his son's sleeping face, which was pale and drawn. He brushed away some hair that had fallen over Legolas's face and allowed himself to relax, leaning back in his chair, allowing himself to sigh deeply into the empty room, running a hand over his face tiredly. It had been two days since Legolas had killed the spider, and he hadn't slept since.

A knock came at the door, making Thranduil jolt back up to attention again. He sat straight in his chair and called out for whoever it was to come in.

A female face looked around the door. It was Lady Anomeda, a lady of his court that had been present during the spider attack.

"My king," she said politely, stepping in and bowing to him before closing the door behind her.

The Lady had very distinguishing features. Most elves in Eryn Lasgalen had light brown hair, but hers was jet black, and she had bright green eyes that looked like a cat's. Her hair reached to about halfway down her back, and her face was made even paler in color than other elves because of her dark hair that framed it. She almost always wore dark blues and purples, and she wore a dark blue dress now that dragged rich fabric across the floor as she approached him.

"Please sit, my lady," said Thranduil, motioning with one hand toward the chair by his side. She sat, perched on the edge of the seat like a bird ready to fly away at any moment. Her eyes scanned Legolas briefly, and tears gathered in her eyes. She wiped them away with a handkerchief she drew from her sleeve.

"Are you alright, my lady?" asked Thranduil. She nodded, sniffing.

"I am sorry, my Lord. It is just that it pains me to see him this way. He is such a wonderful person, besides being a skilled fighter and prince. I wish he did not get hurt for our sakes."

"Your sakes?"

"Me and the other Council members, my lord. We did not have our weapons, and we should have known better to go anywhere unarmed. At least until the darkness is completely banished."

"You are right. I also did not have a weapon, which was foolish of me. I also take some of the blame."

There was silence other than their breathing and Legolas's in the room for a few minutes. Then Lady Anomeda stood up.

"Well, my king, I must be going. Thank you for sparing time for me."

Thranduil stood to open the door for her, and smiled.

"It was no trouble, my lady. You are welcome to visit Legolas and I any time you wish," he said, and she gave him a brilliant smile before walking out of the room.

But as the door closed behind her, her smile turned wicked.

Legolas felt a disturbance in the darkness, a feeling of some sort. He reached out to it, and felt the feeling of happiness. Who was happy? And why?

Oh, that must be his Ada's emotion! Why was his Ada happy? He felt himself, with the emotion, coming back to his own body, and he cracked his eyes open to look into the room. The sun had fallen, and it was completely dark in the room except for a single candle, which would not be blown out because the healers and his father knew how he felt about the dark, after everything with Cyras.

His Ada was sleeping soundlessly on a chair by the bed, and he went and prodded his mind gently to wake him up, knowing that he would want to know that he was awake. Thranduil's eyes opened slightly, and he blinked sluggishly at Legolas. About a minute later, realizing that Legolas was awake, Thranduil jolted to attention and grabbed his son's hand.

"Legolas!" he said. "Are you alright?"

"Aye," said Legolas, still hoarse. "I'm okay."

"Here, let me go get you some water," said Thranduil, and he stood up. He got a pitcher and a glass and poured water into it, and he turned back to his son, but Legolas's eyes had fallen shut again already. The spider's poison would have killed any normal elf, but for the stubborn prince of Eryn Lasgalen it only made him immensely fatigued.

Thranduil smiled at his sleeping son and sat down again, preparing for a long night.