The Healer's Choice (LOTR General Fanfiction)

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Beta: Manon, Shemar & Naomi, Phyllis, Carol, Niroveka, Dis & Aranel

Spoiler: AU. Book-verse.

Disclaimer: I own only the plot; Tolkien though was the one that created the great world of Middle Earth. I do not own the Lord of the Rings (and associated) book series, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of the story.

Rate: PG-13

Warning: Evil cliffy, violence/physical torture. The usual stuff...

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Drimrill Dale

Aragorn and Gimli sat and smoked their pipes while Legolas sat leaning against a tree, listening to the sounds of nature around him. Legolas was suddenly alert as he heard something from inside the woods. Taking his knives, he got up and made his way towards the sound. It took the Ranger and Dwarf several minutes to notice that the Elf was gone.

After several minutes, Aragorn and Gimli noticed that Legolas was gone.

"Legolas?" Aragorn called, looking around for the elf, but there was no answer.

"Where is he?" Gimli asked.

"He was here..." Aragorn said, standing up as he heard a cry of pain from inside the woods. Aragorn identified the voice. 'No!' he thought. Drawing his sword, Aragorn started to run, followed closely by Gimli, his axe in his hand.

They arrived in a small clearing and saw there was a small party of orcs attacking Legolas. He was lying in the grass, and the orcs were trying to stab him in his chest and neck. There were deep cuts in his chest already; it looked as if it had been torn to pieces by the wicked knives of the orcs.

Gimli could not stand to see his friend's face full of pain and ran towards the orcs, yelling and swinging his axe, killing every orc that came in his way. Aragorn could only stand and stare at his friend, the tears streaming down his face. He had not expected their friendship to end this way. His let his sword drop to the ground.

"No, please no" Aragorn whispered, thinking Legolas was dead.

Gimli walked up to the stunned human who was standing and staring as if hypnotized at the fragile elf. The dwarf grabbed Aragorn by the arm and shook him, trying to get some sort of reaction from the man.

"Aragorn!" Gimli cried in despair. There was no reaction from the ranger. "Aragorn!" Gimli shook him again.

Aragorn blinked and looked down at the dwarf.

"How do you fare, my friend?" Gimli asked when he saw that he had Aragorn's attention again.

"Guilty," Aragorn said.

"But why?" Gimli asked.

"I failed him," Aragorn said.

"We need to know if he is still alive," Gimli said. "You did not fail him. It was his choice to go alone." Gimli was still holding onto Aragorn's arm and started to lead him towards the elf.

"You are right, master dwarf," Aragorn said. "Let us see how he fared,"

They approached the wounded elf. Aragorn checked the cuts; Legolas' tunic was saturated with blood and in some places the ranger could see bone where the knives had cut deeply into the elf's flesh. He felt ill but he swallowed and tried to concentrate on whether Legolas still lived or not.

Gimli watched as Aragorn checked Legolas' wounds, then looked at the elf's face. He saw Legolas' lips moving, but could not hear anything.

"Aragorn," Gimli called.

"What is it, Gimli?" Aragorn asked.

"What did Legolas say?" Gimli asked.

Aragorn raised his eyes from Legolas' chest and looked at Gimli in disbelief.

"Ahh?" Aragorn asked.

"Legolas moved his lips – he is trying to say something," Gimli said. He continued to look at the elf's face. "Look."

Aragorn looked back at Legolas and saw that Gimli was right. He moved his ear over Legolas' lips, trying to hear what the elf was saying.

"What is he trying to tell us?" Gimli asked.

"He said: 'Leave me be'," Aragorn said, raising shocked eyes to Gimli.

The dwarf was stunned by the words. "What are we going to do?" he asked.