Caught (a legolas fanfiction)

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A/N: :P

Chapter 24

"I don't even know where to start," Aragorn muttered, looking around the enormous library of Imaldris.

"Well, it would be a good idea to start with the ones on that side of the room," Elrond motioned toward the left side. "Because they are all of the books about healing."

"All of those?" Aragorn groaned. "That's a lot."

It was indeed a lot. There were at least twenty rows of books stacked on top of one another, and they covered every inch of the wall in the enormous room.

"Good thing there are six of us, then," Elladan and Elrohir said in unison before staring at each other and bursting out laughing. Elrond rolled his eyes, but he was smiling.

"Alright," he said. "Everybody get a book," he said. "With any luck, we can get through three or four rows today. Remember, we're looking for anything to do with Denetinei, the sphere, or the other poison."

Everyone in the group nodded and picked up a book from the row closest to the floor. There was a silence other than the flipping of pages and occasional mumbling.

Thranduil was the only one who remained in the room with Legolas. His son was sleeping peacefully, and he was hard-pressed to keep himself from falling asleep. Looking for something to keep him awake, he looked around the room. His eyes fell upon the small, leather-bound journal that was lying on the bedside table.

The silence in the library was interrupted by the door flying open. Six pairs of eyes, four elven, one human, and one dwarvish, flew to the door, where Thranduil stood, panting.

"What is it, Thranduil?" Elrond said, jumping up onto his feet in concern. "Has something happened to Legolas?"

Thranduil shook his head, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Elrond sat down again. They all waited patiently as the elvenking caught his breath.

Having regained his normal breathing pace, Thranduil held up the book in his hand. Everyone stared at it blankly.

"We've got all the answers right here," Thranduil said.

Legolas was in the middle of a nightmare.

His mother was standing there, beautiful and stunning as a golden sunset on the balcony of his room when he woke up. She turned to him. Her eyes were filled with confusion.

"Nana?" he whispered. He was standing within his own room in the palace, but it suddenly all seemed foreign to him.

"Who are you?" she asked, looking around frantically. "How did you get in here?" He did not have time to answer before a voice came from his right.

"Nana? What's wrong?"

Thranduil took a deep breath and sat down in a chair next to Elladan, and the rest of the group gathered around him.

He flipped to the first page and began to read aloud.

Legolas whipped around to look in the direction that the voice had come from. A younger version of himself, younger than he had been when she died, was looking with innocent eyes from the doorway.

"Nana? Who's that?" he asked, wide-eyed. "What is this strange guy doing in my room?"

"Come here, ion-nin," she said, holding out her arms, and before the older Legolas could stop him, his younger self was going toward her, and the threat that only he could see behind her.

When he reached the part about how the man captured and tortured Legolas, Thranduil felt his voice begin to fail him as he read it. He had to force himself to look at it one word at a time and simply read it instead of absorbing its meaning, otherwise he wouldn't be able to go on.

The last entry was the most disturbing.

November 29, 3019

Today I made the elf see the people who I discovered to be special to him through my previous mind readings whipping him. It was in fact me, and it was quite enjoyable. I got to do forty lashes on his back. The most entertaining part was the fear in his eyes.

A strange feeling has come over me today. I feel like every moment is my last. Maybe this is the last full day I will be alive. I recall, in the journals of the previous ones who tried to get a hold of the princeling, a similar feeling coming over them on their last days. This means that I must kill the elf tomorrow, because it will be my last day. In order to make his death more horrible for those who love him, I think that instead of killing him directly, I will give him Denetinei. I know that no one but myself knows that the cure is the golden flower of Lothlorien. The poison will make his death painful and dramatic, which is what I know Veritinan would've wanted. If I meet him in the afterlife, he will surely be proud of me.

Those were the last words in the book.

"No!" Legolas screamed, just before his younger self stood beside her. Behind them came a ghostly shape, which soon fully appeared. Cyras stood behind them, grinning. He reached out and grabbed his naneth around the neck. Her beautiful eyes widened in surprise.

"NANA!" he and his younger self screamed at the same time.

Thranduil had finished reading the book, and everyone was numb. They were suddenly forced to come back into the real world when a scream came from the healing room, which was down a few hallways.

"NANA!"

Thranduil leaped up, running out the door. His feet flew over the floors, and he burst into the room to see Legolas, lying on the bed and writhing in his sleep, tears running down his face.

"GET AWAY FROM HER!" he screamed. "NANA!"

"Legolas!" he said, rushing over to the bed. He placed his hand upon his son's forehead and send calming images and emotions, and soon Legolas calmed down. His body went limp, and his eyes opened slowly.

"Hello, Legolas," he said, moving a few sweaty strands of hair from his son's forehead. "How are you feeling?"

Legolas didn't answer, but looked up, eyes looking completely lost. He looked down again, the effects of the haunting nightmare still showing plainly on his face.

"I'm alright," he said mildly, and Thranduil sighed. Why did his son have to be so stubborn?

"What happened in your dream?" he asked softly. "You don't often have nightmares."

"I was in my chambers," Legolas responded after a slight hesitation. "Nana was on the balcony, she didn't know who I was, and a younger me, maybe four hundred, came in, and Veritinan, he was behind her...he grabbed her neck, he was choking her..."

Thranduil shushed his son, having heard enough. He looked at him sadly.

"It's alright, Legolas," he said. "It was just a dream. It's alright now."

A/N: I wasn't sure where to end that...anyway, hoped you liked that chapter!