LOTR::Haldir/Legolas::NC-17::Lost Part 15
Title: Lost
Author: dejectedmadness
Rating: NC-17
Pairing: Legolas/Haldir
Disclaimer: We do not own these characters, we simply made up stories because we liked them so much.
Summary: Legolas gets sucked into the real world and can't get back so he takes a job as an assassin where he can put his skills with range weapons to good use. After fifty years stranded here he takes a job to assassinate a European figurehead and comes face to face with someone he thought he lost many years ago.
Chapter 14: Let’s Get the Party Started
It was late when I hung up the phone and I knew that the next day required an early start. I took off my clothes and lay down on the mattress and fell asleep.
The next morning was an early one for me. When I woke up I opened the briefcase to look at the information I was given the previous night. Was it worthwhile to kill this scum before hitting the scene of Timmy’s little get together? I read the details.
Single white male, no children, so family, no close relations. He apparently was a hit man, killing people for money to further the development of crimes in the States and Britain. His name, nor his description were given.
I closed the file folder and placed it aside to look at the card I had with the address of the place on it. It was a good way across town from Ellis Drive but I figured I could make it in time if it was a quick job. I swallowed, feeling a ball of guilt rise in me, but I knew I was going to do it anyway. Haldir would never accept this part of me, but it would always be a part of me now. I was going to do it. I would get a car for the night so I could drive over there and then hurry across town to the other location.
I got up and showered and got dressed in a pair of nice slacks and a black dress shirt. I went out to get my car and some other things I thought I might need. I had the whole day to spare until around seven. It was then that I would need to worry.
I hit the car rental centre and put on my best American accent. I got the car for two days, but I wondered if I would ever end up returning it. I went to a place that I knew and bartered with some guys for some weapons. I told them I worked for Timmy and they knew to give me what I needed. He was good for the money. I picked up the one and only piece of equipment that I ever used. I only used anything cruder if I had no choice. Sniper rifle.
I decided around four that it was a good time to go out and see what was happening around the town and what other criminals might be doing before the time of importance.
* * *
“Sir, It’s Jack.” Melkor turned to face his flunkie.
“What about him?”
“He and his… friend… have had another fight, sir.” The man sighed but it didn’t matter to Melkor.
“Have you been watching him?” He asked without emotion.
“Yes, sir.”
“What have his activities been since then?”
The man cleared his throat. “He moved from his hotel to another and stayed there all night last night. Today he rented a car and talked to The Ranger about getting a rifle. He told him he was doing something for you and it has been charged to your account, sir.”
Melkor nodded. “That is fine. Where is he now.”
The man cleared his throat again. “. Should we bring around the car?” The man expected Melkor to go and drag his ass back in, but his boss had no intentions of doing so.
“No, just keep an eye on him. That’ll be all.” Melkor turned to look out the window at the bright city lightsl which lit up the night. He had things to do before the big day.
He picked up the telephone receiver. “Send him in,” he said.
* * *
Haldir paced the room and looked out his window. He wished that there was something he could do to make the time pass, or something he could do to end it all early, but he knew that there was no way he could do that, the only time Melkor could be conquered was when he was not surrounded by his lackeys and when he can Legolas could both get to him. He knew that the only time that would be would be tomorrow when he was distracted by the thinning of the border between the realities.
Haldir turned on the television and noticed that the news was surprisingly boring around here. No crimes of which to speak in the past few days except for a few minor attempted robberies. Everyone was pent up about what was going to happen tomorrow, but no one in the law knew what was happening, no one could possibly stop it if they did. It was good that they at least thought they were winning the fight against crime. That meant that they could enjoy the only peace they might ever have before both their world and Haldir’s were destroyed in only a few hours. This was the calm before the storm, and no one even knew.
* * *
I got back around six and ate a quick dinner of take out food. I gathered my things and put on the clothes I would be wearing. I needed to call Haldir but I was putting it off until I was about to leave at seven. With traffic it would take an hour to get clear across town and I wanted to get there early enough for the show.
Seven rolled around and I slung my guitar case onto my back with my gun inside and picked up the phone. The call needed to be fifteen seconds or less.
“Hello.” It was not a question.
“Don’t look for me there. I have all I need and you will know when I start and what to do.”
Haldir was about to say something but the phone clicked and disconnected. He sighed and whispered, “I love you.”
* * *
The place was dark, not uncommon at this time of year. I parked the car a ways away and went to the building to set up in the shadows. There were plenty of grates above head to walk on an I tried to be as silent as possible, not knowing what to expect. 8:30 rolled around and I took out my gun and started to assemble it. I wanted to crack my knuckles or my back but it would echo and I needed stealth.
Quarter to nine and I breathed lightly and waited, covering both of the entrances from my vantage point. There was a space to my left uncovered which lead down from the roof but I could watch that and alter my position to cover that if necessary.
Five minutes. I tightened my grip on the trigger and waited patiently, not nervously. I had done this far too often, but this was it. He was a bad guy and it wasn’t like killing him was going to further Melkor’s plans since Melkor planned to leave tonight.
Wait. If my boss was out of here tonight, then why did he need to get rid of this guy? I straightened my back at this realization. There was no reason for me to be here. I was only trying to prove something to Haldir. There was probably no one even coming, I was just supposed to be taken out of the mix.
I swore under my breath as I realized that Melkor probably knew that Haldir would have that reaction to me taking the information and his accusations would put me on the defensive. He was counting on me trying to prove myself. I started to unscrew parts of the gun to put them away when I heard something and turned my head only to have something come crashing down on my head. Blackness followed.
* * *
Haldir was outside the warehouse. He had sneaked out of the hotel away from his own guards to get here and he had only a handgun to protect himself. He hoped that he could get in with a group of people or to find a place not being guarded. He realized before he saw a fire exit at the side of the building that he could not possible be unnoticed trying to sneak in, they were probably looking for him, after all.
He climbed silently and sneaked in through the door. There was muscle at the door to the room he just entered. Hearing a noise the guard turned to look in the room and Haldir immediately took the guy in a chokehold and, with his vast knowledge of pressure points, rendered him unconscious in seconds.
Haldir eased the man to the floor and sneaked out onto the grating of the walk high above the heads of the hundreds of thugs and low lives that waited for the party to start below.
He approached the area that appeared to be the stage and staked out a place there. From there he could easily have a good view and get at Melkor. Haldir waited but didn’t have to do so for long before he heard everything quiet down and someone took the stage. It was not Timmy.
“Undoubtedly you are all wondering what you are doing here.” The man on stage was polite and as blunt as possible. “The truth is, you will not believe it until you see it, but let me give you a vision, a taste of what you can expect following the success of this one stunt.” The crowd muttered a little but the man continued almost immediately. “There is a world out there that no one knows but all are likely familiar with in one way or another. This world is an analog one. There is no electrical power, there are no cars, the largest cities are still huts in the woods. The people of this place seem to live so far back in time it could be considered the middle ages.”
“Sounds like Mexico!” Someone yelled which elicited a riot of laughter though the crowd. When all was quiet again the man continued.
“This place has no guns, no weapons of mass destruction and upon facing these things it would crumble beneath the hands of those who held these things.” There was utter silence. “We can take this place, we can demolish it and reconstruct it in such a way that each of you can be granted power beyond your wildest dreams. You can be king or queen of an entire country as you choose. You can have nearly unlimited power.”
Haldir adjusted himself in his spot watching those below him.
“If you join with us, you can have anything and everything your heart will desire. Before your decisions are made, let me introduce you to a few rules by announcing the man that constructed this possibility.
Haldir tightened in his spot as the man introduced Melkor to the crowds. He held the gun just so and waited for the man to take the stage. He could feel the strength of the barrier to Middle Earth the weakest it had been since he arrived. Where was Legolas?
Lights suddenly turned on as a man stepped on the stage. He was far away but Haldir knew this was the man he needed to get rid of for this world and his own to finally have peace.
“Ladies and gentlemen. Allow me to introduce myself. Some know me as Timmy Romero, some know me as something different, but none of you here know me as I truly am. Let me tell you about myself.” He clasped his hands in front of him. “Where I am from I had unlimited power. I was the one thing that no one could defeat. I was terror, I was fear, I was death, but most of all, I was control.” He paused and waited for someone to snigger. No one did. “I was sent from my home and got stuck here. I don’t know how or why, but it happened, and for many, many years all I have wanted was to return and exact revenge on those who exiled me.
“The time has come, my friends. The time has come to take back what was mine, but now that I have lived so long in exile, I realize the futility of doing it alone. So I have called you all here to join me if you wish. To some, what has been said about my home may sound a fairy tale. To others it may sound a paradise. What do I say? To each his own. If you want to come with me and live like royalty, I offer you nearly unlimited power, but each and every one of you has the right to decline. If any of you want out, leave. Now.” He paused but no one moved. He smiled. “Good.”
Haldir’s attention was drawn from the target to the back of the stage again.
“Some of you might not believe what you are about to see, but all of you are going to be part of something very large. There is one key to getting home.” Melkor smiled and looked and to his left. Haldir was startled when his eyes fell directly on him. “There is one person who can get us there.”
Haldir felt hands grab him from behind and he felt someone wrap a cloth around his face to keep him silent. He struggled but someone hit him hard enough to make him dizzy. He was forced to watch the stage for what happened next.
* * *
I opened my eyes and screamed in pain. Something was scalding my flesh. On my lower back there was something, something burning, and it was so painful that I could scarcely move when it pulled away.
I looked up to see the cruel smiling face of my tormentor. He raised a red piece of metal so I could see it and as quickly as he could he jammed it through the side of my stomach. I screamed again as it pierced the skin and when he withdrew it, it burned my skin enough to cauterize it. He raised a whip for me to see and rounded me until he was behind me at which point I felt something slap across my back and open a wound there from its force. I would not cry out again. I grit my teeth but I had not endured this pain in over fifty years, if I ever had.
It did not last long because someone came in through the door and the man stopped and said “sir.”
I lifted my eyes and without surprise rested them on Timmy’s smug form.
“I am so glad you could make it, Jack. I am so glad.” I grit my teeth and did not respond. “I am, however, surprised that you did not put two and two together until the last moment. I half expected to have to find you here.”
I swallowed and opened my dry mouth to speak. “While male and assassin. I take it that was your idea of a joke, huh Tim?”
He smiled. “Are you not impressed? I found it rather amusing myself.” He chuckled and circled me.
“You will not win, Melkor.”
He spun in anger and I felt his hand strike my face. “You are not to use that name here.”
I spat my blood at him. “Fuck you.”
He breathed deeply and let the anger pass. “However, you still have not really realized your full purpose in this, have you?”
I glared at him, not knowing what he was talking about. He smiled at me.
“Your lover does not know everything. Galadriel’s lackey did not need to know everything to complete his mission here. He still did not succeed, however.” I kept quiet, waiting for him to tell me what was going on now. I faintly heard someone speaking just beyond the door there. “You, my friend, are what brought me here, surely you know that much, you are the cause of this. You have also kept me here. I seem connected to you somehow, boy, and I am not certain how that connection came to be nor am I certain why it is so, but it is. Hence I have concluded that the only way for me to return to the home I once knew is through you also.”
* * *
Haldir’s eyes widened as Legolas was pushed out onto the stage. His body was mostly stripped and welts, cuts and bruises covered his skin. His face was bleeding and one of his eyes was clearly stuck shut and swollen.
Melkor was still speaking and Haldir forced himself to hear the man’s words. “Today is the day that all of you will become kings among men.” Haldir listened carefully to hear the words spoken to his lover and Legolas turned allowing his eyes to lock on Haldir’s. Haldir saw the pleading and the fear in them. Legolas had been so sure, so had Haldir, and they had been so close.
Haldir struggled against his captors in vain. They struck him on the back of the head and Haldir saw stars. How was he going to stop Melkor from taking Middle Earth now? It didn’t matter. Nothing mattered. Legolas’ eyes tore at Haldir. Haldir was only a few feet away at the side of the stage, but it might have been miles that separated them. He felt fear cloud his mind and his heart.
“You,” Melkor said to Legolas, though Legolas’ eyes were still on Haldir, “are going to be in so much pain in just a few minutes. I would say I am sorry about that, after all you have done for me, but honestly, I am not.”
Melkor looked up as one of his men brought him a long ceremonial knife and he stood up and faced the crowd again. “Does anyone speak against this purpose? Does anyone doubt or fear what will happen next?” No one spoke. “Does anyone think I am merely insane?”
Everyone shifted uneasily as no one really thought that there was such another world. They thought this was all for show and wondered if the man they were to take their orders from was out of his mind.
“Good,” Melkor said. He turned to Legolas and Haldir watched carefully as he placed the knife against Legolas’ neck. He trailed the blade across his shoulders and down his arms. The knife flicked across his skin and opened a tiny scratch that only trickled blood. Haldir struggled against the men and they threw him down on the ground. He wasn’t going to do it, he wasn’t going to hurt him. He couldn’t. Haldir tensed his body and relaxed when Melkor moved the blade away. Then the blade turned and went plunging into Legolas’ stomach.
Haldir heard a scream and felt like the world was rushing by him. He felt sick to his stomach and like his limbs and entire body was on fire. Haldir realized that the scream came from him and the world was rushing by because he was running. His hands had never been bound; his arms were free. Melkor withdrew the knife and dropped it on the ground. Haldir felt air rush by him as though a sharp wind just blew past. He dropped to his knees next to Legolas.
* * *
It hurt. Fuck it hurt so fucking much. I felt my eyes go wide and I bent double. The knife came back out of me and I could not keep myself upright. I fell to the ground. I tasted something in my mouth, metallic and tangy. I coughed and some of it flew from my mouth. It was red. It was blood. I blinked my eyes.
Haldir was by my side and he wept over me. “Haldir,” I choked out and coughed again. There was blood on his face now. His hands were on my stomach, he was trying to keep the red stuff inside me. “Haldir,” I muttered again.
“Legolas,” he whispered. “Valar, oh Legolas.”
I sought for his hand and grasped his fingers in mine. “Haldir, I’m-” I coughed and more blood came out. It was getting dizzy and dark. “I’m sorry, melamin. I didn’t-” I gasped and something dripped from my lips. “I love you….”
“No, my love, no. You are not going anywhere. Legolas, look at me. Cormamin. Cormamin, amin mela lle. Legolas. Áva auta. Melamin, amin mela lle. (My heart. My heart, I love you. Legolas. Don’t leave. My love, I love you.)” I heard his words as my eyes lost their focus. It was hard to draw in another breath, and so I didn’t.
* * *
Haldir grasped his lover to his body regardless of the blood that had now stopped seeping from the wound on his stomach. Haldir shook and felt hands on him trying to pull him away. He clutched Legolas to him and wept. His whole body was wracked with sobs. Not after so long, not after he had just found him again. He heard someone tell them to leave him and Haldir kissed the lips of the motionless form beneath him, they were beginning to get cold.
Clouded by pain and sadness, Haldir opened his eyes and they focused immediately on the knife by Legolas’ side. The world became clear again and Haldir blinked a few times, hearing wind and air rush by his head. It was cold and loud. He felt so empty for a few moments until he was filled with a cold hard anger. He reached out and picked up the discarded knife and looked to the side where Melkor stood laughing and smiling. He thought he had won. He though that there was nothing to stop him now. Haldir’s jaw set and he gripped the knife, slippery with blood, and lunged at the man. He drove the knife into the man’s neck to the hilt.
Melkor stopped immediately. He stopped laughing and stopped smiling and turned to face Haldir. Haldir pulled the knife from his neck and watched as the blood spilled onto the makeshift stage. “What have you done?” Melkor choked out. The wind died down and everything was silent. Haldir felt like something struck him on the side of his head and before he toppled to the ground he noticed that everyone else in the room, all the thugs and low lives fell to the floor of the warehouse. Then all was black.
Author: dejectedmadness
Rating: NC-17
Pairing: Legolas/Haldir
Disclaimer: We do not own these characters, we simply made up stories because we liked them so much.
Summary: Legolas gets sucked into the real world and can't get back so he takes a job as an assassin where he can put his skills with range weapons to good use. After fifty years stranded here he takes a job to assassinate a European figurehead and comes face to face with someone he thought he lost many years ago.
Chapter 14: Let’s Get the Party Started
It was late when I hung up the phone and I knew that the next day required an early start. I took off my clothes and lay down on the mattress and fell asleep.
The next morning was an early one for me. When I woke up I opened the briefcase to look at the information I was given the previous night. Was it worthwhile to kill this scum before hitting the scene of Timmy’s little get together? I read the details.
Single white male, no children, so family, no close relations. He apparently was a hit man, killing people for money to further the development of crimes in the States and Britain. His name, nor his description were given.
I closed the file folder and placed it aside to look at the card I had with the address of the place on it. It was a good way across town from Ellis Drive but I figured I could make it in time if it was a quick job. I swallowed, feeling a ball of guilt rise in me, but I knew I was going to do it anyway. Haldir would never accept this part of me, but it would always be a part of me now. I was going to do it. I would get a car for the night so I could drive over there and then hurry across town to the other location.
I got up and showered and got dressed in a pair of nice slacks and a black dress shirt. I went out to get my car and some other things I thought I might need. I had the whole day to spare until around seven. It was then that I would need to worry.
I hit the car rental centre and put on my best American accent. I got the car for two days, but I wondered if I would ever end up returning it. I went to a place that I knew and bartered with some guys for some weapons. I told them I worked for Timmy and they knew to give me what I needed. He was good for the money. I picked up the one and only piece of equipment that I ever used. I only used anything cruder if I had no choice. Sniper rifle.
I decided around four that it was a good time to go out and see what was happening around the town and what other criminals might be doing before the time of importance.
* * *
“Sir, It’s Jack.” Melkor turned to face his flunkie.
“What about him?”
“He and his… friend… have had another fight, sir.” The man sighed but it didn’t matter to Melkor.
“Have you been watching him?” He asked without emotion.
“Yes, sir.”
“What have his activities been since then?”
The man cleared his throat. “He moved from his hotel to another and stayed there all night last night. Today he rented a car and talked to The Ranger about getting a rifle. He told him he was doing something for you and it has been charged to your account, sir.”
Melkor nodded. “That is fine. Where is he now.”
The man cleared his throat again. “. Should we bring around the car?” The man expected Melkor to go and drag his ass back in, but his boss had no intentions of doing so.
“No, just keep an eye on him. That’ll be all.” Melkor turned to look out the window at the bright city lightsl which lit up the night. He had things to do before the big day.
He picked up the telephone receiver. “Send him in,” he said.
* * *
Haldir paced the room and looked out his window. He wished that there was something he could do to make the time pass, or something he could do to end it all early, but he knew that there was no way he could do that, the only time Melkor could be conquered was when he was not surrounded by his lackeys and when he can Legolas could both get to him. He knew that the only time that would be would be tomorrow when he was distracted by the thinning of the border between the realities.
Haldir turned on the television and noticed that the news was surprisingly boring around here. No crimes of which to speak in the past few days except for a few minor attempted robberies. Everyone was pent up about what was going to happen tomorrow, but no one in the law knew what was happening, no one could possibly stop it if they did. It was good that they at least thought they were winning the fight against crime. That meant that they could enjoy the only peace they might ever have before both their world and Haldir’s were destroyed in only a few hours. This was the calm before the storm, and no one even knew.
* * *
I got back around six and ate a quick dinner of take out food. I gathered my things and put on the clothes I would be wearing. I needed to call Haldir but I was putting it off until I was about to leave at seven. With traffic it would take an hour to get clear across town and I wanted to get there early enough for the show.
Seven rolled around and I slung my guitar case onto my back with my gun inside and picked up the phone. The call needed to be fifteen seconds or less.
“Hello.” It was not a question.
“Don’t look for me there. I have all I need and you will know when I start and what to do.”
Haldir was about to say something but the phone clicked and disconnected. He sighed and whispered, “I love you.”
* * *
The place was dark, not uncommon at this time of year. I parked the car a ways away and went to the building to set up in the shadows. There were plenty of grates above head to walk on an I tried to be as silent as possible, not knowing what to expect. 8:30 rolled around and I took out my gun and started to assemble it. I wanted to crack my knuckles or my back but it would echo and I needed stealth.
Quarter to nine and I breathed lightly and waited, covering both of the entrances from my vantage point. There was a space to my left uncovered which lead down from the roof but I could watch that and alter my position to cover that if necessary.
Five minutes. I tightened my grip on the trigger and waited patiently, not nervously. I had done this far too often, but this was it. He was a bad guy and it wasn’t like killing him was going to further Melkor’s plans since Melkor planned to leave tonight.
Wait. If my boss was out of here tonight, then why did he need to get rid of this guy? I straightened my back at this realization. There was no reason for me to be here. I was only trying to prove something to Haldir. There was probably no one even coming, I was just supposed to be taken out of the mix.
I swore under my breath as I realized that Melkor probably knew that Haldir would have that reaction to me taking the information and his accusations would put me on the defensive. He was counting on me trying to prove myself. I started to unscrew parts of the gun to put them away when I heard something and turned my head only to have something come crashing down on my head. Blackness followed.
* * *
Haldir was outside the warehouse. He had sneaked out of the hotel away from his own guards to get here and he had only a handgun to protect himself. He hoped that he could get in with a group of people or to find a place not being guarded. He realized before he saw a fire exit at the side of the building that he could not possible be unnoticed trying to sneak in, they were probably looking for him, after all.
He climbed silently and sneaked in through the door. There was muscle at the door to the room he just entered. Hearing a noise the guard turned to look in the room and Haldir immediately took the guy in a chokehold and, with his vast knowledge of pressure points, rendered him unconscious in seconds.
Haldir eased the man to the floor and sneaked out onto the grating of the walk high above the heads of the hundreds of thugs and low lives that waited for the party to start below.
He approached the area that appeared to be the stage and staked out a place there. From there he could easily have a good view and get at Melkor. Haldir waited but didn’t have to do so for long before he heard everything quiet down and someone took the stage. It was not Timmy.
“Undoubtedly you are all wondering what you are doing here.” The man on stage was polite and as blunt as possible. “The truth is, you will not believe it until you see it, but let me give you a vision, a taste of what you can expect following the success of this one stunt.” The crowd muttered a little but the man continued almost immediately. “There is a world out there that no one knows but all are likely familiar with in one way or another. This world is an analog one. There is no electrical power, there are no cars, the largest cities are still huts in the woods. The people of this place seem to live so far back in time it could be considered the middle ages.”
“Sounds like Mexico!” Someone yelled which elicited a riot of laughter though the crowd. When all was quiet again the man continued.
“This place has no guns, no weapons of mass destruction and upon facing these things it would crumble beneath the hands of those who held these things.” There was utter silence. “We can take this place, we can demolish it and reconstruct it in such a way that each of you can be granted power beyond your wildest dreams. You can be king or queen of an entire country as you choose. You can have nearly unlimited power.”
Haldir adjusted himself in his spot watching those below him.
“If you join with us, you can have anything and everything your heart will desire. Before your decisions are made, let me introduce you to a few rules by announcing the man that constructed this possibility.
Haldir tightened in his spot as the man introduced Melkor to the crowds. He held the gun just so and waited for the man to take the stage. He could feel the strength of the barrier to Middle Earth the weakest it had been since he arrived. Where was Legolas?
Lights suddenly turned on as a man stepped on the stage. He was far away but Haldir knew this was the man he needed to get rid of for this world and his own to finally have peace.
“Ladies and gentlemen. Allow me to introduce myself. Some know me as Timmy Romero, some know me as something different, but none of you here know me as I truly am. Let me tell you about myself.” He clasped his hands in front of him. “Where I am from I had unlimited power. I was the one thing that no one could defeat. I was terror, I was fear, I was death, but most of all, I was control.” He paused and waited for someone to snigger. No one did. “I was sent from my home and got stuck here. I don’t know how or why, but it happened, and for many, many years all I have wanted was to return and exact revenge on those who exiled me.
“The time has come, my friends. The time has come to take back what was mine, but now that I have lived so long in exile, I realize the futility of doing it alone. So I have called you all here to join me if you wish. To some, what has been said about my home may sound a fairy tale. To others it may sound a paradise. What do I say? To each his own. If you want to come with me and live like royalty, I offer you nearly unlimited power, but each and every one of you has the right to decline. If any of you want out, leave. Now.” He paused but no one moved. He smiled. “Good.”
Haldir’s attention was drawn from the target to the back of the stage again.
“Some of you might not believe what you are about to see, but all of you are going to be part of something very large. There is one key to getting home.” Melkor smiled and looked and to his left. Haldir was startled when his eyes fell directly on him. “There is one person who can get us there.”
Haldir felt hands grab him from behind and he felt someone wrap a cloth around his face to keep him silent. He struggled but someone hit him hard enough to make him dizzy. He was forced to watch the stage for what happened next.
* * *
I opened my eyes and screamed in pain. Something was scalding my flesh. On my lower back there was something, something burning, and it was so painful that I could scarcely move when it pulled away.
I looked up to see the cruel smiling face of my tormentor. He raised a red piece of metal so I could see it and as quickly as he could he jammed it through the side of my stomach. I screamed again as it pierced the skin and when he withdrew it, it burned my skin enough to cauterize it. He raised a whip for me to see and rounded me until he was behind me at which point I felt something slap across my back and open a wound there from its force. I would not cry out again. I grit my teeth but I had not endured this pain in over fifty years, if I ever had.
It did not last long because someone came in through the door and the man stopped and said “sir.”
I lifted my eyes and without surprise rested them on Timmy’s smug form.
“I am so glad you could make it, Jack. I am so glad.” I grit my teeth and did not respond. “I am, however, surprised that you did not put two and two together until the last moment. I half expected to have to find you here.”
I swallowed and opened my dry mouth to speak. “While male and assassin. I take it that was your idea of a joke, huh Tim?”
He smiled. “Are you not impressed? I found it rather amusing myself.” He chuckled and circled me.
“You will not win, Melkor.”
He spun in anger and I felt his hand strike my face. “You are not to use that name here.”
I spat my blood at him. “Fuck you.”
He breathed deeply and let the anger pass. “However, you still have not really realized your full purpose in this, have you?”
I glared at him, not knowing what he was talking about. He smiled at me.
“Your lover does not know everything. Galadriel’s lackey did not need to know everything to complete his mission here. He still did not succeed, however.” I kept quiet, waiting for him to tell me what was going on now. I faintly heard someone speaking just beyond the door there. “You, my friend, are what brought me here, surely you know that much, you are the cause of this. You have also kept me here. I seem connected to you somehow, boy, and I am not certain how that connection came to be nor am I certain why it is so, but it is. Hence I have concluded that the only way for me to return to the home I once knew is through you also.”
* * *
Haldir’s eyes widened as Legolas was pushed out onto the stage. His body was mostly stripped and welts, cuts and bruises covered his skin. His face was bleeding and one of his eyes was clearly stuck shut and swollen.
Melkor was still speaking and Haldir forced himself to hear the man’s words. “Today is the day that all of you will become kings among men.” Haldir listened carefully to hear the words spoken to his lover and Legolas turned allowing his eyes to lock on Haldir’s. Haldir saw the pleading and the fear in them. Legolas had been so sure, so had Haldir, and they had been so close.
Haldir struggled against his captors in vain. They struck him on the back of the head and Haldir saw stars. How was he going to stop Melkor from taking Middle Earth now? It didn’t matter. Nothing mattered. Legolas’ eyes tore at Haldir. Haldir was only a few feet away at the side of the stage, but it might have been miles that separated them. He felt fear cloud his mind and his heart.
“You,” Melkor said to Legolas, though Legolas’ eyes were still on Haldir, “are going to be in so much pain in just a few minutes. I would say I am sorry about that, after all you have done for me, but honestly, I am not.”
Melkor looked up as one of his men brought him a long ceremonial knife and he stood up and faced the crowd again. “Does anyone speak against this purpose? Does anyone doubt or fear what will happen next?” No one spoke. “Does anyone think I am merely insane?”
Everyone shifted uneasily as no one really thought that there was such another world. They thought this was all for show and wondered if the man they were to take their orders from was out of his mind.
“Good,” Melkor said. He turned to Legolas and Haldir watched carefully as he placed the knife against Legolas’ neck. He trailed the blade across his shoulders and down his arms. The knife flicked across his skin and opened a tiny scratch that only trickled blood. Haldir struggled against the men and they threw him down on the ground. He wasn’t going to do it, he wasn’t going to hurt him. He couldn’t. Haldir tensed his body and relaxed when Melkor moved the blade away. Then the blade turned and went plunging into Legolas’ stomach.
Haldir heard a scream and felt like the world was rushing by him. He felt sick to his stomach and like his limbs and entire body was on fire. Haldir realized that the scream came from him and the world was rushing by because he was running. His hands had never been bound; his arms were free. Melkor withdrew the knife and dropped it on the ground. Haldir felt air rush by him as though a sharp wind just blew past. He dropped to his knees next to Legolas.
* * *
It hurt. Fuck it hurt so fucking much. I felt my eyes go wide and I bent double. The knife came back out of me and I could not keep myself upright. I fell to the ground. I tasted something in my mouth, metallic and tangy. I coughed and some of it flew from my mouth. It was red. It was blood. I blinked my eyes.
Haldir was by my side and he wept over me. “Haldir,” I choked out and coughed again. There was blood on his face now. His hands were on my stomach, he was trying to keep the red stuff inside me. “Haldir,” I muttered again.
“Legolas,” he whispered. “Valar, oh Legolas.”
I sought for his hand and grasped his fingers in mine. “Haldir, I’m-” I coughed and more blood came out. It was getting dizzy and dark. “I’m sorry, melamin. I didn’t-” I gasped and something dripped from my lips. “I love you….”
“No, my love, no. You are not going anywhere. Legolas, look at me. Cormamin. Cormamin, amin mela lle. Legolas. Áva auta. Melamin, amin mela lle. (My heart. My heart, I love you. Legolas. Don’t leave. My love, I love you.)” I heard his words as my eyes lost their focus. It was hard to draw in another breath, and so I didn’t.
* * *
Haldir grasped his lover to his body regardless of the blood that had now stopped seeping from the wound on his stomach. Haldir shook and felt hands on him trying to pull him away. He clutched Legolas to him and wept. His whole body was wracked with sobs. Not after so long, not after he had just found him again. He heard someone tell them to leave him and Haldir kissed the lips of the motionless form beneath him, they were beginning to get cold.
Clouded by pain and sadness, Haldir opened his eyes and they focused immediately on the knife by Legolas’ side. The world became clear again and Haldir blinked a few times, hearing wind and air rush by his head. It was cold and loud. He felt so empty for a few moments until he was filled with a cold hard anger. He reached out and picked up the discarded knife and looked to the side where Melkor stood laughing and smiling. He thought he had won. He though that there was nothing to stop him now. Haldir’s jaw set and he gripped the knife, slippery with blood, and lunged at the man. He drove the knife into the man’s neck to the hilt.
Melkor stopped immediately. He stopped laughing and stopped smiling and turned to face Haldir. Haldir pulled the knife from his neck and watched as the blood spilled onto the makeshift stage. “What have you done?” Melkor choked out. The wind died down and everything was silent. Haldir felt like something struck him on the side of his head and before he toppled to the ground he noticed that everyone else in the room, all the thugs and low lives fell to the floor of the warehouse. Then all was black.