Title: Fallen Leafs
By: Areli
Rated: PG
Feedback: blessedbell64@hotmail.com

Disclaimer:  Middle-earth and its characters belong to J.R.R.Tolkien.

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Chapter One

Legolas missed his home. He never would admit it to the others but he missed seeing 
Mirkwood. The smells, the sounds, and the sights. All of it. He missed being able to hunt 
in the forests alone and not fear attacks. Yet in strong way, he loved fighting. He loved 
battles. Legolas lived on fighting for his people and for what he believed to be right. 
Despite all of his strong emotions of longings and lust for battle, he remained ever calm 
and tried, with little difficulty, to hide his emotions under a watchful stare that always 
masked his face. 
 
"Legolas! You of all people should not straggle behind!" he heard Gimli yell to him. 
"You never see dwarves hold up the group..." he muttered to himself. 
 
Legolas had been staring up at the patches of sky overhead in the forest. Something didn't 
feel right to him. 
 
"I can feel something amiss." he whispered, drawing his bow. He watched Aragon draw 
his sword out of the corner of his eye as he pointed his arrow about his surroundings. 
 
"What do you sense?" Aragon whispered. Legolas didn't reply. Whatever it was, it was 
coming up close behind. Suddenly, Legolas' ears were filled with the sounds of hoofs 
against the forest floor. He could hear no breathing save for the horses. Darkness 
destroyed the pure air. 
 
"The Nazgūl!" Legolas hissed. 
 
"Why are they hunting us? We do not possess the ring." Aragon questioned as they ran 
through the forest. Legolas took the lead easily. 
 
"Stay here." he hissed. 
 
"A dwarf does not take orders from an elf." Gimli said haughtily. 
 
"Quiet my young dwarf!" Aragon ordered. Gimli was silenced but was obviously sulking. 
 
Legolas took off silently into the forest and searched for where the hoof prints were 
coming from. He lowered slowly to the ground and looked up to find four of the Nazgūl 
staring around. 
 
"Baggins..." he heard them whisper. Legolas pointed his arrow at them yet thought better 
of it. He wondered why they sensed the ring here. It made no sense to him. 
 
"Ring..." they said. He heard them sniff the air for it like blood hounds. Legolas backed 
away from them. He could avoid the fight easily. It was against his nature to back away 
from a fight yet he knew that it would be almost complete suicide to attack four Nazgūls 
at once. 
 
That was when they dismounted and drew their swords. They pointed them at Legolas 
who began to shoot at them without thinking. 
 
He knocked two down but missed the other two. It completely shocked him that he has 
missed. He couldn't remember the last time that had happened. 
 
Legolas got up from his hiding place, turned, and ran in the opposite direction. To his 
surprise, the Nazgūls simply walked after him. As if they were in no hurry. 
 
"Legolas...ring..." they whispered. Legolas wondered why they weren't after Frodo. He 
had the ring, not them. 
 
"Well?" he heard Gimli yell impatiently. 
 
"Run!" Legolas hissed. 
 
"Why?" 
 
"Now!" 
 
Aragon looked behind Legolas and found two Nazgūls walking calmly up to them. 
 
"Why...?" he wondered in awe. "We do not possess the ring." 
 
"I know!" Legolas yelled as he simply picked Gimli up, though he protested fiercely. 
 
"You do not run fast enough." Legolas said simply. 
 
"A dwarf could outrun an elf any time!" he yelled furiously. 
 
"Some other time." Aragon said, growing impatient. "Come, we will find some place to 
hide for now. In any case, they are not following Frodo and Sam. We will distract them." 
 
"Yet there are only four. Where are the others?" Legolas wondered. 
 
"That is indeed a good question." Aragon said. 
 
"Come." Legolas said and swiftly ran through the forest, Aragon trailing behind. 
 
The Nazgūls whispered in a cold voice, "Legolas...ring..." 
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Chapter Two
 At one point in their run, Gimli managed to escape Legolas' grasp. 
"A dwarf does NOT need to be carried!" he yelled as Legolas kept running. 
"'Tis your own grave you dig then!" Legolas replied. 
A few moments later Aragorn reached Gimli and noticed that Legolas was no where in 
sight. The Nazgul's were close behind. 
"Where is Legolas?" Aragorn asked. 
"I see no reason to care where he is." Gimli huffed. 
"Come dwarf, we must find a hiding place." and picked Gimli up. 
"A dwarf is not to be carried!" Gimli yelled. Aragorn was growing impatient and more 
annoyed with Gimli with each step that he protested. Finally, he dropped him to the 
ground. 
"Fine dwarf. But it will be your fault if you are caught." he said and ran ahead. 
"A dwarf is never caught." Aragorn rolled his eyes and ran towards a ditch. 
Meanwhile Legolas had reached a bridge that went over the water Frodo and Sam had 
crossed. An idea struck within him that he could run to the other side and meet up with 
them. They could not have gone too far. 
That was when he saw it. 
Floating on top of the swift river was a little shining object. It gleamed in the afternoon 
sun. Legolas' eyes widened when he realized what it was. The ring! 
But did not Frodo have it? Legolas wondered. 
The shrieking of the ringwraiths shattered his wonders as he looked down the stream to 
find them waiting for the ring to float to them. 
Without thinking Legolas' hand dove into the water and withdrew the ring. 
He stood up, looked at the Nazgul's and ran towards where he had heard Aragorn and 
Gimli. 
The ringwraiths shrieked in annoyance and turned back towards Mordor to report who 
now possessed the ring. 
 
Legolas reached the ditch and suddenly fell to his knees. He looked at his palm and 
looked down at the tiny ring it held. It's energy glowed at him, telling him to use it's 
power for his own use. 
"Legolas!" he heard Aragorn yell. "What do you have in your..." his voice trailed off 
when he saw the ring. "But, Frodo...?" Legolas looked up, his eyes filled with worry. 
"I found it in the stream. I had to pick it up or else the Nazguls would have gotten it." 
"Why did you not use something else to pick it up with?" Gimli fumed. "You shall be the 
death of us all!" 
"I did not think..." Legolas said sadly. He traced the ring with his other hand. He could 
not deny that he wanted to use it. 
"Here," Aragorn said taking out a piece of cloth, "put it in this." Legolas stared at the 
cloth and then at his ring. 
"No..." he said. "I-" 
"Legolas! Put the ring in the cloth!" Aragorn ordered. Legolas fell backwards on to the 
forest floor. He simply blacked out from confusion. 
In his mind he wanted to use it despretly. Ever since he had seen it at the Rivendell 
counsul he had wanted to use it. The things he could do with it... 
In his heart he wanted to toss it back into the river and leave it alone. He wished he had 
never seen it. 
Due to this internal conflict, his body grew too confused and simply shut down. 
Gimli struted over to Legolas' side and glared up at Aragorn. 
"Take it from his hand." he told Aragorn. 
"No. I cannot touch it." 
"Well I will not either. A dwarf is not a fool." he said. 
"Why did Frodo not have it?" Aragorn wondered out loud. "Why was it floating in the 
stream?" 
"We should do something to the elf." Gimli said. "Look how he shakes and thrashes 
about." Indeed Legolas was crying out, sweat gleamed on his face as his body thrashed 
about wildly. 
"He is fighting temptation to use it." Aragorn said. "He is no hobbit. I do not think he can 
fight it for long." 
"Then we must get it away from him." Gimli said. "Use the cloth and pick it up." 
"No. I can't touch it even if I have the cloth. I was going to have him drop it in and tie it 
to the hilt of my sword. I don't want to have it close to me if at all possible." Aragorn 
explained. 
"So what do we do?" Gimli asked looking down at Legolas. Aragorn stooped down and 
picked Legolas up. He looked at Gimli as he tossed Legolas over his shoulder. 
"Come, we shall go back to Rivendell and see what they propose." 
"If he lasts that long. We are too far away from there." Aragorn nodded, knowing all too 
well. "And what of the hobbits?" 
"They will not harm them yet. We have some time. This is a slightly bigger problem than 
that at the moment." 
"It is 50 days from here though. He will never make it!" Gimli yelled. 
"I do not know what else to do." 
"We cannot go back the way we came." 
"I know. They are not trying to prevent us from going back this time though." 
"And why not?" Gimli yelled. 
"Because they might asume that we have given up and wish to go home." 
"I hope you are right." 
"So do I." Aragorn said as he held onto Legolas tightly to prevent him from kicking him. 
And so Aragorn and Gimli walked back as quickly as they could until they reached the 
boats. 
Aragon gently laid Legolas into the boat as Gimli hopped on. Taking the paddles, 
Aragorn started their journey back towards Rivendell as Legolas' grip on the ring grew 
tighter. 
  
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Chapter Three
The three companions wafted down the river, wondering what exactly to do. 
"You are right Gimli, he cannot make it. Not even a day." Aragorn noted. 
"It is as I said." 
They watched as Legolas began to cry out and clutch the ring as he pulled it towards his 
chest. 
"Rivendell is too far away." Legolas seemed to suddenly notice that they were there. 
"Riven...dell...?" they heard him gasp. "No! They...will kill me..." Aragorn thought for a 
moment. 
"Yes..." he said sadly. "They would." 
"Why?" Gimli asked. 
"He possesses the ring and would destroy them. They would have to destroy him first. 
We would get no where by going to Rivendell." 
"Mordor..." Legolas said softly. "Go..." Aragorn's eyes lit up. 
"We will destroy it ourselves." 
"But Frodo and Sam failed supposedly." Gimli said. "What chance do we have? None of 
us can touch it." 
"The cloth, as I said before." Aragorn said. 
"Will that be enough?" 
"I hope so." 
"We must make him drop the ring." Gimli said, focusing his attention on to Legolas. 
Before anyone could speak Gimli leaned over to where Legolas was on the boat and 
began to pry his hand open. 
After a massive struggle, Legolas was finally forced to drop the ring. 
"My ring!" he cried as he watched it fall with a hollow noise. 
"No Legolas." Aragorn said darkly. "It is not your ring." 
Legolas nodded and leaned back in the boat, desperate for air. 
"It is too powerful..." Legolas said thoughtfully. "I cannot wield it." 
"No one expected you to be able to." Aragorn said as he picked it up with his cloth. He 
tied it to his hilt and began to turn the boat around. 
"Where are we going then?" Legolas asked. 
"Mordor." Gimli said. 
"To destroy it then." he clasped his hands together. "We will not fail." 
"We cannot afford to fail." Aragorn said. 
"What of Frodo and Sam? We must seek them." Legolas said. Gimli and Aragorn 
nodded. 
The sky grew darker as they reached the other side and began their journey towards 
Mordor to destroy the ring themselves. All full aware that they could very well be 
marching to their deaths. 
  
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Chapter Four
They rested the night in the forest, wanting to plan a way to sneak into Mordor and see if 
Frodo and Sam had been captured. 
"That would not make sense though. Why would the ring escape while they did not?" 
Legolas said. 
"Perhaps they tossed it into the river before they were captured." Aragorn mused. 
"I do not understand." Legolas said, frowning. "Would they not see the ring fall into the 
water?" 
"Perhaps not." 
While they talked Gimli was busy sharpening his ax. He wasn't pleased with the way 
things were going. He glared up at Legolas. 
He will betray us. he thought. He could feel it. A dwarf would never betray anyone he 
thought scornfully. He never liked elves anyway. 
"I am going to bed." Aragorn announced and simply turned over on the ground away 
from the fire. "Can you put the fire out Legolas?" he mumbled sleepily. 
"Of course." 
Gimli put down his ax and began to fall asleep as well although he had planned on 
staying up and watching to see what the elf would do. Instead, his eyes betrayed him and 
he drifted off to sleep. 
The night pressed onwards as Legolas stared out into the forest. Nothing out of the 
ordinary. Two birds, a few squirrels and a bear at one point but nothing unusual. It was 
almost too quiet. 
He sighed and sat down slowly on to a stump nearby, forever watching and listening yet 
able to think at the same time. 
He thought of his home and how he missed everyone he knew. He almost wished he 
hadn't gone to Rivendell despite how he loved to battle. Legolas also wondered why 
Aragorn had denied his heritage for so long. It wasn't until recent that he actually began 
to accept his fate. 
As time passed his thoughts turned to the ring. 
"Such a small ring..." he said quietly to no one. What harm could it do? he wondered. It 
was only a small ring. He stood up after a while and began to pace lightly. 
If it is indeed such a harmless ring, then why do people hide it and keep it away from me? 
he wondered. An answer merged into his mind. 
Because they do not want you to have it. It can give you happiness that they do not want 
you to have. 
Legolas wanted his ring back. No one should get in his way of finding hapiness. 
He crept towards Aragorn forevering walking in shadows and moving in silence. It was 
simply the way of the elves. 
The sword was still strapped to his belt. His hand was on the cloth almost on purpose. 
Almost as if Aragorn wanted to keep the ring from Legolas. 
It didn't make sense to Legolas. It was just one simple ring. 
His hand reached out on it's own and moved around the hand. Without disturbing it in the 
least, he had managed to take the cloth off of the hilt and unwrap it. 
Legolas looked down at the ring that he held in his hand. 
"One...simple...ring..." he said quietly as he picked it up. 
Before realizing what he was doing, the ring slipped on to his finger. 
The world suddenly fell into wavering shadows. He jerked around and drew his bow and 
arrows 
I see you... Legolas blinked and saw a great eye staring at him. He shot an arrow at it but 
found that it did not effect it as it drew nearer. 
The ring! he thought. 
Legolas ran from the eye and attempted to take the ring off but found it was stuck. He 
began to claw at it, forever running through the shadows against the eye. 
Finally, the ring came off and he realized that he was no where in sight of the camp. He 
was completely alone in the forest. He simply couldn't believe that he had ran so far that 
he couldn't hear nor see them. 
 
Meanwhile in Mordor, the ringwraiths were reporting who possessed the ring when they 
felt it within them like a shockwave. The ring had made itself known by Legolas. 
They rose without a word and mounted on their horses. 
The ring would be theirs in a matter of minutes. 
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