The sun was high and shone down upon the kingdom of Mirkwood. Young Adele burst into a jog as she realized how late she
would be for dinner. Well, Adele really didn't consider herself young, she was already 378, but then again what did age matter
when you had it forever? She madly ran towards the white walls of the palace now just coming into view, nearly knocking over 3
elderly Elf women as they scowled and mumbled scoldings in a low elfin tongue. Did they think she couldn't hear them? Adele
WAS and elf after all, she did have the best hearing of creatures great and small. However, she was used to the rants from the
kingdom inhabitants, what could she expect being the only elf girl to run around in pants? Pants shouldn't be reserved only for men
and warriors, she thought to herself, trying to convince her mind that she wasn't truly out of line.

Adele burst through the doors of the palace, darting up the ivory staircase, nearly falling head over heels. Thankfully a strong hand
caught her arm just before she hit the cold hard floor. She shamefully drug her eyes upward to embarrassedly thank her savior. until
she saw whose hands she had fallen into.

"L..Legolas? Thanks, I guess," she hurriedly muttered.

" No problem at all, my friend," he said, his iced blue eyes piercing into her dull hazel.

Adele ran off to her chambers, hoping that the prince would forget her mishap. She wasn't too humiliated at the accident, the fact
that got her worried was the painful torment of teasing that was to follow. Legolas had always been a good friend of hers. She
longed to be approved by the handsome elf, him being one of the most skilled of his time. Not only skilled in fighting, but the young
man had golden hair and blue eyes that could crack through your soul, that is if you didn't melt from his good looks first.

Adele knew she denied her feelings for this close friend, but she had good reasons. She wasn't exactly the most gorgeous of her
kind, nearly an outcast by looks alone. One of the only female elves to be sporting hazel eyes and dark auburn hair, and 2 inches
under the towering height of Legolas. To make matters worse, she was only a shade lighter than tan and much too skinny. She had
the curves the others did, but no one could tell, for she chose not to wear form-fitting clothing. Besides, Legolas thought of her
more as a guy friend, not a girl. She was a natural tomboy, running around with her long braids and sleek pants, practicing archery
and horseback nearly everyday, she knew very well why she was regarded so severely.

Adele jumped into her bath and scrubbed her lanky body raw, emerging from the waters clean and fresh. She threw on a loose pale
blue tunic and her favorite tan pants with gold hems. Hurrying once again to the dining hall she quickly fastened pearls in her ears, to
at least show an attempt of being presentable. She stormed into the hall as the nobles were being seated. She swiftly grabbed the
last open seat- right across from Legolas.

"Hello again, Adele," he spoke, flashing her an amused smile. She eyed Legolas carefully, soon finding the cause of his amusement.
She gasped as she noticed she was clad in a nearly matching garment as her friend across the table.

"What a fine taste you have, Prince of Mirkwood," Adele said nervously laughing.

"As do you fair lady of Rivendell," he returned the compliment. A shade of scarlet warmed her face as she thought how far indeed
she was from fair. Adele recalled the day her father sent her to reside in the halls of Mirkwood. "It will serve as practice towards
becoming a noble lady", he told her as she set off to start a new life. Adele was deep in thought when she felt a blunt kick to her
shin. Thankful she was to Legolas, who once again saved her from the mortification of missing the opening song. As the last few
bars faded, she found herself gazing at the silhouette of Legolas. Her wishful staring caught his eye, as he thought she was trying to
make him laugh. He playfully winked at her, and she quickly looked away, her face once again tingled with crimson.

Dinner carried on until the sweet music filled the hall once more. Tables and chairs were pushed aside, making room as the after
dinner dance began. Adele rose from her seat not taking her eyes off Legolas, waiting for him to ask her to dance. He silently
moved in her direction. No sooner than he had taken two steps was he pulled away by a flock of beautiful admirers. She let out a
low sigh, just loud enough to catch Legolas's attention, and he shot her a look as to say, "Well, what am I supposed to do?" Adele
felt a deep sadness wash over her, and she couldn't bear standing amidst happy people.

Adele ran out into the cool night air and climbed a gnarled trunk of an elm tree overlooking the banquet hall. A lonely tear found it's
way down her cheek as she fixed her eyes upon Legolas contently dancing with the gorgeous she-elves. Another stream of silent
tears poured down her face, and she looked up at the star filled sky, wishing she never felt this way about her own friend. After all,
she knew he would never love her as she did him, he wouldn't even believe her if she told him for that matter. The dance slowly
came to an end, and Legolas walked arm in arm charming 5 female elves. They halted underneath the sturdy branch Adele was
resting on, and she held her breath as they exchanged farewell kisses. Legolas was soon the last one standing under the tree. He
watched the last of the elves depart for their rooms and said to no one, "They make me feel so hollow." and he let out an
exasperated sigh the same time she drew in a sharp breath. His keen elf ears picked up the noise, and he stealthily climbed the tree
and sat down on the branch next to her.

"I daresay life is treating you better than me?" he said softly.

"If only," she mumbled, hastily wiping off her tear streaked face. He caught her hand in his and she felt an odd sensation flow
through her fingertips. He carefully lifted her chin with an icy forefinger. "Your eyes are green today, Adele," he whispered.

"If you only knew what you are doing," she murmured, her lips inches away from his. She slipped out of his light grasp and down to
the base of the trunk, running to her chambers, and leaving a confused Legolas to watch the only thing she had left behind- a trail of
tears gleaming in the moonlight.

Chapter 2: Forgotten After All

The golden radiance of the morning sun shown through Adele's eyelids as she rose from her sleep. She splashed the cool
water against her face, enlivening her for the day ahead. Throwing on a pair of dark blue pants and a light green tunic, she
grabbed her bow for her morning archery lesson. with Legolas. "Oh great." she thought to herself remembering how she
fled from him the night before. Hoping that he would have forgotten, Adele slipped on her cattle hide boots and made her
way down the cold marble staircase.

She finished her breakfast meal of honey bread and water, and headed for target practice like normal. No sooner had she
entered the courtyard, than she ran into Legolas exiting the stables with two horses following.

"A beautiful morning, is it not?" he cheerfully exclaimed. "I decided it is a day fit enough for you to try the advanced skill of
horse-back archery," he continued his long blonde hair blowing across his face.

"Oh, Legs, come on I'm not nearly as advanced as you would think," a bewildered Adele answered, eyeing the saddled
horses warily.

"Aye, well I do think to much," he said jokingly, jumping into the seat of a tawny mare.

Adele straddled herself onto the saddle of the chestnut horse beside him and carefully lifted her elfin bow from her right
shoulder. She aimed carefully at the first target, practicing at a dead stop. As soon as she pulled tight her string, she heard
a voice from behind.

"Be off horse!" she heard Legolas proclaim, followed by a slap to the flank of her steed. She was racing at a galloping speed
far away from her first goal.

"Well, come on, it's time you started on moving targets!" cried Legolas, enjoying himself thoroughly. Adele turned around so
fast to scold him for giving her such a start, that she accidentally let go of the arrow, ejecting it straight through a palace
window.

"Oh, you stupid elf!" she yelled, gawking at Legolas who was clearly amused. "I'll have your head for this! I swear, Legolas
Greenleaf, if but one person even ATTEMPTS to scold me." However her rants were interrupted as she was thrown from the
saddle of her horse rearing on it's hind legs. Thrown, that is, right into the wet and muddy bog to her left.

Legolas was clearly pleased with the events, and walked over to help Adele out of the soaking mud pit. She shot daggers
through her eyes at him as he quickly tried to suppress a laugh. He reached a hand down to pull her out and she accepted
it, a warm tingle once more flowing through her veins. Without another thought, she pulled him in, as he landed in the mud
with a SpLaT! .Right on top of her. "Well isn't this a compromising position," he said, the look of entertainment sparkling in
his sky blue orbs. "Adele, I think your eyes are brown today, or is that just the mud you're covered in?" he jested.

"Why must you always obsess about my eyes!" she cried, rolling out from under him.

She walked to a nearby hill, stretching out her waterlogged self to sun dry in the heat radiating from overhead. Legolas
soon walked over and laid down beside her, intertwining his hands behind his head in a relaxing position. The silence was
peaceful, or menacing depending on which elve's point of view, when Legolas interrupted her thoughts.

"You know what I want more than anything?"

"To publicly humiliate me to my grave?" was the sarcastic reply.

Legolas laughed, "Yes, but I'm trying to be serious here," he said, plucking a daisy from the ground and weaving it through
Adele's long braid.

"I don't know Legs, what could you possibly want? Your father would give you the world if you asked him politely," she
responded in a more somber tone, watching Legolas fill her braids with small and delicate daisies.

"I want to be a hunter again, I want to see the world alone, and take a chance on life again."

"Legolas, you're father is a king. He wouldn't want his only heir wandering the world in the face of danger," sighed Adele.

"If YOU were a king up there on your throne, would you be wise enough to let

me go, to let me leave and live the life I desire?" Legolas said with a heavy heart, putting down her braid and gazing into
her soulful eyes.

"Legs, I would make it my obligation to let you have whatever your heart desired," she said evading his prying stare to look
up at a bird landing softly on the branch of a maple tree swaying in the breeze.

"The crown they've placed upon my head feels too heavy now; it's the only thing keeping me from experiencing my life. My
freedom will be taken away for good if I ever am the King of Mirkwood." he conversed, sharing a burden resting upon his
troubled mind with his closest confidant.

There was one long pause before Adele began, for all the while she was thinking, "I don't know what to say to you but I'll
smile anyhow. please don't leave me here Legs, I'd be so alone."

"Legolas," she said finally speaking out loud, "if you do go, promise that you'll take me with you," she sighed gravely turning
her hazel eyes back to Legolas with a pained look.

"I swear to you Adele," he said picking up her hand and giving it an assuring kiss, "as long as you can carry the supplies,"
he teasingly whispered to her ear before running towards the palace doors.

"As long as you can carry my heart," she murmured into the wind.

The day passed quickly, and she only saw Legolas once or twice in the palace halls. He gave her a warm smile and a quick
nod each time. Adele took dinner in her room, trying to finish up a task one of the wizened elves had placed upon her. She
was not able to see Legolas below in the banquet hall casting glances towards the empty seat across from him, longing for
Adele to join the hall for dinner. He skipped the after dinner dance in an urgency to find his friend. The moon cast a silver
glow on the marble staircase as he ascended towards her room. He knocked softly on her door an opened it to find her fast
asleep, completely tired out from the events of the day. He bent down as to wake her but thought better of it, instead laying
a small item on her oak wood dresser. He swiftly left for his own chambers, taking one last fleeting look at the softly
sleeping elf, the moon casting a peaceful glow across her features.

A bird outside sang sweetly through Adele's window as she swung her legs over the side of her bed, fumbling for her
clothes and heading straight to the courtyard. Early for practice, she waited quietly inside the stables, for Legolas had
promised to take her horseback riding through the Mirkwood Forest. Five minutes passed, then ten minutes, growing to
twenty minutes. She raced up towards the balcony, scanning the scenery for a sign of Legolas playing another one of his
tricks on her. She stumbled upon an elf that smiled and said, "What's your hurry young one?"

"Sir," she panted taking a breath, "Could you please.please tell me if you know the.whereabouts of Legolas Greenleaf?"

"Ah, yes, in fact I saw the young prince leave upon horseback quite early- even before the sunrise," he answered kindly.
She quickly thanked him and rushed towards her room. As she nearly reached the top of the staircase, her foot slipped out
from under her. She fell quite hard upon the icy marble, no outstretched arm to catch her anymore. Her lip split open and
blood trickled out from the ragged cut. However she felt nothing, hot tongues of anger lashed at her thoughts at the
present moment.

Adele burst through the heavy wooden door, the entrance to her room. She fled to her bed raging mad and pried off her
heavy riding boots. She then spotted a small white object that had been left upon her dresser. She stood up, the iron grasp
of anger releasing its hold, and stood over the petite daisy. As Adele gazed upon the lone flower slowly wilting before her,
she felt a single tear fall, and watched it flood the daisy's small petals. For she knew.and her heart cracked a little more.

Chapter 3: Misguided Reflections

The wind cut like a knife down the back of Adele's tunic. The rain beat down upon her body as her brunette braids whipped
her tender face. Her hands we're marred with raw cuts from hail, and her legs were sorely tired from putting strength into
every small step. She held a nimble hand to shield her eyes, and deftly scanned the horizon for a sign of someone - anyone.
She felt her foot catch on something, and the cold slick ground rushed up to meet her. Turning around to the face of the
strong wind, Adele began to crawl on her hands and knees to find what she had stumbled upon. She could make out a dark
silhouette of a large object, at least 6 feet in length. Bitter fog settled around her, clouding her vision as she grasped for the
object, weakly pulling it towards her. It rolled on it's side and Adele could make out the faint glow of it's.. it's face.

"LEGOLAS!" She screamed blindly into the night, an ebony curtain surrounding her eyes as the sought out her surroundings.
Adele's face dripped with sweat as her clammy hands attempted to wipe her placidly pale face. She bolted upright, a drape
fluttered lazily in the wind, letting a sliver of moonlight seep through the broad window. Her distressed olive orbs dilated,
making out the shrouded outline of her vast room. She shakily felt her way to the wardrobe resting against the back of the
wall and located her riding boots and heavy cloak. Adele slipped as inaudibly as only an elf could out the palace entrance
and to the courtyard stables. No waking eyes had spotted the darkly clad figure gallop outside the palace boundaries
against the faint glow of the rising sun.

He was on foot now, trekking through the outskirts of the Lothlorien forest. Legolas was alone, but he was free. That was
his dream. Except for the lonely part. It had been eating away at him for hours, why didn't he let Adele come with him? She
could at least have kept him company. Legolas slowly came up to the edge of a small pond. He looked towards the water,
tempted to brush his fingers over the glassy surface, to ripple the perfect imperfection. Legolas continued to search his mind
for the correct definition of 'beauty'. That which is in the eye of the beholder. He had heard the definition once before from
an elder; Any of those qualities of objects, sounds emotional or intellectual concepts, behavior, etc. that gratify or arouse
admiration to a high degree, especially by the perfection or form resulting from the harmonious combination of diverse
elements in unity. His thoughts turned to Adele. Different, loud, abrasive and warm, to others she seemed to dim and
darken when beside the elfin prince. But then again, most did. Quick witted, gentle, forgiving, wonderful Adele.

Another definition of beauty.

Legolas drew his dangerous thoughts from her, back to finding a way out of the trees. He must be cautious. It would be too
easy to fall into the depths of the shadows.

Too easy to slip and fall into the tossing current of all that she was.

Adele dismounted her horse on the edge of a dark forest. She began to weave her way through the lush plant life, all the
while thinking of ways to give Legolas a piece of her mind. Her keen eyes examined the scenery hoping to herself to find the
blonde haired Adonis. There she stood, tracing a path into the welcoming emptiness that filled her soul, like wind howling
and echoing through the crumbling ruins of a castle...

And she was the great stone mansions banshee.

Adele sighed, twirling her fingers around her velvety auburn braids, pushing back a stray hair with a slender finger.

Her booted foot splashed gently, and she looked down into a rippling pool of crystal blue before her.

So much like his eyes.

The surface calmed, the ripples smoothing like melting glass, and she gazed upon the unwelcome wavering reflection of
herself. The one word instantly coming to mind was incomplete: Not complete; imperfect. Lacking in certain parts.

Was that her? Was that the emptiness she felt? Being incomplete?

She was angry and hurt. Bitter and ugly...

And so weak...So very weak...

To be feeling like this. To be so self-absorbed. She felt even uglier then before.

Furious, she swiped at her water image, splashing herself with more than salty tears.

Incomplete...Imperfect...

Lacking...

Yes, she thought, as she sadly watched the reflection blur across the crystalline sheen.

Lacking and alone.

The day proceeded as Legolas wandered with no route in mind. He was traveling to enjoy himself, yet somehow he was not.
The tall wisp of a girl he had left behind on that star filled night plagued him with misgivings. He escaped the strict life he
was forced into to get away from earthly cares. However this was not helping him at all. He quickened his pace as dusk was
slowly creeping upon him from behind the trees.

The setting sun cast a long shadow on Adele as she reclined on a sturdy branch. It rested high above the forest and gave
her a clear lookout on the foliage, and heard a twig crack close to her. A leave lazily fell and rested on her bare shoulder.
She cast it aside and caught a glimpse of gold in the setting sun. But it wasn't sunlight. it was. him.

Legolas was walking towards her, although he had not yet spotted her above him, he wasn't exactly looking for her
anyway. As she cast the stray leaf aside, it landed noiselessly at his light feet. He reached for his bow and with a sharp
twang let a swift arrow fly. Someone fell from the tree, but landed softly on their two feet, holding his arrow in their hands.
In her hands. There she stood, hair glinting in the sinking sun, looking more like a Celtic goddess than a woodland elf.

"Why didn't you come back for me?" she whispered.

"I didn't think you wanted me too."

"You didn't want yourself too," Adele said coldly.

It cut Legolas to the core to see her like this, he had turned her against him, she his one true friend. His one true..

She didn't mean to be so harsh, and the silence between them was deafening.

"I'm sorry Legolas."

"No, don't be, you're right. I didn't want to come back for you because."

Agony tore at her heart before he could finished his sentence, crushing the gentle depths of her soul with a bony fist of
torture as she sank to the ground on her knees. The lost elf and the shadow at odds with the world, each hidden beyond
mountains of shame. Adele didn't notice as he pivoted and walked deeper into the forest. "Because I'm afraid of the truth,
afraid and lost. Afraid and lost. Afraid and lost," he repeated his mantra until it vanished in the wind. He turned around and
watched her, as she furiously brushed at the oncoming tears. Looking hurt and angry and beautiful.

Legolas was remembering her light as he watched her...The light that could saved him.

He had taken her for granted, he realized, and it pained him to watch her in such distress over him, who didn't even deserve
her. Legolas sighed, looking up at her from beneath golden hair.

"Adele...You know that I had no time...It was all or nothing."

Biting her lip, the girl winced.

"Then it should have been nothing!"

At Adele's now angry protestations, Legolas looked ashamed.

" I've played out this scene over and over in my head, but with you conscious and listening to me, this is even harder," she
said softly, almost to herself.

Her courage faltered at his silence, but she continued despite her anxiety.

"I love everything about you Legolas. And even though I know I'm ugly, abrasive, awkward and different...I had hoped that
maybe one day-"

"I would love you to."

Chapter 4: Insicurities/Where I Want to Be
 

Four years Adele had been fighting back her feelings. Four years had she suffered the pain of watching Legolas leave with
all that was not her. Time had been wasted, pining away over the loss of which was not hers to begin with.

"-that I would love you too," he had said.

But she did not believe him.

Adele turned quickly and ran. She ran as fast and as far away from him as her legs could manage. She collapsed out of
breath, tears stinging her eyes as she recognized the mirrored surface before her. She sadly surveyed all she was, all she
felt.

Courage, the word held no meaning for her anymore. To her, courage meant rushing headlong into a dangerous situation
without knowing the possible outcomes.

Courage was stupidity.

Friendship, merely a facade. A mask used to hurt others in order to hide inner pain.

Friendship was abuse.

Knowledge, had lost it's potential. Now it was how many lessons and morals you could recall forth in the span of 60
seconds.

Knowledge was a mindset

Hope, only a wish. Desperation for those hanging on the bottom rung.

Hope was futile

Love, a beautiful dream. A lonely desire for others as sorrowful as herself.

Love was wistful

Light, a faded hope. The end of the tunnel was dim to her eyes.

Light was paling.

Kindness was trivial. A barrier to her nasty inner thoughts.

Kindness was hiding.

Sincerity, a need for fake security.

Sincerity was believing in weak hopes.

Reliability was linked to sincerity, though not in the way she wanted.

Reliability was wanting.

Legolas watched her figure disappear through the darkness, not attempting to follow. A heart full of words he had left
unspoken. He told his soul to have a silent moment. He thought she knew. She thought he took her for granted, that's the
last thing he would do. Why couldn't he understand her, he thought she knew that his world revolved around her. As she
ran away, she couldn't see his pain. Legolas was the only one guilty, for he thought she knew. He couldn't bring his heart to
let her go that easily, Adele was but a moment in his lifetime, and fear gripped him that that was all she may ever be.

Adele needed him to forget her, because she was not his despite the fact he possessed every part of her, and she of him.

Angry for what she could not share with the world, Adele stretched her lanky form and unfolded herself from his recluse. Her
dark braids flew behind her, she knew she had strode away from their chaste gaiety...And his lost, topaz eyes.

She was skipping rocks across a small pond when his soft, light footfalls reached her burning ears.

She sighed, her sadness breathing through the sound.

"You shouldn't have come."

Adele didn't turn around; she kept her eyes pinned to somewhere, anywhere but his secretly cherished face.

He pushed his lengthy blonde hair behind his ear, agitated. The gesture's familiarity comforted him, and some of his inner
anger smoothed away.

Agony he could not let out swiftly replaced it.

Now she dared not turn around for fear of her seeing the agony etched within his sapphire eyes and along the firm line of
his mouth. He clenched his jaw as her voice rang through the nighttime breeze, the gentle sound sent shards of painful
remembrance through his soul.

Did she speak like that to him? Jealousy tore at his shredded soul, and he clung, once again to anger in order to stifle his
hurt.

"You knew I would."

His usually gentle voice was harsh and grievous, as he bit out a reply.

"I hoped you wouldn't," She merely sighed ever-gently, and stepped closer.

"No you didn't."

Legolas heaved despairingly, a ragged half moan as he blinked back tears. Edging away, he stepped closer to the stream,
bending down and dipping his fingers in the cool element.

"No...I didn't...I need this...You."

He cast up his arms, flicking glimmering droplets of water over his body.

"But I'll never really have you! Because, Legolas…I…I know you’ve been betrothed…and I’ve seen the way you gaze into her
eyes. I'll never be able to hold you in my arms and declare to the world how much you mean to me, or kiss you with ever bit
of emotion I have! Legolas, you don't belong to me!

She skimmed the liquid with her slender hands.

Her hazel eyes were tearful and somber.

"Nobody has ever had me like you."

His statement infuriated her, and she threw himself up and glared down at the elf below her.

"No? I wonder sometimes Legs, do you talk to her the way you talk to me? Does her voice melt everybody's heart like it
does mine? Does she fill with this inner light when you watch her?" As she painfully voiced her nightmare, she gestured
wildly with her hands, as if by gesticulating would clarify her pain to him.

"Do you hold her like you do to me? Like you want to hold her while the world crashes down around you? Do-do you name
the colors of her eyes as you paint the doorway to her soul? Do you make her cry because just by touching him, you've put
her above the rest, and make her feel like nobody else could get as high as they are at that m-moment?"

Legolas watched the anguished young elf in front of him, her torture mirrored within his soul.

"Adele...Oh Adele...Never. We both know that! It's not just you who's in pain! I have to hide my love because of her, when I
know that were just making it worse for the three of us!"

She broke down into great, wracking sobs, and Legolas was immobilized for a moment.

"I'm sorry Adele."

He cradled her to his broad chest, stroking her silky hair as she cried.

"Why is it us, Adele? Maybe we're not supposed to be this agonized, or this happy..."

Adele drew back, desperate fear climbing through her eyes. "What are you saying Legolas?"

He smiled gently at her, stroking her hair again in an effort to comfort them both. 'These are the moments we remember the
rest of our life Adele,' He thought absently 'these precious, beautiful seconds that are so few, and so cherished.'

His large hands continued their path down her shoulders, down her back, relaxing her body with the movements. Ever so
gently, he turned her tearful face to his and pressed his mouth to her sweet lips. She responded with gentle fervor,
entangling her fingers within his gold hair, even as he cradled her face, like it was a glass rose.

Their embrace continued, as they sat down on the velvety grass beside the water.

She looked at him through a sheen of tears, despair causing his heart to ache as if he was dying.

"I love you Legolas, so much...I won't let you go. I'll find a way back to you…I promise…"

He silenced her with a tender kiss, his own crystal tears trickling down her porcelain skin.

She would not come back to him, he would not be there to come back to.

He kissed her fiercely, wildly, as his bright, desperate eyes searched her treasured visage, memorizing every feature, every
inch of perfection.

"I love you, dear God I love you...I love you, I love you. God...Be with me always Adele..."

She cried just as hard, unable to read the emotions coursing through the only man she had ever loved, Legolas Greenleaf's
eyes. Her heart was bleeding from the thought his heart would belong to another.

"I will Legolas! We can! Please! Just don't do whatever you're planning! I can't live without you!"

He crushed her to him, burying his face in her neck, breathing in her smell, memorizing every contour and plane of her body
and soul.

"I love you, I love you...Adele...You'll live..."

She was the most beautiful thing Legolas had ever experienced, and he couldn't stop the tears, even when he fled her
grasp

And then he was gone, through the mist, and she broke into anguished hysterical sobbing, clawing at the ground.

"Legolas! Legolas! No! Legolas! I love you! I love you! No! No..."

She clawed her way to her feet, and took off through the forest. She had to find him before it was too late.

When she did find him nearly an hour later, he was lying peacefully against a tree, looking for all the world like a handsome,
faultless elf.

His arrows were immaculate; his hair was mussed from their earlier caresses. But tears still were wet against her shaking
fingers...Blood still warm to her skin.

The shiny silver blade clutched within his limp grasp had her screaming and hysterical as she tried to wake him up, tried to
kiss the sweet breath back into his beloved body.

"NO! NONONONONONONONO!"

She yanked on his shirt, unable to move the weight of his body, so she curled onto his lap shivering from shock.

Screaming and crying, she denied the truth even as her shaking fingers frantically grabbed the blade.

"You never understood Legolas! I loved you so much! Without you...I'm already dead..."

Weeping gently, she leaned forward and kissed his lips, just like he had done an hour before.

Memories flooded through her mind and she brushed his blonde hair from his restful face.

"I love you..."

The second cry that night, rang through the forest.
 
 

A wandering elf sent from the palace to seek out the run-away prince found them, Adele collapsed upon Legolas' form,
curled peacefully within his oblivious embrace. Tears filled his own icy gaze.

"I-I didn't know..."

The elf said nothing, as he found a neatly scribed slip of paper upon the ground before the tragically beautiful figures, and
brought it to his eyes.

He wiped away tears, as he sadly read Legolas' tidy print.

Dear Adele,

Don't despair, I loved you more then anything. I'll be watching over you, from heaven or hell, I don't care which, as long as
your safe. Remember how much I loved you, and forgive me. I couldn't handle not having you in my arms anymore. My
betrothed…she doesn't need to know about us, unless you want her to. I hope I gave you more than pain Adele; I didn't
want to hurt you. You gave me so much...The life and love I dreamed of, the courage to face my feelings, the friendship to
get over them, the knowledge to handle them, the hope to sustain them, the kindness to show them, the sincerity to
believe them and the light to guide them. And the love, I can't get over that. The most beautiful thing I've ever experienced.
No one will ever replace you…Everything and anything beautiful in my life stemmed from you. I hope I gave you a little of
that back, because all I ever wanted, from the moment I saw you cross over the palace entrance, to the last glimpse I had
of you're tear streaked face, was to make you happy.

The fact that I may have failed is enough to destroy me. Do you remember the song we wrote together? I do.

Fly, fly little wing

Fly beyond imagining

The softest cloud, the whitest dove

Upon the wind of heaven's love

Past the planets and the stars

We left this lonely world of ours

Escaped the sorrow and the pain

And fly again

Fly, fly precious one

My endless journey has begun

Take your gentle happiness

Far too beautiful for this

Cross over to the other shore

There is peace forevermore

But hold this mem'ry bittersweet

Until we meet

Fly, fly do not fear

Don't waste a breath, don't shed a tear

Your heart is pure, your soul is free

Be on your way, don't search for me

Above the universe you'll climb

On beyond the hands of time

The moon will rise, the sun will set

But I won't forget

Fly, fly little wing

Fly where only angels sing

Fly away, the time is right

Go now, find the light.

Remember the way I love you. Even if you forget me, and the agony we went through to finally confess our emotions.
Remember me, and the way I loved you

I'm so sorry,

Love forever,

Legolas

~fin~