Title: The Wind Against His Face

Author: Caroline

Rating: PG-13

Pairing: Aragorn/Legolas

Disclaimer: All characters belong to J.R.R. Tolkien and his Estate. I've just borrowed them for my own nefarious schemes, none of which involve me making any money out of them. Sadly.

Summary: Aragorn is believed fallen on the path to Helm's Deep; Legolas regrets all that he never said.

Warnings: Set in the movie-verse Two Towers. Missing Scene. AU. m/m

Archive: Yes please for Make Believe, Library of Moria, ALSlash Archive, Britslash. Anywhere else is fine, but I would like to know where it ends up.

Feedback: caroline@corken33.fsnet.co.uk

Author's notes: Major and most humble and heartfelt thanks to my two beta's, Mike and Marta from the Boundless Beta's list, who undoubtedly made this fic much more than it originally was. This is my first LOTR's fic, and is dedicated to my cousin, Kim. Blame her for giving me yet ~another~ fandom (vbg)



The Wind Against His Face
By Caroline

With battle expected in the hearts of all who had sought its safety, Helm's Deep was a fortress containing many mixed and troubled emotions. The dark shadow that crawled over the land from Isengard to the Kingdom of Rohan was as inevitable as the rising of the sun. Which many feared they would never see again before the night had ended.

So little wonder that, while the men of Rohan prepared, no one spared any thought to a solitary Elf.

Legolas had climbed to the highest point of the keep, wishing only to feel the wind against his skin and the pale winter sunlight against his face. He knew too well what this night would bring, and he also knew that he must compose himself for the upcoming battle if he was to stand any chance of surviving it.

Yet, as he looked over the wild lands, he could not calm his mind. Troubled thoughts echoed over and over within him, making his heart heavy and his soul weary.

Aragorn was dead. Men must die, which he knew well and had long ago accepted would be the fate of his friend.

He should have died beside him, fighting with Aragorn to the last. For at least that way, ~that way~, he would not have the weight of words unspoken lingering behind to mock him.

Once again, he looked at the Evenstar in his hand, beloved of Arwen and given to Aragorn. A symbol of the love they had once had for one another and a precious gift for her to bestow despite their parting.

It grieved him that Aragorn lay somewhere in the wild, his body left to whatever beasts would find it. But Gandalf had set the remaining Fellowship an all too important task now that Pippin and Merry were known to be safe.

Ride to Rohan. Protect its borders and its people. Give aid to the king.

And the king had ordered the bodies of the fallen be left behind, a hard decision that had need to be quickly made. It had not sat well with Legolas to do so for any of the fallen. Leaving Aragorn behind. . .

"There you are, Elf! I've been looking for you!" Gimli hauled himself up beside Legolas, disturbing the Elf's troubling thoughts.

Legolas continued to stare out at the countryside. "And now that you have found me, Gimli, what do you propose?"

Gimli snorted. He knew all too well what was troubling the Elf, and as much as it troubled him also, he was determined that no more of the Fellowship would fall into death. Not if he had anything to do with it. "I would propose that you give yourself a good shake and get about the business at hand. You have arrows to craft and Orcs to slay! Do you not?"

Legolas didn't answer, for he knew the Dwarf was right.

"And it should gall you that a Dwarf should have to remind you!"

This time the elf did turn to look at his friend, and with a single look, Gimli could see the pain that lay shadowed in the blue depth's of Legolas's eyes. He looked down at the sudden glitter in the Elf's hand.

"He is the cause of my pain also, Legolas. But you must know Aragorn would not want you to falter now, not on his behalf." He puffed up his chest with pride. "We are warriors! Death is constantly by our side to both give and receive. To fall in battle is a glorious way to die."

"Nay, fear of battle had never ailed me, Gimli, son of Glóin. Rather. . ." Legolas found that the words to explain how he felt escaped him, and the Dwarf saw this with ease.

"Aye. Words not spoken can trouble and haunt the body and the mind, if we let them. But now is not the time. When the battle is won, and if the King shall spare us, depending ,of course, on if we live out the night. . . you and I shall seek for our friend and send him to the Halls of Mandos with the dignity that a King of Gondor deserves."

The Dwarf laid his hand over the same one that held the gift of Arwen, squeezing gently. No one would ever believe him back home that he loved this Elf as if he were one of his own kin. But he did, and he wished he could take away the despair Legolas felt, that he had not spoken of his love for Aragorn sooner.

"We will gift him and honour him and send him to his fathers," Gimli said, his voice rough with emotion. Feeling a tear threaten to spill out over his cheek, Gimli abruptly let go of the elf's hand, grumbling to himself and easing Legolas's heart a little with his true affection for him.

"You are in my heart also, Gimli, and I am glad of it, for it feels lighter for our friendship."

"Yes, well, that as may be, but we have a fight to ready for, do we not?"

Legolas smiled, standing tall and looking down at the Men at work below. "Aye, we do."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

It could not be true!

Yet, even as he approached Aragorn, men between him and his goal, he knew the truth of it.

Heart beating faster than he could ever remember it, Legolas stopped as any disbelief he may have had died a happy death.

"Le ab-dollen." ~You are late.~

Now all the suffering he had put himself through seemed foolish and unwarranted. Aragorn was alive and the proof of it stood here before him!

"When have I ever been late for a fight, Legolas?"

Smiling, Legolas clasped Aragorn's shoulder. "Never. Although, I must confess, I feared it so this time."

Aragorn reached up and squeezed Legolas's shoulder in return. "I am not afraid of what death might hold for me. Although," he smiled as Gimli caught up with the man, "it would grieve me to think of you winning this battle without me by your side."

"Rightly said!" Gimli couldn't have been happier. He'd been ready to kill Aragorn when he had heard he was alive and not dead as they had grieved, yet when he saw him his heart rejoiced. Aragorn alive! Death had been cheated by yet another member of the Fellowship. Gandalf had come back to them, and now so too had Aragorn.

"You look terrible," Legolas said, knowing that his eyes lingered over the length of the Man's body perhaps longer than was necessary to ensure Aragorn's health.

Aragorn returned Legolas's smile. "I must speak with the King."

Gimli coughed; both Elf and man turning to look at him. "Then Legolas must speak with you after. For he has much he would say, have you not?"

Faced with a truth he could not deny, no matter how much he feared speaking of it to Aragorn, Legolas turned back to the man. "Gimli speaks true. Will you meet me, Aragorn? I have something I would have you know before we must fight."

Having seen the armies of Isengard heading for Helms Deep, Aragorn readily agreed. He too had something he needed to tell Legolas.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The number of the enemy was now known to the King, and despite how grave the situation, it was not the army that headed their way to do battle that set Aragorn's heart hammering against his chest but the hoped-for truth he would hear from Legolas.

He found the elf in the armoury, Gimli spying Aragorn's approach and quickly taking his leave.

"Battle draws near, and as ever with it the knowledge that we might fall in its wake. Like I thought you had fallen when we where attacked on the road to Helm's Deep, when I thought you had been lost to us." Legolas trailed off. Even now, with Aragorn safe and beside him, the thought of his death filled him with loss. "When ~I~ thought you had been lost to me."

Aragorn could not believe what he was hearing. He stepped closer to Legolas, now within arms reach, and saw the pain and love in his eyes.

"You would have grieved for me, then, Legolas?" Aragorn could not help how his breath quickened, how the noise of his heart must sound to those elven ears.

"Yes. Even now my heart holds grief that I should have thought you dead and gone from me. For I would never have been allowed to speak of this to you."

It was barely more than a whisper, but to Legolas's ears it sounded like a loud proclamation. "To speak of what?"

Legolas dared to reach out with something more than the strength of friendship and placed his hand on the man's chest, directly over his heart. "I would have told you that I love you, as I have loved no other in my long life, and that to die without ever telling you of it would have made the rest of my years an unbearable dream of sadness and regret."

Aragorn reached up and covered Legolas's hand with his own. "Then awake, Legolas. You have spoken your heart's truth and I would do no less in the face of such courage and honesty, for your love is returned tenfold."

Legolas looked down at his hand, still covered by Aragorn's. He smiled a joyful smile, a joy that he wished to share as he felt the excited hammering of the man's heart beneath his hand. Looking up again, he leant forward, closing the space between them, letting their joined hands be crushed between their bodies as he pressed his still smiling lips against Aragorn's.

Sweet rapture filled Legolas then as he tasted the man he had coveted for so long but which his honour would not allow him to pursue while Aragorn had been betrothed. Aragorn moved even closer, wanting only to feel more of Legolas, his body giving away his needs and desires with a blatant move of his hips against the elf.

Legolas gasped in shocked delight, wanting nothing more than to consummate his desires, to have this man who stood before him and who gave him so much pleasure from a simple, yet powerful kiss. He broke it when the need for air could no longer be denied, looking at Aragorn, his eyes dark with desire for him.

At that moment, a horn sounded outside. Both were reminded that a war was soon to rage around them and that they had need to return to its preparations.

"That is no Orc horn."

"We must go now, Legolas."

Legolas acknowledged this truth with a simple nod of his head. "Before, however, I would gift you with this." Reaching under his cloak, Legolas pulled a chain from around his neck. It was similar in a fashion to the pendant Arwen had given Aragorn. Inside a filigreed silver cage rested a dark green emerald, of a kind Aragorn had never seen before. Unpolished and rough, yet it held a beauty that instantly reminded Aragorn of Legolas.

He closed his hand around the hand that held the pendant, looking deep into Legolas's eyes. "I cannot accept such a gift-"

Ignoring him, Legolas pulled his hand free, reaching up and hanging the chain around Aragorn's neck. "I am merely lending it to you. I want a part of me to be with you always, even if we are to be separated by battle this night." He cupped Aragorn's cheek with his hand. "I would not have you gone from me for a moment, but we both know that this cannot always be in uncertain times such as these. "

The man who would be king of Gondor nodded, accepting the truth in his words. "I will survive this night, my prince, for I would be bound with you, if you would have me?"

Legolas closed his eyes. He had not dared to hope Aragorn would share his love, and now this! He opened them again to find that he had not fallen into some waking dream, to find himself looking into the eyes of the man he loved more than he had thought it possible to love.

"I fear for the Orc who tries to take me from my king, for I would be bound to you always Aragorn."

The horn sounded again, and both turned to its clear call. Hope had rung in their hearts and love now gave them strength. They turned as one to the door, walking side by side in answer to the call, to face the coming battle, a battle that could never triumph over what they had already won this night.



The End.