It was cold and dark, but most importantly, it hurt.

That was the first thing that Legolas noticed as he unwillingly began to near consciousness. In all of his life, Legolas never thought he would come to an understanding of the word pain. It was a word that mortals used, a word almost foreign to the Elvish race. In fact, the only 'pain' that Legolas had ever experienced was when the string of his bow snapped against his outer hand and wrist, leaving only a faint scratch that healed within an hour of getting it.

But now, he suddenly understood what pain meant.

With every inhale and exhale, he felt like his lungs were on fire. Even the slightest movement caused a searing pain to flare across his chest, and his entire body ached. He felt like his skull was being smashed in with a hammer and, to make matters worse, his was having a hard time thinking straight.

Opening his eyes after a few minutes, he was first aware of the darkness that surrounded him. Slowly he began to make out his surroundings, noticing the small cave he resided in and the human slumped next to him.

"Aragorn," he said in a soft, raspy voice. He reached out slightly when there was no response, weakly shaking his friend's arm. "Mellon-nin."

"Wha-?" The Ranger mumbled, jerking upright as his hand went to his sword. His eyes flicked around the cave, making sure that nothing was amiss before he relaxed and looked at his friend, a small smile coming across his tired face.

"Ah, Legolas, Lle tyava quel (do you feel well)?" He asked, placing his hand against Legolas' forehead.

Legolas hesitated. "I'm alright." Aragorn rose an eyebrow and Legolas, recognizing the expression all too well, hastily corrected himself. "I've felt better, but it's not too terrible."

"Of course," Aragorn said with a sigh. He removed his hand from his forehead and started to remove the cloak he had thrown over Legolas so he could check his wounds.

"It must be something in the blood of an Elf," Aragorn mused as he began to peel the bandage off of the poisoned injury; "where they simply cannot admit to their pain. Every injured Elf that I have ever come across has tried to tell me that they are in perfect fighting condition - even as blood is spilling from their guts and they are losing consciousness. Probably a pride problem."

Legolas, who had been glowering at him as he spoke, winced as Aragorn began to clean the cut.

"It's not a 'pride problem'", he managed through gritted teeth.

"Oh?" Aragorn said distractedly. "Then what is it?"

When Legolas said nothing, Aragorn smirked. "As I suspected. It is a pride problem."

The smirk faded from his face when he made out the closed eyes and pale features of his friend.

"Legolas? Mani naa ta (What is it)?" He asked worriedly.

"Nothing," Legolas said softly. With a small exhale he opened his blue eyes and looked tiredly at the Ranger, attempting a smile. "Really."

Aragorn sighed and shook his head. "If something is wrong, you need to tell me," he said.

The Elf waved a hand dismissively at the comment. "There isn't anything wrong, mellon-nin."

I highly doubt that, Aragorn thought to himself, but he didn't push the matter. One could only achieve irritation and silence with an Elf if they were pressed too hard on subjects that they didn't like to speak about, and the last thing Aragorn wanted was Legolas to close up on him. So he simply proceeded to clean and check Legolas' wounds, mumbling an apology every now and then when Legolas grimaced softly in the dark. And then Legolas asked the question Aragorn had been dreading:

"How bad is it?"

Aragorn tried to sound casual, but even in the dark he could tell Legolas could call his bluff. "How bad is what?"

After a rather awkward moment of silence of Aragorn just knowing that Legolas was waiting expectantly, he decided that he might as well just tell him.

"You have a few good injuries, my friend, I must admit. A few broken ribs, some cuts, bruises…"

"You're still hiding something from me," Legolas accused.

Aragorn hesitated, unwilling to admit to the fact that Legolas had a wound that could be considered fatal. After a mental conflict he said carefully, "You have one cut in particular that is more urgent than the rest."

"How so?" Legolas responded calmly, and Aragorn gave up with trying to hide it.

"It's poisoned."

His heart racing, Legolas tried to get himself together at hearing the news. Poisoned? Him? It couldn't be. Certainly not right now, here in this cold cave far away from home. He wanted to argue that this simply wasn't the case, but even as he had those thoughts he could feel the filthy venom pumping through his veins, the heat radiating from his skin.

"What can we do about it?" He asked in what he hoped was a steady voice, but he strongly doubted it, especially when Aragorn reached over and squeezed his shoulder before answering.

"I've already cleaned it to the best of my abilities, and I did my best to squeeze some of the poison from the area. We're just going to have to keep an eye on it for now, and I'll clean it every two hours."

"It doesn't need anything special?" Legolas asked.

"Well, yes, it does," Aragorn confessed, and Legolas felt the small glimmer of hope that had just started to form in his mind vanish.

"But if I keep tending to it, which I will, it should be fine until we get back," Aragorn continued.

"How are we going to get back?"

"We'll find a way." The Ranger said determinedly, and Legolas couldn't help but to admire the way Aragorn could so easily believe they had a chance, even with all of the complications they were facing. His faith in it almost gave Legolas the idea that they really did have a chance, and that thought was comforting.

"Now, you need to rest," Aragorn said as he stood up and stretched. "You've been through a lot, and sleeping will help you recover faster."

"I'm well aware what sleeping does, Aragorn," Legolas remarked with a slightly irritable tone, his eyes closing as he spoke.

"I'll be back," Aragorn went on as though he hadn't said anything. "I'm going to see if there's anything to eat around here. I shouldn't take too -"

Suddenly Legolas' eyes flared open, and he held up his hand to silence Aragorn.

"What? What is it?"

"Hush!" The Elf insisted urgently, and so Aragorn tried to listen to whatever Legolas could hear. Then he heard it. It was very faint, but he could tell that someone - or something - was making its way towards the cave as it trudged through the snow.

Quickly Aragorn got his bow at the ready, the arrow notched and aimed at the entrance. If this is another Orc, I'm going to lose it, he thought wearily to himself. He was done with unfriendly visitors.

The heavy footsteps grew louder and louder, sometimes slowing down as they made their way to the cave, other times hurrying through the snow. Judging from the sounds of the footsteps, Aragorn tentatively decided that it was not an animal - they were standing on two feet.

At last it came to a stop outside of the cave,and Aragorn pulled tighter on the bowstring, ready to fire. Whoever (or whatever) it was was breathing just as heavily as they walked.

Finally, when nothing happened for another two minutes, Aragorn cautiously moved closer to the entrance and peered through the dark and the snow to see who was there.

And he saw him.

Short, tough, and loud, Gimli the Dwarf said gruffly, "Well, I was wondering when you would come out and greet your old friend."

Okay, so first of all I wanted to apologize for my little lapse in publishing between Chapter 2 and this one. I was really busy with school work and getting ready for college and such, so I am sorry for that!

Secondly, I really hope you liked this chapter! The ending may have been a bit abrupt but I hope you enjoyed it ;-) trust me, this story is going to get pretty interesting soon …. :D

And thirdly, to all of you who commented, followed me and followed this story, THANKS SOOO MUCH! Each follower/reviewer notification made me SOOOO happy, you have no idea. I PROMISE I WILL UPDATE SOON, AND THANKS FOR FOLLOWING THIS ANGSTY TALE...THAT BY FAR WILL GET EVEN MORE ANGSTY ;-) THANKS AGAIN!