Chapter 1:

Hey guys! So I'm pretty new to this fandom, but I absolutely love it and I'm just so in love with Legolas. Strange, since you might think I hate him since I'm starting a series of oneshots where he almost dies, but…

Anyway, since I'm only on the first LOTR book and have only seen the first two movies, these oneshots will take place pre LOTR unless I say otherwise. I've never written these characters before, so if anything seems ooc, PLEASE let me know!

In this, Aragorn and Legolas are close friends that have known each other ever since Aragorn was a young teen. Hmm.. Perhaps I'll do a oneshot of them meeting later.

Disclaimer: I sadly do not own Lord of the Rings or any of Tolkien's characters.

Thanks and enjoy! (If you can enjoy poor Legolas' pain)

Chapter 1

The Elven archer was currently patrolling just outside of Mirkwood. There had been rumors from the villages about bandits, and he was here to see if the rumors were true. If they were, the bandits were surly foolish for being here.

Legolas looked around as he rode on his faithful horse. So far, nothing. His father didn't like the idea of him patrolling alone, saying how it would be best to have a few other men out with him, but Legolas insisted he'd be fine. It was just a couple of bandits after all, he could handle them. He wished Thranduil would leave him be. He wasn't some child.. No, he was a warrior, even if he was the prince!

Since he had been wandering for a few hours, and no signs of any bandits popped up, and it was getting dark, Legolas decided to return home. He wasn't really giving up, but rather waiting till the supposed bandits were spotted again. When they were, Legolas vowed that he would be ready.

As he headed back to the palace, he heard something with his keen Elven senses. He held onto the reins as he stopped his horse and turned his head to look behind him, where he'd heard the noise. What the noise was exactly, he couldn't be sure. His eyes scanned the forest he was in to find the source. Legolas didn't see anything, but he sensed danger. His senses usually weren't wrong, so he hopped off of his horse.

"Dorth," he said in his native tongue to his horse. "Stay." The animal knichered softly as if to agree. Legolas took his bow in hand and grabbed an arrow from his quiver, ready to attack if needed. Nothing. Then he quickly turned to his left as he heard the noise again. It was clearer this time. It sounded like someone was trying to sneak up on him, which would prove difficult as he had his keen hearing. Were he just a mortal, he probably wouldn't have been able to pick up the soft sound of careful footsteps. The elf pulled his arm back, ready at any moment to shoot. He turned around quickly again as he heard more footsteps. Then to his right as he heard even more. It wasn't a second later, that about six men came running towards Legolas., surrounding him.

The blonde prince had two thoughts. One, he had just found the bandits! Two.. Uh oh. He was far outnumbered. Then again, he had handled much worse…

Without hesitation, Legolas began shooting arrows at every enemy he could see. The bandits didn't get a chance to attack him, before they all fell down, dead. With pride, Legolas went to collect his arrows before going back to tell his father he had caught the bandits. That was one less problem they had to worry about.

It wasn't until he was putting the last arrow back in his quiver, that the archer heard more footsteps. He sighed. Great. There was more of them. He knew he couldn't have been that lucky. He once again got his bow ready, when an arrow came flying towards him. Legolas barely had time to dodge it. Another arrow came, and Legolas, being slightly stunned from falling to the ground, didn't see it coming. The arrow lodged itself in the elf's side as his eyes widened. Sure, he had been injured in battle before, but his wounds had always been minor, but he'd never been hit by an arrow before.

Luckily Legolas was already on the ground, so the pain from getting shot didn't cause him to fall and get hurt further. He started seeing black spots dane across his eyes, but blinked them away. It was just an arrow wound.. Now was not the time nor place to go unconscious. It was greater pain than he had ever experienced though, so it was taking all of his willpower to think clearly and not cry out in pain.

The woodland prince stood up, ignoring the terrible pain in his side, and shot down the rest of the bandits. It was then that he realised his horse had ran off. He gritted his teeth. Great. And for all he knew, there were more bandits coming too..

"Hi na- ú- man," he muttered. "This is not good."

Before he could do anything else, the intense pain from his side took over, causing more black spots to dance in front of his eyes. The strain killing off the last few bandits did, while wounded, did not do him any favors.

Legolas barely had time to wonder how he would get out of this alive, before he bled out to death, when he fell unconscious.

Aragorn had been traveling for a few days now. He could barely contain his excitement as he got closer and closer to Mirkwood. It had been over six months since he had last seen his best friend, Legolas, and he was hoping they would be able to go adventuring together. He was currently just outside of the boundaries of Mirkwood, and would likely be arriving there before the moon came out. And because the sun was already setting, it he wouldn't have to wait that long.

The ranger was having a fairly peaceful journey, when a fair, white horse ran past him. Aragorn looked at it in confusion. He was certain that was Legolas' horse, which meant…

The ranger's eyes widened. Was his friend here in the forest, injured? Or even- no.. He wouldn't dwell on that thought. The stubborn elf probably just left his horse untied and it left him. That still didn't seem right though. He knew that horse, and it would never leave it's master unless it got frightened somehow.

Aragorn steered his horse over to the white one that was clearly in a panic. He held a hand out. "Easui hi. Easy now." he said softly to the horse. The creature, recognising the ranger, stopped. "Na-ho nev," he whispered in Elvish. "Is he near?"

As if answering his question, Legolas' horse turned around and started trotting. Aragorn followed it until it stopped. "Man cerig? What are you doing?" he asked the animal, though he wasn't sure it could understand him. He didn't see Legolas until he got off his own horse and looked around. A moment later, he saw a stray arrow on the ground, and nearby, a trail of blood. His heart pounded- with both joy that he was sure he was where his friend was- but also worry since this meant Legolas was probably hurt… Unless this blood wasn't his..

He followed the trail f blood, until he found him.. The young elf was lying down by the trunk of a tree, clearly unconscious. The ranger quickly knelt down by his hurt friend, feeling for a pulse, and was glad when he found one. It was weak, but it was there. Aragorn breathed sigh of relief. "Mellon nin, man agorel? My friend, what happened?" he whispered as he went over to his horse and grabbed his bag.

Being very careful to not do further harm, Aragorn removed the arrow, before bandaging the arrow wound the best he could. He was currently low on his healing supplies, so bandaging it to keep it from bleeding was the best he could now do. Luckily though, they were not too much farther from the palace.

Getting the injured and unconscious elf on Aragorn's horse proved a challenge. The ranger had to be careful since he didn't want to cause Legolas further pain. "Goheno nin. Sorry," he said sincerely when a pained expression came upon Legolas' face. "I'll get you help soon.."

Once both of them were on his horse, Aragorn got to the palace as fast as he could. He glanced at the archer in front of him. He was very pale. No doubt that he had lost a lot of blood. He hated that they had to move quickly; the bumps of the horse running seemed to cause Legolas a lot of pain. Aragorn just knew that if they went any slower, it might be too late. He was very glad that he had found the prince when he had..

Thranduil was surprised when two guards came to him, looking as though the matter was very urgent. The elven king raised an eyebrow. "What is it? Speak."

The guards glanced nervously at each other before looking back at their king. "Two people were spotted entering the gates. They are on the sme horse, a brown one. One of them appears to be Prince Legolas, Sire, and he is unconscious.."

Thranduil stood up from his throne. "What? Is my son injured?"

Without waiting for a reply, he waited outside of the palace, as the horse carrying Legolas and Aragorn came to a stop. Two guards helped the injured elf off of the horse, as the ranger got off of the otherside. An un pleased expression came to Thranduil's face when he saw who was with his son. No doubt he had something to do with this. He never liked humans, but this was was especially bad, constantly getting Legolas into trouble.

Aragorn walked over to the Mirkwood king and gave a respectful bow. The Elven king was furious. "What did you do to my son?" he demanded. Aragorn looked surprised at the accusation.

"Nothing! I found him like this in the woods! He was shot." Thranduil shook his head as he walked inside.

Legolas awoke a few hours later. At first, it was bright and he couldn't quite make out his surroundings. Then, he realised that he was in the healing ward. He looked up and saw Aragorn and his father staring down at him. The ranger smiled. "You're awake! How are you feeling?"

The prince ignored the question. "What happened?" he asked. Aragorn explained as Legolas sighed. "On the bright side, I caught the bandits."

The ranger laughed, knowing that with that remark, his friend would be fine in no time.

End

A/N:

Thanks to everyone who read this! Please leave a review and comment what hurt Legolas oneshot you'd like to see next! Until next time!