A/N I hope you all enjoy this! Everything in italics are memories or they are emphasizing a word. Mostly they are memories though. Read and review!

Friendship is a Light of Hope

Chapter 1: Beatings

            Aragorn was traveling through the woods on his horse to meet Legolas. He hadn't seen his friend for two months and it was going to be nice to see him. This was the only happy thought on Aragorn's mind. He was dwelling on his thoughts and the feelings of loneliness he was experiencing as a twenty six year old. His entire background had finally been revealed to him. He was feeling tense and stressed. A visit with his best friend was exactly what he needed at that moment.

            He was scared and was feeling slightly abused from everything he had been put through in the last few days. His brothers had been picking on him more than usual and he had gotten hurt when they had sparred with swords. Though they had apologized he still felt as if his brothers were angry with him and he didn't know why.

His body was aching from all the physical beatings it had taken in the last week. He had fallen off of his horse while riding and he had been beaten badly by a bunch of Orcs who had gotten too close to Rivendell's borders for Lord Elrond's liking.  He and the patrol had killed the beasts, but he was still feeling the injuries he had received from them. He had lied to his father about being alright. Elrond had known that Aragorn was still hurt, but Aragorn had hidden some of the major injuries so that he could go to meet Legolas.

He was hurting emotionally and physically. He didn't know what exactly was weighing on his mind and heart but he did know that he was beaten physically. Up ahead he could see a small camp fire. It was close to dusk which meant that he and Legolas would be able to have a nice chat before they went to sleep and headed to Rivendell the next morning.

He had been traveling for two days without rest and was incredibly tired; his horse was alright. He had stopped every night for her benefit and it gave him time to think and get used to the idea of being Aragorn, son of Arathorn and heir of Isildur and would one day take the throne of Gondor.

When he got closer to the campfire he saw Legolas stand up to greet him. Aragorn tried to rein in his horse and get her to stop but he pulled too hard on the right rein and the horse swerved to avoid a tree. Aragorn hit a low laying branch and fell off of his horse. He hit the ground hard and was slightly dazed. He touched his hand to his head and could feel all the blood oozing from a wound in his scalp down to the middle of his forehead. He nearly cried out since all of the wounds and bruises from the previous days were incredibly painful. Aragorn winced as the dirt from his fingers mingled with the fresh blood.

"You clumsy human!" Legolas said to him chuckling. He saw the look on Aragorn's face but he figured he was being over dramatic about his head wound. Legolas offered Aragorn his hand and helped the human over to the campfire where he sat down. "I need to clean that cut up, it may get infected."

Aragorn sighed, "I have some herbs in my pack if you need them."

Legolas nodded, "I believe I do." He headed over to Aragorn's pack and brought it over. "I am not as good a healer as you are, so if you would tell me what you brought and where to find it in this," He eyed the tattered pack, "ancient piece of material; it would be of some help." Legolas beamed at Aragorn who just rolled his eyes.

"You prissy creature, it is in the middle pocket." He sighed, "Here, let me get it."

Legolas looked at him suspicious, "You hate having people fuss over you when you are hurt. Why the sudden change in character?"

"Well, seeing as how this tiny scratch hurts and it will surely get infected, it should be cleaned until it reaches that point." Legolas gave him a pointed look making Aragorn smile, "Okay it is because I know you'll tie me down if I don't let you clean it." He placed some herbs and a canteen of water in Legolas's hand. "Here, this should be what you need."

Legolas grinned at his friend and took the herbs and water, "I would tie you down; now lie down and let me fix up that gash."

Aragorn held in a sigh, his back was aching from where his brother Elladan had whapped him with a staff. He had a welt from the wood.

Elladan and Aragorn were in the practice fields staff fighting. They were both circling each other.

Elladan lashed his staff out and hit Aragorn roughly on his side. Aragorn tried to block but missed horribly, giving his brother the upper hand. Elladan stuck his staff out and whapped Aragorn hard on the back twice before jumping back. Aragorn's back hurt but he didn't give in. Elladan had promised to stop when Aragorn asked him but he wasn't going to do that just because his brother had hit him a little too hard!

Aragorn struck but Elladan blocked and twisted the staff away from Aragorn. Now that Aragorn didn't have a weapon Elladan very lightly tapped Aragorn's neck. In a real fight he would have broken it and killed his opponent.

Aragorn stood still as his brother walked up to him and wrapped his arm around his brother's neck. "Good job Estel. I didn't hit you too hard did I?"

Aragorn shook his head, trying not to wince from the pain in his back. "No, no I'm fine."

Elladan patted him on the back and Aragorn yelped. Elladan gave him a look and lifted Aragorn's shirt up. His eyes widened. "Oh Aragorn, I'm so sorry."

"It is fine Elladan you just hit me too hard." Aragorn replied

"You will be fine. Don't worry," He grinned wickedly, "ada will fix you up just fine."

Aragorn groaned and followed his brother into the house so that they could find Elrond.

"Estel, you need to lie down so that I may have better access to the wound." Legolas said, gently pressing Aragorn down.

Aragorn sighed and lay down on the ground. He squirmed, trying not to rub the welts that his brother had left on him. When he and Elladan had gone to find their father they hadn't been able to. Elladan had instructed Aragorn to go to Elrond the next day but Aragorn had conveniently forgotten he was hurt.

"Estel, stop moving; I might get some of this mixture in your eyes and that would most likely hurt." Legolas snapped

 Aragorn smiled at the use of his elven name. He rarely heard it any more and it was hurting him that he had to take on the name 'Aragorn'. His family didn't understand that he was still 'Estel' and not the future king of Gondor.

"I can't Legolas, my back hurts too much." Aragorn replied with embarrassment

Legolas looked at him, "Why? What happened? Did you land on something when you fell?"

Aragorn shook his head, he had landed on a rock but it was the welts from the staff that hurt.

"Roll over and let me look." Legolas told him

Aragorn sighed and rolled over. He felt Legolas pull up his tunic and shirt and then trace the welts with his fingers.

Legolas looked at the ugly lines. To him they looked like lash marks and he was curious as to how his friend had gotten them. "What happened to you? How did you manage to get these?"

"Elladan gave them to me." Aragorn replied; he knew Legolas was used to the twins and Aragorn sparring with all sorts of weapons.

"What?" Legolas was shocked; to him they still looked like lash marks. He was curious as to why Elladan had found the need to hit his brother with a whip.

"Yeah, he hit me with one of those wooden staffs." Aragorn was completely embarrassed and didn't want to confess to loosing to his brothers for the umpteenth time.

"Why did he hit you with a staff?" Legolas asked bewildered

"Well he beat me." Aragorn said dryly

"I see that." Legolas drawled

"We were sparring and he hit me with the staff. It was my fault really; I didn't block him so he landed two blows." Aragorn said still squirming, "Would you get on with it?" He asked pointing to his head.

Legolas finally understood what Aragorn meant. He and Elladan had been practicing. He was wondering why Elladan would beat Aragorn with a staff for no reason. "Oh be quiet Estel."

Aragorn rolled his eyes and pulled his shirt and tunic back down. He sat up and Legolas managed to clean and bandage the gash.

"Take your shirt off, I want another look at those welts." Legolas told him, putting the unused herbs back into the pack.

Aragorn shook his head, "No, I'm fine. Don't worry Legolas."

Legolas gave him a look and Aragorn sighed, he didn't want to take his shirt off. Legolas would see all the wounds and bruises from the Orcs.

Aragorn raised his sword and cut off the head of the foul creature. He and his brothers along with Rolnon and Tilon, from the border patrol, were killing Orcs that had been seen near Rivendell's borders.

Elladan and Elrohir were with Aragorn while Rolnon and Tilon were in another area. The twins had abandoned their bows because the Orcs were too close. All three brothers were working quickly to kill the Orcs. Aragorn was no more than six meters from his brothers but it was far enough in a battle.

An Orc behind Aragorn brought its blade down and it bit into Aragorn's shoulder. Aragorn made no noise but only killed the foul beast. There was no point in wasting his energy by crying out.

They all continued to fight until Aragorn was ganged up on by four Orcs. They had no weapons but were covered in armor from head to toe. They weren't meant for battle, they were meant to beat their opponents up. They had fifteen inch pieces of wood that were coated with steel. They began to hit any part of Aragorn's body that they could. Aragorn quickly managed to kill them but he was bleeding and was aching all over. The Orcs had managed to give him a black eye and his entire body was covered in their bruises. Mostly it was his chest and arms but his legs were aching as well.

"Estel, come on. Let me see your back. Just take off your shirt." Legolas was getting annoyed by Aragorn's slow movements, "I'm waiting Estel."

Aragorn sighed and removed his shirt, he could hear Legolas's intake of breath. "It's not that bad Legolas." Aragorn lied

Legolas gave him a reproving glance, "What happened? Does your father know about these?" Legolas knew how Lord Elrond hated it when his sons were hurt. Of course Aragorn had rarely been in more pain than when he had fallen out of a tree and broken his ankle. The twins had been hurt more than Aragorn but Legolas was curious as to why Aragorn hadn't told his father he was hurt.

"I've been given his awful tea before, I don't want it again." Legolas glared at Aragorn. "Okay fine, I…things aren't…I'm not. No, I didn't want to tell him."

Legolas raised an eyebrow but didn't comment. He would ask Aragorn after he helped to patch him up. He touched some of the welts and the bruises.

"Okay, you've seen them can I put my shirt back on?" Aragorn asked annoyed. He didn't want to talk to his best friend right now, he wanted to be alone with his thoughts.