Gwen
Lothlorien was much like Gwen had remembered, and it still filled her with a notion that everything would be ok, and now as an elf, she truly understood why this was an elven paradise.
"He is hurt," Gwen said to the elf.
She nodded and took Mordred's arm. "Come, we will heal you..."
Legolas and the rest of the Fellowship started towards the place where they had last stayed, but Gwen remained with Mordred, although her loyalty to the elves was calling much more strongly.
The elf led them to the hospital wing.
Mordred and Spike
Mordred stumbled and nearly fell, but the elf managed to catch him.
"What happened?" She asked softly.
"He got shot with an arrow..." Spike bit his lip and Vortigern made a curious gasping, almost whistling sound, which was soon echoed by Mordred.
"Whose?"
"I don't know...some black winged bint." Spike shrugged helplessly, he didn't know anymore then that.
Gwen
The elf helped Mordred to lie down, and another elf attended to Vortigern.
Gwen bit her lip, resisting the pull of the elves and sat by Mordred's bed side as the female elf dabbed at the wound with a clear, watery like liquid.
Mordred, Vortigern and Faolan
Faolan padded into the room and settled under the bed, mismatched eyes watching everything carefully.
Mordred's hand shot out and grasped the elf's hand by the wrist, lips drawing back in a warning snarl.
"No..." Vortigern murmured, twisting back slightly.
Mordred's eyes stayed closed as the elf carefully freed her wrist.
"Whatever is in him, fights to stay," she said softly.
Gwen
"San sut..." Gwen fell silent, looking worriedly at the elf. (Then how...)
"Uuma dela," the elf replied. (Don't worry.) She lifted her hand and opened the wound slightly, enough to pour the liquid into it, making a horrible sizzling noise.
Mordred and Vortigern
Mordred arched his back and howled, the terrible sound of pain echoing through the woods of Lothlorien.
Vortigern thrashed, eyelashes fluttering.
The twins's eyes sprang open, and they both spoke at the one time.
"Lasta lalaithamin," they hissed. (Listen to my laughter.)
"Lle tela?" Mordred spat. (Are you finished?)
"Kela," Vortigern ordered. (Go away.)
Gwen
"Llie que shan..." The elf said to Gwen. (You must go...) "Tel'Quessir yel." (The Elves call.)
Gwen's lip quivered, fighting the pull of the elves. "Neh," she said firmly.
"You have given your love to a mortal... have you not learned better than that?" the elf shot at her.
Gwen fell silent, but did not leave.
The elf sighed and returned to tending Mordred's wounds, rubbing a soft white flower over it.
Mordred and Vortigern
Mordred hissed and spat at her, trying to move away. Spike grabbed his wrists and pinned him to the bed.
"Poikaer," Vortigern snarled. (Pure one.)
"Amin uuma merna llie camio na'amin," Mordred growled at her. (I don't want your hands on me.)
Gwen
The elf whispered elvish charms over him, dipping the flowers into the liquid, then held her hand out to Gwen.
Gwen nodded and pulled the necklace from her neck, placing a kiss on it and handing it to the elf.
The elf rubbed the flowers over the necklace and plunged it into the open wound.
Gwen gasped.
Mordred, Vortigern, Spike and Faolan
Mordred's eyes burned and he twisted as he fell from the bed. Throwing his head back, he howled again, like a wolf as he crouched on all fours.
Vortigern rose from his bed and hands outstretched, tried to hurt the elf. Spike interposed himself between the crazed youth and the female elf.
"You are so blinded!" Both twins spat.
"You do not see," Mordred growled.
"What you see is not what you think you see," Vortigern said.
"What is happening is what must be."
"There is no other recourse."
Faolan shuddered and crept over to Gwen's feet, whimpering deep in his throat.
"Do you love me?" Vortigern asked Spike.
Mordred's head swung to regard Gwen, blue eyes flickering with flashes of yellow.
"Do you remember what you promised? Always, love, is a very long time."
Gwen
Gwen turned from elf to human and reached out to touch his face.
"Always."
She looked at him with tear filled eyes.
"I meant what I promised, my love."
Mordred and Vortigern
"Then *trust* me," Mordred whispered, then backed away from her.
Both twins cried out in pain, and their forms shimmered.
Wings sprouted from Vortigern's back, composed of glimmering rays of light.
Mordred dropped back down onto all fours, and looked upwards again as his human features disappeared into the mask of a wolf. He growled, eerie blue eyes flecked with gold as his hackles rose, black fur ridging and making the wolf appear even larger then he had before.
"What the Seer foretold must come to pass," Vortigern whispered as he pushed Spike away slightly.
"While the angency this took was beyond the Powers control for this time...it was meant to be. Prophecy again."
Gwen
Gwen watched in half horror, half fascination, as she bent to lifted Eavan up, who was crying loudly from the screaming. Bryant watched with wide eyes, not understanding.
Spike and Vortigern
Spike looked at his lover and nodded slightly.
Vortigern's face was lit with an ethereal light and the elves in the room were actually showing expression. Mostly amazement.
The wolf padded to his twin and Vortigern put a hand on his head.
"Watch. And please..." Vortigern looked at everyone in the room, "try to understand."
A glowing light appeared and wrapped the two in it.
A man appeared out of it, black and gold hair lying in tangled strands, while white wings beat softly.
He smiled, and showed formidable fangs.
"Halves made whole...but I cannot keep this up for long. Too much here to hold..."
The light appeared again and Mordred and Vortigern collapsed onto the ground in a dead faint. Back in their normal bodies.
Gwen
Gwen's eyebrows furrowed slightly as the elves helped Mordred up onto the bed, then Vortigern up onto the other one. Gwen put Eavan back in the stroller and walked slowly over to Mordred, extending her hand and touching his forehead affectionately.
Spike and Mordred
Spike settled back at Vortigern's hand, fingers ghosting along the lines of his lover's face.
Mordred stirred and looked at her with dazed blue eyes.
"What happened?"
Gwen
"You and Vort... you were entwined."
Gwen looked confused for a second, then shook it off, and breathed light kisses over his face.
Mordred, Vortigern and Spike
Mordred closed his eyes slightly.
"I feel...so very tired."
Vortigern opened his eyes and looked at Spike.
"Spike..."
Spike kissed him, reassuring himself that he was still here.
"Don't do that again," Spike told Vortigern. "Made me bloody worried, I can tell you."
Gwen
"Sleep, my love."
Gwen kissed him gently, and stood, tucking Eavan and Bryant properly into the stroller.
"We will take them," the elf said.
Gwen nodded and sat back down next to Mordred's bed, taking his hand and watching him sadly.
Mordred, Vortigern and Spike
Mordred nodded and closed his eyes wearily.
Vortigern curled up on the bed, and Spike smoothed his hair.
"You know, Spike...I really, really need to sleep now," Vortigern said sleepily.
"Alright, luv."
Spike entwined his fingers through Vortigern's and the youth squeezed back gently.
"It'll be alright."
Gwen
Gwen left a final kiss on Mordred's head as she stood to go change, the dress she was in ripped and bloodied. She followed an elf from the room and climbed the steps.
Minutes later she was washed, and changed. She half ran, half skipped down to Mordred's side again, taking on her elvish form as she sang to him softly.
Mordred and Spike
Mordred smiled slightly in his sleep and Faolan blinked at her from the place he'd taken on Mordred's bed.
Calming is good.
Spike ran his fingers softly through Vortigern's hair as the golden haired twin slept.
"What exactly have you gotten yourself into, pet?" Spike asked the asleep mortal in a low voice.
Gwen
Gwen looked up as two elves came in, holding Bryant and Eavan, who had grown slightly bigger in the short time they'd spent in Lothlorien.
They explained where they were going to let the babies sleep and Gwen nodded. Her eyes returned to Mordred.
Faolan
Faolan nestled deeper into Mordred's side.
Magic everywhere here. Makes my fur tingle. He informed Gwen.
Mordred was beginning to look a little bit more relaxed as he slept.
Gwen
"Aye, an elven paradise," Gwen said, her voice low and melodic again. She reached over and petted Faolan softly.
"You would be hungry?" an elf asked, dangling Gwen's cleaned necklace from her hand.
Gwen stood and walked over to her, taking the necklace and refastening it around her neck.
"Yes."
"I shall bring you some food." The elf turned to leave and Gwen put a hand on her shoulder.
"Please... but no Lembas."
The elf chuckled lightly and left.
Faolan
Faolan's ears twitched slightly.
They have mice here...and birds. Do you think I could go hunting? Rabbits...
Gwen
"Yes, but none too much."
Gwen tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, then went to lie on one of the other beds in the room.
Faolan
Faolan rolled his eyes slightly, then dropped off the bed.
Going now.
He padded out the door, agilely weaving through one of the elves's legs. He shifted into cat and then started to climb up the outside of the tree.
Mordred murmured in his sleep and Vortigern's eyelids fluttered slightly.
Gwen
The elf set the food down in the centre of the room on a table. Gwen got up and lazily took a plate and began to eat slowly and tiredly.
"Thank you."
"Pleasure." The elf smiled and left.
Faolan
Faolan started to unhurriedly explore his surroundings. He wasn't that hungry yet, so he let the several birds nest he discovered go unplundered.
The kitten climbed agilely through the woods of Lothlorien, passing mostly unnoticed by the elves. And then he stopped, dropping to the ground and padding towards Galadriel.
Hello.
"Vedui', cathelle,' Galadriel murmured. (Greetings, little cat.)
The others didn't notice me, but you did. He informed her as he curled around her feet, purring.
"Amin sai'ele," Galadriel said and she bent to pick the kitten up. (I see much.)
Gwen
"Galadriel."
Gwen finished her dinner and got up, and left the hospital, and went to find the rest of the Fellowship.
Faolan
Faolan leant into Galadriel, closing his eyes.
So many things...
"Nyar'amin," Galadriel said as she started to walk slowly. (Tell me.)
The kitten did so, mind voice a little furry with fatigue but soothed by Galadriel's magic and the gentle caresses of her fingers behinf his ears. He purred.
Mordred
Legolas took Gwen's arm and led her to a small clearing in the woods, overlooking a waterfall. She let herself succumb to the elves for the moment, speaking in elvish and singing a song of sorrow as Legolas watched with sad eyes.
Faolan
Galadriel stood at the edge of the clearing, watching the two consideringly. The elvishness in Gwen...it had not come about naturally. It was linked to the necklace, yes, but...
And it was not fair to her. She was not destined to stay here.
Faolan wriggled and she set the kitten down.
He went to investigate the possibility of fish in that tempting water.
"Mae govannen," Galadriel said in her soft voice. (Well met.)
Gwen
Gwen's song finished and she leaned against Legolas, the elf in her pushing down her human loyalties. All she knew was that she wanted to stay here forever, where it were peaceful, with Legolas. She looked at Galadriel, her eyes mournful.
Legolas sighed, knowing that what she wished for could never come to pass.
Faolan
Faolan shifted back into his human form and lokoed up at the elves.
"You can't stay here," he said softly, kicking his bare feet in the water. The Wadjet eye his mother had gifted him with dangled against his bare chest, clad again in the simple white kilt in the Egyptian style.
"Cathelle quena forya," Galadriel said. (Little cat speaks aright.)
Gwen
"But I cannot go back."
Gwen touched her necklace.
"Too much pain exists in that world. Too much hurting."
Faolan
"That does not change that which is right."
Faolan cupped some water in his hands and watched it trickle back down into the pool, his blue and green eyes solemn.
"Lle yulme," Galadriel said. (You are branded.)
"I'draug mela lle." (The wolf loves you.)
Gwen
"And yet that wolf has been the cause of much of my pain."
Gwen stood and looked over Lothlorien.
"The elves called, and no longer could I resist."
Legolas stood and peered at her, with worried eyes.
"Gwen, you know that staying here is not right."
"Please, I could not bear it if you started too."
Faolan
"He hurts too," Galadriel said softly.
"And yet he still tries...despite the fact that he is only a boy, in truth."
Faolan lokoed at them with his wise eyes and kicked his feet slightly.
"Would you have his death on your hands?" Galadriel asked Gwen.
"What you have promised him cannot be taken back. If you are truly an elf, you must stand by your word."
Gwen
"But I cannot go back!" Gwen looked at her in desperation. "Perhaps I do not love him as much as I first thought."
"You cannot mean that," Legolas said.
"Maybe." Gwen looked at Galadriel. "I need time to think this over."
Faolan
"The woods of Lothlorien do not shelter oathbreakers," Galadriel said with finality.
"Then my people will," Legolas said.
"You must do as you think best," Galadriel said, looking into his eyes.
Faolan sighed.
"We do not have to decide yet," the kitten said.
"There is time..."
Gwen
Legolas took Gwen's hand and led her from the clearing. She ran quickly to her sleeping babies and pressed her lips to Bryant's head, then Eavan's.
"Be good for your father."
She put on the cloak Legolas handed her and they left Lothlorien quickly on horseback, reaching the woods of Mirkwood shortly after.
Faolan, Mordred and Vortigern
Mordred woke up violently, sensing her leaving and then her cutting the bond between them.
"GWEN!"
Galadriel listened to his heartbroken sobs sadly, then turned to Faolan.
"Would you follow her?"
"I would."
Faolan nodded.
"Best go quickly, little cat."
"I'm very quick."
He smiled, and then padded off after Legolas and Gwen.
Vortigern woke up and cradled his twin as he howled his agony, Spike lighting up a cigarette and fidgeting uncomfortably.
The babies woke up and started to cry.
Mordred picked them up, unrestrained tears pouring down his face as he crooned to them.
Gwen
"The Prince returns!" a group of wood elves chorused.
Legolas slid off the horse and helped Gwen off, cradling her in his arms as tears slid down her face.
"Come, here, it will be alright," he said softly to her, kissing her head.
Gwen nodded and followed him into the woods, into his palace.
***
"MOMMY!" Eavan and Bryant shared a long telepathic wail.
Faolan, Mordred and Vortigern
Faolan slipped past the guards, befuddling them a little with his telepathy. He padded into the palace.
"Cath!" A delighted voice said, and he deigned himself to be picked up by a small Elven girl. She rubbed his ears and cooed to him.
"Atar! Atar!" (Father! Father!)
The girl ran to one of the elves in the palace, cradling Faolan in her arms.
"Mani naa ta?" The elf asked her, smiling slightly. (What is it?)
"Aa'amin ro'amin?" (May I keep him?)
The elf appeared to think it over, and she pouted slightly.
"Amin nowa ikotane," he answered her. (I think so.)
"Diola lle, Atar!" (Thank you, father!)
She skipped off, crooning to Faolan who suffered it all with good grace.
~*~*~*~
Mordred soothed his children, or tried to.
"Here." Vortigern took Bryant, leaving Eavan to Mordred.
"Huna blentyn yn fy mynwes
Clyd a chynnes ydyw hon
Breichiau mam sy'n dyn am danat,
Cariad mam sy dan fy mron
Ni cha dim amharu'th gyntun
Ni wna undyn â thi gam
Huna'n dawel, anwyl blentyn
Huna'n fwyn ar fron dy fam.
Huna'n dawel, heno, huna,
Huna'n fwyn, y tlws ei lun
Pam yr wyt yn awr yn gwenu,
Gwenu'n dirion yn dy hun?
Ai angylion fry sy'n gwenu
Arnat ti yn gwenu'n llon
Tithau'n gwenu'n ol dan huno
Huno'n dawel ar fy mron?
Paid ag ofni, dim ond deilen
Gura, gura ar y ddor
Paid ag ofni, ton fach unig
Sua, sua ar lan y mor
Huna blentyn, nid oes yma
Ddim i roddi iti fraw
Gwena'n dawel yn fy mynwes
Ar yr engyl gwynion draw..."
Vortigern's voice joined his brother's.
OOC: "Suo Gan" (Sleep my baby), Welsh folk song.
Gwen
"I will always be with you, my darlings," Gwen said to Bryant
and Eavan, and they calmed slightly.
Gwen took Legolas's hand as they met his father, then he took her to
her room, and helped her onto the bed, entwining their fingers as
they gazed into each others eyes.
Faolan and Mordred
Faolan sniffed to himself. Well, that most certainly would *not* do.
"You still have a ring on your finger, and you promised till
death do you part." Faolan spoke into her mind, sounding more
then slightly cross.
"And you're over two thousand years old. Do you really want to
sleep with another man's wife?" The kitten turned his scathing
commentary to Legolas.
The girl who had 'adopted' him, rolled a ball over the floor for
him, and he obligingly pounced, bringing gleeful giggles to her lips.
~*~*~*~
Bryant and Eaven settled a little bit and Mordred let the tears fall
from his blue eyes onto their faces.
"I can't do this again..." A heart wrenching whisper.
Legolas
"She promised as long as the mind was her own... but it's not
anymore," the elf hissed at Faolan.
Legolas reached out with his free hand and touched Gwen's cheek, and
drew her in for a kiss.
***
"DA!" Bryant and Eavan wailed.
Faolan and Mordred
"For the love of the Goddess and all cats everywhere!" Faolan
hissed. He sped off through the halls, ears laid flat against his
skull. The elven child he had been playing with followed him,
treating it as a hunting exercise.
~*~*~*~
"Shh, shh, it's alright, it's alright." Mordred tried to
comfort his children.
"I'm right here, and I'm not going anywhere. Promise."
A deep and abiding ache set up in his heart.
Gwen
"Gwen the human no longer exists. To death do they part? Then so
be it," the elf snarled.
Legolas took the sobbing Gwen into his arms, soothing her with
whispers.
***
"Hurting!" Bryant and Eavan cried out, their voices as one.
Mordred and Faolan
"YOU PROMISED FOREVER!" Faolan made no effort to keep his
telepathy focused, as he spat in disgust. Any elf with a skerrick of
telepathic talent turned their heads towards where that furious
voice had come from.
"And I thought elves had honour! Legolas, you disgrace
yourself." Faolan spoke directly to the elven prince.
~*~*~*~
Mordred's head snapped up as he cuddled Eavan.
"Gwen..." he whispered tiredly.
"Shh, angel, it's alright, beautiful boy..." He kept trying to quiet
them.
Gwen
"She calls... she needs me," Legolas whispered, unable to
fight what the elf inside Gwen was doing.
Gwen let out a shriek and grabbed her head as the elf inside her
destroyed all former memories of her human life, the human inside
her buried and ignored, almost dead. "She may have, but she does
not live here anymore. Do you hear that, Wolf?" The elf spat
out. "Love lost completely."
Mordred and Faolan
Mordred wailed in loss as he heard Gwen's furious voice.
"NO! Please no, please, please, please..."
His eyes started to flicker yellow, and Vortigern took Eavan quickly
before Mordred wolfed out, his emotional pain too much to bear. The
wolf howled chillingly, his broken heart ringing through every
uluation.
Galadriel curled her fingers through Celeborn's and shook her head
slightly.
The Hobbits looked up in shock.
"I didn't think there were wolves in Lothlorien," Frodo whispered.
"Neither did I," Merry said.
~*~*~*~
"Mind your honour, Prince!" Faolan warned in a clear voice.
"For she it seems has none...hold fast, Prince! Do not betray
yourself!"
Gwen
Legolas let go of Gwen, his mind fighting hers.
Gwen's eyes glowed red as she floated up from the bed, her long
blonde hair flowing out behind her.
STOP IT! NO!" The real Gwen screamed out in her mind, beaten,
and battered, unable to keep fighting, unable to hold on.
"Why are you doing this?" Legolas asked, backing away.
Gwen smiled at Legolas and said only one word. "Dawn."
Mordred, Vortigern, Spike and Faolan
Mordred shook his head dazedly, trying to overcome the bloodlust of
the wolf. He ran out the door, a shadow of the night taken flesh and
blood.
Vortigern looked at Spike.
"Go."
The vampire nodded and grabbed his duster off the chair before
running with vampiric speed after the grief stricken, raging wolf.
"Why did I have the feeling this would come back to her?" Vortigern
murmured.
Frodo yelled in shock as Mordred leapt from the tree root above him
and over his head before landing with a thump and taking off again.
Spike soared after him, and landed lightly before speeding after
Mordred.
"Sorry Frodo!"
~*~*~*~
Faolan struck the door, claws scoring the wood as he spat in anger.
"Elves! Protect thy prince!"
"Taren Legolas?" The elf girl called out in a quavering voice.
(Prince Legolas?)
Gwen
Legolas backed away from Gwen who then jumped on him, claws
sprouting from her hands as she struggled to kill Legolas.
An elven guard threw his dagger into Gwen's side, and the elf
retreated for the moment, letting the human Gwen deal with the
wound.
She gasped as Legolas gently lay her on the ground.
"I'm sorry..." The real Gwen murmured as her eyes closed
slowly.
Faolan, Mordred and Spike
Mordred knocked one of the guards guarding the doors to the palace
to the ground, before he sped inside.
Cries of alarm filled the air and Spike shook his head slightly as
he flashed after the wolf.
"Draug!" (Wolf!)
Faolan looked up.
"Finally!"
Mordred sprang at the door above Faolan's head, snarling horribly.
The elf girl screamed in fear, then grabbed Faolan and ran.
"Mordred, you need to wake up now!" Spike yelled.
"DRAUG! ATAR!" (Wolf! Father!) She wailed as she ran.
Gwen
Gwen clutched at the dagger in her stomach, coughing blood up and
crying.
"I need Mordred..." she whimpered, not understanding what was
happening.
Spike and Mordred
Spike shook his head slightly as he took up a defensive stance in
front of Mordred who was whining and pawing at the door.
"This is not the way I like to meet people."
"Ndengina sen," a voice ordered, and all the elves drew their arrows
back to their cheeks in preperation to fire. (Kill them.)
Mordred eyed the handle of the door fuzzily, then pawed at it. The
doro swung open slightly and the immense wolf slid around the door,
going straight to Gwen's side.
Gwen
Legolas stood and went to the guards.
"N'ndengina sen," he said softly. (Don't kill them.)
Gwen gasped as her back arched, hands clawing at the floor.
"She is dying..." the elf's cruel voice echoes in their minds.
Spike, Faolan and Mordred
"Thanks for that," Spike said dryly to Legolas as he slid his sword
back into its sheath.
"She will not!" Faolan said firmly.
Mordred whined and licked Gwen's face comfortingly.
"Nan i'draug!" (But the wolf!) One of the guards protested.
Gwen
"Ro naa varna..." Legolas replied. (He is safe.) "Lov llie
kerymeth." (Lower your weapons.)
"Oh but she will... she cannot fight me... this elf resides deep
within..." the elf snarled.
Gwen whimpered.
"By Dawn, she will be fall..."
Spike, Mordred and Faolan
Reluctantly, the elves lowered their weapons.
"Detholalle..." (Your choice.)
"And what, exactly, does the 'lil bit have to do with this?" Spike
asked carefully.
Faolan sauntered up the corridor, threading his way past the elves
who were still eyeing Spike suspiciously.
"What do you think? As Mama said, Dawn really should think before
she performs magic."
Mordred laid his head against Gwen's chest as he crouched on the
ground, growling softly.
Gwen
"Magic, magic, everywhere, but not an ounce of control," the
elf replied snidely.
"I need Mordred..." Gwen moaned again.
Mordred
Mordred shuddered, and slipped free of the wolf.
"I'm here."
"Mani?" An elf shouted. (What?) The normally unflusterable elves
were seriously losing their cool as they watched Mordred change from
wolf to man.
Gwen
Gwen opened her eyes, her hair and eyes sliding back to brown. She
looked through her tears at Mordred.
"What's happening? Where are we?" she asked in a panic.
Mordred
"We're in Lothlorien..."
Mordred bit his lip as he looked at her.
"You called. I came. But you said you didn't love me..."
Gwen
"What?"
Gwen reached for Mordred.
"I would never say that."
"But you diiiiiiiiiiid," the elf giggled inside their minds.
"You left because I willed it so."
Mordred and Faolan
Mordred flinched, eyes wary.
"What was that?"
"That..." Faolan said as he walked towards them on two feet rather
then one. "Was the elf. Surprising really that she's such a saurar,
isn't it?" (foul one)
Gwen
The elf struck at Gwen's mind, making her scream in pain.
"If I were you, I would not be insulting me, not while I have
control over her."
Gwen pawed at her necklace. "Take this to Dem and Tav... they...
they'll know how to - "
"SILENCE!" The elf struck again.
Gwen and Faolan
"Stop it!" Mordred hissed, fingers clenching and unclenching.
Faolan leant and snapped the necklace from Gwen's neck.
"I'll take it. Cats...we're tricky things."
He grinned at Gwen, looking behind her eyes to the elf.
"You know...my Da's gonna kill you. And he's going to make it hurt a
*lot*. You don't hurt a wolf's pack. You should know that. Elves
supposedly being so in touch with nature and all..."
Gwen
"I am special. I am made from a darker magic." The elf pawed
around Gwen's mind, digging through her memories.
"Oh, looky what we have here..."
Mordred, Spike and Faolan
"You're not so special," Spike said dismissingly.
"You're going to lose so badly," Faolan sing-songed.
"Leave her be," Mordred snarled.
Gwen
"Looks like I'm in the wrong room, sorry about that..." The
elf laughed evilly as she pulled out scenes of the bad moments
between Gwen and Mordred.
Gwen screamed in frustration. It wasn't fair. All the scars in
her arm... they didn't hurt enough. They'd sting for a bit, then
they were ok again, and no matter what she did, she couldn't erase
the pictures of Mordred and Nyx from her mind.
She flicked on her lighter, the tears dripping down her face as she
held her arms over the flame. The flame licked at her arm, sizzling
the flesh, and she smiled sadly as she burned her arms and legs.
Then she flicked her lighter off and reached into the bucket of ice
she had. She picked up a handful of ice cubes and squeezed as hard
as she could, the pain, in her already injured arm, rocketing. She
cried out but continued to hold on. Nothing was going to stop the
ache in her heart, she could still feel it through all of this.
Gwen looked over to spy her knife again and reached for it. She
looked at her arms. There wasn't a clear patch of skin to cut, so
she started on the space just above her knees. She cut into her left
leg, feeling the moment of release she'd been aching for, and
continued to cut and cut and cut until her vision blurred. She
looked down at her leg, squinting through the haze to see a mess of
blood and skin. She'd cut almost to the bone.
But it didn't matter.
Nothing did.
"Noooooo," Gwen whimpered.
Mordred and Faolan
"Stop it!" Mordred growled.
"If you have a problem, why don't you come try it on me, you evil
bitch?"
Faolan bounced slightly as he weaved a portal so he could go home
and work out what was wrong.
Gwen
The elf giggled a mirthless laugh as she fiddled with Gwen's mind,
making all of her own scars reopen and bleed, burn, and lastly...
Gwen screamed as a large shard of glass embedded itself in her spine.
Mordred, Faolan and Spike
"NO!" Mordred howled. With a convulsive movement, he placed his
hands on either side of Gwen's face and closed his eyes as he
entered Gwen's mind.
"I'm going to kill you, you bitch!"
Faolan dove through the small rip which sealed itself after him.
Spike watched, glimmers of gold sparking through his eyes.
Gwen
"Have to find me first..." The elf giggled a high pitched
giggle again and ran through, opening Gwen's painful memories, one
by one.
Gwen screamed as the glass cut through her nerves, and her legs
stopped moving.
"Not again," she whispered.
"We can't thank you enough — after all we've been through."
***
"Are you a freak?"
"I don't know."
"Guess you don't look like one."
"Thanks."
He was dead...
***
"Professionals are discreet, young lady. You, on the other hand, are
a freak. A dangerous freak. Which is why I had them remodel the
elevator you're standing in. More of a retrofit, really. Low-teched
the whole thing with six inches of Plexiglas separating you from any
available current. Tempered Lucite."
"He's gonna seal us in and turn on the gas."
"What are you, Lex Luthor?"
"What do you think, I'm gonna stand here and duke it out with
electro girl? No, don't worry. Uh, I'm told that the gas is very
fast-acting. You'll be dead within... uh, whoops— Where does the
time go?"
"Ok, there's gotta be something. Get down! Now! Get low!"
"Ow! You jackass! You get low!"
***
"I expect to get screwed. Professional thief. Hazard of the biz."
"Just wait a second, please..."
"What I don't appreciate, Elliot, is being called a freak! That's my
word. And I get cranky when people like you use it."
"Gwen, think about this..."
"Ever been struck by lightning, Elliot? I've been struck by
lightning 14 times. It's not my fault. I just attract it. You know
what else attracts lightning? Maggoty little norms like you."
***
"Naughty, naughty. Now... guess you'll be coming with me, won't
you?"
***
"I love you with everything I am. There is *nothing* I wouldn't do
for you. I've killed for you already, and I haven't done that for
even Vortigern, and he's like an extension of myself. Nyx was...Nyx
*raped* me, and I couldn't stop her, and I'll regret that to the day
I die because now you think I don't love you, and I do, more then I
can say..."
***
"Oh god."
"He's very talented, Gwen."
"Looks like I'm in the wrong room. Sorry about that."
***
"I can't feel that... Mordred... I can't feel your hand on my leg."
"Oh, oh god, Gwen..."
Faolan and The Mavericks
Faolan fled to Demetria and Octavian.
"You havta find out why this made Gwen go psycho!" He demanded,
thrusting the necklace into Demetria's hands.
"I wouldn't know what to do..." she murmured.
"Charmed Ones?"
"Charmed Ones."
Demetria concentrated and teleported her, Octavian and Faolan to the
living room of the Halliwells.
~*~*~*~
A wolf formed at Mordred's hand.
"Find that elf," he snarled. The wolf took off.
Halliwells and Gwen
"My, my... this is interesting..." the elf commented as she
wandered through Gwen's memories.
"Have you no shame?" the elf asked Mordred as she came across
their time in London.
***
Piper looked up from studying the Book of Shadows.
"Ok... Paige! Phoebe!"
Paige and Phoebe came from the kitchen into the living room.
"Oh hello," Phoebe said pleasantly.
The Charmed Ones watched as the Book of Shadows snapped itself shut
and a large blue orb formed over it.
"What have you brought here? The Book is protecting itself from
evil," Paige explained.
Mordred, Demetria and Faolan
"Well, I would just call it the irrepressible horniness of the teen
male, myself," Mordred mused as a second wolf flowed after her.
"What about you? Getting a wife to cheat on her husband. Shame!"
~*~*~*~
Demetria held up the necklace.
"This apparently made Gwen go psycho. We need to find out why, then
stop whatever it is."
Faolan nodded vehemently.
"It's the elf! She's bad."
Piper, Paige and Gwen
The Book flipped open and flciked through the pages, landing on the
appropriate one.
"Thanks Grams," Piper said softly, then read the pages. "Alright, we
can do that... Phoebe, we need a cleansing potion... and dip the
necklace in it, then put it back on Gwen."
Paige went to help her.
"Someone played around with strong magic and wasn't quite correct in
everything, and so, the effect was that it bounced off whoever did
it, and into Gwen, attracted to the elven necklace." Piper
sighed. "The necklace itself is a symbol of love and hope, but the
magic turned it into hate and anger."
***
The elf laughed as it continued running.
"Perhaps if she were not so weak, then this would not have been a
problem. But then, from what I can see, she has always been
weak..."
Faolan, Demetria and Mordred
"Dawn!" Faolan said descively. "That's who the elf said."
"And it would make sense," Demetria murmured.
~*~*~*~
"She is not weak," Mordred snarled, fighting the pull to go wolf
here in Gwen's mind and destroy the elf himself.
"She's strong, brave. She has had to be."
The five wolves leapt together at the elf.
Phoebe, Paige and Gwen
Phoebe returned soon after, holding a jar with the potion, the
necklace soaking in it. She handed it to Demetria.
"That should work."
Paige pulled out another test tube filed with a pinkish
liquid. "This is a reversing potion... Gwen has to drink it, and
everything will go away."
***
The elf ducked and weaved through the wolves, then opened a door and
whistled slightly.
"Hello pain ducts." The elf set about ripping through
everything, cuasing Gwen to yelp every few seconds.
Demetria, Faolan and Mordred
"Alright."
Demetria nodded as Faolan whispered Egyptian and moved his hands in
abstract movements.
"I'll take them back now, please."
She handed the necklace and potion to Faolan.
"Thank you," he chirped and then stepped through the portal he had
created. It winked closed behind him.
~*~*~*~
"Come back here, you cow," Mordred growled.
The wolves howled, then padded after her.
Gwen
The elf laughed evilly.
"Now here I hold the power to Gwen's life... tell your wolves to
back off, or I flip the switch and it's goodbye Gwen time."
Mordred and Faolan
Mordred growled and called his wolves off relucantly. They howled,
twining around his legs like shadows.
Faolan slipped the necklace around Gwen's neck.
"Here, drink."
He opened her mouth with his fingers and slowly poured the liquid
into her mouth, rubbing lightly at her throat to make her swallow.
Gwen
The potion walked almost immediately, and all of the wounds on
Gwen's body healed up.
The elf screamed as she disappeared into nothingness.
Faolan and Mordred
Mordred howled alongside his wolves before he turned and walked out
of Gwen's mind.
He opened his eyes to look at a smiling Faolan.
"I told her she wouldn't win."
Gwen
Gwen looked dazed.
"Why do I have a headache?"
The last thing she could remember was going to sleep next to
Mordred, after a day by the pool.
Mordred and Spike
"Gwen...what's the thing you remember last?" Mordred said carefully.
"Well, that's just effing fantastic, that is," Spike said dryly.
A few of the elves looked at him in disapproval and Spike grinned,
before flipping them the two finger salute and getting a cigarette
out. He lit up and drew back on it, welcoming the nicotine hit.
"Mine are in my bag, can I have a smoke, Spike?" Mordred said
tiredly.
Spike tossed him the pack and his lighter and Mordred lit up.
Gwen
Gwen sat up and rubbed her head slightly.
"When we went to bed the night we spent the day at the pool."
Gwen looked confused.
"Why, what happened? Where's Eavan and Bryant?" she asked, looking
around. "Hi Legolas... um... where are we?"
"Mirkwood. Your children are in Lothlorien," Legolas answered.
"Oh... well that makes a kind of sense that doesn't."
Mordred
"You wanted to come to Middle Earth, so we did," Mordred said.
"What Mordred's leaving out is the fact that some crazy evil bint
with black wings and red eyes broke Nathan's leg, stole Chelsea, and
he got hit with an arrow of hers which that witch friend of yours
couldn't heal, so Nyx and gandalf stepped up their efforts to open a
portal and sent us all here. Mordred can now go wolf, and Vortigern
sprouted wings for a bit. They did this thing where they were one
person, and then you went all aloof elf, came here, tried to seduce
Legolas, and we found out that something had happened to your
necklace that let something evil but elven take over your mind,"
Spike wound down.
Gwen
"Oh."
Gwen looked surprised.
"Seems like we've all been extremely busy."
She sighed.
"I'm sorry Legolas... and I'm sorry, my love," she said softly,
turning to Mordred.
Gwen and Faolan
"Wasn't you, I know that now."
Mordred kissed her forehead gently.
"Now that's settled," Faolan remarked before he turned back into his
cat form and started to pad off.
I was playing before the elf went all evil.
"Cath!" The elvish girl said and giggled. "Lle tule n'alaquel!" (You
came back!)
Gwen
Gwen put her arms around Mordred's neck and kissed his neck.
"I love you..."
She thought for a second.
"We should go home, yes?"
Mordred
"I don't know..."
Mordred looked at her, then looked around.
"We did want to look around Middle Earth. Now we're here, we might
as well."
Gwen
Gwen nodded.
"Yeah, I think I'd like to see the Shire, the hobbits were all very
eager that we should go there."
She rubbed her head.
"Ow."
Mordred, Faolan and Spike
"We should head back to Lothlorien," Mordred said.
"I left the twins with Vort..."
"No idea how you're going to manage to track down the whelp," Spike
grumbled.
Faolan had long since disappeared with the elvish child he'd picked
up on his way in.
Gwen
"Alright."
Gwen rubbed at her head.
"I need sleep though."
Legolas stepped forward.
"Perhaps you could go to Lothlorien and collect your things, and
come back here, while Gwen rests?" he suggested.
Mordred, Vortigern and Spike
Mordred nodded.
"Thank you for your hospitality, Legolas."
"It is my pleasure, Mordred."
"We'll go do that then."
Mordred stood and disappeared. Spike snickered slightly as the elves
other then Legolas looked shocked at Mordred's little disappearing
trick.
Mordred and Vortigerm got all their things together, then reappeared
with the twins.
Gwen
Gwen yawned and accepted the water that Legolas handed to her. She
took a sip, and smiled as Mordred reappeared with everyone.
"My babies," she said softly.
"MOMMY!"
Mordred
"Some people are just that little bit excited," Mordred said,
smiling slightly.
"MOMMY! NOW!" Bryant demanded loudly. "Hand!"
"Pushy, pushy," Mordred scolded his son lightly.
"Legolas...Mani nae lle umien?" Thranduil asked. (What have you been
doing?)
Gwen
"An narn..." Legolas said softly. (Long story.)
Gwen lifted Bryant up and let him slobber on her hand.
"DA!" Eavan cried, feeling left out.
Mordred
Mordred bent and picked up his daughter, looking at the regal elf in
the doorway with a slight amount of trepidation.
"Kwentra amin i'narn," Thranduil said. (Tell me the tale.)
Gwen
Legolas nodded and followed Thranduil from the room, closing the
door to give the group some privacy.
"You've grown, haven't you babies?" Gwen cooed softly. She yawned
slightly.
Mordred
"So..." Mordred looked around as he bounced Eavan slightly.
"What next?"
Gwen
"Sleep here tonight and then explore Middle Earth?" Gwen asked
sleepily, and looked up as Legolas opened the door.
"We have a room for you, Vortigern, and Spike," he said. He nodded
at the cot in the corner of the room. "This will be satisfactory for
you and Mordred?"
Gwen nodded. "Yes, thanks."
Mordred, Vortigern and Spike
"Thank you," Mordred said quietly.
"See you in the morning," Vortigern said as Spike bent to pick up
their bags.
"Yeah." Mordred nodded and the other two left.
Well...Middle Earth had been interesting so far.