I'm back with the sequel to Of Melkor and Telcontar! I decided to post the first part earlier, but that will mean updates will be a little slow as I'm writing a chapter at a time and posting. With my exams starting on Monday I will not have much time to write, but I've got a few chapters done already so we're all right for the first couple of weeks!
The Prologue is really short so I've posted Chapter 1 with it as well in one big document!
PLEASE, PLEASE READ THE NOTES so that you understand how this story works out. The summary of Melkor and Telcontar is for those who've not read it.
Hope you enjoy this fic!
Title:
Into the WestAuthor:
Strider's GirlRating:
PG, may become PG-13 later on. Unsure at the moment.Summary:
Aragorn and Arwen sail INTO THE WEST, but will the blissful quietness heal Aragorn from the pains he still carries with him? Or will he fall into darkness and destroy the connection he has with his Queen?Notes:
This story is a sequel to Of Melkor and Telcontar an AU fic. This story deals with Aragorn's recovery and his and Arwen's life in the Undying Lands, which I briefly touched upon, at the end of the last story. It is a romance for that is a MAJOR part of the story and helps bring the characters to life. The first part of the story deals with Aragorn and Arwen's life in Gondor which lasts several chapters, while the second part focuses on their journey by sea and the third focuses on their life in the west. I have also included a short summary Of Melkor and Telcontar for people who are reading this and not read the first one. I do think its wise – if you haven't – read the last chapter Of Melkor and Telcontar. It does contain spoilers for the ending of this story but the whole point of this fic is to expand on the healing process of Aragorn and see how he copes with it. This will be a long fic, probably about 20 chapters long, but it depends how much I decide to write.Summary Of Melkor and Telcontar
It is set 25 years after the War of the Ring. A prophecy made by Morgoth and Sauron begins to unfold that involves both Aragorn and Eldarion. It transpires that Aragorn is the keeper of Morgoth's power and in order for the dark lord to regain it he needs Numenor and Aragorn. Gandalf arrives with Frodo from Valinor and reunites the Fellowship. After a few attacks made by Morgoth's Knights, (Aragorn is injured in the shoulder in one attack) Aragorn is eventually captured and spirited off to a boat that begins to sail away to Numenor. The remaining Fellowship unite underneath the leadership of Eldarion – Aragorn's sixteen year old son – and Faramir takes the place of Boromir. They follow the boats out to sea. Aragorn is growing weaker. He and Frodo have a connection because they have both received a wound of darkness. It is this that aids the Fellowship and allows them to know what is happening with Aragorn. However things take a turn for the worse when Frodo is captured by the Knights. Sam attempts to save his friend but is unable to. Both are taken to where Aragorn is. Gandalf explains that Eldarion has to kill his father in order to defeat Morgoth and he is heart-broken. Merry gives him advice and the boy vows to save his father in any way he can. In the meantime Aragorn has reached Numenor and taken before Morgoth. Aragorn begins to die as his soul is ripped from him. Morgoth begins to grow stronger. The elves on Valinor decide to fight the army of the dark lord and meet Gandalf while the Fellowship find Aragorn and fulfil the task. As battle wages Eldarion succeeds when he accidentally stabs Aragorn in the heart. The King dies and Morgoth's power wanes. Eldarion is given three choices and one of these is that he can bring Aragorn back from the dead though the man will not be healed in mind only in body. This is because if Eldarion returns to Gondor he will be made King and the Kingdom will fall as the enemies of the state will be able to remove the royal family, therefore destroying that line in Middle-Earth. It was promised to Luthien that her line would never fail in ME. Eldarion chooses to bring Aragorn back to life. He sails back to ME and there Aragorn's spirit returns to his body. They begin the long journey home. At Minas Tirith Arwen is dying but is brought back by Aragorn. It is here that Aragorn's journey of healing truly begins. It lasts many years.
And now onto the Story!
INTO THE WEST
By Strider's Girl
Part 1: IN GONDOR
Prologue
A Day After Aragorn's Return to Minas Tirith
Arwen Undómiel sat beside her husband's bedside, watching the slight rise of his chest and soft breathing. She held his clammy hand in hers, lovingly stroking his skin and wishing with all her heart for him to wake. He remained sleeping, lost in memories of the past.
Shortly after saving Arwen from death, Aragorn had collapsed on the ground in a state of delirium. It had been nearly a day since that, and the King had not woken. Staff at the castle were worried, yet continued their duties assigned to them.
As hours passed, Arwen felt her heart tear in two as her husband struggled with his pain. "Please wake up. Please Estel. Don't leave me like this."
Something seemed to call him when she pleaded. Then Aragorn opened his eyes as he was pulled from his sleep. His grey-blue eyes were dim and showed no emotion. The sparkle that had always been there was gone. His face was pale and he shook, even though he was covered in blankets.
"Arwen." He managed.
"Shhh," she soothed. "Go back to sleep. I'll be here for you." She lightly kissed him on the lips before he fell back into his feverish dreams.
Arwen felt sadness gnawing at her heart. Her husband was unwell. His soul destroyed. She realised that without help Aragorn would never be normal again.
I promise you Estel I will help you in the path of freedom. I will not let the darkness hold you prisoner again.
Chapter 1
The Beginning of a Journey
With the aid of Faramir and his father's counsellors, Prince Eldarion, took the duties of the King, until his father was well enough to rule again. The first thing the sixteen year old did was to proclaim his father's illness to the kingdom, and within hours the houses of healing was filled with letters and get-well cards for the King. Eldarion had asked them to not send in anything as it would disrupt the post, but the citizens of Minas Tirith paid no heed to the Prince's words.
The end of the first day left Eldarion exhausted and tired, but he managed the walk to his parent's room where Aragorn rested in his delirium and Arwen waited. A glance told him that his father was still lost to the world, but his mother was lightly curled up with a blanket and her breathing slow as she slept.
The Queen woke as he entered and a smile of relief echoed throughout her features. "I didn't think you'd come."
"Busy day." Eldarion shrugged. He glanced at his father. "Anything?"
Arwen shook her head sadly. "Nothing. He hasn't moved. I fear what this is doing to him. I wish not to lose him so early."
"He'll pull through. Ada's strong, like you. He will not allow himself to fall into darkness while you are there lighting the way for his return."
Arwen smiled. "I hope so. I just wish I knew how to help him. When he wakes do I get him to speak of it, or what? Do I leave it and let him come through on is own?"
"He'll probably keep himself to himself. I'm sure Ada will speak to you about it eventually. It'll just take some time for him to open up," Eldarion explained. "Was it like it with Frodo after the war?"
Arwen nodded. "He didn't speak to anyone of it until the night he left Minas Tirith. Why?"
"I'm just wondering," Eldarion murmured. "Goodnight, mother."
"Sleep well, my son."
Darkness clouded his mind preventing all light from reaching out and pulling him from the dark grip. Images of the past floated throughout his mind, ensnaring him in delirium. All he could see or – if you thought about it – feel was the pain radiating through his body what Morgoth had done to him. All he wanted was to sleep forever and not return to the world of light, but part of his mind was telling him that he could not abandon his wife and children.
With out knowing it the darkness began slipping from his mind and he felt freedom. Struggling in his mind, he began to wake. He felt someone hold his hand and whisper his name "Estel" and he answered drowsily as the greyness began to unfold and enlighten his mind with the colours of the room he lay in. "Arwen?"
"I'm here my love." The soothing voice of his Queen returned.
He turned his head slightly to the side and saw Arwen looking admirably at him, her elven eyes shining with love and understanding.
"How are you feeling?" she asked.
Aragorn blinked and shook his head. A dark weight fell on his heart as images of the past flashed before him. His eyes grew frightened. He looked to Arwen but instead of seeing his wife, he saw a dark shape towering over him and whispering darkness into the remainder of his soul. He cringed back, pulling his hand away from Arwen. "No," he cried, "go away. Leave me alone!"
Shocked and confused Arwen only leaned forward to help him but her intention was misread in Aragorn's eyes and he shifted sideways falling over the side of the bed. He crashed to the floor, his eyes wide with horror. Arwen remained where she was unable to comprehend or understand what was causing her husbands distress. Whatever it was, she was the cause of it.
Aragorn backed up against the wall shaking as the darkness he saw continued to remain near him. He could not fathom out why he was with evil and not with Arwen. Something was telling him this was all wrong but part of him told him he should be afraid.
"Mother?" Ancalimé the eldest daughter to Aragorn and Arwen stood in the doorway watching her parents. She was the only one, save Eldarion and the twins, to truly understand what was happening to her father. Her younger sisters Eleclya and Eowulia had no clue as to their father's strangeness, and the eldest Princess wished to protect them from the truth. When she entered the room she saw her father shivering in the corner of the room, his eyes petrified and her mother watching him. Normally the Queen would be helping him but something was keeping her back.
"He's afraid of me," Arwen replied, her eyes never leaving the form of her husband. "Ancalimé go get your brother. I need his help."
The Queen's daughter nodded and rushed from the room.
Arwen remained and slowly stepped closer to Aragorn.
"What do you want from me?" Aragorn cried out suddenly. "Why can't you leave me alone?"
"Shhh, Estel. It's only me. It's Arwen. Your Evenstar." She lowered herself to the ground in front of Aragorn who turned his head away to avoid her piercing gaze. Very gently the Queen took hold of her husband's chin and turned his head so that he was facing her. She could see fear reaching across his features, consuming him.
"Please," she whispered, "Estel, please come back to me. Don't be like this." Tears ran down her cheeks. She hated seeing her Estel like this, broken like a shell. Nothing of the man she had met nearly 85 years ago remained. To her Aragorn would always be Estel no matter what had happened to him. He would never change in her eyes.
Minutes passed and Aragorn's shaking decreased. He came calmer and seemed to relax. The darkness he saw was no longer there but a shining light intent on helping him.
Within ten minutes Eldarion came rushing to the room. "Mother? Is everything okay?"
Arwen turned to face her son. "I'm not sure. He was afraid of me but now he's….not. I asked him to return to me."
Eldarion frowned. "It seems to me he sees you as evil. He'll have brief spells when he believes you are someone else; someone that means harm to him. As long as you remain with him he will gradually see you as a friend not an enemy. However when someone new comes into the room, like Ancalimé, Ada will see her as an agent of evil. It's his mind playing tricks on him. He's afraid that what he went through will happen to him again. The only people he recognises are the members of the Fellowship."
Arwen watched as Eldarion spoke to Aragorn in elvish chanting softly to him. Gradually the man's eyes closed and he fell back to sleep. Carefully and gently Arwen and Eldarion lifted Aragorn up and onto his bed. They covered him with covers up to his neck and watched him.
"I don't know how long he will be like this mother. It will be a long time before Ada is ready to face the world again. It will be many long and arduous months before he will heal."
Arwen sighed. "I can't understand why this happened to us. Why did their have to be something that could harm our happiness? It's just not fair. How could we be condemned for this? What have we done wrong in the eyes of Ilúvatar to deserve this fate?"
"I don't know mother," Eldarion responded. "I promise you that I will help you aid Ada. I will not see him suffer for what has happened to him."
Gandalf the White sat, watching Aragorn sleep soundly, untouched by the recent dark nightmares that he had been having as if late.
It was 3 days since Aragorn's first attack claiming that Arwen was of the evil that had consumed him. He had hardly drunk or eaten and on one occasion Eldarion had been forced to feed his father. Aragorn's illness showed the wizard that he was not coping. The evil that he had faced had left a mark upon him; a mark that the man could not easily forget.
No matter how much Gandalf wished for Aragorn to forget his troubles it wouldn't be so until the man was at peace. He could only think of one plausible option for now and that was death. A close watch on Aragorn had revealed his desire to flee the world. Though he had no weapons they had found him strangling himself with his hands.
It was pure luck that with the combined strength of Eldarion and Gandalf and Arwen's soothing words that Aragorn had been sedated. Now someone had to watch him 24 hours a day. It was imperative that Aragorn was to not to die, as it would mean the failure of a great-established kingdom.
The wizard had felt sad and astounded that his dear friend had taken that road out of his pain. What Aragorn needed to do was to face his demons. But how could he do so if there was no evil matching that of Melkor left?
Later that day the King of Gondor woke from his slumber and for the first time he smiled as he recognised Gandalf. "Mithrandir," he whispered, as he fell back into darkness.
Aragorn's only option was to sleep off the effects of the past and face it later when his strength had returned. The smile allowed Gandalf to believe there was hope for his friend after all.
It will be a long journey my friend. But you will heal. You will heal.
TBC
Anyone confused?
Chap 2 up on Wednesday!
Please R&R!
