Into The Shadow

By The Last Evenstar

Disclaimer: I don't even own the computer I'm writing this on. What makes you think I would own Lord of the Rings?

A/N: All right, so you've all read fanfiction epics in your time. You know the ones I'm talking about? Twenty or so chapters and about three hundred reviews? Ones like The Same Woman (Rose-Arwen-Padme) and Luthien's Flute (b-witched83uk). And if you haven't I suggest you do, because they're a real treat.

Anyway, this is my epic. Well, I'm intending it to be an epic. Knowing my attention span, I'll probably do two chapters and end it on a whim. But I hope not.

I'm not hoping for another Behind Stone Doors -107 reviews!!!!!!-, but a whole bunch might inspire me on the whole epic business.

Or maybe your about to click the 'Back' button because I've talked too much in the author's note.

Prologue

He only knew that he was falling. And falling wasn't such a bad thing, considering. It was much nicer than the blow he had just received, that much was for certain.

And then he hit the ground. And realized that maybe falling wasn't so nice after all.

He sat up, checking to see if anything was broken. After closer inspection, it appeared that he had only fallen five feet and, in any case, the damage was not too dire.

There was a man next to him, sword raised. That might be a little bit more dire, he thought, and swung to his feet.

Just in time to see the hilt come crashing into his head.

In his last wavering thought, he saw an elf-maiden, glowing with an erethreal beauty. He saw that she was crying, and that hurt much more than the sword had. H tried to call out to her –Arwen!-, but it was no use.

Everything faded into shadow.

Chapter One: Candle in the Dark

Elrohir sighed. There she was again, keeping a midnight vigil on the outer wall of the Last Homely House. She held a slender candle, its glow reflecting on her pale face and casting a ghostly shadow over the white dress and cloak that she wore. A lone maiden, waiting silently in the dark for her doomed lover to return.

Except that this was not a ballad of old, and this was no ghostly Elven princess, it was his sister.

"Undómiel." He walked over and laid a hand on her shoulder, but she still looked ahead, into the shadow. "Arwen, come inside. He's not coming home tonight." Or ever, he thought, afraid to voice the words.

She turned to him, her pretty eyes going glassy and dull. "I know what's in your mind, toror'nin. But it isn't true." The words she'd been saying for months now rolled off of her tongue again. "Estel is simply tied up. Nothing has happened to him."

"Arwen –" He gulped, afraid of this pale phantom his sister had become. "Arwen, it's been a year. There's been no sigh of him or Gandalf." His voice began to tremble. "It's not easy for any of us to face, Undómiel. That the Shadow in the East has grown and taken our two greatest hopes –"

She turned on him, her eyes suddenly filling with fury. "How can you say that?" Her jaw jutted angrily in the sharp candlelight. "Speak as though he meant nothing as a person! As though he was a realm, or a fortress lost in battle!" She began to shake with the knowledge of what she'd just said. "But he wasn't lost," she repeated numbly. "He wasn't lost. He's coming home."

She collapsed, sobbing, into his arms.

~~~~~~~

She lay on a veranda, turning over and over in her fingers a silver ring. Two serpents, entwined forever around a green stone.

"I will cleave to you, Dúnadan," she whispered through her tears. "And turn from the Twilight."

A voice came from the threshold. "A good thing to know."

She jumped startled. Slowly, an astonished grin spread across her face and she stood, hardly daring to believe. "Estel?"

She took step by cautious step until they were only inches apart. Tremblingly, she reached out a hand to touch his rough cheek. "It's really you?"

He suddenly threw his arms around her and spun her through the air. "Who were you expecting? Some elf prince, perhaps?"

She laughed, joy spilling out of her heart, and he kissed her, long and hard. She laced her arms around his neck and, like the serpents, they stood entwined.

"I had begun to think . . ." She shook her head. "Never mind. You'll never know how glad I am that you're back, meleth nin."

"Not half as glad as I am to be back." His voice began to sound a little hazy, and his face seemed obscured by some strange mist. "I'll come back, Arwen."

Suddenly, he was no longer in her arms. She took a step forward, panicking. "Estel!"

But he was fading away. She cried out, determined not to lose him to the darkness again.

"I'll come back!" His cry echoed, hollow, in her ears.

And he was lost into shadow.

Arwen sat up, tears running down her face. "Estel!" she cried again, but she was still alone in her room, as if nothing had happened.

And nothing did, she thought miserably. He didn't come back. It was just a hallucination. She shook her head. You're going mad.

But it felt so real . . .

~~~~~~~

Shouts rang throughout the Homely House. Voices were lifted in song. The sheer relief overwhelmed the entirety of Elrond's home as they cried out, "Hail! Hail, Gandalf!"

Arwen fairly leapt out of her chair and flew out the room. Blood pounded in her ears as she ran, hoping and praying with all her might that he would be there. He must be. After all of this –

Out by the bridge she saw her father greeting a tall man, robed in gray. Gandalf was here, tired and haggard.

"The later, the greater, it seems," Elrond pronounced, shaking his old friend's hand. "Your return brings us immeasurable relief."

"We had almost given up hope," Elladan added.

Arwen looked around wildly. "Where is he?" she cried, her voice going from great and shrill to very small. "Where is Estel?"

The wizard looked at her, despair and pity playing across his lined face. "This is neither the time nor the place to discuss it, daughter of Celebrían."

Arwen felt a sudden gape in the pit of her stomach. "But you're here. If you're here he must be here."

Her father's eyes were grim. "Go inside, Arwen."

"No."

His eyebrows lifted menacingly. "We will discuss this later, tinu nin. Go inside."

Her heart pounded fiercely. "Not until you tell me what happened."

Gandalf spoke suddenly. "Let an old man rest, Evenstar. And than you shall hear of your beloved." His face fell. "I fear it is not a happy tale."

She trembled harder as the full meaning of his words sank in. "No . . ." she whispered.

Elladan was just in time to catch her.