Hi all!

I hestitated to even post this one, but then again it is so weird that I had to :-)

This is a very, very short ficlet written as a response to San´s challenge on the Aragorn Angst list. She wanted a tale with Aragorn breaking his collar bone. This is what my plot bunny brought me... goes and hides

Thanks to Ro for her quick editing.

Have fun!

Alina

Rating: K

Disclaimer: Not mine (including the slight insanity needed to write something like this...)

Shattered

I won´t.
I won´t give in, won´t give up, won´t budge.

No, not I.
In all those years I have never been the one to give way, even though pressure has been high more than once.

Others have fared worse than I, and I can still feel the tremor of their defeat deep within my core. In the heat of yet another battle I sensed their distress and I silently pleaded with them to be strong, for their failure might well prove the downfall of us all.

Yet despite my efforts the moment would come when they could take it no longer and gave in to the terrible abuse done to them. My brothers, I could feel your pain. I could feel you shatter and all I could do was to remain strong, to allow the waves of heat and distress wash over me while I held my post, ever the one to keep up our strength and our hope.

I won´t break willingly.
Never have I been the one to budge, but tonight I fear I will betray you all.

One impact, a second, a third.

I cannot whisper encouragement to the one of you who has already succumbed to the force that tosses us about mercilessly.

I cannot concentrate on the racing heart that desperately pumps and pumps to uphold life.

I cannot take it much longer.

A fourth impact. I can feel my shell crack, thin lines of destruction racing across my frame.

A fifth.

Valar, does it never stop?

A sixth.

Cracks spreading, deepening.

A seventh.

What is he doing to us? Why will the Valar never show mercy?

With the eight impact all hope is lost. Pain explodes and I shatter, shatter as if I will never be whole again.

Please, please, forgive my weakness.

x x x x x

"Estel! By the Valar, what has he done? Where did he go"
Elrohir´s voice carried more than just a tinge of panic.

The young man wondered what had happened to give his brother such a scare, but the ache that spread through his body swiftly drowned any room for clear thought.

His left leg screamed in pain, and he could feel it twisted beneath him in a most unnatural manner.

The ranger groaned, but he had felt this pain before. The healer in him knew that his leg was broken and needed mending, but it had healed in the past. It would do so again.

Yet there was another pain, even more intense, that seemed to bathe his upper torso in flames of torment that even licked up his throat and reached for his very soul.

"Down there!" Elladan´s voice now, no more calm than his twin. "He has fallen. He must have overlooked the ravine in the darkness."

Sounds of scrambling feet and slithering stones.

Elrohir again, much closer now. "How can he have overlooked something so obvious? Ai little brother! Why are you so prone to falling?"

Estel would have liked to rebuke the younger twin for so silly a question, but all he could do was whimper while his right hand crept up towards his collarbone as if he could douse the pain by covering its source with his palm.

His hand had not gone far when it was caught, ever so gently, in cool elven fingers.

"No, Estel, do not touch it. The pain will only get worse." Elrohir. Somehow his presence was soothing, and the human could feel his mind slipping towards merciful oblivion.

With his last threads of consciousness he felt Elladan´s soft touch and heard his voice, reaching him from another world, one filled with pain.

"His leg again. And his collarbone, I fear."

"Aye", the ghost of Elrohir´s voice agreed, slipping away even as it spoke, "and that is a first."

The end

Author´s note: This is definitely one of the weirdest things I´ve ever written - ever felt like listening to a bone? Blame San for this one.
:)