Title: Open Your Eyes
Words: 2,321
Author: Naurring
Beta: Beta once again by Minuial. Any remaining mistakes are all mine.
Email: naurring at gmx.de
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Erestor/Glorfindel
Warnings: AU
Disclaimer: I don't own anything, everything belongs to Tolkien and I don't get any money for it.
Summary: Erestor has a dream which guides him to someone very special
Author's Note: This ficlet is already quite old, I wrote it more than a year ago, but never posted it.
Erestor sighed in bliss as he felt his lover's long fingers comb through his hair putting tiny flowers into the dark tresses. He loved these quiet moments alone with Glorfindel, simply enjoying his presence, feeling his love. He turned his head and smiled brightly at the blond and Glorfindel smiled back before wrapping his arms around Erestor and pulling him into a tight hug. "I love you so much."
Erestor turned around and answered in his way, by giving Glorfindel a long and loving kiss. Long minutes passed before the two elves finally pulled away from each other, gasping softly. They gazed deeply into each other's eyes and Erestor's heart contracted painfully as he saw the deep sorrow in his lover's blue eyes.
"I love you, Erestor, I love you more than anything else. I will love you forever. Forever, Erestor." Glorfindel pressed one loving kiss to the lips of a shocked Erestor and then rose. "Remember, my love. Forever."
Then he turned around and walked away.
"No! Stay!" Erestor jumped up and ran after his beloved. Mist rose and enclosed the fading form. Erestor tried to reach him, screaming his name, but the mist was like a wall between them, shielding Glorfindel's form from him, making everything cloudy, and as fast as he ran he couldn't get past this mist. When a red gleam appeared in front of the warrior, Erestor froze in horror and watched as the shimmer grew until it was a flickering wall of red fire. Glorfindel drew his sword and advanced on the red mist, submerged into it, finally disappearing into the fog.
"NOOOOOO!" Erestor finally managed to move and he rushed after his love once more. But the red gleam slowly faded, taking his beloved with it, and all he could see now was the thick fog. Desperately he spun around, trying to pierce the mist with his eyes and to find the blond warrior. "Glorfindel! No! Come back! COME BACK!"
It seemed hours that he ran around in the mist on his futile search. In whatever direction he turned, he encountered nothing more than grey fog. He stood there, desperate, tears streaming down his face with the knowledge that he had lost his love once more.
Then he saw something, though it was more a feeling… a hopeful feeling that made him look up. He seemd to see a faint light and without thinking he started to walk in that direction. The light grew and, starting to run, he suddenly broke through the mist and found himself in a clearing. In front of him flowed a river and a short distance away rose a light wood. And there, on the sandy part by the river bank lay sprawled a tall form. Erestor slowly advanced on it and as he drew nearer he recognized the golden hair and the perfect body of his beloved. "Glorfindel," he whispered in disbelief, a mad joy rising inside of him.
He drew nearer and when he was nearly there the mist rose up again and enclosed the river, the wood and Glorfindel's form. He halted, staring at the faint picture with renewed despair.
"Go." Erestor registered the voice, but could not tear his eyes away from where his beloved lay in the mist. "Go to him. He waits for you."
Suddenly he woke and the only thing he could see was the canopy of his bed.
Gasping he lay in his bed, trembling slightly with the memory of the dream. He closed his eyes, sweat covering his whole body, waiting for the tremors to cease. 'He waits for you'. That was what the voice in his dream had said.
'It was just a dream', he told himself. 'A dream like thousand others before.' Yet there was a feeling deep inside of him, a yearning that refused to leave.
'Go to him.'
He opened his eyes again and, turning his head, stared out of across his balcony. It was still deep in the night; the full moon stood high in the sky. "Just a dream", he whispered. But something about that dream had left him restless and so he sat up and swung his legs over the edge of the bed. He could see the outlines of the buildings before him, could see the dark shape of a wood in the distance and the high slopes of cliffs that surrounded Imladris and whose streams fed the waterfalls and rivers. His gaze was fixed on a place behind the woods.
This dream…
He knew that place at the river, where he had found the golden form of his beloved. It was a shallow part of the Bruinen with a big clearing where the elves, especially the children, would often go to bathe on hot summer days.
It was a dream.
Dreams showed what the dreamer wanted to see. There was nothing real about them. It was just his wish to be reunited with Glorfindel, who had died such a tragic and heroic death back than, so many years ago, in Gondolin. It was only a dream. He knew that. Yet he rose from the bed, staring towards the clearing at the Bruinen.
Just a dream.
He turned around and quietly left his room, dressed only in the light tunic he wore at night. The halls of Imladris were quiet, her residents in their beds and soundly asleep. Nobody saw the silent figure of the advisor who silently but swiftly made his way through the corridors and halls, stepping out into the cool night air. Erestor did not stop, he continued on his way, away from the occupied parts, and entered the dark wood.
'It's just a dream,' a little voice in his head kept whispering, but he paid it no mind.
His every thought was fixed on this one place at the river. The trunks of the trees rose darkly all around him, blocking even the little light that the moon spread. Silently, unflinchingly, he set one foot in front of the other, steadily nearing the clearing. Finally he could see the darkness lighten ahead. His steps slowed, then stopped altogether as he approached the clearing. His heart pounded in his chest like it would burst any moment.
"Just a dream", he whispered, his voice trembling with fear and hope he was afraid of to allow.
He stood there for quite some time, and the moon had already wandered a fair bit towards the ground before he finally managed to make the next step. Trembling all over, the fear of not finding anything there, clutching at his heart, Erestor took another step. Another step followed and another and slowly his feet carried him towards the edge of the wood.
Mist floated around him, making everything grey and blurred, but the nearer he came to the clearing the more it dissolved. Erestor had difficulty breathing – everything was so much like in his dream. He completely forgot to breathe when he finally stepped onto the clearing. The river was before him, he could see its silver curves winding through the landscape.
His gaze was fixed on the sandy shore. Slowly he advanced, his heart beating frantically.
He could see the waters of the Bruinen clearly now, the sandy bank, the tall figure lying sprawled on its edge, just out of reach of the water.
Erestor stopped dead in his tracks, staring wide eyed at the form of the elf lying there, the blond hair getting dirty in the sand, bright blue eyes directed at the river.
It was still dark, he could not see a thing but black and grey, but he didn't need to see to know what colour the silken locks were or to know the colour of the fair eyes, the eyes that could sparkle so teasingly.
For long moments he stood there, unmoving, shaking, tears flowing freely down his face, eyes never moving away from the slim body. The figure in the sand lay still, no sign of life visible.
Memories raced through Erestor's head, memories of their first encounter, of the long play of courting, of their first kiss, when they had finally decided that they both wanted more, of all the happy moments they had shared and of all the not-so-happy moments that still had been pure bliss, because his beloved had been there.
Memories of a burning city, of pain and death, of a cliff outside the fallen city and a fiery creature that had ended his life, though his body had survived.
Erestor had not the slightest idea how long he had stood there before he was finally able to move again. He made one step in the direction of the elf lying as though dead in the sand, then another and ere he knew it his slow walk had turned into a hasty run. A feeling still kept nagging at his heart, a fear of being fooled somehow, by someone else or by his own imagination, fear of not finding what he so desperately wanted to find.
Then he was there, standing next to the body of someone who had passed in a storm of flames so long ago. His legs could no longer carry him and he fell to his knees, a heart wrenching sob leaving his lips. He reached out with a shaking hand, almost not daring to touch the heavenly creature that had returned to him from the dead.
When he finally touched them, the golden locks felt exactly the same as he remembered them. They were slightly crusted with sand, but they were, oh, so real. Trembling and sobbing Erestor reached out with his other hand as well, gently combing through the thick waves to free them of the sand that dirtied them. Tenderly he stroked the blond hair out of the elf's face, still some fear in his heart, stroking gently over a pointed ear in the process, but when he saw the ruby lips, the rolling cheekbones, the long lashes, the elegant nose, he knew that his wait had finally come to an end.
The Valar had finally heard his prayers and returned to him what mattered most in his life.
Carefully he pushed his arms under the knees and back of the sleeping elf, carrying his beloved away from the edge of the river. Erestor couldn't take his eyes off the fair face of the one he had missed for such a long time. Gently he laid him down on the edge of the wood under a great elm tree, sitting on the ground and pulling the limp form into his arms.
"Glorfindel," he whispered, stroking the blond hair he had not been able to touch for so many years. Tears streamed down Erestor's face like they had done so very often in the past, but this time they were tears of joy. A great burden had been lifted from his heart when he found the love of his life again and he felt freer than he had in all the years since Glorfindel's death.
The blond warrior lay still in his arms, head resting against Erestor's chest, beautiful eyes closed, his breath caressing the other's throat. His chest moved gently with every breath, life seeping into his form, and for long hours Erestor sat there, holding his beloved, gently caressing him.
He did not care for the time and that he was dressed in no more than a night tunic, that had long soaked wet from the moisture on the grass. All that mattered to Erestor was the happiness he felt at being reunited with one he had never thought to see again.
The sky began to fill with the light of the coming morning, the deep blackness of the night giving way to the slight gray of the dawn, the moon losing its shine and brilliance, when Erestor finally leaned over his love, gently caressing the fair face in an attempt to wake him and to see those beautiful eyes open again.
"Glorfindel," he whispered softly and tenderly. "Glorfindel, wake up my love. I'm am here, my warrior, I am here again. We are together once more."
The still form didn't move, just his hair swayed gently in the light breeze.
"Open your eyes, my love. Please. Open your eyes for me. Come back to me." He leaned in closer until his lips touched the silken skin of one of Glorfindel's delicately pointed ears.
"Open your eyes."
Erestor's breath caught when he saw the other's eyelids flutter.
Comfused blue eyes looked around, blinking sleepily, then fixed on Erestor's face. A big smile adorned the advisor's features when he saw the light shine in the blond's eyes.
"Erestor", Glorfindel whispered softly, disbelief in his voice. He lifted a hand to gently run a fingertip along his beloved's jaw.
"Yes", Erestor whispered back. "I am here, Glorfindel. We are together again."
Glorfindel stared in the eyes of his lover, not quite understanding what had happened and how he had come here. But Erestor was here, nothing else mattered. Glorfindel reached up to gently bury his fingers in the long black hair, pulling Erestor down to him until their lips met in a tender, but fiery kiss.
"I love you", he whispered, when they had to pull away again to get some breath.
Erestor sobbed again; the love and happiness that now filled his heart was just too much. "I love you, too", he whispered back, tenderly brushing his brow against his beloved's.
"We are together again."
"Yes", Glorfindel answered. "We are together once more. And we will never be separated again."
The first light of a new day found the two lovers lying in a tight embrace at the edge of the wood, guarded by the great branches of the elm trees, sharing a long, deep kiss…
Beginning to make amends for all the kisses they had missed in the long years they had been parted.
End