This is a rewrite to my original version of Fading Light. A huge thank-you goes out to horseyyay AKA Morgoth for taking the time to sit with me and revise it.
Three weeks had gone by since Lord Elrond had received a frantic message from Lady Galadriel informing him that her beloved daughter Celebrían had not arrived at Lothlórien. Galadriel had been awaiting her daughter who had decided to brave the dangerous mountain passes to visit her parents, whom she had not seen for many years. When the appointed time had come and gone with no sign of her daughter she began to worry. So Galadriel had gone to her mirror to see if she could discover what could have caused the long delay. After looking for hours without any results a vision slowly began to form, and when it had become clear she screamed in terror at what she saw. Her precious daughter had been captured by a large mass of orcs leaving behind her escort slaughtered. Galadriel wasted no time in reaching her son-in-law.
Upon hearing the news, Elrond felt a huge sickening feeling develop deep in his stomach and immediately gathered together all of his best elven warriors including his twin sons Elladan and Elrohir and the famed Balrog slayer Lord Glorfindel. And now they were nearing the part of the Redhorn Pass where Lady Galadriel had believed her daughter had been when the ambush took place.
Lord Elrond was frantic with worry, panic starting to overwhelm him with every passing second. Why did he let his wife leave? Why didn't he escort her himself? Why didn't he foresee this happening? What if she was dead? All these thoughts were racing through his mind. As if sensing his friend's speculation, Glorfindel tried to reassure him. "I'm sure she is okay Elrond. Your wife is a fighter. We will find her, I swear it." Glorfindel told his friend, but on the inside he was afraid for her as well.
Glorfindel had grown to love this family as though they were his own. He had been there when they were married and was there when Celebrían had given birth to the twins and many years later, Arwen. He had watched them grow and when the twins were old enough he had trained them himself. He found that he couldn't bear the thought of anything bad happening to her.
He looked around and his eyes fell on the twins. They were almost like nephews to him and his heart ached at the thought that they might never see their mother again. On the outside they appeared to be brave, holding their emotions together, trying to be strong like their father, but on the inside he knew it was a completely different matter altogether. On the inside they were a complete mess. Thoughts of how they would find their mother, would she be ok, and most importantly thoughts of how they would exact revenge on the orcs who slew their kin. Glorfindel worried for them and how they would react upon finding these foul creatures of Melkor. He knew how deadly the twins could be when provoked to anger. He should know, he had trained them himself and they had taken after their father in the temper department.
Finally, they arrived to the spot where Galadriel had told them that Celebrian's escort had been ambushed. As they approached the sight they were met with was something from a nightmare. All around were dead bodies from both orcs and elves. The snow was streaked with rich crimson and deep black from the blood of both elves and orcs. The elves had been outnumbered, the massive amount of orcs was overwhelming. Never had so many orcs come out during the daylight or at this time of year as they had that day.
When Lord Elrond saw the massacre he immediately dismounted his horse and was followed closely by both of his sons and Glorfindel and began to look for his wife. Elladan and Elrohir followed suit and quickly began searching the bodies for any sign of their mother.
"We must find my wife! I want all of you to look for her!" Elrond shouted. Everyone started searching but to no avail. Celebrían was nowhere to be found.
"My Lord, she is not here. We have looked everywhere," said one of the elves with tremendous sorrow.
"She has to be. Keep looking!" Elrond spat back a little too harshly, but as soon as the words left his mouth he had regretted his tone. He knew they were doing their best as they all loved her.
Finally, Elladan shouted to his father. "Ada! Over here!"
Elrond ran over to where his son was. "Ada, they've taken her. Look." Elladan handed him a necklace that Elrond had given his wife on her begetting day. Elrond took it and feeling a wave of heated anger and fear swell in him, swore under his breath. "She was definitely alive when they took her Ada. She put up a fight. And the tracks lead this way." Elladan pointed north with a look of hope on his face.
"Then we will follow those tracks and we will not stop until we find her!" Elrond vowed. "This way!" He commanded. Despite their exhaustion they followed, not daring to argue with their lord.
"Father, what about the bodies? We can't leave them like this." Elrohir responded with a heavy heart. These were his kin and they had died trying to protect his mother. They at least deserved to have a proper burial instead of being left to rot in the elements.
"Then some of you stay behind and take care of the bodies, the rest follow me." Elrond ordered. At that Elrohir had relayed his father's orders leaving at least ten men to stay behind to burn the bodies and the rest began to follow the trail that led to where Celebrían was being held. They could only pray that she was still alive when they found her.
It was nearing nightfall when they finally reached the end of the trail to where the tracks had lead. When they dismounted the horses they quietly walked over to the large mouth of a foul smelling cave. The smell was so rancid it was all one could do not to gag or be sick.
"She's in here, I can feel it, but her fëa is very weak." Elrond stated, almost breaking down. What state would he find his wife in? Would she even survive after being in the clutches of these beings for so long?
Elrohir placed a comforting hand on his father's arm. "We will find her Ada."
Elrond smiled weakly at his son and nodded for the rest of the elves to follow him. "Glorfindel you take a few men and head to the east sector of the cave. Elrohir, you and your brother take the rest and scour the center part of the cave and I will take the west side. Try not to be seen or heard and if you come across any orcs, show no mercy on them."
The elves all nodded and went off in their search for Celebrían. Elrond came across a few orcs but slew them without a sound. After about twenty minutes of searching he finally came to a little side cave where he heard several grotesque voices. As he slowly approached he was met with a hair-raising sight. There chained to a wall, beaten atrociously and crying hysterically, was Celebrían. Next to her at a small makeshift table were five orcs who were arguing about what to do with her next. Elrond didn't even wait to let them finish talking. What came over him could only be described as temporary insanity. With a rage of utter hate in his eyes and a loud scream that almost sounded barbaric he flew into a killing frenzy and mutilated every orc in the room within seconds.
When he was done he hurriedly ran to his wife who was so traumatized she didn't even recognize her husband. Elrond started to unchain her from the wall but she shrank away in fear. When he had finally freed her a chilling scream filled the cavern and she started flinging herself around. Elrond helplessly tried to calm her but he could do nothing. Finally, after several minutes, she fell limp in his arms. Elrond took this opportunity to look at her wounds. What he saw made his stomach churn. Her dress had all but been torn from her body; she was covered in lacerations and bruises that covered the majority of her skin. Her face was covered with dirt and cuts. Her wrists were badly bleeding from the chains that held her to the wall and on her upper left shoulder was a deep stab wound with nasty black lines leading away indicating it was poisoned.
Elrond's healing instincts kicked in and he instantly crushed some Athelas and applied it to the wound to help stop the poison. When he had finished, he hastily boiled some water. When the water had come to a boil Elrond took a clean rag and began to wash her other wounds carefully while making sure no bones were broken. Fortunately, none were, but her right shoulder was badly dislocated from the position she had been chained. Elrond frowned for he knew she would feel it but he had to relocate her shoulder. As fast as he could, he popped her shoulder back in place. Just as he had suspected Celebrían woke up and began screaming again.
"Celebrían, meleth, it's me Elrond. You are safe now. Please come back to me." Elrond murmured softly caressing her face. After several attempts, Celebrían stopped screaming and collapsed again. Elrond sighed in defeat and just held her in his arms as tears started falling from his eyes.
It was at this moment Glorfindel and the twins found them and the sight of their mother in that condition fueled the twins with a hatred and anger they had not felt before. Elrond heard them approach him and he looked up at them pain apparent in his eyes.
"Look at what they have done to her. Why? She was so innocent, why her?" He could barely finish his sentence before he began to cry again.
"Ada, we will avenge her, I swear it. I swear on our own lives we will not stop until every last orc is slain." Elladan vowed, a fire burning in his eyes.
Glorfindel, who was completely shaken up by the sight of Celebrían, had finally regained his composure, "Mellon nin we must get your wife back to Imladris. She is in desperate need of healing and we can't do that here."
Elrond, realizing his friend was right. forced himself to stand, "Ai, let us go now before more of them come." Elrond said while he carefully picked his wife up and carried her out of the cave and to his horse.
Upon returning Elladan blew a horn to recall all the men and when they had gathered the elves all inhaled sharply at the sight of their beloved Lady being carried by Elrond who had covered her with his cloak. No one dared to say anything the whole way back home but it was obvious from the look on everyone's faces that they were devastated and angered by what had befallen her. The twins felt a sudden feeling of deep hatred burning inside of them and vowed silently to each other that they would stop at nothing to avenge their mother.
When they reached Imladris Elrond took his wife straight to their room which he turned into a private healing wing. For months he did not rest and barely ate as he cared for his wife. Elrond had managed to heal her body but he knew that he would not be able to cure the damage to her spirit. He knew deep down that she would never recover from her ordeal and that she would eventually sail to the Undying Lands, where she would be sundered from him until the day he himself sailed. All he could do until then was enjoy what time they had together.
One Year later
The day that Elrond and Celebrían dreaded had finally arrived and they slowly made their way to the Grey Havens where the twins and Arwen were waiting to say their goodbyes. After she had said her farewells to her children the time finally came time for Celebrían and Elrond to part. "I will come for you Celebrían. When the time is right and all my work here is done I will sail and come be with you. You are my shining light and nothing can keep us apart, not even the seas." Elrond said trying to hold back his tears.
"I love you Elrond. Always and for eternity. I shall wait for you." Celebrían said sobbing, holding him one last time.
Finally, it was time and Elrond painfully let his grip go on her and as Celebrían stood on the ship she cried until she had no more tears left and watched her husband wave to her until he was nothing more than a dot on the horizon.
Elrond fell to his knees sobbing, she was gone. He felt his childrens' hands on his shoulders and he cried until he had no strength left to cry. She was gone.
Hours later Elrond finally found the will to return home where he would spend the rest of his days in Middle Earth alone without his beloved Celebrían. He would sleep the rest of his nights alone with nothing but her memory to keep him company. As for his sons, they did exactly what they vowed to do: to go out and hunt down every last orc that still stood to avenge their mother, the Lady of Imladris.