Elladan slashed out with his sword for the seemingly hundredth time, decapitating another orc with an easy movement. How many of these stupid things were there?

He shuddered as another orc came up behind him and he was forced to turn around. This was not how it was supposed to be! His brother, his soul, was meant to be there, protecting his back and blind side. That was how it had always been.

And yet he was used to having to defend himself from every angle now, and the thought made his heart ache.

"YOU WILL PAY! ALL OF YOU WILL PAY!" Elladan screamed at the thought of his twin, and the orcs jeered at him. He spun past them in a whirl of long, dark hair and a flashing sword, and three of them fell, dead, at his feet.

He pushed through another open doorway, shoving one orc above the frame, dazing it before slitting its throat.

His eyes darted around the room, and his heart sank, as it always did when he found an empty one. Another failure; another wild goose chase; another day his brother was left alone to suffer wherever he was.

He was jolted from his thoughts as his mechanical movements were halted by the clash of a sword against his. His eyes fell upon an orc, this one taller and broader than the average, which had not been killed by his wild strokes like the others had. Because of the beast's height, the only consequence of the blow was a gash on its shoulder.

"Finally come for your brother, elf scum?"

Elladan's heart missed a beat at those words from the gravelly, uneven voice that was like the edge of a saw from using the Black Speech. His brother. His twin. His Elrohir.

"What have you done to him?" he whispered menacingly, and the orc grinned, stealing a glance at the low ceiling of the room as if it was the sky and he were trying to tell the time.

"Oh, it's almost that time of day again," he said, his grin of rotting teeth both infuriating and disgusting Elladan. "Listen, and you'll find out, elf."

At that moment, there was an ear-shattering scream, and Elladan felt like he was being stabbed. That scream was all too familiar, though there was no hint of attempted restraint and therefore remaining pride in it.

"ELROHIR!" he yelled, but there was no response other than another cry.

"You disgusting creature! You and your vile masters will pay for what you've done to him!"

With that Elladan put his sword through the creature's heart, and it let out a sickening gurgle as it crumpled to the ground. He kicked the body and ran towards the direction that the screams had come from, just as another wracked the walls.

"ELROHIR!" he yelled again, but again there was no reply.

There were no doors in the entire building, and thus Elladan found his way to the room easily.

It was dark, very dark. The only light was from four torches, one in each corner of the desolate space.

The orcs were faced away from him. There were four of them. Two were merely sitting and jeering, and one was standing above another, which was holding up a fistful of ebony hair. The orc that was standing held a sword high above its head, preparing to swipe downwards.

With a cry of rage, Elladan stabbed the two bystanders with one sweep and the one holding the hair with a stab. The minute the orc fell, the head and body connected to the hair crumpled, but Elladan's arms jerked around it instinctively.

The last orc was already in mid-swing, bringing its sword down upon the exposed neck of his captive. Elladan met its sword with a blow filled with the power of his overwhelming anger. The orc staggered back and Elladan took the opportunity to stab it through the heart. It fell backward with a thump onto the ground.

There was a moment of shocked silence, filled only by the harsh breathing of the being in Elladan's arms. Could it really be…?

The broken body let out a groan, and Elladan felt himself jolted from his daze. Tears exploded from his eyes and ran down his cheeks as he lay the body on the ground with unbelievable gentleness. He looked down on the face.

Dark hair, though it had been cut to shoulder length, was silky and smooth despite the tangles and dirt. Grey eyes looking down at the ground, shining with pained and relieved tears. Pale features from blood loss, but still uncannily like Elladan's own.

The face was covered in scratches and deep cuts, but what caught Elladan's eye was the shredded tunic and the blood soaking through the little remaining fabric. There were patches larger than his hand all over his twin, all over his body. Through the holes in the tunic and lettings he could see burns, lashes, cuts…

Ai, Valar.

"Elrohir…" Elladan whispered. Elrohir's eyes moved slowly upward to his twin's face, as if he was afraid of what he would find. When they fell upon his twin, tears began flowing down his face.

"Elladan, Elladan, Elladan, Elladan, Elladan, Elladan!" Elrohir said with a voice raspy from screaming as if the name were a lifeline. "Elladan, you have come, you are here…"

"Shhh, gwador-nin, of course I have come…" Elladan's previously silent tears turned into sobs that shook his entire body.

"I'm so sorry, Elrohir…I-I made you d-do this, and I…it t-took too long to f-find you, look what I've d-done!"

Elrohir didn't even object. He was so tired and his entire body hurt. When he had been hurt the first time after being captured, he had closed off his bond with his twin to make sure his gwador would not have to take any of the pain. As the orcs' torture methods got more and more terrible, it only strengthened his resolve. His mind was tightly shielded so his brother would not know the pain he was in, even as it threatened to overwhelm him.

Elladan lay down next to Elrohir as the latter's body began to shudder with pain.

"Elrohir…Elrohir…my soul, my brother, my life, my angel, my Elrohir…" Elladan whispered, lying on his side facing his twin, putting a hand on the side of the cheek that didn't have any obvious injuries. "I have missed you so much, my Elrohir…I will never let you go again."

He leaned forward to place a kiss on Elrohir's brow, but as he tried to draw away Elrohir's weak arms wrapped around him, holding them in an embrace. Elladan was filled with a sudden desperation, and he clutched at his twin, holding him tightly to his chest, burying his face in Elrohir's hair, breathing in. He smelled sweat, coppery blood. But beneath it, he could still faintly smell the cleanliness, the minty sort of smell that he only knew as Elrohir.

"I am sorry, I'm so sorry, Elrohir…I'm so sorry…"

Gradually the tension in Elrohir's shoulders disappeared, and Elladan felt the part of his mind that had been desolate and empty since his twin had left fill with light.

But the light remained only for a second before the entire thing turned to red, black, and bitter pain that made him clench his teeth together with a grimace. He remembered back when he and Elrohir had rescued their mother, how their bond with her was filled with black and red. Darkness and blood.

"Elrohir…" Elladan whispered, both in horror at the similarity of the two situations and in relief at having his other half connected to him once again. His hold around his brother tightened.

"You're doing it again…" Elrohir whispered.

"Ai, Valar!" Elladan exclaimed, banishing all thoughts of Celebrian from his mind immediately. What was he doing? That was how he'd caused this whole mess in the first place! "I'm sorry, gwador-nin. I will stop, now."

Elrohir gave a small smile which quickly faded. The pain was immeasurable. Black spots danced before his vision.

"Elladan…Elladan…Elladan, it is dark, so dark…" he said in a panicked voice. Elladan held him close.

"I will not leave you, Elrohir. Go to sleep. I will be here when you wake up."

Elrohir's eyes drifted shut, and Elladan wasn't sure how long he held his brother in that nearly empty room and cried. He cried for the three years that he had missed of his twin's life, the three years of pain and torture that he himself had caused.

He cried for the three wasted years.

A/N: Okay, this is me procrastinating on updating Broken. This idea randomly struck me while I was thinking about that and demanded to be written.

I am thinking of continuing this, because I realize there are lots of loose ends.

Please review and let me know what you think!