Disclaimer:I do not own anything Tolkien. This is not strictly canon. Flames will be used to line the bird cage and the cat box.
Special thanks goes out to Gitamerah, and Oberon my very patient betas. Also to Niri and everyone at her forum for all there help, Thanks everyone!
Any mistakes are my own.
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With her last breath, Celebrian prayed to the Valar to not let her family fade because of her death. 'Let him find someone and be happy once more.'
"We will help them all we can. Are you sure you do not wish to return?" She was asked quietly.
'No,' Celebrian thought. 'The pain is too great. I wish to reside in the Halls of Mandos. Let him see this and know that there, I will find peace. Help him.' With that thought, Celebrian died.
Elrond jerked out of the vision with a start. She was dead. He knew that nothing he could do would help her now. She had gone to the Halls of Mandos. Tears ran down his face.
Alone. The word kept running through his mind. He was now alone.
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Looking back, Elrond knew that it was thanks to Glorfindel that he was able to focus on anything at all.
"You need to try to pull yourself out of this depression, mellon nin. You will soon fade if you keep this up," said Glorfindel.
With flat, lifeless, gray eyes, Elrond raised his head to look at his friend. "Why should I not fade? What is left for me here? The love of my heart is gone." He lowered his head with a heart-wrenching sigh.
Glorfindel apparently had had enough. "What about your children? They need you now more than ever. They lost their naneth, do they need to lose their adar as well? Must you look to no one but yourself?"
Glorfindel knew he was being cruel. However, he hoped that mentioning the twins and Arwen would help Elrond to focus on someone else— at least for a while, so that he could heal.
Elrond's eyes turned storm-cloud gray. He rose from his seat in one swift motion with a gracefulness only an elf can achieve.
"Get out!" His voice was low, almost a whisper. "How dare you!"
Glorfindel did not move. He simply allowed his friend of so many years to vent at him.
"Who are you to tell me where my responsibilities lay?" He looked at Glorfindel with flat, grey eyes that somehow looked as if they had no hope left in them and said almost too softly for him to hear, "You do not understand."
"Oh, I do not understand, do I?" Glorfindel's voice became steely, his gaze narrowing in what Elrond knew was an attemp to to control his rising anger. His hands clenched into fists. As he seemed to fight with himself. Elrond now noticed his friend was only slightly able to control his rage. "Have you forgotten who you are talking to? You are not the first person to lose a loved one. You will not be the last one, either." Suddenly, Glorfindel seemed calmer to Elrond. It was as it he was able to think through his anger, although later Elrond would wonder where he found the control he needed. It almost seemed like someone was helping him in some way to find the words he needed. Elrond wished he could tell him that what he needed now was a friend, and not some emotional outburst. "They need you, mellon nin— now more than ever."
Glorfindel stood silent just seeming to watch his friend, though for what Elrond knew not .
Finally Elrond moved to sit down. Without lifting his head to look at his friend, he said, "How do I do it? How do I even try to begin again?" There where tears in his eyes, as he looked at his long time friend. Finally Glorfindel spoke, " Elrond let me ask you this, if you where the healer looking at this situation what would you do"? "Elrond thought for a long while. "I am not sure, try to help them heal any way I could . Even if I just let them cry" he admitted "Elrond, maybe you should take some of your own medicine. "
"I am here for you, my friend." Glorfindel came up to his side. "You are not alone. Never alone."
Over the next few weeks, someone was always with him. Elrond knew they were worried that he would simply allow himself to fade— or worse, do himself harm. He could not understand how they could all just continue on as if nothing happened. It felt like the world— at least for him —had come to a halt. Erestor and Glorfindel had begun to take over the running of Imladris, for even day to day tasks had become difficult for Elrond.
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One day, Lord Celeborn and Lady Galadriel finally came to see him.
"Elrond, look at me." Celeborns spoke with a voice that allowed no other choice but to listen.
After a few moments, Elrond raised his head to look at Celeborn, but kept silent.
"Do you not believe we grieve for her as well, mellon nin? We grieve for her just as you do, but you must not let this destroy you." Celeborn turned his head to look at his wife as a silent plea was spoken in his mind.
'We must reach him,' her voice was a soft caress in her husband's mind. Not for the first time, Celeborn thought of how much it would hurt him to lose her as he did his beloved daughter.
'No, my husband, we must not focus on that, or we will most assuredly lose a son as well.'
To Elrond, Galadriel quietly asked, "Do you believe Celebrian would want you to mourn in this way? You saw her. You heard her last words— as I did. She wanted you to continue to live; to find peace… and even love again. You must try. If not for yourself, then for her and the children."
Elrond raised his head with tears in his eyes. "I cannot do this alone. I do not even know if I can do what you ask at all. Elrond paused before finally saying, " for her sake, I will try."
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As it was over the next few years, the family slowly started to heal. With her ada's blessing, Arwen went to stay with her grandparents for longer periods of time as she grew. Elrond knew she needed her grandmother as she grew into full maturity. The twins went off to hunt orcs more and more— much to their father's dismay.
Unknown to them all, they were being watched. From one mind to another, the Valar spoke swiftly of the problem.
'We must help them. We did promise.'
'Yes we did, but how to help?'
Years went by. Slowly, everyone in the family started to heal, but not completely. Elrond tried to lose himself in the problems of others by giving advice or healing the sick wherever he could. The twins saw a lot of the healing rooms due to the run-ins with orcs. Arwen had expressed a wish to stay with her grandparents, for her home was too much for her to bear at the moment since it brought her so many memories of her naneth.
'Well now, how do we help them when they do not wish to help themselves?'
The Valar were discussing the promise they had made and were now bound to keep. They had been trying to find a solution to this problem for some time.
'Perhaps we can give them someone else to concentrate on.'
All became silent as they thought this over. Yes, it just might work.