The door opening brought all three of the elves out of their slumber. Estel was so exhausted that he didn't wake up. He just continued to sleep in his father's arms.

Elrond was just about to wake Estel when he saw that it wasn't Aerque, but a human he had never seen before. He came into the cell carrying a new bucketful of water. He also replaced the lamp that had stopped working over the night without them noticing. He left after placing a loaf of bread beside the bucket. He had been careful not to look at them while he was in there only focusing on his assignments. All of them let out a sigh of relief when he left.

Elrond looked down on Estel, he was still sleeping soundly in his arms. Even though he knew that Estel had been freezing the time he had pulled him into his arms. He also noticed some heat coming from him, indicating that he had a slight fewer. They had to be careful of it, especially now that they didn't have very many healing supplies with them.

He had berated himself for falling asleep when he had woken up to the sound of Estel being in pain. The expression of pain, exhaustion and coldness that he had seen on his son's face made him realize that Estel had been hiding how awful he really felt, from them. It almost made him curse himself for not being able to see it before. Luckily Estel had fallen asleep soon after he had pulled him into his arms. He had been right about the coldness. The floor felt cold even for them, he could only imagine what it must have felt like to Estel, who being human always felt the cold more than them. That was something he should have known and should have thought about before. There wasn't really anything he could do except hold him close. He was already using both the cloaks they had left and Elrohir's wasn't very large any more.

"Ada?" The soft question made Elrond look up. Elrohir was looking worriedly at Estel. "Is he okay? Was it a good idea to let him breathe on the Athelas?"

Elrond smiled looking at the slightly guilty face of Elrohir, "He's worse than he lets off and it probably wasn't a good idea the let him breathe on the Athelas. But nevertheless it was something he wanted to do, and not something we would be able to stop him from doing. I already restored some of the energy he used to do it, so it's probably his wounds that pain him. Not the energy he lost healing you Elrohir, don't feel guilty for it."

"You knew he could do that to the Athelas?" Elladan asked his twin.

Elrohir looked strangely at him and asked, "Didn't you?" Elladan shook his head. "Oh yeah, you're usually unconscious when he does it. And I guess when it's me he uses it on; you've been pretty stumped. You always are until I wake up. I have also seen him use it on a couple of others."

Nodding Elladan turned over towards the sight of his father holding Estel. Not even in sleep did Estel look pain free, his breathing was slightly hitched and an unnatural paleness ruled his features. Elladan also noticed that Estel's cheeks were slightly flushed which indicated a fever. Something they couldn't allow to evolve. He moved fitfully in his sleep trapped in dreams that didn't seem even the least pleasant.

"He didn't fall asleep after we did Elladan." Elrond told his son.

Shocked Elladan looked up, "What? He looked about ready to pass out."

"I know. I woke up to him shivering and in pain. It seems like he has a slight fever."

"Yeah he does." Elrohir concluded after feeling Estel's forehead. "It could either be from the cold or from his wounds. We should probably check his wounds and make him eat and drink something. Should we wake him?"

Elrond nodded and gently squeezed Estel's shoulder. Pulling him out of the black oblivion and into a pain muddled mind. He gave a low moan, before being able to think properly or else he wouldn't have done it.

One side of him was warm where he had slept against his father the other side was hopelessly cold. His body immediately started shivering to warm itself up. When he opened his eyes he saw that all the others were awake and looking at him. He smiled back at them, still feeling immensely tired even though he had just slept for a long time. His eyes were dropping slightly when Elrond called his name.

"Estel." Elrond shook him again, causing Estel's eyes to open fully. "We need to check your wounds, we'll let you sleep again after you've eaten something."

Estel nodded knowing it was necessary, the first thing he had noticed about his health was that his mind was foggy and he was extremely tired all of that suggested that he had a fever. His family set to work with taking care of his wounds. He probably would've fallen asleep if it hadn't been for the pain his family was causing, of course completely unintentional.

They had given him a piece of bread, which he nibbled at while they were taking care of him. Though he realized to his surprise that he wasn't even the least hungry. Actually he was the complete opposite, the very thought of food made him feel sick. It was only do to his stubbornness that he had been able to get some of it down. He knew that his family would be even more worried if he didn't eat anything. He was just hoping he didn't throw up.

Estel yelped when his father suddenly touched one of his more serious wounds. A flood of apologies immediately flooded out of Elrond's mouth, but Estel stopped him.

"It's okay." Estel muttered weakly. "Go on."

Elrond looked like he was about to say something back, but he didn't and just went back to work.

Soon they were finished. They looked disapprovingly at how little Estel had eaten, but by that time he just couldn't get any more down. They made him drink some water and then he fell asleep again not being able to keep his eyes open any longer.

The twins sang an elvish song to send him peacefully into the land of dreams. Hoping that they would be good and not bad.

BANG. The door to the cell flew up and smashed into the wall. Everyone in the room looked up shocked to see Aerque walking inside with about four humans. Elrond, Elladan and Elrohir immediately moved closer to Estel, more out of reflex than anything else. Aerque nodded to three of the men and they each took one of the elves and shackled them to the wall again.

Aerque walked over to Aragorn, who was just getting up from the floor where he had been lying. There wasn't much pain showing on his face, everything had flown behind his mask the minute he saw Aerque. Of course he couldn't hide all of it and Aerque still had a grin on his face when he saw him, but it was better than nothing.

"We're trying a different approach today." Aerque said, "I'm guessing that you draw strength from having your family at your side, don't you?"

Aragorn didn't answer. Out of the corner of his eye he saw his family being tied up with gags that prevented them from saying anything.

Estel cried out as Aerque smashed him back onto the ground so he could put him in the shackles. Pain flared up all over his body, mostly his ribs. He couldn't think about anything else until the pain dimmed. He didn't notice them tying his arms and legs into the shackles or the muffled responses from his brothers and father.

Finally when the pain dimmed he noticed Aerque standing over him with a flask in one of his hands and a stripe of cloth in the other. He delivered a punch to Aragorn stomach making him open his mouth. Aerque poured the contents in and forced Aragorn to swallow, then he tied the stripe of cloth over his eyes like a blindfold.

Aragorn whimpered when he felt white-hot pain flare through his entire body. The pain was hitting him like waves, it wasn't consistent so he could get used to it, but came in different variations. He felt his limbs trembling. His hands were balled into fists trying to keep the pain at bay.

He couldn't see he family. His whole world consisted of darkness because of the blindfold. He could hear sometimes that they were trying to talk to him, but he couldn't understand it because of their gags.

The pain was so all-consuming that it made him gasp for breath. He moaned as it intensified. Somewhere he could hear the rattling of chains. He was guessing that his family was trying to get to him. He wished that he could see them, but it was impossible with the blindfold on. Now there was nothing but himself and the pain.

He felt beads of sweat roll down his face. He was starting to hyperventilate, his breathing shortened and began to quicken. Involuntarily a couple of tears slipped through his eyes luckily they were hidden by the blind fold. He struggled to get his breathing under control but found that he couldn't concentrate on it when the pain was so strong.

Luckily the pain abated for a couple of minutes leaving him with some time to control his breathing.

Suddenly a blast of pain hit him. A bit back scream sounded in the cell. All of his body shook with pain. It felt like a thousand knives were stabbing him all over his body. He whimpered when the pain didn't abate. Blood could be tasted in his mouth from where he was biting down on it to keep fro screaming.

And finally when he knew that he couldn't handle any more the pain stopped. For all he knew it could have been a day since they had given him the potion. He took some shaky breaths, not daring to hope for it to be finished. His body was still trembling from exhaustion. As he laid there completely still he heard the quiet sobbing of his family. He couldn't see them, or anything else. His world was draped in pitch-black darkness. What could he say to his family to make them feel better? That was something he didn't have the strength to think of right now. He just had to trust that his father would take care of the others. It was for times like this, that he had made the deal with Elrond. Times where he just needed to think about himself, and his body, which by the way was steadily aching. They needed to get out of there soon. Come on Glorfindel where are you?

He detected footsteps coming towards him. Slowly the blindfold was taken off of him. He squinted because the light shined into his eyes; he had been in the darkness for so long. Finally when his eyesight returned he saw Aerque crouching beside with a nasty grin on his face. He looked too pleased. Aragorn immediately made his gaze hard and stared at Aerque. The grin on his face slowly disappeared when he realized that he hadn't broken him. An angry sneer replaced it. Slowly Aerque stood up and then he smiled. That was the only warning Aragorn got before Aerque stomped hardly on his arm.

A scream sounded through the air.

Pain flashed through his arm. It was spreading through the length of it even though the break was in the upper arm the pain could be felt in his fingertips.

Darkness steadily covered his senses again as he descended into unconsciousness. The pain became too much for his body to handle.

Slowly he regained his senses. The pain came first his whole body but especially his arm was throbbing horribly. He wanted nothing more than to descend into the black oblivion again, where it was free of pain. But he couldn't, someone was calling his name wanting him to wake up. At first he thought of ignoring it, but then he found out that it was his father that was calling him. His voice sounded worried, extremely worried. Now he did everything he could to open his heavy eyelids. It felt like someone had glued them together. When he finally forced them up he stared right into Elrond's face.

"Estel." Elrond smiled even though there were tears running down his cheeks.

"Hey." Estel murmured weakly.

"How are you feeling?"

He laughed slightly, but it turned into a wince. "Like a troll decided to sit on me." He muttered tiredly. "The twins?"

"We're here." Came the reply from Elrohir somewhere down at his feet. Elrohir's voice sounded shaky and Estel knew that they had been crying too. He looked down there to see Elladan and Elrohir sitting beside each other, Elrohir resting his head on his twins shoulder.

He closed his eyes again in weariness. His was shivering, breath coming in small puffs. He could no longer feel the fingers of the arm that was broken. They wouldn't move when he told them to. He wasn't looking forward to the moment his father needed to set it, but he also knew that it was necessary if he was going to use the arm again after this.

"Estel." Elrond said unwillingly. Here it comes… "I need to set your arm."

That was the moment he dreaded. He didn't know how much more his body could handle at the moment. Regardless he said, "I know. Just do it."

Elrond and the twins had already prepared everything before Estel woke up. There were bandages and each of the twins' knife sheaths to use as splints. It wasn't much, but they would have to make do.

Elrond closed his eyes for a moment to collect his calmness then the grabbed Estel's arm. The twins both held Estel's body down.

Elrond looked at Estel. "Ready?"

No! Definitely not! "Yes."

"On three… one… two."

Then Elrond quickly, with skills he had gained from years of healing, set Estel's arm. Estel gave a bit back scream and then sunk into unconsciousness. Elrond quickly bandaged his arm, strapping the two splints on either side of the break holding it in place.

Allowing a shaky breath to leave him, Elrond wiped the sweat off Estel's forehead. Then he buried his face in his hands, allowing some tears to escape from his eyes. The twins hurried over to him and sat down on each side of him. Both of them were wearing a despairing expression.

The scene they had just witnessed would be forever etched into their memories. The pale Estel lying in front of them, his body was trembling with pain. His hands were clenched into fists and his lip bleeding from all the times he had bit his lip to keep from screaming. They had heard his breathing coming in small gasps as the pain became too much. They had watched him trying to regain it, but always the pain would take control again. Aerque had whipped him earlier in the week and he hadn't said anything, but this time he had all but screamed. He must have been in so much pain. It had lasted for so long… so long. They had all been crying, the sound muffled by the gags that prevented them from saying anything to comfort Estel.

Aerque had been in the room a couple of times to watch the scene with glee. It was their entire fault… Estel had nothing to do with Aerque's son who had died about 1000 years before Estel was even born. He was being tortured now for something they had done, and it was killing them. None of them wished for Estel to be in pain ever again. They had seen Estel's pain filled gaze far too many times over the last week. It was tearing them apart. So they just sat there miserable, not being able to do anything but wait for help.