Another half day went by before four men came into the cell and released them from their shackles. They sidestepped Estel as they released Elrond. Even being released wasn't enough to bring him out of his deep slumber. His arms just fell down with nothing to hold them up. One of the men reached down and felt for both Estel's and Elrond's pulse, probably to report back to Aerque. That was what woke Elrond up, his hand shot up to grab hold of the man's. He hadn't woken up entirely by the time. The man yanked his hand out of Elrond's and went out with the other three, who had just finished releasing the twins and Legolas.

Elrond froze as he looked at Estel. He had known that it had been bad, but the sight of all the blood and his youngest lying there unconscious wasn't something he had prepared for. Elrond cursed himself for falling asleep, even though he knew he had needed it, what if Estel had died in the meantime? He would never have been able to forgive himself.

Elrond's hand quickly shot down to Estel's neck, needing to reassure him that his son was alive. He felt a weak and erratic pulse beneath his fingertips. Sighing in release he then maneuvered Estel up into his arms and moved him away from all the blood. He carried him to the middle of the cell and then laid him down. The twins and Legolas quickly made it over to him and knelt beside their brother.

Elladan quickly pulled Estel's tunic off, mindful of the broken arm, and began unwinding all of the bandages. The ones around his side and back. All of them cringed when they saw the jagged cut that was in his side… and he had stitched it himself, with no light and only one good arm…

They could see that that wound alone would have killed him if he hadn't stitched it. By some miracle he had stitched all of them or else he probably wouldn't have made it. Just looking at him now they saw how much he had crossed the line.

Legolas, who hadn't seen Estel's chest, now saw the full damage that had been inflicted upon Estel over the last week. There were at least twenty whip-marks on his back, an almost black bruise over what seemed like four broken ribs. The injuries were almost impossible to count, there were a lot of cuts, more bruises around his neck and the broken arm, and the two cuts on his legs, and the cut in his side, and the cross-shaped cut on his cheek…

They went to war with taking care of all of his wounds again and also washing all the blood off him. When they had done all that they could they wrapped him up in some new bandages they had torn from another cloak, Elladan's this time. Elrohir's was spent and Estel had already started on Elladan's when he bandaged the wounds the first time.

Elladan took off the soft shirt under his tunic and put it on his brother before covering him with Elrond's and now Legolas' cloak.

He didn't move, nothing… just laid there as if he was already dead. He was pale, even his lips were pale. His black eyelashes made his face seem even paler. Looking around the room there was blood in various places… His blood.

Elladan tore his eyes off of Estel and looked at his father. Elrond was still pale and he was shaking slightly but he didn't seem to notice this because all of his attention was placed on Estel.

Legolas was sitting beside Estel, looking as if he was never going to leave his side. His blue eyes wide with worry.

Elrohir was consistently shifting his gaze from Estel, Elrond, Legolas, Elladan and the blood on the floor. Not really knowing what to do. Elladan had to take control.

Elladan went over and kneeled in front of Elrond. "Ada?" He questioned, "Go to sleep we will wake you at the slightest change you don't have to worry."

Elrond met the eyes of his son then looked down on his hands. They were shaking with exhaustion, he clenched and unclenched them a couple of times and then nodded. "Fine. But the slightest change and you wake me."

"I promise." Elladan said knowing that it was their only chance of getting Elrond to sleep. He watched worried as he father fell asleep instantly the moment he had laid down. He was sleeping with his eyes closed again.

With that done Elladan walked over to Elrohir. He kneeled down in front of him.

Elrohir looked up, "You aren't going to get me to sleep, Dan."

Elladan hugged his brother tightly and whispered, "I know. …He's going to be fine."

Elrohir nodded. "I know. Talk to Legolas while I tidy things up." He told Elladan and stood up walking over to the bucket and began washing the blood off the floor.

Elladan smiled at his twin, and walked over to sit beside Legolas.

"Are you okay?" He asked after a minute.

Legolas jerked, he hadn't noticed that Elladan was sitting beside him. "I should be asking you the same question. I heard that you hurt him."

Elladan stiffened.

"How could you? He was already hurt there wasn't he?" Legolas snared, his worry turning into anger. He didn't look at Elladan while he said this but at Estel. "Just to save yourself!"

"Stop it!" Elrohir shouted.

Legolas was taken aback; it was rare for Elrohir to get mad. He always had the lightest temper. He looked shocked over at Elrohir who was standing and glaring at him, rag gripped tightly in his hand.

"Don't talk about things you don't know anything about!" Elrohir roared angrily then lowered his voice. "He was saving me. What would you have done if you had been given the choice of either hurting Estel or letting him kill me? The wound that would have been inflicted on Estel by killing me in front of him would have hurt him a lot more than some wounds. What would you rather? Getting hurt or watching someone you love die right in front of you? What do you think Estel would have wanted? You have NO idea how hard a decision it was for Elladan! No idea! How much it hurt him!"

Elrohir looked away from Legolas and down at Elladan. His eyes widened when he saw the silent tears gathering in his twin's eyes. All anger flew out of him as he dropped the rag and hurried over to embrace Elladan.

All color vanished from Legolas' face when he realized what he had just said to Elladan. He had seen Elladan with tears down his face before Elrohir had hugged him. That was something he almost never saw. Guilt hit him like a wall. How could he have made Elladan cry? What kind of friend was he?

"…I'm sorry." He stuttered horrified, "I'm so sorry Elladan. I didn't… I…"

Suddenly a low moan filled the room. They jerked their heads towards Estel, who was frowning. Elladan hastily wiped the tears off his cheeks and moved closer to Estel. Seeing that Estel was struggling to wake up he stoked his cheek and called his name.

Slowly Estel opened his grey eyes first a little, then fully. He blinked tiredly and looked at Elladan, who smiled down at him.

"Welcome back, little brother." Elladan said quietly. "Gave us quite a scare there. How are you feeling?"

"…Tired…" Estel murmured.

"You've lost a lot of blood. I would be surprised if you didn't." Elrohir said moving into Estel's line of view. Grey eyes looked tiredly at him. "…You did well, Estel."

Estel's eyes opened a little further in panic, "Where's Ada…?" He asked.

Elladan smiled at him, "Don't worry. He's just sleeping. He was weakened after giving you so much energy, but he'll be fine after resting. We should wake him, I promised to if anything happened."

With that Elrohir went over to Elrond and gently shook his shoulder. He was awake instantly.

"What?" He asked, "I something wrong with-" Elrohir placed a finger over his lips to silence him and pointed over towards Estel.

Elrond looked over there and immediately locked eyes with Estel's exhausted dull grey eyes. He quickly got up and moved to his son's side.

"You're awake." He smiled and brushed Estel's hair away from his face.

Estel smiled tiredly. "Thank you Ada." He whispered.

Elrond hugged him tightly, "don't ever scare me like that again."

"…Sorry." Estel muttered closing his eyes wearily but opening them instantly when the door to the cell banged into the wall.

"Take them" he heard Aerque shout and then Elrond was pulled off him along with the twins and Legolas. They wrestled the men that held them, but there were two on each and they were quickly tying their wrists together. From outside the cave they heard Glorfindel's voice shouting. It made them fight harder knowing that they were about to be rescued.

Aerque looked furious as he stepped up to Legolas and smacked him over the cheek. "Did you lead them here?" He shouted.

Legolas glared at him and answered, "Yes." That earned him another smack.

Aerque snarled at him and then turned to the men. "Take them outside and use them as hostages or whatever, I don't really care. He'll have pain to deal with if he survives anyway."

Aerque went over to Estel and kneeled down onto his broken ribs. Estel whimpered in pain.

"Elrond I would suggest you say goodbye to this one." Aerque said.

Elrond face paled. "No Aerque don't… He doesn't have anything to do with this. Please see reason. Your son died over a thousand years ago… He wouldn't have wanted this. I would have done anything to save your son, but there was nothing I could do… I'm sorry. Please don't do this…" Elrond begged.

Aerque just looked furiously at him and shouted, "I said never to mention my son again!"

Aragorn furiously punched Aerque over the head snapping it to the left. He hit him two times more before Aerque managed to get him under control. He punched Aragorn wounded side, making him gasp in pain as some of the stitches split.

His family struggled even harder to get out of their bonds.

"Get them out of here!" Aerque roared. "Enjoy the last glimpse, you lost your time to say goodbye Elrond!"

"No!" Elrond cried as they hauled the four of them roughly out the cell and closed the door behind them. A second later they head Estel cry out in pain.

Tears clouded their vision as they where led outside to the fighting. There were more men than they had originally thought; Glorfindel and his men weren't exactly having it easy. He saw the golden haired elf in the middle of the fighting. Three men, who were trying hard to beat him, surrounded him but he held his ground. As soon as he had defeated them he looked up and saw Elrond. He looked relieved up at him, but soon frowned at his sorrowful expression.

Elrond said quietly in elvish knowing that Glorfindel could hear him, "Save Estel." Then he nodded his head towards the cave. Glorfindel looked split for a moment then he started running for the cave cutting down anyone who was in his way. Elrond watched them try to stop him until Glorfindel disappeared from his line of view as he ran into the cave.

Some of the other elves had noticed him and were now struggling to get closer.

Elrohir and Elladan were still struggling against their bonds. Elladan managed to kick the one who held him, making him lose his grip. Elladan quickly separated himself from the man and struggled to get out of his bonds while kicking the man to keep the distance between them. Finally he managed to get the ropes lose enough to pull his hands out. By that time though the man had unsheathed his sword. Elladan could do nothing but dodge and make his own attacks as soon as there was an opening.

Elrohir struggled to get to his twin. The man who held him become increasingly annoyed at him and pulled the struggling Elrohir away from his twin and the others and into the forest. The man with Legolas did the same thing, the only thing the men were thinking about now was survival so they used all of them as shields to get away from the fighting.

The two men who held Elrond put a sword to his neck, that was about the most stupid thing they could have done as two arrows immediately struck both of them. Elrond nodded to the two elves that had fired the arrows and then ran into the cave while struggling to get out of his bonds. He was confident that Elladan, Elrohir and Legolas could take care of themselves for the moment, though he wouldn't lie and say that he wasn't worried. Elladan was still holding his own against the other man and Elrond could see some other elves running over to help him just as some others ran after both Elrohir and Legolas. They were winning the fight that was clear to him.

Elrond tore his eyes from the battle, and ran into the cave. He heard both Aerque's voice and Glorfindel's it sounded like they were fighting. Swords clinging were heard throughout the cave. Elrond finally tore the bounds off his hands.

The door to the cell was standing wide open shadows were dancing on it. He quickly went inside. Glorfindel was standing between Aerque and Estel a determined expression on his face. He didn't let Aerque get past him even though Aerque was a good fighter, but he and Glorfindel were somewhat equally matched. Though it wasn't the two of them that worried him he turned pale as looked over towards Estel. He was lying on his side curled up. His hand was pressed against his side trying to stop the bleeding. His face was grey and his eyes closed tightly.

"Get over to him!" Glorfindel shouted as soon as he saw Elrond. That was what finally brought Elrond out of his stupor. The little diversion cost Glorfindel and Aerque managed to cut his arm, but he quickly regained his focus and drove Aerque away again.

Elrond didn't really notice all this because at that moment he ran past both of them and kneeled down beside Estel. First when Elrond called his name did he open his eyes.

"Let go Estel." He said trying to pry Estel's hand off the wound. Estel waited a couple of seconds for the order to sink in then he let go of the wound. Immediately the blood started flowing from the wound. Aerque had opened the old wound completely severing the stitches that held it together earlier, and even made it deeper. There was already a small puddle of blood beneath Estel.

"Ada…" Estel murmured blurrily.

"Yes, I'm here Estel." Elrond said while concentrating on stopping the bleeding. "Stay awake for me please. Please don't go to sleep Estel, stay awake. I need you to that for me, okay Estel?"

It wasn't working the bleeding just wouldn't stop. He needed supplies fast.

"…'m sorry… Ada…" It was so soft that Elrond almost didn't hear it.

"What? No Estel. Don't. You can't fall asleep." But it was too late, Estel body had already gone limp, "No Estel wake up!" Elrond tried to shake him awake, but it didn't work. His hand flew quickly to Estel's neck to check his pulse. He found a weak heartbeat under his fingers.

Glorfindel's anger multiplied when he heard Elrond calling for Estel. He growled and started to push Aerque back. When the stunned Aerque hit that wall he slammed the butt of the sword into Aerque's temple knocking him out. He took a couple of breaths and then hurried over to Elrond.

"Is he?" Glorfindel asked.

Elrond shook his head frantically. "We need to get to some supplies."

Glorfindel nodded and then went over to Aerque; he searched his pockets and then found a couple of keys. He took them out and used them to lock Aerque into the shackles on the floor.

He would have offered to carry Estel, but when he looked over there he saw that Elrond already had Estel in his arms a cloak wrapped tightly around him. The look in Elrond's eyes stopped him from offering.

They quickly made their way out of the cave. The elves had won the fight and were now tying up the survivors until they found out what to do with them. All of them looked up when they saw Elrond and Glorfindel walking out of the cave.

"Thank you Glorfindel." Elrond said.

Glorfindel looked at Elrond, "You don't have to thank me Elrond. I would have done it anyway."

"I know…"

Legolas came running up to them, his eyes went wide when he saw the almost grey Estel. "What happened?" He asked horrified.

Elrond just walked past him too focused on getting Estel to the spot where one of the healers Glorfindel had brought was busy finding healing supplies.

"He's alive." Glorfindel said putting his hand on Legolas' shoulder. "Trust Elrond. You did a good job Legolas."

"I didn't do anything." Legolas said angrily and walked away.

Glorfindel sighed and started to take control of the situation. Something he heard shocked him and he went over to where Elrond was taking care of Estel.

"Elladan was rescued by two elves, but Elrohir hasn't come back yet. When Elladan heard he went after him, but he hasn't been seen since." Elrond paled further so Glorfindel put a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry I'm sure they're fine. I trained them well. But I am going after them."

Elrond nodded and went back to work, anyone could see that the wound Estel had was bad.