DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own The Lord of the Rings; all rights to J.R.R. Tolkien!
And remember, everyone, there is absolutely NO slash/romance in ANY of my stories. This is all friend/family love here.
I know that this story's been pretty dark and heavy in the angst department, but it will start to lighten up, so don't worry!
PS. Okay, you're welcome for the super early chapter. I've been writing so much I've got an overload of finished chapters, so…enjoy! :D :D
As Halbarad's shady form grew closer, Aragorn moved slightly, trying to shrug the quiver from his back, but the weapon was firmly in place, and he stopped struggling. He didn't try to move the bow, knowing that it would go nowhere except in his hands. He glanced up and found that the stars were beginning to shine, and the sun was almost completely down. Maybe he won't see them. Aragorn thought.
Halbarad approached soundlessly and eased himself down gently beside Aragorn. The Ranger looked up at his friend, who avoided eye contact.
"I am sorry. I should not have tried to make you tell me what was wrong. Forgive me." His voice showed true concern and apology, which made Aragorn feel even worse.
"No, no. Don't be. I am the one in the wrong." The Ranger waved his friend's apology aside with a dismissive hand gesture.
"No, really, Strider. If you didn't want to tell me, I should not have made you."
"Halbarad." Aragorn looked his best friend in the eyes, seeing the sympathy there, and forced his expression to be one of exasperation. "There is nothing for you to be sorry about."
There was silence as both men looked away for a minute or so.
Then Aragorn's brain chose that moment to remind its owner about the young girl who had been taken away by the orcs just earlier in the day. I wonder what has become of her.
Aragorn's friend could see the pain and sorrow in his chieftain's eyes, and, after a minute, Aragorn turned his gaze away and stared distantly at the horizon. His keen eyes barely caught the faintest sign of a tear, and that's when he decided he needed to do something about his friend's depression.
"Is there anything you want to talk about?" He scooted closer and put an arm around Strider's shoulders, trying to comfort his best friend.
Actually, there was. And Aragorn felt it was time he confided in someone else, and maybe they could ease the torturous pain inside him. His eyes scanned the night landscape, trying to find a place to start, and, when he found none, he decided to jump in at the deep end.
"I tried to kill Elladan." He said it quietly, more to himself than to the other Ranger.
Halbarad was utterly confused. He knew little about Aragorn's past, except that he was raised by elves and Elladan was one of his foster brothers, but he had no idea what he was talking about, killing him. Kill him? Why would Strider try to kill Elladan?
Aragorn glanced up, his inner struggle evident on his face, and saw the confusion on Halbarad's face. "A man…" His voice trailed off as he tried to regain control of his emotions. "A man called…Enceladus…", he spoke the name with some acidity, 'he…I…drank his water."
Halbarad's mouth open, prepared to ask the question on the tip of his tongue. What did this man's water have to do with anything?
"It…it was…poisoned." Aragorn began to talk to himself now, scolding himself for being so stupid as to drink the liquid. "I shouldn't have. It was dumb of me. I am a full-fledged Ranger and I drank a stranger's water and now he's poisoned me against my brothers and it's all my fault that I tried to kill him and they'll all die because of me and that wicked man's will." He paused, gathering his thoughts, reining in his racing heart and the haunting memories that the words revived.
"Slow down, Strider. Why don't you start from the beginning, okay?" Halbarad spoke softly, and Aragorn looked up into his eyes, seeing the true concern there.
He nodded. "Sorry."
"Don't be."
"It all started when Legolas and I, along with my brothers…" He glanced back up at his friend to make sure he was following. "…decided to go hunting. I found a doe and followed her into the woods. But when I went to shoot, she suddenly fell dead, an arrow in her. I wasn't the one who had shot it, so, after a few minutes of waiting and watching, I investigated." He paused to regain his breath. "There was a note attached to the arrow, telling me to be back here at sundown. So, when we camped for the night, I waited until they were all asleep, and went back."
Aragorn stopped, letting his friend absorb this new information, before continuing. He took a deep, shuddering breath and let it out slowly.
"He, Enceladus, was there, and he offered me meat and water. Foolishly, I drank and ate, and soon found out that it was poisoned. It was a poison undetectable by smell or taste, even the looks of it was fine. Then I fell unconscious, and, when I awoke, he and his campsite were gone. The logs he had around the campfire, even the ashes from the fire were gone." He snorted derisively. "My brothers did not believe me when I told them, nor did Legolas." He paused. "Until I tried to kill Elladan." The last sentence was spoken softly and almost inaudibly, but Halbarad understood. "Then they believed me." He snapped out of his melancholy state momentarily and let out a short bark of laughter. "Oh, did they believe me. Once El saw that dagger I held, he…" His voice trailed off again as the confused happiness died down and he settled once again into his formerly depressed manner.
Halbarad knew not what to say, so he remained silent, contemplating what Aragorn had just told him.
The Ranger's voice grew quiet, almost inaudibly quiet, as he continued. "Since then I've almost succeeded in murdering everyone else I loved."
The other man looked up at his friend and saw two more tears slip down his face.
"Now I have nothing left, Hal."
Halbarad recognized the affectionate nickname his chieftain had given him some years ago, and knew his best friend was in trouble. He knew what it was like to be separated from your family, believing that you had lost them forever.
"I understand, and I'm so sorry." He whispered in response, hoping his friend would accept his condolences.
Aragorn nodded, staring down at his knees. "So am I, Halbarad. So am I."
-
Elladan hesitated, not knowing how to answer his father's question.
Legolas and Elrohir were on either side of him, perching on the end of their plush armchairs as if ready to take flight.
Elrond leaned forward in his chair, elbows on his desk, waiting expectantly for his son to answer. "Well?"
Elladan glanced around his Ada's study nervously, trying to find a good place to start explaining. He had no idea that his human brother was in much the same predicament at this very moment.
Suddenly, his resolve was renewed and the young elf spoke with certainty and confidence. "I let him go."
"You let him go?" The elf lord saw the wisdom in his son's choice, but he couldn't fill that sudden, gaping hole in his heart left by his foster son. "Why?"
"He needs to be alone, Ada. He needs to sort through things, and…" He wasn't sure how to go about saying the next part. "…he didn't want to come home."
Grief flooded the elder elf and he looked down at his desk, his eyes sad and despairing.
"He does not trust himself anymore, Ada. We told him we could help him, but he refused." Elladan fell silent, remembering the pain and misery in his youngest brother's eyes.
The room was silent except for the pattering rain on the windowpane. The elven lord looked up at his two sons and their friend; none of them met his gaze.
"You made a wise decision, Elladan." Elrond could feel the tension in the room lighten slightly. "But where did he go?"
"To join the Rangers again." Legolas put in, hoping the information would lessen the other elf's grief.
Elrond knew his son would not be back for several years; it was always like that when he went to live with the rangers again. He was only able to see him once in many years. He looked out the window at the gray sky and the rain splattering down on the ground outside.
But there was one difference from the other times he had gone back to the ranger camp and this one. He had gotten to say goodbye on all the others.
Well, there you go! I hope everyone liked it! And, I just wanted to ask, does anyone own/have used a PSE Snake 60" Recurve bow? I'm gonna start saving up for one, but first I would like to know if anyone would/would not recommend it. Thanks!
REVIEW REPLIES
Silenthunder: Hehehe…feeling the suspense yet? :P You seem pretty enraged at Enceladus…hmm….maybe I should give him a force field to protect him from you until I'm ready to kill him off. :D :P Thanks for reading and reviewing! :D
LadyOfAnfalas: I'm glad you like her. I tried to make her really young, but still mature in some ways. Anyways, I'm gonna lighten up on the angst a little in later chapters. I don't want the story to be too dark. Yeah, I read that anti-abortion thing on 'Silenthunder's profile, and I was balling my eyes out. So I decided to put it on mine, since people really need to be more aware of that kinda stuff. Thanks for reading and reviewing! :D
Saphira: Okay, this chapter didn't really have that bad of a cliffie, so its not as evil as the last one. :P :D I like 'This Is Home' a lot, especially since I can relate to it a lot, 'Love Alone Is Worth A Fight' is really good, too, except I got kinda sick of it when Air1 played it non-stop. My favorites are 'Mess Of Me', 'Dark Horses', and 'The Sound.' That's so cool! Me and my best friend are like Merry and Pippin. A lot. We're always doing some weird, stupid thing, then end up breaking something. :D I think in that case I'm more of Pippin, and my friend's Merry. I'm usually the one that does all the breaking and bad ideas. It's always fun, though. :D :P Hmm…I took a few of those tests. I don't remember what I scored though. Maybe I'll go back and retake it…Anyways, thanks for reading and reviewing! :D :D
Ranger Turien: Yeah, she's not great AT ALL. I was skimming through the pages of book 12 and I found the part where it says that Crowley died. All I said was, 'When Crowley dies, the Ranger Corps dies, and the series is murdered.' Yes, good idea, let's roast Ferris, too. Well, actually, Halt might not like that very much. He is his brother and all…Good idea!
Evanlyn! Come here! Look at the fire, isn't it pretty? Just get a little bit closer and…oops! Well, looks like that's the end of her. :P I was reading book 10 and I read the part where Evanlyn was sword fighting Alyss and they were fighting and stuff, and Evanlyn was being the full-of-herself-jerk that she is and Halt SAT HER DOWN! Wooohoooo! I was like, 'finally, someone put her in her place.' I was laughing through that whole part. :D Anyways, yeah. Let's start a forum on this topic. :D
Yeah, sometimes I feel like I don't really live up to my dad's expectations. Actually, not sometimes, a lot. I'm always pretending like I'm talking to the rangers and getting advice from them and stuff. Or I think, 'What would Halt do in this situation?' I'm such a nerd. :P :D Thanks for reading and reviewing! :D :D
Greenleaf: Oh cool! Where did you go? And no, I did not kill the girl…yet. *evil smile* No, the weapons aren't invisible, Halbarad just couldn't see the bow and quiver 'cause it was dark and, even though he kinda caught a glimpse of it just dismissed it as nothing. Yeah, sometimes people underestimate me. Hehe. But they've never seen me angry. :P I don't know who I relate to most…maybe Faramir…or maybe Merry…I'm not sure. I used to be able to relate to Frodo, but things have changed in my life, and now I'm not burdened with bad emotions. Oh, yeah! That reminds me, I Pmed skyleafalchemist19 and asked them where the story was published, but they said it wasn't published anywhere yet. So let's start begging! :D :P Hmmmm…My favorite poem? Basically, I agree with you. Gil-Galad and the Aragorn one are both my favorites. I also like the one from the end of RoTK about traveling 'east of the moon, west of the sun' and the 'secret path, open gate' or something like that. Anyways, thanks for reading and reviewing! :D :D
SONG OF THE DAY
Got this one from EvenstarWarrior. I think it goes really well with this story. Thanks Evenstar!
Let Go
Artist: RED
QUESTION OF THE DAY
What is your poem from the LoTR books and why? And, if you haven't read the LoTR books, what is your favorite line from the poem 'All That Is Gold Does Not Glitter'?
Arrow :D