A/N Hello, first off, I probably owe you an apology. I haven't posted in a while and that is because I have started an internship a while ago and am working around 50 h a week and that is draining me. I don't have any inspiration left in me to write, I am glad when it is over soon. Anyway, enjoy the chapter. Hopefully, the next one won't take so long.
(Also, this chapter serves a purpose, it is building up for something and also laying the grounds for a plot point probably coming soon. Just if you wondered.)
There was water all around him again. This time, he wasn't afraid. He knew he had a purpose, something he was looking for, something he had to get to before it would be lost forever. His feet were strange and when he kicked himself forward, they were like a weird cross between a fin and a human foot. He was propelled through the water way faster than he thought was possible for a human. He had goosebumps, but he pressed his lips together he was pretty sure was blue. There was no time to be cold. He pinched his eyes as the streams of water rammed against them. It was hard to see, but he knew the general direction he needed to go in.
Suddenly, the environment changed, and he was swimming through a jungle of algae. The iridescent light reflected in the dark green flowy arms of the sea plant, and he felt enchanted by the sight. He paused for a moment, just drinking in what he saw. It looked almost magical. No, stop, he told himself. There was something important he had to do, and time was running out. There would be no forgiveness should he fail. His feet started kicking him forward again and he gained speed.
There was light in front of him, guiding him through the algae jungle and away from the arms that seemed to grab for him, trying to keep him there. When his hand tightened around something in his hand, he realized that he was holding a long stick. Weird, he hadn't noticed before. The end was so near, and he could already see what was beyond. Just a few more kicks.
Something grabbed his ankles and just yanked. Slimy scaly hands on his skin. He screamed, but no sound escaped his mouth just air bubbles. Strangely, it also didn't feel wrong when the water entered his mouth. He felt himself being dragged down down down. Sharp claws pierced his ankles and then his calves. He raised the stick in his hand.
With a grasp he came to, struggling to pull in air into his lungs. For a moment, the only noise was his laboured breathing and the whimper, that escaped his lips. He stared up into the sky and tried to focus his mind on the blinking stars.
He was not in the water anymore, there was no algae forest and no clawed hand pulling him into the abyss. There was firm ground underneath him, he could feel it through the blankets. There was cold night air in his face, not water. It had felt so real. As if he had really been there. Could it just have been a dream? He couldn't shake the nightmare from his mind or the feeling that it was something more. It was stuck there, and he could feel the phantom of water flowing around him and the cold water settling in his chest.
"Harry, are you alright?" The voice was accompanied by the rustling of blankets being pulled aside. Harry's eyes were still focused on the stars above him that formed patterns he didn't recognize when he felt a warm body settle next to him.
"Did you have a nightmare?" Clueless asked him and pulled Harry into his arms.
Harry's cheek was pressed against his chest, and he could feel the soothing heartbeat. It was slow and steady, it was real. Maybe the most real thing this night. He concentrated his thoughts on the even beat. Harry nodded wordlessly against him. He didn't feel like talking and putting the weird dreams into words. Somehow it felt like it would make them real, that he would give them power.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Clueless asked gently and he sighed when he felt Harry shake his head. "Whenever I wake up from a bad dream, I look into the fire or light a candle," he confessed. His voice was low so as to not wake anyone else. Harry stilled and listened.
"When I first became a healer, I saw the wounded in my dreams. I saw the ones I couldn't help, the ones that died. They told me it was my fault that they were dead. That I couldn't help them and that if I just had done something more," he explained, letting the unfinished sentence hang in the air. Something bloomed in Harry's chest because he knew that feeling all too well. That he had to help, save them. He closed his eyes and pressed the lids of his eyes down.
"I would wake up in a sweat, and there was so much guilt. Logically, I knew I did everything I could, and it was their time to go. But it still consumed me, and my mind became dim." Clueless started to comp his fingers gently through Harry's hair and it felt good.
"When I look into the fire, I see hope and life and reality. I let it expand and banish my fears and take away the guilt. Harry, look into the gleaming coal and let it consume your nightmare. Feel its warmth, how it takes away the night."
Harry turned his head a little and saw that the fire from earlier that night was nothing more than the coals Clueless told him about. They were still gleaming red and he let his mind focus on them solely. It seemed comforting to him. A picture of a fireplace flickered through his thoughts, and it spread the warmth from within. The fireplace, the fire, it was more than just fire. It felt like some sort of gateway, he couldn't really tell how it made him feel.
"And now close your eyes but keep the mental picture of the fire in your mind," Clueless instructed him and Harry obeyed. Clueless' fingers traveled from his head to his middle, and he was now fully cradled in his arms, and he was safe. His muscles slowly, peu-à-peu loosened up and he let a deep breath go.
Soon, the fire had consumed any other thoughts in his mind, and he grew sluggish. And then, sweet nothing.
"How did you sleep?" Elrohir asked him, the twin he was riding with this time. He was feeling proud, he remembered his name. Why did they have to have so weird names anyway? He shifted his weight a little in his position on the horse. His legs felt sore from all the riding of the previous days.
"Fine," he saw Clueless wink at him from the corner of his eyes and his cheeks heated, "and you?" he added quickly to draw the attention away from him. The words almost tumble out of his mouth.
"Fantastic, as always," Elrohir answered and ruffled his hair. Defensively, Harry's hands shot up, trying to stop the assault. He was not so successful.
"Hey, stop that. Why is everybody always messing up my hair? First the horse and then you," Harry protested, slapping the hands away. Elrohir just laughed and his twin joined him. If eyes could kill, Harry was sure, Elrohir and Elladan would be dead a dozen times over.
"You don't need us to mess up your hair, it is managing that all by itself," Elladan commented and grinned. Harry had the weird urge to show him his tongue but didn't.
"We are actually making it less messy," Elrohir added with a laugh in his voice. Harry sincerely doubted that.
"When are we there anyway?" He pouted, already annoyed that he had a full day riding with them ahead of him. How are they still alive? Someone had to have been tempted to kill them already.
"We are supposed to arrive this afternoon," Clueless interjected, possibly sensing Harry's turning mood. He smiled a little, "we will have a feast tonight and you get to sleep in a bed." Harry perked up on these prospects. Real food? A real bed? That sounded like heaven to him right now.
"And while I am confident your arm is healing up fine, I am glad that we won't have to travel any longer," Clueless added. "Elrond can take a look at it."
This Elrond again, Harry wondered who he was. Somehow, he imagined him to be an old man with a long white beard. A giggle escaped him. It was high and clear as a bell. It scared him a little as it was just another piece of evidence that he was a child, and this fact was wrong wrong wrong.
"Why are you laughing, hm?" Elrohir teased him and tightened his hold on him. Harry was sitting in front of him on the horse, Elrohir's hands reaching on either side of him to hold the reins.
"Does Elrond have a beard?" He just asked. "Like a long white beard and long white hair?" He giggled again. Somehow this just seemed funny to him. "Oh, and maybe a long cloak?" A purple cloak with a golden pattern appeared in front of his inner eye.
"You have met the wizard?" Elladan asked from next to him. He sounded worried; his brows knitted together. It was so weird, in the one moment they were laughing and in the next they were worried. Their moods turned like a leave in the wind.
"The wizard?" Harry parroted confused. The word tasted weird on his tongue. It tucked at something deep within him and he felt like he forgot something important. Like he knew a wizard or more? The twins let a breath go and their expressions relaxed. "No one you need to worry about."
"When are we there?" Harry asked again because riding day in and day out made his muscles ache and being surrounded by people at all times made him grumpy and looking at the same green trees and blue sky made him sick.
"Is there someone tired?" Elrohir asked him in a singsong voice. Seriously, how did they survive so long? Hopefully, wherever they are headed, he would get a break from them. A long break. Maybe he should suggest a play of hide and seek.
"No just wondering when I can get away from you," Harry answered deadpanned.
"Ouch, that hurt," the twin behind him said, fainting a hurt voice. Harry giggled again. He couldn't stop it, it just seemed to bubble out of him at random times.
"It's just," he paused and saw how Elladan leaned forward, waiting for what he would say next. "…you smell," it burst out of Harry who was trying to suppress his smile. It was just so easy to joke around with them.
"Well, if I smell, I don't know what you classify as," Elrohir countered. "Your stench is as bad as an Orc's breath." Harry didn't know who or what an Orc was, but he wagered it was nothing favourable.
"I do not!" He argued, of course, and leaned forward on the horse to get away from Elrohir's hands, which tried to tickle him. He wondered how Elrohir would smell after almost drowning, getting kidnapped, and then almost dying in the mud.
"You do, have rolled in the mud?" He asked, also laughing. His hand found Harry's sides which made him howl in laughter. No matter how Harry squirmed or turned, Elrohir's hands were there. It was a surprise that the horse hadn't thrown them off yet, especially because Elrohir must have let go of the reins.
"Yes, yes, I did!" Harry pressed out, saying anything to appease Elrohir and hopefully end this attack. "I didn't have a choice, I swear!" The hands slowed down, but Harry barely noticed. "They wouldn't let me wash," Harry finally pressed out because for anything else he didn't have the words or the air, as a matter of fact. The hands finally stopped, and Harry used the time to take a deep breath. He hadn't noticed how the air had shifted and the mood had changed. It was heavy now.
"Well," Elladan cleared his throat. His face was slack for a moment, his eyes staring at something invisible in front of him before it was like a switch was flipped. A smile grew on his face, and it lit up his eyes. "There is a little river close by Imladris that we have to pass, a spring really. Maybe we can have a little stop?"
"We do certainly have some time to spare," Elrohir thought out loud, pursing his lips.
"Today is warmer than expected," Clueless chimed in and Harry turned his head to look at him. His dark brown hair seemed almost golden by how the light hit it and his brown eyes were like liquid honey. Clueless looked almost angelic illuminated by the light he was.
"I could go with a bath," Harry added, his skin suddenly feeling itchy. A stone settled in his stomach, and he bit his lip. He didn't know why he was feeling nervous, there was no reason. The water, something whispered in his mind.
A weird feeling settled in his stomach.
