Disclaimer: I own none of it.
Summary: AU After the death of his friend, Aragorn falls into depression and there may only be one person who can draw him out of it.
How Can I Survive
Chapter 16
Aragorn's pain filled screams could be heard all throughout the building he was captive in. It would be heart wrenching that is if any of these beings had hearts.
"Daro, daro" he pleaded. [stop, stop] The orcs would not listen to his pleas. They kept thrashing him with whips and poking him with spears. "Stop please" he cried. "Okay if you want us to stop this we will" one of the creatures said evilly. He threw his whip to the floor. The orc then walked to wall and pulled one of the torches off it.
"Would you prefer this" he asked as he placed the fire too close for comfort to the man's back. It burned through his already ripped tunic. The others in the room caught on. They placed the points of their spears into the flames. Steel as they were, they became very hot. They then continued poking him with the scorching weapons. As if it wasn't bad enough already, the man passed out for the agony was too much for his young body to endure.
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"There's a letter that was with it" Elladan said as he picked the note up from the blooming ground. Glorfindel opened and studied the letter for some time before turning to the twins. "It's to Arwen…from Estel."
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Elrohir burst through the door of his sister's quarters with the two others close behind him. "Adar, we found something" he said when he saw them sitting on Arwen's bed. "What, what is it?" Elrond demanded as his other son and his advisor also came into the room.
The younger twin thrust the letter into his sister's hands and showed the necklace to his father. "We come across this. It is the proof that confirms our beliefs that it is Estel" he said hesitantly. "We also found his horse" Glorfindel added to make sure that there would be no doubts. Elrond rubbed his chin with his left hand.
"We will send search parties of bigger capacity out at dawn tomorrow. You three better get some rest because you will be with them" the elven lord ordered and the others nodded and left the room.
The peredhil them turned his attention back to his daughter who was still focused on the letter she had just received. "Arwen-" "Its from him" she replied to his unfinished question. "Are you going to be alright" he asked in a very fatherly tone. "I'll be fine, I just want to be alone" the Evenstar responded, her eyes never straying from the piece of paper. "Okay, I will come back and check on you later" and with that Elrond left through the open door closing it behind him.
Dear my beloved Undomiel,
I am sorry for leaving in the abrupt manner that I did. It was wrong and if I could go back in time I would change my actions. But unfortunately that is not an option for me. Your trust in me will be forever dented. I will try my best to make it up to you. At the time that I left, I thought it was the best thing to do, and I still do. I think you needed the time with your family. I spent a long time thinking what I could do to earn your faith in me back but nothing I could think of is worthy. So I will leave the decision up to you.
If there is nothing I can do then so be it. I can accept that as my fate. I know I will never again have the trust of anyone else in your kin so you have the right to join them in their beliefs. You would not be wrong to agree with them, as they are not wrong for feeling ill towards me. I broke their confidence in me, and now I have done the same thing to you.
If this is to be the reality of my life I just want you to know one thing. I am not sorry that I met you. But I am sorry about the pain that our meeting has caused you and yours. However saying this can not change what I feel. You gave me faith in myself and in my abilities. You gave me strength to get on with my life when I felt like I had none left. And for this I will be forever in your debt. Please accept this necklace as a token of my love. It was given to me along with some very good advice from an old friend. This jewel is beautiful and so is the love that my heart has for you. I will always love you and that will never change.
Aragorn son of Arathorn
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The young man was thrown back into his cell after the beating he had just taken. He was bleeding in various places. He had awoken minutes before his body hit the cold floor of his cage. He was in so much distress. He could feel many broken bones which was most likely the result of the abuse the orcs had just given him.
Aragorn couldn't even pull himself to his feet. He had tried twice and he had failed miserably both times. The second time though he realised that he was not alone. He heard a malicious laugh as he fell to the ground once again. It was a laugh that came from the man who was here earlier.
"Feeling weak are we" he mocked. The older man ran his hand through his hair as he stared at the pitiful looking Aragorn laying on the ground giving the impression of being half dead. At his state he might actually be. But he managed to gather enough energy and courage to ask his something, a question that he had yet to gain an answer to.
"Who are you?" he commanded. "You are in no position to be making demands, you're the captive remember?" he ridiculed. "But you will never get out of here so I guess it would do me no harm if you knew who I was, you would find out eventually anyway." He grabbed a wooden chair and stationed it outside the bars of Estel's chamber.
"My name is Terral and you are here because of a mistake your father made a long time ago."
Like it? I'll make the next one longer I promise!!
