"Stop running...there is no point, firstborn."

The voice's whisper was in his ear and yet, when he turned, there was never anyone there.

Stranger still was the fact that he wasn't running from anything. He'd accepted what was coming fully and, as much as it pained him, he was anticipating death.

Sighing as he looked out the window of his room, Elrond thought of the many time he'd played in the mists with Gil-galad, chasing him and in turn, being chased. It saddened him to think that he would leave the place where so much of his life had been made extraordinary.

"You made the decision, you're living on borrowed time..." The voice chilled the elf who had stared hords of orcs in the eyes and laughed. And the chill did not leave, forcing him to turn and see why.

Again, the cloaked figure was there, leaning upon his spear and staring directly at Elrond.

"She's your heart, your soul, your breath and thought. She's what's keeping you alive, so strong is her will...her love."

He wanted to say something more...but all that came was this, "Brí..."

The cloaked figure nodded slowly and turned from him to face the door. Elrond came close to blacking out and toppling over but was caught quickly and with much grace.

Celebrían held Elrond up but brought him to their bed and held him there.

"Did you not see him, Celebrían, he was right there, you would have seen him if-."

She silenced him with a finger as she stroked his face with the other hand. Her husband looked confused and afraid all at once, something she had never seen in him...and it frightened her more than she would ever let him know.

~*~

Finding that her husband's present condition was troubling her more than she wished, Celebrían left him in Glorfindel's company while she took in the air atop the mighty buildings of Forlond.

Resting her forearms on the stone wall, she watched another storm roll in, covering the few short hours of sun they'd received and sending a chill wind across the land. Celebrían allowed it to rustle her silver locks as she closed her eyes and dreamed of her home and how it had once felt with her family, healthy and safe within it.

When a specific chill hit her however, her eyes snapped open and her posture became defensive immediately. The feeling was of ice striking one suddenly and then being blasted by the heat of a volcano the next minute. She knew it was from a place far away but that did not lessen her fright. Never the less, she stood upon the great stones of Forlond, laid thousands of years ago, staring in the direction of the fear with a straight back and fierce face. She looked so much like the far away lady of Lorien, calm yet strong.

When it dawned upon her what it was that made her feel uncomfortable even in a place such as Forlindon, Celebrían did not fear it more...she stood still and looked out in that direction for a long while.

~*~

Elrond came to stand behind his wife silently, waiting for her to finish what she was doing though he was uncertain what that was. But Celebrían quickly felt her husband's presence and turned to him, encircling him in a comforting embrace.

"I did not mean to frighten you hervess...I have been having trouble discerning dreams from reality as of late." He whispered against her hair.

Celebrían held his head to her. "Who is seeking you? Why do they frighten you so?"

Elrond shook his head slightly. "I have not lost my sanity completely and if I tell you, you ill think that I have."

The tone of his voice made her smile and raise her head so their lips met. Elrond's hands traveled over her body, causing her to moan into his mouth. She smiled but backed away from him.

"Let us go and spend the eve with the children...." Elrond's face turned to a small frown, "before we retire." His face lighted up once more and he happily followed his wife.

As they walked, both were silent, thinking of things they didn't wish the other to know. She thought of what she had felt atop the great stone building...of what she had perceived. Knowing that the knowledge of it would only hurt Elrond more, she kept her thoughts as her own, no matter how the burden would affect her.

Elrond's thoughts were of something much closer, much more troublesome at the moment. He didn't feel like he should have at that time of night, tired but able to keep his eyes open. He felt like he would drop to his feet right then and there and not from a fever. It was as though his body refused to continue and he knew...that it would not hold for much longer.

Recalling promises made what seemed ages ago, he continued with his wife and prayed for a few hours longer.

~*~

"They look so adorable...I think I'm going to be sick!" Elrohir laughed as his parents strode in, eliciting a smack from the elder twin who sat across from him on the other side of a chessboard and a glare from their sister. In truth, all of the children were happy of their parents love and thought it a great thing but Elrohir was always one for acting more like a child than a young adult.

Elrond smiled at all three as he took Elladan's seat. "A game against your brun adan?"

Elrohir smiled and began rearranging the pieces.

If there was one thing Elrohir took seriously, it was chess, especially when his opponent was his father. Not only that, but a match between the two usually drew all of the family around the board to watch the game play out.

However, when Elrohir moved his queen two spaces from Elrond's queen, everyone was stunned to hear him say checkmate in a tone that said even he was amazed. He looked at the board for a few minutes, as did the rest of the family in bewilderment while a slow smile crept across Elrond's face. He leaned back in his chair with his arms crossed, still smiling, while the family continued to pour over the board.

Eventually, the young twin broke out into a fit of laughter as his sister hugged him. Celebrían looked at her husband, sharing his smile as she kissed his cheek.

"Well played." She whispered to him.

"Apparently not as well as Elrohir." He replied, laying a kiss on her cheek as well.

Elrohir was still laughing as he shook his father's hand.

~*~

After a little longer time of talking about the game with his family, Elrond decided that it was time to retire, as did everyone else.

Parting with his wife, he followed his daughter down the hall which led to her own room with an arm wrapped about her shoulders.

"Is anything the matter ada?"

Elrond shook his head as he laid a kiss on her forehead.

While he waited for his daughter to change in the adjoining bathroom, Elrond looked at the things she had brought with her which sat upon her desk.

A tiny glass horse which Glorfindel had given her upon her twenty-fifth birthday, a small dagger with a white wood handle she had received from her grandparents on the same occasion, a set of horses with riders her brothers had carved for her when she was eight so that she could join in their play with their own figurines and lastly, a book of poetry which contained both his own work and his wife's, though they had chosen and written out their spouses poems.

Picking each item out gingerly, he held them and remembered the times she had received each with a great deal of happiness and grief.

When she came out, dressed in her night cloths which Elrond vaguely remembered as his own from many years ago, he tucked her in, something which he hadn't done since she was fifteen.

"Where did you get these old things?" He asked, brushing her hair away from her face.

Arwen smiled and leaned into her father's touch. "I stole them a long time ago," she said sheepishly, "from one of the times you went to defend Imladris' borders."

Elrond smiled and laid a kiss upon her head once more.

Employing the voice he hadn't used in what seemed ages, he began to sing to her, still close, a tune he had sung to her the night she was born and every night for ten years.

Pulling up the covers a bit more when he finished, Elrond looked down to see his daughter's eyes closed and her breath slow. Smiling, he stroked her face with his thumb and watched her sleep a while longer.

Before he left, he opened the book on her desk to a poem that neither he nor Celebrían had written, the only one within it that they hadn't, and left it open.

~*~

When he returned to his rooms he was certain his heart stopped for close to a full second. Something, which normally wouldn't affect him at all, was causing heat to stir in his belly. Celebrían was beneath the covers of their bed, her only covering, resting her head in her hand while she read a book. The way her hair fell over her shoulders only sought to sway her husband more.

With a slow and agonizing pace, Elrond removed his clothing so as to remain undetected by her and climbed unto the bed at the same speed. All she felt were his hands and his mouth and the reading was lost. That which followed was repeated several times to Celebrían's surprise as they normally slept after the first but Elrond continued to draw her tongue out with his and her moans out to the same extent.

When the night had grown exceptionally late, she fell asleep almost instantly as he lifted his body from hers and brought her next to him. He stroked he sweat dampened hair as she snuggled closer to his chest and wrapped an arm under his.

~*~

With irregular breath, Elrond awoke to the sight of the figure, eerily standing over his wife as she slept. He grabbed the sword, which hadn't left its place beside his bed in close to two thousand years, drew it and held it against the figure's throat in a split second.

He looked up and Elrond was amazed to see that he wasn't wearing his helmet. Long dark hair was tied loosely behind his back, allowing the moon to light half of his dark skinned face. He smiled and his hand went to the blade held beneath his chin. Blood slipped down it as his hand grasped it tightly, dripping a few specs of the thick, red liquid on Celebrían's face.

Elrond looked down at her then up, and he was gone.

Quickly dropping the blade but making certain it would make no noise; Elrond wiped the blood from his wife's forehead. After a while, he held her face in his hands and looked at the lines which had begun to crease her brow permanently. Placing his other elbow next to her shoulder so that his face was directly above her, Elrond leaned down and began to whisper a song into her ear.

Love is hard

Love is strong

You will never say that you were wrong

Love is surely better when it's gone

Because you wanted more

More than I could give

More than I could handle

And a life that I can't live

You wanted more
More than I could bare
More than I could offer
Love is color
Love is love
Love is never saying you're too proud
Love is trusting
Love is honest
Love is not a hand that holds you down
You wanted more
More than I could bare
More than I could offer

His face, still above hers, watched her until the suns first dim light began to enter his vision and the clang of metal pierced his ears.

~*~
Elladan's sword went gracefully through the air, barely making a sound as his body followed it, twisting, curving, lunging. His moves were well practiced and flawless, as they should be for one who had spent most of his life perfecting his sword technique.

Elrond smiled warmly as he stepped out from the stone archway to see the light outline of a figure through the thick fog, which covered most of Forlindon at this time in the morning. He recalled how Elladan would attempt to chase away the fog in Imladris when it came with his sword when he was much younger.

So the younger elf was a caught a little off guard when he was lunged at by something, the shine of its blade the only thing clear to his eyes. He held the blade steady to his own as he regained his bearings and looked into the one who had attacked him.

Elrond was on the verge of laughing when his eldest son swung his blade for his father's head. They were playing as they chased each other across the fields, Elladan knew that his father was too weak to actually wage war on him. This was a sad thought to him as he dodged his father's blade and ran into the outermost part of the forest. Leaning against a tree he called out, "ada! I surrender!"

"Don't surrender yet! I haven't even gotten good chase of you!" He answered back loudly, though every word was a lie. He'd gotten to much chase and was close to collapsing but he didn't want to stop. He wanted to keep playing with his son like he had ages ago.

"I'm winded ada, let's go and get some breakfast."

Slapping a hand over his father's shoulder, Elladan walked with him, laughing about how he still used strategies even against his son in play.

~*~

The family ate together as they always had since they arrived. Glorfindel was recounting to them how Erestor had taken a rather funny trip...down the steepest part of the bank of the small river which ran through Forlond. Elladan and Elrohir were laughing heartily and patting a rather red faced Erestor on the back. Celebrían and Arwen smiled and shook their heads but Elrond was merely toying with his food. He pushed it back and forth in a steady pace as he stared at the tabletop blankly. His fork began to move more slowly across his plate until it finally stopped altogether.

Snapping his head up, Elrond excused himself from the table and went as quickly as he could without looking suspicious. Rounding a few corners, he stopped dead when the tall figure was suddenly before him. He looked at Elrond, surprisingly, with a great deal of sadness as he stepped forward and placed his hand behind Elrond's neck.

"I don't want to go...I don't want to leave them...."

"I know...and I'm sorry."

There was no pain; there were no flashes of things past, there was nothing. The elf went limp in the Vala's hand and he laid the lifeless body down.

Placing two fingers over the body's eyes, he closed them, stealing the knowledgeable gaze they held, stealing the last piece of life.

The figure looked at the body before him a little longer, taking in the features of a face aged with grief yet still young. He slipped his hand from behind Elrond's neck and rested his head on the cold stone of the floors of Forlond.

He was gone.

~*~

Celebrían closed her eyes for a moment and dipped her head before looking back up and quietly excusing herself as her husband had a few moments before.

She walked, calmly. She was thinking that she would run into him in the halls.

He's just around the next corner, he was preoccupied with something in Forlond's halls...he's round the next corner I know it...

To true her thoughts were. Her husband, her lover, her truest friend, her life's companion...was on the ground, eyes closed...eerily still. His name left her lips but she was beside him before it even registered in her mind that she had spoken. But he didn't say her name to comfort the tears from her face. He didn't arise and he never would.

He would never know that his wife held him for close to a half-hour after he had passed. He would never know that tears would never slip from her eyes from that point on. He would never feel the last kiss she gave him.

~*~

With no one speaking really, Arwen went to her room to while away the rest of the day looking out her window. She sat down upon the wide ledge, pulled her legs up to her chest and allowed tears to slip from her eyes. Her heart ached as she thought it never could and there was no safe haven from it.

After a while she noticed that the window was open only because of the sound of rustling pages. Raising her head and looking to her desk, she saw her poetry book open but the page which was being rustled refused to flip.

Drying her eyes, she went to close the book but looked at the page a moment. It was the only poem not written by either of her parents but one she found that she especially liked. The last High King gave it to her father a few days after he took him in as his own.

I was watching you before Ilúvatar even though of you

I was listening to your thoughts while your mother carried you

I was holding you before you could walk

I was drying your tears ere they fell

Running side by side, I will never let you go

Beat to beat, breath to breath

When you are without, your are with me

When you are scared, I am holding you just as before

I write this so that, when we both know I cannot be there

I still am

~*~

Brun adan-old man

The song above is not mine, lyrics are by Tonic and, seeing as I'm not profiting off of it, they shouldn't really have a problem...hopefully...:D

The poem above is mine though, not very well done but it is...

~*~

I'm so sorry everyone, you knew it was coming not that it matters much. I can only say (as Nemis has been hearing for ages now) that I have a plan. Have faith....