Disclaimer: I don't own them, just wish that I did… sigh. They belong to the wonderful professor named J.R.R Tolkien…

Sue: you thought it sweet? And touching? *huggles Sue* Thanks! I'm so happy to hear that! Well, here is the next chappie, hope you like it…

sr: Ai, yes you are right. FFnet apparently has some problems again. I get the review, they just don't show in my review box… You'll find out a little more about Estel's fear of water in this chapter. Thanks for the review!

A/N: I apologize if Elrond seems OOC in this chapter, but let me know what you think, would you? Thnx…

### indicates the past

~~~

Chapter 6

Leaving Elrohir to watch over the form of his human brother, the trio entered the study, Elrond closing the door behind him and sighing inwardly. Elladan walked towards the window and turned around, observing Legolas, who stood in the centre of the room. A confused look was on his fair face as if some inner turmoil was raging in his mind.

"Tell us, Legolas…" Came the soft voice of Elladan. "What happened to my brother?"

Elladan could have shouted for the reaction it aroused in the elf prince. As if the soft voice was a slap in the face, Legolas' head whipped around until he faced the young Noldor elf. The corners of his mouth turned down in a grimace and he took a deep breath. He walked towards the bookshelves and turned, facing the room. He now could see both elves easily and somehow he felt more at ease; it didn't feel as if all the questioning eyes were turned on him, though he knew they were.

Legolas started talking, his soft voice instantly drawing the attention of the two listeners. He recounted their trek back home and Estel's urging to spread out and look for any signs of trouble. As he spoke, he noticed that both Noldor elves frowned as he spoke of his route near the water and Estel's decision to go through the woods. He wondered about this, but continued, his gaze straying to something outside of the room, until finally, the tale had been told, ending with him speeding back to Rivendell.

"I do not understand, however…" He trailed off, his thoughts still trying to figure it out. "When I got him out, he didn't seem to be there… his body might have been there, but his mind was leagues away. It's as if he was reliving something… " The prince looked back again at the faces of his companions. Elrond and Elladan both looked far paler than they had moments before and a frown marred each of their faces, as if – "You know… both of you."

A silence fell for a moment to be broken by a deep sigh coming from Elrond. The ancient elf rubbed his brow as if to ward off a headache.

"Yes, Legolas, you are right. We know, as does Elrohir. We do not talk about it, but all of us are painfully aware of the cause. It's something that happened a long time ago when counted as time goes for Estel."

Legolas looked even more confused, his gaze pleading the other elves not to torment him longer with their riddles and just tell him.

Elladan decided to start telling the story. He felt that it was his responsibility as he deemed it was his fault. "It happened several years ago, when Estel was but six years old…"

~~~

### It was in the midst of a hot summer when Elrohir and Elladan decided to take their young brother with them towards the lake. There was always a soft and cool breeze blowing there and the water was still pleasantly cold this time of the year. The sun would do her best to warm up the lake the entire summer and in the beginnings of the winter the water would still be warm enough for a nice swim.

Also, since the newest addition to their family couldn't swim yet, they had decided that they would teach him how after some fishing. Well, that had been the idea before they had left – the small boy couldn't stifle his laughter; he was far too happy today and adored his brothers, especially since they had taken the time to bring him along.

Giving up on the fishing part, Elrohir slipped off his boots and put his feet in the cold water. He closed his eyes and turned his face towards the sun, enjoying the warmth that she sent towards him.

Deciding that the child had too much energy to spend, Elladan decided to tire him out some – the swimming lessons could wait till later in the afternoon.

"You know what I do to little, giggling boys, Estel?" Asked Elladan, inching closer and holding his hands out – ready to tickle his human brother.

Estel's eyes grew large, realizing where this was going. "I do not giggle, Eldan!" He said, as indignant as a six year old could manage. "Girls giggle, not boys, silly!" He started backing away from his oldest brother, preparing to run like a rabbit with a fox on its tail. And it was none too soon – Elladan lunged at him, fingers already wiggling.

Elrohir listened to the sounds behind him, uncertain whose side he would pick. Perhaps he would help Estel with tickling Elladan. His brother had always been able to hide it from others, but he couldn't hide it from his own twin that he was ticklish. Deciding not to join at all, he just listened to the sounds behind him, enjoying this time. It would be all too soon that Estel would grow up and when humans grew up, they tended to forget the small pleasures in life – like fooling around and playing. They became much too serious… Since their lifespan was as short as it was, you would expect them to enjoy life – not work it away! His ears perked up when after a while, Elladan raised his voice some, concern tingeing the edges of it.

"Careful of those rocks now, Estel, they're slippery. You don't want to get all wet if you fall in the lake, now do you?"

Elrohir smiled as he heard Estel giggling again, turning around and watching the two circling the water.

 "Ow, come on Eldan. Catch me if you can!"

Elladan watched as the boy ran off as fast as he could, though careful of the small and slippery stones. He heaved a relieved sigh. At least he's careful. He started chasing after the human boy, keeping his pace slow so that the boy thought he could outrun the oncoming tickling fight.

"When I get my hands on you, I will tickle you until you are blue in the face!" Threatened he.

"You have to catch me first, Eldan!" Was the smart reply.

With a smile on his face, Elladan started running faster towards his brother, preparing to unleash his full attack.

All of a sudden, the ground trembled. Both elf and human stopped – a questioning look on the boy's face.

Becoming serious immediately, Elladan answered it. "I'm not sure little one. Perhaps…" He never finished the sentence as he was interrupted by another tremble, this one more forceful.

Estel tried to keep his balance on the slippery stones, but it was no use. With the second tremble, he slipped and fell backwards – into the lake.

Recovered from the shock, Elladan ran towards the last place he had seen his human brother. His keen eyes tried to spot him in the water, yet they didn't.

"Stay there!" He yelled to Elrohir as he dived in. He shuddered at the feel of the cold water and had to force himself to keep his eyes open – looking and feeling out for the child. He would never give up hope, but if Estel stayed under water too long… The Noldor elf closed his eyes for just the tiniest moment, not wanting to tread that path.

Just as he was beginning to despair, his hand brushed what seemed to be clothing. Grabbing hold of it tightly, he pulled it towards him – glad when he felt the weight he was sure to belong to Estel. Once he was close enough, he hugged him to his chest and made his way as fast as he could towards the surface.

He broke through and immediately gasped in huge amounts of air – he had started to become lightheaded from lack of oxygen. His charge however, didn't move. Elladan swam to the shore and laid the still body upon it.

He started to panic when he could detect no rise and fall of the small chest. Estel was not breathing!

"How is he?" A voice startled him out of his shock.

Elladan looked up, but before he could reply, Elrohir had taken in the situation. "By Elbereth!" Was all he said before he laid his pointed ear over Estel's heart.

For a moment, every sound seemed too loud. Even his own breathing seemed to drown out the sound he was looking for.

There! He thought, relieved, hearing a slow beat. But, as he listened to it, the beat became slower and slower. Fearing that it would stop soon altogether, Elrohir looked at Estel's face. It had a blue tinge to it.

Unbidden, something he said earlier came Elladan's mind: ' I will tickle you until you are blue in the face!' He shook his head to get rid of the unwanted memory.

"Estel!" Elrohir shouted. "Come on, breathe!"

The elf opened his brother's mouth and tried to pass breath into his lungs. After what seemed like ages, the boy started coughing up water. Hurriedly, Elrohir laid him on his side and stroked his back, hoping to soothe the boy with his presence. Once the water had cleared his lungs, Estel curled in upon himself – still unconscious.

"What's wrong with him? He asked his brother. "The water has cleared his lungs, why is he not awake?"

Elladan carefully looked at his youngest brother, one hand reaching out and softly stroking through his hair. An anxious look came on his face as he held his hand out towards his brother.

"Look." Was all he said and both elves looked with horror at the blood covering it. ###

~~~

A silence fell in the study as Elladan stopped talking. His face was pained and tears welled up in his eyes. He bit his lip, trying to keep the tears at bay. It was unbecoming of an elf his age to cry!

Legolas felt a burning in his own chest until he realized he was holding his own breath. "What happened then?" He asked Elladan, but it was Elrond who continued.

"He had hit his head on one of the rocks in the lake, knocking him out immediately. There was nothing to prevent Estel from breathing in the water and so it was able to enter his lungs and do damage. But that is not the worst part of it, my dear Legolas."

Even more confused than before, Legolas looked Elrond in the eye, begging to end the riddling and just tell him.

"The experience of drowning would have been traumatizing enough on anyone, but Estel was not given the rest he deserved afterwards. My sons brought him back to me, still unconscious and with a raging fever. I treated him as well as I could, but he would not wake up…"

Elrond closed his eyes; wanting to ban the memories, or if he could – the entire experience from having happened.

"Lord Elrond?"

The ancient elf opened his eyes. "My apologies, Legolas. Now, where was I? O yes… He would not wake up." The elf lord shook his head. "You know that he sometimes has… unusual dreams, do you not? Dreams about events that have happened in the past or, sometimes, events that have not come to pass yet. While he lay unconscious, he had these terrible dreams. He would scream and trash around, seeking escape from them, but never succeeding. Often, he would yell at whatever it was he saw or mumble things we could not understand."

If it was possible, the elven lord seemed to drain of even more colour and when he spoke next, his voice was but a whisper.

"He saw the eye, Legolas. The eye of Sauron – even then it was looking for him. Thank the Valar he never did! Once, in an attempt to chase the nightmares away, I entered his dreams… I've experienced one of them and till this day it gives me nightmares. He does not know, but what he dreamt was about something that happened a long time ago – before any of you were born."

Elladan looked at his father, stepping forward and resting his hand upon his shoulder. "You never told us you knew exactly what he dreamt…"

The elf lord's brows knitted together. "It's not something I wish to remember, Elladan. It happened… I was there after we found them. He, we experienced what they felt - so much pain, so much fear…"

Elrond felt his shoulder being squeezed gently. "Tell us, Ada. I can see it still pains you. You may not want to remember, but you need someone to tell it to. Perhaps by sharing this pain, it'll be lessened some, though it may only be a little. That's what you always tell us. We're here… we'll listen." He looked at Legolas, who nodded in confirmation.

At first, the two younger elves were unsure by the silence that followed if Elrond would tell them about it. Just when they thought he would not, his soft voice broke the silence, speaking haltingly…

"There were elves… They are frightened… They cannot see each other or what's around them, for it is as dark as a night without a moon or stars. It's raining icy drops which land painfully hard on their faces. They're in a deep pit of sorts and stand in icy cold water which is numbing the pain they're in, but taking away any warmth they have left. They cannot get out… They are trapped. The eye watches as a ceiling comes down inch by inch and it relishes the fear it causes as the elves realize this. The water level is rising and they realize… they know they will die – that there is no help coming!"

Elrond looked up, a haunted look in his eyes. "We tried! We tried to reach them in time!" He cried.

Legolas walked over to the other elves and laid his hand on Elrond's other shoulder. "There was nothing you could have done, my Lord. Don't blame yourself for what never was in your control."

But Elrond continued. "In the dream, time passes very slowly for the poor souls. Seconds seem like hours and it is hard to breathe because of the fear floating in the air. There are holes in the ceiling, just big enough to fit a hand through… Some elves reach their hands out, hoping for any sign of contact, hoping to find something that may help them… And as the water reaches above their heads, they try to breathe through them, but they cannot! The water reaches to above the ceiling! But the torture does not end there – their hands can still feel the cold air blowing over them…

And then finally, just moments before they cannot hold on any longer, help comes and is trying to get them out. Some of the elves grab the hands sticking out through the holes and hold on tightly, hoping to bring comfort with the promise of rescue. But it is impossible to break the ceiling in time and the hands of the trapped elves go slack in the hands of their rescuers… When finally, the other elves are able to break through the ceiling, all the elves are unmoving and cold – their spirits gone to the Halls of Mandos… A terrible way to die…"

And there ended the story, leaving them all silent, contemplating over the images they were seeing in their minds' eye and imagining what the elves so long ago must have felt in the last moments before they died.

"That's horrible." Legolas whispered.

"Yes… I'm sure Estel had more of these dreams, one worse than the other. I do not know what else he has seen, for he would not share the dreams with me when he finally woke up. But when he woke, he was terrified of water… and has been ever since." The elf lord grimaced. "The first sound he heard was the sound of the waterfalls. He was all hysterical and not being able to leave him alone to make a tranquilizing potion, I was forced to calm him down with –" Trailing off, Elrond looked at his hand.

An understanding look crossed Legolas' face. Vilya! He knew the elven lord possessed one of the three rings of power and that he used it to control the waters surrounding Rivendell. The ring was capable of much more, but it was best not to use it, for it would draw attention of the Necromancer who was still searching for the three…

"Even the sound of rain frightened him to no end. Whenever one of us had to leave the palace, he urged us not to go near the water, for it was evil and would hurt us. This went on for a very long time until I finally told him this secret. He calmed down some when I told him, but I shall never forget the look on his face when he asked me why I did not stop the water from hurting him in the first place."

Now Elrond fell silent – a pained look on his face as he remembered… It was Elladan that spoke next. "You can perhaps imagine how you would have reacted to such an experience, but Estel was so young then. The trauma is still too great for him. He knows that no harm will come to him from the waterfalls and rivers of our home, but still after all this time, he will not go near them. It took some force getting him to bath again after this happened and I think you know how he avoids it as much as he can."

Here the blonde elf smiled wryly. He had thought that his friend just wanted to look scruffy as if to prove that he was a man and not a fair woman, or that he simply did not care about such things, but the truth lay far deeper than that.

He felt a deep sympathy for the ranger, but how to help him? It was only now, after all that he had heard, that he remembered the times Estel had compelled them to take either this way or that, leading away from water.  And ironically, it was this fear of water that drove him in the path of the orcs, ending in him reliving his childhood experience again…

~~~

TBC