Disclaimer: The characters belong to Tolkien. I am just playing around with their personalities. ;)

Rating: PG-13.

Author's Note:

Thank you to Anastasia Who, for reviewing chapters 4, 5, and 6! I am glad that you caught my symbolisms! And it makes me excited to hear that this story is more triggering than most stories you have read for a while.

Thank you also to DreaminofLorien, for reviewing chapters 1 -6! I am flattered and delighted that someone recommended this story to you! And your reviews made me gratified – because your emotional responses made me happy – and also made me laugh! Hehe, they were cute. Anyway. Thank you for reviewing each chapter!

Thank you to Sesha for reviewing chapter 5 and 6! I really appreciate that you patiently waited until after the FF net glitch to write me a review. And Elrond...I suppose he will live. ::grin:: I am really into fiction myself (note the title of 'author') but I don't think it's bad unless you let it overwhelm your life...like I do. ;) I am glad to hear that you are catching the subtle closeness of my Glorfindel and Erestor. Thank you for reviewing!

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By Kasmi Kassim

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Tears of Yesterday

Chapter 7: Golden Fire and Silver Moon

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The dining hall was dark. In the gray blue of the room, two identical figures sat facing each other with a small square table between them. Their heads were bowed, motionless.

They sensed his subtle scent before the raven hair swirled into view. Slowly, they raised their eyes, meeting those of the slender elf who stood in the darkness.

Without a word, Erestor went around the walls of the dining room and began to light the gloomy chamber. The twins glanced at each other, and forcefully brought up their limp arms to the spoons resting against the table. Cold fingers curled around them, but they did not move further. They sat silently, staring at the food, as the advisor finally moved toward them gracefully, his dark body outlined by soft shimmering gold.

"You must eat," he urged quietly, coming to stand by the table. "Your father will be dismayed to find you hungry when he awakes."

Elrohir swallowed hard, and hung his head lower. Elladan's fingers trembled.

"I can't...swallow...Erestor." His thick voice quivered. And his eyes were bewildered, lost.

Silent fingers came into contact with his head. And they stroked his hair gently, over and over. Elladan bit his lip painfully, and bowed his head. Erestor raised his eyes to stare up at the ceiling. And while his fingers continued to stroke the child's hair, he did not remove his gaze.

"Will Ada recover?" asked Elrohir timidly.

Erestor slowly brought his gaze down, turning to smile at Elrohir. The smile was gentle, a warmth of darkness against the morose twilight.

"He will need you to to be strong." He turned back to Elladan, and tipped up his chin with a finger.

The dark-clad elf dropped his hand, and gently pushed the plates closer to the children. His voice was firm, brisk. "You still have each other, and you must be strong for each other. Eat."

Elrohir stared at his food. He courageously picked up his spoon, as did his brother. And they chewed the food, painfully, as if they were chewing sand. And Erestor's deep eyes never left them as they continued their sluggish and silent meal.

The candles around the dining hall continued to flicker silently, enveloping the dark-haired elves in warm gold light, embracing and piercing the glowing black orbs of the raven-haired elf into a translucent prism of ruby.

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Elrond woke at the cold sensation of steel against his throat. He slowly blinked his eyes, wading out of the shapeless nightmares which he could not recall. Screams and pounding heartbeats. They were all he could remember.

He breathed heavily, willing his hazy eyes to regain focus. The night was dark.

He halted his heavy breathing when his eyes caught the white blade gleaming under the moon. Elrond closed his eyes with an unexplainable sense of relief. He waited, listening to the beating of his heart, welcoming the rest. But the coldness remained against his throat, unmoving.

"Don't you dare, Peredhil."

Fever raged in his veins. Elrond let out a heated breath, and opened his eyes again. In the cold white rays of the moon, pale hair shimmered down the length of a tall body. He swallowed. His throat burned.

"Glorfindel..."

"Aye, it is I – back from Death." The shadow moved closer, and the steel steadily traveled from his throat down to his chest. The chill of the metal sent a jolt to Elrond's fevered body. The voice was cold, gliding smoothly against the dark of the night. "And I will not let you leave your children to go to there."

The elven lord swallowed again painfully, and struggled to speak. But he was tired. So tired. And the pain in his body was unbearable. He closed his eyes.

"Open your eyes!"

The snarl sent a jolt down his spine, along with the tenacious pressing of metal against hot skin. Elrond's eyelids flew open, and met the icy blue of the warrior who hovered over him.

"I know what you are doing," breathed the golden shadow, cold menace outlining his normally calm voice. "And it stops now. You will accept the healers' magic, and you will return to your children and life in Arda." The blade shifted toward his collarbone. "I have not known my friend Elrond to be a coward."

Trembling fingers clutched the sheets. Glorfindel stood still as Death, cold and gleaming in the moon. But he was not the shadow of the night who had come to take him away, for his frosty blade pressed against the heated torment of fevered skin, commanding, pleading, threatening his friend – to live.

It was so tiring, all of it.

With a weary sigh, Elrond closed his eyes.

"Leave," he whispered. He slowly looked up again, with perfect focus in the bloodshot eyes. His gaze burned and clashed with cold blue, and fire and ice mingled wildly, savage and ferocious in their venomous dance. "I will see you tomorrow."

Silence smoldered between them, and the heated fire slowly died. The coldness of the moon gave way to warmth, and the blade left his skin. Elrond stared as Glorfindel shifted, and walked away to stand by the door.

"Sleep," he commanded, this time in a much softer tone, as he sheathed his sword and crossed his arms, leaning against the wood of the door. "I will watch over you."

With a weary sigh, Elrond turned away. The moonlight streamed in steadily through the window, cleaving the thick darkness of the night.

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To Be Continued

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Someone Reading: Your understanding and empathy that runs alongside your reading of my works never cease to amaze me. Drawing up family dynamics is not too difficult for me, as I have a tightly knit family of my own – but I must say that the illustration of Erestor and Glorfindel is a challenge, as I must constantly ponder about their history and relationship. I am presently working on their story, which I thought was roughly finished, but its emotional and abstract nature is becoming an unpredictable factor for me and the story is beginning to spin so out of control that I fear it will still be long in coming. But ah well, I will hopefully be able to keep my readers entertained with other stories meanwhile...it always made me wonder that some breathtakingly beautiful stories dealing with emotional struggles have very little renown and reviews, while some not-so-well-written stories mapping out an adventure get so much more attention. I suppose those fics are easier to read and, for some readers, more interesting. I am writing a huge series about Legolas that straddles adventure and angst, so am particularly curious about the responses of readers. There are really great adventures stories out there, but some not-so-sincere works seem to have an easier time impressing an audience than a non-adventure story that clearly shows the author's blood, sweat and tears. I guess I always remind myself not to fall into the easy path just to get more responses. It is reviewers like you who remind me instantly that pouring my heart and soul into writing fanfiction is actually worth it, as I would rather read your one review over and over again than to look at ten 5-word reviews that simply urges me to update so they can get a quick time-killer enjoyment out of a sloppily-written adventure story. Boy, I am now going off on a tangent on you. ;) Sorry about that. I hope I didn't insult anyone with my honesty here; I just want you to know that your are more appreciated than you will ever know! ;)

Coolio02: Heh, I hope he'll be all right for the twins' sake too! Glorfindel seems to want to make sure of that ;) Thank you for reviewing!

Elf of Sirannon: Thank you for pointing that out to me. ;) The books are currently unavailable to me – and I think they will be unavailable for a long time yet – so I was quite off canon when I wrote this fic. And I am afraid that several more stories that I have roughly completed so far are quite off canon as well, but I am loathe to change them, for that would destroy the entire dramatic effect. I was so depressed when I found out after completing the stories that I was un-canon. Ah well. I hope you forgive me for going AU here; I generally try to avoid AU, but this time I did not even realize that I was going in that direction...;) Thank you for your review!

xAKGIRLx: A broken heart is a sad thing, isn't it? I collapsed from exhaustion before by crying day and night, and I wasn't even brokenhearted about a spouse! (I don't have one ;) So I suppose sorrow really does take its toll – emotionally, and physically.

Unsung Heroine: Aw, you should have told me. Then I would have waited until you were done with your exams to post that chapter. ::evil chuckle:: And yes, I seriously felt that Elrond was the most tragic guy in the whole LOTR trilogy. I mean, if my daughter chose to forego immortality for a life of a meager 200 years or whatever with this mortal guy, I don't think I would be happy for her. I'd barely be able to keep myself from locking her up in a tower or something. I don't know. But asking a parent to be happy for her in that situation is asking for too much, I think. She should be grateful that he actually let her get married. I mean, I like Arwen and know that it's her life and all, but man, think about the heartbreak of the parent, to have to lose the child! They say a child never knows half of the extent to which the parent's love runs. Sigh. Ah anyway. I am ranting now. Thank you for reviewing!

Tara: Ooh, such kind words! Thank you!

ThePastIsPrologue: Wow, I am speechless in turn. I never imagined that my little story here would captivate an audience so. You are the one flabbergasting me with your overgenerous words. Thank you so much. And as for the ages of the children – can you believe it? I actually envisioned all of this before realizing that I got them wrong, because this timeline made more sense to me for some reason. I don't have access to the books, and didn't know their real ages until I wrote and completed several multi-chapter stories with incorrect ages. But I couldn't change them because that would ruin the whole effect. Sigh. Anyway, I really hate to disappoint you, but this story – I think you may have noticed – does not flow continuously as would an action/adventure story. I zoomed in more on emotions and the situations that surround them, rather than situations themselves...and following the disjointed vein, I am not planning on a sequel, as that would mean I must focus on situations and smoothly flowing storyline and that was never my intent when I decided to take up my speculations involving this segment of Tolkien's works. I hope it would solve as a solace to you that I am actually going to shift the focus onto the twins toward the latter part of this story, and that revenge will surface. Thank you so much for your kind words!

Brazgirl: Your reviews are absolutely hilarious, when they concern Thranduil. Hehehe. I am becoming fonder and fonder toward Elrond as I write this story, but I miss my Thranduil. I am planning on returning to him soon – don't ask how soon – in a long story that features him and Legolas. Hehehe. Just like the old times. Anyway, I am delighted that you found that chapter to be so pleasing. That line by Elrond, which you like so much, was actually taken from my own Ada, when I was crying a lot because of loss. I don't know why your Ada is not with you, but I really hope you get to see him soon!

Seeing-spots: That is relieving to hear! Thank you!

That Undomiel Chick: Oh, really? I am getting frightened! ::grin:: I hope you liked this chapter!

Achika: I am surprised that you guessed right. This chapter is devoted on those two trying to fix things, I see. Hehe. Thank you for your review!