Chapter 1

Author's Note: This fic actually has been planned out!!! Just for your info, there will be 20 chapters. And no, this will not not not be as long as Elven Hearts! Much shorter, if I have anything to say about it.

More Notes: Not even sure that this one's slash. We'll have to see.

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Day 1

It is only hesitantly that I set these words to parchment. Every two or three words I stop. Pause. Stretching my weak, burned, unmuscled hand, I scowl at myself in disgust. I am sickened by my own frailty. It feels not worth it to go through all this effort to scrawl down my feelings in a handwriting reminiscent of a child just learning to write.

Elrond tells me that it will help. He's probably right. He usually is. I don't know where he spirited this journal from. It amazed me that it stayed with us during the chase.

Tired and feel sick. Can barely move. Wait until tomorrow to write more.

Couldn't wait. They came took Elrond. He tried to fight, but he's not strong, either. I didn't try to defend him. Not worth it because they will hurt me, too. Even now I hear screams. Elrond's screams. My turn next. Close my eyes so that I can't see.

He's bleeding so badly when he comes back in. Hurts just to look at him.

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Day 2

Elrond didn't wake up this morning. They came in and took him away. Took me away too. Beat me hurt me. When I come back, Elrond is back, too. Smiled at me, told me he was okay. Made me show him this. Told him it hurts too much. He slapped me. Told me to write better. I'll try.

Once again, there is no food. We grow weaker and weaker. During the hunt there was no time for food. They took the food from us when they caught us. So we slowly starve. Do me not realize that while we elves are immortal, we do need to eat? Elrond had only just recovered from an illness. Now he is so weak. I wish that there was something I could do.

I can tell that the smile on his face is only for me. If he were alone, I doubt it would still be there. I can tell by the way he shoots those long glances at the raw pink burned flesh of my hands and arms and the way my hands shake and I drop the quill. The healer in him wants to come out and fix me, but there is nothing he can do about it.

They took Elrond again. I want to know why they took us, what gems they think they can mine from Elrond. Or me. Probably him, though. When he comes back, he's delirious and raving. I did what I could, taking him in my arms and rocking him and singing to him until he drifts away to sleep. Sleep will not come to me.

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Day 3

When I woke up, I was in a strange room. Fighting down the instinct to panic, I sat up and tried to look unconcerned. There was a huge man sitting in the room with me. His hair was bright red and he had a huge bushy beard. When he saw that I was awake, he smiled, showing most of his teeth were gone, and asked me, "What's your name?"

I saw no harm in answering this question. "Erestor," I answered.

"What were you and Lord Elrond doing on our land?"

I wanted to scream that it was our land long before the race of Men walked Middle Earth. But I didn't think that that would necessarily be the best way to go about this. So I took the safest route. "We did not know it was your land." That was a lie. But this man need not know that. "Why do you keep us so? Why do you not feed us?"

"You are being punished, Erestor."

"We are of the Firstborn…"

"Do you really believe that makes you so high and mighty? Hmm?" The man walked over to me, raised a hand, and hit me so hard that I went unconscious. I woke up back in the cell. Elrond was gone. He did not come back all night.

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Day 4

When I woke, Elrond was still not here. Now I became worried. Had something happened to Elrond? If so, I felt that I had to know. I banged on the bars until a Man appeared. He was younger than the one I had met yesterday. "What do you want?" he asked.

I realized that he was little more than a boy, though the scraggly beard on his chin hid his youth reasonably well. "Where is Elrond?"

"They took him."

"Who took him? Where?"

The boy/man walked away. I pounded my fists against the bars in fury and fear until they were dripping blood.

He was returned to me right before I fell asleep. He was barely breathing, his hair was matted with blood, an expression of intense agony was frozen into his face. I gathered him into my arms and sang to him, more for my benefit than his. I had never seen Elrond ever look so hopeless. Only now, and for the first time, I wondered if anyone was searching for us. They had to be, because Elrond is here. But will they find us? I have no way of knowing.

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Day 5

The men have all disappeared. I know not where they have gone, but I have the feeling that they will return. At least that means a day of respite for poor Elrond. He was barely conscious when he awoke, and soon fell back asleep.

My hand grows steadier each day though the pain does not grow less. I suppose that in case this is all that is found of us (what a horribly morbid thought) I should pen down exactly how we got into this situation.

Elrond and I had heard rumors that the Dark One was gaining allies among a particular town of Men. We decided that it was best to check out the rumor ourselves rather than relying on scouts. Everything went flawlessly until we arrived. They caught us quickly, but we escaped. They torched the forest behind us, and that is the reason for my burns, as I put my arms in front of my face to save my eyes.

Elrond and I are superb warriors. We would not be alive unless that were so. The chase lasted for nearly six days. Elrond did not want to ride for Imladris, as he was not sure that the Men knew who he was yet. So for six sleepless nights we rode. The horses were exhausted, but we pushed them as hard as we dared.

On the seventh day, the horses died under us. Knowing that we were doomed anyway, we gave up. I was nearly delirious from my burns, and Elrond, as I mentioned before, had only recently recovered from an illness.

They treated us like animals. In all truth, it is the Men that are animals. Not us. We would never play cat and mouse with any race of beings that we wanted to take prisoner. They could have caught us before they did. They just wanted to tire us out. I was indifferent to the race of Men before, but now I loathe them only a little less than I do the Dark One.

Let it be known that Elrond and I did no harm except to check a rumor. And that rumor is true. For any who follow us and find this, they deserve to be hunted as the Dark One himself.

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Day 6

They returned today and immediately took Elrond with them. This time I fought and I told them not to take him, that he was weak and injured and starving. They stared at me like I was gibbering in some animal tongue. The only animal tongue that I was using was their own. They hit me until my protests subsided. I saw Elrond smile weakly at me and mumble, "I'll be fine, Erestor," before they dragged him away.

The burns are beginning to scar over already. I can feel the tightness of the new skin whenever I move my hands. I know enough of healing to know that unless I move them often, I will lose all use of them. And that is not something I want to happen.

I feel like I will faint from lack of food. So I bang on the bars again. The same boy/man appears and demands, "What?"

"Will you not feed us? Do you wish for us to starve to death?"

"We have none of your elf food."

"You think we cannot eat Man-food?" Truthfully, we can, though it makes many Elves sick. I really didn't care, though. All I wanted was some food in my stomach. "Bring me some food."

"You do not order me around, Elf." But he brought a few crusts of bread and some hard cheese along with a pitcher of water. As ravenous as I was, I did not eat all of it. Elrond would need some when he came back. So I ate half and then set the rest in the corner. I felt marginally better.

Elrond was actually conscious when he was thrown back in the cell. His hands were shaking and he could not actually feed himself, so I fed him. He seemed slightly ashamed, but grateful nevertheless. He could not sleep until I sang to him again and he fell asleep in my arms.

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Day 7

I wonder where our rescue party is. Glorfindel knew where Elrond and I were going. Surely he would send out some kind of force to see us safely home. Unless he thinks that we are dead. Why would he assume that, though? I lose hope to think that we might stay here until we die. Though that will not be much longer. The boy/man brought some more bread and water this morning. Elrond declined to eat it though, as he said he was not hungry. I knew that was a lie, but I said nothing. He told me to eat all the food, but I didn't. Elrond is my lord, and I will not let him kill himself.

Today appeared to be my turn. I was hauled away and given a sound beating just because they felt like doing so. After they were finished, the first Man that I had seen appeared. "We will give you the same choice we gave to your lord, Erestor."

"What is that choice?" I asked.

"The choice to join us now. There is no need to hurt anymore."

"I am loyal to Elrond. Not to the Dark One."

"He will win in the end and all those who did not follow him will die."

"I will never turn to the Dark One."

And that was when the torture began. I would rather not describe it, because it makes me sick even to just think about it. Suffice it to say that there was a lot of blood and a lot of screaming. They threw me back in my cell. This time it was Elrond that took care of me. While I was writing this down, he fed me the bread and cheese that the boy/man had brought while I was away.

He smiled and said, "Glorfindel is on the way to rescue us."

"How do you know?"

"He must be."

I realized that Elrond was just placing hope in an uncertain future, much like I had done earlier. I knew that Elrond, as much as he tried to hide it, was losing hope. And so was I.

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Day 8

Everything hurts. Hurts so bad. Can barely move. Hands shake so much that I can't write much. They took neither of us. Elrond wrote this for me. Too tired to think or move. Elrond says I have a fever. I'm not surprised. My hands look infected. I think that I will not survive this.

I want Glorfindel to come but my hopes fade more and more.

I feel like I am going to die. Cannot manage to eat. I force Elrond to eat my share. I can see that it does him good.

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Day 9

Feeling just as bad today. This takes a long time to write because my hands shake so badly and it hurts so much to hold the quill. Elrond was not here when I woke up. I can hear his screams from down the hall. I cry, for the first time. The tears are a mixture of pain and exhaustion and sorrow.

I wake sometime later and realize that I passed out. From what, I don't know. Probably the pain of forcing myself to write this down. Should stop. Elrond may be right, but there is no need to kill myself over this. No matter what Elrond says.

O, Glorfindel where are you? Come quickly because I fear that we will not last much longer.

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Day 10

I feel a little better today, though my hands look worse. Elrond is still screaming. I cannot believe that they push him for this long. But what scares me more is when the screams stop. I do not see Elrond for a long time, until nearly the end of the day.

With a gasp of revulsion, when he is thrown back in, I see that he is short an ear (his left one) and three fingers on his right hand. His face was contorted in agony but there was nothing I can do. I am only an average healer at the best of times, and this is not the best of times.

Somehow, Elrond manages to put a smile on his face. In a voice raw and harsh from having spent the better part of two days screaming, he says, "It's not as bad as it looks. And they convinced me of nothing."

Elrond, I care nothing for whether you surrender to them or not. I just wish for you to remain safe.

He does not sleep, just like me. We are too tired to do anything, so we just lie there in each other's arms. The pain both of us are going through, I can tell, is indescribable, and we both feel it, so there is no need to share the agony. I just want to go home. I just want to make it so that none of this had happened.

I just want Elrond to live.

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Author's Note: So, what do you think? Good, bad? Worth continuing or should i scrap it now?