I don't own LOTR! Oh, and I want to apologize for getting the timeline when Aragorn was born messed up, but I wanted to include him as a little kid and this is a fanfic, so please don't throw tomatoes at me!

Secret Hurts

Chapter5

Elladan waited until Aldalóme and his brother had walked down the hall a bit from Lord Glorfindel's study before stopping them. "You wish to leave us?" Elladan pouted.

"NO! Nothing like that! It's just, I really don't belong anywhere. And, I guess, I just want to see your world, Middle Earth, and get used to the idea that I'll be here for a while…" Aldalóme closed her eyes as she let the silence carry her last thought to the twins 'or forever.' "And, as much as it thrills me to see elves are real, and wizards, and who knows what else! Someone once told me of Middle Earth, and there was only one place that captured my attention."

"What was it?" Elladan let his face become like a stone.

"The Shire," Aldalóme blushed as she stared at her feet. "It was the one place where she'd want me to go. Though she would have soon been the height of an elf, while I'd be stuck at this height," the human girl's laughter turned to tears, "She should be here, not me, I'm the one who should have died, not her… not her. Why her? She had so much going for her? Why couldn't those stupid doctors get her a transplant? Why? Why did she have to leave me?"

Elladan and Elrohir both stopped sulking and quickly embraced the girl, Elrohir sighed and whispered, "Mellon, ta quel á nalla (Friend, it's good to cry)."

"Who do you speak of, mellon? Who is this girl you speak of?" Elladan murmured softly into the broken-hearted girl's ear.

"Areien! Areien!" Aldalóme buried her face into Elrohir's tunic and tried to hide her face from the kind twin elves.

"Shh, mellon, we understand," Elrohir whispered to the small girl in his arms that freely let her tears fall.

Aldalóme began to hiccup and she finally gained control of her voice and her tears, "She was my sister… my baby sister… my only sister… I'm the only one left."

"What happened to her, mellon?" Elladan soothed the girl by running his hand over her hair in a comforting gesture.

"She had a weak heart… it gave out on her… She was only thirteen! It should have been me! It should have…" Aldalóme began to cry again, but this time, she slowly fell asleep.

"Her sister?" Elladan choked out.

"We have a job, now, brother," Elrohir sighed. "We have to prove to her that she has to live, and that it wasn't her fault."

"I think she should talk to Estel," Elladan frowned as he stared down at the girl in his brother's arms. "He is mortal, and we took him into our family, he may understand better than we ever could."

"That is a good idea, brother," Elrohir smiled sadly at his twin, and then gently lifted the girl into his arms and set off to find her room, which their father had placed next to Estel's.

After leaving Aldalóme in her new room, Elrohir and Elladan sought out Estel. "Estel, may we speak with you?" Elrohir asked the future king in passing him in the hall.

"Of course, what is the trouble Elrohir?" Estel frowned in concern at the twins.

"You've met Aldalóme?" Elladan asked curiously.

"The girl that was hugging father and made Elrohir dance?" Estel questioned.

"Yes," Elrohir sighed.

"Then yes, I have seen her, but I have not yet met her," Estel replied.

"Estel, we need a favor of you," Elrohir told the young boy nervously.

"We need you to talk with Aldalóme, she has lost her sister and she says that she is the last one left. Elrohir and I believe that she has lost her family, and her sister was the last to die. She claimed that her sister had a weak heart," Elladan frowned.

"She blames herself, Estel," Elrohir answered Estel's unspoken question. "She thinks that it should have been her that died, instead of her younger sister."

"We figured that it best she talk to another mortal who understands such things," Elladan sighed. "I wish we could help her, but we do not understand what she is going through, and we are not yet sure how to convince her that it was not her fault that the Valar gave her sister less time than she."

"I will help you, my brothers, but know that she will come to terms with the death of her sister only through time," Estel aka Aragorn sent a small smile at his foster brothers.

"That is all we could hope, Estel," Elrohir grinned sadly at their young foster brother.

"UGH! SARUMON! STOP TURNING ME INTO THINGS! I'M HUMAN! MORTAL! NOT ELF! NOT DWARF! NOT HOBBIT! HUMAN! MORTAL!" Aldalóme woke by screaming herself awake. Estel rushed into the room to find her gasping for breath and holding her head.

"Are you alright?" Estel frowned worriedly.

"Yeah, just a nightmare. Sorry I woke you," Aldalóme stared down at the bed's covers.

"It's alright, I wasn't exactly sleeping peacefully either," Estel cast a smile her way. "My name is Aragorn, but everyone here calls me Estel.

Aldalóme's head shot up to stare at the future king in shock, "Um, Aragorn, I think you best not tell anyone your real name until after you meet four hobbits and bring them to Rivendale."

"Why?" Estel frowned.

"Because then bad people might find out, make war with the elves and they might try to kill you," Aldalóme replied quickly. "Sorry, but do you mind if I call you Estel? It'll be easier for me not to say your true name, and less likely that someone will find out that you are alive, before it is time for you to come out of the woodwork."

"Come out of the woodwork?" Estel aka Aragorn frowned.

"Um, it's a figure of speech," Aldalóme blushed. "By the way, I'm Aldalóme."

"That's your true name?" Estel questioned.

"Yes, my parents had a fascination for the elvish language and named my sister and me in the tongue of elves. Areien was the one who should have come here, not me. I belong nowhere; she belonged with her friends, with me…"

"I understand," Estel walked towards the young teenaged human on the bed and gave her a hug. "I lost my family when I was younger."

"My sister knew so much about this world, she would have loved it here," Aldalóme buried her face into Estel's shirt, then quickly removed it as she remembered something. "Um, I guess the guy who wrote the books were off on your age."

"What books? Estel frowned.

"There are books about Middle Earth, in my world, and according to them, you aren't supposed to be born, yet," Aldalóme laughed. "It's nice to see that the writer had something wrong!"

"Why are you happy to see that the writer was wrong?"

"Because I like seeing when writers are wrong, it's funny," Aldalóme laughed, and Estel began to smile as she did. Her laughter soon rang through the room and his joined hers.