Title: Elven Hearts Part 13?
Author: Anonymous slashlover
Rating: R Summary: Long after the incident that caused which pushed Imladris into chaos, new events are about to change everything Notes: Please review this if you read it. It only takes a couple of minutes and I would honestly like feedback. Thank you : )
More Notes: Flashbacks are in italics
Thank you to the world's best beta: Plug in Delaney. I love you!!! You rock!
Any other mistakes are fully my fault
Everyone in the room was silent for a few seconds. Elladan took it upon himself to break the silence. "You know him, father?"
Elrond looked at his son and said wryly, "Know him? He was once my chief advisor…he was once my best friend."
Elladan looked between the two of them and wondered if friendship was all that had gone on between them. But that upset him. He liked Dùlith (or was it really Erestor now?) a lot, and to find out that his father and Erestor were lovers, that would just be too much. "Maybe I should go."
Erestor looked first at Elrond and then at Elladan. He rose to his feet, put an arm around Elladan's shoulders and walked out of the room with him. "Yes, I think you should leave us for a while."
"Why did you leave?" asked Elladan.
Erestor smiled grimly. "Now that I am back, the stories will reappear. But you will not hear them from me." He kissed Elladan. "Go and get some sleep. I will join you later." He smiled grimly, then turned and walked back into Elrond's room.
Elladan was so confused. Normally, when anything really weird happened, he had Elrohir to talk to. But Elrohir wasn't here anymore. And had Erestor really meant it when he had implied that he would come to Elladan's room later? Elladan took a deep breath and began to walk away. As much as he wanted to listen in on his father's conversation, he knew that that was one thing he couldn't do.
And then he nearly ran into Haldir. "Watch out, Elladan," said Haldir. "There's enough death outside without you causing any in here."
Could he talk to Haldir? "Haldir, you knew Erestor, right?"
Haldir sighed. "What is your fascination with Erestor? Let the dead rest in peace."
"He isn't dead."
"Excuse me?"
"He's with my father right now."
Haldir looked like he was about to faint. "In your father's rooms?"
"Yes."
"Then excuse me, Elladan." Haldir hurried off.
By the gods, what did Erestor mean to everyone here. And what did he do to have to disappear like he surely did?
Elrond watched as Erestor walked back into the room and closed the door behind him. Elrond watched as Erestor looked at Glorfindel and then up at Elrond. "Hello, my lord."
There were a hundred, a million things that Elrond wanted to say to Erestor. Elrond watched as Erestor retreated to a chair halfway across the room. The first thing that came to Elrond's mind was, "Glorfindel said you were dead."
"He lied." Erestor did not tell Elrond what truly happened. Elrond wouldn't believe him.
He heard voices and forced himself to concentrate. He opened his eyes and found Glorfindel standing above him, a sad look on his face. "Why'd you have to get yourself caught?" asked Glorfindel.
Erestor struggled to speak and eventually managed to say, "Just kill me."
"I don't want to do that, Erestor, meleth, I don't want to kill you, I love you too much." Glorfindel turned as he heard other voices. He frowned. "I have to leave, Erestor, Elrond doesn't want anyone to know I was here…I hate to do this, Erestor, really I do. Please understand." Glorfindel pulled out a dagger, bent down, and gently pressed the blade to Erestor's neck.
Erestor had been sure that he would feel the cold steel bite into his skin, but then Glorfindel dropped the blade to Erestor's wrists and slit the ropes. "Get out of here, Erestor. Live, for me."
Erestor managed to smile and kissed Glorfindel.
"I could come with you, if you'd like," said Glorfindel. "Elrond would be upset…but no one would ever have to know the truth."
Erestor shook his head. "No. You go back to him. You'll be good for him. Just don't hurt him. He means too much to me."
"I know." Glorfindel kissed Erestor. "But don't you dare die."
"I was already gone," continued Erestor. "I never saw him there."
The next thing that came to Elrond's mind was, "I banished you from Imladris…on pain of death."
Erestor nodded, rose to his feet, and took out a dagger. He put it to his neck. "Just give me the command, my lord. Tell me to and I will do it." And he was serious.
"Don't be a fool. Put the dagger away." A long pause. "Did you do it?"
"You know I didn't, my lord." Erestor looked again at Glorfindel. "What happened to him?"
"He sacrificed himself for me…Mandos demanded one of our souls, he refused to let me give up mine."
"And now you are bonded?...or not?"
"Mandos is deciding whether or not to return Glorfindel to me. If he does, then we are bound. If not…then no. Right now, he can still communicate with me through the bond."
Erestor nodded, then walked closer and sat down on the bed beside Elrond. Elrond reached for him and held him tightly for a few moments. "I never stopped thinking of you," Elrond whispered. He wished that he could kiss Erestor, but Glorfindel would know. Elrond was sure of that much.
"Your bonded would hardly appreciate you saying that. But I made a promise to your son that I will not break, so I must leave you." A whimsical smile. "He is so very much like you, you know."
Elrond nodded. "Exactly what are your feelings regarding him…he is my son, after all."
"I…I don't know. I care about him. But he's young and I don't know what his feelings are. If he wants to…I will do what he wants."
"You will become my son's lover?"
"Well, we are going to have to overcome my past. He will hear all the rumors, he will find out everything. It's really going to be hard for him, finding out everything that I've done."
Elrond pulled Erestor down into a tight embrace. "Don't hurt him like you hurt me. Swear that to me."
"I never meant to hurt you, Elrond. You know that. But I will never hurt him. I will swear that."
The door opened. In a broken voice, Haldir said, "Erestor?"
Erestor pulled out of Elrond's embrace and looked at Haldir. Even more unsure of what to do around Haldir than Elrond he managed to say, rather awkwardly, "I missed you."
Haldir didn't care that Elrond was in the room. He walked over to Erestor and hugged him. "Erestor, you should have told me you were here."
"Haldir, I couldn't. It was too much." Surrounded now by all the people that cared most about him, he suddenly felt alone and isolated. He felt trapped. He had to get out. "Elladan is waiting for me." He made a quick retreat, before emotions could take over.
Elladan was upset. He wanted Erestor to come back here, but he was nearly certain that he wouldn't. From what he had inferred, Erestor and his father had been lovers. And so that made the prospects of anything happening between him and Erestor nearly nonexistent.
He had been unlucky in love all his life. His first lover had been female, and that was how he had discovered that he much preferred males. She had left him for one of his closest friends. They were happily bonded now. His second and third lovers had ended up together. And now Erestor. Maybe he was destined never to be happy. Unlike his father. Elladan envied his father's love for Glorfindel. Even though it was heavily rumored that Glorfindel was not faithful to Elladan and Elladan had the proof. But he would never ruin that relationship.
A knock on the door. "Come in," called Elladan.
Erestor walked in, a tired smile on his face. "You have no idea how tired I am, Elladan."
"I would have thought you'd stay with my father tonight."
"Your father is bonded." Erestor pulled off his shirt. "And I thought that I was welcome here…if not, I can go back to Elrond and get my rooms back."
Elladan smiled. "No, stay here."
Erestor pulled his pants off and walked over to the bed. "And I had to deal with Haldir as well."
"How many elves did you fuck when you were here last?" asked Elladan jokingly as he snuggled up to Erestor.
"Most of them. Excluding your father."
"What about Glorfindel?"
"Mm-hmm."
"And Haldir?"
"Yes. I almost went back to Lorien with him. That was right before I left."
"Why did you leave?"
Erestor smiled at Elladan's attempt to get him to tell what he did not want to. Elladan had no idea the extent of his skills, though, and so might think he could trap Erestor. He kissed Elladan lightly for it. "Go to sleep, Elladan."
"I don't think so." Erestor was obviously not an elf to take the initiative, so Elladan knew that he had to. He rolled on top of Erestor, feeling the muscles of Erestor's chest and abdomen tighten momentarily. "I think that there's some better uses of our time."
Before he could make another move, Erestor had reversed their positions. Erestor kissed him hard. "I'm sure there are." He ran an idle hand down Elladan's abdomen, stopping at just below the belly button. "And I'm sure that I could think of more of them than you could." He could tell that Elladan was hard, and part of him really did want to give in. But more of him knew better. "But I made a promise to your father."
"What? That you wouldn't fuck me?"
"No, I made no such promise. But I did promise him that I wouldn't hurt you…"
"I'm not a virgin, you know…"
Erestor smiled as he interrupted. "No, that's not what I meant. I have a…gift for hurting people I care about. I swore to your father that I wouldn't hurt you. And I mean to honor that oath. That doesn't mean that nothing will ever happen between us…but it will take time."
Elladan closed his eyes. "You've got to be kidding me." His father had been an annoyance in his life before, but never his sex life. "And why, by all the gods, do you have to listen to my father?"
"Because I once loved him."
Glorfindel, from what was a surprisingly disconcerting perspective, was watching it all play out. He felt godlike, and that distantly amused him. He was shocked to see Erestor again. He had never thought that Erestor would want to come back. He saw as Erestor's gaze traveled across Glorfindel's body and sighed. The way Erestor looked at him was enough to make him fall in love with Erestor all over again. But he had to shield those thoughts carefully. Elrond had never learned about Glorfindel's true feelings regarding Erestor and Glorfindel was in no mood to let him find out now.
Glorfindel did not hear Mandos until Mandos put a hand on his shoulder. Even thought it's really not my shoulder. Because I don't really have a body. Such thoughts did not please Glorfindel, though, so he dismissed them. "Have you made up your mind?" asked Glorfindel.
"Watch how you talk to me," cautioned Mandos. "I control your future."
Glorfindel rolled his eyes.
"I saw that."
"Then I apologize sincerely," said Glorfindel sarcastically.
"I'll ignore the insolence for now. I really don't know whether I should send you back or not. There may be an important role for you to play in the future. But Elrond has been reunited with the one elf that will keep him from harm."
"So, let me get this straight. Either you send me back and I save Elrond from being killed or what have you, but if you don't, then Erestor will stop it from ever happening in the first place?"
Mandos smiled and said in a deep, unconnected voice, "He will hold the fate of the elves in his hand, though it is not through him that their survival lies. The one at his right hand will decide. He that is long dead will rise to destroy and he that cannot die will fall through darkness. Halfway into the mortal realm, he must choose to fall to darkness or to become what destroyed him. But he does not decide. Sapphire oceans can save him but hidden secrets will keep him safe. But he does not decide. Unknown to all save the gods, he will destroy all that has been built up, but what he creates will surpass even that the gods have built." Mandos blinked and shook his head. "There have been others to whom that could apply, notably Gil-Galad, but by the time he was dead, the prophecy had not been fulfilled. I believe that it refers to now."
Glorfindel winced. Things like this just weren't his strong suit. He tried to send the prophecy mentally to Elrond, someone who would enjoy deciphering it, but found himself blocked. A shooting pain lanced through his skull.
"No, no, no. The telling of a prophecy to the players destroys its power."
"Aren't I one of the players, though?"
"Yes. But you won't figure it out. Elrond will."
Glorfindel felt insulted. "So do I get to go back or not?"
"I don't know. I'm still trying to decide whether you will best aid what is about to pass in Imladris."
"And what is that?" Glorfindel was getting angry now.
"The world of elves is about to change. Elrond can either stand in the way of change, or he can yield to it."
Glorfindel swallowed hard. "Is he going to die?"
"Yes."
Elrohir woke up shivering. He did not know why. It was not that cold outside. But it seemed that somehow the world would never be warm again, for some reason. Elrohir immediately dismissed these thoughts. They would get him nowhere and they would cloud his thinking.
The only thought that had been going through his head was that his father was dead. Without realizing he was doing it, he whispered his father's name. The tears came unwillingly to his eyes. He wiped them away furiously. A warrior wasn't supposed to cry.
Then a mocking voice in his head told him that he was no warrior. A warrior would have resisted Belegtur.
That made him look over to his side, where Belegtur was sleeping soundly. He was filled with revulsion as he remembered the previous night.
Elrohir felt a hand on his shoulder and knew that it belonged to Belegtur. "We had a good day, princeling," Belegtur said. "Nearly killed your brother."
Elrohir knew that Belegtur had not actually killed him though, through the bond that he shared with his twin. "You won't kill him."
"He is not even half the warrior your father was. And look what happened to him."
Elrohir shuddered involuntarily. "Just shut up about my father."
Belegtur smiled softly. "Very well, princeling." His arm folded around Elrohir's shoulders. "Come with me."
"Where?" asked Elrohir, ever wary of Belegtur. There had been little physical harm since Belegtur had cut off his finger, but there was no telling when rage might overcome Belegtur and then Elrohir knew he would really have to fear for his life.
"With me."
Elrohir had learned the hard way to not question Belegtur too much. "Okay." He bit his lip when he saw that they were heading for Belegtur's tent.
Elrohir didn't care to think about everything else that had happened after they were inside the tent. Belegtur hadn't been rough at all, in fact, had been quite gentle and caring, but Elrohir was queasy at the thought of sleeping with his enemy, an enemy that wanted to destroy his entire family. In fact, on further thought, the sex had been quite good. But Elrohir didn't think about that.
Rolling slightly over, quietly, so that Belegtur didn't wake up, he grabbed the dagger that was beside Belegtur. A smile curled across Elrohir's face. He could end this right now. He would end this right now. Lowering the dagger, he placed it against Belegtur's throat.
Belegtur woke suddenly to the feel of cold metal against his throat. Reacting instinctively, he grabbed the dagger and jerked it away from his body. Then he saw that it was Elrohir and smiled. Sleepily, he said, "And I thought that what we did last night was special." A cruel grin then made its way onto his face. "In fact, it was so special that there's something I'd like to do with you." He grabbed the dagger from Elrohir, quickly cut his own palm and then Elrohir's. He grasped Elrohir's hand in his own, and felt the shuddery sensation as Elrohir's blood mixed with his. "I like you so much that I want to bond with you."
Elrohir fought. Belegtur was stronger. Belegtur pinned him face-down. "And the best way to seal a bond is physically. You are mine princeling. If I die, I'm strong enough to drag you into death with me. Now you need me alive."
Elrohir felt like he was going to be sick.
