Disclaimer: Not mine. Wish they were.

Author's Note: All right I mentioned to everyone that I was working on a project and my updates would come slower. Well if anyone is interested in that project check out my homepage listed in my profile. Anyone who loves to write and read fan-fic should be interested. I'm sorry it took so long, but there is a lot of work involved in creating a website.

Second Author's Note: Okay I have been attacked by an evil plot bunny, so I'm about to do something that might get me killed, but it won't let go. So if you hate this please tell me so, but please don't kill me.

Shock

It had been over a hundred years since the twins had seen Isengard, but Atavus had been there only a few years before. To her eyes the tower was dark and ominous, and the greenery surrounding it was dead or dying.

"This place is not right." Elrohir said confirming that it was not just Atavus that felt uncomfortable in the presence of the dark tower.

"Gandalf said that it had become a dark place at the end of Saruman's reign, but this is worse than I could have imagined." Elladan said staring up at the topmost tip of the tower. For a moment he thought he saw a figure there, but it disappeared just as quickly.

"Well then, it is not just my distorted vision that is causing what is before my eyes." Atavus suggested also staring at the very top of the tower.

"No, it most certainly is not." Elrohir agreed with her.

"Quit gawking and keep moving." Kellet ordered pushing Elladan from behind.

They moved forward and the closer Atavus drew towards the tower the colder she felt. She wondered if maybe her statement that her madness would kill her before a person could, would not be proved false inside these walls.

They were taken up several flights of stairs into what at one time was Saruman's private laboratory. There were a few items scattered around the room, but it no longer resembled a laboratory. There was a blazing fire in a fireplace to the left side of the room, even though it was not that chilly yet, and they could see a chair was placed facing the fire. There was a figure sitting in the chair facing away from them. The figure was dressed all in black, and had shining white hair.

Atavus had once met Saruman during her time in Rohan, but she was positive that he had died at the hands of Grima Wormtongue. So who was the mysterious figure warming himself by the fire? The figure sat for a few brief moments more, but was not disturbed by Kellet or his men. Apparently he already knew they were there.

They waited patiently for the figure to stand and address them. Atavus seemed drawn to the figure before her. It was if something inside her understood what he was before her mind did.

Finally after just a few moments longer the figure stood and stepped away from the chair turning to face them. Three identical looks of shock slid across the faces of the captives.

Atavus was the first to speak, still not understanding what she saw before her. The figure before her did not hold the withered and wasted look that everything else around her did. He looked almost the same as the last time she laid eyes upon him. No she thought to herself, not the last time she had seen him. Because the last time she seen him he had been dead, and she had wept over his body. "This is not possible. I saw you. You were dead."

"Yes I was." Was the only reply.

The twins looked to each other in confusion. They knew the elf well. They had spent many days, months, and years as children in the woods of Lorien. They had spent a large part of that time with this very elf. And though his hair was white instead of it's normal blonde, he was still Haldir of Lorien, their friend. They too had grieved his death when they had learned of it.

"Has Mandos sent you back for some reason, mellon?" Elladan asked immediately knowing that the Valar who ruled over the halls of the dead could send back any elf he wished.

"I have been sent back, and I do have a purpose here, but Mandos had nothing to do with it." Haldir said staring at Atavus. She felt as if icy cold fingers were running down her spine.

She looked into his dark eyes and saw something there that she had not expected. She saw a painful emptiness that reminded her of the way she felt the moment she left the cave. She knew then that somehow, he had been affected by the cave itself. "When did you visit the cave?" She asked knowing he would answer her, for he too was looking at her with a look of recognition. He too saw the emptiness in her eyes.

"I was but a child." He answered her.

Elladan and Elrohir looked between the two of them realizing that they could not intrude upon the conversation. Neither of them would listen to anyone but each other at that moment.

"Your soul is tied to the cave." It was a statement not a question.

"Yes. Just as yours is." He answered her anyway.

"But what of this body I see before me?" She asked. "Why are you not a spirit, like those I encountered in the cave?"

He turned away from her then and made his way to the window across the room. He too saw only death and destruction, except in those like him. He saw her as she really was. But the sight of the twins had disturbed him. They had been two of his closest friends as young elves. And seeing them as corpses was almost more than his already fragile sanity could take.

He knew he shouldn't tell them why he was there, and how he had come back. They would only scorn him, or try to persuade him to stop the madness he was being forced to inflict upon his own race. "Kellet, take them to the dungeons." He called to the human who was waiting patiently to the side. "Don't leave Isengard, yet. I will need your services along with all your men in the next few days."

"Is it time?" Kellet asked with a small evil smile crossing his lips.

"Yes, we must leave before the weather turns too bad." Haldir answered.

"Haldir, what are you doing?" Elladan called out in shock that his friend would send him to the dungeon.

Haldir turned to them again and sighed heavily. "I'm doing what I must." He answered in a sad resigned voice.

"But Haldir, whatever is wrong, we will try to help you." Elrohir tried to reason as one of the humans grabbed him roughly trying to pull him towards the door. They had been tied before they were brought before him, and the ropes were being tugged on mercilessly.

Atavus continued to stand staring at the elf she had admired so much upon their one and only meeting. Her mind was not muddled so far as to not understand what she was seeing. "It's no use Ro." She whispered. "He's gone."

The humans pulled them from the room forcefully. Atavus went without a struggle, but the twins fought as hard as they could to no avail. As they were taken into the dungeons that had been rebuilt under Isengard, after the flood that had once threatened to destroy the entire structure, Atavus could see that they were not the only ones who had been captured. All of the cells were almost full of elves. The twins recognized several elves they had known from both Lorien and Mirkwood. But as they tried to call out to those they knew the humans would strike them and push them on harder. They were taken to the last cell in the dungeons, which was unoccupied. Atavus immediately sat at the back of the cell staring down to the floor, with her knees pulled up to her chest.

Elrohir was standing next to the wall beside her watching as Elladan paced back and forth as the anger began to take over.

"Atavus what did you mean when you said, He's gone" Elrohir asked calmly.

She didn't look up to him, and it took her a moment to decide how to explain what she knew would hurt them. She decided on the direct route. "Haldir has lost his soul, the same as I have. It is trapped in the cave."

"But that does not explain his being alive, if Mandos didn't send him back." Elladan grumbled.

"No it doesn't. I don't even know how that happened, but what I do know is that the madness has consumed him. He does not think rationally." Atavus tried to explain what she saw in his eyes.

"You fear what he is planning?" Elrohir said kneeling beside her.

"Whatever he is planning, I know one thing." She answered.

"And what is that?" Elladan interrupted.

For the first time she intentionally looked at him. She wanted him to realize that she was not completely mad, and did know what she was talking about. "We are going back to the cave."

"How do you know that?" Elrohir asked.

"From what he said, and the fact that I can see it in his eyes. Whatever he is planning, it involves that cave." She knew her own sanity was touch and go at the moment, but she was positive of what she said.

"That could be a good thing." Elrohir said optimistically.

Atavus shook her head and chuckled slightly. "And just why do you see that as a good thing?"

"Well we sent Van back to take the party of elves to the cave. Maybe by the time we reach there, they will have figured out how to free the souls. And if not at least we'll have a better chance of defeating the humans with a group of elves backing us up." He answered.

"I must be going mad. I'm actually finding myself agreeing with your optimistic ideas." Atavus said shaking her head and laughing in earnest.

Author's Note: Okay I fully expect to be killed for this one. So go ahead take your best shot.