Yes! I actually managed to get this updated on time. I congratulate myself. Anyways, I just want to let ye all know that I am fully aware that this chapter sucks, I has takne my all day to rewrite and this constant pang of writer's block isn't helping me much. So yeah. Be kind to me

Disclaimer: Not writing it again, so go take a peekies at Chapter 1.

Chapter 5: The first hurdle.

'Ah, I get it now!' All heads turned in the direction of the infamous Rúnya. He smiled all too sweetly at the twins before continuing. 'Its all clear now. Elladan punches like a girl because he hurt his arm, and Elrohir…well he has that old man hobble, because of his leg. Why didn't you guys tell me?' He laughed to himself lightly and pulled a cheeky smile just to complete the tease.

A crack of knuckles and a throaty growl sounded through the hall. But were all brushed aside by Rúnya's hearty giggles. Both twins turned to each other with identical looks on their face… outrage.

'Gwandur…Who should…'

'Re-arrange his face?'

'Or his molecules…?'

'Or what about his….?' Elladan arched his eyebrows and gave a little whistle. Sarcastically thinking, Elrohir decided, 'I say all four, and maybe more…'. He got up, forgetting all about Táridur on his lap, and stalked towards Rúnya, who leant on the side of the fireplace. Elladan joined his brother and between them, they flanked the young elfling.

Narrowing his eyes, Elladan taunted 'Today's lesson…' and let his brother finish for him. 'Lesson one, respecting your elders.' A little cough resounded from behind them and when they turned, they didn't come face to face with someone they hoped. Towering above them stood Telpëalata and with the hands on her hips and jaw set, she looked just a little scary.

'What do you two think you are doing?' Rúnya peeked out from behind the twins, 'Hello Naneth, they were going to 're-arrange my face', what does that mean?' He hid a smile when his mother's face started to go a frightening deep shade ofblue.

Shoving his brother forward, Elladan hung his head and stood with his hands clasped behind his back. Elrohir squeaked at the quick assault and almost fell into the raging Elf maiden. 'Well then you two? Speak up.' Elrohir opened his mouth to speak when he quickly shut it again just to hear his father's voice. 'Sons? What mischief are you causing now, prey tell?' When they said nothing, Elrond pushed them harder 'If you are not doing anything wrong, then why are you not telling us?'

'Er.. We were ummm playing a little game, Ada. Nothing harmful.' That was the only thing Elrohir came up with and he just hoped that they could play on it.

'A game? What game?' The Elf Lord raised his eyebrows and folded his arms across his chest. 'Think, think, think, think, think….'.

'It's a game where we all try to finish off each other's sentences. Honestly'. Elrohir breathed a sigh of relief. 'Sometimes, Elladan does come in handy'.

Elrond didn't seem convinced, but on the other hand, Rúnya didn't seem upset, so that was alright. He turned out of the room with his robes trailing him and halted at the doorway for his guest. Elladan and Elrohir stood side by side and winked at each other. Telpëalata glared at them and warned 'Touch any of my children, and so help you will no longer be Elf Lords'. Happy with herself and the reaction she got, she patted Rúnya 's head affectionately and kissed Táridur on the head. She made her way over to Kirwen and draped a jacket she was wearing over her. Smiling, she went and accompanied Elrond, and together. They once again left the room.

They could hear mutters from them, ranging from why the twins were so disruptive, why they were not more like her children and why Elladan has chosen to have a white spot dyed into his hair. After that remark all they heard was a loud 'What' from Elrond, then everything went quiet.

They settled back down in their respective places, Táridur lay on Elrohir, Rúnya cuddled up to the fireplace and Elladan now preoccupied the sear Kirwen was sleeping on, but had the elfling cradled in his arms. Smiling down at her, he continued on with the story.

Elrohir shifted when he heard footsteps next to him, and tried to pry his eyes open when a soft touch began to nudge him to awareness. Grinning foolishly to himself and wishing it could be the housemaid he liked, he open his grey eyes and his heart fell at the sight he saw. Elrond…again.

Said father, picked him up in his arms and carried him to his chambers. He managed to put up a feeble struggle but gave up when he knew he couldn't win. How degrading. He was well over his maturity age, and he was still being lifted by his father to bed? By the Valar.

Elrond stopped at the bed and lowered his gaze. He knew he was going to have to tell Elrohir sometime. Letting out a sigh and sitting on the edge of the king-size bed, he straightened the sheets absentmindedly, slowly humming to himself.

'Ada? You alright?' Shaking his head a little and mentally berating himself, he turned his eyes on Elrohir's confused and slightly scared face. Clearing his sons worries with a small smile and a wave of his hands, he decided that now was the time to tell him.

'Elrohir, I was meaning to tell you this a little while ago, last night perhaps. But I never had the heart. You see, Estel, he is… he is very ill, and I can't seem to…' Whipping away stray tears that threatened to fall he tried to face Elrohir, but his head was bowed. 'Elrohir, he isn't gone to Mandos yet, but all I'm saying is that he doesn't seem to want to wake up, no matter what I do… I have tried and tried. It is not like me to give up. I am a terrible father am I not?' He jerked back when a blow fell to his arm. Next he got a mouthful from Elrohir.

'Ada! Never say that. You are a great a father, and a great healer. I knew Estel had limited time and a limited chance of survival. Do you not think that I have tried to come to terms with that? All I need now is your support, I don't want you to turn thinking you are all bad inside. Because you are not. OKAY? Don't ever say that again…never…ever'. The tears that he had promised himself he wouldn't cry managed to slip past his defences and hiccupping he tried to stop sobbing. He felt his fathers warm embrace encircle him and melted into it, for a few moments they stayed like that until a rustling alerted them.

'Wow, never thought I would ever see that again…' Elrohir's head shot up and jerked to where he heard the voice. His eyes widened, his mood reversed, and for the first time in a couple of days, he smiled. Slipping out of Elrond's grasp and bounding towards the bed, he leapt on top of it, like a small child would a piece of chocolate and landed on top of his brother. 'Elladan! You're here, you're alive', he took a closer look at his brother and changed his statement… 'well not entirely alive…'. Crushing Elladan in a tight embrace he finally let go, when Elrond tapped his shoulder and he saw Elladan's lips turning blue. 'Ooops…sorry'. Shuffling towards the end of the bed, he sat there with his legs folded and elbows rested on them. Still smiling, he watched as Elrond checked on his twin.

'Does this hurt… sorry. What about this?' He gently prodded his sons arm and smiled when Elladan tried to withdraw his arm back. 'No, of course not, why does my arm have reason to hurt? That's it just prod it why don't you. Can't hurt any worse than it is…AI!' Elrohir giggled when his brother managed to jump six feet in the air, pull his father onto the bed, but fall off it himself. 'Owwwww'. He heard a little moan from underneath him, with that Elrohir slipped off the bed and helped his brother stand. He saw Elrond try to regain what dignity he had left and give a caution look to his eldest.

Elrohir hissed when he caught a glance at Elladan's arm and inspected it himself. 'Well, isn't this a bump and a half?' He saw his brother being pulled over the bed by his good arm, righted and then admonished by his father.

'Yes, I have seen that, also Elrohir, but can not manage to find out what it is of late. I will have to do some research, and until them ion-nin, you are staying in bed. No buts, no loop-holes, not nothing. You. Are. Staying. Here'. When all he got was a blank stare, he salved and redressed the wound to fend off any dirt that might get in there. Moving to his next order of business, his other son, he undone the bandages from the night before, happy with how it was healing, he grinned at his son and redressed it.

He left the room, to check on the never awaking Aragorn.

Turning to his brother, Elrohir mouthed sorry, and almost laughed at the fish impression Elladan was pulling off. When Elladan just get staring wide-mouthed. Elrohir shook his brother gently, and followed to where his brother's eyes were fixed. 'Do you see what I see 'Ro?' Elrohir nodded his head not moving his eyes from the sight before him. 'I saw him in the woods'.

'Dan, I saw him last night in our house. What's happening?' Elladan shrugged and was about to say something more when the figure in front of them stepped forward.

'Okay, this is getting beyond the joke now. First, you are in my room, and now, you've duplicated yourself and taken another room of my house hostage? Who are you people? Person?'

Elrohir stood up from where he was sitting and felt his brother join his side. Gently nudging his brother he whispered, 'Go on, speak.. it's just Estel after all.'

'Well, if its 'just Estel' then why don't you talk to it?' Knowing he was losing Elrohir spoke to it. 'Estel, now look, this is Elladan's room. Wait a minute, if this is some crazy joke, I can assure you it isn't. And if you're….'

The ghost portrayed a face of shock. 'You know my name? How? Who are you? Why are you in my house?'

'This is our house, we share it. Estel, why are you a ghost?' The being shrugged and came up with the best answer possible.

'I just can't go back, you think I wouldn't if I could. I can't stand talking to a duplicated person, one a chatter box, the other a fly catcher. This is no freak show. What do you mean we share this house? This is my house, my own. Now get out.' The ghost charged forward intending to shove Elrohir to floor, but whizzed straight past him and through the wall, leaving a little white mark.

'Ro, he's not going to leave that stuff there on the wall every time he does that right?'

Before his brother could answer the all to familiar voice came from behind them once more 'Hey! You try to go through walls. By the way…' He pointed to the smudge on the wall, 'You're going to have to clean that.'

Two mirror images sat on a bed, one having a staring contest with a ghost, the other looking through a pile of books. Elrohir had a four books open in front of him, a whole section from the library of poltergeists and was currently searching through a book entitled 'Learn the mind of a Ghost' by Nota Chance. Frustrated, he threw the book to the floor and fell backwards across the bed. He got the attention form both people he was intending to.

'This is hopeless. We'll never find out why you're here, and we can't tell Ada, he'll just find us crazy!' Turning to the ghost, he tried to reason with it. 'Look, I take you're name's Estel right? And you know you're living in this house… what else do you remember?'

The ghost stared into the eyes of Elrohir and shrugged. 'I try to remember things, but I can't. I suppose I'm here for some reason, but I don't know why. You still haven't told me who you are yet.'

A shocked expression plastered itself on Elladan's face, 'So you have no idea who we are? Not even in the slightest?' When the ghost shook his head Elladan could feel his heart die there and then. Why couldn't the supposed soul, or ghost of his youngest brother remember who he was. 'Estel, we're your brothers, remember?'

Estel's soul laughed. 'You're kidding me, how can you be, you're elves and I'm a human. Just a simple human'. Elrohir growled, this couldn't be happening, with this ghost who keeps forgetting everything, it was going to take longer for him to return to his brother's body and make him whole again. 'Look, try to believe us here, we're your brothers, this is our house, this is Elladan's room'. Then hit him.

'I remember reading something. When ghosts are in this sort of form, they are stuck in a sort of Purgatory. They need to correct what they done wrong in order to die, or go back to what they once were. So, like he said, he's here for a reason. I suppose we're just going to have to remind him what happened, who and what he is and then he can fix what ever he didn't. Yes! It's all coming back now.' Elrohir pointed to the Ghost, I remember, back in the woods, when you, Estel told me, before he fell to darkness that you 'forgot to…'.'

Estel's soul/ghost stopped for a moment then flinched. 'The woods…' Again he flinched again, and with the same speed he was here, he was gone.'

The twins were more than gob smacked. He was gone. They blew their only chance. 'Well done 'Ro, you scared a ghost. I always told you that you were capable of scaring the living dead.'

But the reaction he got, plunged Elladan's cheery mood further down. 'Shut up Elladan, I'm not in the mood'. With that Elrohir got up and plodded out of his brother's room. 'I've got to go get a ghost back'.

Elladan was drifting off to sleep when he heard a creaking noise beside him. Turning drowsily to the disturbance, his mood lifted once again. There sitting in a chair across the room was the ghost. Before he could say anything though, the ghost came forward and sat on the side of the bed. He looked down at Elladan's face and smiled.

'You really are my brother's aren't you?' Relived, he nodded his head affectionately with a few specks of tears lining his eyes.

'How did you finally decide?' The ghost took in his question for a few moments before standing and answering. 'Because both of you were there when I died'.

Please R&R this authoress is sad and lonely and I needthe reviews to make me happy. I ampractically starved from them -sniffle-.But big thankies to all my reviewers so far. Love you all!