Okay, a better Chapter 14 for ye all, decided the other one sucked and thank you so much to Viresse and everyone else for your thoughts. Read on...

Chapter 14: The Verge Of Collapse
Disclaimer: 'Tis outlined in Chapter 1

Arwen stood in the doorway panting slightly after her strenuous dash from Lothlorien and then her mad run up the stairs. She had received a letter from her father explaining the situation, though just the bare details, and she could see, even though her view of her ill brother was covered by Elrohir's body somewhat, she could understand why her father told her to stay and didn't explain to much.

She gently shook her arms trying to flick away some irritating drips of rain still coating her simple gown. All of her movements ceased, though when from the dimly lit room she could hear soft words of encouragement being coaxed and harsh breathing.

Immediately she pulled the cloak of from around her shoulders and took quiet steps into the room. Throwing her discarded cloak so it hung from the back of a nearby chair, she gently sat down on the bed, and leant against Elrohir.

Gently slinging an arm around his waist she gave him a light squeeze and smiled when the gesture, albeit softly was returned.

Her gaze fell onto that of her brothers and gently cocking her head to one side, she brushed her hand down the side of Elladan's face trailing his scar with gentle fingertips. She frowned and with a soft flick she pushed aside sweat caked hair from her brother's face, tucking it behind his ear.

She jumped slightly and was brought out of her fearful state when a hand suddenly clasped around hers. She brought her face up and looked towards Elrohir. A look of question passed through her face and within in seconds it was answered.

'Arwen, go, now, please, you must find Ada'.

'But..'

'No buts Arwen, You're the only who can find Ada, I can't just leave him alone'. Elrohir's gaze fell on his brother's almost lifeless form and took in a deep breath, when he turned to face Arwen again, tears were beginning to form at the base of his eyes. 'I can't leave him alone…again'.

Deciding that it was for the best if she went, she gave her consent with a quick nod, took one last look at both her brothers, slid off the bed in a childlike manner and rushed out of the room, gown flowing behind her.

'I didn't think he would be that worse off. Elladan is strong, and though all the battles and scrapes I've seen him pull himself through, this one looks exactly the same. Saying that though, the wound seems deeper, as if it's affected his soul in someway. But how?' Different answers and questions floated throughout her mind as she twisted and turned through the Halls of the Last Homely House, trying to track down her father which wasn't too hard… usually.

'But what of Aragorn, Elrohir hadn't told me where he is. Maybe..' She gasped to herself and come to a dead stop, covering her mouth with her hand. 'No, he couldn't be. Ada just said…'. She shook her head and kicked the nearby wall for a little reassurance. 'Stop thinking like that Arwen, you're going to scare yourself. Like the time when you thought there was a spider in the bathroom and began attack the place with a towel and your underwear'.

Reality came crashing back to her, as strong hands were placed on her shoulders. Blinking a few times and shaking her head, she looked up to who had caused this interruption.

Elrond's eyes grew wide and with a quick sweep of his arms, brought Arwen into a hug then held her out at arms length.

'I believe I told you to stay with your grandmother'.

Pulling herself free from her father's grasp and waving off his moan she got back to the matter in hand.

'Ada, please not now… I'll tell you more later, just that right now, Elrohir… he needs you. I don't know what happened, But Elladan, he looks…'

Elrond's face suddenly fell with moral horror and pulled Arwen into a hug again. 'Ai! Arwen, this is why I told you to stay, you are too young and innocent to see the horrors which rain down in this house right now'.

'Ada! I am not 500 years old! Now come… Elrohir seemed desperate'. She gently pulled at her father's robe, acting just like a small child that she, only a few seconds before claimed not to be. Grabbing his daughter's hands he gave it a quick squeeze, then raced off down the corridor to his ailing son's room.

When he arrived, the scene that greeted him made his heart fall even further into the depths of his stomach. Making his feet work, he gathered his wits and brought himself up to the bed once more. He could hear soft footfalls behind him and was about to tell Arwen to go back and get some rest when he saw Elrohir fuss over his brother. 'What on Earth'.

Taking a large stride so that he was on the other side of the bed from Elrohir and facing his son, he could see what Elrohir was doing. He was stopping a continuous blood flow. Dashing into the bathroom, and grabbing all the absorbent materials he could find, he began to help his son. It wasn't all the blood that left Elladan's arm that worried him, it was the fast erratic breathing and the periodical spasm.

After about 5 minutes, the bleeding had come to a small trickle, and Elladan had finally began to breathe more evenly, but his body still jerked. Whilst Elrohir began to mop it all up, Elrond got to work. First he pulled Elrohir away from his brother, for two reasons. One, so it was easier for him to work, and two so Elrohir would sit down and rest both his fatigued body and mind. He then gently lead Arwen from her 'stuck' position and sat her down next to her brother. Then with them settled, he began to treat the wound.

Cleaning it out, so he could get a better look at what actually was going on, he almost cried out in shock. But managed to catch his gasp in his throat, before he alerted his children to his distress. When he had last checked the wound was sufficiently clean, and wrapped. But now, it looked raw and jagged, the skin was beginning to take an ugly black colour to it, telling Elrond that it was dying. Inside little deep red clots of blood began to form as the body tried to feverently heal itself. What was most troubling though, that beyond the sever in the arm, a trail of green was trailing down the arm and towards the wrist. As it descended he colour began to get deeper until it was almost a black. Gently grasping the arm gently, trying not to irritate the wound even further, he turned the arm around, and this time didn't manage to stop himself from gasping aloud.

What he had seen just didn't happen in any of his books. At the wrist, another slice had formed and was beginning to get deeper, as if some parasite was in there, eating to its heart's content. It was beginning to look like the one further up his arm. With arisen panic, Elrond pulled the sleeve of Elladan's tunic up further and found what he had hoped not to find. Ever.

The green trail was creeping up his arm, like a crude ivy, and just where it ended, just below his shoulder, another cut was forming. Dropping his son's arm in dismay, he rolled down the sleeve, trying to hide it and begging his brain to tell him that this, all of this is a sick dream.

No matter how hard he tried to convince himself though… it wasn't.

Elrond sat in the corner of the room, his face in his hands, sighing very few minutes. He had redressed and salved the wound, to best of his knowledge, and he had told himself that that was the only thing he could do. He knew it was poison that was attacking his son's body, but which one he didn't know.

He hated to see any of his children in pain, but giving him, even a regular pain killer could make his entire body shut down faster. He was at a fork in the road, and Elrond couldn't decide which way to go, as both paths were block by something or another. Left: his lack of knowledge and right: the fear of causing Elladan more pain.

Leaning back in his chair, the frustrated Elf Lord ran a hand through his hair and shut his eyes for a brief moment.

From across the room Elrohir was gently soothing his sobbing sister in his arms, still playing with her dark, silk soft hair, trying to distract himself from the hell he was currently residing in. He gently moved Arwen to the side. Then with that he made haste towards his father. Squatting down in front of him, Elrohir gently nudged his father, awaking him and giggling for a short while when through his fathers mouth came a rather inhuman grunt and snort.

Looking up to his father, Elrond read the question portrayed in Elrohir's eyes and gave a light shrug. 'Elrohir, I have no idea what to do. I think for once, I have failed. And Elladan will…'

Elrond still a bit dazed from the lack of sleep jumped a little when Elrohir's voice rang through his ears. 'Ada! Don't dare say that! I know there is something we can do. There always is. Elladan's getting worse I can see that myself. But, hell you give up now Ada and then what? Elladan will surely die, and you know as well as I do, that it might have been prevented. I can't live knowing that the person I shared my secrets and life with suddenly disappears from the face of the Earth. We've come to far to stop. Elladan will hang on for as long as he can. He's giving us time. We need to use it'.

Elrond knew that his son was right but where was he going to get any of the information from? 'Elrohir, we're lost, we're stuck. You words ring true, but without the knowledge of the source of the poison, what is there for me to do?'

Elrohir sighed and then his head shot up and his face brightened. 'Ada, I just know, don't ask me how, because I will not be able to explain how I know, but Estel, he knows what the problem is'. Then just like that Elrohir's head hung back down to his chest. 'But he's still asleep, and by the time he wakes up.. Elladan could be gone'. He took a longing at his brother, trying to think his plan through. 'Maybe that damned Ghost will come back. But if I summon him now, God knows how Ada will react when I talk to thin air!'

Elrond tired to digest all this information. 'Estel knows?' Elrond brought both hands down on Elrohir's shoulders and squeezed. Without taking his eyes off the wall in front of him, he quickly declared, 'But that, my dear boy is where you are wrong! Because our dear answer woke up a few hours ago'. Looking down and smiling at Elrohir's confused face, he continued. 'Don't look so confused, that was what I was coming down here to tell you all. Estel has awoken, and even though he is slightly still disorientated, he's awake. We need to make haste, and fast'.

Elrond pushed himself up to quickly run to the room, but Elrohir's hand prevented him from doing so. Sliding himself in front of his father, with a sort of stern look on his face, and receiving an agitated one (The sort of look a child would get when their mother would keep them from going outside).

'Ada, earlier on when I truly needed help, when Elladan was going crazy telling me he didn't want to die, I called out for you. But you never came. Why not?' Elrohir's voice held a teary tone, and his body was shaking all over and Elrond couldn't decide whether is was because of the cold, anger or white fear.

Elrond's look was covered by that of confusion, and quickly drew his son into his arms. 'Forgive me my son. I was upstairs having a quick chat with our dear guest. I am terribly sorry, but you know that I would never abandon you or your brother, right?'

Elrohir nodded into Elrohir's shoulder, and before leaving, Elrond asked if Arwen would look over her brother, which he agreed to forwardly. They closed the door behind them and got straight to work on their plan.

The two man shared looks of amazement and horror for another few minutes, before Edomir, cruelly broke the silence.

Snarling, he caught the weakened Aragorn of guard by slamming his curled fist into the side of his head. Aragorn reeled backwards in shock and pain, squeezing his eyes shut, trying to block out the thumping pain.

Raising a trembling hand to the side of his head, checking that he wasn't bleeding, and breathed a sigh of relief when his hand didn't come away speckled with red. Rolling onto his stomach and shakily raising himself up on all fours, still feeling drained from his last adventure, he tried to face the oncoming attack.

Edomir cursed aloud and rubbed his sore hand ranting about 'rangers with hard, large, empty heads'. Seeing the man in front of him dazed for a few more seconds, Edomir went in for a second attack, boot knife flared, jumped, aiming to land on Aragorn, but instead flew straight over the ranger, fell head first on the mattress, groaned and involuntarily slumped of the bed, landing with a thud on the floor.

'Damn, bloody rangers'. Searching for his knife, on all fours, he didn't bother to look out for any surprise attacks from Estel, as he believed he was too weak to venture after him. That was where he was wrong. Edomir had just managed to retrieve his fallen knife form under the bed, and when he rose and kneeling he caught site of a smirking, brown haired man before him, with a vase hoisted above his head.

Estel was shaking from the strain of the weight of the vase on his just awakened arms, and believing he couldn't hold the thing up for no longer, he let it drop with an irritating side smirk, waved and mouthed goodnight to the man in front of him.

Edomir let out a sharp cry when the vase splintered over his head, swaying for a moment, then quickly shaking the parts out of his hair. Growling, Edomir gained a harder grip on his knife, and simply done a full belly flop, effectively pinning Aragorn down on the bed, and trying to take stabs at the ranger's throat.

Taken by surprise by the sudden movement, Aragorn tried to roll out of the way, but found that all of his limbs felt like lead. With the air being squeezed out of his lungs, he desperately tried to gulp down some more, trying to keep a grip on consciousness, as with a slight hesitation, he'd be dead.

Gripping the insane man's hands before him, Aragorn tried to lift Edomir off him, but found he was still to weak to, 'What do you expect? You woke up not even 10 minutes ago!' Ignoring his conscience, he stared Edomir straight in the face asking, 'What do you want?'

Aragorn was taken aback when Edomir's face began to light up red and he could see the veins in his head begin to pop out. 'WHAT do I want? I WANT what you stole from me!' Becoming even more angered when Aragorn's face creased into confusion, he continued, applying more pressure, aware that the Ranger's strength was waning, 'You know exactly what I mean. My pendant you stole it from me, when you attacked me in the pub. I want it back!'

Realisation hit Aragorn, even though those event were clouded in drunkenness, he still knew. In his slip of concentration, Edomir pushed down a little further, the knife being so close to his face, he could smell the steel.

Estel turned his head to the side table, he curiously asked, 'What this?' Edomir's head turned, his eyes grew wide of finally finding his prize. For a moment, Edomir froze, looking at it, as if making sure no harm was done to it.

Knowing that this is the only time he could get, with Edomir in his glorified stupor, Estel began to dislodge the man from his chest. With a harp grunt he painfully brought he leg between him and Edomir and with a quick push and roll managed to send Edomir to the ground once more. His head impacting on the broken pieces of pottery.

Clutching his head once again as it threatened to shut his body down in the middle of a battle, Aragorn swore to himself when Edomir was picking himself up, ready to attack again.

Estel slipped back onto the bed, getting into a defensive position. Closing his eyes, as the image before him began to slide into two identical pictures, he hoped for the best.

Suddenly the door behind him flew open, and standing there with the light shining behind them was a stunned Elrohir and a very angry looking Elf Lord.

Edomir, had his prey in a trap, and was just about to take the killing move as Estel shut his eyes, but was stopped when he knees unexpectedly crumbled from beneath him, and then the door to the room was thrown open. He bowed his head, growling to himself, 'How could this go wrong?'

Next, he found himself being hauled up from the ground from his collar. Perplexed, he looked towards the ranger or simply shrugged, so finding out for himself what had so easily lifted him off the ground, he craned his neck to look. And almost fainted.

Behind him, glaring down at him through cold, dark eyes, brow wrinkled into anger lines and frustration, stood a proud and highly irritated Elrond. Sheepishly smiling and giving a slight chuckle, Elrond simple growled at his response and with a flick, let the human fall back to the floor on his arse.

Whimpering and holding his hands above his head, as if to fend of some sort of bumble bee, Edomir sat there, collecting his thoughts on how everything when from great to worse in a matter of moments. 'Bugger, that coin is nowhere in sight, and now I'll probably go to jail, die an evil death… and owies, there are vase pieces in my trousers'. Edomir shuffled slightly to get rid of the stinging pain in his rump but stopped when he went sliding over some more pieces, and hearing a slight rip coming from underneath him 'Damn'.

Clearing his throat, Elrond gave a quick sharp kick to his prisoner and boomed; 'I gave you my apologises and my hospitality? And this, this is how you repay me? My son was right, you really are a 'scheming bastard''. From behind him, Elrond could hear Elrohir gasp, and admonish him, but Elrond ignored it and carried on, 'Now, if you don't get up of my highly polished floor, which may I tell you doesn't need polishing anymore while you brush you back end with it, I'll call my guards and have you promptly thrown out of Imladris'.

Edomir sat there in stunned silence, calculating his next move, it was a risky one… but anything to escape this and come back later. He raised his head, gave a two finger salute to the Elf before him and crashed through the two large windows to the right of him, falling down three stories.

Elrond, in a flurry of robes, made his way to the window and leant out of it. Sighing through amazement and the humans stupidity, he stepped back into the room, and smiled at Estel. 'You see Elrohir?'

Elrohir still stood in the doorway, not even moving an inch throughout the whole ordeal, but as if hypnotised and assured by his fathers words, he let the held back tears fell, ran into the room, dropped down heavily to the floor and gathered his fostered brother in his arms. Sniffling, he gently whispered to his brother, 'I knew you'd get through this'.

Estel smiled and gave his brother back an affectionate squeeze, maybe half the nightmare was finally over.

With an oomph, Edomir slid out on all fours from the rose bush, rubbing his head and plucking out thorns decorating his body. He glanced up and squinted, not believing the height he fell. Using the nearby tree as a support, he made his way to his feet, leaning back on the tree for some support, gathering his breath again.

He swore an oath to himself that he would most certainly be back, and when he heard footfalls leading his way, he sprinted around the side of the house and collapsed in a nearby manure pile. 'Joy…'

I know, I know, Kill me! That fight scene I was planning didn't go as well as I had expected! Please tell me what you think… please? I find it real difficult to write them and telling me what you think will tell me whether to write them again or not. Whoot! I almost have 30 reviews! May not be the same like the other writers, but still! I thank ye all!

Hopefully, there was some good humour in there, if not kill me! So, did you think Edomir was going to die or not… LOL I couldn't kill him off, he's too damn stupid and self content to die!