-Half Blood-

-ElvenHope-

Document X

When Elladan left his father's study he didn't know where to go. He didn't stop though, wandering down the corridors. He needed to get away from his father, he couldn't stand this it was ripping him to shreds. All of these lies were making him nervous and he knew that it wouldn't be long before a crack appeared. His father would spot it instantly, just like Elrohir had spotted the scars on his wrists.

Turning a bend in the corridor Elladan ran into the last person he wanted to meet right then – well the second last person anyway.

"Glorfindel," Elladan breathed looking up into the face of the legendary Balrog Slayer. He turned on his heel, but Glorfindel caught him by the elbow and span him back around. Elladan wondered irritably why no one ever just asked for him to wait and insisted on grabbing him and dragging him about.

Glorfindel knelt down so that he could look up into the boy's face and Elladan shuffled his feet feeling awkward.

"Elladan I just want to say that I'm sorry," Glorfindel said softly studying the boy's face.

Elladan looked up slightly, confused. "You… you what?"

"I apologise for how I acted earlier," Glorfindel repeated smiling at Elladan's bewildered expression. "I over reacted, I know you too well to know that you'd never do anything like that. I feel really bad penneth, do you forgive me?"

The young elf nodded quickly. "It doesn't matter," the peredhel answered. "I understand Glorfindel." He really hoped that Rael would say something similar to his story now. Apart from everything else he would feel like he had lied to Glorfindel. It was beginning to get hard to tell lies from truth.

The elder elf beamed and pulled the boy into an embrace. "I just want you to know that I'm here for you alright?" Glorfindel said remembering the frightened child from only a day ago. How could he have ever thought something so terrible of the boy?

"Thanks," Elladan replied stiffly attempting to smile.

Glorfindel obviously didn't notice Elladan's façade, either that or he chose to ignore it for he released the boy a moment later and carried on down the hall after ruffling Elladan's hair and saying that he would meet him at dinner.

Arwen was sitting out in the gardens on one of the beautifully carved stone benches. The sun was shining on her back as she stared out across the emerald green lawns. It was a good time of year and the weather was kind. A fiery sunset was descending on Imladris, the evanescent glow flowing over the valley slowly like molten lava.

Someone sat down beside her on the bench and Arwen didn't have to look round to know who it was.

There was silence for a long time and she wondered if she should say something. She didn't want to though; she didn't know what to say.

"Arwen," Elrohir said eventually twisting his fingers in his lap. "I'm sorry." The words sounded dull to his ears and he wondered if coming to find her had been such a good idea. "Arwen I don't know what else to say to make it alright."

Arwen looked across at her brother who was looking at her earnestly. She hated being so angry at him, and she hated fighting with him to – it was far away from Arwen's nature to be so unforgiving, but he had hurt her badly. It wasn't the bruises which bothered her either.

"Elladan says that it wasn't you," Arwen looked across at her brother confused. "But how can that be possible?"

Elrohir looked up at his sister's bruised face, the swelling was going down quickly, but it didn't matter. The younger twin still found himself hating himself for everything. He wanted to tell Arwen what was going and he wanted to tell his parents too. It wasn't fair that Elladan had put him in a situation like this, but he didn't blame his brother. He just knew that everything was going to go terribly wrong.

"I don't know Arwen," Elrohir answered quietly. "And I can't just give you excuses, but I feel awful and I'll never ever do anything like that to you again for as long as I live. I only ever want to protect you. I really don't know what happened and I know that I can't make you forgive me so easily. But maybe…"

He trailed off lost for words and Arwen looked at her brother's face. Though she still hated him inside there was a part of her which wanted to forgive him. That made her hate him even more, but at the same time she just couldn't hold a grudge. Sighing she lifted a hand and rested it tentatively on his shoulder.

"Elrohir there is a part of me that wants to hate you; and yet despite everything there is also a part of me that loves you deeply and hates seeing you like this. No matter what you do I don't think I could ever cause you pain and I know that this is hurting you now," she said with a wisdom which seemed quite beyond her years, but was simply the truth. Elrohir looked up at her hope gleaming in his eyes and Arwen smiled. "I don't think anyone could hold a grudge against you 'Ro."

Elrohir smiled slightly and embraced his sister tightly when she pulled him into her arms.

"Thanks Arwen," he whispered.

Elladan sat in his room mulling everything over. He had a bad feeling about everything that was happening, and he knew that as soon as his father talked to Rael's parents things would only get worse. Rael wasn't going to tell the truth and Elladan had a sinking feeling that his lie was going to put Elladan in far more trouble.

The young peredhel's thoughts were only worsened when moments later there was a knock on his door. He didn't need to move to answer it. Only seconds later the door burst open, but it was not his father who entered – as he had expected. It was someone he had never seen before, though the elf was oddly familiar.

He didn't have the time to ponder on it though for a second later the elf had yanked him off the bed and shoved him into the wall none too gently. "What have you done to him?"

Elladan yelped and kicked at his attacker viciously, unable to find his voice ask what the elf was talking about. Seconds later his father raced in and pulled the other elf off him slamming the blond into the adjoining wall.

"Don't you touch him, do you hear me?" The Elven Lord hissed at the other fury in his silver orbs. All Elladan could do was stare, he didn't think that he'd ever seen his father so angry and what was more he was completely confused about what was happening.

The Lord of Imladris released the other elf quickly knowing that Elladan was still watching him. He turned to his son ignoring the other occupant of the room and knelt down in front of the other elf. He'd found recently that it was the best way to get the boy to pay attention to him.

"Are you alright?" He asked quietly brushing the ebony hair from his son's face to check for bruises.

Elladan nodded mutely too shocked to speak. His father seemed satisfied for now and turned to the other elf.

"I think that you had better leave," he said frostily. "I will talk to my son alone and then we can speak about this somewhere else if you cannot control yourself."

"I want to know what he's done to my son," the other elf snapped and that was when Elladan realized that he must be Rael's father. Well this wasn't going well. Rael must have said something terrible if this was the other elf's reaction. Then again this could very easily be a case of like father like son.

"I said that I will talk to him," Elrond said sharply. "You are not helping." Elrond was completely appalled at the other elf's behaviour. He would never attack a child no matter what they had done. "Go and wait in my office and I will talk to you about it there."

Rael's father threw Elrond a glare, his gaze moving over to Elladan before he left the room.

Elladan stood completely still for a moment stunned, before sliding down the wall to sit on the floor.

"Elladan?" Elrond asked worriedly turning back to his son immediately. "I am so sorry that happened. No matter what no one should ever attack a child like that. He didn't hurt you did he?"

Elladan shook his head again and finally finding his voice whispered. "No… no I'm fine."

The elder elf raised an eyebrow, he didn't believe his son. The boy had been saying that he was fine far too often as of late and it was beginning to worry him. He looked fine though, no bruises – apart from a little shock he was fine.

"Rael has told us what happened," Elrond said seriously, his demeanour changing suddenly. Elladan didn't like the tone in his father's voice one bit. He was in trouble, and he knew it.

"What did he say?" Elladan asked resignedly.

Elrond looked at his son concerned. "I should think that you know, don't you, having been there yourself?"

Elladan wondered idly why his father couldn't just make this easy for him and get it over with.

"I have told you," Elladan replied. "Rael slipped and I was pulling him back up." Elrond didn't look convinced and the young elf could guess why. "I suppose that Rael's version of the truth was different?" He asked hazarding a guess.

Elrond nodded. "Yes, it was quite different."

The younger elf sighed and rested his head in his hands. Elrond's brow creased, he was worried about his son. If what Rael had said was true then he wasn't sure what do with him.

"What did he say?" The boy asked eventually, wondering how his father would react to his rather exasperated expression. He couldn't help it. He was completely sick of it and he didn't know how much more he could take.

The Elven Lord's eyes darkened as he tried to read his son's expression and failed miserably. That in itself was an oddity; he had prided himself in his ability to see how his children were feeling even when they tried to hide it. Now he was completely lost and the prospect that he might be loosing his own son frightened him. Every parent knew that they had to let go of their children at some point, but he hadn't expected for it to happen so soon.

Elrond found himself having difficulty telling his son what Rael had said. He had wanted to accuse the other child of lying the moment he heard his side of the story. Elladan was not capable of doing such things, but Elrond couldn't just dismiss it. He was going to have to look at both sides of the story and see where things didn't add up.

"Rael said that…" he paused trying to catch Elladan's eye, but the boy evaded him. "He said that you tried to push him over the edge of the balcony and that he grabbed you before he fell."

A/N: Sorry for not updating sooner, I had the chapter, but because I wasn't in on Sunday I completely forgot about updating. So here it is. The last bit is kinda far fetched. I think that in my mind Elladan and Elrohir became older as I was writing even though at the beginning they were smaller. So I'm probably going to make them a tad older for poetic liscence... I will edit the first chapter later and probably have to fiddle with some things, but I'll just explain it to you guys alright? So I don't really know how old they are 13 maybe...? That still seems a little young for a fully grown elf to attack a kid, but I needed an excuse to get Elrond to come and talk to Elladan yet again and well now you know where Rael gets his temper from, eh?

Thanks for all the lovely reviews they really brighten up my day!

-ElvenHope