A/N: The parts where the setting is in italics is a memory. The regular font wording in between that is actually happening in Eleryna's mind. Hopefully it'll make sense when you read it. Enjoy!
She took her seat next to her husband in the middle of the gathered Elves. They had come at her father's behest and he had asked her and her husband to sit in on the council since the news they had brought several years ago was relevant now more than ever. Once everyone had settled, Elrond stood and faced them.
"Strangers from distant lands, friends of old, you have been summoned here to answer the threat of Mordor. Middle Earth stands on the brink of destruction. None can escape it. You will unite or you will fall. Each race is bound to this fate, this one doom." He paused for breath. "Bring forth the Ring, Frodo." Eleryna watched as the Hobbit she had healed just the other night stood and walked to the middle of the patio where a pedestal waited and placed a simple gold ring on it. Dread filled her as she looked at the two of them. Something was going to happen, but she wasn't sure what it was or why she was so afraid. The Ring held her attention, preventing her from thinking of anything else. Something was tugging at her, and it was not the gold band that rested just feet from her.
"Wait," she thought, "this isn't right. This had already happened. Why am I back in the council? Was everything a dream?"
"In a dream," he spoke, "I saw the Eastern sky grow dark, but in the West a pale light lingered. It cried, 'Doom is near at hand. Isildur's Bane is found." He reached for the Ring.
"Boromir!" Elrond cried. She felt herself leave her seat to stop the Man. She knew him. He had died. It had been her fault. She stopped moving when she heard the black speech and looked where she knew Gandalf had sat. In his place was Sauron and she could understand his words.
"I have been waiting for you, She-Elf. I'm sorry, Daughter of Elrond. I have been looking for you for a long time. I know you know that I have."
"You are dead. I destroyed you." Eleryna took a step back, hoping to bump into her chair and this all be a dream and she was having a vision of some sort in the middle of the council. Wouldn't that be a fine thing for everyone to witness.
"If you're so sure of that, then why are you afraid?" Sauron laughed.
"I'm not afraid." Eleryna groped for the chair she knew should be behind her. "You are destroyed. Your Ring will follow."
"Then what are we waiting for?" Gimli growled, picking up his axe and swinging it. He struck the Ring with a bellow. But instead of shattering the gold, his axe shattered and he was knocked to his back. Eleryna was back in her chair. She took a deep breath and watched as the council proceeded. The axe shattering had dispelled whatever vision she had been seeing. She would talk to her father after the council and ask him what it could mean as she was in just as much danger as anyone else could be. She turned back to the council.
"The Ring cannot be destroyed, Gimli son of Glóin, by any craft that we here possess." Elrond said. "The Ring was made in the fires of Mount Doom. Only there can it be unmade. It must be taken deep into Mordor and cast back into the fiery chasm from whence it came. One of you, must do this." Silence and then,
"One does not simply walk into Mordor." It was Boromir. "Its black gates are guarded by more than just orcs. There is evil there that does not sleep. The great eye, lidless and wreathed in flame, is ever watchful. It is a barren wasteland riddled with fire and ash and dust. Not with ten thousand men can you do this. It is folly."
"Yes, it is folly." Sauron's voice interrupted the council again. Eleryna looked and saw Gandalf instead of Sauron. But the Wizard wasn't speaking. "Over here." She turned and saw Sauron sitting in Elrond's chair. The council was gone. The patio where it had been held was in ruins. She looked around and saw that her home was destroyed. "This is what you tried to prevent. This destruction. Maybe it would have happened had you let the Hobbit take the Ring. Maybe he was stronger than you. After all, I had a hard time trying to control him and the one before him." Sauron sat back, his face unreadable behind the crown he wore. "What you did was admirable, of course. Your people have always been the self-proclaimed guardians of the world." Eleryna drew her sword and got to her feet. Fire rose up around her. "It hurts less if you give in to it." Sauron's voice called to her as she struggled not to scream as she was burned. She tried pulling on the strength in her blood, but it only seemed to fuel the fire. She screamed. She could hear him laughing above her screams and it filled her ears. She couldn't remember her battle cry, the one that had gotten her through her journey. All she could do, was scream.
The scream tore Elrohir from his blankets and down the hall to where his sister slept. He burst through the door and pushed the healers aside. Eleryna was thrashing about and no one was able to get near enough to restrain her. He circled around and grabbed her from behind and pinned her arms to her side, much as he had done in Minas Tirith when she had attacked Gandalf. She screamed until her voice went out and she stopped trying to fight back. Instead, she began crying. Elrohir sat them on the bed and rocked her, much as their mother had done for them when they had woken up frightened, especially when the visions had started coming in their dreams. Of the four of them, Elrohir and Eleryna had been plagued by dream visions. Now, she was being plagued by more than just visions. This was not a normal vision if it was one at all. Her skin was hot as if she were surrounded by fire. She might as well be with how she believed that Sauron lived. It was his magic that was driving her to this madness. She needed to know that he was dead, that she had destroyed him. But how was that possible when it seemed that a piece of him still lived inside her? Had this been the Dark Lord's plan when it came to her? When his Ring could not be found, had he begun looking for the one with enough power that he could regain physical form?
Elrohir knew that she would want to go to Mordor once she woke. He had hoped that she had been healed by the remnants of magic in Dol Guldur, but it had been too much to hope for. If anything, it seemed to have made her worse. Would taking her to Mordor kill her? It was possible. He would take responsibility for it should it happen. He had gone along with her delusion. He had played the part of the fool. But, she was better off dead than being controlled by a monster long dead. They would go to Mordor.
"Elrohir, what is happening to me?" Eleryna asked as they sat under the trees. It had been several days since they had left the palace and the comforts within. They had been provided with clean clothes and food and horses. There would be no need to cross the river on this journey which allowed them the ability to ride and cover more ground in less time. They were currently camped at the edge of the forest, taking shelter under the trees before crossing the Brown Lands to Mordor.
"Sauron is trying to control you. He is making you seem like you are crazy." Elrohir said as he wrapped an arm around his sister. "He has been trying to control how you have seen things. His trick with your memory of the council was him trying to completely cut you off from what you know to be true."
"So, Haldir and Legolas could have been believing me and Sauron was only tricking my mind?" She said. Elrohir bit his lip and thought a moment for an answer. If he lost her now, there was no guarantee that he would get her back.
"No," he said carefully. "He has tricked everyone else that he is dead. It cannot work on you because he needs you alienated from those who love you and whom you love. He thinks you would be easier to take if you are alone."
"Don't let me be alone, Brother. I don't think I can stand it. When it was just me against him in Rivendell, I…" She didn't finish and Elrohir pulled her closer. She was shaking. She was afraid. Her fear was the reason he was doing this. It was why he was taking her to Mordor. All of this had started there. It was there it was going to end.
"I won't leave you alone, Ryna. I won't let you get burned." He whispered as she fell asleep on his shoulder.
I'm thinking that this fic is getting close to the end. It wasn't meant to be that long as it only takes place between the end of the war and when Galadriel sails. Thanks for reading and please review.