Leaving You Behind (LOTR General Fanfiction)

Chapter 2

Beta:Tinorial Peredhil

Rating: PG-13

Who is in the angst you ask: A few from each as: Aragorn, The Twins, Elrond, Thranduil, and Legolas... evil grin...

Warning: Angst full ahead, violence... guilt... Character death? I forgot the tissues... so bring them on... evil grin...

Disclaimer: Characters belong to Tolkien. I just borrowed them for my own evil plans.

Spoiler: Total AU.

Note: Arwen is not in the story. Forgive me if you wished otherwise.

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The twins did not know what answer they should give their father; instead they wished they could flee and be in somewhere else. They knew that their father was right; they had not checked properly, they just grabbed their brother, and left the remaining, bleeding.

The twins nodded, as they could not bring themselves to say anything.

"Do you know how it is, day by day, to say to Aragorn that Legolas is dead?" Elrond asked, his face furious, as he had never before been to his sons.

"It... it was a mistake..." Elrohir gathered the strength to say.

"Is this what I should to tell Thranduil, that it was a mistake?" Elrond asked angrily.

The twins held each other, not daring to say a word.

"You thought of your brother instead of others. How could you? How could you?" Elrond asked, incensed, leaving the room when he did not get an answer. The door was slammed shut.

There was a moment of silence, then the door was opened and Elrond stepped inside, wondering how he had failed with the twins.

"It has been two years, and yet you had not dared to say another word, or even to mentioned of your 'assumption'?" Elrond demanded incredulously, voice rising gradually throughout the sentence.

He could not believe what he had just heard. 'Immature, so immature. They were born from my blood, from my own blood... how Thranduil will ever forgive me? How can I face my son?' he thought angrily.

Elladan tried to say something but was halted by his father. "You have disappointed me immensely, my sons, I know not what I wish to do with you." He groaned at them and added after he sighed heavily in sharp emotional pain, "You are not my sons anymore, and I wish that you will tell Aragorn exactly what happened before you leave. Understood?"

The twins nodded, feeling ashamed and hurt. Their father had just banished them! They could feel their hearts being torn in pain. Both knew that they had made mistakes, it had happened before, and their father knew about it.

They went outside and headed for the garden. They were hurt emotionally from their father's words. They wished that he would take his words back, but he did not, and it hurt them even more deeply.

They felt nervous, as they feared to go to their brother, wake him, and tell him the news. They decided not to do it.

They readied their packs on Elladan's horse, prepared to leave, until Elladan had an idea.

He began to cry and said to his twin through broken sobs, "Come, we might need advice before we leave. Erestor might give us useful advice. Come brother."

Elrohir leaned on his twin, like a wounded bird, as they walked to Erestor's room and knocked, though no answer came. They went straight to the library and found the advisor sitting by himself, some books creating a tall tower on his left, waiting to be read.

Erestor raised his head from the text that he was currently reading, noticing the frown and red eyes of the twins that stared intently at him. "Has something happened?" he asked worriedly.

Elrohir sobbed anew and admitted, "Aye, Father do not want us as his sons anymore."

"Why?" Erestor asked, rising from the chair as he moved to give the twins tight hugs.

"Because of Aragorn and Legolas' incident on The Old Forest Road, two years ago," Elladan explained with a heavy heart and glanced at his brother.

He noticed his twin's face, noticed the pain behind the hair that covered his cheeks, noticed the shaking body that trembled as he cried. He knew what his twin felt. He felt the same way. That empty feeling inside, like a hole in your soul.

Elrohir held the chair tightly, not wanting to look fragile in his twin's eyes by falling.

Erestor could only stare at them, their pain evident. For the first time in his life, he had no advice, no words of comfort, and felt ashamed.

Elladan moved his eyes from his twin to the advisor, having noticed the quiet that filled the library. He tried to speak like he used to, which a chuckle in his voice, but his throat seemed swollen with tears. "We need... your advice... please..."

Erestor looked at the elder twin and spoke, "I think that you should leave; your father also needs time, and soon he might forgive you."

"Leave?" Elrohir asked, but did not dare raise his head, hands still holding the chair for support.

"It is the right way, maybe the only way," Erestor answered as he moved over to Elrohir to support him, but the younger elf shoved him away in anger.

"Come, my brother, let us ride from here, this place is not our home anymore... come," Elladan said in a commanding tone, his face still wet with tears, and he walked out of the room to the stables. They mounted Elladan' horse and rode.

With no looking back, they rode into the horizon. They did not know where they should ride to, not wanting to near their grandmother in shame and fearing Thranduils' realm.

They rode towards the shore, trying to find any source of peace and calm, as they unpacked, not worried from the trouble or the evil that surrounded them, as they lay next to each other.

Elrond saw his sons as they rode away; he let his heart cry in pain as tears cascaded in torrents down his cheeks. Elrond reached his hand out over the balcony railing, trying to shout to his sons to come back, but only whispers came and the twins could not hear him.

'Please forgive me, my sons, for my words. I did not mean them, I thought only of what Thranduil is going through alone.... Please come back. Valar, please hear my prayer and bring my sons back.' Elrond prayed, his eyes still on the horizon, wishing that his sons would come back... but the breezy air hitting his face was his only reply.

'All I thought of Legolas, instead of my own sons,' Elrond thought, the guilt beginning to set in, 'But what if he is dead? What if Legolas is dead? Am I not a good father? Have I lost my trust in my sons?'