Restless

A/N I know that Shadow of Mordor is kind of an old game at this point but 1) I don't care, 2) it's still good, and 3) Talion and Celebrimbor wouldn't leave me alone so I had to write something. I've written other one-shots for the game which are not published because they're mostly horrible, and they all seem to center around the idea that Talion probably doesn't get much sleep. Poor Talion. Anyway, I hope you enjoy (if anyone even reads this stuff anymore)!

Talion dashed between slashing blades, twisting his torso so that they slid along his armor and caused sparks to fly into the air. Then he spun and drove his dagger into the exposed chest of the Uruk, who grunted in pain and staggered backward, coughing blood as his hands clawed at the dagger for a few seconds before he collapsed to the ground. Talion watched as the Uruk coughed once, twice, then fell still. Face expressionless, Talion plucked his dagger from the corpse's chest, flipped it in his hand, and then sheathed it. Before he could move on, however, a glowing blue form appeared at his side. Sighing, Talion turned toward the wraith, arms crossed in front of him. He knew what the wraith would say, and he did not want to have this conversation. He hadn't wanted to earlier either, but that didn't stop Celebrimbor from trying. Truly, the stubborn nature of elves lived up to its legendary reputation.

"Talion," the wraith said, and even with just that one word, Talion could hear frustration. It almost made him smile, his ability to annoy his undead companion. "Stop. You cannot continue on like this."

"I don't know what you mean, wraith," Talion lied, the words slipping from his tongue despite their futility. The wraith was a part of him, and although Celebrimbor did not know his every thought, he could feel the shadows of his pain, his exhaustion. Talion had been pushing himself to the brink of his abilities and beyond for the past three days, and it was beginning to wear on him.

"Do not lie to me, Talion," Celebrimbor snapped, but then he shook his head and his voice softened as he continued, "You may come back after every death, but that does not mean that you should seek them. You need rest, Talion."

Talion shook his head in a terse movement. "I am not seeking death. We both know it will not give me what I want." There was a tense feeling there, a heaviness. Death, what was supposed to be an end to this mortal suffering, a release, had failed him. Nothing in this world could give him what he sought, not while he was bound to the wraith. "What I am seeking is justice, a goal I thought we shared." As he spoke, memories of a comrade, crying for his help, being cut down where he stood by a laughing Uruk, burned at Talion's mind.

With a firm shake of his head to banish the thoughts, he spun away from the glowing form of Celebrimbor and jumped from the ledge where he stood. As always, Celebrimbor's power flooded him, and he hit the ground unharmed. He could feel the frustration that the wraith was experiencing, but he pushed that to the back of his mind, focusing instead on the feeling of his feet as the hit the rocky ground, each step fueled by inhuman strength and speed.

Before long, a dark fortress was rising in the distance, and Talion could practically hear the elf lord sigh in his mind. Celebrimbor didn't approve of his plan, of course, but he would lend Talion his power regardless. Together they would tear the fortress apart until the captain who had murdered Karth arrived. And then, then Talion would exact his justice.

For nearly half an hour, Talion danced between blades and jumped from ruin to ruin, Uruk blood flowing with every strike of his blade. Under different circumstances, he would have stuck to the shadows, his blade silent and concealed. But not tonight. Tonight, Talion stood boldly in front of the campfires, the flickering light casting his shadow long over the rocky ground. He roared as he swung his blade, decapitating an Uruk who had gotten too close. Dark blood spurted from the severed neck, splashing onto the fire with a hiss.