Chapter Text
Hi! This is my first story ever to upload here, I hope you’ll enjoy it and review! English is not my first language so I apologise for any mistakes, be sure to let me know about them:) Everything except some OCs belongs to Tolkien, obviously.
Let me introduce my OCs briefly. The story is written in Lalaith’s POV. She’s a half-elf, lives in Minas Tirith most of the time and is in a kind of long-distance relationship with Elladan. She’s related to Estel, on their mothers’ sides. She has an older sister, Aerina, who is only mentioned in the story once or twice. Ringil is her neighbour and one of best friends back in Gondor. As for her appearance, she has dark brown hair, green eyes and olive complexion.
Navari is a fiercely red headed elf, a foster sister to the twins and Estel, she was adopted by Elrond as well.
I hope this will do for the understanding of the story:)
CHAPTER 1
I knocked on the door lightly and walked in. He was sitting by the bed, holding his twin’s hand and absently drawing little circles with his thumb on it. That’s what Elrohir had been doing for the past ten days.
I placed a hand on his shoulder but he didn’t look up.
“Hi”, I said. No reaction. I frowned and took a chair from the corner of the room, dragged it near the bed and sat down. Days were getting shorter and it was long after dark. The only source of light in the room was a candle standing on the shelf near the bedhead. It made Elladan’s face look even paler and the bandages whiter. I hated myself for it but I couldn’t stand that view so I looked at Elrohir.
“Are you sure you don’t want to go to bed?”, I asked. He nodded. I arrived three days earlier and didn’t see him leave the room once. I didn’t ask further questions as I already learnt it didn’t have much sense. I assumed the conversation was over and sat back in an uncomfortable silence. I started to put my thoughts in order again.
After I arrived, I found Estel and Navari talking in the dining hall. We hugged, talked and laughed for a moment but they would fall silent or shot nervous glances at each other all the time. After a while of my talking about the journey and what I was up to in Minas Tirith, I asked where the twins were but they didn’t answer immediately. I was assuming the sons of Elrond just left to the mountains with a patrol as they often did (which turned out to be partly true).
Navari cleared her throat and looked down. Estel bit his lip and told me to follow them. We were walking through the corridors and my heart started beating faster and faster. My mind was flooded with images I tried to push away. We reached Elladan’s room and Estel entered without knocking. I walked after him and saw Elrohir abruptly standing up from a chair and blocking the view of the big bed behind him. The elf was pale and looked tired, yet he smiled and hugged me. I released myself and made my way to the bed.
My heart sank when I saw Elladan laying there motionless with a bandage around his head. I turned around to see the others looking at him with faces contorted with pain. Then they told me what happened.
About two weeks before my arrival, the twins left with a patrol and they bumped on a pack of orcs. However, the elves outnumbered them and were winning with no bigger effort and so, a part of the orcs started to flee. Elladan went after them without telling anybody and before the rest noticed, he was already far. By the time Elrohir and Glorfindel caught up with him, Elladan must have received a blow on the head, or perhaps injured himself when he fell. We never really found out what exactly happened. They brought the elder son of Elrond home but he didn’t wake up. He was laying in coma without giving any sign of consciousness. That’s what Elladan had been doing for the last ten days.
“I wish he was awake”, was the first thing Elrohir said since I came and it shook me out of my deep thoughts. His voice sounded weird. Harsh. Not like Elrohir’s.
“I know. Me too.” It was everything I could say. Of course, we wanted Elladan to wake up. We wished none of this had ever happened. But I guess we just needed to talk and this was all we could think about.
“Has… something similar ever happened to you?”, I asked. He finally looked at me. But didn’t release Elladan’s hand.
“No. I mean, he’s never been in coma for so long. Neither have I.”
“And do you think...”, I was afraid to ask but I needed to know, “he will change? I know the blow was strong and might have caused some damage but… he’ll remember me, right?”
Elrohir gave a short laugh, though I didn’t find it funny at all. He might have spent too much time in this room, with the sole company of his unconscious brother.
“I hope so”, he said, serious again. “All we can do now is hope.”
I nodded. We sat in silence again when my eyelids started to drop heavy. I thought I would go to sleep because nothing would change in Elladan’s state during the night anyway. Then immediately, I mentally slapped myself. Of course it could change. He could wake up in any moment. But I had to get some sleep and Elrohir would be here anyway.
“I’m going to bed”, I informed the elf as I stood up. He gazed up. “Call for me if anything happens. And remember, tomorrow I’m staying here and you are sleeping in your own bed.”
“Sure”, he managed to smile.
“I mean it! You need some rest, Elrohir.”
“I said: sure. Goodnight, Lis.”
“Goodnight, Ro.”
I gently removed a dark curl from Elladan’s forehead and left.