"Erestor..." No not again!
"Erestor! Can you hear me?" No, please! "Erestor!" But that voice was different. "Erestor, wake up."
Erestor groaned faintly as the unexpected voice pulled him away from the silent haze that unconsciousness had bought him. He opened his eyes only to shut them again as the candlelight in the corridor seemed far too bright. Trying again, more slowly this time, he blinked hard to clear his vision. Someone was above him but he couldn't make out the form. Looking up at the form with frown, Erestor was baffled. Who was that? His confusion must have been obvious as the form above him looked away for a moment. "Erestor, do you recognize me?" He asked slowly. Erestor narrowed his eyes and then tried blinking again, trying to focus. After a minute his eyes cleared and he was able to make out deep blue eyes looking at him in concern, but he had no idea who they belonged to. And why was he on his back in the corridor anyway?
"Erestor, do you know who I am?" He twitched as he heard another voice. He hadn't realized anyone else was here. The owner of this voice had brown eyes and he was sure who they belonged to.
"Twin?" He whispered. The owner of the brown eyes nodded.
"It's me, Elladan." He said softly before turning to the owner of the blue eyes. "I hadn't realized it was this bad." He said quietly, not intending for Erestor to hear.
"Glorfindel." Said Erestor, finally able to place the blue eyes.
"That's right. Do you want to go back to bed?" He asked.
"No." Said Erestor weakly. "There's a letter."
"What letter?" Asked Glorfindel.
"A letter in his desk for me. He told me. There's a letter." Glorfindel looked up at Elladan as Erestor continued to mumble quietly to himself.
"I cleaned out his desk myself. There was no letter for Erestor." Said Elladan.
"Erestor..." Came a whisper. Glorfindel and Elladan melted away before his eyes, leaving him sat alone in the corridor. No, he couldn't be asleep!
"No, leave me be!" He begged. He was tired of this voice. All he wanted was for it to go away.
"Please, open your eyes."
"What do you mean? My eyes are open!"
"Wake up Erestor. Please wake up."
Erestor struggled to open his eyes and he found himself slumped over his desk. The dreams were getting worse. He though he really had been awake that time. Did that mean there was a letter for him or not? Pushing himself to his feet, he gasped as he felt a stabbing pain shooting through his abdomen. It was almost enough to make him lose consciousness. He sank back onto the chair as his stomach muscles began cramping up. As he calmed down he tried to push himself up again, more slowly this time. He managed it and found the pain had been reduced to a dull ache. As he stood, it began to build again until it almost felt as though he had been run through with a sword. He cried out as it reached a crescendo. Then it vanished and he was left gasping for breath. Erestor picked himself off the floor. He hadn't even noticed he had fallen. He felt something run down his chin and reached up to wipe it away. It was blood, but he hadn't bit his lip. He wiped it away and there wasn't any more.
"Erestor..." He did his best to ignore the voice as he dragged himself over to Elrond's desk. He sat on the floor and began to pull open the drawers, looking frantically through the papers. If there was a letter then he wasn't going mad. Finally he had emptied all the drawers and there was no letter. Erestor looked at the pile of paperwork around him and began going through it again. He couldn't believe Elrond was truly gone. He wiped away the tears that were falling as he searched through the papers. There was no letter. Erestor pulled himself into Elrond's chair and held his head in his hands. He'd imagined the whole thing. He took a deep breath and a sudden calm took over him. He stopped crying and stood, ready to leave the room and go back to his chambers. He was ready to lie down and never wake up. He wanted to join Elrond in Mandos.
"Erestor..." Erestor closed his eyes and breathed in deeply. soon, my love. he thought. He turned to take one last look at Elrond's desk.
"Don't leave me. I love you Erestor."
There was a letter. Calmly, he walked over and picked it up. His name was on the front in Elrond's fine script. He turned the paper over to break the seal.
"Don't give in. Come back to the light." Erestor dropped the letter as he saw a bright light appearing in front of him. Was this what it was like to die? He reached for the letter again. Elrond's voice came from the light. It was clear, not the whisper as it had been in his dreams, almost as he really was hearing Elrond's voice.
"Come back to the light." It was almost as though there was a choice in front of him. Open the letter or go to the light? Open the letter or go to the light? It was that simple. Erestor turned the paper over and stared at the back.
Open the letter or...
"Open your eyes. Please come back. Don't give in. Erestor, I love you." Erestor broke the seal and cried out as pain overtook him and he dropped to his knees.
"Erestor! Listen to my voice. Come back to the light." Erestor looked down at the letter he had dropped on the floor and then back up at the light.
...go to the light?
"I love you, Elrond." He whispered, his decision made.
"Please wake up. Open your eyes." Erestor bowed his head, focussing on Elrond's voice. He didn't care where he was going, as long as he was going to be with Elrond. Then he felt, rather than saw the light fill the room and engulf him.
"That's it, open your eyes." Now Elrond's voice sounded as though it was next to his ear, like he was right there with him. Images quickly flashed through his mind's eye. Storming down the corridor to drag Elrond out for a ride, telling Elrond he loved him, a fight with Orcs. The images sped up and repeated over and over again until he couldn't follow them anymore. Then he was laying in the mud with Elrond's worried face looking down at him. After he had been stabbed by an Orc blade.
"Erestor..."
Then Erestor opened his eyes.
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