Title: A Bond of Brothers 
Chapter Six (b) - Revelations
Author: Oakenshield (Oakenshield@lonelymountain.zzn.com)
Rating: PG-13
Pairing(s): Elladan/Elrohir, implied Rumil/Elrohir
Warnings/Spoilers: Incest
Archive: Anyone who wants it is welcome to have it, just let me know first.
Disclaimer: The characters and the places all belong to J.R.R. Tolkien, and I
am making no profit from this at all.
Summary: Haldir and Rumil resort to blackmail. 

------

Chapter Six(b) - Revelations


"What is the matter?" Despite the fact that the warmth from his body was still
near, Elladan's words seemed faint and far away, like a voice trying to call
into a dream and not managing to penetrate the foggy wall of sleep.

Though he had released his hold on his twin in a panicky jerk but a second ago,
Elrohir now reached to grasp Elladan's arm with a trembling hand, holding onto
him for protection and assurance as he screwed his eyes up to the figure in the
doorway to try to spirit him away. It felt too much like a horrid dream and he
hoped that if he closed his eyes tightly enough, he would soon wake up. But
then, if he did, that would mean he would not be with Elladan. The price of
love was great.

"Well, well," a voice coated in syrup wound through the air to lick his ears in
a heavy caress. "This is a sight! To find my lover in the arms of the one he
swore no longer had a claim on his heart or body. I think someone has been
fibbing."

Elrohir forced his eyes to open again and inclined them to the one who had
shared his bed that morning, now leaning against the doorframe raising an
inquisitive eyebrow and making no attempt to hide the mocking smirk on his
lips.

"Rúmil!" Elrohir tried to cry out, but his voice came as little more than a
strained whisper. He tightened his grip on Elladan's wrist as his brother
tensed to fly at the Galadhrim Elf. He could feel the heat of anger radiating
down the limb and into his palm, the pulse within his grasp pounding in a
murderous rhythm, the emotion flowing through into his own being.

Elladan turned to glare defiantly at Rúmil, not revealing on his face the fear
Elrohir felt from within his soul. Elladan was terrified at being discovered in
such a way, but as always he was trying to remain strong with his younger twin. 

"Did you see that?" He pulled his arm free to take hold of Elrohir's hand. His
fair face was a mask of fury. "I hope that told you something, Rúmil, something
that you apparently need to know. Elrohir is mine! My lover. Not yours."

Despite all his fear and confusion, Elrohir felt his heart leap at his
brother's passionate words and they gave him strength. He was Elladan's.
Always, and forever. Despite the costs. He would not let any threat part them
ever again. He now knew the pain of being sundered after being one. He would
never feel that again. The past two years had been the hardest time of his
life, even harder than the two millennia he had denied their love, and the past
three months had been nothing short of agony. He had wept every day when Rúmil
had not been there to see it; and, from his balcony, he had often turned his
eyes over the Misty Mountains to Lórien, whispering curses and prayers on the
wind. Exhausted from hours of sexual pursuits with his new lover, he had
dreamed each night of Elladan in bed with Melethoniel. Often in his dreams he
had felt Elladan's soul reach out for him, but thinking him a betrayer he had
not let him in. He should have known, he should have felt the warm touch of
love, even if it only fingered the very edges of his heart. He should have
listened to Arwen. He had been a coward and a fool.

"Mine," Elladan said again, squeezing Elrohir's fingers and looking deeply at
him to let him know the word was meant for him. Only for him.

If Rúmil had not been there it would have been a beautiful moment. Elladan had
never showed such possession. Elrohir had never truly realised the weight of
the love and obsession they shared for each other. He had always taken it for
granted. No longer.

"Yours," he whispered back to his twin, drowning in the depth of his gaze,
forgetting all his worries for a moment. There he felt content. Complete.

"I think that is where I would argue." Rúmil stepped into the room, oozing a
smug confidence Elrohir himself could have killed him for. "Elrohir?" He
extended a hand towards him. "Who do you belong to? You told me well enough
this morning, my pretty one. Why would you return so easily to one who spurned
you and hurt you so?"

Elrohir looked down in disdain at the hand reaching towards him. "He did no
such thing." He stepped forward before Elladan could react with violence. He
needed to speak for himself for once. For weeks, Rúmil had been putting words
in his ears and his mouth. He needed to free his speech. "And I am not *your*
pretty one. I belong to Elladan, and no other." He fought hard to bite back an
unbecoming sneer that was threatening to conquer his face. "Do not say you
expected me to want you still when I learned of your lies. Oh yes, we know what
you have done." And now he was certain. He could no longer see the kind, sweet,
persuasive one he had been involved with. Rúmil's true colours were finally
starting to shine. Or maybe he was just no longer blind.

Rúmil regarded the two of them, his eyes lingering on Elladan for slightly
longer than they did on Elrohir. "I am disappointed." With a proud toss of the
head and pursed lips he walked across the small room.

Elrohir told his feet to keep still. He desperately wanted to step back as his
former lover advanced, he wanted to duck behind Elladan and let his elder twin
protect him as he always had. But this time he had to stand his ground, alone,
for Rúmil to see, and for himself to know. He had to fight down the one who had
come so close to capturing his very soul. Even as Rúmil drew within an inch of
his face, he did not flinch, though his legs felt as weak as straws and his
heart thundered treacherously in his ribcage.

"Was I not good enough for you, my Lord Elrohir?" Rúmil closed in on him, just
a breath away from his lips. "Even after all the chances I gave you to be in
charge, after all the times you laughed your joy at dominating me, after all
the times you took my body for your use, and oh didn't you take me hard?" He
looked long his eyes. "After all I gave you, you still prefer to be possessed
and repressed by him!"

Elrohir met his gaze unfaltering. "I love Elladan," he said quietly but firmly,
"and he loves me and nothing you do, no words you weave will change that. He
possesses me as I possess him. We are one. You could never be that, even on the
nights you made me scream until dawn. You have not the heart. You have not the
strength to love, only to use and abuse and manipulate. I do not need to be
told how to feel, and how to act, and how to dress. Elladan loves me as I am,
even shy and wearing tattered stable clothes. You are shallow." His anger rose
without warning as Rúmil listened with no more reaction than a growing leer.
This was no hurt claim for his heart, only a desperate attempt for Rúmil to
keep his pride and goad Elladan at the same time. "Damn you, I will wipe that
smirk from your face!" He aimed a hard slap to Rúmil's face, feeling his palm
smart as the golden head snapped back under the force of the blow. Never one to
act with violence, he was shocked how good it felt.

Elladan looked on proudly, placing a light hand upon Elrohir's hip to let him
know he was still there and Elrohir shrunk back a little, feeling like his
brother's faint touch was all that was holding him upright. His body felt ready
to buckle to the floor but it shook with rage as much as fear.

Holding the back of his hand to his reddened cheek Rúmil straightened up,
shaking his head to clear his senses. "Have you two ever heard the tale of
Nienor and Túrin?" he continued then as though nothing had happened. "The
siblings who wed and died of their grief and shame. I pity them, for they did
not know, they could do nothing to prevent it. You can."

"It is nothing to do with you," Elladan told him. "We do not care for your
judgement, nor do you have any right to give it. A common guard with half a
brain would be careful how he spoke to the grandsons of his Lord and Lady."

Elladan's threat and use of his station did nothing to repel the warden. 

"Do you not care that your sinful lust could bring about the downfall of two of
the great Elven realms on this land?" Rúmil continued. There was no spiteful
taunting in his words now. Just anger and disgust. "The eyes and hearts of
every Elf are turned towards the ones who lead them, therefore your actions are
the business of all. What would you say to that, Elrohir?"

Why did everything have to be so complicated? All he wanted was to be with
Elladan. He knew it was a slender hope that anyone would ever understand or
accept their relationship but he still wished for it. He felt like everything
in his world was falling apart and the only thing that was whole was his love.
Already their family was torn, though he did not know the facts about that. Did
their family want what was best for them, or were they just ashamed? He did not
want to know about it. It hurt to think he had been lied to for two years, but
ignorance had been bliss compared to this.

"Just leave us alone," he whispered, as much a plea to the world as to Rúmil.

Before Rúmil could make a witty reply, a shadow clouded the doorway as another
fair-haired figure entered. Haldir. He had undoubtedly been standing outside
the door, listening to the entire argument unfold before choosing his moment to
arrive. Just as things had seemed like they couldn't get any worse...

No sooner had he crossed the threshold, Elladan grabbed him by the collar,
hauling him across the room to throw him into a chair, punching him in the
chest to halt his breath and stun him into keeping still.

"You traitorous cad!" he raged. "What happened to my letter? Where is it?"

"It is safe." Haldir still found the breath to answer as he doubled over
gasping. "I have been keeping it for good use."

Elrohir felt his strength shrink back and his sense return. So Haldir had not
withheld the letter just to keep him and Elladan apart. What use could he
possibly be keeping it for? The tables were turned now. Haldir was on top, with
Rúmil beside him, and Elrohir felt small and helpless to stand up to the two.
He could do nothing but cringe as he felt Rúmil run a taunting fingertip across
his cheek.

"You will regret hurting Haldir, Elladan," Rúmil said with a smile in his
voice. "What I would not give that you could have seen your darling twin and
lover with me. I bet you have no clue how much of an animal he can be in bed.
Shall I tell him how you were with me, sweet Elrohir? Shall I tell him how you
spanked me in your anger? Should I tell him how hard you screwed me, sometimes
so hard that I bled! Should we show him how you begged for my touch while you
spoke bitter words about him?" His hand ran down Elrohir's neck and across his
chest, stopping over his thumping heartbeat. "Should I...?" he smirked. "Oh,
should I...?" He made a travesty of pondering something.

Elrohir felt his breath start to come in unsteady gasps. He had said so many
things in anger and denial. He had told so many lies to his wounded heart, as
well as to Rúmil, some terrible, terrible things that he knew would hurt
Elladan beyond words. If only he'd had time to tell his brother everything
first. He could see Elladan's attention was now turned from Haldir to Rúmil,
his lips thinned and his eyes blazing.

"No, perhaps you should tell him, Elrohir." Rúmil decided. "Repeat to him the
words you said about me being a more skilful lover than him."

Turning sharply, Elladan swung a punch at Rúmil's face. "When I am through with
Haldir I will murder you!" he said, fierce anger flaring in his eyes. "You will
rue the day you first laid a hand upon my brother."

"Elladan, I'm sorry!" Elrohir cried. "I did not mean it!" but his words were
lost in the midst of the fight.

Rúmil ducked out of the way of the next blow, putting Elrohir between himself
and Elladan's flying fists. "Your brother... Your lover..." He walked in a
tight circle around Elrohir, once again reaching out to touch his face. "It
disturbs me how you would use each title within moments of each other." Sliding
an arm around Elrohir's shoulders he leaned in close to his ear, all too
familiar to the time he had first seduced him. "Surely you would rather only be
called 'lover'?" he whispered to him. "Surely you would like to lose the shame
of being called 'brother' by the one who makes love to you. You told me you
could love freely with me, and your heart felt lighter than it had when you had
been with Elladan." He blew lightly across the tip of Elrohir's ear then he
lowered his voice so only Elrohir could hear his words. "How I wish I had found
you before Elladan had you. I would have kept the slut that I have slept with
these past months." He held Elrohir firmly as he tried to pull away. "You blink
and pout and whine, and everyone finds you sweet beyond words, yet you are more
wilful than they could ever dare to imagine. I have seen the real you, Elrohir,
not the one that hides behind Elladan. The real you was here but minutes ago.
You would argue with me, but I know the truth, and I do not think you would
like what you saw if you looked into yourself. No amount of batting of
eyelashes can dismiss what everyone knows; you are depraved and sinful and
disgusting. You are committing a shameful crime yet you do it without shame.
You would break your parents' hearts before you would do the honourable
thing." He gave a soft chuckle. "Your cute mask cannot save you anymore, for I
have seen you naked."

"You do not know the first thing about me!" Elrohir did not dare to look into
Rúmil's face in case the tears in his eyes showed. "Your words have no effect
on me anymore, Rúmil. Elladan has drained your poison from my ears." Even as he
insisted firmly, he felt his stomach heave. He would not believe he was like
that, yet he heard more truth in the accusation than he would care to admit.

"Maybe you say my words were poison to ease your own conscience, sweet one."
The endearment was spoken with cold sarcasm. "It must pain you to think that
you acted like such a promiscuous tart, so heartbroken at being spurned that
you fell into another's arms within a moment." Rúmil glanced towards Elladan
who was standing rooted with trembling fists at his sides. "Did I use you?" he
cooed. "No, I rather think you used me."

"Is that not what one does with whores?" Elrohir asked, adopting his opponent's
tactics.

Rúmil looked across at Haldir and smiled. "I was no whore," he answered. "On
the contrary. You were my payment, Star Rider." At the use of that name he
looked directly at Elladan. "That was your name for him, wasn't it? Does it not
anger you that he told me so many intimate details of your time together?"

Elrohir's heart nearly stopped as he waited for his brother to answer. Elladan
looked so mad he could barely hope that he would pay no heed to Rúmil's
taunting words, as true as they may be.

/'Please, Elladan!'/ he thought. /'I did not mean it. If you do not know by now
how much I love you...'/

"It hurts me, yes," Elladan answered, "but I am as guilty as Elrohir is. He
swallowed your honeyed poison, and I swallowed your brother's. We fare alike on
that. I care not what happened while you were twisting his mind. He is mine
once more and I know, no matter what he said to you, he loves me. You are
wasting your time trying to stir things up between us."

Elrohir let his breath out slowly and turned to look at Haldir, who was still
seated in the chair Elladan had thrown him into, watching the scene intently.
He had been so busy trying to fight his way out of the tangled web of Rúmil's
disparagement that he had forgotten the true danger of the situation. Though,
that had probably been the intention.

"What is it you want, Haldir?" he dared to ask. "Why have you kept the letter
meant for my eyes? Why did you try to break Elladan and I apart?"

"Because I cannot let you keep what I want without putting up a fight, and I am
tired of fighting cleanly and getting nothing but heartache as a prize for my
efforts." Haldir stood up, opening his tunic to reveal the edge of a letter.
"And as for this... I am sure your father would be most interested to see this.
Poor Lord Elrond, it is so unfair to let him think everything in his crumbling
bloodline is well, when in fact it is worse than ever." He gave a strange smile
that did not even come close to reaching his eyes. "If I get what I want, I
will be persuaded to keep my knowledge to myself."

"You would not dare to try to blackmail us!" Elrohir cried, sickened to his
stomach to by Haldir's implication. What the marchwarden wanted was obvious;
for Elladan to be miserably tied to Melethoniel while being his pet to keep the
truth from their father. He shivered at the thought that Rúmil might want him
as similar plaything.

"Surely you of all folk would not doubt what a hurt lover would dare to do."
Haldir walked across the floor to his side.

Elrohir breathed unsteadily, feeling trapped with Rúmil at one side and Haldir
at the other. The wall touched his back. "Elladan is mine. He gave you up for
me. Does that tell you nothing?" He wished he felt as strong as his words
sounded.

"I would die before I came back into your bed!" Elladan closed in behind
Haldir, wrapping a strong arm around his throat. "Elrohir and I will be
together whether you like it or not, and that piece of paper will not change
that. You are pathetic! So heartbroken that you have to use lies and blackmail
to try to get me back. And even if I was desperate enough to give in to your
threats, I would never willingly let you have my body. It belongs to Elrohir,
just like my heart. Just like it always has."

Those words seemed to touch a raw nerve and Elrohir huddled back against the
wall as Haldir raised his head to look at him. His face was set, and hatred and
bitterness raged in his eyes. The fury was so intense that Elrohir could not
look away from it. Instead he looked closer at it and a sense greater than
eyesight saw that the rage only served as a veil to cover the deep hurt in the
depths of a damaged soul. It was a frayed and fragile light, wounded and almost
dead, quivering in the darkness, sparking with agony at Elladan's words.

"Your heart was his, even when you were lying with me!" Haldir spat, and
Elrohir saw tears in his eyes, but not caused by anger, but by pain. This was
more than a crush. Haldir was in love with Elladan.

Elrohir's heart sunk to the pit of his stomach for a second, then he remembered
who he was looking it. He did not know where it was coming from, but a spiteful
anger was now bubbling up from beneath his kind and timid soul. That kind and
timid soul had known hurt, it had known deceit, it now knew malice came in the
most beautiful forms. That kind and timid soul was feeling a need to avenge
itself.

"Even when I was lying with you," Elladan repeated with a cruel look on his
face.

"I was a good substitute, wasn't I?" Haldir said shakily, betraying his true
feelings. "I have a broad enough figure to match Elrohir's. I have pointed ears
too. I bet when the lamps were out you even used to imagine that my hair was
dark instead of blond." He closed his eyes to try to stop a single silvery tear
escaping, but it was too fast for his reflexes and sped down his cheek to drop
onto his tunic. His cheeks flushed to know that Elrohir had seen it. "Didn't
you?!" he demanded to know.

"Every single time," Elladan said in an emotionless tone. "Now, even with
Illúvatar as a witness, so help me I will kill you!" The arm around Haldir's
neck was replaced by a hand, gripping tight enough to make Haldir gasp and look
a little afraid.

"Temper, temper!" Rúmil was still sneering. "This is not behaviour fitting to
an Elf Lord. Even one of impure blood." As fast as lightning he darted from
Elrohir's side to pounce behind Elladan, stooping in a fluid motion to seize
the dagger from Elladan's boot to press the sharp point to his neck.

"Elladan!" Elrohir cried, freezing. He had seen the letter peeping out of
Haldir's pocket and had been about to grasp it as Elladan held Haldir paralysed
but that thought fled as his brother became the hostage.

Now Rúmil leered at him from over Elladan's shoulder, flicking the blade to
nick a small lock of hair. "Let Haldir go," he said firmly, but fear for his
brother was in his eyes. "Come now, Elladan, don't be silly." He pressed the
blade lightly into the side of his neck, enough to leave a faint red line. "You
do not want to be attending your wedding with a slashed throat, do you?"

"Elladan, let him go!" Elrohir ordered, frightened at what Rúmil might do. He
had a desperate fear that the situation was going to turn very ill and he did
not want to see blood spilt, not even Haldir's or Rúmil's, and especially not
Elladan's. He felt helpless tears stinging his eyes. He was so close to the
letter, but if he grasped it what would the consequences be? Elladan was
staring at him with a plea and an order in his eyes but he could only dumbly
shake his head in reply. He did not like to think that Rúmil would truly stab
Elladan but he was not sure enough to risk it.

Reluctantly, Elladan released his hold on Haldir and stepped backwards,
clouting his dagger from Rúmil's hand. "It is no wonder your mother died
bringing you into the world," he said coldly.

For the first time Elrohir saw Rúmil baulk. That comment had hurt him to the
core of his being and for all his anger he could not gloat about it. He could
not stoop so low.

"Get out!" Elladan demanded to the brothers, retrieving his dagger from the
floor and brandishing it at them. "I am still a Lord here, Father has not
disowned me yet, and you are but guests. Know your place and leave at my
order!"

Haldir nodded to Rúmil and tugged lightly on his sleeve to pull him towards the
door. Both of them looked slightly cowed and shaken but Elrohir did not let
that fool him into thinking they were defeated. Far from it. Once they had
recovered from their respective emotional blows they would come back stronger.
Even if Haldir backed down, Rúmil would not.

"We will let you think over our offer and ask you for your decision in a day,"
Haldir told them calmly. "This is not finished."

"Indeed it is not," Rúmil agreed, blowing a kiss at Elrohir before he slammed
the door shut as he left.

"Ai!" Elrohir's legs finally gave up and he sunk bonelessly to the chair,
folding his body and burying his face in his hands as his tears poured. He
wanted to curl himself up in a ball and hide away from the entire world, with
only Elladan at his side, holding him and keeping him warm and safe. But the
world was not made that way, and he could not control the way it turned.
"Elladan, what are we going to do?!" he sobbed, looking up at his twin.

"You are going to dry those tears," Elladan said gently, extending a hand to
pull him to his feet. If he was afraid, his fear was not showing. But then,
Elladan had always been good at that. "Then we will go somewhere to talk. There
is still much we have to find out from each other and I would have us speak of
it in a place that is private. I am sure you will become most distressed when I
tell you of how our family has plotted behind our backs, and I am just as sure
that my eyes will not be dry when I hear of how Rúmil led you astray."

"Forgive me," Elrohir whispered, taking Elladan's hand as he stood up on shaky
legs. "Please forgive me."

Elladan gave a gentle smile and leaned forward to place a sweet kiss on the tip
of his brother's nose. "It was not your fault, darling, and do not ever think
that is was. The blame is mine, for ever being so stupid as to trust Haldir.
Forgive me." He took Elrohir in his arms and held him tightly. "I am afraid
too, my love, but whatever happens I will not lose you again."

"I will never let you go!" Elrohir swore, returning the embrace. "But what are
we going to do about Father?" He could not help but think practically, as nice
as it would have been to lose himself in Elladan's strong arms. "Haldir is the
least of our worries! Even if we defeat him and get the letter off him, and you
marry Melethoniel and go through with all your plans..." He gulped back a huge
sob at the thought of Elladan married. "No! I will not let you do it, Elladan!
I will not let you wed her, for true means or for me!" he cried. "I will not
live a lie for the rest of my life and I know you do not want to either!" Even
so, he could see no other way out. They could only tell the truth and risk
certain banishment.

Elladan pulled back to regard him. "We have only one choice now," he said
solemnly. "The choice I considered when I learned of the deceit of our elders,
and I wish I had taken it then." He sighed heavily, as though something painful
was warring in his mind. "We will need to seek help from Arwen..."

"No, Elladan, I do not want her involved!" he insisted. "She knows enough
already to compromise herself. I will not have her torn further. It is not fair
on her. She has not asked for this."

"It is not fair on any of us," Elladan told him. "I do not want my Evenstar to
be torn, but like you said, she is already. We cannot do this without her help.
And we will need Melethoniel's help too. I trust her. She has been as a cousin
to us all our lives, and she wants us to be together." He took both of
Elrohir's hands tightly in his own. "We cannot do it alone, and we have but two
allies that I can count. We must use them wisely. Trust me, Elrohir, as you
always have. I know I have let you down, but I swear I will make it up to you
this time."

"I trust you wholly but I would know more before we decide what to do," Elrohir
said. It sounded to him like Elladan had already decided what they would do,
and he did not like the look in his brother's eyes. There was something there
that he had never seen before. Something cruel and devious. Something vengeful.
He tried to look closer at it but Elladan was shielding the feeling from him.
"What are you thinking Elladan? Are we to come clean?"

"On the contrary," Elladan said with a devilish smile. "We are going to out-
fool the ones who have strove so hard to fool us. And they will regret it."