[LEANE'S POV]

"Go away."

Evil twins.

The said twin, appeared before my eyes, but I refused to look at the prankster–whichever he was– and since I was sitting, I looked straight into his dark blue tunic embroidered with golden leaves of Rivendell.

"My eyes are up here."

I actually looked up at him, shooting daggers with my glare.

"If looks can kill..."

"What do you want, Elladan?"

"To talk," he said with a happy go lucky smile, his expression easy and playful, his hands hidden behind his back.

"What's on your hands?" I asked.

Elladan lifted his dark brows, pool of silver that was his eyes confused. "Nothing."

"Oh. I thought you were hiding a knife waiting to stab me from my back. Again," I said with resentment in my voice.

The young lord of Rivendell looked pleasantly surprised and quite scandalized. "My, that's a really good one."

I was this close to calling Sylvanna to drag him away. "Leave me alone," I muttered. Since he refused to listen, I pressed my lips together, annoyed. "What makes you think that I want to talk to you after what you've done to me?" I snapped angrily.

Our eyes locked. For whatever reason, sympathy passed in his eyes. "Because I was the only one who opposed the idea in the first place. I was the only one who stood up for you."

"Why should I believe you?"

"Because it's the truth. What we did to you, was performed once before, though I know it is wrong to do so," he said with a melancholy look in his expression, a look that I very rarely seen on the twins, "It was done to our naneth. Ada did it. But it did her no good."

I sighed inwardly at hearing this part of his life that he never shared before. Sympathy quickly overpowered my anger. "I'm sorry, Dan."

He smiled gently at me, unlike the usual mischievous smile he usually had on his face. "I am sorry, too. At this moment everyone realizes that it was wrong, what we did. Everyone but me, obviously, since I knew from the start that it was wrong."

"Yet you did anyway. Why?" my voice cracked, but before more tears slipped from my eyes, I quickly wiped it away, allowing myself to be angry instead.

Ever the gentleman, or rather gentle elf, Elladan pulled out a pristine handkerchief and offered it to me as he saw the way my expression gave away my feelings.

"No," I refused. "I bet you already lost many of those trying to console my daughter during my unfortunate moments."

Elladan's eyes went as wide as saucer, almost horrified. His mouth agaped slightly, stunned. I continued, slightly pleased to see him speechless.

"And just so you know, if you hurt my daughter in any way, I will personally find you and strung you above the nearest tree. You know I can do it without even straining a muscle," I threatened him.

Elladan pressed his lips together and nodded. "Threat duly noted," he quipped and I rolled my eyes. Then, I resumed my sulking activity as I stared at the ground beneath our feet.

Silence was heavy between us. Trying to steer the conversation away from me, I broke the silence, trying to muster nonchalance. "What happened to your mother?"

At my question, Elladan straightened up and back from his own reverie and put back his handkerchief inside his pocket. "After we recovered her from the orcs' captivity, we managed to heal her bodily injuries. But the mind," now it was Elladan's turn to sulk, as it seemed, for the grief that was in his eyes earlier returned briefly, "Mind sickness had overtaken our naneth. Such was the kind that elves might suffer in the face of trauma. After what the orcs did to her for so long…"

I shuddered at the possibilities and dared not ask. I too, had had my dealings with orcs, and for a brief moment was in their captivity, along with Merry and Pippin during our quest. But seemed that the fate that had met Elladan's mother was something less fortunate than the one me and my companions endured.

"...Ada, having the advantage of being a powerful elf and having the closest bond to our mother, performed Sanwë Latya on her, hoping to treat her spirit. But, alas, she was already broken beyond mending," he reminisced, ancient silvery eyes looking far, tired and weary. "He sent her to the Valinor, knowing that only the Valar could heal her spirit."

I put two and two together.

"You're saying that I'm fading?" I asked in disbelief, "Like she was?"

"–I never said that." he cut me rather harshly, then inhaled, looking deeply troubled. The young lord of Rivendell refused to meet my eyes. Rather, I watched as he unconsciously rubbed his own hand with his thumb–his tell tale sign of anxiety. "Elrohir thinks that your humanity makes you stronger than our mother."

Fading.

I let out a bitter chuckle, still not believing what he implied. "It was an embarrassing meltdown, yes," I sulked at the memory, refusing to believe such a faraway notion. "But not a reason for me to fade."

Elladan turned his serious eyes to me. He opened his left palm for me, "Take my hand."

I looked at his open hand with distrust. He snorted, "Go on, I don't bite," he said with a wolfish smirk.

"No. You're gonna pull something with me," I accused.

"What? Nay!" protested Elladan, looking somewhat offended, "I just opened up to you about my naneth–do you really think me daft?"

I shrunk inwardly, ashamed. Not wanting to offend the elf that was basically my first teacher here in Middle Earth, I muttered my apology and quickly take his hand.

"Woah, you're–"

"Hot, as you put it?" he grinned, and I rolled my eyes.

"You're unbelievably warm," I corrected him, with not a small amount of alarm, looking at him for signs of fever.

"Nay, Leane. I am perfectly healthy," he said, his seriousness returned. "You on the other hand," he squeezed my hand gently, "Your skin is like ice to mine."

I took my hand back and studied it, shaking my head. "No. It can't be," I turned my gaze at him, "I feel fine."

"Do you?" he questioned me back, "Have you taken a look at yourself lately? You've worsened ever since you wake up."

I hadn't. Everyday since I woke up, I changed everyday without even bothering to look at my vanity. I was too scared to look into a mirror, fearing my own reflection, knowing that I would hate what I saw.

A weakling. A murderer. An imposter.

Hypocrite!

I shuddered at the loud voice in my head. When my eyes finally met Elladan's, he was already studying me, his gaze penetrating as if hearing everything that had been going on in my mind. All at once, I felt my blood freeze, and my heart racing, as if it was trying to outrun my breath.

He knows. He hears that. Of course he does! He was inside my head–

The elf warrior caught my hand, and in an instant I was trapped in his silvery gaze as he spoke to me. His voice clear, directive yet gentle at the same time.

"A si i-Dhúath ú-orthor, Leane. Ú or le a ú or nin."

I did not know what he did to me–it seemed like he did nothing but speak, but I felt as if I was forced to listen. At the sound of his voice, the condemning voices in my head ceased altogether, and I was left staring at him, dumbfounded.

The elf warrior stood up, pulling me by tugging at my elbow. "Get up," he said, and I followed him, confused with everything that had just went down.

Now that I thought about it, I was confused with basically everything in life.

He led me towards the pool at the royal garden, the crystal water so still that it reflected everything under the sun. Elladan gestured to it.

"Go ahead. Look," he encouraged. "Tell me what you see."

I released him and looked into the pool. A silent gasp left me. What I found staring back at me was a reflection of a stranger. As I brought my hand up to touch my face, the person staring back at me did the same. I touched the skin under my eye, tracing the dark circle underneath; and the woman copied my movement. I touched the protruding cheekbone on my face, and the sickly pale human mirrored it.

"No," I said to myself.

"No?"

The disbelief in his voice made me turn to see Elladan. He gritted his teeth, then held me by my elbow, forcing me to look at my reflection again. "Take a hard look. Who is that?"

I didn't like the way Elladan speak to me. I shook my head. "Maybe I forgot to comb my hair this morning," I quipped sassily.

His grip on my elbow tightened. "I tried doing this gently, but seems that you need to hear the truth and truth is what I am going to tell you–"

"No."

"–You are fading. You are dying," he told me, dragging the words to me, "There, I said it."

Being angry was easier than accepting whatever inception Elladan was trying to pull on me. "Let me go, Dan."

"Why? So you can avoid everyone again like what you've done these past three weeks?"

"Let me go, Elladan Peredhil, or else," I told him as I looked into his now trapping, steely gaze.

His smile was not of the mischief and kindness that he usually had. Instead, he gave me a cynical smile, one that was void of jests and good nature. "Are you threatening me?"

"Well, yes."

"You're going to make the nearby flower bush grow and choke me? Strung me up the lovely lemon tree that you planted?"

I was left speechless at the sudden change of his character. And if I was honest with myself, I was hurt by it as well. "Why are you being like this?"

"Because my dear, Leane," he told me seriously. "You need help. You can't hold everything in forever. It will kill you."

I yanked myself out of his grasp, wanting nothing but to get away, but as soon as I was free, he caught me again, his grip tighter this time. My anger spiked.

"Let me go," I warned.

"Feel me," he said, making me frown. "Go on, use the Infinity Ring. Then decide whether you really want to hurt me or not."

I opened my mouth, then closed it again. He scoffed.

"It is as I thought. You've grown afraid of everything now, even your own feelings."

"It's none of your business–"

"You keep this up, and I will assure you that you would be nothing but a memory next summer."

I stared at him, feeling blood being drained from my face at his words. It was now my turn to be speechless.

"This tough girl nonsense that you put up must come to a stop."

My face fell. I shook my head, speaking through my shaky breath with a softer tone. "No, please. That was never my intention to come off–"

He gripped both my arms in his strong hold, seemingly not realizing that he was starting to hurt me. "You'll die, and I've seen this story for millennias, I know how it ends," he said with anger and frustration lacing his tone. I grew scared, my heart pounding against my chest. "Your husband will die broken-hearted upon your death. Your children are going to lost both of their parents, having the last memory of you pulling yourself away from them, making them feel unwanted, useless–"

"No, no, no, no." Tears pooled in my eyes as I frantically tried to shake the torturous image he put in my head.

"–abandoned, knowing that their mother could choose another path and be well, and now she's dead, and because of how much their father loved her, he died too–"

"Please stop," I begged through my tears, feeling my heart being ripped apart at the image of Legolas fading, of Asher not being able to smile anymore, and Caladwen crying in sorrow with nothing to bring her comfort.

"–and now they won't have anything else to live for so they stop living," he shook me harshly, forcing me to look into his eyes. "Poor Caladwen will be last to die because I would be there doing everything and anything I can to console her, to keep death as far away from her as possible. And when that failed too, guess what will happen to Thranduil," he seethed.

I cried in agony at the grief that had now stung my chest. I tried feebly to pry myself from Elladan, but he locked me in a tight grip with both his arms. The same fear and pain that I felt haunted his eyes. "You and I both know how it is to lose a parent, to fight so hard but having them pried from your fingers," he gritted his teeth, voice latched with despair, "Would you let the same thing that happened to us happened to her? To Caladwen?"

"No," I sobbed, crippled in anguish as the ancient pain of losing my own father were brought to the surface. And to think that Caladwen or Asher having to go through that... "Please no," I begged.

"Then fight it."

***

[Author's Note: Another depresso chapter. Sorry about that! I promise the next chapter is looking up! Review?]