The departure by Aprilertuile

---

The departure

---

Elrond was in his tent in Gil Galad's camp. It was night time outside, and yet celebrations were going strong.

Elros himself was with Gil Galad and their generals and drinking and celebrating...

Celebrating yes... What grand thing to celebrate, the sundering of their twin-bound, his brother's mortality. Sure, let's get drunk and enjoy the fact soon there would be no "Elrond and Elros", that Elros would abandon him behind, that...

Holding back a sob, Elrond picked up his backpack, something he always had ready, as Maedhros and Maglor taught Elros and him, and left as discreetly as he could...

And oh, it was so simple. A bit of misdirection here and there...

It was ridiculously easy to leave the camp of Gil Galad behind. Once outside of it, far enough that he wouldn't be right under the guardsmen’s noses, he stopped to breath, tears still running down his face, and he picked a direction and just... Started to walk.

Hopefully he wouldn't cross path with orcs.

Well perhaps he should say that hopefully he'd cross path with orcs after all.

Who cared anyway? Not Elros, that was for sure.

No. Not Elros who chose the humans over his own brother. Who decided to never meet their parents again. Who decided that dying for good and disappearing from his brother's life was the greatest reward of his life!

Elrond didn't know how long or how far he walked. He just... needed to get away. Let them celebrate. He just wanted to be left alone.

When he finally stopped, too tired to continue, his body screaming in protest at his mind, feeling numb from the inside out, the sun was setting in the horizon.

Possibly, he walked all day. Or more. Who cared? Apart from his muscles who were apparently protesting greatly.

But at least there he didn't hear anything of the celebrations. And with the severance of his bound to his brother, he could neither hear his laughter or... Or anything. Just knew he was still alive.

Elrond just sat at the foot of a tree, watching the sheer destruction around him.

A desolate land... Fitting for his mood at least. He was so tired...

He heard a growl nearby and just looked up.

... A warg. Elrond seized his sword's handle but...

Well... Joke would be on them if he was the one to die first. Elros would get a taste of his own medicine. Irony at its finest. The mortal man outliving his elven brother.

Besides, who would care? Ereinion didn't know him really yet. Maedhros and Maglor were gone for good... Elros chose permanent death... Earendil and Elwing probably didn't even know if he was alive so wouldn't care either way...

It's with a morbid sense of fascination that Elrond watched the warg approach him, slowly, crouching low, sharp claws scraping the floor, drool dripping from its muzzle... Bending its muscle, clearly getting ready to jump and...

A sword flew straight through its throat, making Elrond jump in surprise.

Surprise at the sword or perhaps at the string of swear word in feanorian accented Quenya, from a voice he knew well...

Maglor was usually not the one with the swear word collection...

Elrond turned... And found himself with his face in Maglor's neck, the strong arms of the minstrel holding him close...

And Elrond started sobbing quietly, gripping the other like a lifeline, before things came crashing down in his mind and he started to hit him as he accused him of everything from letting him go to disappearing, passing by being an idiot and going straight to being an idiotic murderer and if he had just asked he could have put the guards to sleep and fled with them and at least he would have to see his brother die that way and... And...

Maglor let him talk and hit him –it’s not like Elrond really hurt him– and just lulled him to calm, gently, as he did when the twins were children in the throw of nightmares.

When Elrond's sobs started to abate, Maglor pushed him gently out of his arms.

"Come, this land isn't safe. There's a... There's a cave nearby that'll at least give us some protection. You can rest there."

Elrond took the minstrel's arm strongly in his hands, and there was absolutely no way in the Void and back that Maglor could leave him alone. Maglor took his sword back from the corpse of the warg and pulled Elrond a bit farther away, to a cave on the coast.

"There, here you'll be safe for now. Maglor murmured gently.

-I... Really don't care.

-I got that idea. Maglor answered gently with a wince.

-Elros doesn't care so why should I?

-He cares.

-He cares so much that he chose to abandon me and when the valar asked us if we wanted to be counted as men or elves, he chose to become one of those damn cockroaches that...

-Some humans are among the bravest and most honorable men I've ever met, El...

-They stole my brother from me! I hope their whole species get taken by a plague and dies out!" Elrond snarled in rage.

Maglor let him vent his frustration and anger. He could feel the younger elf was unwell, and that this meltdown was a direct result.

It was surprising how much the child could be like Maedhros at times.

And again it ended up with Elrond in tears in Maglor's arms. Maglor who didn't like how exhausted the child was. Well, not child anymore but still...

It's by habit that he started humming the lullaby he wrote for Maedhros, gently pushing Elrond to sleep... And usually Elrond who fought being pushed to sleep... Just let himself fall into it, clinging to Maglor as hard as he could.

"What did they do to you, dear one..." Maglor murmured, installing Elrond against his side properly so he wouldn't wake up in too much pain.

They'd talk later. For now clearly the younger elf needed care. The reassurance could come another time.

Not for the first time, Maglor regretted Fingon's death. He at least was great at taking care of people.

Finrod less so, he was just so generally happy and cheerful and pushing people around him to be cheerful as well that people either became happy out of self-defense or developed the will to throttle him. Out of self-defense too.

That never worked on Maedhros and wouldn't work on Elrond either. Probably.

Perhaps it was a mistake to lump the two of them together, but it was hard not to when Elrond fell back on known behavior pattern that he so clearly got from Maedhros.

Besides he'd be entirely unable to copy Finrod's behavior pattern even for Elrond. More so when he could see how utterly miserable the child was.

Maglor just stayed there, guarding his charge's sleep, humming to appease him in his dreams when necessary. Night fell and passed. Dawn came.

Elrond stayed asleep for a while longer, unusual for him.

That was starting to be worrying.

It was almost midday when Elrond woke up, obviously feeling as miserable as the previous day.

"Here, there's food and water. Eat." Maglor said gently but firmly.

It's by habit that Elrond obeyed, before he realized something and raised an eyebrow at the other elf:

"I'm not Maedhros. You don't need to...

-My dear, when you come to me ready to die, don't ask me to not care for you, it won't work."

Elrond winced and looked aside, food and drink forgotten until Maglor pushed him to eat and drink again.

Maglor was far too used to people in that kind of state of mind in his not so humble opinion.

"Where are we?

-On the new coastline. I understand it's still a changing thing so it's anyone's guess how long this land will stay above water, but so far it's safe from the orcs, and far enough from the host not to be in danger of being discovered by them. Unless they discovered your disappearance and sent search parties.

-Ah like they would. Please, they're probably still drinking and celebrating my brother...

-You know as well as I do that they're celebrating their freedom from Morgoth's tyranny.

-And my brother's brand-new kingship. That he wouldn't have if he wasn't now a mortal and set to abandon me within a mortal lifetime. IF he doesn't fall sick and dies sooner, or drowns or encounter any and all other accident or murder tentative that humans are prone to. Elros is *so* happy to know he'll be forever rid of me in a short while. I was just thinking of realizing his apparently greatest wish."

And mood swing again.

It was really not funny and Maglor probably shouldn't be so matter of fact about it, but it was so reminiscent of his own brother...

Yes, perhaps staying there or sending the child back to the supposed safety of Gil Galad's camp wasn't the best idea. Clearly, he couldn't trust them with him.

Maglor's eyes slid to the water edge, wondering how much Ossë, Uinen or Ulmo or any other of Ulmo's maiar saw...

Would they help Elrond or help Gil Galad to find the child again, hence worsening the situation?

Hm... That bore reflection.

Maglor followed that pattern for two days, pushing Elrond to sleep early at night, and letting him sleep late in the morning, so he could rest a bit, and then pushing food and drink at him.

However, Elrond wouldn't stay better burying himself in a cave, whether or not Maglor force fed him.

"Come on, Little Star, wake up, it's time to go."

Elrond sat up on his makeshift bed, with a glare for his adopted father.

"What?

-Time to go. You can't stay forever hiding in this cave, after all, and there's a whole world to explore. More to the point I think, we've exhausted all the food I had in the cave and we need to find more if we are to stay, so up you go, eat and we'll be on our way.

-I'm not going back!

-I never said you'd go back. I said we had a world to explore and food to find."

Elrond hesitated, but accepted the breakfast, a disgusting looking mix of edible things that was strangely good considering it looked like an overcooked mush with bits and pieces of not-mushy things inside it.

Once that done, he cleaned the bowl and makeshift spoon, and put both in his pack, and then got ready to follow Maglor out of the cave.

Maglor led him along the beach until a sort-of-but-not-quite trail that went more inland, clearly looking for tracks and food along the way.

Elrond just followed in silence, his eyes never leaving Maglor. It was creepy. He knew it was creepy. He just didn't care. Maglor was NOT disappearing on him or so helped him...

Midday came, and with it, rain. Maglor led Elrond to a grove of trees where they found some shelter from the rain. Oh not the best shelter there was, but it was better than nothing. With trees were berries and various kind of edible.

"Little Star, what did you do those last few years? Maglor asked even as he was foraging around.

-I was helping the healers with the injured. At first with the elves, and then Elros found himself with the men and helping organize thing and I went to help them. And when Thangorodrim fell, there were people that... Well... I... We... I helped a bit with them. They needed all healers on hand. They were so hurt... And then we met the Valar and Elros chose death and. And... I left." Elrond sniffled.

Maglor was not happy and if he ever crossed path with Gil Galad, someone would rue the day he found clever to put a child to work without checking on his workload and health.

But Maglor little by little, during that discussion, got his answers. Elrond was downright exhausted, all the horrors he had witnessed had injured his spirit, however willing and naturally skilled he was, he had been still too young when he started to help the healer, and the choice of Elros had been the last straw that broke the horse’s back.

It was mid-afternoon and Maglor had a whole pack of vegetables, roots, berries and edible leaves when they started going back to the cave.

They arrived to their refuge right as evening fell.

Maglor started a fire, to get warmer and to cook a bit later, and they huddled together for warmth. Elrond's face finding straight away the best position on his elder's torso to hear his heartbeat.

He could feel tears escape him again.

"I'm a mess, no? He whispered sadly.

-You'll be fine. I think you're just mostly exhausted and emotionally compromised. It'll pass given time."

Maglor's presence was so soothing... He could feel himself fall into reverie even as Maglor hummed a song without any power behind it. Just because Maglor was there. And reassuring. Soothing and comfy. And warm.

Maglor was there to guard him, and would be right there to ensure he'd recover.

---

Chapter End Notes

Thank you for reading