Lost and Found by awwyeah107

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Chapter 3: ...and Found (Alternate Version)

In Chapter 3, "…and Found", Maglor discovers Elrond and Elros are missing; he and Maedhros search for the twins, but will history repeat itself? - Alternate version of chapter 2!

There's more details below, but feel free to skip and move on to the chapter.

This alternate version of “…and Found” was born when I was working on the original draft. At the time, I had written a sentence about the trees swaying in the wind as Maedhros and Maglor walked out into the courtyard. It made me think about the way the wind picks up before a thunderstorm, blowing leaves everywhere, and then I thought: “Wait. What if there was a thunderstorm when they went to find the twins?” And then I thought: “And what if…there were orcs? Wouldn’t THAT be particularly angsty?” And I knew I had to write it.

However, I was over halfway done with the original draft, and I really wanted to keep it, so I decided to write an alternate version. This is set during the same time and the primary difference is the inclusion of those two elements—and, I’d say, how Maglor and Maedhros react ;)

Character Nicknames:

  • Maedhros = Nelyo (short for Nelyafinwë, his father-name)
  • Maglor = Káno (short for Kanafinwë, his father-name)

Songs Used as Inspiration

For this chapter:

All songs composed by Adrian Von Ziegler. Full playlist link here.

Maglor hurried along the corridor and entered Maedhros’ study with a brief knock to announce his arrival. The news he had was about the twins, and although he and Maedhros had argued multiple times about how attached he was to them—the most recent being only the day before—this was too important to keep from him.

“Maedhros,” he said carefully, trying not to betray the panic he felt, “Elrond and Elros are missing. They aren’t in the fortress. We—I—must go out to look for them.”

“What?” Maedhros looked up sharply from the parchment he had been writing on.

“I said, the twins are—”

“I know.” Maedhros was already pushing back his chair and rising to his feet. “When did you last see them?”

“They were playing in the courtyard, under Gwaedal’s watch.”

“I should have known we couldn’t trust him,” Maedhros growled before moving past Maglor down the hall.

Maglor had to increase his strides to catch up to his taller brother, who was walking quickly.

“I don’t think he did anything…” Maglor tried to interject.

Maedhros pushed through the doors that led to the courtyard, and Maglor blinked against the warm summer wind blowing in their faces. The tall branches of the trees beyond the walls swayed against the cloudy, gray sky, and leaves drifted through the air to settle on the ground. A few elves moved through the courtyard to carry out various tasks. Gwaedal was waiting nearby, twisting his hands together anxiously.

Maedhros strode up to the elf and roughly grabbed his collar. “What did you to do to them?” he demanded.

“My—my lord, I—” Gwaedal sputtered, trying vainly to free himself as others around them stared.

“Maedhros, that’s enough,” Maglor said firmly, pulling him off the startled elf. “We’ll take care of this later. Right now, we need to search for the twins.” He understood his brother’s concern, however. After the negligence—no, it was more than that, it was intended cruelty—of Celegorm’s servants, any elf who was responsible in any way for children that went missing would be suspicious to Maedhros.

“I’m sorry,” Gwaedal said miserably, his face a picture of contrition. “I was watching them, I promise.”

“I believe you,” Maglor responded. Maedhros didn’t make a sound, but his dark expression conveyed his doubt. “Come on, Maedhros.”

He moved towards the gate that opened to the woods, but stopped when he heard Maedhros’ voice. “Wait.”

Maglor turned, confused, to see Maedhros walking back into the fortress. “What are you doing?”

“We can’t go without supplies. Don’t you ever think these things through? Use your brain, Maglor.”

Usually, Maglor would have made a retort at his brother’s sharp tone and the jab, but the situation was dire and there was no time for petty arguing. He followed him back inside, and Maedhros started listing things they would need. “Alright, we have no idea how long we’ll be out there. We should bring torches. And food and water. And extra clothes. They might need them.” The brothers had reached Maedhros’ bedroom, and the elder Fëanorion grabbed an empty pack from under his bed. “Can you get their clothes?”

“Yes.” Realization struck Maglor that these were all things that Maedhros would likely have brought with him when he searched for Eluréd and Elurín if he had planned ahead, and he wondered how long his brother had been preparing for this exact scenario. “I’ll be right back.”

Once the two elves had collected everything they needed, they left Amon Ereb and strode off into the surrounding forest as the wind picked up and pushed against their backs.

They called for the twins, and both of their voices grew rougher and more frantic the more they called. And if Maglor heard Maedhros call out for Eluréd or Elurín once or twice—well, he certainly wasn’t going to say anything. There really wasn’t anything he could do for him, and he knew that Maedhros would hate him bringing attention to his slip into memories, even if it was only in concern.

The unspoken question hung in the air: would history repeat itself, and another pair of twins would be lost forever?

Maglor didn’t voice this to Maedhros, but he was anxious that the twins wouldn’t respond to their calls. Although their last escape attempt was at least three weeks ago, if not more, he couldn’t be sure that this wasn’t an escape attempt. He had to push down the rising guilt that nagged insistently at his mind: The twins have the right to want to escape. We killed their family, their people. All the same, he knew how much more terrible it would be if they could not find them. Even if they had to be dragged back kicking and screaming—which he fervently hoped would not need to happen—at least they would be safe.

The farther they traveled and the darker the sky became, the more uneasy Maglor grew. Rain began to fall, lightly at first, and then harder and harder. Maglor knew Maedhros’ shoulder was almost definitely aching, as it tended to do in this sort of weather, but one glance at his brother showed only determination written in his features. Even if he was in discomfort, no pain or tiredness would stop him from searching for the twins.

Besides the pain in Maedhros’ shoulder, the rain and wind created another problem: it made the twins much harder to track. Although the Fëanorians agreed that Elrond and Elros were not likely to stay on the paths outside the fortress that led northward and westward, and they had quickly found the place where the twins had disappeared into the woods, they couldn’t be sure of the direction the peredhel had gone. The rain had washed away footprints, and it made it harder to see any possible signs that could point them the right way. Again and again, Maglor had to push away the troubling thought that they could be going the wrong way completely and would never know. It had occurred to him that splitting up would allow him and Maedhros to cover more ground, but immediately he had dismissed that: he would never—could never—allow Maedhros go on his own to search for missing twins again, let alone ask him to, and truth be told, he felt safer with his brother out here in the forest.

He and Maedhros came across the stream that wound through the woods, and the elves paced back and forth across both sides of the water for several minutes to no avail. Neither could find any footprints on the muddy banks or signs of a trail into the forest, and both paused to listen to their surroundings, but the only sound was the rain falling on the rushing water and bushes around them. “Damn it,” Maedhros growled.

Maglor sighed in frustration. “Looking here any further is pointless. Let’s keep moving.”

As they trekked further into the forest, lightning forked through the sky over a nearby hill, and a threatening rumble of thunder followed.

Maedhros muttered under his breath, “They’re scared of storms.”

Maglor took a deep breath to try to quell his anxiety. He didn’t want to think of Elrond and Elros huddling together in the rain, frightened and shaking. Only a week ago, during a stormy night, he had heard a soft knock on his door and opened it to find the two half-elflings holding onto each other, trying not to cry. He had comforted them, and they quickly fell asleep afterwards, but the prominent part of the memory that stuck out to him now was their fearful expressions. “Hopefully that means that if they hear us, they will call out to us.”

The rain poured ever harder and the sky cracked with thunder. The torches the Fëanorians had lit earlier in their search flickered and sputtered.

In desperation, Maglor prayed to the Valar that they would find the twins. Please, have mercy on them. For their sake, not for ours.

Lightning flashed overhead once again, and a split second later an earth-shattering crack of thunder boomed.

Moments after, a high-pitched, terrified scream ripped through the trees.

The twins—it has to be them, it has to be!

Adrenaline shot through Maglor, and he and Maedhros took off at a dead run towards the source of the scream. Leaves and branches pelted Maglor’s face along with the rain, but he barely noticed. What he did register, however, were the hulking shadows that loomed ahead down the shallow slope, moving intently towards whatever—whoever—was under the overhang to their left…

“HEY!” Maglor yelled.

One of the shadows turned to face him and Maedhros, and the glint of orc eyes stared back. Guttural snarls erupted.

The brothers drew their swords without slowing, and they fell upon the closest orcs with fury. There weren’t many in the orc pack—less than ten, Maglor guessed—but they were fierce, and it was dark and wet. Maglor soon found himself back-to-back with Maedhros as they fought, and the stench of orc-breath and the feeling of rain and blood spattering on his face drove him on. Behind him, he heard more rustling, and muffled voices.

“Stop it!”

“Let us go—”

Maglor managed to work his way out past Maedhros so they were no longer at each other’s backs, and he slashed at the orc in front of him.

“Help!”

Maglor turned and saw Elrond and Elros hanging from the arms of two orcs dragging them off. Without a moment’s pause, on pure instinct, he answered with a sharp cry carrying notes of Song, his voice strong with power. The sound echoed through the forest around them, and the orcs holding the twins stumbled.

(If he had been paying attention to the fighting behind him, he would have seen the other orcs flinching back in pain and Maedhros pausing to look at him with a stunned expression.)

(If he had stopped to think, he would have realized that the last time he’d used his voice in battle like that was centuries ago.)

In a flash, the twins wriggled out of the grasp of the orcs. Maglor sprinted towards them and stabbed the first orc, who bellowed in anger at the sting of his blade. As he fought, he could hear the sounds of Maedhros finishing off the others behind him, and a few moments later, Maglor managed to kill his opponent. Even as the orc took its last breath, Maglor whirled around to see the other lumbering towards the twins. Before he could move a muscle, Maedhros launched himself at the second orc, and the force of his leap knocked it off its feet. A brief scuffle ensued before Maedhros was able to get the upper hand, and then, with a single, fierce movement, he buried his dagger in the orc’s heart.

“Not this time,” Maedhros growled, eyes hard and sharp with the light of the Trees as he stared down the dying monster. “Never. Again.”

The forest was then silent but for the sounds of rain pattering and Maedhros breathing heavily.

“Mag–lor–”

Maglor’s heart twisted in his chest as he heard Elros sobbing out his name from where he and his twin were crouched on the forest floor, and he ran to the twins and dove to his knees to hug them. They were both crying noisily, and Maglor himself could not hold back the tears running down his face in relief. “Elrond. Elros. Elrond, Elros,” he kept repeating, unable to stop the torrent of emotions flooding through him. They’re safe, they’re alive, we found them…

“We’re sorry,” Elrond cried. “W-we didn’t mean to get lost.”

“Oh, little stars…”

Maglor was relieved to hear it was not an escape attempt, but he was puzzled as to why and how they had left the fortress. The same thing seemed to dawn on the twins simultaneously, for Elros suddenly drew back from Maglor’s embrace, alarm in his eyes. “Please don’t be angry, p-please, we promise to be good—”

Elrond also backed away, and he grabbed his brother’s hand, his eyes wide. “We won’t ever run off again, it was my idea to explore the forest but we got lost, don’t hurt Elros—”

Maglor suddenly became acutely aware of how he must appear to them in this moment: tall and scary and covered in blood and rain and, most of all, powerful.

Yet he felt more helpless now than he had at any point in their search.

The familiar feeling of self-loathing rose within him, but he swallowed it down and took a deep breath—now was not the time to get caught up in it.

“I’m not going to hurt or punish you, and neither is Maedhros.” He spread his arms open, trying to look as nonthreatening as possible, aware of his brother standing behind him. “We were very worried about you.”

The twins hesitated, looking very much like they wanted to be certain of that, and then thunder rumbled off in the distance. Both peredhil immediately scrambled back towards Maglor, and he wrapped his arms around them tightly. One of them—Maglor couldn’t tell which in the darkness—involuntarily whimpered.

“Shhh, shhh, it’s okay,” Maglor soothed. “It can’t hurt you. I’m here.”

He stroked their wet heads and their backs, and they curled into him, trembling. The tears on Maglor’s face mingled with the rain, and he could still feel his heart pounding as the adrenaline slowly wore off. He wished he could keep the twins in his arms here forever; he felt keenly aware just how easily Elrond and Elros could have been lost to him and Maedhros for good. If they had arrived only a few minutes later…he shuddered. The thought didn’t bear considering any further.

He hugged the twins tighter.

A moment later, Maedhros knelt down in front of him, his eyes filled with relief. He slowly reached out to the twins while looking at Maglor, tilting his head in a questioning manner. Maglor murmured to the peredhil, “Maedhros is here too, and he’d like to hug you, if you let him.”

They both nodded against his chest, and Maglor met his brother’s eyes in assurance.

Maedhros leaned forward and wrapped his arms around Maglor so that Elrond and Elros were encircled by the two Fëanorions, and then he rested his head lightly against the twins’ backs, breathing out a heavy sigh as if the weight of the world had just been lifted from his shoulders. He squeezed Maglor’s shoulder briefly before releasing it to simply rest his hand on his brother. Every movement was slow and gentle—the opposite of the quick and fierce warrior he had been moments ago.

And there the four of them remained until the twins had calmed and they began to squirm. “Are you ready to go back to the fortress now?” Maglor asked them.

“Yes,” Elrond said with a yawn, and his brother nodded in agreement.

Maglor expected—and secretly hoped—they would like to be carried, so he shifted his arms to hold them better when he stood up. But then, as Maedhros and Maglor pulled apart, both half-elflings turned to embrace Maedhros, to the Fëanorions’ surprise.

“We want Maedhros to carry us.”

“Yeah, ‘cause he’s bigger and scarier than you.”

“So any orcs out there won’t get us.”

Maglor nearly laughed, but held back because he knew their expression of desire for what it was: they trusted Maedhros.

Maedhros looked like he was on the verge of tears now, and Maglor watched him take a deep breath. Elrond, ever the sensitive one, asked, “Are you okay?”

Maedhros stared at him for a moment before letting out a sound that was somewhere between a laugh and a sob. “Yes, of course—I should be asking if you are okay, little star.”

Maglor’s ears perked up. This was the first time that Maedhros had called either of the twins by the nickname he had given them.

“We’re okay now,” Elros said, snuggling into Maedhros’ shoulder.

The twins clung to Maedhros’ neck as he gathered them into his arms, and upon standing, he froze for an instant. Maglor immediately knew why, because this had happened to him too when he held the twins for the first time—he had been transported back years and years ago, to a different time and place where he had held a different set of twins, their hair red instead of dark brown, their faces showing much more prominent features of Finwë than these two.

Then Maedhros adjusted his grip on Elrond and Elros so he was holding them more securely, and he nodded to Maglor.

And so they began their long walk back to the fortress.

That night, once Maglor had tucked the two sleepy half-elflings into their beds and given each of their heads a kiss goodnight, he wandered to Maedhros’ room and with a soft knock, let himself in. His brother was sitting on the floor at the foot of his bed, staring at the flames in the fireplace. Maglor settled down next to him.

They both sat in silence for a long while.

“I never heard them.”

Maglor turned to look at his brother, who had not shifted his gaze from the hearth, deep in thought. He wanted to ask what Maedhros meant, but he held his tongue. He had a suspicion he knew, anyway.

“All that time I was out there, searching for them and calling and calling, I never heard a sound. And why would I? Surely they had been trained from birth to fear Fëanorians.” Disgust dripped from his final words, clearly directed at himself.

The wood cracked in the fireplace with a spray of embers.

“I kept thinking of how I would find them. Curled under a tree, perhaps. I thought I might have to…to—” his voice broke. His next words were so low and thick that Maglor could barely make them out. “To chase them.”

He drew his knees up to his chest and rested his forehead on them. Maglor remained silent, and a minute later, Maedhros sniffled and raised his head slightly to draw his arm across his face.

As much as he wanted to comfort his brother, he knew Maedhros disliked others being present when he cried, so Maglor started to move to get up. “I…I can leave. I don’t want to cause you any discomfort.” He placed his hand on Maedhros’ shoulder, but as he rose to leave, his brother grabbed his hand unexpectedly.

Maglor looked down to see tears gathering in Maedhros’ eyes.

“Káno. Please, stay.”

Maglor’s heart thumped once, twice, painfully in his chest as he immediately knelt down to take his brother’s face in his hands. Maedhros immediately leaned into him, pressing his face into Maglor’s chest, not bothering to try to hide the sobs that began to rack his body. Maglor wrapped his arms around Maedhros, and his brother grasped onto his tunic with his hand.

“I lost them, I lost them, I lost them.”

“I know,” Maglor whispered. He paused before deciding to speak the words that had risen to his tongue. “But we found these twins.”

Maedhros sniffed sharply and spoke again, his voice tinged with frustration. “Don’t you understand? I can never rescue them. I can never find them.”

“I know, Nelyo. I know.” Maglor’s voice was sorrowful. “I’m so sorry.”

Maedhros’ sobs resumed with a greater intensity, and Maglor simply let him cry as he held him. The two brothers sat together, their silence only broken by the wood occasionally shifting in the hearth and Maedhros’ quiet gasps for air.

Once Maedhros’ tears had largely ceased, Maglor admitted in a low voice, “I was terrified we wouldn’t find the twins today.” He felt Maedhros nod against him with a shudder before clinging to him more tightly.

Several minutes later, he heard Maedhros say, “You were right, though.”

Puzzled, Maglor leaned back to look down at Maedhros, and Maedhros took the opportunity to sit up and wipe his eyes. They were red and still had a film of tears, but Maedhros’ voice didn’t shake when he said, “We did find Elrond and Elros.”

“That we did.”

“And they didn’t run. Or hide from us. At all.” Maedhros looked at Maglor in wonder before shaking his head in disbelief. “They actually wanted me to hold them. Th-they wanted me to carry them back.” He sniffed again and took a deep breath.

Maglor smiled softly at him with a nod. “Yes. I think they enjoyed it.”

“I…” Maedhros trailed off, looking torn between finishing the thought and keeping it to himself. Maglor said nothing, only waiting patiently. There was a pause for several seconds, and then: “I…I love them. I love them, Maglor,” Maedhros confessed quietly. “I would give my life to protect them.”

Joy rushed through Maglor to hear what he had told Maedhros in one of their latest arguments over the twins: that he loved Elrond and Elros and would keep them safe at all costs, regardless of any objections. At the time, Maglor had held back from confronting Maedhros about his own care for the peredhil, since he knew it would only result in angry denial. However, it appeared that nearly losing them had caused Maedhros to realize that whether he wanted to or not, he did love them.

And it seemed to Maglor that he did want to.

He pulled Maedhros closer and rested his forehead against his brother’s. “I know. I would too.”

They stayed together like that for some time until there were only ashes and a few embers left in the fireplace. Maedhros lifted his head and kissed Maglor’s forehead, before whispering, “Thank you. I love you, Káno.”

Warm affection bloomed in Maglor’s chest, and he whispered back, “And I you, Nelyo. And I you.”

Chapter End Notes

Other titles for this chapter that I considered were “…and Found (Angstier Version)” or “…and Found (Thunderstorm Version)” XD ‘Alternate Version’ works just fine, though.

For anyone with a laser eye for continuity and wondered what happened to the torches Maglor and Maedhros were carrying before they attacked the orcs, let’s just say the torches sputtered out or they threw them at the orcs. There just wasn’t a good place to mention anything about them at the time. Or when they were heading back to the fortress—just imagine Maglor lighting a torch to carry while Maedhros carries the twins XD

And later on, Maglor and Maedhros did find out about the twins’ “shimmer trick” and had them apologize to Gwaedal, like in the first version of “…and Found”. In this version, though, Maglor didn’t punish them; it was quite enough for Elrond and Elros to get lost in the forest and then nearly get killed by orcs, and during a thunderstorm no less.

Song-to-Scene Inspiration (for this chapter)

  • Children of Darkness: Used during the search for the twins, generally starting once Maglor and Maedhros left Amon Ereb, all the way through their attack on the orcs. I absolutely love the spooky tones of this song; it's exactly the kind of haunting, "scary" vibe that I like for songs like this, and it fit the mood I was going for very, very well. In the scene, the stakes grow ever higher as the storm approaches and Maglor and Maedhros attack the orcs, and you can really feel that mirrored in the song. I looped most of the songs when writing the scenes, but I think this one got looped the most (in part because it’s the shortest song of the playlist).
  • Enathar: Used during the scene where Maglor and Maedhros comfort the twins after rescuing them (again). The song fits much better for this version of Found, I think. It's a differently emotionally charged scene than the original, and Enathar somehow just feels more right to me with this version. There's a greater level of emotion felt by the twins and Maglor, and it's night and it's raining, so I think those factors play into it. The background singing also reminds me a bit of Elvish sung or spoken in the Lord of the Rings movies, which provides a nice touch.
  • Rebirth: Used during the scene where Maglor and Maedhros talk after finding the twins. I considered writing the scene while listening to Hope, and I think I might have at first, but this song felt more right. It's a little more agitated sounding at times, with the drums and more musical intensity, and that matches the mood well. This scene is focused on Maedhros' trauma and his need to let his emotions out, and this song helped me reach his feelings. (And the name ‘Rebirth’ seems rather appropriate for Maedhros in this scene, where he is processing and accepting his emotions.)

If you haven’t listened to the songs on the playlist I made for this fic, I definitely suggest you do. I can’t pick a favorite, but out of the songs for each chapter, here’s the ones that I think fit them/the scenes I used them for the best:
1) …Lost: Lost (because it’s the only song I had for it, but even if there were others I think this would be the best)
2) …and Found: Hope
3) …and Found (Alternate Version): Children of Darkness or Enathar

I debated whether or not to mention another song here, because it’s very different from all the ones I’ve listed so far and I didn’t include it on the playlist, but why not: while writing about Maedhros wanting Maglor to stay with him in the final scene of this chapter, I thought of song The Run and Go by Twenty One Pilots. It did not directly inspire any of the scenes in the story, but on reflection, the lyrics fit Maedhros pretty well in both “Lost…” and both versions of Found, especially the second one. So, one could consider it to be the “end credits” song for this fic XD

To everyone who’s read this far, thank you for getting all the way through this fic! (And through these ridiculously long author's notes!!) It’s my first published Tolkien fic, and I’m so happy with it :) It took quite a while to write (especially once I decided to write this chapter), but I didn’t rush the process and I think the story is better because of it.

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