Underestimation - The First Experience [closed.]

[Elessar]

The tiny room stunk of day old puke and at once it was suffocating and overwhelming and good Eru, he couldn't breathe. Elessar managed to stumble one, two steps into the room before his legs gave out beneath him and the hardwood floor rushed up to meet his face. He lay there, writhing in an agony he had never experienced before and had no hope of breaking from.

Dear Eru, dear gods, dear anyone . . . how could anyone stand this? To the Elf it felt as if all his senses had been blown wide open and his body had turned into a sponge, soaking in quite literally everything; every touch, sound, sensation. He would have surely drown in it if not for the sudden intervention of reality in the form of a hand crushing around his, pulling him from the tsunami. The hand was an anchor, hauling him forward away from the very real sensation that his eyeballs were going to melt into his head and back to the swirling depths of blue that was the room.

Inside the swirl of room was the most welcoming face in the world, purple eyes shinning with worry and unshed tears. "Oi Elbereth what have I done? I'm so sorry . ." The face crumpled and distantly Elessar could feel strong arms holding onto him despite the body they were attached to shook like a branch caught in gale force winds. There was nothing to do but hang on and he did. He clung with an iron grip peppered in the absurd feeling that to let go was to loose himself completely.

Time passed. How much Elessar didn't know but it was enough. Ever so slowly the torrent of feeling began to die down, like mist after a hard rain. He found himself floating on this new feeling, his thoughts adrift as he was. They drifted towards the other man who'd gone silent in his shock and Elessar wondered for the first time just how strong Armandeus was. In all the years they had been together there had never been a question of the other's strength. He had been strong enough for the both of them, Elessar remembered, not only enduring what had been done to him but also with the extra burden Elessar had brought. There was no mistake about it, if it hadn't been for Ar Elessar would have died in that cell.

Even after all that Elessar had taken his friend for granted. Through the start of the visions and the Seer's sickness that pervaded with them, through the hints of a new empathic power and the shocking seduction of Elemental talent the green-haired Elf had came through it all with a smile plastered on his face. Elessar had no idea. His own experience tonight could barely be called the tip of the iceberg and for the life of him he simply could not imagine going through it again. Exhaustion was beginning to creep in as darkness over the haze and Elessar let it have him. His eyes drifted shut and he succumbed to sleep with the resolution to never underestimate his friend again.