The Seventh Day's End

[Armandeus]

[As the title gives way this was originally intended to be the last post to the Seventh Day thread but given the time that has past I felt it would serve a better purpose here. Enjoy!]



"Armandeus? Armandeus!" It was the out of place sound of a woman's voice that finally brought the elf turning again to face the spot where Rowan had lain. Thankfully the body of his former fellow prisoner had already faded away into the darkness, leaving nothing behind save for the mysterious voice calling out to him. "Armandeus!"

"What do you want from me?!" The green-haired Elf snapped on the automatic, but dear Eru he was sick of this already - of the lost memories resurfacing in the darkness where he thought he had buried them forever.

"Armandeus?" The voice continued to call, oblivious towards his tone and sounding near frantic itself. "Armandeus! Wake up!!"

Wake up? The words left him blinking into the darkness; he was already awake, at least as far as one could be when they were trapped within their own sadistic mind. Just what kind of memory was this? The ones previous had grabbed him at the turn of a hair and sucked him in, but whatever this one was seemed to be having trouble latching on. It was a troubling thought, though nevertheless he called out once more to the voice. "What do you want from me? Show yourself!"

Silence. Was that his imagination or did he actually hear crickets chirping in the never ending darkness? Whether real or the product of an overworked, overactive imagination he did not know and wished them gone all the same. Perhaps the fever from earlier was finally coming home to roost here in the darkness but he suddenly longed for the comfort of his own bed.

Tired. Why was he growing so tired?

It was battle fatigue but unlike a war fought with blades and bows this one was fought with mind and memories and proved far more draining than Armandeus could have ever imagined. It was ironic in a sense - he had already lived through these memories and now that he was faced with them again he felt caught off guard and unprepared. He hadn't been expecting this and that's what threw him the most of all.

If you wanted to get right down to it he didn't know what to expect - the visions changed with everyone but they always seemed to hold to a familiar pattern that spun into recreating his and Elessar's escape from the Macon prison. Never before had this happened - memories he thought he'd tucked under lock and key had come back to the surface to haunt him.

It confused him. It exhausted him. It terrified him. He wanted it to be over.

Wants and wishes were not on the menu here in the Void, unfortunately, and the thought had barely crossed his mind before that unfamiliar female began calling out to him once again. "Armandeus? Armandeus! Wake up!!"

"I am awake!" Finally fed up, he yelled across the darkness of his mind. "Now stop yelling my name!"

Always be careful what you wish for. With the fading echo of his own angry voice the elf realized he had gotten his wish, but it came with a price. The woman's silence was bought with the now familiar lightening and shaping of the stone walls and floor of his former cell and Armandeus could have screamed with frustration. No! No, no, no, no! No more visions!

The mind has a will of it's own, however, and unfortunately for the elf he was not going to get his way. Distantly the elf knew he would not - if it was that easy then he would never had to endure the visions in the first place. He didn't have to like it, though so in passive defiance he crossed his arms and watched as the world shifted and shaped itself into his next nightmare.

It did not take long. The long wispy tendrils of the shadows twisted and elongated further until they formed the shape of a body laying there on the cold stone floor. The Seer's Doppelganger lay there before him once again, but this time he could not contain the gasp of surprise upon seeing his face staring back at him. His Doppelganger was no longer a child; his face had lost the roundness of youth and had settled into the lines and planes of adulthood. It was eerily like looking in the bathroom mirror all over again except this time his reflection did not copy his movements. No, the clone had his eyes held tightly closed, his face twisted into a painful grimace. It was a look Armandeus knew well - he'd had enough headaches to know what one looked like.

Armandeus didn't have time to contemplate why his imprisoned self would be having headaches when the visions hadn't even started while he was there, because the shadows were already parting again. Only a few feet away from where his Doppelganger lay the body of Elessar appeared on the floor and Armandeus nearly threw up from the sight of him. His friend had been stripped completely naked, but Armandeus scarcely noticed. There were bigger things to worry about, most noticeably the large, deep reddish-purple colored bruise that covered the left side of the blonde elf's chest, punctuated by the thick, wet sounds of his breathing.

Holy Eru . . . What had happened to him? Armandeus swallowed heavily, forcing the stinging taste of bile back down his throat. This was not a memory he remembered and he suddenly felt afraid of what would come next. Fear or not, he couldn't help but look down at Elessar, only to frown when he realized the elf's face was covered with swollen bruises to the point it was hardly recognizable. For a moment Armandeus blinked in surprise and allowed himself the brief thought that, perhaps this was not Elessar after all, merely someone who looked like him. It was a short thought, however, for when he leaned in for a closer inspection there was no denying that the greasy strands of blonde and blue splattered hair belonged to his friend.

What in Eru's name had happened here? Armandeus finally managed to force himself away from Elessar's body to glare daggers back at his own. He'd never attempted to touch his memory self before, but by Eru he was going to get some answers! Or so he thought . . .

The Seer had only managed to take one step in his Doppelganger's direction before the sound of the woman's voice from before made him stop in his tracks. "Armandeus!" Whirling, the elf turned to try finding her, because someone was going to answer for this, but there was nobody else there save for Elessar and he was truly beyond talking. "Armandeus! Open your eyes!" There! The voice was behind him and he turned again and felt his anger flow away from him.

Yára.

There were no words for the mixture of elation and anger Armandeus felt upon seeing the small, raven-haired elf again - just a great longing that he had not felt since her death. Awash in the flow of memories Armandeus could only watch as the female elf knelt next to his body and reached out to gently brush a few stray locks of his hair away from his face. The simple touch brought a surge of jealously that was just ridiculous considering it was a nothing more than a memory of something that had happened to him before.

Wait. What memory was this? Purple eyes narrowed in sudden suspicion as they darted from where he and Yára were to where Elessar lay and back again. It seemed so familiar, but yet Armandeus could not place it off the top of his head. That was, until the woman began speaking again. . .

"Open your eyes! You have to focus for this to work!" Focus for this to work? Armandeus was feeling slow on the uptake, but as he watched the way his clone struggled to open his eyes and heard the way his breathing was falling in eerie rhythm with Elessar's it began to dawn on him just what he was watching.

"Good. You're doing good." Yára was soothing and smiling and Armandeus didn't know whether to laugh or cry at the watery expression on her face. "Just remember what we talked about. It'll hurt but you'll save his life. . ." Yára had went on talking then, but the Seer wasn't listening anymore. What had started as a suspicion had turned into fact and he suddenly knew with a certainty what memory he was about to see: his bonding with Elessar.

No. No way in the seven hells was he going to witness that again, no matter that he was trapped within his own mind. He turned away from the sight, hands going up to cover his ears from the start of the ancient elvish words that would start the ritual. Dear Gods, he didn't' want to be here! Of all the memories trapped within his mind why, oh why, did it have to be this one? He'd rather relive his escape from Genesis over and over and over again that rather relive this one. Screams were rising up from behind him and he pressed his hands tighter, trying for all the world to block out the sound. He wanted out of here!


C

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Armandeus' mental world broke like the bursting of a dam, splitting clean down the middle and left the elf floating in the aftermath. The Void was gone along with the memories of his bonding, both washed away by the gray light that now surrounded him. There was peace within this light and all the cares and hurts that had plagued Armandeus since his journey started had faded away, leaving him feeling as weightless as a feather floating on the wind. It was oddly comforting and the Seer found he couldn't build up a resistance towards it so he lay back, closed his eyes and floated.

How long he remained encompassed in that comforting embrace he could not say, but unfortunately for the elf the ride was far from over. It started as a slight tremor running through him, nothing to worry about. But then it grew, and grew and grew until he was shaking like the veritable leaf in a gale storm and there was nothing to hold onto to make it stop. Opening his eyes he saw the comforting light was gone only to be replaced by the swirling roar of tornados spinning around him, determined to pull his body apart with their sharp winds and screaming voices. In seconds he was swept up and his voice was whipped from his throat by the wind, his screams lost underneath the swirling roar that now surrounded him.

The winds ripped at him, pulling at his skin and hair and tore his clothing. If he didn't get out of there he would surely be ripped apart by the force of it all. Strange as it sounded, Armandeus couldn't rally up the strength to care. Now that the gray light was gone the aches and tiredness had returned in full and not even the threat of the tornados could garner a reaction from him. He was just so tired. He wanted it to be over.

He was going to get his wish. In the blink of an eye the roar of the tornados had reached a fever pitch and moved in closer, blocking any hope of escape he may of hand. It was the end and Armandeus forced himself to stand to meet it and in the blink of an eye it was over.


Armandeus came back to himself with a jolt, his body convulsing from the sheer force of it. It was a hard awakening to be sure, but it did the trick; after a few moments the elf managed to open blurry eyes to find he was back in the stables. Letting out a noise that was caught somewhere between a chuckle and a sob Armandeus passed out cold again with a hint of a smile on his face. He was back.