The Guilty Truth [closed.]

[Elessar]

1,001 . . . 1,002 . . . 1,003 . . . wall, turn . . . 1,004 . . . 1005 . . .

Days.

It had been days since Armandeus had fallen into the coma-like state he was currently in and aside from the initial convulsions and the resulting vision the elf had not moved in three days. The seemingly endless wait was enough to drive anyone to the end of their rope and Elessar, who had barely left the other's bedside, was rapidly reaching his.

"This isn't fair Armandeus." 1035 . . . 1036 . . . The blonde elf was pacing; nearly stomping in his frustration as he completed the short distance from one end of their shared room to the other and pivoted to go back again. "You refuse to speak to me when you are waking when I have done nothing but tell you the truth and now you are unable to speak at all!"

Silence radiated from the bed, which was to be expected, but the lack of response made Elessar growl and throw his hands up in a fit of frustration.

It wasn't fair. It had taken two years of the guilt eating at him for Elessar to finally muster up the courage to tell Armandeus the truth about his five month imprisonment in Genesis and what had he gotten in return for it? Nothing was what! Upon hearing that Elessar had met his younger sister Armandeus had promptly declared him a liar and hadn't spoke a word to him since. Elessar still couldn't believe it, especially since he hadn't even gotten around to telling him the worst part of it all! Frankly it was enough to make Elessar want to bang his head against the nearest wall for all the good that would do.

But wait. Elessar stopped in his tirade just past the edge of the bed and swiveled to look at the sleeping elf. He could rant and rave until his face began to resemble the blue in his hair or . . . or he could finally say the words that were weighing on his soul and be done with it Looking at the face of the man he'd once called his closest friend, Elessar made his decision.

"Eleniel and I have a son."

No response. "You can deny her existence but you will not do the same to his. From the moment of his creation to this very hour I have felt his faer within my own and there is nothing that can change that, not even you." Elessar turned away from the bed beginning to resume his trek from earlier. "Why can't you wake up and see the light!? That wretched old Seer lied to us Armandeus! Your sister proves that and while she did not know where your brother is he is alive as well. Do you even understand what this means? We took that woman at her word when we should have forced our way on to see it for our own eyes! If she was wrong about your siblings then what's it to say that my village did not perish as she predicted? This changes everything and yet nothing for what can we do? I do not know what to do anymore." The elf let his breathe out in a deep sigh as he stopped in front of the window and leaned in to rest his head against the glass.

How long Elessar stood there he could not say, suffice it was quite a while, until a dry, hoarse voice broke into his reverie. "Y-you have a son?"

Whirling around Elessar was startled to find himself being studied by a pair of tired purple eyes peering out of a face that was still much too pale. "You're awake."

"And you are right," Armandeus shifted, propping himself up on his elbows. "We have to talk."

[Elessar]

"You have a son."

"And that is the third time you have said that." Elessar turned from where he had been leaning against the window to regard the other elf with a raise of his eyebrow. "You are starting to sound as the mortals say 'a broken record'."

"Can you blame me? You tell me I have been out for weeks and this is what I wake to?" Armandeus glanced up from the cup of tea he was nursing to flash Elessar a glare. "Shocking does not begin to describe it!"

"Then deal with it and let's be done with it!" Elessar snapped as he turned his back on the other man. Irritation was starting to boil in the pit of his stomach; he'd just spent weeks trying to care for Armandeus and now it'd practically blown up in his face! The comatose elf had been awake less than an hour now and already things were starting to come to a head.

"Daro! Just stop right there Elessar! Can't you get your head out of yourself long enough to look at all this from my perspective? The last thing I clearly remember is kissing De'Ryanna and then the next moment I'm waking to the sound of you pacing and ranting on about Eleniel and a child . . . and if that isn't enough I come to find I have been asleep for weeks now! Not hours, not days, but nearly an entire month! Stop, just . . . Stop."

"Get out of my head?! You have not a clue what you're talking about, do you?" Elessar scoffed, "You may not wish to hear this now but the cat is out of the bag Armandeus and you cannot un-hear what has been said. Now I suggest you better listen for while it has taken years to reach this point I only intend to tell this story once."

Silence permeated from the bed bound elf, but he raised his hand from his cup and gave a wave indicating for Elessar to go on.

"I did not intend for this to happen. You know as well as I one does not find themselves in prison looking for love or even friendship and yet it happened. I had heard the name Eleniel from you in the past but like you I was also comparing it to a child and passed it off as a sheer coincidence. Her cell was across from mine; they had learned from us and no longer put more than one prisoner in the same cell together. This made them cocky as well for the guards hardly bothered us and even slept at night whereas they never had before. It was night when we were free to talk and it was then that I discovered she had not been there much longer than me. Her hair was cut short like all the new ones but from the distance I thought it was simply dark. She never said a word of her family and I did not press to ask, but that is not the point. The point of this is throughout the months she began to awaken feelings within me that I had not felt since the death of my beloved Cristiel and I could not resist them. You are still young to love and probably do not understand but for me it was like coming home. It was a comfort and joy such as I had only dreamed of ever experiencing again. . ." There was such longing in Elessar's voice as he trailed off and it hung in the silence that followed.

Armandeus was at a loss for words. He honestly had not known what to expect but still, Elessar's words had shocked him beyond anything else. His mind was swimming as he lowered his head into his hands and he was surprised to find his face bathed in wetness. His siblings were alive! After all these long years of believing they were forever lost it was like the lifting of a leaden weight from his soul and his body shook under the torrents of it. "Dear Eru . . . what a fool I've been!"

It was Elessar's turn to say nothing now as he stared out at the garden below their window, his forehead resting against the glass. A weight had been lifted from his shoulder as well but the story was not over yet. Turning away from the comforting span of green below he regarded the silent sobbing of the other elf.

He was being watched. Armandeus could sense it through his tightly closed eyes but for the moment he was overwhelmed by the flood of information and subsequent emotions that had followed. He drew his knees up to his chest and rested his folded arms and head against them, curling into a ball. What a fool . . All those wasted years believing he was the last of his family, and oh Eru, these last years that had been spent calling Elessar a liar. . . Shame coursed through him like the heat of a branding iron and it was long moments before he could force any words out. "W-what happened? Y-y-your son?"

As he watched the way the bare shoulders of Armandeus shook Elessar could feel the last of his earlier irritation start to drift away. Perhaps it was the tears, or even the vulnerable way the green haired elf appeared at the moment, or even the simpler feeling that they had finally reached an understanding, but Elessar found he was angry no longer. Turning fully away from the window he released a breathe he didn't know he had been holding and crouched down to sit on his own bed. "You truly want to know?"

"I do." Red-rimmed purple eyes found their way to the lowered bed as Armandeus straightened back up. "We've come this far, how can we go on without hearing the rest of the story? I want to know Elessar."

"As you wish." Elessar stretched out along his bed, folding his long hands atop his chest as he settled in. He looked eerily similar to a corpse when he laid like this and he knew it, but on the other hand it also never failed to remove the eyes that were looking down on him, like now. "Love does not happen overnight and by the time I gathered the courage to escape from my cell to slip into hers it was my last night. I will spare you the details save it was a night I will remember until the breaking of the world. In one fleetingly beautiful instant I became a father and my faer still sings with joy because of it. Alas, I was not destined not to meet my son for the next morning we did not awaken until the clanging of the cell door opening proclaimed it was too late. I was drug out of there literally by my ears and that is my last memory of Eleniel - seeing her slowly disappear through a haze of pain and tears." His voice had begun to crack and here he paused, swallowing past the lump in his throat. Composing himself he went on, determined to finish this once and for all. "I do not remember much of my last day suffice to say I was beaten, my bones were broken, and as a final injustice they doused me with that Eru-forsaken plant and I lost all sense of the world. The next thing I clearly remember is waking here with you by my side."

"You have not met your son." It was a statement rather than a question and came quietly from Armandeus as he laid back against his pillows. "I do not know what to say beyond 'I'm sorry Elessar'. It does not seem enough and in truth it isn't. You have been hurting for all this time and I have been nothing but a blind fool the entire time. I do not ask for forgiveness for I do not deserve it." He shifted, turning on his side away from Elessar to hide the new rush of tears that had risen unbidden.

Elessar did not respond and for awhile there was no sound save for the soft sounds of their breathing until finally a quiet whisper broke through the silence, sounding loud in the quiet room. "I forgive you."

There was shifting on the bed above him as Armandeus turned again to look down at the blonde elf through watery eyes. "Elessar?"

Elessar had not moved save for the closing of his eyes and did not now. "I tire Armandeus. Go back to sleep, you're still much too pale. De'Ryanna will not be pleased if I do not make sure you fully rest."

For a while Armandeus simply laid there quietly and watched as the other elf slept until finally he shifted and laid back, closing his own eyes. "Thank you." It was just a feeling, but as he drifted back into sleep he felt that when he woke everything would finally be all right.