-Half Blood-

-ElvenHope-

Disclaimer: Sidhe is mine, as are the elflings - though they are probably based on old child hood bullies I would rather not have known. Everything else belongs to J.R.R Tolkien and this is simply written for enjoyment purposes. This story is AU.

Chapter I:

Elladan swallowed hard hefting the light pack up onto his shoulder. He stepped back suddenly, unable to control the sudden reflex.

"Ada do I have to?" He asked worriedly looking up at his father.

Elrond smiled at his elder son looking down at the elfling. The boy was a few years short of a decade in human years and at the moment he looked even younger than that.

"No you don't have to Elladan, I won't force you to do anything," Elrond replied kneeling down so that he was now looking up at his son. "But you will enjoy yourself once you're out there. You've never been beyond the borders of Imladris before won't it be fun to have an adventure?"

Elrond tried to encourage his son to go with his classmates when in fact he himself would have much rather kept the boy safe at home. Glorfindel and Sidhe were taking the Balrog Slayer's weapons class out on a camping trip just beyond the ford. Elladan had never left the safety of the gardens of Imladris and was suddenly having second thoughts. The case would have been different if Elrohir was going, but both Elrond and Celebrían had agreed that the twins needed to spend time apart lest they become inseparable.

As it was Elladan and Elrohir's only real friends were each other and this worried their parents greatly. This was only adding to Elladan's uncertainty though; as he now looked over the faces of his classmates he realized that he was completely alone and stuck out like a sore thumb amongst the other elflings. Suddenly the elder twin was afraid. He didn't know any of them well, he most certainly didn't want to spend a week with these elves.

Elladan nodded. "It would," he paused trying to find a familiar face. "But Ada I don't know anyone."

"You know me don't you pen-neth?" Glorfindel asked walking up behind the younger elf and his father his blue eyes shining as he took in the young Peredhil's worried features.

Elladan smiled. "Yes, I know you Glorfindel, I just don't know any of them…" he looked back to his class worriedly. He knew some of them, yes, but not very well. He could get on with them if they were paired up in class or playing a game which required more than two players, but that fact was not nearly enough to call any of them good friends.

Glorfindel ruffled the younger elf's ebony hair. "It'll be alright Elladan, I'll look after you. Why don't you go over and say hello to Asfaloth?" Glorfindel asked referring to his horse who was grazing nearby - the white stallion was the only horse who could carry all of their equipment and keep up with them at the same time.

Elladan nodded, smiling at his father and teacher before hurrying off to the horse, his previous worries forgotten.

Elrond stood as his son hurried away looking after him worriedly.

"I will look after him mellon-nín," Glorfindel said knowing immediately what was troubling his old friend.

Elrond grinned turning to him. "Am I really that easy to read?"

"I know you too well," the Balrog Slayer replied. "You would worry yourself sick over your family."

"I seem to be doing so a lot lately," Elrond sighed, his forehead creased slightly. "I know nothing will happen to him, not whilst you and Sidhe are there to take care of him." His eyes flickered as they lingered on his eldest son who was feeding Asfaloth a clump of grass from his flat palm. "I just worry about them so much. Keep an eye on him; Elladan has a tendency to wonder off."

"It is alright I will look after him," Glorfindel replied. "You and Celebrían were right to separate the twins for a while, but I know how hard it will be for Elladan. He doesn't have any friends in his class apart from Elrohir. I promise you that nothing will happen to him whilst he is in my care."

Elrond smiled. "Hannon lle."

-O-

Elladan sighed as his father disappeared from view and turned his head back to the road in front of them as they entered the woods. The elder twin was walking at the end of the trail of excited elflings, led by Sidhe. Glorfindel walked at the back of the procession leading Asfaloth. He noticed Elladan's change of mood suddenly and knowing that something was troubling the young elf he caught up with the boy.

"Are you alright Elladan?" He asked trying to read the mixed emotion on Elladan's face.

Elladan looked up fingers twisting together as he tried to come up with an answer. "I do not know," he replied eventually. "I just have never been away from Nana and Ada before for so long. And even then I was with Elrohir."

Glorfindel nodded knowing that the younger elf was referring to the time he had taken the twins for a fishing trip which had lasted for two days.

"It is hard, I know," the Balrog Slayer said understandingly. "It will be alright though, you have me with you. Nothing will happen to you."

"I am not afraid of that," Elladan said his linked fingers still twisting before a hand moved to swipe irritably at his ebony braids. "I just… I like to be with my family, it feels odd."

"'Tis alright Elladan," Glorfindel reassured the boy. "If you feel homesick then you can just tell me, I will stay awake all night and listen if sleeping is the problem." That had been Elladan's biggest problem on the fishing trip, as well as Elrohir's. Both twin's had suddenly craved the good night kiss they normally got from both of their parents - which was usually disregarded completely. It was odd how something so small could make one feel at home. Neither of the twins had been able to fall asleep that night and so Glorfindel had told them tales of Gondolin and the sons of Feanor. Despite the fact that these were rather gruesome tales on the whole both the twins had the natural love of fighting that was common in young boys.

"Thank you Glorfindel," Elladan smiled. "There is one thing good about this."

"Oh, and what is that pen-neth?" Glorfindel asked raising an elegant eyebrow.

"I will not have to listen to Arwen talk about her upcoming birthday," Elladan replied completely sick of Arwen's constant prattle. It was true that deep down he loved his sister a lot, but sometimes he thought that she must be the most annoying person in the whole of Arda.

"Ah yes, has your father finally relented to getting her that horse?" Glorfindel asked cerulean eyes flickering with mirth.

"Yes I believe so," Elladan said thoughtfully. "Yesterday Arwen left a large amount of her drawings in Ada's study where he least expected to find them. Elrohir and I were watching it was so funny!" Elladan giggled at the memory and Glorfindel laughed at the mental picture.

Arwen was the most charming young elleth he had ever met, but when she wanted something…

Before long Elladan had forgotten completely about his worries and as the journey became more interesting he found himself forgetting about his home sickness. That was until the last pink fingers of the sunset receded across the sky and they stopped to set up camp.

-O-

A storm unleashed itself at sometime in the night, rain pelted down in heavy drops soaking them. It was roaring like an enraged Balrog, the whistling of the air taking the imaginary form of a fiery whip in Elladan's mind. The eerie noise chilled his soul he hated storms, they terrified him even in the protection of the confines of the last homely house. He had heard stories of people getting struck by lightning of whole forests going up in flame.

Sheet lightning flashed across the sky and the next thunder clap came so soon after he could barely count it. Elladan jumped before he could help himself, falling on top of Glorfindel. The other elflings around the campfire laughed and one was bold enough to remark that only a Peredhel would be afraid of the lightning.

Glorfindel was about to inform the very ignorant child that their Lord happened to be a Peredhel more so than his own sons, but a look from Sidhe made him re-think the way he had been about to put such a statement, and a whimper from Elladan chased all other thoughts from his mind.

"Elladan, it's alright, the storm won't hurt you," the elder elf said petting the younger elf's hair soothingly. In general he wasn't all that good at looking after children, he had very little patients for them and their ways. Yet he had all the time in the world for the twins. Maybe it was because he had become such good friends with his lord and lady that he couldn't help but love their children. The twins had made both elves the happiest in the world and both had warmed up to the Balrog Slayer quickly. There was something about the twins that made them special and he couldn't tell what, but he always enjoyed having them around.

Another flash of lightning and roll of thunder made the elfling burrow even further into the elder elf's embrace and squeezed his eyes tight shut.

"Maybe he should go home, he obviously can't handle it."

Glorfindel shot daggers at the young elf who had said that silencing any snickers from the other children immediately. Sidhe was also giving the boy a disapproving look, though neither of the elder elves said anything the elfling knew that he was in for it later.

Glorfindel stood up carefully taking Elladan's hand and pulling him up with him. The elfling did not look at his classmates and kept his head turned away as Glorfindel walked with the boy out of the ring of firelight and over to where Asfaloth was grazing a few yards away behind some trees that stood near to the middle of the large clearing.

He quickly lit another fire, it was quite difficult to do so seeing as every time there was a thunder clap or lightning flashed across the sky Elladan would shut his eyes and cling into the elder elf's hand.

Eventually, once he had a fire going, Glorfindel settled back and rested against Asfaloth pulling the elfling close and waiting for the storm to pass. When finally the weather eased up a bit and the storm moved on Elladan opened his eyes and Glorfindel looked down at the younger elf studying his expression.

"Are you alright Elladan?" Glorfindel asked hearing the other young elves laughing and telling jokes. This was not going to help Elladan's state of mind about both leaving home and leaving his brother.

"I want to go home," the younger elf answered resting his head on his drawn up knees. "They laughed at me."

"I know Elladan, but they're stupid," Glorfindel said softly. "Fear of something is not a bad thing, it's letting the fear consume you which is bad. You'll conquer it one day or learn to live with it."

Elladan turned his head to face Glorfindel an eyebrow raised mimicking his father. "So what are you afraid of?"

Glorfindel gave the younger elf a wry smile. "Lots of things. It all seems a little bit lessened after the Balrog - though that was incredibly frightening at the time. But there was something even more frightening than that; and that was letting that monster kill all those innocent people. That's still my worst fear I think, seeing something bad happen to the ones I love, to my home…"

Elladan smiled slightly in understanding. "Ada told us about how you saved everyone from the Balrog. You saved him as well."

Glorfindel grinned. "Death was worth it, I wouldn't have you to look after now."

Elladan's eyes sparkled, just like his mother's. "Thank you Glorfindel."

"Any time Elladan," Glorfindel replied not really knowing what he had done, but if it had helped then he didn't care all that much.

The younger elf yawned and Glorfindel stood quickly grabbing a bedroll for Elladan and laying it out for the young elf, making sure that Elladan was comfortable. He would sit up for a while longer he needed to discuss something with Sidhe so until the other elflings had gone to sleep he lay back against Asfaloth. His fingers worked idly through the horses main as Elladan curled up under his blanket a couple of feet away - between the Balrog slayer and the fire.

Elladan lay down, surprisingly his thoughts earlier had gone. He was no longer miserable, he no longer wanted to go home. What Glorfindel had said had helped a lot. He was going to do this, he could get through this week easily enough. Tomorrow when the sun was shining everything would look better; he could already feel it.

Unfortunately his tomorrow started in the pitch blackness with a gag shoved in his mouth.

-O-

A/N: Cliff-hanger ;) So what'd you think?

Reviews are kept close to the heart flames are fed to my balrogs.

-ElvenHope