Fire and Deep Water

[nienna324]

B2MEM Prompt:"I have passed through fire and deep water, since we parted."(Initial Prompt)
Format: Ficlet
Genre: General
Rating: Teen
Warnings: Flashback/Mentioned Suicide
Characters: Maglor, Maedhros
Pairings: N/A
Summary: Maglor is reunited with Maedhros, after a sundering of many centuries.


Maglor felt dizzy inside. How long has it been since he last looked on his brother?

The years had passed, almost in a daze, years unnumbered. He had seen kingdoms of Men rise and fall...centuries after his own kingdom had crumbled into dust. And centuries after one by one, his brothers had fallen, until at last he stood alone.

Perhaps a few centuries ago he would have still been bitter, bitter for the fiery chasm that had left him alone in the world, bitter for his beloved brother who had left him, left him as yet another loss to add to the endless list of names. As the years went on, though his grief did not lessen, Maglor's anger receded into nothing, pulled off in the foaming waves. Maglor knew all too well what had driven Maedhros. As the years went on into eternity, Maglor lost even his sadness, and fell into the numbing depths of the sea.

He did not know how much time had passed since then, in Mandos's endless halls. Time had long ago lost all meaning.

Finally Maglor spoke, jolted back into the present. He spoke the verse that came to him, though he knew not from where. It seemed the only suitable thing to say. "I have passed through fire and deep water, since we parted." At this Maedhros cracked a smile. "That we certainly have. Both the literal and the less so." Maglor smiled in return, feeling a little bit of the ever present weight on his heart lighten.

And Maglor knew that somehow, after all these years of emptiness, of recounting his history when he himself was lost, nothing but a faded shadow, he could begin living again.

He could begin living at last.

Comments

[hhimring]

I'm so glad that you're cross-posting this here!


[But, pssst, you're meant to be using the prescribed headers for the community and also a cut.]

[nienna324]

I figured I should put it on here too. I didn't realize how to use the headers/cut but I understand now so I will fix it.

[nienna324]

I haven't figured out how to make a cut.
I looked at the instructions and it didn't seem to work.
Would you be willing to explain?

[zdenka]

Hi Nienna324! Seconding what Himring said, I'm glad you posted this here. Thanks for adding the header. :)

Your cut is working fine! The only remaining issue is that you ended with <cut> instead of </cut> (with a slash) at the end of your entry, which is why there's a second "read more" when you expand it. <cut> is the tag for beginning a cut, and </cut> is the tag to end it. But it does work the way you have it, so it's fine if you leave it the way it is.

Please don't hesitate to ask the mods if you have any questions or are confused about anything.

[hhimring]

Looks like you got help from a mod in the meantime and are all set!

[jenni_blog]

I enjoyed reading this moody ficlet. It made me feel that Maglor has gone through the different stages of grief and come out the other side with renewed hope.

[nienna324]

Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it!

[independence1776]

This is wonderful! I honestly can't think of another fic I've seen that combines both versions of Maglor's fate in one fic.

[nienna324]

Thank you! I'm so glad you like it. I don't think the two versions of Maglor's fate are as incompatible as is sometimes thought. It all swirls into a haze of no one really knows(in my opinion.)I actually like all the different versions of the legendarium, layering and layering on top log each other. They make it feel even more like real mythology(or sometimes even real history).

[independence1776]

I truly do enjoy the layers and tidbits found in HoME even though I'm one of those who takes the published Silm as canon 98% of the time. It wouldn't be fandom if we all thought the same way about everything. :)

[nienna324]

Certainly:) With Tolkien especially there are SO many different stories and there really is no true "canon". It's not that simple. I especially love how every single person has their own idea of what "really happened", so it is sort of like we each have our own personal Arda. Like we are not just passive viewers by a part of its creation.