Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Let’s spread the self-love 💗
My top five favorite fics I've written, in no particular order:
the Heirlooms series - exploring some of the various objects of Middle-earth and attempting to reconcile their various (often incompatible) histories! currently featuring stories about the Elessar, the mithril coat, and the Dwarven Rings; I'm chipping away at a WIP on the blades of Gondolin next :)
"Treasures Most Precious" (Maedhros/Fingon, 13k) - I'm unreasonably proud of the worldbuilding in this fic, and the Fingolfin/Hador subplot is still one of my favorites. I said this list was in no particular order, but if I had ordered it, this might be my #1 personal favorite!
All Things Turn (Tauriel Russingoniel, 52k) - a beast of a story inspired by @welcometolotr's fabulous art concept!!! I'm currently revisting this 'verse for a fic I'm desperately hoping will be complete in time for @weekofkiliel <3
"and caverns old" (Kidnap Fam, 1.7k) - a short fic I wrote for @jaz-the-bard which turned out to have some very fun worldbuilding and delicious character dynamics! I'm quite proud of this one.
kings and things to take by storm (Fëanor/Fingolfin, WIP) - I've been sitting on this one for so long and it has some really great moments that I'm very excited to share!! next update is this Friday :)
some honorable mentions: the Russingon Fake Dating AU; Beneath the Stars (my first real longfic about post-canon Tauriel), "a most faithful vassal" (Russingon fealty kink smut), father of dragons (another Russingon collab with @welcometolotr as part of their First Oath AU); & You with the Stars in Your Eyes (t4t Kiliel Cinderella AU, one of my very first forays into writing trans characters!)
also, my two favorite non-Tolkien fics: "and Love" (The Adventure Zone; arospec Magnus through the ages) & "A Witch's Gift" (Les Mis; post-canon witch!Musichetta) <3
I tag: @welcometolotr @jaz-the-bard @bad-writer @last-capy-hupping and @oopsbirdficced !!! and if anyone else wants to join in pls go ahead & tag me so I can check out your favs ^-^
the actual prompt response for @jaz-the-bard's request of Kidnap Dads + "Stay close to me" (as opposed to my misremembered version of the prompt, oops)
this one got a little out of control, but overall I'm quite pleased with it! hope you enjoy!
also on AO3!!!
~
“Stay close to me,” Maedhros rumbled, holding out his maimed arm in front of Elrond. “Be quiet. And try not to show your fear.”
“I’m not afraid,” Elrond insisted, despite how much he trembled. Thankfully, Maedhros said nothing else, focusing instead on walking for into the dark with his sword drawn.
The path into the cave was narrow and foul-smelling, and Elrond hated every second of it. But he pressed on, because he was not afraid, and this was where the tracks had led them.
With every skitter and clatter in the dark, Elrond’s heart skipped a beat. He couldn’t tell if it was a bat or a rock or something far more dangerous, but everything seemed full of malice in this dark, closed space. But Maedhros kept going, and so did he.
At last there was a faint light ahead, and Elrond stifled a gasp. No creature of the Shadow could shine like that, right?
Maedhros glared at him, his face gaunt and grim in the pale light, and Elrond shrank back into silence. The message was clear: Be quiet.
As they neared the light, Elrond heard the sound of...voices? But it was muffled, distorted, wrong. For all he was named for a cave, he hated this, and finally admitted to himself just how terrified he was.
(He had been named for the gleaming, vaulted caverns of Menegroth, the realm of his mother’s childhood. Not for this, a reservoir of some nameless evil.)
Maedhros tensed, then stepped out into the faint glow of a larger cavern. Elrond hesitated, but remembered: Stay close to me.
When he entered, he could not help but gasp. Small crystals shone dimly in the walls, and starlike glimmers twinkled on the ceiling. It was beautiful—not at all like the foulness of the tunnel.
A clash of steel refocused him, and he scrambled to draw his own dagger—but even as he did so, the swords dropped, and a familiar peal of laughter filled the cave with full, comforting resonance.
Maedhros let out a single harsh curse in a language Elrond did not recognize, and sheathed his sword with a murderous glare to his cackling brother.
“What’s all this?” he demanded. “Holing up in a dreadful place like this, not leaving proper trail signs—I thought some awful creature had dragged you into its den!”
“Oh, but that’s perfect, isn’t it?” Maglor said earnestly.
At the sound of his cheerful voice, Elros poked his head out from behind a rock, and Elrond immediately rushed to embrace his twin. They hated to part like this, but in the grim wastes what once had been Beleriand, it was sometimes necessary to travel in pairs, and neither of their guardians would leave the two of them alone without an adult warrior to protect them. And these days, after Amon Ereb’s fall and the fire that had scorched through the camp of Fëanorian stragglers, only the four of them remained together.
“It’s not so bad here,” Elros said with a smile. He opened his mind to Elrond, sharing the memory of how he and Maglor had discovered this place and cleansed it of any traces of true darkness. “A bit gloomy, and the glow-worms are kind of gross, but the crystals are pretty, aren’t they?”
Maedhros scowled. “How did you even find this place?”
“We’re not all that far from Nargothrond,” Maglor explained, growing wistful. “Finrod and I explored some caves nearby, a couple centuries ago, to see if there was any place worth excavating to, but...” A shadow passed over his face. “Well. It would’ve taken too much digging to make this cave useful for anything more than a secret hideout.”
“We think he and Beren might’ve stopped here on the way to Tol Sirion!” Elros added eagerly. “See, look—there’s a little bear carving in the wall here—and we found a scrap of lembas—”
“Ah, maybe.” Maglor shrugged, and Elrond gleaned he was not too convinced of that idea. “But Finrod did leave some provisions behind...and so did I, before the Nírnaeth. As a precaution.”
Maedhros groaned, and sat down heavily, his armor clanking now that he no longer needed to keep his movements quiet. “And the oppressive darkness on the way in?”
“Are you sure that’s not just you?” Maglor jibed.
Maedhros threw a loose bit of crystal at him. Maglor dodged out of the way, and Elrond jumped to catch it before it could fall and shatter.
“Well, I’ve not lost all talent for concealment spells,” Maglor said.
“This did not feel like your Song, Káno.”
“It’s not,” Maglor said. “The world above is crumbling, and Darkness seeps into every pore and vein of the land. This place was even drearier when Elros and I first rediscovered it. I...redirected the ambient Shadow to the tunnels leading in, to deter visitors, and make it livable in here. Cleansed the water, too—there’s a bit of a mineral-y trickle in the back, Elrond, if you’re thirsty.”
“And you knew I’d be stubborn enough to follow your tracks into any hell-pit,” Maedhros sighed. “Well done, I suppose.”
Maglor beamed. “Why, Nelyo, that was almost nice of you!”
“Too bad your ditties are only useful for running and hiding,” Maedhros grumbled.
Maglor huffed. “Too bad you can’t hold onto an army through something as prosaic as a wildfire!”
They were so much more than this, once upon a time. Elrond remembered it, a little: Maglor’s sweeping, dreadful battle Song at Sirion, the melodies he hummed to close wounds and give weary feet the strength to move onward; Maedhros’ firm, unyielding confidence, the sort of thing that made soldiers want to follow him to their very Dooms.
He remembered things he shouldn’t, also: star-spangled red banners flapping smartly in the winter wind, atop mightier battlements than Elrond had ever seen; cavalry surging like a river across an open plain; a hundred thousand swords ready for battle; a fierce hope driven by the love of brothers, of a golden king...
But as Beleriand rotted away and fell to pieces under the weight of a war long past due, so to did what remained of the once-noble princes of the Noldor. It made Elrond want to weep, sometimes, that he had only known these brilliant men at their lowest. And then it made him furious, because they were not blameless for their fall.
Elros leaned against him, sharing in his sorrow-anger. I know, he seemed to say, but didn’t need to, for he and Elrond were closer than words. I know.
“And what did you find?” Maglor asked.
“The Host of the Valar is drawing nearer to the Anfauglith every day,” Maedhros said, something in his tone changing as he slid back into the role of commander and strategist. “The...other hosts, in their train, still lag behind, but I suspect the remnants of the Noldor will reach the frontlines soon.”
“And I think we saw a Fëanorian banner with them,” Elrond added eagerly. “If some of our people survived the fire and joined Gil-galad’s host—”
“We cannot count on that, nor do I think any of them would be foolish enough to fly the eight-pointed star alongside the High King’s standard,” Maedhros said flatly. “If there are survivors, and they did join with their sundered kin, they must needs have forsaken their former lords and sworn fealty to the King. They cannot be counted as allies.”
“But if we talked to them—” Elrond protested.
“No.” This time it was Maglor who interrupted, his eyes troubled. “Elrond, Elros...it is too dangerous. You are too young to join the fighting, and could not do so if...” He shook his head. “Should you wish to forsake us also—”
“No!” Elrond and Elros cried as one.
“Never,” Elrond insisted.
“Not yet,” Elros said.
Elrond swallowed, and looked to his twin, but Elros’ mind was carefully closed off to him. He knew Elros did not intend to stay with their foster-fathers forever—and he, also, dreamed of a wider world—but to hear him say it...
Well. They were of one accord in this moment, at least.
“We ran into a spider nest on the way back,” Elrond said at last, breaking the heavy silence in the cavern.
“You what?” Elros exclaimed.
“They were young, and easy to kill,” Maedhros said. “I gathered some of their silk when we were done. Elrond committed himself admirably to the task.”
“Of web-collecting or monster-slaying?” Maglor asked.
“Both,” Elrond said, puffing out his chest. “I killed two of them!” He deflated a little, adding, “Well, and Maedhros killed the other eight.”
“We’ll make a warrior of you yet,” Maglor chuckled.
In Elrond’s hands, the fragment of crystal seemed to hum. Surprised, he looked down, and saw it was glowing faintly.
“No,” he said slowly, turning the glowing gem over in his hands. “I mean, I can defend myself. But you know I would rather be a healer.”
He hummed the same tone as the crystal, and felt its Song resonate deep within his fëa. He glimpsed within some trace of the Music, some unlocking of a hidden secret—
But then it shifted out of tune, and the magic was gone. Elrond shivered, then shoved the now-dull rock into his pocket.
“Elrond?” Elros asked quietly. All three of them were looking at him strangely, concern shining visibly in Maglor’s eyes, while Maedhros only looked grim.
He looked up and smiled, and for the first time in a while, he meant it entirely. “I know we can’t stay forever,” he said, “but I’m glad you brought us here, Maglor.”
Maglor tossed a meaningful glance to his brother, as if to say, See? I told you so!
“A respite, that is all,” Maedhros rumbled. He inclined his head to Maglor. “But not an ill-found one, I suppose.”
“Come on, let me show you the bear carving,” Elros said, and grabbed Elrond’s hand, tugging him further into the cavern. Elrond followed, his heart for once truly light—and he thought he heard the chiming of music all around him, a crystalline chorus reaching out to him, whispering of power and Song.
