A Man Who Flies From His Fear May Find He Has Only Taken A Shortcut To Meet It by LadySternchen  

Falling- Maeglin

It is a dreadful way to die, Maeglin thinks, as he wrestles with Eärendil, trying to shove the boy over the rampart. He would have see to it in another way, but there is no time, and somehow, putting a sword in the boy seems even more terribly wrong. And maybe, Eärendil does not fear falling as Maeglin does, as he has done ever since he watched his father fall to his death, his scream that grew ever fainter, and the horrible, sickening thud when he hit the ground below. For a long time, Maeglin has dreamed about tumbling down the walls of Gondolin himself, the ground coming up to meet him. Well, that, at least will be nothing the boy will be subject to, not with all the smoke and steam in the air.

What happens then is over so fast that Maeglin has not even time to be afraid. Eärendil is torn from his arms, and the next moment, it is he himself who is falling. What irony, is his last, perplexed thought.