To Erase Him by ExileInValariandë  

Of the First Kinslaying at Aqualondë

The first dark deed of the Oath of Fëanor takes place...

*Some vignettes may be out of chronological order, so prepare for some time-jumping! haha, enjoy :)

Chapter Text

Maedhros stood as a stone statue upon the shore, chaos and carnage unfolding around him in slow motion.The hands which held his sword were covered in blood; he was suddenly spurred back into action by a Telerin arrow flying narrowly past his head.

There is much said about the First Kinslaying in the lore of Valinor, but mere words fail to encapsulate the feeling of being there.

Not of the screams.

Not of the clash of metal upon metal. Of metal upon Elven flesh.

The air was ripe with it all.

How did it come it this?

The Noldor were unleashing such an assault upon the Teleri. Their own Elven kin. The violence had erupted so suddenly. It had escalated so quickly. Maedhros’s ears rung, as all around him became a blur. Every sound, every smell. He continued to thrash his sword through the chaos with a fire in his belly. The oldest son of Feanor suddenly heard the anguished cry of a familiar female voice. It was his wife, Nendalin.

“Maedhros!!” Her scream echoed above the cries all around and he was snapped out of his trance.

Nendalin ran to him from his right. She had blood on her and a wild look of fear in her eyes. He grabbed her immediately in his arms, carrying her further down the shore. Away from the fighting. She was breathless.

“We must leave at once, Maitimo!” Nendalin urged Maedhros, calling him by his mother name.

The mother he had abandoned when he took the accursed Oath of his father. The mother who was left behind in despair in Tirion now.

But it was too late for Maedhros. He had realized too late the darkness of this errand. And now he was bound.

“I swore an oath, Nendalin.” he said plainly, looking down at her and breathing hard. Blue eyes like flame.

“Surely this is not what you had promised- surely if we turn back now the Valar will forgive this mistake! Maitimo, please! This is madness!” She began crying and shaking, looking from him to the carnage down the beach.

Fëanor and his host began boarding the stolen ships of the Teleri.

“We must go.” he responded with an eerie calm, wiping the tear from her cheek, seemingly disconnected from the tearing apart of his own soul.

“Yes…yes, we must!” Nendalin sighed in relief, misunderstanding him.

“I mean onto the ships, meleth!” He added impatiently, panicked now by his father’s calls to him.

She froze.

Go with them?

After this travesty…After this betrayal of kin upon kin?

Maedhros grabbed her hand in his firmly, pulling her to the ships.

“Forgive me.” he spoke to her, meeting her gaze intently for a fleeting second, as he lifted her by the waist into a Telerin swan ship.

All around her was panic, as the stolen ships left the shore. Blood on their hands. She glanced around in a haze. The stars shone brightly overhead, there was smoke everywhere, and screams of anguish. Her heart pounded in her chest wildly. She saw Maglor beside her, face in his bloodied hands. His long dark hair falling all around him to cover his face. Caranthir was calling out fierce orders to those aboard- orders she couldn’t hear. She couldn’t hear anything. Nendalin hardly noticed when Maedhros reappeared at her side, wrapping her in his cloak protectively. He was silent. They watched as the shore of Aqualondë disappeared and grew smaller by the moment, even to their elven eyes.

What had they done?...