Faramir Fiction Archive

When Night Falls (NC-17)

Written by Lucky

04 November 2005 | 4074 words

Pairing: Boromir/Faramir then Denethor/Faramir
Summary: what happens when family secrets no longer stay secret?
Feedback: Yes, LuckyCharm2410@aol.com or through this site
Disclaimer: They are not mine, which is really really sad.

Archivist's Note: This is the third part of a trilogy; see also Thief in the Night and For at Night He Comes.

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In the days and weeks after my return from Osgiliath, I watched my brother closely. Outwardly he appeared much the same as always, but in rare unguarded moments, I could still see the aftereffects of my father's attention upon his face. It pained me greatly that I had not spoken to Mithrandir sooner. Not the horrors of war, nor the softness of a maiden, touched me like the lost look of loneliness that I saw displayed on my brother's face.

I wanted to tell him I understood, that I too had been where he was, but I could not. He always seemed to hold me in such high regard. I could see it in his eyes when he looked at me as I was returning from a battle or in his voice when he spoke to me. I finally decided that to share this confession with him would only make the pain he carried inside worse. Or that is how I explained it to myself. And so outwardly I carried on as I always had, pretending nothing was wrong.

From time to time Mithrandir would appear in Gondor. The one time I questioned him on the matter of my brother and father, he assured me that it had been settled amicably for all parties concerned. But the look upon father's face whenever the old wizard approached him would have made a lesser mortal quiver in fear. If father could have had Mithrandir executed out of hand without fear of reprisal, he would have done so without a second thought.

But life went on. People fought, lived, loved and died as it had been decreed for our kind since the beginning. War now loomed on the horizon. Mithrandir ceased his visits and father consulted me daily when I was not away on the front lines. Time erases memories, or mine anyway, and father's affections toward myself first and my brother later were forgotten in the wake of ensuring the survival of my beloved city.

It was a long and bitter battle, but finally, on a winters day when the sun had no more risen in the sky than it began to set, we were victorious. Father sang my praises to anyone who entered our halls, claiming it had been because of my skilled leadership that we had won yet again. Though still not of age, my brother had contributed to our success as well. Yet father continually refused to acknowledge Faramir's accomplishments. My attempts at seeing my brother get his fair share of accolades only met with icy stares from my sire and in the end, I gave up. I could tell my brother was hurt, but I could not do any more than what I did. For at this point I still believed father knew what was best for Faramir and myself and I did not want to go against him.

One evening as I was in the guardroom working on some long overdue correspondence, I heard the night watch call out the midnight hour. A new day was here. Though I do not know what caused me to remember, I realized this was Faramir's day of ascension into manhood. This was also the day that father had decreed the entire city of Gondor was to celebrating its latest victory. With a sinking feeling, I knew that once again father would reject my brother to laud me at the banquet that was now only hours away.

I had just risen from my desk intending to go see Faramir, when a fearful knock came upon my door. It was one of the servants. There had been a furious row between Faramir and father. So great was my sire's anger that it was feared he might kill my brother, and the servant had taken it upon himself to come get me.

Due to the distance between the guardroom and the family's private quarters, it took a few minutes before I arrived at the scene. I found father banging angrily upon Faramir's door with his staff of office while nervous servants milled around behind him, unsure how to rectify this situation.

Quickly I dismissed them, relief evident upon their faces as they scurried away.

Father turned at the sound of my voice, "Your idiot brother seems to think he is old enough to make decisions for himself."

I replied without thinking, "Whatever Faramir has done, it can hardly be so grievous as to rout him from his chambers at this hour."

Father's eyes narrowed dangerously, for family or no, one did not speak so to the Steward of Gondor.

Hastily I tried to explain, "According to the night watch, midnight has come and gone. He is a man now."

"How little you know of your brother and his manhood."

He all but sneered the last word at me, and I must have looked confused for he spoke again. "Your brother came to my quarters uninvited."

My stomach lurched at the insinuation in father's voice, and memories I had forgotten came rushing back to me. Oh my brother, what were you thinking? It seemed unfathomable that he would have gone there with that request in mind. But the cunning look upon father's face spoke of desires that had not been released this now dark evening.

At this time I was unaware of how often father had peered into that cursed palantir or that the madness that would eventually destroy him and lead to the near ruin of my city had already taken hold. But I did know father's moods, and in his current rage he was not going to rest until he had seen Faramir pay deeply for this transgression. Without realizing what I might be condemning myself to, I stayed father's hand before he could renew his beating upon my brother's door.

"I will come to you later."

I will offer no excuses here for my actions, other than to say I loved my brother dearly and wanted to spare him. I saw things in him that my sire never did.

Father reached up and stroked my cheek and I quelled a shudder at his touch. "You always were my favorite. Not like your brother," he half spoke to the closed door. "He has always been difficult, willful, selfish, and I curse the day he was born."

I prayed to whatever Vala might be listening that Faramir had not heard that last statement, but a strangled sob from on the other side of the door told me otherwise.

"Father, surely you do not mean that." I said gently. "Faramir loves you."

"Bah!" Father snapped, "He does not know the meaning of the word."

I knew we could stand here for hours arguing like this and settling nothing. "Please father, allow me to take care of this matter, then I will be along. I promise."

Father knew what I was offering, but the idea that one son should prostrate himself in the place of the other bothered him not. He was the Steward of Gondor, it was his due course. And, of course, he did not view it as a sacrifice on my part for he thought Faramir's rejection was only another sign of his disloyalty. Disloyalty that he felt Mithrandir had fostered in Faramir from his childhood. Yet my decisions were not questioned so, for father thought my loyalty to him unwavering. Even when I had left his bed, forever I had hoped, it was to join my fellows in battle, and father had been proud of my decision to leave home shortly after my own coming of age.

"If you have any fault, my son, it is the soft spot you bear for him. Why do you bother?"

Father was genuinely curious and I replied more honestly than I had intended. "I can wage war, but Faramir can wage peace. He may not be as good with a sword as I am but his mind is as sharp as the keenest blade in our arsenal. I truly believe the future of our city lies in his hands."

I realized that is what had possessed me to take my brother's place in father's bed. Certainly there was no desire on my part, I reflected grimly.

"You overestimate the importance of peace," he said enigmatically. Then turning away he continued, "I will expect you before daybreak."

It was a far milder reply than I had anticipated and I spoke to his retreating back, "Aye."

Once I was certain father was gone, I tapped softly upon the door. "Faramir?"

No response. But I could hear him moving about so I tried again. "Come brother, it is safe. He is gone."

"There is no such thing as safe in this castle, Boromir. Now go away."

I heard the pain in his voice. It was all too easy to imagine the scene that had taken place between him and father earlier. I vowed I would not leave him alone as I had done so many times before.

"Brother, you can open this door or I can knock it down. Which would you prefer?"

I was in my prime, solid muscle, I could follow through with this threat and we both knew it. But before resorting to something that drastic, I tried again, "Please?"

Several long moments passed. As I was preparing myself to go through his door the hard way I heard the sound of the bolt being pulled back. Taking a deep breath, I pushed it open and stepped in.

Faramir had moved back and was standing half hidden in the shadows by the empty fireplace. The only source of light was from a single tallow lamp that was sitting on the mantle. Now that I was in, I wasn't sure what to say, I was a man of action more than words. So instead I busied myself with more practical tasks. Kneeling beside the hearth, I began to make a fire. The stones were cold; it was hard to tell when one had last been lit. This confused me, for during wintertime a fire was always kept going in my quarters when I was living within them. Questioningly I looked up at him.

"Father says there are those who need the wood more than I." He gestured to the meager pile next to the fireplace, "That is all I am allowed until next week."

Anger flowed through me (and guilt too, if it must be known). I knew who the "others" were and I cursed father soundly.

"Please, Boromir, don't be angry with him. It's not his fault. I shouldn't have wasted so much of it already. But it was very cold two days ago and I just wanted to be warm, even if it was just for a little bit."

My voice failed me. I wasn't expecting this defense of our miserly sire. So instead I turned back to the wood, using all of it, not trusting myself to speak until I was finished.

Light began to fill the room as the fire kindled strong. Standing, I took Faramir by the shoulders. "You are the son of the Steward of Gondor." Those words sounded so blasphemous to my ears, given what had just happened earlier this night, yet I continued, "From this night on I will see that you never go without. I swear it."

That simple promise brought tears into my brother's eyes and now I noticed a large pulpy bruise above his right eye. But Faramir and I were made of the same stern stuff and he did not cry.

"Why are you helping me?"

The answer was obvious, but Faramir did not see it. My heart clenched at how badly things had become in my absence. What else had I failed to notice lately?

"I love you," I said softly. But those words offered little comfort for either of us because the pain in his eyes did not fade and the pain in my heart only grew.

Faramir pulled away from me and grabbed a chair, dragging it closer to the fire. He sat down and closed his eyes, allowing the warmth to flow over him. From this angle, I could see a small bloody place where father had yanked out a patch of his hair. No wonder the servants had come to get me. Undoubtedly the very ground had shook.

He sat there for some time and patiently I waited him out. Father could hang for all I cared about him at this moment. My brother was now a man and yet all I could think of is how much like a little boy he seemed.

Finally, between the snapping of the fire he spoke, "Why are you going to father's rooms later?"

I inwardly cursed the Valar I had prayed to just a bit ago. I did not want to answer this question, but as brothers our bond was true. He knew me as well as I did him. If I were to lie, he would know.

I knelt beside him and looked up. His tears were back; one streaked its way down his cheek as I took his hands in mine. I started to speak several times but no answer seemed right, finally I settled on one that I did not like, for it did not spare Faramir's feelings at all but was one he would understand, "I will finish what you started."

Faramir's eyes went wide. Horrified, he yanked his hands away and stood so quickly he knocked the chair over in his need to get away from me.

"Father told you?"

Still hoping that my part in this family drama could be left out I just shook my head in reply.

"No, you couldn't have. It was our secret, no one knew..." thoughtfully he paused and then his voice grew hard, "no one but Mithrandir."

I was a good man and I would never allow someone else to take the fall for my actions, "It was I who told the old wizard."

Bewildered, he stared at me, "How did you know?"

"I knew from the day this first began, when you were but a boy."

I hated my reply, but there it was, bald and open between us. Faramir's face fell. He knew I spoke the truth. I could tell he was trying to decide if he should hate me or not.

Swallowing past the lump in my throat, I steeled myself for what I knew I had to say next. "He used my body in the same way for many years before he used yours."

Anger coursed through Faramir and he flared at me, "YOU LIE!"

Clumsily, I tried to explain, "No, Faramir, I -"

But before I could go further, he cut me off, "Father loved me, I know he did."

I sighed and looked away, unable to speak past the lump in my throat.

Faramir protested, "He told me so."

I spoke before I even realized what I was saying, "Rutting on top of your son and calling him by your dead wife's name is not love."

My brother lashed out with a speed I had never seen before and punched me in the jaw. He was not at his full growth but the blow hurt all the same.

"You are mistaken."

He fairly snarled those words at me and hotly I retorted, angered at my brother's obstinance about the truth. I roared back at him, not caring at that moment if I hurt him or not. "IT WAS ONLY WHEN MY BODY CHANGED INTO ADULTHOOD DID FATHER REPLACE IT WITH YOUR SOFTNESS!"

"Yet you will go submit yourself to him in my place, brother, how noble of you."

Faramir spoke those words with a jealous bitterness I had never heard before. It was my turn to stare at him, stunned by his need to be special in father's eyes, the raw desperation to have even the tiniest crumb of father's affection, no matter the manner in which it was received.

For the first time since I had entered the room, I looked at my brother's face grabbing him by the arm I dragged him over to the mirror, standing him squarely in front of it with myself standing behind. What I said next broke Faramir just as surely as it broke me.

"This look you see now upon your face, I have seen it once before." Faramir trembled once and then was still, "This is how you looked the morning after father had gone to your quarters for the first time."

I choked back a sob as I continued my shameful confession, "I knew what had happened. I was so glad it was you he was spending his passion on and not I. Night after night he went to your rooms, I saw your face grow old right in front of me. I..I wanted to make him stop, but I was so afraid that he would seek me out again. I could not bear that, so I let you suffer in my stead."

Father might have started the process that stripped my brother of his innocence, but I was the one who finished it with my own admission that I had done nothing to try and stop it. It was only one more nail in my brother's heart.

I seemed important for Faramir to know everything so even as his face fell I continued, "Don't you see? Father never loved you. He used you, just as he used me back then, just as he uses me now, for his own ends. What you or I might want never figures into his thoughts at all."

Faramir moved away, unable to meet my eyes, he righted the chair and sat down again staring into the fire, I was completely caught off guard by what he said next.

"I have been so lonely and you have been so busy, (I could feel tears welling in my eyes now and quickly I brushed them away) I only wanted a few minutes of father's time, I don't know what I said about why I was there, but he knew...he knew. He laughed. It excited him he said. He told me go down on my knees, made me open my mouth. I tried to please him. I thought I was until he called me by your name."

The tears he had held back until now came flooding out of him in great gasping sobs. He seemed so helpless at that moment unable to even raise his hands to wipe his face. I have never been a tender man, some things are better left to the women, but I was the only one who could truly understand and feel my brother's pain. I went over and picked him up, cradling him in my arms, he was tall and it was a bit awkward but he did not protest. Keeping him in my arms I sat down upon the bed, he relaxed into my embrace weeping unabashedly. If it must also be known I too cried, my tears damping his hair, just as his soaked my tunic.

How unseemly it was for the sons of the Steward of Gondor to be crying like two little boys, but I did not care. We were the men father had created us to be. But Faramir would be more than I ever would and if this it what it took to give my brother peace I would gladly do it again today.

I held him like that for some time till his tears subsided. His body shaking with exhaustion as I helped him to remove his boots. He collapsed back on the mattress and I covered him with a blanket. He said nothing and neither did I. Within a few moments, he was asleep and I left his room.

The guards were just changing shifts when father finished with me. "I could not have a better son. Ask what you will and I will see it is given to you."

"Two things, but they are not requests."

Displeasure dripped from father's voice, "Name them."

"Today is Faramir's ascension into manhood. Tonight's banquet will be for BOTH of us."

I do not know what father saw in my face, but he nodded his head in agreement. "And?"

I leveled my gaze at him, "If you ever touch Faramir or myself again in this manner, I will kill you."

I uttered those words with such dry sincerity that father actually laughed. "I will seek what I need elsewhere," he acquiesced.

I left his chambers that day vowing I would never become like my father when I had children of my own.

Aragorn stared at the palantir in his hands the echo of Boromir's voice in his head.

"Yes, Faramir lied about my knowledge of this incident to you, I would have done no differently in his position. You knowing the truth would change nothing."

"True," Aragorn assented.
Boromir continued, "You saw me in this stone, yet you never told Faramir. You did it for the same reason I would not reply to you earlier, to save my brother's feelings."

Aragorn waited and Boromir went on, "Now you've seen the note and I have told you most of the story as to how it came to pass that my spirit resides here in this palantir, I bid you to be patient and now I will tell you the rest."

Aragorn nodded his agreement to this and presently Boromir went on.

"The strength of a man is nothing compared to the strength of a madman. On the day he died, with this stone clasped so firmly in his hands, father's final thought was of that last night he spent with me. Aided by the evil magic of the stone, he was able to wrest me back from where I slept with my kin, dooming me to this half life, trapped between waking and dead, being seen by none, save you."

"Oh Boromir," the king replied sadly, "I had no idea."

"My existence in this half world of dreams is my penance for not protecting Faramir sooner. I can live with that."

The irony of those words was not lost on Aragorn.

"You are my kinsman," Aragorn protested. "You knew me when I was naught but a ranger of the North, yet you followed me to your doom. I can do no less for you now."

"Again I say it would change nothing."

"I will find a way to free you."

"You will not," Boromir responded, it was not a request, in his head Aragorn heard the tones of a man accustomed to having his orders followed.

"If you try and release me from this existence it will shatter my brother. War is coming, there will be much work for Legolas' bow and Gimli's sharp ax. The halfing forth shall stand, fulfilling the new prophesy. But my brother's mind will be the keenest of all your weapons in the protection of my city."

Aragorn started to speak but Boromir cut him off, "So I come to you now, not as subject to king but friend to friend. Do not mention this to my brother for he will only deny it. Putting him in a position where he must lie to you only weakens his effectiveness to you. My brother is the future of my city. He will protect her where I failed."

"When night falls the greatest battle a man faces is not the one that is fought with his body but rather the one he wages within himself on behalf of those he loved the most."

A single tear fell upon the stone, "I will do as you request son of Gondor and friend to my heart. Your city will not fall, and when my time comes I will see that you have a resting place where none will ever disturb you as I have again."

Boromir did not reply and after a moment Aragorn covered the palantir gently before laying it aside. Then he went out to prepare his kingdom and his friends for war.

End

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