"Get thee gone from here, deceitful one!" Finwë cried out, even as his fëa quailed within him as Melkor's Presence towered over the Noldóran.  His back to the massive doors which led into the entrance hall of the keep, Finwë raised the bejeweled sword he held and aimed the point at Melkor. "Your words are fair, but your actions belie them."  His hands trembled on the double-handed hilt of the weapon as the sheer malevolence of the Vala closed in about him like wings of impenetrable shadow.  He had to give his people—his grandchildren—time to escape.

* * * * *

When the light had failed, and starlight had fallen on Formenos for the first time ever, there had been terror and tears in the stronghold, but the practicality of the Noldor had won out, panic overcome, and torches and lamps were quickly constructed against the darkness.  Finwë had put on a façade of calm and had ordered the precious things that were being crafted in the workshops gathered and stored safely in the vaults of the treasury, issued weapons to the ellyn and set them to watch the approaches, and tried to reassure his people that all would be well.  Then, even as he cuddled a distraught elfling, one of many who clung tearfully to their amilli and atari, one of the craftsmen who stood guard at the doors raced into the great hall.

"My king!" he cried out. "The stars… they are disappearing!  A great wave of darkness is rising up from the south and the ground trembles!" 

Finwë handed the elfling he held back to its mother and strode towards the doors.  "Nelyafinwë, watch over the ellith and the children.  Canafinwë, maybe singing to them might help."  His other grandsons were deeper in the keep, finishing securing the valuable items in the various vaults deep in the foundations, and distributing weapons to those who could bear them.

When Finwë got to the door and looked out to the south, he felt his fëa cower as the cloud of impenetrable blackness blotted out more and more of the sky.  And then he realized there was something—and someone—emerging from the darkness.  His hands went up over his shoulder and he drew the broadsword from the sheath that hung across his back, even though the part of his mind that was not screaming with fear told him the gesture was useless; this was the eldest of the Valar at his most powerful.  Regardless, he had to stand between the evil that approached and his people. 

Without taking his eyes from his impending doom, he addressed the remaining ellyn who had been on guard, "Get inside, and tell Nelyafinwë to get everyone into the Third Hall—all of you, inside and seal the doors.  Now!"  For another moment, the ellyn stared, horrified, at the Beings who approached, and then fled, crying out their terror as they went.

Finwë straightened to his full height, the sword held before him, and steeled himself before he challenged Melkor and the hideous multi-legged creature who backed up the Vala. He prayed that his son's heir would have the sense to lead the members of the exiled community through the hidden passage into the hills beyond the keep.  He had to win them time.

* * * * *

Melkor laughed, and the ground trembled beneath Finwë's feet.  "I will be gone quickly enough, little Elda, once I have that for which I came. Give me the Silmarils."

"No."  Finwë's answer was implacable, and the Vala's eyes narrowed and glowed with rage.

There were no further words spoken.  Melkor moved not, but a heartbeat later, Ungoliant made a hideous chittering sound that chilled Finwë to the soul.

The spider belched out another gout of blackness that roiled about the three in the forecourt of Formenos keep, and she cast a dark, sticky thread towards him. The High King of the Noldor slashed at it, only to feel the metal of the sword he held go freezing cold and see the rune-etched blade shatter against it.  A second filament whipped around his body, pinning his arms to his sides.  He screamed aloud as the cold of her thread burned him. 

As she dragged him towards her ichor-slimed jaws, the blackness surrounded him, isolating him from everything except for the sound of Melkor's triumphant laughter.  Ungoliant's claw-tipped legs seized Finwë, winding more of her webbing about him, and his fëa abandoned his tortured hröa as she lowered her head towards him; fleeing the evil darkness, his pain, and his failure for the sanctuary of Mandos.

NOTE:  Nelyafinwë is Maedhros and Canafinwë is Maglor.  These are the "father names" that Feanor gave to them.