(A/N): So, a little bit of background first. This story will be sort of an adaptation to both the film and the book. Most of what occurs in the book will be what I base my fanfic off of, while characters are based off of the film. For this particular story I needed to alter a little bit of what happens in Bilbo and the rest of the dwarves' past. Instead of happening in the same year Erebor is reclaimed, the Battle of the Five Armies does not take place for a few years. This story starts in that period of negative space where tensions are high but war is not upon Erebor, and so therefore Thorin, Fili, and Kili are still alive. Alright, that's all! If you have any questions or simply want to comment, post in the review section! :)

What Is Lost Is Meant to Be Found

Prologue

Eyes chilling, expression like stone, Thorin stood over his youngest nephew with his gaze fixed and commanding.

"No," he repeated, for what must have been the hundredth time. Kíli, despite the king's threatening stance, lifted his chin and did not waver in his resolve.

"Come on, Uncle," he pleaded. He was a little frustrated at Thorin's stubbornness, even if he was a hypocrite by being so. "Just think of the prosperity it would bring. Not just to our people, but to the whole of Middle-Earth!"

"Kíli, I already said no. It is too dangerous a mission," Thorin denied again with aggravation. It was bad enough that Kíli interrupted an important conversation he was having with one of the nobles. He just had to refuse to relent!

"Dangerous? What about our quest to reclaim Erebor?" Kíli challenged, which only caused Thorin to sigh with exasperation.

"That was different-"

"How?" Kíli interrupted. "I highly doubt this quest will have anything so dangerous as a dragon in it."

"That is not the point," Thorin growled with a slightly raised voice. He took a moment to control his temper before he continued. "I will not have one of the heirs of Erebor traipsing across the land on a wild goose chase. One that takes you into another country, no less."

"Goose chase?" Kíli questioned in disbelief with a slight shake of his head. "You sound just like them: all the dwarves who said we couldn't take back our home. Look at us now."

"Kíli," Thorin began, but what he was going to say would have fallen on deaf ears. Kíli had turned around in a huff and stormed out of the hall. Thorin almost wanted to stop him, but knew that whatever he planned to say wouldn't help the young dwarf.

Gím, who had been listening to the conversation silently, cleared his throat. Thorin had nearly forgotten his old friend's presence. He turned and gave him an apologetic look.

"Forgive me for the distraction, I thought perhaps it was a little more important," Thorin said gruffly. Gím raised a bushy, red eyebrow.

"You do not deem your nephew important?" he questioned, though he knew very well that was not what the king had meant.

"I do not deem his foolishness important," Thorin corrected, perhaps a bit more harshly than he had intended. It only made Gím chuckle; he was used to his friend's callous attitude.

"He is young, with a strong spirit," Gím said. "Much like you once were, and still are on many occasions. Forgive me if I intrude upon your affairs, my lord, but perhaps you are too hard on him."

There was a time Thorin might have scolded Gím for indeed "intruding upon his affairs," however he would not risk their friendship, and Gím's counsel. He was wise, though only a few years older than Thorin himself.

"Perhaps," Thorin sighed, "but if I am not then he would have razed this city to the ground by now, and his brother only encourages him."

"Aye," Gím snorted, "Prince Fíli is just as young and thick-skulled."

Thorin simply nodded, not in the mood to find humor from this statement. He let his eyes wander over to the archway Kíli had disappeared under with such frustration. "And yet one of them is going to be king one day," he murmured almost to himself. Needless to say, he sometimes worried about the future of the Kingdom under the Mountain.

xxXXxx

"Really, brother. You're going to bring down the mountain if you keep on like that."

Kíli paused mid-swipe as he whittled away at a sorry-looking twig and looked up at Fíli who had just entered the cluttered woodwork shop. Kíli had taken to remaining in the shop because it was one of the few places he could both concentrate and avoid Thorin.

"What do you mean?" Kíli asked absently as he continued to sharpen the stick he held on a molecular level – there was really no way to get it pointier.

"Your stomping and moping around is chiseling away at the supports, I'm sure," Fíli teased. When Kíli made no reaction, Fíli frowned and put a hand on his younger brother's shoulder. "What is it that ails you?" he asked with concern. Kíli again paused as if to decide whether or not to tell Fíli, but continued with his futile work on the deteriorated piece of wood.

"It's nothing," he said a bit too bluntly. Fíli just looked at him. "Nothing" didn't seem to describe Kíli's attitude for the past few days.

"Why don't we go down to the shooting range?" he suggested. Practicing with a bow always cheered his brother up when he was feeling down.

"Can't," Kíli said, "I'm busy working on something important."

"Making a toothpick?" Fíli asked with a snort of laughter. Kíli stopped and looked with a frown at the stick he was holding; it barely stretched from his wrist to his fingertips. He really hadn't meant to whittle it that much, he just wasn't paying attention.

"No," he grumbled with a small curse under his breath. He tossed the twig aside and reached forward to grab a new one, but Fíli was too quick. Before Kíli could react, he was hoisted out of his chair and dragged by his arms toward the door. "Hey!" he protested and struck out with his fists in hopes to deter his captor, to no avail. "Let go!" he ordered.

"Nope," Fíli said with a small smile. "We're going to train."

"Fíli!" Kíli continued to protest as he was dragged into the towering hallway outside the workshop. When he realized struggling wasn't going to get anywhere, he stilled and reasoned, "If you let me go I'll talk."

Fíli looked down at him with a raised eyebrow. "Promise?" he asked. All he received was a nod of Kíli's brown-haired head, but that was enough for him. He let go and Kíli was unceremoniously dropped onto the floor with a painful thud. He paid no heed, and instead jumped to his feet and dusted off his shoulders as though he had been touched by some sort of vulgar monster. After receiving an expectant look from his brother, he huffed.

"We'll talk in my room," he said stiffly, annoyed at his brother's behavior. On any other occasion he might have found it funny, but this was not such a time. With a nod of agreement from Fíli, Kíli turned and walked through the halls toward where his room was located, next to his brother's and Thorin's quarters, of course. He sincerely hoped that he would not meet his uncle on this short walk.

Despite having lived under the mountain for near six months now, both of the princes couldn't seem to get used to the glorious halls their ancestors had made. Because of this, the walk that should have lasted only five minutes stretched into about fifteen. The raised walkways Fíli and Kíli strode on were wide and every surface of the kingdom was made of a deep turquoise stone. In the firelight, the stone glowed like gold and sometimes gave the illusion that the kingdom was actually made of the precious metal. Intricate and blocky designs ran all along the pillars holding up the hallowed-out mountain and homes were built into the walls like mighty stalactites looming over the dwarves below. Nearly every chamber in the mountain had impossibly large statues of dwarves serving as pillars or just for decorations. It boggled the eyes to see such beauty, especially living out on the road for so long as they did.

Thankfully, though Kíli took longer than he had initially meant to, he did not meet Thorin as he and his brother crossed the large caverns to get to his quarters. Once there, he paused and looked at Fíli who tilted his head to the side.

"Yes?" Fíli asked. Kíli shook his head a moment later and continued to open his door nonchalantly. Fíli knew his brother was up to something, he just didn't expect it to happen so suddenly. As soon as Kíli had opened his door wide enough, he dashed through and spun around to close – and lock – the access in Fíli's face. Fíli hardly had time to blink before his brother had disappeared.

With an exasperated groan, Fíli kicked the door, assured that the stone would be unbreakable. It was, however his foot wasn't and he had to bite back a grunt of pain at his throbbing toe. "Kíli!" he yelled at the wall in front of him with frustration. No answer. "Kíli, I know you can hear me!" he tried again. By then a few guards were casting curious glances his way, but he paid them no mind. When Kíli still refused to answer, Fíli huffed and slumped against the door, which he was sure his brother had done as well. He crossed his arms over his chest and waited for his brother to quit acting like an immature dwarrowling.

"I told you there was nothing wrong, didn't I?" Kíli finally asked, his voice muffled by the door in between the two brothers. The only reason Fíli could hear him was because the vent above the entrance to the room was open.

"That's what you said but I hardly believe it now," Fíli pointed out. He was met by silence. "Kíli, you're going to have to tell someone about it or you'll depress yourself to death."

"I'm not depressed," Kíli insisted.

"And I'm an attractive orc," Fíli scoffed. There was another pause before Fíli heard, and felt, the lock on the door clicking open. He took his weight off the door just before Kíli pulled it ajar. Fíli was unsurprised to see his brother's expression sullen and grim as he motioned for him to enter. Fíli obliged and walked right over to one of the luxurious arm chairs set by the large fire pit off to the left side of Kíli's room. The fire wasn't lit, but it hardly needed to be. The air was warm inside the mountain due to the tremendous forges alight for metal-working. Kíli took a seat in the chair across from Fíli, but said nothing. He slouched heavily and rested his chin on his hand as he stared into the nonexistent fire. Fíli waited for his brother, knowing that if he pushed too hard Kíli would just close up again.

"I found something the other day," Kíli eventually said. "I didn't want to tell you because I didn't want to get your hopes up, but now that there's no chance of it amounting to anything I don't suppose it really matters..."

Fíli tilted his head to the side as Kíli looked over to him. "What is it that you found?" he asked.

"A book," Kíli said, much to the surprise of his older brother.

"You were reading?" Fíli asked with astonishment. This rewarded him with a small smile and a huff, but it did not reach Kíli's eyes.

"Yes, it was one of the few books that survived Smaug's destruction. Its title interested me, and I figured I would give it a shot. It was a lot different than I expected."

"Different?" Fíli asked, to which his brother nodded.

"I figured it would be a tale of honor and might, and it was, sort of. It was like a tale, but I noticed something strange about it. The words read horizontally from left to right, as you would expect, but for one section in the book. It was a poem, and the letters of each line seemed impossibly and perfectly aligned. As I pondered over this I realized it also read vertically left and right. I read down instead of across, and it spoke of something I've only heard of in fairytales."

This interested Fíli and he leaned forward with his arms holding his weight on his knees. "What did it say?" he asked.

"It gave the location of a secret said to grant life to mere rock and stone. It was hidden away by one of the Seven Fathers many years ago," Kíli replied ominously. Fíli paused a moment before a smile spread on his face and a deep fit of laughter slowly built up in his chest. Kíli clenched his jaw as Fíli's mockery continued to grow.

"Oh, brother, I never thought you would be one to believe in such tales!" Fíli said when he finally had a breath.

"If it's just a tale then why would it be hidden in that book so cleverly?" Kíli challenged with a dark glare in his brother's direction.

"It's obviously not clever enough if you found it," Fíli teased. Kíli looked away with a scowl and dug his fingernails into his palms to stop himself from throwing a fist in Fíli's direction.

"You're hilarious," he growled sarcastically.

"Oh come on, you can't truly believe in that," Fíli insisted, barely able to keep his laughter in.

"How do you think stone giants were created then?" Kíli asked with a sharp look at his brother. Fíli just shook his head.

"That's like asking how Ilúvatar and Aulë created life," he said. "It's not something any dwarf can explain."

Kíli sniffed and once again looked away. "Believe what you wish," he said stiffly. Fíli sighed and his smile lessened. He might not believe in the tale, but it was obvious that his brother did.

"Alright, so what is it about this book that makes you so sullen?" he asked, if only to humor his brother. Kíli paused before he replied.

"Thorin denied me the chance to search for it," he said. Now that he heard the words coming from his mouth, it seemed pitiful. It was such a small thing to get so worked up about, but it was more than just the book that angered him. Fíli was able to discern this.

"And you feel as though you've been once again reduced to a dwarrowling in Uncle's eyes," he finished his brother's unspoken thoughts. Kíli settled with a small nod.

On the quest to reclaim Erebor, though Fíli and Kíli were the youngest in the Company, they had been treated as true warriors. They were often sent to scout ahead and they fought alongside the older members without being looked down upon. They were a part of the Company. Now that the quest was over and Thorin sat upon the throne, however, they did not feel like part of the Company. They were just troublesome boys up to no good in everything they did. It was an unfair assumption.

Finally, Fíli stood and clapped a hand on his brother's shoulder. "Come on," he said. "You'll only prove Thorin correct by moping about. You need to show him that you're not to be trifled with so idly."

Kíli looked up at his brother with curiosity and stood as the older prince walked out of the room.

"Fíli, where are you going?" he called before his brother could reach the door. Fíli turned around with a broad grin plastered to his face.

"We, brother, are going to do some hunting."