This whole fic is a MAJOR spoiler for BoFA (and the book), so you have been warned. Also, I apologize for those of you who I make cry.
Just a little fic because Fili and Kili are meant to always be together, especially at the end. Also toying with the idea of making this the final chapter of a new, multichapter fic, so if any of you would be interested in seeing that, let me know. Thanks and enjoy!
Disclaimer: Tolkien's world and characters, not mine.
Pain. It engulfs his body in flames, and he feels something heavy resting on his burning chest.
"Kili!"
The elf, the beautiful she-elf is shedding tears over little old him. Any other day Kili would be puffed up with pride, but all his fading consciousness can focus on is the image of his brother, the other half of his soul slamming into the ground at his feet, body limp and eyes still open in shock. Kili lets out a shaky sob, blood bubbling in the back of his throat, and the loss of Fili hurts more than the gaping hole in his own chest. He tries to call out, but the words get lost in a cough.
Tauriel's face swims into focus above him, framed by her striking red hair. Her voice is soft, as though speaking will break whatever spell has revived him. "Kili?"
"M-" The words stick in Kili's throat and he swallows thickly. "My br-brother. I… need to see…"
Thankfully, the elf seems to understand his slurring because a few seconds later deceptively strong arms slide under both his knees and back and his is pulled upwards and against her chest. His ripped skin pulls at the movement and Kili can't hold back a scream of agony, his head falling back as he pants for breath. The world swirls in blurs of color around him and he isn't even aware they are moving until suddenly it all seems to stop.
Tauriel eases the young archer down to the ground beside the body of his golden-haired brother. Kili's sight blurs again, but this time he knows it's because of the tears pricking at his eyes.
"Fili." Kili murmurs weakly, cupping his brother's face with one trembling hand. He tries to focus on those sightless blue eyes, to ignore the growing stain of red under the pool of golden hair. But the loss still hurts too much and he groans aloud, coughing and sending his own blood splattering all over Fili's pale face.
And then the body beneath his touch jerks in a rasping breath and Kili is crying, because Fili's eyes blink slowly and the golden dwarf chokes on the red liquid thick in his throat. Kili knows he should lift his brother up, that his lungs were probably ruptured by Azog's tarnished blade and if he does not Fili will drown in his own blood, but his arms have lost what little strength they had and he slumps forward against his brother's prone body.
All Fili manages is a short grunt at the pressure of his little brother's body sagging onto his own. Kili's face is pressed against the soiled cloth of his brother's tunic and he can feel his older brother's chest shuddering as he struggles to breathe, the lukewarm wetness of blood against the skin of his cheek. He can hear the wetness in Fili's chest and somehow this is worse than before because this time he can feel the life draining out of his brother's broken body.
"F-ili…" The young dwarf moans deep in his throat, grinding his forehead a little more forcefully against the shaking chest beneath him. But he knows the golden dwarf was lost to him. It sounds like there is a sea in Fili's lungs and Kili swears his brother's body is already growing cold as his life's blood seeps out onto the accursed ground. "Fili…"
The heir makes a wet, strangling sound like a bubble bursting in his throat and then a weak cough. His words are strained and short as he forces them out around the blood dripping from his lips and down into his well-kept beard. "Ki-li… sc-scared…"
If he had the strength, Kili would have cried at Fili's broken tone. His older brother was never scared, not by the goblins a young Kili had insisted lived under their bed and not by the packs of orcs and wargs that had tailed them on their journey to the Lonely Mountain. He was Kili's lion of a protector, Thorin's golden warrior and heir. Fili was not supposed to be scared.
Fili coughs again, still struggling to speak. Kili tries to distract himself from the wet breathing by noting that while his brother's chest heaved and shook, the rest of his body is decidedly still. He wonders blearily if the young warrior's back had been broken by the fall.
"I c-can't-t…"
Kili is not good at comforting. He is the younger brother, meant to receive comfort but not give, meant to be shielded and kept safe. But in that moment he feels his own limbs grow numb and heavy and he can only murmur words that will bring both comfort and pain.
"Don't b-be scared, brother. Wh-ere you go, I will f-follow."
The young archer is pretty sure that Fili doesn't hear him, because the chest beneath his cheek is moving faster now in weak, shallow pants as his brother fights in vain against the growing darkness. Kili's own body has gone still and he cannot feel the pain any more; the darkness is there for him as well, flickering at the edges of his vision. His head lolls slightly as with a tight sounding gasp from deep in his throat and one last violent jerk, Fili goes finally and horribly still.
True to his word, a minute later Kili allows his eyes to slide shut as he follows.