So...yeah. This is depressing, and I'm really sorry. It just wouldn't leave me alone until I'd written it. It's a lot shorter than I'd hoped... It will be multi-chap, but my real life is crazy, so while I'll update as often as I can, I can't promise any semblance of regularity. Enjoy, I suppose, and please review, even if only to complain/cry...
Fili blinked, grimacing as the bright light hit his eyes. He tried to shield his eyes, but his body screamed in pain and he stopped moving and closed his eyes.
"Oin, he's up," said a voice Fili vaguely recognized, though he couldn't place it.
A gentle touch made Fili's eyes snap open. Oin looked down at him in concern, a wet rag in his hand. To Fili's relief, Oin's placement blocked the majority of the light, dimming it to an amount Fili could tolerate.
"How do you feel?" Oin asked gently.
Fili thought for a moment. "Not too bad, as long as I don't move. What happened, exactly?"
Oin shrugged. "I don't know; I didn't see it. I just know that you were hurt, and I was needed to care for you. Now, sleep, my prince. It will help your body to heal."
Fili, slipping back into the black world of sleep, didn't think on Oin's words—"my prince." No one ever called him or Kili that.
The sun beat down hotly on the armies—men, dwarves, elves, orcs, goblins. Everywhere the boys looked there were more people, as it were, both friend and foe. They were all armed, swords dripping blood.
The injured lay where they fell, no one daring to stop long enough to help them, thus risking their own lives. The casualties—and fatalities—racked up, the field stained with blood.
Kili fired arrow after arrow, always hitting his mark. Fili protected both himself and his brother, taking every caution to keep the pair of them safe.
Fili swore as a sword slipped past his guard. Kili turned, eyes wide, as Fili fell, world fading to black.
Fili woke with a shout, sitting bolt upright. Oin rushed over to his patient, gently easing his back to the bed. Fili shivered as the cool air struck his torso, bare but of bandages.
"Kili?" he asked, eyes wide.
"In another tent," Oin soothed.
"Can I see him?" Fili asked.
"Not now, laddie," came another voice. Fili turned to see Balin standing there, flanked by Dwalin. "You need your rest."
"But I just woke up," Fili complained. Balin crossed the tent to Fili. "If you wish to heal, my prince, you must rest."
Fili locked eyes with Balin. "Oin called me that, and now you, too. 'My prince.' Why? You've never called me that before."
Balin sighed heavily. "We have reclaimed Erebor. You have to remember that you are a member of the royal family."
Fili sighed. "Once my uncle has been crowned, will things change for Kili and I?"
Balin looked down. "Yes, laddie…"
"Can I please go see Kili?" Fili begged again, hopong he would be allowed to this time.
Oin looked at Balin. "Tonight, if it's okay with you."
Balin dipped his head, then left the tent.
That evening Fili struggled into a shirt and boots, wearing them over the still muddy breeches he had worn since before the battle. With Oin's help he crossed the pell-mell arrangement of tents on the flanks of the mountain. When they reached the tent that Fili had been told Kili was in, Oin carefully led Fili in, and then stood back.
Fili looked around the tent. In it were two beds, one that held Kili, the other holding Thorin.
Fili looked at Oin and Balin, confused. "Why were they kept together, but I was alone?"
Oin looked down, and Fili crossed the room to where his brother lay.
Kili's face was calm and still, and Fili gently brushed a thumb over his brother's jaw before turning to his uncle.
Thorin was as still as Kili, though marked with a long gash down one cheek.
"Why isn't he bandaged?" Fili asked Oin, who still didn't answer.
Fili looked back to Kili, then slid the down blankets covering the dark-haired dwarf. Kili still wore his armor and bloodstained tunic. Fili furrowed his brow, then returned to Thorin. Uncovering him, he discovered that the King Under the Mountain was dressed much the same as his youngest nephew.
Fili sat on the edge of the bed Kili lay on, confused. Oin had clearly taken such good care of him—why hadn't he done the same for Thorin and Kili?
Suddenly, Fili knew. He knew for sure why Oin hadn't cared for Thorin and Kili.
It was a stroke of luck that Fili was already seated, or else he would've collapsed. As it was, he crumpled, bracing his upper body on his legs, praying to whatever gods there were—though at the moment he wasn't too inclined to believe in them—to help him regain his strength.
"Mahal," Fili breathed. "I'm all alone."