Sorry in advance for the dark story line… But, after my first songfic went pretty well, I've been waiting for a new song to hit me and inspire me to write another. So, this piece here is some sad, romantic, angsty Kili/Tauriel fluff, and it's inspiration is A Great Big World's song "Say Something." All italicized lyrics belong to them. Enjoy!
"Say something, Kili," Tauriel whispered, looking down at his body that had suddenly become so lifeless. "Say something!"
Say something, I'm giving up on you.
"Is he… he's not… he can't," his brother choked out. Tauriel saw his hands begin to shake as they clutched Kili's. Tears threatened to fall down his cheeks any moment now, and Tauriel felt her breath leave her as she struggled to say it out loud.
"No…"
Tauriel felt the Elvish light begin to leave him; the one chance of life she had given him was about to fade. She searched his dark eyes for a sign, any proof that he still lived in the light, but all she found was an empty abyss.
She had no choice now but to let her tears fall. She had reached him too late, and she did not have the power to save him. Tauriel shut her eyes and gave into her grief, letting a sob shake her shoulders. When she looked down upon him again, Kili's eyes were still opened, and there was but one final gleam of life left in them.
Tauriel clung to that gleam, that spark. She rested her hand gently on his face and prayed in Elvish. Tauriel found his spirit drifting away, and she let her own soul walk beside him. She asked that the Valar give her one more moment, one last chance to say goodbye, and to tell him all that he meant to her.
I'll be the one, if you want me to
Anywhere, I would've followed you.
"Where am I?" Kili asked, turning around in a circle, trying to find something he recognized. Though, truly, he was looking for anything at all. The only thing that seemed to surround him was a white light. It was bright, but it did not hurt his eyes, nor make him too warm. It was just pure and gleaming, and, in a way, he felt as though he too were part of it.
His eyes settled next to him. There she stood, the beautiful red-haired elf he'd been dreaming of, of late.
"Tauriel?" he asked. She smiled at him, though her eyes were full of tears. He approached her, reaching up and wiping away a stray tear that fell onto her cheek. "Why do you cry?"
"Oh Kili…" she began, and the weight of her newly broken heart began to bring her down. "I'm sorry I could not save you," she said breathlessly. The elf dropped to her knees, putting her at a more even height with the young dwarf, and pulled him to her. She kissed him passionately, never wanting to let him go, never wanting to taste anything again, lest it be Kili's lips on her own.
Kili wrapped his arms around her, surprised, but too overcome with his own desires to refuse. He'd wanted to kiss the beautiful elf maiden since the moment he saw her. But for all of their happiness in this moment, he knew she was still sad. She still wept, even when they pulled apart and she smiled at him. He wiped her tears again and placed delicate kisses along the trails they left down her cheeks. Kili wanted this moment to last forever, but he could tell that something was different. He was not the dwarf he once was.
"Why are we here?" he asked, looking around him once more. "Why have you brought me to the light?"
Tauriel found his eyes and looked at him with a sadness he couldn't explain.
"You have come to the light on your own, Kili," she said, barely above a whisper.
It took the black haired dwarf a moment before he realized just what she meant. Of course. This was the end. That was why it felt so strange. His body- his real body- had been writhing in pain moments before, and now he felt… well, it wasn't quite nothing, but it certainly wasn't pain. He felt at peace and free; limitless and boundless. It was, however, still death.
"Dead…" he said, his eyes falling as he thought of all he'd left behind. His mother, his uncle, Fili…
"Do not be sad, young prince," Tauriel spoke to him, her words resonating in this place more than usual. "You go to your fathers, your ancestors. You go to be eternal."
Even as she said it, Kili felt something in him change. He felt a tingling in his fingertips, and when he looked down at them, he saw them beginning to fade into the light. All of his edges slowly began to blend into the space around him, depleting him and filling him up at the same time. He looked back at Tauriel, and, apart from her normal Elvish glow, she seemed to remain whole.
"And… and you?" he asked, feeling a hint of dread take over his heart once more. She smiled at him sadly, and he needed no reply from her to know his answer.
Tauriel watched him slowly begin to fade away and she knew her moment with him was drifting. She was out of time, though she did not feel as sad about that as one might think. She'd still been able to see him; she had still been able to be with her love. She took his hands in hers before they disappeared altogether.
"It may have been hate that brought you to the dungeons of Mirkwood," she began, her voice trembling. "But it was love that brought me to you, Kili," she said last, leaning in to kiss him once more. She felt the touch of his lips for only a moment, before there was nothing but white light before her, above her, and all around her.
And I will swallow my pride
You're the one that I love
And I'm saying goodbye.
"Is she waking?"
"I think her eyes are opening."
Tauriel opened her eyes, the warmer, less overwhelming light of candles shining above her. She felt a hard surface beneath her and realized that she was lying on the floor. A dwarf and three children stood above her.
"Miss… are you alright?" the older girl asked.
Tauriel blinked a few times before she steadied herself enough to lean upwards. For a moment she couldn't remember how or why she'd been on the floor, but as soon as she sat up, she remembered. In front of her was a table, and on that table was her beloved. Only he wasn't Kili anymore. Kili had moved on.
The elf stood slowly, walking back to the table. Grasping Kili in a final embrace was Fili. He sobbed openly, devastated by the death of his brother.
"I am sorry," she whispered, though to no one in particular.
A silence fell around all of them then. Broken only by Fili's crying, it engulfed the room, and no one knew what to do or to say. Tauriel looked down at the face of Kili, and she felt guilt in the pit of her stomach. Though she knew it was misplaced, she could not help it. She had tried so hard to get to him in time, and still she failed. She was sorry, but to so many people at once.
She was sorry to herself, for not jumping free of Thranduil's hold over her sooner. She was sorry to Kili's mother, for she remembered now his promise, and how he had broken it. And as she looked upon Fili, so broken down by grief, she was sorry to him as well.
Most of all, however, she was sorry to Kili. Kili, who lay in front of her now so lifeless, yet so normal. It was as if he was only sleeping. Tauriel knew better, but she still allowed herself to imagine a life where Kili's dark eyes would pop open and he would say something to her.
Say something, I'm giving up on you
I'm sorry that I couldn't get to you
Anywhere I would have followed you
Say something, I'm giving up on you.
