.I. It'll Be All Right
Touching his forehead to his brother's, Fili bit his lip as pain assailed him. Kili gripped his arm, holding on tightly, his face pale under the grime of blood and dirt.
"We did it?" Kili asked hoarsely, a hopeful smile tugging at his lips.
"Yes, we did it," Fili answered raggedly. "Thorin is all right.
Far overhead an eagle screamed, prompting the memory of when they had flown on eagles to rise to his mind; and for a spell it was enough to drown out the sound of battle around them, stirring the dead embers of hope to life in Fili's heart. But that had been in another part of their tale; the eagles weren't there, they were far away on their eyries.
Beorn's roar drowned out all other sound, even the imaginary eagle cries, as Fili became aware once more of the battle he was in. He didn't need to look around to see the wounded and dying that were strewn over the ground, or how those who were still hale were fighting. It didn't matter anymore, man, elf, dwarf, they were all one and the same now, fighting in the same battle against a common enemy. Although Thorin had been carried out of the fight (Fili had had enough wits to watch Beorn carry his uncle away, even as he received a blow to the head), the dwarves continued fighting, and now Beorn had come back to help finish it off, but Fili didn't see how there could be any hope for their victory.
Aware as he was of all this, his eyes never left his brother's face; for Kili was one of the wounded, just as he was, but he feared that his brother's time was coming faster then his.
Blood had mixed with the stony ground of the mountainside, turning it to mud. It was impossible to say whose blood it was, Kili's, his own, an elf maybe, or an orc, but that didn't stop Fili from rubbing his fist in it and plastering it on the worst of Kili's wounds, hoping on some vague hope to staunch the flow of blood. He wasn't a physician, but he prayed that the mud would help the blood to clot. He was oblivious to his own wounds that bleed freely; he had long ago (how funny it is that minutes can become forever ago in the right circumstances) become insensitive to the stinging pain in his side and back, ignoring the nettling bites where arrows had pierced through to the skin. If he could stem the flow of blood, if he could save Kili, spare him from the sleeping cold that reached for him, it would be enough.
Kili reached up and wiped away a trickle of blood that was about to drip into Fili's eyes, his brown eyes urgent and his motions weak. Already his strength was failing him and even the simplest of gestures were becoming too much for him.
"Is it enough?" he panted. Waving a hand limply, to take in the scene around them, he pressed on, his tongue flicking out a moment to dab at the blood that seeped from the corner of his mouth. "Was it worth it?" His eyes closed and his brow furrowed as he fought to drag in the breath that would allow him to finish speaking. "What about us?" he whispered. "Will it be all right?"
Using his hand to wipe away the blood that leaked from Kili's mouth, Fili met the plaintive brown eyes with his own hardly concealed pain. What mercy would save them now? Even now, he could feel how his body was failing him, how his heart faltered with pain from blood loss and for his brother's imminent death. Everything was futile! They'd set out to reclaim a mountain, knowing that in doing so they faced death, but it had been the dream of a lifetime to accompany Thorin on his quest. Yet the dragon was dead and death still found them!
No tear left his eye or gasp of pain escaped him, though the pain in his chest grew heavy; stooping low, he pressed his lips to the top of Kili's head then cradled him close. "It will be all right," he murmured, as if his words could make untrue the inevitable, rocking his younger brother gently as everything dimmed around them. "It'll be all right."