Well, this is me easing myself into writing again after a long hiatus, so I hope this is passable. In any case, it has adorable little Fili and Kili so I hope you all like it. Mainly just shameless fluff. It's my first Hobbit fic, so let me know what you think, and feel free to offer suggestion. If everyone likes this, I've got a couple more one-shots I'm working on that I'll post up =)
Nightmares
A Hobbit Fanfic
Sometimes Thorin was still plagued by nightmares of the dragon attack or worse, the battle where his grandfather was killed and he stood against Azog the Defiler. He had never told anyone he suffered from these nightmares, thinking it weak, and troublesome to no one but himself.
And then one night, he was tossing upon his bed, moaning as he relived the horrors of his past, when through his tormented dreams, he heard familiar voices whispering around him.
"What's wrong wif Unca Forin, Fi? Is he sick?"
"I think he's having a bad dream."
"We should wake him up! Light the candle, Fi, tha's what Mum does when we has bad dweams."
Through his nightmare, Thorin felt little hands grabbing his shoulder and shaking him. "Wake up, Unca Forin! It's just a dweam!"
Thorin was finally able to pull himself from the nightmare with a gasp, startling the dwarfling kneeling above him. A candle was burning in the room now, and he was covered in a sheen of sweat, still panting hard. He looked around, instinctively reaching for his sword, half expecting to see orcs surrounding him, but all he found were the worried glances of his two young nephews.
"He's waked!" Kili shouted out happily.
Fili crawled up onto the bed with a more worried expression on his face. "Uncle, are you all right?"
Thorin sat up and reached out to touch the faces of his nephews, tangling his fingers through their hair as if to ground himself to this world again, making sure they were indeed real. He let out a deep breath, and forced a smile. "I'm all right, boys, it was just a bad dream. Even grown ups get them sometimes."
"They be awful to have though," Kili said with a solemn nod. "Want somefing to drink, Unca?"
"That would be nice, Kili. Fili, why don't you go with him to help?"
The two dwarflings scrambled from the room and he could hear them banging around in the kitchen, hoping they wouldn't wake Dis. He didn't want to have to trouble her with his nightmares for she would know well enough what they were about even though he hadn't told her he still dreamed of such things. He kicked the twisted covers off his legs and stood up, stripping out of his soaked nightshirt and grabbing another from the back of a chair. He sat down on the bed again and put his head in his hands. He pushed the hair back from his face, feeling it stick to the back of his neck with sweat. He grimaced but at that moment Fili and Kili came back with a slopping tankard of water, which the younger brother presented proudly to Thorin.
"Here ya go, Unca!"
Thorin took it and drank gratefully, letting the cool water soothe him and bring him fully out of the half dreaming state. He smiled as his nephews climbed up onto the bed next to him, Kili hugging his arm and looking adoringly up at him.
"You feel betta now, Unca Forin?" he asked seriously.
"I do, Kili, thank you," he said truthfully.
Fili knelt behind him and started to plait his hair back into a single braid. Thorin stayed still as he finished, glad that it allowed the cool air to wash over the back of his neck.
"Mum says that talking about your dream helps. Sometimes it does," Fili told him.
"It was nothing that I need concern you two with," he said gently. No, they should know eventually, but not now; not while they were still so young. "You two should get back to bed; I'll be all right now."
They reluctantly trudged from the room, and Thorin was a bit regretful to see them go, for with them went the lightheartedness, and the darkness of old memories once again stole over him.
But after only a few minutes, there were two pairs of eyes peeking around his door again.
"Uncle?" Fili's voice came hesitantly. Kili didn't ask, but trotted in, his stuffed bear hugged in his arms. He crawled onto the bed, and held the bear out to Thorin.
"He will help keep 'way the bad dweams," Kili explained.
Thorin couldn't help but smile as he took the treasured bear and tucked it into the crook of his arm where Kili soon followed. "Don't go, boys. Stay here with me tonight. I don't think the dreams will dare come back with you two here to scare them off."
Fili grinned and leapt onto the bed, snuggling up against Thorin's other side so that he held Fili in one arm and Kili and the stuffed bear in the other. The boys were asleep almost instantly, but Thorin just held them for a few moments, stroking their soft hair and envying the peace that showed on their faces. Oh how he wished he could still be that innocent. He knew he must treasure these years that they had before they came to know too much about the world. For after that, there was no turning back, and he wished that day never had to come for them.
He did eventually drift off, and like Kili and Fili had promised, there were no more bad dreams that night.
That morning, Dis, upon discovering the boys weren't in their room, peeked into the room of her brother and smiled as she found all of them curled up together, sleeping peacefully. She didn't have the heart to wake them and closed the door silently behind her.
Years later, when they were on their journey to take back Erabor, Thorin was once again plagued by the nightmares. He had tried to hide that fact from the others, hardly sleeping, but sometimes his exhaustion overcame him and he fell into a fitful sleep that was riddled with the horrors of the past.
One such night, he tossed and moaned, and knew he had to wake, but was only able to pull himself to a half dreaming state. He was aware enough to notice two extra bedrolls plopping down on either side of him, accompanied by warm bodies huddling up against him and throwing an arm each around his waist.
He pulled himself from his sleep with a gasp as he always did, and looked down at the two heads resting on his chest, one dark and one light. His initial thought was surprise, then he wondered if he should admonish them for their childish behavior, but he looked down at their peaceful expressions; their eyes closed, pretending to be asleep, although he knew they weren't quite yet, and he could not send them away. He needed the comfort of family right then, and he knew none of the others would mock him for it. He wrapped his arms around his two nephews, one hand each on the backs of their heads as he pressed their faces closer against him, stroking their hair. They smiled and snuggled closer to him, holding him tightly against whatever fear plagued him that night. And he was finally able to smile too, for he knew with his nephews sleeping beside him, the nightmares wouldn't dare plague him again.