Disclaimer: Yeah I do not own any of these characters or any piece of the original Hobbit story, nor the story that Peter Jackson put together.
AN: Yeah so this fanfiction is more for me than anyone else because I personally cannot live without Tauriel and Kili being together even if it is in my mind only. Read and review homies!
A shallow burst of air pushed its way through his lips as the blade plunged deep into his abdomen. He had seen it coming towards his body, but still the numbing sting of the stab felt unfamiliar to him in that moment. It did not hurt per say, but at the same time it was the only thing that filled his conscious brain. He could no longer see the looming orc that had held him down and stabbed through his stomach; he could not hear the gagged shriek of the elf laying crumbled on the stone next to him. He felt only the jagged hilt of a battle axe through his ringed armor and into his hard flesh. He did not feel when the orc pulled the weapon out of his wound, or when his hard white fleshed hand pushed him down and out of the way.
He did feel the ground come hard and fast into his back. It pushed out another harsh gasp of breath, and this one restored some sense back to his brain. The wound was not in a vital place but it was deep, and through it all he could feel the hot sticky blood pushing its way out of his stomach and staining the dank stone that lay around him. His breathing was short and straggled, not because the wound obstructed his breath, but because the pain was enormous. As his sense rushed back to him, pain overtook all else.
But a low pitched grunt rang above, he turned his face towards the disturbing noise in time to see both the elf and the orc launched off the side of the rock face. Another moan spout from Tauriel's lips as she slammed hard into a lower rock face. The orc, Bolg, kept falling though.
The tears that had begun to stalk down Tauriel's face stung as they festered into the scratches and gashes across her visage. Her body ached both from the force needed to vault herself and Bolg off of the layer of the stone tower, and from the force that she slammed into the uneven rock with. She was at a disadvantage in this fight from the beginning, having had her bow sliced in half by her king shortly before. She was angry with herself for not finding another one since it was her primary weapon.
With only two knives at her disposal, it was no question as to why Kili had been fatally stabbed, it was her own stupidity and arrogance that killed the nephew of the King Under the Mountain. Regardless though, she had to find a way to kill Bolg; else he would kill her first. As she pulled herself back up into a standing position she found him nowhere in sight. She cast her gaze around until she saw him. He was battling with Legolas on a fallen building. As she watched a pile of stones fell upon the terrible orc; but above there was a dwarf battling another orc. Before Tauriel had processed the scene completely she was on the move again, back up the mountain face to find Kili.
It was a selfish choice to leave her prince helpless but she had never before thought him incapable of defending himself. That was what she chose to tell herself over and over anyways as she made her way back to the dwarf. The stone scraped and sliced into her fingertips as she forced her way back up to her love. As she pulled her normally light elfish body through the air she discovered new wounds all the time.
Kili had fallen unconscious from the extreme blood loss as he lay upon the rock alone. It seemed fitting that he too should die after watching his brother be stabbed through the chest previously. He and Fili were two of the same person after all. He could not know though that help had already found its way to Fili and the elves were working their strange magic on his brother. The blood around his wound was considering clotting, since it had run the course it was meant to. It was flowing less liberally than before but it was hard to say whether that was because he was running out of blood or because the wound was beginning to heal.
As Tauriel pulled herself over the edge of the stone, the shouts of an army of elves could be heard throughout the structure. Tauriel was not swayed in her course though, for if Kili should die now he would not die alone and unloved. That was a fate she wished on no one, least of all one whom had seen his brother murdered that same day. She pulled herself to his side and took his face in her pale hands. Breath leaked out slowly, but Tauriel took no notice of it. To her battle stained eyes, Kili was dead.
Suddenly the token he had given her, a stone with a legend etched into it, felt heavy in its place near her chest. She kept it with her during the battle because it reminded her that she made a promise to him, and she had to keep alive to fulfill it. She had not planned on what to do if Kili could not fulfill his end though.
The air shifted and a certain chill took up residence behind the weeping figure of Tauriel and the barely alive one of Kili. She knew when the king was near as if she were a hound, he gave off such an air of cold and unbinding will that it was quite palpable.
"If this is love, I do not want it." She speaks softer than she set out to do. "Take from me, please." In front of Thranduil, the one person she hates more than any orc, goblin, or troll, she will not lose her pride. Through her blood stained tears, Tauriel maintains her fierce composure. However, it proves too difficult to remember that the elven king is a harsh and cruel man in this moment. "Why does it hurt so much?" Speaking the words feels like a release to her psyche, but she instantly regrets them. She does not much want to hear his answer.
"Because it was real." His answer surprises her, before she can react though he continues. "I fear he is not yet dead Tauriel. I have sent for healers to remove him from this wretched place and take him to Erebor where his detestable kin awaits."
The elfish healers must have been awaiting word from their king because they approach as soon as he finishes speaking. He does not linger long as they begin to patch Kili's wound in order to transport him. Legolas has not forgotten that Tauriel was badly hurt earlier in the fight, so he waits along the stone wall to speak with her.
She spies him there and beckons him to help her stand. He does so and they embrace. They feel like children again in each other's arms; untouched by the war, untouched by years of Thranduil's cruelty, and untouched by the loss of many loved ones.
"My friend, I owe you so much. I am certain you saved my life by taking out that monster Bolg." Tauriel speaks softly to Legolas. He shakes his head and embraces her again.
"There is no debt to pay, Tauriel."
It is when a different person speaks her name though that her heart lightens. She whips around so quickly to see his face that she nearly topples over.
"Tauriel…" he whispers again. The healers are nearly ready to move him and they will not wait for her to make her move. So she leans in close to Kili's face and kisses him. Their lips taste of blood and tears, but both are certain they have never tasted anything better. She steals away to taste the bitterness of the air again.
She slides the stone from her armor into his gloved hand.
"Promise me."