Fíli sat there looking at the moon with a soft smile on his face. He was outdoors, out in the wild where he loved to be. Free to be just Fíli: the son of Dís, nephew to Thorin and brother to Kíli, not Fíli 'the-next-heir-of-Durin-who-will-be-getting-more-responsibilities-after-this-birthday'.
As if he didn't have enough already.
He sighed, looking down to where Kíli was curled beside him sleeping peacefully. Yes, he was looking forward to going back to his warm bed, but at the same time he wasn't looking forward to going back when he knew he was going to be worked to exhaustion. A more in-depth side to his Royal training awaited him as well as sitting in at council meetings with Thorin, harder lessons with Balin, advanced combat training with Dwalin and his normal blacksmithing duties to make money and help his mother out. He was already tired from all the expectations placed on his shoulders, collapsing in his bed every night more often than not and now his load was only going to get bigger.
The only thing that got him through the day with his sanity intact was that he had Kíli by his side. Whilst the younger dwarf hadn't yet started his Royal training, he and Kíli spent most days learning side by side in the classroom – or annoying Balin was probably an apt description – and working together in the forge and on the training grounds. He'd overheard his uncle and mother talking about Kíli potentially starting his training with Thorin in a year or so, but Fíli hoped for his brother's sake it wouldn't be any time soon.
He looked down at the brunet and smiled. He couldn't remember his life before his brother, but from the stories he'd heard he was a laid back, easy going child who was well behaved and quiet. His mother often questioned where that had gone. The moment Kíli was born the quiet part of his personality disappeared as he would always talk to his brother and tell him stories about adventures they would have or the trouble they would get into. When Kíli started walking people swore up and down that someone had kidnapped the timid, quiet and laid back Fíli and replaced him with a cheeky, loud and adventurous child who had to constantly be watched as he and Kíli would disappear and get into everything they could.
It was safe to say they'd kept their parents and Thorin very busy.
His attention snapped back to the present with the twig that cracked nearby. His falchions lay across his lap so he grasped the hilts and looked around, weariness forgotten, eyes and ears sharp. There was another crack off to his right.
He would have pegged the noises to be the horses moving around, but only problem was they were on his left and nickering nervously.
Fíli released one of his swords to shake his brother's shoulder, eyes scanning the area carefully. "Kíli, Kíli wake up," he hissed quietly.
"S'my turn?" Kíli asked, rubbing his eyes slowly. When his vision was somewhat clear he looked at his brother and spotted his hands on his weapons and his alert posture. "Fíli?" He whispered, "what is it?" As he talked he eased himself into a kneeling position, shouldering his quiver and attaching his sword belt before knocking an arrow, arms relaxed but ready to draw at a moment's notice.
"Not sure," Fíli admitted. "It could be nothing, but I heard twigs snapping off to the right."
They both looked that way and scanned the bushes, only to have their heads snap forward when there was a rustling and another branch breaking in the forest in front of them.
"Could be an animal?" Kíli asked quietly, focussing on the patch of forest the noise had come from.
"Possibly. If so it, or they, are circling," he replied quietly, gripping both swords and standing. He walked towards the bush on silent feet, sheathing a sword to his back and slipping his long dagger into his hand. Kíli stood and drew his bow, pointing towards the trees.
A slight huffing noise, so quiet that he was surprised he heard it at all had him spinning around and throwing his dagger with deadly precision, straight into the throat of a Warg that had snuck up behind them.
"KÍLI!"
He was already onto it, spinning and releasing his arrow straight into the throat of the orc who was riding the Warg, and quickly swapping his bow for his sword to slice through the Wargs neck to make sure it was dead.
Fíli leapt back to his brother's side and they stood back to back as forty orcs poured out of the forest on all sides and charged at the two dwarves. With their combat skills honed to perfection they had no problem slaughtering the first few beasts their blades met, but they both knew that they wouldn't stand much of a chance when so heavily outnumbered.
"Kíli! On my go make for the horses!" Fíli yelled desperately, blocking an orc and slicing its arm off before driving his blade into the chest of another.
The brother's worked in unison, blocking and stabbing together, making sure each was protected as the orcs now had them surrounded and blocked off their path to the horses. Thanks to Fíli's twin blades, he was able to thin out the orcs directly surrounding them. They had killed ten and injured a few more, but the brothers were tiring, and quickly.
We're going to have to focus on improving our stamina Fíli thought absently as he stopped an Orc from decapitating him and instead returned the favour. His attention was wrenched back to the present when he heard a gasp behind him.
"Kíli?" He called urgently, "you alright?!" He could feel his brother behind him but couldn't tell if and how badly he'd been hurt. There was a long stretch of silence from Kíli before he grunted.
"I'm okay... He nicked my arm. Just a cut." Kíli growled, swinging his sword to decapitate the offending orc.
Fíli looked around desperately, they were getting slower and sloppier and if they didn't get out of there quickly they were going to die. He looked to the panicking yet still tethered horses, both of which were thankfully still being ignored in favour of the dwarves and started turning so his back was to them, knowing Kíli would move with him so they would be directly in his path.
One thing about fighting, Fíli realised, was that if you were getting tired, thinking about strategy and not focussing on the battle you were going to make mistakes, and he realised this as an orc blade sliced into his side and was pulled out roughly making him cry out. It hadn't gone too deep, at least not deep enough to do any internal damage but enough to make his whole side feel like it was on fire.
"Fee, you okay?!" Kíli yelled, shooting a look over his shoulder, blocking before stabbing another Orc.
"I'll be fine, just make for the ponies. NOW!" Fíli yelled; turning quickly to check the coast was clear before shoving his brother towards them.
Kíli stumbled as he ran, exhaustion and blood loss making themselves known to the younger dwarf but he managed to make his way to the horses all the same, quickly disposing of the orcs that tried to block his path. As expected he'd sustained a few small cuts from catching the tail end of a blade as he blocked, but his main concern was the deep gash that ran across his left arm which was bleeding profusely. He hoped it hadn't nicked anything important, as it was his arm was crimson and the oozing blood showed no indication of stopping anytime soon. He needed to wrap it but it wasn't likely he'd be given a chance in the near future.
Kíli was almost to the ponies when a cry of pain had him spinning around with his sword ready, only to feel his heart miss a beat at the sight before him; Fíli, struggling desperately to get free from the mouth of a Warg which had clamped around his body and was shaking him like he was a toy.
"NO!" He screamed, quickly swapping his sword for his bow and ignoring the pain fired two arrows one after another rapidly, one at the rider and one at the Warg. Each arrow landed with a deadly accuracy that at any other time Kíli would have been elated at achieving without pausing, however he was too busy watching with horror as the Warg opened its mouth mid-shake in pain to throw his brother bodily into the air towards him.
Fíli used the momentum from his roll to stagger upright and stumble towards his brother, blocking and stabbing orcs that came to finish him off as he'd somehow managed to keep hold of his swords. It was from his position that he saw Kíli take down three more orcs in quick succession, but miss the archer that was aiming at him.
"Kíli! NO!" Fíli cried, too late for his brother to spot and block the arrow that buried itself into his stomach. Fíli raced forward, pain from the numerous puncture wounds forgotten as he decapitated the orc that had dared to hurt his brother.
Kíli stumbled from the impact but managed stay upright and watched as Fíli removed the orcs head and ran towards him still fighting. But pain and blood loss were now creeping up on him quickly and his vision was beginning to blur.
"KÍLI! GET ON THE HORSE, NOW!" Fíli yelled; grunting as he went down on one knee as a blade from an overlooked orc sliced through his calf. He twisted a sword and stabbed behind him into the orc that was trying to finish him off before pushing off the ground, gritting his teeth against the pain and running as fast as possible towards his brother.
He could see Kíli holding the orcs off as he neared the horses, but he was struggling with the arrow sticking out of his stomach. If Kíli didn't get to a healer's soon Fíli knew he could lose his brother forever, and he refused to let that happen. So he did the only thing he could do that would give him time, he flung himself at the orcs surrounding Kíli and fought like a dwarf possessed.
"KÍLI! GET ON AND TIE YOURSELF TO HER!" Fíli roared, not noticing as a blade sliced through his back deeply. He was already beyond feeling pain, his multitude of injuries making it feel as though his whole body was on fire.
Kíli, who was starting to get light headed from the blood loss and spreading stomach acid struggled up onto his horse and tied the reins around his waist, knowing full well that if he passed out this would be the only thing to stop him from tumbling off.
"I'm tied on!" He groaned, whimpering when he knocked the arrow whilst trying to calm Daisy.
Fíli assessed the situation quickly, the orcs were advancing on them quickly, and there was no way he'd be able to get onto the horse that was past Kíli without risking them both getting killed. Knowing there was nothing else he could do he spun, lobbing off the heads of two orcs before slashing his sword through the rope tied around the tree and freeing both ponies.
"GET HIM HOME AND DON'T STOP!" Fíli yelled, jumping to the side and slapping the horse on its flank, before turning back to face the enemy.
"Love you Kee, always." Fíli said quietly, briefly watching the horses carry his brother into the night before turning back to the battle with a fierce snarl, truly the lion Kíli always said he was.
And as a sword drove through his chest, Fíli knew he could be forgiven for thinking he heard his brother call out his name as his world went black.
The horses thundered away from the fight, the bouncing making Kíli cry out. Every jolt from the horse's hooves as they touched solid ground jolting the arrow and leaving him lightheaded from the agony that was ripping into his body.
With every bounce in his saddle the arrow was jostled further, the fluids in his stomach seeping out and poisoning his body. The sudden flood of bile into his mouth had him turning his head and vomiting violently, and he was infinitely grateful he hadn't vomited on Fíli and Buttercup. He didn't think either of them would forgive him.
Coughing through the pain he looked over at his brother with a weak smile on his face.
"I'm okay F-" he froze, horror washing through him when he saw a horse with no rider. "Fíli? FÍLI?!" Kíli screamed, realising that his brother had never mounted his horse.
He spun in his saddle to look towards the battle, the sudden movement opening his wound further and making blood pour out onto his saddle and saw Fíli watching him before he disappeared under a Warg and orcs.
"Fíli..." He whispered, collapsing against Daisy's neck trying to fight unconsciousness but losing his battle. Before the darkness claimed him he managed one to cry one last thing.
"FEE!"