Chapter two
A glimmer of hope
Each step sent more fire through Kili's chest, with each breath it was getting harder and harder not to show the pain. Kili glanced at Bilbo, the hobbit was actually keeping pace with him, which would normally annoy him, though he knew the reason was because he could barely put one foot in front of the other. Bilbo, more than likely feeling Kili's gaze looked up at the young prince and stopped.
"We need to rest for a moment," he said, he was breathing hard himself but Kili knew the reason was for him to rest not Bilbo.
Kili looked up the stairs, they were nearing the fork, where last time Kili had taken the wrong stairs down. They were close, so close, he could not stop now, "Bilbo, please, it is just one more stairway up then it is down the rest of the way," his voice cracked a little and his hand shot to his ribs, he stopped short, his breath coming in short gasps.
Bilbo put a hand out to steady him, "Just for a moment, please Kili, you are no use to your brother dead."
Kili slowly sat down on the stairs, Bilbo was right, he had to get his breath back if he wanted to keep going. Bilbo sat down beside him, his little sword still grasped tightly in his hands, even though the blade was only a slight blue, a good indication that the glow was from the orcs below them.
"Bilbo, you can relax a little, I think we are okay here, at least for now," Kili said softly his hand visibly tightening around his ribs. The prince smiled slightly when he saw Bilbo slowly lower his sword, "Well, yes of course you are right I am sure," the hobbit said with a small smile, though his grip loosened he did not put the sword away.
Kili took a few deep breaths, nearly chocking several times as he did, the dragon fire within him was getting worse. Pushing the pain aside Kili pushed himself back up to his feet, "Enough rest, I'm alright we have to keep moving," Bilbo looked unconvinced but he sighed and stood up, "Alright then, lead the way."
…
Going down the stairs was no better than going up, in fact Kili found that it was worse, the way he had to hold his body to keep himself upright was nearing impossible and they had only just gone down a few levels, they had at least four more before they reached where Fili lay. Kili stopped, and with a pained grunt he pulled off his outer mail armor, it was shattered anyway, and let it fall to the ground. Without the weight of the outer armor his breathing come much easier, he breathed a sigh of relief and pulled off what was left of his shirt, leaving only the Mithril shirt underneath which he left alone.
"Okay, that's better," Kili said finally able to stand at his full height without the added weight.
"What are you doing?" Bilbo asked looking worried, "There is still a battle going on you might need that armor."
Kili shook his head, "The Mithril is going to have to work for me; I can't breathe with my other armor on, besides really look at it Bilbo, it is useless anyway."
Sighing Bilbo nodded, "I guess it saved your life once it can save it again if need be."
Kili nodded, "Let's just hope that it only has to prove itself once."
….
The rest of the walk was much quicker now that Kili could at least walk without hurting, they were soon at the final stairway that lead to the entry way to the small tunnel that Fili had fallen in front of, those stairs were imbedded into Kili's mind, he would never forget what they looked like. They were finally there, just a few short steps from his brother, and Kili suddenly could not move, his feet refused to listen to his brain, his mind did not want to see what lay on the other side of the rock wall.
"I can't do it Bilbo, I can't go down there again, not again not without knowing for sure," Kili turned to the hobbit not caring if he saw the tears he knew would be falling, "Please Bilbo, I have to know."
Bilbo did not have to ask to know what Kili wanted him to do, he nodded and eased Kili down to the stairs, "Okay, you wait here, I'll be back," and with that the little hobbit was up and gone.
As soon as he was gone, Kili let the tears fall. He knew the odds of Fili still being alive were slim to none, but Kili held onto that one hope, his brother was strong and a fighter, if anyone could survive it would be him.
Kili thought back to when they were just little, his tenth birthday, and the year he got his first bow. Being born nearly two months early Kili had been small for his age, thus not able to hold a sword or fight with one as early as Fili had. Kili wanted to learn to fight so badly, he wanted to learn everything his brother knew, but Fili knew that Kili was still too small for sword, so he had taken it upon himself to make a weapon his brother could use. A bow. With a little help from Thorin, Fili made a beautiful bow just Kili's size with arrows and quiver to match. Even though it was Thorin who had to teach him how to use it, Kili always held that bow close to his heart, because Fili had made it just for him. Unknown to Fili, even though he had long since out grown it Kili still had that bow, locked away in his trunk at home, he would never part with it for it held more meaning to him than any other bow ever could.
The sudden reappearance of Bilbo brought Kili out of his thoughts, "Is he?" Kili's voiced trailed off when he saw Bilbo's face, it was a mixture of happiness and fear.
"He's alive Kili, Fili is alive, but just barely, Kili you should know something!..." Bilbo's voice echoed off the rock but Kili wasn't listening he was already halfway to the other side of the rock wall.
…..
