Disclaimer: I own nothing but the story line and my OCs. Everything else is credited to J.R.R Tolkien and Peter Jackson.

Four reviews to a chapter is my high score. Can I get any higher? You guys have been so great. I'm really glad you've been enjoying my fic so far. I hope you'll let me know what you've liked about it and what didn't (as if not liking it is possible?). Thanks, y'all!

Pain.

Pain flooded every sense of his body; it took over all other emotions that Kili attempted to muster. He could feel nothing, but pain and a longing for the safety of his home, of his family, of Fili. The feeling threatened Kili's sanity, it tested his limits and made him push himself to states of mind he had never been to, before- never needed to go to, before. Now? Now, without those states of mind, Kili would have given up long ago.

The never-ending burn of the injuries littering his body. The feeling of being able to do nothing about it, because you are tied so tightly that your very arms, legs and wrists are bleeding from the rope. The feeling of not being able to cry out in anger or pain, because there's a gag tied securely around your head. No one would hear you, anyways. You're too far away from home for anyone to care.

Home. It seemed so long ago when he had last hugged his mother goodbye.

' Goodbye, Kili. Keep out of trouble, won't you?'

She had hugged like he was never coming home again.

'I'll be back before you know it.'

Maybe she was right to. Perhaps it was the right thing to hug your loved ones like it was the last hug you would give them; it may just be. Nobody is guaranteed tomorrow. Kili lived by that statement. He tried to spend every day with a new adventure, because he never knew when he would be taken to the halls of Aule.

It was beginning to look like he may not be far from that now.

Kili never bothered fighting against the rope, anymore. Any attempt at loosening the bonds only tightened them more, causing greater pain and discomfort to his sore, beaten body. There was nothing he could do, but hope and wait.

"Hey, dwarf."

Kili felt the rope around his arms get grabbed from behind and he was hauled, roughly to one of the warehouse walls. He was shoved harshly against it and Kili's vision blacked out for a moment when is head hit the wall.

When he opened his eyes, Kili saw Cain sitting before him with Ben and Mathias standing a little ways behind the brown haired man, watching the scene unfold. Cain loosened the gag around his mouth and let it drop around Kili's neck.

"What... do you... want?" Kili's voice was cracked and gravely and his throat was very sore.

Cain lifted a small canteen into Kili's field of vision, "Drink some of this. If you get too dehydrated, you'll die."

Kili glared back, "Didn't seem... to make much difference... before." He huffed out.

"Shut up." Cain backhanded him, but it wasn't as rough as one of Ben's hits, "If you don't want it, I'll take it back."

"No!" Kili gasped out, desperately. He was terribly thirsty and felt very lightheaded, "I'll... take it."

The man lifted the canteen to Kili's lips and let him drink. Half of the water spilled down Kili's face and neck and onto his tunic, but he couldn't care less. All he could think about was the next sip of water.

Before long, the canteen was taken away too soon and Kili was left desiring more, but no more would come. Cain began putting the top back on the canteen. Kili looked up to Ben and took his opportunity to speak.

"What would a man like you have anything to do with Hunter?" He, so boldly, asked. Truth be told, he couldn't care less what happened to him now. They wouldn't hurt him too badly if they needed him alive.

Surprisingly, Ben answered, "Hunter was a friend of mine... at least till 'e became some kinda softy." Ben grumbled, and Kili could see the anger in his eyes.

"You mean, until he joined our partnership?" Kili corrected.

Ben scoffed, "Stupidest decision that caravan ever saw. Everybody knows that dwarves can't be trusted. The Hunter I knew wouldn't 'ave let a dwarf within ten feet of that caravan of 'is."

"You knew him well?" Kili questioned. He'd expected Ben to have gotten angry with the questions by now, but he didn't really seem to notice that he didn't have to answer them. It seemed that big, tough Ben had some words to get out.

"I thought I did. Told me I was 'is best friend."

"You were in the caravan?"

"I was in the caravan. I made them what they were. It was my idea to get into that Mithril exchange. Ever since Hunter walked up to that counter with a Mithril sword strapped to his belt, I knew 'e was a money maker." Ben shook his head, slowly.

"You started the Mithril trade?" Kili's mouth sat open in wonder. This is the man who started it all?

"I could 'ave made them rich, but Hunter refused to take that last step. Said that 'e would risk 'is own life to steal for the caravan, but 'e wouldn't kill any elf. 'e threw away riches because 'e was too chicken to off one, stuck up elf!" Ben huffed, after he finished his rant.

"So you left?" Kili asked. Mathias and Cain were clearly interested in the tail, as well.

"I left 'im. 'im and the 'ole caravan. They weren't goin' no where. I 'ad no reason to stay."

"What about for your friends? You could have had a full life if you had just stayed with the people who cared about you."

Ben's eyes snapped to Kili's and he approached him and bent down to Kili's level, "You don't know nothin' about my life. Quit pretendin' You know my life story, cause you don't. Hunter never cared about me; 'e only cared about what I could give 'im. When I 'ad nothin' else left, 'e turned me away and left me with no choice but to leave."

Ben grabbed Kili by the collar of his tunic and threw him down to the ground where Cain put the gag back in place and left him to his thoughts.

Kili got a lot of alone time with his thoughts, these days.

KFKFKFKFKFKFKFKFKFKFKFKFKFKFKFKF

"How is the collecting going?" Dis asked Thorin as she watched him look over each individual coin in his hand.

Thorin sighed and dropped the coins he had been counting onto the kitchen table, "The people have been more than generous to us, but we are still far behind the amount required to get Kili back."

Thorin watched her eyes turn a new shade of worry, before Dis began to speak, "Is there nothing else that can be done? We can't just give up."

"And we won't." Thorin assured, "I can leave now, look around Erid Luin and ask if anyone could use some hired help for a day. I will work day, and night and as long as it takes tomorrow. I will get the amount we need if it costs me my dignity and even my life."

"How can you? Nobody in Erid Luin can afford to pay you enough." Dis reasoned.

"I don't know, but what I do know, is that we are Durins." Thorin placed a hand around his sister's neck and touched their foreheads together, "We will not flee from a fight, even if there seems no possible way of winning. We will overcome, because we must. Kili's life depends on it."

The tears in Dis's eyes flowed silently down her pretty face. She had lost so much already, Thorin would not let her lose her baby boy so easily. Fili and Kili were everything to Thorin's sister; losing either of her boys would break her, already cracked heart. They would overcome this. They had to.

When they broke apart, Dis sniffled, wiped the tears from her face and straightened her apron. She smiled, tenderly and looked down at her hands, "We are truly desperate, then?"

Thorin nodded slowly in return, "I'm afraid so."

Dis looked up to Thorin and held out her, closed hand. Thorin held his own hand out to receive whatever she was offering. She opened her hand and let the item drop onto his calloused palm.

Thorin's eyes widened, "Dis, I... I cannot allow you to give me this."

"It is mine to give. I wouldn't rather see it go any other way."

He shook his head, "You can't do this. It's too important."

Dis just stared back, "It's just a piece of metal."

The tone of her choice didn't convince Thorin, "Sister, this... is no mere piece of metal. This is your wedding ring."

"My husband is dead. I've worn the ring all these years to help me feel closer to him. To help me feel like a part of him is still here." Dis sniffled some more, "But he is not in some piece of jewelry; He's in my sons. His memory lives on in them. Fili is very much like his father in behavior; he even has his hair. Kili has his father's eyes. Every time I look into them, I remember when I fell in love with the dwarf I married and I'm reminded of how blessed I am to have two sons who were here, even when I lost him. Together, they are both like my husband. Kili is worth more than a million of these shiny rings. If this ring doesn't fulfill the ransom then it will bring you much closer. My son is in danger and I will not sit calmly by while you work to get him back. We are all a part of this family."

Thorin looked down at the ring in his palm, before looking up and nodding slowly.

She was right. Kili is now, his father was yesterday. They needed all the help they could get, to save him.

I don't know if you guys remember or not. So, the day Martha died Hunter picked a Mithril sword off of a dead elf. He killed the orc that killed Martha with it and ended up carrying it around after that. At some point, a while after Martha died, he had walked into a tavern and some people took notice of the sword he was carrying. Ben was a part of that group. That's some of what he was saying in the first part.

So! What did you guys think of this chapter? Let me know in the reviews!