Bonsoir, everyone :)

Finally I managed to finish another chapter! I still can't believe it! ;)

I know it took me some time - again - but now it's done and I hope you're going to enjoy it (even if I'm not that happy with it - but the next chapters will surely be more fun to write ;) ).

About Elvanna, because a few of you said you didn't like her ;) : I needed to introduce her at the time when I introduced her (does that make sense? - if not, blame the wine, I'm currently in France on a semester abroad and have to try everything :D) because she's gonna be important for what I've planned for later chapters - especially when it comes to the events covered by the third hobbit movie (can't wait to see that one since I don't know what to expect anymore because so much has been changed! - don't know whether I like it or not...). But I actually planned on sending her back to Mirkwood in one of the next chapters, so you're gonna be free of her soon ;).

And now, for real: ENJOY!

Breathe!

Legolas cleaved through orc and warg equally. Dark blood ran over his hands, sprinkled his face and soiled his clothes. He himself sported a few minor cuts on his arms and upper body, but at this moment he couldn't care less.

Desperately hacking at everything that came in his way, he tried to reach a certain little dwarf who was currently losing his battle with an orc. The beast held him up at his throat, effectively choking his prey, and Legolas could see that there was still fight in him although he was fading quickly.

As Kili's movements grew slower and less forceful, Legolas' gained in speed and force. And still he feared that he would be too late.

It had been foolish from the beginning. Legolas should have made the dwarf stop somehow, but he knew that he would have done the same thing – doing everything in his power to save his loved ones even if it cost him his life – had their places been reversed.

Separating another orc's head from the rest of its body while ducking from the mace of another, Legolas saw his opportunity: if he acted quickly, he could shoot the orc that held up Kili. The downside of that plan, however, was that he would leave himself vulnerable.

Still, Legolas acted without thinking about it twice and pulled an arrow from his quiver while he got his bow ready. Knowing that he could never live with himself if he didn't take every chance to rescue the young dwarf he held as a dear friend, he spared no thought on the consequences to his own safety. Legolas didn't take much time to aim and that was what saved not only Kili's but also his own life.

Just when the elf was about to let the arrow fly, a warg crashed into him, tearing through clothes and skin and throwing him to the ground. Gasping for air, he felt disoriented at first, but recovered just in time to keep the warg's jaws from tearing his throat out. It was also in that moment that he realised that he couldn't reach for his knives and was utterly helpless – for one, the weapons were in their sheaths on his back and two, both his hands were occupied with holding the warg away from him.

Wracking his mind about how to escape that situation and at the same time hoping that he had hit his target so that his current predicament was not for nothing, he also started to feel the pain from his new wounds. A burning sensation travelled through his entire upper body and Legolas could just hope that the wounds were not as bad as they felt. The pain made him nearly breathless and for a moment, he thought his life was going to end in the next few seconds.

He would die as ungraceful as that – killed by a warg far from his homeland, ripped into pieces, failing in fulfilling his task of protecting Mirkwood, another victim in another king's quest for his lost kingdom.

But then, the warg jerked and suddenly all the fight left the beast and it fell down on him, rendering Legolas totally breathless again. Surprised, he lay still for a moment and then tried to push the cadaver off himself. The movement jarred his injuries, but he didn't pay it a thought – he would rather worsen his wounds and provoke the wrath of his sister then have that corpse lie on him a second longer than necessary.

Someone pulled on his arm and looking up, he recognised Elvanna who tried to help him. She looked grim but he could detect a hint of worry in her eyes – knowing someone for so long truly had its advantages.

"You fool! You could have gotten yourself killed with that stunt!", she chided, but he knew it was just her way to express her worry and her relief.

Wincing, Legolas got on his feet and tried to peer down at his damaged chest. The warg's claws had left red marks all over it.

"Painful, but not deep. You'll live", Elvanna almost smirked when she touched one of the wounds which resulted in another wince and a rather dark glare from her brother.

"Did you have to do that?", he shot back, refering to touching the cut.

"What, saving your royal behind?", she said, now openly smirking.

He rolled his eyes and wanted to reach for his bow when he found that he had lost it when the warg attacked.

"Looking for this, gwador-nin?", Elvanna said and pressed the bow, blessedly undamaged, in his hands before she whirled to the side to block an orc's blade.

"Thank you!", Legolas breathed before neatly placing an arrow between the eyes of another orc. He was sure that she had heard him.

Then, he remembered Kili and a cold feeling settled in his stomach. Had he been able to save the dwarf or had Legolas' carelessness cost the young one's life?

Before he could properly look for Kili, however, he heard an eagle's call and for a moment, it seemed to him there could be no sweeter sound. Then, exactly two thoughts shot through his head: How did the eagles know that they needed help? And how was it going to make any difference with Thorin Oakenshield possibly dead, putting an end to this quest and throwing a certain dwarf Legolas had started to care about in a pit of desperation and guilt? The elf had noticed that, even if he was angry with his uncle for leaving him behind, Kili still cared a lot about him and such an event would not do him any good.

Legolas watched one eagle lifting up a warg and throwing it over the edge of the cliff while another was spreading the fire around them in the direction of the remaining orcs and wargs by flapping its wings and a few others started picking up the dwarves who shouted in surprise and probably panic because the giant birds weren't that gentle. The elf used the distraction of the orcs and wargs to look for his small friend.

When one eagle lifted up Thorin rather carefully, Legolas knew at least in which direction to look. He spared the dwarven king in exile a short look and wondered whether he was merely unconscious or already dead. Then he looked around for a familiar small form.

Inwardly, Legolas cursed the darkness. Thanks to his exceptional eyesight, he could see just fine, but he would be more efficient in his search if it were daylight. He also cursed the smoke from the small fires which made his eyes slightly water and the orc and warg corpses which seemed to get in his way all the time. He even cursed himself – more specifically, his clumsiness, because he seemed to trip occasionally, and his wound which pained and distracted him. How was he going to find Kili if everything seemed to be against him?

However, before Legolas could truly start blaming himself for everything that had happened, he spotted something twitching in the corner of his eye. Turning his full attention to it, he saw a small hand and after a second in which his mind went blank, he rushed over to the hand. It was attached to the small body of a dwarf which lay motionless on the ground.

With his heart in his throat and a strange sensation in his chest that felt like it was going to burst, Legolas knelt down and carefully turned the dwarf around. Then he looked at his face, saw the bruise forming on it and the still bleeding scratch that started on his cheek and followed down all over his upper body. Legolas bit his lip but when the dwarf's brow started to crease and his breathing became faster and therefore audible, the only thing the elf felt at first was relief. He let out a shaky breath himself and barely could resist to bury his head in his hands to block out the world and just relish the fact that all tension had left him for a few seconds.

But of course, Legolas could do no such thing. He was startled out of his thoughts when the dwarf before him who was still bleeding, but thank Elbereth alive, gave a low, almost inaudible moan. Focussing back on him, the elf lightly patted the uninjured cheek and called the dwarf's name a few times. At that, he also turned off all other thoughts because he knew the eagles – and Elvanna, Elbereth bless her (and keep her safe!) – had taken care of the remaining orcs and wargs.

After a little coaxing on Legolas' part, Kili finally fluttered his eyes open and it took him exactly three seconds of blurry images until the pain slammed into him like a fist. His body was on fire and he found he couldn't breathe properly. It felt like something was blocking his airways and the more he tried to get oxygen in his lungs, the more intense his pain became. But he couldn't care less at this moment – the panic which dominated his whole being at this moment drowned out anything else.

When a cool hand was placed on his forehead and a soothing voice talked to him, his brain couldn't register it. He kept fighting for air and had shut his eyes to ignore the fact that his vision was fading. The only thing Kili knew in this moment was that when the blackness that had started before his eyes, won over him, he would be lost. And he didn't want that! So he had rather shut his eyes because then at least, the darkness was at his own doing and he could make it go away on his own accord by simply opening his eyes.

Then, his gasping and fighting for breath just stopped and he fell still for a second: The hand he had vaguely felt on his forehead had disappeared from there and had instead slapped him on the cheek!

Kili's eyes snapped open and he looked at a blurry figure leaning over him. And then, after the shock, he tried to breathe and when he found he couldn't, panic started to rise in his chest again.

"Kili! Kili, can you hear me? Damn you, dwarf, listen to me!", came Legolas' voice through the fog in his mind.

But Kili's brain didn't even try to understand what was said to him.

"Listen, you need to breathe slowly!", there it was again. Through his panic, Kili couldn't first understand want the elf meant, and then it seemed rather foolish to him because damn, he couldn't breathe! How was he supposed to breathe slowly when he couldn't do it at all? And what benefit would it be to him to breathe slowly when he needed as much oxygen as he could get at the moment?

"That's it, slow and calm breaths", again the elf – what was he saying?! It was just then that Kili noticed that his blurry vision seemed to become clearer and that he indeed was breathing – short and fast breaths, but it worked! While he had focused on his thoughts and not on the fact that he was going to die, his body had acted on its own accord and that had saved his life.

After another few seconds, he could see the elf's face clearly in front of him.

"That's it, stay calm. You're doing great. You'll see, everything will be alright. Just...", then Legolas noticed what he was babbling and frowned at himself for a second.

Kili gave a weak grin, and if he hadn't be sure that laughing at the elf would have hurt, he would have done it. Instead, he just felt grateful that he was alive.

Then, the grin faded from his face and he looked horrified when everything that had happened before he had fallen unconscious – Thorin unmoving and hurt on the ground, Fili desperately fighting dozens of orcs, Azog choking and gruelly smiling at him before he had blacked out – came back to him.

Kili tried to sit up and after a little help from Legolas who understood that it wouldn't get them any further if he tried to reason with the dwarf to stay put, he had accomplished it and tried to keep his breathing calm through the waves of pain that coursed through his body. Weakly, he turned around and surprisingly couldn't see any of the dwarves.

"Where is everybo-?", his question ended in a shout of horror as a giant bird – an eagle – flew over them and snatched up Legolas in the process. From how the elf was struggling before he and the animal disappeard out of Kili's view, he could see that the elf was just as surprised as he was.

But Kili didn't get a chance to think about it further because a second later he felt himself being lifted above ground. Adrenaline shot through his body, making him momentarily oblivious to the pain he was in, and with it came another wave of panic. Again, he found he couldn't breathe but before he could worry about that, the eagle let him fall and a strangled shout errupted from his throat before he landed on the back of another eagle.

Later, when he trusted the bird enough to not let him fall, he figured that he had started breathing again when he had desperately clutched the animal's feathers and had flattened himself on its back as much as possible, not caring how much it hurt his injured chest, to minimize the way the wind was pushing on him. Even if Kili was afraid for Legolas, his sister and all the other dwarves – his family! - he didn't dare raise his head to look around whether they all were safe. At that moment, he just wondered which of his past actions had earned him such blessing from Mahal, because against all odds, he was still alive!

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Fili watched his uncle hugging the hobbit in a moment of gratefulness – grateful for acting so rash and saving his life – and to show that he truly meant the apology he had just given him. And Fili let the relief he saw on his companions' faces also wash through him.

Then Thorin had spotted Erebor far in the distance, a single mountain peaking out of the mist on the horizon. Looking at it, Fili could think of nothing more beautiful. If Kili could see – Fili stopped at that. And suddenly, the relief and happiness and hope were replaced by a mixture of guilt and regret. His younger brother was out there somewhere, lost in the unfriendly wilderness where everything could happen to him – if it had not happened until then. Even with that knowledge, Fili had followed his uncle. He knew it was his duty to him, to their people, to Erebor, and he also knew that if he set out to look for Kili, he would never have a chance to actually find him – he could be anywhere. Maybe, he had tried to console himself, his brother had eventually given up and returned home. But deep inside, Fili knew that Kili was far too stubborn and reckless to give up. When he had made up his mind, his brother always saw it through to whatever end awaited him, but Fili feared that this attitude might cost him his life – if it not already had.

A heavy hand on his shoulder startled Fili out of his dark thoughts and he found himself face to face with Thorin who looked at him with a mixture of regret and understanding.

They remained silently next to each other, watching the mountain that was their home, until Fili said:

"I'm glad you're well again, Thorin."

"I am glad that you're well, too. It has been a gruesome fight, and I am proud of your actions. You have proven to be a worthy warrior today."

Fili regarded his uncle out of the corner of his eye, not used to such praise. But he couldn't help but feel proud of himself for a second as well. Then his thoughts returned to Kili, but before he could throw it in Thorin's face whether Kili had not been worthy enough to take him with them or to at least go looking for him when they had gotten the news that the younger dwarf had set out to find him, he saw a shadow travel over Thorin's face and his eyes grew hard with something Fili couldn't place.

"Where is he?", he asked and sounded so grave and almost desperate that Fili couldn't believe it.

"W-where is who?", the younger asked back in confusion.

"Where is he?!", Thorin said, louder this time, catching the attention of a few other dwarves.

"Who do you mean?", Balin asked his king, looking mildly confused.

But Thorin didn't hear him. He walked a few steps and looked around.

Fili couldn't make any sense of his uncle's behaviour.

"Uncle, who are you looking for?"

"Your brother", was the reply he got and it stopped Fili dead in his tracks, freezing his muscles and his thoughts. Kili!

"Thorin, the boy is not here!" Balin said after a few moments, sounding calm but also firm.

The king whirled around, facing his trusted advisor and friend with a hardly concealed emotion in his eyes.

"Balin, I saw him! He was there!"

"Where was he?", Fili asked gravely, having found his voice again, but fearing the answer.

"He was there when the orcs attacked us. I saw him before I fell unconscious", Thorin said, his face a mask but his eyes burning with desperation.

Fili tried to swallow around the lump in his throat. He had seen the dwarf stepping between Azog and his uncle, and he had seen his attempts to fight the pale orc. But what made his mouth go dry and his chest ache was the fact that he had also seen the orc choking the dwarf to death.

Did you like it? Or not? And why? - whatever is the case, leave a review so that I know of your opinions :) I'm really looking forward to getting into the events of DoS, but as always, I need encouragement! :) So don't hesitate ;)

xx