Fili ran a hand over the tapestry on the wall. He hated that they could still touch objects, just not people. The dust that came from them danced in the air before him. The whole room was covered in years of dust. He was in the rooms besides Tauriel's but this one had not been cleaned. He tried to imagine it cleaned out, it would have looked much the same but this could have been his. He could have set up home in these rooms and lived for decades more. The room was untouched just dusty, with a faint smell of smoke in the air. The bed wasn't even made, it looked like someone had just rolled out of bed. On the dresser there was various bottles and boxes, and a golden comb that had gone dull from years of abandonment. On the bad of a chair he realised was a dress, laid out and ready to be worn. This could have only been one person's chambers. His mothers.

He took it all in and tried to see her in there. Tried to imagine her sleeping only to be woken roughly and told of the dragons coming. She must have fled immediately. Her old life was in this room yet she hadn't even come near it yet. She was still sitting with Tauriel.

He smiled to himself as he sat on a low bench that still had a book sitting on it.

His mother was remarkable.

/ / / / / / / /

Many of Kili's fondest memories of his mother we're sitting together as she told him stories of the old dwarves, usually when he was going to sleep or he was fed up that Thorin had taken Fili training without him. Now he sat and watched as his mother sat beside Tauriel's bed telling her stories of Erebor.

They'd yet to talk about the great sadness dragging them down, they were simply getting comfortable with each other. He knew Tauriel would be finding it hard, still being so helpless. But she seemed to be hanging on Dis' every word. He had taken a seat at the wall just out of her eye line, he'd noticed she was purposefully avoiding looking at him. He had no idea where to go from here.

He sat up as his mother stood, he hadn't heard the end of their conversation.

"We must move ahead with the burial." Dis said walking towards the fireplace. "I am here so there is no reason to postpone it any longer." She said staring at the flames. "Dain will feel unsettled until it is over."

"I have yet to meet him." Tauriel said quietly. Apparently avoiding the topic.

"I am sorry to say he Balin has told me he is not one of your allies."

"I know the hatred of elves runs deep within dwarven blood. I do no resent him for it. I am still surprised of your acceptance."

Dis turned and smiled at her.

"My two boys were the most important thing to me in the world. You were Kili's choice and that is more than enough for me."

"I have never been to a burial." Tauriel said pulling her knees up close to her chest again.

"I have been to many." Dis said with half a laugh. "We shall get through it together. You shall just need to get strong enough to hold me up."

"It seems so strange to me. Being trapped beneath the ground. Forever more."

"It is not like that at all." Dis shook her head and walked back over to the elf's side. "We are simply putting their bodies to rest in the mountain, leaving a place to honour them. They are no longer with those bodies. They will have gone on to the afterlife, surrounded by their forefathers. Their spirits have left this earth. All a burial is, is a celebration of their lives. No matter how short." The dwarf's eyes were brimming with tears, and Tauriel's were filling just as quickly. Kili watched on as he saw an understanding settle over Tauriel. The concept of burial now a lot less daunting.

"Do you believe they pass over directly?" she asked leaning towards the dwarf princess, her voice was low and heavy.

"I like to think so, very few stories of spirits are told, I believe you would need an tremendously strong reason not to." Dis studied the elf closely "Why Tauriel have you…"

"No no…" she cut her off quickly. "…I simply wondered. I have had many dreams of such and I wish it could be true."

"I know the dreams can hurt, but believe me when they stop you will miss them." They sat in silence holding hands.

/ / / / / / / / /

Sleep was something Kili greatly missed, the sheer thought of just resting was something he now longed for. Though he would never be tired again, as he looked at his mother's peaceful (if tear stained) face he envied her. Even Tauriel was resting more calmly, the colour returning to her face bit by bit. He took the quiet moment to slip out of the room and into the one next door.

"Fili?" he called out looking around the long deserted chamber.

"Is everything ok?" Fili appeared around a corner clearly worried.

"At ease…" he said light-heartedly, a tone missing recently. "…they're both sleeping. Finally." He said patting his brothers shoulder. "I just needed a walk."

"It's about time you took a break. You'll worry yourself sick." The look Kili threw him was the most severe he'd ever experienced from his brother. "Sorry, sorry I know you have great reason…" Kili shook his head and sat down on a nearby bench. "Our mother has accepted her though. Surely she is safe now?" Fili continued slowly. "Ma will take her in and be her family now. They have each other. We could pass on." He tested the waters. He'd sat in this old room for hours just thinking about where they would go from here. What they could possibly do besides drifting around. He had come up with very little.

"Pass on…" Kili echoed.

"Join Thorin." He continued, moving to step directly in front of his younger brother.

"No. I can't." he shook his head rapidly. "I'm still missing something." He stared at the ground as if it had offended him. Fili went on his knees trying to catch his eye.

"Kili, we are dead. We cannot do any good here. I know you have lost an incredible life, and if I was you I would hang on to it anyway possible too. But you need to see that sometimes you have to let go." Kili finally looked up at him. His eyes dark with stress and worry.

"She can still see me Fili." He said brusquely.

"What?"

"When Ma came in the other day, she could see me."

"She said nothing."

"I know, but she did. She hasn't looked at me since that day, but I am not going anywhere until I know she isn't fading and will survive. I think both of us perishing is not the answer." Fili's eyes then moved to the floor. Kili kneeled down in front of his best friend. "You have been the greatest companion one could ever hope for. You gave me to much in life and now in death. If you wish to join Thorin and Da and the others I want you to know you would go with my sincerest blessing." Fili smiled. "This is my predicament I would completely understand." Fili held up a hand to silence him.

"The day you were born I told you I would stand by your side as your brother and friend until the end of time. Not the end of our lives, not until Erebor, until the end of time. I shall never leave without you." Kili was beaming from ear to ear at Fili's words. They let their foreheads rest againt each others for a silent moment, both thankful for the other. Fili knew he had to be strong for his brother, but he also knew without his brother he would not have any strength.

The peaceful moment was broken when Kili's head shot up and he looked around.

"Something is wrong." He said standing up Fili following close behind.

Without thinking Kili walked straight through the chamber wall into the one beyond. Their mother was still snoring softly, but the large bed was obviously empty.

"Where could she…" Fili started.

"Stay with Ma, I'll be back soon." Kili left quickly.

He was barely around the corner when he saw her. She stood tall but walked slowly. Carrying herself with all the strength she possessed, she looked almost every inch the elf he had fallen in love with. He followed silently a few feet behind knowing exactly where she was going.

The journey was long, but he would attest that she did not once stumble. When she reached their waiting chamber he watched as she pushed the door aside, a pained hiss escaping her. She stopped before walking in. He saw her take a deep breath then walk into the chamber, head still held high.

Nothing had changed in the room. The three of them still lay still waiting for their final destination. She took back up her space beside him, a hand slowly going out to take his.

It had been nearly two months since the battle now yet they still looked like they had on that day, the cold of the mountain he guessed. She stroked his face gently, he sighed wishing he could feel that.

"You stayed silent longer than I thought you could." She said, startling him greatly.

"I… you can still see me. You knew I was following you." He said as she turned to face him. Her face still with calm, her hair flowing freely around her like a cloak.

"I feel your presence like no other in my long life."

"Your life has not been long. Not for an elf." He said

"Longer than yours." He had no reply.

"You can still see me."

"Yes. You have been in my room for days now. Why are you torturing me so?" her mask finally fell and her face changed into one of extreme pain. He felt like his stomach lurched at her words.

"Torturing you?"

"I can see you but I know it to be false, you are dead. But my mind won't give me any rest. You are still here." A tear slid down her cheek, though she had thought she could cry no more.

"It is not your mind Tauriel. I am here. Well in spirit anyway." He stood across his own body from her.

"I know you are lying. You are simply my decaying mind playing a cruel trick on me. Giving me strange dreams and haunting my waking moments."

"That was no dream Tauriel, I told you it was in an effort to make you stop fading. Obviously it did not work."

Her free hand raised incredibly slowly, the other still clutching his hand. He watched as she made to touch his face, her fingers visibly trembling. When her fingertips reached his skin her whole body relaxed. He could feel nothing still (which he cursed inwardly), but seeing a wave of relief pass over her eased his own soul.

"You are here…" she whispered.

"My essence is yes. I refused to pass on."

"For me?"

"Of course." He nodded, placing his own hand over hers, looking up into her tear filled eyes.

"Oh my love…" she whispered. "…what have you done?"

That hit him like a slap in the face

"What do you mean?" he said, his voice cracking.

"No, no I'm sorry I do not mean that. I mean how have you done this, how have you achieved this when no one else can." She looked between his two bodies. "How can you lie here before me cold as stone, yet stand too in front of me speaking?"

"I don't know, all I know is when I was faced with the door to the afterlife all I could see was your face."

A smile spread across her face now, tears still spilling out freely.

"It was like a strange energy was pulling me back, like I was tied to you by something."

She looked over him, then pulled her hand away.

"I think I may know what that was." She muttered so quietly he barely heard her. She took her other hand out of his body's hand.

He watched on puzzled as she moved her hands onto her stomach, which even he could see behind her hair and loose nightgown, had become slightly rounded.