Sometime after my remembrance I fell asleep, a restless, dreamless sleep, but still, sleeping. I awoke to an annoying poking to the side of my face. It was a finger, not an orc's. It was too small for that and not as slimy, though the callouses on the tips suggested the person was an archer. I groaned at the untimely situation I had gotten myself into again, but that also alerted whoever it was that I was awake. Great.

Opening my eyes, I looked around for the person. I couldn't see their face because of their hood, but a hand over my mouth suggested that they weren't here to kill me. I hope. Dawn was approaching, the faint light aiding my rescuer. A clanging of the shackles falling off my hands and feet caused both my rescuer and I to freeze. Thankfully it hadn't alerted the orcs that something was out of the ordinary. I tried to stand up, but because of being chained to a tree all day, the blood flow in my legs was nonexistent.

Expecting to fall on my face, I was surprised when someone caught me before I hit the ground. The person must have been anticipating my fall. Unfortunately, the sound of a clattering sword nearby caused us both to flinch.

"Dang it, Futark." The voice above cursed at the noise. I recognized that voice.

"Kili?" I questioned to the figure.

A hand squeezing mine told me all I need to know, but of course we didn't get far before the orcs determined the location of the noise. A fight broke out in the dim light, torches and fires brought to life so the orcs could see better. Steal clashing against other blades, arrows whizzing through the air, screams permeating every crevice; my ears shuddered at the onslaught of noise.

A short sword was thrust into my hand by the prince of Erebor as he turned to cover our escape. Every impulse was screaming for me to run, but my feet stayed planted by Kili's side. Our blades worked together to keep the orcs away as we retreated to the forest edge. Screeches of the orcs and screams from Kili's warriors mixed together. A solider fell at my feet, an arrow buried in his sternum, blood already gushing from the wound. He would not live to see the day.

I prayed that no more would fall, but as the fighting stopped, I realized nothing moved inside the camp. Kili and I stood in speechless sorrow as we looked over the carnage, orcs lying dead where they had fallen, not one dwarf standing on the field. I glanced at the prince, seeing his unshed tears for his countrymen. I bowed my head in silence, praying their sacrifice would not be in vain.

I was broken out of my revere when Kili pulled me away from the battle. I followed his slow pace through the trees till we reached a beaten path, at least a league away from the dead. It was then that the prince of Erebor allowed his sorrow to surface. He fell to his knees, sobbing. I stood behind him, letting him grieve in silence. It wasn't easy being a lone survivor.

The sun had fully risen by the time Kili stood on shaky legs, sheathing his sword, as he turned towards me. I busied myself putting my own weapon away, sliding into a loop on my belt, I might need it later. But when I looked back at him, I stilled my hands; his eyes were red from crying, tear tracks running through the blood and dirt on his face. I took the opportunity to scan his body for injuries, none appearing now. A shuddering breath accompanying his broken voice drew my gaze back to his face.

"We have to keep moving. There's another encampment south of that one. They will soon find their dead." He was trying so hard to be strong, do his duty of returning with his dreadful news.

"Kili."

I couldn't find any words of comfort for him. My own tears were unshed, buried far beneath the surface. Unconsciously I stepped forward, wrapping my arms around him, holding him close as I listened to the racing beat of his heart. I don't know why I did it, but it felt natural. But when he returned the embrace, my whole body stiffened, then relaxed as I sensed no danger. Soon he let go, and I the same. Nodding to him, I moved along the path, heading toward the west. A hand stopped me.

"Aragon." His soft voice made me turn back around.

"Yes."

"Where are you going?" he questioned.

"West," I answered. Why else would I go left?

"Please come back with me, to Erebor. I know everyone will want to see you." This surprised me.

I knew that his finding of me at the orc encampment was nothing other than chance. Though I was thankful for the assistance, I didn't expect his pleas. My face must have shown my surprise because Kili continued,

"You left a year ago with no warning. No one knew what happened to you. It was like you disappeared from thin air. None of the gate sentries even noticed you leave. We sent search parties out looking for you, thinking you got kidnapped or something, but there wasn't a trace of you. The closest we got was an innkeeper in Dale saying someone stayed at his tavern that matched your description, but he said it was a young lad that had left early that morning.

"We traveled almost three miles outside of Dale but you are freaking hard to track. You leave absolutely no trail. Months passed before we heard any word about you. Some of our merchants said there was a young lad that far surpasses any trail guide leading caravans around. Dwalin, Fili, and I prepared to leave. Hoping that it was you, we headed to Rhûn, the next place you were thought to travel to. When we reached a town on the outskirts of the country, we looked everywhere for a sign of you, asking almost everyone if they had seen you.

"The closest we came to locate you was through your last employer. He said you told him that you were going to look for more work in the market. But you were gone by the time Fili and I arrived. Then an hour later Dwalin said he had spotted you, but you got away. I left them in my haste to make it to the gate. There were so many people, I could barely make out anyone, but then I saw you. I had tripped over someone and they were cursing me to tomorrow and back when you happened to glance over your shoulder and looked right at me.

"I was so excited because we had finally found you. But then that died because you left again. I tried chasing you but lost you when you went back in the city. Dwalin told us it was time to go home, you obviously didn't want to be found. He had two very angry dwarves to ride home with after he practically dragged us out of the city.

"Fili returned to his duties upon reaching Erebor while I ransacked every merchant's report, looking for clues as to where you would go next. I couldn't figure anything out, so I took up leading the scouting parties, thinking maybe I could forget you, but nothing worked. I didn't even know you were in the orc encampment until last night. I wasn't leaving to report back to Thorin without you, not with how bad you looked.

"And I am still not returning to Thorin without you. You'd have to drag me kicking and screaming away."

As Kili finished his narrative, I studied his face. He wasn't mad at me. The dwarves had been worried for my well-being. I was so foolish as to think all that time ago that I didn't matter to them. It was obvious that they did. Slowly, I nodded. Then again, this time with more resolve. Kili's face lit up with a huge grin as he gave me a bear hug, thanking me repeatedly.

Finally, we started along the path towards Erebor. The sun decided to be random and shower us with rays of heat, sweat soaking through our over jackets. I soon shed mine, tying the sleeves around my waist so I could still access the short sword if need be, and it was a good thing too, because it wasn't even an hour later we were attacked by a small band of orcs, no more than a scouting party. We didn't hear them until they were already upon us.

We were outnumbered even with the small number of orcs there were. I barely was able to dodge three fatal strikes, but a fourth one managed to graze my forehead, leaving a trail of blood in its wake. I winced at the stinging, though it wasn't bad, more uncomfortable. It also left an angry orc who slashed his sword at me again, only to be thwarted by Kili's blade. I nodded my thanks, knowing he couldn't see me, but I didn't want to distract him with a verbal thanks.

Another dead, and two more forcing their way towards us out of the trees. Kili cried out in pain and I risked a glance at him; he had decapitated the offending orc, but his injury remained. My split-second distraction was all my opponent needed to have. The beast rammed into me, shoving me roughly into a tree. A sharp pain in my back made me momentarily lose focus on the world. Head spinning from the impact, I blinked fast, trying to bring the world back into focus.

And just in time too, for the orc was back with an onslaught of blows. Pushing all pain from my mind, I blocked the blows, some coming too close to my face before I was able to deflect them. Seeing a small opening, I took it and ran my short blade into the orcs chest, through the weak point in his armor. He went down and the noise in the clearing ceased. Kili had dropped his own opponent at the same time I did.

Ensuring the filth were dead, I allowed myself to breathe properly. I scanned the prince for injuries, though only his leg seemed to be hurt. I stepped over the corpses on the ground towards him. His face was tense, his shuddering breaths told me enough about how bad it was. I grabbed my jacket and made quick work of tearing into strips.

"What are you doing?" His words puzzled me, wasn't it obvious?

"You're hurt; we don't have other bandages."

"What if it gets cold? You don't have another."

"Kili, I am literally a containment for fire, I think I'll be fine." I gave him a wry smirk as I began to wrap his leg.

"Well, I guess there is that fact."

I don't think he meant for me to hear him mumbling under his breath, but I chuckled at his words. There were very few who knew about my lovely "gifts" and he happened to be one of the few, thanks to a freak incident in Dol Goldur. I honestly didn't know whether he had seen what had happened in the cell. He had been pretty gone at the time due to other injuries.

Double-checking the bandages, I helped him to stand from his semi-kneeling position against a tree, keeping a hand on his shoulder when he faltered.

"You think you can walk?"

He hesitated before responding. "Yeah, I'm good. Are you?"

With my simple nod he continued, "We need to get away from this place."

I nodded again but didn't let go of him. Slinging his left arm over my shoulder I helped him walk, letting him set the pace. I couldn't ignore his wincing and the pained breaths, but he needed actual healers attention and I couldn't give it to him out here. I could only hope we could get home before something else went wrong.