So for anyone who didn't see the new update I made for the previous chapter, I wanted to explain that I am repurposing an old fic I wrote a long time ago called "Kings and Masters." It was an old Fili and Kili fic that I had meant to write a sequel for and this crossover has a good premise for such a sequel. I know it may not be the sequel many might have been expecting, but it's here nonetheless.

It is necessary to read the Kings and Masters fic to understand the background of the dwarves and the two OCs I have. I tried to summarize it in this chapter but you might still be a little lost. I should warn that it is dark, full of triggers and such, but this one will be that way too.

Speaking of that, trigger warning for mention of attempted suicide, for murder and gore.

"We have to chop more wood," Kili told his brother as the two of them collected the pieces of wood they had already cut down from the high tree and put them into the old rusty wheelbarrow they had brought with them to the forest.

Fili wiped the sweat from his brow as he caught his breath. He was more than happy to chop wood and to walk across the forest floor. He had come a long way, both in miles and figuratively.

"We can use some of it to fix the flooring in the cabin," the blonde dwarf heard his brother say. He winced in response as he thought about this place. It unnerved him, everything about it. But most of all, it frustrated him that he wasn't on Middle Earth.

"We shouldn't be so quick to repair that pile of decay," he mumbled as he grabbed his axe and moved towards a thin oak tree. "In case you forgot, we had business with the goblins of the Misty Mountains and if we don't get back, we'll never get to repay them for what they did."

Kili moved up to face him, his own axe in hand, as he fixed his older brother with a pointed look. "Would we really have been able to do much?" he asked. Fili clenched his jaw, narrowing his eyes at his younger brother. He knew why Kili wasn't in too much of a hurry to return to Erebor. He could sympathize with his brother, knowing that he had been spared heartbreak, at least for now.

"We have responsibilities," Fili told him. "Uncle will worry about us. You might be content to stay here with your hobbit and all these pointy eared elves, and live in this fantasy, but I'm not."

Kili rolled his eyes and started chopping at the tree. Fili watched him for a few moments and recalled everything that had happened to them. After the battle of the five armies, Fili had suffered a terrible injury and narrowly escaped death. When he had awakened days later in bed, he discovered that his back injury had paralyzed him, temporarily, though at the time there had been concerns that it wasn't so temporary.

While Fili had eventually regained the use of his legs, the trauma of it all still haunted him. Remembering the emotional turmoil he had felt when he thought he would be paralyzed forever, how it had almost driven him to want to take his own life.

And with the help of Asphodel and Brenna, two servant girls that they had taken away from the greedy and vile master of Laketown, he and Kili had both made a remarkable recovery. And when it was discovered that the hobbit girl was actually the long-lost niece of Bilbo Baggins, it was decided that she would return to the shire with him, along with the gnome female who had become her sister.

But things got complicated when Kili had fallen in love with Asphodel. And when word came that a caravan of dwarves that included Fili and Kili's mother had been ambushed in the Misty Mountains on their way to join the newly reclaimed kingdom, Fili had been gripped with fury and a need for revenge.

It was decided then that Fili and Kili would escort Bilbo and his kin to the shire. Kili had eagerly come up with the plan so that he could spend more time with Asphodel, though Fili had feared that he was only delaying more heartbreak. But a bonus of the journey had been that they would cross over the Misty Mountains and Fili was more than eager to take revenge for his mother's death.

Fili's hopes had been tarnished when the elf king had insisted that his son Legolas join their quest. They had seen little of the elves since the battle ended, and rumor curled about the dangers in Dol Guldur that might have been keeping the elves occupied, but when Fili and Kili passed through Mirkwood, Thranduil refused to let them pass unless they agreed to the arrangement. Fili didn't care what the motives might be. He still harbored resentment for their earlier imprisonment and for the animosity Thranduil and Thorin still held for one another.

But seeing that they couldn't get through Mirkwood without working with the king, FIli had reluctantly agreed and Legolas set off with them. But halfway to the Misty Mountains, they fell into this portal and now they were here, in this place, with all these strange ebony skinned elves from another realm.

"It's not like we fell into this realm on purpose," Kili was saying and Fili realized he had been so absorbed in thought that he had heard little of what his brother had been saying as they chopped the last bit of the tree and moved back as it fell forward with a loud crash that sent birds and squirrels scurrying in all directions.

That was really what it came down to for Fili. He felt as if he was getting out of his responsibilities. He had been dreading the return to Erebor because it meant he had to be the heir. When Kili had insisted they escort the hobbits back, he had used the guise of revenge to agree to it, but in reality, he knew it would delay his own responsibilities.

Fili had been groomed to be Thorin's heir all his life. He had been brought up in the shadow of those responsibilities. He never thought too much of them because he never dreamed that they would be on a quest to reconquer Erebor from the dragon.

Now, after what seemed a lifetime ago, and after more heartbreak and sorrow the young dwarf had ever encountered before, Erebor was reclaimed and now, he would have to be the prince and heir he was afraid of becoming.

"You know what the rumors are about Dol Guldur," Fili said ominously as they began chopping up the tree and throwing pieces into the wheelbarrow. "I think the elves know about it. Gandalf hinted at it. I feel like Erebor needs us, now more than ever, and we can't be there."

Kili sighed, a look of concern crossed his face, and Fili knew he shared his concerns. Neither of them were eager for another battle after all they had suffered, but neither of them would shy away from their duties if it came to that.

"What can we do about it now?" Kili pondered. "I-" Kili was interrupted by the loud crash somewhere in the dense forest behind them. Both brothers were immediately on alert as they both whirled towards the sound. Fili quickly plucked his swords up from where they were propped up against the wheelbarrow and tossed Kili his bow and his sword.

A loud scream suddenly cut short, and a growl and murmur had both dwarves running in the sound's direction, running deeper into a forest they did not know how to navigate. The fear of getting lost wasn't lost on Fili, but someone was in trouble and he wasn't about to run away from a fight.

As soon as they burst into the clearing, the three orcs looked up from the fallen form of a female, their blades still glistening with bright red blood.

"Dwarf meat," the first orc murmured hungrily. "I likes dwarf meat."

Fili felt the adrenaline pump through his body as he and his brother leapt at the orcs eagerly. He whirled, swords in each hand as the first orc charged, his companions not far behind.

"Du bekar!" Fili shouted as his left blade clanked loudly against the orc's short sword. The sound of metal on metal echoed through the forest as he whirled hard, whipping forward with a right hand swing as he and Kili danced in perfect sync around the trio of orcs.

The blonde-haired prince was more than eager for a smaller scale fight. Something to distract him from thinking about Middle Earth and how frustrated he felt over his situation. They had all suspected that there could be dangers in the mountains surrounding this peaceful prairie; both Middle Earth and the world the drow elves had claimed to hail from- Faerun, they called it- seemed to have many of the same foes. Orcs, goblins, trolls, and many others.

Kili stabbed his sword forward, catching one orc across the knees and as it screeched and fell to address the wound, Fili jumped in with a mighty swing, taking the orc's head clean off its shoulders. The other two monsters seemed suddenly unsure of themselves as they watched the perfect coordination between the two brothers.

It seemed that these monsters were not used to their prey being able to fight back. They didn't expect to come up against such formidable warriors. But Fili wasn't about to let them live long enough to learn from their mistakes. For all he and his kin had been through. For the pain and suffering he had endured at the hands of orcs, for the death of his mother, for all the trauma he was still coping with, he fought with everything he had in him and struck down the remaining orcs before they could run.

When the last orc lay dead at his feet, Fili gasped for air, his chest heaving as a feeling of satisfaction coursed through his body.

"Fili," Fili took in a deep breath as he turned to his brother, who was kneeling over the body of the female. The sight brought the dwarf out of his triumph, and he hurried to inspect the scene closer. The female lay face down, her back slashed wide open, revealing the severed spine.

Carefully, the dwarves rolled her over and found a young human. Barely old enough to be considered a woman, the girl had been in a soft cotton dress. Her brown hair spilled across Fili's arms as he held her head up, gazing down into her face.

"She probably came from the village," Kili suggested, his voice hinting at the anger he was feeling. "She was barely a child!"

"Let's take her back to the village," Fili suggested as he glanced around at the forest. They hadn't gone too far into the dense forest, and he was fairly certain they could find their way back out again. "We can try to find her parents."

The dead woman brought Fili completely out of his feelings of satisfaction and victory. He felt sad. If they had found her only moments before, they might have been able to save her.

Maybe this world needed their help more than Middle Earth did right now.