I'm Here

There was something evil in the wind as Fili began to work his way up onto Ravenhill. It moaned and creaked now, so different from the voice that had broken the battle moments before. He had to tell himself otherwise. He had to ignore the fact that he had heard Kili screaming, pretend he hadn't heard that voice a thousand times, and knew it like his own.

He was flanked by Gloin and Nori, both of whom seemed to be just as nervous as he was and both of whom twitched every time the cold air slipped around the lopsided towers. "Where did they go?" the brother of Ri snarled, looking every which way for an orc, a goblin, something worthy of killing. The heir had to admit that there was something terrible about the sudden disappearance of the enemies once they had crossed the icy passage. It reeked of a trap, but Fili felt the desire to walk into it. A small voice in his head was telling him to press on, no matter the dangers he felt in his stomach. The small voice knew something that the prince didn't.

"Azog is hiding them somewhere, the snake," Fili growled. The rest of the Company had been left over the pass, guarding the way they had come. Balin had protested the them entering in such a small group, but the heir had pointed out that such low number meant less noise and more stealth.

"He couldn't have vanished so quickly," Gloin grumbled, looking around. "There's something else going on here. One does not simply walk in like this. We should turn back."

"At least we can burn the flags," Fili wondered to himself. "We haven't seen anything suspicious yet. If things start going wrong, we still have a clear route back to the others. And besides, they're on lookout." Nori mumbled something unintelligible as the snow crushed under their boots. To be honest, the heir wasn't at all sure of his decisions, of the calls he was making. While he had been taught what choices he was supposed to make, he was lost in a flurry of confusion and self doubt. They had made the strategy seem so simple, disregarding how he would feel about his comrades, who he would want to save, personal attachment. He missed the days of maps and markers, when he was given a straightforward situation and he could think clearly, get an answer, and told whether he was right or wrong.

They turned downed a more narrow passage, and beyond, the prince could see the world beyond Ravenhill, snow and mountains. Far away as it was, he felt what he supposed had to be hope. "We're getting close," he announced. Gloin seemed to stiffen.

"This isn't right," the elder tried. He eyed the framework of the tunnel with sharp eyes that could only developed by a banker. "Why is the rock chaffed like this?" Fili continued forwards, observing what seemed to be compromised stone and large rakes and scratch marks. The banker raised the back of his axe and gently tapped the wall. The entire hall seemed to shudder. "Fili, come back!" Gloin shouted. They realized the same late moment that everything was compromised.

Piece by piece, the stone came from the walls, dividing the younger and older dwarves, crashing to the ground. The heir sprinted, trying to avoid being crushed, and looked back to see their petrified faces through the rubble. His heart felt like one of the falling stones. He'd made more than a mistake. He'd completed an action that his uncle had warned him about since childhood. "Don't allow yourself to be separated entirely from those you command. You're the target. They're left without a leader." Fili skidded onto the ledge, his palms rubbed raw from rock as the dust began to settle.

"Nori?" he shouted into the pile of rubble that now stood before him. "Gloin?" No one answered. They're fine, he tried to tell himself. Nothing is wrong. "Get back to the others. Try to find another way in," he instructed to what felt like nobody. When only his echo responded, the blonde dwarf turned to face the land beyond his own.

Below a swirling mass of silver and gold armor met rough troops in what looked like a whirlpool of battle. But if he looked above, beyond it all, the prince could almost pretend that the death was not occurring. Snowflakes drifted in the wind in large tufts, making the edges of the mountains looks blurred and pale as if painted. The heir took a deep breath, his grip tightening on both weapons, before he finally turned away and made his way up across a small gap between the ledge and a different platform.

The wind bit like steel as he surveyed his surroundings. The air whipped around his ears and around his clothes, rustling chainmail. Then he heard the first footfall.

He looked aside to see a hulking orc, more scar and skin tromping down a nearby staircase. The initial rush of cold blood faded quickly into rage when he saw its grin and blind eye. Bolg. The orc didn't have to be the first to strike. The heir flew at him in a flurry of attacks, rotating like a windmill, trying to catch it before it completely mastered its bizarre weapon. The creature hit back, hard and forceful, each blow with the heavy weapon feeling as if it were going to break Fili's bones. Twice the spear end of the weapon almost came in contact with his stomach, and twice the heir was forced to jump back in defense that felt like retreat.

The monster laughed, a sound like crunching gravel. "You have taken everything from me," the brother shouted as a battle cry, using a rock and leverage to jump into his next slash. The orc was so much larger, but his lack of pace was a disadvantage, as Fili easily swept underneath its almost clumsy movements. "Now I will take everything from you." It was then that he lost his first sword, skidding across the cold rock, blown out of his grasp by a well placed parry by the orc. The fine crafted weapon clattered over the ledge.

Fili continued his fight with one, but his balance was off, one arm flailing in response to his lack of equilibrium. His second weapon soon slipped beyond his reach, through an arch tin the opposite direction. The creature was pushing him back, towards the fate his sword had suffered, clawed hands closing around his neck as it hung him over the edge.

"Your life would not be enough to take," it rasped in a mutated common tongue. The prince quaked, tilting one leg upwards as his fingers barely brushed the laces. He was so close. He had to get it. The orc's white eye seemed to be pulsating. The heir felt the cool metal against his hand as he grabbed hold of it. The monster seemed to think he'd won.

"It will mean more than your's will," Fili choked, finally grasping his last hope and flinging the tiny bladed axe into the monsters skull, pushing back towards ground. He fell on top of the convulsing creature, shock building up some sort of confidence as he ran for his sword. It was not the minuscule weapon in its skull that ended Bolg, but a blow of a wide handled sword making direct mark with its hideous face.

The heir stumbled backwards. Where there was one orc, there were often more, and Fili knew better than to wait by a corpse. Heavy feet carried him as fast as he could through the archway and into the entrance to what seemed to be some sort of destroyed courtyard, a tower built above, planted ominously in the background. The softly falling snow had formed a blanket across the ground's cobblestone floor, but a trail of blood told that the first snow was not on untarnished. His eyes quickly moved from the cold to a small dark body crumpled in the center.

"Don't touch him!" a voice cried, a hand suddenly gripping his arm. The prince didn't remember seeing anyone in the first place, and whirled around in shock. The hobbit looked wild, eyes large, the entire front of his body and hands covered in something dried and maroon. It took the heir a moment to realize that the burglar was soaked in dried blood. "Fili, please, Tauriel was right. He's still capable of making a wraith."

"What happened to you?" the leader breathed. "Where's Tauriel?" The question seemed to baffle the hobbit for a moment, as Bilbo grabbed tufts of his hair and stared at the dwarf as if he had spouted fire.

"She's dead," the thief suddenly seemed to realize, his eyes on the ground. He looked up at the golden haired dwarf, eyes brimming with tears, voice more hysterical by the very second. "Fili, she's dead. I was distracted and the orcs came out of nowhere. I…" The halfling began to sway. The dwarf felt like something very heavy was pressing against the top of his head. "I don't know how we got here, but the orcs want him here. When he dies, he'll kill you all."

"Breathe," Fili instructed, trying to think of something more comforting to say. Nothing came to mind.

"I would say kill it, but we can't," Bilbo muttered madly. "If Kili dies, it wakes up and Kili is going to die." The heir shook his head, helping the burglar sit down. We should have never left him there, the young leader thought to himself. We're responsible if he falls into this madness.

"He won't die," the dwarf insisted, as Bilbo began to get his breathing into rhythm. "If you'll just let me-"

"I let Tauriel die for nothing," the hobbit whispered. "I won't let you die that same way. It's a lost cause. We've lost, Fili."

"What do your storybooks tell you about that?" the prince asked in a soft voice, trying not to focus on the battle cries and clashing metal outside. The thief looked confused by his question.

"What do you mean?"

"You were always talking about your books back home," Fili explained. "How did all of your stories end?" Bilbo shook his head so his curls moved like swirling clouds.

"This is not a story," he pointed out.

"Aye," the heir agreed, looking back at the arch, knowing his brother was at the other side. "This is not one of your stories, but there will be ones written about this, about us. It would be rubbish if we didn't at least try to make it a tale worth telling." The halfling looked straight ahead, and for a moment the dwarf was sure that he would continue to fight him, to argue for their own protection. But Bilbo resigned.

"I know you're a hero, Fili," he replied, "but you can't save everyone. Please-"

"What are you doing?" a harsh voice demanded from behind them. The prince spun around, sword in hand and in position to guard both the hobbit and his brother. Yet he found himself facing someone he didn't know to be friend or enemy. Thorin looked like he had been through the worst: armor scratched and beaten, hair and eyes wild as that of an animal, face cut and blood running. While the glow in his face reminded the heir of home, he hesitated.

"I-" he tried, but his own tongue silenced him before he could finish.

"They're trapping you!" Thorin fumed. "More orcs, coming from Gundabad are going to pour over this hill like water over a rock, and you're sitting here doing nothing about it. " Fili tightened his grip on his sword.

"My brother is here. Our companion is here. I couldn't leave them," the leader defended. "Once, you would not have abandoned them either." Thorin seemed taken aback.

"I saw the mountain burning." The king's gaze traveled behind his nephew to look at Bilbo. "I thought you were dead." The hobbit's face was streaked with blood and tears, and Thorin's presence seemed to have put him over the edge. He collapsed into sobs.

"They burned her," he cried. "I tried to stop it but I was sick. I had to…to try and fix Kili." The burglar threw up his encrusted hands as if for a reminder. "It won't work. You can't go there. We have to get out of here."

"You need to," Fili decided, looking for any sort of signal from his uncle. Thorin was a blank slate. "Uncle, take Bilbo, and get the rest of the dwarves somewhere we can truly surprise the orcs. I'll take Kili and find a way out." A flash of ice drew across the king's eyes.

"You can't be here alone," he insisted. The heir shook his head.

"I belong with my brother. You belong with your people," Fili corrected. Thorin grasped his shoulder with one hand, the other one lingering on Bilbo.

"We belong together as a family." The king smiled, a melancholy gesture that seemed to make his eyes brim with tears and faded expression shine through. "I'm coming back for you and your brother. We can fix this." Fili pulled his uncle close, into a tight hug, something they hadn't truly done in a long time.
"I love you, uncle," he whispered. He could feel hot tears on his shoulders.

"I love you too," Thorin replied. "Be careful."

"You don't have to worry about me. I'll watch out for monsters," he teased, but the moment it came out of his lips it seemed sad.

"I'll be in the next room if you find any," the uncle murmured in an equally forlorn tone. Memories of the bedroom specters they fought when Fili was a child came flooding back. The prince shook them off, taking a deep breath.

"I'll be fine," he decided. Thorin seemed to agree, reluctantly pulling back, and helping the hobbit to his feet. The pair began to turn away when the king turned back.

"If Kili wakes before I return-"

"He knows you love him Thorin," Fili nodded. "I don't need to tell him." They turned their backs and each faced a new space of battleground, the heir staring down at the small landing, and the curled dark figure that lay in its center. At first he worried that the dwarf was so still, so deathly immobile, but as he edged closer he could see a hyperventilated type of breathing, the younger's body twitching as he tried to get air. Alarmed and terrified to the point of madness, Fili couldn't approach any longer. He ran from the cover of the falling towers and out into the open, when his brother was. The heir knelt down, seeing the face like death, and barely brushed his fingers against the other dwarf's skin.

Kili gasped like a fish out of water, his eyes completely unfocused and dim. He gave out a cry of pain, and stared at his brother, before exhaling an un-held breath, his eyelids fluttering. "You have to stay here," Fili begged, his hands cupping his brothers face. The younger dwarf's face contorted in pain and his pupils rolled back into his head. His fingers dug into Fili's skin, making his bones feel like they were apt to break. "I won't let you give up, brother," the heir cried. "You said you would come back to me. Not after all this time, after having lost you and finding you, I am I going to let you do this." His brother opened his mouth as if to speak, still choking on something that didn't exist. "Men lananubukhs menu," Fili pleaded. Something between his ribs felt like it was crumbling, helplessly watching his world slip away in front of him. Kili would have no last words that Fili would know of, too many left unsaid, marks undone where he had walked. "I love you, brother," the elder sobbed as he felt the younger's grip begin to release. "You are a part of everything I am, and I am part of you. I can't have half of me missing again. I'm here. Please, Kili, I'm here." The dark haired dwarf drew a gasping breath, brown eyes rolling back into focus, staring up into Fili's face and then past it. There was fear in those eyes, and the elder felt his heart lurch. But for a brief moment, they saw each other, smiles through tears holding one another.

"Fili!" Thorin roared, appearing back at the top of the tower, an orc holding him by the hair; Bilbo dangled off the edge by a squat creature, held only by his steadily tearing coat seam. "Run, Fili!" The heir froze, clutching his sibling to his chest as he looked up into the figure of Azog, the curved blade of an arm, raised to swing.. The gold-haired prince tightened his grip on his lost brother and tried to fall back as the weapon whistled through the air and ended in a satisfied grin from the Defiler. Fili didn't realize it made a mark until he felt warmth pouring down from the slit across his throat and he could taste it in his mouth.

The brothers fell together, looking into the other's faces, eyes terrified, smiles content.

Panic coursed through their veins, but they watched each other like they were falling asleep. 'I'm here,' Fili mouthed as he felt himself slipping away. 'I'm here. I'm here. I'm here' he tried to convince himself. He was choking. He was drowning. Kili closed his eyes and let his head rest on the ground. Kili,stay with me. I'm here.

In another moment, Fili wasn't.

I honestly have nothing to say right now other than please don't kill me, or freak out, or make any assumptions leading into next chapter. Until next time…