An: Sorry for updating this late! I had some trouble with stuff and yeah. But here this is now.

He had been away for two days. Two days, and when he came back, he was asked to see his father. What on Middle-Earth could have happened during those two days? Because when a guard tells that 'we have been waiting for you to return, the king wants to see you', something has happened.

The prince had started to find it amusing how every time he was gone for more than few hours, something had happened. It was like they couldn't handle anything without his presence. Last time he had been away for a week and when he had returned, three of their guards had been bitten by the spiders, two of them dying before reaching the palace. Couple of months before that he had been away for a day and a half, and when he came back, one of the women had given birth to triplets.

Legolas paced around the main hall where the door to his father's room was located. He hated waiting and these last few days had been full of just sitting around and waiting, so he would have liked to just go in already, but naturally, he couldn't. There were some normal guards inside now and Gwaen had strictly told him not to go in before the guards came out.

After a time that felt like hours but was probably more like ten to fifteen minutes, the guards started to walk out of the room, and so Legolas quickly slipped in. He looked at Thranduil who, once again, sat on his throne, looking rather bored.

"You asked to see me?" Legolas more stated than asked, as he started to walk towards his father.

"Yes, I did", Thranduil replied and waited for Legolas to stand in front of him before continuing. He noticed that his son's outfit was muddy from places, but decided to ignore it for the moment. It wasn't very exquisite for a prince to walk around in dirty clothing, but there were topics more urgent than that, and they needed to be discussed first. "I believe you do not know of this yet, as you have been away, and I feel the responsibility to inform you of it. Dwarves, who turned out to be our prisoner's relatives, came here yesterday, looking for him."

Some part of Legolas was surprised, but the other, bigger part of him knew that this had been only a matter of time. "What happened? Is Kili still here?"

"He is here, yes", Thranduil said, nodding slowly. "There is no reason for me to let him go."

"There isn't exactly a reason for you to hold him here, either", Legolas said, staring at his father. He had done some thinking over the last few days, and he had started to believe that the dwarf being held there was injustice. Maybe some kind of a warning would have been enough. He also knew that he probably shouldn't have said that, but he had said it anyways.

Thranduil raised his head a little, eyeing Legolas with his icy, blue eyes. "You surely remember the blonde dwarf who attacked the guards in the forest some time ago. He is our prisoner's brother. He was one of the dwarves who visited my palace, but only he came in. I do not know who the others outside were, but I am not interested, either."

Legolas had already forgotten the whole thing with the other dwarf, but now everything came back to his mind. But how did this fact have anything to do with Kili still being with them and not with his family? And why wasn't he with his family? Naturally, wanting some answers, he asked about it.

"Keeping the dwarf here will not only serve as a punishment for him for walking on our lands and lying to me, but it will also be a punishment for the other dwarf as well. We tricked him into thinking his brother is dead, which was devastating for him. He committed a crime by attacking and harming my guards, and he needed to answer for it. And there is no better punishment than that", Thranduil calmly explained, eyeing his son for some kind of reaction.

And honestly, Legolas was quite speechless. He knew the dwarves both needed to be punished, but was this maybe too.. much? Because, after all the dwarves hadn't killed anyone, nor had they done something as bad. Another one had wandered their lands and another had attacked a few guards while looking for his brother. Attacking hadn't been a wise thing to do, but none of the elves had been badly hurt. Some wounds here and there, some bruising.

Pushing his doubts away -he wasn't the king after all, and whatever he did would not change his father's mind- Legolas nodded. "Where is the dwarf now?"

"Which one do you mean?" the king asked, narrowing his eyes. He had seen a flash of hesitation in Legolas, which he did not like. Was his son, his own son, allying with the dwarves? Becoming a friend of the dwarf? He could not allow it - any other race was fine, but he couldn't let his son be a friend with a someone so greedy and selfish as a dwarf. It couldn't end well, and he didn't wish his son to experience anything like that.

"Both", Legolas sighed, rolling his eyes as he shifted on his feet. "I will check on Kili later today, if you only allow it."

"I do not know of the blonde dwarf, Fili, but he isn't on our lands anymore. The whereabouts of Kili you have to ask from Gwaen", Thranduil told. "You may check on him, but do not befriend with the dwarf, Legolas", his father added with a warning tone, as if befriending a dwarf was the most horrific thing Legolas could ever do.

Legolas scoffed. "Now why would I do that, father? But don't worry, it is not my intention."

Thranduil nodded. "Very well."

With all the new information Legolas left the king's room, now confused and unsure. His mind was full of on the other hands and he didn't like it.

xx

Many emotions flashed inside of him as soon as Aíthon finished the first sentence. I saw some dwarves outside the palace yesterday, three dressed in regular dwarvish clothing, and maybe ten guards-

First came confusion. How could there be dwarves? Who? Why was Aíthon telling him this, there couldn't possibly be dwarves outside the palace... why?

The confusion lasted no more than a couple of seconds, if even that much. He had been there for ten nights - well, eleven now - which was more than enough for Fili to return to the Iron Hills and come back with Thorin and Daín. The dwarves must have been them.. right?

"Three in regular clothing", Kili muttered, ducking his head. Fili, his uncle, Daín. It could have been nobody else. But he was still here, sitting on a bed in healer's room, and not with them, even though they had been there. That only meant one thing. Thranduil or some others had sent them away, or worse.

No.

Then came the anger, and Kili found it hard to control himself. His heart sped up in his chest as his head snapped up. "They were my family! They were here! For Mahal's sake, Aíthon, what did the elves do to them?"

"As far as I know, nothing was done to them", Aíthon quickly said, furrowing his brows. "Calm down. I haven't heard that anybody here has killed fifteen dwarves."

"So they must've been sent away", Kili breathed out, eyeing Aíthon with wide eyes. "Thranduil must have lied to them!"

"That is a possibility", the elf replied calmly. "So you knew nothing of them?"

"No!" Kili almost yelled, shaking his head. "Or well, I know who they were but I didn't know they were here! This must explain my shirt, as well", he continued yelling, leaning forward on his bed, feeling like he could hit someone really hard. How could they do that? Take his shirt like that, stain it with his blood and-

had they shown it to his family?

It was the only rational explanation. What else would Gwaen do with a shirt from a dwarf, stained with blood and full of holes? Nothing. Nothing expect show it to Fili, Daín and Thorin and make them believe Kili was dead.

And just like that, the reality hit him, and with that came grief. Fili had come to his rescue, but the elves had lied to him and now he was gone and wouldn't come back. Fili thought his little brother was dead - hell, Thorin thought his sister's son was dead, and Dís would soon believe her son was dead - and there was no thought more horrible than that. And suddenly there was no power left in Kili's body; no more will to fight. What he had promised to himself in the cell just a couple of nights before didn't matter anymore - he had promised not to give up, but he had no one. Fili wouldn't find him and he couldn't do this all by himself.

"Come on", Aíthon said after watching the dwarf suffer for a moment. He had been unsure of what to say but he knew he needed to say something. He had told Kili about the dwarves, and he needed to make it better. "I thought you were a fighter."

"I was, but there is no point now, is there? I'm not able to do this on my own, and the only help I ever had and will ever have thinks I'm dead, is gone and won't come back. Even if I was a fighter, what is there left for me to do?"

The elf sighed deeply, hanging his head as he tried to come up with a reply. He knew what he wanted to say but couldn't put it into words. Why had he mentioned the dwarves? "You cannot know that for sure", Aíthon said as he couldn't think of anything better. "Nobody has said to you that 'yes, your brother thinks you're dead and he won't come back'. And even if he wasn't coming back, I mean.. I don't know you. But still, you don't come off as a dwarf who just gives up. And so what if your brother isn't coming back? That doesn't mean you will be here until the day you die. Who knows, king Thranduil himself might release you some beautiful day."

"Thanks, but you can't possibly assume me to believe that", Kili told the elf with an unhappy grin, but the other hand, Aíthon's words made sense. He couldn't depend on Fili every time he got in trouble, there would be times when he would need to survive on his own, without the assistance of his brother. This was one of these times, Kili realized. Now it was only up to Kili if he would get his freedom back or not.

Aíthon saw the slight change for better in Kili's eyes, and grinned widely. "See? Things aren't that bad after all."

As Kili was just replying, the door to the healer's room swung open and the blonde-haired prince of Mirkwood stepped in. Aíthon quickly stood up and bowed a little, Legolas motioning him to sit back down as he walked up to where the two others were. "No need now, Aíthon. I'm not here as your prince - I'm simply curious about the dwarves outside, and I was hoping you could enlighten me about them", he told, now looking at Kili.

"Why would I tell you anything?" Kili spat, sitting up more straight, receiving a glare from both of the elves. Kili just didn't trust Legolas, not in the slightest. He was certain that everything he did were bad intentions hidden behind a seemingly selfless words. No, he wouldn't make a fool of himself by trusting Legolas and his pretty elvish face. He was the prince, same cold blood with king Thranduil.

Aíthon groaned silently, glancing at Legolas as his mouth drew into a thin line. "You seem to forget that I am not here to hurt you. I'm here to do the exact opposite, to be fully honest with you", the prince of Mirkwood told Kili with a serious expression. "Why are you so unable to trust me?"

This caused Kili to chuckle. "Me, trusting you? You are the son of the great king Thranduil, who is the reason I am here and treated like I am nothing more than a piece of filth? There is no reason I should trust you", he continued laughing. "Menu shirumund, men khalamdul azbadu", he added in a sarcastic tone.

The glare he received now was even more intense than it had previously been, most likely because neither of the elves could understand what he had just said but knew that it was an insult. It amused Kili, how he could insult them without them understanding what he had just said. You are beardless, my elven lady was a great affront for Legolas, if you asked Kili. Because let's be honest for a second - he kinda looked like an elf-maiden.

But then again, all of the elves looked like women.

"Then, I believe, there is no reason for me to be kind towards you, dwarf", Legolas replied in the coldest way he could pull off without sounding ridiculous. "Be thankful that we will not give you any further punishments without a reason. My father seems to think that your brother believing you are dead is punishment enough for you both.."

The words hit Kili like a knife, but he couldn't let the emotions take over. If he wanted to get back home, he needed to be ready for anything, he needed to be strong. Crying over Fili wouldn't help - if he ever wanted to see Fili again and tell him that he was okay and certainly not dead, he would have to escape. That would only work if he actually did something instead of weeping over his situation - or Fili's feeling, for that matter.

"Only if my father wasn't against it, I would figure out a good punishment to deal with your arrogance", Legolas continued, eyeing Kili from where he stood near the bed. It was an empty threat, and king Thranduil had never told them not to punish Kili, but Legolas was annoyed by the dwarf's behavior and well, whatever worked. But the dwarf could only shrug.

"As you said, luckily you don't have the permission to do so. If you have nothing else to say, please leave", Kili told the prince, smiling a little. "I'm still tired because of the loss of blood your head of the guard resulted. You really should mention to him how in order to draw blood, you don't have to mutilate the person's arms. Single, clean cut would probably cause the same. Just to, you know, cause less suffering and save some bandages."

Legolas nodded and then turned to Aíthon, asking him something in Sindarin. Kili cringed, rolling his eyes. He hated it when the elves used elvish, because he could never know what they were plotting. But trusting Aíthon enough not to let Legolas harm him - too badly anyways - he relaxed against the wall. Whatever they discussed probably wasn't that interesting anyways.

From the corner of his eye Kili could see how Aíthon glanced at him, quickly focusing on the prince again. The guard nodded, turning to Kili again. "Let me check your wounds, Kili."

"Eh", Kili muttered, eyeing the bandages. Some blood had come up from the wounds, staining the bandages a little. "Why?"

"I will have to leave for a moment to talk about where we will keep you the time your wounds heal and while you are too weak to work, and I want to make sure the wounds are okay, so you won't catch any bad infections or any of the kind", Aíthon calmly explained, staring at Kili like he should behave himself or Aíthon wouldn't be responsible of the outcome.

Kili could only nod, not wanting to be mean to Aíthon, but not really agreeing with the idea anyways. The wounds really ached, and he didn't want anyone poking at them. How many wounds there were, he didn't know, but he remembered Gwaen slashing quite a few times, so there had to be many.

Carefully Aíthon undid the bandages, softly not to hurt the dwarf, but in just a moment the bandages were both gone. A brutal sight opened before Kili - his arms were red and sore and full of all kinds of wounds, crisscrossing his wrists and arms like some wild animal had attacked him. There wasn't that much blood, but the skin had dyed red from many places for some reason.

The young dwarf could see Legolas eyeing the wounds in curiosity. Something flashed in the prince's eyes - maybe it was pity, Kili wasn't sure, but that 'something' felt positive. Still, Kili had decided not to trust him and that was a promise he would keep. One single look didn't change the fact that Legolas only did things to benefit himself and his father, most probably.

"They look a lot better than they did when I found you", Aíthon said, breaking the silence. "I saw Ídhon do this many times last night, so I know how to clean and put the bandage on again."

Kili bit his lip not to hiss of pain as Aíthon poured some liquid over the wounds. It stung a lot, like a burning sensation, but it was bearable. He watched as Aíthon pulled out a smaller piece of fabric and gently wiped some of the liquid away, careful over the wounds. Kili glanced up at Legolas, who eyed the process without blinking an eye.

"This might hurt, because I need to pull the bandage tight enough so it will cut the rest of the bleeding", Aíthon told Kili, not looking at him as he spoke. Kili nodded, letting his head fall against the wall. Whatever it takes to make it heal faster, he told himself and took a deep breath.

Soon Aíthon was done with both of his arms and stood up. "There. I will be gone for a few hours, which you should spend on sleeping and resting. I will not lock the door as you are not held as a prisoner in this room, but I don't suggest that you move anywhere. You're still too weak."

"I know, I can feel it myself", Kili grinned, completely ignoring the stare coming from Legolas' direction. "Have fun with whatever you are going to do."

As the elves left, Kili sighed deeply. He couldn't stop thinking about Fili and how he must have reacted. He had no idea how he had reacted, if Kili was being totally honest, because neither of them had encountered death before. But he wasn't even sure if he wanted to know Fili's reaction, or anyone's, for that matter. The broken faces, broken hearts, tears.. he would have time to think about those when he was home with them. For now, he needed to focus on other things.

So when Kili lied down, he tried to keep his mind off Fili, his mother and Thorin... failing. But in no time he found out that happy memories actually made him feel a little better, a little less lonely. And with those memories he fell asleep quickly, the happy memories soon turning into a nightmare.

No!

He woke up covered in sweat, his heart beating rabidly in his chest. He wasn't sure how long he had slept, but Aíthon wasn't there, so it couldn't have been too long. Fili's desperate cries still echoed in his ears as he sat up, panting as if he had just ran miles straight. He wanted home. He wanted to meet his family and tell them he was okay, hug them for eternity and just sleep it all off, eat well and just go back to how everything had been just a couple of weeks earlier.

"I won't be here for long", Kili muttered, as if saying it out loud was more real than just thinking about it. "I will leave soon, and I will return home, and nobody can stop me from doing that. Not Gwaen, not Legolas, not king Thranduil. I will go home soon."

see, no cliffhangers this time? reviews are love anyways :3