A/N: Hello there!

I really am so sorry and by no means don't want to hide behind excuses, but since I've posted the last chapter these things have happened: I have started my internship at a very important place and got myself swamped in nights full programming, squeezed a week-long trip in between, and involved in a car accident. No worries, I am completely fine, but it's the 3rd time I've had a car-crash and it pisses me off. (let me add that I wasn't driving in none of them, also I was hit by one in the 2nd accident)

This chapter was a real challenge and it still haven't sit with me. I don't feel %100 right about posting this, but also feel like I've done my best. There are chapters that write itself, this, by no means wasn't one of them. You'll see the factors that challenged me once you read further. Hope you like it!

: karine snake I can't thank you enough for how motivative you were for me to write this chapter. Thank you for taking time to read this story, and share your opinion with me in such beautiful way. Haru: I know, right? pumpkinpuzzler: I can't believe someone had read this non-stop to catch up! It was one of my goals when I first started writing this, for I know exactly what it's like to read a fiction all day/night. Thank you! Lady Silverfrost: Hahah I am impatient and scared in the same time to write more of him. Hope I'll do justice to the character. whiteredebony: Thank you for sticking with this story for all these time! Can't wait to hear what you think on this. Borys68: I think you'll see so much of your last comment in this chapter. :)

All you need to remember about last chapter is that Fai was about to jump into the Enchanted River.

Dig right in!


Chapter 23.

"Are you mental? What do you think you're doing?!"

Her feet froze halfway up and the bewildered voice slapped the reverie away. As if she was just waking up, Fai blinked her eyes a couple of times. She had a hard time connecting the last three minutes as she tried to remembered what was in her mind. She could tell that she was about to jump into the river but had no idea why. All she knew was, just a little while ago, she was a piece of metal and the river was a strong magnet.

"I- I don't know-" she stuttered, and turned around to face the owner of the voice. She knew who he was from the first syllable, and his angry face only proved her right.

"You're lying." Kili said in a breath and tried to see through the darkness, his eyes madly searching for hers. "As usual."

Even though his remark had annoyed Fai, she remained silent. Afterall, he wasn't that wrong. She could only see the flames burning in his eyes and nothing more. What was this all about? Fai asked herself the reason why he still cared. She knew by know how stubborn Kili was and after their recent fall out, she wasn't expecting another dialogue any time soon.

But Kili was standing there all the same, most probably angry at himself for the same reasons. If there were enough light, Fai would be able to see the hesitation surrounding him. He was fighting himself not to take another step forward. The Dwarf wanted to just leave, yet his feet were almost super-glued to the ground. He directed the fury to Fai instead of his very self, and felt the rage melting the hesitation away.

"I'm aware that I know so little about you, but still, I know enough to tell when you're captured by your relentless mind."

At that moment, Fai was the definition of the word incapable. Kili had never been this blunt with her before. He had gotten resented when she refused to tell things, and he had tried his best to be by her side at her breakdowns, but not a single comment had been made about either. There he stood anyway, facing Fai about her secrecy and her twisted mind. She was worried about where it might go, and she definitely wasn't in the best shape to rise against.

Kili took a step forward, it wasn't enough to cover the distance in between but he had a slightly better view of her pale face now. He'd never felt this determined before, even though the curiosity had been consuming him for a while, he always remained inactive. Well, he had indeed ignored her multiple times and even had sworn black and blue not to look at her ever again, but to his defense; Kili was thinking that those things could be considered inactive.

In that moment he could feel the difference within. His blood was boiling inside his veins and something was deadly wrong. This time, he really had to know.

"Won't you say something?"

Fai was still petrified. He was this whole another person in front of her, having nothing to do with the vulnerable, naive one she was accustomed to. Dwarrows were not a delightful kind to enjoy when infuriated, but she was always competent of handling Kili's anger. After all, Fai had the same amount of madness within at all times.

But this time she was betrayed by her own consciousness. There wasn't a break between the Mirkwood-Effect and the Kili-Effect, making twice as hard to pull herself together. Fai still didn't have an answer to what just happened, and why it only happened to her. Minutes before, she was willing to let herself go down the Enchanted River and honestly, being possessed by a forest was something to stop and think about. She could still feel how the force choked back her self-control. She could remember the screams in her head.

But a voice was meddling with her thoughts and that belonged to one very annoying Dwarf.

"Won't you even gonna snap?"

She could feel something at last. If a snap was what Kili wanted, he could definitely have one.

"I said I don't know, Kili, will you just let me be or do we really have to have a row for it?"

He didn't answer. Fai heard his sigh coming afar, and she didn't hear a thing for a while besides the owls and the blabbering Dwarrows as they fought over the last drops of milk. They were out of sight as everything else was, with the nightfall came everything was buried under a pitch black blanket again. When Kili spoke somewhere much closer than before, Fai bounced out of fear.

"Well here we go." he whispered, and his warm breath brushed up against Fai's face. She had no idea when he had gotten that close, it was frustrating- he was frustrating. She didn't know whether that was intentional or if he simply didn't see where he was going, but she knew one thing; it was heavenly to have all the darkness covering up how shaken she was by the sudden lack of distance.

It wasn't that Fai was overwhelmed by his presence in that nowhere-near-being-romantic scene. She was shaken, because last time they'd fought, she had convinced herself that she won't be near him ever again. She was so believed that she could easily throw her feelings away, and there he was, smashing her presumptions down without even touching.

It felt amazing before when they'd held hands and even more wonderful when Kili had taken her into his arms, but Fai was all for putting an end to it. Their former fight had seemed like the best way out of that confusingly intimate friendship of theirs and she didn't want her masterplan taken away from her. Having a fit with him was easy, it was vital even, what she didn't need was those annoying crazed-heart and melted-legs things.

Kili only noticed how close they stood when he heard Fai's voice.

"How come what's going on here is any of your business?"

Well, he didn't know. He had never thought about why he felt the way he did, he was only interested in blaming Fai for the constant anxiety she caused. There were times when he was annoyed by his mind wandering around the image of her, but for reasons unknown, he was so successful at disregarding. He had made an explanation to himself and to Fili from day one, and he was intending to stick with that.

He never had something to protect before, and he'd grown fond of the idea.

Besides, it always came naturally to worry about her, and it came just as naturally to be happy when they are on good terms. He had never questioned it, he had never doubted a reason lying beneath the knightly will of keeping her safe. There was a voice deep down -a voice he himself hadn't heard yet- that telling him it would all go mental if he were to scratch the surface.

So he kept the doors of his mind locked, and held onto his unreasonable instincts: she had to pay for the solicitude she caused.

"It is my business since your behavior effects my- my brother."

Oh, that was unexpected.

"Your brother?"

"Yeah, yes Fai- my brother. He's worried sick about you. He'd sworn to protect you. What do you think will happen to him if he ceases to do so? I can't afford to have him hurt."

Was she disappointed?

It was nonsense, for she knew from the beginning that something more wasn't possible. She'd never thought Kili fancied him, and she'd been doing her best to kill her own feelings. But hearing it from his own lips was somewhat hurtful. A part of her always liked his affection and there were times where she allowed herself to think that it was personal. Yet, it wasn't and she should've guessed it much sooner. It all made sense now, of course it had to be his brother, why the hell would he care about a stranger anyway?

It was so weird to talk and not being able to see a fraction of each other. Only thing she could feel was the warmth of his body, and his voice coming from inches away. But it required great strength to remain so close and out of instinct, she took a step back.

It did take seconds for Kili to close the gap.

"You have to tell what's going on." he pressured, thrilled by his own pertinacity and the very presence of Fai only centimeters away. "I've had enough."

She wanted to punch the living days out of him for standing that close. In a desperate attempt to get away, she withdrew again.

"Now, Fai." he whispered huskily and impatiently took another step.

Fai could die the moment she realized what was going on.

"Kili-" she stuttered, only to be interrupted by him.

"NO." he said, grabbling her shoulders in the dark. "No evasive answers this time!"

"But-"

His grip got tighter around her arms. "I. Said. No."

"Ki-"

"Do I really have to repeat?"

"KILI!"

"Bloody ashes Fai, what?"

"We are in the river."


* - Hang in there, it's gonna happen.*

* + What? Okay, now how do you know that?*

* - Because she's your lobster.*

* x Oh, she's goin' somewhere.*

* - Come on, you guys. It's a known fact that lobsters fall in love and mate for life. You know what? You can actually see old lobster couples walkin' around their tank, you know, holding claws like...*

There were familiar voices in Fai's head, voices that belonged to people she hadn't heard in a long while. As the dialogue moved on, she figured what it was; Friends. Fai's all time favorite TV show. Even though she was surprised at having a TV show related dream in the middle of Mirkwood, it was still nice and no harm could be done by trying to make it last as long as it's possible. She had missed the show terribly.

So she kept her eyes shut, and enjoyed the soothing sounds.

Her mind was swamped in a purple haze but there was one thing she was sure about, it was by far the most comfortable place she had slept in a long long time. Suspiciously unlike to it's usually bumpy nature, the ground beneath her was soft like a pillow. Also the cold finally seemed to have some mercy on them, for there wasn't a wind to bite the places on her skin where the cloak failed to cover.

Despite her closed eyelids she was feeling awake more than ever, but the voices were still there. Didn't wakefulness require the lack of dreaming state? If so, then why was Friends still playing in her head?

To eliminate the endless stream of questions in her head, Fai opened up her eyes.

She couldn't be more surprised even if hell were to freeze over. Her wide opened eyes got blinded by the light coming from a television, and not a single word could do justice to her bewilderedness.

"What the actual fuck?!" Fai hissed, and got off the couch so fast that she got dizzy. She was looking like she was surrounded by a Warg scout, instead of being in the middle of her own living room.

The place seemed stranger than ever, on the other hand just like the way she had left it Mahal knows how long ago. The empty tray of her bungled lunch was sitting on the coffee table and the floor was occupied by her clothes everywhere.

"How is this even possible?" she then groaned, still having hard time adjusting her eyes to the sight of modern furniture and technologic devices. Her phone must be in her bedroom along with her laptop, where she had spent her last minutes before somehow waking up on Middle-Earth.

A fist out of stone got stuck in her throat by the tought of all being nothing but a dream. Indeed the idea had haunted her brain at numerous times through the journey, but she had gotten more and more convinced as the time passed. Now all indicated the contrary as damn Friends kept playing on the television. Without a doubt it was the first time she ever got pissed upon seeing that normally beloved TV show.

The confusion of the inexplicable gave Fai nausea as she perched back on the poor couch and closed her eyes once again, as if it could result in her finding herself back on Middle-Earth.

Considering the moments she was certain she was going to die, the times she wished she stayed with Elrond, it was ridiculous how badly she wanted to go back now. No one knew better than her how a cradle of chaos and danger Middle-Earth was, but only a few minutes on Earth, and she already wasn't feeling like she could bear living an uneventful life. Even the thought of it was enough to make the room lack oxygen.

The more she kept her eyes closed, the more she got annoyed by the tingling sensation of hope, so she put an end to that. Not a proper curse came to mind when Fai found herself studying the same walls and same clothes scattered all around.

Fai leaned forward and unconsciously started rubbing her wrist as her mind worked at full speed to comprehend what just happened. Her fingers met the familiar feeling of the scars from the Goblintown.

Instantly abandoning all other thoughts, she brought her hand up to her thigh, where the Dunlendings had stabbed her. The bump of the scarcely healed wound was there. As Fai came to her senses even more, she realized that she'd been covered by the clothes the Dwarrows had given.

That meant one thing; she hadn't dreamt of the journey, it was real and it happened. Fai felt the corners of her lips curling upwards.

But there was no room for joy. Dream or not, there was one thing that really mattered, her being on Earth. Still had no explanation to how she was suddenly back. Her brain held no memory of her final moments on Middle-Earth.

Her head was almost radiating from over-thinking when she finally decided to pay a visit to her kitchen.


He was peacefully sleeping till one of the Dwarrows decided to throw a considerably big piece of cheese at his face.

"What in Durin's beard is wrong with you?" the Dwarf squeaked with a heavy tone of sleep in his voice, and despite of his anger, he took a huge bite from the cheese block. There was an implacable hunger all of a sudden that could make a bear jealous, and the cheese tasted so damn good that the Dwarf was almost willing to forget his brother for the hit.

"Oi! You've been sleeping since the moment we got here. If you won't move your ass, Bombur will gladly exterminate the pantry by himself. And oh, may I add that Balin and Dwalin are engaged in a drinking contest?"

Then he winked and eagerly headed back to the dining room where all the noise and laughter was coming from, leaving his brother on the couch all sleepy. With his weary brain still trying to process the flood of words, Kili shook his head to the sides. He couldn't even remember the point where his body betrayed him, leading him to sleep while others hold a feast out there. He must've been exhausted before for it was very unlikely of him to prefer sleep over food.

In the middle of an attempt to get up from the couch, Kili truly woke up and the reality when through his body like waves of high voltage electricity.

He hadn't waken up in the middle of a forest.

He had woke up in Bag End, in the very home of Bilbo Baggins.

He started pacing up and down as all the neurons inside of skull engaged in making sense to the situation. The Company had been on the road for so long that the comfort of Bilbo's place had turned into a sweet lullaby. However, Kili was living and breathing in that place once again. Did he slip into a coma and missed the rest of the journey? Did they reclaim Erebor and now back to celebrate?

Nonsense.

Kili's eyes searched for something or someone to help, but even the simplest task was too hard to complete when his stomach grumbled like the Goblinking. He was incurably hungry. So he let his feet and drag him to the dining table, where the Dwarrows merrily ate and drank. They cheered upon seeing the younger heir of Durin, and Kili evasively bowed his head before inviting Fili outside with his ridiculous mimics. His mind was in a hurry to talk it out, but the stomach was in control of his actions so he watched his hands grabbing another piece of cheese before going back to the living room with Fili.

"Fili," he whispered discreetly, all the while looking around to see if someone else was near enough to hear. Looking deranged, he leaned towards his big brother and whispered once again. "Why are we back here?"

Fili looked at Kili like he had twelve heads. He then arched a brow and pressed his palm against his brother's forehead to check his temper.

"What do you mean why are we back here? I was enjoying some delicious cookies when you called me back here."

Kili found himself disabled by a mouthful of cheese and failed to talk. He wasn't aware he started eating already. Something weird was happening to his body, that he could tell, because he'd never felt this famished before, not even at the parts they had nothing but crumbles to eat. Also, the cheese was tasting suspiciously good, much better than he could recall. It resembled of the Elven food Lord Elrond once served.

Again, weird.

"I mean here, Fili, the Bag End." Kili timidly inquired, not wanting to sound like a complete nutjob to his brother. "When did we come back?"

"Kili, we didn't come back, we are coming here for. The. First. Time."

Fili looked even more concerned when Kili's face got weirder over his explanation. Suddenly, Fili's face was only inches apart from his brother's. With his two fingers placed under and on top of Kili's eye, he pulled his eyelids apart widely. He was studying his pupils.

"Brother, I'm starting to doubt our decision to eat those mushrooms we found by the alley. You're acting beyond weird. I'm bringing Oin."

We are coming here for the first time.

Kili felt like he was becoming deaf. His brothers words were playing over and over again in his ears but it was impossible to hear through the ringing. It was like someone just punched him in both ears. His neurons failed grant him with the sweet blessing of rationale. He was blinking way more than necessary.

"No wait, wait!" Kili heard his own desperate cry. He never was the greatest liar and the necessity of acting as if everything was normal was torment. "I- I dreamt of it. When I was asleep. We were weeks away from here trying to fulfill our quest."

Even though a great part of him still held concern, Fili let out a relieved sigh. "What did you see?"

Kili had just parted his lips to make up another lie when his tummy roared.

"I can't talk on an empty stomach you know." he bailed, "I'll tell you after dinner."

Dinner. Even the word itself tasted delicious in his mouth. After Fili nodded, the pair decided to join the Dwarrows.

Regardless of the fact that he wanted to eat every single thing on the table, there was one more problem. No matter how madly he looked around, Kili's eyes were failing to land on a certain someone with long gold hair, and silver eyes.

Fai was missing.

His eyes frantically scanned the table once again to see a sign of her. For some reason, a wave of anger was washing his blood upon thinking about her, and he failed to figure out why. It was like they had a huge fight forever ago and he still couldn't manage to forgive her.

Well, like there's someone to forgive anymore.

Kili got so confused that after a while he started to believe in the lie he told to Fili. It was impossible not to wonder whether it was all a dream. Was Fai a part of that dream? Was it possible to see a dream that real? Her face was crystal clear behind his eyes, but his brain had failed to store any moment with her. He knew that she once existed. Somehow he knew that they'd spent so much time together. He knew that they'd fight, and he definitely felt like there were some good times too. Even Bilbo's house seemed to hold some moments with her, but like every other memory, they were also waned. Kili's guts were telling him those things have happened, but there was no way knowing what really happened between the two of them. He thought whether he could see her ever again, but why was it bothering him so bad that that might never happen? It felt like someone was holding his heart in between pincers and squeezing everytime he tried to think of her.

It was nonsense. Kili couldn't even remember the story completely and it was fading away more and more each second, but the absence of her was enough to hurt all the same.

He wasn't a bit less troubled than the second before, but Kili's hunger had finally gotten the best of him. He felt like he hadn't eaten anything in ages. His stomach was grumbling in all kinds of animalistic ways and he could not resist any longer. Deciding he could be upset about her while eating just as easily, Kili found himself a place to sit among the Dwarrows and started devouring plate after plate.

Oh, he ate so much that night Bilbo lost his sanity as well as the last supplies in his pantry.


The hunger was unaccountable. At some point, Fai even forgot about Middle-Earth for a while due to all the goodies in her fridge.

Screw Mirkwood, she thought, I've got apple pie here.

But as long as she started to eat, she felt so bad thinking about how much Bombur would have loved it. The Company must be in the woods alone, hungry and thirsty while Fai had a small feast to herself.

Well, despite the guilt there was no way she could keep herself from eating. After days and days of starvation, her body was made for draining everything edible in her kitchen. Fai didn't remember when she prepared all the food and there was no way explaining how nothing got spoiled, but she was thankful for it all.

Delicious food in a vide variety didn't make sense as hers was only the fridge of a college girl, but it was saving her life. Shoving a pie and some cookies in her mouth at the same time, she remembered of Elvenfood and how amazing it tasted. There was no need to use the past tense though, the food she had at that moment tasted ridiculously just as good.

Not being hungry anymore would be perfect for she didn't know how longer her supplies can hold on, but every drawer and cupboard seemed to be full of goodies. They were like drugs, keeping her from thinking about the elephant in the room.

In her room, actually. How could she just eat like nothing ever happened? How could she stand there in her Dwarven clothes without flipping out?

Oh, but she was flipping out, at least slowly starting to.

The inability to remember what happened before she found herself in her living room was beyond annoying. At a split seconds she felt like it was something to do with Kili, but what was the connection? Could it be-

"No way."

She was petrified. With a pancake on one hand, and a bottle of maple syrup on the other, she was just standing there without moving an inch. Her jaw was dropped, and her brows were so knitted so tight together that the line in between them was violently deep.

"That stubborn, irrational MANCHILD OF A DWARF!"

The pancake took a brave leap and fell from her unresponsive hand. It landed on the floor with a dramatic *flop* that would make Fai laugh in normal circumstances. But instead of laughing, her face was experiencing different shades of red and purple as the records of what really happened was registering to her brain.

"That blithering fool, that little infuriating piece of-"

Mirkwood, Fai remembered. The Enchanted River. He had just done the right thing by coming to her rescue right in time, and prevented her from throwing herself at the baleful water. It was going so well-

"UNTIL HE FUCKING STARTED TO INTERROGATE."

Fai was the exact opposite of immobile. She was viciously pacing up and down in her kitchen, in the meantime stuffing what felt like everything in her mouth. It was such a waste that no one was there to laugh at how nonsensical she looked.

Just because he couldn't keep his curiosity tamed, just because he couldn't wait until the morning, just because he couldn't stand more than five inches away from her, she was back on her own planet. It was the first time she felt this enraged over someone or something. She wanted to break things. She wanted to scream at the top of her lungs. She wanted to hit Kili.

Kili.

Fai realized that she no longer can do anything to him, or with him. Her anger was still burning bright enough to prevent the sadness, but Fai could feel it would soon kick in, and it will kick in hard. The thoughts were flies swarming in her head and when she tried to them off, they came back even more determined.

After a while, they took her over and she recalled the times they laughed together. They were indeed rare compared to the moments they bickered, but it was still enough to pull a string inside her. Her frantic pacing had brought her back to the living room without her taking notice. When she came back to her senses, she was sunk in the couch.

If Fai were keeping a diary, she would have a really hard time trying to describe exactly how she was feeling right then. She felt asleep and awake at the same time, and what once was real had become a surreal universe again. She knew that those things happened. She knew she had fought Wargs, she knew she'd seen Beorn, she knew before coming back here, she was in depths of Mirkwood. She knew those things, but sitting on a couch that was facing a television was taking things on a whole another level.

Was she going to go back to college? How on Earth was she going to read Tolkien's literature anymore, knowing that she will step foot on those land ever again?

It was all Kili's fault.

But no matter how hard Fai tried to keep her anger stirred up, it was impossible to forget about how good he smelt. She couldn't get his infamous intense look out of her head, and how over protective he was for their both sakes, even at the times she wasn't in need. Then she remembered how far she had gone in order to save him.

The fact that she had thrown herself on a Warg to save Kili seemed unreal now, especially when the vapid comfort of the living room was surrounding her. Those feet which were stepping on the furry rugs were once stepped on anything but rocks for weeks. The warmth coming from the air conditioner was nothing but a sweet dream. She was feeling lucky when making it to the end of the day alive.

She feared for dear life, once.

None of it meant anything when there were commercials on TV. She couldn't believe how her life on Middle-Earth was, it all seemed like a tale when her stomach was too busy trying to welcome Dr Pepper. Her life as she sat on the couch while looking at the old wounds on her wrists, felt dull.

Being indoors felt stupid. Fai had already missed the fresh air (well considering the days in Mirkwood, she'd been missing it for a long time now), and how there wasn't any cars there. How there was no religious restrictions and no designated gender roles. Their world was so much better then the one Fai was in, and she couldn't help but wonder how hard the depression was going to hit her now that she was back. She didn't want to spent her days alone, away from the ones she cared about deeply.

She didn't want to live without a family again.

Then, she realized.

She realized that she no longer had to watch them die. She also no longer had to live with the fear of making way to other dangers. For the first time that night she took a breath and felt relieved. The pressure she'd been carrying for weeks now lifted off of her shoulders. She didn't have to fear to death that she might change things for the worse, she was now where she belonged.

Not where she felt like she belong, but still, no one's were in danger no more than they were supposed to be.

But there in her home, sitting by the television with her favorite TV show's reruns, Fai missed them terribly. A kind of missing that sizzles the back of your nose. Singing with Bofur, watching -Ri brothers bickering and Bifur's toy making, eating contests with Bombur and taking wagers with Gloin, she even missed Oin's remarks on how she would be the end of his Ointment.

Then there was Fili calling Fai his sister and being there no matter what.. He had taken care of her when she was beaten. He had given her her first weapons. He had held her in his arms without pressuring her into telling what happened, and let her cry to his chest as much as she needed.

The only way to spare the sorrow of being away from them was to take the benefits of what modern life offers. After the eating session that lasted what felt like an eternity ended, still unbelievably hungry, Fai forced ripped herself off the chair. Like everything else, she couldn't recall the last time she had a nice, warm bath.

There was hardly a thing or two that bubbles can't fix, and Fai wished to be thrown off of Middle-Earth wasn't included in that list.


Hours passed and Dwarrows did nothing but to eat and sing. Of course they had some side-duties such as taking wagers, constantly mocking each other and driving Mr Boggins insane. Kili had figured out that it was the exact night they all met for the first time, but he had no idea why he was re-living it.

Freaking out about it got old fashioned after a while, so the poor Dwarf just sat there and ate as much as he could. The fact that he was going to live the whole journey once more with no guarantee of survival was pissing him off. He was going to walk the same miles, fight against the same beast and run from the same caves of bloody Goblins.

Kili was tired. More mentally than physically, in fact. The mysterious anger towards Fai was still there, and it was holding him back from admitting how he was missing the girl. There wasn't a whole idea about Fai to miss actually, it was like she was standing behind veil curtains and Kili could only perceive some parts. Every once in a while his mind was getting haunted by a funny moment they had shared, but they were vanishing as quickly as they came.

All the Dwarf was certain of that there was this girl he was terribly angry with somehow, and he was missing him just as terribly even though he felt like he shouldn't. If it weren't for food an alcohol, he'd be out of his mind by now. To make it worse, no one else seemed to felt her absence. Since Gandalf was rolling one glass of wine after another, it had kind of became official that she wasn't going to come.

Kili felt trapped under his ribs and there was no way he could talk to anyone.

Surprisingly, how they had met was crystal clear in Kili's mind. He could almost see Fai's silver eyes and tired smile, and could remember how she bounced on one leg due to an injury. Funny enough, there was a voice in his head telling him that was definitely not the last time she injured herself. A flickering smile brushed upon his lips. Thinking of the night they met, he could think of no reason to be frustrated with her. Nothing came to mind that could enlighten his anger. In his head everything was nice and easy back then. He had a sinking feeling about how it was never that easy with ever again.

This annoying version of that night felt like a complete Dejavú except for Fai's absence. The older Dwarrows said the exact things they had said before. Bilbo freaked out at the exact moment that they were going to break his plates. This time when the company had sang and threw tableware around, Kili did not participate.

"Are you better now after six plates of food?" Fili suddenly asked, and pulled him back from under the pile of thoughts. Kili tried to hide his surprise.

"Yeah, a lot better." he faked a smile and reached for his beer. "I'm just excited for tomorrow I suppose."

Huge lie. He couldn't be more dull about it. Though this whole repeating might be helpful he thought, taking a mental note on not losing the ponies this time. He really wasn't fond of the idea of fighting the trolls again. Actually, he could fix so many things. He could spare them the trouble of Thundergiants, and if his memory was sharp enough, they perhaps could pass the Goblintown in transit.

Those ideas seemed brilliant to him, but he wasn't lively about them. He was too busy on moping how Fai wasn't there to see those things.

"We will be fine, you know that right?"

Fili once again interrupted his thoughts. Kili deeply hated how concerned his brother was because of him, but was there really another choice?

"Of course I know," he shot a reassuring smile and stole the piece of cake that was in Fili's hands. "We have each other's back."

At least to the moment I remember last, he mocked himself and tried to avoid Fili's attempts to take that slice of cake back.


E/N: Woops!

I tried to show how different Fai and Kili actually are. While Fai feels responsible and freaks out of her own knowledge, Kili dives right in and plans to change things. Also, it was funny writing Kili in Fai's shoes.

If you've been reading this story, liking/disliking it but remaining silent, please leave a comment and tell me what you think. I'd like to meet all of you. There are people interacting with me from the Chapter 1, and I always think how they are going to think about certain sentences/events. It would be more fun for both parties, and I would be more motivated/faithful with my writing.

Hope you liked it, till we meet again, take care!