He blinked at the ceiling and frowned. The light was still white but somehow warmer, more homely, a great relief from the sudden terrifying darkness he had just escaped. Slowly, and with more blinks, details came into view. He was in a tent, a very delicatly decorated tent, with white sheet wall and golden pole holding the canvas roof. He was on his back in an incredibly comfortable bed, though he was lying in a pool of sticky sweat. He turned his head to one side, groaning. There was a blonde shape sitting next to him, tapping his hands angerly on his forearm.

"Finally. I thought he would never wake up." Thranduil scowled, getting to his feet. "Tauriel, see to him will you?" and he left.

Kili watched him go, not quite registering what was going. Tauriel detached herself from the wall where she was standing in respect of her king, to come over to Kili's bedside. He pushed himself up on to his elbows, trying to shake the fogginess of sleep from his mind, his tongue felt thick and sluggish in his mouth.

"Tughiual" he rasped. He coughed and tried again, "Tauriel, can I have some water?"

She hesitated, before reaching to a bed side table that was out of his sight. When he went to turn his head, his vision spun and his mind ached. Groaning, he closed his eyes.

"Are you alright? How do you feel?" he felt a cool glass being pressed to his lips.

After taking a sip from the strangely sweet water, he replied: "Like a wet paper bag. Soggy, broken and useless." he fell back on to his pillows, blowing a strand of damp hair out of his face. "What happened? All I remember is the orc attacking then nothing."

Setting the glass back down, Tauriel perched on the end of Kili's bed. "You were stabbed in the gut." she said bluntly, eyes as blank as her tone, "Luckily the orcs weren't using anything morgul."

Silence.

"You could have died!" she suddenly burst out, a hand hovering over her mouth, trying to keep all her emotion inside like she had been trained. "I could have helped you! But I didn't notice! Oh, you could have died!"

"But I didn't, did I?" Kili tried to smile, but his heart wasn't in it. He could still remember the dream, vision, what ever it was. He could still remember who pulled him back to this world, back to life.

"But-" she was cut off by a blonde Prince marching through the tent flaps.

Legolas cast an uninterested eye over the touching scene of Tauriel leaning over the dwarf. He ignored the latter and spoke to his fellow elf: "Get him ready, we've been waiting for long enough. My Father won't manage four days." he tosed a bag on to Kili's lap, it clunked painfully. Without sparing the dwarf a glance, he turned on his heel and left.

Kili rounded on Tauriel as soon as the elf's light foot steps disappeared, "Four days?!" he spluttered, "What does he mean, four days? How long have I been asleep?"

He glared at Tauriel who was starting to look sheepish, "Just over... Three days" she said in a small voice.

"Oh Mahal! What's happened? Whats going to happen now?" Kili pushed himself out of the bed, ignoring the dizziness the sudden movement sturred. What he did notice was a sharp sting in his side, he clutched it out of instinct. Through the thin fabric of his elvish tunic, he felt a ropy scar stretching from his hip bone behind his back to his shoulder blade. The tight muscle rippled under his fingers, he closed his eyes in misery.

Tauriel knelt down in front of him, taking his hands away from his scar. "There was only so much we could do, you were bleeding out on your bed. It took four healers to keep you alive, you stopped breathing. You scared me, Kili, I didn't know if you were going to survive."

Kili looked away, hiding his face. Scars were an honour to dwarves, it showed a dwarrow had been in battle, and survived, but Kili couldn't see it as anything but another mark of was watching him sadly, there was something else in her gaze that Kili wouldn't identify. She straightened up, turning him towards a curtained off area in the corner of the tent.

"You need to change, then we will be leaving." she says, turning her back. "There are clean clothes on the chair."

Kili looks and see an identical elven tunic to the ruined one he was wearing, "Where are we going?"

"Erebor."

"Uncle?" Fili knocked on the great door, not expecting an answer.

A low growl came from the room beyond, "Don't you dare address me like that."

Fili withdrew his hand, closing his eyes against the hurt that the demand. "My king, lunch is being served."

The was a pause, Fili waited, hoping that there was still some of the old Thorin in there. Let him answer, please, let him open the door.

He gave up, turned away before,

"Come in, Prince." the tone was icy and cold but Fili took heart in the words and the invitation. He pushed open the door, gaze trained on the floor, he didn't want to see the dwarf in front of him.

Thorin hadn't come out of his counting room for three days, since the elves had made camp on the sloops of the mountain. Fili had only been allowed in twice since then to bring food and mead in, both times he had been in a hurry to leave.

The room was full of gold, silver, jewels, piled high on invisible tables that littered the room, the ceiling glittered in the reflected glow of the one small candle in the thousands of coins. Thorin was sitting on the only chair, hunched over in his heavy kings robes. He watched his nephew through heavy dark eyes, following his movements with a keen glare. Fili knew that the look had none of the love he used to know in it. No, Thorin was just watching to make sure he didn't knock over any of his perfect coin piles.

"Yes?" he drew the syllable out, curling his lip.

Fili bowed, back stiff and face hard. "I came to tell you that food is being served." Thorin raised his eyebrows. "...Sire."

Thorin turned his head back to his gold, "Yet you didn't bring any of it down." he mussed, "Pity... Well, its for the better, Bombur's food doesn't agree with me. Though it doesn't agree with anyone." he laughed, horribly.

Fili clenched his jaw, Bombur had been provided them with the only edible food in the whole mountain. He nodded, backing out the room.

"Are the scum still outside the doors?" His tone had turned dark, dangerous.

Fili took that to mean the elves. "Yes. They haven't moved. Sire."

Thorin growled, kicking over a pile of rubies. The scattered all across the floor, hitting other stacks. "WHY DON'T THEY LEAVE?!"

Fili jumped back, eyes wide and suddenly, irrationally, terrified. Thorins mood wings had gotten worse in the hour since he had last seen him. "Uncle, calm down-"

Thorin was suddenly face to face with him, his braids almost hitting Fili's face. "DON'T-don't speak to me like that, prince. I am your KING!" he spat, making his nephew flinch back.

"Thorin, you're not yourself. Calm down. Its this gold, its posioning you! You're forgetting to eat, you don't sleep. You've given up on KILI!" Fili's calm demeanor broke, he yelled in to Thorins face.

"How dare you speak to me like that! Get out of this room! I don't want to see you again!" Thorin turned on his heel, cloak swirling.

"But Kili is dead!" Fili was in tears now, streaming down his face, he couldn't hold it in anymore. It was building up all his anger and he hadn't had a way to let it out. He put all the tension in to action and shoved his king hard in the small of the back. Unfortunately the royal robes and jewels he was wearing was just heavy enough to stop him falling.

Thorin turned slowly, anger giving way to fury.

His hand connected sharply with Fili's cheek, making his stumble back in to the door.

Thorin pulled back in surprise. Suddenly, it wasn't nephew in front of him but his brother. Frerin who he had sworn never to lay a hand on. He opened his mouth but his voice caught in his throat.

Fili looked at him in pure shock. Horror even.

Then there was a knock and the tension broke. Balin's head appeared in the gap in the door, "My king. The elves. They are asking for you."

Authors Note:

Hi there, I am soooooo sorry for not posting I have had a lot on my plate at the moment then my computer broke and I needed to fix it and aaaggggghhhh. Well anyway, here is a longer chapter to make up for it!