A/N: thanks for the kindness.
Chapter 8: A Sickness in Mirkwood
Fili felt the blackness creeping towards him, his eyes felt heavy and his vision was spotting. It was all he could do to keep his hands clasped over Legolas's shoulders and keep himself from falling off the elf's back. He fought with everything that he had left to stay conscious. He focused on his brother's limp form and forced himself to keep his eyes open.
"Stay with me, Fili." Legolas called to the dwarf on his back, as if he could feel his burden fading from him. "I need you to stay with me."
The deep cuts in Fili's arms from their encounter with the wolves had reopened, and blood was soaking through his clothing and dropping down his arm. He couldn't do this. He couldn't keep his eyes open. But he had to. If he was unconscious, who would look after Kili? He liked this elf, as much as a he could like the elf given the short conversation they had, but the elf didn't understand that he was holding the most precious thing in the whole world. Fili's baby brother.
Legolas, so calm and sure that he made the right decision to head to the outpost not minutes ago, was now panicking. Kili's body had turned cold as he clearly went into shock. Shivers were racking the small frame and his breathing was becoming labored.
The dwarfling would not last the night.
His golden haired brother was not faring much better. Legolas could feel the blood from Fili's arm. He could feel Fili losing his battle to stay conscious.
Legolas was now beginning to doubt himself. He should have brought them to the king. They would be in the healing house by now. They might be healed by now….
But then again, had he brought them to the King, they would be separated, placed in different cells, unable to talk or see each other. Something told Legolas that the brothers would rather be dead than separated as prisoners.
"FILI?" Legolas yelled, trying to anchor the semi-conscious dwarf hanging onto his back.
Legolas was losing them both. He was running as fast as his legs would carry him, but he was losing them. He had barely spoken to Fili and hadn't spoken to Kili at all, but the thought of losing these two lives broke Legolas's heart.
They were more than just trespassing dwarflings, as the King would see them. For the Greenwood that Legolas loved, his home, was turning dark. The encroaching spiders were only one sign, albeit the biggest. But it was more than that. The trees were not growing as strong and tall and they whispered to him of a darkness that was pulling them down and rotting their branches and leaves. The animals were becoming more nervous, drawing closer to the relative safety of Thrandruil's stronghold. Legolas could feel the Greenwood dying; he could feel it in his soul. And with the death of the woods, would be the death of Legolas and everything and everyone he held dear. He could feel his spirit waning.
The loss of these two young lives by Orcs so close to the safety of Legolas's home, in the once safety of his woods, was devastating to the wood elf.
He ran faster. They would not die on his watch, not so long as there was still good in Legolas's homeland. Not so long as the elves ruled the woods.
A howl to his left broke Legolas's musings. He glanced as he ran, refusing to break stride, seeing a large white wolf. A quick glance to the left and he knew another was there as well. They were sprinting alongside of him, yet Legolas knew they would not hurt him.
They were Lycan wolves. Patrollers of Mirkwood. They would not hurt him, but they might report to the eleven guards where Legolas was.
At least, that is what the elf prince thought, which is why it caught him off guard when a third wolf took a leap and tackled Legolas and the two very injured dwarves to the ground. Legolas was not one to be caught off guard very often, but a Lycan attack was virtually unheard of.
Fili let out a cry, and crawled towards his brother. Fili did not have the strength to lift Kili at all, so he simply lay by his side, keeping his arms prompt up, and whispering soothing words to the unconscious form. Fili's left hand was gripping the material of Kili's clock, and he looked towards Legolas with fear and desperation.
"We must pass through" Legolas spoke in soft Sindrean to the snarling wolves, hands up in the same peaceful gesture he had made towards Fili when they first met.
The four wolves circled closer, and Fili recognized them as the same creatures which had attacked the young princes earlier. He clutched his brother harder as small flame of hope that the elf prince had lit inside him was extinguished. Fili knew he would be of no help to the elf, who would have to fight off the four beats by him, if he chose to fight at all. Fili expected the elf to flee and leave the brothers helpless to be mauled.
However, Fili did not yet know what he and his brother had come to represent to the elf prince. They were innocence. They were light. And they were being snuffed out by the darkness which had been encroaching into the realm of the wood elves. They represented everything for which Legolas was fighting.
Legolas would not lose them so easily.
"Please, we must pass, they need aid." Legolas whispered again in the same Sindrean, trying to quell the anger he could feel from the Lycan. Lycan usually did not attack. They were scouts, patrols, who could give warning of a threat to the elves on guard. They would only attack spiders, and even then, only when the Spiders were attacking the elves.
They were circling closer, snarling at the three princes, teeth bared as they came ever closer, not heeding the prince of Mirkwood whatsoever.
"No… Kili… please… no." Fili whispered, clutching at his brother as his breath hitched and then stopped for a moment.
Fili's voice caused the wolves to lunge towards the dwarves. Legolas drew his bow, hesitated for only a second and let out a sad sigh. Quick as a flash, Legolas had taken down all four wolves, arrows perfectly placed to kill each one instantly.
Legolas bent over the closest body, and placed a hand on it. "I am so sorry." He whispered, this time in common tongue. Once able to touch the wolf, Legolas could feel the evil radiating from it. It was dark magic, a spell, which had turn the Lycan's against the elves and against the good in Mirkwood.
Legolas spared only a second to apologize to each creature, for it was not their fault that this evil had come upon them, and then turned back to his cargo.
"He is dying." Fili let out a small cry, laying his head next to his brother. His eyes fluttered shut as he gave up his own battle to stay conscious.
Legolas felt his heart give out. He would not loose these two now. Not when they were so close.
He ran to the nearest tree, whispered too it, before pulling off a thick vine. Using the vine, he desperately tied Fili to his back. He then gently picked up Kili as gently as he could.
"You must not give up, little one. Your brother needs you." Legolas whispered to the dwarf in his arms as he moved as quickly as he could.
"Prince Legolas?" A voice interrupted Legolas's desperate thoughts. A dark haired elf had appeared in the shadows, bowed towards Legolas, and the gasped at the sight of the two injured parties.
"Nendir! Quick. Take him." He indicated to Fili. Barely breaking stride, the dark haired elf took Fili from the prince's back. "They need a healer immediately."
Legolas continued running, this time faster as he no longer had to focus on balancing Fili on his back.
"Who is the best healer that you have?" Legolas yelled to the elf now carrying Fili.
"Ceredion. He will be able to help them." The dark haired companion responded, assuring his prince.
"And how far are we?" Legolas responded once again.
"You are here." Another voice interrupted the voice of Ceredion.
"Bring them here at once. I've already set up the healing room" Legolas looked relieved and Ceredion immediately got to work on the dark.
"Tauriel sent a message you were coming. I went out to meet you and Ceredoin began setting up. No one else knows you are here." Nendir, the dark haired elf whispered.
"I thank you for your discretion, my friend." Legaolas responded, placing his right hand to his chest in a sign of respect and appreciation. Nendir inclined his head in a bow before taking his leave from the healing room.
Legolas turned back to the dwarfs. Ceredion had his hands pressed onto Kili's stomach and was whispering to the dwarfling. Legolas recognized the healing practice. He was calling Kili's consciousness back to them.
Kili was young again. He must have been somewhere around twenty years old, and about the size of a nine year old human child. Yet he didn't find this unusual, he was too distracted by the day he was having. He had been running around the edge of a forest, picking apples from the trees, munching on some, and keeping others to share with his brother later. He had taken a nap under the shade of one tree, climbed another so high he could see for miles, not to mention he spent the afternoon chasing rabbits and squirrels.
It was a perfect day for the preadolescent dwarfling.
The sun was going down, leaving the sky the most brilliant shade of red and orange and casting it's last warm glow on the content dwarfling. Kili lay in a grass field by the edge of the woods letting a pleasant exhaustion ride over him.
He was so content that he could easily fall asleep.
Just as he could feel his eyes closing and weariness pulling him into a slumber, a voice spoke from the shadows of the woods. "You can't sleep, child." Although it did not scare Kili, it startled him and roused him from his resting spot.
"And why not?" Kili responded, unperturbed by the disruptive voice. It did not seem malicious, but instead quite familiar and warm. It was as if it had been his mother who had spoken. And so, like a child who disagreed with their mother, Kili responded petulantly, "I am tired and the grass is quite soft. I can take a nap."
"It's not your time yet, you are too young." The voice replied.
Kili's interest was now peaked. He hated being called too young. It was something that their Uncle Thorin would say when he was allowing Fili to do something that Kili could not.
Fili. Where was Fili?
"Where is my brother? He should have been here by now?" Kili asked the voice.
"He's waiting for you." The voice responded, soothing and calling Kili.
Making his decision not to sleep on the grass, Kili was on his feet and followed the path in the woods where the voice seemed to be calling from. Closest to where Kili had been lying down, where he rested, the path was warm and sunny. As he continued walking towards the voice, towards where he hoped to find his brother, it was dark and a bit concerning to the dwarfling.
As he walked on, his limbs began to ache. First with sore muscles, then with cuts and bruises. But still he walked on. In his heart, he knew this was the way to return to his brother. Just when his determination seemed to be reaching his limit, another step left the child on his knees as a searing pain blossomed in his belly.
He let out a small cry hands clutching his stomach. "What?" He questioned to no one in particular.
"You must continue, child. You must." And Kili could hear the genuine despair in the voice calling towards him.
He glanced over his shoulder in the direction from which he had come. He could see the field he was lying in, he could see the warm grass beckoning to him and calling him back. His mind knew that returning to the field would bring comfort and warmth. That the pain would diminish and that he would be in peace.
He turned back to face the direction that he was heading. It was dark and mysterious. Large trees reached towards the center with knarled branches creaking and moaning. That way would bring more pain, suffering, mystery and more danger. That way would not bring peace. Kili knew all this, he felt it in his soul.
But, the darkness would bring Fili. And nothing was too dark while his brother was at his side.
With a deep breath, the child Kili got to his feet and continued to where he would find his brother.
A/N: A bit more Legolas centric. I was trying to explain why the cold Legolas that we see in the movie (in my opinion, a bit too cold, but oh wells) would care so much about Fili and Kili. Letme know your thoughts, I appreciate every single one :)