And the plot thickens! Thanks to Cockapoo, winter's-lion, and Lord Draxus Hellborne for reviewing. Special thanks to Neocolai both for reviewing and for lending me the Original Muse. It is much appreciated, and I think the Muse got in its fair share of emotional drama...I think. I guess, then, I have to tell you to feed the Muse. It helps me out...unfortunately for you all...
Fili lay in his bed, curled into himself. He had dreamed of Kili every night that week, and it never got any easier. Every time he woke crying, missing his brother, his shadow.
A knock on the door of his chambers forced Fili to uncurl and pad across the room. When Fili yanked the door open, he saw Balin standing there.
Balin seemed unfazed by the fact that Fili stood there in his nightclothes. "A...situation had arisen, my king, that requires your attention immediately."
"Just let me get dressed..." Fili said, and started to close his door.
"Immediately, laddie," Balin said, face drawn.
Fili rushed after Balin, barefoot and in a loose linen tunic and trousers. As he started to recognize the paths they were on, Fili grabbed his white-haired advisor. "Balin, what is going on? Why are we going this way?"
Balin bit his lip but didn't reply, moving off again.
When Balin finally stopped. Fili was white. They stood outside the caves in which Thorin and Kili had been buried...and the stones sealing the entrances were gone.
"What happened?" Fili asked, voice hoarse.
"Someone broke in, the Arkenstone is gone," Balin said.
"I don't care about the Arkenstone!" Fili snapped.
Balin looked at Fili. "Of course."
Fili stormed past Balin and entered the tombs worriedly. The sealed caves had prevented decomposition, and Kili and Thorin looked as they had when they had been buried three weeks earlier. They were no longer neatly laid on their biers, laying instead on the floor of the cave, limbs pellmell.
Fili just stared at what was left of his uncle and brother, lying where they had been so carelessly thrown. Kili's dark hair pooled around his head, and Fili gently smoothed it down, cradling his brother's head in his lap. He couldn't believe someone would desecrate Kili's grave like this.
Someone in front of Fili cleared their throat, and he looked up. His mother stood there, eyes glistening with unshed tears. Dis knelt and gathered both her sons in her arms, murmuring incoherently.
"I...buried him once," Fili said brokenly. "That was hard enough. To bury him again..." He leaned his head on Dis' shoulder, shaking with tears. Dis cradled her only living son, rocking him gently.
Balin entered the tomb, followed by Dwalin and Gloin. They carefully lifted Thorin, laying him softly on the bier he had laid on before, arranging his limbs and smoothing back his hair.
Fili glanced at his uncle. Thorin looked every inch the king he should have been. Every inch the king Fili couldn't be.
"Laddie," Balin said gently, "we need to go now. Lay your brother back to rest. Holding onto him will not bring him back."
Knowing Balin was right, Fili slowly laid Kili down. Dis was waiting for Fili outside the tomb, and hugged him wordlessly.
The other dwarves were looking at Fili, and he realized with a slight shock that they were waiting for him to tell them what to do. He was the king.
"Um...post a guard here. If someone disturbed them once, there is nothing to say that they won't do it again."
Balin nodded, looking pleased, and Fili realized that he had made his first official decision-first order-as King Under the Mountain.