HA! I bet you all thought I was never coming back to my TH/LOTR fics. ESPECIALLY this, my very first fanfic. But now my Chinese ALevels are over and I am a happy girl, so here is Chapter 24 of AUC! (I'm sorry; I don't think it's that good. But I had to cover this part. And I kind of wanted to get it done. And I'm still getting used to writing about Ella and Fili and all the dwarfs and everyone again, because, you know, I have re-discovered my love for Disney and Dreamworks and everything in between, so I've been writing a lot of that, even though it seems like nobody likes those stories of mine.)

Recap: Fili left Ella behind, when the dwarfs were about to leave to go to the Mountain, because he wanted to protect her. Clearly, Ella was pissed. And now Kili's dying.

Fili didn't want to go back to Bard's house. First of all, Bard and his family would most likely hate them – though he didn't think that Bard would turn them away. No, the bowman wouldn't turn away someone in need of help.

Secondly, Ella was there. Ella, whom he hadn't expected to see for a long, long time, and was most likely still furious at him.

But then he glanced down at Kili, and that made up his mind.

"Come on," he said, to Bofur and Oin. "We've got to get him to Bard's."

"Bard's? You're not serious, are you?" Bofur glanced over at Fili, who was carrying his brother with Oin. "He'll turn us away!"

"No, he won't," said Fili, grimly. Bard would not turn away someone so desperately ill. At least, he hoped not. "We've nowhere to go. He's our only chance."

Sigrid and Bain and Tilda stayed away, from the bed that Kili lay on and that Fili, Oin and Bofur surrounded.

Ella couldn't bring herself to do it.

To look at Kili's pale, drawn face, to hear his groans; it was painful. So painful. He was nothing like the cheerful, happy dwarf who'd flirted with her to make her uncomfortable; nothing like the grinning, cheeky dwarf who'd smile and wink at her, just to annoy her.

Ella couldn't even bring herself to be mad at Fili.

Fili, for his part, couldn't bring himself to look up at Ella.

She sat there, across the bed for him, laying wet cloths on Kili's forehead, murmuring to him, talking to him. He could hear her talk about the strange things in her world – the machine that flew people across the sky, the box that painted, moving images flickered across, the black thing that sound and music came out from. Her voice was gentle and soothing and so very familiar.

But she wasn't talking to him.

Fili knew he probably deserved it. But he was only ever trying to protect her.

He didn't know what he would do, if he'd let her get herself into any danger. And he didn't know what to do now, either, looking at Kili writhing on the bed in pain - and he could do nothing, nothing, to save his younger brother.

She hadn't looked up at him, hadn't looked him in the face, not properly, since they'd come in carrying Kili. He remembered her telling him how useless she was at healing, how she felt sick at the sight of someone else being sick.

It didn't seem to matter now. Her eyes were fixed on Kili, and she refused to move away, only lifting her hands from his forehead to dip the cloth into more water.

When their hands touched, both of them attempting to mop Kili's forehead – they froze. Brown eyes met blue.

And then Ella's hands dropped back, instantly, and she turned her head away.

No, she told herself firmly. You're not going into this. Not when Kili's so sick.

Fili swallowed, and hearing Kili groan, turned to Oin: "Can you not do something?"

It was the first time she'd really heard Fili speak since he came into the house, and just the sound of his voice made Ella feel like her heart was hurting painfully. She scowled at her hands, clutching the cloth. Stupid Fili.

"I need herbs! Something to bring down his fever."

At the table, Ella could see Bard taking out bottles. "I have nightshade, feverfew – "

"They're no use to me," said Oin. "Do you have any kingsfoil?"

Ella tuned out their conversation as she turned to face Kili again, and, quietly, slipped her hand down so it rested in his.

"You're not allowed to die, do you hear me?" she said, softly. "You're not allowed to. I don't care. You will heal. And you will continue to annoy me, and I will continue to annoy you, and we'll celebrate your recovery by spending even more time annoying each other. You hear me?"

"Loud and clear," Kili muttered, and she was relieved to see the faintest, smallest of smiles flicker over his face, before disappearing into a painful grimace.

Ella didn't see Fili's eyes, locked on her, even as he mopped at his brother's forehead.

When the whole house shook, dust falling from the ceiling, Fili left Kili's side.

"You should leave us," he told Bard, sharply; he didn't see Ella raise her eyes from Kili. "Take your children; get out of here."

Something in his voice made Ella think that he was talking to her as well.

You stupid, stupid dwarf. Hurriedly, she dipped the cloth in water and placed it on Kili's forehead again, trying to ignore the stupid ache in her heart that wouldn't go away. Stupid Fili, stupid Fili and his insistence that he had to protect her, that he had to protect whoever he could and let himself bear the brunt of everything –

"Gently, lass."

She looked up to see Oin smiling at her, a little sadly.

"He just wants to protect you," he said to her. "He's afraid for you. Just like how he's afraid for Kili. He doesn't want to let you get hurt, especially not when Kili's already hurt so badly."

Somehow, hearing the words from Oin only made her heart hurt even more.

She turned her face away: "Will he make it?"

Oin glanced back at Fili, and then turned to look at her. She raised her head slightly, to meet his eyes; and she saw sorrow there, and desperation.

"I don't know," he said.

When Sigrid screamed, Ella's head shot up.

She was screaming, screaming frantically, trying to shut the door – but on the other side, Ella could see, with a growing horror, the familiar, vaguely humanoid features of an Orc.

"Fuck," was the first thing that came out of her mouth.

"You have to stay here." Fili grabbed her arms, just as she rose to her feet. It was the first time they'd properly looked at each other; the first time he'd talked to her, since he came in with Kili. His grip was tight. His eyes bore into hers. "Please. You must stay safe."

"Like hell I'm going to let you kill yourself – "

And then they were everywhere – bursting in through the doors, falling through the roof –

"Stay down!"

"Do you really think that I'm going to listen?"

It was a good thing, she supposed, that Bard's house had so much crockery and objects lying about. Plates, forks, knives, even the occasional food – whatever she saw, she grabbed, and she threw. She stayed by Kili's bedside – she wasn't that stupid, to head out into the mess herself – as she tossed whatever she could reach at the Orcs.

There was only one thing running in her mind, though, and she would never have admitted it; but in her mind's eye she could see Fili looking at her, the concern in his eyes, and she could hear his voice: Please. You must stay safe.

She had to swallow.

No one had ever looked at her like that before.

Tauriel and Legolas were very efficient.

It wasn't long after they entered that the majority of the Orcs were killed, or chased out of the house.

Ella had nearly dropped the bowl she'd been holding onto her foot, when she watched them fight. Tauriel was graceful, elegant, whirling around to stick one knife into an Orc, to drag it out and to plunge it into another. Legolas was just as graceful, perhaps slightly less; he used force more than anything, aggressively killing Orc after Orc.

When Kili fell to the floor, groaning and clutching at his leg, Ella saw the red-headed Tauriel stop in her fight; saw as her eyes widened, as she took in Kili's pained face, the pale pallor of his skin.

"You killed them all." Bain's voice was slightly hoarse, his face shell-shocked. Ella could somewhat understand how he felt. The elves fought with a grace and efficiency she'd never seen before – though she was probably more used to such fights and killing than Bain was.

"There are others." Legolas' voice was sharp, clear, as he strode towards the door. "Tauriel. Come."

But she had taken her place next to Kili.

Ella was on her knees, bending over him, when Oin said: "We're losing him."

It felt like her world was shattering around her. Kili could not die. He couldn't. He was Kili – he was fun and laughing and carefree and mischievous and brave and reckless and strong, and he could not die.

"No, Kili, Goddamit, you can't do this – "

Vaguely, she was aware of Tauriel hesitating, next to her.

Ella raised her head to see Legolas in the doorway. "Tauriel."

But still she stood, as if fighting with herself.

Legolas' gaze dropped down to meet Ella's, and he nodded, once. Ella thought she could see a message in his nod, in his eyes: Have courage.

And then he turned, and walked away.

Somehow, Fili's hand found Ella's.

"He can't die."

His eyes were hollow, empty, as he looked up at Ella, and then it didn't matter that the idiot dwarf had tried to leave her behind, or that he kept insisting that he had to protect her, or that she had to stay safe and away from harm.

The only thing that mattered was that Kili was in pain and he was about to die and Fili would be alone and she and nobody else would never see Kili smiling and laughing and being so wonderfully Kili again and Tauriel was about to walk out that door –

She held Fili's hand, tightly, because there was nothing she could say.

He only gripped her hand even more tightly, that hand that had so often held hers and was so familiar to her – but now it was as if she could feel all his loss and his pain and his sorrow, and she could see the overwhelming grief in his eyes that were fixed on his younger brother –

Then a voice that was so unmistakeably Bofur's, and when Ella looked up from Kili's pained, pale face, she saw Tauriel turning to face them, her eyes wide, a green plant in her hands:

"I can save him."