Sorry, would have updated yesterday but I didn't have time to write. I should be able to update again tomorrow. In the meantime, enjoy. Would have done longer (and better) points of view but right now I'm only half here.

Chapter 5: Yearning

Today will be a good day, Thorin told himself, trying to convince himself that his nephews would be fine and would wake sometime that day. His mind was not fooled, however.

Both were still wrapped in a slumber, though not a peaceful one by a long shot. Looking at their cracked lips, he knew this was not good. They needed to get water into them, but could not until they were awake. The pair needed food also, but not as urgently as they needed water. Still, it would ease Thorin's mind when they put back on an extra amount of weight. They would need it up here in the mountains. Already they had seen frost settling over several of the plants that morning, though not enough to cause concern for it was gone as soon as it had come.

Stretching his fingers, and wincing as his stiff legs protested him shifting positions beside the two unconscious boys, Thorin stared down at the blonde, thinking hard. He was itching to do something, anything productive, yet he wanted to be there for when they woke up, for they would wake up. They had to.

The dwarf changed the wet cloth on the blonde's head, trying to bring down the fever that had come from his infected wounds. Then he done the same to Kili. Both fevers had dropped overnight, but they were still astonishingly high. Every member of the company worried for them.

Kili had always been scared of the dark, though he had far more tolerance for it now than he had when he was little. Or had had more tolerance anyway. Now he was just as scared of the dark as before, because now he knew the truth of what lurked in it. And the same thing lurked here, not in body, but in nightmares, haunting him every moment he remained trapped inside the storm of his mind.

He had been a fool to dismiss so rashly the fears of his childhood, for did not a child often know better than an adult about things like this? That the stories that their overactive imaginations conjured up held a grain of the truth of the matter? The philosophy hurt his already throbbing head even more however, and the young brunette allowed his thoughts to be lost once again to the waves of pain crashing against the fragile boat that held safe the last of his sanity, the fragile boat with a n alarmingly cracked hull.

Evil voices laughed in the dark, some familiar, some not so much, all sending chills down Kili's already chilled spine.

Thorin started when Kili began to move, twitching every now and then, and scrunching his face up in an almost perfect expression of sheer terror. Thorin took his less injured shoulder and shook lightly, careful not to disrupt the boy's ribs in any way. He called out softly to his distressed nephew so as not to disturb the others, though few remained in the cave, most going out hunting or to spare. Dwarves could only stay stationary for so long.

The exiled king called the dwarf's name again, begging him to open his eyes as the twitching increased. Oin turned in his sleep, but did not wake from his nap, and Dwalin shot him a passing glance, but passed no judgement and turned back to watch the front of the cave. Kili did not respond, eyes flickering rapidly, but staying hidden behind his eyelids. Thorin felt frustration welling up inside of him, especially as Kili's expression refused to abate and his eyes continually refused to open. And then the archer calmed.

Thorin sat back upon his heels with a sigh, feeling the lad's head for his fever. It was just as high as before which was disheartening.

Turning back to Fili, the exiled king tested his fever too. It seemed slightly lower than it had the last time he checked, but then again, it could just be his mind playing tricks on him. He wanted it to be true though.

Sighing, he began to change the cloths on their brows, tired, worried, and physically and emotionally exhausted.

Fili wasn't sure when he realised that it was his uncle above him, but maybe the soft murmuring helped. He could recongise the dwarf's voice through the blaze in his mind. He also recognised another voice above him, that of Oin as he talked to Thorin about a particular situation of concern.

"I would hope that they're fevers break soon," the blonde could hear the healer saying through the darkness. His uncle grunted a reply, seeming to agree. He felt a cool object laid on his brow, and sighed to himself in his mind as the voices fell into silence. He could just feel everything around him, yet he could not summon up the strength to push through the murkiness holding him back. He tried though, of how he tried. He just could not break free.

Sitting with Dwalin, Thorin stared out at the lush forest and bare floor surrounding them. He had been in a gloomy mood ever since Oin had made his routine inspection of his two nephews. Nothing much had changed, and he would be lying if he said that he wasn't worried they would never wake.

"Seems like the cold is coming down from the top of the mountains," Dwalin observed, breaking the silence that had filled the void between them. The exiled king grunted in response.

Behind them, in the cave, the rest of the company went about their business, Bombur cooking the fruits of the successful hunting trip and Bofur telling jokes to amuse the hobbit. As he looked upon the rest of the company, Thorin felt strangely detached from the scene. And the scene itself seemed strangely out of place, with it missing two of the dwarves who had given it such life. Or not so much missing, Thorin amended in his head, for the two were still there, only absent in consciousness in the cave; their bodies were both there.

"What if they don't wake?" Thorin said after a long while of contemplation, quietly voicing his fear to himself. He missed their smiles and their laughing. He even missed their annoying antics which had often frustrated him to no end. He could feel Dwalin staring at him and looked up to meet his old friend's gaze. The older warrior stared sympathetically back at him, seeming to know what was going on inside of Thorin's head.

"I don't think you'll let them have the choice," he responded, proving that he had been listening to his own king talking to himself. Thorin did not find comfort in the warrior's words.

"I've never thought that the journey would result in this," he said, leaning forward as he placed his hands in his head, "There would be casualties, but never would I have imagined Fili and Kili. They are so young; it breaks my spirit to see them like this." It was not something that Thorin would tell anyone else, and something that Dwalin would take to his grave. The taller of the two sighed.

"I think it breaks us all," he murmured, looking upon the stilled bodies towards the back of the cave.

Abandoned, Kili wondered where his brother had went, why the blonde had abandoned him. He rubbed his bloodstained hands across his brow, wiping from it the sweat that had come with the exertion of taking down his opponent. It had been a tough fight, the violence almost unthinkable as the two had exchanged blows. But he had got the upper hand, just as he had the last dozen times he had fought the being.

The archer winced as he put weight onto his already abused legs. He shifted positions, turning in a full circle in an attempt to spot the form of his brother. And then he looked down. Fili laid at his feet, eyes containing a ghastly empty look, face slack and pale. A sword protruded from his middle, Kili's sword having been left there after dealing the killing blow.

Kili's world came crashing down around his feet as he realised what he had done. He stumbled backwards in a mix of disgust and horror away from the body, and the vultures that had been circling the black sky before, swooped down and enclosed Fili's rapidly decaying body in a circle of bloodthirsty hunger.

The brunette's eyes flew open as he screamed.

Review please. And thanks to those who already have. And a special thanks to those who do it regularly.