I had to restart this chapter about ten times. Still not overly happy with it, so enjoy.

Chapter 6: Broken

Kili could dimly hear a familiar, reassuring voice speak to him through the haze of pain and his almost deafening screaming. Tears all but streaming down his face in horror of what he had seen in his coma induced dream, he latched onto the words spoken as if they were a lifeline provided solely for him to drag himself away from the clutches of nightmarish vision he had experienced.

"That's it, lad, you're okay," the voice continued as his screaming began to die down, speaking softly so as to guide him back to its source. Kili allowed it to do just that, its tone stripping away the confusion, fear, and repulsiveness he felt, leaving only pain and a strange emptiness in its place. He cried out in agony, the pain increasing in amount as everything else slipped away.

"Oin, give him something for the pain," the voice yelled. Kili moaned again, the loudness of the talking around him not boding well with his throbbing head. He shut his eyes in a grimace before being coaxed back into opening them again by the being who the voice belonged to. He looked up to find himself staring straight into the smoky blue eyes of Thorin Oakenshield.

"Here, help lift his head," said the company healer, bustling up to the pair holding a small mug filled with a liquid that Kili could not see.

The young dwarf blinked owlishly up at his uncle before groaning as another wave of pain hit him, shooting up through his body like a wildfire. Thorin murmured a few comforting words in his ear as he lifted the youth's head. Oin placed the cup to his lips.

"Drink," he said, "It will help with the pain."

Kili obeyed, all of it seeming like a dream. And maybe it was. Maybe he and Fili had never escaped the orcs and he was still in that cave, experiencing a delusion due to blood loss, infection, or some other thing that came hand in hand with an excessive amount of injuries and open wounds. But the pain was beginning to fade somewhat, and even if this was just a dream, that was good. Maybe.

The young archer felt his head being lowered back down so that he was completely flat once again. He closed his eyes for a brief time and then opened them again, finding almost every face of the company in front of his own. He didn't see Fili's though, and he suddenly realised that this was not a dream, for if it were, Fili would have been the one to greet him, not their uncle. So, if they had been rescued by the company, where was his brother?

"Fili?" he half-whispered in a croaky voice. He found his head being lifted again and another cup being pressed against his lips, filled with water this time. He drank gratefully, and once he had finished, closed his eyes and allowed the cool liquid to sooth his sore throat. He felt tired and worn out and he struggled to reopen his heavy lidded eyes, not wanting to fall asleep. "Fili?" he murmured again, a desperate tone beginning to colour his voice.

"Fili's fine," Thorin reassured him, "He is just sleeping at the moment." Kili couldn't tell if his uncle was lying or not; his brain was too fried to pick up on anything at the moment.

"Hurts," he murmured as a wave of pain washed through him yet again. He could not tell where it was coming from, but he did acknowledge it was not as great as before. Whatever Oin had gave him had worked.

"I know lad," Thorin said, again speaking in a gentle tone that Kili rarely heard from him now days and running a hand soothingly through his tangled brown hair, "But don't try to fight the sleep. You need to rest."

Kili heard his uncle's words, though they became more and more faded as he obeyed the exiled king's wishes and allowed himself to be taken by sleep.

Alright then, where in Durin's name am I? Fili asked himself, peeling his eyes open for the first time in days. He then groaned as a reminder of his injuries flooded his system.

"He's awake," he heard a voice he recognised call.

The blonde struggled to lift up his head to see what was happening, but let it flop down with another groan, black spots appearing before his eyes as the world swam almost sickeningly.

"I would stay still for the time being, laddie," Bofur said from above him, his relieved and smiling face peering down at the invalid dwarf. Fili frowned.

"Where am I?" he asked, clenching his teeth as some strange force increased its hammering inside his head. He watched Bofur quickly mouth something to someone outside of his range of vision, before returning to grinning down back at him.

"In a cave somewhere in the Misty Mountains," he answered, before moving over to allow Thorin to take his place beside the youth's head.

"And Kili?" As always, his thoughts went straight to his brother.

"Kili is fine," Thorin assured him.

"Can I speak to him?"

Thorin smiled and shook his head at the question.

"He is sleeping at the moment, but when he wakes again I am sure he will want to speak to you," Fili heard him answer.

"Can I see him then?" he asked, trying to shift his head so that he could see around the cave.

"Very well," Thorin relented, "I'll help lift you up, but first you need to drink what Oin has prepared for you." The company healer replaced Bofur by his uncle's side, a small mug held carefully in his hands.

Fili allowed Thorin to carefully lift his head, and Oin to place the cup to his lips and tip the medicine slowly into his mouth. He swallowed without complaint knowing the sooner he got this over with the sooner he could see that his brother was alright. Oin shifted away again to gather the items he needed to change the blonde's bandages. Fili ignored this and focused his attention back on his uncle.

"And now Kili."

Thorin nodded his head slowly, and lifted Fili up a bit more, before turning him slightly to the side. The blonde ignored how this burned his chest and head an focused on the sight in front of him. He sighed inwardly in relief as his sleeping brother twitched in his sleep. Thorin began to lower him back down.

"See, he's fine," the dark haired dwarf reinformed him. Fili nodded, beginning to feel somewhat drowsy. But he was too tired to be alarmed and soon enough he had fallen fast asleep.

"Well, they both woke which is a good thing."

Thorin mumbled his agreement as he watched Bofur assist in helping Oin to redress and bandage both his nephew's wounds. Kili's head tossed around a bit, and Fili cried out once or twice in his sleep, but other than that nothing much had happened since they had both fallen victim to Oin's sleeping drug.

"You don't seem to be as happy as I thought you would be," Dwalin continued, his brow creased with a slight concern for his leader. Thorin's own frown remained as he continued to watch his kinsman.

"They don't seem like themselves, Dwalin," he said softly, not wanting to draw attention from the others. Dwalin face suddenly fell telling Thorin that the old warrior shared his concerns.

"I know what you mean," he said, "It was in their eyes that you could see it, that some part of them is missing-"

"Or broken," Thorin finished reluctantly. Dwalin grimaced.

"With what they've been through, what can you expect?" he asked. Thorin did not answer, rather shooting Oin a questioning glance as the company healer began to finish up. The half deaf dwarf gave a small shake of his head, meaning that he had no idea what was wrong mentally with the pair. They would have to wait until the two woke again to determine the emotionally traumatic damage that had been done to them in their time as captives.

Thorin again felt guilt well up inside of him, feeling their pain as his own. He had been the one to send them scouting ahead, and he had been the one to realise too late the dangers of doing just that.

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