"Where's Kili?" Ӧin gasped as they ran away, trying to escape through the tunnels. He had a suspicion that Kili wasn't going to be emerging from between the crowds of orcs, but he had to know for sure.

Fili didn't answer, but the glance he sent Ӧin said more than enough.

He had been right.

Kili had been trapped or killed back there. He was gone. Ӧin watched as Bofur finally freed himself from the enemies, racing forward to join them.

They hadn't been injured.

Kili was probably dead.

They hadn't retrieved Gandalf's staff.

They had failed.

Ӧin knew that they were extremely lucky. After all, they had hardly escaped unscathed.

The failure brought ill omen.

Not only was Kili gone, but they had no way to free Gandalf.

Without Gandalf, no way to heal the elf.

Without the elf, no reason for them to have come.

They shouldn't have come.

12312312312312312312312312312312312312312312312312312312312312312312123123123123123

Tauriel ran her hand through Legolas' bloody hair. She felt it clump and knot around her fingers and dried blood flecked onto her hands.

She tried to straighten his braids, needing something to do, needing to do something other than wait. His wounds had already been wrapped – at least, the wounds she could wrap.

Tauriel laid her hand on his arm, comforting herself more than him. He was cold. She carefully cradled his body against herself, trying to warm him up. Looking up at the sun, she knew that Legolas was still trapped in shadow if he was that cold.

With his injuries, he should be feverish and too warm.

Instead, he was cold and clammy.

There was something really wrong.

When hadn't there been?

After all, Legolas had been tortured.

Legolas let out a groan as she shifted him. Tauriel gasped and looked back at him.

He moved the slightest bit in her arms.

"Legolas?" she whispered. "Koivlyë." (Awaken)

"He shuddered in her grasp, a look of discomfort passing through his features as she spoke. Gently, Tauriel ran her hand through his hair again.

"Legolas," she murmured. "Awaken."

His eyes fluttered, and he looked up at her.

"T – Tauriel?" he muttered. "'M dreaming."

His voice was weak and cracked as he spoke. Tauriel could hear how hoarse he was.

He had been screaming.

She pulled her water from her pack and offered some to him, allowing him to drink it slowly.

"I am here," she breathed. "I am here."

"Why – why did you come?" Legolas asked.

Tauriel felt her heart shadow for him. He was so weak.

He had gone through mental torture.

Now, he asked her why she had bothered to save him.

"I love you, Legolas," Tauriel breathed, leaning closer to him. She felt for his hand and pulled it close to herself. He smiled, lips managing to barely twitch up as he looked at her.

"What happened?" he asked, voice stuttering as he tried to shift his body. Tauriel restrained him gently.

"You were captured. We saved you, mellon nin. (my friend)

12312312312312312312312312312312312312312312312312312312312312312312312312312312312

The light was swirling around Legolas, making sickening blurs of color that danced across his vision. Tauriel looked down at him, her face blurred and distorted. He squinted trying to fix his vision, but it only became darker.

Legolas knew that Tauriel was dead.

She had died before he was captured.

She was dead.

Yet, there she was, standing over him.

It was a trick.

His terrible Master had arranged it so he would be tricked into believing Tauriel was real, believing that she would help him, heal him.

He would not fail.

He would not give in.

"What happened?" he murmured, wondering what story she would tell.

"You were captured, mellon nin," she said.

Legolas heard her say the elvish words. He recognized that they were Sindarin, and he knew that he had heard them before.

The tinkling airy voice was painful to his ears, and he groaned averting his gaze.

Then he realized.

For all that he knew of what she had said, he didn't understand it.

He didn't know what Tauriel said.

As soon as the realization struck, light blazed across his vision. Tauriel's face darkened, merging with shadows.

"Fire and dark," Legolas muttered, not hearing his own voice. "Fire and dark. Fire and dark."

12312312312312312312312312312312312312312312312312312312312312312312312312312312312

Tauriel watched as Legolas looked away from her, suddenly in pain. She caressed his body closer, but when he looked back, she could see that his eyes were darker, more delirious.

His gaze was scanning behind her and above her. It looked everywhere, coasting over her face.

She shook him gently, trying to snap him out of whatever vision he had been pulled into.

It didn't work.

He didn't react.

Then, as Tauriel watched, he began muttering.

"Ghâsh agh burg," he said. "Ghâsh agh burg. Ghâsh agh burg."

Tauriel flinched, both from the pain of hearing the harsh, powerful syllables of Black Speech and from hearing Legolas speak it.

Then his eyes closed, and once again, he fell into darkness.

Tauriel turned to Mithrandir, her face ashen and solemn.

"What – what does that mean?"

Mithrandir looked at her, a mix of pity and sadness and anger and grief evident in his eyes.

"Fire and dark," he said. "Legolas was speaking of an ancient spell that was cast on him."

"A spell?" Tauriel gasped. "Why have you not mentioned this? What spell? For what purpose?"

Mithrandir sighed.

"A terrible spell, forgotten by most. I did not speak of it as it was never completed. T'was that you interrupted when you ran to save him."

"I interrupted it? What was it meant to do? It very nearly killed him!"

"T'was the spell used by Morgoth to enslave the high elves, to twist them into dark beings, to turn them into orcs. The Necromancer has enslaved shadows and has tried to force them to corrupt your friend.

"He has a long road ahead should he be healed."

Tauriel's widened with fear as Mithrandir spoke.

"Ai!" she exclaimed. "How can he heal? Tell me: he has scars and will bear them forever! He tried to kill himself in there, lost in the visions of his own mind. I fear he has fallen. I watched him – centuries ago!

"He nearly lost himself already. Now, he must deal with this? I fear he will not be able to stand up again."

"Be strong for him!" Mithrandir reprimanded. "He needs not your doubt in the hour of his great trial. He is weak enough, so you must be strong!

"He responds to you. He is not completely lost. Be there for him. Always there for him. Help him heal."

"Of course I will," Tauriel said. "But why him?"

"There is no answer for that. There is never an answer for why. You must be strong, Tauriel. Neither of you will survive if you are not."

"I know," Tauriel breathed, looking back down at Legolas. "I know."

1231231231231231231231231231231231231231231231231231231231231231231231231

Hey everyone! This is a quick update – yay! I promise they will be much more often (again)

Please tell me if it was too much to have Kili captured. I thought it maybe was…

Thanks to all reviewers/ readers!

Disclaimer: I don't own lotr or the Hobbit.