Firstly I think I owe you an explanation; I apologise for not uploading before now, I believe it's been about a year since I last updated, sorry about that. But I think that you would rather I waited until my muse came back and I uploaded a well thought out, well written chapter, instead of a couple of thousand words of waffle which don't make any sense and doesn't fit with the story.

I hope this does make sense, I apologise again…I will hopefully update this soon, but I can't make any promises. : )

Please let me know what you think, and please don't hate me….

Enjoy!

Onwards….

The darkness was so all-encompassing that Fili was sure that he was dead. There was silence all around him, his head pounding so violently he fought the urge to retch upon the ground.

The dust still hadn't settled, great flumes of it were still up in the air; his mouth full of it, his eyes too.

'Kili…' he croaked, his voice barely a whisper. Some dust shot back into his throat, coating his insides, a foul tasting mixture of soot and rock. His body was wracked with convulsions as he coughed, eyes watering.

-x-

Thorin cracked open his eyes, blinking furiously. He felt warm blood making its way down his head, dripping over his nose into his mouth. Was he upside down? Where was everyone else? He tried to move his neck to look around, but a sharp pain shot through his head. He felt a weight upon his upper body; he slowly looked down, wincing as he tried to ignore the pain. Almost completely covered in a sheet of dust, Kili was lying across his body as if asleep, his mouth half open, eyes tightly closed. But, as Thorin watched, his nephew's chest rose and fell. He was alive. Covered in blood, bones broken, but alive.

Thorin rested his head back on the sharp rock behind him, relived. Somewhere around him someone was coughing. A hacking, wet cough. 'Fili?' he called, moving his body to the left, trying to reach out. 'Fili!'

'…Thorin?'

'Ah' Thorin let out a mirthless laugh, 'Thank above…' Both his nephews were alive… beaten, broken, but alive.

The dust was settling now, various shapes and bodies were starting to emerge from the darkness. Gandalf could see, from his painful position under a large jagged piece of fallen rock, both Kili and Thorin, the elder dwarf gripping his youngest nephew around the middle, trying to see him clearer.

The Wizard looked down to his right; when the ceiling had collapsed he had pushed Bofur and Bilbo in front of him, the Dwarf falling onto the floor and flinging the unconscious Hobbit forwards. Bofur had stirred a few moments ago and was inching along the ground to Bilbo, who was lying on his back, coming round. The Hobbit was covered in dust, his red face visible through the muck. Great blisters had begun to form, filled with water to heal his burns. His sodden clothes were clogged with shards of rock and dirt. His hands were burnt and blistered as well, his chest heaving up and down. Gandalf watched as the young Hobbit tried to open his eyes, but his eyelids were burnt and painful to move. The Wizard closed his eyes as Bilbo made a low keening whining sound, pain-filled and wracked with agony.

'Hush, Bilbo. Just lie still' Bofur murmured, pressing his cool hands to burnt skin. The Hobbit hissed, but did not try to move away. The dwarf turned frightened eyes towards Gandalf, who nodded encouragingly.

'Where are the beasts?' called Balin, one eye swollen shut from the amount of dust in it, bleeding hand held above his head. 'Did the mountain bury those foul trolls?'

Thorin looked around, careful not to move too much; Kili still hadn't come round. 'I don't see them.' He called.

'I believe they have perished.' Gandalf used his staff to carefully push the rock pinning him down away from him, inching his body out across the ground.

Bilbo had his eyes open now, if only for a few seconds. He had let out a shaky breath, smiled the best he could in thanks at Bofur and closed them again; the burns looked painfully sore now. Bofur patted the only part of him that wasn't burnt and sat back on his knees, scanning the rest of his friends.

Fili looked back over at Kili, at the blood running down his face, his broken bones jutting out the skin of his legs. He felt the bile rise back in his throat and he coughed, spitting on the floor. His own injuries screamed for him to stay still, but he couldn't. His brother was dying.

He pulled himself forwards, feeling his ribs slide against one another, pain shooting through him. Only a few more feet…just a little bit more…His vision was blurring, but he gritted his teeth and pushed forwards, his muscles protesting against the strain…just a bit….further….

-x-

Thorin watched as best he could through the darkness as his nephew crawled closer. He could feel his head throbbing, but ignored it, like he ignored the odd angle of his wrist and the blood running down his face. He looked down into the face of his youngest nephew. So close to losing him, so close to losing everything.

His breath caught in his throat when Kili coughed, a bubble of blood forming at the corner of his mouth, eyes scrunched up in agony. His dark hair was glued to his forehead by wet and drying blood, the stench almost overpowering in these close quarters. The young Dwarf whimpered like a small child, his body trying to fold in on itself, pressing his head further into Thorin's chest. He moaned again, hissing as his teeth caught on his lip and it split open again. He opened his eyes, only for a second. They looked up blankly, as though Kili could not see; he didn't focus on anything and he moaned something illegible before they rolled gruesomely back up into his head again. Thorin let out a long breath, bending his head so his touched that of his nephew's, the fatigue almost beating him…his skin burnt beneath his clothes, which were sopping wet and covered in dust like Bilbo's were.

Ori clambered onto a larger piece of rock and began grappling with the stone. ' I smell air!' he cried as he buried his fingers back into the rock, pulling bits out. 'Clean air! Someone help me!'

Bilbo whimpered as Bofur leaned away from him, sniffing the air. 'He's right!' exclaimed the Dwarf, getting to his feet. 'Don't just sit there!' he cried at the other Dwarves at Nori and Dori who were sitting silently on the floor. 'Dig!'

He threw himself at the wall, fingers grabbing for purchase. Having no tools, their hands were all they had.

Gandalf knelt over Kili and Thorin looked up at the Wizard, eyes open in thanks. 'He'll live' murmured Gandalf as they watched Kili's eyes roll under his lids. 'We must get him back to the surface.'

Thorin nodded. He looked back over at Fili, who had almost made it to the pair and who had stopped for breath.

'Dig!' he cried, eyes shining as he turned back to the Company huddled against the walls, fingers working, fingers bleeding. 'Let us leave this godforsaken place!'

'Dig!'

Hopefully that was worth the wait….? :)

Next chapter soon….

Thanks for reading…..