I do not own any of the characters or the Hobbit (just the AU storyline and my OC) those are the work of the esteemed and brilliant John Ronald Reull Tolkien, and without his genius,this and many other fan fics would not be in existence.

Please review! I love getting them-they keep me encouraged J

When the young dwarf's eyes opened again, the shadows had fallen deeper. He looked at the tall pines intermingled with the smaller broadleaf trees above him, seeing the deep reds and oranges of the setting sunlight amongst them.

W-where am I?

He felt a strange weight on his chest, and lifted his head, wincing as pain shot through the back of it. Sliding his elbows up slowly even as pain reverberated through his whole body, he brought his upper body up off the ground just a bit, eyes widening as he realized what the source of the odd weight was.

Cirashala was still unconscious, her white face frighteningly pale amongst the dark, damp curls covering her face. Her body was limp against his, and if it weren't for the sight of her back moving up and down, he would have thought she were dead.

His eyes caught sight of the angry red marks on her back, and the memories of the last few hours played through his head. The fall into the mountain, being captured and overwhelmed by goblins, the grotesque goblin as he pointed to him, saying, "Start with the youngest!", Cirashala speaking up, the beating, the escape, then falling into the mountain tributary.

After that, events were a blur. He remembered hitting his head on something, then darkness. Then…

The young dwarf's eyes widened in shock as he gasped, his cheeks flaming as he recalled the feeling of someone's mouth on his, air being pushed into his lungs, followed by a hard hit to his torso, coughing up water and sick, and just barely making out Cirashala looking down at him, before she collapsed.

He looked down at her, almost forgetting to breathe as the realization hit him.

She…she saved me, he thought to himself, eyes still wide. It was her that pulled me out of the water. She…she breathed for me. Her lips….on mine….

That strange tugging feeling came back, stronger than it had been before. He sat up with an audible wince, bringing his arm around to cradle her upper body gently, taking care to not place too much pressure on her wounds. Her hair fell over her face during the movement as he cradled her head in the crook of his arm, and Kili brought a shaking hand up to brush it out of her face and behind her small ear.

He swallowed heavily as he looked down at her, recalling the strong words she had said as he begged her to let him go lest she fall too.

Like hell I will.

XXX

The dwarves had just begun to think they had escaped the goblins, when suddenly the platform beneath their feet shook.

Dori and Gloin had been in front, when suddenly the massive form of the great goblin crashed through the planks ahead of them, blocking their path. The grotesque creature smirked evilly as he planted his great club on the wooden bridge with an echoing thunk.

Gandalf moved ahead of the company, staring up at the giant goblin. The creature sneered at him.

"You thought you could escape me?" he shouted, swinging his club down at the wizard. Gandalf jumped backward, then again as the great goblin's club came swinging back around. Dori and Gloin behind him had to catch the wizard, pushing him back upright to keep him from falling. The goblin king looked at him, a calculating gleam in his eye.

"What are you going to do now, wizard?" he spat, his great chin wobbling beneath him. The wizard was not one to be underestimated, however, and immediately shoved his pointed staff into the goblin's left eye with a snarl, knowing full well who had ordered the young woman beaten.

Not having expected it at all, the goblin cried out, meaty hand moving over his eye as he stumbled backwards. The next thing the goblin felt was the kind of fiery burning sensation that only an elvish blade could inflict, the searing pain from his ripped open abdomen pulsing through his body.

With another cry, the goblin fell to his knees, trying desperately to hold his entrails in. He looked up at the furious wizard, noting that these words were likely to be his last. The great goblin had ruled with might and size, not warrior prowess, simply because his sheer size elicited fear into the hearts of the tiny goblins.

As such, though he wasn't the smartest creature who had ever walked Middle-earth, he was at least intelligent enough to know when he had been beaten. He glanced down to his protruding belly, the gobs of fat intermingling with the tubes of his entrails, then back up at the wizard.

"That'll do it," he muttered, the words being the first and last thoughts through his head, before the Foe-hammer sliced through his neck.

XXX

Kili slid his arm under her knees, and with a great deal of effort due to his pain, he managed to stand up with her in his arms.

Her head lolled backward, and as he tried to shift his left shoulder to bring it back up, pain shot through it, causing the young dwarf to wince.

That will surely bruise come morning, he thought to himself as he looked at his shoulder. He started, noticing for the first time that his coat was gone.

"What?" he muttered to himself, looking at her, then at the river in confusion. "Where is my coat?"

"'n riv'r," she mumbled, causing him to turn towards her. She brought her head up against his shoulder shakily, a slight whimper escaping her at the movement, though her lips barely moved. "Too…h'vy."

Her eyes remained shut, but he swore that his ears weren't playing tricks on him. He glanced at her, then at the river with trepidation. A slight gust of wind blew through the trees suddenly, making both of them shiver and Kili made a decision.

He walked over to the nearest tree and set her down gently, sucking in a breath as the movement hurt his shoulder. He leaned her against the tree sideways so the rough bark wouldn't irritate her wounds further, and she made a small noise in her throat as she turned her face towards him.

"We need my coat," he whispered to her, not wanting to leave her alone but knowing they absolutely needed the piece of clothing. "Stay here. I will be back in a minute or two, is all." He glanced down at his torso, noting that he still had his weapons strap on him, though the only weapon remaining in it was his knife. He withdrew it from the sheath slowly and stared at it for a moment, remembering the horror of seeing it used to cut her back.

Swallowing heavily in an effort to suppress the memory, he picked up her hand, pressing the hilt of the knife into her palm.

"If anything attacks you or comes near you, even if it's only a squirrel, you use it," he whispered to her, hoping she was lucid enough to understand him. To his relief she nodded slightly, her lips still drawn tight and her eyes still shut tightly.

Kili looked at her pale face, the tension in it clearly visible, and knew she must be in a great deal of pain. He quickly removed his boots, weapons strap, and jerkin, making sure that he was as light as possible, before standing.

Taking one last concerned glance at the young woman, he turned and stepped into the river.

XXX

The water was still quite cold, and Kili's shoulder continued to pain him with each movement. His dark eyes scanned the depths, trying to peer through the murky, filthy water to spot his coat.

Unfortunately, he had no idea where he had landed, though figured he hadn't hit the rocks, since he was obviously still very much alive. He surfaced, drawing more air in his sore lungs, before diving again. He began to feel the toll the fall had taken on his body, and as the aches grew, so did his resolve to hurry and find the coat so he could get out of the icy water.

Several more dives later, he knew his body was going to give out soon. All he had succeeded in finding were some goblin remains, no doubt because the spindly creatures could not possibly swim with their scrawny, clawed arms. Not wanting to experience a near drowning for a third time in his life, he made one last dive, hoping against odds that his coat hadn't washed downstream.

His eyes scanned the depths as he swam to the bottom, feeling with his hands even as he looked with his eyes. He was just about to surface, when he spotted the shadow of something that looked far different than the dead goblins.

Finally, he thought to himself as he spotted his cloak. He grabbed it and began to swim to the surface, seeing immediately why she must have taken it off him in the first place. The waterlogged coat was incredibly heavy.

She is very clever, he thought as his head broke through the surface, the young dwarf taking deep lungfuls of air. She couldn't possibly have had time to figure out why I was so heavy without running out of air-she must have known right away it was the coat.

He swam to the shore, stumbling a bit as the coat's weight grew more in his arm the second he set foot out of the river. He realized very quickly that the water must have given it some buoyancy. He looked anxiously toward her, but she was right as he had left her-leaning up against the tree, knife in hand by her side.

He wiped the water out of his eyes with the back of his hand, dragging the coat behind him as he approached her, sighing heavily.

Even if I had some flint to make a fire, it will take forever to dry this coat out, he thought to himself, knowing that his steel knife would suffice for the second half of that combination. The thought of the flint reminded him of their precarious situation. They were goodness knows where in the wild, far too close to the goblin city for his liking, with absolutely no food or supplies, or bandages for their wounds.

He crouched down by her, his demeanor seemingly calm. But had she been able to open her eyes against the pain and look directly into his eyes, she would have known in an instant.

The young dwarf was very, very worried.

XXX

The bridge they stood on began to creak, the sound of wood supports snapping echoing throughout the cavern. Suddenly, it gave way, the quickly splintering wood sliding down the side of the cavern at an alarming rate.

The company held on as tightly as they could, not having any other choice as they slid down the steep slope. Their yells and cries intermingled as several of them sank to the lower levels during the descent. There were seconds where they free fell, their hearts in their throats, intermingling with seconds where the ends would catch on the walls, slowing their descent.

After what seemed like hours but was merely seconds, they all crashed down at the bottom of the cavern, the raging, angry howls of the goblins sounding far above them. Several of the dwarves peeked through the debris, dazed and sporting many scratches and bruises, and a few nasty headaches as their skulls had banged against pieces of wood.

Several groans could be heard, and Bofur looked around at them, shaking his head in wonder that they all survived.

No, he thought just as he was about to say that it could have been worse. Not all of us survived.

His heart was heavy at the loss of the two young souls. Young Kili, so bright and vivacious, and always a delight whenever he entered his brother's toy shop. The bright young lad, who was always conspiring with his brother, always pulling pranks, and always ready to fight for those he loved. Gone.

Bofur then thought about the young woman. She had gone through so much, being so willing to aid them despite her obvious grief. He thought back to how she had helped him in the ice cavern, and how she had been so willing to forgive his accidental "grab". So stubborn and determined, so fiery, and slow to trust, but fought fiercely and protected loyally those she called friend. So quick to forgive, and yet so slow to anger, unless those she cared about were threatened, and then her anger was a force to be reckoned with.

Like a dwarf, and yet not like one.

XXX

Kili shivered as he reached for her shoulder, the quickly sinking sun leaving their location in its shadow. He placed his hand gently on it, not wanting to startle the armed young woman even as his eye was on his knife, but wishing to get her attention at the same time.

She jumped slightly, but Kili could tell her strength was gone, and she was very weak. She whimpered, her jaw clenched, and opened her heavy lidded eyes slowly at him. He noticed she was hunched over slightly, and her blue eyes spoke of nothing but pain.

"Cirashala," he began, not quite sure how to tell her about the seriousness of their situation as he glanced around. "We need to move to a safer spot." She groaned low in her throat, before leaning back up against the tree.

"I…I c-can't," she whispered, brow furrowing and eyes clenching as she curled into herself, her grip on the knife failing. "H-hurts…." She began to slump forward, the knife clattering to the rocks below, and Kili reached out his arm quickly and caught her.

He looked at the utterly exhausted and pained young woman, before laying her down on the ground on her side. He put his soaking wet coat on, not knowing how else to carry both it and her, donned his weapon strap and sheathed his knife, before gathering her into his arms.

I must find a safe, protected spot with clean water, he thought to himself, flushing slightly as he glanced at her with concern, his fingertips just barely grazing the highest mark on her back. Her wounds need to be properly tended to, and quickly.

The only problem was, he didn't know where in Middle-earth they even were, let alone where a clean spring was. He glanced down at her, the pale face drawn with pain, and made up his mind.

He began to walk east, holding the injured young woman close with her head tucked into his neck and praying that he would find a spring soon.

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A response to guest reviewer Ari- Glad to oblige you with another update :) I am glad you are enjoying the story-I like it when readers get excited :D As for this, I do not think that either of them will necessarily view it as a debt at this point, because their friendship has already been established. Plus, they were BOTH responsible for getting the two of them out of there alive, so any potential debt is canceled by the other this time ;) As for Thorin's reaction…well, all I can say is wait and see (don't want to spoil all my readers, though I would be happy to spoil you if you pm'ed me :) It's just that other readers might be reading my response to you here, is all. But you are partially right, if that helps :D

Thanks to all who review, favorite and follow-having dedicated readers means a lot :D