Warnings: Nothing serious enough to be warned about.

November 2nd, late night

Sam

"Sword?"

"Check."

"Knives?"

"Two of them. Check."

"Extra clothes?"

"Why would I need extra clothes?"

"Just in case. Do you have them?"

"Yes."

"Good. Courage?"

"Enough of it, hopefully."

"What are you two doing?"

Kíli and I both looked up when we heard Fíli's curious voice. He sat down next to us.

"We're checking if I've got everything I need for a battle," I replied jokingly. "Kíli calls himself an expert."

The black-haired prince nodded enthousiastically, and his brother barked a laugh.

"This is not her first war, Kíli," he chuckled.

Kíli shrugged.

"It will be the first one where she is well prepared."

"Yeah," I agreed, spinning my sword around in my hands, "and also the first one with a sword that I can handle. And, hopefully, also the first one where I won't have to go back to save one of you."

I felt myself become serious as I looked both brothers in the eyes, one by one.

"Can you promise me that that won't happen?" I asked.

I noticed that my voice was shaking, and for once, I didn't hate it. It was a sign that I was genuinely worried about them. Last time had been part of my job, and I had mostly been worried that I'd fail and that the Council would kick me out, take away my ring, wipe my memory.

Right now, I didn't worry about any of those things. I didn't even worry about the fact that I wouldn't be able to come back here if I went back to my own world. I only worried about the pain my friends – could I call them friends by now? I believed I could – would have to suffer if they were going to die.

We didn't have many Healers with us, nor were they good enough to save someone who was dying. It takes a couple of hours to die if you get stabbed in the stomach, I knew from my own experience. Hours and hours of horrible pain, without hope of anyone being able to save you. I didn't want that to happen to anybody. I really didn't.

And, just like that, being the weak dumbass that I was, I started to sob.

I didn't see it because I was hiding my probably really ugly face in my hands, but I knew Fíli and Kíli shared a confused look before they wrapped their arms around me.

"We promise we will stay alive," the youngest of the two said softly.

I snorted disdainfully. "You can't promise that."

"Then we promise we will be less reckless than last time," Fíli replied, glancing at his brother, who smiled guiltily.

It made me smile through my tears, which probably looked really, really ugly. I sniffed.

"You'd better," I said hoarsely, doing a pathetic attempt to be funny. "Dying hurts a lot. Believe me. I've died, like, a hundred times by now. Or it feels like that many times."

"Awesome," Kíli whispered, and his brother shot him a glance, which almost literally said something like 'Hey, you're not supposed to say something like that! That's not a nice thing to say! Apologize, untactful asshole!'

"I mean," the black-haired Dwarf quickly added, "that it is amazing that you are basically immortal. You can die in one world but still live in another. That is quite remarkable."

I didn't know how to react; my throat suddenly felt like it was being squeezed shut, and I couldn't get any words out of it. There were too many feelings inside of me. That had happened many times before, but it usually didn't result in crying; mostly just feeling like I could explode at any second. I guess I had exploded now.

Fíli rubbed my back comfortingly, and I must say that it helped. We sat there, the three of us, the two brothers with their arms wrapped around me, for a couple of minutes, before I sniffed and straightened up a little.

"You don't think I'm weak, now, do you?" I asked uncertainly, allowing myself for once to truly ask what I wanted to know.

Fíli and Kíli shook their heads simultaneously.

"Not at all," Fíli replied. "Do you seriously think that we have never had a breakdown before a war?"

His younger brother hit him on the back of his head.

"We agreed that we would never tell anyone about that!" he hissed, but the blond Dwarf only laughed.

And I laughed, too.

A/N:

If I were you, I'd prepare myself for the next chapter. It's kinda long, and kinda intense, too. Got feelings while reading this chapter? It's NOTHING compared with what's coming.