This came out of two prompts from Neocolai. Thank you, you are all my inspiration.

I am writing this as I re-read and edit this whole fic, so if you are reading this then you have probably stumbled across it by some miracle fluke. Welcome! If you decide you want to read this to the end, then I might mention that my writing improves a bit as I go along, mainly due to the extensive practice I got. All reviews, even though I'm not updating any more, are very appreciated! I hope you enjoy :)

"Filiii"

His scream echoed inside his own head but was drowned out in the commotion of battle. Then, all of a sudden the noise stopped and a melodic Elven voice rang round the forest clearing.

"Do not think I won't hesitate to kill you, Dwarf,"

"Fil-"

Kili's scream was cut short as the spider put one of its massive, hairy legs in the middle of his back and started grinding him into the ground, effectively winding him so that he could shout no more. Then the foul beast adjusted it's crushing bite on his foot and started dragging him again, faster, into the deep dark depths of Mirkwood.

Fili didn't know whether to be relieved or scared. They had just escaped giant spiders, but were now surrounded by not the friendliest looking of Elves. Out of habit, he looked around for his brother Kili, to see how he was dealing with this situation. Though he was the older, calmer, level headed one of them, the respect Fili held for his brother could only be matched by what his brother felt for him, and the pair were usually inseparable, even going so far as to sleep back-to-back under the same cloak for warmth. All the other dwarves had learned to accept this as normal for the brothers.

The longer he scanned the group, the more Fili's heart leapt up into his mouth with every beat. His eyes kept resting on his uncle Thorin, who had the same dark hair as Kili, but eventually he had to accept it. His brother wasn't with them.

As the Elves closed in, Fili moved towards his uncle and grabbed his arm.

"Uncle, where's Kili?" he asked urgently.

Thorin looked round, alarmed. "He's not with us?" Fili shook his head. A muttering went round the group, and the tension seemed to shoot up, but the Elves took no notice, rounding up the dwarves like scared sheep and forcing them to march single file through the forest.

Fili resisted, calling out Kili's name until his voice was hoarse. The elves pushed him back with arrows notched tightly into their bows, ready to shoot without mercy, but still he fought, and only after an arrow whizzed so close that it clipped his ear did he stop, sobbing and falling to his knees, head in hands.

"You there," an elf shoved round the dwarf at the end of the line roughly, "get this one to move,"

A familiar face swam into view through his veil of tears. Uncle Thorin looked down at Fili with a mixture of concern and disapproval. Fili felt ashamed, crying in front of their enemies. He was meant to be the strong one, the brave one, the one who kept his head in any situation. Kili might be expected to break down like this, but certainly not Fili, heir to the throne of Erebor.

"Get up Fili," said his Uncle sternly, hauling him to his feet, "what has got into you?"

"Uncle, we can't leave Kili out here," whimpered Fili, grasping onto the front of Thorin's cloak and sobbing between syllables, "he's lost and there are spiders and he needs us!"

Thorin nodded in understanding but inside he felt completely helpless. He could see why Fili was upset but that didn't excuse him for losing his head, nor did it explain why the young dwarf, who could usually be relied on to keep a cool facade in the face of danger, was reacting so badly. Fili must be calmed down if Thorin wasn't to show himself up in front of his enemies. Then Thorin could worry about his lost nephew.

"Fili, your brother has sense, he'll find a way out. He's probably in less of a mess than we are now," he consoled the bleary eyed dwarf, "you've just had a bit of a shock, we all have. Now you'd better find some dignity before we reach the Elves' place, or I will not be sympathetic, Kili or no Kili,"

Fili swallowed hard and nodded in defeat. As if to reinforce his uncle's point, both dwarves promptly received a sharp dig in the back from the tip of an elvish arrow, wielded by a particularly haughty looking elf with long blond hair. It was always hard with elves to discern gender, but if Fili had been asked he would have probably guessed male.

"Move along, prisoners. Less of the talking, more of the moving,"

The elf received Fili's most ferocious scowl, but simply laughed. Heartless beings, thought Fili, they look so pretty on the outside, but inside there's nothing but selfishness and greed.

Hanging his head in submission, Fili shuffled forward after his uncle. Thorin was right, he had lost his head in that moment of panic, and it wasn't like him. He had to get himself back to normal, then maybe he'd be able to think straight and find a way to escape and find his brother. The thoughts swam around in his head like soup though, and he couldn't seem make much sense of them.

He barely noticed entering the Elven fortress, nor gave any sign that he cared as his twin swords were stripped from him and thrown carelessly onto the heap of weapons that was piling up as the dwarves were searched. He gave no resistance as he was thrown into a dingy cell, but merely lay on the floor and wished for oblivion.

If only he had watched over Kili better in the battle with the spiders. They usually fought as a pair in battle, despite their contrasting weapons. How had they managed to get separated? How had it led to this? Maybe it would have been better if Kili had not come on this quest at all. He was the youngest of the company, and it had taken quite some persuading to get their mother, Dís, to agree to any of them going. Gloin had certainly not let his son, Gimli, have any choice in the matter. But the princes of Erebor were among the most stubborn of dwarves and eventually Dís had given in, on the condition that they both return whole and unharmed. She had also given Fili express instruction to protect his younger brother, whatever happened. Fili had failed.

Half unconscious and wrapped in a spider's web, Kili groaned. He had a killer headache and there was a throbbing pain in his right foot - the one which the spider had dragged him by. He opened his eyes, then immediately closed them again and waited for his head to stop spinning. The second time he tried, he opened them slowly, a crack at a time, until he was completely awake and staring straight up into the eight grotesque eyes of a giant spider.

He sighed. He was too weak to fight, not to mention tied in sticky spider silk and hung half way up a tree. But the spider was lowering it's mouth parts, ready to give the deadly bite that would mean the end of him, so Kili reckoned he had nothing to lose.

Giving a sharp twist, he tore a gash right down the side of his silk casing and rolled out. Finally able to see how high up he was, he shot out an arm and grabbed a branch to stop himself plummeting to certain death. The spider was advancing menacingly but Kili decided it would be best to kill it rather than run away. The spiders knew these woods better than he did and they were swifter in the trees than he would be on the ground.

Still hanging by one arm from the tree branch, he grabbed an arrow from his quiver with his free hand and started to swing as much as he dared, so that he could reach the softer underbelly of the spider. To his luck, the spider moved directly over him and was about to inject its poison into the hand that clung white knuckled to the old gnarled branch when Kili struck. With all the energy he could muster, he drove the arrow in his hand deep into the abdomen of the beast, causing it to squeal in agony and lose its balance. As it toppled backwards off the branch, Kili yanked his gory arrow from the spider and breathed a sigh of relief.

The spider hit the forest floor with a sickening crunch and curled up into a ball, dead.

The descent from the tree took longer than Kili had anticipated, mainly due to the fact that the branches were widely spaced and he kept getting stuck on strands of spiderweb. When he judged that he was close enough to the ground, he jumped, but it was further than he expected and he landed rather painfully next to the unfortunate spider that had got him into this mess.

Picking himself up, he removed his trusty bow from his shoulder and wiped the arrow that was covered in spider entrails on a clump of moss before setting it to his bow and taking a step forward.

A twinge of pain in his foot told him that all was not well. Suddenly, Kili remembered that the spider had dragged him away with its mouth. What if it had bitten through his boot? Trying not to panic, Kili sat down, dumping his bow and arrow in his haste and pulled off his right boot to examine his foot.

It was only slightly swollen, but the swelling originated from a shallow scratch down the outside of Kili's foot. A scratch! Kili picked up his boot and sure enough, there was a thin tear down the side of it, matching the red mark down his right foot. Turning back to the scratch, he noticed with a twinge of foreboding the green lines extending from it. Poison.

Only a tiny bit, mind you. If the spider had bitten him outright, he guessed he would have been completely unconscious by now. No, it was only a drop of poison. Kili could only hope it wouldn't kill him, but as to what other consequences it might have, he couldn't guess.

For the first time, he realised how totally alone he really was. There was not a living beast in sight, but a faint chatter overhead told him that there were more spiders. By Aulë, how many did they have to kill and still have more coming! Knowing that he would be better off away from this forsaken nest of webs, Kili pulled his boot on as silently as he could, only letting off the occasional gasp as his foot twinged again. Then he picked up his bow and arrow and set off, stubbornly ignoring his foot. If the poison did take effect, it would certainly be best to get as far away from the spiders as possible before it had time to spread throughout his body. Not for the first (or last) time, he wished his brother Fili was beside him.

Thanks for reading, and please do review, this is my first ever fic and I would love to hear what you think!