Disclaimer: I claim or own nothing. It all belongs to J.R.R Tolkien.

When Kíli's eyes opened slowly he wished silently that he would wake to gold, but instead he woke to darkness and he found himself wishing he hadn't woken up. There was no gold and no light to be found, only more blackness, more coldness, and he found himself shaking slightly. He was resting on his side, something soft beneath his head, some sort of blanket pulled up over his body. He wasn't lying on the cold, rocky or dirty ground. His chest was cold but that was because it was bare.

A frown formed on Kíli's forehead and he opened his lips to speak, but his throat was so dry, so raw that nothing clear came out, only a low, unheard mumble, that was lost in the noises around him. There were noises around him but not all of them were clear to him. Some were lost, taken away by the wind, while others drifted past his ears slowly, so he could hear them.

"Kíli?" a voice came from above him, followed by another voice.

"He is awake!"

The frown that had rested on his face deepened and Kíli tried to sit upright, wincing loudly and falling back against the ground. He shut his eyes for a moment and tried to think back to where he had last been; he had been in the forest with Fíli and they had been lost. Then they had been tracked by Orcs, and separated from the group. Orcs.

Kíli's eyes flew open and his body jolted up painfully, and he moved so he was no longer resting on his side. A hand moved to his shoulder and he flinched, pulling his shoulder away and looking up to find lóin leaning over him, with Bilbo behind him.

"Wh- Óin?" he barely managed to get out.

Óin moved away for a moment, returning with a mixture that he made Kíli drink after he refused it. When he was finished Kíli coughed, clearing his throat as his eyes moved between the Dwarf and the Hobbit standing before him.

"Kíli, can you hear us? Can you see us?" Bilbo asked slowly, and took a step closer.

"What did you ask him?" Óin asked, voice loud. "I don't think he can hear us."

"That's what I said. That's what I asked him."

Óin sighed and turned back to face Kíli. "You need to be resting, lad." he said loudly, moving so he was closer to Kíli. He reached out to help him, but Kíli flinched again and pulled his shoulder back.

"Where's Fee?" he asked, panicked.

Bilbo sighed. "Oh. You can see us? That's – That's a relief."

"How did – I don't understand."

"What did he say?" Óin asked."

"He doesn't understand. He's not – He doesn't understand how we found him, I think." Bilbo said, voice louder. "I think that's what he means. Is that what you mean, Kíli?"

"Where is my brother?"

"You must lie down. Your side-" Óin begun, only to fall silent.

"My side?" Kíli repeated, then glanced down to his bare side. It was covered with damp clothes and some sort of ointment. He frowned and looked up slowly. "This is not real. It cannot be."

"It is real, Kíli. I promise you it is real. We found you. Well, I didn't..And Óin didn't find you either." Bilbo paused, frowning slightly as he looked back down at him. "It was actually Dwalin and Bofur-"

"And Fee."

Bilbo hesitated before shaking his head. "No, it was just Dwalin and Bofur."

"But I saw him."

"You saw who?" Bilbo asked.

"You need to lay back down, laddie. Take care of your side." Óin said loudly, moving to help him down.

Kíli pulled back, watching the two of them closely. "I'm dead. Aren't I?"

Bilbo looked at him, then laughed a little, stopping when he realised that Kíli was serious and truly believed that he was dead. "No, no, you're most certainly not dead, Kíli."

"Then how do you explain this? This isn't real. It cannot be real." Kíli said, muttering the last words so quietly.

"Why? We found-"

"They had me. They were going to cut off my head. They – This is not real. I had a growth in my side."

"No, you didn't. You didn't. It wasn't a growth. And there were no worms." Bilbo said, sighing quietly as he moved to kneel beside Kíli's side. "Listen, Kíli..You've been sleeping for almost two days."

"Two days?!"

"Yes, yes, please stay calm."

"Where are we? Where is this cave? Where are the others?"

Bilbo hesitated as he looked to who Óin, who was still unhappy with Kíli sitting upright with his injuries. He looked back to Kíli and sighed quietly.

"I'll tell you everything, Kíli. I promise I will once you do as Óin asks of you."

Kíli didn't move for a moment, until he slowly eased himself back down so he was resting on his back. He looked up at Bilbo expectantly, wanting to know the truth, and whether this was all in his head or not.

"How did you find me?" he asked.

Bilbo sighed quietly. "Gandalf had a plan."

"Where is Fíli?" he asked.

"He is safe."

"Is he dead?" Kíli asked, the words struggling to escape his lips.

"No, he's not dead. The last time – No, he will be fine, Kíli. I promise you-"

"Do not make me promises that are lies, Bilbo. You don't know where he is. Do you? Why did you leave him?" he asked then stopped, a feeling of realisation running over him. "For me."

"We had a plan. Well, Gandalf had a plan and it worked. We saved you."

Kíli sighed quietly. "I am dead. I must be. This cannot be real."

"It is real, Kíli. It is. What can I do to show you that?"

"There is nothing you can do. You aren't real." he said, and spoke with a quiet voice.

"If I'm not real, what am I?" Bilbo asked.

Kíli looked away from him and stared down at the cloths covering his side. He could not believe that this was happening, or that what had been in his side, causing him such pain, had been removed. He was still in pain now, his body ached and he felt much older than he was. His body felt older than he was.

"Here." Bilbo said and leaned forward, picking something up from the ground. He moved so he was sitting down next to Kíli's side and held out his hand, in it rested a dirty, rotten warg tooth. "I hope this shows you that I'm real, and that you are too. This is not some dream or hallucination, Kíli, and you are not dead."

For a moment Kíli continued to stare at his side, before he slowly lifted his eyes away from it and over to Bilbo's hand, curiosity getting the better of him. He saw in this hand a warg tooth and frowned again.

"When you were attacked by the Warg, it broke off. Óin believes he missed it when he cleaned and sewed the wound." Bilbo said, sighing. "I know that you must be in a lot of pain right now, Kíli. Actually I don't know, because I've never been in half as much pain as your in. The worst I've had is when I was – Okay, that's not important. You don't want to hear that story. You want to hear the truth. You want to know and believe that this is real, and that you are alive. You were right. I can't promise you that Fíli is alive. I wish that I could, but I can't because that would be a lie. But when I last saw him, he was alive and he was holding on for you. You are his strength, Kíli, so let him be yours. You need as much strength as you can get right now, after what you've been through."

Kíli remained in the silence for a while before speaking. "Where is Thorin? And the rest of the company?"

"Dwalin and Bofur rescued you from the Orcs. There were more Orcs than they expected, than any of us did. We were separated from them. Thorin insisted that Óin and I take you. He would not let me try to convince him otherwise."

"And you..." Kíli's voice broke as he spoke and he looked away from Bilbo, feeling his eyes burning with tears. He clenched his hand into a fist and sighed. "And you have no signs of them since?"

"No."

"Where are we?"

Bilbo frowned and looked around the cave, before looking back to Kíli. "We are in a cave, Kíli."

"Where? Is it hidden? Will they find us?"

"We are safe." Bilbo assured him.

"But they are not. We must go-"

"You cannot go looking for them, Kíli."

"You cannot stop me." he answered, almost immediately.

"Actually, I can and will stop you, Kíli." Bilbo answered, voice a little shakier. "Before he sent us away with you, Thorin made me swear to him that I would keep you alive. He made me swear that I would keep you safe. I swore to him he would."

"He is out there-"

"He is not alone, Kíli, and he is strong. You know his strength, I'm sure. You have seen it many times. I have seen it many times myself, and I have not been around Thorin as long as you have. They are all strong, and they are brave, and that is what matters."

"None of that will matter when they are dead."

"You can't think like that, Kíli. You must try to have hope."

"Hope has done nothing for us." Kíli said, voice darker, broken. "It did nothing for me, when I was alone with the Orcs. It did nothing for Fee when they – When they hurt him. And Ori. Hope has done nothing for us, and it never will."

Bilbo shook his head, voice rising a little as he spoke. "Hope has kept us alive, Kíli. It has saved us, and we have saved each other."

"Yes, we saved each other. But who will save them? Who will save my brother? Or Thorin? Or the rest of the company?"

"Once you are healed and well enough to move, we will leave. The three of us will leave and we will reunite with them."

Kíli sighed, looking up at Bilbo with a look on his face.

"What is it, Kíli?" he asked quietly.

"I thought you weren't going to make promises that were lies."

"Would you sit still and let me look at that?" Dwalin asked, releasing a loud sigh as he took step towards Thorin.

Thorin walked back, shaking his head. He tried to ignore the pain he was feeling and looked up to Dwalin. "I cannot sit, Dwalin."

"You can and you-"

"Will not." Thorin said and took another step back. "I am fine, Dwalin. I am worried about Kíli and Fíli, and the rest of the company."

"Well, I am worried for you." Dwalin answered, stepping closer. "Should that not give you cause to worry?"

"He is right." Bofur added, joining them. "If Dwalin is worried, then that is great cause to worry."

Dwalin frowned, looking from Thorin to Bofur. "Weren't you sleeping?" he asked gruffly, sounding annoyed.

"Yes." Bofur nodded. "And I am fully refreshed now, thank you for asking."

After staring a Bofur for a moment, Dwalin spoke. "I didn't ask."

"I am still fully-" Bofur begun, only to be stopped by Dwalin.

"Sit down, Thorin. Eat something. A moment of rest will do no harm." Dwalin said, voice growing louder, fiercer. "We have set up camp for the night. We do not need to leave until the first signs of light."

"He is right. There is nothing else for you to do, Thorin." Bofur nodded.

Gandalf joined them, looking weary. "You will need you strength in the morning, Master Dwarf."

Thorin's eyes moved over them, before he released a loud sigh. "It would seem as though I am outnumbered."

"Aye. It would." Dwalin nodded. "Now sit. Bofur will fetch you something to eat, seeing as he is so refreshed from his sleep."

Bofur nodded and returned to the campfire, where Bifur and Nori were sitting, eating. Thorin looked away from him and to Gandalf and Dwalin, who were standing next to each other.

"You aren't going to run off in the night in search of them and leave me, are you?" Thorin asked, and despite his light voice his face was serious.

He seemed beyond tired, and the lines of worry on his forehead showed the others how worried he was over his nephews and the other half of the company. Thorin did not like the idea of them being separated. They were weaker this way, more vulnerable and open to attacks.

"We are not that foolish." Gandalf answered, a small hint of a smile on his lips as he remembered finding Thorin in the forest, ready to go searching for his nephew. "Now come and sit, Thorin, or you will not be standing for much longer. You need to rest."

With a small, defeated sigh Thorin trudged back to the fire, trudging after Gandalf and Dwalin. He sat down beside the fire, easing himself down beside a large rock that supported his back. When Thorin looked up he found Dwalin, Gandalf and Bofur all watching him. Bofur had a bowl of food in his hands, ready to give to Thorin, but he seemed as though he didn't know whether he should hand it to him now or wait until Thorin had tended to his wounds.

"Thank you, Bofur." Thorin said, slowly extending his hand to reach for the bowl.

Dwalin stood up and took the bowl from Bofur, moving to hand it to Thorin, so he wouldn't have to stand and reach for it. Thorin took the bowl thankfully, swallowing a few mouthfuls of it before he stopped and sighed.

"You doubt Bilbo." Gandalf said, after a long moment of silence. "You doubt that he kept his word, about protecting Kíli."

"I am not worried about Master Baggins. He has shown that he is more than-"

"That is not what I said, Master Dwarf." Gandalf sat down against a tree. "You doubt that Bilbo kept his word to you."

"Do you think I should not have doubt? That I should not worry about my nephews, or the rest of the company?"

Gandalf sighed and glanced away. "They will be fine."

"You do not know that. We do not know where they are, or if they will be fine, Gandalf. We should be looking-"

"You must rest, Thorin. I am aware of your stubbornness, but it would be a foolish mistake of you to insist we carry on searching through the night. It will give us nothing but a weak leader, and we do not need that. If we are to reunite with the other half of the company we will need a strong leader. We will need you, Master Dwarf. Save your strength for morning. You'll need it."

Thorin sighed and looked to Dwalin as he spoke next. "He's right. You need your rest."

"I am outnumbered again?" Thorin asked, weariness slipping through his voice.

"Afraid so." Bofur said, sitting down near them. "You ought to give Bilbo a chance, Thorin. He's one of the bravest souls I've ever met. If he gave you his word that he'd protect Kíli, I believe that he's going to try his hardest to do so."

Thorin put the bowl down to the side, and lifted his head back. "You have such faith in him."

"Aye. I do. And why shouldn't I?" Bofur asked, between mouthfuls of food. "Bilbo has done more than any of us ever asked or expected him to do. He's one of us."

Thorin's eyes moved slowly from Bofur to Dwalin, who seemed to be in some sort of deep thought until Thorin looked at him. He could tell that Dwalin was worrying over his brother, and the rest of the company, the same way that Nori was silently fretting over Ori's and Dori's safety, and Bofur and Bifur were thinking of Bombur.

"Before you rest," Dwalin spoke, and stood up. "We must see to those wounds."

"I am fine-"

Dwalin cut across him with a fierce, low voice. "You will give no argument, Thorin."

Thorin almost seemed amused. "Is that so?"

"Aye, it is."

"I remember how you enjoy arguments so."

"Different occasions. Different Dwarves." Dwalin sighed, and knelt in front of Thorin. He hesitated. "If we are to get you back to the lads, you must be healed and well enough to move. You must also rest."

"I will rest, if it will give me peace from you."

Now Dwalin was the one who seemed amused, and lifted his head to almost smile at Thorin. "I often think the same think about you all."

Thorin let a small smile slip across his pale lips. "I don't believe that."

"That doesn't make it any less true. Now, would you let me look at those wounds?"

A/N: I know it's been a long time since I've updated, but I'm not going to apologise for it. I love writing, but dealing with personal issues stopped me from writing for a while, and then I was unable to write this story for a while. I didn't mean to take this long, but it happened, and I have to put my real life issues and myself in front of this story. I'll try to update more frequently, but I can't promise anything.

Enjoy the new chapter. It's not my best chapter, it's certainly not my favourite, but I wanted to put something up and this was the best I could produce at the moment. Let me know what you think.

Guest - chapter 18: Thank you for your review, enjoy the new update.

Thank you: Oblivian, IFD, Alicia457, Cayran, Lennelle, Zeephyre, girlgeekjf, jaymzNshed, GregsMadHatter, Emma zooka, tinytiffany1722, Guest, Sentinelle, tolkienknight, Beccmoor, Akeea lollylom, Ophelia Lokisdottir and Mzzmarie for your reviews. They are appreciated, and I love reading them.

Thanks for reading. Enjoy.

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