A/N This is my first Hobbit fic so apologizes if the characters seem out of character. The title came from a line in Gabrielle Aplin's song 'Ghosts' because it made me think of Fili and Kili. It may take a while for me to update this because University does not allow me a lot of time to write. I hope you enjoy this.

Fili looked frantically around him. The Battle had ended and to Fili's despair he had lost sight of Kili. Thorin had been badly wounded and though Fili was loathe to admit it, it did not look as if Thorin would survive much longer. Fili himself was hurt, but it was not serious, he had only sprained his left ankle and received a cut on the right side of his head. Which had ended up spreading blood down the side of his face. He still remembered Kili's frantic yell as he had watched as Fili had fallen after the blow to his head. And that had been the last he and seen or heard of his little brother. As he clambered over a huge pile of dead Orcs and Goblins he noticed they had all received killing blows by very familiar arrows. Fili smiled proudly seeing the sheer number of the enemy Kili and managed to cut down on his own, but Fili's smile quickly faded. Kili should have been stood on top of the pile gloating to Fili, saying how he had just proven a few of the Dwarves back home wrong. He had proved to them he deserved his place in the company. And most importantly how his bow and arrows were not just Elven weapons.

But Kili was not gloating. He was not grinning broadly. He was not stood tall and proud. He was not worrying over Fili's limp and cut. He was nowhere in sight.

"Kili!" yelled Fili as he stumbled on, his eyes darting across the blood stained ground searching desperately for any sign of his brother.

As Fili moved away from the dead Orcs and Goblins that had been slain by Kili he headed in the direction he thought Kili would have been standing. His foot collided with something, Fili was about to ignore whatever his foot had moved away when his eyes rested on a bow. A bow that had been given to Kili on his 30th birthday. He bent down and with a shaky hand Fili reached out and grasped the bow. He stood with the bow rested on both his hands. In the 47 years Kili had the bow and despite how well he had taken care of it, it had gained the dents and scratches Fili's fingers were ghosting over. Thorin, over the years, had offered to buy Kili a new bow, but every time he offered Kili refused. The bow was Kili's most prized procession and never let it out of his sight, so Fili knew Kili couldn't be very far away. He turned around in a tight circle, the bow gripped tightly in his grasp. That was when Fili saw his brother. The sight of his beloved baby brother lying sprawled in the dirt and blood, pale and unmoving pierced with an arrow to his lower chest, made Fili's heart clench and almost break. Because his brother looked as if death had already taken him.

He ran the short distance to his brother, hoping and praying Kili was still alive. Fili skidded to a halt kneeling beside Kili ignoring the twinge in his ankle. Carefully moving around the arrow that had struck Kili, Fili rested his head above Kili's heart. He breathed a sigh of relief to hear it beating, but it was slow, Fili knew if he did not get help soon then Kili would die.

Fili looked at his brother searching for other injuries and winced seeing his little brother's face smeared with dirt, bruises and blood (he was relieved that not all the blood was Kili's own). Then when he looked closer Fili could see that Kili's right hand was injured, it looked as if someone had stomped on it. Fili choked back tears seeing two of Kili's fingers bent in unnatural angles, also the dark bruises that covered the hand which was a contrast to the bright red of the blood slowly seeping from cuts.

"Kili can you hear me?" asked Fili as he desperately clutched Kili's uninjured hand. Kili made no response. "Kili please open your eyes!" Fili begged as he ran the fingers of his free hand through Kili's matted hair. Kili's chest continued to rise slowly, but now he began to wheeze. Fili looked around him and could see no one who could help.

With one hand still grasping onto Kili's uninjured one and his other still running his fingers through Kili's hair in a comforting way that he had done all through Kili's life. He took a deep breath and shouted, "HELP! PLEASE SOMEONE HELP! ANYONE! HELP!" Fili continued to shout and scream until his throat became sore and voice became raspy. Then he realized, no one was close enough to hear him. No one was coming to help.

Fili looked back down at Kili, and for the first time noticed the blood that bled from the arrow wound. Frozen Fili watched as the blood flowed from the wound and trickled over Kili's armour and landed on the ground, mixing and spreading with the blood already spilled. Fili slowly tore his gaze away from the trickling blood and pulled his eyes back up to Kili's face. Kili's stillness unnerved Fili, he halted the hand running through Kili's hair and instead rested his hand on his brother's forehead.

"Kili! Please Kili open your eyes! You can't leave me! You have to stay! I fear Uncle has already passed, and I cannot lose you! Please Kili!" choked Fili as tears began to sting the backs of his eyes. Then tears slipped down his cheeks and landed on Kili's face. With gentle hands Fili brushed the tears off of Kili's face. Kili's eyes then flickered open.

"Fi…li" rasped Kili as he blinked up at his older brother.

"Kili!" gasped Fili, he pulled himself closer to Kili's head, "It's alright brother. I'm here"

"You're hurt" frowned Kili, ignoring the fiery pain in his chest as he looked up at Fili's blood stained face.

"I'm fine" assured Fili, "It's just a small scratch. You, above anyone else, should know cuts on the head bleed more compared to anywhere else"

"Was that an insult?" wheezed Kili as he gave Fili a small smile.

"Possibly" smiled Fili.

It was comforting teasing Kili and Kili responding, but it was bittersweet. Fili could hear Kili's wheezing breaths and knew that was not a good sign. Fili frowned as Kili shifted around jolting his wound and noted Kili's crestfallen expression.

"What's wrong Kili?" asked Fili,

"My…bow…I lost…it…was knocked…over…and…an Orc stood…on my…hand…dropped my…bow…" panted Kili, his movement was not helping and Fili could see his brother was working himself into almost a panic.

"Easy brother" comforted Fili as he gently, but firmly, pushed Kili back to lying down.

"But…my…bow…"

"Shhh" soothed Fili, he removed a hand from Kili's shoulder and held up the bow, "I have it, you do not need to worry"

Fili felt Kili relax, Kili tried to raise a hand to take the bow from Fili, but he could not lift his arm very much off the ground. So instead Fili, knowing what his brother wanted, placed the bow in Kili's hand and closed Kili's fingers around the bow.

"…Thank…you…" wheezed Kili. Before Fili could respond Kili began to cough, and to Fili's horror blood began to slip from Kili's lips and Kili's eyes began to slip shut.

"No! Kili! Just because I gave you back your bow does not mean you get to fall unconscious! Now stay awake!" demanded Fili.

Between coughs Kili was able to slur, "M'tryin'…but m'tired"

"I don't care!" growled Fili, "I'm not going to let you leave me! We made a promise as we set off on the Quest! We promised to never leave the other behind! And I have no intention of leaving just yet so you have to stay!"

Fili could see how, at the reminder of the promise, Kili valiantly tried to keep his eyes open. But Fili could see Kili's strength was fading.

"…M'sorr'…" gasped Kili as his eyes closed and he went slack, the bow slipped from his hand.

"Kili!" screeched Fili.

Looking around there was still no one nearby, so Fili knowing his brother was fading away. Snapped the arrow that was embedded in his brother's chest in half, he took Kili's quiver off his brother and put the bow in it before slinging it over his own shoulders. Then he crouched and then slung an arm around Kili's back and his other arm under Kili's knees, he stood and quickly carried his precious brother across the battlefield towards the tents he could see near the gate into Erebor.

Fili was sat beside Kili, Oin had done all he could, but there was no certainty that Kili would live. Kili's wound had already been serious, but the arrow that had wounded him had been dirty. So now Kili was fighting an infection. Fill looked down at his brother, Kili's breaths were still wheezy and he still looked pale. He heard whisperings of healers saying Kili would be lucky to survive, but Fili stubbornly hung onto hope just as Kili was stubbornly hanging onto life. Fili reached out and took Kili's uninjured hand in his own, he leaned over and rested his forehead against Kili's, something they had done for as long as Fili could remember.

"You have to recover Kili. You just have to" murmured Fili. He leaned back in his chair and thought about Thorin. While Oin had been tending to Kili, Balin had found him and hastily took him to Thorin's bedside. Fili knew then, he knew his Uncle was going to die. Fili felt tears stinging his eyes again when he thought back on his last moments with his Uncle.

Fili warily approached the stretcher that was raised off the ground, part of him wanted to turn and run. He didn't want to face his Uncle lying on the stretcher. His Uncle couldn't be dying, he just couldn't. But Fili still found himself stepping towards the chair at his Uncle's beside. Seeing his approach Dwalin with one more look at his closest friend ushered everyone else out of the tent with his fierce glare, leaving Fili alone with his Uncle. As he passed, Dwalin patted Fili's shoulder and Fili nodded in response.

As Fili lowered himself into the chair he saw Thorin look him up and down. "You are hurt" stated Thorin seeing the bandage across Fili's head and the bits of remaining dried blood on his face.

Fili shook his head, "It was only a cut"

Thorin nodded, then looked over Fili's shoulder expecting to see Fili's ever present shadow. "Where is Kili?" frowned Thorin,

"Oin is with him" responded Fili, trying to keep his voice even.

"Fili" warned Thorin, "What are you not telling me?"

Fili took a shaky breath and replied, "He was…struck by an arrow"

"Where?" demanded Thorin, though he tried to mask it, Fili could see the concern in Thorin's eyes.

"In the lower chest" murmured Fili, he clenched his eyes shut trying to block out the memories of finding Kili on the battlefield.

"He will live?" asked Thorin hopefully,

"I don't know" whispered Fili, "He looked dead when I found him. I failed him Uncle"

"You did not fail him Fili" comforted Thorin as he used most of his remaining strength to rest a hand on Fili's.

"But I let us get separated! I promised him I would stick by his side through the battle" argued Fili,

"It is battle Fili, no matter your intentions things happen-"

"But it shouldn't have mattered that we were in a battle! In any fight we have been in we have always been side by side and the one time we get separated! The one time I don't go and find him thinking he would be fine is the time I find him dying!" cried Fili.

"Hush Fili" soothed Thorin, "For as long as Kili draws breath there is hope. And I know your brother will do all he can to ensure he will not leave you"

"Uncle I'm scared. I don't want you to die" confessed Fili,

Thorin sighed, "I do not want to leave you Fili, but my time has come to join our ancestors. And I know you will be a great King. But know this Fili, whatever happens to your brother, it is not your fault. I am so very proud of the both of you and I am honoured to have fought beside you today"

Fili saw the light fade from Thorin's eyes and unashamedly he cried for the loss of his Uncle.

Fili blinked the memory away. While he desperately wanted Kili to wake, he didn't know how he was going to tell Kili of their Uncle's passing. Thorin was, had been, an important figure in Kili's life growing up. Their father had died when Kili was only a year old, and Kili had been very close with their father. From the day Kili had been born his eyes had either followed Fili or their father's bow. It had been hard explain to Kili that their father had died, and Kili grew distressed whenever he saw a bow, he even refused to go outside (their father's and Kili's favourite place). Fili had tried to encourage Kili to go outside, but if Kili was near an open door he would turn away screaming. Fili had been distraught, he had lost his father and his little brother seemed to be trapped in his grief, so Fili had turned to his Uncle Thorin not wanting to further upset his mother. Thorin had spent time with Kili, building a close relationship with his nephew, and then he slowly, step by step he had managed to get Kili outside again. It had been Thorin who had first suggested Kili try the bow remembering his fascination while he had been a baby. All these events had formed a close relationship between Kili and Thorin, it was almost as if Thorin was Kili's father, Fili was not jealous of this in fact he was glad. Because it had helped free Kili from the harsh grip of grief. And now Fili didn't know how he was going to tell Kili.

A groan brought Fili out of his thoughts, he looked to see Kili shifting restlessly. Fili leaned closer and again rested his forehead against Kill's.

"It's alright Kili, shhh. I'm here, everything is alright" soothed Fili, he was comforted when Kili settled back into the deep sleep he had been in.

As Fili leaned back Kili protested, so Fili gripped Kili's uninjured hand gently. "It's alright Kili, I won't leave you. I'll be here when you wake". Fili refused to add if you wake that the healers no doubt would be thinking. While Fili knew the wound and infection was serious, he knew, like Thorin had said. No matter what Kili would do everything he could not to leave him.

TBC