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     Fili and Kili's had come around once again. Kili was now nine and Fili was fourteen. As usual, they hung out with their friends and ate cake and drank root beer. And they were aloud to stay up a little later than usual.

     Fili pretended to be happy, but the truth was, he felt sad. It was hard for him to be happy on his birthday. Nine years ago today his father had died in battle. Nine years ago was when he sat against the cold stone wall, holding his newborn brother close. But he did his best to be happy.

     Kili, Fili, Gimli, Ori and Aiviel had been hanging out the whole day today. The other three didn't see anything different about Fili, but Kili did. There was nothing Fili could hide from him. He knew him too well.

     Fili was sad. And when Fili was sad it made Kili feel sad. He knew the reason his older brother was sad and that only added to the sadness. No, he probably wasn't as sad as his brother was. He'd never met their father. Thorin had been the only father to him.

     That evening as Kili lay in his bed in the dark. Fili hadn't said a word to him that night.

     "Fili, are you awake?" He asked.

     "Yeah."

     "Are you okay?"

     "Yeah."

     Kili stared at the ceiling, wondering if he should stop talking. He decided he would since Fili wasn't real chatty. He rolled onto his side and went to sleep.

<3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

     "Dad!" Fili yelled, bolting upright in bed. His heart raced and he was sweating and trembling.

     "Fili?" Kili asked, sitting up and rubbing his eyes. "Are you alright?"

     "Y-yeah, I'm fine Kili. It w-was just a b-bad dream."

     "It was more than that." Kili said. "Most bad dreams don't scare you that much. Only one does: the one about Daddy."

     Fili didn't say anything. He just sat there in bed, trembling. Thorin walked into the room, dressed in his purple night robe.

     "Fili, what's wrong?" He asked.

     "He had a bad dream about our daddy." Kili said.

     Thorin sat down in the bed and Fili got out of the covers and crawled into his uncle's lap. Thorin wrapped his arms around his nephew, and Kili crawled out of his bed and sat beside Fili and Thorin. "I miss him." Fili said, tears sliding down his cheek and his voice quivering.

     Kili frowned. His brother never cried around him. He always thought he had to be strong for Mom and Kili, and that men didn't cry. Kili hugged his brother tightly, and Thorin removed an arm from Fili so he could hug Kili too.

     "It'll be alright." Thorin whispered. "I've got you."

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