✓ | Forget-Me-Not ~ Fili FanFiction / Hobbit FanFiction / Fili FF

「 Chapter 24 」

The iron slammed into the lock in front of Ilèyn's nose.
She sighed.
Slowly she turned to Fili.
"You..." she said softly "asked about me?"
The dwarf sat on the smooth stone that protruded from one of the cell walls like a bench. He put his elbows on his knees and looked up at her.
All of his weapons had been taken from him, and the remains of the cobwebs were still clinging to the fur on his heavy hooded cloak and in his wavy blond hair.
"I did..." he replied gloomily.
"Fili..." Ilèyn was completely exhausted from the heated argument with her uncle "I... I have nothing else than a sincere apology ..."
As she approached the dwarf, the latter rose.
"Is it true what they're saying?" he asked coolly. "You are the niece of that accursed Elf?"
Ilèyn held his gaze.
"It is true." she forced herself to answer.
It looked as if Fili had one last little hope that all this was drowned out and a lie, but now he looked around the tiny cell, helpless and overwhelmed, as if he was looking for a way to escape from this situation.
"Listen to me, please!" Ilèyn said desperately and stepped a little closer.
"So that you can tell me the next lies?" Fili asked. The calm that lay in his voice was more than frightening. "Since you've come to us, you've lied, why should you do something else now?"
"You don't understand..." Ilèyn said with a trembling voice.
"No." Fili interrupted her, "You are right. I don't understand you... you didn't answer any of my questions, you behaved strangely from the start." The dwarf's voice grew brittle.
"I could already guess that you weren't what you claimed to be. When I... saw your ears, I had enough more guesses, but I continued trusting you. You owe me nothing, however... I thought you would... "Annoyed at not finding the right words, Fili gave a short sigh and said nothing more.
Ilèyn was flooded with the disappointment and sadness in his eyes and could do nothing but slowly close hers.
Why was he looking at her like that?
She heard Fili walking slowly back to the stone bench on which he had been sitting the whole time. Resigned, he sat down.
Ilèyn opened her eyes and looked at the floor.
Both were silent.
The silence ate into Ilèyn's heart.
She felt terrible.
Why?
She took a deep breath to collect herself.

"Thranduil..." she lifted softly and carefully, "The King..."
"Your uncle." came the half-hearted addition from Fili.
"Yes..." Ilèyn said dejectedly. She looked up, the dwarf hadn't moved.
"He wanted information. From me, about you. About the company and its goal." At this statement, the dwarf looked at her, startled.
"What did you tell him?" he asked hastily.
"What should I have told him, Fili?" Ilèyn asked indignantly. "I don't know anything about what your family had to do with my family! I don't know why it matters to my uncle what your uncle's goals are!"
Ilèyn gave up fighting all the confusing thoughts in her head. Her secrets, the company, her uncle, the mission, the enterprise, the endless chases, she didn't want any of that.
She had seen enough of this in her past and had built a reasonably sustainable life for herself as a bounty hunter. At least she could plan these chases.
Keeping all of this together now without giving herself away was exhausting. And slowly her body and mind gave in. Everything had just gone wrong since they'd reached Mirkwood.
"I don't know what's going on here, I don't want to have anything to do with any of this! I've lost control, my thoughts and this... this place is killing me!"
Her back hit the cell bars and she slowly sank to the floor.
Sitting on the cold stone, arms propped up on bent knees, she stared into the void of the cell.
She hadn't gotten loud. She hadn't screamed or cried. She was just exhausted.
Again it was quiet.
Ilèyn heard her heavy breathing slowly calm down. She didn't move, she just sat there. And stared.
"What is happening to me here...?" she whispered feebly, as if to herself, and absently shook her head.

Fili hadn't moved the whole time.
The anger and disappointment still rumbled in his stomach.
When Ilèyn sank to the ground in front of him, however, both suddenly no longer existed.
Fili could see how she suffered. Every day that she spent more with them, the suffering seemed to get worse.
Fili felt his heart making it difficult to see her like that.
He didn't really know why that was. Up until now he had never had enough time to develop such thoughts.
Ilèyn sat motionless in front of him, no tears, no movement on her face. Just this sheer excessive demand.
Leaving her alone with this felt wrong. On the one hand, he was reluctant to just let the shocking truth that she had withheld from him and the others all along, on the other hand... he saw no reason to move away from her just because of her family. Apparently there was tension between her and the Elves of Mirkwood.
The anger or resentment the dwarf expected to feel just didn't come. It was impossible for him to feel anything like anger towards her. It was impossible for him.
Fili slowly slid over to Ilèyn. He pushed aside the last doubt as to whether he should really say something now.
"What just happened?" he asked carefully "Up there... with your uncle."
Ilèyn did not respond directly to the dwarf's question. Only a few seconds later she averted her gaze from the void in front of her and looked the blonde in the eyes.
They both paused for a few more moments.
"Just an... argument, nothing more..." Ilèyn then said, it was more of a sigh than anything else. She buried her face in both hands and exhaled heavily against her palms. She pulled her hands down from her face, stretched her legs, and leaned her head against the iron bars of the cell door.
Fili didn't really know what to say to that. He looked down.