The seven days of the death

' It is Better to love wisely as too hotly; because the latter will only lead to ruin and tears whereas the former will bear fruit and happiness.'
Old sayings…

Part one, and so, it begins…

Fili was watching the enfolding scene with Bard and Thranduil with trepidation. He had feared already that something like this would be happening once they had taken back the mountain. The look in his uncles eyes had been unmistakable. Thorin, son of Thrain, son of Thror, the next King under the mountain had fallen victim to the curse on the house of Durin the Deathless.

He had been tainted with the same curse that had felled his grandfather Thror; goldfever, the dragon-sickness, greed, whatever you wanted to call it.
Groaning the heir apparent rubbed his weary face and retreaded from the balcony without to look after the receding group of elves and men. He did not need to look to know that this would dissolve into a lot more trouble as they all could deal with in the very end. It was their burglar that worried Fili more right this moment. Bilbo, who Fili believed to have the Arkenstone hidden somewhere on his person or elsewhere in the mountain.

Fili had seen the Hobbit figed around and his guilty looks made it easy for the clever Dwarf to connect the dots in his brain. Nothing else made any sense under the given circumstances, Bilbo had to have the accursed stone. They had found it nowhere in the massive hoard and search, they did. Day and night, Thorin was relentless in his want to have the stone once again in his grasp.

He knew that Bilbo only followed an advice given to him from Gandalf, still, Bilbo was kind of betraying Thorin with this and as much Fili thought that Bilbo and Gandalf had it right, the follow up would endanger Bilbo to an extend that the young Dwarf was not willing to let happen to Bilbo. He didn't know what their Halfling was planning exactly but whatever it was that his little witty head was currently cocking out, it was too dangerous for Bilbo and Fili would stop it! Settling his mouth into a firm line, Fili walked down the steps from the archers balconies that lead to the former entrance hall of Erebor. His sharp blue eyes never leaving Bilbo's small frame that hurried down the same staircase in the distance down.

Bilbo was aware of it that Fili had taken to the weird hobby to watch him over the entire time that they had traveled.

He couldn't exactly pinpoint when it had started but suspected that it had already the moment he had opened his green door to the brothers. In the beginning it had unnerved and unsettled the Hobbit greatly. Now, it made his task to do only more problematic… oh how Bilbo wished for it that Gandalf was here! The wizard surely could have shaken Thorin out of whatever had taken hold on the King and most of the other Dwarrow's.

The only ones that he could see that hadn't been taken with the Goldfever were Fili, Kili, Bofur and Balin. The others were in various states of it, ranking from a slight affliction as in Dwalin's case to a heavy contamination as in Nori's and Thorin's. With the last having the worst case of them all. Gandalf had warned Bilbo about something like that happening once they all saw the masses of Gold in Erebor. He had foreseen the trouble in the waiting, had even told Bilbo about the affliction of Dwarves to Gold and masses of jewels.

He shortly played with the thought to use his ring to vanish on the heir of Thorin, to hide from his sharp eyes that Bilbo could even now boring into his back!

It still unsettled him to be the sole recipient of the blazing gaze of Fili, prince under the mountain.

What did he want from Bilbo anyways?! Bilbo wasn't certain but then again, he was only a simple Hobbit that wanted his home and his friends, preferably, safe, alive and sound in mind while he walked back to the Shire! Fili Durin on the other hand, did not play fair! He made Bilbo nervous and flighty and most of all, he confused the hell out of the poor hobbit with his unusual behavior.

It had become apparent to Bilbo that he was watched after the incident with the Troll's.
Now, that had been a nasty business, Bilbo didn't think that he would ever forget the stench of those creatures, ever! It took him a while to realize it that Fili had actually watched him covertly for a while longer already. Once Bilbo got that thought, he had been shocked. And the way the heir did it was unsettling the Hobbit. Sometimes, Bilbo caught Fili with a look in his eyes that was scorching and filled with so many hidden and unnamed emotions.

He did not know what to make of the Dwarves apparent weird behavior.

While walking Bilbo remembered one particular moment very clearly and shuddered at the memory.

They had reached the bottom of the Carrock at nightfall. All too tired to do much more as to fall down where they stood, most drifted off into an uneasy sleep as soon as they hit the floor. Bilbo had taken refugee next to a large rock. It shielded him a bit from the harsh wind and the cold of the night. No one dared to make a fire, not after having just escaped Azog and his goons.

He heard the telltale sound of Dwarvish boots hit the gravel when someone walked over to his place. At first, Bilbo had thought it could be Bofur but when the body of the Dwarf in question hit the earth the grunt told Bilbo otherwise. Opening one eye tiredly he saw right at Fili's profile in the half-darkness. The young heir of Thorin rubbed his eyes tiredly.

Clearly he was outworn and just as tired as the rest of them all.

For a long moment no one said a word. Then Fili suddenly stopped with his gazing into the distance in silence. "You are still awake?" Bilbo opted for a tired nod. Somehow he couldn't fall asleep. He blamed it at the adrenaline still coursing through his blood and the cold, unforgiving stone he huddled against.

"No, I mean yes I am still awake and cannot find sleep. Too much happened in a too short amound of time, I guess. Makes it harder to find rest." Next to Bilbo, Fili nodded slowly. "Same here. I cannot find rest before I have fully calmed down. Too many close calls for the day for my taste!" Looking around, Bilbo saw Kili had huddled up next to his uncle. Already fast asleep. Even Thorin seemed to have fallen asleep already with the young Dwarf practically cuddled up in his side. Bilbo suppressed a tired giggle at the sight and next to him he felt Fili move until he saw the Dwarf give the couple the same look. Amused gazes meet and both broke out in silent chuckles.

"Ah, yes Kili is a bit scared right now I guess?" Bilbo laughed lightly. "A bit? He coddles Thorin like a fauntling would a teddy bear!" That statement lead to a new bout of chuckles between them. Fili finally nodded sagely, lips quirking up in his mirth. "Not that uncle terribly seem to mind him doing so… he has always done this hugging thing when he was scared in the past. I gues we all got used to his quirks." He gave Bilbo a solemn look.

"How are you? Any injuries?"

Bilbo shook his head tiredly. "No, just a bit sore feeling. A few scratches and bruises but nothing dangerous, I assure you. A good nights sleep and I should be fine again, you?" Fili shrugged. "One of my shoulders took a hit and I have many scratches and bruises but luckily nothing broken and neither do I have cuts from their cursed blades. Fili got a deep wound on his left arm, Oin saw to it already. Otherwise, I think we got away damn lucky."

Bilbo nodded and agreed softly to that. a new shiver joined the few that had run over him since he had dropped down near the rock. Bilbo was feeling cold and he tried to huddle deeper into his ruined waistcoat. "Cold?" Fili's voice cut through the night sounds again and Bilbo nodded once more. "Yes, terribly so I fear. This weather is not exactly Hobbit friendly." Next to him, Fili broke out in a bout of amused chuckles at Bilbo's words. Before Bilbo knew what was going on he felt the Dwarf sidle over to him and envelope him into the warmth of his embrace.

Fili simply ignored the soft protests of Bilbo that this wasn't proper and continued to enfold the slighter body into his embrace until Bilbo was settled in his lap while Fili's back was to the stone. Huffing and puffing also did not work with the infuriating blond. Fili did not let go, no matter what Bilbo tried. In the end, Bilbo gave it up, his heart wasn't really into it anyways. And the Dwarf was Warm! So much in fact that he somewhat worked like a furnace in Bilbo's back that soothed the chills away.

He fell asleep right after he had stopped struggling. To tired to complain about the hand in his hair that seem to pet him soothingly.
After that night at the stone outcrop, Fili took to it to sleep near Bilbo until the debacle in Mirkwood and even there the Dwarf had made sure that Bilbo slept near the bars of his cell. Had guarded Bilbo so he would not be seen from the Elves on their patrols and had shared his food with the poor hobbit.

The odd looks had increased in that time.

He had been the only one to see the ring and Bilbo using it too. It had taken Fili not long to figure out that Bilbo used something to make him invisible. He had given the ring one look and had recoiled quickly. "That thing is not a normal ring, Bilbo!" eying it carefully Fili had not dared to touch it, despise the clear want in his eyes. Bilbo had fearfully watched the battle that seem to rage inside of the Dwarf before he had turned around to face his cell wall instead of the ring.

"Bilbo, put it away, please. This… thing… is like the rings I heard about as a Dwarfling. Like the seven rings of my kin, forget by Celebrimbor and his smiths of old. Just… ten times worse?" He gave the Hobbit a haunted look that had Bilbo fast put the ring away. "What do you mean, Fili?"
Fili heaved air into his lungs before he crouched down in front of the bars.

"I think it is an evil thing and if we would not need it to escape I would ask you to throw it into the next fire chasm we run across! Magic rings have never brought something good and will never do so either. All of the rings in this world are cursed from Sauron. You better use it wisely, my friend and do not show it to anyone else either! Especially not uncle. Not that I do not trust them, it is more that I do not trust that, thing!"
In the end, Bilbo had promised to Fili that he would keep it secret and not short after they had escaped.

His hand touched the ring in his pocket calmly.

He needed to get away from the overprotective Fili to do what he must. Bilbo knew as much. He suspected that Fili knew that Bilbo had taken the arkenjewel and now tried to stop him. with one last look over his shoulder the Hobbit resolved himself and slipped the ring on the same moment he slipped around the next corner.

Fili saw Bilbo fiddle with something in his pocket just a second too late to react.

Running down the last distance he rushed around the corner that Bilbo had rounded only a moment before to see… nothing. Not even footprints in the dust gave Bilbo away, somehow the hobbit had avoided making them. As light-footed as Bilbo was it that was to expect. His fist hit the wall next to Fili with an assortment of many interesting curses in Khuzdul while Fili's face morphed into a grimace of suppressed anger and hopelessness. Turning with another curse, Fili strode resolutely down another corridor after some moments of heavy thinking.

'Looks like I have to resort to my last of plans', the Dwarf thought defeated.

It wasn't something he did look forward to and yet at the same moment it settled a darkly arche in his chest, Fili let a sigh escape his lips. He would have preferred it to not to have to do to such an maneuver on Bilbo but as the things lay, his greatest worries and fears were about to come true as well as that Bilbo left him absolutely no choice as to do this to him.

While he walked Fili passed Kili and Bofur on his way. The two fell in step with him silently.

His thoughts turned back to the day that unusual couple had been found out by Thorin…

It had been on the way down the Carrock that his uncle had finally caught on. What resulted into a shouting match between, Kili, Thorin and Bilbo. The Halfling had known and even encouraged the two to find hope in each other. Had helped them to hide from Fili's uncles gaze so they could sneak off to have some quite moments to themselves, had even taken the blame for their disappearing acts more than one time without an complain.

It had endeared him to Fili deeply as well as too the family of Bofur.

All they had wanted was to be happy, sadly Thorin needed a shouting match between Bilbo and himself to see reason.

"If I had known that your reputation and lineage is more important to you as the happiness of one of your nephews, I would have staid home or have that Azog have you! Are you really that callous to not see the love that lays between the two?" Bilbo had snorted at the gapping that Thorin had done after those words, a cynical sound that soo did not seem to fit with the normally friendly creature at all. Another snort escaped Bilbo's lips when he walked away from Thorin as far as possible. Bilbo then had given a look full of such distaste over his shoulder at Thorin that Thorin had reeled back from it as if the Hobbit had physically slapped him and after a while he had halfheartedly carved in.

Ever since, Bofur and Kili had been inseparable.

Where one was, the other was not far from to find. A truly bonded pair if Fili had ever seen one in his short life. It seemingly did soften down Thorin too since he began to make remarks on it that Kili and Bofur behaved as such lovers should, even reluctantly acknowledging that they held in the boundaries of Dwarrow sensibilities of what was proper behavior and what was not.

In the end he had officially approved of the pair in Laketown and it was left at that.

Rounding around a corner that lead to the long walkway to the royal rooms that the brothers and Bofur now used, Fili moved like a ghost along the long hallway.

He had always feared that their quest would probably end in a disaster. Fili had these foreboding dreams all through his youth in Ered Luin, now he was certain that something awful would be happening soon. Gritting his teeth, Fili stopped shortly to ball his fists until his brothers hand gripped his shoulder. It was enough to shake the heir of Erebor out of his anger again. He shortly laid his hand onto that of his brothers before he walked quietly on. Another memory came to his mind. One that was of an much happier note as the last.

He had simply believed that he would have more time…

The door looked cheerily green, even in the darkness of the night that Kili and he arrived at it.

They had searched for hours for the right one! Gandalf truly could have been more forthcoming with the directions given. Both looked at each other and shrugged. When Bilbo opened the door, his normally friendly and cute face set into a grimace, Fili felt his heart stop a beat or two… only to beat suddenly much faster as before. Outward he had let nothing show on his face. Had been the perfect picture of indifference when Bilbo tried to close the door into their faces.

Inwardly, Fili had laughed and laughed and laughed.

He had wanted to dance and sing even! The more the evening grew late, the more he had simply wanted to snatch Bilbo up under one arm and bring him to his mother to keep him safe there until he returned. Of course, that was a silly thought… but tempting none the less.
Fili had early on known that the quest needed all of his awareness to survive it in one piece. He had no time to romance the Halfling.

And not the freedom for it either, he was The Heir apparent after all!

With that, came responsibility and many troubles his younger brother was thankfully spared from. On their adventure was simply no time to defy his uncle that much or to stain their group relationships with the troubles that came with having two headstrong feuding Durin's in their middle. It would have tested the boundaries too much and would have destabilized their group in the end.

But once this was over and done with, once he was free to do as he wanted, Fili had sworn silently to himself that he would be after Bilbo with all his might!

And if he had to resort to it to lock him into the damnable treasury of Erebor to hinder him to go back to the Shire, he would have done so. In getting their One's, Dwarrow were impossibly inventive if needed. And already back than, in Bilbo's home Fili had felt the beginning stirrings of his inherited possessiveness and need to keep Bilbo to himself grow with each moment that he did look at the almost tiny creature that fluttered around with adorably flailing arms.

Over the course of the next hours, he had been in hell.

Hoping that Bilbo would come and hoping at the same time that he would not, had warred inside of his Dwarvish heart. He had on one side, wanted his one to never leave his side again selfishly and on the other hand had wanted him to be safe and sound. When Bilbo finally showed up, he had collected his betting earnings because he had bet on Bilbo coming, together with Kili, Bofur and Gandalf as the only ones, and tried not to look too relieved.
The Troll accident had left him shaking, the following madrun through the wilderness, exhausted and worried to the bone.

What if Bilbo had stumbled? Been caught in a spot without help? Been ripped apart by the Trolls?

In Rivendell he had not let him out of his sight for more than the time it took Thorin, Balin and Gandalf to speak with Lord Elrond. The wizard had taken Bilbo along with him to it. Fili had not liked it, his possessiveness had already grown too deep to take the risk to loose sight of Bilbo. And that Bilbo gazed at the elves all the time with that awed look of his had not made it easier for Fili to stop himself from simply snatching Bilbo up and carry him out of the blasted elven realm to stop him from it either.

He wanted Bilbo to look at him, only at Fili with that adoration in his eyes.

Unsurprisingly, this had not exactly endeared the elves to Fili either way and in the end Fili had been glad when they had to leave.
Of course his brother had somehow known from the beginning on.

Kili had made certain that Bilbo spend time with the brothers and later with Bofur and them. The toymaker too had taken a shine in the Hobbit and Fili was sure, if his brother had not happened that Bofur had tried his luck on Bilbo for sure. But once Kili had begun to spin his net around the Miner and toymaker, Bofur had been lost to the younger Durin.

After all, who could escape the famous charms of his family unscathed?

No one Fili had ever heard about and he had shrugged it off.

Well, if you did not count in his uncle into the list of charmers, that was it. Thorin could not seduce a fly into letting him alone if needed, let alone the Halfling into reacting less jumpy around Thorin. What maybe had to do with the pesky fact that the King was simply awful to the poor little fellow all the time?

Luckily even the thickheaded uncle of Fili slowly learned his lections and warmed somewhat up to Bilbo, what in turn pleased Fili. Still, Bilbo kept his guard up around Thorin for as long the journey took. That also pleased Fili to note, since he did not want Bilbo near his uncle too much!

He wanted Bilbo for himself and knew only to well about the magnetism that was Thorin Oakenshield.

He stopped in frontage of an old oak and steel door that was leading to his new chambers.

Opening the old lock with the key he now wore around his neck, he stepped in without to close the door again. The other two did not follow him in, they rather took to stand guard outside while he walked through the room to the door to his new bedroom. He vanished inside from their sight.
Inside, Fili went over to the trunk that sat on the end of his bed and kneeled. Opening it he begun to rummage around in his few belongings carelessly until his hand touched an familiar small box of steel. He grabbed it and closed the trunk again. Then he rose with a grunt and walked around the trunk to sit onto his unmade bed.

This Steelcase held something that Fili always held dear and near to him, no matter where he went in his life.

Like all Dwarrow's, Fili had begun his workings on his courting gifts early in his life. Being always on the move since he was born, never really having a home to call their own, Durin's folk had learned to keep their dearest treasures close to their bodies all the time as not to loose them accidentally when they had to move quickly. Inside of the smallish box was something that was more valuable to Fili as the fabled Arkenstone of his forefathers.
When he opened it, the top revealed a necklace inside.

The links were made of Mithril and rare white gold, it made no sound when he took it out of the case to hold it up into the light of one of the rare windows that had survived intact in the mountain after Smaug had come. This rooms had once belonged to Frerin, the brother of Thorin and his mother. Deceased when the Dragon had taken their home. He had died in the fights of the gate long before Fili had been born.

Now, the window let in just enough light of the late evening sun to let the metal of the Necklace shine and sparkle in the light like water in sunlight. It reflected the light onto the walls and had Fili loose the hard edge of his sharp smile. On the thin but still much masculine looking band hung exactly three beads. Two, had always hung on it, made by his hands once he was old enough and skilled enough to make them.

Both were made of the stone that Fili had chosen to represent him at a young age, sapphire.

The braids in his hair told the world around him that he was an accomplished silversmith and gem cutter in Dwarrow society. Once he had mastered the latter, he had worked on the beads and once he mastered the first, Fili had made the collar by his own hands. Actually it had been one of his master pieces, that necklace and the Gem's had been another when he had ended his apprenticeship under the best tutors of the Blue Mountain and beyond.
Each of the line of Durin choose a craft or two to master it when young.

In Kili's case he had learned gem-cutter too and engraver so Fili's and his trades would not overlap too much and had accomplished both with the usual grace of his line; as a master in the end, like Fili had excelled in his chosen trades before Kili.

Both were accomplished blacksmith's too, since Thorin had taught his sisters children well in his own chosen trade in their youth. Never forgetting that they needed to know as much as he could teach them to survive until they had their home back. From their mother both had learned the art on negotiating and it often even showed when both prince's combined their efforts in gaining something through it.

But all of that would not help Fili with Bilbo and he knew that too. When it came down to the Hobbit Fili had soon learned that Bilbo could be more stubborn as the famous rock in the legends! He chuckled lightly, his Hobbit would have made a fine Dwarrow if born as one.

The beads were made of sapphires.

One was of the telling shade of the deep royal blue of the line of Durin and carved and cut in the design that marked the beat as Fili's and as a courting bead of the Dwarf to any other Dwarrow's that would ever look at it. The other was of a golden coloring. He had searched long and hard to find that particular color under all the ones presented to Fili once he made it known that he wanted one to make his courting beads.

They were extremely rare and this one glowed practically golden in any light as if it possessed one of its own.

That bead was carved so it was showing only Fili's chosen personal design and marked any who wore it as his chosen. The last bead was new, not in existence itself but in the way it was cut and all. He had found the stone on one of his excursions into the mines in the iron mountains and had kept it ever since out of a point he had not known.

When Fili had meet Bilbo, he had known why.

The almost greenish-blue stone too was a sapphire and also a rare colored one at that as his own stones were. Somehow, once he saw the Hobbit, he had associated him with green and growing things and nature itself. It had befitted Bilbo in Fili's eyes and so he had cut away on the stone on the journey when he was certain that no one was around to look upon his work or to disturb him. He needed silence and solitude to work at his best.
Kili, understanding what was going on in his brothers head, had aided him whenever he could. Had even stood guard when needed and had distracted the others including their uncle all the time from what Fili was doing.

It had paid off a thousand times!

His blue gaze looked at it with a sad smile on his lips. The stone had the final form of a flower. It was an impossibly detailed rendering of a several Primroses, looking like a delicate band or crown and the flower meant as far Fili did know it, nothing less as; Eternal Love.

He had needed weeks to carve them out of the stone and more to bring them to shine later on.

One time, a goblin nearly found the case in his cloths until he was dislodged from Fili in his horror to maybe loose these important gems and the necklace to them like that. Later, he had checked in broad daylight that they all were still with him in one piece. No one had commended on it, all feeling the same and had done so too while looking away from each other respectfully. Not even the elves of Mirkwood had dared to take those cases or adornments from the Dwarrow, they had known that much to leave them with them after making sure that they held no possible weapons.

Fili gnashed his teeth and bore with their snooping in his most personal affairs, but would never forget about this in the future to come.

That blasted elf, Tauriel, looked mightily impressed at the fine working, whistled even lowly and had, luckily, let it slide without anymore comments as; 'He has no weapons, leave that case with him for the sake of the Valar and do not touch it!'.

Putting it back into the Steelcase, Fili unlocked his legs and stood again to stretch one last time before he briskly walked out of his rooms again.

He had his Hobbit to catch before Bilbo managed it to leave and that, most likely, for good.

Outside his rooms, the two others followed him like shadows again. Fili did not stop in the treasury and neither did he spare a look for anything else or anyone on his way down to the old entrance of the Mountain Kingdom. He simply walked on, silently avoiding to draw attention to himself. His companions did the same. Once being in the old hall before the doors, Fili stepped into the deep shadows and waited for Bilbo to come this way.
Why he was so certain that Bilbo would take this route to make it out of the mountain was a simple logical conclusion. There was no other way out as trying to climb down from one of the highly situated balconies and since Bilbo was absolutely not found of heights in either way, he would have to use the barely restored door of the grand entrance hall to Erebor to escape. Fili had noted their Burglars fear of heights early on in the quest and had made certain that Bilbo did not got exposed to them often.

Besides, Dori and Gloin would guard the old archers platforms tonight and so, that way was literally out of question for Bilbo to use. Even invincible.
The absolute silence in the hall made it a tad easier to pinpoint Bilbo when he finally appeared two hours of waiting later. Seeing his uncertainly, Fili knew that the Hobbit feared to be ambushed and made himself known after a while of observing the still visible Hobbit calmly for a short while. He did not know whenever he would see Bilbo again and if it even would be in this life.

As expected, Bilbo jumped when he saw Fili suddenly appear out of the dark shadows that had aided the Prince's hiding from sight. He saw out of the corner of his eyes Kili and Bofur move back the way to ensure that the two of them would be alone. Bofur even waved at Bilbo with a sad smile while Kili nodded at the Hobbit. It seemed to calm Bilbo if not confuse him.

Fili had expected as much.

"I was sure that you would take this way instead to try to steal the key from Thorin to escape through the hidden door." Fili's voice was calm, too calm and Bilbo did know that too from the looks of it. The Hobbit gulped and stepped a bit backwards.
Fili sighed and crossed his arms over his wide chest.

Stepping up until he was two steps away from Bilbo he made certain to not spook the Hobbit even more. "I know that you have the stone and I can muse about it what you plan to do, Bilbo" He told the poor Hobbit carefully than he crocked his head just so to the side that Fili looked contemplative to Bilbo. "I will not even hinder you, Bilbo. It would be a futile try and I know that you can be more stubborn as a Dwarrow when it comes down to it. Allow me one question thought?"

Bilbo gave him a contemplating look back. he looked mightily sorry to Fili who tried to take in every feature of Bilbo while he tried to make the most of the short time he had with the Hobbit. Finally Bilbo nodded slowly. "By all means do ask, but why do you not stop me if I may ask? One would think you, your brother and Bofur would do so. I am a bit confused to say at last."

Fili only smiled sadly at that.

"I knew since the beginning of this journey that not all would go the way we all dreamed it to be, Bilbo. To be honest, I have always feared that it would end this or another way." He breathed in deeply. As near as Fili now stood to Bilbo, he could easily smell the scent of the Halfling. Honey, grass and something that was simply, Bilbo to Fili's senses.

"Although I cannot call it a good thing what you plan, I will not hinder you. Seeing that it is most likely the only thing that will make him see reason again, but be warned," He leaned in closely to Bilbo before he continued and gave the hobbit a grave look of veiled warning of the dangers to come, "This can cost you your life in the worst case, and will end in banishment in the better. Seeing how gold-sick my uncle already is, he will need a while to recover enough to see reason, I fear."

Another sigh left Fili's lips and for a moment he closed his eyes in his helplessness to prevent this all from happening.
To his surprise he felt Bilbo suddenly step closer and enfold him in a earnestly meant hug. He had always marveled at Bilbo's capacity for being compassionate over others that he cared for and Fili had known that the small Hobbit did care for Kili and him in his own way. He still could not help himself from hugging Bilbo back while he could.

Leaning forward, Fili buried his nose in the curls of the slightly smaller man and closed his eyes again.

"I am soo sorry, Fili!"

Bilbo's voice sounded muffled from where he had buried his face into Fili's mantle. The prince chuckled mirthlessly.

"Don't be! I know that Gandalf goaded you on to do such if certain events took place, that old shrewd! But that is unimportant, just promise me to be careful, ok?" The hobbit head nodded against his chest where it still pressed into Fili and the Dwarf suddenly wished he could hide Bilbo away somewhere from this all.

"Will you not consider another way at least?" He knew, his question was only formality and Bilbo seemingly knew it too because a unhappy laugh escaped him.

They staid silent after that, just holding each other for long minutes. Without to let go on Bilbo, Fili put one hand into his pocked and removed the case. He opened it silently and simply held it there for a moment. Only staring at the necklace and the Beads. He knew that Bilbo wore no jewelry or even a chain around his neck so, when he finally took it out of the case all Fili had to do was to lean back just slightly so to slip the long chain of mithril over the head of the surprised Hobbit to place it around Bilbo's neck.

"Wha… Fili?"

The Dwarf gave Bilbo a soft and open smile. Something seemed to settle within Fili seeing Bilbo with his courting necklace around his pale neck. Even if the poor hobbit had no idea of what it meant to the Dwarrow at his side. Bilbo eyed the chain and Bead's curiously before his wide eyed gaze went back to Fili.

"I… I can't take this! Why..?" His poor attempts on refusing the gift where wished away from Fili with putting a finger to Bilbo's lips. Efficiently silencing the Hobbit.

"Hush. It is mine to give since I made them and all I ask of you is to promise me something, Master Burglar." He grinned winningly at the befuddled Hobbit that finally gave him a defeated look in return.

"You will not let me change your mind, don't you, Fili?" The Dwarf shook his head one time, the smile still playing around his lips.

"No." Fili simply and with a huff, Bilbo finally carved and nodded softly. Meanwhile Fili ended his sentence in his mind with, 'after all, it was made for you'.
"What do you want me to promise, Fili." His eyes looked weary and sad and it broke Fili's heart to see Bilbo look that way. steeling himself he refused to back down. Instead his hand went to the necklace to play with the green Bead before he took it and moved the chain inside of Bilbo's clothing Carefully.
Fili did so without to touch any skin, he could not risk it to do so or he would loose any restrain he held onto!

"Promise me by Mahal and Yavanna that you will never take it off!" Fili's voice was firm and left for no argument and it made Bilbo arch a fine brow in his surprise. Never less, he slowly nodded after a while of deep thinking. "Very well, I…"

"No! Promise it to me By Mahal and Yavanna that you will not take my necklace off, Bilbo!" Fili interrupted Bilbo suddenly vehemently.

He startled Bilbo with it and with the sudden grabbing of the poor Hobbit's arms greatly, Fili could tell as much but he needed Bilbo to do it properly or it would not work what he did plan to do here. Gulping again, Bilbo gave him a cautious look before he repeated what Fili had asked for with a soft voice. Clearly not knowing what he was doing when he spoke the words out aloud that would doom his future unknowingly to him.

"Alright! Alright, calm down Fili! Oh Valar have mercy, what has gotten into you out of the sudden?" He gave the not bulging prince another look before he sighed.

"Oh well then… I, Bilbo Baggins promise to you, Fili Durin, by Mahal and Yavanna, to not take off this necklace freely for as long as I live! There, happy now you menace?"

The smile Bilbo got for his words could have only been described as dazzling. The hurried nods had Bilbo fear that Fili would accidentally hurt his neck, so strong were they and he had to laugh at the exuberance of the Dwarf.

"You are a real trouble maker, Fili Durin! But you know that, don't you?" Bilbo told him fondly and the swordsman just grinned in return. Looking to the world as if a mountain of troubles had suddenly fallen from his shoulders. Bilbo shook it off and thought nothing of it besides that he found Fili exceptionally handsome looking like this. So happy looking and so carefree for once.

Suddenly Fili froze and so did Bilbo in sudden alarm.

Looking around he saw Kili gesticulate at them hurriedly before he vanished around the corner again.

Fili let reluctantly go on Bilbo and instead took his hand to lead him to a crack in the boulder that had been hastily erected in the last days. There he shocked Bilbo again by suddenly pressing his forehead to Bilbo's before he let go on the Hobbit to quietly shoo him along on his way.
"Please take care, Bilbo, we could not bear it if something would happen to you!"

He told the still bewildered hobbit before Bilbo lost sight of Fili.

Behind him, Fili looked outside and after him for a long while. The face contemplative and sad altogether. The two behind him did not say anything at all for the long it took him to mentally say his good byes to his Hobbit. When he finally turned Bofur caught his gaze.
"Ye think that, that was wise? Bilbo knows not of what he got himself into. Mightily unfair if ye ask me. While I understand why ye did it this way, it is still somehow not fair to the poor laddy." Bofur told Fili with a cheerless look.

His mate simply took him into his arms and looked at Fili sadly.

"He did what he had to, Bofur. Otherwise, with the looming treat of all of us dying, what else could my brother have done to ensure that Bilbo is and will stay his to claim?"

Fili nodded to Kili's words.

"I know that I was not just to him, Bofur. But I cannot help myself! I wanted him for so long and have my duty to fulfill first, what else could I have done? With uncle mad, us sitting inside of this trap and no way to put a courting into action and Gandalf's meddling looming at the horizon, what else was there for me."

He gave Bofur a sad smile.

"You know as well as I do it that that blasted wizard would have hushed him back and away from us as soon this all was over anyways! Most likely, that was always his plan? I don't know but what I do know is that he cannot longer take Bilbo from my grasp in any way with this in place and the words spoken! For one time only, the meddling of Gandalf will bear no fruits."

He gave the toymaker a devious smile that made Bofur gulp and lean back into the comforting embrace of his mate.

"No matter what he plans and schemes now, Bilbo is mine, even not knowing it and that is all I need to know to be contend. If I die tomorrow I will do it with the surety that he will still be mine to claim I am, after all a Dwarf and of Durin's line to boot, did you really think that I would let him escape my grasp if I could thwart it?"

Fili's cold gaze was positively frightening now and worried Bofur, even knowing that he had nothing to fear of Fili, ever. Of course he knew how jealous the line of Durin could become when it concerned their Ones. He could sing a song of it himself, by Aule's beard, and what a song that would be! His mate was no exception from that rule. If anything he was even more devilish in getting what Kili wanted as his normally much calmer brother.

Obsessive, possessive and outright dangerous they all could become if someone threatened their families and their Ones, Fili was only showing the true colors of his house and heritage openly for a time being. He had always known that this side was hiding under the skin of the heirs of the house of Durin, in a way. it was one of the points why Bofur had needed so long to come to terms with his attraction to Kili and why he had held the youngest Durin on arms length for so long.

Once Kili had made up his heart and mind and had decided to go after Bofur in earnest, there had been no place in Arda in which he could have hidden himself from his much younger mate. Kili would have followed Bofur there to drag him back with him to Erebor.

Bofur just wished Bilbo would not have to suffer this through. He prayed to Mahal that they would stay alive through the next days to come so his gentle friend would not have to go through the hell that would await him otherwise. He liked the Hobbit genially and had a soft heart when it came down to his friends. But he also was aware of it that Bilbo was Fili's One. He did not want the lad to suffer a life without Bilbo, or him without Fili. And there was a big chance of one of them all dying in the next days.

Fili must have read his acceptance in Bofur's eyes because a honest smile suddenly played over his features.

Clapping a hand on his brothers mate's arm, Fili gave him a reassuring look. "Do not worry about our dear little Burglar, Bofur. That is my task now to do and nothing will change that again. I swear that I will never harm him willingly but you know that I could not have let him go from me in any other way as the one that I choose to enact upon him. He is Mine, was always Mine and will stay that way until the remaking of Arda now. And I will take care of what is Mine!"

With that he removed his hand and walked back into the darkness of Erebor in long, confident strides.

Fili watched his uncle nearly throw Bilbo over the balcony a day later.

Barely held back by the combined power of Dwalin and Bofur. Kili was held back by Balin and Bombur. Thorin, he noted nothing of what happened behind him but Bilbo saw the mad glint in Fili's eyes when Thorin held him over the edge. The last thing that Bilbo ever saw of Fili alive, was the look of utter helplessness and sadness in the blue eyes of the Dwarf when he had to crawl over the rim of the edge to climb down the ladder.
Once the ladder was brought up again, Fili was released.

He turned fast and hit Dwalin with his fist in the chin in his utter fury than he stalked away from the honestly shocked Dwarf and all others. Until his death, Fili did not speak a word again with either, Dwalin or his uncle. It puzzled them all greatly but no one dared to question it. All had known how much Fili seem to like the tiny Burglar and thought that he was mourning his friendship lost.

In his rooms, Fili had sat for hours later in the darkness.

His head in his hands, simply breathing in and out to calm his temper down enough again. What he had feared had come to pass, Bilbo was lost to him now. At least until this was solved out or else was happening. Either way, he felt that he would not see the hobbit again in this life and only the thickness of the stonewalls kept the company and his uncle from hearing his screams of utter rage and despair this night.

The night before the final battle, Fili spend in his room alone and away from the others.

He already knew that he would not survive the next day, felt the surety of this in his bones and was powerless to avoid the despair that came with it. He worried and fretted about Bilbo who was now in the tents down there on the foot of the mountain and alone. Wanted to go there but knew that his honor and given oaths to his uncle weighted more as his wants and needs. He only hoped that Mahal would be kind on him and grand him his wishes if he managed it to stay honorable to the end.

And when his hands finally brought him over the edge into his release that night, Fili felt hollow because it was his own hand and not that of Bilbo that had brought him his temporally relieve. That night, he wept himself like a Dwarfling into a fitful sleep.

When the deadly killing blow finally came hours later, it was a blessing for Fili in a way. his soul let go on the body almost at the same time his poor baby brother breathed his last breath too and together, as always, the two soared into the sky and away from all the oaths that had held them prisoner before.
Finally, finally they were free to do as they wished.