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And beats high mountain down :
Only the dead have seen the end of the war.
So Bilbo never truly did.
He remembers leaving Erebor with a chest full of gold and a heart full of blood.
.
Thorin remembered Erebor as a magnificent place. He remembered joy and feasts, and song until dawn. When he imagined Erebor, that was what he saw. Dungeons deep, caverns old. Gold and jewels, and ale flowing from the barrels.
He never thought of Erebor as a city in ruins, a dead city, full of corpses and bones, and no light but the fire of a dragon reflected on thousands and thousands of coins of gold.
They all shared the same idea, the same dream. They would all walk to the throne, they would all build new houses, dig deeper. They would all wear the beautiful pieces of clothe again. He did not care much for the clothe.
(But he cared for the gold, he cared too much, perhaps, but ask him, and he would tell you it was not about the gold, it was about the honor. He might be lying. He might not.)
Fili and Kili hugged him. They were twenty and so cute and pretty every dwarven girl was squealing with delight at their sight. Kili excitedly said he had to show his uncle how good he was with a bow and arrows.
Kili ran out of arrows, ran out of breath. Blood and fire. Thorin didn't feel the pain as long as it was his own. He could not bear his nephew's, though.
Thorin asked : "Who will follow me to Erebor ?" They all agreed, one by one. Fili was the last. He simply smiled. He smiled and it meant "always".
Fili was also the last to fall.
The last to give up on his uncle.
The pain was unbearable now.
.
Gandalf always said old Took's great grand uncle invented the game of golf. Non one ever knew the truth of it.
Peregrin Took muffled a cry and asked :
"What happened, then ? Did they die ? Tell me they survived ! They were my favorite, with Bofur ..."
Merry sighed and replied :
"Pippin, don't be stupid ! They were badly hurt. There is no way they survived this."
Young Frodo simply stayed silent and stared at his uncle, who slowly asked :
"Is that what you think ? Pippin, do you think they survived ?"
"They were heroes, of course they survived."
"Merry, do you think they died ?"
Merry nodded.
"Now, what is the story you prefer ? Would you rather see them dead, or alive ?"
There was a cry from the three of them. Alive, they said.
"Then believe they are alive, and hope."
There is no other way, for this is what I have been doing ever since I came back, remained unsaid.
And when he laid awake at night he could not help but think that, alive or dead, they were all doomed, for when he tried to remember what had been before, he could only remember Gollum's voice whispering :
This thing all things devours: Birds, beasts, trees, flowers; Gnaws iron, bites steel; Grinds hard stones to meal; Slays king, ruins town.
And beats high mountain down.
When he could remember Thorin, Fili, Kili, he wondered if he really wanted to know the truth about their fate.
