Remember when I said I would not post anything in a while? Yeah, so the last Hobbit movie gave me far too many feels and I needed to get them out in the form of something I don't usually ever publish: A fix-it AU. I don't even know when I jumped on the Figrid carriage of the denial train, but here we are and I need this out of my system before the EE comes out and destroys my sweet denial by showing us the funeral scene for Durin's heirs… just… nope!

UPDATE:

As of this posting, I am rewriting some of and restructuring the whole story. Here is the new Prologue :)


"There is one thing I would like to know old friend." Fíli took a moment to take a deep drag from his pipe. "Why does your book say we perished alongside uncle?" He looked over at the quite elderly hobbit from where he sat next to him on a low stone bench, looking out into the peaceful valley of Rivendell.

Bilbo coughed on his own longbottom leaf, startled. It made the blonde dwarf chuckle, that he was able to fluster him just like in the old days when he had been their unexpected burglar.

"What was I to do? A good story ties up neatly and follows one simple adventure. How was I to include your brother's tie to a woodelf? And the fact that neither of you wanted the throne? Not to mention my dear fellow that you did so to be free to marry a daughter of men, Bard's child no less? No, no, no. It would have run for another three volumes. I am only glad I finished the one book." He put his pipe down for a moment, looking at the dwarf seriously.

His old eyes were sad as he took in the changes in the dwarf who had grown into his prime, golden beard long enough to form a single braid, though still trimmed shorter than others his age kept it. He wondered if it was a tribute to his uncle who he heard once wore it in such a fashion or for practicality. A blacksmith could not afford to be vain after all when he may quickly light himself on fire. "You didn't mind all that much, did you?"

Fíli smiled sadly under his moustache braids, which though a little thicker remained unchanged much like the thick mane of hair. At least something, Bilbo noted, because the expression in his blue eyes was far too full of grief for his liking.

"I'd rather future generations believe we died heroic deaths than disgrace sweet Sigrid and my uncle. My decision reflects in him and mother and though she was furious, she was also happy for us. But it was not the honourable way."

"That is because your people have a strange sense of honour. Endearing, but strange, if you don't mind me saying. Forgive an old hobbit for assuming that your decision to be erased from the chronicles of this Age was giving him license to let his imagination run away with him."

There was silence as they enjoyed their respective pipes. Bilbo eventually lowered his, glancing nervously at the dwarf. He had been overjoyed to see him, but did not need to ask to know what had made him pack up his things and leave Dale when his life had been there.

"May… may I ask what… what happened?" He stumbled over the words, not feeling like he had been delicate enough.

Fíli's eyes darkened immediately. "Last winter,… she had grown quite old for her people I understand… she caught a chill that…" He swallowed hard, taking another deep draw of pipe weed, "she had never been sick… not noticeably, you know. For the longest time she pretended it was nothing to worry about… until…" He turned his head up to look into the clear sky. "A coughing fit had her so weak she could no longer stand and by the time I had forced her into bed and a healer had come, it had gone on too long. Her lungs…"

Bilbo could see the unshed tears in his eyes and reached over to place a gentle hand on his shoulder. "You don't have to… I understand."

"I held her." Fíli could not stifle the sob then, Bilbo wondered how long he had tried to be strong and held onto this, since he was wont to do so. Even on the quest he had always tried to keep a stoic front though he had been so very young. "I held her w-when… she passed and I thank Mahal that I was there for her. No one should leave this world alone, Bilbo. I-I know what it feels like when you believe that…"

At this point Bilbo decided that whether Fíli would allow it or not he cared no longer and hugged the blonde dwarf close to offer some comfort. He also remembered quite vividly those terrible moments when the young dwarf had been dangled by the collar as a taunt in front of his uncle and then stabbed in the back unable to even face the intended killing blow. He closed his eyes, feeling the horror well up inside of him again, remembering how they had been so helpless and unable to even comfort him as he fell.

"It is no dishonour to mourn like this Fíli, son of Dis. Besides you're no longer in need of a royal front." He whispered to him soothingly, trying to focus on the present instead of the past and the scars it left all of them with, physical or not.

He tried not to gasp then when Fíli wrapped his arms around him in a vice like grip and buried his face in his shoulder, sobs suddenly wrecking him freely. Bilbo gently hummed under his breath, much like he would when Frodo had cried when he had been little and still suffering from nightmares about his parents.

"…You'll remember me when the west wind moves

Upon the fields of barley

You'll forget the sun in his jealous sky

As we walk in fields of gold

So she took her love

For to gaze awhile

Upon the fields of barley

In his arms she fell as her hair came down

Among the fields of gold

Will you stay with me, will you be my love

Among the fields of barley

We'll forget the sun in his jealous sky

As we lie in fields of gold…"

He quietly began to sing, the words coming to him easily for he had thought of this untold story and many others for a long while after he had finished his book. Some may call him a sentimental old fool, in particular he pictured a dwarf with raven hair and sapphire eyes, but Bilbo had always been a poet at heart.

Slowly, Fíli's sobs began to quieten down, his shoulders no longer shaking so hard that it jostled Bilbo as he held him. "She was so strong, Bilbo. I remember whenever it pained me to see signs of her age, of the fact that I would lose her, she would hold me tight, telling me that nothing mattered but the present and we needed to enjoy it while we could." He mumbled into the old hobbit's shoulder.

When they moved apart, Fíli reached down to pick up his pipe which had fallen to the ground forgotten. "Most of my people live in the past; past glories, past grudges… She taught me to just live in the here and now."

Bilbo smiled sadly at him, still resting a hand on the broad shoulder, gently squeezing. "Soon you will be able to remember the good times more than the bad, that is all the comfort I can offer you."

It earned him a warm, dimpled smile from the dwarf though it lacked the cockiness and youthful optimism that he remembered from all those years ago when he and his brother had first barged into his smial. "Thank you, Bilbo. I wish… well, I wish uncle…"

The hobbit nodded with a pained expression in his eyes. "I know, lad. I know." He carefully folded that particular grief away deep into the back of his mind and smiled once more. "What will you do now?"

"My idiot brother and his elf are living near the River Lhun. I will go to visit them. My son is with me. You will meet him later, he is studying with the Lord Glorfindel. I want him to know our history from more than one perspective."

"Your son?" Bilbo's smile broadened. They had exchanged letters, but he had not expected to meet the lad. He knew he had taken his parents quite by surprise since they had thought they would be unable to have children after more than fifteen years of marriage and Sigrid had almost thought herself past the age of being able to conceive.

"Yes, Frerin is a true son of Durin though I am glad he has his mother's smile and temper." Fíli sighed, eyes lightening at the thought of his child. "He is as reckless as Kíli ever was, though Sigrid used to be much better with keeping that under control than I'll ever be. I think I understand uncle a little more now. I almost feel bad for setting him loose on this place."

Bilbo could not help but laugh merely. "I'm sure he can't be worse than the lot of you during your stay here bathing in the fountain!"

"Adad!" A loud cry sounded then and he chuckled. "Speak of the menace." He stood and turned to find a tall blonde elf along with a shorter figure approaching them.

Bilbo smiled at Fíli. "My, my. He looks just like his father." He told him but instead of pointing out the similarity in colouring, nodded at the six blades the young dwarf carried in his belt even in a peaceful place such as this, three on either side of the large belt-buckle.

Fíli chuckled. "How did he do, Master Glorfindel?" He addressed the elf who smiled and Bilbo noted still had eyes almost as youthful as the dwarf by his side, he would never stop marvelling at that. "He did well. We traded off two hours of studying for a knife throwing competition and I must say I'm looking forward to it."

"Adad, how many more times are you going to make me read about those ancestors of ours?" The young dwarf complained, interrupting the polite exchange. He had the same Durin blue eyes as his father and great-uncle and though still fairly young at forty years of age, already towered over his father by a good few inches.

"Until it sticks." Fíli reached up to ruffle the lad's hair good-naturedly, the height difference making it a little comical.

Frerin looked at his father disgruntled and blew at a strand of his golden hair which was left just as unruly as Bilbo remembered Kíli's to have been, sporting no braids, just like his beard was left unadorned. "It's sticking well enough, Da'! They all have the same names anyway. It's not that difficult."

"Frerin, I'd like you to meet our famous hobbit, Bilbo Baggins." Fíli then turned to the hobbit who was still taking in this dwarf who looked so much like those two young fools who had barged through his door and into his life.

-"Mr Boggins!" Frerin turned a toothy grin at him and Bilbo groaned.


Frerin was born 40 years before the Lord of the Rings and because I really like the idea of Sigrid and Fíli having a child and he can't be much younger due to, well human aging, I decided to change his age after the wonderful Borys68 got me some reliable information about dwarves that I had been unable to find! So no babyFrerin this time, but perhaps I can sneak him in later on in another chapter. I still can't believe I'm trying my hand at another multi chapter story.