Summary: We meet Bilbo and someone enters Thorin's lands

Disclaimer: I own nothing. This is fiction

Off Limits

A knock on his door woke Bilbo up. He groaned and looked out his window, shocked when he realized that the sun wasn't even up yet! Who in all Middle Earth was waking him up this early? He scrambled out of bed and threw on his dressing gown, rushing to the door.

"Gandalf!?"

"Hello Bilbo, old friend."

This was not good. Whenever Gandalf showed up, trouble followed. He led the man into the house, reminding him to watch his head on the lighting fixtures. They settled in the dining room, with breakfast in front of them.

"What do you want Gandalf?"

"Can't I just come visit an old friend?"

Bilbo sent his friend a withering glare. Gandalf never came for a simple visit. The wizard laughed and lit his pipe, settling back into his chair.

"I need to go to Erebor, the kingdom of the dwarves."

"The Lonely Mountain?"

"I see you're keeping up to date with your maps. Excellent. That will come in useful for our trip."

"Our trip?"

"I want you to come to Erebor with me. I have heard talk of a disagreement between Thorin, the dwarf king, and Thranduil, the elf king. I need someone neutral."

"What about you?"

"I prefer Thorin to Thranduil. Come on Bilbo, it's been a while since our last trip together. And that was only to Lothlorien."

The wizard had a point. It had been years since their last trip together. And Bilbo was getting bored. Maybe he could find something nice for his nephew. Frodo was only nine months old, but already his adventurous side was showing, he was crawling out the door and into the garden, heading for the gate, terrifying his poor mother. Bilbo thought he would like something dwarven.

"Fine. We'll travel to Erebor."

"Excellent. Spend today preparing. We'll leave at first light tomorrow."

Gloin snorted awake as he heard footsteps in the halls. Wait, footsteps? No footsteps had been heard in Erebor since Thranduil placed this curse. Thorin had become a beast, his twelve closest companions were turned into various items and all others who lived in Erebor were sent into a deep sleep. This included Gloin's beautiful wife and son. He tried to see them as often as he could, but it was hard for a tinderbox to climb stairs.

"Oin, wake up. Someone's here."

His brother, turned into a mortar and pestle, leapt to the door, peeking into the hallway.

"It's a man Gloin. Should we follow?"

"Yes, we don't want Dwalin to find him."

Oin shivered at that thought. Dwalin had always been terrifying, maybe that was why he was turned into a sword. They hopped after the human, who was calling for someone to help him.

"Hello, can anyone help me? My name is Isildur and I'm a bit lost."

He veered off to the side and entered the throne room. The only two things there were a wrought iron candelabra and a cloth doll. Oin and Gloin knew that the doll was Kili and the candelabra was Fili. Thranduil knew that the way to hurt the lovers the most was to make sure they would never be able to touch each other again. And now Fili was afraid to touch Kili in case he set the younger dwarf on fire. Fili's flames burst to life as the human picked up Kili. Like all dwarves, he was possessive and protective of his partner.

"Now you're not a dwarf. Maybe a dwarf, elf hybrid?"

A growl echoed throughout Erebor as Thorin caught Isildur's scent. Oin and Gloin knew that the king wouldn't be happy with a human in the throne rom, touching his young nephew. The doors burst open and Isildur screamed, dropping Kili. Oin leapt forward, catching the doll in his mortar, receiving a grateful smile from Fili. Isildur couldn't believe what he was seeing. In front of him was a beast. It stood over six feet tall, black and silver fur covering it's muscled body. Claws adorned his fingers and toes and as he growled, Isildur saw sharp fangs in his mouth. But it was eyes that terrified the young human. They were a cold blue, the colour broken only by the black pupils. They were glaring at Isildur, freezing him in place.

"Who are you?"

"I...I am Isildur, son of Elendil, first High King of Gondor and Arnor, leader of the Dunedain."

"And why are you here?"

"I got lost. Please, let me leave and I won't tell anyone you're here."

"How do I know you can be trusted?"

"Please, I don't want to die. Let me leave and I'll never come back."

The beast seemed to be considering it. Finally a chuckle rumbled deep in his chest.

"Alright, you have a one minute head start. If you get out before I catch up to you, you can live."

Isildur ran. He pushed past the creature and ran to where he thought the doors where. Wait, did he turn left here or further ahead?

"Here, turn left here!"

He turned left and just ahead could see the entrance. He could hear the beast running behind him, claws tapping on the floor, growls echoing throughout the hallway. There, the door!

"Quickly, just another few feet, you're nearly there!"

From the corner of his eye, he thought he saw a paintbrush? Was that the voice guiding him to the exit? He saw the light through the door and added a burst of speed to his pace. He knew that the beast was catching up. Oh Valar, so close, just...a...few...more...feet. Yes, made it! Isildur collapsed to the ground outside the doors and scrammbled back as the beast appeared at the door.

"We had an agreement. You may leave and return to your kingdom. Remeber, if you tell about the Beast of Erebor and they come looking, I will kill them and it will be your fault."

He turned and walked back into the kingdom, the doors slaming shut behind him.

A/N Done. R&R please. Next chapter, Gandalf and Bilbo start their journey, Thranduil checks in on Thorin and Fili and Kili discuss their predicament. In case you're wondering, Gloin is a tinderbox because he has great talent with it and Oin is a mortar and pestle because he's very talented at healing. Apparently, his name was the root for the word ointment. I got this information from "The Hobbit Visual Companion", so it seems dependable. As for Fili and Kili, I just needed something where if they touched each other, they'll hurt one another. Evil, aren't I? This will be the last chapter before Christmas, so Merry Christmas everyone =D