Chapter Eight
The four mutants from Bag End led Fili and Kili outside to a dark, sleek van parked in the hotel carport. The speedy twin with the silver eyes, who the blond had called Elrohir, had darted forward to start the car. His brother, Elladan, was using his red swirling energy to lift the two unconscious mutants to the van.
The blond and redhead were flanking Fili and Kili. Fili could feel the waves of mistrust and suspicion coming off the two. He couldn't blame them. They were two unknown mutants who happened to show up just as the fighting was over and ask for a ride to what was supposed to be some sort of secret hiding place for mutants.
They were pretty suspicious, Fili had to admit.
"Get in," the blond ordered as they reached the van, tone as icy as his powers.
Fili motioned for Kili to go first, not wanting to leave the younger man alone with the hostile mutants for a moment. Just because their distrust was understandable didn't mean he was going to trust them with Kili.
He climbed in right after him, surprised to find that the back of the van had been modified so that there were padded bench seats running on either side, leaving the middle largely free. Currently, this free space was being taken up be the unconscious figures of Bolg and Smaug crammed together near the back and guarded by Elladan's watchful eye.
Kili was sitting near the front on the side opposite the door and Fili took a seat next to him, crowding him against the driver seat in an attempt to put as much distance between them and the mutants who had been hunting them.
"We should blindfold them," the blond said after he and Tauriel had gotten in and Elrohir began driving.
"Calm down, Legolas. If these two were after them," Elladan said, gesturing towards Bolg and Smaug, "then I'm sure we can trust them."
"The enemy of our enemy is not necessarily our friend," the redhead pointed out, eyeing Fili and Kili carefully. This was concerning, as Fili knew exactly the power those eyes held.
"It's not like we don't know the address," Kili spoke up with amusement in his voice, even as protectiveness flared within him as he wrapped an arm around Fili's waist. "You're really just saving us a cab ride."
Legolas narrowed his eyes. "And just how do you know that?"
"I think that's a story best left for when we get to Bag End," Fili said, giving Kili's knee a comforting squeeze. He wanted to reach out and project trust onto the other mutants, but he wasn't sure if that was the best way of actually gaining their trust.
He really didn't know how he was going to explain the things he knew once they got to Bag End. He wasn't too enthusiastic about the prospect of telling all of them about his visions, and he had no idea how he would be able to convince them even if he did.
And he certainly didn't want to tell them about Kili's abilities. Not until he was absolutely positive they wouldn't try to use him. Fili wasn't stupid. With the pervasiveness of technology in the world, there was very little that Kili couldn't do if he stretched himself far enough. If known, it would be a coveted power.
"So why were these two after you?" Elladan asked good-naturedly, nudging Smaug with his toe.
"Fili bumped into one of them on the train," Kili replied smoothly. "Must've made him mad."
"I'm guessing blondie here is Fili?" the redhead quipped, tilting her head towards him. "Now who does that make you?"
"You haven't told us your names," Fili retorted. "What makes you entitled to ours?"
"We aren't the ones bumming a ride," she shot back hotly, but Fili could sense that she was more amused than angry, even if her suspicion persisted.
"Her name is Tauriel," Elrohir chirped from the driver's seat, shooting her a grin in the mirror as she glared at him. "And if you haven't caught on, I'm Elrohir, that's Elladan, my brother, in the back, and the blond is Legolas."
Elladan snickered while the other two radiated exasperation.
"It's nice to meet you," Fili replied curtly, purposefully not returning the favor. He shot Kili a confused look at the guilt he suddenly felt coming from him.
"Oh come on!" Elladan pouted after he realized Fili wasn't about to give them their names. "You know our names! And we already know your name! What's the big deal?"
Fili scowled at them and snaked a possessive arm around Kili. "I know who would want me dead," he said seriously, thinking of his father and repressing a shudder at the memory of his frightening vision of being experimented on. "But I don't know who would try to kill him and I'd rather not taken any chances."
Tauriel gave them a speculative look. "You know, knowing people are trying to kill the both of you doesn't really give us reason to trust you."
"Well, we're here," Elrohir chimed in, slowing down as a familiar iron gate swung open before continuing up the drive. "Too late to kick them out of the van now."
Fili stared up at the mansion after getting out of the van. It looked bigger than it had in his vision. More imposing. It was hard to believe that in such a short time, it would be reduced to a crumbling shell.
"Sorry," Kili whispered, leaning in close and pitching his voice so low that only Fili could hear. "I shouldn't have said your name."
He shook his head with a smile. So that's why Kili was feeling guilty. "It's okay," he whispered back. "The only people who might be after me don't know me by Fili and would never work with mutants."
He wasn't so sure he could say the same for Kili. They had always assumed that the people who had bombed his apartment building had been anti-mutant humans. But with the realization that mutants were fighting mutants, he couldn't be sure anymore.
They were led into a large entrance hall, one that Fili had seen before, only then it in tatters with the bodies of dead mutants strewn about. Seeing it now made his stomach bubble with unease.
"I see you brought home company."
Fili turned his attention to the four figures that had been waiting for them. The smallest of them was the one who had spoken, a short, unassuming-looking man wearing a tweed jacket with elbow patches and smiling fondly. The other three did not seem nearly as thrilled at his and Fili's presence. Or maybe their distaste was for the unconscious mutants Elladan had set down on the floor.
"They asked for a ride," Elladan said simply with a shrug.
"Yes, but why?" the tall blond man that bore a strong resemblance to Legolas asked, a shrewd look in his eye. Fili couldn't quite place the emotion he was feeling. It wasn't quite suspicious. It had the same feel, but with an edge of sharp eagerness that he didn't understand.
The annoyance that shot out of the shorter man, though, was quite familiar. "I've told you, Thranduil, all mutants are welcomed here, without being subject to an interrogation, mind you," he scolded, snapping his head to the side to glare at him with a scowl. He turned his head back to Fili and a warm smile instantly replaced the scowl. "You are quite welcome here. I am Professor Bilbo Baggins. I run this school. And these are Elrond Peredhel and Thranduil and Galadriel Lasgalen."
"This is a school?" Kili asked incredulously, shooting Fili a horror-filled look. "There are kids here?"
He winced. He had forgotten Kili hadn't known about that. With everything that had happened, it had slipped his mind to tell Kili the finer points of the last vision of the bombed out Bag End that he had seen.
The thought of the crumbling shell of a mansion full of dead bodies brought a sense of urgency to him.
"You have all got to get out of here," Fili told them in a rush. "They're going to bomb this place!"
The atmosphere in the room changed instantly, alarm, fear, suspicion, and alertness mingling together in a cloud of tension.
"How do you know this?" the woman, Galadriel, asked him in a low voice, blue eyes as deep as the sea boring into him.
"I saw it," he explained, desperately wanting them to trust him to the point of having to consciously rein in his empathy. "You've got to believe me! A U.S. Army bomb is going to be dropped on this house and you're all going to die! And two men and a woman in DC meeting with the president are going to come back and get angry." Shock rippled through the Bag End mutants at that. "And then the woman and one of the men are going to attack the White House and it's going to destroy us!"
He broke off with a sob. Kili was immediately at his side, wrapping his arms around Fili's shaking form and pulling him close. He pressed his face into Kili's neck, hating how overwhelmed he felt. He didn't really understand what he was feeling. It was like the enormity of what was happening was crashing over him. It felt like the whole world was standing at the edge of a cliff, in danger of plunging into darkness with just a jump or a push or an unfortunate stumble.
It was too much.
He felt pathetic as he continued to shake. He tried pressing closer to Kili, squeezing his eyes shut and attempting to block out the feelings.
"Easy, son," a soothing voice said from somewhere close behind him. "The more you fight it, the more lost you'll get. You have to focus on the present. Something in the here and now."
Stopping his fight against the tide of despair threatening to engulf him was difficult, but focusing on something in the here and now wasn't hard. Not with Kili, his anchor in everything else, next to him.
He could hear Kili's heart beating loud in his ear and latched onto the sound. Kili was here with him. He was alive and well and there was nothing threatening to destroy them right now.
Except for the bomb that was coming.
He snapped his eyes open with a gasp and looked up at the brunet in a panic. "We have to leave now."
"The others are evacuating the rest of the school," the soothing voice from early told him. Fili twisted his neck and saw that Professor Baggins was standing behind him with a concerned look on his face. "Your empathic and precognitive abilities are growing stronger and beginning to bleed together. You're a very powerful mutant, but if you remain untrained, you could end up hurting yourself."
Kili's arms tightened around him and he backed them away from the professor. "What do you know about it?" he demanded.
The older mutant held his hands up placatingly. "Nothing that I did not learn just now," he assured. "My mutation allows me to understand the abilities of others. That's why I became a teacher."
Fili sensed no lie in the professor and gently pried Kili's arms off of him and straightened. Kili wasn't as convinced but reluctantly released him from his embrace. The brunet grasped his hand tightly, though, and made sure to stick close to Fili's side.
"You never told us your names," Bilbo prompted, giving them an expectant look.
"I'm Fili," he replied. He sized up the professor for a moment before hesitantly adding, "This is Kili."
Surprise shot through Kili before he grinned over at Fili. "Does this mean we trust them?"
The blond frowned. "I trust Professor Baggins. I haven't decided about the others."
"You wouldn't be the first to have reservations about some of them," Bilbo commented in amusement. "But I can assure you that everyone here is trustworthy."
Fili could tell that the professor firmly believed that, but he wasn't sure he was ready to trust the other mutant's judgment. Not quite yet at least. "How are you getting everyone out of the school?" he asked, instead of commenting on Bilbo's statement.
"Tunnels," he answered. "Which we need to get to before they close. Follow me."
They had little choice but to follow the professor down a long corridor. Just when Fili was beginning to wonder just how big this house was, Bilbo turned towards the wall and pressed on the decorative chair railing molding. It really shouldn't have surprised them to see the nondescript section of the wall slide away to reveal a hidden stairwell.
"There are multiple entrances to these stairs throughout the mansion," the older mutant explained as he led them down. "The walls are fortified, but probably won't hold up against a bombing or anything. Once we get underground, though, we'll be safe. There's a heavy steel door at the entrance of the tunnel that should protect us from whatever portion of the blast manages to reach so far beneath the structure."
"Where does the tunnel lead?" Kili asked.
Bilbo glanced back at them sheepishly as they turned to take the next flight of stairs. "There's a campground further up the reservoir. It's about a twenty mile trek, though."
Dismay filled Kili. "Twenty miles? All underground?"
"The further away the exit, the safer the tunnel is," the professor reasoned. "And there are supply stores every mile. Everyone can take it as slow and easy as necessary."
Kili wrinkled his nose. "Underground though. I'm guessing there's no cell signals or wifi?"
Bilbo shook his head ruefully as Fili realized what exactly had Kili so apprehensive. While Fili always tried to distance himself from his abilities, Kili had enthusiastically embraced his own. Being cut off from the digital world completely would probably feel like losing a limb.
He squeezed the brunet's hand comfortingly, stepping closer to him as they finally reached the bottom of the stairs.
"Bilbo, everyone is accounted for," one of the mutants from earlier, Elrond, Fili thought, said. "I sent them on to wait at the supply store at the second mile marker. We tried reaching Thorin and the others on the phone, but they must already be on their flight here because it went straight to voicemail. We won't be able to contact them until we're out of the tunnel."
"Thorin?" Kili gasped. Fili could feel that something about the name rattled Kili, but he didn't understand the odd mix of hope and fear that filled his partner.
Bilbo gave the brunet an understanding smile. "Yes, Thorin Oakenshield, former president of Erebor."
Bitter disappointment filled Kili. "Oh."
His dejection obviously confused Bilbo and Elrond, but they quickly dismissed it. They ushered Fili and Kili into the tunnel in a rush before working together to close the heavy door that would protect the tunnel.
"What's wrong?" Fili asked in a low voice while the two older mutants were occupied with the door.
Kili shook his head and gave him a sad smile. "It's stupid," he muttered with a shrug. "It's just… My dad's name was Thorin too. Thorin Durin, though, and obviously not the president of some foreign country. I just… got my hopes up for a minute."
Fili brushed away the tear that leaked from the brunet's eye before hugging him tightly. "I'm sorry," he whispered, pressing a kiss to Kili's hair. "If I could give them back to you, I would."
Kili made a sound of disgust in the back of his throat even as he let himself be held. "It's been ten years. I should be over losing my parents by now. It shouldn't upset me this much."
He pulled back slightly to meet Kili's eyes. "It's okay to be upset about it sometimes," he told him seriously. "Your parents deserve that, but they'd be proud that it hasn't stopped you from living your life."
Kili gave him a watery smile and nearly bowled Fili over from the amount of love he was directing at him. "They'd be grateful that you saved me and kept me living my life. And they'd probably be thrilled that you made me finish high school even with me being so stubbornly against it," he added with a fond roll of his eyes. "I think they would like you a lot. I'm really glad you found me when you did. And not just because I would have been blown to bits if you hadn't."
Fili smiled at him and brushed a kiss to his lips. "Me too, Kee," he whispered, pressing their foreheads together with a sigh. He closed his eyes at the reminder of that vision long ago that showed him Kili being engulfed by an explosion of flames, very similar, no doubt, to the explosion that was about to occur above them. "Me too."
tbc…
