A/N: Merry Christmas everyone! Make sure to read my little Christmas special- Bilbo's first ever Christmas, and Anna's first Christmas in Middle Earth- it's a one-shot that is sort of important to the fic. Sort of, not really.

Now, time for the next chappie! Allons-y!

Chapter 9

Questions, Rants, And Fights

Storm gray eyes peered sadly up at the stars. Anna had slipped away from the merry gathering in the Hall of Fire and retreated to the gardens, but after washing the face paint off. She enjoyed the festivities, but she longed the bonfire nights with her friends and family. Gatherings around the fire, playing games and singing songs, eating s'mores. Anna sighed sadly.

"You alright there, lassie?"

Anna turned to see Balin walk towards her, and scooted over so that the old dwarf could sit next to her on the bench.

"Hi Balin. I was just reminiscing," Anna replied. She pulled her feet up and rested her chin on her knees.

"About?"

"My home before the Shire."

"Ah. Could you tell me a little about it? If you don't mind, of course," Balin added quickly.

"I don't mind," Anna said with a smile. "Around this time of the year, my brothers, my friends and I would go to our local farm- which belonged to a teacher of mine- and pick apples, go through the corn mazes, carve pumpkins, have hay rides. Then we'd all gather at the park and build a great big bonfire. We'd share silly and scary stories, sing songs, play games, and then sleep under the stars."

"I always loved autumn. Not to hot, not to cold; the changing colors of leaves; the fresh, crisp air; the bonfire gatherings." Anna smiled wistfully to herself.

"And its not the same with the Hobbits, is it?" Balin asked understandingly.

"No, but I appreciate their attempts," Anna said sadly. "I don't think they could really re-create Halloween."

"Halloween?"

"Technically, it's called All Hallow's Eve, but everyone calls it Halloween. Its said to be the time of year were spooks and demons are allowed to roam freely. The only night. Not sure if anyone actually believes it." Anna shrugged. "But people would put up scary decorations, and kids would dress up in scary costumes, going around their neighborhoods and gathering candy. And we'd make up haunted places, and us older kids and some adults would dress up and scare everyone."

"Sounds like a lot of fun. It is understandable you would miss it all," Balin said, patting Anna on the shoulder. Anna laughed softly. "Do you ever think of returning to your home?"

"I don't know if I could," Anna replied. "I did return, once. Bilbo and I had a little adventure there. Since then, I haven't gone back."

"I'm sure you'll have another opportunity to visit again," Balin said, standing up. "Now, I've got to go back. I'll let the others know where you've gone to. They were worried about you, you know."

Anna smiled and nodded. She was glad that Balin listened to her tales of home. It was someone other than Bilbo- not that she didn't like telling him stories, it's just he's heard them all. She had started singing "This is Halloween" under her breath, doodling on the ground with a stick, when she felt something heavy and warm be draped over her. Anna turned to see Thorin walking away, his cloak now around her. She blinked in confusion, then shrugged.

"Cliche," she muttered under her breath.

"And yet you appreciate it," a familiar- and yet not familiar- voice said. Anna looked up to see an ood standing a few meters away from her. She stared at the ood, which stared back calmly. Anna recognized the symbol on its suit, which told her who this ood was.

"Ood Sigma," Anna breathed. Then she cocked her head. "Are you here to replace Loki?"

Ood Sigma shook his head slightly. Then he grabbed the orb from his chest and spoke. "I came to give you a warning, Wolf's Child. A darkness is setting in, and a great war approaches. Only you and Bilbo can prevent greater casualties."

"How? How can I be the one to help stop it?" Anna asked. "I mean, yeah I dabbled in a lot of things, but that's cause I never found anything that was right for me. I am obsessed with things like Doctor Who and Sherlock, the former which seems to be coming true and frankly I don't know whether to be excited to meet an idol of mine or terrified because that means the monsters are real, some of which still give me nightmares. My parents disappeared from existence and so did the majority of my family and friends, so technically I shouldn't exist, but yet I still do. What makes me so important to this world? Why me? I mean, there's many other people who are obsessed with Doctor Who, so why me?"

"Spoilers."

Even with the monotone tone, Anna nearly fell off the bench when she heard Ood Sigma say River's favorite word. She gave a heavy sigh, throwing her head back to look at the sky above.

"Could you at least give me a hint of how I am going to do this?" Anna asked, looking back towards Ood Sigma, only to find him gone. "Well poo." Anna muttered, pulling the cloak tighter as a chilly breeze swept through.

With an annoyed huff, Anna got up and headed back to her room. She grabbed the pen and pad, and began writing down what Ood Sigma told her.

"Why did he call me Wolf's Child?" Anna muttered. "Sure, wolves are my favorite animals, but what does it have to do..." she trailed off, shaking her head.

"It's just one mystery after the other. Here I thought it'd be easy, but nope, it has to get trickier than it actually is. Well, at least I won't get bored."

"Talking to yourself is the first sign of being crazy," came Loki's voice.

"Well that just shows you that I am a crazy person coming from a crazy world," Anna replied. She turned to see the Norse god leaning against the door frame in boredom.

"Yes, the Earth is quite crazy," Loki agreed. "You don't even need super villains like me to start up a third World War."

"And who knows how long that will go on before someone starts going nuclear!" Anna said, throwing her hands up in frustration and pacing. "The Cold War was bad enough, but now the majority of the planet has got nukes. We should be using nuclear energy for good, not for bombs. And then there is America's issue with gun control! Great Britain's got a good example of gun control, but stupid, stubborn politicians still don't do anything about. I still blame the Republicans for all those deaths of the mass shootings. If they agreed to put up a decent gun control, there wouldn't be so many mass shootings!"

"That's quiet the rant you've got there," Gandalf's voice floated in through the doorway. Anna saw him walk through the door, right through Loki. That confirmed to Anna that Loki was only visible and tangible to Anna and Bilbo.

"Oh, I can rant all day about anything. I even have to listen to my family rant about everything. Even stupid automated doors. When you're in a hurry, the don't open until you practically face-plant into the door!"

"And you should know," Loki giggled, which Anna thought a little creepy.

"Oh, shut it Loki," she grumbled.

"I am guessing you've had experience with running into automated doors," Gandalf mused, ignoring Anna's quip to a person she could only see.

"Only to often!" Loki laughed. Anna's eye twitched.

"What can I help you with, Gandalf?" Anna asked, trying to calm herself down, but Loki's laughter wasn't making it easier.

"I came to tell you that the company shall be leaving in a few moments while I have Saruman distracted. He doesn't want the company to finish their quest," Gandalf replied.

"There's always someone who doesn't want the quest completed," Anna grumbled. "Thanks for the heads up."

Gandalf's eyebrow quirked slightly at Anna's figure of speech, but said nothing as he left her room. When he was out ear-shot, Anna grabbed a pillow and turned towards Loki, who stared at her warily.

"I'm only a figment of your imagination," Loki told her, eying the pillow.

"That you may be, but you're still tangible enough to get hit with my pillow," Anna replied, swatting Loki on the head with a pillow. To her satisfaction, it made contact with a loud poof.

"What was that for?" Loki yelped, covering his head and body as Anna continued to attack him with a pillow.

"You stalked me, you idiot," Anna replied, taking out her anger on the currently defenseless super villain.

"I didn't stalk you. I merely watched you grow up, even guiding you a few times," Loki defended, still cringing from the attack.

"Anna, why are you attacking Loki?" Bilbo's voice asked. Anna paused in her attack to look at Bilbo, and replied.

"Loki stalked me when I was a kid."

"Did not," Loki countered, only to be swatted by the pillow again. "And I watched Bilbo grow up too."

"So you stalked me, too?" Bilbo asked, staring down and the Norse god.

"Not stalked. Merely watching you grow up and guiding you," Loki corrected. Bilbo stared at Loki, then grabbed another pillow from the bed and began attacking Loki as well.

"You tried converting us to the dark side?" Anna asked as she hit Loki over the head.

"No, I was assigned to look after you as a punishment for my crimes," Loki said, curling into a fetal position to protect himself from the pillow assault. Then he seemed to realize that he could disappear from the attack, because that was what he did. Anna and Bilbo then ended up attacking each other.

"Darn it Loki!" Anna huffed, spitting out feathers. She threw her pillow back onto the bed, and sat down on the edge. Bilbo joined her, but more calmly. Feathers floated all around them from their pillow fight. They glanced at each other, then burst out giggling.

"Oh stars! We just attacked a Norse god with pillows!" Anna wheezed out between giggles. That got them to giggle harder.

"What happened in here?"

Anna and Bilbo tried to calm themselves down, glancing up to see the dwarves standing in the door way with baffled expressions.

"P-pillow f-fight," Bilbo spluttered out.

"For once could you two act like the adults you are?" Thorin asked. That got Anna and Bilbo in another fit of giggles. The dwarves shared looks of confusion, not really understanding the hobbit and the little human.

"Get packed, we're leaving," Thorin ordered over the giggling, before turning to leave, ushering the other dwarves out.

"Oh stars, he sounded just like Mycroft!" Anna said when she calmed down slightly.

"That he did," Bilbo agreed, wheezing slightly. They sat against the bed for a while, calming themselves down. "We look like a mess," Bilbo observed, pulling a feather out of Anna's hair.

"That's what happens in a pillow fight," Anna replied, shaking her head. The two then pulled the feathers out of each other's hair, and Bilbo helped Anna pack. She left the soccer ball, though; she had a few more in her bag.

"Right then, time to go," Anna said, shouldering her bag. "Allons-y!"

"Allons-y," Bilbo agreed, and the two of them set off to catch up to the dwarves.

A/N: Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.