Alright, so here's a longer chapter! I've been working on this really hard. We're getting close to the end..ehh...not excited.

When I awoke from my slumber I noticed everyone obviously gone. I stood up and stretched when I noticed Bilbo walking frantically alone. I rushed up and stopped him. "Bilbo. What's going on?" I asked him. He stopped and looked to me. His eyes were wide and he looked slightly angry.

"Thorin. He's crazy! The people of lake town need our help and Thorin is denying them. He's building a wall so they can not come into the Erebor."

"What!? He made a deal!" I yelled scratching my head. It was too early for this.

"This isn't Thorin any longer Corry." Bilbo said sadly. I shook my head in grief and looked up. I saw the very dwarf we were talking about watching as dwarf after dwarf piled rocks up into a wall. This, this is insanity. I had to do something. I walked up to Thorin and grabbed his arm. "Thorin what are you doing!?" I yelled at him. The dwarves all looked intently at this.

"I'm protecting what is mine!" He yelled back.

"Protecting what is yours? Thorin, you have more than enough gold. You have all the riches in the world, the lake town people have nothing! They lost everything because of the dragon!"

"Do not! Do not speak any longer!" He yelled at me shoving me backwards.

"That's it Thorin! I'm gonna stomp your ass!" I said bowing up at him. I mean, yeah, I know he would probably crush me, but I don't give a damn. I'm pissed! I'm not from middle earth, I'm from America, and this isn't the life for me. I'm done with middle earth. I'm done with Thorin. I'm done with everything. I heard chuckling.

"Back away, puny human." Thorin said shoving me backwards again, this time knocking me down. I stood up but before I could say or do anything Balin was taking me away.

"Aye, lassie, you have a very short fuse." He said to me. I glared at the ground instead of responding. He shook his head as we stopped. "You do, and you need to control it. Thorin could have done more than push you down dear, that should scare you enough to stop." I scoffed. I sat down and shook my head.

"Just let me think." I stated. A few moments later I was alone. Alone in my thoughts. Atleast for a couple minutes before Bilbo came into the room.

"I have a plan!" He said and sat beside me. "Thorin would rather go to war than give up gold. But he'd do anything for the Arkenstone, right?" Bilbo asked. I nodded. Where was the hobbit going with this. "Come with me tonight." I looked at him with an unsure look. "Trust me." I sighed then nodded in agreement. "Okay, we'll leave while everyone eats."

"Agreed."

Later that night I sat alone on the ramparts waiting on the hobbit. I wasn't sure if this was an amazing idea, but i guess there's one way to find out. I wandered how everything would play out. Hopefully a war wouldn't be started over Thorin's greed. That's like crying over spilled milk. Thorin is just a big baby that needs his diaper changed to be honest. I was knocked from my thoughts when the sound of footsteps came my way.

"Corry?" I heard a certain hobbit whisper. I looked up to see him tying a rope and throwing it over the side of the mountain. "C'mon, we don't have much time. Fili wasn't too far behind me." He said rushing me up and towards the rope.

"Me first?" I asked as he stood there. He nodded and motioned for me to hurry and go. I raised my eyebrows and made my way down. Once I landed safely I looked up to see Bilbo not far behind me. Once Bilbo was on the ground we started walking to Dale.

"So, how mad do you think Thorin will be once he finds out?" Bilbo asked me.

"Well, let's hope he doesn't find out."

"Yeah, I guess that's for the best. I hate seeing him like that."

"As do I. It's miserable watching that. I mean, Thorin isn't the most friendly dwarf but he's willing to go to war over gold."

"Do you think he'll ever get better?"

"I hope he does. Dwalin wants me to leave with you. He's scared Thorin will basically snap and hurt me." Bilbo nodded his head. We walked in silence for about 10 minutes until we got quite close to Dale. Bilbo shushed me as there were guards standing. We slipped past them quietly and into someone's tent. Luckily, that someone, wasn't in the tent. We made our way out of the tent and into the city. Bilbo tapped my shoulder and pointed to Gandalf. I smiled. I saw him talking to Bard. He was safe and I could only hope his family was as well.

"It will not come to that. This is a fight they can not win." I heard Bard say as Bilbo and I got closer.

"That won't stop them. You think the dwarves will surrender? They won't. They will fight to the death to defend their own." Bilbo spoke. Gandalf smiled a small smile.

"He's right, Thorins got the dragon sickness, he'll stop at nothing to keep the treasure safe and to himself." I added to Bilbos statement. Gandalf let our names slip from his mouth then led us to the Elven Kings tent. What the actual fuck. I don't even.

"If I'm not mistaken this is the halfling who stole the keys from my dungeons, from under the nose of my guards." Thranduil stated. Bilbo looked to the ground then back up.

"Err, yesh...Sorry bout that." Bilbo said scratching his head. Thranduil looked to me.

"And you. You are the dwarvin filths other half. Why are the two of you here?" He asked. I scowled at him. This bitch, he's asking to get punched. Bilbo stepped forward.

"We came to bring you this." He said opening the cloth revealing the arkenstone. The Kings eyes widened and looked back up from the stone.

"The heart of the mountain. The Kings jewel." Thranduil said shocked. Gandalf had a look on his face. I couldn't quite figure out what the look meant though.

"And worth a Kings ransom." Bard added. He looked at Bilbo and I. "How is this yours to give?"

"I took it as my fourteenth share of the treasure." Bilbo answered.

"Why would you do this, you owe us no loyalty." Bard said.

"I'm not doing it for you. I know that dwarves can be obstinate and pigheaded and difficult. And suspicious and secretive with the worst manners you can possible imagine, but they are also brave and kind and loyal to a fault. I've grown very fond of them, and I would save them if I can. But Thorin values this stone above all else. In exchange for its return, I believe he will give you what you want. There will be no need for war." Bilbo explained. Gandalf looked upon him as though he was proud.

"And you, what's your reasoning in putting yourself in such an unlikely situation?" The King asked me. I raised my eyebrows.

"Thorin has gone mad, he's not himself. The dwarf I knew would have honored his word, that, thing in the mountain with a crown on its head is no dwarf. Nor a king. It's a thing that I refuse to put up with any longer." I said crossing my arms. Gandalf sighed and put either of his hands on mine and Bilbos shoulders.

"Rest up tonight. You must leave on the morrow." He said to us.

"Wait what?" I asked him. I'm not leaving.

"Get as far away from here as possible." Gandalf instructed. Bilbo looked abolished.

"I'm not leaving." The hobbit protested. I nodded in agreement.

"Oh?" Gandalf questioned us.

"You picked me as the fourteenth man. I'm not leaving the company now." Bilbo said very agitated.

"There is no company, not anymore. And I don't like to think what Thorin would do when he finds out what you two have done." Gandalf said looking down at us. The way he said that slightly terrified me.

"I'm not scared of Thorin." Bilbo stated. He was a very stubborn hobbit. Most people would just agree with a wizard, but not Bilbo. Gandalf raised an eyebrow to me.

"Well, you should be. Don't underestimate the evil of gold. Gold over which a serpent had long brooded. Dragon-sickness seeps into the hearts of all who came to this mountain. Almost all." He said looking to the mountain then back to us.

"But that's gives us no reason to leave Gandalf. I'm staying, that thing that claims to be Thorin in that mountain, is mine. Whether I like it or not, he's mine. He will get better, I know he will. Be it today, tomorrow or weeks from now, he will get better, I can feel it. I'm not leaving him, I may walk away, but I'm not going to leave." I said to Gandalf staring off into the mountain. I really hoped that what I said to Gandalf was true. I prayed Thorin would get better soon.

"Yes, well, you have much hope and optimism Ms. Brooks. You'll need a lot of that on your journey back to the shire tomorrow." Gandalf said. My mouth gaped open. Before I could say anything to the wizard he called a familiar faced man over to us. He was ordered to feed us and give us somewhere to sleep. I can't believe this. I'm not leaving. Nobody can technically make me.

"Here's you two a tent. I don't want any funny business from the two of you, separate beds are in here for a reason." I rolled my eyes and waited for him to leave the room. I sat on the cot and crossed my legs.

"We can't leave Bilbo." I states to him. Before Bilbo could speak the man was back in the room. He brought each of us a bowl of soup and a glass of water.

"Eat up, then go to sleep you gits." He said scowling at us and walking away. Bilbo turned back to me.

"I know, we'll eat, wait for everyone to sleep then make our leave to go back to the mountain." The hobbit explained.

"Did you already have this planned out?"

"Well, yes." He said twiddling his thumbs together. I chuckled and shook my head. He was something else. We ate in silence. I couldn't help but think about Thorins reaction when he finds out. The dwarf king was very terrifying actually. Considering Bilbo and I both were nearly the same height and Bilbo couldn't have weighed too much more than me. We could both, easily be crushed. Maybe this wasn't the best idea.

"Corry, blow the candle out and lay down. We must make it seem like we're fast asleep. We'll leave within this next hour or so." Bilbo stated crawling under his covers and looking to the top of the tent. I nodded and blew the candles out then lied down. Tomorrow is going to be a long day. As I lay on the cot I slowly started drifting away into sleep. That is, until I was shaken by something.

I opened my eyes to see Bilbo. "Ready?" He whispered to me. I nodded and slung my feet over the cot. I streched and stood up putting my shoes back on. Bilbo looked out the tent to see if somethjng was there. He looked back and put his finger of his mouth telling me to be very quiet. I nodded and followed. As we tip toed through the camp I couldn't help but realize it was almost daylight. Once we were far enough away Bilbo made conversation. "Are you ready to see how this turns out?" He asked me looking towards the mountain. I nodded.

"I suppose."

"What do you think he'll do?" I shrugged my shoulders.

"No idea. He'll be furious at the both of us." Bilbo nodded and started whistling a tune that i soon started humming too. He then stopped and picked up a rock and tossed it into a puddle. The closer we got to the mountain, the brighter the sky got, and the brighter the sky got, the terrified feeling in my stomach got worse. We came upon the huge broken statues to which we climbed down from the mountain on. Bilbo helped me up one and told me to go first. I nodded and grabbed onto the ropes and started climbing up. Once I landed on the solid rocks I looked down and saw Bilbo nearing his way to the top. I backed up and waited. Once he got to the top safely he started bringing the rope up and tying it off so nobody would see it. "Right, well. Let's try and get a little sleep." Bilbo whispered as he made his way past me. I wanted to follow but instead sat down on the rampart. Bilbo looked down to me in confusion. I shook my head.

"You go, I'll be there soon." I said to him. He smiled and left. I closed my eyes and thought of when I left the shire. I was so confused about everything back then. Then in the woods before the dwarves were captured by trolls, the conversation Thorin and I had. I missed that. Being able to easily talk to someone and at the same time have so much love for them. I missed him so much it hurt me physically just as much as emotionally. I heard footsteps stop infront of me. Footsteps I didn't even realize were coming. I looked up to see Thorin. He looked down at me with furrowed eyebrows.

"You are crying, why?" He asked. I wasn't cr- wait, I was. I was crying and didn't even notice the tears escaping from my eyes. I wiped them away and shook my head.

"I'm fine." I said looking up at him. I went to stand up but he kept me down. The dwarf sat beside me and grabbed my hand.

"You're lying, why? What is wrong?" He asked again.

"I don't want to talk about it." He sighed and stroked my hand with his thumb. This was oddly soothing. This, this was exactly what I missed. I missed sitting with Thorin, and having him hold me. I loved him dearly, and him not being himself was killing me. I layed my head on his shoulder as he began humming. I smiled to myself.

"Thorin?"

"Yes?"

"I missed you." I don't know if it was me being sleep deprived it what, but somethjng caused me to tell him that. He stopped rubbing my hand and moved his shoulder from underneath my head and looked at me. I looked into his eyes. They still weren't like the ocean as they used to be, they still had the same familiarity as a tornado.

"I never left my dear." He said with a small smile. Not the same smile I came to love, but a different one. Thorin still wasn't himself. I hurt so much over him I took what I could get and smiled back. I wrapped my arms around his neck and let him hold me like that until I drifted off into a comatose.

When i awoke it was to a shushing sound and several voices around me. I opened my eyes and lifted my head up. I looked to whom I had fallen asleep on. I smiled as I realized the dwarf was sound asleep. He looked so peaceful. I looked around to see Kili, Fili, Ori, and Dwalin standing to my left. Dwalin was trying to shush them, but to his surprise he turned to see me awake. I smiled at the four of them and stood up. I looked down at Thorin then back up.

"Go." I said quietly to them. They look upset but turned and left the rampart anyways. I bent down and shook Thorin awake. His eyebrows raised and his eyes shot open. "Good morning." I said to him and a sleepy smirk fell onto his face.

"Good morning love, how are you?" I chuckled and let my small smile turn into a big one.

"I'm very well my dear." I said leaning against the rampart wall. He stood up and grabbed my arm. He slid his hand down to mine and walked with me to the dining hall. When we entered hand in hand I could feel every eye look, especially Bilbo's. I couldn't even imagine what was going through his head. Thorin pulled out a seat for me and motioned for me to sit. I obliged and put a few different fruits on my plate and ate them quietly. I finished my plate far before anyone else did. I sat and looked to Bilbo on the opposite end of the table. He looked worried, but I honestly couldn't blame him. I was too. Once Thorin finished eating he looked to me and gave me that unfamiliar smile. He stood up from the table and took me with him. We walked back to the ramparts and stood in silence until Thorin looked over into the distance and saw an army marching towards the mountain. As well as Thranduil and Bard. This wasn't going to be good. Thorin called for everyone to come over immeadently. I could already see the fear in Bilbo's eyes as soon as he walked up.