A/N: Thanks for all the comments and support :) I must be spoiling y'all with these quick updates. Weird side note. My fics seem to be doing much much better on AO3 over FFN, despite posting them at the same time. I wonder why? Also if you're a Harry Potter fan and an OC-insert fan, check out my story Coalescence. :)

Disclaimer: I do NOT own the Hobbit. I write this work of fanfiction solely for my own amusement and that of others.

"Don't dwell on what went wrong. Instead, focus on what to do next. Spend your energies on moving forward toward finding the answer."

- Denis Waitley

Holly woke with her head pounding and her body aching in total darkness. She opened her eyes but there was nothing to see. Her head pounded frightfully loud in her ears and at first she could hear nothing either.

Then she realized that there was a voice coming from the rock beneath her ear.

"Hadn't we better get moving?" Someone asked.

Holly nearly jumped out of her skin, and as it was she fumbled to find her knife and withdrew it part way from its' sheath. It glowed bright blue in the darkness and she clutched it to her chest fearfully before sliding it back in and holding as still as possible.

"There's no hurry. We don't want to be swept up in all the goings on in town." A deeper voice replied, slightly muffled through the rock.

"Well what did happen father?" The first voice asked.

"The king is dead Helfer. Some dwarf scum was captured and escaped. They killed quite a few of us though and it's a mess down there. There was talk of a wizard about too."

"But all the better for us, eh?" Another higher voice cut in with a cackle.

"Legzich grabbed the seat and we're moving' up, right enough. No more living in this pit out of the way." The deeper voice said in satisfaction, "Too many drafts and we're too close to that side door for my comfort.

"It's blocked anyhow. You're too paranoid father."

"Still it's a pain to have to move everything. Would be nice to have some help 'round here." Grumbled the third voice.

Holly ran her hand against the stone she lay upon, realizing it must be pretty thin or she wouldn't be able to hear them.

She found a small depression in the wall and her hand slid easily through and connected with something slimy and soft.

A yelp came from the other side and she hastily withdrew her hand, heart thundering in her ears.

"What are ye making all that noise for boy?" Roared the first deeper voice and Holly huddled in fright, heart pounding.

"Something licked my foot!" Shouted Helfer.

"Nonsense!" Said the third voice, "You're always imagining things."

"But it did!" Whined Helfer.

"Shut up and help with this chest boy!"

There was a scuffle and a yelp and then the sound of something heavy being dragged along the floor.

Holly held very still as more shuffling and cursing came from the other side and carefully she leaned down to peer through the hole.

There was a little light from a lamp in the cave and three goblins were busy packing up their belongings and moving about.

She jerked away from the hole, not wanting to be seen and held her breath as they continued to rummage about and insult one another.

From what she could gather she was listening to a family of goblins who was about to move to a better dwelling than the current one they had. Soon enough the three creatures left and she listened carefully until she could no longer hear their voices before pulling out her knife again.

The light from the blade was faint again now and growing fainter. She peered back in the hole and saw that they had left a torch burning in the room. The hole wasn't really big enough to let her through, but she found that when she pushed against it the earth around it crumbled and soon she had a wide enough space to squeeze in.

Once inside she found that they had left little behind beside some ratty furs, the almost burnt out torch, and a few other useless odds and ends like old bones and a stone table.

She retrieved the torch and then went to inspect the passage the family had went through. It seemed to run parallel to the tunnel she'd been in.

Carefully she went back to the hole and used the torch to light it up. It was far rougher and narrower than she had realized and with a sudden chill she noticed a dark drop not ten feet in front of where she had rested

If she had kept going, she would have fallen to her death. She trembled violently and backed away from the chasm.

Taking another deep breath to steady herself, she retreated back to the cave and checked the other tunnel. It seemed smoother and better made.

She figured that if they were headed towards Goblin Town, then they had headed to her right, which followed the path she had taken. She had no choice but to turn left now, and head in the opposite direction

She paused only to drink a little water and eat a little of the food she had stashed in her bag. She didn't want to linger in case the goblins decided to come back.

Her knife was nearly totally dim again when she checked it and therefore she felt slightly better about her chances.

She still was quite lost, but the goblins had mentioned a side door. Blocked, the one had said. But she didn't know more than that.

It sounded better than another door guarded by goblins at any rate. If she could even find the one Bilbo would use...had used? She had no idea how much time had passed since she'd been down here. They had run for what seemed like hours.

She shuddered as she remembered Clara and the rest of the ponies. Poor things. Her heart aches for them but there had been nothing she could do. She hadn't even remembered if the ponies had run off on the mountain or had been captured by the goblins in the story.

She could have turned Clara loose but that would have incited questions from her companions. A few years escaped her eyes but she hastily brushed them away. She would have time to be sad later. Right now she needed to be sharp and on her toes.

She started following the path to the left, shaking off morbid thoughts. She kept her knife in hand but it didn't glow again.

The walk was quiet for the most part, though occasionally she heard the clatter of a falling rock or the rush of flowing water and she tread more carefully in the dark, remembering the sudden drop off on the other path. The torch provided enough light to see however, and so she kept going.

Soon enough she smelt fresh air, which she hadn't even noticed she had missed until the sweet smell of it met her nose. She could even feel a cool breeze upon her skin and she hurried her steps a bit more.

Suddenly she turned a sharp corner and saw what the goblins had meant.

Before her lay a crumbled passageway, with broken stone laying all about in a heap. There might have been a door there once, but now it was hidden by a heap of boulders and stones. A small chunk was missing at the top of the pile that showed a sliver of light. It was no bigger than her head.

She eyed the pile warily. It was a good 15 feet up to the top.

She carefully lay her backpack down and removed her jacket. The torch she jammed between two boulders at the bottom of the pile. Then she began to climb.

The rocks slid under her feet and made her nervous, but nothing moved out of place and she made it to the top unscathed. She had just enough room to lie flat on her stomach and shimmy towards the crack.

The ceiling sloped downwards toward the opening and narrowed so that she could barely fit her shoulders in close enough to look out. When she did all she saw was more stone.

Confused, she twisted about until she could look up at an angle and her heart fell a bit.

Some large boulders outside were blocking the passage. The light came from even higher up than the hole she was peering through. So even if she moved the smaller stones on this side, she'd have to climb up what looked to be a mostly vertical rock face to get out. She had no idea if she could do that.

Carefully she picked up a small rock and wormed a hand through the opening. She dropped it and listened as it fell. It fell for a few good seconds.

She sighed and backed up again.

She could try and move the stones. It wasn't going to be easy though, and she risked making things worse, but she didn't see any other possible way.

Fresh air and light were only a few feet away and yet she was still stuck in the mountain.

She climbed back down again and dug in her backpack for some of her rattiest clothing. She tore it into strips with the help of her knife and then tied it around her hands.

She was still hurting from the abuse the goblins had put them all through, and then then run from the town, and now she was going to hurt more.

She started shoving the rocks she could through the hole, hoping to create a bit higher of a surface to stand on.

Getting the smaller stones out of the way was the easy part, but the larger ones were not so easily budged. Her back had started to ache now, and her arms shook with the strain. Despite the cloth wrapped around her hands, she cut herself on sharp edges and started to get blisters.

The larger rocks she'd gotten down to did not fit through the opening and so she was forced to carry them down to the bottom of the pile and lay them aside. She didn't dare carelessly roll them down for fear of dislodging something and creating a collapse.

So her progress seemed glacial for awhile, but soon she could fit her shoulders through the gap, and then her waist.

But then it began to grow dark outside and the torch also had gone out some time before. She'd labored all day to create what seemed to be not much space.

She was exhausted and hurt but when she checked her knife again and found it to not be glowing at all, she felt somewhat triumphant. She was going to do this!

She drank as much water as she dared. She was still thirsty but she couldn't bring herself to drink more. Her food was also gone now. Holly swallowed a little of the anti-pain powder with honey, undiluted by water, and nearly gagged on it. But afterwards she felt much better. She worried a bit about the various cuts she had but there was nothing she could cleanse them with.

Instead she cleared a small spot free of stones and used her jacket to wrap up warm, her head pillowed on her backpack.

She awoke when the light of day began shining through the crack again and she dosed herself again with the nasty medicine and set to work. There was still no sign of any goblins but she didn't want to stay a moment longer in the mountain than she had to.

By what she judged to be late afternoon Holly had managed to clear the stones enough to fit through the crack entirely. She could just squeeze through it and balance on the other side. The bottom wasn't as far as she had feared, and she had pushed enough rocks through to reach it with her feet.

Standing on the other side and letting the cool air chill her heated skin she smiled. She still had to figure a way out, but at least part of her task was done.

An examination of the stone around her revealed that it was pocked with divots and ledges she could use to climb. It was a good few meters to the top however and she was anxious about it.

She hadn't climbed a rock wall in a very long time, let alone one without a safety rope, but she sat there and plotted the path she thought she could take to get up to the top.

The area she stood was a little like the inside of a chimney, and she only hoped it wasn't too high up at the top for her to get down again. The one wall leaned in more than the other three and it was her hope that it could be used to lean on and take occasional rests.

She assumed because this had been a door, that there would be some kind of path out there. Or at least she hoped.

However she had spent so much time plotting how to leave that the sky had grown dim again.

She decided to not try the attempt in the dark when she was tired and retreated back inside for the night.

She awoke feeling groggy and tired. Her water was all gone now and she was also very thirsty. She felt sort of warm and the cool air from outside was nice on her face.

Holly made sure she had everything on her secured well, went over the route she wanted to take, and then started to climb.

Her arms ached something fierce as she began her ascent and she was weaker than she had counted on from having little water and no food for the past few days.

Still she managed to drag herself up, resting when she could, and clinging to the rock with what seemed to be sheer will.

The ledge at the top was wide enough that she could pull herself up with a little effort. Her arms were limp and screaming at her as she collapsed at the top.

She didn't even look about at first. First she caught her breath and only then did she dare look.

Relief filled her as she found it was only a five foot or so drop to the ground which sloped up the the ledge she sat upon. No more climbing or moving stones in her near future!

She also saw the sun had risen before her, and would set behind her, which was where the mountains were. She had gone completely under the Misty Mountains and was further east than she thought was possible in such a short time. Before her lay hills and fields and she could see a stream in the distance some ways to her right running down the mountain she still sat upon.

Worry filled her, for she wasn't sure where to go next. She could easily replenish her water after a short hike, but she had no food, and she had no map.

She vaguely knew she still had to travel East quite a ways to get to the lonely mountain, but as to how far north or south she was along the mountains, she hadn't a clue.

She ought to try and find Gandalf and the company, but she wasn't sure which way to go.

With her luck, they had given her up for dead and she was completely on her own.

On the positive side, she was alive and she was not inside the mountain anymore.

"We can not possibly continue on without learning of Bilbo and Holly's fate!" Gandalf said angrily, leaning tiredly on his staff.

"If they are alive then we must attempt to rescue them, if not, then we at least owe it to them to find out. Bilbo is my friend and I feel somewhat responsible for him." Gandalf continued.

"What about Lady Holly?!" Kili cried upset, "She's my friend and who know what horrible things the goblins could be doing to her. We have to go back!"

"Better leave them," Gloin muttered, "The halfling has been mostly useless and so has the woman. Better not go back into those cursed tunnels. It's suicide!"

"With any luck they can find their own way out of the mountain." Dori said, ignoring the venomous looks Ori and Nori shot at him

Bofur wrung his hat between his hands while Bombur looked sadly back the way they had come.

Balin and Dwalin were on the lookout for anyone on their trail and so could not add to the conversation.

"Why did you have to go and drop Bilbo anyway?" Gandalf grumbled and Dori crosses his arms defensively, "I'd like to see you try and keep ahold of someone when you're tackled by a goblin in the dark. I assumed he was still with us. There wasn't time to check."

"When did Holly go missing?" Kili asked despondently, and Fili laid a hand on his brother's shoulder in comfort.

"I'm not sure but she was right behind me before Dori was tackled." Bombur spoke up, "She was breathing really hard though and was lagging behind." Bofur patted him on the arm and Oin sighed, "She has asthma. Probably had a hard time running through the smoke. Might have lost her voice again."

Thorin looked startled, "Why didn't you inform me earlier?"

Oin shrugged, "It was her business."

"See, more trouble than they're worth, that burglar and that witch." Gloin said.

Gandalf looked upset at this and Kili protested.

"Well here we are without either of them." Thorin said, seeming to make up his mind.

"Here I am!" Called Bilbo, startling the group badly as he appeared out of a bush.

Cries of astonishment, surprise, and delight rang out among the group as Balin and Dwalin came running to check.

"By Mahal's beard! However did you get past us?" Balin asked, astonished he hadn't seen or heard the hobbit.

Bilbo shrugged, "Oh you know. I just crept quietly by."

"What ever happened to you Mr. Baggins?" Asked Ori.

"Yes, I think we should all like to know that," Thorin added, "Though we are glad to see you."

So Bilbo told his tale of running into Gollum and the riddles in the dark. He told them of running out the gate and sneaking by the goblin guards and losing his buttons in the door.

I'm the eyes of the dwarves, his value went up quite a bit with the tale of his adventures in the mountain tunnels and his clever and daring escape. They could respect that he had gotten himself out of a tight spot.

"I told you that Mr. Baggins has more to offer than you know!" Gandalf chuckled after Bilbo's tale was over.

"Yes but what about Lady Holly?" Bofur asked, "Did you see her in the tunnels Mr. Baggins?"

"No, I did not." Bilbo admitted, peering about. He hadn't noticed that she was even missing until they mentioned it. He immediately grew worried. Of all of them he hated to think about Holly being stuck underground in danger the least.

"She was still running behind Dori and I last I checked before I was knocked out by that nasty tumble." Bilbo said.

"She did still have a knife on her that the goblins missed. Unlike us." Nori contributed with a frown.

A few of their number sagged with the news but Oin cleared his throat, "Mayhaps the lass also made it out. Perhaps by another door? It sounds like the back door is too well guarded for us to go back and I don't see any other way to go searching for her."

Unfortunately neither could anyone else, and even Gandalf looked troubled.

"By nightfall the goblins will be after us by the hundreds. Now that we've rested we dare not linger in so large a group. Perhaps one or two might stay behind to search for her."

Thorin shifted uneasily. He wanted nothing more than to turn around and storm the tunnels looking for her. It did not sit well sit all with him, leaving her behind, but he couldn't risk staying either. He had to think of the safety of the whole group.

But he had also pledged her safety and had tasked her with something only she could do.

"Whoever wishes to volunteer may stay and search, but I can't allow all of us to look for one person." He said at last.

"I will." Dwalin spoke up, and to everyone's surprise, so did Nori a moment later, "I'll stay." The two gave each other measuring looks, for neither had gotten along with the other very well in the past.

"Very well," Thorin acceded, "If you can find no more sign of her within three days then you will give up the search and catch up with us."

Holly managed to make it to the stream and gladly refilled her water bottle and drank so much water it made her stomach ache.

She then stripped and bathed, using the soap from Rivendell for the first time since she had left weeks ago. She washed her clothes too and then laid them out to dry on the rocks in the summer sun.

Now that she was a ways down the mountain it was warmer and finally felt like summer. Another thing to be grateful for and to celebrate.

She was still uncertain where to go next though. Last time she had been separated from them, she had managed to find her way back through pure luck.

She also wasn't sure if she had been inside the mountain any longer than they had. She has spent at least one day in the tunnels and another two or three days digging herself out. She wasn't sure actually. It was hard to remember and she was so very tired...

If she had gotten out a day or so later than they were already quite far away, if they had just gotten out themselves the she might have a chance to catch up to them before the eagles rescued them from the wargs.

She looked down the mountain slope and towards the east. That was her best best. Going in the direction she knew they'd be headed in.

But first, she needed to rest. She was still so tired from the mountains. She was also very hungry, and she hoped to find some food.

She followed the stream down the mountain towards the looming pine trees. Along the way she identified dandelions and she picked the leaves and flowers to eat. The plant was a bit bitter, but she knew it was also edible and fairly nutritious. At least is was better than nothing. She dug up a bunch of roots by hand and then thoroughly washed them in the stream. She used her knife to peel the roots and carried everything in her backpack.

She had a lighter in her backpack and now she put it to good use. There was more than enough dry material laying around by the time she reached the trees. She wasn't sure if t was a good idea to have a fire but figured she could risk it while it was still daylight.

She built a nest of bark, pine needles, leaves, and very small twigs. Then she sacrificed a few sheets of paper from her notebook to scrunch up around them and carefully lit them on fire. She fanned the flames with her notebook until the smaller twigs caught fire and then she carefully fed it bigger and bigger pieces until the largest sticks were comfortably aflame.

Once she had a good fire going, she speared the roots on stick and stuck them in the hottest part of the fire. She kept a close eye on them, pulling them out to test their softness.

When her knife slid easily into them she pulled them out and ate the leaves and flowers while waiting for the roots to cool. Once they were she happily ate them too. It felt good to have something warm in her stomach, so she went hunting more dandelions and roasted more of the roots until she simply couldn't eat anymore. She still had a pile of them but she tucked them away for later.

She let the fire go out then, and doused the coals thoroughly. She'd watched Oin and Gloin tend the fire often enough and clean up afterwards. She overturned the dirt to hide the evidence and then kept walking. She didn't want to stay too near there in case something came looking for her.

She found a kind of clearing after another few hours when it started to get dark and decided to stop there. She no longer had a bed roll or blanket so had to make do with her jacket and backpack.

Sleep came easily, despite everything because of her exhaustion.

It was very dark when the first howl woke Holly up. She lay frozen in fear as another howl sounded in the night, though it seemed to be far off.

She scrambled to her feet, heart pounding as she listened to the wolves in the distance.

Quickly she gathered her things and then ran for the nearest tree, a sturdy pine, which she scaled as quickly as she could.

The howls continued and Holly remained in the tree for the rest of the night. She clung helplessly to the tree and couldn't relax an inch even though no wolf appeared below her. She kept thinking one would show up any minute to stake out her tree.

Only when dawn broke did she dare get down. The howls has stopped some time ago, and now she could see smoke rising in the distance. Further south of her current position.

She now knew where the company had been.

Dwalin and Nori hid as quietly as they could crouched down among a bunch of blackberry bushes and arguing about what they should do.

They had separated from the rest of the company yesterday and had searched all along the mountain for any sign of another road or door back into the goblin tunnels. They had found no luck and then last night an ungodly amount of howling had risen up from the pines they knew the rest of the company had fled to and a huge host of goblins had left the mountain.

They had barely managed to conceal themselves and they had watched in worry as parts of the forest had gone up in flames and later great eagles had driven the goblins back into the mountain.

They of course did not know that their companions had also been rescued by those same eagles in the night and were now arguing whether to abandon the search for Holly and go aid Thorin, or continue on for two more days and then go looking for the company.

"I'm sure the wizard had something to do with the fire," Nori said, "He himself has said he has a talent for such things."

"We haven't found a sign of her though, and no way to sneak back into the mountain undetected. The goblins were already on their guard from our flight and now the eagles will have set them even more on edge." Dwalin argued back.

"Then we should continue our search out here! Or are you afraid you'll be caught by some goblins?" Nori taunted.

Dwalin bristled and snapped, "I do not wish to abandon her, but we also have a duty to the king."

Nori sneered, "Then go if you wish. I for one will not be leaving until I have to."

Dwalin huffed in anger and scowled at the thief before him. He'd spent a good many years of his life trying to pin the mischief this dwarf had gotten up to on him, and consequently they did not see eye to eye.

He really didn't want to abandon Holly, but he worried for Thorin and the rest. They had had good luck so far, and Gandalf was with them, but luck could always run out.

A few notes on the chapter:

In the book Gandalf talks briefly about passages the goblins use to get from one side of the mountains to the other and even mentions potentially asking a giant to block up the passage the dwarves got snatched through. I'm playing off that a bit with Holly's discovery of a blocked up passage. I also borrowed Helfer from another book about goblins. Kudos if you can guess the reference, though it's pretty vague.

Not everyone likes Holly or Bilbo and this comes out in the chapter. There will always be people in life who dislike you no matter what and I find that too often oc's are beloved by everyone or only have ONE person who dislikes them.