I'm trying for a chapter a day, hoping to get this done soon because SOMEONE gave me another story idea. So if you follow Fire and Peace, don't hold your breath. I really like the story i have going for it, but I kinda derailed from it on motivation. It will return one day.

Ch 25 Never Apart

Thorin looked around, trying to figure out where he was, hoping this wasn't Mahal's Halls that were promised after death. It was dark, barely any light emitting from somewhere, and mist rolling at his feet. Was he dead or unconscious? Maybe this was a dream of some sort. A sniffle sounded somewhere around him and stopped Thorin in his tracks. Was there someone else here with him?

"Hello?" No answer. "Show yourself."

"Leave me alone, I won't give you what you want, no matter how you try and tempt me."

He knew that voice. "Lapis?"

"Stop talking like him!"

Her crying was more audible now and Thorin walked to where he thought she was sitting. Who did she think he was and where were they? "Bunmel, it's me. I'm not fake."

"Go away!"

Thorin tried to follow her voice in the dim light, the vast emptiness was making the task much more difficult. He growled in frustration and ran a hand through his hair. "Dammit, where are you?"

"Very funny, I'm not the one who created this space. Make it go away if you to see me." Bitterness and sorrow colored her voice.

"If I could, I would, but I'm not whoever you think I am. One moment I was laying in the snow on Ravenhill, trying to reach for you, and then I'm here in this strange place with my One who can't be found."

"I would I know it's really you? He knows all about me."

The silence was heavy and Thorin had no idea to convince her that he was himself. "Can you tell me what happened, why we are in this place?"

A sharp laugh cut through her tears and fog. "What happened? I wouldn't bow down to what He wanted. I was born for a reason and the purpose I was created," a shuddering breath paused the explanation. "I'm a tool, an instrument meant to destroy. I was never supposed to find happiness, meet Thorin, have his children." Bitterness was abundant in her words. "I wasn't supposed to find him again, to create another life with him. I was just meant to kill and claim. But, it was fine in the beginning I suppose, He supported the actions, telling me to mate with Thorin after some time. Create more of me that He could control. Perhaps if I hadn't grown into myself, He would have had a greater hold on me, with the help of Smaug. Are my babies safe? Can you tell me that?"

Thorin had all but stopped listening when he heard her say they had created another life together. Was Lapis pregnant? "You… you are with child?"

Her next words were cold, "Don't pretend you don't know. For all I know, I'm in a dungeon far away, chained to a floor until I give birth."

With his hands in front of him, Thorin began searching for her again. "I never thought we would be apart, I dread the thought of it happening again. I would rather died if you have than live any longer without you."

"Meaningless words, you aren't him."

Her voice was getting closer. "How long have you known you carried another baby?"

"Smaug told me. He always knew everything, I never tried to hide or lie to him."

He could swear she was right in front of him. Thorin dropped to his hands and knees, crawling around while getting her to talk. "Did you ever try?"

"Once, he nearly took my head off with a snap of his teeth."

A few more shuffles and Thorin was looking at his One. She was naked, hair flowing around her, and gold eyes piercing into his. A tired smile came across her lips as she spoke in a bland voice. "You look so much like him, your trick might work."

Thorin got to his knees and pulled Lapis to him, her body limp against him. "I am Thorin, Son of Thrain, and King under the Mountain. My brother was Frerin and sister is Dis, they loved you as their own blood. I thought of you every day and night we were apart, dreamt of you so much I thought you were fictitious at times. When we met at Beorn's, I thought it some trick that you were in front of me, a way to divert me from the quest and kill me. In Laketown, when you came to me, I felt a piece of myself return to my soul."

"He knows all this, this is but a trick now."

Pulling her away slightly, Thorin tore at his shirts with one hand. "Does he know this? I commissioned a tattoo after your dragon form and had it inked over my heart so I would always have you with me. It glowed and burned in the mountain, when the gold sickness was at its peak."

Small fingers came up and caressed his skin, making his body burn. The hand traveled lower and paused over a patch of his stomach. "What is this from?"

Thorin saw a scar instead of a wound that was inflicted minutes ago, or so he assumed. "From you, you killed me. Or at least I think you did. There were wizards with us, healing me and trying to free you from whatever this is, but I don't know what happened."

Lapis flattened her hand against his abdomen and felt the muscles tighten, her eyes going up to the white and blue tattoo on his pec. How she missed that in Laketown was strange, but it was very dark and she had been otherwise distracted. "I want you to be real, I tired. I just want to be with those that are family, to watch my baby grow as his siblings did with you by my side."

"I am real, and I'll never leave you again, I swear by Mahal."

Her arms reached up and wound around his neck, bringing their heads closer until Lapis could kiss him. It wasn't claiming nor hurried, but a reassuring and slow kiss, one that made them burn brighter for each other. Their emotions pouring out through the kiss, trying to reassure the other.

Whatever happened next, they would never know as they both fell into oblivion. The darkness swallowing them up as they held onto each other, determined not to lose the other again.

Tarin sat on Beorn's knee, put there by the bear after he inspected her and tended to her wound. Her injured side was against his stomach and head on his chest while she kept her eyes pinned on the bed across from them. Thorin and Lapis had been lain side by side on a cot big enough for both of them by the suggestion of Gandalf, who was apparently a wizard. His thought was that they might heal better if they were closer. She could only hope, as did her siblings. Tarin knew where they were since no one had moved since seating themselves in the tent to wait for their parents to awaken. Not even Thranduil had thrown a fit, since Meio and Tauriel were both waiting.

Keahi sat on the ground, a pair of pants on now, with his back against a post facing the same direction as Tarin with Tauriel resting her head on a leg, looking at Kili who had been carried down in ceremony. The dwarf hadn't survived the wound and it ate at the Elf that she couldn't save him. She had originally been standing until Keahi convinced her to sit, slowly leading her down to rest against him. Meio sat near the opening of the tent in a large chair Thranduil had brought for her, dress in a light dress and robe of silver and green. Every now and then, the Elf King would step into the tent and lay a hand on her shoulder or stroke her hair, ice blue eyes sweeping over everyone before leaving again to check on his own people.

The other dwarf, Fili as Tarin remembered, had survived, but with some burns amid the bruises and broken bones. He was currently in the tent with Elf soldiers and healers, getting the best treatment possible with Dain at his side. The dwarf warrior wasn't convinced the Elves would do their best for his kin and stood next to Fili's bed, watching with a keen eye and not sparing any cutting words.

Day and night passed with no one moving in the tent other than Gandalf who dropped in to check on Thorin and Lapis. He muttered some words, his staff glowing briefly, then walked away without an explanation. No one protested or demanded answers, they knew if something happened that he would tell them. But it was the next night that Balin and Dwalin arrived to take Kili away to Erebor. His body wouldn't last and he needed to be buried as per royal tradition. No one said a word as other dwarves arrived and helped carry the cot out the tent and to the mountain. Tauriel had risen then, watching them leave and stood at the same crumbling tower Lapis had before to watch their progression until she couldn't see them anymore. She didn't return until morning.

On the third day, Bilbo arrived with a large tray of rationed food. He set it on the table and softly announce it was for everyone to share, stopping by Thorin's side to lay a hand on the dwarf's in friendship before leaving. On the fifth day, around noon, all eyes swung back to the couple sharing a cot as a sigh was heard and a shifting of limbs.

We are so close to the end.