Here we are...the last chapter (before the epilogue, which will be very short). I can't believe it's (almost) over...I started writing this story during my exams in December to change my ideas in the evening after a long day of studying and I thought that I would, at some point, let it go and that no one would really read it but here we are...I was actually sad to write these last chapters, I swear, and I'm so sorry for all the feels I made you all go through! Alright, I can't really find words that are good enough, so we'll say our goodbyes with the epilogue, and in the meanwhile, enjoy this last chapter :)

Chapter XXXV : All who took that road with me

When Luna slowly came back to herself, the first thing she noticed was that she was not laying on hard ground anymore but on soft grass.

There was a bright sun shining and it blinded her so she rolled on her side. That's only when she did so that she completely opened her eyes and her blood froze for a little moment. That move should have caused a terrible pain to flash through her whole body from all the wounds she had gotten, yet she felt nothing.

Actually, she felt rather good, even better than she had in a long time. She carefully poked at her shoulder where Bolg's mace had broken her bones and found it perfectly well. More and more confused, she bit her lip and attempted to move her leg that had been all but destroyed, bracing herself for the worst and she widened her eyes when she felt absolutely no pain at all.

She sat straight up and looked down at herself. There was not a trace of blood on her whole body and even more surprising, she was wearing a simple yet beautiful white dress that was so soft against her skin she could as well have been wearing nothing at all.

Her confusion growing with every minute, she looked around her and dropped her jaw in surprise when she realised she was sitting in a great meadow with the greener grass she had ever seen. In the distance to her right, she could see a huge mass of water stretching to the horizon. It looked so big it couldn't possibly be a lake but it was so calm at the same time that she knew it wasn't a sea.

To her left, at an equal distance, a huge mountain stood alone. She narrowed her eyes, never had she seen such a mountain, despite being a dwarf. She had always had a certain form of repulsion for mountains but this one was different, it seemed to be calling to her.

She looked around her again to try and understand where she was but there was no sign of Ravenhill not even Erebor -and the mountain in the distance definitely wasn't it. There were only the immense stretch of water and the mountain. All the rest was just grass until the horizon in every direction.

She noticed also how, while it had been cold on top of Ravenhill with the coming of winter in the North, the weather was very nice here. It was more than that actually, it was wonderful. The sun caressed her skin just the way she liked and a soft wind occasionally played with her long curls.

"Where in Durin's name am I?" she whispered to herself.

"Nowhere"

She startled at the voice and spun around. When her eyes landed on the one the voice belonged to, she gasped in surprise and covered her mouth with her hands.

She stared in absolute shock at her brother Logan smiling down at her.

He held out his hand to her to help her on her feet. First, she didn't move, she barely even seem to breathe. Then, all at once, she took his hand and jumped on her feet, throwing her arms around his neck and letting a few tears streak down on her face.

He looked a bit surprised at first but then answered her embrace and hugged her tightly.

"It's nice to see you too, little sister" he said with a smile.

She shook her head to chase the tears away then parted from him a little bit to look at his face, as if to make sure he was really there. Only then did she realise that he was dressed a bit like her : simply but nicely, and that he looked as good as she could remember ever seeing him.

"You…you…" she started but couldn't find the words and that made him chuckled.

"I missed you too"

She nodded.

"Oh Mahal" she sighed, trying to clear her thoughts. "Wait…if you're here…does that mean…?"

She looked up at him and he suddenly became a bit more serious.

"Am I…am I dead?" she asked, finally realising that it was the only plausible explanation to all of this.

"Not exactly"

She frowned at his hesitation.

"What does that mean? Where are we? And if I can see you, it means I'm dead, right? You are dead"

He chuckled.

"Some things never change, you still ask all your questions at the same time like you used to sixty years ago"

"And you still take an awful long time to answer them"

He shrugged his shoulders with a little smile. Never had she seen him so tranquil and at peace. He didn't seem to be in a hurry at all, he had all the time in the world.

"Please?" she begged. "Where is Kili?"

"Don't worry. He is over there" he said, pointing at the great mountain to their left.

"What is this place?"

He sighed.

"Kili is dead. He died from the wound Bolg gave him in the chest. The two of you were laying together on that platform on Ravenhill and you both lost consciousness at the same time, except that he died at once but you didn't"

"What does that mean?" she asked in a lower voice.

"He arrived directly over there, in front of the gates of the mountain, like most people do because he is dead, simply dead. Can't you guess what that mountain is? It's where I came from to go and find you here"

She widened her eyes.

"It can't be…" she started but he nodded.

"It's Mahal's kingdom"

She stared at it in a respectful silence.

"Why didn't I directly end up there as well?" she asked after a brief pause.

"Because you're not dead yet. Your wounds are terrible but they haven't killed you yet. You are here in this meadow because you are still hanging between life and death"

"But…how long will I be here for? I can't…I can't stay here!"

"You can't and you won't. I came here to tell you that the choice is up to you"

"The choice?!" she gasped.

He gravely nodded.

"Either you go right towards the sea, where a boat is waiting for you, either you go towards the mountain. If you choose the sea, the boat will bring you back into the world of the living. You will still be hurt and will probably take months to recover but you will live. If you pick the mountain, the second you step in Mahal's halls, you will never be able to leave it anymore. It is the world where those who go never return"

She widened her eyes.

"Are you…are you asking me to choose between life and death?" she mumbled.

"Yes. And you must choose wisely. Life is precious, and yours could still be very long and full of beautiful surprises. But once it stops, there is no going back. Death, however, whether it is today or in two hundred years, will always come back for you. Whatever happens, you will sooner or later come back here and enter that mountain"

"But how…how can anyone ever make such a choice?" she gasped.

"That I do not know. Few are those who are actually given the choice, I wasn't"

She paused for a moment and looked right towards the sea. She could indeed see the little boat, waiting to take her back to life. If that's what she chose, Logan was right ; she was still young, there was so many things she would be able to do…maybe she could travel the world, free, like she had always dreamed of doing…but if she did, she would be alone. She would wake up with that terrible pain and would probably take months to even be able to walk again, if that ever happened. From the state her leg had been on, it would probably need to be cut off. And now, even Fili and Kili were dead, she didn't really have anything to hold on to anymore.

Her eyes turned to the mountain on her left. Death…she had no idea of what it was like. Would she be with Kili inside that mountain? She had no idea. It could be that she would just find herself alone in the dark forever, maybe that was what death really was.

If she chose life, then she would never be with Kili again and would only be able to cry on his tomb and if she chose death, she didn't know what would happen but maybe, just maybe, she would be given the chance to be with her One.

"I don't suppose you would answer any question about how it is inside there?" she asked.

He shook his head.

"You will see by yourself"

"How was it?" she suddenly asked, turning her eyes back on him. "To be separated from Lunkin in such a way?"

He raised an eyebrow.

"Being with Fili and Kili for the past year made me realise what I was too young to see at the time…you and Lunkin were just like them. It's only now that I realise how hard it must have been for him when you died"

"I…there are some things I wish I could change, for Lunkin but for you as well. When you die, you kind of forget what it was like when you lived. Some are not even grieved for those they left because they find peace…but for the past decades, I have never been able to stop thinking about you two and how badly I wish I could be with you. After all, whatever Lunkin probably said after my death, I was, am and will always be the big brother"

She smiled.

"That you will" she whispered.

"Alright" he said with another smile, suddenly looking towards the mountain. "It's time for me to go"

"Already?"

"Those who are death are normally never even supposed to leave the mountain"

She nodded, understanding.

He put his hands on her shoulders.

"Whatever your choice is, little sister, I know it will be the best"

"Thank you" she whispered and before she could add anything or even hug him, he suddenly vanished and she was alone again in the middle of the great meadow.

She let out a deep sigh and turned her glance towards the sea.

The huge doors had opened for her just at the moment she had arrived in front of them. The light coming from inside the mountain was surprisingly so bright that she hadn't been able to see what was inside and taking a deep breath, she had stepped in.

She raised her arm in front of her eyes to stop the light from blinding her and walked slowly, unsure of her steps when suddenly, a strong hand firmly yet gently caught hers and lead her forward.

She let herself be guided and it's only when she heard the doors closing behind her that the light faded and she returned the owner of the hand's smile when she saw who it was.

"Kili" she whispered when he pulled her into a tight hug.

She noticed that he too was wearing those simple and nice clothes, the same kind that Logan had been wearing.

He cupped her face when they parted to look into her eyes. Rarely had she seen him so happy and tranquil. Her heart melted when he pressed his lips to hers for a gentle kiss and she pulled him closer to her.

"My love" he whispered between two kisses. "My sweet, beautiful love"

"I am here"

"And I thought death would at least spare me those kind of moments" a voice suddenly piped in behind Kili.

Luna snapped her head in the direction it came from and her eyes grew wide when she saw Fili standing there with a huge grin on his face.

"Fili…" she gasped and left Kili's arms to throw her arms around his neck and hug him.

He chuckled and looked at her.

"What took you so long?" he asked with a smile and she just shrugged her shoulders.

"I guess I was harder to kill" she winked at him and he teasingly pretended to punch her in the stomach then her eyes widened again when she saw two other dwarves looking at her with little smiles.

"I knew you'd join us" Logan said.

"Always so predictable, little sister" Lunkin sighed.

"You mean like the time you didn't see that plate full of food coming straight at your face?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

Logan let out a little laugh then the three of them reached for each other at the same time and wrapped themselves in a tight hug.

"I've missed you" Lunkin whispered.

"Looks like the gang's finally reunited" another, deeper voice came in.

They turned around. There stood their father, Laïn, looking better and stronger that she had ever seen him. He didn't even have his old wounds anymore and had gotten back the eye and the leg that he had lost in the battle of Moria.

"Father!" she exclaimed.

She had been about to run to him as well but she froze when she saw the person standing next to him, smiling at her.

"Thorin" she gasped. "You're here too?"

He nodded.

"I killed Azog" he shrugged his shoulders.

"I failed…I failed you all" she whispered.

"Luna, no" Kili firmly said, taking her hand.

"You never failed anyone, Luna. You were the best captain I could ever have wished for, it is me who have been too blind to see what was the right thing to do, just like you have always been able to see it from the beginning" Thorin said, stepping towards them and putting a hand on her shoulder. "I am the one who owe you an apology…or rather a thousand apologies"

She shook her head.

"Thanks to you, the dwarves will now be able to settle back in Erebor. This quest was a success" he added.

"Their king did this" she replied in a soft voice and he returned her smile then gave her a little bow.

"So, Logan…it looks like baby Luna got married before the two of us" Lunkin suddenly teasingly said while both the young girl and Kili turned bright red.

"You're right, brother. She beat us to it" Logan added. "It's a shame tough we weren't invited to the wedding"

"No one was, and it was hardly a wedding" Luna shook her head.

"Actually, Thorin died a little bit before Kili, which means that he was the king under the mountain when you said your vows…and as a king, he had the power to celebrate those kinds of union" Fili said.

The two young dwarves look at each other, both furiously blushing and the others, including Thorin, merrily laughed.

Laïn warmly hugged his daughter and the young dwarf at the same time.

"My daughter, I am so happy" he said.

"Thank you, father" she whispered with a smile.

"Luna?" Lunkin suddenly called in a soft voice, gently taking her arm to lead her a bit forward with Logan.

"There is someone we would like you to meet" the older brother said.

She looked at them in confusion then shot a look backwards at her father and the three others but they only smiled and Laïn nodded, emotion clear on his face.

She then followed her brothers' glances when she saw that they were looking at something in front of them and she fell silent when her eyes landed on a dwarf woman standing a few steps before her.

She had never seen her, but it was as if she had always known her, as if she had seen her everyday of her life. Her eyes probably couldn't recognise her, but her heart certainly could.

"My beautiful little girl" the woman said in a voice full of emotion, a smile on her face.

A silent tear rolled down on Luna's cheek where she had, in life, had a white moon-shaped scar left by Smaug the day of her birth, when he had taken Erebor.

"Mother…" she whispered.

So many people were present at the funeral that the huge hall of Erebor in which it took place was so crowded it was hardly possible to move. There were mostly dwarves of course, but for the first time ever, they shared their sacred halls and their grief with others, including elves.
Legolas and Tauriel were there, as well as Haleth. There were also Bard with his children, as well as Beorn, Radagast, Gandalf and of course, Bilbo who didn't even have enough tears left to cry and was just staring, completely motionless at the four bodies.

A few words were said by Dain who had become the new king under the mountain after Thorin and his nephews' deaths, but even his grief was too great to be able to say much. All knew anyway. All knew that the four dwarves laying on the big stones before them were heroes and all were there to offer them one last homage and thank them for returning their home to the dwarves and saving so many.

Then, they were buried. Thorin with his sword and with the Arkenstone upon his chest. Both Fili and Kili were buried at his sides and with Kili was laid Luna.
It had broken the dwarves' hearts when they had had to separate them to bring them from Ravenhill to here but they had been careful to lay them back together and make sure they would now spend the eternity at each other's side. It is thus with their hands holding each other that they were buried and Bilbo fought against a wave of fresh tears when he saw that the tombs had been made in such a way that a ray of sunlight coming from an opening high above them fell straight on the stone underneath which Luna was buried, as if the dwarves hadn't wanted her to be afraid of the dark even in death.

After that, a few words were said as well for those who had died during the battle and when, at the very end, the names of Laïn, Logan and Lunkin were mentioned, Bilbo remembered a promise Thorin had made Luna what seemed like an eternity ago, that her father and brothers' names would be remembered in Erebor long after their deaths.

It is vain to try and pretend that any of the former members of Thorin Oakenshield's company, that stood in a line at the very front, just in front of the tombs, kept dry eyes that day. Even Dwalin was crying and didn't even seem able to hide it as he accepted the slight comfort his brother Balin could afford him by standing at his side.

And, in front of the company, just besides the tombs, a hand resting on the stones as if letting go might make her fall, stood the lady Dis.
She kept a straight back and composed face through the whole ceremony but it wasn't hard to know that inside, she was broken. She had come from the blue mountains, looking forward to hug her sons and her brother against her, as well as Luna who she loved like a daughter, and see that they were well but when she had arrived, all she had found were four bodies laying on the cold stones.
She hadn't even heard the few comforting words some had tried to address her, until at the very end of the ceremony, when almost everyone had left, a little voice finally caught her attention.

"You were their mother"

She looked up to see Bilbo looking at her.

"They talked a lot about you, all four of them actually. They really loved you" he added in a voice weakened by how much he had cried.

He saw that she had something in her hand and struggled to keep a composed face when he recognised Kili's and Fili's rune stones that she had given them as a token of the promise they had made to come back to her.

"Look, I…I wish I was able to find the right words to say to you but…I don't think there could ever be any" he sighed. "I learnt a great deal about dwarves while I was traveling with them…it's actually been a while now, and these four were probably the most astonishing, remarkable people I have ever met. They knew what they were doing, they always have…sometimes they were afraid, of course, but they were always guided by things stronger than their fears. Things that I have no doubt you taught them all. Hope, courage…love…"

His voice shook and he didn't speak anymore, afraid that he might break down again.

Dis slowly walked towards him and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Thank you, little guard" she whispered before leaving.

Bilbo took one last look at the tombs and stepped towards them. He touched the cold stones of each one of them.

"I will miss you" he whispered.

Then he let out a deep sigh. It was time for him to go home.

The horns from Dale had reasoned in the mountain as a last homage to the fallen just before Bilbo walked out of the gates with Balin.

"There is to be a great feast tonight" the old dwarf said. "Songs will be sung, tales will be told. Thorin Oakenshield will pass into legend"

"I know that's how you must honour him but to me, he was never that. He was…To me…he was…" he mumbled but he was not able to find his words so he just shook his head and gave a sad smile to Balin. "Well I'll slip out quietly, you'll tell the others I said goodbye"

"You can tell them yourselves" the old dwarf softly said.

The hobbit looked at him in surprise then his eyes landed on the entrance of Erebor where the company had gathered and he chuckled.

He took a few steps towards them and fondly look at them all, looking for the right words to bid them farewell.

"If any of you are ever passing Bag-End…" he started, "…tea is at four. There's plenty of it. You are welcome anytime"

The dwarves slightly bowed to him.

"Oh and…don't bother knocking" he added.

"Ye too lad, don't forget she made ye a guard" Dwalin said. "Ye're one of us"

He nodded, emotion clear on his face then made a move to walk away.

"Bilbo, wait!" Ori's little voice suddenly called him.

He turned around to see the scribe stepping towards him with something in his hands.

"This is for you, I finally finished it. I should have given it to you earlier but with everything that happened, I hardly found the time to draw these past few weeks"

He handed him a parchment and Bilbo stared in bewilderment at the portray of himself Ori had promised to draw after they had left Rivendell an age ago.

"It's…it's great" he mumbled.

"And I have something else too"

The dwarf gave him another parchment and Bilbo fell silent when he looked at the portray of Luna, so beautiful and realistic that he almost felt like looking down at his feet when he met her stunning eyes that Ori had so well recreated.

"Wasn't this going to be her birthday present?" he asked.

"Yes, but I will never get the chance to give it to her now…and I finished it so I think you should have it. To remember her"

"I doubt I will ever forget her" he whispered then looked up at the dwarf and warmly squeezed his shoulder. "Thank you, Ori"

The scribe shyly smiled.

"Don't forget about your book" he reminded him and the hobbit nodded.

And the dwarves watched him leave with Gandalf until they had disappeared into the distance. It was now past time that their little hobbit went back home to the Shire where everything had started. After all this time, their quest was finally over and everyone now needed to go on with the new lives that awaited them.