Poppy could have stood there, huge, stupid grin on her face as she stared back at Fili, for the whole day, forever if she had the ability. In that short moment, she no longer hurt. Neither her foot nor her palm nor her much abused soul held a shred of pain. The pure joy staring right back at her was better than any cure that even Elrond or Estë could create. Only Kili's hand on her arm kept her from beginning to slowly traverse the space between them, her vision beginning to tunnel. Despite everything around them, she was beginning to get that feeling that said they were the only two people in the world, no matter how inconvenient its timing.

The bright flash of light upon a blade from behind Fili and to his left shattered her daze and her feet successfully moved before her mind told them to. Pulling from Kili's grasp and sprinting across the wooden boards, she squeezed between two hollering goblins. An incomprehensible scream of warning and challenge ripping from her throat, she spun about and brought her staff firmly into the throat of the axe-wielding goblin that had just tried to put a second blade in Bifur's skull.

As his ability to breathe suddenly left him, the goblin's eyes snapped down to her, wide and confused. All they found was a diminutive being with an expression dark enough to make his blood run a little colder. He knew nothing else as the staff in her hands deftly took his axe from his and then rapped him about the head just above the ear. The goblin was dead before he fell off the platform, his body beginning the long descent into the deeps of Goblin Town.

"Poppy…?" Bifur was staring at her, what looked like shock and a smile warring for dominance over his features.

Pulling him into a quick, fierce hug with her free arm, she grinned and ordered in Khuzdul a word she knew well, "Breathe, Bifur."

His smile winning him over, the warrior returned her hug so intensely that for a short second she couldn't breathe, either. His eyes quickly flitted over the scene before them, the fight still raging, trying to find Fili. The look in his eyes and the grin on his face said that he was happy with more than battle joy. He knew, too.

As his gaze had wandered, Poppy pulled from her friend's embrace, turning to put her back against his. Within seconds of his distraction, two goblins lunged for the pair. With her simple shout of "Left!" Bifur didn't need any further warning. Working as if they had been fighting together for decades, they spun to face the goblins. Going down on one knee, Poppy lashed out at their knees while Bifur swung his glaive at their chests. Between the two attacks, neither goblin knew which way to dodge and both wound up with either a staff or blade brought down upon their throats.

Rising up over the cacophony, Gandalf's insistent voice echoed throughout the space, "Follow me! Quick!"

And with that, they began running for their lives.

Finding herself in the back, Bifur and Fili by her sides, Poppy couldn't help but start counting as they sprinted down a walkway opposite from where she and Gandalf had come in. Including the two beside her and Gandalf, she only found fourteen. Ducking under an overhanging support from the path above them, she asked, "Where's Bilbo?"

Unable to find him in the group as they veered into two, Fili had no answer, "I don't know. He's got to be with one of us. He'll be fine."

Squeezing her arm and flashing her a grin, he ran forward to help the others pick up a large pole and subsequently throw all incoming goblins into the abyss with it. Bringing up the back, swatting at the few goblins who had caught up and leapt down at her, Poppy could do nothing but worry and run.

As they sprinted over a bridge, she looked up from smacking a goblin so hard across the chest that he flew straight off to find Ori beside her, an almost ridiculously large war hammer in his hands. Upon seeing her, an enormous smile spread across his face. "POPPY! You're alive!"

When she was close enough, he pressed an ecstatic kiss to her cheek.

Laughing at the enthusiasm she loved so much, seeing others smile with shock at his words and realizing she was indeed there, she nodded and shouted as they ran, "I told you we would be all right."

Ori stuck to her like particularly clingy tree sap after that as they crossed over more bridges, ducked goblins leaping down at them, cut off entire sections of the path to keep more goblins from swinging at them like pirates, and even kept the rear safe as the others fended off archers by dropping a ladder on them and making it into a bridge.

Somewhere along the line, despite all her heart's conviction, her ankle had decided it was no longer to be ignored. When she had the chance to look down, her stomach roiled to see her bandage completely soaked through with red. Once she saw it, the pain sprung up like the sharp sting that comes after one sees the bee land upon his hand. Even as she forced the joint to continue carrying her as they pounded hopefully closer to the outside and life, she knew it wasn't going to hold her for much longer. Having to bite back tears and a scream of pain, she tried to focus back in on the goblin jumping forward with…was that a frying pan?

Beyond ready to have the day behind her—to leave falling off mountains, fighting vile little goblins, and all other manner of painful experiences—she took the quickest route to dispatch the goblin twice her height. Heaving up with her staff just as he raised his pan, she brought the goblin down with an enormous squeal, clutching his manhood. She could just make out Ori's sympathetic squeak from beside her.

When she looked ahead again, she paled to find an enormous gap in the path, much farther than any of them could jump. Just as she and Ori made it onto the last section of path, Kili cut the rope holding it in place and they began to swing forward. Poppy could only scream as she stumbled dangerously close to the edge, Bombur's massive form knocking into her. A strong arm quickly wrapped around her chest and she only just saw Dwalin above her before he hurled her toward Dori who was again on solid boards. The older dwarf caught her with ease and wrapped her in a second's worth of a tight hug before the others had fought off the goblins and made their own leaps.

After that, she lost herself in an ever-swirling sprint of sharp turns, howling goblins, and placing herself to protect the back of the nearest dwarf. Even with the extra strength of her bracers, her wrists were screaming in pain, her forearms were shivering, and her shoulders burned. She didn't allow herself to find a description for the agony her foot was going through, especially as she felt the cut on the bottom of her heel widen, the hard skin unused to such a weakness. All that time, she had yet to catch a glimpse of Bilbo and panic was rising in her heart.

She couldn't lose him. Be she honest, she couldn't lose any of them…not even Thorin with all his irritability. But, to lose Bilbo would be the worst. He was her reason to be there, her reason to fight, to protect.

Bilbo had to be there somewhere!

Just as she had taken a glancing blow to the shoulder, having the wind knocked out of her, she stumbled straight into Fili's side. For a second, she let her ankle and body give up, everything having paused as an enormous crack filled the space. Hauling her up as gently as he could, having to turn down one of his swords as she leaned heavily against him, Fili glanced worriedly from her to the goblins closing in. He watched as the pain in her eyes and the effort behind her breathing was pushed down by sheer force of will and she found her feet again. Her staff in trembling hands, she took her place between him and Dwalin, fiercely cracking the jaw of the first goblin who jumped forward. With a sideways glance, she sent a bright, reassuring smile his way.

That so much determination and resilience could be bottled in so small a being made the blonde dwarf grin fleetingly. It was one of the many reasons he loved her.

Behind them, the dark, deep voice of the Goblin king was heard once again, his tone mocking, "You thought you could escape me?"

With a foul laugh, he lashed out at Gandalf with his club, forcing the wizard to fall back. Cackling again, he queried, "What are you going to do now, wizard?" Neither Poppy nor Fili could see what it was that Gandalf did, but after a yowl of pain and a thud of what sounded like him falling to his knees, the goblin uttered simply, "That'll do it."

Another dull thud rang through the boards and without further notice, the entire section had broken free from its shoring. The wicked sensation of falling, her stomach rising into her throat, hit her again and she couldn't help the scream that ripped from her mouth. An arm wrapped around her waist within seconds and Poppy found herself pressed up against a warm chest that she knew well. Clinging to Fili's coat with her free hand, she buried her face in his shirt, fighting back terror.

Smashing through all the paths below it, the wood stayed together, careening on as if an empty wagon pushed from the top of a hill. After one particularly harsh blow, the floor below Poppy suddenly gave way. The force ripped her from Fili's grasp and she landed on her stomach two levels down on the very bottom, the scream knocked right from her lungs. Her fingers clutched at the first thing she could find and refused to let go of the vertical beam.

Before her body or mind had the chance to really get a grasp of what was happening, they crashed into the bottom of the abyss. Everything went black as her end of their rickety bridge finally collapsed all about her.

For a long second, no one could do anything but groan at a brand new ache in their bones as the dwarves unburied themselves from the wooden rubble. "Well," Bofur began, always the voice of optimism, "that could've been worse."

As soon as the words had left his mouth, the rotund corpse of the goblin king joined them with an enormous thud and many brand new groans. Biting out his words, Dwalin rolled his eyes, "You've got to be joking."

On his back beside the tall warrior, Kili glanced up as he worked to remove a stray board from where he jutted into his back. Tossing it to the side, his eyes widened at what he saw above him. Every single surface of rock was covered in goblins, what looked like the entire population racing down headfirst to finish the job of killing them. Voice almost shaking with urgency, he cried, "Gandalf!"

The wizard looked up, as did all the others who were pulling each other up and onto their feet. Face grim, Dwalin stated, "There's too many. We cannot fight them."

"Then only one thing can save us: daylight!" Rushing as the need to again be out and in the sun was more crucial than ever, Gandalf began hauling dwarves from the rubble, "Come on. On your feet." Grabbing Fili by the arm, he began hurrying the Company along.

The last to throw off all the rubble, Thorin started toward the end of the line when the sound of a groan reached his ears. Blue eyes turning back, they found a small hand weakly attempting to pull itself to freedom. Swearing under his breath, knowing it could only be one of them, he sprinted back the few feet.

Throwing off the pile of boards, digging on his hands and knees at one point, Thorin found the hobbit girl who was already supposed to be dead curled up on her side, blood flowing from her foot and hand, a small dribble running down her face from her temple, too. Unconsciously shocked at how she had survived at all—he and his kin were incredibly durable folk, likely the only reason they had all gotten up and jogged away—he pulled her staff from her grip and stuck it through his sword belt. Glancing hurriedly up, seeing the goblins getting uncomfortably close, he grabbed her around the waist and hauled her into his arms.

Settling her against his shoulder and holding her with one arm like a babe, Orcrist in his other hand, he muttered with concern as he ran after the others, "Come on, Poppy. Wake up, lass..." When she stirred against him at his voice, he added, "I'm not dealing with Fili losing you twice."


A/N: Well hello there and hooray for killing goblins! I do so dislike them. So, as I'm prone to do, I didn't quite get to the whole reunion, but we're almost there. We all had to survive and whatnot first. Plus, she and Thorin had a bit of a moment and those are always fun, even if she probably won't remember it. I do apologize that there's been a bit of a gap. I blame Kansas University and University of Minnesota for having grad application deadlines set for December 1. Who does that? Anyway, I do have a ten page paper to write before next Thursday, but for me, that's really rather short anymore, so I'm hoping to have more up before Thanksgiving. There will be Fili/Poppy goodness, Bilbo will be back, and of course we get to fight some more!

Fun tidbit, I finally got The Hobbit on DVD, because I figured that spending the money for the theatrical was silly given I'd only ever watch the extended. May I just say that I thank the Tolkien gods that we got the Fili we did! I saw the bits of footage with the guy before Dean O'Gorman, and just...(shudders). This story might not have happened had he not been picked and that makes me incredibly sad to think about. Now I'm just babbling, but I do that. :) So, here's the part where I say thanks for reading, review if you wish, and I hope you all enjoyed! :D See you next week.