Chapter Twenty: A Certain Red Head

Emelia did not fight it. She did not wake up after she slumped against Kili, the only signs of life coming from the strangled little puffs of air that fanned out over his chest and up his neck. She had looked up briefly at the bright light coming from Gandalf, a small, slight sound of surprise emitting from her throat before she passed out completely, leaving Kili holding her awkwardly against him. Her hands fell down to her sides, leaving him with the task of pressing the now sopping cloth to her bleeding chest on his own.

Her red hair flopped in front of her now alarmingly pale face as he attempted to get her body into a position that would be easy to control and carry. That proved to be harder than he would have originally thought. She was not heavy, not by a long shot, but he still found her unsupported weight to be unwieldy and stressful. Of course everything was stressful about being trapped in Goblin Town.

Kili struggled to adjust her weight, hearing her cry out involuntarily in her sleep as his hand scrapped along her cut. He flinched, pulling his hand back out of reflex.

He lifted her up, feeling the goblins teeming around him, pawing at both her and him, throwing her over his shoulder. He felt the blood from her wound seeping down his neck, making him cringe outwardly. He imagined she would be cursing him out in the most colorful of ways if she had been awake for the way he was holding her to his body.

The confusion in the hall of Goblin Town was enough to make his brain go slightly fuzzy. There was too much going on to focus on both Emelia and getting out safely. There was too much chaos to focus on all that his mind was requiring him to focus on. He could feel her rib bones jutting out into his skin, pressing painfully into the one part of his shoulder that wasn't as heavily padded as the rest. She moaned slightly in her slumber, sending an odd sensation rushing through his body along with the rumbling from her chest.

He lifted up his hand carefully, swatting hurriedly at the goblins as they attempted to grab her off of his shoulders. They clawed at him, cutting into his skin and leaving horrible, angry red lines all over him. They pulled at his hair, causing him to cry out in pain as they attempted to throw him off balance. Some of them tried to bite him, bite Emelia as he pushed his way through the teeming crowd towards where his weapons were piled haphazardly on the ground. Her arms swung wildly around him, making them easy targets for the now enraged goblins. He could hear the King shouting at his subjects, egging them on to keep attacking the company of dwarves.

Kili didn't need to be told twice by Gandalf to gather up his weapons. He was rather thankful that Emelia was so tiny. Her legs were not in his way as he struggled to get through the throng of goblins, using his free arm to punch at them, as well as his legs to fight his way through the crowd of sickly looking goblins. Her legs swung wildly against him, slapping into him at odd places. She reminded him vividly of the straw dolls him and Fili used to play with before they deemed themselves too manly to play with dolls.

He was reminded, over and over again, of how much he hated goblins as he passed by them one by one. They snarled at him, like caged animals, and spit on him in their attempts to grab him and Emelia.

By the time he reached his weapons, Fili had already scooped them up. He shoved them roughly at Kili, being careful not to hit Emelia in the process. He scanned her quickly, taking in the sweat on her face and the blood weeping out over Kili's clothes.

Fili's own face was covered in small cuts and bruises, making him look much worse for wear than Kili imagined he was. His hair was sticking to the sides of his face, making it curl slightly from the sweat that was dripping down. He moved towards him, swiping his sword at the goblins that were attempting to attack them. The blood splattered thickly over his hands, making him look rather grotesque and intimidating.

"She's not…" Fili trailed off, spinning around and catching an advancing goblin in the neck.

"She is still breathing." Kili managed to ground out, lifting her up slightly to adjust her body.

"We must move." Fili said, glancing over through the mess of goblins at the rest of the company. "We must get out of here."

They had all gathered up their weapons, making them all feel much better about the current situation. They felt themselves more capable of handling the coming problems now that they had their weapons in hand once again. Dwalin was swinging his war hammer around, catching the goblins the face, neck, and chest. They fell to the ground in a heap, allowing him to step over them, or on them, to move towards more of the goblins. Gandalf was shouting orders at all of them, struggling to be heard over the orders that the Goblin King was shouting. Thorin was pushing his way through the crowd towards Gandalf, swinging his sword wildly, blood spattering everywhere he went.

"Kili!" Kili barely had time to turn around before he felt himself being pushed down to the ground. Emelia went flying off his shoulder, landing roughly at the feet of three particularly nasty looking goblins. He looked up, scrambling for his weapons just in time to receive a solid and resounding kick to face.

Stars shot across his vision as he reached out an arm to wrench the goblin that had kicked him down to the ground. It was a small, petty looking thing. It looked terrified as Kili used it to propel himself up into an unsteady standing position. The little goblin pawed at his legs, attempting to drag him back down, before Kili finally managed to bring his sword down in its little stomach, making it slump into the dirty ground with a small little whine of pain.

The shouts and screams in the hall were so loud Kili could hardly hear himself think. He could hardly hear his companions. He could hardly hear anything but the noises of the goblins.

He pushed his way towards Emelia, slashing as he went. He felt his blood boil when he saw the goblins ripping at her clothes and kicking her motionless body. They pulled her hair roughly, making her head move back and forth from the force of their yanks. They paid no mind to the gash on her chest. They still kicked her all the same. He could only imagine the profanities she would be spouting out if she wasn't passed on the floor in a pitiful heap.

He caught himself smiling at the thought as he pushed his way towards her.

Killing the goblins that surrounded her was easier than he would have thought. They didn't even look up from her before he had sliced through all three of them, sending thick, black blood spouting out over his hands and onto Emelia's body. It stood out against the paleness of her skin and the lightness of her traveling clothes. He bent down quickly, shooting furtive glances over his shoulders to see if the company was still struggling to find a way out of their current predicament. Kili reached his hand down underneath her back, lifting her up into a sitting position. She groaned at the movement, making a rush of relief run through him. She was still breathing, still alive.

"Now would be a fantastic time to wake up, Miss Emmy." Kili said, hauling her up over his shoulder once again.

She did not stir at the movement. He didn't expect her to. He was impressed she had stayed awake as long as she had, considering the amount of blood she had lost. She was so tiny; he imagined that any amount of injury would not bode well for her.

"But it is you, so I you couldn't possibly make my life easier." He said the last part more to himself than her. "It just wouldn't be true to your form now would it?"

"Kili, we have to go now!"

He didn't need to be told twice.

He hefted her up higher on his shoulder, pushing his way through the crowd towards the rest of the fleeing company. He could see his brothers hair swinging wildly as he weaved his way through the goblins, slicing them up as they went.

It was rather hard for him to keep track of where he was going as well as keeping track of the goblins nipping at his heels. Dwalin would have been proud of his one handed fighting prowess. He was able to, rather awkwardly and ungracefully, hack his way through the goblins one by one. He pushed them off the narrow walkway, kicked them haphazardly, and sliced through them all the while feeling Emelia breathing shallowly on his shoulder. Kili had seen enough injuries to know that if they didn't find a way to permanently stop the bleeding, Emelia would be in far worse shape than any of them would know how to fix. Oin, even with all of his prowess at healing, would be hard pressed to find a way to make her better.

He would be lying to himself if he said the thought didn't bother him.

It more than bothered him actually.

He clutched onto her more tightly, feeling her hip bones press into him. He was acutely aware, in that moment running through the caverns of Goblin Town, of just how small she had become over the last couple of weeks. He remembered the feel of her middle when he had grabbed her so long ago after the trolls. She had been firmer than she was now. She had muscles and a little extra. Now she felt like nothing. It was odd to him. considering she had been eating at every meal with the dwarves. He could feel bones that weren't meant to be felt, making him feel a sudden rush of pity for the small woman over his shoulder. He wondered why she hadn't complained. It was his experience with woman for them to complain about anything they could get their hands on. They seemed to delight in it. It was perhaps one of the main reasons he hadn't even attempted to court a dwarf woman. They found it to be a prevailing need to complain about his lack of beard. Or his lack of attention to their petty gossip and problems. Or his desire to spend more time with his brother and friends than them. It was odd for him to around someone who didn't mention something as important and vital as not getting enough to eat.

The company continued to bob and weave their way through the caverns, slicing and dicing as they went. Kili shook his head, clearing his rabbit trailing thoughts from his mind.

There would be time to ponder the odd behavior of their female companion at another time.

He hoped.

They shouted to each other in Khuzdul, muttering curse words and expletives as they struggled to make it to the safety of sunshine. It was the only thing that could help them. Help Emmy.

Kili was impressed with his ability to jump and weave through the mess that was the inner workings of Goblin Town. It involved holding onto Emelia's limp body as well as being able to protect himself. His mother would have been screaming at him if she could have seen how close he had been to the edge. He could just imagine her smacking him upside the head for teetering on more than one occasion.

"Is she still breathing?" Kili did not like the tone in his brother's voice. Fili made it sound as if there was a possibility that she wouldn't be. He could hear the strain in his voice as he looked over at Kili. His face was covered in blood splatter, making him appear very haggard and weary. He didn't pause as they ran; only choosing to occasionally glance over at the redhead on Kili's shoulder. Kili could see the panic written all over his face clear as day.

"She is." Kili spluttered out, jumping over a rather large, bleeding goblin, feeling his brother grabbing him by the arm to push him forward.

"Although, if we do not make it out of here, I am not sure for how much longer."

The first thing Emelia woke up to was a view of a backside that certainly didn't belong to herself. Her first reaction, which she imagined was the first reaction of most people in her situation, was to immediately start trying to move away from said backside. That proved to be more difficult that she had originally thought when she attempted to move her arms for the first time and found them to be woefully useless. The muscle in her chest required to lift herself up was so painfully cut, she found she couldn't even managed to stop her body from swinging back and forth against the unknown persons back. She felt very similar to a ragdoll as they bounced along, a strong arm wrapped around her up thighs with an almost painful grip.

She did not recall, as hard as she wracked her brain for the information, how she ended up being somebody's personal rucksack.

She remembered being cut by the Goblin King. She remembered being spit on and kicked at by the goblins. She remembered Kili snapping at her as he attempted to get her to hold herself up.

She even remembered bleeding more than she would have thought was healthy.

She did not remember being slung over somebody's back, however, or the sunshine that was currently burning the backside of her neck. She felt it peppering in her skin in all the places her hair did not cover it, making it heat up and sweat at the sudden difference in temperature.

Emelia wondered, feeling a large amount of panic rising up in her, just how long she had been out of commission.

She looked down as she bounced, finding it hard to fight the person holding her when she felt as if she hadn't slept in days. Her entire body felt weak and fuzzy. Her chest hurt, blindingly so, every time she breathed, making her let out small whimpers of pain each time she attempted a breath that wasn't shallow.

The person carrying her was strong, obviously, and rather steady on their feet, which she found she was immensely thankful for. Her body did not slam into their back as much as she imagined it would with a different person. She could see a solid smear of red blood standing out on their back from what she assumed could only be her wound. It was in stark contrast to the brilliant blue of the cloak that they wore. A brilliant blue that only one of the dwarves wore.

Kili.

It only made sense that he would be the one carrying her. He had been the one who had grabbed her off the ground first. She had been rambling to him, she recalled, blathering on and on in her pain filled haze. She imagined she had collapsed onto him, rather ungracefully, leaving him with the only option of throwing her over his shoulder.

It wasn't until he skidded to a halt that she finally managed to collect enough strength to look up from pressing her face into his back. She lifted her head blearily, ignoring the now excruciating pain in her chest in an attempt to see where exactly it was that the sunshine was coming from. She distinctly remembered being inside of a mountain. She distinctly remembered there being goblins that wanted nothing more than to eat them all alive.

Apparently, she had missed more than she thought in her time slumped over Kili's shoulder.

"Emmy?" She lifted her head at the sound of the voice. "Thank Mahal." She felt a pair of hands on her lower back, patting her slowly, almost cautiously. "We thought the worst when you fell in the mountain."

"Kee," Emelia felt the dwarf holding her squeeze her legs tighter, pulling her up over his shoulder carefully, before depositing her into a unsteady standing position in front of him. He fixed her with the brightest smile she had seen in a while before pulling her into a very tight, very painful embrace. "Thank you."

She, and apparently he, felt something warm and wet seep down as he pressed her into his chest, making them both step back suddenly. She lifted her hand up to her chest, feeling around with cautious fingers. She had hoped that she had been passed out long enough for her chest to oozing blood.

"You are still bleeding." Kili said, stepping back from her and looking down at her cut. He pulled out a now solid crimson piece of fabric from nowhere before he pressed it into her chest with an almost playful smirk. She looked down at his hand, feeling her eyebrows rise involuntarily as his fingers ghosted closer and closer into dangerous territory. She heard Fili scoffing from somewhere next to them, making her face heat up at the thought that the rest of the company was seeing the interaction between her and Kili.

"I messed up your pretty blue hood." She said, attempting to ease the tension that she was certain all of them were feeling. "Blood isn't very fashionable this season. Or at least that's what I heard."

She felt his fingers flex slightly over her wound, forcing her to step closer. "I can acquire a new one." He apparently missed the joke entirely.

Kili fixed her with the most confusing look she had ever seen as he pressed the fabric into her wound. He laid it out carefully with light fingers, being careful not to rub his calloused skin over the pocked flesh. His hands, as large and blundering as they looked, were so soft, yet firm as he attempted to get her horrendous looking, and feeling, cut to stop letting out fresh spurts of warm blood with every shallow breath she took. His eyes never left hers as he spread the sopping fabric over her chest. She was certain she looked like a tomato. If not from the blood that had leaked over her face from when she was upside down, then from the now horrendously dark blush that was coating her entire body.

"That was quite the display of stubbornness Emmy." Fili said from next to them, interrupting their staring contest. "Very dwarven. How do you feel?"

"I would bow, but considering I'm currently seeping, I think you'll have to take rain check." She paused, seeing him smiling widely at her. "It hurts, more than hurts, but other than that I think I am fine. I am not going to go fainting randomly."

"Oin, do you have anything to fix this?" Fili called over to the old, wizened looking dwarf. Oin, upon hearing only about half of Fili's sentence, turning around suddenly, eyes wide, before lifting up his smashed ear trumpet up to listen in.

"Mix dish?"

"No, fix this." Fili said, gesturing over to where Kili and Emelia were standing facing each other. Emelia glanced over her shoulder, stepping back slightly in the direction of Oin, forcing Kili to follow her in order to keep her balanced.

"What about fish?"

Fili let out a rather colorful curse, turning back around to Emelia and Kili. "Deaf old bat." He muttered darkly under his breath. He stepped closer to them, reaching down to his own shirt. Using one of his black coated knives he cut a thick strip off before handing it to Kili. "Take this, Kee. Oin will be able to look at her later. If we get off the side of this damn mountain that is. Or maybe Gandalf can."

"He's back?" Emelia asked, looking around quickly, only to be met with a rather strong bout of lightheadedness from moving so quickly.

"He showed up just before you passed out." Fili said, looking around at all of the panting dwarves. They appeared to be wildly out of breath and out of sorts as they assessed each other quickly and precisely for injuries.

"Kili, you will have to carry her. We cannot linger or delay this close to nightfall."

Thorin Oakenshield did not look impressed as he marched over to them. For once however, it was not directed at her. He was glancing back up behind Kili, a dark expression marring his normally impossibly hard to read features. He, like the few dwarves that Emelia had gotten the chance to look after waking up rather abruptly, was covered in little cuts and bruises. His shirt was ripped slightly, revealing the dark grey undershirt that he wore underneath. His hair was an atrocious mess, although she imagined hers wasn't much better. All in all he looked the most out of sorts she had seen him in the short time they had known each other.

"Is anyone else hurt?" Emelia asked, seeing the dwarf leader fixing her with a very stern stare. Thorin shook his head, eyeing her for a moments before he turned, walking towards Gandalf.

"No." Kili said, reaching down a cautious arm to wrap around her waist. He lifted her up, smirking slightly as she cursed under her breath at the sudden movement. "We have a certain red head to thank for that, I imagine. You shouldn't have stayed quiet. I mean, you should not have sustained such an injury for…"

"You flatter." She said, feeling her face blush once more. "It's just a flesh wound honestly. It doesn't even hurt anymore."

He didn't get that joke either. In fact, he was quite the opposite. He rolled his eyes at her, scoffing slightly. He knew she was lying as well as she did. It hurt like nothing before. It was like a paper cut meant for elephants, it stung and smarted so bad.

"Emmy, we…"

"Where is Bilbo?" Gandalf, whom Emelia had very little to do, did not look pleased. Even though she wasn't as aware of the emotional range capable on his old face as she was of the dwarves, she imagined this was one of his more intimidating looks. He was looking at each of the dwarves, moving onto the next when they offered up no answer. "Where is our hobbit?"

"I thought he was here." Ori said quietly earning a very sharp look from Gandalf. "He was just here, wasn't he?"

"I thought I saw him…" Nori trailed off looking around the small clearing carefully. Emelia felt Kili tighten his arms around her, making her stomach twinge slightly at the strength of his grip on her.

"He left us. The litt.." Thorin trailed off anger clearly written all over his face. Emelia had seen that look directed over her enough over the last couple of weeks. She had done her best to avoid him like the plague, only speaking to him when it was vitally necessary. Which was never. He was a right nasty bastard and Emelia knew all too well, from all the nasty snippy looks he had given her, when he was being completely serous. He was livid with Bilbo.

"I am right here." A soft voice said, surprising all of those in the clearing by its sudden appearance.

Bilbo Baggins was not gone. He stepped out from behind the tree, looking at them all very cautiously. He looked like he had been through hell and back. His little hands were covered in cuts and bruises, as well as his face and part of his neck. His jacket, which Emelia had always admired as being rather nice and distinguished looking, was in shambles. His pants, which had always reminded her of capri's, were covered in questionable stains giving him the overall appearance of being disheveled beyond belief.

"I am not going anywhere." Bilbo said, pausing as his gaze fell on Emelia for a moment. "I know you all doubt me much more than any in this company. I do not blame you in the slightest. I doubt myself a good majority of the time, if I am being quite honest with you all and myself. I think of my home," Emelia felt her stomach drop slightly as he said that. "Because my home is beautiful, and wonderful, and supremely comforting. It is where I belong, as a Baggins of Bag End, and I miss it more and more every day that passes us by. You do not have a Bag End to go home to, however, and that is why I am here. Your Bag End, while much larger and grander I imagine, was taken from you and I intend to help you get it back if I can."

She wondered vaguely, almost sarcastically, to herself if all those in this world were so supremely wonderful at giving speeches. She made a mental note to find Bilbo the next time they found themselves camping for the night. She rather liked his views of his home. He seemed to be a person, or hobbit, which missed their home as much as she missed hers. She missed the beauty of Kessog, the wonderfulness, the undeniable comfort.

Emelia felt Kili hoist her up slightly.

"Bilbo is rather poetic with his words." She said, feeling Kili chuckle. It sent vibrations running through her body that made her stomach twinge slightly.

"If that sort of thing…"

A howl, that Emelia found she was appallingly familiar with, ripped through the clearing, making them all freeze in there spots like little statues.

You readers are the best. The amount of reviews and PM's I got for the last chapter was wonderful. I literally made my day. Please please, please keep it up. Lots of Kili/Emelia in this chapter. They are so awkward, bless them.

If there is something specific you wish to see in this story, I swear I will listen and more than likely (maybe :)) find some way to incorporate it. I am also totally open to writing one-shots if it is necessary.

Would you prefer me to continue with the book, or wait until the next movie comes out? I am not sure which so opinions would really help.