A/N: Hello! Happy Friday! I'm back with a new chapter! Thank you so much for all the comments, I'm so happy y'all like this fic! I still haven't entirely decided where I'm going with it when it catches up with the hobbit itself. I was thinking that maybe Ellie somehow ends up a Bag End and meets Thorin & Company there. Or it starts when they're at Erebor and Thorin is overcome with dragon sickness. I'm not sure I want to do another fic that follows the whole plot. What do you guys think?

Chapter Four

7 Years Ago

"How do you NOT believe in ghosts? You live in Edinburgh, one of the oldest cities in the country."

"I don't know, Ellie." Niamh shrugged, "It's just not something I've ever believed. I don't buy into all that horror stuff unlike you and Zara. People just use things like Mary King's Close to make money."

"You weren't even a little bit scared down there? You didn't get a chill down your spine?" Zarah teased

"Yeah I did, but that's because it's bloody cold down there and you know what will help? A pint or two at the pub, come on!"

Niamh hooked arms with Ellie and Zara who both rolled their eyes. Despite Niamh's scepticism, Ellie was glad they were reunited, if only for a few days. Zara had travelled from Manchester University to stay the weekend and then it wouldn't be too long before Christmas holidays and they'd be back home with their families.

It was such a cliché, but Ellie couldn't believe how quick the first term had gone by. The first few weeks of university had been daunting, but she soon got into a routine and even made some friends. Even before she moved to Edinburgh, Ellie and Niamh decided to share a flat rather than move into campus halls. If anything because it was cheaper and gave them much more freedom. Besides, it made it easier for Zara and other friends to visit.

Edinburgh was even more breathtaking than Ellie had imagined. With all its history that almost seemed to ooze out from the walls of its buildings, there was so much to do and explore. Visiting Mary King's Close had been Zara's idea, because as Niamh had pointed out, her and Ellie loved horror. It wasn't that Niamh didn't like it, but she didn't believe in any of it, which was fair. Ellie, on the other hand, had been completely awestruck by the sheer haunting beauty of the vaults. They reminded her of Erebor and she couldn't help but wonder if that was the closest thing to Erebor she might see in her world.

Six months had passed since she last saw Thorin.

No matter how many times she attempted lucid dreaming, it just didn't seem to work. A part of Ellie feared that maybe her theory was right - that once she moved to Edinburgh her connection to Erebor would be severed. Sure, her psychology studies were interesting and Ellie was more or less certain she'd be writing her third year dissertation on the subject of dreaming, but how would it help her if she wasn't in Erebor.

Who decided when it was time for her to visit Thorin and when it wasn't? Was it some higher cosmic power or was it just by pure chance? Ellie also worried that Thorin would begin to think that she wasn't coming back, even though she promised she would. Time seemed to move at a different pace in Middle-Earth and Ellie wasn't sure if that was just a dream thing, but if she was completely honest, it scared her a little. More than anything because she could be certain of how much time had passed since her last visit.

Thorin wasn't sure when his grief had turned to rage or if they'd become one singular emotion burning inside him like a hot furnace.

It should have been him instead of Frerin.

Whenever Thorin closed his eyes, his brother's death replayed in front of him. Every single detail of that moment was as vivid to him now as it was then. As was dwarrow custom, the entire mountain spent seven days grieving and then they buried Frerin in the tombs of all their forefathers.

That was where Thorin sat, with the cold stone floor beneath him and his brother's name engraved in Khuzdul on a tomb.

For the past couple of decades, Ellie had always appeared when Thorin needed someone to be there for him. Someone who wasn't his family, because they never seemed to understand him or even tried. He was just the prince and that was all there ever was to it. Nobody cared that he was a person with emotions and needs and fears just like everyone else. Yet he was never allowed to show it. With Ellie, however he'd never felt the need to hide who he was or how he felt no matter what that might be.

His brother had been dead for over two weeks and Ellie was nowhere to be seen. Thorin had never questioned whether or not Ellie was a real person. Of course she was real, but he couldn't understand how she always appeared in Erebor and why he was the only one able to see her. Ellie was just as confused about that as he was, but at some point they both just accepted that they were a part of each other's lives.

Last time he saw Ellie, he'd wanted to tell her about the plans his father had for him, but she'd vanished just before he was able to. That was years ago now and he still hadn't been able to tell her. Luckily, Thorin had just about managed to put off his father's plans to find him a fiancé by dedicating himself to battle training.

"Where were you?"

The dwarf prince could tell that Ellie was there by how the air shifted and the vague scent of vanilla. His palm rested on the cold stone floor as he inhaled and exhaled deeply. Grief and anger pounded inside his chest.

"I….it's been a while, hasn't it?" Ellie stuttered,

"Aye, you could say that." Thorin replied coldly, "Where were you?"

"I've been at school. It's only been a few months for me."

Ellie's voice was shaking and Thorin couldn't tell if it was because of fear or sadness. She took careful steps towards him, knelt down on the floor and just as she was about to place her hand on Thorin's, the dwarf prince jerked it away and turned away from her. A moment of silence lingered in the air until Ellie spoke.

"I'm so sorry, Thorin." she whispered, "How did he die?"

"There was a battle. A war against the orcs." Thorin explained, "Frerin's chest was pierced by a poisoned arrow. He was dead when I reached him."

"How long ago?"

"Two weeks ago."

Ellie opened her mouth to speak, but then closed it again. Hot tears welled inside Thorin's eyelids and when he could no longer control it, he allowed the tears to roll down his cheeks and became a small puddle on the floor.

"I am so sorry." Ellie quivered, "I wish….I...I don't know why it's been so long this time."

"You were supposed to be there for me." Thorin said, "That was the promise we gave each other. As children."

"Yes, and I still am. I just can't control when I come and when I go. You know that!"

"THEN WHAT GOOD IS THIS…...MAGIC OF YOURS IF YOU CAN'T BE HERE WHEN I ACTUALLY NEED YOU!"

He hadn't meant for it to come out so harshly and he regretted it almost instantly. Even if the anger didn't bubble up often, it still sometimes frightened Thorin. On the rare occasion when he felt it coming, it was as though it turned him into a completely different person. One he did not recognise, nor wanted to recognise. He remembered the first time he'd snapped at Dís for accidentally breaking one of his belongings. His sister had been so scared of him that she'd simply backed away against the wall.

Thorin was sure that Ellie would react the same way, but instead she sat there. Eventually, Thorin's breathing slowed down and when Ellie reached out her hand towards him, the young prince turned around and sobbed into Ellie's shoulder, not caring who might or might not hear them.

To be continued….

A slightly shorter chapter but a chapter nonetheless! I hope you liked it!