Holy crap.
I'm totally over 100k words... _ and we haven't even gotten halfway through the book.
I don't even know if I should be proud or just horrified of that.

For the people who have been reading this, you're awesome. Thank you for sticking with me and allowing me to be this long winded. Hopefully we'll all continue to enjoy the story as we progress.

But yeah, thank you for all your support, amazing compliments, reviews, suggestions. Everything. Just everything! It really is SOOO amazing considering that this is my first released fanfic on such a scale. I just can't thank you all enough for how supported and loved I feel.

We'll also be getting another chapter later on today!

Summary:
The Company must survive the Thunder-Battle...

The rain poured down, icy cold droplets drenching our clothes as we struggled to keep our footing sure on such slippery rock cliffs.

The wind gusted all around us, whipping wet strands of my hair in my face and deafening the sound of all else. My mouth felt the cold sensation of its sound but though I tried to focus on the dwarves nearest me to hear whatever they said, the whirlwind of sounds from the storm made that impossible.

"Hey! Hold on!"

Thorin was at the front of our line, clutching at the rock wall as he tried to lead us onward but every moment that the storm continued, it was a harder and harder feat for him. I could barely register the feel of his voice through the onslaught of the wind and rain as I struggled for purchase against the rock wall. I tried to follow the sight of Fili's back as quickly as I could, focusing on the line of his shoulders just because the rain made it difficult to see much else.

I was frightened.

I had never been in such a storm like this and certainly not while I was on the rocky ledge of a mountain pass so very high up. The path we tried to quickly make our way on was craggy and barely held together by anything more than pure luck and the need to mock the more daring of traveler.

My breath caught in my throat when I stepped along the ledge, my foot slipping easily against the water slicked rocks and off the edge of the path. So quickly I realized that I had lost my footing. I reached out quick as I could, wanting desperately to grab the wall again but my palms scraped harshly against the sharp rocks instead of gripping anything. My fear quickened my heartbeat and thinking that I would fall, I almost cried out before I felt the harsh tug of Dwalin's hand as he grabbed onto my shoulder roughly and pulled me back towards the wall.

"Hold on, laddie!"

My fingers were practically numbed from the cold rain that still battered down over us relentlessly, but despite that fact, I gripped the wall as tightly as I could, fear nearly making me unable to move because of how close I had come to falling down the side of the mountain.

"We must find shelter!"

"Look out!"

I turned my head just as Dwalin yelled out for the company to take heed, eyes widening in disbelief at the sight of an enormous boulder coming at us from the very sky itself. It hadn't rolled from down a mountain side or even fallen from somewhere above it... It was literally in the air coming at us!

It crashed above our heads in a thunder of noise, a harsh pound on my temple that nearly made me black out such was the intensity of the sensation. My eyes closed from the rumble of the mountain side vibrating with the impact of the boulder, fear making me grip the wall all the more tightly. The dwarves around me were shouting at one another, telling their brothers and relatives to watch their heads.

"Hold on!"

That was Kili's voice, though it was barely felt and frightened.

Sharp rocks and pebbles plummeted past us, beating against my arms and knocking around my body harshly. I felt them on my feet and kept my eyes closed for fear that if I opened them, I would fall.

"Laddie!"

Dwalin's voice in my ear forced my eyes open to look at him and once I was focused on him, he looked at me approvingly before he directed me to look to my other side. Fili was no longer there, struggling himself to stay close to the train of dwarves that started to advance onward again. The group was trying to move again with Thorin but another crash of sound stopped us and made the group steady themselves.

"This is not a thunderstorm! It's a thunder-battle! Look!"

I had never even heard of such a thing as a thunder-battle but whatever it was had Balin frightened, his voice trembling against my cheek as he pointed out into the distance. I didn't really want to look for fear that another boulder was going to be coming at us again but when I turned to look, I was wishing for that to be the case. I would have given anything to have any other thing come at us if it meant I did not have to see the very creature I saw.

It was impossibly enormous, far bigger than anything I had even dreamed of in all my peaceful sleep filled nights. A stone creature towering in the distance, rising out of the very mountain, slow and quick for all its massively large size. Its hands gripped the side of the mountain and rent from the mountain peak a piece of the structure itself. The boulder from before that hurdled towards us was not a boulder at all but an actual piece of the mountain!

Fear twisted itself in my gut anew at the realization that we were close enough to actually witness such a creature. I wanted to reach out for Fili to possibly find some comfort or just some sort of balance to this crazy nightmare but as I looked around, I saw that the other dwarves were just as much at a loss as I was. Really, what would we be able to do in the midst of a thunder battle?

"Well, bless me!" I looked over Fili's shoulder and saw Bofur stepping out away from the wall foolishly. "Get back!" I screamed at him, desperately wanting him to take hold of the wall again but he couldn't hear me. "The legends are true... Giants! Stone-Giants!"

Stone-Giants. I had heard of such things from the fables I read about in books but the illustrations looked nothing like what was in front of us. The creatures in the books looked more like stone colored men but the real things were literally made of the rock of the mountain! The one that had torn a piece of the mountain away as if it were nothing at all turned in our direction and I seized up with fear when it hurled the chunk of rock in our direction with a cry.

Instantly I covered my ears, the creature's wail reverberating in my skull painfully. It was so monstrously loud and we were so small compared to it. The chunk of rock that it had thrown at us sailed in the air so quickly and yet so without what would make it feel fast. It was so massive that it couldn't even be seen as quick. It went right over our heads, smacking into something behind us.

I gasped when I saw another stone-giant just revealed from the shadow of our mountain.

"Take cover, you fool!"

I looked at Fili, who was busy pulling Bofur back to the wall so that he could take cover or at the very least not be knocked down off the side of the cliff. He clutched to the wall, looking at me with fear in his eyes.

Were we going to be okay?

I didn't know. He didn't know. His hand briefly covered mine but in the next moment, he had to wrench it away to grip the side of the mountain as it started to shake and tremble.

"Hold on!"

The mountain shook beneath our very feet, rumbling with fury.

Though the rock hadn't actually landed anywhere near us, rocks were being displaced above us and as the mountain quaked in new fury, the ledge beneath our feet started to crumple away. I gasped in fear, watching as my foothold crumbled away to something that was barely enough for my bare feet much less suitable for a burly dwarf.

"Bilbo!"

Rock and stone fell all around us, once more smacking against our skin sharply with such force, I knew it would bruise. Dwalin's voice was on my cheek, pulling me back against the wall and I felt the cover of his hand over the top of my head as rocks fell overhead. As I gripped onto the wall, I realized that I felt something strange.

Were we moving?

I looked to my side, my eyes glued to the sight of my feet and wondering if what I imagined was really what was truly happening. The very mountain shook beneath our feet not merely because it had been brushed against by a stone-giant but because it was literally moving! I tried to draw away from the mountain side in fear, gripping onto Fili's jacket as I understood finally that the mountain was moving of its own volition.

We were on another stone-giant!

"What's happening?!"

I heard Kili shouting before my body rocked under the weight of the mountain shifting beneath us. It gave a great lurch before the ground shook again and split. The ledge we were standing on was splitting our group apart and every second we stood still, we were going to be separated.

"Grab my hand!"

I reached out to take Fili's hand as he shouted, his voice filled with fear and shock but when my fingers met with the hard expanse of his back, I looked up and saw that Fili hadn't been talking to me. He had been talking to Kili, who looked too shocked for words as the mountain gave one final lurch and separated us from the ledge where the other group stood.

Suddenly we were pulled away from them, the gap too large now that even should we try, we would not be able to jump across. The creature that we unknowingly hitched a ride on was getting up from its mountain bed, slow moving with its enormous size and completely unknowing of who just stood on it. It shifted and moved, shaking us until fingers were scraped raw from having to grip for support. Fili looked so lost beside me, not knowing what to do now that he was separated from his brother.

"Fili!"

I shouted at him to snap him out of it but he didn't seem to hear me and even when I shook him to get him to focus, he wasn't able to acknowledge me.

In a great motion, the stone-giant stood up on its feet fully and swayed, knocking its leg into the other side of the mountain. Out of the corner of my eye and in the distance, I saw Thorin lead the other half of the group to the safety of the mountain that wasn't actually a stone-giant in disguise. They were shouting by the looks of it but with the sounds of the thunder-battle all around us as well as the rain and thunder, I couldn't even hope to hear any of it.

Now they were so impossibly out of our reach and we out of theirs.

Fate would be the one to decide what it did with us. We were on our own at the mercy of the stone-giant. I looked at Fili, who still did not seem to register anything beyond what was happening seconds in front of him. No doubt this was nothing like what he ever had to deal with in his time out in the wild. Youth and inexperienced had let panic cloud his mind.

I was alone to deal with my own sense of fear.

The battle raged on above us, the three giants fighting for whatever reason they felt they needed to do so. We were helpless, forced to cling onto what we could and ride out whenever the stone-giant took a step and shook with us on it. Rocks kept falling, the rain drenched us. Thunder roared above us.

I was terrified and I wanted to go home.

I grabbed onto Dwalin's thick forearm and felt my fingers nearly claw at him in panic and a need to find some sort of support in all this madness.

I wanted it to stop! My body trembled even as I panicked and felt my feet slipping. I desperately cried for it to stop!

"Bilbo!" Dwalin's sharp shout in the air, his voice a harsh slap on my cheek; I opened my eyes and found him looking down at me, the warrior in him unable to let his fear command him. He looked at me seriously, "Stay focused and keep those eyes on me, laddie!"

I blinked at the sight of his fingers directing themselves from my face to his own. His intense features and how much he knew I could do this if only I could focus on something other than my own fear.

I let the breath I had been holding go.

I nodded. I would focus on Dwalin as best I could.

In my eyes was written the fear that I knew I could barely keep in check. With Fili unable to manage himself and now only Dwalin to keep me centered, I was still only hopelessly clinging to whatever hope I could that we would get out of this alive. I knew that we would probably die and I knew that that was what my eyes told Dwalin. He smirked at me, wild and unafraid, "By Aulë, I'll not let this bastard kill me before it knows my name and I punch it in its balls!"

Fili's head whipped around to look at me as I released a sharp bark of laughter into the air. By Yavanna, only Dwalin could joke so freely while staring up at the face of what was very much most likely going to be our deaths.

I gasped in shock as the giant moved with us on its leg, the force of the gusts of air around us nearly pushing us off the ledge as the creature above us punched at another nearby. Another piece of the mountain torn and once more thrown our way to knock into the giant we stood on.

We were pulled along, so close to the other group who still shouted at us to do anything other than just be forced to stay still at the mercy of the creature.

The ground quaked and in horror, I realized that we were falling. The creature itself was falling!

"Get ready, lads!"

Startlingly fast, we were hurdling towards the mountain side. My eyes saw the cliff coming at us fast. If we wanted to survive this, we would need to jump into the revealed space beneath the sharp point of the cliff for safety. Get ready for our doom or get ready to jump, Dwalin made sure that we would be ready for whichever one would be able to come and get us.

We readied for the jump for none of us wanted to die that day but even as the stone-giant fell downward, the rain made everything so slippery. The dwarves beside me tensed with their readiness to jump but even as I did so, I felt the ledge give way beneath me. My foothold crumbled and I felt myself slip down before I could jump with the others, a shock of panic coursing through my body even as I gasped out.

My hands reached out for anything and with a harsh crack of pressure, I felt the impact of where I crashed onto the side of the ledge. Met with my upper body, I was nearly halfway off the cliff but I was already slipping, struggling to keep a hold on the side of the cliff. The sides of the mountain were useless even as I struggled with my toes to find some sort of footing to either stand or push myself up. My fingers dug into the harsh rock, pain freshly burdened in my side.

I winced at the tenderness already making me unable to reach out my arms to try and find something to grab onto.

I heard a great collective stomping sound, looking up to see Thorin and the others just whisk by me without even stopping. I didn't even have any time to yell out in anger at being so ignored while in danger for as I tried to pull myself up, my grip slipped.

Sharp pain raced along my side as I caught the edge of the ledge tightly, feeling every second that I was about to slip again because of the rain. The pain zapped my strength, my fear making me unable to call out to the others to see where I had been.

The irony of the situation was not lost on me. How days before I had thought of pushing Thorin off a cliff in anger just because of how he had been such a bastard. Now, all I wanted was for him to save me before I fell!

"Where's Bilbo?" I winced, feeling the sound of Bofur's voice on my feet trembling and tickling against my skin all at once. I wanted to scream at him to shut up because his voice was going to get me killed! Already my arms were burning in agony from how I still struggled to keep myself from falling. "Where's the Hobbit?!"

I was going to fall.

I felt my breath start to come harder, the panic in me welled up again despite all my best effort to not let it do so. I wanted to remember Dwalin's advice to remain focused but I was falling and I was going to die!

Please, fingers, don't let go!

"GET HER!"

That was Thorin's voice screaming. I could feel it like ice down my back even as my grip slipped from the ledge and I felt the harsh pull of gravity grab me down. My fingers felt nothing as they scraped down the cliff side, catching onto a small jutting section of rock that I gripped tightly in my panic to save myself from falling.

I was too afraid to use my feet to try and find purchase below me. I could barely breathe with the realization that when I looked up, Ori's hand was barely able to even reach me. I was too far down. I was going to fall. I was too afraid to try.

"Grab my hand!"

Ori was shouting at me, his hand trying its best to grip my wrist so that even if I fell, I would be able to be dragged up. I reached up, trying so desperately to reach Bofur's hand that seemed just so very far away but when I lifted my hand, I winced from the pain in my side. I was slipping. I was cursing at myself for not being able to do more to save myself.

I caught the sight of movement next to me, the sharp flash of lightning reflecting the wet soaked contours of the mountain. Thorin gripped the edge of the cliff and swung down, his feet firmly catching the small rocky cracks for as sure of footing as he could get. How envious I was of his shoes at that moment considering that they provided excellent traction versus the soles of my wet feet.

I could barely see his face in the light, the rain obstructing too much. His grip on my shoulder hurt such was the strength in it but I didn't care. He could have wrestled it from my socket if it meant he were able to save me. Thorin pulled me up as easily as someone with his strength could, using the momentum of his lift to catch me underneath my thigh and push up. Higher up and closer to Bofur and Ori, I was grabbed by their hands and pulled up the cliff.

His grip loosened as he felt the two dwarves pull up on me but in the next second, I felt a harsh tug pull me back though not enough to shake me from the grip of Bofur and Ori. I looked back to where Thorin had been, seeing that the fabric of my skirt was now torn from where he unconsciously gripped it out of instinct. He had lost his footing on the cliff side and had fallen! I wanted to reach out to help him but Dwalin had a firm hold on him and even if I wanted to try and help out, Ori and Bofur gripped me so tightly out of fear that I couldn't move barely even an inch.

I watched as Thorin was hoisted up from Dwalin's strength alone, grunting and pulling until he was safely back on top of the ledge and hastily standing up on his own two feet. No doubt the near fall had scared him or at least shocked him into some sort of adrenaline filled need for action for he was not content to sit idly and regain himself like the rest of us. Thorin was on his feet and trying to make his way past Dwalin.

"I thought we'd lost our burglar!"

Dwalin sounded so relieved, his voice tickling my cheek but before I could even enjoy the sensation of his voice and the fact that I had been saved from what would have been a most gruesome fall, Thorin's voice cut out into the night, icy and sharp. Equal parts fear and anger.

"She's been lost ever since she left home." He sneered in my direction, his disdain over my softness and the fact that out of everyone in the company that night, it had only been me who nearly fell off the cliff. Only I was the one weak enough – enough of a burden – to actually need to be rescued.

"She should never have come. She'll find no place with us here."

His words cut at my heart harshly because as I heard them and felt their icy sharpness on my body, I knew that he meant it more than just surface meaning. I would find no place with the company as part of them no matter how hard I tried and I would never truly have a place in the hearts of the Durin's either. I was a burden to them in more ways than just the obvious.

Dwalin and Thorin disappeared further down the way, their attention already on something else besides what was said to me. Ori and Bofur still hadn't moved, were content to only sit there and wait for whatever order was given. I was miserable. I could barely breathe such was the pain in my side and from the distress I felt over Thorin's words. I wanted to cry but I knew it would be unwanted and burdensome to do so.

"I think they found a cave, Bilbo."

Ori's softness against my palms. The two dwarves were releasing me and finding their footing so that they could make their way inside the cave. Ori helped me up gently, taking in my appearance and trying to be as gentle as possible considering that we both looked to be in a terrible fright still.

Why did they not say anything or even looked shocked by what Thorin said to me?

I followed behind Bofur in a daze as he led me to the mouth of the cave, a concealed crack of a opening that would have easily been missed had we not really been looking for some form of shelter. We slipped inside the cave, instantly sheltered from the storm still raging outside. I moved away from the two as soon as I could, watching as Dwalin and Thorin looked around the cave.

They were checking it for something but I did not know what.

"There's nothing here."

Dwalin finally confirmed, the soft warm glow of his lantern moving around the back of the cave, even as Gloin rustled around for something nearby. He pulled from his bag the necessities to start a fire, ready and willing to try and get some warmth back into our bones. We had had a rough night and our wet clothes and empty bellies would do us no better.

Even as I thought this, I became aware of just how much pain I was in, how much my side ached and how I wanted to clutch at it just to ease some of the pressure off. I vaguely wondered if I had injured myself sometime when I was on the ledge but I couldn't accurately account my own memory from such a crazy experience. All I knew was that my ribs hurt and I was miserably cold from the rain. The fact that my skirt was torn now only added to my frustrations.

I huddled against the side of the cave, trying to ease some of the pressure off my ribs but finding no relief from the ache that coursed through my body with each breath that I took.

"No! No fires! Not in this place." I glanced up, not really wanting to see Thorin as he acted the leader of the company, so needlessly cold and mighty. His attitude repelled me so soon after his harsh words to me, making me want to curl up in some dark corner where I was assured he wouldn't be able to find me. I watched him as he moved around from the back of the cave, back to the opening so that he could look at everyone. "Get some sleep, everyone. We start at first light!"

I felt sick with pain, not having before experienced such a thing as intense as it before. For all my wild adventures into the forests in search of elves, never before had I so much as even stubbed a toe. This new pain was unknown to me and it irritated me that I would need to deal with it on top of everything else. It seemed that what was said before was just simply the status quo and now I was supposed to just accept it. I would get no more explanation nor would anyone try to deny it.

Was I to be abandoned or was I just supposed to continue on like nothing had happened? Had the brothers heard?

I had so many questions that I wanted to ask, so many thoughts that were racing in my head over what it all meant or if I were only supposed to take it as Thorin's temper getting the better of him. I was tired, hungry, and felt sick with pain and all I wanted to do was cry. I was a burden though if I did so. I was a burden if I told someone about my injury.

I stood as still as I could as everyone in the company moved around the cave, finding comfortable spots for themselves and setting up their bedrolls. They would follow Thorin's orders gladly tonight if only because of how harsh the night had truly been for everyone. I looked at the dwarves as they prepared their bedding, their family members so close to them that they could reach out and touch them if they needed comfort.

Dori was fawning over Ori, having been scared from the time when the youngest dwarf had been separated from him and his brother. While Bofur prepared himself for the first watch, Bifur sat close by with Bombur just starting to curl up next to him. Even Balin and Dwalin, despite not appearing very close and often arguing, laid out their bed rolls next to one another. Everyone had family to comfort them after such an ordeal.

If I wanted to be comforted by family, I would find no such thing here. If I wanted to be comforted by a Hobbit who would not think me weak for surviving this, I too would be unable to find any such thing. I clutched at my ribs and frowned. If I wanted to find comfort, I would need to find Kili and Fili, who were busy laying out their bedrolls next to one another.

Noticing me finally off near the wall, still unable to really move because I didn't know exactly where I would be welcome, Fili looked up from his bedroll and spotted me. His smile was automatic but there was something about it that was off. It looked strained and weak, full of a nervousness that I couldn't place the intention of. Did he believe in what Thorin said?

I felt as if Thorin's words were made true by such a smile. I felt suddenly so very foolish for ever having trusted in Fili's gestures when Kili and Thorin seemed to want to exclude me.

Had I actually guessed it accurately when I told Fili that he was the only one who loved me?

I watched him as he made to move towards me, no doubt wanting to ask me why I still stood so far away and why I wasn't coming over automatically to push myself into their brotherly affair. I felt envious of their love and how I was a burden to it.

"Don't."

Both Fili and I looked up, Thorin's voice sharp in the air, that same icy fear chilling down my back with a faint tremble. Scared still and nervous. The other dwarves looked at him in surprise, wondering what was going on. They knew what was happening as soon as they saw that he spoke to Fili, who was obviously coming towards me.

"Thorin?"

Fili's voice was equally as nervous, though he did his best to hide it. He glanced back at me but his eyes were so closed off and I couldn't even really place what was happening behind such a tone. When Thorin did not answer the inquiry, Fili's stance hardened and he went to come closer to me. He wanted me to be beside him if only to comfort me momentarily.

"Just don't." Fili stopped again, noticing now just as how I did that Thorin's tone was quiet, stilled and reserved. "Just stop, Fili. By me tonight."

Both the brothers looked at him before Kili started to move his bedroll over. I watched Fili, wondering what he would do to such a plea given by Thorin, for indeed it had been a plea. He sighed, exhaustion settling into his stance before he abandoned his earlier intention of wanting to bring me over. He went to his bedroll and packed it up so that he too could move it closer to Thorin.

I stayed quiet because I didn't want to be a burden. I stayed quiet because I didn't want to appear weak but it didn't change the fact that I felt as if I had been utterly abandoned.