The Immortals and the Cursed

Warning: there is some slight medical gore towards the end of the chapter (nothing extreme, but a vivid imagination can go pretty far). If you don't want to read anything like that, please be careful and aware of your limitations. Skim. Thank you for your understanding.

"It seems to be conclusive," Dori admitted, leaning over Bilbo's shoulder to look at the steadily growing support of Tauriel's claims. Stacks of crusty and disintegrating dwarf volumes were stacked on the long, narrow, table. Fili shook his head, sat at the head of the table, the only area not drowning in books.

"It's physically impossible," he growled, his eyes narrowed at Tauriel.

"We don't know that," Bilbo reminded him for the hundredth time. The heir was not in denial of their findings; he just didn't believe their information made any sort of difference in what was happening to his brother. The hobbit on the other hand, had been almost completely convinced the moment the elf captain had told him of her theory.

"Gandalf mentioned an encounter with an old enemy within Mirkwood," she had whispered upon entering. "Dol Goldur, I think. My mother told me an old story about that place, and if I'm right, it could save Kili."

It had snapped into place almost instantaneously in Bilbo's mind. The bizarre illness. The black coloration around the wound. The desire for rings. The shattered blade beneath dying flesh. Dol Goldur. It couldn't simply be a theory. The blade that had struck the younger nephew of Thorin Oakenshield had been of morgul poison, one previously weilded by the long dead kings of the men's rings.

It was a theory, because all the evidence they had found supported it, and they had discovered nothing that disproved it. The scribbled words on his sheet of parchment were all the pieces of myths and legends associated with the area that fit into place.

"Wraiths are gone," the heir persisted. "Morgul blades no longer exist." Bilbo quirked his mouth to the side. As much as the hobbit respected Fili as both their leader and Kili's brother, he could be just as pigheaded as his uncle.

"You think an orc would just break a sword and shove it into an open wound?" Dwalin grumbled, clenching and unclenching his fists. "Morgul swords break off into a victim's injury when they're struck, not to mention the fact that its making its way through your brother's body instead of staying in one place." Bilbo sighed. It was never easy with dwarves. They were all so opinionated and stubborn. Sometimes he just wanted to throw his hands up in the air and shout at them, but that wasn't his job.

"Laddie," Balin interjected, "you have to stop following every visceral instinct and listen to what we're saying. Acknowledging the injury doesn't make your brother die."

"It's impossible that the orcs had access to those kind of weapons and never used one before," Fili insisted. "And even if it were, that kind of wound it doesn't affect how we planned to heal it in the first place."

"An injury of such nature requires complete elvish healing, not simply a treatment for the bleeding and removal of the shard itself," Tauriel pointed out. "Not to mention you refuse to discuss-" The golden heir darkened.

"A dwarf cannot become a wraith," he corrected in a hushed and tense tone. "We cannot be corrupted. It is physically impossible." Bilbo took a deep breath.

"He had a collection of rings in that chest of drawers," the burglar expressed. "He would mumble about rings all the time. Isn't that a sign enough for you?"

"Are you insinuating that Sauron has returned, Master Baggins?" Fili responded in a patronizing voice. "Do you even know what you're talking about?"

"Leave him alone," Ori quipped, making a face. Bilbo didn't really even feel the blow at all. Part of him remembered that denial, when someone told you that what a loved one was going up against couldn't be beaten. It was a feeling he recounted clear as day as he watched the lines form on Fili's face. He knew his brother's chance of survival was dropping every minute, and had just plummeted with Tauriel's theory. Bilbo's parents had seemed to already be dead at diagnosis, and so seemed Kili.

"It…" the heir struggled. "Assuming that the orcs had access to such a weapon, and were able to track down Kili in Laketown and set him on course to get here, what's the purpose? They understand that my brother grew up with elves. If elven healing is the cure, then why would they want to send him where he could be helped? Why not through him into the lake?" Silence fell at the table, a response on everyone's lips but no brave enough to say it.

"It's a win win situation," Gloin finally explained. "Your uncle barricaded us in here. Your brother shouldn't have been able to get help from the elves. If he died in here, it would either push Thorin across the line, or…" Oin's brother looked at each person sitting around the table, as even he wished someone else were to say what he was thinking.

"Or they wanted your brother to become a monster to wipe out your family from the inside and this was the way to do it," Tauriel snapped. Fili looked down at the table.

"It can't be possible. We're too strong to be controlled or turned into something like that," he reasoned. Of course, Bilbo thought to himself, it had been true until now, but we cannot be sure of what is going on now. Even dwarves are not immortal, unbeatable. Complete immunity is the only thing that is impossible.

"It explains why he's lasted this long," suggested Bofur. "And maybe he is able to beat it. A dwarf has never been put through this before. Only time will tell."

"We don't have time," Dwalin growled. "Between Kili dying and the battle outside our doors, we don't have the luxury of sitting here and arguing. And if we can't reach a decision we might as well give up everything we have, our lives, our home, and our loved ones. We can turn this meeting into a dirge right now." Next to him, Balin nodded. Bilbo often saw Balin as the wiser of the two, but was quickly discovering that notion existed because of how little Dwalin spoke.

"If you give me permission," Tauriel planned, "and Oin could stay with me, I could help your brother as best as I can, no matter what you think is wrong with him. I would need one other to stay back with me to keep watch. The rest of you could join the fight, if that's what you want." Her face was cold and controlled, hard to believe she was the same elf who had run into the mountain with wild eyes and wicked words.

"We would remove the shard," Oin supported, "and the elf captain could try her healing. If the prince is right, then it will do no harm, but if he is wrong, it could save Kili's life."

"And possibly everyone else's," Bilbo cut in, tripping over the words slightly when he could feel the eyes of everyone on him. Fili stared at the table for a moment.

"Are you volunteering to help them, Master Baggins?" the heir inquired without sarcasm. The hobbit froze. He hadn't thought about it much, focused on trying to hold the Company together. He had never wanted to go the battle, though he had the armor Thorin had gifted to him tucked in the corner of the room he had used. He had a sword. He could fight in their five army battle, but thinking of watching comrades fall with only the least of skills to save them made his stiffen. How useful could he really be to their fight?

"I am. I have my sword," the hobbit responded. "I can keep watch for your brother's healing. Fili raised an eyebrow, though it was in approval.

"It's decided then. I'll lead all those who wish to follow me to assist Dain. You have minutes to choose how you will fight, from within these halls, or in the battlefield." The heir tapped the table as a way of conclusion. The Company rose in a silent somber march. Bilbo could feel the nagging feeling tug at the side of his head, refusing to leave him alone. He had to act, though the words that exited his mouth made a look of intense pain cross the golden prince's already melancholy face.

"What about Thorin?" Time seemed to freeze at the thief's question. Something behind Fili's eyes seemed to shatter at the mention of such events. They stood expecting the heir to give a speech, a response, any indication, but instead, the elder of the king's nephews closed his eyes for a moment, before he continued out of the room. The dwarves exchanged a collective look and hung back. The hobbit had no such boundary, and tailed the prince up the stairs.

"What's wrong, Master Baggins?" Fili asked, not making anything resembling eye contact. The thief was rather taken aback by such a question.

"I just wanted to make sure everything is going to be okay," the halfling assured and tried to keep his expression light.

"You don't need to check. It isn't, and it won't be until we are either dead or victorious," the prince responded coldly, but not unkindly. "My uncle is the least of my worries, yet he is also a larger obstacle than I thought he would be." Bilbo tried to relax his shoulders, but they seemed to be stuck in a tense position.

"How is that?" he worried.

"He has claimed to have had a vision when he awoke from his madness," Fili explained as they reached the door. Something about the way the heir announced such a topic make the hobbit feel cold and numb. "Thorin claims he saw a shadow holding a raven in its hands and crushing it until it bled gold liquid and black feathers."

"It could be his condition," Bilbo attempted. Fili swung open the door and shook his head. The burglar had never seen the dwarf look so utterly defeated and broken down. In a place deep behind the heir's eyes, a piece of Fili's being was beaten to a pulp, and the halfling didn't quite know how or why,

"This is isn't just a fanciful story anymore, Baggins," the young leader sighed. "This has crossed the boundary between what we thought were myths, and what is our reality." He turned his golden head the other way, cautiously entering the room of fear.

Thorin was on his knees, one hand tied with rope to the handle of a large wardrobe. The other was also tied down, though it was done so to a a weight. The once regal king had been stripped of his fur cloak and his crown lay discarded across the room. The Thorin that was presented before Bilbo now hung his head so tangled hair covered his face and barely moving to indicate breathing. For minutes, the pair stood before him, not saying a word.

"Uncle," Fili finally announced. The elder dwarf raised his head slightly, though his face was not at all revealed. "I am leading the Company out to the battlefield." Silence was the only reaction at first, before the hobbit realized that the king shook his head.

"You'll be ruined," Thorin pleaded in a voice that cracked like tree bark. Fili looked at the floor.

"We already are. I personally would like to make sure no one else has to be," the heir made a broad gesture at Bilbo, though the thief doubted whether or not the uncle could even see it.

"Have you come to ask me to fight?" The king asked.

"I hope so." Their moment of quiet were unnerved by the sounds of clashing metal outside their mountain.

"I hope so as well," the dark-haired dwarf muttered. For a brief second, the tone sounded almost like Kili's, a mix of melancholy and optimism. Fili exchanged a look with the hobbit. "Your burglar will stay and make sure the procedure goes well." Thorin nodded.

"I trust he'll do just that," he admired. Bilbo wanted to smile if it were not for the horrible tense atmosphere in the room, and if he wasn't already feeling conflicted about the king. The heir took a step forward, and began undoing the binds. The elder dwarf seemed to panic.

"Fili, I'm sorry," he begged as one hand came free. The blonde dwarf didn't answer as he set Thorin's other hand free as well. Bilbo wanted to leave, but couldn't bring himself to. Fili offered a hand to his uncle, bringing him to his feet.

"My forgiveness is not a trinket that I simply hand out to everyone. I don't think I am obligated to forgive you for what you did," the prince responded, his face looking almost guilty. "But you are my uncle, and you always be, no matter what you do. Be careful, Thorin. I don't want to be mourning through victory tonight." The nephew moved his hand to the back of his uncle's neck, and for a moment, Bilbo thought they would hug, but both stayed their place. "Men lananubukhs menu," Fili whispered.

Thorin would have responded, if he weren't crying.

~:~

They had moved Kili outside of the secret entrance after the rest of the Company had marched out to battle. Tauriel had claimed she needed sufficient light, as it was essential to her healing, and the balcony had been in the direct line of fire outside, so they really had no other option. The hobbit stood off from the two healers, looking the opposite directions. The mithril shirt felt heavy and cold against his skin, his sword dull and bulky in his palm.

The elf had been extensively explaining her plan on the way there, though Bilbo was horrified by it, and had finally seemed to come up with a conclusive plan. The removal of the shard was the most important, and that operation would be completed first, along with sealing the internal bleeding, and while part of the incision was still opened, she would perform the healing that would prevent further damage from the black poison. It could go wrong in a thousand different ways, whether something incorrect was cut, the poison got to him in the middle of the operation, a wraith was produced, he woke up, he bled out; the list droned on and on in the burglar's mind until he wanted it to explode. In his fingers he rolled the ring back and forth. It was stressful standing the opposite direction, not being able to hear anything but the hushed reports that the elf and dwarf gave to each other. From what he had heard, the shard was out, and the seal on the bleeding vessels had been successful. No large arteries had been cut. And from his vantage point, everything seemed to be under control.

So he slipped on the ring. It was only going to be for a second. Then something in his peripheral vision caught his eye.

Bilbo knew he should not have looked back over his shoulder. The ring had a way with the world, allowing other things to be seen, and he had heard the rasping voice before he turned his head. Homeless. The families known control we're like property. How much is actually their caring? Pieces are left behind with them. Incomplete. No definition. The sight of the procedure was one of such morbid demonstration he could not move. It was not the actual removal that bother him, and not the stained dark metal piece that lay in the grass inches from Kili's still body. No, it was something the hobbit had been unable to see at first. Above the blank face of the dying prince was another one wrenching itself free of his body. A spectral mirror of the dwarf overlaid his own, gaunt and sallow with empty eyes that didn't blink. The side of his face was speckled in something dark and black, the mouth a twisted line as it gasped out the pain of the dwarf it aimed to kill. No people. No home. No family. Cursed. A wraith was determinedly formed from the body of the poisoned patient, feeding off the agony of past injustice and the black magic that forced it out of him. It was still a question whether it could break free after Kili was dead, but it was trying. Bilbo touched the ring protectively. Despite its lack of pupils, the monster looked directly at him, and he felt a horrible rush run up his arm and into his head. The burglar panicked, tearing the ornament from his finger to end such a vision, and flung it away from him with a visceral cry.

No sooner was it off then he realized he didn't know where he had thrown it.

On his hands and knees, running his fingers through the grass, looking for the band of gold he focused, not noticing his discarded sword that lay feet from him, and had begun to faintly glow a bright shade of blue.

His fingers closed around the ring. Fingers closed around Tauriel's neck. Her terrified scream brought him back to reality.

The thief fumbled with his sword and dashed back around the rocks, finding a scene out of nightmares. Tauriel slashed and fought three orcs at once, whirling like a mad animal, fiercly protecting her patient. Oin crashed to the ground after receiving a heavy blow to the head as Bilbo charged to the orc who had felled him. He didn't really think it through all the way, simply plunging Sting repeatedly at the orc's flesh. The hobbit was small enough so he made a difficult target, and the creature he fought quickly got confused, causing the burglar to eventually land a hit into the orc's leg, which gave Tauriel the extra second she needed to bury a knife into its ugly head. In a second swipe, the elven warrior blinded the other orc, kicking the third to the side. Bilbo tripped the fumbling one, and he heard the crack as the monster landed on the rocky terrain, and knew it would not be rising any time soon. The red-haired elf stood victorious over one of them, the battle seeming to be one for the most brief of time.

That was before the runt of the group twisted its curved blade through her body. She shuddered, using the last of her knives to fell the abomination before she crumpled to the ground.

She had already given up when he knelt beside her. Bilbo had never seen someone die before. The elf most definitely had. She knew what was coming, and he wasn't going to get in her way. "Tauriel!" the hobbit cried, a hand on her shoulder. The blade had pierced through her back, and was protruding from a place just above her heart. "I can help. I can-"

"Go!" she gasped, though her conviction was draining out of her. "It's too late. I never healed him properly. I had stitches left…" Her eyes unfocused in front of the burglar. He tried to shake her awake, as if she were falling asleep. "If they aren't closed he could die from more blood loss. He doesn't have to go too." Bilbo closed his eyes.

"Tauriel, I can't do that," he begged. She didn't even wait for him to finish before she shook her head, looking someplace far past the hobbit's face.

"I didn't ask you to," the elf maid. "I simply said it has to be done. You're just the only person who is here to do it." She coughed, and he could see the red tint on the inside of her lips.

"I'm won't be able to," the hobbit pleaded. "I can't-"

"You sell yourself short, Master Baggins," Tauriel barely breathed. "You may not be a warrior like your dwarves within the mountain, and you may not be as knowledgable as the elves in their woods, but you are what keeps us all together. Leaving your hole was the bravest thing you have ever done. Surely, this can't be worse than that." Her voice trailed off into nothing, as did the light behind her eyes. For a moment, the stillness of her chest and face, and the quiet of the hobbit's head couldn't be processed. He tapped her shoulder.

"Tauriel. Tauriel." He said the name several more times until it lost any significance, shaking her shoulders. Her expression stayed blank and motionless. Death had revealed itself to him for the first time. The moment the thought crossed his mind he drew back and tripped over himself trying to get up. Next to him, Oin still lay unconscious but breathing. Next to him was sight the halfling didn't want to see. He squeezed his eyes shut until the brightness of the sun cast red spots on his vision. Don't think about it. His fingers drummed his legs. He fought to keep the bile from rising in his throat.

He could hear a heartbeat, and with each beat, they were all closer to death. Tauriel's had fallen silent. Bilbo's was threatening to break through his ribs. Kili's heart was determined to destroy him, as each beat was forcing him to die sooner, to bleed out quicker. The hobbit heard the heartbeat slow down as his sped up.

When his eyes finally opened up they were blurred with tears of fright. They saw the sight of the dark-haired prince, but did not comprehend it as he knelt beside the injured dwarf. The burglar tried to breath through his nose, terrified as to what would happen if he opened his mouth. He gagged. He choked. In a hurried flurry of weakness, he threw himself away from the dying dwarf, emptying his stomach of what little contents it had. His moment of pallor lasted more than that as he wheezed, trying to get a hold of himself. The halfling had never done something so horrible, much less with lives balanced on his small shoulders. He silently cursed the quest, and the pain it had brought them all, the loss that had come with it. Bilbo's hands were shaking so terribly he could barely hold onto a boulder, much less use a needle. For the first time since they returned to the mountain, the Baggins felt so utterly useless he couldn't help the grief that streamed from his eyes. Recognizing their fates, he began to put his breathing back into time. Tauriel had simply said it had to be done, and he was the only one to do it.

The hobbit whirled around, squinting so the world blurred. It's like sewing a patch, he attempted, a patch that will help someone live. The thief fell back to knees, picked up the slippery needle and began his work. Over and under. Over and under. He heaved, but had nothing left to purge from his body. Over and under. Bilbo refused to be the useless one. He had decided to stay with the healers, and he said he would protect Kili. His head began to spin. The dizziness and swaying of his mind was not something that was under his control. He couldn't faint again. Willpower held him on the brink. Over and under. The burglar wanted to wipe his eyes, but couldn't let the needle be put down again. You faltered on your guard. This is your fault. Over and under. Their cursed gold had brought them enough ill fate. A fumbled tied knot.

Bilbo collapsed onto his back and lay among the cursed, trying not to look at the red stains he had on his fingers. As he screamed his agony to the sky, he refused to check the pulse, terrified he would find a hollow chest.

AN: First major character death (if you consider Tauriel to be a major character. Some people don't. Whatever)! I had a lot of difficulty writing this one, so that explains the long update time. I just couldn't get it quite right until it was edited to Hell and back. But, if you did like it, please make sure to follow this story so you can be told when I update again. If you want to share the story with other authors, please make sure to favorite it as well. And, as always, I love hearing what you guys think so make sure to leave your comments, critiques, predictions, etc. as a review! Until next time…