Disclaimer: Middle Earth and all its characters belong to Sir Tolkein (With the exception of some of Peter Jacksons additions) I do not own the universe or the story, but the Main OC and any future OCs are mine.
Just Beat it...
Ollie could not sleep.
She was warm for the first time all day, and considering the circumstances, comfortable. She couldn't have asked for a better view; the stars were bright and vibrant above her, no light pollution to ruin the sky.
But she still couldn't sleep.
She felt wired, alert, as though she'd chugged three mugs of extra sugary coffee. Ok, maybe not that bad, she was aware she needed to sleep, she just...couldn't.
Stupid episode earlier. Coulda slept ages, now I can't sleep at all...she thought groggily to herself, before giving up completely and sitting upright, stretching her back until she heard it clicking and popping.
Casting a blurred eye about the camp, she first assured herself that Dodge was still with her, pleased to see the feisty blonde curled up comfortably beside her. Arse pointed in the air, as usual.
The fire was burning low, emitting a deep, dark orange instead of the bright yellow you usually see at home-made bonfires.
The sight made her huff a small laugh, remembering something she'd been told on a trip she'd taken to Africa, on a night they'd camped out to see what animals passed by.
Big, tall, bright fires; that's a white man's fire. You can't see anything, the light blinds you if you look there too long, and all the animals can see you before you see them. And the bugs, oooh, bugs get everywhere when there's a big fire. We need to keep a low, red fire, close to the floor. enough so we can just about see each other, then our eye's will adjust...
That was the type of fire the Dwarves were keeping, a nice, low fire. Giving her eyes a moment to adjust, she looked around at those closest to her. Bilbo and Gandalf were directly beside Dodge, and from there it seemed everyone grouped in a family order.
Dwalin slept with his back leant against the stone, legs stretched out in front of him, with a hellish looking axe beside him.
I doubt I coulda lifted that thing even if I was at my full height!
Beside him and to a slight angle lay Balin, feet pointed to the open floor of the cliffs edge, white hair wavering about in the wind. Oin was at his side, the ever present hearing trumpet wrapped beneath his arm like a teddy-bear, whilst his bag of remedies helped block some of the wind, stopping his mad grey hair from waving about too much.
His brothers wild red hair was all she could see from where she sat, but Ollie felt secure in the knowledge that that pair of brothers were doing fine.
To the side of Gloin was Bombur, occupying quite the bit of space, he was settled directly across from the fire, and so was the easiest to see, with the deep red of the low fire reflecting off of his rope like braid. Of course, his size had nothing to do with the ease at which she could see him.
Bofur lay next to him, or more accurately, on him. She could see his cheeky little hat up against Bomburs chest, and could follow that down to wear the equally cheeky Dwarf had decided to lean up against his brother, feet extended out where they came perilously close to kicking his cousin, Bifur, in the face.
Dori lay next to him, on his back, ramrod straight. Except for one hand which reached across to settle on the shoulder of his youngest brother, Ori. Ori was sandwiched between Dori and Nori, looking rather squashed too, as Nori, true to his hair, seemed to spread out in a star shape as he slept on his front, arms and legs everywhere.
Fili and Kili lay leant against one another, looking terribly adorable as they slept. Ollie held her hand against her face to keep from squealing out loud at how cute the pair looked, all sleepy and squished.
She made no promises to hold in her squeal when Kili met Tauriel, though.
Wait, will he meet Tauriel? Does Tauriel even exist? I hope so, I'm a sap for cute doomed romances, she thought.
Squinting her now adjusted eyes, she sighed; all Dwarves, Wizards, Humans, and Hobbits present and accounted for.
All except...
Her eyes abruptly widened when she realised she couldn't see Thorin, and she leant forward and back in her bag in an attempt to see where he'd gotten to.
Her momentary panic soon abided, though, when she realised he was actually seated within arms reach of her, just slightly above her head. He was sitting so still, like a gargoyle on a palace, simply watching the passage ahead.
Rubbing her eyes, Ollie decided to go sit with him. After all, he was the only other person awake.
Pulling her sleeping bag up by the armful, she held the access material bunched up beneath her armpits as she shuffled quickly towards Thorin, swearing softly beneath her breath at the scratching noise the bag made with each shuffling step she took.
When at last she reached Thorins perch, she carefully, though clumsily, lowered herself down beside him. Exhaling with a cheerful huff, she turned to him.
Whoa mama... In the moonlight he appeared even more regal than before, his inky hair reflecting its shine, the few grey strands seeming to glow. His blue eyes seemed to pop from the darkness, beneath brows lowered in confusion as they stared at Ollie, one hand raised as if to grab her should she fall. Even as she noticed this small act of gallantry, the hand fell back to side, and he turned away to look over the company once again.
"Y'right?" She asked softly, aware of the sleeping group below. In all honesty, she doubted she'd be heard of the chorus of heavy snoring, but she didn't want to be the one who woke everyone up.
"Excuse me?" Thorin rumbled back. Ollie smirked as the chill air ruffled through the small stands of hair that were loose from her bun, making a valiant effort not to start laughing again at Thorins tone. Even when trying to be soft and quiet, he could still scare the knickers off a grizzly bear.
"Are you alright?" She repeated, pausing slightly between each syllable to emphasise them. Her cheeky smile fell when he didn't turn to look her way again, instead directing his short answer towards the ravine below.
"I am well."
Sighing, Ollie decided to just enjoy the view herself, looking from the company as they lay, bathed in the warm orange glow of the fire, to the sky with so many stars.
The pair sat in silence for a few moments, and though it was comfortable, Ollie couldn't help but break it.
"There are so many stars here." she whispered, more to herself than anyone, as she tried in vain to find any of the few constellations she was familiar with.
"You sound surprised." Thorins soft voice didn't make her jump, instead she swung her head lazily to smile in his direction, happy to see he was actually looking at her this time.
"Where I'm from, there are so many cities with so many lights, you can barely see the stars any more. Just a few small, bright pin pricks in the sky that are still stubborn enough to show themselves." She had to remind herself that he wasn't being mean or nasty, his face was just stony. She huffed a small laugh as she turned away, Thorin was resting bitch face personified.
"What about constellations?" He asked gently.
"Hmm," she said, nodding, "There are quite a few of those, like,we base our birthdays on them sometimes, but I can't find any here. Maybe there are too many for me to see past..." she trailed off, frowning gently as she stared at the sky.
She heard him shift slightly, the sound of leather and cloth rubbing against gravel coming from her left, but she sat still and continued to search the sky, allowing Thorin to move and fidget as he pleased without having her stare at his every movement.
She flinched slightly when she felt him lean against her arm, her head snapping round as her hand closed into a fist over a rock, ready to defend herself...
But Thorin didn't even turn his head her way, simply placed it beside hers as he looked at the sky, using his left arm to point towards a cluster of stars.
She watched as his finger traced a path through the sky, following the curve of seven bright stars, as his voice murmured gently into her ear.
"When Durin the Deathless awoke, he looked upon his reflection in the Mirrormere. There, above his brow, shone the seven stars as a crown. Turning to the caves surrounding its waters, he built Moria, the greatest of Dwarven kingdoms." She shivered slightly, both at the feeling of his warm breath stirring the hair curled about her ears, and at the reverence at which he told his story, her eyes riveted on the shining stars.
"Durin was the first of the Dwarven kings, and I am his heir. I suppose you could say that those were the stars I was born under." He lowered his hand, but did not move away.
Chewing lightly on her lip, Ollie decided to place the large rock down, instead picking up a handful of smaller stones.
Thorin watched, head tilted, as she arranged nineteen stones into a pattern, then drew lines in the dust to join them up. His eyes narrowed as he studied them, before a gust of strong wind blew down the tunnel, throwing his hair about wildly, into his eyes and Ollies. She clapped a hand over her mouth to stifle her laughter as he brushed the unruly mass back into place. His eyes narrowed, before she pointed back down to the stones she'd arranged.
"Chiron was a centaur, half man, half horse. The centaurs were known for their wildness, their inability to be still, always looking for adventure. They were great warriors, and Chiron was the greatest. Unlike many of his kin, he was calm, gentle, and kind. And incredibly smart. He was skilled with any weapon, and instrument, and would often train the worlds greatest heroes. For his skills, the gods 'blessed' him with immortality." Here she paused to pull a face, conveying just how she felt about the "gift" he'd been given, "One hero was called Hercules, and he was the greatest hero to ever live, and was Chirons close friend. However, he could be cruel, especially when drunk. One night, he drank all the wine the Centaurs kept, and he was so strong they could not fight him off, when Chiron tried to intervene, Hercules shot him in the flank with a poisoned arrow. When Hercules came to, three days later, he found Chiron in too much pain to live, but unable to die. Chiron begged Hercules to let him take the place of Prometheus, a lesser god who'd suffered torture for centuries after stealing fire from the gods to give it to man. Jupiter, the jailer, had arranged with Hercules to free Prometheus if a suitable immortal could be found to replace him. But when Jupiter received Chiron, he instead threw Chiron into the sky, where he was made into stars, and allowed to die in peace." Next to the image of the constellation, Ollie ran her fingers through the dust one last time, drawing an arrow with a line through it, the symbol of Sagittarius.
"The stars became known as Sagittarius, and those born under them are said to be fiery in temperament, passionate about life, always questing for knowledge, a little too blunt, and hide their emotions." She looked up at him from beneath her lashes, "Just a warning, I'm pretty much all of those things."
Thorin huffed a small laugh through his nose, before his eyes turned serious again.
"You should be asleep." He said, searching her face. She kinds wished he wouldn't, she had no doubt that she looked like absolute shit.
"Can't sleep." She sighed.
"You seemed tired enough earlier." He stated neutrally.
Oh boy.
"Yeah, probably an adrenaline crash or something. Sucks, 'cause now I can't get to sleep at all. Where we going anyway?" She questioned him quickly, noticing the way his fists curled, and she reached back to grasp the orange sized rock again.
"I am not sure, we are currently following the Wizard." he stated roughly, attempting to stare into her eyes. Ollie dropped them to her lap quickly, not liking the direct, hard eye contact he was trying to make. She could feel her heart start to pump faster, her muscles tensing, when before she'd been relaxed. She'd actually been enjoying his company.
"Where did you and your friend come from? Why are you here?" he demanded roughly, though still making an effort to keep his voice low.
Ollie was now able to see her palm as it lay face up in her lap, the dark sky lightening and giving everything around them a light grey-pink hue.
"We don't know. We were just at home, and then we were...lost." she could feel his hard stare like a drill boring into her skull, but still she refused to look up, right hand tightening further around her make-shift weapon as her left thumb rubbed against the fingers of her left hand, smudging the grey dust that had gathered there.
The loud groaning of several members waking up snapped whatever tension was between them, and she scrambled to her feet as the company began to ready themselves for the journey. She went to turn away, but paused when she heard Thorin murmur her name in the same gentle tone they'd previously been speaking in.
"You will not be requiring that stone." He stated, and Ollie merely huffed, and dropped it, then shuffled her way back to camp.
How'd he even know I had that?
When Ollie had returned to her original placement beside Dodge, she'd barely had a moment to shift into place before Bifur shoved a bowl of what appeared to be porridge into her hands, placing another bowl on the floor besides Dodges head, and then wandering away.
Breakfast was a quick affair, everyone eager to fill their stomachs and then move along, hoping they weren't far from Gandalfs' mysterious destination.
Well, mysterious to some.
Ollie and Dodge exchanged a few glances as they hobbled along, eyes dancing with excitement at the prospect of reaching the legendary - in their case, literally - Rivendell.
Their excitement was quelled, somewhat, by their still tender, and still unshod, feet. Whereas before each step had felt as though an army of angry fire ants had gone to town on their soles, the pain shooting upwards towards their calves, now was the equally agonising numbness.
Whatever concoction Oin had smeared over their poor feet seemed to be working, even though they could tell that the numbness in their feet was comparable to stepping on sharp stones with bare feet, which was exactly what they were doing, it at least wasn't causing either of them to want to curl up and die as they'd previously been wont to do.
Dodge didn't miss the lingering eyes of a certain dwarf, and she purposely placed herself between Ollie and Thorins' line of sight, carefully not looking his way as she did so. Ollie had been through enough in her life, and the was no way her best friend would ever let some...bully of a dwarf lord make her feel on edge.
The girls tilted their heads towards one another, sharing small, tired smiles, when Ollie's eyes dropped. She came to a complete standstill, which wasn't too bad really, as she had insisted, argued, cajoled, and sulked until she was able to walk at the back of the procession. Her grey-blue eyes were open comically wide, as was her mouth, as she stared in horror at Dodges shirt.
Dodges dark blonde eyebrows scrunched above her own whisky coloured eyes as she tilted her head in confusion.
"What?" she asked, shivering as yet another breeze drifted past, ruffling the few stands of hair that had escaped from her French braid. Her eyes widened further as Ollie stormed, well, shuffled, over to her, and delivered an open palmed smack to Dodges upper arm.
"Why have you stopped?" Thorin gravelly voice drifted to them from the front of the line, but they were too busy to turn around and answer. Bilbo and Gandlaf had front row seats, and Gandalf chuckled lightly to himself at the indignant expression on Dodges face in wake of the slap she'd received.
"I officially blame you!" Shouted Ollie, her anger more than a little tinged in amusement.
"What? Why?" shouted Dodge.
"Your bloody shirt!" Ollie responded, pointing to her friends chest, " 'I don't run, and if your ever see me running, you should run too, because something is probably chasing me'" she sing-songed, "Congratulations, you ran, I ran, everybody ran!"
"Don't you blame this on me Cassandra Twist! I didn't put a forest in your house!"
"Don't you full name me, Bridget Daize! And I certainly didn't put a god damn forest in my house!" She took a deep breath, then winced as it pulled at the injury to her ribs, "Besides, I'm not blaming blaming you, I'm pointing out the...irony, or whatever, of the situation."
The stage was set, the battle field primed. The grey rock beneath their feet swirled as the gentle breeze lifted the dust away, creating miniature whirlwinds about their feet. The audience fidgeted with baited breath, a few birds could be heard calling to one another in harmony with the whistling of the wind down their corridor of stone.
Grey eyes clashed with brown.
Dodge felt her face go first. It began with a tingling around the cheeks, a wrinkling, tugging sensation around the mouth, a bubble in the chest, as her lips pulled away from her teeth in a wide smile, a giggle seeping through, exploding into gut wrenching laughter as she bent at the waist, desperately gasping for breath, tears streaming from her eyes. As she blinked them back, an effort in futility if ever there was one, she glimpsed Ollie's long, battered legs as she leant against the rocks, clutching at her injured ribs as she too laughed hard enough to make her sides hurt.
Amidst the dying chortles from their sudden expulsion of the previous days stresses, Ollie imagined she could actually hear Thorin and Dwalin grinding their teeth in frustration.
Wiping the tears from her eyes, and grimacing at the sharp, throbbing pain by her ribs, she could clearly see the irritation on both of their faces; Thorins hands were curled into tight fists at his sides, and Dwalin had his tree-trunk arms crossed over his barrel of a chest, the muscles in his fore-arms and upper arms flexing sporadically.
Both had matching scowls.
Dodge coughed and hiccuped as her laughter subsided, flinging out a hand to wave away the crowd of confused Dwarves, flicking her wrist to indicate they should keep moving as both girls finally came to their senses and began dragging their wobbly legs back into line.
The procession continued on its' not-so-merry way, with Dwarves flicking their eyes to glance sideways at their crazed companions, who even now were still letting a chuckle or two slip from their lips as they recalled the incident with the t-shirt.
But boredom soon found its way into Ollies mind, as it so often did. Glancing up, she noted that no one in the company was actually talking. At all.
Bored, bored, bored, bored, bored.
Rolling her eyes she began humming, feeling the way her throat vibrated, rolling her eyes around to take in their surroundings.
Yep, she thought, still stony, still grey.
Her humming grew in volume, and she smirked, pulling her torn and dirt-stained denim jacket tighter across her, as she noticed a few Dwarves peek round at her in curiosity. She should've known that if one think would wipe the frowns of those faces, it'd be music.
When Dodge quietly began singing beside her, the pair shared a smile, the song growing in volume, and Ollie nearly laughed out-right. How perfect that a song containing varying jokes about being "macho" would be in her head.
Dodge began, Bilbo outright staring, whilst the dwarves simply tilted their heads to listen;
" They told him 'don't you ever come around here,
Don't wanna see your face you better disappear!
The fire's in their eye's
And their word's are really clear,
So beat it, just beat it.
You better run, you better do what you can
Don't wanna see no blood, don't be a macho man!
You wanna be tough, better do what you can
So beat it, but you wanna be bad..."
They dove into the chorus together, shuffling with wide smiles on their faces as the attempt to dance their way through the song despite their injuries, popping the collars of their jackets and wiggling their hips to the music only they could hear;
"Just beat it, beat it, beat it, beat it
No one wants to be defeated
Showin' how funky strong is your fight
It doesn't matter who's wrong or right
Just beat it, beat it
Just beat it, beat it
Just beat it, beat it
Just beat it, beat it..."
Ollie picked up the second verse;
" They're out to get you, better leave while you can
Don't wanna be a boy, you wanna be a man
You wanna stay alive, better do what you can
So beat it, just beat it
You have to show them that you're really not scared
You're playin' with your life, this ain't no truth or dare
They'll kick you, and they'll beat you, then they'll tell you it's fair
So beat it, but you wanna be bad..."
The gasps reached them just before the second set of the chorus could start, and the girls turned to see the grey stone had bled into white, golden sunlight streaming down to dapple the ground. The group gathered on an outcrop dusted with small tufts of grass, and Ollie balanced on her toes to peer over Gloin and Bifur's shoulders, mouth falling open at what she saw.
To their side was a pathway winding along the side of the mountain, trees packed densely to the side, emerald leaves fluttering in the breeze. The sunlight glinted at them from where it rested atop pools of water, and the Valley of Imladris winked at them in the sunlight.
As Ollie craned over to get a better view, she heard Bilbo sigh with the same reverence she felt;
"Rivendell."
At last.
Ollie should've known, really.
Should've known it wouldn't last, that she couldn't catch a break, keep her secret.
Should've known when she couldn't understand the words coming out of Thorins mouth; watching his lips move out of sync with the words she could only guess he was saying, wobbling her head round to see Gandalf was talking too, but the words were coming through water in her ears.
She should've known when she felt her face droop again, going numb, her right eye rolling about in its socket like it was trying to stretch away the uncomfortable feeling around it.
She should've known when her hand began to clench, the wrist twitching and flicking round and round, when she felt dizzy.
But she didn't notice any of these, too busy bouncing on her toes to feel the sudden butterflies in her stomach, and the sick feeling in her chest, just before she fell to the ground, convulsing.
And there we are guys! I've been suffering from writers block, oh, and life in general, but at long last; a chapter! Enjoy ;)
Next time; what's wrong with poor Ollie? How will the dwarves take it? Will the girls wanna stay safe in Rivendell? Or will they force their way into a super dangerous quest?