A/N: Oh my god! All the comments from the last chapter! I'm so glad you guys are enjoying this story enough that you're getting upset about what happened to Ori! I promise his fate will be revealed on Wednesday! Thank you guys so much for commenting! I love you all!

As a reminder- I'm going to be working New York Comic Con this weekend and I leave today. I'll have my laptop and will do my best to get the chapters put up on time, but if I'm a bit late, please don't hate me too much. I also probably won't have time to respond to comments until I get back next week, but rest assured I will reply to them all in time!

This origin is a flashback to the night before the battle with Smaug. Warning for mentions of bullying, homophobia, and self-harm (nothing is graphic or in detail).

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Origins: Ori

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"I've been meanin' to ask ya somethin', lad," Dwalin hedged his words as he turned to look at Ori. They were laying together on his bed, legs entwined, clothing strewn on the floor. It was probably not the best time to have this conversation, but it had been weighing on his mind. "When Dori told us about yer powers, he said ya had a really bad experience..."

"And you want to know what it was," Ori finished for him. He pulled himself to a sitting position and tucked the blankets around his waist with a sigh.

Dwalin sat up as well and frowned, cursing himself for breaking the afterglow. "Ya don't have to tell me if ya don't want to."

"I hated having to hide my powers from you. I thought you'd judge me, that you'd leave me. But now I know better. No more secrets." He fiddled with a loose thread on his gloves and tried to decide where to begin, what to say. "When I was really little Dori and Nori went through a lot so that I could have a normal life. They tried to hide it from me, but I know a lot more than they realize. They went through hell so I didn't have to."

"Neither of them wanted to worry ya." He reached out and took Ori's hand, twinning their fingers together and offering a reassuring squeeze.

"I know that. But after my powers developed, it got harder. People look at you differently when you wear mittens and long sleeves in the middle of the summer." The sunlight was fading and Ori felt grateful that the shadows hid the worry on his face. "I kept going to public school, even though I hated it. I would have been an odd kid even without the gloves. I was sixteen- gay, nerdy, awkward. It... it was horrible. The other kids called me names, pushed me around... but I never caused a fuss, because I didn't want to worry my brothers."

Dwalin shifted his weight so he could see Ori's face better in the gathering dusk. He didn't know where the story was going, but could tell by the way the Ori's hands shook that it was not a pleasant memory.

"Gym class was the worst. I've never been good at sports and all the popular jocks were in my class. Most of the time I hid in the back of the group and tried not to draw attention to myself. It worked pretty well during the games, but afterward everyone had to shower..." Ori trailed off and pulled his knees to his chest, wrapping his free arm around them. "I had to take my gloves off, so I'd wait until the last possible second, then take the quickest shower I could. There were curtains, so nobody could see my hands. Well, one day I got myself noticed in class. I accidentally hit one of the jocks with a dodge ball and he came looking for revenge."

Raising their linked hands to his lips, Dwalin pressed a firm kiss to Ori's knit-covered knuckles. "It's all right. Take yer time, lad."

"He cornered me in the shower. Pushed me." Ori's voice cracked, but he pressed on. "I didn't mean to touch him, it just happened. It was only for a second, but he fell and I grabbed my clothes and ran. By the time I got home I was a wreck. You know how my powers work- I absorb abilities, but I also take on what the person was feeling..."

A cold knot of dread settled at the base of Dwalin's spine. "What was he feelin'?"

"Hate. He hated me. I was a disgusting, unnatural freak." Ori managed a dark, slightly frantic laugh. "And he didn't even know about my powers."

"Ori..." Dwalin started to interrupt, not sure he wanted to hear the rest of the story.

"I was so messed up anyway. I hated my powers. I hated the way people treated me. It wasn't much of a leap from what I was feeling to what he was..." Ori's face was wet and he wiped halfheartedly at the tears with the back of his glove. "I got home and my brothers weren't there. And I was alone with all these thoughts and feelings... all this hate for myself..."

Dwalin's own cheeks were damp, his heart breaking at Ori's words. He gripped the boy's hand tighter and tried to convey all the affection he felt into that one touch.

"I'll spare you the details, but when Dori came home he found me sitting in the kitchen, despondent and bleeding from where I'd tried to carve the runes off my skin. I just wanted it all to stop." He broke down in earnest then, sobbing into the crook of his arm until Dwalin pulled him close and pressed damp kisses along his hairline. Ori clung to him and cried until he was hoarse, his whole body shaking with the effort.

At length he calmed down and his breathing steadied. It terrified Dwalin to think of how close he'd come to loosing Ori before they'd ever met. "I'm so glad ya got past it. I'm so glad yer still here," he murmured, breath soft against Ori's skin.

"Me too," Ori whispered and curled himself more comfortably in Dwalin's embrace. "Me too."

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A/N: Ori's fate hangs in the balance and Smaug may not be defeated... I hope to see you back here Wednesday.