'Together?' Bilbo had asked, as we slyly sneaked up on the Pale Orc and its Orc lackey, who was raising a blade above Thorin's throat. The Hobbit's voice was trembling as he couched beside me.

'Together,' I breathed and, with that, we both leaped at the Orc who was right about ready to swing that sword down onto Thorin's pretty neck. Bilbo did it with much more grace than I had, I can tell you that. While he sprang onto the Orc, I kind of did a funny little trip, successfully missing him completely and landing solidly on the ground.

'Well that hurt more than I thought it would,' I had grumbled, only to be shoved roughly out of the way as the Orc attacked Bilbo. The Hobbit pushed me sideways, pulling out his blue, glowing sword and embedding it deep within the Orc's chest. I tried very hard to forget what I was seeing, to remember that Thorin could be dying-

Thorin.

I stood with Bilbo, falling next to Thorin as the Hobbit waved his sword at the oncoming Wargs and Orcs, who all surrounded us. In the quickness of it all, and the shaking of my hands, I couldn't tell if Thorin's heart was beating or not.

'Don't be dead,' I had pleaded, pressing my fingers to his pulse point. With that, I fell - quite literally - into step with Bilbo, pulling Snowthorn from my side. It was still dirty with now stale Goblin blood, and my teeth gritted against each other as the sword was held stiffly in my still blood dried hands. 'Bilbo man, quit waving you sword, you're gonna poke my eye out,' I had whispered, stepping away from him.

In all honesty, I was just avoiding looking at the beasts before us. Alas, in the end I did look at them, and I simply said, 'You are extremely ugly, my friends. Killing you would be doing the world a great favor'.

'Agreed,' huffed Bilbo.

The Pale Orc growled out something in an unknown language, coming slowly closer.

'Bilbo,' I said. 'You're my buddy-' My voice shook. '-And although I'm not all for this dying thing-' The dark Wargs came closer. '-And to quote The Smiths-' Too close. '-To die by your side, well, the pleasure, the privilege-'

Quite suddenly, the Dwarves were hurtling forward, smacking most of the Wargs to the ground. I stumbled back, gripping Snowthorn between two hands and avoiding any kind of contact with the animals and the Orcs. Instead, I stayed firmly in front of the Thorin, making sure nobody stepped on him. That would be tragic and very undignified.

Bilbo tore away from my side, hurtling into the midst of the battle. I had stayed exactly where I was, knowing that if I took part in this particular battle, it was likely that I would be eaten, or stabbed, or fall over and kill myself.

I crouched beside Thorin, my back on the fight as I saw Wargs and Orcs being shoved to the ground, covered in blood. The King was unconscious, having been thrown about and half eaten by a Warg. 'Thorin, dude, do not die. I cannot be doing with a mopey bunch of Dwarves, I really can't. Plus, I actually think you're kind of cool, but you know, telling you that would involve having a civil conversation with-'

'Millie!'

My heart jumped into my throat as a spun around, landing on my butt next to Thorin. An Orc was behind me, having planned - I suppose - to sneak up on me while my back was turned. I threw out my sword, ready to smack him with it should the need come-

The sound of eagles and the wind of wings sang through the air.

Both myself and the Orc looked wildly up, both equally confused. Then, swooping low, I saw an eagle so large that it had me half yelping, 'Is that a dinosaur?' Before it was dragging the offending Orc away from me and off of the cliff. 'Um...thank you!' I turned swiftly to Thorin, jabbing him in the chest. 'Dude, you are gonna want to see this!'

I half turned away from him, only to feel the huge gust of wind that had me turning back around. I yelped, startled, as I saw eagles talons curl around Thorin's body. The King did not so much as stir.

Then one of the bloody things came for me.

It grabbed tightly onto me around my stomach, and I screamed loudly, though was partly thankful to be taken away from the fire and the Pale Orc and the blood and the shouts. Many of the Wargs had, though, been thrown off of the cliff by the eagles.

The eagle carried be off of a cliff, only drop me quite suddenly. I yelled, and then found my back smacking into a feathery bed beneath me. 'Millie!' I struggled to sit up, well aware of the fact that the feathery bed was moving fast through the air.

There in front of me, sitting on the eagle, were Fili and Kili.

Kili pulled me further toward them, away from the edge of the eagle. Around us, in the lightening sky, the others were being carried by the great eagles, over the clouds and the mountains. I held tightly onto Kili, by stomach doing flips at the height that we were at, though part of me marveled the view below us, it was truly beautiful-

'Thorin!' shouted Fili, directing his voice to his Uncle, who was still clutched in the eagles talons in front of us. 'Kili, is he-'

I had felt like I was intruding on something that I shouldn't be, like this was too intimate, too sad for me to witness.

Kili leaned forward, his face level with his brothers as he spied out his Uncle. 'He can't be,' he said lowly, placing a hand on his brothers shoulder. 'Fili...if he is, you'll be-' He cut himself off, tuning his head to look closely at his brother. 'Fili-'

King, I had realized. Fili will be The King Under the Mountain.

Fili shook his blonde head. 'Kili, don't. He's not dead, not Thorin. He's our mothers brother'. Something about the way he said it made me think that they were referring to a strong, very capable mother. Well, if she was anything like Thorin, she'd be terrifying.

'He-he's just unconscious,' I assured them, digging my free hand into the eagles feathers. The wind whipped past us, and the sun was beginning to hurt my eyes. 'Just unconscious. Just pray he doesn't wake up now, poor guy will freak the hell out,' I murmured, taking my hand away from Kili to wipe my dirty face.

Fili looked over his shoulder at me, a small smile playing on his face. 'Trust you to get a joke out of a situation like this'.

I paused in wiping my face, confused. 'I wasn't joking. What would you do if you woke up, thousands of feet off of the ground, only to see that you're being carried by a giant eagle? I mean, you'd be a little shocked'.

'That he would,' agreed Kili, still staring at his Uncle.

'This is terrifying,' I had muttered, kneeling against the eagles back. 'Why do you think they helped us? I bet Gandalf had something to do with it, the sneaky little blighter'. The bright rays of the sun were making me sleepy, but the could-be-dead-Thorin and the height at which we were travelling were keeping me well awake. 'Does this mean that the Pale Orc is hunting us?'

Fili adjusted himself atop the eagle, tearing his eyes away from the fast moving land below. The eagle took a deep swoop, and my stomach churned. 'That's exactly what it means, I suppose. He's very intent on killing off the Line of Durin. He only knew that Thorin was there though'.

I blinked, not quite catching on.

'Fili and I are of the Line of Durin, aren't we?' reminded Kili. 'We're the Heirs'.

'Right, right, yeah. Sorry, I go totally thick when I'm tired,' I said. Then, 'Ah, we're landing'.

The eagle that carried Thorin had lain him gently on a very tall platform of rock, which ascended many feet upwards. The rest of us watched as Gandalf fell gracefully from his own eagle, starting toward the very still King.

'Get ready to jump!' said Kili, not really giving me much of a chance to prepare myself, as he pulled me off of the eagle the moment it swooped over the rocky surface. I caught myself quickly, thanks to Kili's hand clutching my arm. My feet ached with the impact.

I glared furiously at him, about ready to tell him why people did not normally jump off of eagles when they were mid-flight. Kili ignored my angry look, as he started forward to help his now awake Uncle to his feet. I'd felt relief then. Relief that could only mean that I had grown fonder of Thorin than I would have liked to admit.

Thorin started forward to Bilbo, who stood alone. 'You!' he said, voice scratchy. Bilbo's smile faded somewhat. 'What were you doing? You could have got yourself killed. Did I not say that you would be a burden?'

Was he actually kidding me right now?

'That you would not survive in the wild? That you had no place among us?' Bilbo looked down, well and truly done. 'I have never been so wrong,' breathed Thorin, starting forward to embrace the Hobbit.

For a moment, I stood, completely baffled at the scene before me. 'Total bromance, right there,' I announced, smiling along with the rest of the Dwarves. They clapped and cheered, knowing that finally Thorin had accepted Bilbo Baggins into our company.

And the Hobbit freakin' deserved it.

Thorin pulled away from Bilbo, smiling softly at the startled and happy looking man. 'I am sorry I doubted you,' he said, and there were true feeling in those words.

'No, no,' insisted Bilbo. 'I would have doubted me too. I'm not a hero, I'm not a warrior...or even a burglar'. Thorin smiled at the Hobbit, and it was really starting to freak me out, if I'm honest. I mean, the guy was smiling.

He then turned, hands lingering on the Hobbit's sides, and his blue eyes found mine.

My eyes widened a fraction at the though of Thorin hugging me.

'And you,' he said, walking forward with a great purpose, I stumbled back with an, 'Oh, God', only to be pushed forward by Kili. 'You are still the same tedious girl that were before, are you not?'

I held up my hands, giving him a pointed look. 'Would you want me any other way?'

'You followed Master Baggins to my side,' he said.

'Well yeah, I fell to your side more like, Bilbo did most of the-' I was, quite promptly, cut off by Thorin's arms awkwardly finding me in an equally as awkward hug. 'And now we're hugging, okay,' I muttered, pausing to pat the King stiffly on the back. 'You're, er, quite welcome,' I sent Bilbo a wild look, but he was far too wrapped up in the lasting effects of Thorin's bro-hug.

I pulled away, looking anywhere but at Thorin's face. Fili scoffed next to me, but was then distracted by the flapping of wings as the eagles swooped around us, diving to follow the leader of their group to an entirely different direction. Thorin approached Bilbo, smiling at him, but his gaze caught something behind the Hobbits head.

'Is that-?' began Bilbo, taking a step forward with Thorin. My eyes wandered to what they were looking at, and I swear to God, I got shivers.

'Whoa,' I muttered, eyebrows raised. The whole company started forward, and I kept close to Kili and Fili's sides, not fond of leaving them for quite some time, not after what had just happened that day. 'Is that it?'

'Erebor,' announced Gandalf. 'The Lonely Mountain. The last of the Great Dwarf Kingdoms of Middle Earth'.

Thorin gave a small nod, almost to himself. 'Our home,' he said. Kili and Fili straightened up beside me, having, I supposed, never seen their true home in their lives. I gave a small smile to myself, staring out at the misty, vague mountain far off into the distance, nearly straight ahead. That was our destination.

A birds call broke through the 'deep' moment, and Gloin said, 'A Raven! The birds are returning to the mountain'. We watched, fascinated, as a bird too small to be a raven swooped into our view, starting for the mountain.

'That, my dear Gloin,' said Gandalf. 'Is a thrush'.

'I'll take it as a sign,' replied Thorin quietly, staring at his home, his. He glanced sideways at Bilbo, a soft smile on his features. 'A good omen'. His eyes lingered on the Hobbit, and I shifted uncomfortably, feeling as if Celina Dion should come on and start serenading the Hobbit and the Dwarf.

'I do believe the worst is behind us,' said Bilbo. I looked at him, brow furrowed. ...Where the hell does he think we're going? Disneyland? We've gotta defeat a bloody dragon yet. I didn't say this though. I just gave a small, awkward hum.

We all stood there for a moment, in the quiet of the orange sunlight, our thoughts our own, all wondering what lay between us and the mountain. I mean, we still had a journey ahead, didn't we?

Then, mine and Ori's stomachs just had to go ahead and rumble very, very loudly.

'Perhaps we should camp here for the night,' suggested Dori, elbowing his brother in the side. Myself and Ori shared a look of deep understanding. We both needed food, and we both needed it now.

'Do we have any food?' I'd asked, plopping myself onto the rocky ground, taking my bag off. 'And is it even safe to camp up here? Will we even be able to get down tomorrow-?'

'It baffles me,' said Gandalf. 'How you manage to ask so many questions, after such an ordeal. Can you not be content that we have somewhere safe to sleep and that we are not dead?'

I frowned at him. 'I'm hungry,' I said, as if that was reason enough.

'Yes,' he sighed. 'We know. Ah, it looks as if the eagles have come to share their hunt with us'.

I still do not know how the eagles were so nice, but they were. They managed to scavenge rabbit for us, which we cooked over a fire - using the wood that they had gathered - and ate quite happily, soothing out aches and pains.

'My feet,' I said to Kili and Fili, yanking off my boots. 'Hurt so much'.

Gloin pulled off his own mud trodden boots. 'Aye, mine too. I dread the walk down to the earth beneath us tomorrow'. His large, smelly feet were put close to my cooked rabbit. I winkled my nose and moved my plate away. 'Sorry, lass,' he laughed, stuffing his face with the meat.

The sky had darkened once again, and the only light was that of the fire that burned between us all.

'How're you feeling?' questioned Kili quietly, once the others engaged in another boisterous conversation of stories from the Blue Mountains. I wondered what it was like there, whether it would be there or Erebor that I would go back to. Whether I would go back at all.

I looked at him, swallowing my food. 'Fine. Why?'

He gave me a short look.

'Yeah, alright, I had a little embarrassing freak out earlier. Must we talk about it?' I replied. 'God, I need another bath. Quit staring,' I snapped, catching his dark eyes on my face once again.

'You've been cut up heavily,' he said. 'The others don't want to say anything. Dwarves don't normally take notice of other Dwarves smaller battle wounds in case of offending them-'

'But not you,' I snorted.

'No,' Kili agreed. 'Not me. You've cut yourself on your cheek, there,' he said, finger lingering just above the stinging cut. 'You're filthy - they'll get infected if you don't clean them out. Are you cut anywhere else?' He looked at my arms. While the cloak had once covered quite a lot of me, it had been taken by the Goblins. My dark shirt sleeves reached about my elbow. Below that, my skin had acquired only small scrapes. 'Nothing too bad,' he said. 'Is it only the one on your face that is deep?'

I nodded.

'You came out of it better than I thought you would,' he said honestly, leaning back against the rock. 'Although the cut may scar a little'.

'Thanks,' I replied dryly, aware of my stinging cheek and ear. 'Thorin seems better,' I pointed out. 'Is Fili...relieved that he doesn't have to...you know-'

Kili sat up once again, his voice quiet and his gaze secretive. 'Fili has never...quite taken to the idea of being the eldest heir. It scares him more than he would like to admit. He is not yet prepared enough to take on that task, so when we thought that...when we thought that time had come, and when in turn we found that Thorin was alright-'

'He was relieved,' I finished quietly. 'For bother Thorin, and himself. I can understand that'.

'Will you come with us?' Kili said suddenly, shuffling onto his knees. He looked quite uncomfortable. I looked away from the conversing Dwarves and back to him, brows raised.

'Huh?'

'If we reclaim Erebor- will you come with us and live there?'

I nodded slowly, too stunned at his forwardness, his intense eyes. 'Er, yeah. Course. I don't really have anywhere else to go, do I?'

Kili nodded, brow furrowed. 'Good'.

My stomach gave a weird, uncomfortable little flip. 'Do you want the rest of my rabbit? I'm super-duper full'. I handed the plate to him, and he paused before taking it. Watching in amusement as he ate, I had wondered if the Dwarf would ever learn basic table manners. 'We should totally braid each others hair,' I piped up, eyes lingering on his brown mess. 'Yours is totally messy, as is mine, and all the other Dwarves seem to have gotten all braidy'. Kili's eyes widened. 'We could have like a sleepover-'

It was only then that I noticed the heavy silence that had fallen over the group.

'Oh God,' I had groaned, anticipating the worst. 'What did I say this time?'

Each Dwarf was looking away from their conversation, each holding a look of amusement, pity and sheer awkwardness. Kili had paused with his food halfway to his mouth, eyes wide. 'You just asked the lad to share your bed, in Dwarven traditions,' piped up Gloin, clearly enjoying the show very much. My mouth dropped open, and Fili brushed a hand over his mouth, containing a laugh.

I had let out a startled laugh myself, clamping a hand over my mouth. 'Well, I didn't know that- oh my God!' I snorted, bending over to contain my laughter. 'You guys braid each others hair before- I can't breathe-' I flapped my hands madly around my face. 'I didn't mean it like that-' I then, quite promptly, falling into another fit of giggles.

'The lass is quite mad,' said Bofur.

Bifur grumbled something in reply while I wiped away my tears, still half-laughing. With one look at Kili's bemused face, I dissolved once again. 'I haven't laughed like this in ages!'

Quite nervously, Ori began to join in on the laughter.

'I'm sorry. I'm done,' I gasped, breathing in deeply to calm myself. I turned to the quite shocked Dwarves. 'You guys have got to teach me about this stuff before I invite a complete stranger to-' I cut myself off and snorted. 'Right, er, yeah'.

There was a pause, and then Gandalf chuckled and huffed out a, 'I think you are quite right, Millie. Your ignorance toward Dwarven traditions is quite alarming'.

'You can say that again,' huffed Gloin, though an amused smile was apparent on his grumpy face. 'Anyway, you made the laddie blush, my lady,' he snorted. I turned back to Kili, who's cheeks were redder than they were before.

'Shut it,' he grumbled, promptly stuffing his face with rabbit, ignoring the jeering from the other Dwarves.

I merely smiled at him.

Quite a short chapter compared to the others, but it was more of a 'okay, from film to book' chapter. Either way, I hope you liked it!

I'd like to say that I'm going to be putting quite a lot of movie stuff in there, but I will, obviously, be going by the book. I'll be doing quite a lot of my own thing, but the story will be the same. I won't change anything drastically. Any idea, message me here, or on my tumblr kiliyousosilly!

You guys are amazing by the way. We're now on over 400 reviews. I'm so happy, please keep reviewing!