I do not own RWBY or any Tolkien related material, and have no claim on either of them. The idea for this story is mine and is purely for fun.

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Into the fire indeed…

Yet again, the Company was fleeing, running from a foe in 'hot' pursuit (dang it Yang! she internally cursed). The distant sounds of snarling wolves drew uncomfortably closer every minute the Company ran, scrambled, and stumbled down the mountainside, with rocks, pine needles and other bits of debris sliding and rolling out from under their feet in their rush to get distance from their pursuers.

Ruby felt this was unfortunately becoming a trend. And one that wouldn't end with this.

Even Ruby herself was struggling to keep her footing. With all that happened today, it was compounded by the fact that she could count the number of hours slept on one hand with fingers left over. The labored breathing and thudding footsteps of her companions, and herself for that matter, did nothing to ease the brewing headache Ruby was feeling.

We're running on fumes, she noticed everyone was suffering a lack of sleep and energy, as evidenced by Oin slipping when his legs gave out abruptly, getting helped up by Bifur, and Fili almost running into a tree – saved by a quick tug from his brother who was slightly more aware. And that's just playing right into their hands… whoever's hands they are.

On and down they went, following what Ruby thought was a rough path, as they had no other direction to go lest they be caught. The pine trees thinned and they came across a severely rocky and jagged section of the mountain – the site of a landslide come and gone. In unspoken agreement, the group ventured into this landscape rather than go around and let the hunters catch up. Plus, the unstable footing evens the playing field, Ruby thought, as we are able to better traverse it than wolves.

However, 'better' did not mean well, as it also hampered the Dwarves, with their stout and less agile physique than Gandalf, Ruby. The only one who seemed to have little trouble was Bilbo, as his hobbit nature gave him better talents.

Eventually, their combined footfalls caused the small stones and thin topsoil to shift beneath him. Those small stones cascaded against one another, then those small stones dislodged bigger ones. Before long the whole slope, both above and below them, started to slide and the company was forced to surf and slide with the rubbish down – with many cursing at their current misfortune, including Ruby (though hers was a squeaked "Aww crap!", far tamer than the Dwarves' creative swears, both in common and Dwarvish).

It was the trees near the bottom which saved them. Stout trees growing almost horizontally out of the mountain. Some caught the thick trunks and clambered higher if able, while others swung around and used them to shelter behind. Ruby and Bilbo, the more agile ones, jumped or climbed high enough to get to the lower branches.

Then the full brunt of their landslide was upon them and they all braced as best they could. Ruby idly noticed Gandalf, who was in her field of view, was using his staff to brace himself further against the tree trunk he'd taken cover behind. Eventually the slide petered out, and the only things that moved were the drifting dust in the air and the trees further down the slope as the debris passed them too.

The company was breathing hard, and nobody spoke – that danger far more uncontrollable than the goblins had been. As you very well can't kill a landslide.

"Well! That will certainly stymie our pursuers for some time," Gandalf broke their silence, a forced nonchalant tone, as if they weren't almost buried alive a few seconds ago. "Even goblins will have a hard job to follow this way."

"I daresay," grumbled Bombur, as he rolled off his chosen tree, "but dropping stones or sending arrows down on our heads won't be."

"We must keep pressing on before those wolves find a different way down!" Thorin stated, though they all took a moment to nurse their bruised and roughed up limbs.

"Indeed, but we are going to turn away from the path of the slide," Gandalf said. "We must be quick; the sun is nearly gone!"

Ruby looked, and indeed the sun was almost behind the distant horizon. And it'll only get darker from here, as we'll be going down the mountains and moving quicker into the twilight. After that rockslide I don't think any of us want to try and run down the mountains in the dark. But there's nothing else to do though.

Even in her sturdy boots Ruby's feet were feeling severely sore, and she limped along with the rest of them. They moved as quietly as they could, now that they were out of immediate range of those wolves. It was instinctual for them; prey trying to remain out of the predator's perception. But Ruby knew it would only last for so long, as wolves – even normal wolves like back home – had far better senses than humans, and would catch their sent sooner rather than later. And those wolves don't seem like they'll be normal, she thought.

Eventually even Thorin started flagging, their run turning to a jog, then a trot, then finally a staggering walk as the dwarves' stamina flagged. Then Nori was the first to stop, bent over and breathing heavily, and that was the signal for them to all stop and catch their breath. "We're sprinters, not endurance runners," she heard Gloin mutter, and in any other situation she would've found it funny. Now she could only give a breathless huff of amusement.

"Must we go any further?" Bilbo asked. "Surely we've gone enough and lost them?"

"Huhh, it's, haaa, unlikely," Ruby spoke, evening her breathing. "Wolves are able to track prey for miles."

"Aye, and those wolves are probably goblin or orc raised, maybe even wargs," Dwalin pointed out. "They won't be lettin' us be, that's for certain."

"We are on the right course," Gandalf said. "There is a place of safety at the base of the mountains I know of where we can rest and resupply."

"How kind of you to mention this before hand," Thorin snarked, as Gandalf most certainly hadn't.

"Safety? Good," Bilbo spoke again, breaking Thorin's mistrustful mindset for the moment. "I am dreadfully hungry and could use a hearty meal." Bombor gave a 'hear hear!' from his spot.

"Nothing to do about that now, unless you'd like to politely ask for our belongings back from the goblins?" Gandalf pointed out.

"…Right, I'll pass, thank you."

"Now, let's go onward, we don't w-"

At that moment, a howl cut him off, echoing from further up. It was answered by another howl, then another, until it seemed the mountainitself was howling. Branches and the cracking of wood was heard under those howls, as their pursuers caught their trail. "RUN!"

With barely any light, the company resumed their clamber down the slope. They're too close! Ruby realized as the last of the sunlight vanished, with only the moon providing any visibility. While running, she took Crescent Rose and deployed it in gun mode, then halted and turned – her feet sliding a bit –aiming. Thankfully, she had a rudimentary night vision toggle on her scope (not as good as the Atlas stuff, and went through the miniscule dust battery like nothing) and looked above. A quick glance saw about a dozen large wolves – no, they're Wargs, she corrected - bounding down the mountain.

She took in a breath, exhaled slowly, and fired once – twice - thrice at the closest ones. Each shot was an immediate kill or a mortal wound they wouldn't survive. That's a little more breathing room, she considered as she started running, Crescent Rose still in hand.

That breathing room sadly proved to be quickly irrelevant as the wargs were vicious in their pursuit, and they were soon attacking members of the company. Thankfully those were the faster members of the pack and attacked individually rather than in coordination, and were swiftly dispatched by the companies' own teamwork – Ruby noticing Bilbo killing one by himself and looked shocked that he did so.

But any good mood came crashing down as they soon realized they'd been hemmed in to a steep cliffside – the only escape was to go back into the waiting jaws of the wargs, the majority of the pack soon to meet them.

"Up into the trees!" Gandalf ordered, as that was their only option of safety despite how momentary it might be. Again, the company took shelter among the trees, the Dwarves pulling themselves up among the branches (even Bombur managing to lug himself into the lower hanging limbs).

Ruby was the last to leave the ground, dithering between ensuring the safety of everyone making it up, and debating staying on the ground, as she unarguably was the best at fighting currently. I could stand and fight, and I'd have the best chance at doing so… But I'm also tired, likely to make mistakes, and don't want to risk it against a warg pack… Ultimately deciding on the better part of valor, Ruby used Crescent Rose's scythe to hook onto one of the lower limbs and swing herself up into the trees.

Just as well, as the wargs were then upon them, snarling, howling, yelping as they hatefully glared into the trees at the company. Thankfully they could not climb trees, though some tried, and even on their hind legs they could not reach the lowest hanging of the Dwarves. After a few moments, the wargs settled for snarling and pacing around the trees, before, with some instinct, they all turned to face back the way they came.

Ruby saw that a new group of wargs had arrived, but this group had riders. Orcs. So we were being followed. Just like before we reached Rivendell.

One orc rider emerged from the rest, presumably their leader. He was a pale white orc with wide, jagged scars across his chest and a metal claw-like appendage replacing his left arm close to the elbow. His flesh hand held a wicked looking mace and there was a sword of some kind upon his back. The warg he was riding was white furred, different than the others with an almost luminescent coat in the moonlight.

"Azog!" She heard Thorin gasp, seemingly recognizing the orc. It took a long while, with her wondering why Thorin sounded so shaken, but Ruby remembered something from what felt like hours ago (probably was though). A brief snippet of conversation between the Goblin King and Thorin.

"Perhaps you know of whom I speak. An old enemy of yours. A pale Orc, astride a white Warg."

"Azog the defiler was destroyed. He was slain in battle long ago."

"So you think his defiling days are done, do you?"

The pale orc started speaking in a horrible language, it sounding guttural and malevolent despite it being only a language, but the tone and attitude was clearly mocking, gesturing at the company to his followers. He also recognized Thorin – singling him out. Then his attention turned to her, and Ruby held back a flinch at the way his darkened eyes narrowed at her. Then he spoke again, pointing first with his mace at Thorin then herself, which seemed to be the order to charge at the company.

The wargs bounded at the trees, leaping and biting off the lower limbs of the pines they were in, while some also scraped away at the exposed roots, even digging into the ground to get at them. Ahh! They're trying to knock the trees over! Ruby realized as everyone's tree, including her own, was dangerously wobbling under the wargs' reckless attacks. From her unstable positioning, she didn't have the stance to fire down at the wargs, nor did she want to leap down and engage them with her scythe.

While the wargs were no Beowolves, they were still extremely dangerous and Ruby doubted her ability to completely cover herself in her current exhaustion.

However, there were other ways to go about fighting. And she wasn't yet completely spent. Ruby again hooked Crescent Rose on a limb and lept, centrifugal force causing her to spin around. She used that force and appropriate timing to stiffen her legs and kick a warg that leapt, causing it to skid along the ground and ultimately tumble over the edge of the cliff.

But that was just one of the dozen or so, not to mention the watching orc riders. After her next try failed to connect, the branch gave way – both because of the wargs and also Crescent Rose's sharp blade cutting into it. She yelped and managed to hook Crescent Rose onto another branch, then scramble back up, helped up by Ori. That was too close, she realized. No more risky actions – should've known better.

Inevitably, the first tree fell. Like dominos, the additional weight of one tree caused the next in line to topple into the next, and the next, until the only tree standing was the last on the very edge of the cliff. The dwarves, Blibo, Gandalf, and herself were now all corralled into one tree that was creaking ominously beneath the warg's attacks. The little glimmer of good was they couldn't attack more than two at a time due to the narrowness of the cliff, and couldn't put their full force into a charge. But it was a bleak outlook nonetheless.

Suddenly, a small rolling ball of fire landed down among the wargs, immediately lighting the grasses and catching on the fur of at least one warg. It started yelping in fear and bounded away, and the other wargs backed off, now warry. Ruby (and everyone else) looked up and saw that Gandalf had plucked a pinecone from their tree and was somehow igniting them, blowing air to fuel the growing flames. He pulled another and used the first to also ignite it, then tossed one down to Fili.

That's almost like Dust! It has to be magical fire- there's no way pinecones light that quickly, and fire only spreads that quickly with oil or Dust, Ruby realized. Catching on, the Company started picking their own pinecones and passing the flames amongst them. Soon they were all tossing their makeshift firebombs at the wargs and a great blaze rapidly grew; thankfully not near their tree.

The wargs backed off, instinct halting them from attacking further, and the dwarves let out a triumphant cheer. That cheer quickly turned to exclamations of shock and horror as their tree abruptly groaned and teetered over the cliff. Barely hanging on by a few sturdy roots, the tree jolted to a halt nearly parallel with the earth far, farbelow. Ruby was desperately holding on to the tree with her right hand, legs shakily footlocked around a thin branch, her sword in its sheath bouncing against her leg, and her left hand holding onto Crescent Rose. This keeps getting better and better!

Unavoidably, some of the dwarves started slipping. The quick thinking of Gandalf was the only reason both Dori and Ori didn't plumet, the wizard reaching out with the end of his staff so they could grab it.

Ruby grit her teeth in helplessness, as she carefully, one-handedly collapsed and reattached Crescent Rose to her back holster. How are we going to get out of this? The tree's about to fall, there's fire and wargs and orcs (oh my! Dang it mental Yang, not the time!) waiting for us, and we're barely hanging on by a thread. But what can we do? What else is there?!

Then she saw that one of them had decided to act. Thorin, elven sword in one hand and a thick tree limb acting as a shield in the other, marched steadily towards Azog, directly challenging the orc. Wh-what is he doing? Is he going to try and solo all of them? Or is it sheer desperation to take Azog with him- to cut the head off?

Thorin's march turned into a charge, sword raised high, ready to strike down Azog for good. But Ruby watched in numb horror as Azog urged his white warg forward and they bowled Thorin over, sending him into the ground with a pained gasp before he could even swing.

Ruby lost sight of Thorin as Azog and his warg blocked her view, but it didn't bode well for Thorin as the orc swung his mace and Ruby heard a metallic bash of weapon meeting armor, followed by Thorin's cry of pain. Come on! We need to help! But Ruby was stayed by some unknown force. Was it fear? Indecision? Exhaustion catching up to her? No! I can't stand by and watch! Move your butt Ruby!

Dwalin cried out and tried to run to aid Thorin, but he unluckily stumbled when a limb broke under his weight, almost sending him into gravity's uncaring mercy before he grasped another. MOVE! Ruby grit her teeth and started hefting herself up. I am a huntress! I am supposed to protect people who can't protect themselves! I need to help! I WILL help!

With one more push, she brought herself onto the main trunk and awkwardly shuffled forward until she felt she could trust the tree to support her. She stood, and got ready to charge with her semblance, but halted in surprise at a sight of selfless courage taking place.

Bilbo Baggins had tackled an orc who'd been standing over Thorin (it wasn't Azog) and killed it in the scuffle. Shakily getting to his feet, Bilbo placed himself in front of the downed and mauled Thorin. Ruby could see he was terrified, and had no technique in waving his sword trying to keep the enemy away from the fallen dwarf.

Azog spoke again, and Ruby saw the warg that orc was riding get ready to leap, and took that as her own cue. Her hands found Crescent Rose, and her knees bent. The world slowed as her focus narrowed, then became a blur as she charged with her semblance.

"YAAAAAAAH!" A war-cry escaped her lips as she brought Crescent Rose down and cut the warg in half. She ignored the spray of blood and guts as she skidded, then rushed over next to Bilbo. "You'll have to go through both of us first to get him!"

Azog growled, truly angry at her defiance, and spoke again in that ugly language. Then he spoke in common, "Silver eyed She-human… You die!" Surprising her, Azog threw down his mace and reached for the sheathed blade on his back. Tensing at the unusual move, Ruby readied herself. Azog strikes me as someone following Cardin's build for maces. His physique, his aggressiveness – it fits better. So why is he switching to a sword?

Her ominous hunch was proved correct, and not for the better, as Azog held… an abomination. Something that absolutely did not belong here.

"What…?"

The pale orc held what she could only describe as a… Grimm blade. It was a one-handed scimitar style blade, but it looked and felt like a Grimm from Remnant, with the sharp blade formed out of the bone-plates the creatures of Grimm exhibited, crisscrossed and laced with faintly glowing red vein structures that again the soulless creatures possessed. It even oozed the presence of a Grimm.

It wasn't an imitation of an animal; it wasn't even a mocking imitation of life that all Grimm followed. It was as if someone physically crafted and shaped a Grimm into that of a sword.

It was an object, a tool – a weapon - to be used by human (or human-like) hands. That something- or someone made it that way…

That was only half of the unnaturalness which was frightening Ruby. The other half was the question: Why is there something of the Grimm here? In a completely different world? Almost unnoticed, a spike of pressure dashed through behind her eyes, as if something were reacting to this aberrant sight.

Ruby was distracted from her thoughts by a roar from Azog, and Ruby soon perceived it was a roar of pain. The Grimm blade had come alive, spitting black strands around the hand holding the hilt, like oily spider-webs, latching on and binding to his flesh. However, the orc seemed to overcome the pain and urged his mount forward.

Think about that sword later! Right now, here in the present, is where you need to be! Ruby dashed to Azog's left side and went to strike the warg. But she felt something that should not have happened – the clash of resistance. Somehow Azog had blocked her strike with that sword. Not only that, he brute forced her scythe away- only Yang could do something like that, and she had the benefit of Aura and a Semblance buffing her.

Ruby involuntarily gave a gasp before recovering and attacked again. A series of slashes were all blocked and deflected with abnormally quick movements by the orc leader, especially abnormal since he was on his warg and was blocking attacks that a mounted person normally couldn't.

Something's not right, Ruby realized, as Azog moved with unnatural coordination and swiftness to parry with her. Nobody in Middle-Earth has yet to keep up with me like this. Only those with hunter training in Remnant could accomplish something like that… yet Azog is doing so. Moreover, she still had to avoid the jaws and claws of his warg, as it was not a passive actor in this fight. Though it was more restrained by Azog's part, perhaps fearing the death of his mount as it didn't have the weapon he did.

Another roar erupted from Azog and Ruby backed off, shaken, as it sounded even more unnatural than the usual orc cries. Taking in the orc's appearance, she was shaken by how the Grimm blade had morphed and was creeping up Azog's arm. Under the affected area, she could see faintly glowing red lines starting to form. What's happening to him?

However, both combatants were distracted when a trio of voices gave a battle cry, echoing over the wolves' snarling. Kili, Fili, and Dwalin had bravely and recklessly rushed forward, charging at the encroaching orc riders and momentarily driving them back with their surprise charge.

Looks like I underestimated the Dwarves' resolve… Ruby somewhat ashamedly reflected, with a fond smile on her face despite the situation. However that smile turned grim as Azog still faced her, and the Company still had the disadvantages of bad positioning and numbers. The orc riders regrouped and were starting to try and flank the three Dwarves, Bilbo, and herself, forcing them to either spread themselves out to cover their sides, or fall back and abandon Thorin's wounded form- something that was not going to happen.

Deciding that there was nothing for it, Ruby stepped back and planted Crescent Rose's tip in the ground, taking quick aim with the sniper. While not narratively satisfying, this fairy tale baddie will come to an end here, Ruby thought as she pulled the trigger, dead on Azog's center mass.

The armor piercing .50 caliber round, powered by Dust, left the barrel of Crescent Rose at approximately 850 meters per second. With only a handful of meters between her and Azog, that round would've impacted the orc, gone through him with enough force to turn most of his torso into 'bologna mist' (as her uncle grossly described it), exited the other side and gone far into the mountainside before either of them could blink.

He should've been dead before he realized it.

Yet, with that Grimm blade, Azog deflected the shot.

It should've been impossible. Like the oddity before in her melee with Azog, only hunter trained reflexes could possibly block bullet shots. Not everyone could. With the vast number of hunters, huntresses, and trainees there were, it was still a relatively small number – and some with their weapons literally could not withstand it. The other professors at Beacon probably could. Regardless it was a very difficult skill to learn as it involved high levels of Aura manipulation to move your muscles and adapt your reflexes quick enough to intercept bullets, and a lot of perception for where exactly a bullet was going to be, which could only be learned through experience.

Basically, anyone with baseline 'normal' reflexes could never do what Azog just did.

Ruby was shocked. Her brain ground to a screeching halt and was unable to process what her eyes had seen. The saving grace she had was Azog seemed to be nearly as stunned as she was at what just occurred, glancing at his Grimm blade in equal parts caution and awe.

W-what?! How did he do that? W-was it that sword? Did it know and move itself?! Replaying it in her mind, she saw Azog almost yanked by the blade to intercept her shot. That means the blade is sentient to an extent… Ruby now felt fear. Until now, there had been nothing that could match her skill and speed. Yet here was something that symbolized both the training from her home, and the greatest threat to her home. She was utterly shaken.

Consumed in her thoughts, the first sign of intervention from a new party she noticed was when one of them dove from the sky and grasped a warg and orc in its talons. Shocking her for a different reason, this unexpected event brought Ruby back into the present.

She now processed the beating of wings. Very large wings. Something that she'd only heard with 'adult' Nevermores and their giant wingspans outstripping that of any normal bird. Her silver eyes turned upwards just in time to see a freakin' giant eagle swoop down and pick off another warg, dropping it in the air to plumet to its death. Once again, Ruby was at a loss for words at this new development.

Over and over she watched as the eagles swooped down and drove off their orcish pursuers, catching many in their great talons and carrying them away to drop them to their deaths. One landed on a still upright tree and used its' mighty wings to fan the flames into the wargs, catching many orcs and wargs alight.

Are… are we being rescued right now? Ruby couldn't help but wonder at this sudden change of luck. Turning this way and that, she saw the eagles had now started grasping members of the Company- far more gently than the orcs and wargs. Thorin was the first to be picked up, followed next by a shocked and understandably alarmed Bilbo. We are being rescued!

Eyeing the sky and timing it right, Ruby shot and launched herself into the air, landing on the back of an eagle who gave a surprised squawk, but didn't make to throw her off. Soon every member of the Company had been picked up or was riding an eagle, and they left that cliffside far behind them, still ablaze.

However Ruby felt one last shudder go through her, and knew that Azog had not been picked off, and was following them with hateful eyes and a forsaken sword…

Watching the eagles of the Misty Mountains fly away with their prey, Azog roared in anger. It was so tempting to keep the pursuit, to let his anger power him and ignore their casualties. But rationality slowly came back to him. They could not follow the Dwarves in their current numbers, and needed to regroup and assess their next move. Further, they could not follow those birds so easily.

Azog looked at the unusual blade his master had gifted him and deliberately let go of it. Slowly the blade peeled itself from his skin, almost reluctantly, leaving behind fresh scars on his already scarred flesh. Not that he minded; what were more scars in his hunt of conquest? Further, the blade performed beyond his expectations against that Silver-eyed She-Human, as he'd never felt such power before, nor ever moved so swiftly.

However, the more the blade disentangled itself from him, he could feel anger and hatred not his own leaving him – like a leech being peeled away. He now understood the Master's warnings about previous wielders tuning into beasts. The longer he'd held it, the more he'd felt his mind become not his own, fueled by mindless hatred and hunger. If he continued wielding it at length, he felt doubtful he'd be able to maintain his own mind for long.

Fully removed from his arm, the blade fell to the ground, and Azog now eyed it with caution. Jumping off his white warg, he quickly retrieved the blade and sheathed it – thankfully it didn't try and latch to him again. Then he grabbed his mace and faced his remaining orcs.

"Gather the reserves!" He bellowed to his underlings in Black Speech. "We make for the lowlands! We'll cut them off from the forest!"

The hunt wasn't over yet.

Now far away from that place, barely visible as a red twinkle in the darkness, the Company were at the mercies of the giant eagles. Some were on the eagles' backs, but more were held in their talons, and all were understandably frightened they might be the eagles' next meal. But as time went on, their hysteria calmed as it became clear they were rescued.

Ruby however was lost in thought, Azog and his Grimm blade having shaken her. Her mind kept running in circles, unable to solve the disturbing mystery.

So deep in her thoughts she didn't notice her grip on the eagle's feathers kept tightening. "Hold not so tightly onto my feathers, little one!" The eagle suddenly spoke! "Not so sturdy they are that they can withstand such a grasp!"

"Oh! Uh, sorry!" Ruby couldn't help but stammer, and complied with the eagle's wishes, weakening her grip. She was surprised, but her mind was numbed enough to not be completely astonished that the eagle could speak Common. After all, there are stranger creatures that can speak…

So on they flew. Miles passed under them and the wind rushed through their hair and clothing as the night wore on. Summer or not, the night felt cold, and not only because of the wind chill. Despite their exhaustion none could sleep on their flight, as worry over Thorin's condition prevailed.

Eventually, the pale peaks of the mountains, lit by moonlight came closer as they neared their unknown destination. Ruby could see a great eyrie had been established on an isolated mountain pillar, where these eagles had made their home. A nest about the size of Beacon's training room was upon the rock, made of limbs and trunks of trees rather than branches and twigs. It was currently empty, as all the eagles who lived there had flown to aid the Company.

Thorin was the first to be deposited, landing limply and unresponsive. One by one the others were dropped off or made to get off the eagle's backs, Ruby included. Bilbo fell more than jumped from the back of his eagle, looking sickly from being in the air, but more worried for Thorin.

Gandalf had slid from his eagle and made for Thorin, kneeling and checking his condition. Ruby couldn't see what the wizard did, but after a few moments, Thorin weakly shifted and Ruby gave a sigh of relief. Thorin would be okay.

"The Halfling?" That question was the first which escaped Thorin's mouth.

"It's all right. Bilbo is here," Gandalf reassured Thorin. "He's quite safe."

After receiving this news, Thorin made to stand with purpose, Dwalin and Kili each grabbing an arm and helping him up. Ruby personally would've made him stay, but she knew the stubbornness Dwarves had – Thorin especially so.

"YOU!" Thorin growled at Bilbo. "What were you doing? You nearly got yourself killed!" Thorin must've seen Bilbo protect him. "Did I not say that you would be a burden? That you would not survive in the Wild?" Ruby was alarmed how Thorin was advancing on Bilbo as he kept talking, nearly demeaning the Hobbit. But… there's something different now, she realized. There's something driving Thorin now… And so she held back, despite how Thorin continued on.

Bilbo stood his ground, though visibly uncomfortable, as Thorin came face-to-face with him. "That you had no place amongst us?..." There was a tense moment as they all waited for the hammer to fall. Then Thorin spoke once more.

"I have never been so wrong in all my life," he ashamedly finished, and grabbed Bilbo in a tight hug, apologizing with words and meaning.

Ruby gave a watery laugh as the rest of the dwarves cheered at their leader's long overdue acceptance of Bilbo. Celebratory at their escape and survival, the mood turned gleeful.

Thorin finished his embrace and backed a step. "I'm sorry I doubted you," he apologized.

"No, no, I would've doubted me too," Bilbo tried to be modest. "I'm not a hero or a warrior. Not even a burglar," he said jokingly to some chuckles. "I was… just doing the right thing."

Ruby couldn't hold back a smile at the Hobbit's modesty, and Thorin himself chuckled.

At this moment one eagle, larger than the others, landed next to them all. They all turned to face their avian host. "Gandalf," it spoke, acknowledging the wizard.

"Gwaihir," Gandalf gave a name to the eagle. "I thank you for your timely rescue."

"There is nothing to thank," Gwaihir said, "I am honoring the service you gave me in saving my life some time ago. And we are glad of cheating those orcs of their sport. However, we will take you no further as we will not risk ourselves to travel to the plains for dwarves," he stated.

"Very well," said Gandalf. "We are already deeply obliged to you. But…" Gandalf trailed off, thinking. "If you could do us one more favor, as we are utterly famished."

"Oh I am nearly dead from it," Bilbo said, mostly to himself, though Ruby heard him.

"That will perhaps be mended," the Lord of the Eagles said, and took off.

Later on that night, the Company was brought by the eagles fresh rabbits, hares, and a small sheep to skin and cook to fill their bellies. The mood was far more jubilant than many days before, as they could all now relax and recuperate in safety.

Further down the pillar the Company made camp and a fire to cook the provided meat, using (with permission) some of the smaller scraps of wood from the eagle's nest. Gandalf had to light the fire as the dwarves' tinder-boxes had been lost at some point.

Thorin had been looked over by Balin and Bifur, tending to his wounds and patching them best they could with the meager supplies they still had. After they mended what they could, and everyone's belly was full, they all slept soundly. For the first time in a while, there was no need for a watch – not that any could, so tired they were.

When they awoke, refreshed and far more recovered, the sun had already risen. Making sure their ashes were out and cleaned up as best they could, the Company made to leave.

But before they did, as the sun rose higher, Thorin's eyes drifted East and grew wide with wonder as he stared off into the distance.

Bilbo, following his gaze saw the same thing Thorin did. "Is that what I think it is?" Bilbo asked.

One by one the dwarves stood and looked reverently towards the horizon. Ruby also turned and saw what had captured their attention.

Far in the distance, dozens and dozens of miles away but visible in the morning light, was a solitary mountain.

"Erebor," Gandalf spoke, answering the question they all knew. "The Lonely Mountain. The last of the great dwarf kingdoms of Middle-Earth."

"Our home," said Thorin.

A moment passed and a bird chittered. Oin exclaimed, "A raven!" They all looked up and saw a bird flying eastward, directly flying towards the distant mountain. "The birds are returning to the mountain." That… didn't sound like a raven though, Ruby thought. Though Oin doesn't have his hearing device, so, yeah.

"That, my dear Oin, is a thrush," Gandalf corrected.

"But we'll take it as a sign. A good omen," said Thorin.

"You're right," Bilbo agreed. "I do believe the worst is behind us."

Despite the good mood with it was intended, Ruby couldn't help but worry Bilbo might've just jinxed them.

With Azog and the Grimm sword he has, plus a dragon still to possibly face… I believe we still have many struggles ahead of us, Ruby thought.

Many miles eastward, flying closer to that very mountain the Companies' eyes were on, a thrush passed over a desolate wasteland. Burned trees long dead stood petrified in a putrid landscape. Only the most hardy of lichen and moss grew, and those that did were sickly looking.

As the bird approached the silent mountain, some other, healthier, plants grew among the old, abandoned, but still grand structures built into the rock. Of kings and greatness and riches long lost.

Upon an outcrop, the thrush landed and grabbed a snail to eat, starting to break its shell upon the rock.

Little did it know or care, the impacts echoed through barren halls and empty caverns. Deep within Erebor, beneath unbelievable amounts of gold, a dragon stirred and awoke for the first time in decades.

Smaug was indeed still alive.

Far over the Misty Mountains rise
Leave us standing upon the height
What was before we see once more
Is our kingdom a distant light

Fiery mountain beneath a moon
The words unspoken, we'll be there soon
For home a song that echoes on
And all who find us will know the tune

Some folk we never forget
Some kind we never forgive
Haven't seen the back of us yet
We'll fight as long as we live

All eyes on the hidden door
To the Lonely Mountain borne
We'll ride in the gathering storm
Until we get our long forgotten gold

We lay under the Misty Mountains cold
In slumbers deep, and dreams of gold
We must awake, our lives to make
And in the darkness a torch we hold

From long ago when lanterns burned
Until this day our hearts have yearned
A fate unknown, the Arkenstone
What was stolen must be returned

We must awake at break of day
To find our song for heart and soul

Some folk we never forget
Some kind we never forgive
Haven't seen the end of it yet
We'll fight as long as we live

All eyes on the hidden door
To the Lonely Mountain borne
We'll ride in the gathering storm
Till we get our long forgotten gold

Far away the Misty Mountains cold…

(Song of the Lonely Mountain)

End of Part 1 of An Unexpected Rose.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Galen: Hey everybody! It's January 3, so I'm not that late surprisingly.

Ruby: *stares with disappointment*

G: What? What?! Why are you looking at me like that?

R: *Points to 'Last Updated' March 1st, 2019*

G:...

R:...

G: Oh boy.

R: Yeah.

G: How many volumes of RWBY have gone by since I last updated?

R: Volumes 7, 8, and 9.

G: Oh... Soooooooooo... Hey everybody... Yeah, I can't even use the unspecified virus of unknown origins as an excuse. I honestly have no idea what happened, just that all motivation to write and/or continue my existing stories just collapsed. I could point to how Volumes 7 and 8 were disappointing and how my first youtube channel got nuked in March '19, nearly erasing years of hard work and about 6,000 subscribers because their stupid copyright tags abruptly changed and tagged a bunch of my videos that had been up for months by that point (wow I'm still not over it...) and I'm still mentally/emotionally recovering. I could point to real life stuff going on, with how the world seems to be getting worse. And they'd all be right.

But that still doesn't excuse years of radio silence.

So sorry.

This year I WILL be uploading more, new chapters AND new stories. Just because I haven't updated doesn't mean I wasn't cooking stuff.

R: I'll hold you to that. Anyway, big thing this chapter was the Grimm sword making it's first combat appearance. And as you hopefully saw, it (unfortunately) levels the playing field for me, being one of the most OP people currently. Hee hee~ But it causes a lot of *shoe slam* "EMotionAL DAAmage" to me.

G: Trying to get that across hopefully worked, since, yeah, Ruby is OP and needed a counter - too many fanfiction stories just have the character insert wreak havoc in the xover story because they are too strong and it kinda ruins the story since it becomes unbelievable and too easy, no stakes. So this is the counter.

R: There is more to the blade that'll be revealed, so if you have questions, hold on to them. Also fun fact, Galen spotted another inconsistency with the movie as he was writing/watching (surprise surprise) but the Company's escape from Goblin Town, the run down the mountain and the fight, then when the eagles first pick them up all takes place in one night, and they're still flying the eagles when it becomes morning again. So he changed it slightly to be more in line with the book and have it still be night when they get dropped off, but matches back up with the movie at sunrise after a much needed nights rest. Fast traveling, time dilation, and other stuff will probably pop up again for him to edit...

G: Probably previously stated, I want this work to be a believable mix between the book and the movies, since they each do different things with the same material.

And with this, I've finished the first Hobbit movie. The dvd disk that has been siting in a travel box has been returned to the original case for the first time in years. Somewhat sentimental, but now I'll have the second take it's place soon Lol.

Further, would you all believe that after years of not working on this, I hammered out about 2,000 words in two days in late November, then finished the rest in the past 4 days? Definitely not skilled in time management. I made this chapter longer than I thought I would, but it also comes short of previous chapters by a thousand words or so. But there wasn't much I could feasibly add on without word bloat. So the actual chapter adjusted is around 6,600 words. Also I'm writing this when I suddenly came down with a sickness on the 2nd, and it's not the unspecified virus of unknown origins. What a way to kick off 2024, amirite?

R: Anyway, it's getting late and Galen's slowly becoming more incoherent so we'll cut it off here. Don't forget to Read, Review, Favorite and Follow, and check the 'get email updates' box on your profile (that's another new change...)

G: Thanks Ruby, and I'll see you all later!

R: Bye!~

...

Galen: I almost forgot to mention Rings of Power. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA WHAT A FLOP! Glad to see it fail utterly in every way. Didn't watch because I had better things to do (or not do) and who actually did anyway?