Return Her pt.8
The dreams persist and continue to get worse, but they can't know about these supposedly prophetic night terrors... especially after what you've just seen.
It seems that your promise of a kiss really did motivate Bofur, because not even 10 minutes later are you all reaching the other side of the lake.
As soon as it's put to shore and you all file out, Bofur looks to you expectantly and taps the side of his face.
You, being as you promise, waste no time and leaning down and pecking his cheek gently, giggling at the way his cheeks reddens slightly and a huge smile breaks out on his face. It's pretty cute, you have to admit.
"There you go, now no more complaining about not getting a kiss, okay? From now on there will be no negotiations." You tell them decisively, adding afterwards, "I will distribute them when I see fit."
Bofur nods happily and goes back to the boat to grab some of the supplies, meanwhile Kili looks at you with a frown, "But what about me?"
"I told you already, you got one."
"Yes, but I can't remember it! Surely that isn't fair." He complains, glancing over at his brother and Bofur who are taking things out of the boat.
"It's not my fault you can't remember it." You shoot back, stepping around him to take your backpack out of the boat.
Kili stares at you for a few moments with the same displeased expression on his face before grumbling out, "It's not fair."
You glance back at him again while you put on your bag, sighing internally before stepping back and pecking his cheek very quickly. "There! Now no more complaining or I'll go right back to Bard-"
They don't even let you finish your sentence before they're all yelling, "No!"
It seems you've gotten your point across.
---
The journey to the mountain is long and horribly arduous, and you can tell that it's taking a toll on Kili since he's begun to sweat and his breath is coming out in shallow pants.
When you notice this you skip over to Fili and jump in front of him, successfully making him, and everyone else, halt their trekking.
"Y/N? What are you doing?" Fili asks, looking up at you with furrowed eyebrows.
"Fili, dear, your brother is struggling an awful lot over there. I think we should take a break so he doesn't, like, pass out or anything."
Normally, they would argue with you and tell you you're being too sensitive and worrisome, but with all the things you've been right about recently, Fili concedes and nods his head in agreement, "Alright."
A huge smile breaks out on your face when the first answer isn't 'no' for once, and right away you clap your hands together excitedly and pat his shoulder, "Excellent."
"We can rest beneath those trees for shade, and Oin will change his bandages." Fili states decisively, looking up at you with a small smile on his face since your joy is rather contagious.
You drop your hand from his arm and bound over to the trees he pointed out with a new vigor fueled by the desire to take a freaking break.
Right away you settle onto the ground and take off your backpack, patting the spot next to you when Kili limps over with Fili and Bofur on either side of him (incase he collapses or something). Oin walks over much slower and with less enthusiasm, though he does appear to be pretty pleased about having a break too.
Kili sits down next to you without hesitation and stretches his legs out in front of him, looking over at Oin wearily since he doesn't much want anyone to touch his still healing (and very tender) wound.
"I'm going to need you to lay down, lad." Oin tells him once he takes a seat, pulling out some things from his bag (supplied to him by Bard and Tauriel) like more stuff to wrap his leg and some cleaning stuff.
The brown-haired dwarf sighs shakily a and slowly begins to lay back, fully intending to stretch out on the hard, dirty ground.
"Ah, wait." You tell him quickly, scooting closer and offering your lap up as a pillow.
He, of course, doesn't pass up the offer and settles himself down with his head resting on your thighs and a way too pleased expression on his face.
Oin chuckles lightly before going business mode and carefully removing the wrapping Tauriel applied to his leg, careful not to hurt the young dwarf as he does so.
You reach up and card your fingers through his hair gently, looking over at Oin's calculated and gentle movements with a slight frown on your face. On the bright side, at least it's not horribly infected anymore.
Kili hums appreciatively when your nails scratch lightly at his scalp, the noise bringing your attention back to his face.
You smile half-heartedly and ask, "Does it hurt at all?"
"Only a little." He replies easily, folding his arms to rest on his stomach while he waits for Oin to finish up. "Don't worry, I will be fine." He assures, practically reading your worry ridden mind.
"I-I know, but..." You trail off as you glance over at the scabbing and hideous hole in his leg, biting your lip lightly while you think over your words, "You were so sick..."
"Careful there, Y/N, or I might begin to think you're worried for me." There is obvious humor in his voice, and from the smile on his face and the way Fili and Bofur laugh they all think it's funny; but you only look at him sourly.
You reach down and pinch his nose none to gently, replying cooly, "Oh don't even joke about that! Obviously I was worried. We all were!"
"Yes, but we didn't all cry." Bofur teases, leaning back against the tree with his hat covering his eyes.
You glare over at him quickly and stick your tongue out, feeling your cheek heat up despite your attempt to remain cross and nonchalant.
"You cried?" Kili asks quickly with wide eyes, forgetting all about the uncomfortable sensation of having Oin cleaning his arrow wound.
"No!" You deny it with no small amount of embarrassment and indignation, pointedly avoiding looking at Kili since it's not the most dignifying thing. "I did not. Why would I even cry anyways? You were only writhing on the ground... screaming and practically sobbing any time any of us even got close to you..." It's not a memory that you want to hold onto for long, but what really gets you about it is how vividly you can remember his pained screams and agonized yells.
"Y/N..." Kili mumbles quietly, glancing over at his brother and Bofur who are looking at you with sympathetic expressions on their faces.
"Oh, shut up! This isn't even about me, so worry about yourself." You huff, pulling on the ends of his hair lightly before saying hurriedly, "Look! Oin's all done! I'm going to take a nap, now." And with that, you push his head off your lap and immediately lay down with your head on your bag, covering your face with your hood and wrapping your arms around yourself.
Kili sits up after you shove him off of you and looks at your curled up form with slight annoyance, speaking with a bit of humor to hopefully ease your tension, "Oh sure, go and push me off, thank you for that."
"You're welcome, dearie." You reply without hesitation, feeling a smile tug at the corners of your lips in spite of the slight sadness creeping into you mere seconds before. "Hush now, I'm sleeping."
He snickers at that but doesn't bother you anymore, so Fili speaks up and tells everyone, "30 minutes should be enough time for a break."
Nice.
---
There is only black when you first open your eyes.
You cannot see anything, though you can hear the crazed yells of a man.
He yells of the Arkenstone.
Of treachery.
Of distrust and wanting to keep something safe.
You feel a weight on your wrists suddenly, and when you look down you see transparent chains binding you to a throne, and more clearly this time you hear, "My key. My charm of good fortunes."
And then that voice turns angry and you hear a vicious yell, "Throw him from the ramparts!"
The black makes way for a blinding light, and when you look up everything around you shifts.
The light dies upon you and you feel an emptiness spread from your chest throughout the rest of your body.
Now, everything is gray.
The sky, the stone all around you, the blue-tinted ice beneath your feet, everything.
Very slowly you turn, eyes meeting that all too familiar sight of a raging battle below and a grand castle settled upon the Lonely Mountain.
The screams from the awe-inspiring town meet your ears once more and are very faint until suddenly it all stops.
Now all you hear is silence. A horrible, deafening silence that stretches out all around you.
And then, oh so softly, comes the broken, "No..." Of a man witnessing something truly dreadful. Something that, still, you cannot see.
Your body moves upon it's own accord, turning with a careful and painstakingly slow rotation, and once more you're met with the sight of Thorin, Bilbo, and Dwalin all staring ahead with matching hopeless and devastated countenances.
There is no other sound even when you see their mouths opening as they scream and cry, for the only thing you can hear is the painfully loud roaring of complete, deathly, silence.
You try, oh you try so hard, to look toward the source of their anguish, but like the night before your head refuses to abide by your wishes, and it's not until your vision zooms in automatically on that white hand and the chest of whoever this person holds that you can move.
You turn your head up to catch a glimpse, just a quick peek, at the face belonging to whoever this person is, but the sun blinds you mostly still and all you see is messy, braided, blond hair.
You know that hair.
Then you're back on the ground, looking down at the limp, bloodied body of somebody else, a gaping hole in their chest and a blur of brown hair and a short beard in your peripherals.
You know that figure.
In contrast of your dream from before, this time you get more than a quick look at someone getting stabbed in the chest, for you see a broken figure of someone laying lonely on ice until the soft sound of someone running towards you both reaches your ears.
You want to see who it is, and you try very hard to clear the haze and see their face, you and kind of get what you were wishing for.
His eyes are all you can see but still you know who it is.
You know .
Then your eyes fall upon Bilbo.
"Why are you just standing there?" He yells, walking up to you, seeming so much bigger than he actually is as he grabs your shoulders in a bruising grip. "Why didn't you do anything? How could you just watch them die?"
You shake your head and try to defend yourself, but when you open your mouth to reply, you find that you can't speak, and your cheeks begin to feel hot as tears run down them with record breaking speed.
"You could have stopped this!"
Once more you shake your head no and try to push his hands from your shoulders, but the hold stays and his yells grow louder.
"Wake up."
What?
"Y/N, you need to wake up! It's only a dream!"
You jolt awake and your eyes snap open quickly, your gaze flickering around above for a moment as you try to make sense of what's around you.
The first thing you see is the confused and very worried faces of Fili and Bofur, and the first thing you feel is the hotness of your face and the dampness of your cheeks.
Then, you see Kili and Oin just behind them, and your throat feels hoarse as your heart throbs painfully as the dream replays behind your eyes and the the hints that littered throughout your terror come back to you.
The realization you come to makes you sick to your stomach, but you push down the bile and sit up slowly, entangling your hands into your hair and putting your head between your knees as you try to force away the unpleasant nightmare.
Vaguely you feel a heavy hand pressing against your back and rubbing slow, soothing circles between your shoulder blades as you try to calm your breathing and rub away the tears staining your cheeks.
You stay in that position for a small while, until all the crying is done and over with and you can form a proper thought once more.
When you slowly sit up normally once again, you meet the worried stares of four others and immediately feel quite a bit worse.
"I'm fine."
The words leave you before you can even think of any explanation for what just happened, but truthfully after what you just saw you're not so sure you wanna share that with anyone else.
"Clearly you aren't." Fili challenges without hesitation, his eyebrows furrowed as he observes you carefully, "Your dream was distressing enough to make you scream and cry in your sleep, which isn't something that happens very often, especially not for any normal night terror."
You look away sharply and weakly shrug your shoulders, avoiding all eye contact. Not even wanting to see them after what you'd just witnessed in your unrestful state.
"Y/N..." Bofur mumbles your name sadly, reaching out to place his hand on your shoulder gently. "What has you so sad?"
"I-It was just a stupid dream." You insist once more, shying away from his gentle touch. "It's nothing..."
"It's not nothing! Why won't you tell us?" Kili asks sadly, adding after, "You've always told us before."
You shake your head slowly and say much softer this time, "Please... I don't wanna talk about it. Let's just go, okay?"
None of them seem to much like the idea of dropping it and heading out, but the clock is ticking and you all really need to get going before nightfall.
"Alright, alright. We will not force you to discuss it if you do not wish to." Fili tells you softly, wrapping his arm around your shoulders despite your hesitance to touch any of them. "We'll get going, and hopefully the hike will help your head to clear."
A relieved sigh leaves you and you nod your head quickly, "Yes, thank you."
---
Your spirits lifted after a little while of walking, and you actually found that you no longer feel so upset anymore.
I mean, only two thing from your odd dreams has actually happened, and those are things you already vaguely knew would occur anyways. You decide that it's nothing and you should just forget about it, especially since they're right in front of you now.
Some small talk with Kili and Bofur made helped you to forget, and Fili gave you a couple of encouraging and sweet words too that Oin backed up with a big smile and a confirmation of his own.
Suffice to say once you all arrived at Erebor, you were feeling much better.
And your happiness only multiplies when you find everyone still alive and kicking inside of that mountain.
Kinda.
Bilbo approaches you all before anyone else, and the first thing that comes out of his mouth is, "Stop! Stop! Stop! You need to leave. We all need to leave."
You look at him weirdly and reply in confusion, "What are you talking about? Bro, we literally just got here?"
The hobbit shakes his head and shoots back, "I tried talking to him, but he won’t listen."
This time Oin speaks, and he's just as freaked out and confused as you all, "Wh-what do you mean, laddie?"
"Thorin! Thorin. Thorin, he’s been down there for days." He takes a breath, still walking backwards while you all push forward, before continuing, "He doesn’t sleep, he barely eats. He’s not been himself, not at all. It’s this…it’s this place. I think a sickness lies upon it.
Your eyebrows furrow and you scratch the back of your head lightly, "That doesn't sound right..."
Fili looks distracted suddenly, and you follow him with your eyes as Kili asks, "A sickness? What kind of sickness?"
As soon as the younger dwarf says this, his brother rushes down the stairs while Bilbo calls after him, "Fili? Fili!"
You all rush after the blond dwarf, he's acting so strange all of a sudden, and that's when you see it.
A sea of shinning and shimmering gold before you, huge jewels and golden goblets, a room of beauty beyond belief, and a single dwarf standing amongst it all with a cape of fur and a shiny crown to match.
"Gold. Gold beyond measure, beyond sorrow and grieve."
Oh, yikes, that's kinda...
He notices you all looking, which makes you even more concerned that he's speaking to himself like that, and then bellows in a welcoming voice, "Behold, the great treasure hoard of Thrór." After he says this, he throws a piece of gold or something and Fili catches it, then he continues, "Welcome, my sister’s sons, to the Kingdom of Erebor."
Now, you're no mathematician, but something here ain't addin' up.
"Right... well this is all cool and fun and stuff, but where is everyone else?" You ask loudly, successfully gathering everyones attention onto you.
Thorin, not very surprisingly, seems to not know where they are, so Bilbo pipes up, "Follow me."
You all do except for Fili who stays behind with his uncle.
Please, god, don't let this get out of hand...