Alex

~~~

Finally we make it to the Lonely Mountain a day after the destruction of Laketown only to find it in ruins. Kili, Bofur, Oin, Emily, and Fili sprint in. I'm surprised the injury in our legs doesn't hold him back.

Lacy, Natalie, Smaug, and I more cautiously enter behind the dwarves.

Inside the destroyed main entrance there is no one.

"Hello! Bombur? Bifur? Anybody?" Bofur shouts.

"Uncle!" Kili yells.

"Sam!" Emily calls.

"Wait! Wait!" Bilbo shouts dashing up and holding his hands up frantically. Sam and Jacob follow behind it.

"It's Bilbo. He's alive!" Bofur declares. Sam ignores him and embraces Emily.

"Stop! Stop! Stop! You need to leave. We all need to leave," Bilbo hisses. I raise an eyebrow at his worry.

"We only just fucking got here," I state.

"I tried talking to him, but he won't listen," Bilbo adds explaining absolutely nothing.

"Wh...what do you mean, laddie?" Oin inquires. Everyone now seems worried.

"Thorin! Thorin. Thorin, he's been down there for days. 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," Bilbo whispers tersely. He looks genuinely worried.

"A sickness? What kind of sickness?" Lacy asks and Smaug shuffles his feet.

"A dragon sickness. A sickness of greed," Smaug explains. Fili ignores Bilbo's warning and runs past Jacob into the mountain.

"Fili? Fili!" Bilbo exclaims. Emily follows Fili so naturally we all have to follow in suit.

Through long halls and down stairs we chase until Fili stops and stares. Piles upon piles of gold shine through the large room and in the middle Thorin paces amongst it. I gasp in surprise upon seeing all the precious metals. Smaug looks sick, Natalie uninterested, Lacy curious, Emily shocked, and Bilbo worried. Sam and Jacob just shrug they've seen it before.

"Gold. Gold beyond measure, beyond sorrow and grief," Thorin rumbles to himself before noticing us watching.

"That is a fucking lot of gold," I mutter.

"Behold, the great treasure hoard of Thrór," Thorin booms and tosses a ruby to Fili. "Welcome, my sister sons, to the Kingdom of Erebor."

~~~

Alex

~~~

"Balin! " Bofur cheers and hugs he old dwarf.

"Bofur!" Dwalin greets and head butts him.

"Kili!" Bifur shouts.

"Bifur!" Kili returns and embraces him. More happy cries, head butts, and hugs follow.

"Bombur!" Bofur shouts and hugs his cousin.

"You're alive!" Bombur observes happily.

"Just barely," I add with a sardonic chuckle.

~~~

Emily

~~~

"Look at all this Emily. It's magnificent," Fili muses and kisses my cheek. He's digging through a pile and pulling out every single piece of jewelry he can find to give to me.

After hugging his uncle he tugged me away out of sight. The whole dragon hobbit thing could freak out Thorin. Natalie did the same for Smaug.

"Yes it is. There's quite a bit of treasure," I agree though it does make me nervous. What use could all this be?

Natalie's warning echoes in my ear when Fili places a crown on my head.

"You will be a most amazing princess," Fili compliments and tenderly kisses me. I melt into his kiss and let my mind wander to being a princess. If things work out I'll be a princess. I'd try to be the best princess.

When my worries melt away so do the scales, wings, claws, and teeth. It just fades and I'm back to sweet ole Emily.

~~~

Lacy

~~~

With the dwarves scattered searching for the Arkenstone, Natalie hiding Smaug, Fili hiding Emily, and Sam and Jacob comforting Bilbo I'm left alone.

"Hmmm. What to do," I mumble and kick a red jewel.

"Don't let Thorin see you do that," someone warns and I spin around. Allie sits in what seems to be a throne type thing with her wings awkwardly hanging off the sides. They are bent unnaturally and she sits as if she's in constant pain.

"Allie! It's good to see you alive," I remark with a grin.

"Oh but I'm barely alive to be honest. My wings were crushed in a dragons paw," she explains with a half laugh. "But hey it could be worse right?" I nod and offer a smile.

"Allie why are you here alone? Shouldn't someone be hovering over you or something?" I inquire with a raised eyebrow.

"The dwarves are consumed in finding the Arkenstone and I can't exactly move very well at the moment," Allie answers with a shrug. I nod in understanding. I was expecting an answer like that. "But Thorin did set up this throne for me and took some of my pain. He's sweet when he wants to be."

"Yeah you guys have something special don't you?" I ask with a smirk.

With a quick blink I change to bond vision to look at her bonds. They all look normal except for one. One shriveled white and blood bond. It's the one I saw from far away. Why I haven't seen it before is beyond me.

"What is that?" I cannot help but ask and shakily point to where the bond is originating from. It's sprouting from her stomach. It is a cutters bond. Allie looks down with a frown.

"What do you mean?"

"The cutters bond coming from your stomach. Who did that? Those were forbidden by punishment of death by Advisor Natalie years ago!" I holler, when it comes to bonds I get worked up very easy. The thought of someone doing that to another person sickens me. It's even worse so because Allie is so bright.

"Oh. That. His name was Deren," Allie answers sullenly and pulls her shirt up. She turns her head to avoid look and closing her eyes in shame.

Sure enough there is a scarred carving of his name on her stomach.

"But no biggie he was murdered a few months ago." She wears a smile that does nothing to hide the sadness in her eyes.

"Doesn't it hurt?" I press and step forward. Allie shrugs with a half smile and teary eyes.

"It still hurts. It always hurts. It will always hurt. But now I'm used to it. I've become numb to it."

~~~

Sam

~~~

"Any sign of it?" Thorin booms. The dwarves are spread about in the hall of gold all looking for the stone.

"Nothing here," Bombur shouts.

"Nothing here," Dwalin calls.

"Keep searching!" Thorin orders.

"That jewel could be anywhere," Dwalin counters.

"The Arkenstone is in these halls. Find it!" Thorin shouts angrily. He is stomping around with a stupid crown on his head. It worries me how frantic he is to find that rock.

"You heard him, keep looking," Dwalin yells.

"All of you! No one rests until it is found!" Thorin barks.

"He is really losing his head over this Arkenstone," Jacob murmurs.

"Yes. It's called greed and dwarves are especially vulnerable to it," I reply quietly.

"Sam! Jacob! Come here," Bilbo whisper yells. We both turn to see him ducked behind a pillar. He beckons to us so Jacob and I approach. "We need to talk in secret."

"Alright how about we talk up on the balcony view?" I suggest. Bilbo nods and we slink away.

Once on the battlements Bilbo pulls the Arkenstone from his coat pocket.

"Oh my Aule you had it this whole time!" Jacob exclaims and I shush him.

"You are a smart hobbit Bilbo. This is why we are soulmates," I praise and bend down to kiss his cheek.

"Oh wait, I get it. Giving Thorin the Arkenstone would make this dragon sickness worse wouldn't it?" Jacob asks.

"So much worse. Smaug told me that it would drive him mad and corrupt him," Bilbo responds. He holds the Arkenstone in his hands and they shake ever so slightly.

"What do we do with it then?" I question. "We can't give it to him but if he find out we have it he'll kill us."

"Destroy it," a strange voice demands and we whip around to see Smaug standing there. Natalie stands next to him with crossed arms. "What I did was wrong but what I said was the truth."

"He's not lying. That thing will destroy Thorin slowly," Natalie confirms. "It needs to be destroyed."

"Why should we believe you? You killed so many people," Jacob snaps defensively.

"He was cursed but I freed him. All of that destruction wasn't him," Natalie counters.

"So we destroy it then," I declare and take it from Bilbo.

"Wait don't! This whole quest was for that stone we can't just destroy it!" Bilbo argues and takes it back. "Besides we might need it in the future. Maybe if we gave it to Thorin the sickness would be cured. And without it Thorin can't rally the dwarves armies to defend Erebor."

"That is a good point. I have no doubt we will need those defenses. Azog will most likely launch some sort of attack on this place," Natalie adds.

"So we hold it and hide it," Jacob says. Bilbo nods and puts it back in his pocket.

"Good. Now I suggest we pretend to help look for the Arkenstone so Thorin doesn't get suspicious," I remark and walk off.