An Unexpected Feeling (Bagginshield)

Many sorrows

"What have we done."

Smaug. Smaug had gone to Lake-town.

They had gotten to the Mountain, they had found the door, and they had almost killed Smaug. Almost. Now the dragon was going to burn down the whole town, which would be easy, since everything was made of wood.

Bilbo sighed.

'It's my fault... Smaug got the idea from me...' he thought.

"My fault!" Bilbo whimpered.

At that exact moment, Thorin found Bilbo.

"Your fault? Least of all," Thorin said.

"Now he will burn the whole town down. And he got the idea from me!"

Thorin glanced at Bilbo's face. He realized that Bilbo was crying. His hobbit was crying and blaming himself for no reason. Thorin didn't know what to do.

He hugged Bilbo, kissed his curly hair and tried to calm him.

"Shh... Bilbo, you had nothing to do with it."

"I'm just a burden," Bilbo sobbed.

Thorin freezed for a moment. He remembered what he had said about Bilbo months ago: 'He should not have come, he has no place among us.'

Thorin felt bad. He didn't want to see Bilbo crying anymore.

"Listen. You saved my life. And I'm not just talking about what happened in the Goblin lairs, or the Elven cells. I'm talking about how you have made me feel alive, and you still do. Amrâlimê."

Bilbo stopped sobbing.

"I don't know what that means."

"Oh, I think you do," Thorin smiled and hugged Bilbo again.

[A/N: You see what I did there?]

Bilbo smiled carefully, too. Thorin wiped Bilbo's tears away.

"Where are the others?," Bilbo asked.

"Up there, on the cliff. Let's go" Thorin said.

"But... Thorin..."

"Yes, Bilbo?"

"Kili, Fili, Bofur and Oin... They're in the Lake-town," Bilbo huffed.

Thorin stopped. He was silent.

Kili had stayed in the Lake-town as Thorin had told him to because of his wound. And Fili wanted to stay with his brother. Oin had stayed too, to look after Kili. And Bofur had been late when the Company had left for the Lonely Mountain.

"Thorin?"

"Go to the others."

Bilbo did as Thorin said. Thorin stayed on the lower cliff.

They sat there for a long while, watching Smaug destroy the town.

"Poor souls," Balin sighed.

Bilbo looked at Thorin. Thorin was still alone on the lower cliff, just standing there in silence. Bilbo was worried about him.

Smaug had told Bilbo that the Arkenstone would destroy Thorin and corrupt his heart. And Bilbo had the Arkenstone, the heart of the Mountain. Could it also control the heart of Thorin?

Bilbo decided to keep the Arkenstone for a while and think about what to do with it. After all, it had been a lucky coincidence that he had grabbed it while Smaug had been talking to him. Or had it been lucky?

Time passed, and no one knew how long they had been sitting there.

Then, finally, they saw Smaug falling down.

"Smaug is dead," Bilbo announced.

The dwarves were excited. Except for Thorin, who went back into the Mountain. The Arkenstone. He needed to find the Arkenstone.