Renacida || Fili x MGIME OC ||

Enter Night

A lifetime ago, Luis told me that there was an enchanted river or some shit in Mirkwood that would cause anyone who touched its water to fall into a deep slumber.

I figured this specific river was the one, seeing as the bridge crossing it was conveniently broken, and in its place, vines and roots hung unevenly for an ultra-safe passage. And though the water was slow-moving, there was no telling what lurked beneath—or how deep it went.

Bilbo went across first since he was the lightest. My teeth gritted each time Bilbo's foot slipped on the damp vines. When he paused and stared down at the calm, algae-covered surface with uncharacteristic stillness, I clapped my hands and jumped up and down.

"Look alive, Baggins!" I hollered. "This is magic water! It's gonna try to put us asleep!"

The hobbit jolted from the fugue. He bobbed his curly head once and forged onward.

"You heard her!" Thorin said to the rest. "Fight its trickery. Be careful."

Bilbo slipped on a vine and went down on it hard. He squeaked at an awfully high pitch. His legs stuck out in an upside-down V, shoulders trembling and back ramrod.

We all winced and groaned for him.

Thorin added, "Don't do that either."

Through a yawn, I called, "You alright?"

Another squeak. Then a wobbling thumbs up. Bilbo staggered upright and continued on, mumbling things that I was too tired to catch. When he made it to the other side of the bank, he jumped off a thick vine. A patch of wet-looking mushrooms softened his clumsy fall, and he crawled away to a tree and pathetically curled up at its base.

"Poor guy," I said to Fili and Kili. "A hit to the scrote is lethal."

"Aye, that it is, my lady," Kili nodded. We readied ourselves to jump onto the vines. Bombur was in front of me, and he steadily grabbed one and put a foot out. "Be glad that you women do not bear such a burden."

"Crotch shots hurt for us, too."

I set my foot right where Bombur had and repeated the motion. The vine underneath wobbled, but I stayed balanced. It was just like being on a lily pad at some swimming pool. Only instead of falling into blue chlorine water, it was enchanted, rancid river water, and it could induce a magic coma.

Maybe I needed to take a dive in for that very reason, though. I was so. Fucking. Tired. The nightmares had only worsened, meaning I got no sleep, meaning I shuffled through Mirkwood half-awake while simultaneously trying to keep fourteen cabrones alive.

"Oh?" Fili followed after me, genuinely amused and interested in our conversation. It was probably too inappropriate for such a dark and mysterious forest, but we couldn't ignore such an important subject. "How is that?"

"You hit bone," I replied. "Straight bone. Like, you know when you hit your elbow on something—Wake up, Dori!—and it makes you want to cry?"

"Of course."

"It's like that with your chocha. Only worse."

I hauled myself over to the next vine that Bombur was on as well. He had stopped, so I nudged his back with a hand. "Hey, snap out of it, we're halfway there—"

A grating snore interrupted my sentence, and I yelped as Bombur, now unconscious, toppled backward. I managed to careen out of the way so he didn't crush me, but once Bombur hit our roped vine, its elasticity bounced him back up and off.

And like a trampoline, if he bounced, I bounced.

Was it bad that part of me hoped I could sleep for the next few days?