I Won't Let You Go (Bagginshield)

Facing The Torment.

I had had enough. It was time to confront Thorin and ask him why he was treating me this way. I had thought we had a mutual understanding, that we both knew what was transpiring...but apparently, I had been very wrong. So I had been captured by the Necromancer for a while, but I hadn't come back changed. Something had happened to Thorin, and whatever it was, it was messing me up for the worst.

I sat in my little cage, and a few minutes later, Bofur showed up, still wearing that stupid hat. He looked at me and just sighed. I refused to meet his eyes. 

"Bilbo, Thorin is not himself. You know that."

I stayed silent, forcing myself to not speak. If I spoke, my voice would crack, revealing everything I was trying so hard to keep hidden. Bofur didn't--couldn't!--know about Thorin and I.

"What's wrong with him, Bofur?" I finally managed to ask.

"The Dragonsickness, Bilbo. The Arkenstone is making him crazy...he needs help, and none of us know how to provide it. He's away now, in the room with the melted gold, by himself. He wanted to be alone...I'll be back soon with food."

I didn't even bother calling him back.

"BILBO!" the voice was Thorin's. I turned to look and saw him rushing towards the cage. "Whoever put you in here? What have they done?" He was no longer wearing the crown or the robes...this was the Thorin I knew.

"You put me in here, Thorin, when I came back from the Necromancer's camp," I answered flatly. "I've been in here for exactly four weeks. Hardly any water, no food, and nothing but torment and torture, all of it by you. I don't know what happened to you, but it wasn't pretty. And you've ruined whatever trust I had in you. I can't look at you the same anymore, without remembering all that pain."

Thorin looked at me, confused for a moment. "You know that I would never do anything to cause you pain, Bilbo," he told me, his eyes filling with fear. "Please tell me I didn't do any of those things I'm thinking of."

"You did," I said coldly. "All of those things, and more."

With that, I walked away.

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