Hope and Memory[Thorin Oakenshield Love Story]

[Chapter Forty Seven]

It was early the next morning when Thorin woke up. The dwarf rubbed his eyes. He felt a breeze come through and if his calculations were correct, it would be snowing very soon. The dwarf glanced down beside him when he felt something shift in the sheets. The hobbit was still curled up against him sound asleep. He moved the strands of her hair that was covering her scar that Azog the Defiler's white warg had inflicted. The king leaned over and pressed his lips to her forehead softly. He couldn't stop looking at how peaceful she look right now and he wished not to do disturb her rest. For the first time in months, this was the first night he didn't have the hobbit's screams, tormenting his mind of the night he could have prevented. The dwarf moved off the bed, careful not to wake the woman and he got dressed. Thorin stopped at the door, glancing at Freya one last time before he closed it quietly, and he left in the direction down the hall, straight for the treasure room.

Freya squinted her eyes from the bright light shinning in the room. She stretched and she sat up, covering herself in the sheets. She turned to her side, hoping to see Thorin still beside her but her face fell to see she was alone. The hobbit looked around the room and decided to get up. The got dressed and wandered down the hall, hoping to find her cousin. Freya rounded the corner to see Bilbo pacing around in the hall.

" Bilbo? Is everything alright?" Freya asked, her voice full of concern. The hobbit snapped out of his thoughts when he heard his cousin's voice.

" Freya! There you are!" Bilbo pressed.

"Bilbo what's wrong?" The woman question. She could tell something was bothering her cousin.

" Freya...It's about Thorin." Bilbo began.

" What about Thorin?" The woman questioned.

" Freya....I think this place is changing Thorin...He's different he spends so much time in the treasure room. He doesn't eat, he barely sleeps---" Bilbo explained and he stopped when he saw his cousin shaking her head at him.

" No...your wrong. There's nothing wrong with Thorin. He-he's just under a lot of pressure right now because he hasn't found the arkenstone yet." Freya pressed.

"Freya--" Bilbo started again but the woman put her hands for him to stop.

"No, Thorin is fine. I don't want to talk about this anymore Bilbo" She declared. And Bilbo let out a low huff, wishing his cousin could see what he was seeing. Just then the two of them heard distant yelling.

"Did you hear that?" Bilbo asked.

" Yes...That almost sounded like Bofur?" Freya stated and the two of them heard the shouts again and the two of them took off running towards the kingdom entrance where Smaug had smashed his way through the wall. Bilbo was ahead of her, coming up to a bridge and that's when he saw them.

"Wait!" Bilbo shouted."Wait!

" It's Bilbo and Freya!" Bofur exclaimed. " Their alive!" The woman followed behind Bilbo closely as they ran down the last flight of stairs.

"Stop! Stop! Stop." Bilbo shouted at them." You need to leave we all need to leave."

"We only just got here." Bofur pressed, looking at the hobbit confused by this.

" I've tried talking to him but he won't listen." Bilbo continued, nearly out of breath from all the running he did.

" What do you mean, laddie?" Oin questioned, not quite sure just who the hobbit was talking about.

"Thorin!" Bilbo yelled loudly, slightly annoyed, causing the eldest dwarf to jump.

" Their is nothing wrong with Thorin!" Freya protested.

" Freya, Thorin has been down there for days. He doesn't sleep. He barely eats. He's not been himself. Not at all." Bilbo explained to them all. " It's this--it's this place." The hobbit clears his throat. "I think a sickness lies on it."

" Sickness?" Kili repeated. "What kind of sickness?" Fili stared over the edge, just catching the brightness of the gold below and he felt something pulling him to go to it.

" Fili. Fili! Fili!" Bilbo yelled at the dwarf who made hast down the stairs. Freya and Bilbo both followed him with the others close behind them. The dwarves and the two hobbit's were at the last flight of stairs, that led to a platform that look over the hills of gold.

The two brothers had heard countless stories from their uncle about King Thror's collection of gold that he accumulated over the years as king before the dragon had come, but they never imagined it to be this big. And they all stood there in awe when they heard someone emerging onto the gold from one of the lower halls. Freya and Bilbo slowly came to join the dwarves. The woman stood beside Fili.

"Gold. Gold beyond measure. Beyond sorrow and grief." Thorin whispered, speaking to no one in particular, he seemed completely unaware that he had an audience watching him. The king had found some of his grandfather's old clothing and even some of his old rings and wore them as well. Freya and the others continued to watch him until he looked up, somewhat surprised that he had never heard them come down. " Behold the great treasure hoard of Thror." He declared before throwing, through the air a ruby to his eldest nephew, who caught it. "Welcome my sister-sons...to the kingdom..of Erebor." His voice echoed off the mountain walls.

Freya hadn't stop looking at the dwarf. A dark sinking feeling was filling her mind. Something she didn't want to believe was true. Was her cousin right? Thorin glance at the woman for a second to see her concern face but turned away and her eyes never left him. "Freya?...Freya." Bilbo called out to her quietly. She turned to him and the others looked at her as well. "Are you alright?" He asked her. The young hobbit turned back and looked at the gold.

" I don't know. "She admitted, shaking her head. They finally left to go find the others to tell them that their friends were alive. The cousin led the dwarves to a room down the hall where they had their meals.

"Balin!" Bofur chimed as he walked into the room with the others behind them.

" Kili!" Nori shouted, relieved to see the two brother's alive.

" Thank Durin, you're alive!" Balin sighed in relief as he wandered over to see them. Freya went and sat at the table alone while the others welcomed their friends back. The woman was in deep thought about everything she just saw. He was so different with her yesterday and now it was like he was someone else. He didn't even seem to care that his nephews were alive or Bofur and Oin. His only concern was still finding the Arkenstone. Balin was standing beside his brother, listening to how the four of them had escape, when he glanced at the young woman she had her face in her hands and he went over to her.

" Lass? What's wrong?" Balin asked her, sitting down at the table across from her. She removed her face from her hands to look at the dwarf.

"I'm-I'm worried about Thorin." Freya mumbled. "He's different. The way he was acting in the treasure room...." She then looked at the dwarf. "Is that room changing him?" She finally asked. Balin let out a sigh trying to find the right words to say to her, this was his worst fear that would happen if they had succeeded this quest that the same thing would happen to Thorin that happened to his grandfather. The sickness was taking over his mind.

"Freya--" Balin began but then stopped. Everyone had grown silent when they heard someone else come into the room.

" We have work to do." Thorin pressed. "Everyone to the treasure room." He demanded, and with that the king left and the others sighed, they had searched already for days and still hadn't been any closer to finding the King's jewel, unaware that he had already been found, and they all trudged back to the treasure room as their king ordered to search for the stone.