Imagines - The Hobbit

Beyond a Promise: Part Three

Imagine: Thorin tells Alex about the gold sickness and his families history relating to it, asking her to protect Erebor from from both him and it if he became affected. What happens when he does fall for the sickness?? How will Alex take charge and handle everything in order to keep her promise??

Alex's P.O.V

Three months. Three long, difficult and exhausting months. That was how long Thorin had been locked up in a form of rehab in hopes that it might cure and rid him of the gold sickness. As agreed, someone from the company - beside his nephews and myself - was always with him, sat on the outside cell on a little stool. To pass the time, they would sharpen their weapons, groom their beards, read a book, do some writing, etc. But they always made sure to keep their eyes open and watching their ill King, being sure that he didn't harm himself in a fit of unlogical rage. Dear Mr Bilbo Baggins had left after a few weeks of resting in order to return to his home back in Bag End, Gandalf guiding him for safety as he planned to continue his mysterious travels; both promised to return to Erebor for the grand opening once it was completely rebuild and repaired. Thorin, at the beginning of the three months, was either screaming and cursing at whoever was nearby, threatening that they would all be severely punished for betraying their king, or lying unconscious on his straw bed as his fits of anger eventually tired him out. They regularly gave him water and food, of course, and would sometimes end up having it needing to be washed from their faces. And the group were right. I was a trigger for the ill dwarf. I had once entered the celled room carelessly without thinking, in need of talking to Balin about the mountain, yet he was on watch duty. As soon as Thorin caught sight of me, it took him less than a second, not allowing me the change to utter a word, before he jumped up from his place on the floor with wide fury filled eyes and entered yet another one of his regular episodes of yelling, growling and sending every dwarvin curse my way. In that moment, I froze with both shock, horror and slight fear as our last interaction was still far too fresh within my mind. The bruises on my arms ands wrists were still healing. Thinking quickly, Balin grabbed my hand and pulled me out of the room, shutting the door with more force than really necessary; he made sure that I was alright, adding that I shouldn't take any of what the king said to heart as he evidently wasn't in his right mind, before returning to his post after answering my question about the mountain's old trading deals. While I knew the elder dwarf was right about Thorin, and I certainly thanked him for his comforting words, I couldn't help but feel somewhat hurt. After that, I was extra careful and stayed away from the celled room and, if I really needed whoever was on guard duty, I made sure to knock and stay out of Thorin's line of sight. Thorin needed to get better, and if my mere presence didn't help with that, that was a sacrifise I was more than painfully willing to make, but the company all made sure to keep me informed on our friend's condition.

During the rest of the time, however, I allowed my focus to remain on the rebuilding on Erebor. While Fili was supposed to be the one incharge of everything as he was next in line for the Durin throne, the poor thing had panicked the first night of the three months as the realisation that he was the temporary king hit him; he had searched and found me that very night, sharing his worries and fears before asking if he could declare that he would be handing over full power over Erebor to me. I was shocked at first and tried to reassure the young dwarves that he would do just fine with the help of the company, only for him to beg for the declaration to happen. How could I say no?! The very next day, the decision was shared to the rest of the group who all thought it was a good idea "Thorin did ask you personally to see to the rebuilding after all" Gloin had recalled. Now holding all power to the kingdom, I got to work. Before anything, the mountain needed to be cleaned of all the damage that Smaug had created, some areas to be rebuild and repaired while the rest was returned to it's old glory. During this time, I physically helped with cleaning but also began to attend to meetings with the neighbouring kingdoms, as well as other fellow dwarf clans. It really didn't take long before word spread that Erebor had been reclaimed. Of course, Thorin's missing presence was questioned by every king, queen, duke, duchess, lord, lady and chief that visited, surprised by the sight of a female human and even more so once they learned that I was in charge of the newly reclaimed kingdom. The company and I had already agreed that we would keep Thorin's true condition to ourselves, merely telling those who asked that he had been severely injured during the battle against the orcs and was required to rest, though we had all been reassured by our healer that he would live. With every meeting that took place, I felt my own confidence grow. The visitors appeared to like my company and were more than happy to negosiate the peace treaties and trade deals that I was attempting to put in place. Erebor was still in the works of being cleaned and repaired; the last thing it would need was yet another war. After the first month and a half, all of the peace treaties and trade deals were arranged and signed - even Thranduil, after some convincing on my behalf, agreed. The only thing he wanted in return, however, was the gems of lasgalen. He wasn't the only one wanting something from Erebor as Bard, newly crowned king of Dale,  wanted the gold that had been promised to Lake Town. After hearing the similar yet reasonable demands, I discussed it with the rest of the of the company, telling them that I was going to be handing over the promised treasure unless they gave me a logical and strong reason not to; there was no such thing and, trusting my judgement, they allowed me to go ahead with the agreement the very next day.