Alive - Fili Durin

12 || Stone giants

Fili was frozen in terror - his brother and his love were crushed to death in front of him.

Thorin rounded the corner to hear the many groans and moans from all of the dwarves and the hobbits. Thorin couldn't help but smile.

"We're alright!" Balin cheered. "We're alive!"

The cheering was quickly ended when Bofur's headcount turned up one member short. "Where's Bilbo? Where's the hobbit."

Leo's eyes scanned the ledges until she saw two tiny hands gripping for dear life. "Bilbo!!" her scream alerted the dwarves to Bilbo's location as they rushed to save him.

Ori and Bofur lunged at Bilbo as his grip slipped from the path. "Grab my hand! Bilbo! Come on and take it!"

The two dwarves struggled to get a grip on Bilbo. Thorin swung down himself to grab Bilbo's arm and toss him to the dwarves at the top. Thorin then lost his own grip but Dwalin managed to grab onto his arm and lift him back up onto the pass.

Leo rushed to him as he immediately grabbed her hand to calm himself.

"I thought we'd lost our burglar," Dwalin said in a relieved tone.

"He's been lost ever since he left home. He should never have come. He has no place amongst us." Thorin barked. Bilbo's face turned from terror to hurt in seconds. Leo went to bark back at Thorin but figured that until they were on solid ground, now wasn't the time.

Thorin spots a cave behind them. "Dwalin!" he summons him to inspect the cave with him.

After helping Bombur to his feet, Fili spotted Leo walking with a tremoring Bilbo to the cave. She stopped when she saw Fili. Bofur walked by and took Bilbo's other arm. "I'll take him from 'ere, lass."

Fili instantly rushed to her and wrapped her in a strong hug. Leo sighed - she really needed this right now. Fili noticed that the girl was shaking as he pulled away and got down on one knee to look at her. "Are you cold?"

She nodded and wrapped her arms around herself. "I think it's a mixture of being soaking wet and being kneed into a mountain."

He rose back to his feet and wrapped one arm around her shoulder. "I can help one of those things." The two made their way into the cave.

"It looks safe enough," Dwalin concluded.

Leo got a bad feeling about this cave. She knew this area had a goblin problem years ago but, eventually, they all disappeared. As she had with the trolls, she thought it would be best to advise Thorin on the potential threat.

Leo pulled away from Fili and walked to Thorin whose back was turned to her. She placed her hand gently on his shoulder, "Thorin?"

He whipped around, "What?" he harshly responded with a glare. Leo stood a bit stunned. I guess his irritation at Bilbo is transferable from hobbit to hobbit.

She didn't respond but just stared at him for a moment before she decided it would be best to find Balin. "Balin?" Leo nervously asked, afraid they were all on edge.

He smiled sweetly and tiredly at her. "Yes, dear?"

"I know Gandalf had mentioned that it was a good idea to warn of potential threats, especially considering the troll incident," he nodded, "this area is known for the goblins that made tunnels through the mountain. They haven't been seen for years after the elves and humans started to build traps and lower the population. Despite them not being around, I wouldn't take that as them being gone."

Balin raised an eyebrow, "Well, I did not know that. I will keep an eye out best I can for anything, just in case. I'll inform some of the others as well. Did you mention this to Thorin?"