Just before dawn they left, happy and unhappily so. Some answered questions, and some questions to answer still. They trudged through the dry wilderness of Eriador, over ranges and under waterfalls as the Misty Mountains, capped with snow, grew nearer with every step. The sky that framed their journey wasn't always on their side, as they happened upon a fierce thunder storm.

Lightning struck here and there, and rain poured mercilessly down, as if walking on dangerously narrow trails wasn't a feat of its own. On one side a cliff limited them, threatening to push them over the the sheer drop in front. Still their king barked them to move to on. 

The royal dwarves were used to hardships since the time they'd been driven homeless, but the poor little hobbit was still afresh of adventure, more vary than they others. Fate seemed to test him as the stone beneath him gave way, only for Dwalin to catch him in the nick of time.

"We must find shelter!" Thorin finally thundered to his half-drowned company.

Dwalin stared up in the wild sky, looking at something in the distance.

"Look out!" he shouted as a massive boulder came hurtling their way. It hit the mountainside above the dwarves, sending rocks crumbling around them as they pressed against the mountain for cover.

Balin was next to notice something up ahead.

"This is no thunder storm! It's a thunder battle! Look!"

The company watched as a massive stone giant reared up from a nearby mountain. It ripped a giant chunk of stone from the top of the mountain.

"Well, bless me!" One of the young princes gasped in wonder. "The legends are true! Giants; stone giants!"

The stone giant threw the rock across the valley into another stone giant. The dwarves watched, hopelessly caught in the middle.

"Take cover, you'll fall!"

Debris began to fall over the Company once again and the dwarves held onto the mountainside as the ground beneath them cracked and split, dividing the group in two.

"Kili, grab my hand!" The older prince reached for his younger brother but he was a moment too late, as the two halves of the broken mountain began to separate away.

"Kili!" Fili desperately cried out for his brother as Ellie held Kili back from falling over. She, Kili, Oin, Gloin and Thorin drifted away from the others as they stood on the knees of a third stone giant, who rose slowly to the fight. The second stone giant lumbered over, head butting the third. As the giant fell backwards, Bilbo and the dwarves went swaying forwards and back, hanging onto the mountainside for dear life. 

Fatefully, luck seemed to be on the side of the dwarf king and the knee carrying Thorin, Oin, Gloin and Kili and Ellie happened to hit a flat ledge and the party managed to jump onto the still side of the mountain.

Their other halves were not so lucky. As the third giant rose back up again, the first threw a mean rock, beheading it and sending it falling back into place as Thorin and the others watched helpless, the rest of the Company seemingly crushed between the stone.

"Fili, NO!" The worry struck uncle screamed as he ran forward across the ledge towards the others. His wasn't the only voice screaming for the heir of Durin, but Kili was in too much shock to utter a word. 

Ellie ran behind Thorin as he ran along the path to the spot the knee had crashed into the cliff. The king dwarf only breathed when he saw the others scrambled on a ledge, his gaze resting contently on his precious burglar. It was Kili's cries that pulled him from his spell.

"Fili!" The youngest prince screamed for his brother.

Thorin frantically joined the search for his nephew.

"Fili! Where's Fili!?"

"OVER HERE!" They heard a faint yell and got low on the ground to peer over the cliff, to find the lad two ledges too low.

"Are you fine, brother?"

"Well that depends, is a broken leg covered in 'fine'?"

"Hold on, I'm coming!" Thorin attempted to slide down onto the next ledge, but simply his shuffling on the cliff sent some debris down onto the first ledge, crumbling a wedge.

"You're too big, Thorin." Balin warned him as they pulled Thorin back from the edge.

"I'll go." Kili offered, starting a mini argument amongst them.

"Hold this tight for me, will you?" Ellie asked Dwalin, the biggest of the dwarves.

"Sure," he mindlessly said, not entirely certain what the girl had asked.

It became clear in the next second when Ellie flew past them, swinging on a rope.

"HOLD TIGHT!" Dwalin informed the others of the rope in his hand, and they all rushed to hold a grip.

Ellie used the side of the cliff to gently lower herself to where Fili was.

"Found yourself in distress, me damsel?" Ellie joked as she landed behind him.

Fili looked at her incredulously.

"I'll be fine once we make it back up."

"Right. Pull us up!"

The group on the cliff slowly worked on pulling in the rope, lest it snap.

"Now hold on gently here." Ellie guided his hands around herself so they would both be drawn up.

Fili had a smirk on his face, which made his rescuer laugh.

"What is it?"

"I'm afraid if I said it, you'd drop me." He said looking down at the progress they'd made.

Ellie smacked him. "Wise dwarf. You'll make a fine king some day."

The rope finally came to an end and Thorin hurriedly pulled his nephew in while the others helped Ellie get her footing.

"Let's look at that leg, yeah?" Balin spoke, making Thorin let go of his heir so he could be fixed.

"We must find shelter for the night." Thorin announced and lead the search.

They found a dark cave and after Dwalin investigated it, decided to settle there.

As the others settled around him Thorin looked about for the stranger in their midst, but found no sign of her. He left the cave in search of her, only to find her just about changing. Thorin quickly turned away, blushing having invaded her privacy.

"I'm sorry, I didn't intend to..."

"It's fine, I'm changed."

He refused to believe her till Ellie herself turned him to face her.

"Sorry, I didn't take into consideration you being..."

"Forgotten, moved on. You were looking for me?"

"I was. I... am not easy to warm up to strangers. Hell, my own men might find me intolerable sometimes."

"Not sometimes." Ellie joked.

Thorin scoffed a laugh. "Yes, well, anyway. Tonight you took the initiative to save my nephew's life, without care of your own wellbeing."

"Oh well, it's nothing really. I mean, we are supposed to take care of each other, no?"

"No. My sister's sons are my responsibility. It means much to me what you did tonight. You have the dwarf king in your debt, you need simply ask."

Ellie curtseyed to the king. "I'll keep that in mind."

Thorin smiled and motioned for the way back to the cave, letting her go first.

They made no fire that night and layered their luggage underneath as beds. Bofur got the first guard. Ellie was just about tucked in when another apology stirred her, this time from the youngest prince.

"I mean it. I haven't been your biggest fan since the beginning to be quite honest," Kili whispered to her. "But you saved my brother tonight, and for that you'll always be a friend."

"Thank you, Kili. You'll always be a friend of mine as well. Now, be best if we tuck in, we'll need the strength tomorrow. Good night."

"Good night, Ellie."

A good night was not for all to have. With the others knocked out beside him, Bilbo Baggins looked about to see that absolutely no one would be awake to see him go. The comfort of home had finally got the best of him, and Thorin's coldness was really the mindsetter.

"Where do you think you're going?" Bofur asked just as Bilbo was a step away from freedom.

"Back to Rivendell."

"No, no, you can't turn back now,you're part of the company. You're one of us."

Bilbo sighed in frustration and looked towards a Thorin he assumed was asleep. "I'm not though, am I? Thorin said I should never have come, and he was right. I'm not a Took, I'm a Baggins."

He turned to the cave entrance once more, but his two ancestries seemed to have a battle inside him. "I don't know what I was thinking. I should have never ran out my door."

"You're homesick; I understand." Bofur offered a comforting hand on the shoulder.

"No, you don't! You don't understand, none of you do - you're dwarves!" He thrust his hand in the direction of the sleeping lot. "You're used to this life, to living on the road, never settling in one place, not belonging anywhere."

Bofur's offended look turned Bilbo into an apologetic.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"

"No, you're right. We don't belong anywhere." Bofur paused as he wishfully looked to his brethren, "I wish you all the luck in the world. I really do."

Beaming, Bofur placed his hand on Bilbo's shoulder, exchanging one final look, before Bilbo finally turned to the exit.

"What's that?" Bofur's voice stopped him from taking a single step and the hobbit turned to see where the dwarf was pointing to. The light from his belt drew their attention and Bilbo hesitantly drew out his dagger. Gandalf's words echoed in his mind as the blue light spread around them.

Bofur and Bilbo snapped at each other as Bofur figured out what the blue light meant.

"THORIN!" Bofur yelled as strange, slithering sounds come from the sands below them.

Thorin noticed the sand slithering as it split, and yelled to warn the others, but before anyone could react, the cave floor collapsed downwards, sending them spinning down in the very rocky tunnels, ending inside an oddly made cage.

As the company piled on one on top of the other, a horde of goblins came running at them, blaring their nasty teeth and nails. The creatures viciously took their weapons, and passed them forwards to the others. The dwarves' attempt to fight back was to no avail as they are unevenly surrounded. The dwarves were marched on and Bilbo's left behind, all in luck until a lone goblin jumped him and they both went falling into the void below.
He shouted and fell;  into the blackness, bumped his head on hard rock, and remembered nothing more.

A fall that changed the course of history for ever.