A/N

Thanks soooooo much to @dreamscape07 for, uhm, motivating me to update. XD

I could hear the soft padding of the Fellowship's shoes as we shuffled down the great hall. Aragorn was eager to move quickly, after overhearing the conversation I had with Ithilsarnie. "She has let us pass through, but she didn't say she would do so safely," he had said. Why was he so pessimistic!

Her last words were still ringing in my ears.

'Beware the sleepless malice, there are ancient enemies that dwell where your path leads.

They do not belong in Arda.'

What did she mean 'they do not belong in Arda'? There is evil in this world but it has a purpose. To cleanse the lands of darkness would be to forget the light. How can you know what is good when there is no evil to contrast it? I must have been thinking deeply, because Legolas's hand shot out and yanked me away from a wall by the shoulder.

"AHH!" I shrieked in surprise.

"Amin hiraetha [I'm sorry], you were about to run into the wall."

"Ta naa tereva [It is fine]," I said quietly and kept walking, with the rest of our company.

"Gandalf?" Pippin asked, "How long will it be until we are out of these mines?" The wizard opened his mouth to respond, but he didn't get a chance to answer.

"Gandalf." A mutter was heard from a shadowed corner. "You! You betrayed me! Get out! OUT!" We ran further into the mines, ignoring Ithilsarnie's demands but running from them. Gandalf stopped and turned around to face her, leaving us all to keep running.

"Gandalf, no!" Frodo started running towards the wizard, but Boromir held him back. The hobbits were having trouble keeping up with the rest of the long-legged Fellowship, so I picked Merry and Pippin up and flipped them over my shoulders. Legolas grabbed Frodo and Sam and followed suit.

"Did.. you.. know.. about this?" Aragorn huffed between breaths.

"No, Ithilsarnie only said that a wizard had done something to her before," I lied. She had said that Gandalf had stolen me away, and why hadn't I thought she would figure out Gandalf was, well, Gandalf?

"I overheard," Legolas said quietly to me, my heart dropped. Would he say something? "She said that a wizard had done something to her in the past, maybe she just despises of all wizards now." I had to hold back a sigh of relief, he gave me a look that said 'you owe me one'.

Suddenly, a booming voice was heard from behind us. We had made it to the great Dwarven Halls, the only thing between us and the Bridge of Khazad Dûm was 'The Great Stairs', or so Gimli called them. The voice echoed off the carved stone walls and pillars, and the noise surrounded us.

"Rise, my demon of the night,

Envelope this world in your flame and shadow."

Suddenly, a huge roar erupted from a dark corner of the room. A large creature seemed illuminated as it slowly stepped closer to us. Bioluminescence? Uh, no.

It was a Balrog, of Morgoth.

And it was on fire.

Flames shot from its back as it roared and bounded towards the remaining Fellowship. Legolas put his hand to his quiver to retrieve an arrow, but I stopped him and motioned for everyone to run.

"This foe is beyond any of you! Run!"

Aragorn shot me an annoyed glance, but I was proud of myself for quoting Gandalf. Was I even quoting him if he never said it? Was he quoting me?

I picked up my hobbits once more and sprinted for the end of the great hall. Making sure the rest of the Fellowship was following me, I took a sharp left and bounded through a stone doorway into a small room. Once the rest of the group was inside, I shut the door and barricaded it with spears and wood laying around the area.

"What," Gimli said between panting breaths, "In Durin's name was that?"

"A Balrog of Morgoth," Legolas answered, receiving glares from the Fellowship.

"A beast of Shadow and Flame, a demon of the ancient world," I added to his reply. Then my mother's words came back to me.

'Beware the sleepless malice, there are ancient enemies that dwell where your path leads. They do not belong in Arda.'

This ancient enemy was bad enough, were the enemies we had yet to meet worse? Maybe it was possible they didn't belong in Arda. I saw Gimli pacing along the back wall of the room, under a window who's light fell in a single beam to a marble box on the ground in the center of the room.

"Oh crap, for Elbereth's sake we only need a moment," I mumbled under my breath. I was pretty sure I knew what was in that box, it wasn't a box at all.

"What?" Legolas looked at me quizzically. I realized that it was probably unusual for elves to swear, but I wasn't really an elf, right?

"Nothing," I walked over to the dwarf and hesitantly put a hand on his shoulder, "Gimli, there's something you should see." He looked up at me, confused, but I took his arm and led him to the marble tomb. Gimli brushed the dust off of the runes inscribed on the top, his thick brown gloves acquiring a layer of white. A few seconds after reading the runes he burst into tears.

"It's okay, hush little dwarfling, all shall be okay." His choking sobs echoed throughout the stone chamber and the Fellowship cast sorrowful glances towards the ground. I heard the Balrog's thundering footsteps moving away from us. It had given up chase, we were safe- for now.

"They were such amazing dwarves," he mumbled between sobs, "The three of them had an inseparable bond. Uncles, nephews, it didn't matter what they were to each other, they were closer than brothers and loved each other more than anything in the world."

What was he talking about? Wasn't Balin buried here? I discreetly peeked over and read the Khudzul runes.

'Here lies Thorin, son of Thrain, King under the mountain'

I myself got choked up thinking of his death. I hadn't gotten to see it in movies, because my untimely transport here had happened conveniently between the Desolation of Smaug and There and Back Again movies. (yea I know the name is changed but that'll matter later). I couldn't imaging seeing him die, and I was just a fangirl. What was this like for Gimli?

I looked around the room, and noticed two other marble tombs along the right and left walls. I quickly let Gimli go and ran to one of them. I fell to my knees as I read the runes on covering the lid.

'Fili Durin, the son of Erebor'

I couldn't handle this. And when I say that, I don't mean I had a "major case of feels" I mean I actually just couldn't handle it. I knew they died, yes, but I hadn't planned on visiting their graves any time soon. I broke down, there in front of the only people I cared about. I had let my barrier down and just cried, imagining Aragorn and Boromir's smirking faces as they probably laughed together at my sensitivity. Even if they were, I wouldn't hear it over the sound of my cries and the tears clattering on the stone floor.

I felt a hand on my shoulder, which I guessed belonged to Legolas. My guess was confirmed, when I caught a glimpse of his golden hair as he pulled me into a tight hug. It was awkward, he was crouched down beside me with his arms around my shoulders. But did I care? No.

This was enough death, enough. But was this what it was like to live in this fantasy world? I had read about the glory of battle, but not the loss of its destructive wake.

"Amin hiraetha, mellonamin [I am sorry, my friend], I am here for you," he whispered into my hair. My sobs softened at his voice, and I sat there in his arms, my tear stained face buried in his shoulder. I heard no throat clearings from Aragorn, or remarks from Boromir, just the silent sadness that hung over the whole room. Legolas pulled away slowly, and brushed some of the hair out of my eyes. He pressed his lips to my forehead (in a friendly elvish way guys don't to shippin Rhoegolas just yet 😂) and picked me up. He turned to walk back to the rest of the group, carrying me, and I heard little snickers and snorts coming from the Fellowship. Even Gimli, who had been violently crying a minute ago, was beaming. Legolas put his "disturbed face" on, and yes I had come to recognize his different expressions, and looked at me. Worry and embarrassment shone in his eyes and I crawled out of his arms.

Suddenly, an arrow shot at us through a crack in the wooden door. I whipped out my bow and aimed an arrow for the spot the other one had shot through. I saw an eye through the door, and was about to release an arrow when a loud splintering crash sounded throughout the room. A massive, stupid, and slow creature tumbled into the chamber. I almost pitied it, poor cave troll, but then I realized that, even if it was being forced to kill us, it was still killing us.

The room was in absolute chaos, the Fellowship was in a weaponized frenzy and it didn't look safe. At all. Thousands of hours of raiding in Azeroth flooded into my mind. I guess playing World of Warcraft instead of sleeping was going to pay off.

"GIMLI!" I shouted across the room to the dwarf, "Tank! Get his attention and don't let him hurt he others! You take the damage! He probably has a 57 DPS but he has a 10 second reload...." I trailed off, realizing he didn't care about the numbers.

"Legolas! Aragorn! Attack him from the back! His attention is on Gimli!" they nodded. I was on a roll.

"Frodo! Pippin! Merry! Run around his legs and attack! He can't get you if you're close!" They let out a battle cry and ran for the troll, hacking at its knees.

"Sam! Boromir! Aid anyone and everyone who is in a bad situation! I'll be with you too!" That makes us the healers. But this time, I couldn't revive my dead allies with a little Druid spell, they were really dead. This strategy had better pay off, because the risks had just been raised. A lot.

I had never directed anything, so it was cool to see my plan unfold in front of me. Aragorn was a little stubborn to do his part, but once he realized that it was actually working, he listened. The plan was executed beautifully, everyone did their part and worked together in perfect sync. When one of the hobbits was knocked over by a clumsy troll foot, we ran to the rescue, when Legolas ran out of arrows or Aragorn dropped his sword, we were there in an instant. Gimli was mostly okay, because he was basically a tornado of axes, but he still managed to keep the Troll's attention and damage it any chance he got.

I heard a shout from one of the supporting pillars, and ran to it immediately. I found Frodo slumped against the stonework with a large boar spear by his side. His breaths were sharp, but he was breathing.

"What happened?" I asked, a worried look plastered across my face.

"Troll," is all he said before grabbing Sting and leaping back to the rest of the Fellowship. I watched him approach the Troll, and was about to jump forward to help him when Boromir stopped me.

"He will be alright."

The Troll leaned over to look at Frodo, and he buried Sting in his face. It was gruesome, and the Troll let out a terrified screech before falling to the ground in a messy pile.

"How did you survive the spear?" I knew the answer, but asked only so that the others did too.

"It could have killed a wild boar!" Aragorn added. Frodo was about to reply when Gimli cut him off.

"Forget the spear, how'd ye survive that foul creature's breath? It could've killed a boar just as easily!" Boromir chuckled, and I did too, but Aragorn shot us warning glares.

"How? Mister Frodo?" Sam asked, and the ring bearer unbuttoned his jacket to reveal a mithril shirt beneath it.

"B-Bilbo! Thorin gave Bilbo Baggins that shirt after the, um, Erebor incident with the Dragon," Gimli stroked his beard, "How'd you come by that my lad?"

"Oh," Frodo shifted his weight nervously, "I'm actually not an Underhill, I'm a Baggins. Frodo Baggins. Bilbo took me in after my parents died- and he gave me this shirt in Rivendell."

"And he didn't take him in out of charity," I added, "It was because, perhaps out of all hobbits in the Shire, he showed true Baggins courage and personality." I instantly cringed at my stupidity, Bilbo had said that at the 111st Birthday party, and only Frodo would have heard it. I could tell the halfling made a mental note to discuss that with me later.

"We should get going," Legolas blurted, "We must move on, we cannot linger." What was it with him an lingering?

Boromir carefully stepped through the splinters and out of the stone doorway. After taking a look around, he nodded to us and mouthed 'all clear'. One by one we filed out of the doorway and into the vast openness of the Great Halls. I looked back at the room we had been in. The coffins of Fili and Kili still had little beams of light shining down on them, but the Troll had fallen on Thorin's tomb, blocking the light. I was about to go back and move the Troll when Legolas stopped me, so I held back a tear and marched along with the rest of the Fellowship.

"Do not make much noise," Aragorn warned, "our enemy still roams these halls."

"Who really is our enemy? The Balrog or it's master Ithilsarnie? Sauron? Melkor? Evil itself?" I then realized I had been thinking outloud, and earned some quizzical looks from the group.

"What I mean is that, we say we are fighting evil, but truly there is darkness in everyone's heart. Melkor and Sauron are thought to be pure evil, but are we fighting ourselves then, too?" Some nodded and others just stared at me.

"Even if we defeat Sauron, we won't eradicate evil from this world forever. Darkness can still live on, because it's roots are harbored deeply in all of us, even the pure of heart."

"Have a little hope, Rhoe," Pippin scolded sarcastically.

"Enough of your fancy talk," Sam huffed from the back of the group, "my old Gaffer would say 'evil's in everyone and there ain't no way you'll ever be rid of it' maybe you could just get to the point and be done with it."

"I'm sorry," I said meekly to an annoyed Samwise, and our group pressed on to the Great Stairs and the bridge of Khazad Dûm.

We had reached a large archway, that I assumed led to the Stairs, and I heard loud shuffling from the back of the Great Hall.