"Into the fire."

Pain was such a constant agony that paced her every breath...it seemed to be always lurking beneath her skin, making her bones ache, her fingers shake, and forcing her magic to become something so much worse than what it once was. But as the faè sat there with the fading sun baring down upon her, amongst the browning leaves and dirt beneath her, she honestly struggled to remember such a time that her ever-consuming pain had been this powerful, this devastating as she panted for breath with a heart stained with sin.

It hurt, oh how it hurt as her morality continued to stain the ground below her, feeling half some kind of feral animal as wounded snarls and huffs of breath left her bloodied lips in dreadful whimpers. And yet the only small mercy was the fact that her magic seemed to be working hard to stitch her back up with her skin knotting together through invisible strings that glowed red and winding around her shoulders with a mocking embrace, like broken pieces of a mirror climbing amongst each other until it would form something resembling what it once was, cracks and all.

However, the only difficulty that she was facing was the fact the dwarves, most specifically the blonde nuisance who insisted on hovering beside her like a overbearing mother, were all trying to help her in some way shape or form, some with their fingers rummaging into her bag that someone had somehow managed to grab through the chaos for her strange flowers, some begging Gandalf for him to do something with his magic and not listening to his explanations on why he couldn't...and Fili who was still holding onto her, his hand enclosed around hers as he whispered words of comfort that set her teeth on edge.

She wasn't some damsel fashioned out to need saving, and she really didn't appreciate being treated as such as her senses came back to her one by one and ever so slowly, clearing the fog in her mind that had made her drowsy and as limp-limbed as a newborn fawn...and with that, she, albeit gently, slapped the blondes hand away with a certain sharpness in her eyes that had him sighing in relief at that usual fire that held him prisoner in the best way possible, his shoulders no longer burdened with the thought of her morality as she glared at him darkly.

"Would you stop acting as though I'm on my deathbed? I have no plans of dying today, not until I've gotten what I want."

"And what do you want?" Fili asked softly, looking at her from underneath his dark lashes, his gaze flickering around her face as if it was the last time he'd ever see her because he was greedy for the sight of her, because even covered in blood, even when she looked half feral with teeth bared and eyes dark and dangerous, he very much doubted that he'd ever find anything that held half as much power over him with their devastating beauty.

Revenge, to no longer feel the devastating loss of her wings, to touch the stars with her stained fingertips once more, to be free of her nightmares, her grief and pain, to be the girl she once was again, to go home, to see the Moors, to go back in time and trust nothing but herself, to keep Bilbo safe, to keep him completely. The thoughts kept coming, getting louder and stronger as she looked away from him, looking out towards the horizon in an rather rude way to show the abrupt end to the conversation, their moment back in the cave already pushed far into the back of her mind.

"We're one short," Gandalf suddenly spoke over them loudly with his baritone voice slick with fear, causing everyone's head to snap over to him as they silenced, watching as he looked over their heads for their fifteenth companion, only to find nothing, no sign nor hair of the halfling that he'd brought upon this journey, and the old wizard felt fear coil in his gut, not just for halflings fate...but for what would happen if the world was met with the faè's heartbreak at his loss. "Where's Bilbo? Where's our hobbit? Where is our hobbit?!"

And then Nymeria froze as the arguing dwarves became nothing but background noise as her grief threatned to swallow her whole.

She'd left her hobbit. She left her hobbit in the goblins vile clutches, too focused on her own selfish desire for survival to even think for a moment and now he might be paying the price for her neglect, for her terrible weakness. Nymeria stood on trembling legs, hands sparking like dying embers in her chaotic glow, frayed from every edge but not quite broken yet as she began to move back towards the mountain, ready to do anything, everything to save Bilbo, to keep him safe, to repay her dept until he was old and gray.

"And where do yer' think yer' going, lass?" Dwalin snapped when he noticed her beginning to move, stepping in front of her and blocking her view of her supposed destination with his large, barell like arms crossed over his chest and his brows set in a heavy frown, glaring up at her as the arguing dwarves stopped their talking, and instead turned around to look over towards the two as if just now noticing that the faè was somehow standing up, still drenched in her own blood with wounds ripped anew but having that awful determination that made her eyes shine red.

"To get my hobbit, now move or be moved." She said venemously, bottom lip trembling in her overwhelming fear of just what monstrosity she'd left him to suffer, pain and strife still wreaking havoc across her body only to be increased tenfold by the fact Bilbo wasn't there beside her. If those disgusting creatures had hurt one hair on his head, then there would absolutely be nothing that could save them from her wrath, she'd tear them all apart, she'd tear the whole world apart if she had to.

But it was Fili who'd moved towards her, never straying far from her in the first place with his hands held peacefully in front of him, trying to comfort her, keep her calm but most of all safe beside him...and knowing, just knowing that if she rushed into the hoards of goblins still feasting inside the mountains to try and save her hobbit, that he would have no other choice but to follow her. "Nymeria, please, you don't even know if he's still in the mountain, we don't know what happened back there-"

"I'll tell you what happened. Master Baggins saw his chance and he took it! He's thought of nothing but his soft bed and his warm hearth since first he stepped out of his door! Believe me, girl, you won't be seeing your hobbit again, he repaid your loyalty with leaving you to rot." Thorin interrupted, scoffing loudly as he turned dramatically and squared up to the faè who glared back at him with rising darkness in her gaze, taking his challenge as her magic wound tight around her bloodied fingers, as ready for chaos at it always was as she shook her head quietly.

"You're wrong. And you have never been more wrong about anything in your life."

"Is that right? And how are you so sure?"

"Because he wouldn't leave me, just as I wouldn't leave him...we are both too entangled, heart and soul for such separations. And I'm going to get him back." Nymeria swore, she promised with her voice steady and sure, the air around the company crackling with her ominous energy as she stood higher, bloodied and vicious and brimming with her terrible magic and ready to take on whatever threat she'd have to face her to get her hobbit back. But before she could even take a singular step back towards the mountains...a familar voice interrupted her and stopped her in her tracks.

"There's no need. I'm right here." Bilbo stepped out from behind a rather thin looking tree, twisted with winding branches pulled taunt and then looking towards the faè with a certain adoration in his watery eyes, love swelling up inside him as she physically sagged in on herself in relief, bottom lip trembling in tearful tremors as her mouth opened to apologise, to beg his forgiveness for her mindlessness, to make sure that he was alright, but as if the hobbit knew what she was going to say, he quickly shook his head, smiling at his Nymeria gently, lovingly.

"Bilbo Baggins! I've never been so glad to see anyone in my life!" Gandalf chuckled deeply, large shoulders shaking as the hobbit stepped down from the small hill and made his way towards the company, clambering over his own two feet with his usual awkward grace as he look at them with a gentle smile, instantly saddling up to the faè side who cupped his face in her cold palm softly, eyes aching with unurshed tears as she thought back to how close she was to loosing him as he patted her hand with just as much affection, just as much care as she did to him.

"We'd almost given you up, how on earth did you get past the goblins?" Fili laughed breathlessly, almost in awe as he watched their reunion through heavy eyes, wondering just how far the other would actually go to save them, and deciding that he didn't want to know as Kili slapped his shoulder joyfully, loosing themselves in their relief of having their burglar safe and sound with the rest of them.

But not all of the dwarves seemed so absent mindless as Dwalin grunted, his eyes narrowed and his arms crossed as he looked upon the hobbit. "How indeed." He repeated suspiciously as they all turned to look at the halfling as he faltered, blinking up at them all with frantic eyes, before he let out a nervous laugh, hand moving behind him and slipping something into his pocket, and then setting his hands upon his hips...and even Nymeria who stood next him couldn't help the curiously as it pooled in her gut.

"Well, what does it matter! He's back."

"It matters, it matters a great deal." Thorin snapped at the wizards idle words, walking with his ever heavy burden upon his shoulders as he glared down at the hobbit, and ignoring his strange guardian who never seemed too far away as she matched his intensity with a sneer, bloodied fingers stained with sin moving over her hobbits shoulder as the dwarf came to a stop just in front of them with his face set in a dark scowl of pure contempt that had her hackles raised. "I want to know why you came back."

"Look, I know you doubt me." Bilbo sighed, looking down at the ground before he glanced back up at king, now returning the dwarf's gaze with more confidence, expression determined as he nodded to himself in a self ensured sort of way. "I know you always have. And you're right, I often think of Bag End. I miss reading my books. And sitting in my armchair with Nymeria beside me. And my garden. See, that's where I, well, where we, Nymeria and I, belong. That's our home. And that's why I came back...because you don't have one. A home. It was taken from you. But I will help you take it back if I can."

There was a touched silence over the group after he'd spoken, none of them really knowing what to say as they thought about his words, and Nymeria couldn't even attempt to stop the proud smile that curled at her lips as she looked down upon him with nothing but adoration. Her hobbit had more heart than anyone she'd ever met, she'd told him that on their first ever proper conversation that hadn't involved a blade to his throat...and it was about time that the company seen that, that they seen just what made Bilbo Baggins so special, so unique and so worthy of her loyalty.

However, before they could attempt to get comfortable, attempt to catch a proper break and tend to their wounds...there was a sudden calling in the wind, a symphony of howls that echoed over the hill and moved through the trees like an ominous promise. And her head shot up as she recognised that haunting sound, grip tightening around the halfling as the company began to quickly scramble to gather their things that they had so stupidly scattered across the floor in their efforts to simply catch their breath.

"Out of the frying pan."

"And into the fire. Move! Move!" And it was on Gandalf's order that they were running once more, taking off down the hillside as fast as their legs could carry them as the wargs began their pursuit behind them, moving through the trees of the small forest and hearing their paws as the crashed against the ground below, twigs breaking, leaves crunching and their jaws snapping together that made them all run that much faster in an effort not to be caught in such endeavours. But it wasn't long until they'd caught up with them, and without stopping their rushing, the dwarves swung at what creatures they could reach as they tried to finish them off.

The sky had grown dark around them, as if knowing their fates and mourning for them as they reached the end of the forest...only to realise that they had run into a dead end as the approaching cliff side greeted them, horror mounting in their stomachs as their situation grew even more dire by the minute. "Up into the trees!" Gandalf shouted over the howls and snarls of the approaching wargs, his strong voice shaking just slightly as he took his own advice. "Quickly! Climb!"

But the faè was so busy making sure that Bilbo was safe as she wound her chaos around his small body to fling him up into the tree beside her, doing her best to keep him steady as she got ready to join him...she didn't see the monstrous creature heading straight for her until it was to late, it's teeth bared in a vicious growl and it's claws ready to maim her open back...yet its prize was quickly snatched away from it as the blonde dwarf fell down from the tree behind her with the help of his brother, his sturdy hands hooking under her armpits before they were both pulled up to safety as she gasped and he grunted.

Nymeria quickly leaned back into Fili's warm chest as she blinked at the different surroundings in shock, his arm wrapping securely around her waist while the other reached down to yank her legs up and away from the warg's gaping maw that had been snapping at her feet, his breath winded and frantic in her ear as he kept her close, protected in his arms as she wound her red-tinted fingers in the fur of his coat, holding back onto him just as desperately and then chuckling dryly under her breath as she looked over her shoulder at him. "We really have to stop meeting like this, dwarf."

He laughed, a breathless sound that felt like it had been torn out of his lungs as he pulled her further into his embrace, glancing down towards the orc pack clawing at the trees the company resided in with fear tickling his gut, looking up to make sure Kili was alright as he shot arrow after arrow at the vile creatures that seemed to just coming at them from all angles...but it wasn't enough, it was never going to be enough because they were completely and utterly surrounded. "If we survive this, I'll be sure to let you handle yourself next time, amrâlimê."

The faè almost smiled at that, reaching up to grab the branch above their heads and then pulling herself up on unsteady legs, only grunting slightly as her back exploded with pain before she offered her free hand towards Fili, helping him up to stand beside her, dark eyes surprisingly gentle as she held his gaze, their hands lingering against each other for half a second before they remembered exactly where they were as she pulled her hand back quickly, clearing her throat and avoiding looking at him as she glanced down at the monsters below.

It seemed like it couldn't get any worse, truly, because things were looking rather grim as it was...but, the young faè should of known, should of remembered that the world could always find ways to be darker. She'd thought, long ago, that her heartbreak had been enough to ruin her, that the person she'd loved, cared for, saved leaving her like she was nothing had been the most painful experience of her life...but she'd been dead wrong, because it wasn't just the agony of having her wing ripped from her mortal corpse that had ruined her...it had been the hands who'd dealt her fate that had made her nothing short of devastated.

And when she seen a large pale something come out of the shadows, grinning ominously as he looked at something, or someone and she could feel the sudden overwhelming tension that struck the air, the fear, the horror, but she just didn't know why the strange bastard was such a cause for reaction...until she'd looked back over at Thorin and seen that very same look that she knew carved at her face whenever she thought about the cause of her ruination, that pain, that hate, that need for vengeance...and then she realized just how much worse things had turned as the fates laughed cruelly around them.

Azorg the defiler, her memory whispered, remembering the story from Balin that he'd told that seemed so long ago, and then she felt like an idiot for not recognizing him sooner...after all, she didn't think there were many white looking orc's that had it in for Thorin, she could of been wrong though, the king under the mountain was somewhat...rage inducing. He spoke cruelly, spitting the words out with obvious threat as they all stared at him fearfully...and then his arm lifted, and his army descended.

The tree beneath them started shaking, forcing Nymeria and Fili to grab onto each other to keep their balance as underneath their safety, the problem lay, wargs and Orcs alike throwing themself against the wooden trunks they resided in, and Nymeria felt her heart lurch in her chest as the tree suddenly gave way...and they were falling, forced down to the horrors awaiting below, her hands encased in their vicious glow as her red mist wrapped around the two dwarves that had stayed with her, throwing them onto the tree behind them as they screamed before she leapt after them, colliding with a branch that punched against her stomach and winding her like a blow to the gut as she wheezed.

But she didn't have time to recover, barely had time to catch her breath because once more, they became under attack with the tree threatening to fall, and a quick look around her showed that the others, the company and her hobbit were being forced into the same fate, having no choice but to jump into tree after tree in their attempts to get away just like they were, to avoid the drooling and no doubt infectious teeth of the large wolf like creatures, or the swords and blades of the horrendous looking orcs.

However, Nymeria realized a second too late that they were herding them like lambs to slaughter...towards the final tree just peeking beyond the end of the cliff.

Her bloodied hands shook as she wrapped her fingers around another branch above her head, hearing the others shouting, arguing amongst each other on just what they were going to do, feeling the vibrations of their movements through the groaning wood as they all frantically tried to keep their balance and not fall into a rather bleak fate below, entangled with each other and the tree stuffed to the brim, filled with the strange group, the roots holding the tree becoming weaker and weaker as the weight piled on. In other words...they were doomed.

It was barely even a moment after that thought had whispered inside her mind, that a burning pine cone was suddenly sent flying past her head as it smashed onto the ground and causing spark to fly as its fire began to spread. She heard Gandalf call Fili's name and she spun around to see another cone landing in the dwarfs hand, his face setting in a grimace as it began to burn his fingers, passing it over to the others as they all grabbed their own pine cones, sharing the flames and the dangerous embers before dropping them against the forest floor and forcing the wargs futher and further away from them.

After all, if there was one thing that the old wizard was good at...it was improvising.

The company began to cheer, and she almost joined them as she took a breath of relief, her whole body trembling in her terrible exhaustion as she risked a step back where Fili was quick to steady her, his warm hand dancing over her hip to keep her upright as he looked upon the fire spreading out around them with a grin...but their victory was short lived as the tree beneath them finally bowed to the weight, the pressure, and fell back over the edge of the cliff, only hanging on by a few mere roots as they were all forced off their feet with frightened screams.

Nymeria thanked whatever higher force there was that she'd already been holding onto a branch as her legs gave out, dangling over into the darkness below as she grunted with her weight, before something inside her panicked, and her arm shot out in reaction just to wind around a hand that she'd quickly lurched to the side to grab, and when she looked down it was to see Fili hanging on for dear life as he held onto her forearm with his face setting in relief at her strangely quick reflexes.

"Nice of you to return the favour!" He called out with his voice shaking, his heart pounding in his chest as she began to pull him up beside her until he was hanging onto the same branch she was, their breaths leaving their lungs in gasping pants as they both tried to come down from their near-death experience. However, it was only when they heard the others desperate and fearful calls of Thorin's name did they look up and away from each other...to see the king under the mountain storming through the flames...and heading straight for Azorg with his sword raised and a battle cry upon his lips.

And even she couldn't stop her pained grimace when Thorin was sent crashing onto the ground by the pale orc's swing, watching with wide eyes when the white warg he rode on clamped its drooling jaws around the fallen dwarf with a devastating crunch as they all screamed for him in terror. They tree kept shaking as the company tried to get to him, tried to help, to get to their king...but the flames kept rising, and the roots kept breaking as then Thorin was suddenly flying through the air and landing upon a large boulder, defeated.

It all seemed to go in slow motion, words drowned and sluggish, the air thick and making their movements too late, lagging behind them as they yelled. And she was so distracted by the savagery, the horror happening in front of her, that she didn't notice her hobbits absence until it was too late...until her heart was leapting in her throat at the sight of Bilbo as he dived out from the flames and barrelled into the orc's side...and it was just like that, the fight had suddenly been restored inside her as her eyes began to glow with warning.

Because the faè could be dead, could be long since cold in the earth below with maggots rotting their way through her corpse. Her legs could be gone, her arms could be broken and her magic could be torn away from her and leaving her nothing but the causation of ruination...but if her hobbit found himself in danger, she would find a way to crawl her way out of her grave, to cheat death, to cheat the fates and she'd come home to him. She would never stop fighting, for Bilbo, always for her Bilbo.

The pale orc approached the halfling slowly, menacingly with his cruel eyes dark and taunting, his sword raised to deliver the dying blow upon the small creature that had attempted to take away his victory.

And then Nymeria landed behind him, her victorious, blood-stained hands steady and dangerous as her chaos lashed out, wrapping around a warg and its rider that had been moving for her hobbit and crushing them dead as she bared her teeth at them all, her glowing eyes catching the pale orc's to see his confusion...and feel his fear as she slashed her hand through the air and sent another warg's head crashing onto the floor as he staggered away...and just like that, the fight was on as the dwarves joined her crusade with their weapons drawn and hearts strong, ready to die to protect their fallen king while she only cared about protecting her Bilbo.

But the wargs decended upon her like moth to flame, battering themselves against her crimson shield that flickered around her and her hobbit and Thorin's unconscious body, forming sharp spikes of temptation that dove into their bodies and tearing straight through like a mocking blade, sharper than any knife and far deadlier, her shaking fingers drawing shapes through the air, slashing up and down and left and right as more and more corpses joined the masses building around her.

However, it seemed that with every one of them that she knocked down, slain with their disgusting blood staining the ground for years to come, two more took their place, practically crawling over the corpses of their dead comrades with their black teeth bared and weapons drawn, and she felt fear tickle the pit in her stomach the more they came towards her, magic draining as she was forced to take and take and take from her precious supply of morality that slipped through her shaking fingers like the ever moving sands of time.

There was too many, and she was far too tired to even try and pretend she was strong enough to take them. Her eyes frantically searched for something, anything they could use to escape, the taste of copper heavy on her tongue as blood pooled in her mouth, her exhaustion taking her for all she had as she grunted and cursed with agony lacing every inch of her ruined body until she felt like her legs were going to give way and she was about to crumble into dust where she stood. But it wasn't salvation that her gaze eventually caught, but Fili's as he tried to cut through the orc's surrounding his uncle's unconscious body.

She could see that same fear, that same desperation, and that same devastating realization that they were horribly outnumbered, even with her chaos, even with the old wizard behind them who was trying to save Dori and Ori from falling to their deaths. They held gazes as Nymeria forced herself to glow brighter, stronger, and Fili grew more merciless with his sword in his hand, time moving around them slowly as the flames licked higher and the smoke grew thicker...and the darkness of the night had never seemed so ominous then when it might be the last one they'd ever see.

But then, the strangest sound reached her ears...the flapping of large, heavy wings and a loud, harrowing caw that made her bones shudder inside her skin. And when she finally turned to look towards the sky, for a moment, she found herself wondering if the blood loss had finally gotten to her, if her eyes were deceiving her as she blinked up at the quite frankly, humongous eagles that had suddenly filled the night, looming above them like some great higher force as her chaos continued to seep out from her flesh and take no prisoners even in her confused state of mind.

They grabbed the orcs and wargs alike in their great talons, dropping them over the edge or using their majestic wings to battle the flames...before they suddenly began to pick the company up, and drop them onto one anothers back as they soared into the clouded heavens.

Nymeria held on, protecting Bilbo as she shot bursts of red mist from her bleeding palms, dodging this way and that as she fought through the masses, just breaking through in time to see one of the eagles taking him, their eyes meeting as he called her name in terror as he was finally taken away from the loosing fight, Thorin's unconscious body quickly following...and soon it was everyone but her as she paved a path back towards the end of the cliff, trying to make sure that none of the dwarves were left, that everyone had been moved to safety and not understanding where such care had come from.

And when she was sure that everyone was no longer atop the burning cliff edge and tempting the ever cruel fates, she finally turned her back on the advancing creatures that were still rushing towards her and fell back into the abyss below, the wind wrapping around her body, howling in her ear like a sirens song, plunging her further and further down into darkness as her eyes fluttered shut and her arms spread out...and then she was caught on the eagles feathered wing...and she was soaring her way into her kingdom once more.