(Thorin's P.O.V)

'The birthright of my people...my birthright...this gold...' I thought to myself, sitting comfortably on the throne my grandfather once sat upon. 'Fortify...we need to...how...to protect the treasure...from those and those ...'

I gritted my teeth, tense and irritated...and I slouched further on the throne, my eyes glaring at the ground in front of me.

'Mine...the gold in this mountain...is mine...' I thought to myself. 'I will never part...with a single coin...'

Footsteps approaching the throne bought me out of my thoughts and I looked up to see Dwalin marching toward me.

"Since when do we forsake our own people? Thorin," Dwalin questioned, walking up the steps toward the throne. "they are dying out there."

A sudden thought came to me, a realization, and I sat forward in my chair.

"There are halls beneath halls within this mountain. Places we can fortify," I spoke. "shore up, make safe. Yes." I spoke quickly, pushing myself off of the throne and made my way toward Dwalin. "Yes, that is it."

I looked around, glancing in all directions at the halls beneath this throne...perfect places to hide the gold in this mountain...this gold...

"We must move the gold further underground to safety." I spoke urgently, pivoting around and heading down one of the bridges behind me.

"Did ya not hear me!" Dwalin yelled, causing me to stop in my tracks, and I slowly turned to face my old friend. "Dain is surrounded. They're being slaughtered, Thorin. We've been watching and we've lost track of Belle...she's nowhere on the field."

'Traitor...' I thought suddenly before taking a glance around the throne room.

"Many die in war." I spoke out, turning my head to slowly glance back at Dwalin. The more I spoke, my voice cracked a little. "Life is cheap. But a treasure such as this cannot be counted in lives lost."

'He doesn't understand...no one does.' I thought, my gaze turning hard.

"It is worth all the blood we can spend." I spat out as Dwalin stared right back at me, before scoffing.

"You sit here in these vast halls with a crown upon your head" Dwalin spoke out, smirking a little and scoffing once more. "and yet you are lesser now than you have ever been."

'How dare he...' I thought a bit sadly, feeling betrayed yet again...hurt.

"Do not speak to me...as if I were some lowly dwarf lord...as if I were still..." I spoke out, taking slow steps back. I placed a hand over my eyes, my voice quivering. "Thorin Oakenshield."

'How dare he talk to me that way!' I thought suddenly, anger springing out.

"I am your King!" I yelled out, taking the sword from my waist and swinging toward Dwalin, staggering a bit.

"You were always my King." Dwalin said quietly, stepping toward me. "You used to know that once."

I looked back to him, recovering from my slight unbalance.

"Belle and Bilbo were right...you cannot see what you have become." Dwalin spoke even softer than before, but I could hear. Voice carries far in this vast throne room.

'What I've become...' I thought curiously...I looked to Dwalin...my comrade, my friend...loyal...and I was hurt.

"Go." I spoke to him. "Get out." My voice cracked...I was in pain. "Before I kill you."

I heard Dwalin scoff before turning his back to me and walking away. I was left alone once more, no sound and left to my own thoughts.

I looked around at the sudden voice; there was no one in the throne room. It was a woman's voice...it sounded familiar...but where have I heard it before.

The same voice spoke once more.

I saw something in the corner of my eyes and when I turned to look, I could only glare.

"What are you still doing here...I banished you from this place." I spoke angrily, walking up to what caught my eyes. "Leave!"

The traitor...the elf I had loved stood before me, dressed in a white elvish dress, the bottom flared all around her, a silver crown with a royal blue gem in the center sat on her head, her hair smooth and flowing behind her...she was beautiful.

I shook my head and glared...this betrayed ! And when she didn't move...I got angrier.

"You have some nerve being here! Returning when I clearly banished you from ever coming back!" I growled out, pointing my sword just inches from her chest. "I said !"

The elf just smiled before closing the gap between us, my sword piercing through her chest...no. Not pierce...it went straight through her.

She stated, walking closer to me.

"I have no time for your silly games!" I growled out, turning to leave and making my way toward the Gallery of the Kings.

The elf mumbled, quickly catching up to me and walking beside me...walking in time with me. I growled in a threatening manner, but the elf paid no attention to me.

I decided to ignore her, but the elf was being persistent...there was no silence for she would always be talking.

The elf questioned.

"You betrayed me." I spoke quietly.

The elf spoke firmly, she moved so she was standing right in front of me.

"Betrayed by the one I love..." I spoke, glaring slightly.

The elf growled out, before sighing sadly. The elf got to her knees right in front of me.

The elf lifted her arms and extended her hand to me.

The elf spoke firmly.

Her hand was held palm up toward me, but I simply moved around her and continued to walk.

She spoke quietly, clearly upset from what I could tell, but I did not care.

I made my way to the Gallery of the Kings, the gold now hardened after so many days that it was now just a solid hard floor.

"You sit here...with a crown upon your head...you are lesser now than you have ever been." Dwalin's voice echoed around me as I walked on the gold floor.

"But a treasure such as this cannot be counted in lives lost." My voice spoke out...what was I hearing.

The elf spoke from beside me.

"A sickness lies upon that treasure." Balin's voice spoke out.

"The blind ambition of a mountain King." Bard...I would recognize the voice of that naysayer anywhere.

Everything was getting louder, the voices in my head. The room was beginning to spin. I began to stagger...I felt dizzy.

"Am I not the King?!" My voice echoed in my head. "This gold is ours and ours alone."

I looked to the ground and saw something...swim under the solid floor.

"I will not part...with a s-s-s-s-single coin." My voice came out in a hiss...where had that come from?

"He could not see beyond his own desire!" Bard proclaimed.

'Am I becoming...?' I thought to myself as I glanced around to the gold that glowed brightly beneath me.

The elf questioned, now standing right in front of me before vanishing, the voices overpowering her own.

"As if I were some lowly dwarf Lord." "Thorin Oakenshield." My voice cracked, the conversation I had previously with Dwalin echoing around.

"A sickness which drove your grandfather mad." Balin stated.

"Oakenshield."

"This is Thorin, Son of Thráin, Son of Thrór!" Dwalin's voice proclaimed.

The voices...were overlapping, too many at once! I felt faint...

"I am not my grandfather." My voice spoke out.

The elf suddenly stood right before me.

She spoke out suddenly, breaking through the other voices.

The voices started to rush to me all at once, speaking one right after the other that I felt myself slowly losing control.

"I am not my grandfather . I am not my grandfather."

"You are the heir of the throne of Durin." Gandalf spoke out.

"They are dying out there." Dwalin's voice repeated.

"Take back Erebor." Gandalf said.

"Dain is surrounded." "Dying" "Is surrounded." The voice of Dwalin repeated once more, his voice now distorted and pulled out.

"Take back your homeland." The voice of Gandalf spoke firmly.

"You are changed, Thorin." The voice of Bilbo echoed around me and I began to slowly open my eyes.

'I am not my grandfather.' I thought to myself.

"Is this treasure truly worth more than your honor?" Bilbo questioned.

'I am not my grandfather.' I thought more firmly this time around.

A rumbling caught my ears and I looked beside me to see something slithering under me, the long shadow of a tail sperentining this way and that. I followed the edge of the tail as it circled around me and disappeared in a flash, and I took a step back.

The voice of the elf said softly, but I was not paying attention to her. I was more concerned of what I was seeing.

The gold began to rise up around me. It was like a wave about to swallow me whole...I was afraid.

"This treasure will be your death!" Gandalf's voice echoed the loudest, vibrating all around me and I fell to my knees and groaned.

My world was spinning...the gold was rising around me...suffocating me...I couldn't breathe...what is happening to me.

The voice of the elf spoke softly, as if she was a thousand miles away from me now.

I tried to climb the slopes of the gold...trying to get out of the hole that the gold had created around me. It was planning to swallow me up...I was afraid. I tried desperately to climb the edges, to make my way to the surface...but the slopes were steep and it kept dragging me back down. I was afraid...

A light voice called to me.

'The voice was closer now, a voice that chased away my fear. The voice was soothing and closer than before and I looked up to the top of the hole.

'Bellethiel...' I thought, finally acknowledging the voice.

Bellethiel...the elf...my elf was kneeling at the very edge of the hole. She was smiling that beautiful smile of hers; one of her hands gripped the edge of the hole while the other was reaching down to me.

She said, reaching down for me.

Her hand was inches from my own; she smiled at me...her eyes shone brightly. I could see the love she held for me in her eyes and she looked down to my hand expectantly.

She spoke calmly.

In a last attempt, I pushed myself up, crawling to close the gap between us and I reached out and took her hand.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

It was as if, the moment my hand came in contact with hers, the spell was lifted. I could see clearly, think clearly...there were no voices in my head. There were no hallucinations...what I had seen...what I had felt was not real.

I reached up quickly to the crown on my head and flung it across the room. The sound making a loud clang as it came in contact with the hard gold floor.

"I am not my grandfather." I spoke out sternly.

I looked around, and began taking off my armor...my clothing...the clothing that reminded me of my grandfather. I felt like something heavy was lifted off my shoulders, lifted from my chest...and then I felt awful for what I had done. What I did to my nephews, my friends, and the woman I said I cared so much about...my love.

A faint voice called out in a loving manner.

"Bellethiel..." I called out longingly, looking around and searching for the woman the voice belonged to.

Her voice called out, and I could almost see the smile on her face as she said these words.

I snapped out of it and made a run for the front gates.

(Kili's P.O.V)

I was sitting on a random rock...my head low, shoulders sagged, my hands clasped between my legs.

"What are we doing...?" I mumbled quietly, clenching my hands in irritation.

We were dressed for war...and now here we are. Stuck here in this mountain while our friends, our family were out there dying.

Footsteps were heard headed our way and I lifted my head up to see a shadow emerging from within the mountain.

I quickly stood up, and I could finally see my uncle. His clothing had changed...he wasn't dressed in that royal garment I had seen him in. I glared a bit in anger and I began to make my way toward him, meeting him half way.

"I will not hide...behind a wall of stone...while others fight our battles for us!" I yelled out my voice echoing around us. I had tried to keep myself together, but I was beyond angry. "It is not in my blood, Thorin."

As my uncle stopped before me, I could see something had changed. He looked like...well he looked like...my uncle again. The uncle Fili and I had looked up to all these years...the dwarf who took care of us.

"No." Thorin spoke sternly. "It is not."

"We are sons of Durin. And Durin's folk do not flee from a fight." Thorin said, smiling a small smile at me. He reached forward and placed a hand on my shoulder.

I was trying not to cry, I felt small tears well up in my eyes and my lips begin to tremble. Uncle placed his hand behind my neck and bought me close, placing his forehead against my own.

I was happy to see my uncle back to the way he was. Thank Mahal he was back...

(Fili's P.O.V)

'Thorin...' I thought watching the exchange between my brother and my uncle.

Uncle took a step around Kili and made his way toward us.

"I have no right to ask this of any of you." Thorin stated as he got closer. "But will you follow me...one last time?"

I smiled proudly as the rest of the company lifted their weapons, all of them nodding their heads.

I walked forward toward my uncle and when I was close enough he nodded to me and bought me to him, doing the same gesture he had done to Kili.

"It's good to have you back uncle..." I whispered quietly as the two of us pulled away.

"I'm sorry about all the pain that I have caused to you..." Thorin said, looking to both Kili and myself the moment my brother came to stand beside me. "to both of you."

"You were not yourself uncle." I said to him.

"Bellethiel..." I heard my uncle mumble quietly. "is she..."

"She's still alive." Kili stated.

"Are you sure?" Thorin questioned.

"We haven't seen her, we lost track of her when the army of orcs split and the other half headed to Dale." I stated. "But we know she's still alive."

Thorin looked a little unsure, he looked guilty and upset and heartbroken.

"Uncle..." I said reaching out to place a hand on his shoulder. "She's out there."

(Thorin's P.O.V)

I nodded to my nephews...still worried about the well-being of my elf. And when I looked past my nephews I saw her standing there by the gate, her back toward me.

'Bellethiel...?' I thought, a bit in shock.

As if hearing me, she turned around to face me. Her clothing changing before my eyes from the simple white dress, to the armor I had seen her wearing when she had arrived at the mountain.

"She spoke up, smiling at me before she turned around and walked to the stone gate and vanishing right then and there. "