After the company was ordered to destroy the bridge using the head of a statue at the front gate, they all headed to the armory to prepare for battle.

"It may not be the best fit," Dwalin said, handing Agarwaen a pile, consisting of chainmail, a smaller breastplate, metal gauntlets, and small, but still far too broad pauldrons. "But it will serve its purpose."

"Thank you." She took it as he left in a hurry to help everyone else find suitable armor. She then set it down on a table, shedding her blue overshirt and slipping the mail on. After seeing how the breastplate would fit, she was annoyed, but not surprised at how ill-fitting it was, mostly due to it being men's armor. It wasn't a difficult problem to fix, though. She asked Oin for a roll of bandage, and left to another room to wrap herself before coming back to put on the armor. It fit better this time, and now she just had to tighten the leather straps as best she could.

"Do you need help?" Thorin asked from behind her as she attempted to tighten a strap under her right arm. She jumped at the sudden voice, and gulped when she saw him.

"I, um...I can manage." She was able to pull it to the tightest hole in the belt, and tucked the excess leather in. Thorin nodded but didn't leave. "Do you need something?"

"I want to speak with you and Bilbo as soon as you're done." She lifted the pauldrons over her head and sighed at how far past the edge of her shoulders it came.

"I look ridiculous." She fumbled with the straps of it.

"You look safer than you would be without it." He smiled, almost like he used to, almost like the Thorin she had come to love dearly was peeking out from wherever he hid.

"I don't think I can shoot in this. Much less those gauntlets." She held her arms out in a typical archer position. Just like she expected, it was extremely uncomfortable to do so. Thorin then began scrounging around for anything else that she could use, and eventually found an old leather cuirass in a corner. He dusted it off, sending a spider scurrying away, and then went on to find some fingerless leather gauntlets, metal bracers, and metal faulds.

"These should work better." He set them down as she started taking off the breastplate. She wondered if she should try to reason with him now that he was here with her and in a better mood.

"Those elves will take nothing from me, and they will not take you either." He said, handing her the cuirass. She ruled her thought of reasoning out at that. Apparently now was not the time. But she had to try at some point today. She looked down at the king, clad in his golden armor and wearing his crown. His jaw was set in determination to keep his treasure safe, but his face still held kindness for her. In all honesty, she hated it. He was willing to bestow upon her jewels, gold, and riches, but not the people who needed it most.

After reluctantly letting Thorin help with the straps across her back, she put faulds on over her hips, and then the breastplate, which she again refused help with. The metal bracers went over the leather gauntlets, and finally, she strapped on her scabbard, quiver, and bow.

"A mighty sight to behold." Thorin commented.

"Should I take this off?" She asked about the diamond and sapphire necklace she still wore.

"No, it will not break in battle. They all need to know on which side you fight." He said, his face becoming cold once again. "Now come, I must speak with you and Bilbo." He led the way to the armory door, and picked up a chainmail shirt along the way.

"Master Baggins," He called upon seeing the hobbit down the hall. "Come here." Bilbo hesitantly went to meet them, and Thorin took a few steps forward. He gave the mail to the hobbit, explaining that it was made of mithril and that no blade could pierce it. She was glad that it was being given to Bilbo, the one member of their party who wasn't really a fighter. Should danger find him somehow, that gift could be the difference between life and death.

"It is a gift. A token of our friendship." Thorin smiled. "True friends are hard to come by." He grabbed Bilbo's arm and pushed him along. Agarwaen followed. "I have been blind. But now I begin to see. I have been betrayed."

"Betrayed?" Bilbo asked.

"The Arkenstone. One of them has taken it." Thorin whispered, looking to both of his listeners with a dark and unsettling gaze. Bilbo shifted uncomfortably. "One of them is false." It began to make sense to Agarwaen now, why she couldn't find it even after knowing where it last was. She thanked Iluvatar that whoever has it hasn't given it to Thorin. If she could just find out who, then she could get it out of here.

"Thorin, the quest is fulfilled. You've won the mountain, isn't that enough?" Bilbo asked.

"Betrayed by my own kin." Thorin continued as if he hadn't heard him.

"You...you made a promise to the people of Laketown. Is this treasure truly worth more than you honor? Our honor? I was also there, I gave my word."

"For that I am grateful." Thorin nodded. "It was nobelly done, but the treasure of this mountain does not belong to the people of Laketown. This gold is ours and ours alone. On my life, I will not part with a single coin. Not one piece of it." He stepped back as the newly armed dwarves marched out of the armory between them and headed for the gate.

Agarwaen had to do something to stop this madness.

As soon as the sky outside grew dark, Agarwaen's heart raced. She needed to try and talk to Thorin, and she needed to talk to him now.

She checked the treasure horde, but he wasn't there, so she took to quickly searching anywhere else he could be. He wasn't at the throne, wasn't in the armory, or at the gate. After asking Balin if he'd seen him, she was directed to the gallery of the kings.

"Thorin?" She called. The king was currently standing over the golden floor where they tried to kill Smaug.

"I'm here." He responded, slowly looking up at her. She wished she'd tried to talk to him earlier, because now she could practically feel the dragon sickness surrounding him. The air hung heavy as she approached him, and his eyes were the color of dark steel.

"Thorin...is this war really worth fighting?" His shoulders slumped and his face twisted in a sneer.

"Of course it is. I am protecting the birthright of my people."

"Who's birthright is it going to be if your people are dead?" She tried to reason.

"Dain will be here with an army. We will win."

"Maybe we will, but blood will still be shed. And for what? The sake of a few gold coins?

"It belongs in Erebor!" He began raising his voice.

"You gave them your word! What happened to the Thorin I used to know? The Thorin who spoke of honor and wanted nothing more than to simply reclaim his home? Not his treasure, but his home. He would have never gone back on his word and left good people to die in destruction that he caused!"

"How dare you speak to me like that." He growled. "I am protecting what is mine!"

"You are hoarding! You have halls upon halls filled with gold that serves no purpose other than to just sit there! Money has no worth if it is used for nothing!"

"It is a display of power!"

"It is a display of greed!" Her voice was becoming hoarse the longer she yelled. "I refuse to bathe in diamonds when others are starving and dying with not a single piece of silver to their name! That's what honor is, in case you've forgotten!"

"Honor? You dare speak to me of honor when you told me yourself that you wish you hadn't stood up for the people of Erebor? That you wish you could've gone quietly and left my people to die?" His words hit her like a slap to the face.

"To which you said you blamed me not! That you would feel the same if you were in my situation! That it matters not what you wish, but what you do!" Tears threatened to spill down her cheeks. "That was the Thorin I used to know. The Thorin I cared so much about. The Thorin that met me on the ramparts."

"Do not speak to me of that night. You left me!"

"I left you to spare us both the heartbreak! Now I'm even more glad that I did!"

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"This gold has warped you into a monster, Thorin." The first tear dropped from her right eye. "You do not care for the needs of others, you are willing to spill the blood of your family and friends for pointless possessions, and you attack me with your words. If one of them has really found the Arkenstone and is keeping it from you, it is for good reason! It's driving you mad!"

"If one of them is keeping it from me, it is treason!" He yelled so loud that the echo hurt her ears.

"If I had found it, I would never let you have it!" She yelled back. Before she could even step away, sharp pain seared across her face as Thorin drew his sword and whipped it through the air. She stumbled backwards and pressed her hands to her face where a sizable gash ran from the bottom of her right cheek to her forehead above her left eye. She pulled her hands away to find them covered in blood. She looked back to Thorin, who stood there glaring at her with his sword drawn. He took a threatening step toward her, and she instinctively unsheathed her sword in response.

It was Belegurion all over again.

"Thorin please, listen to me!" She begged, the movement of her mouth making the gash burn worse.

"You are a traitor. A liar!" He yelled. "Your loyalty does not lie with me, nor the mountain! You are against us! You have betrayed me!" She blocked a downward swing from him just as blood started dripping into her left eye, blurring her vision.

"I am trying to help you! The Arkenstone is driving you mad! I cannot let you have it because I care too much to see you fall prey to it!"

"It is the king's jewel!"

"It is corrupt!" She shoved his sword to the side and rolled away from him.

"I should have known better than to trust an elf! You are just like your kin!" He came at her again with such ferocity, she was sure this was to be her end. She blocked him as best she could, but this was not a spar. This was an anger-fueled fight. Fear caused adrenaline to pump through her veins and kept her attentive, but with only one working eye, she wasn't sure how long she could hold him.

Blow after blow he struck, pushing her back further and further as blood trickled down her smooth breastplate and onto the golden floor. The pain was momentarily forgotten to her, but it was pure terror that replaced it. Thorin fully intended to kill her, and she'd barely beaten him a simple spar, and that was because she'd flirted with him.

He swung at her again, and she parried, trying her hardest to stand her ground. He let go of his sword with one hand and grasped the necklace that hung about her neck.

"You are undeserving of all that has been given to you! Starting with this!" He yanked it, but the chain was reluctant to break, and by pulling it, he caused her to seize forward and fall to the ground. It broke during her fall and he cast it aside. "You don't deserve that armor! You don't deserve those clothes! You don't deserve your share, or the company of my kin!" He stalked toward her, his blade held out at his side. She tried to push herself to her feet as fast as she could, but he kicked her with his steel-toed boots, effectively taking the breath from her lungs, even with her armor on, and sent her back down and onto her back.

"Ishkhakui ai durugnul!" He put his foot on her chest and leaned in. She clawed for breath beneath his weight and looked up at him as she tried desperately to push his boot off of her.

He then raised his sword above her neck, ready to plunge it down and end her traitorous life.

Ishkhakui ai durugnul- I will spit on your grave!