The night had been wonderful for the most part, dancing with Kili in that courtyard, watching Bilbo find happiness among the elves, and talking with the four dwarves who were more than willing to give her their time and attention. Alexa found herself completely intoxicated by the aroma that was that night in Rivendell, time simply whooshing by in a blur of beauty and fun and happiness.

So when she woke up the next morning it took her a moment to push aside the bliss that had encompassed her and realize that she had indeed just woken up. Her body shot up, her hair cascading in kinky waves down her back, parts of it resting on the two princes who had slept on either side of her.

'How the hell did I end up here?' she turned back and forth between the two, her mind drawing a blank on the events that led to this. She rolled over on her stomach and started to shake Fili, knowing that she actually needed to speak to someone.

"Fili!" She yelled but the dwarf merely groaned and tried to swat her away. "FILI!" Alexa grabbed his braided beard and pulled his head up by them. It took a moment but the prince's eyes flew open and he grabbed onto Alexa's wrists.

"Of the ways I have been woken up by females, this is not an acceptable means."

Alexa shook that imagery out of her head. "Well that's charming." She took a breath as Fili leaned back onto his arms. "Fili…I slept last night."

"I know, do you know how hard it is to carry your unconscious form in secret after drinking all that elven wine?" His statement took Alexa aback for a moment as she tried to picture Fili stumbling around with her in his arms, trying to avoid the dwarves unaware of her existence. In her mind he had the Mission Impossible theme playing in the background.

"While appreciated it's not important. Fili, I actually slept last night. I haven't slept since I first arrived here, I haven't even felt sleepy. By the sounds of it too I was out last night, and that's enhanced by the fact that I don't remember what happened past a certain point."

Fili looked surprised. "That can't possibly be true."

"Don't you think I would be a lot happier if I remembered how I ended up in this particular bed?" Alexa flopped, throwing her arms to the side against the two princes. Kili snored louder for a second before going back to quiet and Fili chuckled at him.

"Told you he did that."

"He's still cuter than you."

"Dear lady, you wound me with your insults."

"And you sir, don't seem to understand what this means! If I am starting to sleep it means I am becoming less…ghosty!" Fili guffawed at her word, so she headbutted his chest. "Making fun of me is what makes you less attractive."

Fili bit his lip and waited until his giggles had subsided. "Alright, alright. So I'm assuming you're happy about these recent events?"

Alexa shifted so she was half lying on the blonde dwarf. "I guess I am, I mean it means that I'm becoming stronger, though still no clue how it's happening." Kili groaned again and turned away from the two. "How much did he have to drink last night?"

"Not as much as me, but he's always been more of a lightweight." Fili nudged his brother slightly. "Bofur definitely had the most last night, I'll be surprised if he's awake by the time-"

The door to their room creaked open, slow enough to make it sound like a horror movie moment in Alexa's mind. Bofur slid into the room and shut the door.

"You were saying?" Alexa gave such a mocking tone that Fili pushed her off of him and onto his brother.

Bofur stood confused for a moment, taking in the scene before him momentarily as his mind remembered his point for running into the room in the first place. "Lad, gather your things." He spoke to Fili, after all Alexa didn't really have things. "Thorin is gathering everyone and we're leaving as soon as possible."

"Wait, why so quickly?" Alexa rolled off of Kili, who finally started to open his eyes, grumbling loudly about how the sunlight was out to get him. As he was packing Fili chuckled at his younger brother once again.

"Thorin believes that the elves won't let us leave willingly, so does Gandalf. The wizard is going to provide us with a distraction lass." This news shocked Alexa, her face not doing well in hiding her emotions.

"You mean he's not coming with us?" Last time Gandalf had left them, they had almost been roasted and eaten alive by trolls. They had to face the fact that the riddle speaking wizard was useful from time to time.

"He will meet us on the mountain pass, but from here to there he will not be in our company."

"We are soooo gonna die." Alexa shook her head and jumped on Kili again, who had decided to snooze once again on his bed. The prince shot up and grabbed her arms, eyes trying to focus on who had just disturbed him before his mind caught up and he realized that it was her on top of him. She grabbed his arms and pulled him up until he was standing.

"You're such a hopeful personality aren't you?" Bofur laughed and started to help Fili pack the bags. Though Kili had missed the large part of the conversation he went along with the packing without question.

"I am an eternal optimist. I don't know why you sound sarcastic?" Alexa paused as she watched the three dwarves pack. "Just a thought, but how does a whole group of dwarves plan to sneak out of an elvish city with super sensory elves around every corner?" The three males paused, Kili slower than the other two. She shook her head and chuckled.

"You know, you all would be lost if you didn't have a genius like me by your side."

XXX

"I do not understand why suddenly Fili thinks he can take charge." Thorin's grumbling in the midst of dwarves could be heard by all, including his nephew who had suddenly taken charge and was leading them through the corridors. What he and a majority of the company couldn't see was Alexa, silently padding ahead of them all. She checked around corners and ran through walls, making sure there were no elves on the dwarves current paths. She had only had to distract two so far.

"Just trust the boy Thorin, you've trained him well. I do have to agree that if we are discovered that Fili would be level headed enough to come up with a convincing lie."

"Would you tell them to shush!" Alexa hissed as she walked back around the corner. Fili and Ori made a gesture to be silent, and the "hmph" heard in response was louder than the actual conversation. Alexa through a random annoyed wind down the hall. As the dwarves beards smacked them in their faces she smirked and then double checked that the corridor was still clear. Motioning for Fili, he followed her to the left and out an archway. The group appeared in a courtyard, the moon still high in the sky while only a glimpse of the sun could be sensed in the distance. The path in front of them appeared to be clear.

"We should tread carefully, there could still be elves in the vicinity." Fili took the steps first as Alexa flitted about. None were coming down the corresponding corridors, none were hiding behind pillars or bushes, nor were they within the leaves of trees above them all. She considered her search thorough enough.

"Go, now!" The group followed the young dwarf's lead and began a quick jog towards the path that led out of the city. Alexa switched between sides, popping here and there, making sure there were no surprising appearances by a sneaky elf. She was almost tempted to grab something and smuggle it out as a souvenir.

"Don't do it." Fili glanced her way as he saw her eyeing a small decorative bowl.

"Like they would notice it was missing."

"I'm not saying they would notice it was missing but they would certainly notice if you weren't strong enough and instead of grabbing it you simply knocked it onto the ground and let it clamor." She withdrew her hand and gave him a dead pan look.

"Damn you and your logic." Alexa popped further ahead of the group, at the exit of the entirety of Rivendell, and still luck was on their side. Fili led the group by her, with Bilbo trailing last, and they began their excursion up the rocky path of the mountains.

"Are we sure Mr. Gandalf will be alright?" Ori clutched his journal to his chest as he moved between his brothers.

Alexa shouted over her shoulder. "Do you honestly think the elves are going to do anything to him? If anything Elrond will lecture him for the time we need!"

"I suppose that is true." The young dwarf laughed while his brothers looked startled.

"Ori, who in blazes are you talking to?" Dori's eyes scanned the group for whoever could have answered his younger brother. Alexa shrunk down, even though they couldn't see her, while Fili chuckled. She pressed herself against the cliff side, letting the dwarves wander by her. Ori gave her a sheepish look of apology, while Bofur and Balin smiled at her warmly. When Kili walked by she reached out and brushed his hands with hers. He looked to his left and briefly folded his fingers around hers before continuing on his way. Alexa looked longingly after him, not noticing the dwarf walking behind him until her shoulder collided with him.

"I'm sorry, my bad." Alexa apologized simultaneously with rough dwarven speech being tossed her way as well. Her eyes met Bifur, who stared directly back at her, before moving on with such a nonchalant attitude that Alexa couldn't help but be impressed.

"Well damn." She wondered if the axe embedded in his skull gave him a heads up on the afterlife, before she considered that because he couldn't speak English, she had never really taken any notice of him because she felt she couldn't communicate with him anyway. A wave of shame came over her, thinking that maybe he had been able to see her longer than most of the others, thus the unsurprised look he had given her. She certainly felt like a bitch.

"Is everything alright Alexa?" Bilbo was bringing up the rear of the group.

She shook her head, "No, but I am going to try and make it right later." Her eyes drifted to the hobbit, who was staring behind them instead of forward. "What about you, are you going to manage this the rest of the way? You seemed very content in Rivendell."

"I did, it was-"

"Mr. Baggins are you coming?" Thorin's voice boomed even when Alexa suspected he didn't intend for it to. He had moved to the last of the dwarves, and had a mask of impatient sympathy on his face. It was obvious that she wasn't the only one to have realized the happiness of the hobbit in the elvish city. Without another word Bilbo turned and walked after their leader, choosing his promise over safety once again.

xXx

It didn't take long for Alexa to realize that she almost would have preferred to stay in Rivendell over this mountain pass as well. Apparently they didn't have a weather channel app in Middle Earth, as they had walked straight in to what she considered a hurricane. Silently she was cheering that the rain still went right through her while drenching her comrades. The path they were on was treacherous, becoming not much wider than one person here and there, with rocks the size of soccer balls falling at random intervals. Surprisingly they were all managing to see more than a foot in front.

Though they were all miserable, they had been making a continuous pace, and Alexa was certain that a storm of this magnitude would pass over quickly, as they always had when she had seen them before. Of course, she was forgetting this wasn't earth, and apparently the world hear didn't believe in normal. If she had remembered this then she wouldn't have been as concerned when she heard Bofur start shouting incoherently from the front, motioning to the other mountains across the ravine. At first she couldn't see what he was pointing at, but as her eyes adjusted to the rain she saw what was causing the uproar. The whole mountain on the other side was moving, standing up and beginning to move towards their location.

"Holy crap…" Really there was no other way she could put it, if her mind was even going to let her form more than one word. "Uh gentlemen, I know we're all tough and all, but I suggest we turn tail and run like hell." The dwarves pressed themselves against the rock wall, and began scurrying as fast as physically could along the path, with her right behind them. For a moment she thought they were going to be safe, even though there was another stone giant (Alexa couldn't believe she was saying that) right behind them, getting ready to fight the other one. When she felt the ground beneath her start to give way, that thought flew out of her head, replaced with thinking how anyone in this world managed to survive to adulthood.

In a horrific moment she realized that the ground trembling wasn't merely because of the two "mountain" men going at it, it was because the path was splitting in two literally right below her feet. Her eyes drifted upwards, ignoring the falling rocks, to see a third giant pulling himself off of the mountain to join the fray. Thorin ordered everyone together but it was too late, as the giant's legs pulling away from the cliff right between Fili and Kili, where she was standing. Unconsciously she backed up towards Kili, while he reached out to try and hold on to Fili but it was futile. Both he and Alexa watched in terror as Fili was ripped from them, as well as Thorin. She clutched onto Bilbo, who pulled himself next to her, while wrapping her other arm around Kili. She swore to herself that if she was to die (again) she was going to do so this time holding on to people she truly cared about.

Swinging around for what felt like hours on the legs, the half of the group she was surrounded by were trying to keep their balance, no small feat considering they had very little to hang on to. The event came to a climax as their giant took a blow to the head, which seemed to knock him unconscious, if you could even do that to something made out of stone. Out of the corner of her eye Alexa saw the dwarves remaining on the path scurrying along it, trying to follow her group without getting killed themselves. She briefly wondered when they had managed to get off the leg, they must have seen a chance and taken it, there had surely been a couple hard hits that had slammed the giant against the cliff here and there. The giant swung around and began to fall. Alexa saw what was about to happen before the others, the leg falling straight towards the cliff.

"Oh my God…" she whispered under her breath, knowing that minute they collided everyone around her would be smashed into glue. She didn't want to be smashed into glue, she hadn't scheduled that for this week. There was maybe a five second window to make a decision that would save all their lives, only she didn't know what that decision would be.

Four seconds it was even less clear.

Three seconds and she was saying multiple prayers.

Two seconds she was wandering if dwarves could magically jump ten feet to the side.

One second she looked at Kili and Bilbo, who she was still clinging to.

That was all it took to make a decision when time was up. She released the two from her grasp and jumped forward, focusing with all her might on energy around her. The wind picked up instantaneously, combing her little trick with the already present one. Bilbo looked at her with wide eyes, but at that moment all she cared about was keeping them all safe. With all her focus she threw the wind toward the dwarves, and her reward was a rather comical view of them all flying to the far side of the leg right as it crashed into the cliff. She heard through the wind Thorin cry in anguish for Kili, but she couldn't lose focus now. The impact had knocked large boulders free above them and they were tumbling down. The energy used was almost drained, but Alexa threw another, albeit weaker, wind at the boulders, giving them enough oomph to fall away from the dwarves.

When all was said and done she saw that they were all safe, and she heard the other half of the group running their way, Alexa collapsed to her side and knew no more of thunderstorms or stone giants.

xXx

The first thing she noticed was that the rain was in the distance though was still going strong by the sounds of it. Alexa didn't want to open her eyes at the moment, she had such a straining headache she was sure any bit of light would cause her skull to explode.

She heard someone shuffling around, but still remained motionless. Whoever it was stepped over her, sending the expected slight breeze of someone passing by.

"Where do you think you're going?" Bofur was just whispering, but it echoed all around her. They had to have found a cave somewhere in the mountains she was sure of this.

"I'm going back to Rivendell." Bilbo sounded depressed, more so than she had ever heard him before. Something had happened while she had been out. For his sake she opened her eyes and brought herself back to the world. The dwarves were all scattered across a stone floor of the cave, all sleeping after the ordeal, but thankfully they were all here, all safe. She was currently facing the back of the cave, Fili was beside her. That would explain who would have dragged her in here. Alexa shifted so she was facing the entrance, where Bilbo and Bofur sounded like they were coming from.

Thorin's face met her when she had turned, his eyes open and his attention clearly on the same conversation that she was listening to, a slight look of sadness gracing his features.

"Oh what did you do?" Honestly, a girl passes out after saving how many of his friends and he has to go screw up with poor Bilbo yet again. If she could she would have smacked him. Instead she stayed still, listening to the dwarf and the hobbit instead. Whatever Thorin had done it had really rattled Bilbo, who was ready to leave and go back amongst the elves and then make his way back to the Shire, back to his home. Alexa could hear the longing in his voice for his simple things, his books and chair and fire.

With a deep breath Alexa shut her eyes for a second and thought about her own home, what she was missing and longing for herself. Back then she had only wished what she considered normal things. A good future for herself, a popular school to go to after graduation, a way never to lose contact with her best friends. A guy who loved her for who she was instead of what she looked like. Now that she was in the middle of this adventure she had to think she understood what Bilbo was talking about. She longed for her window seat in her bedroom, and her cat who would always curl up on her when she was feeling sad. She also would kill for a double cheeseburger, which was an odd desire, but hell if she was being honest with herself…

Her eyes flew open when she heard loud rustling next to her. Thorin had been startled by something and was now sitting up, glancing all over the floor, his hands trying to brush the dirt to the side.

"Get up." It was a command, but still had a quietness to it. "Wake up! Move!" The other dwarves began to spring up like clumsy jack-in-the-boxes while Bilbo and Bofur looked for what reason their leader was causing this much commotion. Alexa was about to turn and ask Fili what was happening when she felt the ground disappear from underneath her.

What happened next Alexa could only believe was a real life game of chutes and ladders, in which all the dwarves were on the top level tumbling all the way to the bottom. She collided with someone's leg with her elbow and felt what the half ghost equivalent of hitting ones funny bone. As the dwarves readjusted themselves she threw her hands up in the air.

"That's it, from now on Gandalf NEVER leaves our side because clearly we are destined to die if he is not here!"

She managed to acknowledge a chuckle she got out of Fili, Bofur, and Balin before loud shrieks caught everyone's attention. Creatures, that looked like miniature versions of the trolls in her opinion, came stampeding around the bend and were upon the dwarven group before anyone could defend themselves. Out of instinct she shuffled herself to the middle of the group but it didn't seem to matter, no one besides the usual paid her any mind.

So off they went again, to what Alexa was certain was certain death for everyone involved. Really she was getting tired of this, after all when one died they were supposed to find peace, love, and happiness. All Alexa had received was fear, fighting, and Fili's constant sass. Where the hell in her life had she gone so far off the rails to deserve this?

About five minutes into all the dwarves being marched along platforms and through tunnels Alexa realized that one of their members was missing.

"Bilbo?" She swiveled her head frantically. "Bilbo?!" Out of all the members to lose in this place it had to be the defenseless hobbit? This had to be the worst adventuring group to ever grace any earth. She dropped to the floor, keeping her head protected as the dwarves and goblins (she had heard Dwalin mutter it) stomp by her. She would spend two minutes looking for the hobbit before rejoining them, after all she hadn't seen Bilbo since the cave. Maybe he had managed not to fall with the rest.

Retracing her steps through the tunnel was almost impossible she realized, as soon as she turned the corner and saw five different pathways to choose from. They all looked identical, four went downhill, and they all reeked of goblin stench. Alexa couldn't remember any landmarks she had seen, no discerning rocks or a random body to point the right way.

As that last thought went through her head she sat back against the wall wandering when she had become so comfortable thinking like that. Here she was, with a rack full of swords on her left and a bunch of tunnels to God knows where on her right, wishing she had seen a dead body for a marker like a hungry child wishes for lunch. If there were any psychiatrist-like people in Middle Earth she was going to need to find them and make an appointment.

Shuffle shuffle shuffle

Alexa sat up and curled further behind the crudely made swords, trying to hide herself. A small goblin was walking towards her, his head disfigured from several scars so much so that his one eye was missing. He stopped right beside her, his scabby hands gently brushing up against all the hilts, his one good eye looking hungrily at each one. Finally he chose the fourth one in, picking it up and holding it gingerly.

"This one should make his majesty happy. Nice and sharp, perfect for taking off a dwarf's filthy head." He started to cackle to himself while double checking the others. Alexa grasped the side of the rack firmly, staring at him in disbelief. He was enjoying picking out a tool for execution , like it was a cupcake! What was wrong with all these people?

Inside her was bubbling so much anger and disgust for this goblin, combined with the fear she had for the dwarves lives as well as the sickening worry she had about Bilbo. One person was not supposed to have to deal with this all alone, it's what caused people to drink excessively or go as far as jump off bridges. Her knuckles whitened as she gripped the wooden frame harder, staring at this goblin, willing him to see her sitting there. Instead he continued to laugh to himself, before starting to turn with his chosen sword. She couldn't let him leave! She couldn't sit back and let the tool of her friend's deaths slip through her fingers. She just couldn't…

It was like the she-elf incident all over again, one moment she was sitting there and the next the weapon rack was landing on the goblin, the clanking of all the blades echoing throughout the tunnels. This time unlike last though Alexa didn't succumb to her shock and just sit there. This time she threw herself onto the already startled goblin who was desperately trying to get everything off of him. Shock was written all over his face as he felt another weight add itself, but he couldn't see what was causing it. Alexa saw this but didn't take time to question, she was not going to let him hurt her friends. Blindly she waved her hand across the dirt until her fingers curled around the curved hilt of a dagger. Without a second thought she focused all her energy and plunged the blade into the goblin's side.

It was an odd moment in Alexa's afterlife, staring into the eyes of a creature who just realized they were about to die. Mentally she contemplated what to do, after all in movies when the girl is forced to kill someone half the time she throws herself away from them after the deed is done and throws up loudly in a corner. The other half seem to always have a pithy comment to throw at their victims, one last taunt before death overtook them. Alexa didn't do any of this, she merely sat there on the goblin, feeling through her legs his body deflate as his last breath escaped him. She didn't uncurl her fingers or budge even the slightest, she just stared at him, stared at that horribly deformed face.

Ever so slowly her eyes drifted to her right hand, which was still wrapped around the dagger and had started tingling slightly. With shocked interest she watched as entwining strands of the palest of blues began ascending the blade, then the hilt, before moving up her arm and disappearing halfway between her wrist and her elbow. The tingling grew as well, moving through her whole arm, through her chest, then splitting off and hitting all remaining limbs at once. Her left hand flew up and clutched at her heart, as she suddenly felt a tremendous pressure there, like a Clydesdale was resting it's hoof on her. Still she didn't let go of the dagger, and even if she had wanted to she felt like it was impossible. Her breath was becoming more ragged, her eyes were shifting in and out of focus, while the tingling was becoming almost painful as well.

Finally she fell to her right, pulling the dagger out of the goblin as she did. The blue aura lingered, continuing to find its way from the goblin to her, but after a moment it subsided and she was left there with nothing.

Alexa knew, even though she was freaked out beyond measure over the unexplainable action that had just occurred, that she could not linger. The dwarves still needed her and she needed to find out where they had been taken. She rolled over and pushed herself up on all fours, focusing on the cold ground for stability as tried to move through the pressure that was still on her heart. Once it had faded ever so slightly she pulled herself up into a standing position.

Immediately Alexa knew something was different now, she could feel it coursing through her. Unable to exactly define it to herself she merely followed through with what her body was practically screaming at her to do. Her fingers reached down and she picked up the dagger, holding it in the palms of both hands as she raised it up to her face.

There it was, or more technically, wasn't. The blade didn't sink at all, in fact she could feel it firmly against her skin. She wasn't focusing or anything, just holding it the way any normal person would. Alexa shuffled her feet slightly. Her eyes drifted down when her toe hit the goblin, still laying there quite dead. She switched her focus from him to the blood on the dagger to the spot on her arm that the blue tendrils had dissipated. It didn't seem possible and yet she could feel the strength giving her proof.

Breaking from her daze, Alexa pushed herself against the wall as more shuffling neared. This time three goblins hurried to her spot, still not seeing her but definitely seeing their comrade on the floor. They scurried to him, kneeling over to remove the rack and check to see if he was still alive. Alexa felt the pressure in her subside completely, but it wouldn't have mattered anyway. Her mind couldn't decide what to focus on, the dead goblin, the three live ones in front of her, or the dagger she was still easily holding in her had. In the end she didn't care, using her spiritual invisibility to sneak up on the three and raise the dagger high…

xXx

I hope I didn't take too long getting this chapter out, I actually think it's one of my faster updates which is funny since I currently have a brace on my wrist and hand. (yay falling) Anyway more explanation next chapter! I will pander a little and say I do love reviews so please leave some! Also I'm writing a new hobbit story with thorin as the main love interest so please go check that out. See you all soon!