Balin stared at the desk in front of him with a growing sense of dread.

There was just so much he had to do, so much he had to cover- what to take with? What to burn? They had to make sure no one knew where they were headed, had to make sure that no one would find out their plans…

And here everything was. If anyone wanted to know anything about any of them, all they had to do was rifle through his drawers.

He went to ask Ori for some help carrying a few of the boxes before he realized that he'd sent the boy home over an hour ago.

Maybe that was for the best.

He sighed, running stiff fingers through his long white hair. He'd meant to get it trimmed, but time had gone by so quickly once Thorin called them together.

Well, there was nothing for it. All their records, everything about their past, it all had to go.

Most of it was backed up in the Arkenstone file, so if- when they reclaimed Erebor, they'd have proof of who they were.

Erebor. He just hoped everything they were doing was worth it. He knew what lie there, knew why Thorin wanted to reclaim it so badly, but they were risking everything on this one chance.

And even though he had his doubts, he tossed the first fistful of papers into the fire, gazing blankly at the gap toothed smile on Frerin's' face as the picture on his file burned.

Only 6 more boxes to go. He'd probably be late meeting Dwalin, but somehow, watching the disintegrating papers, that didn't matter.

"You brought your inhaler, right?" Fili asked, rummaging through the satchel on his lap.

"Yes. Haven't needed it in years and yet mom practically brained me for trying to throw it away," the brunette in the passenger's seat glanced nervously at the road, "Fee-"

"Damn it, I can't find the peanuts I swear mom packed-"

The car swerved over the center lane, almost hitting an oncoming vehicle.

Fili jerked upright, grabbing the wheel to right their course.

"Jesus! Just because you don't actually need your hands to drive doesn't mean you don't have to pay attention to the road!" Kili yelped.

"I'm sorry! You find the freaking food then!" the blonde threw the bag, spilling its contents onto the floor.

"Oh for the love of- How much longer until we get there?" the brunette bent over, searching for the items that had fallen under the seat, "I found them, sheesh."

Fili snatched the peanuts from his outstretched hand, "Probably another half hour yet, maybe more."

"It's getting dark. I told you we left too late."

"No we didn't. We'll be fine."

"That's what you said last time and we got lost, had to call Thorin for directions and yeah, that totally turned out well."

"We were fine."

"That guy broke my arm! And you passed out after using too much and I had to carry you back to the car, which was out of gas, and Thorin got lost trying to find us! How do you not remember this?"

"Oh… that time," Fili shrugged.

"Yeah. That time," Kili sat back in his seat with a huff.

"Well, it's not going to happen again, so just relax. Hows the new tattoo looking?"

"Don't change the subject," the brunette glared, "... Fine. It looks great, hardly itches."

"Thorin's going to kill you."

"Like he'll even notice. It's right next to the other one on my arm, he'll probably think it's the same one. Can you just focus on driving please? I would like to get there sometime today."

"Yeah, yeah."

"We do have all the food and things that were on our list, right? Thorin really will kill us if we don't have everything."

Fili checked the rearview mirror, carefully surveying the back seat, "Yeah. We do. Now lets just hope we don't get pulled over."

Kili raised an eyebrow, "Oh and what would be the best way to do that? I dunno, maybe if you actually drove correctly."

"Shut up. We'll be there soon and you can stretch. Then maybe you'll stop being so cranky."

"Me? Cranky? Never," the brunette turned up the AC, "Put some music on and I'll be in the best mood of my life."

Fili snorted, but complied, rolling his eyes as his little brother began to sing along with the newest Disturbed album.