three

And suddenly, they were on the road again. Marching, as a company towards the Lonely Mountain. It had been about two weeks since Bilbo had slept in his own bed, or somewhere comfortable, and his body was beginning to feel the strain of the life on the road. He definitely didn't remember his body being as sore the first time around.

The company was still as distant from him as ever, which wasn't the best thing, but he remembered what he was like the first couple of weeks on the road, all of his complaining and his whining, all while being rude and distant to the company. It took a few near death experiences to scare that out of him, that's for sure.

Bofur was probably the one who was closest to who he was before, as he was still the dapper, cheerful and friendly dwarf that Bilbo remembered. He was also the one who was most likely to talk to Bilbo, not counting Kili, of course.

"How you holding up Master Baggins?" Bofur said cheerfully to him one day.

"Oh I'm fine Master Bofur. Just dreaming of a nice warm bed. Do you think we'll stop in Rivendell?" Bilbo asked politely, not wanting to offend him.

"Definitely not, going on Thorin's definite dislike of those tree-shaggers." Bofur let out a small chuckle, making Bilbo smile inwardly.

"I think we will actually. Lord Elrond is said to be one of the only people in Middle Earth who is able to read the hidden runes on the map Thorin is carrying. I'd say we need him. Plus, I think they would get along if Thorin managed to realise that Lord Elrond isn't anything like Thranduil." He tried his hardest to make the words seem nonchalant, if anything, but Bofur wasn't convinced.

"How do you know about that?"

"When Gandalf told me of your arrival, I did my research on all of you. Well, as many as I could find. The Shire doesn't really carry many books about dwarves, although we do have a few. The Shire, for all its ignorance, is knowledgeable on some things." Bilbo was lying through his teeth, and he was praying that Bofur didn't know him well enough yet to call him out on it. Luckily enough for him, he didn't, edging forward to talk to his brother instead.

Bilbo breathed a sigh of relief, wondering half-heartedly when he would have to tell them all about their respective fates, who would live on after this and who wouldn't. That seemed to be the most common thought on his mind these past two weeks, and he wondered if it would ever leave his head.

"Do not trouble yourself with the future Master Baggins. Just trouble yourself with what's happening here and now." Kili said softly, urging his pony forward so he could catch up to Bilbo.

"Since when did you get so wise?" Bilbo half laughed.

"Since I lived my life twice, just like you." Kili said, smiling.

"Great, I have to live with 13 insufferable dwarves, and you feel you need to make it worse by being an insufferable know it all," the sarcasm evident in his voice.

"You know me Master Baggins, just have to annoy my elders all of the time. Now if you'll excuse me, I have an uncle that I need to make relax a little bit." Kili was full on grinning now, prompting Bilbo to return the smile.

"Be careful. You never know how he is feeling," he half-heartedly warned, knowing that Thorin probably needed the laugh anyway.

"Since when did you get so wise?"

"Since I lived my life twice, just like you. Go on then, make him lighten up a bit. If it doesn't do anything to him, it definitely will do something to the rest of the company." Bilbo said, urging him on, but praying to the gods above that Kili didn't drag his name into the aftermath. That probably wouldn't end well.

Much to Kili's chagrin, Thorin was not particularly happy to have all of his weaponry go suspiciously missing, a.k.a. hidden in Fili and Kili's satchels and on their persons, and the lecture that they got that evening was definitely going to put them off playing practical jokes for the rest of the day, if not tomorrow as well.

After all, there was always the day after that to make the rest of the company lighten up.

But Fili wanted to find out what was going on with his brother. Things between them were changing, faster than he would ever like to admit, and Kili and Master Baggins seemed to be spending an awful lot of time together.

Were they courting?

Yes, that had to be it. Master Baggins was Kili's one. That would explain the hushed conversations and the desire to spend more time with each other, and the long conversations that no one else was ever included in. They were courting, or at least, they most likely will be, if Kili ever got his act together and produced a suitable courting gift for him.

It would again fall underneath role of big brother to smack some sense into his younger brother, and he resolved to do it at the earliest possible opportunity.

Unluckily for him, however, an opportunity did not present itself until later that week, where his brother and his beloved had had many opportunities to be alone with each other.

The conversation, as Fili would later recall, embarrassment obvious in his cheeks.

Fili clutched tightly to his brothers arm and dragged him away from the rest of the company when they made camp, ignoring his protests.

"What are you doing?" Kili queried, confusion evident in his voice.

"Don't tell me you don't know," Fili almost spat, slapping him up the head. "Now, you need to get your act together and start manning up. Have you even got a suitable courting gift in your head? How do you plan to make it? Have you already made promises and you will do that after the quest is over?"

"What in Mahal's name are you talking about?" Kili was so confused about what Fili was talking about. He didn't have plans to court anyone, well, if you didn't count her.

"Master Baggins of course. Now, what are you doing about your gift?" Fili was getting impatient, but he suddenly became very confused when Kili started to laugh.

"Master Baggins?" He got out between laughs.

"Yes, idiot." Fili slapped him again. "Be serious about this."

"You think I want to court Master Baggins?" His laugher hadn't ceased, which prompted Fili to rethink what he had been thinking about the pair.

"Well, yes. You have been spending an awful lot of time together lately," he queried, watching Kili laugh even harder. "Why in Mahal's name are you laughing?"

"First of all, no. Second of all, no. And third of all, I'm pretty sure his hearts set more on our uncle than me." Kili said like it was obvious. "You seriously believed that we were courting?"

"Maybe," Fili said bashfully, embarrassment setting in in the form of a pink stain on his cheeks.

"God, Fili."

"Then humour me. What were you talking about when you go off with him, huh?" This stopped Kili in his tracks, the laughter halting almost instantly.

"Go on them." Fili insisted.

"You wouldn't understand."

"Wouldn't understand? Kili, we've been telling each other things since the day you were born, our deepest fears, the person we liked, what secrets we were keeping from mother. So whatever you are keeping from me, no matter what it is, it isn't going to change anything. It never has." Fili was confused by this point. There wasn't anything in the world that would make him think any less of his brother.

"Yes it will. It will change everything, our whole dynamic, even the companies dynamic. This isn't something that I can just tell you Fili. It's too dangerous." Dangerous. That didn't even compute with him. What sort of secret could be dangerous?

"I'll… I'll… I'll go to Uncle then," he said, not really meaning it. "Tell him about this dangerous secret, and then you'll be forced to tell the entire company. So, if you don't want them to find out, just tell me. I hereby solemnly swear that I will love you unconditionally, no matter what you have to tell me."

"You died," Kili whispered.

"What?"

"You died." He said again, still too faintly for Fili to hear.

"What?"

"YOU DIED, OKAY! This quest, this adventure, has happened once before, in another universe or something of a similar nature. Only Bilbo and I remember it. We remember what happened, how we got there, all of the perils that we faced. I know that you fall at the hands of Azog, along with Uncle. I, on the other hand, am killed by Bolg, his second in command. We are both protecting people and we both fail. So there, there you have it. You die, because I can't protect you, and I die because you're already six feet underground and there isn't anything you can do."

Fili didn't know what his brother was saying. He could be lying, lying to avoid telling Fili his big secret, but something in Fili's gut was telling him that that wasn't the case. These words, they had struck a chord with him, and suddenly, his head was swimming with memories that could not have been from this life. Most predominantly, to his dismay, was the phantom pain of a sword that had gone straight through his stomach.

"How did I die?" He asked quietly, knowing that the answer would tell him if his brother was telling the truth.

"Sword straight through the stomach then dropped off a cliff," Kili said simply, staring at the ground.

And so he wasn't lying. The phantom pains in his stomach were telling him as such.

"You know telling me this will change the future, right?" Fili tried to make a joke, tried to lighten the situation a bit, which make Kili smile with disbelief.

"You believe me?" He said, surprised.

"Yeah. You're my brother. I can't not believe you. It's in the big brother contract." Fili said resolutely. And it was, the clause being that he had to love him unconditionally.

"Lucky for me that exists then." Kili said softly.

"Definitely." There was a pause, before Fili spoke again. "Are you ever going to tell Thorin?"

"I'm leaving that one to Bilbo, because he, unlike me, will know when the time is right, even if that time is after Erebor has been reclaimed. We are going to do the best that we can to keep him alive, no matter what that means. Plus, if we tell him now, we have to deal with the drowning in self-pity Thorin and I hate that Thorin."

Fili gave a sound of agreement as he got up.

"You know I love you, right?" He said, trying to reassure himself more than Kili.

"Of course I know that. It's in the little brother contract, remember?" Kili said, trying to lighten the mood, even though the sadness that was in his voice seemingly ruined that.

"Of course." Fili smiled, a real smile, as he walked back to camp, his heart heavy. He was doomed to die, no matter what happened. He quite honestly didn't know whether he could change the future or not, even though it was something that hadn't come to pass.

At least now Bilbo and Kili had someone to share the burden with.

On one side of the Mirkwood Forest, an auburn haired elf stood on guard, watching for any signs of movement from the trees. It would be many days before a company of dwarves came wandering through the forest, but this time, she would not miss them. She could not miss them.

Her head was swimming with thoughts, with memories of a future that had not happened yet, but one she remembered experiencing. Where she had given up her life because she could not think of living one without him.

Now, he was her only goal, to get to him, to keep him safe, to make sure that he knew that he was loved, no matter how he exits this world.

She only hopes he remembers her too.