Hobbit/The Lord of the Rings Imagines

Connected 15

Keeva padded quietly through the halls, her expression stern and breathing deeply, keeping the anger and worry at bay.  She kept telling herself it was working, but the shake in her hands was telling her otherwise.

She would never admit this to anyone, not even Veera, but she was scared.  Things were tumbling down around them at a rate that she wasn't used to.

Dwalin in the back of her mind wasn't helping.

Keeva had tried to keep him out, but with things the way they were, with everyone so stressed, war looming on the doorstep, it was hard to focus on it.

The men and elves outside the gate thought that Thorin had gone mad, that he was the one under the gold sickness, because he couldn't bare the thought of them knowing that it was Veera, and he couldn't place them at risk of her power, something that everyone in the halls was starting to feel, Thorin doing his best to keep it under control, taking more and more of the burden.

Keeva still remembered the last time she saw him, his eyes dark as he talked to Bard through the wall, and she knew that if something didn't change soon, then he would be a broken man.

Veera herself spent most of the time in the treasury, despite Thorin trying to keep her locked away, his heart couldn't bear the burden of keeping her there.  He would occasionally come and drag her away, private words said, but she would always return, and it no longer seemed to matter the council of Balin or Dwalin about how to handle the situation.

Now they were preparing for war.

Keeva stopped and drew in a deep breath, threading her fingers back through her hair, giving it a sharp tug to try and feel anything except the fear in her stomach, one that was making it twist over and over again.

She'd been avoiding Veera.

They'd all asked her, some even pleaded, to talk to her, but Keeva didn't want to see her sister like this, a part of her in utter denial about what had happened despite being able to feel it as much as Thorin.  She knew she should be bearing this burden with him, but she was sure that she wouldn't be able to stomach to do so.  She knew it would help, but she was terrified of what it would do between her and Dwalin, something that she had never thought would start to work in the first place.

The sob left Keeva before she even realised how worked up she got herself, and for a single moment, she stood in that hall, leaning down on her knees, ignoring Dwalin's voice in her head if she was alright, and she forced herself to breath.

Crying was not going to solve anything.

She knew that war would come tomorrow, she just didn't know what she could do about it.

Both Keeva and Veera were absent from the wall the next morning, so neither saw what happened, neither saw the performance that Thorin put on to try and protect them, to keep them safe.  Neither of them saw him turn away from the battle, convinced that they were now the last line of defence.

Instead, Keeva was staring intently at Veera's door, trying to ignore the throb of power coming from her sister's mind.

Slowly, she raised a hand and knocked.

"You don't have to knock Keeva."

Bracing herself, Keeva entered, and purposefully ignored Veera's dishevelled state as she looked at her intently.

"You have been avoiding me."  Veera said.  "Why?"

"You know why."  Keeva kept her voice calm.  "You know I cannot stand to see you like this."

Veera tilts her head, her gold eyes dull.  "Like this?  Keeva, it is me, I am still your sister."

"Yes, but you are different."  Keeva said.  "We both know it.  We all know it."

"If you are afraid of me then why did you come?"

Veera's words took Keeva by surprise, having not expected Veera to be entirely aware of what was going on.

"Because I have to."  Keeva said firmly.  "Not just for me, but for Thorin, and the others to some extent too.  Do you even see what you are doing Veera?  Can you not see the burden that it is placing upon him?"

"Thorin is fine."

"No," Keeva shook her head.  "No he's not Veera.  He's so...he's hurt.  He's hurting.  Because of you."  She took a shaky breath.  "I know I've never liked the man, I know that I've been anything but kind to him, but he does not deserve this.  I know that you-you took this sickness off him to protect him, that I'm sure things wouldn't be much better if you hadn't, but you must see what this state is doing to him Veera.  He-we are going to war!  After all this-this crap on this adventure, we are now at war!  Tell me how this is logical!"

"I will not sit here and be lectured by you Keeva."  Veera's voice grew dark, her volume rising.  "You think you know me?  You think you know him?  After all this, are you truly so jealous of me that you cannot see that this is best for us!"

"The best?"  Keeva felt the tug in her mind, felt Dwalin coming as Veera's power weighed heavily on her.  "Veera, if you don't stop this, if you don't pull yourself out, we are all going to die!"

"As long as it is in the protection of the gold then I do not care!"  Veera roared.  "You think you're life is worth more than that!?"

Keeva stared at Veera, shocked that she had said such a thin.  "Yes Veera I do, and I know you do too.  This is enough.  I want you to look at me Veera, really look at me for once, and tell me what you said was the right thing, that you believe every word coming from your mouth.  This isn't you, and I don't know what you are scared to come back to, but you are losing it, losing everything."

The door opened, Thorin and Dwalin stepping in.  Thorin stormed past Veera and quickly stood by her side.

"Enough Keeva, you are upsetting her."  Thorin growled, eyes flashing at Keeva.

"Good."  Keeva snarled.  "Because she needs to hear the truth from someone, seeing as you refuse to do it!"

"I am trying to do what is best!"  Thorin shouted back.  "I am trying to keep her safe!"

"And what about the rest of us?"  Keeva didn't shake off Dwalin's hand as he grabbed her to keep her going forward.  "What about the rest of your people out there?  They are going to be dying, we are at risk of dying, you cannot both just care about yourselves and the damned gold!"

"Get out."  Veera said coldly.  "Get.  Out.  Now."

Keeva was breathing hard and Dwalin gave her arm a small tug, trying to drag her back, her eyes watering.  "Please come back to me Veera, because otherwise I'm gone."

She turned and stormed from the room, Dwalin following closely behind, and it wasn't until they were far away that they spoke.

"Keeva-"

"I don't want to hear it."

"Keeva please."

She turned to look at Dwalin, her eyes burning.  "What do you expect me to do Dwalin?  My sister is a mess, this whole thing, is a mess, and it's entirely my fault. She didn't want to come on this quest, she didn't want anything to do with this, and yet because of me, here we are and I don't know what else to do to bring her back."

"This is not your fault, and we're trying Keeva-"

"It's not enough!"  Keeva's voice broke.  "That-that woman in there is not my sister!  My words didn't even register to her, and there is nothing else I can do."

Dwalin gripped her shoulders tight.  "You have to keep going, we all do.  We have no choice."

"I can't."  She said, shaking her head violently, her hands shaking more.  "I can't Dwalin, I need something real right now, because this...I can't do this."

Turning on her heel, she ran, Dwalin calling after her, knowing what she intended to do, but it was too late for anyone to stop her.  Having nothing left to give, she went into the only thing she knew what to do.

Fight.