Work Text:
Accidents happen. They especially happen on dangerous quests to reclaim homelands.
Bilbo had been expecting something like this to happen since the very first day those dwarves had shown up on his doorstep.
It didn't change the burning the pain he felt as he recoiled desperately from his own skin.
It hurt.
It hurt
It h u¥rt¥
Bilbo stumbled and writhed upon the ground. Digging his fingers into the skin of his face, he let out sobbing gasps.
He heard screaming, was... was that him? He couldn't tell, he didn't care. He wanted it to end.
Why wouldn't it end?
It had started all so fast, in the halls of the mountain, while they rushed for a plan to save their lives.
Bilbo had raced for his life, and for the lives of the company. He had brought the dragon to the hall.
He had done it.
Why hadn't it worked? It was supposed to work. He had done everything he was supposed to.
It must have been that one slight oversight.
While Smaug was in place, as planned, Bilbo had been there too. He just- He hadn't got out in time. It was hard, climbing up smooth and polished rock walls.
He hadn't gotten out soon enough.
The gold. The burning molten gold. The gold that was supposed to save them from the terror of Smaug.
It had splashed. It had splashed Bilbo, and it splashed more when Smaug flew out of it.
It had splashed and now it was burning him. It wasn't supposed to burn him. But it was, and it coated his right arm and splattered both legs. His torso- Bilbo gagged, desperately trying to get even a little bit of air into his soffocating lungs. His torso wasn't letting him breath.
Gold encased his ribs in a grip it refused to let go of.
Bilbo writhed on the stone floor, dangerously close to the pool of molten gold the had done this to him.
Footsetps thudded around him, fading in and out as his consciousness waned.
"-ilbo!" The voices were panicked. Why were they panicked? Had the gold gotten them too?
"Sta- w- us Bil-" Bilbo blinked, his eyes open, but not seeing the faces of his companions.
A blurry Thorin swam into focus.