Chapter XXV: I See Fire

A/N: The chapter title refers to the song of the same title by Ed Sheeran.

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Dís heard shouts from the people of Laketown. Tauriel, the Dwarves, and the children all looked around in fear. Óin was the only one besides Dís to know what was happening. Dís ran outside, but could see nothing. She climbed onto the roof and noticed water began to flood the town.

Fire came from the gates of Erebor. The dragon had come.

"Oh, Thorin," Dís said quietly as tears began to fall from her eyes, "Why did you promise us we would come home? I just wanted… not like this."

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Erebor, 171 Years Earlier

Dís sat before the fireplace on the floor while her mother sat in a chair to have a better angle to braid Dís' hair. Frerin sat at the desk in the sitting room finishing up the last bit of his translations into Common Tongue before starting school.

"Amad, it's sunny out. Can we go to Dale?" Dís asked.

"You have lessons today, Dís. Hold still. Your braids will not look right if you keep moving," Urd, said.

"Ugh, lessons," Dís said.

"Ugh, I agree," Frerin said.

"Ugh, you should have done your work last night," Urd teased.

"But Amad…" Frerin protested.

"You should have finished your work, Frerin," Thorin said as he entered the room.

Dís ran to her brother, ignoring the mess it made of her braids. Thorin picked the ten year old up and swung her around.

"THORIN! THORIN! YOU'RE HOME!" Dís exclaimed.

"I am, dear Dís," Thorin said. He held her close and kissed her cheek. "I am back and I plan to stay home for a long, long time."

"How are our kinsmen of the Iron Hills?" Urd asked.

"Uncle Nain is well. Dain is becoming quite the warrior," Thorin said. He still carried Dís as he ruffled Frerin's hair.

"Watch it!" Frerin said as he smoothed back his hair.

"Is Frerin still primping more than an Elven prince, Dís?" Thorin said.

"Most of the time," Dís said.

Thorin put Dís down and kissed his mother's cheek. "Hello, Amad."

"Hello, son. Do you think you can help me wrangle Dís back long enough to make her look presentable?" Urd said.

Thorin sat on the floor and undid one of his own braids. "Dís, will you help me?"

The four of them spoke of Thorin's journey to the Iron Hills. Dís redid Thorin's braid before he did one of hers. Frerin did another one of Dís' braids once he had finished his school work.

"Almost done," Urd said.

"I came just in time," Thráin said.

Dís would have jumped up to hug her father, but Thorin held her back. "Adad! Thorin is home!"

"Yes, he is. I heard of my son's return and how he went straight to his Amad," Thráin said as knelt next to Thorin and affectionately ruffled his son's hair.

"Amad is much more frightening than either you or Udad," Thorin said with a smirk.

It was a bit of a joke in the family. Dís knew her Grandfather was King of Erebor and thus had great power while Thráin looked fearsome with his great beard and his missing eye. However, Dís had never worried about anything but the mildest of chastisements from either of them. The beautiful Urd was the one who always knew Dís had been troublesome to her tutors or had pulled some prank on her brothers.

Thráin worked a braid around Dís' head so it would act as a circlet. A sapphire pendant with silver wiring hung from the middle of her forehead to show the colors of the House of Durin. Thráin tapped Dís' nose when he finished. "There we go princess."

"Thank you, Adad," Dís said.

"As much as I would love to stay, I must take Thorin to see the king and to cousin Fundin," Thráin said. He kissed his children on their foreheads. "A good day to all of you."

Thráin stood up and kissed Urd on the mouth, causing their children to cry out in disgust at their parents' affection. "A wonderful day to you, yâsith."

"And to you, yâsun," Urd said.

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Dís was in the library and enraptured with examining a mithril bead which had been brought in by her tutor when they heard a great rumbling. People screamed.

Frerin ran into where Dís and her tutor studied. "Dís! We need to leave."

"What's happening?" Dís asked.

Frerin knelt down in front of Dís, his body quaking from fear. "We are going to run. You keep running until you can't anymore. Do you understand?"

"What's…"

"Come on! We need to find Adad!" Frerin said as he pulled Dís out into the hallway.

People panicked and Dís heard the words "fire" and "dragon". It made no sense to her. Why would a dragon come to Erebor? Did it not know her family would destroy it?

There was one person who did not panic. Urd walked calmly up to her children and picked up Dís. "We need to keep moving. Stay calm. Frerin, we are going to get out of here. Do not show fear. The people are watching us. Move quickly, but do not run."

The people still ran, but Frerin no longer shook.

After what seemed like ages to Dís, her Father was with them. "We have lost the front gate," Thráin said.

"Is it all…" Urd did not finish and stifled a groan of anguish.

"We will fight this," Thráin said as he placed a hand on Frerin's shoulder and another hand on his wife's lower back so he would urge them along, "Thorin is looking for my father right now. We need to keep moving or…"

There was another roar. One of the columns near the family collapsed. Dís closed her eyes as she was certain she was going to die and she did not want to see it.

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When Dís opened her eyes, there was dust and smoke in the air. She could smell burning sulfur and slime. The young Dwarf began choking on the dirty air; the ash covered her tongue.

She had not hit her head as her mother's hand had protected her. Urd covered most of Dís, protecting the child from falling debris; Urd did not move. Through the smoke, Dís could see Thráin did not move either and blood came from his head.

"Help! Someone help!" Dís screamed.

Frerin struggled against the rocks pinning him against the floor. It took a moment, but he did get out. He coughed and crawled over to Dís and began trying to move the debris pinning his family.

Two burly figures came through the smoke. "DÍS! FRERIN!" Thorin shouted.

Dís cried. They were saved. Thorin would slay the dragon. Princes did such and Thorin was the most storybook prince like prince she had ever met.

"Frerin, hold back Udad," Thorin said as he shoved Thrór at Frerin, "He keeps trying to go back to the treasure room. The dragon is there."

Thorin shoved some of the smaller rocks off of Urd before pulling Dís out from under her Mother. Dís clung to Thorin. "You've saved us!"

"Not yet, I haven't," Thorin said. He kissed his sister's forehead and made her stand behind him.

After an agonizingly long minute, Thorin pulled Thráin out from the debris. Thráin coughed and blearily opened his good eye. "My leg. Something is wrong with it."

"Just give me a moment and I'll help you get out of here," Thorin said.

"Children?" Urd groaned.

Dís ran to her mother and stroked her head. Thorin struggled against a boulder which pinned Urd. Frerin tried to help him as Thráin held onto Thrór's leg.

"Amad. It'll be alright. Amad. Everything will be alright," Dís said.

"I can't feel anything below my waist," Urd said quietly. Tears began filling her eyes.

The dragon roared again.

Urd shoved Dís away. "Go!"

"Amad!" Dís said. She tried to grab Urd again, but Frerin grabbed his sister around the waist and began dragging Dís away. "Amad!"

"I love all of you," Urd said.

Thorin still tried to move the boulder pinning his Mother. Urd pulled at his coat to make Thorn kneel next to her.

"You are to not feel guilt. There was nothing you could do," Urd said, "My sweet boy, don't ever feel guilt from this. I love you so much."

Thorin nodded and gave his Mother a kiss good-bye. Frerin carried Dís while Thráin leaned on Thorin. Thrór ran ahead away from the dragon.

The last Dís saw of Urd was when Smaug breathed fire onto the pinned Dwarf.

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The Dwarves of Erebor ran from the burning mountain for so long Dís did not remember how to stop. Sometime in the night when their legs could no longer carry them, the Dwarves collapsed.

Dís lay on the ground next to Frerin, both of them trying to hold back tears. Thrór and the injured Thráin were nearby, but they both did not move and barely breathed. Thráin had been barely cognate all day and sleep finally took him. Someone gave out orders.

It took Dís some time to realize the person shouting orders was her eldest brother. Thorin moved around the people and tried to start campfires to keep the wild animals away. Dwarves had always been friends with fire, but many now feared it.

More time passed before Thorin sat down and pulled Dís and Frerin into his arms. "Are you two hurt?"

They both shook their heads.

"Are you lying?" Thorin said, "Is there anywhere which hurts?"

Dís sobbed, "It's my fault. Amad would be here if I sat still for my braiding. It's all my fault."

Frerin began to cry as well. "If I was stronger, I could have helped."

Thorin shushed them gently and he began rocking his siblings back and forth. "Shush. Shush. This is not your fault. Nothing you did brought the dragon. You have done nothing wrong. This is not your fault."

Dís screamed and Frerin wept. Thorin held them as close as he could, whispering to them promises: he would slay the dragon, they would have their revenge, they would not die like their mother did, and they would go home again.

Above all, he promised they would go home again.

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Dís choked back the memories of her life.

Of the years of wandering. Of the day her braids began to fall apart and she chopped them off rather than undo her families work, swearing to never have her hair braided again. Of the day she found out of the deaths of her grandfather, brother, and so many other Dwarves along with Thorin's wounding and her father's disappearance.

Of the day she broke her promise of not braiding her hair when a poor miner with a heart worth more than all of the gold of Erebor proposed to her. Of the day she held her own daughter for the first time and her family had rejoiced the Line of Durin would last even after dragon fire. Of the day her son was born, showing there could be blessings even without the Arkenstone. Of the day the mine had collapsed and killed her beloved. Of the day her brother told her of a wizard he had met who had urged him to reclaim Erebor. Of the day she found her children missing. Of the day she saw the Hobbit who was already winning her brother's broken heart after knowing him only a few hours. Of the travels and trials the Company had gone through.

All of it was pushed back to one memory: her brother, daughter, and son smiling when they saw Erebor. The joy amongst them was all Dís ever wanted.

And she would not let an overgrown, fire-starting, witless lizard take away her family.

Dís knew there was no escape in Laketown. Smaug was the fastest creature Dís had ever seen. He could destroy entire forests with just his wings alone. His fiery breath… She knew he could kill them all without even trying.

But Dís also knew her Mother was at peace, even when consumed by fire, because she had protected her children. Urd had given her children a chance to escape from the wrath and ruin of dragon fire.

It was hope Dís wanted to give all of the other parents in Laketown: the hope of their children's lives.

Dís ran back into the house and grabbed her weapons. "Come on. We have a dragon to slay."

TO BE CONTINUED

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A/N: I am currently writing Part III and Part IV. Part III will be called "One Day I'll Remember".

This was one of the hardest chapters I have ever written in my entire life. Though I wrote this with the original version on repeat, this one I can imagine Dís singing.

Translations of Khuzdul - Thanks to khuzdul4u.

Amad - Mother.

Adad - Father.

Udad - Grandfather.

Yâsith - Wife.

Yâsun- Husband.