"Do you think that we are going to die?" Kili's voice shook, and from what Tauriel could see, he only had a few arrows left.

"I can't guarantee you anything, Kili." Fili responded. He looked over to his brother. "If Uncle Thorin were here, I bet he couldn't tell you much either." His knife was gripped so tightly in his hand that it was bone white. He looked up to Tauriel. "Thank you for standing with us, dear lady. You are a fine member of your species."

"You sound as if you believe we are going to die."

"I never said that!" His frown deepened, and his eyes looked to the smoke filled skies.

"But you sounded it like it." Tauriel sighed, clutching her bow tighter. "Please, Fili, do not give up hope yet. Even if we may perish, we should die fighting for what is right. This is our world, and it is something that I will perish for." She looked over both of them. "I am truly glad to be standing with the two of you."

"Truly?" Kili asked.

"I know you stand for what is right." Tauriel looked back up to the sky; she could see the fire the dragon brought, but not the damn beast itself. "That is all that I can ask either of you for." Smoke continued to pour through the air; her nostrils were filled with the smell of smoke rather than water.

How ironic, she thought bitterly. This whole town is surrounded by water, but I'm sure that it will burn to the ground.

"Can you see the mountain?" Fili asked.

"No," Kili said.

"You, Tauriel?" Fili's eyes were wide.

"No," she responded. "Do either of you see Smaug?"

Their responses were the same; the ache in Tauriel's chest grew.

No wonder Fili sounded unsure, she thought.

They raced through the Lake Town streets, forcing themselves past various men and a few scattered elves. None of them Tauriel could immediately recognize, but maybe they were traders. They at least dressed like they were from Mirkwood; perhaps that meant that Thranduil had already started to send aid. At the rate that this place was burning, there was no doubt that the citizens would call to her king for help.

"Do you think that we'll ever reach it?" Kili asked.

"Only if you keep moving!" Fili responded. "I can't carry you all the way." Already, Kili was leaning against his brother, struggling to deal with his leg. Tauriel moved in closer to the two, allowing Kili to move against her slightly. Fili looked as though he needed the break; besides, they were working together, and that meant having to share the weight.

I can only hope that it's not destroyed, Tauriel thought. The last that she had seen of the small house was a pile of destroyed furniture and dishes and a make shift bed to hold Kili while she healed him. Walnuts had cracked under her boots as she worked on him, the two daughters of the bow men struggling to hold Kili while he lay in torment.

It was hard to breathe with all the smoke in the air; if they didn't hurry up, Tauriel feared that they would have to get down and start crawling to escape the smoke. The dwarf brothers were not doing much better, their breathing loud and filled with wheezes.

"Are you two alright?" She asked more to hear something other than the sounds of pain in the air; even if she truly lived forever as elves did then she was sure that she would never forget the sound of screaming and crying all around her. Already, she knew the answer.

"We just need to go faster," Fili responded.

Her legs ached. Kili was slowing down, and she could no longer be sure if he would be able to fire any arrows. If they kept going on like this, then Tauriel couldn't be too sure about herself either.

Miraculously, they were able to make it to the house. It was near breaking, but it was still there. Surprisingly, the two girls were still inside.

"What are you two doing here?" Tauriel asked, looking from Sigrid to Tilda. She was far too young of a girl to still be there.

"We should ask you all the same thing!" Sigrid responded. She looked down to her sister. "We needed to get some last minute things from our house; I can't be so sure that either of us will ever return to it."

Tauriel bit her lip. "Gather your things quickly. You need to go find your family, your friends, anyone! Right now, none of us can protect you, and I don't want to see any of you hurt."

Sigrid nodded, her younger sister clutching the older girl's dress. "Of course." She looked Tauriel directly in the eyes. "You came for the black arrow, didn't you?"

Tauriel nodded. "Is it still here?"

"Yes."

The device was similar to a bow, but not exactly the same. Still, it was all that Tauriel could count on. She only had one arrow, one shot, and she had to make it count. The dragon had laid devastation on the mountain and the people living by it long enough.

"Tauriel, are you sure that you can do this?" Fili asked. He had an arm wrapped around his brother's waist.

"Do either of you think that you could?"

They shook their heads.

"Good luck," Kili said.

"It was good to know you, Tauriel. Truly, it was." Fili gave her a weak smile, which then returned to his heavy frown. He patted her shoulder. "You have been far too kind to us."

"Don't say that," Tauriel said, looking back to the device. "I was only doing what was right."

She looked to the sky. Truly, Smaug was a nightmare; even after all the wreckage he had caused before, he could not bring himself to stop destroying Lake Town. Did he truly want to see it be turned to nothing but a pile of ash?

She fired.

"You killed Smaug!" Fili yelled.

Kili wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close to her chest.

"Oh," Fili said, "I'm so happy that I could kiss you." He joined into the hug.

"Please don't squeeze me so tightly." It was a funny first thing to say after killing a dragon, but it was what she spoke.

"Sorry," Kili said. He looked up to Tauriel. "Smaug is dead; Smaug is dead!"

The body had fallen into the lake, causing a large wave to crash parts of the town. The damage had been done, but that was the very last of it.

One moment her feet were on the ground, and the next she was in the air.

"You really are stronger than you look." Tauriel smiled down at Fili.

He beamed. "You really did it!"

"And you thought that we would die," Kili said.

Fili rolled his eyes. He looked back up to Tauriel, and it was then that she noticed that the blond dwarf was crying.

"Are you well, Fili?"

"Of course I am, Tauriel!" He pulled her into another hug. "I've never been happier in all of my life." He met her eyes. "May I?"

"May you what?"

"May I be happy?"

"Of course!"

He pulled her forward, and their lips met. His lips were slightly rough, but nothing that she couldn't handle. His mustache tickled slightly. Fili's hands found their way into her hair. Eventually, his tongue met hers; it was the closest that Tauriel had ever been with someone, and it was nice. They were alive, and the dragon was dead.

Tauriel wanted that moment to last forever.

Kili was the one who broke it. "Hey, I'm happy too! Why don't I get a kiss?"

Tauriel chuckled, and pulled him in for a kiss.

"He's dead," Fili said, looking down to the lake below. "Smaug is finally dead."

"The mountain is yours again," Tauriel said.

The two dwarves wrapped an arm around her, and all three looked into the distance. Even with the smoke in the air, it was still possible to see the mountain looming in the distance.