Sorry if this is a bit short, but I just want to get this chapter out of the way! Anyways, I'll be able to focus on this story more since school's done :) Anyways, tell me what you think about this chapter, guys! I know some of you want to know what happens now in this sticky situation, and the situation is going to get stickier :D
And now, ladies and gentlemen(?), the moment you've all been waiting for :D
It was like drowning all over again.
She was sinking deeper and deeper into an abyss, but in this version, she didn't need air. She wasn't clawing her way up to the surface nor did she even dared to open her eyes -she didn't even feel herself breathe! All she felt was that she was floating down for eternity with a comfortable chill enveloping her. She didn't know how long she's been floating down in the abyss, but she knew that she has been for a long time. She was comfortable there -no worries, no hurt, no heart-break. She felt like she was conscious of everything, but doesn't remember anything, ans she prefers it that way.
She was content floating in this endless abyss, when her eyes were forced open, and a glowing hand plunged down to reach for her. As the hand grabbed her arm and pulled her towards the surface, blinding white light clouded her vision, and pain shot through her side. Soon enough, the light ebbed, her vision became clearer, and her senses came back. She was lying down, her hands on her stomach, and she was holding something. She looked down and saw that she was holding the handle of a sword. She looked up and realized that she was confined in a stone case, and the cover was split in half. She moved the half that remained and sat up properly, looking around her, and saw that there were two other stone cases in the room with her, both of them having statues on top of them. She looked at her own lid, and saw that there was a statue there, too. She got out of her stone case, her legs wobbling in the process and ending up falling to her knees. Her legs felt like they were dead, but she can feel that it's slowly coming back to her senses. She crawled towards one of the caskets, the one to her right, and she looked at it. She traced the features of the face of the statues, her breath getting stuck in her throat. She felt tears falling down her eyes, but she didn't know why. She wiped them away, but they kept on falling. She tried to stand, holding on to the stone case, and she saw the name at the foot of it: Alvor.
White light blinded her once more, pain washing over her body and she heard a voice calling out to her. A deep, familiar voice, was calling out to her, saying her name over and over again when a memory flashed once more in her eyes. It was a bloodied man lying in her arms, and she was singing a lullaby to him. She blinked and she saw the face of that man was the face that was carved in that statue. She gasped and scrambled away from the stone case, her heart beating fast. This man -the man inside this stone case, died in her arms, meaning that she was in a tomb.
She was confused and she didn't know where to go, but she knew that she couldn't stay in this room. So she left, hiding in corridors and in broom closets when someone was passing by. She didn't know where she was going, but she kept on moving. That was until she ended up in a corridor with large doors at it's end. She didn't know if there really were sounds coming in there, or if it was just in her mind, but she heard hisses and growling in the room, drawing her in. As she slowly made her way to the door, flashes of red scales, yellow eyes, and burning hot flames engulfed her mind. She held it's knob, turned it, and pushed the door open.
Her eyes widened at the sea of gold that was before her. It wasn't all gold, but rubies, sapphires, and emeralds were littered around the room. That was when the visions got worse, and she was left stumbling around, trying to get a hold of the nearest wall and letting it lead her. Everything came rushing back to her at that moment. Her family, her tribe, dragons, Elrond, Smaug -everything. How her family and her tribe died by Smaug's flames, how all of the dragons died with it, how she saved her nephews, Amren and Alvor, from dying and left them with Elrond, and the years that she has spent cold and alone. There was also thing that she remembered -her name.
Helga Skyrunner.
It was all too much to bear, and it was burning her from the inside. Then, she felt something hit her hard in the forehead, and the pain disappeared and all there was left is a white light.
"Helga," The voice said once more. "Dragon Rider, my last hope, your time in this world is not yet done. You have much work to do, young Skyrunner, and it is just beginning."
After Helga was found, she was set in a tub for a whole day, before Hosue declared that her fever subsided. The healers dressed her, and moved her to a regular bed. The next day, the whole Company, minus Bilbo and Gandalf, was in the infirmary, silently praying for their friend's recovery. They all gathered there to eat their dinner together, along with Amren, Alvor, Hosue, Malkus, and Tamara. It was then they realized that they rarely meet and get together like this, and they wished that it happened under better circumstances. Helga still hasn't opened her eyes, Thorin is there, too, but rarely speaks and just looks at Helga, resisting the urge to hold her hand. He moved away, and decided to have a proper talk with Malkus and Hosue.
"Does this usually happen?" Thorin asked, referring to the unconscious state of the Dragon Rider.
"No, this is the first time I've seen this. Usually, the patients wake when the fever subsides. They don't normally stay unconscious after a fever." Hosue answered.
"But if I know her, she would get through this. She's tough, our cousin," Malkus said, smiling a bit. "She was supposed to replace her betrothed, Daario, and become the next Legion Commander when Smaug attacked us."
"I've heard her say that. She talks about him during the journey, did she love him?" He asked, his heart clenching, and Malkus smirked.
"Jealous, now, are we?" Thorin just huffed at this. "They loved each other, but I always felt like Daario could never have satisfied Helga. They were a good match, but they would not have lasted long."
"Why are you still after her?" Hosue suddenly asked. "You have a wife, are you not satisfied enough with her?"
"I have my duties to my wife, but I'm afraid that my heart will always belong to Helga." Thorin admitted, and Hosue sighed.
"You would have to let her go, soon. She cannot stay here." Hosue said, and Malkus sent him a look, telling him to stop.
"And why not? She has a home here, so does Amren, Alvor, and the both of you, too." Thorin said, and Hosue gave Thorin a hard glare.
"She will not be staying here whether she likes it or not. She just can't." Hosue said, and Malkus sighed.
"Hosue, not now. We talked about this, and we decided to let Helga decide." Malkus said, but Hosue did not falter.
"Then all of those years that we could have spent with her and your sons were all for naught. You missed nearly a hundred year's worth of time with your sons!" Hosue hissed.
"We'll talk about this later, Hosue." Was all Malkus needed to say before Hosue gave him one last and left. Thorin looked at the brothers, a question in mind. He shook this off, for tonight, he would focus on Helga. He went beside his wife, who was looking at Helga, as if in deep thought. He held his wife's shoulders and she sighed.
"So this is her?" She asked him, and he nodded. She held his hand as they sat down beside the bed. They really could not do anything else but wait. "I would very much like to meet her when she wakes. She seems like a wonderful person."
"She is," Thorin answered. "Although I do not know how she will take everything when she wakes up." Thorin said, and Tamara looked at her husband with a sigh. She looked back at Helga, silently praying to Mahal and to Yvanna that they will get through this mess. Then suddenly, Tamara saw Helga's fingers twitch, and her eyes moving behind her eyelids.
"She moved!" She said, and there was silence in the room, followed by chairs scraping and Oin and Hosue making their way to Helga. They were all standing around Helga, waiting for something to happen. There was silence for a while, and everybody thought that it was just a muscle twitching. Helga's only movements were the slow rise and fall of her chest. Everybody held their breaths, when suddenly, Helga's eyelids slowly fluttered open.
Everybody let out a sigh of relief as her eyes opened widely and she looked at all of them. She was disoriented, and she took her time looking at each and everyone that crowded in her room.
"H-Helga?" Malkus was the first one to break the silence. Helga's eyes snapped to her cousin's face, and as soon as she saw him, her eyes started to water.
"M-Malkus?" Helga gasped, her hands flying up to her mouth. She looked around and saw Hosue, whose eyes were glassy. "Hosue?" She asked. The brothers took a step forward and they wrapped their arms around their cousin, their own tears falling, too.
"We thought you were dead, Helga." Hosue said, his voice shaking as he held his cousin closely.
"We thought you burned in the forest." Malkus followed, the both of them pulling away from Helga. All the Company do was watch and cry tears of joy at the reunion.
"I thought the both of you were dead," Helga cried in her hands, feeling something heavy from her chest being lifted. "I didn't see you in the attack awhile ago -I saw Daario-" Helga was hysterical, and the Company fell silent.
"Helga-"
"And then our house was burnt, and I couldn't find Amren and Alvor-"
"Helga, calm down-"
"And Malkus, your wife! She gave me Amren and Alvor and all I could do was get them and fly-"
"Helga, it's alright-"
"No! It's not!" After her outburst, you could hear a pin drop all the way from Mordor. "Our tribe has been burnt down, Malkus! Our whole race is gone, and now, I don't even know where I am! I am lost, and all I know is that I woke up in a room full of strangers!" Helga said, and everybody looked at each other. Thorin stepped forward, looking at Helga in the eye, a knot forming at the pit of his stomach.
"Helga," He said, and when he looked into those brown eyes that haunted his dreams, he felt his heart thumping loudly, calling out to hers. "Do you not remember any of us?" He asked, and Helga sighed, closing her eyes and her brows furrowed. She opened her eyes once more, and it was a look that was true to what she said.
"No."
