Disclaimer: I do not own The Hobbit.

So guys ... saw the movie ... and my feels have finally recovered. My apologize if this is a rather short pointless chapter but I thought it's at least something to start the ball running for the third section of this story. Plenty of feels ahoy!


'Dragon fire and ruin.'

'Ash and desolation.'

The wind carried flecks of gold across the frosted terrain and the terrible beating of dragon's wings. Marie could hear it, each stoke reverberating through the air. It was all she could hear. The moment her knees and palms hit the ground the rest of the world had gone silent. Her small hands curled into fists, broken nails cutting into the loose earth. She remained there, still as stone as she watched utterly helpless as Smaug flew down to the unsuspecting Lake Town.

And they were to blame.

She was to blame.

How he had screamed after freeing himself from the molted gold, crying out his vengeance upon them all. It made her ears bleed.

Marie didn't feel the hand pressed to her shoulder until she noticed herself rocking her back and forth slowly. She gasped and looked up at the owner of the hand. Balin was there, his face flushed with concern as he called her name in hopes of a response.

"Lass? Are you injured?"

Marie pulled back to sit in her heels. It was then she saw the other dwarves scurrying past to see the dragon. "I … I just … tripped. Smaug he …"

"I know lass I know." Balin took her by the hand and helped her to her feet. "We have unleashed a beast."

That Marie had not problem agreeing with. Balin steadied her with his firm hand. "Ravenhill." He said loudly. Gloin, Dori and Nori looked back. "The old watch tower." Balin nodded towards the waterfall where two ruins where placed either side of the river. "We will be able to see the lake from there."

'And watch the town burn.' Marie added on in her mind.

The company or what was left of it headed up hill towards the watch tower, with Dwalin and Nori taking point as they scaled the steep slow as fast as they could. Marie's body worked against her mind and she felt herself falling back from the rest. Bombur helped when he could as he for the most part brought up the rear. But not this time.

With every glance over her shoulder she noticed Thorin lagging further behind. His steps where slow and he seemed to be watching his feet. Was he feeling the strain from the fight down the forges?

But Thorin never showed how tired he was. Never.

The reached the top of the hill and climbed out onto a tower that had long since crumble into nothing more than a base, one of many.

"Just what is this place?" She asked inquisitively, seeing that the building seemed divided in two with the river frozen between them.

"Once it served as a minor fort to keep an eye on the west and north, and to watch the river in the event of flooding." Balin explained.

"Was it Dale's or Erebor's."

"A little of one built on top of the other. Those were the days when dwarves and men lived in peace."

From there Marie had a clear view of Dale and Lake Town, much to her dismay. She watched the dark silhouette of Smaug dance across the sky, dipping low to just graze over the town. But there were no fires, not yet. The dragon was proud and took his time taunting, like a cat would taunt a mouse. Marie knew from being the mouse and the anticipation of the inevitable twisted inside her like a dagger. It didn't take long for that feeling to triple when she spotted the telltale glow of Smaug's chest as he dove down once again. Gold fire light up the dark lake and the bells rang out.

Marie could feel the memory of the flame's heat on her skin.

"What now?" Came the meek voice of Ori, "What do we do?"

"There is nothing we can do." Dwalin shook his head. "We could barely fight him in the confines of the mountain, fighting him in the open would be futile."

"But Bofur, Fili and the others …" Ori's voice trailed off.

"Let us hope that they, and all the people, can make it out." Balin took his place next to Dwalin.

Ori sat down helplessly but had his own brothers at his side to comfort him.

Dwalin was right. What hope would any normal weapon have of bringing Smaug down? They had none and no magic that could stand against him. Why wasn't Gandalf there with them? He would know what can be done. He said he would come.

Marie grabbed her arms tightly. "Please be alright." She whispered. To the boys, Bofur, Oin, Bard and his children.

"He is taking his time." Dwalin said. "He could set the whole town alight with one or two breathes but he doesn't."

"This is his revenge." Marie grimly stated. "He will draw this out for as long as he can so that everyone suffers."

Balin sighed. "Poor souls."

Another blast of fire lined the outskirts of Lake Town and Marie had to look away. She could see Gloin, Bombur and Bifur from under her eyelashes, but Thorin was nowhere to be seen. Marie walked back to hill's edge while everyone else was focused on the dragon. She glanced around a standing stone and found Thorin on the steps of the tower.

He was looking back on the gates of Erebor, still as the mountain itself.

This to Marie seemed strange. At least that was her gut feelings were telling her. She stepped back from the standing stone.

"I think the serpent is gone."

"No he landed."

"Can you be sure?"

Black smoke rose from the burning town and it became harder to see just where Smaug was. Marie squinted to find the dragon, but the smoke was too thick to defer red scales from flames.

'What is he doing?'

"Look!" Balin said loudly and Marie's eyes immediately went in search for what he refered to. Out of the burning wreak the was an explosion of wood and water followed by Smaug crashing through it all. A hair raising roar echoed up to the mountain as he flapped wildly to gain height. All grace was gone, only desperation .

"By Durin's beard he's going to dive bomb the town." Gloin exclaimed.

"No." Marie shook her head. The dragon flew higher and higher up to sky clawing to very air until he stopped. His wings slacked and back he went, falling.

He disappeared into the thick smoke for a moment but there was an almighty crash like thunder.

"Did you see that?" Marie hurried to the edge of the tower. "Did you ...? He fell."

"You sure?" Behind her the dwarves stood and congregated about the edge to see for themselves.

"Yes. He fell." Marie said it again. "He's not getting back up. He's …. dead."

It had to be that. They heard no more of the dragon's shrieks, his roars, not even the sound of his wings. Had he been shot down? With what? The only thing that could bring down a dragon was …

'A Black Arrow.'

Marie immediately thought of Bard.

She looked back to the company. "Smaug is dead."

"She's right. Look." Gloin pointed to the sky. Dozens of small figures flocked from all corners of the horizon, cawing to one another. "The ravens are returning. Just as the portence told." The ravens flew passed the tower and straight to the mountain.

"Aye, tis true then." Balin had a smile on his face as wide as the river. "News will spread across the land and soon all will know. The dragon is dead."

The signs of dawn began to show hues of pink broke through the smoke. The beginning of the Dwarves' New Year was welcomed by slight cheers of dwaves and the death of the Bane of Durin's folk. Yes Smaug was dead and yet Marie did not feel that it was over. Doubt hovered overhead like a black cloud and did not look to be fading. If was like when Marie felt a storm approaching before she saw any signs of one.

She waited for Balin to finish his dwarves embrace with his brother before moving closer to his side. The dwarf took notice of her hovering very quickly. "What is it lass?"

Marie looked out at the black smoke over the lake. "So what now? What is left for us?"

Balin gave a slight head tilt and keep his eyes low. "We carry on. The mountain is ours again." He may have gone on to talk of finding the stores within the mountain and the possibility of fresh cloths but Marie could not be sure. The dwarves started to move back towards the mountain and Marie idly moved with them without really know she did. Her thoughts were scatted from the Erebor to Esgaroth with questions.

Had Bard really brought down the dragon? If so how did he procure a Black Arrow or did he always had it in plain sight? Did he survive? Did her fellow companions? Would they venture back to the lake to find them?

It was turbulent how her mind reeled from question to question. It tired her.

Another unsolved puzzle troubled her a little more than the others. She rounded the standing stone with Balin and expected to see him where she had left him. But he was gone.

'Where is Thorin?'