Depths of Death

Chapter 7

We ran in. I had a feeling it wasn't going to be pretty, but I had no idea it was this bad.

"Great Starclan," Runningwind said quietly. The beast was like a boggart, only much, much worse. The shape of it kept changing- it was black, gooey shadows one moment, or a big dragon the next. It wasn't feeding off of what we feared most. It was feeding off of what we knew we could not defeat.

Then it was a giant, three-headed dog, much like what Hagrid had called Fluffy in Harry's first year. But it wasn't one to be soothed by music.

"What do we do?" I called over the roars of the beast. "Runningwind, haven't you seen this before?"

"No, but I heard tales of it," Runningwind said. "It takes our fears and exaggerates them."

"I see Dora!" Lupin called. She was in a cage, hanging above us, screaming. "DORA! IT'S ME!"

"REMUS!" Tonks screamed. Her hair was a blackish-red color, thoroughly coated in grease and dirt. "GET ME OUT OF HERE!"

"What do we do, Sir Black?" Oaksheild asked me, backing up slightly. "I do not see a way out of this."

"This is one of the days when I wish I had the powers of Lady Artemis behind me," Zoe said, reaching for something on her back that wasn't there. "I need a weapon. Anything."

"We have rocks," I replied. "And that's about it. Unless we want to sacrifice someone to distract it, and get Tonks down and get out of here."

"No!" Fili said. "We can't just sacrifice someone! There has to be a better way to defeat this thing!"

"Well, we can spread out in a circle and throw rocks at it, while someone else climbs up the sides and gets the girl out of the cage," Stonehelm suggested. "Then Kili, Fili, Oaksheild and I can transport everyone back to the apartment complex, and we're home free."

"Okay, let's try it. Moony, you climb up while we distract it. Yell 'home free' when you got her, then run to the passage and wait for us there," I said. "Don't move anywhere. Wait for us."

"Got it," Remus said, and ran to the walls. "Cover me!"

"In a circle, grab some rocks, and throw. If the monster comes at you, back up and keep throwing!" I directed. "Oh... Runningwind... help Remus out. I forgot that you were a cat."

"On it," he said in reply.

"Now there's... six of us throwing rocks," Fili said, counting on his fingers. "Let's go!"

I faced it head on, except when it grew more heads. The plan appeared to be working. Except that we were getting tired, even for the dead, and the cage wasn't breaking, regardless of Runningwind's sharp claws.

"Retreat!" Zoe yelled before I could. "Retreat!"

We ran back to our spot. "Okay, now what? That didn't even make it flinch hardly at all." Fili said, sticking close to Kili. "We can't beat it, there isn't enough of us."

"Lupin stayed with the Twoleg girl," Runningwind said. "It's a gooey type of substance, but I can't get my claws through it. It reforms really fast, too."

"This is hopeless," I said, rubbing my temples for the millionth time in the days we'd spent down here. "We're running out of options."

"This was a hopeless mission to begin with," Zoe retorted. "We never stood a chance of rescuing the one who had lost her mind, Sir Black. But Sir Lupin wouldn't leave her behind, so he had to come rescue her. It would be kinder to kill her and have her forget her time here."

"No, it wouldn't," I argued. "She has good memories of Alleu, too. Despite the crowded nature of it, she and Moony had good times here together. She wouldn't like it if we told her that we killed her so that she could forget her experiences her. Actually, she might kill us."

"Then what do thee propose we do!" Zoe snarled. "I am out of ideas, Sir Black! We all are!"

"It's not over," I said. "It's never over when we think it is. Why is it over? What do I do!"

I was losing it. That's all there was to my breakdown. I was out of options, and I didn't want to let go of Tonks and let her die here, alone. Or kill her. It wasn't fair.

"Sirius, keep it together!" Kili said warily, backing up. "Don't lose your head now!"

"NIAH!" I roared towards the cavern's roof. "SIRA! I FAILED. IT'S ALL OVER. WE CAN'T MAKE IT. I GIVE THIS BACK TO YOU!" That was the last straw. It was done. And I was ready to admit that.

We failed Niah, Sira, and Tonks. We let Thorin the First down by not saving her. He died again in vain.

I failed.

xxx

Not-So-Short Author's Note: I have to leave it there, guys. I was going to continue, but my creative spirit died right there. It took me what, a month to write this chapter? It's really short, too. I have about ten to fifty different versions, but this one is the best of all of them. And the longest. I'll try again tomorrow, and see if the next chapter can have even more action. And possibly some Tonks-saving. You know. The important things.

This was a really hard chapter for me, and I'm sorry for the wait. But it's finished now, so I'll post it and do more brainstorming and test paragraphs.

Thanks for reading! Reviews of any length and type are more than welcome!

!ZaBrIaRoSe!