Hello everybody! Here's chapter seven, so soon after chapter six went up...I have no social life.

Rated-T

Warnings

Abuse/torture

Some OOC-ness maybe

I might not get all of their talking entirely accurate so please bear with me

Things you need to know

"Lydia/other Ereborians speaking in Khuzdul"

Disclaimer-I don't own the Hobbit or How To Train Your Dragon.

Here We Stand United

Chapter 7

Thorin Oakenshield, King in Exile, plowed through the masses. Blinded by battle fury, he slashed at anyone who got in his way. He would not let any of them see Nori and his team. He would not risk this rescue mission. They looked after their own, and Dori should never had been captured in the first place. Nori was going to be in a world of trouble when this was over. He'd specifically ordered that no one leave the ship until they had decided on a plan.

Nearby, his small wife fought valiantly, roaring her own battle cry and nimbly darting around her enemies before darting in to deal fatal blows. Her honey colored curls were tangled and matted with slowly drying blood and the expression on her face was one of fierce determination. Mahal, he loved her. She was loyal and headstrong, clever and quick, and caring. He'd never met anyone like her before, which was why as he had been passing through her home in the Shire, he was immediately fascinated, so he ended up staying for another few months, and then finally decided he would not return to Erebor without her. It took time, but he wore her down until she agreed to come to Erebor with him and marry him.

However, she had not been prepared in the slightest when Frerin had informed her quite bluntly that she was going to be queen whenever their father, Thrain, stepped down. Needless to say she had been furious he hadn't mentioned to her that he was a prince. In his defense, he simply hadn't wanted that fact to influence her choice. They needn't have worried, in the end. Their love was strong, Bilba had made a great queen, and they'd had two children which was cause for the whole kingdom to celebrate. If only Smaug the Terrible had not come to Erebor...

"Thorin! Pay attention to the fight!" Balin snapped as he sliced an arm off a man who'd been about to attack Thorin. The King in Exile shook off his thoughts and leapt back into the fray, even as he caught sight of Nori, Dwalin, Bifur, and Bofur, with Nori carrying Dori and making a bee-line for the ship, where he knew Oin and Ori waited. Even as he watched, a bunch of teens filed out after them. Six he didn't recognize, but the seventh was...

"Lydia!" Frodo's cry carried over the turmoil, and then the dark-haired prince was fighting his way to his sister's side, normally so reserved, even when he fought, but now a light of insane relief glimmered in his eyes and he savagely cut down anyone who got in his way.

Fili and Kili took up Frodo's cry of joy, and soon the news had spread to every Ereborian scattered about the battlefield, each of them pausing to crane their necks and get a glimpse of the princess. Thorin glanced around for Bilba, and became frantic when she wasn't right where he last saw her. He was terribly afraid she was going to do something stupid just to get to their daughter. Whenever her emotions got the better of her during fights, her movements would get too erratic and she would start trembling, leaving her vulnerable. He breathed a sigh of relief when he finally caught side of her, Bofur covering her as she fought her way to Lydia. Thorin knew he could count on the cheery toy maker to watch out for Bilba.

"Ereborians! Fall back!" Thorin finally roared, his voice easily carrying over the battlefield to reach everyone, causing them to pause in either confusion or disappointment. It wasn't often their King called for a retreat. However, he sensed the tide was about to turn against them, and he would not risk his people while Dori was down for the count, Lydia seemed exhausted, and Bilba would soon dissolve into an emotional wreck.

The allies whom they didn't even know were left floundering as the Ereborians pulled back, heading for their ship before they would set out to sea. However, a cry of outrage, or maybe pain, caused the younger Ereborians to pause, and with a battle cry, Lydia was charging at a man who held a small red-headed boy by the neck. Frodo, Fili, and Kili took up the battle roar and charged after her while Thorin watched on in horror and Bilba screamed, only just being stopped from charging after them because Thorin had managed to drag her back. Thorin was sure he was about to see his two children and sister-sons torn limb from limb, but a screaming Bifur, Bofur, and Bombur charged forward to save the royal heirs.

In a matter of moments, Lydia and Fili, the fastest two, had reached the giant of a man and were on him, hacking at his arms brutally, Lydia with an axe and Fili with his sword, until the smaller boy was released, snatched up by the Ereborian teens, and then carted off the battlefield, back towards the ship, while Bifur, Bofur, and Bombur covered their escape. Hands reached down and hauled them all aboard, even Bombur, with difficulty, and even as their ship was swarmed, they fought back while Nori and Dwalin hoisted the anchor and Gloin steered them out to sea.

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"What were you thinking?!"

"I couldn't leave him to die!"

"Now we hafta take him home..."

"Those look like some nasty marks on his neck..." Okay, that harsh sentence, whatever it was, did not sound good.

"He's perfectly fine. Ah don't understand why he's not awake..."

"I'm hungry. Uncle Oin, tell Bombur to make dinner!"

"I'm fine; stop worrying."

"I think the lad is waking up!" A hush fell over the room he was in as his eyes slowly pried open and he stared up at all the faces hovering over him. Many of them were bearded, but there were a few clean-shaven, and one that was familiar to him.

"How do you feel, Hiccup?" Lydia asked quietly as she helped him sit up, and he held his head as he took in the room full of strangers. Many of them glared at him, some wore guarded looks, and there were even a few friendly faces. A boy with bright red hair, even brighter than his own, with the very wisps of a beard beginning on his chin, bounded forward to get in his space.

"Who are you? I'm Gimli! You're my friend now, got it?" Gimli said, shoving his finger in Hiccup's face, and he went cross-eyed trying to look at it.

"Gimli, why don't you and I go whip up some dinner for everyone? Let the big people talk," a large man with orangish hair and beard said as he stepped forward. He was round and large, and his face was red, as though he was eternally out of breath.

Gimli's face lit up and he chirped, "Okay Bombur!" then he skipped out ahead of the waddling man. Then Lydia was back in his sight and he'd never been so grateful to see anyone in his life.

"Hiccup, do you remember what happened?" she asked carefully. When he shook his head, she continued, "Alvin was strangling you. My cousins and brother, Fili, Kili, and Frodo, helped me free you. We couldn't kill him, but we all got away with our lives, which was the goal. We're going to take you back to Berk now, okay?" Hiccup nodded mutely, and then glanced around the room fully as he felt a little better and could turn his head without feeling like he would throw up. His eyes fell on the form of the other man who'd been in the cage across the hall from him.

Lydia followed his gaze and said quietly, "That's Dori. He was poisoned, but he's getting better. Nori and Ori are taking care of him, now that Oin has given him an antidote. You feel up to a little food? I promise you'll love it, meat or veggies. Bombur and Bofur are great cooks."

Finally, Hiccup managed to speak. His words came out as a hoarse whisper, but he was proud of himself for managing to speak nonetheless, "Food sounds great. Can I have some water first, though?" Lydia smiled and nodded, before standing swiftly and sweeping out of the room, everyone else standing there parting like a wave to let her pass them. They clearly held great respect for her.

Then the intimidating man with dark hair just like Lydia's, and her distinct features, was hovering over him, and Hiccup glanced up at him. He hesitated, and then said in rough Norse, "I would like to thank you...for helping my daughter. When we return you to your home, I would also like to thank your King. If he had not brought my daughter to that battle on that cursed island, we never would have gotten Lydia back."

Hiccup replied, "I think I should be the one thanking your daughter, not the other way around. And Berk doesn't have a King; we have a chief, who just so happens to be my dad. He'll probably want to thank Lydia..."

The man gave a thoughtful hum and pulled back, his pale eyes, also strikingly similar to Lydia's, were lost in thought, and the woman next to him with honey hair pulled him out of the room. The towering mountain with the large, tangled beard, bald hair, and strange tattoos followed them like a shadow...or a bodyguard. Slowly others filtered out after them, until only a few were left. One was the unconscious Dori, another was a man with hair that reminded him of a star who was dutifully tending to Dori, there was a much younger male curled up in a chair fast asleep while clutching Dori's hand, two men older than him who just sat there grinning at Hiccup creepily...yeah, not going there..., an elderly man with graying hair who must have been the healer since he was putting away some tools, and finally another young man curled up in the only other chair reading a book with a strange title in a strange language he couldn't read. The reading person was also strikingly similar to Lydia. They could have been twins, they looked so similar.

Finally he pulled his gaze away from the boy who was reading, carefully avoided looking at the two boys who were still grinning at him, and finally let his gaze rest on the man with the star-shaped hair tending to Dori. His movements were slow, uncertain, but his face was determined. Finally, he spoke, "You know it rude to stare?" Hiccup jumped guiltily, and immediately regretted the action. The elder man turned fierce hazel eyes on the Viking teen, and Hiccup squirmed under the scrutiny. "You're hardly much of a man. Can't begin to imagine why you were in that dungeon in the first place," he said dismissively, and then turned back to Dori.

Ouch. That kind of hurt. "Don't mind Nori. He's just grumpy because he accidentally got his big brother into trouble. He'll be nicer once Dori's feeling better." Hiccup glanced back to the boy sitting in the chair as he gently closed his book and looked at him with that pale gaze. "I'm Frodo, Lydia's brother. The blond is my cousin Fili, and his brother Kili is the dark-haired one. Grumpy is Nori, and the one passed out in the chair is his younger brother, Ori." Hiccup blinked when Frodo fell silent, and then realized he was expecting a response.

"Hiccup." Frodo just nodded and studied him closely, though his gaze was kind where Nori's had not been. It still made him uncomfortable to be stared at like that, though.

"You're very strange," Frodo decided, nodding to himself, before he stood and vacated the room. Fili and Kili shared identical grins before following their cousin, just as Lydia breezed back into the room, carrying a chipped cup full of water and a plate with steaming hot food that smelled delicious and made the Viking's mouth water. She plopped the plate down on the cot next to him before straightening and looking him in the eye, her gaze almost reproachful.

"Hurry up and eat that because Berk is in sight. Oin says you're well enough to walk so if you're not up to it or that food hasn't been finished, you won't like it because Dwalin will drag you off this ship if he has to." Gone was the kind girl who had helped him when he first woke up, and in her place was the girl who was used to giving orders and having them followed. It was the same girl he'd come to learn a little of when they were imprisoned together in the dungeons.

Nori snorted at something Lydia had said, and she turned her harsh glare to him as she barked something at him in their strange language. His face flushed red and he turned back to tending his older brother without so much as a grumble.

Interesting.

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"Thank you, very much! If there's anything I can ever do, anything at all, to return the favor, don't hesitate to ask, and my people and I will be more than willing to help you," Stoic the Vast said, shaking hands with Thorin. The King in Exile opened his mouth to brush it off as nothing, but Lydia chose that moment to speak up,

"'Adad. We need to talk."

Thorin paused and turned to give his daughter a level look. Lydia's face was grim and her eyes serious. That alone told Thorin that she would not let it go and the this discussion could not be put off. So he turned to Stoic and asked if there was somewhere he could have a discussion with Lydia for a moment. Stoic readily agreed, and led them away.

Dwalin watched as the Princess and King disappeared around a bend, and then shared a look with Bofur, who stood beside him. Her eyes were full of worry, and he gave her a grim smile of acceptance, for they both knew what Lydia would be discussing with her 'adad.

The Map Dori had once held, and Erebor.

I'm on a roll! Gah, the end is so crappy though! I had everything beautiful and typed and it was great, and then it didn't save. I burst into TEARS I was so upset! Which is why you get...this. For some reason, though, these chapters just keep getting longer and longer. Ah, well.

How was it?

Review please!