When they were finally alone Frerin was unusually quiet and looking into the night outside the window.
"Was it really that bad?" Dain asked him tentatively.
"I was wrong." Frerin slowly told him, clearly gloomy and timid.
"About?" Dain insisted.
"About your boy." Frerin admitted. "I was wrong about forbidding you to take care of him. I was selfish and jealous."
"Indeed you were." Dain coldly confirmed. "But no matter what you do I will always regret letting you down. But the boy has no fault in my mistakes."
"I know." Frerin admitted. "Why can't we be like the other couples? Why do we always fight after we get together?"
"We fight because you don't trust me. We fight because you get jealous. We fight because we are real assholes, bastards and sons of bitches." Dain slowly told him. "And because I love you I will always forgive you, the question is will you finally forgive me for that one real mistake I made?"
Frerin mumbled something.
"I didn't hear you." Dain calmly told him.
"I forgave you a long time ago." Frerin said barely audibly.
"Then you won't mind if I move back into the house we built together?" Dain asked in a tense voice.
"The people are not tolerant as in the past for our kind of relationships." Frerin reminded one of the reasons why they kept appearances of not being together.
"Bullshit!" Dain told him. "Look at Fili and Kili – everyone treats them normal."
"What if someone realizes we're older than considered normal?" Frerin asked.
"For Mahal's sake stop finding lame excuses! I'm moving in! We're officially back together and we lead the tribe and pack together! Or…" Dain spoke in a threatening tone.
"Or what?" Frerin asked in a horror stricken voice.
"Or I'm leaving." Dain finished. "After I tell my only child that he is my son, I'll pack and leave."
Frerin looked at him terrified, his mouth was open and agape.
"And what will you do?" Frerin asked in a shaken voice.
"I'll travel around the word, see all those fancy places they show on the TV thingy, meet lots of people, eat lots of different types of food, swim the ocean, see Disneyland thingy." Dain spoke in a dreamy tone. "I want to see the Great Wall of China, the Eiffel Tower, the Taj Mahal… Australia, New Zealand… There are so many things to do in this world. So many things to see away from our forest and our small town."
"Fine, you can move in." Frerin spoke in a spiteful tone and glanced away from his mate. After a longer while he breathed in deeply and finally said what he really wanted to say. "If Fili stays and everything will work well, and he'll become pack leader, I'll go on that stupid trip with you."
Dain stared at him with awe. "Don't you ever dare fight with me again, or leave me. It's forever this time." He threatened in a low voice.
"Forever." Frerin calmly agreed.
"And be nice to the vampires!" Dain scolded him like a child.
"I'll be nice to the nice vampires." Frerin recited calmly.
"Is it just me or is there something between Dain and Frerin?" Fili asked his mother in whisper when he finally got her alone in the kitchen.
"There was lots of gossip in the past about them, but as long as I remember they were not together. It's like they were rivals, not friends." She spoke in a low tone.
"Or ex-lovers." Fili realized.
"Dain is the only person in the tribe who has a huge influence on Frerin." Dis noticed. "So there might have been something between them in the past."
"I wonder why I haven't realized that before…" Fili got lost in thoughts.
Maybe because they were never thinking about their relationship when you were around? Kili suggested.
Maybe, and now you could sense the tension between them. Fili replied. I think they might become an item again.
I have the same feeling. Kili replied calmly. The question is will they support us, or will Frerin give us more trouble?
I have no idea… Fili groaned. At least they didn't feel hostile towards Thorin, which was a huge surprise for me.
Thorin has his own abilities. Kili told him.
What kind of abilities? Fili felt curious.
Mood control, he can tell lies or schemes. He also has a gift for finding patterns and plots. He's immune to my own mind reading abilities as you've probably realized already. Kili told him.
He's not immune to mine. Fili suddenly noticed. I know he is hiding something from us, from you. I think his abilities reach more into the same direction as mine than yours. Why do you call him uncle?
He told me to call him that when he first met. Kili replied. I was just several weeks after my transformation, and he helped me to control the rage and bloodlust.
Can you show me? Fili suddenly felt the need to insist.
"Will you talk with me for a minute instead of mind talking with Kili?" Dis tried not to be irritated.
"Anyway we think it's possible they will be together again." Fili told her.
"Good, I'm going home, if you need anything call me." She kissed him on the cheek and bid everyone goodbye in the living room.
"Goodnight!" Fili told the two wolves on guard duty chilling out in the living room with Nori and Bofur.
"What took you so long!" Kili scolded him when he finally arrived in their new bedroom.
"Had to say goodbye to mom." Fili told him shyly. "So can we get to bed, we need to sync a bit…"
"Get over here…" Kili patted the bed next to him. "So you want me to show you my earliest memories of Thorin?"
"Yes." Fili told him simply and closed his eyes and their foreheads touched and they reached complete sync.
Kili tried to focus on the past, he tried to evoke the right memories, but it was difficult to focus on such distant events. Fili saw glimpses of Kili's childhood, the village he was born in, the language those people spoke, the kind eyes of his mother and father. He saw moments of happiness, killed by the image of his mother on her dying bed. She was ill, her face white and desperate. He saw two monks show up and wash her and prepare her for death.
"You have to keep him safe." She begged the monks. She spoke that strange language but because Kili knew it, Fili could understand the words as well. "He has no one left in the village, and my family is too far away to take him, before I send word of my impending death it will be over."
So you did have more family… Fili realized.
I didn't remember that… Kili replied amazed with the discovery in his own head.
Go on maybe we'll find more. Fili told him in a calm voice.
The saw images of Kili's mom's funeral, and the monks taking the boy with them to the monastery. The life there was peaceful, Kili would help cleaning the church, he would help preparing the meals. Then came the day. He saw Kili's memories of the monks, somehow he could hear the screams in his head.
Were you telepathic before you became a vampire? Fili made another big discovery.
Now that you ask, I think I was. I could hear my mom's voice in my head, and sometimes the voice of other people. I still remember feeling death in the air and hearing screams that night… Kili realized.
He saw blood, he saw the bodies of the dead monks in the chapel, and more in the church. He saw the kind monk split in half and dead. Then he heard yelling.
"Where is he! He has to be here!" A deep voice growled.
"Our scouts said he has to be here!" Another voice answered. "Keep looking!"
Kili heard the voices in his head, he could see the despicable things those beings did, he smelt the blood. Fili almost became nauseous just because of the memory.
"Search the church! And bring me his dead body!" The deep voice growled again. "No Durin can live! And no Durin can become a vampire! He has to die!"
Durin? Fili asked.
I honestly have no idea… I don't know what that means. Kili replied shaken by the hidden memories in his own head.
Then he saw the one who spoke in the deep voice. The man was beautiful, tall with a slim face. He had red eyes.
No one I've ever met had eyes like that… Kili noticed. That color is not natural even for a vampire…
"You're a delicious one, aren't you Durin?!" The man grabbed Kili by the neck. "Too bad I have to kill you just like all the others from your despicable family!"
"Who are you?" Young Kili managed to ask.
"You ask who Am I?" The man spoke with a ridiculous undertone. "I AM DEATH!" The man spoke with spite and bit in Kili's neck. Kili heard the man's name ring in his head… Smaug… His name was Smaug. Then it all became blank.
Then he awoke alone. Between the bodies of the dead monks. He was supposed to die, that vampire wanted him dead for some reason, but he didn't… He awoke strong and powerful, his senses heightened by the rage of the transformation.
I can't take anymore tonight! Kili whispered to Fili.
"It's too much! I can't take it!" Kili began crying and hugged Fili and hid his face in Fili's neck.
"Who was that?" Fili gently asked.
"I have no idea." Kili replied in a sullen voice.
"But Thorin will know." Fili suddenly realized thanks to his powers. "No wonder your brain didn't want to remember those horrid facts, it's like you were blocked."
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Kili suddenly realized.
"Thorin blocked those memories in your head…" Fili realized. "The question is why did he do it? To protect you or to manipulate you?"
Kili suddenly felt really cold and terrified, he could still hear those screams of anguish in his head. He hid his head in Fili's neck and Fili brought him as close as possible.
"No matter what happens I'll always be there for you…" Fili told him trying to ease the worry and fear in Kili.
"Till your wolf rejects me and drives me away…" Kili began crying in pain.
Fili didn't know what to say, he had no idea how his wolf would react, and neither did Kili.