A FRACTION OF A LOST ETERNITY

Coldness brushed past the bruises on Jeanne's face. She sucked in a deep breath and felt a million shards of ice prick her throat. Her hand shot up, desperate to grab ahold of the ledge of the frozen lake. Her fingers slipped against the ice, but before she fell, Thorin's large hand wrapped around her wrist.

Jeanne gasped sharply and looked up, meeting Thorin's gaze and wounded face. She didn't want to look away for a moment as time stood still. A microsecond lasted, within her mind, for at least an eternity. Jeanne made out every detail of his face. His eyes, his nose, his beard, his wounds.

"Jeanne…!" Thorin said, her voice desperate and filled with despair.

Jeanne's lips quivered as she was pulled up, her body immediately engulfed with the warmth of his embrace. The rouged smell of pine and steel filled her nose, instantly relaxing every one of her nerves.

Jeanne's peace of mind only lasted a moment when she opened her eyes. She stared straight ahead at a dark figure standing across the frozen terrine. Waiting. Lurking.

"Azog…" Jeanne breathed sharply, his name like acid on her tongue.

Thorin pulled away from Jeanne and turned around. "Stay close to me," he whispered.

Azog was a massive figure made of only her worst nightmares. His icy stare shot daggers through her brittle bones. Once he started to walk towards them, Jeanne's shivering only intensified.

"Look out!" Jeanne shoveled Thorin to the side as Azog swung his hand up, hurling a large bolder with a chain attached. It slammed into the ground and caused it to crack like a spider web around the thick ice.

Thorin felt his feet skidding on the ice, but his eyes focused on two things. Jeanne and Azog. He regained his balance quickly and reached his hand out, latching it against Jeanne's wrist. He pulled her back to his side as Azog swung the massive bolder at her, missing by only a couple inches.

Both Thorin and Jeanne were dancing with the icy clutches of death. The more Azog swung his weapon and missed, the more the ice cracked and broke apart. It had splintered so much that the three of them were slipping around in a single large chunk of ice, swaying back and forth from the lack of balance.

Jeanne let out a small shriek as she felt her legs slip from beneath her, but her body didn't have time to hit the floor. Thorin kept his vice-like grip on her hand, quickly switching it to her waist to keep her steadier. He kept close to her like sap but never took his eyes away from Azog.

"Get up!" Thorin hissed urgently at her.

Thorin was swifter than Azog and managed to cut him a couple times in the legs, Injuring the pale orc as he struggled to catch his footing and angle his fury of attacks.

Blind fury clouded Azog's vision as he stared at the two, glaring intensely at Jeanne's fiery hair that whipped around her like a blazing crown. His attention was quickly drawn away thought when he saw something in the distance, behind the blinding like of the rising sun.

Eagles…

The Eagles were coming yet again.

Jeanne gasped loudly as she felt a gust of wind catch at her back, blowing her hair over her face. She snapped her head around just in time to see the large, majestic bodies of the eagle fly overhead, heading towards Azog's approaching army.

Jeanne felt her heart surge with hope and confidence. Cool air filled her lungs, but it didn't have the same burning sensation from before. Suddenly, Jeanne separated herself from Thorin and grabbed the large bolder stuck in the ice. She strained her muscles as she grunted and lifted it up into her burned arms. She tossed it over to Azog, and he caught it instructively.

Thorin grabbed Jeanne's hand again and stepped off the floating ice chunk. The collected weight on Azog's since caused the chunk to tip up. Azog's feet fell from beneath him as his body was pulled down by the heavy bolder attached to him. His gargling growl and scraping of nails and blades sent shivers down Jeanne's spine as the pale orc disappeared below the surface.

A moment of silence was all Jeanne needed as her knees gave out. She slumped down onto the ice and shivered, breathy heavily as the adrenaline rush slowly zapped her strength.

"Jeanne…" Thorin spoke tenderly. He let down his weapon at her side and held her face between his rough hands. He tapped his forehead against hers and lay there, momentarily lost in a word of their own creation. A world where it was only them.

"Thorin." She whispered warmly, wrapping her arms around his body and hugging him tightly. "I…I don't know what I would do without you…" she breathed out.

He kissed the side of her head tenderly and held her close for a moment longer. He opened his eyes and saw a shape under the water. Large, pale, and unmoving. He stared at it for a bit longer…when ice-cold eyes opened.

"NO!" Thorin's voice came out rough and shattered as the ice cracked from behind Jeanne.

Azog rose up from the depths like an unholy creature. Jeanne snapped her head over her shoulder as time slowed down to an almost halt. The only thing she could hear was Thorin's voice turning into an echo and the heavy sound of her heart beating out of control. Her body was suddenly suspected and yanked from behind. A gasp escaped her lips, as fleeting as a death rattle, as Thorin rushed in front of her, holding his arms out like a shield…letting Azog run his blade straight through his chest.

Jeanne's frozen state only lasted for a moment. Her skin turned icy white of horror as a guttural, heartbroken scream ripped from her lungs.

Her little moment. That small fraction of tender eternity...was lost.