This is Me → Post BOTFA fanfic

Chapter 24

KILI'S POV

The blood on the ground. The axe in her chest. The tear that still rested on her cold cheek. It was all unreal. I muttered her name over and over again, caressing her hand as if it could bring her back to life. My tears mixed with the blood-saturated soil and my wife sobbed in the background, her stoic elf manner being thrown aside in the face of tragedy.

We told her to stay put and not follow us because the probability of injury and death would be high in battle. Now our point had been proven. Sadly, the lesson had to be learned the difficult way. I felt a hand being placed on my shoulder and I turned around to see Thorin's serious face staring back at me. "She sacrificed herself for me" he said in an almost monotone voice. A look of depression seemed to dress his face. I looked at my daughter with an axe in her chest and my uncle who had many injuries, but a spared life. "She shielded me with her body when this Orc tried to bring his axe down upon me" he said, pointing at a hideous Orc with a familiar dagger sticking out of its head. I leaned over and yanked the dagger out of the Orc, studying it's bloody blade and handle seeing it matched another dagger in the waistband of her leggings. "Areth is a hero," My uncle said, "She will get a funeral fit for a king."

As Thorin walked away slowly, I turned to my wife. Her body was wracked with sobs as she was being held up by my brother, tears streaming down her alabaster cheeks. I took Fili's place, holding my wife's limp body in my arms as she cried over the loss of our beloved daughter. Her current state hurt me even more, and tears fell down my face just like hers did. I tried to quickly brush them away, but it was no use. My daughter was dead and my heart was eternally broken.

Memories of her as a little baby, laughing happily and causing trouble as soon as she could crawl on her little hands and knees, crossed my mind. I remember how happy she was when she hit her first bulls-eye on the target with an arrow, and how she had vowed to be better than me one day. She had almost gotten there. Sadly now she could never take the title as best archer in Erebor. I recalled how proud she was when she had outsmarted Dwalin in training, using her size and agility against his slower speed and larger mass to leave him sprawled on the floor. She was cunning and smart. A good fighter and a humble person. A girl who was beautiful inside and out. And she was gone.

Time seemed to keep going around us as those who were capable started to clear the battle field of the bodies of the fallen. I remained with Tauriel by her body for what seemed like years. Bodies of orcs and dwarves were being carried away around us as we remained by Areth's side. Tears continued to fall as blood continued to drip into the dirt from Areth's chest. Her face had grown paler, the dripping blood's flow had become slower and her body had grown colder. All of this solidified the fact she was truly gone.

Through my wife's sobs behind me, I hear footsteps and the swishing of long, thick robes. I turned around to face Gandalf, who had a sorrowful look on his worn face. Tauriel threw herself at him, sobbing as she hung onto his neck. "Save her please!" She cried through the tears. "You could save Kili, now save my daughter!" She choked out, barely able to speak over the tears. Gandalf looked down at her with a look of pity, stroking her hair and whispering words of condolence in her ear. The look he shot me showed that he could not save her.

After letting Tauriel cry on his shoulder for a bit longer, he cleared his throat and turned his attention towards Areth. Sorrow clouded his eyes as he looked at her, obviously recalling his fond memories of her. "I'm sorry." He said, "There is nothing more we can do but remove the axe and lay her to rest." Tauriel's sobs filled the air again, and I rushed to her side to catch her falling form. All the strength seemed to have left her body as she sobbed for the loss of our daughter. Gandalf looked at me for permission, and with a nod, he firmly grasped the handle of the axe and pulled it.

At the removal of the axe, the remaining blood poured from her body, not able to soak into the soil as so much of her blood had already been absorbed in it. Tauriel's screams and wails grew louder as the blood stopped. For minutes, we stood there crying, taking one last look at the body of our beloved daughter. Grasping Tauriel's hand, I stared at the petite body of my perfect daughter through teary eyes. Her pale skin showed the fact there was no more blood running through her veins. That it was over. Just as I was about to turn away, to walk away and return to the mountain to mourn my loss in the privacy of my room, I saw something. I saw a droplet more of blood, a brighter red than the color of what had flown from the wound, bead up on the edge of it. As it began to fall, I cringed, knowing it was probably the last drop. It seemed to fall in slow motion, plummeting towards the earth as if to finalize my daughters life, but as it struck the ground, something unthinkable happened.

Flames sprung up from the ground, quickly covering anywhere that had been soaked in Areth's blood. They surrounded her body, becoming so thick and abundant I could no longer see her through them. Me and my wife's eyes widened as we watched in horror as the flames consumed our child. They danced higher and higher and I could feel the heat against my face. They covered the ground saturated by her blood but burned nothing else. Slowly the flames died down, leaving me nervous to see what had become of the body of my daughter. When the flames had completely disappeared, I was utterly shocked at what was left behind.

Areth's body lay there, unscathed by the flames. The blood that had been in the soil seemed to have disappeared. Her skin was no longer pale and although her clothing still showed evidence of the wound on her torso, all that was left was a mere cut compared to the gaping axe wound that had once been there. Bright red blood was slowly trickling out of the cut, much different than the dark, maroon red color her blood had been before. Tauriel and I both quickly rushed over to her side, kneeling and taking a hold of her hands laying peacefully by her side. They were warm, not cold like those of the dead. "Areth?" I asked urgently, her mother softly stroking her arm. All of a sudden, her eyelids flew open. My heart skipped a beat and my jaw dropped as she made eye contact with me. What shocked me almost as much as the fact that my surely-deceased daughter was now alive again was the fact that I no longer stared into the reptile-like, eerie eyes of a dragon. I now stared into the playful green eyes of my daughter.

AN- IM SORRY I HAVENT UPDATED IN FOREVER I TRULY AM! I left you guys with a massive cliffhanger :| I apologize for not updating in over a month. I normally write during the week when I am required to write for my English class, but as of late, we haven't had that time as finals had been approaching, also leaving me busy with other things. But, I hope you enjoyed this chapter even though I feel as this is definitely not my best writing :( But on a brighter note, if you guys would like, I would love to post the preview to my next fanfic, Not Broken, Just Bent (Thorin/OC) if y'all are interested in checking it out, as this fic only has one chapter left. Thank you all for reading and let me know if you'd be interested in seeing the preview of my next fanfic! Love you all❤️❤️❤️