Another Love

XVI. Bell Tower

Smaug was awake, the people in Lake-town could feel it. The rumble in the ground and the heat in the air. He has been woken and now things were becoming a little more complicated.

Kili was writhing in pain with Lucien and Fili doing there best to hold him down before he harmed himself further. Lucien felt as though he had never been so worried about so many people before. He knew he couldn't save them all if tragedy were to hit but he would certainly try.

Bard had grabbed a large arrow and was out the door before any of them could blink, something about killing the dragon. It only stressed the wizard more. Why was everyone splitting up?

Orcs were visibly fighting those in their way. Lucien grabbed a nearby hammer-like weapon, wielding it at the first beast that crashed through the window. It cracked its skull and exploded its eye, he thought it was quite efficient. 

Before one could make it to Oin, the hammer was thrown and embedded into the back of the Orc's head. Lucien grabbed another and pushed it into the half-broken window, one-piece slicing through its abdomen.

Tilda and Singrid were heard screaming their hearts out as they did not know what to and tried to hide under the table Kili was laying on. Where Bain was, he didn't know.

All of a sudden, two beings that were neither Orcs nor humans busted down the door just as the wizard cut the neck of an orc with a discarded shard of glass. Vile blood sprayed over his grimy face and dripped down his chin. Lucien gagged slightly but did not have time to wipe it away when he saw two familiar elves standing there, staring at him.

The wizard appeared murderous right now he was.

"You just gonna stare or help me kill these things!" He yelled, taking a sword from the floor, no doubt dropped by one fo the dead.

This put the two into action, killing the rest of those horrid creatures.

"What are you doing here?" Lucien questioned the male elf after seeing the rest of the Orcs runoff.

Legolas stared, "I came to help."

Lucien scoffed, "You think you're ready for this?"

This annoyed the elf, the wizard treated him like a child when days ago he was acting like a child himself. "I can hold my own."

"Yeah? You better cause I'm not going to be there to save you."

Where had this come from? Legolas thought with a frown.

The elf turned away, "Tauriel." He called his friend, hoping she would come with him.

"Fili," Lucien spoke loudly, catching everyone's attention, "Watch them." The blonde nodded while others asked where he was going but he was already out the door.

Townspeople were screaming, yelling. Buildings were burning and few stopped to help others. Lucien was one to stop, however, grabbing a crying child and motioning back to the house he had just left. The child understood and ran in that direction while Lucien when in the opposite way, looking for something, for someone.

On his short run, the wizard helped those in need, from the fires and each other and Orcs. It was a gruesome sight but nothing he hadn't seen before.

"Open this door! Do you hear me?!" A sudden yell stopped Lucien in his tracks. He knew that voice.

"I hear you!" He yelled back.

"Lucien?!"

The wizard entered a building, one filled with jail cells and found the person he had been looking for, "I'm right here."

Bard was locked in a cell barely big enough to fit his entire body. Lucien huffed and began looking for a way to get him out.

"Why are you here?"

Lucien raised his eyebrow as he tried to break the lock off, "I was looking for you."

"You should be gone already, with the children."

"They're fine, they're in good hands. Now shut up and let me get you out of here." He grumbled. Finding a rope, he grabbed it. "Use this."

Bard appeared confused, "How?"

"Look out the window."

And with that, the wizard left once again.

"Wait! Lucien!"

Outside, Lucien peered up at the burning wood and dark sky. The entire town was alight and nothing was going to fix it for the future.

The wizard sidestepped a wandering human and began to climb the falling bell tower. Higher and higher as the town around him grew redder with rising flames of heat and misery. They licked at his skin and singed his hair but none stopped him from reaching the top, his destination ahead.

Bard was already standing there, firing arrow after arrow at the dragon before them. Smaug. A giant beast with scales of darkness and eyes of fire that he held within. Something that was out for revenge against a fight he started himself, of greed and self-pity. How pathetic.

He lay a hand on the human's shoulder, frightening him.

Lucien stood there beside him, eyes on the dragon killing those beneath him. The boy shined in the glow of the orange light and his long hair blew in the gushing wind. If they weren't fighting for their lives, Bard would have a very hard time tearing his attention away.

"You must do this, Bard," Lucien told him, although it was quite obvious, "For your children. For your town. For your people." He held so much determination it was hard to remember what he had been like hours ago; childish, sarcastic and downright obnoxious. This was the wizard he had heard stories about; wise, resilient and ready to help anyone in need. Bard was inspired as he admired Lucien.

"And you?"

Black met brown in a heated gaze, "I come last, Bard. Remember that."

Bard didn't believe his words, though he nodded anyway, giving him some peace of mind for the moment. "I will try my best, Lucien."

They stared, seconds feeling like minutes. The emotions hanging in the air of something ominous and foreboding tore through both of them like a blade through butter. It was like seeing each other for the first time and maybe the last.

Lucien took the back of Bard's neck into his hand and brought closer, leaning his forehead against the man's, "I will be waiting, my friend, waiting for you to come back to me safe and sound."

"If I asked you to leave me right now, so you could have any chance at safety...would you?" Bard mumbled, hand gripping the wizard's arm.

A frown formed on the younger appearing boy's features as if he could not believe what he had just said, "Absolutely not."

Bard chuckled slightly, "It was worth a try."

"Da!" A voice called from below, breaking the pair apart.