This is Me → Post BOTFA fanfic

Chapter 16

ARETHS POV

My sleep was plagued with dreams. No wait, night meres. Flames, dragons, my family losing their lives at my hands. My face was stained with tears when I woke up. I knew I had slept late because my mother and father were gone, off to do their normal, everyday routines. I groaned as I rolled out of bed, running my fingers through my knotty, messy hair. I went into the bathroom, splashing my face with cold water to wake my self up. After dousing myself with the water, I looked up into the mirror army reflection. When my eyes met my reflection I shivered. I hadn't seen them yet.

My eyes looked evil. They looked just like the eyes of a dragon. A spitting image of them. I blinked, then blinked again, almost as if blinking them would change them. They where terrifying, scaring even myself. I'm an abomination. There is no way I can ever go out again. Ever. Everyone hated me, and now I hated myself to. I ran my brush through my hair, turning it from mangled to silky within minutes. I twisted it into 2 waterfall braids on the side of my hair, tying the two together in the back of my head. I slipped into a pair of soft, brown leggings and pulled a flowy light blue top over my head. I fastened a brown belt around my torso and tied a light blue ribbon around where my hair was joined on the back of my head. I slipped on my boots and sat back down on my bed. I let out a sigh, crossing my ankles and putting my hands behind my back. It was going to be a long day if I wasn't going anywhere.

I was thinking to myself what I would do in the future, how I would get around places without people noticing, and how I would go to school without people making fun of when my stomach made a low, rumbling noise. I was hungry. And the only place to get food was in the kitchen. If I looked at the ground, maybe my eyes would be unnoticed. Didn't sound like to bad of a plan. I hopped off of my bed and walked out the front door, my eyes trailing in the floor the whole time. Luckily Thorin wasn't in the throne room, so I could walk through there with ease. My stomach tightened when I reached the main halls. There were people passing me left and right, walking like any normal person would on any normal day. I hurried down the halls, up and down stairs and around corners, trying to reach the kitchen. When I got only a few turns away I smelt a very familiar yet haunting smell. It burned in my nostrils and made me unsettled. Smoke. And it could only be coming from one place. The kitchen.

I turned the corners quickly, not caring to hide my eyes; I was moving to quickly anyway. I screeched to a halt in front of the kitchen, seeing flames and thick black smoke bellowing from the door leading away from the dining area and into where food and the ovens are kept. With my heightened senses, I could tell there was someone inside. Who, I didn't know, but they were going to die if nobody saved them. People were gathered around, watching the fire and screaming for help, but nobody seemed to know someone was in there. I need to save this person, but I probably won't make it out. For what seemed like eternity I fought an internal battle with myself, before letting my heart take ahold of my actions and bolting into the door.

When I flung the door open, I was immediately greeted by smoke and flames. I tried holding my breath, but I needed air. Upon inhaling, I thought my lungs would burn, and I would cough and sputter uncontrollably, but it was quite the opposite. The smoke merely burned my nose, not causing my to cough or suffocate at all. I battled my way around burning beams and walls of smoke, my nostrils picking up the scent of a person through all the smoke. When I reached the back corner, I spotted someone on the floor. Her dark hair was splayed over the floor, she was obviously knocked unconscious by something. I grabbed her by her wrists, pulling her towards the exit. As I rounded the corner, I heard a groaning noise. I looked up just as a beam fell from the ceiling. I covered the woman's body with mine, grimacing at the pain I was about to feel. The beam hit my back, knocking the wind out of me and pushing me to the floor. I took a second to regroup myself and get my breathing back to normal, then stood up, still dragging the woman along with me. I made one final push, exploding from the door. Without looking at what was now happening around me, I flipped the woman on her back, anxious to see who it was. When I saw her face I was immediately glad I had saved her. She was important. Not to the kingdom, but to the king. It was Ivy Jade Rosewood, soon to be queen of Erebor; Thorin's fiancé.

She coughed loudly and opened her eyes. I immediately averted mine from her gaze. "Wh.. What happened?" she stuttered, voice hoarse from all the smoke. She coughed again, looking back at the burning kitchen then back at me. "You saved me?" She asked, propping herself on her elbows, coughing again. "Ya... I mean I couldn't just let you burn" I say, still staring at the floor. "I can't express how thankful I am!" She exclaimed, "You are an amazing heroic young lady and I don't think I can ever repay you. What's your name?". "Are.." I began, before I was pushed out of the way forcefully by someone. "Ivy, are you ok?!" I hear Thorin exclaim. He wraps his arms around her protectively, kissing her and stroking her ash filled, brown hair. He looked at the fire, then back at me. "You!" He glared at me, letting go of Ivy and turning back to me. "You despicable monster! How dare you bring your dragon fire into my kingdom!" He shouts angrily at me, making me shrink backwards, bumping into someone. I turn around to see my mother and father with worried expressions on their face. Turning back to Thorin, he shouts, "You could have killed her!". Father gently grabs my arm, pulling me closer to him, shielding me from the wrath of Thorin.

As Thorin continued to yell at me, tears welled up in my eyes. He kept yelling louder and louder until someone softly touched his shoulder. "Thorin" Ivy said coolly. He turned around, and she grabbed both of his hands. "She is the one who saved me". Thorin looks back at me, then back into Ivy's eyes, "Areth? Areth is the one who saved you?". Ivy nodded a quick reply.

A guilty look swallowed his face; he knew he had been wrong. I wiped the tears away from my face, sniffling a little, still scared of how Thorin had acted towards me. I knew he hated me, but I didn't know he hated me this much. He turned towards me, an embarrassed and guilty look on his face. Walking towards me, he cleared his throat and I could tell he was reluctant to admit he was wrong. "Areth, I'm sorry" he said bluntly. "You saved her life and you didn't deserve the treatment I gave you. I jumped to conclusions and that was very rude of me. Please forgive me". All I did was nod, still sniffling. He looked at his feet and turned back to Ivy, making sure she was ok.

I turned to my parents, who quickly hugged me, stroking my hair and whispering how they were worried. "I'm ok" I say hoarsely. "The smoke and the fire, it doesn't burn me". My parents give me a look of confusion before they realize why. I'm part dragon now. Fire doesn't effect me. They look at my eyes, then back at my unburned body in amazement. I turn around, showing them where the beam had hit me, showing how it burned through my clothing but left my skin unscathed. There might be a bruise tomorrow, but no burns.

On the way back home, I kept replaying what Thorin had said to me in my mind. His words hurt. I knew he hated me, but he let all of that pent up anger out on me. I knew he loved Ivy but did he really think that I would hurt her or anybody? He seemed kind of guilty afterwards, but maybe he didn't really feel bad, he just made it seem like it. I saved her and I think he should be grateful. I pondered this in my head until I got to my door. When I got inside I prepared a hot bath for myself, quite anxious to get all the ash out of my hair. I pour some rose scented oil into the steaming water, shed my dirty clothes and lower myself into the warm, welcoming water. I close my eyes and let the inviting water and excellent smell carry my worries away.

*THORINS POV*

She saved her. Areth saved Ivy. When I heard about the fire in the kitchen, I rushed there as fast as I could, because I knew Ivy was there. When I got there to see Areth there as well, I was overcome with rage. Kili told me about what happened to her, and I knew she was now dangerous. Putting two and two together, my mind told me that the dragon started the fire. It angered me that she put Ivy in danger. Hatred took over me and I started yelling at her, telling her how I didn't want her in my kingdom. when Ivy told me it wasn't her that caused the fire, but saved her from it, I felt tons of guilt wash over me. I knew she had been through so much. I watched it. The anguish in her face and the pain she went through. I tried to ask for her forgiveness, but it didn't seem like she accepted it. I really hope she did, because after today I may have gained some respect for her. I don't want to outwardly admit it, but I'm really thankful. I truly hope she forgives me.

AN- OMG I still haven't updated in forever! I feel so bad but here's a longer chapter to make up for it... I feel like my writing has gone downhill and I feel bad for not bringing you a quality story... Anyway Ivy is a character from another fanfic I'm currently writing called Not Broken, Just Bent. She falls in love with Thorin after he saves her life. If you guys want me to post it I can... Just tell me if you want to read it! Also, my best friend whytoloveteenwolf is writing her first fanfic!!! It would mean a lot to me if you checked it out!! Thank you all for reading!!!