One That Got Away

Chapter 12

"Are you sure we'll be safe?" Kili asked for the hundredth time

"You don't look like Rebels, now shut up and let me finish your eyeliner," Mara snapped and dragged the blue under his eye. Everyone was getting ready and since Silver Fox was a punk-neon club with black lights and a dance floor, neon and white monopolized the costuming. Mara alone was in black, but had white patterns stenciled over her arms and legs and face. She looked odd in regular lights but Ben had reliably informed Thorin she would look like a Scottish warrior queen under the back lights. Whatever that meant.

"Has anybody seen my pick band?" David asked descending the stairs and tying on metal wrist cuffs. He had a ripped white shirt showing his chest underneath. He was wearing a half mask that looked like a skull.

"You mean your necklace?" cooed Ben, dressed all in white with a black rib cage on his t-shirt.

"With the pretty clasp on the front?" purred Tom, all in black with a white ribcage.

"Give," David snapped and Ben dropped the necklace into his hand. He slid a pick out and held it between his teeth as he tugged on pure white gloves and pushed his red hair out of his eyes. "Mara, you need to cut my hair when we get back."

"We all need to re-dye our hair, is what we need to do," Mara said releasing Kili and attacking Fili with a white eyeliner pencil. He squirmed as she started drawing swirls on his cheekbones.

"But mine is still black," hissed Tom.

"And mine is still white," mumbled Ben.

"Shut up we're re-dying it," Andy grumbled as she descended the stairs. Her hair was a wild amalgamation of neon and white over the domestic brown that it usually was. Her dress was ripped and long and flaring and she looked like a corpse bride dipped in radioactive goop. "Is my keyboard already there?"

"I dropped it off this morning," David said and opened the door. "Can we go? We're going to be late."

"Yup, let's go," Mara shooed them all outside and closed the door behind her. "Command, lockdown, protocol one."

"For you sir, always," said the alarm system and Mara rolled her eyes. David hailed a cab and they all piled in, bracing on the seats as it hovered over the crowd of people looking to party.

"Where to?" said a bored looking man.

"Silver Fox bar and club," Mara said and he looked at them in the mirror.

"You lot...like...Rebels?" he asked in a worried voice.

"Dude, it's Halloween," David said in an exhausted voice. "It's a blacklight party."

"Oh, cool. You the band?" he asked flying down the airway.

"Yup. We have a great line up," Ben said in a sneaky tone.

"Do you like the color red?" snarled Tom in the driver's ear and they jerked wildly.

"TWINS!" shouted David and Andy as Mara cackled mercilessly. They got to the bar, which was glowing, and the driver took off like a shot. They all filed in and Mara dropped some cash into Kili's hand.

"Keep an eye on them? And don't let Thorin storm the stage," she mumbled and Kili saluted.

"Aye," he said and found a table for the three of them on an upper level where they could still watch the show. Kili ordered three beers, which Mara told him was close to ale, and waited. People trickled in and the lights went out then everyone started glowing and shining.

"Shit!" cursed Fili and Kili glanced at his brother. He was glowing and had white decorations across his face, which now looked blue. Kili laughed until he realized he was covered in neon blue. Thorin looked like a mixture of the two, in blue and black with white scrawlings across his face, but he looked more imposing than playful, which basically summed up the three of them any given day.

"I knew you were, you were gonna come to me," Mara started singing and Thorin's stomach lurched wildly. He hadn't really heard her sing in a long time, even at the other club he could barely hear her over the roar of the crowd. But her voice...oh he knew that voice. It was constantly playing in his head and heart, filling him up. It was stronger now, more sure, more lilting, but still very much the voice of his lover. "So you wanna play with magic? Boy you should what you're falling for. Baby do you dare to do this? Cause I'm comin' at you like a Dark Horse!" The people clapped to the beat and applauded and hooted approval, all wearing wild costumes and outfits. Thorin only smiled as Mara glowed in the black lights, runes only the khazad could read scrawled over her face and arms and sides.

Warrior of worlds

Fighter of monsters and fell beasts

Magic is my blade

If you're reading this, you're cute

Hi Kili

Hi Fili

Hi Thorin

Smaug smelled like shit

As the night wore on and the music became darker and more disturbing Kili ordered them hot wings, which were true to their name, and more beer. The stuff was weak, far weaker than any Dwarven brew they had ever tried and were struggling to understand how people got drunk off it. They were getting drunk, as was clear by the two fat men brawling below, both pantless with large paint splatters on their bodies. Eventually the night wound down.

Kili and Fili fell asleep in their side of the booth, leaning on one another and snoring lightly. After all this time it still amazed Thorin that his nephews could fall asleep anywhere in any world, as long as they were near one another. Someone small slid into the booth next to him and he glanced down as Mara wriggled under his arm as the regular lights turned on. He smiled and kissed her cheek before leaning back and wiping the oil and paint from his lips. She laughed slightly and rested her head on his shoulder.

"Enjoy the show?"

"Very impressive, dear heart," Thorin mumbled into her blue hair. She leaned into his touch and he stroked her shoulder gently with his thumb. "It does me good to hear you sing again," he admitted in a low voice, rough with emotions he didn't know how to express. Mara glanced up, familiar with his emotional constipation and pressed a soft kiss to his lips.

"One of these days I'll sing for you and you alone. But then I'm going to beg you to sing for me."

"Anything for you, dear heart. Anything."