Full Story Summary: What if Smaug had truly been asleep when Bilbo snuck into his bedroom? What if Bilbo found the Arkenstone without issue and returned it to Thorin? How different would our tale be?

As a different path unfurls before our company's feet, what new dangers and challenges await them? Will this tale still experience the same heartbreak, betrayal and tragedy that pained us so in The Hobbit? Or is there a slight chance where one small change can make all the difference in the world?

Disclaimer: I do not own The Hobbit. All characters, places and events mention in this fic belong Mister Tolkien, Peter Jackson, New Line Cinema, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and WingNut Films.


The Crownless King Shall Reclaim His Throne

Chapter One

Bilbo stared, hardly daring to breathe as the mountain of coins, jewels and other such treasures in front of her started moving. Slowly at first, the coins rolling almost lazily down the golden slope before growing steadily faster, coins and jewels starting to spill around her feet but she did not dare move, terror and self-preservation freezing her in place.

She watched in silence, hand pressed firmly to her mouth to try muffle the sound of her ragged breathing, as slowly but surely a huge scaly limb started to appear from above the deteriorating treasure mountain.

Here it comes, she thought to herself, squeezing her eyes shut, here comes my death. Thorin I…

But she could not bear to die with her eyes closed. She needed to look Smaug in the eye before she met her death.

She cautiously opened her eyes and blinked them several times to re-adjust them to the dim light of the massive green marble chamber. The soft tinkle of treasures falling or rolling against each other was still the only sound to be heard within the vast chamber.

She stared at that the now exposed dragon and was taken aback when she saw that it was only a shoulder, rather than say a fire-breathing head protruding above the golden hills.

She glanced quickly behind her and then around her in every direction to make sure the fire-breathing part of Smaug hadn't risen somewhere else.

But… no.

Bilbo was a little dumb-founded.

Was this some kind of trick? To lull her into a false sense of security before striking?

She didn't know how long she simply stood there and watched as the dragon appeared to be simply shifting in his sleep, making himself more comfortable upon his golden horde.

It was strangely… fascinatedly, in an unquestionably terrifying sense. Those huge muscles shifting and moving beneath gleaming blood red scales.

The massive creature finally seemed to find a spot it deemed comfortable, his left shoulder and side now visible above the treasures.

Bilbo cocked her head to one side, for even in the dim light, her eyes have caught sight of something curious about the broad chest of the enormous beast.

There seemed to be a huge black spot, right over the beast heart – or at least where Bilbo might assume its heart to be.

Her mind immediately flashed back to Bard's home, of Bain angrily rushing to the defence of his ancestor;

"Then you would know that Girion hit the dragon." the boy had cried, moving forward to glare at Thorin who spoken ill against Girion, "He loosen a scale under the left wing. One more shot and he would have killed the beast."

The boy's claim had been waved off, Dwalin even stating that what the boy claimed was no more than a fairy-tale and nothing more had been spoken on the matter.

But… but it seemed that the boy's claim was true…

"The black arrow found its mark." She whispered, before clapping a hand over her mouth again when she saw the dragon's shoulder muscles twitched.

She waited for several more agony filled moments before she took a cautious step…

Clink, clink, clink

Her head snapped back around to stare at the dragon's shoulder, heart in throat.

The dragon didn't even twitch.

Another few steps.

Clink, clink, clink

Oh, this was truly awful! Never before had she been in a situation quite as terrible as this! Give her trolls, spiders, orcs and goblins! Any other foul and terrible creature that walked or crawled upon Middle-Earth would be preferable than tip-toe-ing around over mountains of coins and jewel while a dragon slept just behind her!

She had always known, even before she had agreed to join this mad quest that there was a dragon within the belly of the mountain they were trying to reclaim. But there was a great difference between knowing something terrible awaits you at the end of a very long journey with miles between you and it and actually seeing the very terrible thing right in front of you with your very own eyes.

Oh please, she thought as she continued to creep, wincing with each clink of coin against coin under foot, please let me find that wretched stone and be able to leave here with it and the great worm is none the wiser. Please, please, please.

For an age it felt like to Bilbo as she crept and sometimes slipped her way down slopes after slopes of gold, the dragon's sleeping form left well behind her, but that did not ease any of the tension in her chest and she was frequently glancing over her shoulder to check that the great worm had not waken and was not now watching her with great fiery eyes.

She was all for giving up, to sit down and have a good cry as she did so hate the feeling of being so deep underground in a chamber that felt it would like nothing more than to swallow her whole – the fact that there was a sleeping dragon did not help matters one single bit either – when something just a little ways off, the next golden hill over, caught her eye.

It wasn't a very big something, but it was a something and she supposed that was little better than a whole lot of nothing.

She slipped her way down the slope of coins before making her way to climb up the slope she had spied the something. The something was half way up the slope she was climbing and partially buried beneath coins, but it was definitely there and it was definitely… something.

She gently brushed away the coins that covered the something, her fingers tingling with each brush they made against the something's surface.

Now Bilbo was not an expert on jewels by any means but as she carefully picked up the glowing earth bound star from where it lay surrounded by gold, she felt she was fairly safe in thinking that this was no ordinary gem stone.

"Why, hello there," She breathed as she brought the glowing jewel to eye level, "aren't you a pretty thing!"

The jewel seemed to glow just a little brighter but that was probably only Bilbo's imagination playing tricks on her.

"Are you the Arkenstone?" She asked the jewel, "I very much hope that you are because I would rather like to leave this place, if you don't mind." The jewel of course gave her no answer, but since it was such a pretty thing, the prettiest of all that she had currently seen in this massive chamber of gold, she decided that it must be what she had been hired to burgle.

"As I'm sure you are quite aware," she continued softly to the jewel now clutched tightly to her chest as she started making her way back down the slope, her eyes hunting for the nearest way out of the room. She did not fancy going back the way she came, not when it meant passing Smaug's sleeping form once again, "but there is a sleeping dragon a few golden hills back and I would rather he didn't wake up to try and eat me and my friends."

"I'm not stealing you mind you," She whispered as she crept towards a staircase that hadn't been entirely smashed to pieces when Smaug was redecorating the chamber to his liking, "I'm returning you to your rightful owner."

She did feel a little silly talking to the jewel as she was, but she had read far too many books where a character had become cursed, usually horribly, by a seemingly ordinary objects when they were stole its new owner. It simply wasn't worth the risk.

"Not Thror, unfortunately," Bilbo continued softly, "but his grandson, Thorin." her chest warmed a little as she thought of the dwarf she was speaking of, "He needs you, you see, to set things right with this mountain. To rid this mountain of Smaug and return it back to the dwarves that Smaug stole it from."

She bit down upon her lower lip as she looked back over her shoulder in the direction of Smaug's sleeping form.

"I hope you can help him." She sighed as she slid the jewel into her coat pocket. "I really do."

She made her way to the stair case, breathing a sigh of relief when her foot for the first time in what felt like an age, touched solid stone.

She was just about to make her way up the stairs when a thought slipped into her mind and she turned back to stare out at the mountains upon mountains of gold.

The company had no money…

The last of the company funds had been given to Bard to get them safely to Lake-Town and now they had not a single coin to their names. Which Bilbo was certain was going to be a problem.

They were going to have to return to Lake-Town. There were no if, buts or maybes about it, they had to return to Lake-Town to get supplies for their trip to the Iron Hills to raise an army. And she very much doubted that upon their return, the Master of Lake-Town was going to give them anything unless they had coins or jewels to pay for it.

"He'll probably charge us double for anything we ask for." She muttered a little bitterly, before she start filling a large two handled cup – the most practical thing she could find to carry a sum of coins and small jewels. She wasn't greedy about what she put into the cup, simply practical, taking just enough that she calculated would get the company comfortably to the Iron Hills.

But even so, for what little she had put in the cup to take with her – such a small amount compared to the wealth that lay within this chamber – she felt nervous to take even a single coin with her.

Come now Bilbo, she thought to herself, feeling both impatient and frighten. She very much wanted to leave the chamber and return to her dwarves and the longer she dwelled the more she feared Smaug waking. Get to it. It's only a little gold, Smaug will hardly notice.

Oh, but Bilbo had read about Dragons in Lord Elrond's library and from her own books back home, and she knew that dragons guarded their treasure fiercely and refused to be parted from even a single coin.

"Oh," she whispered with an anxious heart, "what to do?"

They needed money.

They needed money for supplies and probably ponies to get them to the Iron Hills, but the last place she wanted to get money from was here, Smaug's bedroom.

"This gold, all of this," Bilbo whispered firmly to herself, to the gold and jewels, to the chamber and Smaug himself, "all of this belongs to the dwarves. It is rightfully theirs. But," she swallowed, "it was I who took this." She gestured to the cup of coins and jewels beside her. "Me! So… whatever misfortune might come about from my taking this gold, let it befall upon me and nobody else."

She was of course met with silence, but she felt as if her words had taken root… somewhere, though where, Bilbo could not say.

She gave the chamber, the gold and jewels, and even to Smaug himself a firm nod before picking up the full cup of coins and jewels in both hands and started cautiously climbing up the stairs.

She half expected Smaug to wake with a fierce roar, his fire burning as he lunged to swallow her whole as she climbed the stairs but no such event occurred and she left Smaug's bedroom fighting with each step not to break into a terrified bolt.

She was of course, having left the chamber by a staircase on almost the opposite side of the massive room, utterly lost. Which only brought further a new wave of terror and anxiety as she wandered almost aimlessly up one corridor and down another.

She was quite close to finding herself in tears again, when she swore she heard her name being called. It was a very soft call from a great distance away, but it was most certainly her name and she swore it was Bofur who was calling it.

That, she thought as she moved forward into an awkward jog, or I've finally lost my mind.

She prefer to think it was the former of the two options even though she was terrified that Bofur's calls were going to wake Smaug.

She was just jogging down a corridor that she was certain would lead her to Bofur whose calls had been growing ever closer when something reached out and caught her arm as she passed a doorway.

Her scream of terror was only just muffled by a large hand covering her mouth. The cup of coins and jewels hit the stone ground with a loud, painful clang.

"It's me," a gruff but ultimately gentle voice said as she was pulled into a broad chest, "Shhh, it's me. I'm sorry, I did not think." She sagged against Thorin's chest, all of her energy sapped away.

"Thorin?" She choked out finally, giving his arm a weak thump for scary her so badly.

"Yes, it's me." Thorin replied as he held her close as she gasped for air as she tried to calm her pounding heart. "I'm sorry," he apologized again, "that was an utterly stupid thing to do."

"Should have been watching where I was going." Bilbo gasped out, rubbing her hand against her face, only a little shocked to find that her cheeks were wet with fright induced tears.

"But Thorin," She twisted in his arms and took his coat labels between her trembling fingers, "I saw him. I saw Smaug! He did not see me!" She ploughed on when she saw Thorin's eyes widen with panic and his mouth opened to speak, "He seemed to be in a very deep sleep. Or was very good at acting as if he were in a very deep sleep. But-but," She gasped frantically for air which was such a nuisance when she had so much to say, "Thorin, the black arrow, the one Girion shot. It left its mark! Just as Bain said. Right under Smaug's left wing! There is a weak spot where his scale has been knocked away."

"Are-are you certain?" Thorin asked, his hand resting upon her upper arms to try and still her shaking body.

She gave a jerky little nod.

"Yes. His scales on his chest appear to be a lighter colour than the rest of his body and there was a distinct black hole where there seemed to be a scale missing."

"Billanna…"

"BILBO?!"

The two jumped apart and looked in the direction of the yelling from the other dwarves who sounded rather frantic now.

"Yelling?" Bilbo squeaked at Thorin in horror, "Yelling in a mountain where a fire-breathing dragon sleeps?"

"They were worried for you." Thorin replied easily but even he looked torn between being exasperated and troubled over the chance that Smaug might wake from all the noise.

"Even so!" Bilbo shrilled before racing up the corridor they were in towards the direction of the infuriating dwarves who seemed to possess not even a whit of self-preservation between them.

"Shush!" She hissed as loudly as she dared when she and Thorin stumbled upon them. "For the love of all things green in this world, will you be quiet! There is a dragon!"

"Bilbo!" She was promptly tackled by at least six dwarves while the rest pattered her head over the arms of their comrades.

"Get-off!" Bilbo grumbled feeling quite suffocated and squashed within the dwarven embrace.

"Did you see the Dragon?"

"Did that nasty menace see you?!"

Bilbo felt more than a little overwhelmed by the questions that were being hurled in her direction.

"Enough!" Thorin's voice cut cleanly though the air like a sword, silencing everyone in one swoop.

Bilbo staggered a little as she was set back onto her feet.

"Yes, I did see Smaug." Bilbo replied slowly, "but he did not see me. He seemed to be in a very deep sleep." She paused for a moment, thinking before asking "Do Dragons hibernate? Like bears? Only… obviously for much longer…"

"Bilbo…"

"What? I'm curious." Bilbo pouted up at her dwarves who were looking back at her with fond exasperation.

"Curiosity aside," Thorin said, "Bilbo has discovered something important about Smaug that can work to our advantage."

Bilbo quickly filled in the rest of the dwarves about seeing the mark of the black arrow underneath Smaug's left wing.

"Bain was right." Bilbo finished excitedly. When she was met with silence she felt worry descend upon her.

"What? What is it?"

"The boy may have been right." Dwalin growled heavily, "but it is little use to us."

"How can you say that?" Bilbo squeaked impatiently, "Lake-Town has a wind lance, we just need to find some more of those black arrows and then…" she paused and took in the dwarves faces, "are there no more black arrows?"

"The material to make a black arrows," Balin answered her grimly, "are not easy to come by. But," his wise face looked around to Thorin, "not impossible."

"Dain." Thorin nodded.

"Dain." Balin agreed with a nod and then a sigh.

"Now to convince him that it is worthy cause." Balin sighed heavily.

"What do you mean?" Bilbo grumbled, "How is this anything other than a worthy cause? Smaug is asleep! He has an obvious weak spot that can be exploited and might possibly kill him with one very good strike! How… why would he turn this down? A chance like this might not come again? Smaug might awaken within another year or two! So why…"

"The Arkenstone." Thorin answered quietly his face pained.

"What about it?" Bilbo asked wondering why on earth this was possibly an issue now.

Thorin gave her a very dry look that was clearly questioning her sanity.

She shot him a mirroring look in return.

"I don't have it." Thorin reminded her slowly causing Bilbo to blink several times before she choke over her own stupidity.

How could she have forgotten to TELL HIM?!

"Yes you do!" She yelped as she jump back and away from the dwarves, almost tripping over her own feet in her haste, furiously patting at her coat.

Oh please tell her that she hadn't dropped the blasted thing! Oh… nope, there it was.

Her fingers dug deep into her coat pocket and tugged the pretty star stone out and held it up for all to see.

"Please tell me that this is the Arkenstone, because believe me when I say that my poor heart could not take another trip down into Smaug's bedroom."

She looked hopefully around at her dwarves, all of whom were staring transfixed at the jewel in her hand.

"You found it." Thorin spoke finally, soundly utterly breathless, his eyes lifting, almost seeming to force themselves to look away from the jewel to stare at her with an expression of awe that was almost equal to the look he had been giving the jewel in her hand.

She blushed hotly and ducked her head shyly.

"I do hope I did, for as I said, I don't fancy going back down into Smaug's bedroom for another look. And when I saw this, it looked…" She struggled to think of an appropriate word to describe the glowing jewel still grasped in her hand, "so ethereal, like it does not truly belong to this world at all, and I thought it must be it." The jewel seemed to glow just a little more brightly in her hand as she spoke.

She raised her eyes to look up at Thorin and the other dwarves.

"Say something." She begged feeling embarrassed but ultimately happy because the looks on the dwarves faces were ones of pure joy and wonder.

"Here," she giggled, catching hold of Thorin's hand and carefully placed the glowing jewel into it, gently closing his fingers around the jewel, for it seemed Thorin had lost the ability to function beyond simply staring at her – the jewel's light seemed to flicker and grow dimmer once leaving her hands, but it was probably only a trick of the dim light. "Take it. It's yours."

'It's yours' seemed to stir something deep within Thorin for his eyes flickered from her smiling face to look down at the stone she had presented him, at where it lay glowing in his hands.

He stared at it for an incredibly long moment, before once more dragging his eyes from it, a strange look of confliction in his eyes.

She cocked her head to one side, feeling a sudden swell of worry swirl around her gut. But before she could ask him if he was alright he was suddenly grabbing her around the waist and kissing her soundly on the lips. All Bilbo could do in response was let out a surprised little squeak before melting into his arms. The Arkenstone did press rather uncomfortably into her back though.

She heard a few amused sniggered from around them when Thorin finally drew away so that they might both catch their breath.

"Shut it." Thorin grunted, though there was no real heat to his command and the sniggers only grew as well as the wide knowing grins and soft calls amongst them for so and so to cough up – this was quickly stopped when the dwarves remembered that they didn't actually have any money to pay or receive their bets.

Rolling her eyes to cover up her embarrassment, Bilbo stepped away from Thorin and righted the cup and started scoping up the gold and jewels that had fallen from it when she had dropped it when the dwarves had tackled her.

"I took what I thought would get us comfortably to the Iron Hills." Bilbo said as she held out the cup of gold and jewels for Gloin to take, Thorin's arm flung comfortably over her shoulders.

"Aye," The red beard dwarf nodded, his expression thoughtful, "this should do. Even if the humans decide to charge us double."

"That was what I was thinking." Bilbo agreed and she received a proud look from Gloin.

"Eh, you're learning lassie." She received several pats on the back.

"So…" Kili said softly, "What now?"

"Now," Thorin said as he started guiding his company up the turnel and back towards the secret entrance, holding his hobbit close to his side, "now we start the true fight to reclaim our home."


3/06/2018 Author's Notes: And so it begins.