Hello everyone. Here is a longer chapter this time.

Italics are thoughts :)

Disclaimer: I do not own anything recognizable. If you do recognize it, then it is not mine.

Chapter Two.

Kíli opened his eyes.

Hmm. He looked around himself. Apparently, he was dead.

He didn't know any other way he would be in his old room from Ered Luin. He yawned and scratched absently at his beard. His hand stilled. He looked down. His beard was gone! Surely he wouldn't have to go through eternity without his beard!

He looked at his hand. It was unscarred and smooth. All the wrinkles and knobbly bits were not there.

He hopped out of bed. His body felt amazing. It had been years since he could move this easily. He supposed that having a new body almost made up for the lack of a beard.

Sure, he still had the little scruff like he had when he was younger, and his beard had never been as large as his cousin Gimli's, but it was still a respectable size.

He heard footsteps coming up the stairs. He wondered who it would be. His mother? The father that had died before he was born? Fíli? Thorin? Maybe even his maker Mahal? The door opened.

It took a few seconds to recognize the dwarf. It was Fíli! But it was the Fíli before the Quest. This Fíli looked as if he had never seen war. Never died.

"Fíli," Kíli whispered in awed silence. His brother looked at him and spoke loudly."Kee, Amad wants you downstairs. It's breakfast time." Kíli laughed. He threw out his arms. Reveling in the ease in which his new body moved. "Not even a greeting for me brother?" He grabbed Fíli and hugged him tightly.

"It is so good to see you again."

"Kíli." Fíli wheezed, "What are you going on about?"

Kíli let him go but retained a grip on his brother's shoulders. He looked around, "Where is Amad? Is Adad here?"

Fíli looked at him quizzically. "What? Kíli, Adad died months before you were born." It was Kíli's turn to look at his brother in confusion."Well, yes. But I had assumed he would be here."

Seeing Fíli's bafflement, He explained. "Y'know, here? This is the afterlife isn't it?" "Er,"

There was a shout from below. "Boys! Your breakfast is getting cold. Get down here!" Kíli shrugged, a gesture he had picked up from men. Even though he had been king, he had never been able to ignore his mother. Especially when she was yelling.

He motioned to the door. "C'mon." He bounded downstairs.

He swept his mother up in a loving hug. "Amad!" She whopped him on the head with the spatula she was using. "Stop squeezing the life out of me and eat your food." Kíli squeezed her harder.

"Ah, Amad." He sighed. "It's so good to see you again."

His mother looked at him concerned, "Kíli, are you alright?" Kíli realized there were tears running down his face. "Never been better." He wiped the tears off.

He looked at his mother's young face. " So, they changed you too?" He asked gesturing to her face. "What?" "I know, it was kinda startling to wake up without my beard, but at least I am young again."

He twirled his mother around again, then he sat down for breakfast. His mother looked at Fíli. He looked back, "I don't know! He's been like this all morning!" He exclaimed.

Kíli looked up, "I wonder how Stonehelm is handling all this." He leaned back, a grin on his features. "Poor fellow must be overwhelmed."

"Thorin Stonehelm?" Fíli asked, "Kíli, what in Arda are you talking about?"

An unease that had been growing in Kíli's mind made itself known. "Uh... What?" He swallowed his food. "Stonehelm is the king now. Right?" He looked at their shocked faces. "Didn't you know I made him my heir?" His mother came and felt his forehead.

"No fever," She muttered. "Kíli, what year is it?" "1542 of the fourth age?"

His brother and Amad looked at him in shock. "It is the year, 2941 of the third age Kíli." Kíli felt his breath catch in his throat."What..." Kíli's mind was reeling. He swayed in his seat. "It is what year?" He asked. "The year 2491 of the third age. Today is the day we set out on our quest."

Kíli put his head in his hands. He. He. He was in the past. Huh, He thought. To think that he would go to bed and wake up more than a century in the past... I can change everything! He thought with excitement. He could change everything!

"I think," He said, "That I may have had a strange dream." He had had strange dreams before, so he wasn't lying.

His mother stared deep into his eyes. The old Kíli, the one that wasn't king, would have crumbled immediately. But this Kíli had fought in wars. Had seen all his family die or leave. This Kíli was much stronger than the old one. This Kíli held his mother's piercing gaze without flinching.

"Must have been a whopper of a dream." Fíli broke in. "To think that you were in the Fourth Age." Kíli laughed slightly nervously. His Amad whacked Fíli on the arm for using slang in the house.

Fíli sat down and started to eat. While Fíli snarfed down his food, Kíli took the time to savor his mother's cooking. It had been many years since he had had the chance to eat it.

There was a noise by the door, and old reflexes had Kíli grasping for a knife that wasn't there. Fíli looked at him quizzically, then went to open the door. And just outside, stood his uncle, Thorin.

Alright...

The story is beginning.