"No!" Thorin cried out in despair, walking towards the door and opening up the map to see if there was anything that they had missed, desperately clinging onto the hope that there was something else on the ragged piece of parchment that could show them all had not been lost. "The last light of Durin's Day will shine upon the keyhole. That's what it says," he recited, his voice broken and dejected as the realisation overcame him. "What did we miss? What did we miss, Balin?"
"We've lost the light. There's no more to be done. We had but one chance. Come away. It's over."
The rest of the Dwarves turned their backs on the hidden door and made way for the stairs that had brought them up here, their heads hung low and their spirits deflated. None of them wanted to leave, but they believed staying would not yield any results.
Regardless of Bilbo's objections they continued to head back down the mountain, even Thorin had given up all hope and he allowed the key to slide between his fingers and fall to the ground beneath, crashing to the stone below with a clang that broke Athena's heart.
"Thorin, you can't give up now," Bilbo tried to reason with him but he only thrust the map into the Hobbit's chest before following after the Dwarves.
Athena was the only one who stayed behind. It was not because she had any hope left, in fact she had none left at all, but it was because she didn't want to leave Bilbo by himself. She sat defeatedly down on one of the rocks that lay on the edge of the cliff, her elbow resting on her knees with her chin in one of her hands as she absentmindedly stared out at the wasteland below.
"Stand by the grey stone. When the thrush knocks. The setting sun, and the last light of Durin's Day will shine. The last light," she closed her eyes when hearing his ramblings behind her, it didn't matter how much he repeated the words that they had been told, it would make no difference to their outcome.
Athena watched as the moon appeared from behind the clouds, shining upon the clearing where her and Bilbo remained. At first it felt to her that the world was mocking them for not finding the door in time by showcasing further that the sun had fallen, but then she heard the constant tapping behind her. She widened her eyes and turned her head to witness a thrush perched by the wall and using its beak to create a steady rhythm by the hidden door.
"The moon," she whispered to herself when the white light shone against the door, pushing herself to stand as hope renewed itself inside her.
"The last light," Bilbo breathlessly responded with a laugh of relief escaping him at the revelation that not all had been lost
And then they saw the keyhole.
"Come back! Come back! It's the light of the moon, the last moon of autumn!" He yelled down to where the Dwarves had disappeared, but they had gone out of sight and there was no guarantee they had even heard his bellowing voice. For a small person he had a large voice when needed.
"We need to find the key," she urged him, knowing that they might not have the time to wait to see if the others had heard.
"Where's the— where's the key? Where's the— it was here... but it was here, it was here! It was just..." in his frantic haste to find the key he had not noticed it was right underneath him until his foot collided with the cold metal.
Athena watched in horror as it began to topple off the edge of the clearing, rushing forwards to try and catch it in time but there was no need for her efforts. Apparently the Dwarves had heard the cries of their burglar and had made their way back, and just in the nick of time. Thorin's boot stopped the key in its tracks which sent relief through Bilbo and Athena. The King under the Mountain slowly knelt down and carefully gathered the key back into his hands before approaching the hidden door. The key slid effortlessly into the hole and as it was turned a deep clicking sound resounded behind the stone — the door had been unlocked.
Thorin placed his hands against the door before pushing it open, the seams of the door now visible to all of them. The way inside was dark and foreboding but their hearts were light and full of quiet joy. They had made it.
"Erebor," Thorin whispered to himself as he gazed into the darkness before him.
"Thorin..." Balin was unable to continue his sentence as tears clouded his vision, Thorin resting a hand on his old friend's shoulder to comfort him in this emotional time. Unlike some of the others, Thorin and Balin had been here before and had in the past truly called these halls their home.
Thorin then took the first step into the mountain, his hand resting against one of the walls within. "I know these walls... these walls. This stone. You remember it, Balin. Chambers filled with golden light."
"I remember," Balin responded as he too took a step inside the mountain, the emotion evident in his voice at seeing the familiar surroundings. Even Athena was on the brink of tears.
The others soon piled into the tunnel and looked upon a carving above the door that Nori had pointed out to them. It was unmistakably the throne of Erebor, and above it lay the Arkenstone with rays of light emanating from where it sat in the carving.
"Herein lies the seventh kingdom of Durin's Folk. May the heart of the mountain unite all Dwarves in defense of this home," Glóin read aloud the Khuzdul inscription in the Westron tongue so that Bilbo and Athena would also be able to understand it.
Though she knew some of the language of the Dwarves, she was in no way fluent in it. Fili and Kili had taught her much of what she knew and her vocabulary of the language was mainly filled with insults and petty remarks, of course.
"The throne of the king," Balin informed Bilbo.
"Oh, and what's that above it?"
"The Arkenstone."
"Arkenstone... and what's that?"
"That, Master Burglar, is why you and Athena are here," Thorin said from behind them, the rest of the company planting their eyes on the two that he had mentioned. The fate of Erebor now lay in their hands.
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"You want me to find a jewel?" Bilbo asked Balin, who had been leading them down the passages of the mountain towards where all their lost treasure was.
"A large white jewel, yes," he replied from where they stood by the entrance to the treasury.
"That's it? Only I imagine there's quite a few down there."
"There is only one Arkenstone. You'll know it when you see it."
"It kind of has a rainbow inside it, and it shines brighter than any other gem I've seen," Athena chimed in.
"Alright."
They continued to be led down the last hallway, but their walking came to a halt when Balin stopped with a sigh and turned to face Bilbo.
"In truth, lads, I do not know what you will find down there. You needn't go if you don't want to, there's no dishonour in turning back."
"No, Balin, I promised I would do this, and I think I must try," Bilbo bravely stated, though the fear was clear with each word that left him.
"It never ceases to amaze me," Balin commented throughout his light laughter.
"What's that?"
"The courage of Hobbits," he explained with a smile before he turned to Athena, before he had a chance to open his mouth she responded to what she already figured he would say.
"I'm not going either. If he's staying, so am I," she sent a pat to Bilbo's shoulder in an affectionate manner, Balin smiling softly over at her and sending her a nod.
"Go now with as much luck as you can muster," he said to them before they began to make their way down to where they needed to go, only to be stopped by Balin once more. "Oh and both of you, if there is, in fact, a live dragon down there, don't waken it."
"Noted," Athena whispered as she cleared her throat to push down the fear that crept up inside her at the mention of Smaug, nodding once before her and Bilbo turned together and descended down the stairs.
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"I imagine this is our last chance to run," Bilbo whispered as they stood in the doorway to the treasury, the doors wide open almost as if the building wanted them to enter.
"Yes, I think I agree," she responded quietly.
Then they stepped over the threshold and into the lair of Smaug himself. Everything inside her was telling her to turn back and run for the hidden door, but she continued to push through the fear.
"Hello?" Bilbo called out in a whisper, Athena turned her head to him in an incredulous manner as he knocked on the wall beside them, the echo of the knock reverberating through the mighty chambers before them.
Upon seeing no reaction to the sound the two of them continued inside along a suspended platform, a vast amount of gold lay before them, she could have mistaken it for an entire sea given how much had been hoarded here.
"You're not at home. Not at home. Good. Good, good, good."
"Bilbo. Shut up," she half whispered and half hissed at him, staring at him with wide eyes as she wondered how he could continue to talk so loudly to himself. He looked over at her and nodded as if he agreed with her, and then he thankfully stopped talking to himself.
The Hobbit stopped walking when he reached the top of the staircase, staring out at the endless supply of gold and gems that lay before him. It took him a moment to comprehend what his eyes were seeing and he looked at Athena, her sharing the same expression as him as they both conveyed the exact same thought.
How were they supposed to find one gem in all of this?
Nevertheless, they made their way down the stairs and to the sea of glittering treasure that awaited them. As soon as her foot made contact with the coins she cringed from the sound that it made. There was no way they would be able to sneak effectively when each step they took caused the clinking of gold to bounce off the walls. It also wasn't helpful that they stood on a slope, sending an array of jewels rolling down the hill of gold if their feet so much as nudged a goblet the wrong way.
They continued to make their way over the treasure beneath them, Athena wincing with every noisy step that they took before they rested at a pile of treasure and tried to quietly shift through what was there. Bilbo picked up a white jewel from the pile and examined it in front of him.
"It's bigger than that," she whispered to him and he nodded before picking up a larger stone, but she didn't need to tell him that it wasn't the right colour.
He then picked up a collection of beads arranged to resemble a doily, but it looked more to Athena like a regal headpiece. "That's not even a stone," she muttered and he nodded before returning it to its place.
"Nope," she responded when he later showed her a large white stone, it did look similar to the Arkenstone but it wasn't nearly as smooth or bright. He then carelessly decided to discard it, it clanging as it rolled away from them, Bilbo telling it to shush as if it would listen and obey him, "what part of 'do not wake the dragon' do you not understand?"
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Eventually they made their way further along, she couldn't remember how long they had been searching but it felt like months, though in reality not even an hour had passed.
"Arkenstone, Arkenstone... a large white jewel. Very helpful," the Hobbit mumbled to himself as they sat on a mound of gold, taking a much needed breather.
"Come on, we won't find it if we keep sitting around," she whispered before pushing herself to stand, offering a hand to Bilbo and pulling him back onto his feet when he took it.
They continued to climb up to the top of the slope, their eyes scanning their surroundings for anything that looked white or bright. They stopped for a moment to catch their breath once again, Athena placing her hands on her waist as she stretched out her back that had begun to ache from all the crouching down. But Bilbo had other ideas, for some unknown reason he decided to lean down and pull a cup out from the gold. She didn't even have a chance to open her mouth to tell him that it wasn't what they were looking for before the pile beneath them began to slide down the slope in heaps. The both of them stopped moving, and for a moment they stopped breathing as well as the falling treasure revealed to them the last thing that they wanted to see.
She didn't know what she had expected to see, but it certainly wasn't the closed eye of a dragon.