What if? Bilbo and the Ring (Completed)

Part II- Another Council

Frodo continued running down halls and calling for Gandalf. He finally spotted him talking to Elrond. Now Gandalf had heard the yelling but had continued speaking with Elrond.

"Gandalf!" Frodo rushed up to him and tugged on his sleeve.

Gandalf looked down at the young hobbit with a frown. "Can you not see I'm speaking with Elrond?"

Frodo glanced at the elf then turned back to Gandalf. "We must speak now, it's urgent!"

Gandalf sighed and looked at Elrond who nodded his approval.

Frodo and Gandalf made their way to a secluded balcony and the second the door was closed Frodo exclaimed, "We have a problem!"

"What is it? We are in the house of Elrond. I doubt much could go wrong."  

"It's Bilbo, he's gone!"

Gandalf felt something amiss and cautiously replied, "I'm sure he is around here somewhere."

"No, no he's gone."

"What happened?" Gandalf said with an edge in his voice.

"I- He-It" Frodo stammered, unable to form a sentence.

Gandalf waved his arms in frustration, "Out with it Baggins!"

"Bilbo has the Ring, he snatched it from the chain. He's gone."

Out of nowhere Gandalf rose to his full height and thundered out, "That fool of a Baggins, that senseless hobbit!" He then turned on Frodo, "The Ring would have been safer with Pippin!"

Frodo took those words with a grain of salt. He knew Gandalf didn't really mean all of those hurtful things.

"What do we do now?"

Gandalf cooled down and simply said, "I believe you have done enough." and with that he pushed past Frodo and hurried off.

Frodo hung his head in shame and quietly followed after.

A couple of hours later the Fellowship was called together to formulate a plan. Elrond began be explaining the problem. The group was silent while they let the information sink in.

Gimli broke the silence with an unnecessary comment, "No worse than the elf would have done."

Each member took a wary glance at Legolas who simply held a tighter grip on his long bow.

Aragorn stepped in, "So I suppose the Fellowship is to go after Bilbo now."

"One does not simply follow what they cannot see." Added in Boromir.

Aragorn ignored this and turning to Gandalf he asked, "Do we have any idea to where he might have gone?"

Pippin turned to Merry and whispered, "Do you think we'll be going by the Prancing Pony?"

Merry nodded enthusiastically, "Yes, yes, they have pints!" 

Gandalf shot them both an icy glare and they instantly quieted down.

I let out of short cough.

"Yes Sam?" encouraged Aragorn.

"Well it's just a thought but- uh- maybe he went somewhere to hide- like- uh- Gollum."

Frodo frowned, "No. Not Bilbo. He's not like that. He's respectable."

"Aye. Once he was, but with that Ring-" Gimli let the sentence hang in the air.

Boromir suddenly stood up, "Listen to what we are saying! Why go after the Ring at all? It's out of our reach and no longer our problem."

Aragorn rolled his eyes, "It will be everyone's problem as soon as the Black Riders find him."

Frodo felt an icy chill and laid a hand over where he had been stabbed. The door suddenly flew open and in hurried an elf, one of Elrond's trusted advisors. He walked over to Elrond and whispered something. The group watched as Elrond's expression grew into one of alarm.

Elrond stood and said, "Excuse me for a moment, I must go check something immediately."

The fellowship sat quietly waiting and before long Elrond returned looking grave. "We have an idea as to where Bilbo is headed."

Everyone edged forward to listen.

Elrond held up a note and read:

"Luck wearier was I, Luck wearier am I

Three Silver gems will soon be mine

In water I'll see myself and sigh

Past, present and future cannot lie."

 "Along with this note," continued Elrond, "My ring was gone."

A/N

Sorry I haven't been updating much, I haven't been in a wifi area. Let me know what you think!