Gollum returned empty-handed. He hadn't expected to find anything; he simply needed to let the hobbits fall asleep without him present. He crept up on them from behind, ready to make his move. He had taken some of the cursed lembas bread with him when he left, and now he crumbled little pieces over the shoulder of Sev's cloak, then threw the rest of it over the cliff. He resisted cackling triumphantly to himself . . . but as he crept down towards the halflings he halted abruptly. His head cocked.
Frodo's head lay in Sev's lap, and she had one slender hand shielding his forehead and the other laid over his chest. They both seemed so untouched, so peaceful in that moment. Gollum crept forward, and for a second Smeagol took over again. He loved Frodo. Frodo was Master; Frodo was his friend. And yet, despite all Smeagol had done before, Frodo still seemed to prefer the girl most of the time.
Smeagol had to admit, if he had a woman protecting him and loving him like she loved his Master, he would keep her too. He blinked as he surveyed Sev. He knew little experience of the love of a woman, beautiful or otherwise, but he wondered for a fleeting moment if he could separate the two hobbits, retrieve the Ring, and then go after Sev.
But every dark thought melted away when he crept right up to Frodo. He'd never really had such a close companion, not since he'd betrayed his cousin Deagol for the Ring. But now, looking at Frodo, he felt like he had family again. He reached forward and caressed the hobbit's knee, feeling for once as a father to the hobbit. His eyes softened. Perhaps taking them to her wouldn't be such a good idea; he loved Frodo too much.
But at Smeagol's touch, Frodo cried out a little uncertainly: the fingers on his knee were cold and brittle, and he didn't know what to think of them. He tossed against Sev's lap.
Before Gollum even pulled away, Sev's eyes shot open. She initially tensed over Frodo, worried something had happened. When she saw Gollum's hand flicking away from the hobbit she held, her expression suddenly darkened into a suspicious glare. Gollum, hurt, scrambled away and slipped over a close shelf of rock. He didn't feel awful at all for what he had just done, and he no longer wanted to take it back as he had been considering.
Sev detected the trace of sudden pain in his eyes. She reached forward. "Gollum," she tried. "Gollum, I'm sorry—,"
Gollum just settled on the rock a little bitterly. She'd even stopped calling him Smeagol. She knew of his treachery, of course, but Gollum had thought hoped—apparently an empty hope—that she would be at least conflicted. She had just apologized, but it wouldn't make any difference. Gollum's plans were solidified.
Then Sev paused. "What have you been doing?"
Gollum blinked and paused. "Just here, she-hobbit. Just here."
Sev nodded, still skeptical. She almost apologized again, wanted to ask why he had been near Frodo. He looked pained, not maniacal, which confused her. He wanted to kill Frodo, but something was off about it this time. He wouldn't have tried to be so quick about it, not with the two hobbits there resting. Besides, the knee would have been a strange place to start.
But she was interrupted when Frodo stretched across her lap. She tightened her hold on him so he wouldn't fall over the edge of the cliff, only a foot or two away from them. Frodo relaxed again, his eyes flickering with the exhaustion of just having awakened. He blinked up at Sev. Somehow his hand had left hers while he slept; he now slipped his fingers over her own and rubbed her skin idly. He pressed her hand gently over the Ring, but its influence did not draw back very much. His brow furrowed: something was wrong.
"Sev . . ." he muttered.
Sev rubbed his forehead. "It's time, Frodo," she whispered. She kissed his forehead once more; while the Ring was obstinate in letting Sev go, the warmth did not fade, for which Frodo was grateful. "Do you want something to eat?"
Frodo nodded against her hand, and her fingers gently brushed his skin. He sat up to let her stand.
Sev grimaced; the circulation in her legs was gone, but having him there was more than worth it to her in circumstances such as these. She wiggled her toes, almost wishing Frodo would help her get up.
But he was too exhausted to do anything, much less consider that he might have cut off blood flow to her feet. He blinked, glancing about uncertainly. Sev walked unsteadily past him and knelt beside their satchel. She opened the top, glanced inside . . . and saw nothing more than empty lembas wrappings.
Her eyes widened. Frodo glanced at her with his head cocked, unsure what could possibly be wrong.
Sev didn't turn to look at him. "Frodo, have you eaten anything since we left the bordor of Gondor?"
His lack of verbal response told her everything. The lembas leaves trembled in her hands as she turned helplessly to Frodo. The empty leaves unfolded before Frodo.
"It's gone," she whispered gravely. He eyed it, somewhat blank and only despairing with regard to the fading wisps of logic left within him. Those deteriorated soon; he had no drive to more than keep walking simply because he knew he had to.
Sev was devastated in spite of his seeming ambivalence. Frodo would starve, and she had no idea why the food was all gone. "What could have—?" Then she glanced up at Gollum. She could see him hiding some flicker of malice deep within. She pointed at him, then paused. "But you wouldn't have eaten it. You couldn't!"
Gollum waited a moment, then gasped. He fingered lembas crumbs off of her cloak, letting them collapse to the ground.
"Are you serious?" Sev persisted immediately. She hoped Frodo didn't believe she had eaten them; he had to trust her, even if he didn't entirely know how much she would sacrifice for him. "I don't even need—!"
Gollum barged in on her statement with full force. "Girl-one is always eating when Master isn't looking! And she makes up lies about poor Smeagol to hide it!"
Sev caught a sob with her palm. She didn't even try to fight back. Either Frodo would believe the dreadful creature or he wouldn't. Sev sank to the ground. She couldn't let Frodo die. Perhaps she could carry the Ring. She gravely decided that if Gollum didn't find food for him, and if Sev couldn't either, nothing more could be done.
Frodo didn't believe she'd taken it, so her reaction surprised him. He thought also that Smeagol was simply trying to protect him, just being suspicious of Sev because she cut in to their bond rather powerfully. He reached forward as she sank to the ground.
"Gollum, why would you do this?" she breathed. He could take as much of his anger out as he wanted on her, but not on Frodo. Not on Frodo.
Exhausted, Frodo touched her shoulder. His eyes flickered, and his voice rasped slightly. "Sev, we've got to move on." He initially wrapped his arm around her shoulder, but again the Ring did not react to her. It couldn't afford to. It would have to leave Frodo entirely to catch her, and vice versa. It had chosen Frodo, and now crept into the corners of his mind with padded feet. Frodo sidled up to Sev, fearing the chill slithering into place.
"Frodo, you have to eat!" Sev insisted. "You won't have the energy to carry the Ring at this point, much less survive."
At this Frodo froze, locking his fingers along her arm. She hardly noticed, probably blindly dismissing his reaction as perhaps realization. The Ring jumped to its own defense, building up retorts in Frodo's mind like the grime of the steps around him.
Sev continued. "I could carry it for a while. Share the load with you; then maybe we could find something for you to eat—,"
Frodo snapped away from her. "No!" He clutched the Ring, glaring hard. "Sev, you cannot!"
What finally made him speak was his fear that the Ring had taken her as well, and that she would burn herself on it, that the Ring would become more powerful at her hand. But the Ring could use that to its advantage if it wished, and it did.
Sev stared at him, taken aback more than she ought to have been. "Frodo, I just want to help. I didn't mean any harm."
Gollum began leaping excitedly in place. "Girl one wants it for herself!" he chanted. Frodo remembered what Gollum had told him, and he tried to throw it off: of course Sev was just trying to protect him. But the Ring and Gollum's suggestions won out: the Ring had sway over all, and Sev had just fallen prey like the rest of them. The voice within Frodo's head grew hard, stony, insensitive.
Sev's gaze snapped to Gollum. "As if you didn't," she hissed. Then she turned back to Frodo. "Frodo, I beg of you, Gollum is trying to kill you and take the Ring!"
Frodo's glower soon matched the thoughts and feelings within, ones the Ring now had perfect control over. "No, Sev," he said darkly. "You want the Ring." He only half believed it himself, but asserting it out loud frightened him into wishing he had never thought it. His own consciousness easily fell to the stronger grip within.
Sev shook her head. "Frodo, didn't you see what the thing did to me?" She lifted her palm, showed him the perfect etching of black in her hand. Frodo reached out, his initial thoughts taking over at the vulnerable gesture, but his fingers dropped. Sev swallowed; she begged him with her eyes, pleaded with her expression, but nothing more could be done. And they both knew it.
"You shouldn't help me anymore," Frodo said, his words monotone. "It's too dangerous. The Ring is trying to take you." He strained, preparing himself for the words he had tried to say since Rivendell, but now came out with such a malicious stain that he cringed at them. He turned away from her. "Go home."
Sev hesitated, completely taken aback. She stared at him, blinked as though to clear her senses. "Frodo . . ."
His voice grew stronger, although the volume dropped. "Go home, Sev." He stared up at her—tears flooded his eyes and trickled quickly down his cheeks. Something deep within him knew that this was not right, that this was not what he wanted, but the Ring willed him not to care.
Sev could do nothing more. If Frodo did not want her, if he truly meant it with the darkness and intensity with which he had spoken to her, she could do nothing. She had no strength left. She collapsed numbly in a corner of stone, sinking to the ground, and her body curled into a tight ball. Frodo almost wished she would fight him. She could be obstinate, but only when she felt she was doing one a favor with her stubbornness. He reached for her, nearly asked her to fight him.
"Frodo, you can't," she mumbled. Her voice muffled in her crossed arms. "They'll kill you." She sniffled, choking back sobs. "They'll kill you," she repeated more than once as Smeagol and Frodo walked past her. Soon they had gone up enough stairs that Frodo could not see her anymore.
Without Sev to hinder its progress, the Ring settled its cold and blackness directly on Frodo. He shivered, wondering when Sev would follow them. If she would. He turned back periodically, but she had already started blindly forcing her way down the stairs. He could see her smacking against the wall as she went down.
He wanted to go after her, but the Ring dragged him forward.
"Sev . . ."
She was gone, though. She wasn't coming back, no matter how much Frodo wished it on the inside. He had hurt her too much, had gone too far.
I must go back for her. I won't make it alone.
Don't care about her, the Ring persisted.
Her warmth has protected me.
Forget her.
The Ring slowly coaxed him away from thoughts of Sev to thoughts of nothing but that little, heavy circlet of gold hanging innocently about his neck with a livid gleam.