A/N It's official, this is the longest time it's ever taken me to update. I bet you all thought I had stopped huh? No, just had too much life going on, I don't normally take this long, I'm so sorry. This chapter's short too but it just seemed like I needed to end it so I could update.
Chapter 6: Wait, who disappeared?
Pretty soon I was having so much fun that I barely noticed when Pippin slipped off the stage and disappeared around the back. It wasn't until a familiar feminine screech filled the air that I remembered the firework.
"Oh great," I groaned as I watched the huge dragon light up the sky, turning towards the party. Hobbits began to panic and run to safety; I leaped of the stage and raced towards the flaming tent where I was sure the two troublemakers were. Sure enough, as I approached I saw Gandalf dragging the two hobbits off by their ears. I gave them a sympathetic look that also served as a you-two-are-idiots look.
"Caught 'em red-handed didn't you Gandalf?" I called to the wizard, nodding my head knowingly. He looked at me for a moment, and his face broke into a smile. Merry mouthed "thank you", I guess for lightening his mood. Gandalf caught him however, tugged on his ear, and dragged the two away. Laughing and shaking my head, I turned around and wandered off to find Frodo, being as Bilbo was starting his speech.
"I don't know half of you half as well as I should like, and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve."
I guess I was the only one who found that funny, being as only I laughed. Several hobbits, including Frodo, turned around to look at me, and I just gave an embarrassed shrug; I guess they didn't get the joke.
Quickly, I sat down next to Frodo and watched Bilbo, who I knew would be disappearing very soon. Oddly enough, I was wondering more about Frodo and what he would think than I was about Bilbo disappearing; it just hit me that this was the last time he would see him until he reached Rivendell. I was so deep in my thoughts that it wasn't until I head the quiet "vwoomp" sound that I realized Bilbo had disappeared. What can I say? I'm not very observant. There was a collective gasp as hobbits realized what was happening; looking around me I saw one hobbit pinching his arm repeatedly, one rubbing his eyes, making sure what he saw was real, and many younger hobbits cheering. Basically, there was general chaos. Only Frodo stayed still. He seemed frozen, maybe in shock, or maybe from the realization that Bilbo really was going to leave. As quick as he had frozen though, he jerked out of it and grasped my arm.
"I need your help."
"Anything."
"Find Merry and Pippin and help them calm people down and get them going home, I'll find Sam."
"No," I said quickly, "I'll find Sam, you go find Bilbo."
He looked at me, and I could see the silent gratitude in his eyes. That was one thing that I always noticed about Frodo, I could see his every emotion if I just looked at his eyes. Right now I could see that all he wanted to do was find Bilbo and convince him not to go, and even though I knew he couldn't do that, I wanted to help him. I couldn't bear to see him in pain. Which, I thought in the back of my mind, is not going to be good if I go on this mission, quest, thing. Frodo ran off towards Bag End as I made my way through the crowd.
"Sam!"
The sandy-haired hobbit turned around, looking confused.
"Sam! Look, I need you to help me get everyone going home."
"Where's Frodo?"
"Looking for Bilbo and Gandalf."
"I'll handle the entrance, we'll get everyone out quickly."
"Thank you Sam."
About an hour later, everyone had left (some of the younger children were still cheering and talking animatedly about Bilbo's disappearance).
"Finally," Merry said, wiping his brow.
"I know," I agreed, leaning against a fence, "Can we go home yet?"
I looked at Sam; the answer would probably be best coming from him.
"I suppose so, everyone's gone."
Merry and I said goodnight and headed back home. I found it amusing that I could call here "home" so easily, I had adapted to my new surroundings really fast, and even though I was still confused as to how I got here, I wasn't worried about getting home.