A/N: This is as far as I have gotten with my story...I am up to Chapter 13, but I am only half-way through it. Hope you like it so far !! )

Chapter Twelve.

Gollum's split persona, the taters debate and the hobbit-snatcher.

The hobbits walked next to a river, Gollum fishing in. He smiled gleefully as he chased a fish down the stream, sliding on rocks as he ventured on.

"Hey stinker," teased Sam, yelling at the creature. "Don't go getting too far ahead,"

"That does look like fun though," nodded Ryan.

"Why do you do that?" asked Frodo, upset.

"What?" asked Sam, innocently.

"Call him names, run him down all the time," protested Frodo, stating what his friend has been doing.

"He does what I do to Gimli," stated Ryan, sticking up for Sam. "And that amuses you,"

"That's what he is Mr. Frodo," stated Sam, defensively. "There's naught left in him but lies and deceit. It's the ring he wants; that's all he cares about,"

"Like Gimli and the diminishing of elves," nodded Ryan.

"You have no idea what it did to him," sneered Frodo, getting closer to Sam. "What it's still doing to him. I want to help him, Sam,"

"And the humanitarian award goes to Frodo Baggins..." said Ryan, sarcastically.

"Why?" enquired Sam, annoyed.

"Because I have to believe he can come back," sighed Frodo.

"You can't save him Mr. Frodo," gestured Sam, his pessimism shining through.

"What do you know about it?" snapped Frodo, "Nothing!" Sam retreated, hurt at his friend's reaction. He shook his head and walked away from Frodo in defeat. Ryan frowned, hating it when he saw people fight.

"I'm sorry Sam," muttered Frodo, apologetically. "I don't know why I said that,"

"I think we do," nodded Ryan, both he and Sam turning and facing Frodo.

"I do," stated Sam, "It's the ring. You can't take your eyes off it. I've seen you. You're not eating, you barely sleep. It's taking a hold of you Mr. Frodo. You have to fight it,"

"Fight the dark side!" echoed Ryan.

"I know what I have to do, Sam," said Frodo, snapping again as he sneered at his friend. "The ring was entrusted to me. It's my task! Mine, my own!"

Ryan cringed at this. He sounded...well, he didn't sound like the Frodo Baggins he met on his way to Rivendell. A change had swept over, and it wasn't a good change. Frodo began to walk away from the two hobbits, who stood helplessly as their companion strode away.

"Can't you hear yourself?" snapped Sam, retaliating. "Don't you know who you sound like?" He and Ryan exchanged glances, Ryan placing a comforting hand on the other hobbit's shoulder.

"Don't worry Sam," said Ryan, comforting the hobbit. "When this is all over, we'll look back and laugh on it,"

The other hobbit smiled weakly, as they jogged to catch up to the retreating Ringbearer.

Later that night, Frodo, Sam and Ryan were asleep, exhausted from their trek from the Gates of Mordor. Ryan and Sam were still unimpressed with Gollum's secret path, and decided they were going to stick together if Gollum did turn on them.

"We wants it, we needs it," sneered Gollum, walking away from the hobbits and leaning against a tree, peering into the darkness. "Must have the Precious. They stole it from us. Sneaky little hobbitses. Wicked, tricksey, false,"

Ryan snapped his eyes open, hearing the creature muttering something to itself, he crawled silently along the ground to have a listen into what it was saying. He felt like James Bond, or another spy of that sort.

"No, not master," protested Gollum, continuing the conversation with himself. Ryan figured it was the Sméagol part of him, which apparently was the 'good' side of Gollum's persona. Ryan noted that the creature's voice became softer, more gentle, when it was this side of him speaking.

"Yes, Precious, False!" stated Gollum, firmly. "They will cheat you, hurt you, lie,"

"Master's my friend," muttered Sméagol, confident about this fact. Ryan raised an eyebrow. Maybe Frodo was right to believe that there was some good left in the creature, but he wasn't about to forget the darker side of the creature too quickly.

"You don't have any friends," sneered Gollum, his voice harsh. "Nobody likes you," Ryan cringed at this. He felt sorry for the creature, almost pitying him. He noticed that the creature put his hands over his ears in protest.

"Not listening," objected Sméagol, shaking his head with his ears covered, "I'm not listening,"

"You're a liar, and a thief," stated Gollum, growling.

"No," stated Sméagol, shaking his head.

"Murderer," sneered Gollum harshly, as sobbing was faintly heard.

"Go away," sobbed Sméagol, obviously hurt by all this.

"Go away?!?!?" sneered Gollum, bursting into an evil laughter. Ryan shook his head, the laughter reminding him of Sarah whenever she laughed evilly about something.

"I hate you," muttered Sméagol, "I hate you,"

"Where would you be without me? Gollum Gollum," sneered the creature hatefully. "I saved us! It was me! We survived because of me!"

There was silence. Ryan wondered if Sméagol had tried to knock the crud out of Gollum, but he didn't hear anything of the sort. The silence was finally broken, Ryan figured from Sméagol thinking over the situation in his head. He wondered if he and Gollum shared the same thoughts.

"Not anymore," stated Sméagol, his voice sounding serious.

"What did you say?" snapped Gollum.

"Master looks after us now," Sméagol stated firmly. "We don't need you,"

"What?" Gollum barked, unsure if he heard Sméagol correctly.

"Leave now, and never come back," muttered Sméagol, his tone stern.

"No!" growled Gollum.

"Leave now, and never come back!" repeated Sméagol, his tone more confident with his cause/

"Aghhhh!!" growled Gollum, upset.

"Leave now and never come back!" announced Sméagol, rather loudly. Then silence. The creature looked around, expecting an answer then looking behind him. Ryan kept still, trying to make himself look asleep to the creature. Sméagol grinned, realizing he was alone. No Gollum. Nothing.

"We told him to go away, and away he goes Precious," squealed Sméagol, dancing around. Ryan laughed to himself in his mind, finding this dancing quite amusing. "Gone! Gone! Gone! Sméagol's free!!!"

Ryan rolled his eyes, as the creature became still. Maybe he wasn't leading them into a trap. However, this did not mean that he would let down his guard. He and Sam were going to protect the quest as much as they could.

The hobbits woke the next morning, and returned to walking, following Sméagol. Sam had noted the change in the creature's demure, and questioned it.

"What's up with stinker there?" he enquired Ryan, figuring he could probably talk to him more than Frodo about his views of Gollum.

"I think he has a split personality...and we're seeing the other side," nodded Ryan, staring at Sméagol.

"I don't trust him," sneered Sam, also glaring at the creature.

The group came to a halt, the hobbits resting lazily against some rocks in the sunshine, enjoying the warmth of it. Suddenly, Sméagol scampered up to Frodo, dropping two rabbit carcasses onto his lap, rather proud of his catch.

"Look! Look!" announced Sméagol, gleefully, laughing. "They are young, they are tender, they are nice. Yes they are! Eat them, eat them!" the creature continued, breaking one of the rabbits' backs, sinking his teeth into the creature, the sound of it piercing to Ryan and Sam's ears, the latter looking disgusted as he got up, striding over to Sméagol and reefing the rabbit out of the creature's possession.

"You'll make him sick, you will. Behavin' like that" stated Sam, disgusted, "There's only one way to eat a brace of coney's,"

Sam had set up a pot, and got a fire going. Ryan squatted beside the fire, and watched as Sam stirred a pot with the rabbit stew in it. Ryan, who wasn't interest in the rabbit to begin with, had however lost his appetite altogether watching Sméagol rip into the rabbits earlier, but he decided to watch Sam doing what he does best. Sméagol was screaming, the sound of the creature resonating in the air as he did this.

"He's screaming bloody murder he is!" growled Ryan, covering his ears and squinting his eyes shut at the sound.

"What's it doing?" shrieked the creature, glaring at Sam. "Stupid, fat hobbit! It ruins it!"

"What's to ruin?" responded Sam, annoyed. "There's hardly any meat on 'em," Ryan made a face of disgust, as he continued to listen to the conversation regardless, his attention suddenly being snapped away by an odd whistle. He and Frodo exchanged glances, as the both of them looked around to find out the direction from which the sound was coming from.

"What we need's a few good taters," muttered Sam, nodding to himself at that thought.

"Now you're talking," nodded Ryan, agreeing.

"What's tater's, Precious?" enquired Gollum, curiously, "What's taters, eh?"

The whistling continued to resonate in the air, however the great debate on taters continued.

"Po-ta-toes!" stated Sam, saying each syllable clearly and precise, as the creature began to whine. "Boil 'em, mash 'em, stick 'em in a stew,"

"Yum," grinned Ryan.

"Lovely golden big chipds with a nice piece of fried fish," said Sam, admiringly. He was interrupted by Sméagol, who spat on the ground in disgust of the hobbit's ramblings. "Even you couldn't say no to that," continued Sam in response to the creature's reaction.

"Oh yes we could! Spoiling nice fish," protested Sméagol, who licked his lips at his next thought, continuing, "Give it to us raw, and wriggling. You keep nasty chips,"

"You're hopeless," sneered Sam, shaking his head.

"I second that," echoed Ryan, also agreeing with that statement, raising his hand to represent this agreement. The two hobbits looked to Frodo for a third notion, however, the hobbit had wondered off, becoming more curious about the odd whistles echoing through the air.

"Mr. Frodo?" enquired Sam, his voice loud in worry of where his friend had gotten too. He, Ryan and Sméagol found Frodo laying on his stomach, observing a foreign army march down below the ledge they were situated on.

"Who are they?" asked Sam, wondering who these strange men were. Ryan started humming the tune from the Wizard of Oz where the soldiers were marching, receiving looks of confusion off Sam and Frodo. He shrugged them off, and continued to hum.

"Wicked men," replied Gollum, firmly. "Servants of Sauron. They are called to Mordor. The dark one's gathering all armies to him. It won't be long now, he will soon be ready,"

"As will I," nodded Ryan, confidently. "I will have my army of Llamas ready within a snap of my fingers," he continued, grinning, shrinking back when he saw the looks off the others.

"Ready to do what?" asked Sam, again, confused with these men.

"To make his war," announced Gollum. "The last war that will cover all the world in shadow,"

"No more shadow-tips," Ryan muttered to himself, gloomily.

"We've got to get moving," stated Frodo, firmly. "Come on, Sam, Ryan. Let's go," he continued, sliding back on the ground to force himself up. He attempted to stand, only to be stopped by the excited tone in Sam's voice.

"Mr. Frodo, look!" squealed Sam, excitedly. "It's an Orliphaunt. No one at home will believe this,"

"If you get transported to my world," began Ryan, looking at Sam. "I will take you to a place where there are lots of Orliphaunts," The hobbit looked pleased, hoping one day he could visit Ryan's world. The group watched as the Orliphaunts stamped their way through the area, the strange whistling sound they had heard previously returned, only a lot louder this time. Nobody noticed Gollum sneak off, except for Frodo, who became suspicious when he looked to see the creature missing.

"Sméagol?" he enquired, looking around for the creature in question. His attention was snapped back to the Orliphaunts and army below, as arrows began to fly at them from all directions, soldiers falling from being hit. The hobbits panic, not knowing where the arrows were coming from. In panic, the Orliphaunts began to stumble around, one charging towards where the hobbits were hiding, as they are bombarded with more arrows. One hits a soldier on top of the Orliphaunt, the man falling onto the ground behind Frodo, Sam and Ryan.

"That was a bit too close for comfort," muttered Ryan.

"We have lingered here too long," Frodo announced quietly.

"You sound like Legolas," Ryan responded, glaring at the other hobbit.

"Come on," motioned Frodo, who turned his back and bumped straight into a hooded archer. Sam and Ryan see this, Sam drawing his sword, and Ryan grabbing a handful of rocks, throwing them at the archer.

"Ai!" shrieked Sam, charging at the Frodo-snatcher. He, in turn, was also caught by another cloaked archer, his sword snatched from his grasp as he is knocked to the ground, Frodo soon joining him as he is also thrown to the ground by the archer who had him in his possession. Ryan was next, as the two archers began towards him, the hobbit continuing to throw rocks. He is grabbed by one of them, Ryan biting one of them in protest, as the archer shrieks in response, throwing the hobbit down with the other two. A man approached the three, looking down at them on the ground.

"Bind their hands," he huffed in command to one of the archers.

"Eep," squeaked Ryan, trying to scramble away.