For the majority of the day, the Fellowship had some fun by testing all the guns in both crates and helping Gandalf enchant them. While they tested their weaponry on some slabs of fallen concrete, they discussed the plans for that night and where the Horn might be located.

"It can't be somewhere that's too easily accessed," said Merry. He unloaded a few clips onto his target from his rifle. "So it has to be somewhere we haven't been before."

"The principal's office, maybe?" Sam suggested.

Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli burst out laughing when they heard that possibility.

"Sorry, but trust us, Sam," Gimli choked out, "it's not in the principal's office."

His face fell when his companions laughed at his idea. "Why can't it be in there?" he demanded.

"Because we spent so much time in there that the principal knew everything about us by the time grade 9 was over," replied Aragorn. "She even knew what kind of music I liked."

"How about the girl's change room?" Frodo said.

"Nope. Been there," said Aragorn, Legolas and Merry at the same time.

Everyone stopped firing their guns and looked at the three of them. Gandalf, who was once their teacher at school, gave them a reprimanding gaze.

"That was half of the reasons why me and Aragorn were with the principal so much," explained Legolas with an almost proud manner. "I'm just surprised that Merry, of all people, has been in there."

The hobbit shrugged offhandedly. "It was a dare. Pippin told me to do it."

"It's not like you didn't enjoy it!" Pippin said defensively.

Before they could have a nice laugh about the innocent days before the Darkness, they caught sight of Gandalf who turned his gaze into a very authoritative, stern glare.

"Sorry, sir," the guilty party said in unison and automatically went back to target practice.

"Well," said Frodo after a few moments of quiet, "if it's hidden somewhere in the school, it's likely that it's somewhere we don't know about."

"A secret room?" Sam said skeptically. "I don't think that schools would have secret rooms, Mister Frodo. Not our school, at least."

"You never know, Sam. That's why it's secret."

"Good point... So how are we going to find it?"

"Go inside, don't get eaten and hope that the Horn will fall right into our laps," Gimli mumbled sarcastically.

"We search for it, Master Gamgee," said Aragorn. "What do you think we're going to do? Run around, screaming our heads off?"

"We don't need to scream our heads off," Legolas said. He was taking aim with a sniper rifle as he talked. "There are plenty of Orcs and Neos available to cut them off for us."

Everybody had an instant image of either theirs or one of their friends' head being cut off and rolling across the floor. Pippin and Legolas had distinct disgusted expressions on their faces and were gently gripping their own necks.

"My point exactly," said Sam. "How are we going to look for the damned Horn when we have a couple dozen Neos and Orcs coming after us to eat our skin?"

"We have two options: be as silent as the wind so that the Neos don't wake," suggested Gandalf. "Or someone volunteers to be bait."

"I think I speak for everyone here when I say we'll be as quiet as a mouse."

A general murmur of agreement went through the line of fire. The pile of tested, working guns grew bigger and bigger as the day wore on. By the end of the afternoon, only the heaviest firearms were left in the crates.

"We can't bring these things around with us," said Merry after it was discovered that both Aragorn and Legolas were needed to carry one of those weapons. "So what are we going to do with them?"

Everyone looked at each other, each looking for a solution from the other. Gandalf, who was enhancing a pistol with his staff at that time, had an idea.

"If Aragorn and Legolas can handle it, we can set the larger ones onto the rooftop. It would strengthen our defenses if anything should happen."

"And, considering our situation, something probably will," commented Gimli.

"What a bright ray of sunshine you are, Gimli," said Legolas, purposely provoking the Dwarf. "Your comments fill our hearts with so much hope."

He merely glared at the Elf, knowing that he was being taunted. He was trying very hard to keep his temper over the past few months upon the pleas and requests of the others.

Legolas was about to open his mouth to test his patience once more when Gandalf attracted his attention.

"Legolas! Aragorn!"

"Yes?" Both of them snapped to alertness.

"Get to work." He pointed his staff to the heavy artillery.

Grumbling and complaining, they started to transport the weapons onto the rooftop. Gimli mockingly watched them toil.

"Gimli, what are you laughing at?" Gandalf asked casually as he continued enchanting the firearms.

"Aragorn and Legolas. Especially Legolas."

"Why do you laugh at them? You're going to be helping them once they get back down here. They still have quite a few pieces of equipment to move."

The Hobbits, who were gathered around Gandalf, all laughed at Gimli's horrified expression. It quickly turned into a sour, reluctant look of acceptance. Once the other boys came back down from the roof, he willingly helped them but not without complaining the entire time.

Merry was reviewing the art of using a staffed weapon with Gandalf when Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli were finished with installing the heavy artillery on the roof.

"We're finally done," Gimli sighed. He took a step back to admire their work.

A few sniper rifles sat with their nozzles pointing to the street. A semi-automatic loomed dangerously behind them, ready to fire at any time. Dozens of rifle magazines were set neatly in between the guns, silently sitting beside each other, all with the potential to pierce bodies and take life away. The semi-automatic's ammunition sat next to it like an obedient hound waiting for its master to call for its help.

"We're finally finished," Gimli said again. He let out a satisfied sigh. "Legolas, you just HAD to remember about the semi that was hidden downstairs, didn't you?"

"A stronger defense means a greater chance of us living," he replied. "I just assumed that you wanted to live."

"But it you don't want to," began Aragorn, "it's quite a long drop from the roof."

"No, no," Gimli said quickly. "Don't be mistaken; I like to live."

"But, if you ever change your mind, we'll be right here waiting," reassured Legolas. He and Aragorn chuckled at Gimli's expression, which showed his doubt about their mental health.

"You're both crazy."

"Let's hope I am," Aragorn said. His happy mood disappeared when he saw a shadow move down the street. He leaned on the railing to give him a steady grip as he watched the silent street ahead of him.

"It's nothing, Aragorn," Gimli said gruffly. "Probably just a rat."

"That's a pretty big rat," Legolas muttered. His superior eyesight pierced the dusk light and focused between two buildings where the shadows were moving.

"I don't suppose you remember if you saw anything following you, did you?" Aragorn asked him. The both of them were still staring at the shifting shadow.

"No. It's a miracle I made it back here in one piece alone, considering the amount of monsters out to get us."

The three of them kept staring at the alley, looking for something incriminating about the shadow, aside from the abnormal size of it. The dumpster in the alley rattled, causing the large shadow to jump and bare a gangly hand out onto the street. The being let out a tiny, raspy gasp only heard by Legolas as it hid itself again.

"I think an old friend just came over for some tea," Legolas said coolly. He started to walk towards the elevator. He called over his shoulder, "Cover me, would you? Just in case."

"Will do," assured Aragorn. He and Gimli promptly loaded a couple of rifles as the elevator descended to the warehouse.

When the elevator doors opened, Legolas was mildly surprised at what he saw. All four Hobbits were holding bottles in their hands and Gandalf was smoking his pipe. What was really surprising was the fact that the Hobbits were singing a song.

"Hey, to the bottle I go," they sang together, "to heal my heart and drown my woes. The rain may fall, the wind may blow, but there's still be-e-e many miles to go…"

Legolas cocked a questioning eyebrow at Gandalf. "You let them have alcohol?"

He let out a twisting smoke ring escape as he replied, "It's only Coke. Nothing to worry about. I just thought they could enjoy some good spirits before we go to the school."

"We should always do this before we go back to school," proposed Pippin.

"That's provided that we'll live to actually attend school again, Pip," Sam pointed out.

"Is something wrong, Legolas?" asked Frodo. He watched the Elf gather his personal weapons and tossed him Sting. "What do I need this for? What's going on?"

Legolas strung up his bow and led Frodo to the door. "We've an old friend slinking around outside. You're helping me bring him in."

Gandalf quickly put away his pipe and stood up. He called out to Legolas to explain what was happening, but he and Frodo were already outside the door. He turned to look at the remaining Hobbits, who were clearly both anxious and nervous.

Outside, they were talking in low voices about how to capture the creature. Legolas had asked how it would react to a surprise.

"It will try and escape," answered Frodo. "If we were still in the Wild, he would have had a pretty good chance of slipping out of our hands and getting away from us."

"But we're not in the Wild, are we?" He pulled a devious grin. "And he's stuck between two buildings, too. Only two ways out. Very careless of him."

"It's his mistake for not knowing the ways of this world." He listened carefully to the plan Legolas had formulated in his mind.

Frodo silently turned the corner of the building with Sting fully bared. His shadow stretched down the alleyway with the blood-red sun setting behind him. The creature jumped at the sudden and immediate threat that appeared.

"Hello, Gollum."

Gollum shrieked and tried to run out of the other end of the alleyway but he ran right into the arms of Legolas.

"Did you have a nice time following me, Gollum?"

Gollum merely continued to shriek and thrash around in his arms. He released him with a pained cry when he received a very nasty bite on his arm. Gollum would have got away if Frodo hadn't managed to pin him against the wall and point Sting directly at his throat.

"You remember Sting, don't you?" Frodo said in a low voice. "I'd be surprised if you didn't; this is the third time you've stared down the blade of it."

"We does, precious, we does," he whimpered. "We remembers the nasty Sting and we remembers master. We could never forget precious master."

"Of course you can't forget me," snarled Frodo. An unusual bitterness penetrated his words. "How can you? I possessed your Precious and you took it from me by biting my finger off!"

"Frodo! Calm down," said Legolas. "Let's just bring him inside the warehouse and keep him there. We don't want him to be going back to his Dark Master anytime soon, do we? Plus, he may be of good use in the future."

After tying him up effectively with a piece of wire they found, they led him back into the warehouse. As they did so, Legolas quickly signaled that the situation was resolved to the shooters on the roof who immediately stood down.

"Where are they taking us, precious?" Gollum whimpered. "What are they going to do to us?" He kept simpering as Frodo and Legolas brought him inside.

Everyone was stunned at the capture of Gollum, mostly because they all thought that he had died thousands of years before. Sam was the first to speak.

"So the Stinker is back," he said. "Is the Slinker still with him? Or is he playing from a different bag of tricks now?"

"That's a little mean, Sam," said Pippin, He had heard a lot about Gollum and Smeagol over the past few months but could hardly believe that Sam could be so cold to him.

"You'd be mean to him too, if he had nothing but the thought of killing you in your sleep engraved into his mind," spat Sam. "I just can't trust Gollum."

"But, but Hobbitses can trust Smeagol," begged Smeagol, who was forced into consciousness by Gollum. "Even tall Elveses can trust Smeagol. Smeagol can be trusted, we swears."

"He can't be trusted! Neither of them!"

"He can't be trusted," repeated Gandalf. "Not right now." He stooped to look at Smeagol in the eyes. "You must understand that we can't trust you because of what you did in the past, no matter how long ago that was. If you want us to trust you, you must earn our trust."

"But nice Hobbitses and Elveses can trust Smeagol. We swears, we swears! We will swears on the Precious again!" He turned to Frodo, the former Ringkeeper. "We begs you! Trust us and don't treat us like slaves. Smeagol is good."

"It's not Smeagol I'm worried about," said Frodo. He looked deep into his eyes and saw Gollum and his malice and rage deep within Smeagol's mind. "It's Gollum who troubles me."

Aragorn and Gimli appeared on the floor from the elevator. They were both finishing strapping on their gun holsters and weapon carriers.

"So this is the famous Gollum," growled Gimli. He went over and started to inspect Smeagol closely, which made him very nervous.

"It's Smeagol," corrected Frodo. "Not Gollum. Not yet. Gollum's a lot more vicious. And I'd advise you to keep a fair distance from both."

"Oh?" He looked up form peering into Smeagol's eyes. "Why is that?"

Smeagol suddenly lunged forward, snarling and trying to gnash his teeth into Gimli who immediately jumped back.

"Because he hates it when people look at him like that and he bites pretty hard."

Startled, he replied, "I'll try to remember that."

Aragorn was busy loading his car with some extra equipment and supplies while Gimli got a closer look at Smeagol. Legolas was helping Merry and Pippin with their holsters and Gandalf was putting on his sword belt and making sure that his sword was in good working order. Frodo had successfully secured Smeagol to a chair and made sure that the chair couldn't move for more than a couple meters.

"I'm sorry, Smeagol," he said as he made sure that the rope was tied well. "But we just can't you running to the Dark Master, telling him about us and showing us freely to it."

"Hey, Frodo!"

Merry was waving for him to get into Aragorn's car. Gandalf was busy talking to Sam, who was looking quite sullen.

"Frodo, come on! Get in the car!"

"Why?"

Legolas threw on his Lorien cloak around his shoulders and got his helmet on. He got onto his bike and revved the engine, savoring the sound and feel of his BMW.

"Why?" he repeated through his helmet. "Because the sun has set. It's time to go."

--- ---

A/N: By the way, that's part of the real Hobbit Drinking Song from both the movie (Extended Fellowship of the Ring) and from the book.