Very short fic about Frodo's feelings during his conversation with Gandalf in Moria

As usual, it is dedicated to the Tolkien Group girls who made me start writing a long time ago

And I own nothing. All characters belong to J.R.R. Tolkien

Hope you like it.

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"I wish the ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened"

Frodo spoke these words to Gandalf as they were discussing Gollum and it became clear to him how complicated the events that were happening with and around them really were.

He and his friends had been forced into a war that was beyond their comprehension. He had been forced out of his home, hunted down by creatures that were not alive and not yet dead, stabbed by a Morgul-blade and he was now travelling to the darkest place in Middle Earth to destroy a ring that he had grown attached to, even knowing all the destruction it could cause.

He really wished none of it had happened

If Bilbo had killed Gollum when he had the chance, or even if he hadn't gotten the ring in the first place, these things would not be happening to him.

He could have stayed at the Shire smoking and drinking with his friends and carrying on with his life at Bag End. He could have ignored all the evil that had been lurking in the dark around Middle Earth. Hobbits normally didn't meddle with bigger things such as good and evil and the fate of the world.

For a moment he let himself believe that. That someone could have taken his place, that all these things were not his responsibility, that bad things had happened to him because of others so others could try to find a solution for them, that his life didn't have to be like that.

But right when Frodo was contemplating these ideas, Gandalf spoke

"So do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide"

Frodo looked up at Gandalf and saw the wizard looking at him with those wise eyes that belonged to a person who had lived far longer and experienced far more than he let show.

"All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us"

And with one simple phrase, Frodo understood how wrong he had been. How his complaints and his wishes would not change his reality. How his world had been changed whether he had wanted it to be or not and there was nothing he could do about it.

He had only two choices: give up now, run away from his problems and responsibilities and live with that decision for the rest of his life; or go on and keep fighting against everything that comes at him, keep fighting for what he believes, for his friends and for a better world.

He knew his choice would change his life forever, but it was a choice he had to make.

And deep inside he already knew what it had to be.