The Tenth Ringwraith: a Sauron x Bilbo

A Long Road

After breakfast, Bilbo found himself sitting in the back of Cedric's covered wagon as they rode through the plains.

It was rather exciting to be going south, as he had never been to Gondor before, but Bilbo was still very curious as to Ash's change of heart.

He had tried to ask, but his beloved ring had been very vague with his reasoning, pointing out that he had never seen the sea before, only lakes and rivers.

While that was true of the hobbit, that explanation was still incredibly flimsy and Bilbo suspected Ash merely wanted him to spend an extended period of time with Cedric in order to become disappointed with his behavior and kill off any stray desire to settle down with him.

Not that he wanted to do that, of course, but Bilbo found Ash's jealousy sweet and would humor it all the same.

After a while, the wagon stopped briefly and they had a simple second breakfast of pastries bought in Bree.

***

Two weeks passed and they were on the border of Dunland and Rohan -less than a day from Helm's Deep-, just under halfway through their journey, when Bilbo realized that he could not stand Cedric and that he was trapped with him for another month and a half at minimum.

In their previous meetings, they never spent more than four hours together at once, but after being with him constantly Bilbo was ready to kill somebody.

It was not even because the other hobbit was annoying or rude, he was just so boring; the quintessential proper hobbit -other than the detail where they were currently adventuring.

Ash did a weird mixture of a vibration and a purr, clearly satisfied with itself when Bilbo thought about the potential murder.

"Oh hush you, you wanted this did you not?" Bilbo pouted

"I do not recall." The Ring lied

"You are a golden ring, an envious green does not suit you." The hobbit huffed, "Your jealousy was unfounded."

"Not unsustained from where I am." Ash said, a slight whine in his voice

Bilbo frowned, holding his hand up and pressing a kiss to the golden band on his pinky, "Then rest assured my loyalty is yours. If you had a physical body of your own I would kiss you now."

"I could have a body." The Ring hesitantly began

"You could?" Bilbo asked, "How?"

Ashnazg knew he should suggest going to Mordor, that Barad-dûr was almost exactly to the west of where they were facing, but they were too close to Isengard for the Ring to consider slipping past the White Wizard.

So instead, it told Bilbo that if it was put on by someone incredibly and exceptionally weak willed, it could use them as a host temporarily without their knowledge.

Bilbo was silent for a few moments, but eventually he asked if Cedric would be suitable.

"There is only one way to find out." Ash replied

That was good enough for the hobbit, he stood up and walked to the front of the covered wagon where Cedric sat directing the horses.

"Good afternoon." Bilbo greeted

"Good afternoon." Cedric greeted in turn, "How was your nap?"

"Very good." The writer lied, he had faked a nap in order to talk to Ash without looking strange

They sat in silence for awhile, Bilbo eventually holding out his hand so the older hobbit could see the Ring, "I got this on my last adventure. The dwarves I was traveling with said that the wearer of this would be brave as long as they had it on. Do you want to try it on?"

The Ring gleamed in the sunlight and Cedric found himself agreeing without even thinking about it.

The sixty two year old struggled to take it off for a moment, but tipped it over into Cedric's hand and watched him put it on, feeling empty without Ash's presence that he had grown accustomed to this past decade.

Cedric put the golden band on immediately, staring at the hand it was on, "I do not feel any different."

"Must have been a placebo then." Bilbo shrugged

The other hobbit opened his mouth to reply, but before he could get a word out he suddenly slumped over and nearly fell from his seat.

When he sat up again, his hazel eyes had gone golden, "Bilbo?"

"Cedric?" Bilbo asked

The straight haired hobbit shook his head, speaking with a voice not Cedric's, "No, Ash."

Bilbo smiled, hugging him, "I have longed to do this."

"As have I." Ash agreed, "We have only a few minutes."

"Then I should get to keeping my word then." Bilbo replied, leaning up slightly to kiss him

Ash refused, putting a finger on Bilbo's lips, "No, as much as I would like to, I would rather not kiss you with Cedric's mouth."

Bilbo nodded, as that was fair, "Is there any way to let you have a body permanently?"

The Ring thought of Sauron immediately, so close -closer than it had been to him in over a millennia- yet so far that Mordor's eternal clouds were not visible in the horizon, "There is ... several ways actually. But neither are possible at this current time."

They held hands, Bilbo laying his head on Ash's borrowed shoulders until the ring told him that time was over.

Ash pulled itself off of Cedric's hand and returned it to Bilbo's waiting palm, both relaxing as they reunited and the other hobbit laid unconscious.

"I liked that, even if it was only five minutes." Bilbo said through their mental link

The Ring purred, "As did I."

***

Bilbo did not yet fully know this, but the One Ring was a bit like pipeweed where you would crave it constantly; especially when you had been without it for very long.

Cedric Featherbottom had been exposed to the Ring's allure to the point that it had consumed him completely and dominated his own mind and will for several minutes.

He would now crave it for the rest of his life, like an itch you can never satisfy that slowly drives you mad.

But while Cedric would have mild withdrawal from his seperation after having such a short while, his craving itch was nothing compared to the all consuming desire to be reunited with the 'Precious' than Gollum.

The past decade without the golden ring had been agony for the former hobbit, but his luck seemed to turned towards the better because when he had slipped from the Misty Mountains after checking every spot of his little lake for the Precious he had spotted the thief and had been following the wagon ever since.