Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The world has changed. I feel it in the water, in the Earth. I smell it in the yada-yada. Much was lost and people can’t remember it anymore. Celebrimbor screwed the pooch, and made all kinds of rings. Three for elves, seven for dwarves, and nine for men. There were supposed to be five for the half-elves, but that idea got shelved because Morgoth would not have supported a perfect pattern of odd numbers. Now, One. Created by the Dark Lord, Sauron, and… Look, I just got done saying all this, I feel like I’m having deja vu. Can we run it back?
I had a terrible dream. The One Ring was traversed across the darks of the world, and was destroyed in the fires of Mount Doom where it was created. And, in the collapse of the Dark Lord, he whispered a terrible curse that undid all that good. This is my nightmare. In the last recesses of Sauron’s power, he banished the nine heroes who destroyed the ring from this world.
Yet, there was a flaw in his last stand. That each of them was replaced by a soul from distant, unimaginable places. These nine we’ve been left with, each inferior to the warriors I saw in my dream. It was no imagination. The War of the Ring was real, and now the Dark Lord forces us to live it again. Yet, only I remember it.
Rather than scattering these counterparts throughout the known world, or even in the places they should be, another hand affected this magic. Awakening from my dream, it had been whispered to me that they would appear in the home of Bilbo Baggins, Bag End. Having since left for Rivendell, these visitors should be arriving on this same night that I quietly arrive in Hobbiton.

~○~

Galadriel had not made her way to the Shire during her dream. But, even her most trusted were unaware of this dream she’d had. This slight wrong in the world was not known to them. Elrond knew that Gandalf would be returning to the Shire. This prophecy that Gandalf had entirely disappeared from the world was met with confusion, at first. All things until this evening, when nine people silently disappeared from the world were the same.
She stopped out front of the little Hobbit Hole, and slowly grabbed the door. Gandalf was going to be inside speaking to a small Hobbit, and there would be a warm fire, and this whole business of a dream will have been… just that. No, that would have been easier. There was nobody there at all. She sighed, Frodo Baggins carried the One Ring. He’d already left, and… There was a little white envelope, politely sealed and sitting over the mantleplace, entirely undisturbed. The fireplace gave off a soft, orange light.
Another step toward the little envelope. Her hand pulled itself back, refusing to claw any nearer to Isildur’s Bane. She was too early. Frodo was returning home from some business that day, and Gandalf hadn’t arrived yet. But, the fire. The fire was on.
She shut her eyes, the sound of the crackling flames and some birds chirping outside. Her own, slow inhale. Whatever validity was to this fantasy of others, newcomers, this thing could not stay on the pristine, white-painted wooden mantle which held it. A thick thud against the wood behind her. Galadriel spun around.
Sprawled out across the ground was an absolute sight of a person. A human girl, and a child who stood shorter than most hobbits at that. More jarring than her size was the pristine, glossy blue hair running down her shoulders and back. She was elegantly dressed in priestly blue robes with golden trims.
“I’m sorry, who are you?”
The girl looked up. She took a second to sniff the air, then finally seemed to realize it was her Galadriel had been addressing. The girl almost leapt to her feet, and bowed as low as she could, “I’m Myne. It’s an absolute pleasure to meet you. Where are we?”
“The Shire,” answered the elf. She looked around the corner. There were supposed to be nine of them.
“Is this your house?”
Galadriel was fully bent over so as to not hit her head on the roof, “No, no. It belongs to somebody named Frodo Baggins, you wouldn’t know him.”
Myne’s eyes lit up, “Frodo? We’re in that Shire?”
Galadriel took a deep breath. These people were supposed to be from other worlds, but if they were local enough to know the names of people who lived here, that would make things much easier. “Yes, indeed.” That Shire… There was one Shire.
“I’ve read all about this place!” Myne beamed, “I must be dreaming!”
“Dreams take many forms, and somehow this is not one of them.”
“Amazing,” she bobbled over to the fireplace and held her hands over it, warming them, “This is Bag End, but it still belongs to Frodo. He hasn’t gone to the Gray Havens, yet, so then the Ring has only been destroyed recently, right?”
“I had thought you came from a far more distant place than to have heard of such things before,” Galadriel’s voice trailed off, “tell me of your home.”
“I’m from another world,” Myne said, “well two other worlds. I died in one world, then I woke up in another world, and now I woke up here… In Middle Earth! I’m very excited, actually. Well, in the first world I came from, there were all kinds of books about Middle Earth. There’s The Hobbit, about Bilbo Baggins. And, The Lord of the Rings, about the journey to destroy the One Ring. But the best is the story of how Feanor created the Silmarils.”
“I’ve never seen any texts about this world you come from, here. But, yes, you seem very, very well informed,” Galadriel explained, “Sitting on this mantleplace above you is an envelope containing the One Ring.”
“Isn’t it supposed to be kept secret?” Myne looked up at the envelope.
“That it should be.” Galadriel tapped her foot against the ground, “But, not to you. There’ll be more people coming here, and I’ll be asking you all to take on this burden of destroying the One Ring.”
“What about Frodo?”
“He did it already.”
“Then why is it here?”
“Yes, I’m still trying to fully understand that part. But, he is gone this time around, and you are here. Everybody else I’ve met has no memory of it being destroyed before. Even the seasons turn back, like it never happened at all.”
Myne started to say something, but was interrupted by a brief flash of light followed by the appearance of yet another human child, dropping to the ground from about six inches up and landing squarely on her back. This one had brown hair instead of a more-jarring blue. Then, there was the bright-orange frilly dress and matching, pointed hat. It wasn’t terribly unlike a wizard’s hat. Large spectacles bobbled over the newcomer’s nose. Now there were two of these folks who’d appeared from nowhere, or from other worlds. Nine were yet expected.
This girl sat herself up a little quicker, and also asked a similar question as to quite where she was. Finally when asked, she introduced herself as Hazuki Fujiwara. Galadriel pressed her lips together. Surely, these people from far, far away who were intended to replace the Fellowship of the Ring wouldn’t all be small children. The latter stood even slightly shorter than the former, and neither of them could have been any older than ten. Well, there were two be seven more, and there was no reason to panic yet.
Next was one Kogorou Mouri, who boastfully introduced himself as a “sleeping detective” after tumbling downward out of thin air and landing more easily on his bottom. He was dressed in a fine, gray suit and tie. Rather than questioning what kind of qualification a sleeping detective was, Galadriel politely began explaining it all again to him. All of their descriptions of the places they came from sounded much more similar to each others’ than to Middle Earth. And, Myne’s description of these books about Middle Earth in her world was confirmed by both of the others. Neither of the others was as intimately familiar with the minute details as Myne. Well, this would all have been much easier if somebody had once written detailed accounts of these other worlds in Middle Earth, but somewhat unfairly, nobody ever had.
Follow him, a black-haired teenage human wearing a dramatic black cloak. Two swords were sheathed at his side, and he quietly took stock of the area around him once he woke up. “Kirito,” he said his name before taking one of the many chairs available around Bag End. Another one who’d heard of Middle Earth before, but not much for speaking. He hardly bothered questioning quite why he was here at all.
Next, another child. This one was maybe a preteen with yellow hair. A deep green uniform adorned her body, with medals across it. Some kind of weapon with a dagger at its end was strapped to her back. It had a long, wooden frame with metal adornments. She cursed under her breath as she started getting a sense for the world around her, and finally introduced herself as “Tanya von Degurechaff.” She briefly looked over the others, deciding what she thought about them before carefully leaning against the wall opposite the fireplace. Her eyes carried less malice than most orcs, if slightly.
Next was a black-haired young man, also with a sword sheathed at his side. He additionally had a strange weapon in the same fashion as Tanya’s on his back. He wore a grim expression, “Levi,” he introduced himself.
“You’re a soldier?” Tanya asked him.
“Are you supposed to be?” He studied her a moment before performing some sort of salute by striking his front and back with both his fists. “I’m a captain in the Survey Corps.”
“Lieutenant Colonel,” she said of herself and performed her own sort of salute.
Levi was interrupted in whatever he meant to say next when a boy about Tanya’s age with short bluish-black hair appeared. He was dressed in a simple uniform, but his face was hidden by a mask of a black-and-brown cat. He refused to introduce himself, and walked into the other room.
Then, a tall man. He was dressed in a full suit of unbroken black armor. A violet gleam escaped from a single slit in his helmet. A whistle made of a bone-like substance dangled around his neck, and there were a few unidentifiable attachments across his armor. “Good evening,” he waved, “I am Bondrewd, the Lord of Dawn. It is my deepest pleasure to make all of your acquaintances.” He had a deep but gentle voice.
“It would be nice to see your faces, you know!” Kirito offered.
There was no response from either of the masked men, and the whole thought was put aside as the last member of the fellowship appeared. Another child, she had black hair and a uniform not too terribly different from the boy who wouldn’t introduce himself. She had no weapons or otherwise, except for a metal device tucked in one of her hands. “Tomoyo Daidouji,” she introduced herself when asked. She seemed rather more concerned with being in a completely different world from her own than any of the others did. Her and Hazuki began speaking easily with each other.
It was between the two of them that the boy who had refused to introduce himself finally reappeared. He listened to them talking to each other a little bit before finally, coldly saying “Natsume Hyuuga.”
“So, why are we all here?” Levi asked.
Galadriel finally repeated this whole thing about a dream and other worlds one last time. She motioned to the little envelope that contained the Ring, “This must be taken to Mount Doom in Mordor, and cast into the lava of Mount Doom to destroy it forever.”
“How do we know this Dark Lord won’t just do the same thing again if it’s destroyed?” Tanya asked.
“He won’t. That’s not how this stuff works.” Answered Kirito.
“What if it wasn’t this Sauron guy who did this at all?” Kogorou thought out loud, “Maybe it was somebody else in the world who had something to benefit.”
Bondrewd turned to face the ring, “Is it worth annihilating a relic of such…”
“Yes!” Myne yelped, “It’s a weapon that can only truly be used by Sauron. It can only be destroyed in one way.”
“Sparagmos,” declared Bondrewd. A red-orange beam of pure light erupted from his forearm. The mantleplace burned so totally in half that there were no ashes or even steam to be seen, just a hissing, gaping hole in the wood. The plasma pierced directly through the One Ring, which fell into the fire, completely undamaged. He noted the ring, “Fascinating. Sparagmos has always been able to destroy anything without fail.”
Tanya turned to Myne, “You said it was a weapon of the enemy? Are you sure we can’t use it?”
“Absolutely!” Myne nodded profusely.
Hazuki bobbed her head along, “Myne knows everything about this world. We should listen to her.”
Levi laughed to himself, “You’re all mostly children. What do you know?”
“Some children are brilliant,” Bondrewd said, “if I cannot destroy it, I offer that I should carry this ring.”
“Hey, eerie black armor guy. Cool thematics, very cool. Probably not the best guy to carry an evil corrupting magic item!” Kirito shook his head, “Obviously, one of the small children might be more resistant to this kind of magic.” He continued under his breath, “It’ll be more funny to see what happens when they wear the ring.”
Tomoyo looked up at the ceiling, “Well, if Myne knows a lot about it, then it makes sense that Myne could carry it.”
Myne blinked, “The Ring Bearer? I can be the Ring Bearer?” She almost drooled at the thought, “W-well, yes, I’ll take it. I know its powers, and I know what not to do with it.” Her arm shook as she took the envelope off the mantle and stuffed it in her robes.
“What’s this kid’s deal?” Kogorou mumbled to himself.
“She’s a nerd,” Kirito answered.
“Well…” Galadriel squinted. She had dreamed that she would meet nine people here, and something as prophetic as that actually occurred. And, it was implied in that prophecy that they could succeed. She’d already surrendered the Ring to them, maybe less hesitantly than anybody should have. After that, holding the door open for them was only the second most irresponsible thing she’d done in her life. “There’s a crossing to the town of Bree. You’ll find a place to stay there. For now, take the Ring to Rivendell, where you will find Elrond, a friend of mine.”
Kirito walked out the door first, glancing off into the darkness, “So, which of you need an early bedtime?”
Tanya stopped beside him, “Logistically it could be reasonable to rest the night and gather supplies before…”
“No…” Myne tried standing on her toes to look over their shoulders, “There will be Ringwraiths coming after us, so we have to go now.”
“The hell is a Ringwraith?” asked Kogorou.
Myne started, “Nazgul. Once men, given the nine…”
“Black-robed ghost guys with swords that will curse you,” Kirito cut her off.
“G-ghosts?” Hazuki squeaked.
“Yes, big scary ghosts and…” Kirito glanced back inside, whistling to himself, “She’s gone. I didn’t even get to talk about…”
Levi grabbed him by the shoulder, “While your intel is appreciated, there may be a better way to present it.”
Kogorou mumbled, “Do we really need to bring along a bunch of kindergarteners?”
Kirito grabbed him by the shoulder, “I know! But hey, more bait for me!”
“You underestimate your own assets,” Bondrewd strutted past them all, “the kinds of potential they have could turn out to be quite… wonderful.”
“Well, good evening, Mister Ominous.” Kirito scratched his head.
Tomoyo quietly led Hazuki back, “It’ll be all right.” As her hand came over the latter’s orange dress, she carefully felt the material, “What is this made of? It’s really cute.”
Galadriel watched Natsume walk far behind them all, glouring at something from behind his mask. She slowly shut the door to Bag End behind them, before ducking over to the window. Somehow, she just knew they had to succeed. Nobody else was coming. There was an awareness in the back of her mind, and the front that this was not the most ready group. They couldn’t be much worse than just leaving the ring on the mantle in Bag End.

Chapter Text

The tops of a farmer’s field barely shone under dim moonlight. Some grain was hidden under the shadow of a passing cloud, only coming into sight when it was blown into what light there was by a passing breeze. It was pleasantly cool against Myne’s neck as her hair parted slightly from each gust. In the harmless chill that washed over her, the pocket in her blue dress remained almost unnoticeably lukewarm. Normally, she’d have needed to stop by now. Myne knew that stamina wasn’t her most valorous quality. It must have been the novelty of being here that invigorated her.
Tomoyo walked ahead, pointing a little handheld camera back at the group before turning it to the fields. She slowly breathed in through her nose. Myne had noticed it also, the warm scent in the air. Less bitter than coffee, and a little like roast nuts. Between that lingered the smell of carrots. Would carrots grown in the Shire taste different from those at home? Maybe they’d be more robust, crunchier and wetter.
Kirito stepped off the trail and grabbed one of the plants, “Now this is my kind of farm,” he snickered, “Hobbit pot.”
“It’s just tobacco,” Myne said.
He pushed it away, “What’s the fun in calling it pipe-weed then?”
Hazuki pointed back at Kogorou, “He already smoked a cigarette since we left. Maybe he’d like it.”
“Really?” Kirito faked a shocked expression, “I hadn’t realized. He was only blowing smoke in my face for twenty straight minutes.” In the back, Kogorou took out another and set it aflame by flicking a little, portable lighter.
Myne watched the little cloud of smoke, almost too dark to see in the night sky, hover over his head. She looked ahead at where the road snapped and twisted into a single strand between thickets and bulbous trees. “You should put that out now.”
“Eugh?” Kogorou exhaled a puff of smoke, holding the cigarette out waitingly, pinched between two fingers.
“Cigarettes have a smell to them. We don’t really want to be spotted.”
Levi grabbed his arm, “Have one later.” Kogorou frowned and snuffed it out before flicking the still-warm thing down onto the thin, dirt trail. Levi shot him a glance before bending down to gently pick up the discarded cigarette.
Myne took another step. The road dipping into the forest grew and sunk. The cold wind twisted in a cyclone, blasting past Myne and swirling down between the trees, creaking and snapping branches, and throwing leaves about. All the friendly smells of the Shire were driven from her nostrils, supplanted by a reek of carrion and necrosis. The moonlight slipping down through the tops of the trees showed nothing but an empty road, yet Myne thought she saw the visage of a person there for just a moment. She took a deep breath, “Come on, this way.” She trudged down into the bushes of a little deer trail that diverged from the road.
Somewhere overhead an owl quietly hooted. Tanya slipped between the group, almost crawling between tree trunks to catch up beside Myne, “Why are we doing this?” She whispered.
Myne kept on, “If someone was looking for us, they’d look on the road.”
“Looking, why?”
“For the Ring.” Myne answered, “If Sauron were able to reclaim it, he’d take over the world.” The owl suddenly went silent.
Something scraped at the dirt of the trail in the distance. It almost sounded like a rusted, old shovel. They were slightly below the main road with a cover of plants just overhead. Myne cheated a glance through the underbrush, and there was the hoof of a black-legged horse. It halted against the ground, scratching impatiently at the dirt. A metal boot slowly came down from the horse’s saddle. The very leaves of the plants retreated from it, as the black-robed rider dismounted.
Myne put her finger over her lips as she pulled back, her knees pinching to stop her from falling on her bottom. Adjusting her balance shifted the gravel under her feet, hissing as it all ran off to the sides.
All the others noticed the stench dripping down the overhang onto the little deer trail. The metal boots scraped against the ground. Bondrewd’s mask tilted upward toward the approaching foe.
Kirito lunged up the overhang, pushing thorns and bushes aside with his two swords. He narrowly parried a twisted, black blade as the Nazgul lunged for him.
He countered with his opposite sword, only to be deflected with a quick twist of the enemy’s blade. There was no face behind the ringwraith’s black cloak.
Only now, he noticed the three other riders, still mounted around the edge of the trail. Kirito pressed his attack against the first ringwraith, in a flurry of disorganized swings. He pushed it back, focusing on overwhelming its guard, but did no damage as the thunder of the three other horses‘ hooves cut the thin trail in a flash.
”A little help!?” Kirito staggered backward. In one motion, he swung upward to parry one of the riders, before leaning back to dodge another. All the progress he’d made against the first Nazgul vanishing as it took the opportunity to lunge back at him.
The flash of a second moon filled the forest trail, accompanied by a bang. One of the riders screeched like a hawk, turning its horse away as a glowing, green bullet rippled against its thick cloak.
Kirito blocked another two attacks, using a moment of respite to slash at the legs of one of the horses. More graceful than Kirito’s blunder up the overhang, Levi vaulted over, landing on both his feet beside Kirito. Another bullet ripped through the treeline, whizzing past one of the Nazgul. It slammed into a tree opposite the trail and erupted into a flaming explosion.
Kirito and Levi weren’t able to catch the remaining riders, but they both held their ground against more attacks. The ringwraiths turned and road further down the trail. Kirito snorted, “Hah! You better run!”
Levi shook his head, “They aren’t fleeing…” He watched down the trail, “They’ll reorganize, and come back fresh.” He helped everyone back up onto the road.
Bondrewd lowered his gauntlet into the dirt, grabbing some where the horses had left their hoofprints, “Fascinating. They corrode things around them. It would be quite fortunate to encounter them again.”
“We will,” Tanya hissed, “you gave up our element of surprise, and let the enemy escape.”
“Uh, no.” Kirito rolled his eyes, “Clearly they were already looking for us.”
Myne felt around in her pocket, “That shouldn’t have… They won’t just give up.”
“We’ve learned something about the enemy at least,” Tanya admitted, “they are organized, and they will not simply rout when met with resistance.”
Levi nodded, “Then we can slay them all in one blow.”
Myne stopped, “There are nine, in all. Even destroyed, they could be reformed in Mordor.”
The nature of this world was the first thing that had to be explained to some of them when they initially left Bag End. The idea of being in a fantasy world as this one excited some, didn’t bother others, and was taken as some sort of inconvenience by everyone but Myne and Kirito.
Myne had already introduced the various Rings of Power to the coterie, and the identity of the One Ring above all. Displayed in the palm of her hand, it was less brilliant than she’d imagined. Its golden luster was dim and dark. One could easily have mistaken it for something ordinary.
When Kirito had attacked the Nazgul, Myne held her breath. She already knew the path followed by the Fellowship to accomplish victory. Now, some parts she imagined herself changing. Myne knew what the ring was, and how it would try to seduce its carriers. She’d be mentally prepared to abandon it, and to drop it into the fire without trying to latch onto it. All else going the same, she had a year until then. She just needed to be ready for that, acclimated to the ring itself.
It was Kirito’s recklessness that reminded her the group was entirely different. Maybe that was better. Not every member of the Fellowship as she read about it was exactly perfect. She couldn’t just try to recite a script and call it a day.
Continuing down the road for not another hour, it was Levi who directed them to a defensible position to rest what they could.