#I like to be the court goblin who gets let out of imprisonment briefly to doodle the gets escorted back
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TCR BDB19 Day 5: Crossover
This honestly is the one I’m most excited about. I've been requested, and I have answered, this is a sequel to Strange Clients, my crossover from the 2017 TCR BDB. Maybe later on, I'll fill in the gaps of what happened between the two fics, but for now, feel free to speculate.
Baron struggled in his bonds as he was brought from the dungeon to where Roland and his mother, the Lady Nix, held court. While the Bureau had succeeded in helping Princess Marianne and King Bog free their parents from the witch’s castle, Baron and Haru had remained behind to ensure the others would get away. They had initially been held together, but then Haru had been taken away to who knew where. And now it was his turn.
When he came into the throne room, he was surprised to see the place filled with people, or more specifically, fairies. They were all dressed in beautiful gowns and suits of flower petals and leaves, and were dancing to the music that was playing. But there was something off with all of them, twisted wings, or limbs too long, or a skirt laying the wrong way for the style. It was an illusion, ugliness hiding under beauty.
A path was made through the dancefloor to drag him up to the dias, where Lady Nix and her closest courtiers sat at a table, the lady herself on a throne made from blackberry wood. She had black hair like night, and skin white as snow, only emphasized by the deep purple and blue of her gown. Her lips were painted the same purple, and her eyes, the only trait she shared with her son, were a green that could almost appear blue, if she ever stepped into the daylight. She too was twisted, the ribbed pattern on her gown looking more like insectine arms linked together in sleeves, and her face moved like a mask.
He was forced to his knees before her, and she smiled. “Well, the meddling Baron von Gikkingen. How have you enjoyed my hospitality?”
“It could be better,” Baron said, pushing himself as far upright as his guards would let him. “I have not even been offered a cup of tea.”
“Oh, my apologies. We believed you wouldn’t accept one.” She frowned softly, as if in genuine concern. She was good at faking her emotions, he would give her that. And he could play the same game.
“Oh, I wouldn’t, but it’s the principle of the thing.”
“Well, I hope you will eat a little. After all, this is a celebration.”
“A celebration of what?”
“My son finally has a bride.” She motioned to her right, and Baron realized he was so focused on the witch he had ignored the others of the dias. He looked and his eyes widened in shock. “Haru!” He surged up against his guards, but they held him fast.
For it was Haru, sitting in a dainty throne next to Roland, wearing a white wedding gown and flower crown, her hair down and a veil over the back of it. She was smiling sweetly, but her eyes were blank, pupils dilated and sparkling like someone had thrown glitter into her face. She didn’t even look at Baron, her gaze alternating from scanning the dancing crowd to staring adoringly at Roland.
Roland ran the back of a hand down Haru’s cheek, then turned and grinned at Baron. “That’s right. The perfect bride, brought right to my doorstep. Thank you for that, by the way.”
“Let her go!”
“I’m sorry-” Lady Nix’s voice said she wasn’t “-But the spell is permanent. There’s no counterspell, and I doubt you would be able to achieve the requirements to break it before midnight.” She grinned, and motioned with her left hand.
The guards dragged Baron to a glowing circle on the left side of the dias. Once he was inside it, they released him, and golden spiderweb formed a cage around him, leaving one lattice open for him to look out. He pushed against the webbing, but it held fast.
“Please, enjoy yourself. And don’t hope for rescue, the border guard has been doubled since your little break in.” And with that, Lady Nix turned her attention away from him, speaking with a dark haired fairy whose ears twisted the wrong way.
Baron made a few more attempts to push against the barrier, but it was no use. So he fell into thinking. What spells were there to force someone to love another. Too many the count, and too many held the same symptoms to narrow it down. The only one he could be certain it was not was primrose potion, for that did not zone the victim out so much. And while he was certain Louise and the others would come to rescue them, they would not make it in time to save Haru.
He wracked his brain for hours, ignoring the food and drink offered by Nix’s servants, for it surely was drugged as well. Each and every spell he could think of, he rejected, and while he outwardly kept himself stoic, inwardly, he was starting to panic.
He was broken from his cycle of thoughts when Roland stood, executing a elaborate bow as he offered Haru his hand. “It is five minutes to midnight. Would my bride like to dance before we head to bed?”
“Of course, my darling husband.” She rose gracefully, where Baron knew she should have tripped in that skirt, and they walked around the table to the dance floor. The courtiers briefly parted to allow the couple through, then closed ranks and circled up, that only the fact the dias was raised quite high allowed Baron to even see Haru.
“Maestro! Music!” Roland called.
“Why don’t we let our guest perform?” Lady Nix offered, her grin speaking of a private joke, a cruel one.
Roland grinned back to his mother. “And excellent idea! If you would, Mother?”
Lady Nix snapped her fingers, and Baron’s cage moved from the end of the dias to in front of the table, just to her left. “Sing, Baron. Sing anything you want, so long as it comes from the heart, and the music will follow you.”
There was an ulterior motive here. Something that they would probably use against him. For a moment, he considered refusing, but he caught Haru looking at him, the first glance she’d spared since he was brought in. And he could not refuse her.
He closed his eyes and took some deep breaths. The band started to play, Roland swept Haru away in his arms, and Baron let let his heart speak for him.
“ Never knew I could feel like this. ” He started slow, almost hesitantly. “ Like I’ve never seen the sky before. Want to vanish inside your kiss. Everyday I love you more, and more. ” He looked up, his attention solely focused on Haru, and his voice grew louder. “ Listen to my heart, can you hear it sing? Telling me to give you everything. Seasons may change, winter to spring. ” He paused, his breath catching for a moment. “ I love you, until the end of time. ”
The music played a few moments, before the dancing couple suddenly stopped, Haru with her back to the dias and Roland looking down with a questioning look. Then a crystal clear tone Baron never expected to hear rose up from the dance floor.
“ Come what may, come what may. ” Haru slipped her hand from Roland’s who was too stunned to stop her. She slowly turned, and Baron could see the unnatural sparkle leaving her eyes.
“ Suddenly the world seems such a perfect place, ” she sang, looking up at Baron. “ Suddenly it moves with such a perfect grace. ”
Baron wrapped a hand around one of the bars of his cage as he began to sing with her. A moment later, the golden spiderweb began to dissolve around him. “Suddenly my life doesn’t seem, such a waste .”
“ It all revolves around you. ” Haru smiled, and he could not help smiling back. As if repulsed by the intensity of it, the courtiers who stood between them backed away, leaving a clear path across the floor.
“ And there is no mountain too high, no river too wide. Sing out this song, and I will be there by your side. Strong clouds may gather, stars may collide. ” The cage fully disappeared with a burst of golden dust, but Baron barely noticed it. “But I’ll love you, I love you till the end of time. ”
With nothing between them now, Baron and Haru started walking towards each other. Whether by the innate magic of the duet, or some other reason, no one made any attempt to stop them.
“ Come what may, come what may, I will love you until my dying day. Come what may, come what may, come what may. ”
They met in the middle of the floor, and a part of Baron’s mind couldn’t help but contemplate the picture they made. Himself, in shirtsleeves, vest and trousers, torn and stained from his imprisonment. Haru, picture perfect in a flowing gown and veil. And they reached for each other with no hesitation, her hand finding his shoulders, while his held her waist.
“ I will love you, until my dying day. ”
Haru’s eyes were still sparkling, but it was an inner light, one he was certain reflected in his own eyes.
“Baron,” she said softly, almost unbelieving.
“Haru,” he said back, and dipped his head down to rest his forehead against hers.
“NOOO!!” An unholy screech erupted from Lady Nix, causing the pair to look up as she stood from her throne. “That spell was unbreakable!”
“Well, it seems you were wrong about that,” Haru said, pressing closer to Baron.
Just then, the clock at the top of the ballroom stuck midnight, and the courtiers started to screech. At the third chime, the doors at the far end of the hall burst open, and Louise, Marianne and Bog King rushed in, an army of fairies, goblins, and elves behind them, their battle cries adding to the din.
Baron pulled Haru to an alcove away from the fighting. Both were unarmed, and in their current states would be liabilities rather than assets.
She looked up to him, ernesty in her eyes. “Baron, do you really?”
“Yes. With all my heart.” He raised a hand to her face, his palm against her cheek.
She leaned into it, just the slightest. “Then kiss me.”
Under no power would be he able to deny her, and so he didn’t.
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An extremely elaborate and specific LotR AU fanfic I’ve had in my head for years but will never write or request b/c it’s a trope I’m extremely finicky about:
A Sauron-less AU where Saruman has become the secret villain off his own bat, playing kingmaker and destroyer among the kingdoms of men for his own amusement, and seeking to remake the long-thought-destroyed orcs and goblins to use as hidden pawns to set men and elves and dwarves against each other.
Which plot starts on the road to discovery when he starts sending Uruk-Hai secretly into the relatively undefended Shire to kidnap hobbits to convert into goblins or other creatures, and for use as slaves.
Specifically, they take Merry and Pippin. Because guess which part of the Two Towers was my favourite plotline as a kid.
So an injured Merry and Pippin are taken captive and brought to Orthanc as slaves, where they meet Saruman and Wormtongue, who is still fulfilling his canon role as Saruman’s mole in Rohan. Merry, who was injured in their capture, is fading badly by this stage, so Pippin tries to manipulate Wormtongue into taking him and Saruman into letting him, figuring that Merry has to have a better chance in Rohan than he does among Uruk-Hai. He largely succeeds, though not without some cost, and Wormtongue takes an only-semi-aware Merry back to Edoras as his personal ‘man servant’.
Pippin, meanwhile, is kept prisoner a little longer, until a delegation from Minas Tirith arrives in Isengard at Saruman’s request. A delegation led by Steward Denethor’s eldest son, whom Saruman seeks to briefly placate with a little gift ...
Meanwhile to all of this, Saruman’s orcs have been attacking strategic settlements and parties to drive up tensions between the races, most particularly between Gondor and everyone else. The attacks on all their homelands and rising tensions cause a gathering in Rivendell among the Northern peoples. And one particular hobbit and his gardener, inspired by his uncle’s tales of the fairness and justice of the elves, make their way across Eriador to attend the summit and bring the big races’ attention to his kidnapped kinsfolk.
Most basically, I wanted slave!Pippin in Gondor and slave!Merry in Rohan, doing their best to survive, bring Saruman to the attention of the powers around them, and at some point reunite with each other. Merry develops a fast and wary friendship with Eowyn, two people alone and under threat in the madness King Theoden’s court has become. Pippin makes tentative inroads with Boromir, who is horrified at the nature of Saruman’s ‘gift’ but too loyal to his father and his kingdom to overtly reject it, but it’s Faramir and Beregond who truly forge bonds with him in Minas Tirith, while Boromir is sent out to ready for war with the North on his father’s behalf. As the Northern forces descend unwillingly southwards and the threat of war rises, it’s up to two small and extremely battered hobbits to derail a dark wizard’s plans.
Things I also wanted somewhere along the road with this idea:
Merry developing a really weird hate/sympathy towards Wormtongue after the man essentially saves his life/prevents him from dying in Isengard, and doing his best to both defeat his goals but also find a degree of mercy for him later, even though Grima’s treatment of Eowyn rapidly erodes much of his sympathy
Gandalf, spurred by Frodo and Sam into suspicion, starting to investigate the kingdoms of men specifically, searching for the source of the hostility, and it’s Merry’s captivity and Theoden’s possession that clues him into Saruman’s treachery in this universe
Boromir sensing the stink of corruption from Saruman, but Denethor is too far gone to the wizard’s (magically-strengthened) manipulations for him to do anything about it, and Boromir cannot let Gondor fall to her enemies, no matter how justified he increasingly fears they might be
Faramir having so much less stomach for Saruman and his father’s actions than his brother, not least because he is so much closer and bears more witness to Denethor’s contempt and ill-treatment of Pippin, and feels torn in two between morality and this evidence of his own ‘disloyalty’ to his family
Faramir eventually breaking and trying to help Pippin escape, but by mischance or manipulation they happen to land right in the middle of one of Saruman’s escalating orc attacks in the attempt. They’re both captured, and Saruman leverages the incident to portray Pippin as having led Faramir into an ‘elvish’ trap, seeking to use it to incite outright war between north and south
Actual elves (possibly Haldir leading a Lothlorien band south to seek the truth) rescuing-slash-capturing them, but not before Pippin has gotten himself slightly chewed upon trying to protect Faramir in apology for the attempt to free him having gotten the man captured, and Faramir is completely frantic for them to save him.
(Rescued, because they’re elves and good and fair and not inclined to eat people, Captured because Gondor is technically well on the way to being at war with everybody and Faramir is Denethor’s second son)
They’re brought north to the elven/dwarven/dunedain/rohirrim war camp gathering in the recently-liberated Rohan
Merry and Pippin reunite, extremely emotionally, and reconnect with Frodo and Sam as well
By which I mean, Pippin spots Merry and practically falls out of Haldir’s arms onto badly-chewed legs to try and get to him, while Faramir shouts hoarsely for Haldir to let him go. Which, incidentally, causes several people to look quite favourably on him
Boromir leads his father’s armies north towards the border as well, hearing reports that his captured brother truly is a prisoner among an elven army, and believing reluctantly and guiltily that Pippin truly has let Faramir be captured in vengeance for his slavery in Gondor
Pippin adamantly defending at the least Faramir and Boromir to the Council forces, and the ordinary Gondorian people as well, because he has friends among them and they’re good people, and Saruman is manipulating people left right and centre, and you cannot go to war with innocent people because of one asshole
The Council (and Faramir) being a bit amazed at his vehemence, given the evidence (and Faramir’s guilty admittance) of how badly he was treated
Gandalf knowing that it’s because once a hobbit decides he likes you, there is no force in Middle Earth that can persuade said hobbit otherwise, though there needs to be cause in the first place to earn their loyalty
Pippin panicking at the thought of war and cooking up a half-baked scheme to run back south and try and head Boromir off, explain the truth to him somehow. Merry joins him, because they’re not being parted again, and Merry knows all about going off half-cocked to protect your humans by now. Frodo and Sam follow because sod it. It is the worst ‘escape’ attempt in the history of hobbitdom, not least because Pippin himself can still barely walk, and in the end it’s Eowyn who scoops them up and masterminds an actual exit for them all
Eowyn is coming, because a) it’s the absolute least she feels she owes Merry, b) hobbits are extremely prone to getting themselves almost killed in her experience, c) she’s been warming up to what she’s seen of Faramir in his captivity/guesthood and doesn’t want him hurt, and d) if Boromir so much as looks funny at those she’s pledged her personal loyalty to she’s going rearrange his spleen for him
Gandalf knows full well what they’re doing but lets them go, because there’s no one better for stopping wars than hobbits, given motivation
Elrond possibly also knows what they’re doing, but is willing to let them try
Faramir is absolutely horrified and terrified that Boromir is going to feel he has to kill or harm them, and that after everything Pippin’s death is still going to be his fault
Theoden and Eomer are also horrified, and if your brother harms a hair on Eowyn’s head, my son, you are going to be in deep shit. But, also, not your fault. Hobbits do this. Trust us, we’d know better than almost anyone
The hobbits and Eowyn are … not exactly captured by the Gondorian army after basically planting themselves stubbornly in their path, but they’re brought to Boromir under guard and not exactly friendly circumstances
Boromir has no idea how to feel about Pippin, angry or betrayed or frantic or guilty, and it’s so much worse seeing him among his own people, with Merry in particular, who Boromir knows Pippin spent all his time with them hoping wasn’t dead. But Pippin led to the capture and possible death of Boromir’s brother, and even if it’s their own fault, Boromir cannot forgive him that
It goes badly, it goes so badly, with shouting and violence and threats from all corners, until Pippin in a fit of tearful frustration rips one of his trouser legs off to show Boromir his wounds. Neither elves nor men leave teeth-marks when they hurt people. The orcs did this. Saruman did this. Boromir knows this. He’s always known it. Yes, Faramir is a prisoner of the northern forces, but they’re not the real enemy, doesn’t he know that, can’t he see it? You can’t let this happen, Boromir. You can’t.
And Boromir does know it. He knew it from the moment Saruman offered him a slave as a welcoming gift, and the moment his father not only allowed it but welcomed it. He’s known from the beginning that there was something rotten in the state of Denmark, but it was his kingdom, his father, what would they have him do? To treat with them would be treason, even to save his brother’s life. Beregond, back in Minas Tirith, is already imprisoned for what was believed to be his role in letting Pippin take Faramir. He is sentenced to death upon Boromir’s return
This nearly kills Pippin to hear. It nearly snaps him in two
Eowyn saves them. Again. She knows, she does know how Boromir feels. She knows what it is to have a father/father figure lost to Saruman’s control. She knows what it is to betray them to save them. But they cannot let this go on. To fight on Denethor’s behalf would only be to betray him in truth, and leave him, and his people behind him, enslaved to the wizard’s will. From what she has seen of his brother and him, surely they have more courage and honour than that?
And, in the end, no more than his brother, Boromir cannot ignore his conscience long. Not even for family. Not even for the father he loves.
Boromir agrees to travel with the group and a small honour guard north to meet with the Council forces, leaving his armies waiting under trusted commanders between Minas Tirith and any northern forces should he be betrayed and not return
They meet near the Falls of Rauros, because of course they do, where else would I have them meet?
Boromir reunites with his brother and, though hardened and guilty and suspicious of all around them, they meet in earnest with the Council to discuss evidence of Saruman’s treachery and the appropriate responses thereto
The bulk of the arrayed northern armies will turn towards Isengard, to destroy Saruman and his orcs once and for all
Theoden and Rohan will stand the bulwark between all forces, maintaining the peace until the threat is removed one way or the other. They have suffered under Saruman’s thrall. Of all nations represented, they will not bend to his manipulations again
Gandalf initially meant to go to Isengard as well, to guard their forces against Saruman’s magic, and to make Saruman answer for what he has done. However, another mission comes up concurrently which he believes requires him more, so he leaves Saruman to the justice of Elrond and Galadriel, in order to shepherd …
… four certain hobbits, two heirs to Gondor, one heir to Rohan, and perhaps a certain Hunters Three to Minas Tirith, because Beregond is sentenced to death, and Pippin will actually die before he lets that happen, and Merry and Faramir in particular will die before they let that happen, and everyone else is perforce along for the ride
And maybe, if they can, they might save Denethor from Saruman’s influence along the way
Also, possibly reveal and crown a new/old king along the way (hi Strider!), to draw Gondor forward from the pall of treachery and manipulation it has fallen to. Though for his own part, Aragorn sees little wrong with the heirs Gondor already has
… Yeah. I’ve not had this stewing in my brain for a literal decade, not at all. Can you tell which canon storylines bashed their way all the way inside my heart, way back when? Heh. It’s too big and unwieldy inside my head to ever be written at this stage, and I’m very, very particular when it comes to slavery in fics, but … I do sometimes wish I had the stamina for it. I really, really do.
(Who am I kidding, I never had the stamina for this, but a girl can dream)
#long post#lotr#lotr au#slavery au#stories i've had in my head for a decade#merry and pippin were always my favourites
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