I have no idea what the fuck inspired this story but here we go. Basically, the story is about some very freaky magic. Time is set, and one event can change everything. One wrong deed changed the whole course of history to be something it shouldn't. And so the world must right itself. Time has reversed and changed the whole course of history so that another group of heroes can come together to right it. Friendships are tested and reformed, and new allies meet older ones on this strange journey. But old enemies reappear too. And the only one who has any idea of what has happened is Legolas. Luckily for him, Gandalf never misses anything.
This is set in a universe that takes things from both the book and movie verses, because I like scenes from both, and from both the Lord of the Rings series and The Hobbit (even though they're one thing). I hope you enjoy even though it's random.
Chapter one: In Which a Confused Elf Gets a Confusing Answer
"Nothing new," Legolas replied, not really thinking of the answer.
He couldn't be blamed of course. He was very distracted. He was sure that all of this had happened before. Well, not this exactly, but something very close. It was bothering him, and it had been for quite a while.
Thranduil and Gandalf seemed very surprised as they looked at the elf. He resembled his father greatly, tall, thin, very handsome and graceful, perfect for a king. He had long golden hair and striking icy blue eyes. His father looked nearly the same, only more stately and he had green eyes. Gandalf on the other hand was a tall and slightly bent old man, with a long gray beard, gray robes and hat, carrying a long staff that looked like wood, with gray eyes and snowy white brows. The youngest of them was Legolas, and he was nearly eight hundred years old now, finally and adult.
"What do you mean by that?" Gandalf asked.
"Hm?" Legolas asked, finally snapping out of his thoughts and looking back at the two. "What? I'm sorry. I wasn't listening."
Thranduil slowly walked closer to his son, looking him up and down like he was a book to be read. Legolas waited a little perplexed but perfectly still. He knew his father tended to look like that at people a lot. It was his way of gaining information about the person he was looking at. Gandalf too looked at Legolas, his snowy brows knit together in concern.
"This is unlike you," Thranduil said at last. "You are never so careless or lost in your thoughts. What has so preoccupied you?"
"You said 'nothing new,'" Gandalf ventured. "As if this had all happened before."
"I'm sorry Mithrandir," Legolas replied, and truly he was. "Here lately my dreams have been visited by visions, and yet they are not of the future. I feel like I know of these things, and of the people in my dreams. And yet I cannot say for certain where I know them from."
"Enough," Thranduil said, waving his hand once. Legolas instantly fell silent, obeying his father perfectly as always. "I asked Gandalf to come here to sort out your strange behavior, not discuss dreams."
"And that is what I will do," Gandalf said. "To sort out his behavior I need to understand everything that is bothering him. Come Legolas, tell me. What did you see in these dreams?"
"I saw," Legolas said, pausing and thinking. "A white city with a white tree, battles and fortress with no weak points. I saw nine riders, halflings, men and dwarves."
"Minas Terith and Helm's Deep," Gandalf guessed the two places correctly. "I thought you had kept your son sheltered from outside information, anything not of your kingdom?"
"I have," Thranduil said, now completely surprised at his son's knowledge. "I have only told him what he needs to govern his people when he is king. Nothing too far beyond our borders."
"That will be his downfall I think," Gandalf grumbled under his breath. Then he raised his voice again so that he could be heard. "Now, is there anything else about these dreams that jumps out at you? Anything at all?"
Legolas paused thinking back. Was there anything? He knew there was. There was one thing that above all else that bothered him deeply. It seemed so trivial, and yet he knew that the writing on it was very evil. Legolas shuddered at the thought.
"A ring," he said. Both Gandalf and Thranduil froze. "A golden ring. The writing on it was black speech, it was evil."
"Do you know what it said?" Gandalf asked very earnestly suddenly. Legolas was a little surprised by this question. "It's very important."
"It said," Legolas said. He paused a moment, and the lines came to his mind easily. "One ring to rule them all, one ring to find them, one to bring them all and in the darkness bind them."
Thranduil and Gandalf both paled instantly, and Legolas was surprised that his father pulled him into a hug like he was a small child again, mumbling words in elvish to himself as if his son would go off and die because of Sauran right then and there. Gandalf began to think suddenly.
"You never taught him that," Gandalf said. The answer was obvious. Of course Thranduil hadn't. "We thought that Sauran was gone, but it seems we were wrong. But you said that this had happened before?"
"Do you know what this is?" Thranduil asked. Legolas managed to pull away from his father, but he was deeply distressed by his father's reaction.
"I think I do," Gandalf said. "You're aware that there is very old magic in the land, older than even all the lives of the elves combined?"
"Of course," Thranduil replied. Legolas remained silent.
"Sometimes, very rarely," Gandalf began explain. "Time will reverse itself. Time is set. It must always happen one way, and even Time reversing once was meant to happen. When words are spoken and deeds are done that were not meant to be said, then Time becomes disrupted, and things happen that weren't meant to. This happens because, as you are aware, we are all creatures with free will. So when things happen that are not meant to, sometimes it creates a situation that should not have happened. If this change is severe enough, then Time will reverse itself. It seems very logical that it has done this now, and this is what has so affected Legolas. Though, I'm not sure why he has knowledge of this."
"Should he not?" Thranduil asked, very frightened for his son.
"No no," Gandalf assured him quickly. "It's not unheard of. People can gain their memories of their past lives even though time has reversed itself. It's just a little strange that he has so many memories though it seems very recent that Time has been reset. It must be a very powerful reset. I wouldn't be surprised if things went a little...odd."
"Odd how?" Thranduil asked.
"Strange friendships," Gandalf said. "New enemies, time periods overlapping. Nothing unheard of during times like these. Still, it does make me curious. Legolas, I would like you to come with me and tell me what you know of. As of now you are the only person with knowledge of how the world was before. I will need it. You are a very important person to the world now. Don't worry Thranduil, I'll return your son safely and in one piece."
"Where are you going?" Thranduil demanded.
"Somewhere to understand," Gandalf replied in his round about way.
At last Thranduil relented though. He turned away and began to walk away. Gandalf motioned for Legolas to follow him, and then turned and walked away as well. Confused, Legolas followed the wizard. They walked in silence until they reached the front gates, which were instantly swung open by the guards. However, a Silvan elf stepped into their way. She was tall and fair, like most of her kind, with dark redish brown hair and green eyes. She watched them a moment.
"Where are you going?" she asked.
"Tauriel if you will kindly move," Gandalf said. "We are in a rush at the moment."
"But where are you going?" Tauriel insisted. Gandalf laughed a little and glanced back at Legolas.
"A fine captain of the guard indeed," he said. "She won't let you go anywhere alone."
"As is my duty," Tauriel said severely, though a smile touched her face. "Where are you going?"
"No where in particular," Gandalf answered. "Though I must understand some things."
"It is his dreams," Tauriel guessed correctly. "They are true. All of this has happened before."
"You know him well," Gandalf replied. "Yes it is true. And we must understand as much as we can now why this has happened. Come if you will, I know you will follow. Legolas, let's go."
"Of course Mithrandir," Legolas replied, though he couldn't help but grin at Tauriel. She followed him wherever he went. He wondered if she had done that before.
They turned and followed the wizard out onto the bridge. He stopped there and began to smoke on his pipe, thinking as he blew smoke rings out into the air. The two elves stopped as well and looked out over the dark trees of Mirkwood. Legolas began to think of all of the things he didn't know of outside of these trees. He didn't even pause to look behind him as he heard to clatter of hooves. Three horses were led out of the gates to them. They were all elvish horses, and therefore very high bred and very swift. They had no saddles and no bits were in their mouths. They followed the words of their riders and guarded them jealously. A white charger that was speckled with gray was brought to Legolas, and he was called Eros. To Tauriel they brought a gentle brown mare that had once belonged to a man nearby and was called Sparrowhawk because the elves did not feel the need to change her name. The last was more of a pony, and he listened to the common tongue as well as the tongue of elves. The bay pony had been unnamed until Gandalf called him Farseer, and so the name stuck.
The three mounted their offered mounts, and the gates were closed behind them. The sun was going down after all, and in the darker trees of Mirkwood the nights were dangerous. The three travelers went though without fear into the forest, the two elves calling out commands in their high, clear voices, and Gandalf whistling a cheerful tune that Farseer seemed to understand like a language. They went at a gentle trot through the trees, though they did not speak for a while.
For those that had never visited Mirkwood, it was a dark and dangerous place, filled with dark and dangerous elves. It was a beautiful place in reality, though no one could deny that it was a very dangerous place. For this reason, the elves were armed, and Gandalf carried a sword with him and his staff. Gandalf knew these trees as well as the elves though, for he had long helped to raise Legolas. So since he was in the lead and seemingly in high spirits, the elves followed on their horses and soon they had reached the edge of the trees, and they let their horses run on a little faster toward Laketown. None of them were really all that sure where they were going, but they went on anyway.
Soon it was apparent, like it usually was, that the cheerful spirits of the elves were unstoppable. Even though the world was possibly in its greatest crisis ever, they began to sing in elvish little songs and chants that seemed to make the earth itself ring with the joyous sound. Gandalf smiled as well as he listened to their words, and soon they were lost in their songs and chats. The ground seemed to slide by quickly, and the horses seemed tireless. Soon they checked their steeds by the great lake, looking over the waters. A boatman stopped his boat to look at them a moment. He was tall and slender, with long dark hair that curled and a small beard and mustache, and worrying brown eyes.
"What brings the gray wizard and two elves here?" he asked. Gandalf smiled pleasantly.
"Nothing more than a leisurely stroll," he replied. "We are allowed leisure, are we not?"
"I suppose so," the man replied, untying his boat from the dock, though he did not push off just yet. He gazed at them a moment. "You and your friends more so I think. My name is Bard. I'm the Bowman of this river. And who may I ask you are?"
"I am Gandalf," Gandalf said, "As I'm sure you know. And this is Tauriel," he pointed to both elves as he said their names. "and Legolas, of the woodland realm. Men who are uneducated call it Mirkwood, but the elves prefer to call it Greenwood." Bard looked up, surprised.
"Legolas?" Bard asked. "Son of Thranduil?" Legolas inclined his head to the man but said nothing. Bard's face grew serious again and some of his surprise left. "I did not know that Thranduil would allow his son outside of the forest." Legolas laughed, a bright sound.
"He must suffer me to pass," he said. "I'm no longer a child."
"Indeed," Bard said. "Though you are much older than I should ever hope to be. You wish to enter Laketown I presume?"
"We would not mind," Gandalf replied. "For as I said we have no destination in mind."
"If you come though," Bard warned. "I'm sure the Lord of Laketown would like you to inspect our trade for him. He's very keen on pleasing your father and continuing trade you see."
"That is no problem," Legolas said. "Perhaps it will take my mind off of some...happenings?" Bard paused and looked at Legolas.
"Happenings?" he asked. Legolas looked at the man, realizing that he was very sharp. Legolas carefully kept his face now hidden behind a face that was studying his face.
"Nothing you should worry yourself with now," Legolas replied. "I hope not at least. Though I would warn you to be ready." Bard studied Legolas' face for a moment back.
"That's all any of us can do, isn't it?" He replied simply. "If it's no hindrance to you then, I will bear you to Laketown on my barge. I was born on these waters. You and your mounts will be perfectly safe."
"Thank you then," Gandalf said. "Come then, we shall go then."
The two elves and the wizard swung down off of their horses, and coaxed them up onto the barge. The horses stood very still, though it was a tight fit with all of the barrels that were there, but soon the horses, the man, the wizard and both elves were on the barge, which looked old but was sturdy and easily supported them. Gandalf pulled out a few gold coins and handed it to Bard.
"I think you need these," he said. "You have a family no doubt, Bard?"
"Thank you," Bard said as he accepted the money and pushed off. "I do. Two girls and one lad. My wife died a couple of years back, and paying for the bills is getting difficult."
"I think you will find it worth your while though to be helping the son of Thranduil," Gandalf said to Bard with a wink. The comment made Legolas smile. "He is much more of a gentleman than his father. Not saying of course that Thranduil is bad. No indeed. I would use the word misguided more easily."
"Well," Bard said, hoping to cut the conversation off before anyone offended the elves. "I would have guided you on your way to the bridge that leads into town, only its fallen in because of the extra rains that we got. I don't think the farmers are complaining much though. They can always ship out their wares on the boats."
"We are grateful for the help either way," Tauriel told Bard. "We may find that this meeting was no chance at all, and there may be more to this meeting than we think of now."
Bard was silent now as they entered into the water, and the two elves faced forwards. Gandalf began to smoke on his pipe and hum a tune again to quiet the horses who were understandably a little nervous that the ground they were standing on was rocking unsteadily under their feet, even in a smooth and fluid motion. Legolas was impressed by how easily Bard guided his boat, dodging the rocks, columns, and broken shells of boats that loomed out of the fog that even his eyes could not pierce very well. He knew these waters, and since he had been raised on them, his eyes were much more accustomed to the fog, and he saw his obstacles. He took the boat on a slow but steady course, and at last the town came into view.
It was really nothing more than a bunch of shanty huts huddled together on a river. It had once been part of Dale, but since the dragon had come it was little more than an outpost of a forgotten city, made of wood and darker hints of a disease that lives in the mind. They came to a gate, where an older man was watching the boats come in. He paused when he saw the elves, but turned to Bard.
"I see you have met some of the woodland folk," the man said. "My lord and lady." Both elves inclined their heads gracefully to the man.
"Yes," Bard said. "I suppose. The bridge is out, so they must come in this way."
"Ah I see," the man said. "Either way, here are your papers. Everything is in order. Go right on in."
"Not so fast," another man said. He walked up. He was short, wore all black, had greasy black hair and watery black eyes, along with a noticeable uni-brow. "How did a trouble maker like you run into two such," he paused and looked at the two elves. "noble individuals?"
"Not now," Bard said. "what harm have I caused, Alfrid?"
"None," Alfrid replied. "Only that I can't imagine why two such noble guests would be in the presence of such a trouble maker."
"The bridge was out," Bard explained. "you know this."
"Perhaps," Alfrid said. "but I can't help but imagine that a more suitable driver could have been found. Not saying of course that your judgment is poor. It's just that, this man is-"
"The man who saved the life of the son of Thranduil," Legolas cut him off, not liking the man at all. Bard didn't show any indication that he was surprised. The people surrounding the boat however seemed very surprised.
"Forgive me my Lord," Alfrid quickly said. "We had no idea that you were coming, else we would have surely welcomed you in a much better way."
"No, it's fine," Legolas said. "Inform your master that I am here to look at his shipment. And go quickly."
"R-right," Alfrid replied. "of course my Lord. It will be done."
Alfrid and his guards turned and rushed away quickly. Gandalf continued to puff on his pipe. Bard turned to Legolas. The gate keeper stared at Bard as if he'd never met him.
"Why did you lie to him?" Bard asked.
"It was no lie," Legolas replied with a smile. "I would have surely drown if I had decided to swim to Laketown." Gandalf and Tauriel began to laugh. "Besides, I like that man no more than a rat does a viper."
"Well I can't say I blame you," Bard replied with a smile. "But I don't think I need anymore attention."
"Just tell people that," Legolas said. "Maybe they will not look so harshly upon you. Tell them the bridge gave way under me. That is believable."
"Only barely," Bard said. "People here know that elves are very keen sighted creatures."
"They will also believe anything you tell them," Gandalf said with a wink. "as long as it keeps them talking for a while. Who knows. Perhaps you will get a chance to truly save Legolas before you part ways for good."
"I hope not," Bard replied. "I don't want to be stuck in any battles."
"You would be surprised how time moves," Gandalf said quite seriously.
"Well, would you raise the gates for us?" Bard asked the gatekeeper.
"A-ah yes of course," He said. Then he added with a wink and in an undertone. "Anything for the man who saved the son of Thranduil."
The gates were opened at last and the small boat slipped under them, moving onwards until it reached the boards of the town streets, which were really very small. Bard stopped the boat on the edge of the main road.
"Here is where I leave you," he said. "The Master of Laketown should be waiting ahead."
"Why not come and walk with us a while?" Tauriel asked. Bard paused and looked at her.
"I suppose I could join you for a while," he relented. "But only a short while. I must be home soon to my children."
"Of course," Tauriel replied. "But come, let us go now."
Bard nodded and then tied his boat down so that it would not move in the current of the Lake under the town. Then, leaving the horses on the boat, the man, the wizard, and the two elves, went forward together to greet the Master of Laketown.
This is a strange story, and I guarantee you it's only going to get stranger. There are going to be a lot of things that won't follow the canon of Lord of the Rings, but it's because this story is supposed to be time messing up and stuff. Feel free to tell me what you think below, and I will continue soon with more Elf related madness.