Disclaimer: I do not own/profit off of The Lord of the Rings, which belongs to their respective owners.
It's been a while since I've updated this story, so I might as well post something now. I've also decided to add two new characters, both of which have always wanted their country to be fully purged of its tyrannical government and be reformed as a republic.
Italicized dialogue = Italian
(RAF Edoras)
James looks to the bright blue sky after taking in the refreshing morning. The last two days have been quite eventful, starting with him patching up the many wounded at Helm's Deep, and ending with a funeral service and mass grave for the fallen. He vividly recalls Nigel's melancholic playing of the Last Post, reflecting on the somberness of the night before through the warm tones of his trumpet. He also remembers that today, Théoden is leading a small entourage to Isengard to hold Saruman captive, and although he didn't go with them, he knows that the other members of The Fellowship have followed Théoden to Isengard. As he sits in thought, a ground crewman comes up to James with an important message.
"Sir, we've picked up two contacts through radar, around 20 miles away. Their identity is unknown as of now, however, we will try to contact them through radio once they're in range. We've also prepared AAA units in case they're the enemy."
"Roger that. Make sure you confirm their identity visually as well."
After a few more minutes, the same crewman comes back to James, with two aircraft becoming visible in the sky as black dots. "Sir, they're in range and I'm gonna try and contact them now."
The crewman proceeds to turn on the radio set. "Unidentified aircraft, you are flying in British airspace. Please identify yourselves or we will open fire," he says into the receiver.
"Hello, my name is Pietro Gabrielli. My unit is 51° Stormo of the Southern Italian Air Force."
"This is Luciano Pastore. I am also from 51° Stormo of the Air Force of the South."
"Sorry, but can either of you speak English? I can't understand you."
After a few seconds of hesitation, one of the voices says in a moderate Italian accent, "Ciao, I am Pietro Gabrielli. My unit is 51° Stormo of the Italian Co-Belligerent Air Force. I'm the only one who can speak English."
"Copy that." The crewman turns to face some more ground crew. "Contacts are identifying as Allied Italian units. I need visual confirmation."
"Affirmative." One of the crewmen hold up their binoculars and look in the direction of the two aircraft, seeing the roundel of the ACI. "Confirmed. Contacts are of the Italian Co-Belligerent Air Force. The aircraft appear to be Macchi C.202s."
"Italians?" asks another crewman in a condescending tone. "Does this mean we're gonna be working with 'em bloody macaronies?"
James berates the crewman harshly in response. "Shut your mush and get back to work." He turns to the other crewman with the binoculars. "The aircraft have permission to land here. Ground crew, engage landing protocol! AAA units, do not fire!"
The radio operator relays this information to the aeroplanes. "This is RAF Edoras, you have been granted permission to land."
"Copy that."
A minute later, the two aircraft, now correctly identified as Macchi C.205s, come into clear view of the airfield. Each aeroplane is painted with the standard Italian tan camouflage, embellished with dark gray patterning and adorned with the roundel of the ACI, signifying their allegiance to the Allied Powers. As the aircraft land and come to a stop, one of the pilots climbs out and introduces himself to James, with the other pilot climbing out of his aeroplane immediately after.
"It seems that the RAF has established a presence here. My name is Pietro Gabrielli, and this is my wingman, Luciano Pastore. We are from 51° Stormo of the Italian Co-Belligerent Air Force, flying the C.205 serie 3. We were on patrol above Lecce, and these black clouds started surrounding our aircraft. Of course, we were concerned and tried to exit the clouds. A few minutes later, the clouds disappeared and we found ourselves in this world. I assume you must have went through this as well."
"We saw those same black clouds, except they enveloped our airfield at night and transported us here."
"Strange. Will we be able to join your unit?"
"Yes, you'll be incorporated into No. 147 Squadron. Are your aircraft still in working order?"
"They were out of the factory the day before the armistice, and the mechanic checked them yesterday and found no problems. However, I'm concerned about our weapons and how to resupply their ammunition."
"It just so happens that we captured a box of Jerry's ammunition during our time in Italy, which I think can be used for the cannons in your fighters. I'll send a telegram to our main base to get it here. However, it would be better to replace your nose-mounted machine guns with some spare sets of ours, since we have the ammunition for that and they're essentially the same thing, just different calibres."
"I see. Grazie mille."
"No problem, mate."
Immediately after, Pietro translates the information to Luciano, who replies, "I feel lucky that we ended up with allies rather than complete strangers."
"Yeah. I need to ask them one more thing."
Pietro muses for a moment before asking, "What has been going on in this world?"
James takes a moment to muse before responding. "Well, be prepared for a long story."
...
(Edoras)
Over the last few hours, the Italians have been integrated into No. 147 Squadron and have learned about all that has happened in Middle-earth, starting from RAF Fairfield's transportation to Rivendell to the Battle of the Hornburg. Later in the afternoon, the British and the Italians had ventured to Edoras, having received an invitation from Théoden for a celebration at the Meduseld. Most of the British stationed at RAF Fairfield arrived on foot to take part. However, since the Meduseld wasn't large enough to fit all of them, some of them decided to stay outside. Intending on playing some music for the celebration, Charlie had brought his tenor sax, Ed had carried his guitar along, and Nigel had taken his trumpet as well.
As part of a presumed ceremonial duty, Éowyn delivers a goblet of liquid to Théoden, who has Théodred and Éomer at each side. The participants all stand up for the ceremony, reminding James of church service back home. Meanwhile, Théoden begins his speech.
"Tonight we remember those who gave their blood to defend this country. Hail the victorious dead!"
"Hail!" says the crowd in unison as each one of them takes a sip from their mugs in a toast for the fallen.
Sitting back down after concluding the formal moment, the crowd begins to celebrate, drinking without abandon and cheering in joy. Charlie, Ed, and Nigel set up their instruments and give several announcements to the crowd.
"Ladies and gentlemen, on this lovely night, we bring to you a classic: Cotton Tail, by Duke Ellington. Enjoy."
As the lively jazz music begins to fill the festive hall, James starts chatting with Travis. "So I'd usually fancy a cuppa, but this beer is bloody good. It reminds me of the Yorkshire beer I tried some time ago."
"I can agree with you on that, mate. I've warned the others not to drink themselves to death, but I know they will anyways."
"Oh and look, there's Jack, competing with Legolas and Gimli, hold on, is that his third pint? I haven't even finished my first."
"Well, he'll definitely be pissed when the night is over. On a side note, the jazz band is pretty nice."
Pietro approaches the two men and joins the conversation. "They say it's American music. This is the first time I've listened to it, and I can say it is good, but I would prefer the opera back home. Luciano, what do you think?"
"Of course you'd like the music. You were born in New York, weren't you?"
"Hey, our family was always going to return to Italy once we earned enough money! In fact, we did in 1931 because of the Great Depression! I always considered myself to be Italian."
"Sorry, I didn't mean it like that, Pietro. As for the drinks, I'd take anything over this garbage ale."
"Well, I wouldn't say the alcohol is terrible. In my opinion, the ale is decent."
"I'm not sure if we're even supposed to be here, as we arrived after the battle took place."
"I wouldn't really worry about it. After all, ordinary townsfolk are here as well."
"Travis, have you filled out a report for last night's battle?" asks James.
"Yeah. I don't like doing them, but it's part of the job. On a side note, Charlie wrote an account of the battle while fighting, which I think is stored in one of the tents."
"I might read it later and get an idea of medieval warfare. It's really different from pure air combat, like the Circus offensives we would usually do above the Netherlands or a combined arms advance."
"At least the enemy hasn't developed any sort of anti-aircraft weaponry. If they did, it would have made our support more difficult to conduct, even though it was a bit messy."
Suddenly, a loud thud can be heard from across the hall, prompting James to turn his attention towards the source of the noise, seeing Gimli lying on the ground after one too many drinks. Meanwhile, Jack is still standing even after downing another mug of ale, placing the empty mug next to several other empty mugs.
"Here's one Scotsman you shouldn't challenge to a drink!" taunts Jack with drunkenness evident in his voice, belching loudly afterward.
Turning his attention back to Travis, James sees Gandalf approaching from the corner of his eyes.
"Good evening James, I see you have brought some friends along. Would you like to introduce them?"
Upon seeing the wizard described earlier by James, Pietro decides to introduce himself. "Salve, signore. My name is Pietro Gabrielli, and this is my friend and wingman, Luciano Pastore. We come from a country known as Italy, Italia in our native tongue. In our world, we allied ourselves with the British to save our country from the terror of Mussolini."
"Nice to meet you two. I am Gandalf the White, and I have come to help assist Middle-earth in overthrowing Sauron. I assume you know who he is?"
"Yes. From what I've heard, I'm lucky not to have come across him."
"Very well. Is Luciano going to say anything?"
"I can only talk in my native language, Italian. Unless you know another Romance language, I'm afraid there isn't anything I can do if you can't understand me."
Gandalf appears to be perplexed by the newly-introduced language. "I see. Enjoy your time here." With that, Gandalf heads off to meet with Aragorn.
A few more minutes pass by as James finishes a mug of mead, delighted at the quality of the beverage. As the jazz quartet concludes their song, Travis says, "Alright then, ya feel like singing somethin', James?"
"Sure, I'm up for a song."
"Alright then. You'll catch the lyrics soon after I start singing." Soon after, Travis takes a moment to clear his throat and starts singing in a tenor voice. James joins in a few seconds later with his slightly deeper voice. As more of the British in the Meduseld recognise the tune, they start singing along as well in delight.
Ye mad caps of England who merry would make,
And for your brave valour would pains undertake,
Come over to Flanders and there you shall see,
How merry we'll make it, how frolic we'll be.
As soon as you've come to your enemies' land,
Where fat goose and capon you have at command,
Sing take them or eat them or let them alone,
Sing go out and fetch them or else you get none.
By now, most of the Rohirrim are watching the British, listening to their singing and taking in the lyrics with amusement. The Italians are somewhat interested as well, nodding their heads in rhythm with the song. Meanwhile, the hobbits have started to sing along to the best of their ability as well, even though neither Merry nor Pippin are familiar with the lyrics.
Your sergeants and officers are very kind,
If that you can flatter and speak to their mind,
They will free you from duty and all other trouble,
Your money being gone, your duty comes double!
At last when you've come to your enemies' walls,
Where many a brave gallant and gentleman falls,
And when you have done the best that you can,
Your captain rewards you, "There dies a brave man!"
As the British finish their song, they are met with applause and cheers from the impressed Rohirrim. Although James knows he isn't a professional singer, he knows his voice combined with the many others tends to balance out the irregularities in tone, creating a passable drinking chorus. A moment later, Merry and Pippin start dancing while singing an improvised tune, getting some more cheers and claps as they continue with their routine, finishing off with simultaneously taking a draught from their beer mugs.
The jazz combo decides to play one more song for the celebrators. "Alright lads, we have another Duke Ellington song for you fine blokes. This one's called Take the A Train. Ordinarily, the beginning would be only piano, but in our case, we don't have one, so we had to improvise a bit. Enjoy."
As more of the spirited jazz music wafts throughout the Meduseld, James spends the rest of the night talking with his mates and drinking two more mugs of beer, feeling some of the more tame effects of alcohol, unlike Jack, who has already passed out from one too many pints. When the party ends, most of the Britons leave Edoras for RAF Edoras, however, James and Travis are invited to sleep at Edoras, having served as unofficial liaisons between the Rohirrim and British. The two Italians have also been invited by Gandalf to stay at Edoras, presumably because he wanted to get more familiar with them. Lying in bed, James lets sleep take him and closes his eyes for the night, feeling relieved after the stressful events of the past few days.
...
Rising from his blanket groggily, James looks up and notices Pippin struggling with a flaming ball of some sort, hearing some dark voices in the surrounding environment as well. Letting his instincts take control of himself, James runs over and kicks the flaming ball out of Pippin's hands as if it were a football, grunting in pain from kicking the dense ball as it rolls to a stop on the ground, still in flames as Aragorn and Legolas arrive at the scene. Gandalf wakes up immediately after and picks up a nearby blanket, throwing it over the flaming ball as if he were extinguishing a fire.
Meanwhile, Luciano springs up and tries to wake up Pietro, exclaiming, "Pietro, get up! Something bad has just happened!" Pietro wakes up and rubs his eyes tiredly, processing the incident that had just taken place.
"Fool of a Took!" exclaims Gandalf in anger as James gives Travis a nudge to wake him up, doing so successfully.
"What the bloody hell was that all about?" asks James in confusion. Getting no answer, he looks over to Pippin, who lies there in shock as if he had seen his loved ones die in front of him, panting heavily while Gandalf questions him.
"Look at me," says Gandalf. Pippin mutters something inaudible to James while Gandalf decides to elaborate further. "Look at me. What did you see?"
"A tree. There was a white tree. In a courtyard of stone. It was dead," he mutters, still in shock. "The city was burning."
"Minas Tirith? Is that what you saw?"
"I saw… I saw him! I can hear his voice in my head."
"And what did you tell him? Speak!"
"He asked me my name. I didn't answer. He hurt me."
"What did you tell him about Frodo and the Ring?"
"Nothing. I swear."
"Very well. Do not touch the palantír again."
After his interrogation, Gandalf tells the others in the Meduseld to rest, especially Pippin, who still appears traumatised by the incident with the palantír. Since James doesn't have any formal psychology training, he mentally agrees with Gandalf and heads back to bed, eager to get the night over with.