The Final Stand
By: Aria Breuer
Disclaimers: I do not own The Lord of the Rings, the Shannara series, "The Shannara Chronicles," "Sleeping Beauty," and "Maleficent." The Lord of the Rings and other Middle-earth works belong to J.R.R. Tolkien. Shannara and "The Shannara Chronicles" belongs to Terry Brooks, MTV, and Spike. "Sleeping Beauty and "Maleficent" belongs to Disney. All other canon material belongs to their respective owners. All original material, including original characters and original locations, including my self-insert, belongs to me, the authoress of this fanfiction story.
Warning! This fanfiction story is Rated M for Mature. It is Rated M for slash, depression, dark, intense sequences, sensuality, nudity, rape, gore, and violence. This fanfic is also self-indulgent. This fanfiction story is not for the faint-hearted. It tends to focus on tough situations and scenarios throughout this story.
Tagline: All Roads End Here.
Summary: Everything has reset. Everything has gone back to normal… or so it appears. As the worlds return to normal, Frodo Baggins discovers those living in the Alternate Timelines have gone rogue or are missing. It is up to Frodo to uncover the mystery, find out what the villains are up to, and stop the final battle before it happens. But not everything is as it appears, and Frodo is running out of time. Conclusion to the Long Series: Version 1. Alternate Reality.
Welcome to the final part of my Long Series: Version 1, originally titled the Epic Struggles Series. :)
I know, it has been years since I last worked on the first version of my Long Series. Since reposting all the old fanfics for this version, I decided to go back and work on the finale. This is the fanfic that I started back in 2015, but ended up deleting it, due to being overwhelmed by it.
So, I'm back to writing it. :) So exciting and sad, since this is the last part of this version. :( Given how open-ended the last fanfic, The Wall of Memory, was like, this fanfic has been confusing to start. So, we'll see how it goes. :)
I'm also currently in the healing process of my spiritual journey. My writing suffered during this time. So, it's going to take time to get back into writing again. And since I went through a big soul merge with Frodo Baggins, my writing is different. Good different, given now there are two writing styles intertwined, it has been a new experience. So, we'll see where this takes me. :)
That said, I present the conclusion to my Long Series: Version 1 – The Epic Struggles Series, titled The Final Stand. Enjoy! :)
Prologue Disclaimers: The characters Bandon, Catania, Allanon, and the Dagda Mor comes from the Shannara series and "The Shannara Chronicles." Maleficent comes from "Sleeping Beauty" and "Maleficent."
Part I
Prologue:
Bandon
Bandon awoke from his slumber. His soul had been overthrown by the Dagda Mor and already, Bandon felt like something dark awoke inside of himself. This darkness penetrated him, this elven man with raven hair, brown eyes, and a fair, rugged complexion about himself that one couldn't easily ignore. And yet, despite his flaws, the Dagda Mor managed to take over him.
The Ellcrys, an ancient tree with red leaves, said to house the Forbidding: a place where the demons had been trapped for centuries, but were now coming out in droves, thanks to each leaf that fell to the stony ground, plucked right off its branches. Bandon had touched the tree inside its stone sanctuary, after the Druid Allanon thrust this elven boy to touch it.
And so, Bandon did, not knowing the dangers present, nor of what he would endure, if he dared try to touch the tree again.
And so, Bandon lie down on his bed, startled to a sitting position as he pondered what had just happened. He was free of the Dagda Mor, right? So, why wasn't he happy? Then there was something else… a collapse in the timeline. Millions of lives strewn together, some he never heard of, while relationships that were meant to be together were mixed up.
Bandon had been enraptured by a woman named Victoria Snowberry, a hobbit lass he only dared to hope he would never met again. She had caught him unawares. And yet, she, too, had vanished after the timelines were restored. Would he ever see her again?
He moved off the bed, noticing his deep green shirt and brown leather jacket had been set aside on a nearby wooden chair with a bright rosy cushion. His jet-black fingerless gloves had also been set down on the chair. A sore relief, after what he saw and been through. He rubbed his face with his hand, pondering over what happened to him.
He sighed, lowering his head in shame, trying to come up with a better explanation over what he endured. He found none because there was none. He was still in Arborlon, still in the palace and in his room with its wooden wall, a tall arched window where the sunlight shone through, right over him, and where out from this square room a stone walkway was in place before the door to his bedroom, leading in and out of the room he was in.
As Bandon sat on the bed, cupping his mouth with his hands, he winced in pain. Something was overtaking his mind. He let out a piercing scream, wanting the pain to stop. In time, he stood up, overwhelmed by the physical sensation the pain was withholding on him.
He gazed over his shoulder at a witch with a fair complexion, donned with a pair of jet-black horns atop her head. She wore a dark brown dress and had huge brown wings with clawed tips. In her hands was a dark brown staff, complete with its own branch tip, where the dark brown branches curled upwards to form the encasing tip of her staff.
The witch smiled at him, coyly, for she was intrigued.
Bandon let out another wincing scream, asking her, "Why?! What are you doing to me?"
"Be quiet!" the witch proclaimed, releasing him, and only leaving Bandon screaming and rocking back and forth where he was standing. The witch cackled, enjoying herself, "Now, is that the only way you can treat me, boy? I am Maleficent. Perhaps you've heard of me. But then, the past is something one cannot hold onto for too long."
"Ahh!" Bandon made his way back to his bed, kneeling next to it, as he tried to make sense of his world. He looked up at her in shock, still throbbing from the pain he endured from her magic. "Why? Why would you do this to me?" He closed his eyes, wincing in pain. "I didn't do anything!"
"Oh, I know," Maleficent said with a smirk, kneeling before him, while holding onto her staff in one hand. "But I have need of you. As soon as you flee Arborlon, meet me at the Warlock Lord's lair. Bring some friends, if you find any. I want to be there with you."
"The Warlock Lord? That demon?" Bandon asked her, cautious now. He closed his eyes, trying his best to subdue the pain throbbing in his head. "What have you done to me?! Please stop!"
Maleficent shook her head. "I'm not the only one doing this to you." She stood up, admitting to him, "Of course, now that the worlds are back to normal and all is well, my work is not yet through. I have a task for you, if you're ready." She smirked. "But of course, you are not ready. When the time comes, you'll come to me. Seek the Ellcrys. We'll talk more there." She vanished out an open window, leaving Bandon shocked and confused.
~o~
Bandon quickly recovered. He looked around him, shocked and unsure what happened. He knelt by the bed, deliberating on what to do next.
Soon enough, he stood up, approaching the chair. He managed to put on his deep green shirt and brown leather jacket with great effort. He put on his fingerless gloves next, noticing his bare fingers. Something clouded his mind, making him feel strange. Still, he had to explore his mind, find out what he knew about this Victoria Snowberry, if he found out anything.
He closed his eyes, clasping his gloved hands, to figure out the missing pieces of the puzzle:
Yes. There was Victoria Snowberry, as radiant a hobbit lass as ever. She wore a white dress, silky and flowing with the wind swirling around her. Ah, she was beautiful in the morning sunlight, as she walked, wearing familiar knee-high, dark brown boots. And there he was with his gloved hands, chasing after her.
He stared at his reflection in the pool. He looked like a hobbit. He looked like Dexter Corner. And suddenly, it all made sense. He was Dexter Corner, in another life. But he was Bandon in this life. It made no sense.
And Victoria's son, the one she presented to Bandon, was Allanon. Bandon took a closer look at Victoria, recalling who she was. No! She was the Elven Princess Amberle's handmaiden, the blonde-haired elven woman Catania, complete with her fair elven complexion and donned now in a dark grey dress. He remembered her now and Allanon.
No! No, this didn't make any sense to Bandon! What were they doing here, in this Alternate Timeline?
Bandon lurched forward in fright! He rested his hand against the chair, his other hand pressed against his stomach. It all made sense now. He was Dexter Corner. Something was very off about all of this.
"I have to get out of this room! I have to…"
"Bandon," oh no! It was Allanon, the Druid with tan skin and donned in purple robes, with hair jet-black and greying, and his hands covered up by a pair of jet-black long gloves. Bandon turned and faced the man with his rugged complexion.
Bandon wasn't afraid of him. "Ahh!" He jutted blue mist at the Druid, only for the Druid to use his staff to repel the spell away from him, forcing the blue mist to crash into the wall.
Allanon gazed at Bandon in agitation. He said quickly, "I know what you are thinking. We were all in that Alternate Timeline. All of us! Do you think it was some spell, hmm? Something put us there. We must secure the Ellcrys, before the last leaf falls! I fear something further will come, worse will come, if the Ellcrys isn't saved on time. And you, Bandon," Allanon pointed to the Seer, who collapsed on the bed, "you had better have a good explanation for what you did."
Bandon chuckled. He admitted to the Druid, "Catania wasn't in the right relationship. I fixed it."
"You do realize what you did? Hmm?" Allanon asked him, cautious and fearful now, but full of anger and frustration, "Separating her from Merry Brandybuck, while we were all in that Alternate Timeline, could spawn consequences. Consequences that will change everything! Or did you not know that before you wooed her? You have no more right to her than anyone else!"
"Says who? The only thing I did was prevent…"
"Quiet Bandon. Do not go to the Ellcrys tonight. Or you'll start something that I will have to finish! Do you understand?" Allanon yelled, harshly. He backed away, admitting to him in a calmer voice, "Your work is finished for now. Rest before something else happens," Allanon said, making his way out of Bandon's room, only to be met up by Catania, whose was worried and tearful.
"When can I see him?" Catania asked in a lithe voice. "I want to see him."
"The boy has suffered enough. Your affections won't change the damage we all did in the Alternate Timeline," Allanon stated, admitting this to her.
"But I want to see him! He could be in danger," Catania pointed out, worried for Bandon.
"Catania," Allanon told her, firmly but kindly, "even if we could restore the balance, I fear this may not be over. Maleficent is still on the loose. Who knows what troubles she could do to us this time." He meandered his way past Catania, heading down the arched, elegant, elven hallway with no more words to speak to Bandon or Catania for the present time.
As Allanon made his way down the hallway, he sensed Maleficent's presence. He turned his gaze towards the wall, from which Maleficent's silhouette vanished, leaving Allanon to blast a purple spell at the spot where Maleficent had been. Allanon looked on at the spot, fearful for the worst, knowing something dangerous was about to come.
So, how was that? I hope this chapter wasn't too intense.
But yes! :) We finally have our Prologue rewritten! :) I hope it turned out well. :)
Chapter 1 is the next chapter to be rewritten, before we go into new material. Obviously, this Prologue is different from the last time I wrote the Prologue for this story. But I think this Prologue fits in with the previous fanfics for this series.
Anyway, onto Chapter 1! Any thoughts of where this story could go next? Ideas are appreciated. :)
Thanks for reading this chapter. :) More to come. :)
~Aria Breuer