Strong Intentions - Part 1

By: Aria Breuer

Disclaimers: All material from The Lord of the Rings book trilogy belongs to J.R.R. Tolkien. All material, including inspiration for the storybook-like introductions, from "Once Upon A Time" belongs to Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz. All original material, including alias names for fictional characters, belongs to the author of this fan fiction story. Any other material, including characters from other works not found in The Lord of the Rings and "Once Upon A Time", belongs to their respected owners.

The inspiration for this story came from one of my strange, but vivid dreams. In a way, I'm breaking new ground in the writer's world with this story. We still have our fictional characters from The Lord of the Rings. At the same time, we have their aliases in Storybrooke, who do not know they are from Middle-earth.

The story's plot is arched in a similar fashion to "Once Upon A Time". While there is the modern, less colorful world of Storybrooke, we also have flashbacks that bring us back to Middle-earth and Fairy Tale Land, which coincide with these events. I will not say who the eight men are in Middle-earth; only they are in the same fix as the fairy tale characters.

Also, I should mention, the Prologue is set during the episode "Skin Deep". The flashback below is with the Evil Queen and Rumplestiltskin.

Prologue:

Dark Traveler

X – X – X

Once upon a time, in a land filled with every known fairy tale character, there lived a man named Rumplestiltskin. Although he lived alone inside a grand castle, Rumplestiltskin made deals that always guaranteed his customers pay a set price. In spite of his dark talent, Rumplestiltskin desired to find the thing he loved most, which was lost from him for years. His travels would take him far, sometimes as far as other worlds.

One world, imparticular, caught his attention…

X – X – X

Fairy Tale Land

The Evil Queen paced back and forth with impatience. This is a matter of urgency. She needed to send a message to Rumplestiltskin. Where was her knight, when –

The wooden doors creaked opened, allowing a knight in black armor passage into the stone chamber. The Evil Queen's gaze turned sharply on the black knight, as she asked, "What kept you?"

"Your majesty," said the knight, bowing before her. "The Huntsman demands an audience with you."

"Send him in," said the Evil Queen. She stopped her knight almost immediately. "Before you leave, will you inform the Huntsman to deliver this message to Rumplestiltskin?"

"Yes, your majesty," said the knight as he took the folded parchment. Then he bowed and left the stone room.

o-o-o

"I need more magic," murmured Rumplestiltskin, as he placed another potion bottle on the rack. "I need something more potent… something that will bring Baelfire back to me… but how?" He stared at the rack for another moment or two. A flicker of hope shined in his eyes, when he spoke next: "Maybe… just maybe, I can…"

The brass knocker banged three times against the door. Confused, Rumplestiltskin asked himself, "Now, I wonder who that could be."

As he walked towards the door, thoughts of Belle returned to his mind. The monotonous bangs from the door knocker continued. Once he stood before the double wooden doors, Rumplestiltskin opened them. Before his eyes stood a huntsman, whose expression was grave yet hard at the same time. A grey horse stood waiting for the huntsman at the bottom step of the castle.

Confused, Rumplestiltskin asked, "May I help you?"

"I have a message from the Queen," said the huntsman, handing to Rumplestiltskin a folded up piece of parchment, sealed in the Queen's insignia.

Rumplestiltskin took the parchment with reluctance. "Is there any word from Belle?"

"I haven't heard any," said the huntsman. Breaking the awkward silence, the huntsman finished the conversation, "Good day, Rumplestiltskin." With that, he climbed down the stone steps and approached his grey horse.

Rumplestiltskin watched the huntsman ride off down the cobbled road for several minutes. Once the huntsman was out of sight, Rumplestiltskin closed the creaking door. He was briefly reminded of Belle, who he hoped would return and help tidy up his castle. Sitting on a chair in the dining hall, Rumplestiltskin broke the seal with a long fingernail and unfolded the parchment. Inside was a message addressed from the Evil Queen herself. The message was written in fine ink:

Rumplestiltskin,

Many treasures lay in wait, when you travel to Middle-earth. There, you will have possibilities for a new life, magic, and places you never sought. The answers you need may rest in this world.

Travel to my palace tonight. Be sure you are alone.

Signed,

The Queen

"The Queen asks me to travel to her castle tonight," said Rumplestiltskin, re-reading the message. "What to do?" He pondered long and hard over this decision. Could Baelfire have traveled to Middle-earth? Was this Middle-earth a land without magic? Was the Queen deceiving him into her own ends?

After several minutes of thought, Rumplestiltskin told himself, "I might as well oblige – unless I find my own way to get to this Middle-earth."

Moving from his chair, Rumplestiltskin returned to his potion room. There, he brewed a new potion, one potent enough to allow him to travel between worlds. The potion took some part of the day to brew. When it was complete, he used the potion on a glass mirror. The mirror almost instantaneously took to the potion, creating a portal between Fairy Tale Land and Middle-earth. Pleased with his handiwork, Rumplestiltskin traveled into the mirror, vanishing from his castle in seconds.

Middle-earth

Escaping from the misty fog, Rumplestiltskin found he was near a green field. A massive encampment was laid out, with soldiers guarding almost every opening. Although he wondered whether this was Middle-earth, Rumplestiltskin decided he needed to ask one of the soldiers and find a suitable customer to meet his ends. As he searched for a way into the campsite, one of the soldiers – dressed in silvery-blue armor, with a white tree insignia on the centermost front of the chest plate – blocked the entrance.

Already suspicious of the outsider, the soldier asked, "What business brings you here, sir?"

"Pardon me for asking, kind soldier. This world wouldn't be Middle-earth?" asked Rumplestiltskin, attempting his devious approach on the soldier.

"This is merely a vast country called Middle-earth. The world itself is called Earth, or once it was known as Arda," explained the soldier, keeping the history of the World brief.

"I see," said Rumplestiltskin. Intrigued by this world called 'Earth', Rumplestiltskin continued asking his questions. "Is this a country without magic?"

The soldier shook his head. "No. The Elves and Wizards bear magical abilities. The Elves were the first to enter Middle-earth, leaving the Seas during the First Age."

"Intriguing," said Rumplestiltskin, fully interested. Changing the subject to something more recent, Rumplestiltskin now asked, "And what event recently happened in Middle-earth's history?"

"Why, the destruction of Sauron and his Ring of Power," said the soldier. He added, bluntly, "In fact, it's ironic you showed up at this encampment this evening. In the morrow, Lord Aragorn's coronation will begin at Minas Tirith." He pointed out the white city from behind Rumpelstiltskin.

Rumplestiltskin nodded. "Thank you, sir. I hope we meet again in the near future."

"You look tired, sir. Are you sure you don't wish to come inside the camp?" asked the soldier, being too courteous.

Rumplestiltskin faced the soldier again. "I think I can manage from here. Thank you again." With that, he walked across the Pelennor Fields towards the white city.

Thanks for reading. :) Yes, I have returned to this story, but there's a reason I'm doing the three episode blocks for this full story and its sequel parts, which are still part of the main story. I figured the story would become too big and since "Once Upon A Time" is huge, and this story is already complete and with a huge cliffhanger by the end of the third episode block, that is the reason we are going into Part 2 sequel/fanfic. Now, I don't know if the Part 2 to this event fanfics will be the last one, since we don't know ourselves how far the show "Once Upon A Time" will go. So, yeah. :) Remember to review and let me know what you think. Okay, bye. :)