Chapter 1: Fellowship of the Ring: And So It Begins

Title: Pirates of the Ring

Author: Ainu Laire

Rating: PG-13, T

Warnings: Mild cursing here and there, blood, action, death, etc, etc…

Summary: What happens when five characters from the Caribbean sail to Middle-earth, and help determine its future? POTC/LOTR crossover.

Edited 9/1/10: The final refining of the final chapters. Last edit.

This story was first published when the first Pirates of the Caribbean was released. I want to make it clear that this story only follows the first POTC movie, and Middle-earth does affect the personalities of the characters as time goes on (from what they were in the first movie).

Previous edits on 7/6/10, 5/23/10, 3/9/10, 1/22/10, 10/30/09, October to December 2008, 8/3/07, and 7/4/05.

Some lines are straight from Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings films, and Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the places or characters created by J.R.R. Tolkien, nor do I own any characters from The Pirates of the Caribbean. The interactions between the characters of these two worlds are of my own creation.

Chapter One: And So It Begins

There was a knock on the door at the entrance to the great home of Bag End. Outside the round, green door stood a tall old man leaning on an old, crooked brown staff. When the door was not answered immediately, he knocked on the door with his staff again, swiftly growing impatient. This time a voice from inside shouted out at him.

"No, thank you! We don't want any more visitors, well-wishers, or distant relations!"

The old man smiled. "And what about very old friends?"

The small door opened and out stepped an elderly man, half the size of an average man, adorned with extremely hairy feet and curly gray hair. He looked up at the tall old man with astonishment. "Gandalf?"

The tall old man looked down at him, a smile forming across his wrinkled face. "Bilbo Baggins." They exchanged greetings with each other as Bilbo Baggins led Gandalf inside his home.

Gandalf is a wizard, and everyone knows what wizards are. Bilbo Baggins, however, is a hobbit. Hobbits are strange folk with a long, complicated history behind them. They are small compared to mankind, averaging at around three feet tall, and they have curly hair on both their heads and their feet. They never wear shoes; that is unheard of in the Shire, where almost all hobbits in Middle-earth reside. Hobbits tend to have large appetite, an interest in the brewing of ales, and in the smoking of pipe-weed. But what hobbits truly love is peace and quiet with absolutely no signs of trouble or adventure bothering their daily routines. Bilbo, however, was not exactly what one would call an average hobbit.

Now Bilbo's home, to put it simply, was a hole in the ground. Not your normal kind of hole, like a gopher or snake hole, but a lovely and well kept hole, just tall enough for Gandalf to not hit his head on the ceiling, though certainly small enough for him to collide with the chandelier that hung in the front hall. Soon enough Gandalf made it into the kitchen and sat down on a small chair next to a miniature table- miniature to him, at the least.

Gandalf watched Bilbo with open amusement as the hobbit gulfed down a chunk of cheese. The wizard waited for him to finish it.

"Do you still mean to go through with your plan?"

"Yes, yes, it is all at hand. All the arrangements are made," Bilbo told him as he poured each of them a cup of tea and sat down.

Gandalf sipped at his tea. "Frodo suspects something."

The hobbit glanced at him. "So, you already have seen him? Where is he, anyways?"

"Out past Bywater, enjoying the wonderful day."

Bilbo smiled knowingly. "Ah, yes, the boy does enjoy the outdoors- though boy no longer! He has finally come of age."

"Thirty-three already? My, how time has flown by- though it does not seem to have had any effect on you. My dear Bilbo, you haven't seemed to age at all since last time I was here- you certainly do not look one hundred and eleven years old."

He shrugged. "Well preserved, or so the neighbors gossip. I'm thinking they certainly are onto something! Granted, they do their best to keep such rumors out of my hearing, though I hear them anyways. Not that it matters- after the birthday party tonight, I'll finally be away from them." He glanced out of the window, where he could see the large field below his house. Workers were already setting up for the night's festivities, bringing in tables and benches, setting up tents and pavilions, and decorating the area all about the Party Tree.

Gandalf nodded and waited. When Bilbo said nothing more, the wizard asked, "You will tell Frodo you are leaving, won't you?"

"Yes, yes-"

"He's very fond of you."

Bilbo sighed. "I know. He would probably come with me if I asked him," he said with a small chuckle. "But I think Frodo's heart is still in love with the Shire." He paused, and then turned to his friend with an odd expression written across his face. "I'm old, Gandalf." He put his hand into his pocket and started fingering something. Gandalf eyed him suspiciously. "I know I don't look it, but I am beginning to feel it in my heart. I feel... thin, sort of stretched like butter scraped over too much bread. I need a holiday, a very long holiday- and I don't expect I shall return. In fact I mean not to."

O0O0O0O

Captain Jack Sparrow sailed the Caribbean waters upon the Dauntless with a few of his buccaneer crew, and the couple Will and Elizabeth Turner. Jack and the couple individuals of his crew with him had 'borrowed' the Dauntless from Port Royal, and where the Black Pearl was the captain would not say. Just as he was sailing out of the bay, Will and Elizabeth came out from the cabins where they were planning their honeymoon- or so they claimed. The pirates thought differently, and only sniggered in disbelief at the couple's assertion. As it were, the Turners were just about to leave the ship when they realized that it was out of the harbor with Jack at the wheel. The pirate at once declared that he was taking them on a surprise honeymoon trip. Elizabeth was not very happy with this prospect, but her curiosity was greater than her anger.

"Jack, we both know that you stole this ship, but where is the Black Pearl and the rest of your crew?" Elizabeth asked the sly captain for the tenth time.

He sighed. "Love, I borrowed this ship... just, without permission. And the Pearl is safe; there is nothing to fear. The rest o' me crew is in Tortuga, where I plan to meet 'em." He took out his compass, causally turning the wheel slightly to the left, then back to the right. He looked out at the bright blue sky where the noon sun shone high.

Elizabeth sighed and gazed out into the ocean, rolling her eyes. "This isn't exactly the honeymoon that I wanted," she said to Jack, frowning.

He turned to her, an exaggerated look of shock upon his face. "Whatever do you mean? There is nothing better than being stuck on a boat in the middle of nowhere with moldy food and people vomiting all over the place for your honeymoon."

Her frown deepened. "That was only once, and you gave me that- that stuff! I don't even know what it was!"

He smiled. "You seemed to enjoy it, nonetheless."

Things surely would have become ugly if Will had not descended at that moment from the crow's nest. He looked at both of them with a raised eyebrow and then turned to Jack. He put down the telescope that Jack had reluctantly lent him, a worried look upon his features.

"There is a storm coming and we are heading right into it. I suggest that we steer out of its course."

Jack frowned and took the telescope. "Storm? In this weather? Nonsense." He left the wheel and went to the front of the boat with Elizabeth and Will on his heels. He peered through the eyepiece and made a strange face. "Wow. He's right for once." Will bristled at the comment, but before he could say anything, Jack continued. "Lad, I've been sailing these seas for o'er twenty years, and I've never seen anything like that. Get Gibbs and Anamaria!" When Will made no move to do as told and merely raised an eyebrow, the captain rolled his eyes and turned to Elizabeth. "Love, would you kindly fetch the rest o' the crew while I keep an eye on this storm?"

Elizabeth smiled. "I do that, and you turn this ship around."

"What?"

"You know I don't want to be here, and while I'm sure you find my discontent amusing, you'll soon grow weary of it. I fetch them, and you bring us back to port; we're not too far. Besides, the only way to avoid this storm is to turn around."

Jack contemplated her proposition for a moment. "I'll do that, but I want your bracelet as well," he said, glancing at the trinket she wore on her wrist.

"Deal." She beamed at the two men and went below.

Within a few minutes, Gibbs came up on deck and peered at the oncoming storm; it was much closer now and clearly visible to the naked eye. He muttered something to himself under his breath and then turned to Jack. "I told you it was bad luck having a woman aboard, and two is double the trouble!"

Anamaria just came up on deck to hear Gibb's comment. She snorted, waving her dark hair aside, and said, "No matter how many times ye say that, it won't turn true, y'know." She strode past him and took the telescope, and a frown immediately appeared on her face. "Captain, this ain't no ordinary storm. 'tis not covering the whole sky, only the spot we are approaching. Not to mention 'tis going against the wind, if y' hadn't noticed. We will be in it within minutes, maybe sooner."

Jack took the telescope and looked through it again. His frown deepened. "And no rain... only lightning, with no thunder." He put the telescope down, a gleam in his eye. "Looks exciting, but," he glanced at Elizabeth, "the lady of the ship wishes to return back home. The sea is too much for her."

"We had other plans," Will said pointedly, but did not elaborate further.

Gibbs snorted, not looking abashed by the looks from the Turners. "Oh, I can imagine. That said, that is no ordinary storm. I don't like it. Let's turn back, Jack, and take another route to Tortuga once these two landlubbers are gone." Jack said nothing, but rather turned and went straight for the wheel of the ship. The others stayed at the bow, looking at the storm with mixed expressions.

"Hey! Hey!"

The others turned in surprise and looked to Jack, who was in turn staring at the wheel of the ship with an angry and incredulous expression. The others followed his gaze and, when their eyes found the wheel of the ship, stood stunned, unsure of what to make of the sight before them.

A bright-eyed man, at least seven feet tall and clad in sapphires and blue silks, was steering the ship into the storm. He finally noted their presence, but did not seem concerned that they had noticed him. Rather he stared at them solemnly and under his gaze the others were unable to move. "Now it is time for the fate of Middle-earth to be decided," he said. He than vanished into thin air, and suddenly the storm was upon them.