Hello everyone! If you've read my other story (which is still very much unfinished) you probably already know that this story is going to be completely different and unrelated. I've been wanting to write my own take on the cliché "girl falls into Middle Earth" since I joined the website, and now I have too many plot bunnies hopping around in my head to be able to concentrate fully on my other story. So for the time being, I will be chipping away at "A Piece of You", while I attempt to free up some space in my head by writing this story.

Hope you all enjoy my take on this overdone plot haha. Even though I'm doing this for fun, I would still love to hear from my readers, so please feel free to tell me what you think. Helpful critiques are welcome. Flames will not be tolerated. I do not need to hear that the plot is overused, I know this already :)

This story also has a Tumblr that will be updated as the story progresses! It's "waking-dreams-fanfic", check it out!


Chapter 1:

"You're everything my dreams have seen.

But, what are dreams?

I'm walking where my dreams have been.

But, what are dreams?"

-Enya, Dreams

I sat at the foot of my bed, tugging off my socks before tossing them into the laundry hamper to my right. Even though I had already turned off the light in my bedroom, I heard the satisfying sound as the balled up socks landed softly on top of my other laundry. Pulling myself up, I made my way over to the window at the far end of my room and pulled the blinds shut. In darkness, I slowly felt my way back across the room and crawled under the covers, lying down on my back.

Raising my hands to my face, I stared at them, studying the tiny little wrinkles and creases that had developed over my 19 years. Despite the darkness, my eyes had begun to adjust, allowing my gaze to travel down towards my wrists, were I was able to see the dozens of tiny scars that peppered my skin.

"Tonight, I will know when I am dreaming," I whispered to the empty room, not wanting to wake my mom and dad who were sleeping in the room next to mine.

Over the past few months I had been trying to achieve lucid dreaming. This pattern of staring at my hands and repeating the words had become a habit that I automatically did as soon as I was in bed. After doing a bunch of research on the topic, I had tried several different methods, but none of them had been successful so far. My routine tonight was something I had been working on for several weeks already, and I was about to give up the idea of having a lucid dream altogether.

But despite night after night without being able to realise when I was dreaming, I kept trying to master the skill. I wanted to escape the life I was living and be able to do and be whatever I wanted to, even if it was all going to vanish the next morning. Despite my efforts to concentrate on my hands, my gaze dropped one again to the scars along my wrists. A part of my past that I deeply regretted.

My whole life I had grown up around horses, and had loved them from the minute I laid eyes on one. My first real word had been "horse", after "dee-da", which my mom told me was supposed to be the two syllables of the word "daddy" flipped around. I had spent my whole childhood riding my parents' old riding pony, Chubbs, and when I had turned 10, my parents had gotten me my own horse. I could still remember the first time I saw him. I had run up to him and hugged him tightly around his neck, and despite my antics, he had stood still and calm until I had detached myself. Eclipse took my riding to a whole new level. As I grew up, he carried me through cross-country courses, Pony Club dressage tests, and show jumping competitions. We didn't always place, but I always had fun. During 9th grade, Eclipse suddenly fell ill, and was diagnosed with stomach cancer. Despite the best efforts from the vets, my parents eventually ran out of money, and had to stop paying for his treatments. That summer, I made the most difficult decision of my life, choosing to have my best friend put down for his own sake.

After his death, I took to locking myself in my room. I wanted no part of the world beyond my door. For a long while I wallowed in my own pain, refusing to leave my room other than to eat, which I did silently, as though I was not even really there. The one day that sticks with me the most from that period of time was when I had decided that I was going to try and head out for some fresh air. I had woken up feeling much better that morning, and had gone to put on my favourite pair of jeans, only to find that I couldn't pull them up past my thighs. After examining myself in the bathroom mirror, I was horrified to notice the thin red lines that had seemingly materialised overnight covering my upper thighs. Battling depression with no one to talk to about it, I began to self-harm, cutting myself with the razors that I wouldn't be needing to shave my legs that summer, as I clearly wasn't going to be wearing any shorts. Thankfully, I eventually found the courage to speak to my school's counsellor about my feelings, and after many months of therapy, I was able to put down the blade for good.

That was all four years ago, but still I wished to escape from reality to a place where I could control everything. And the perfect solution for me was to hopefully learn how to have lucid dreams.

"Tonight, I will know when I am dreaming," I said, slightly louder this time, as I brought my focus back once again to my hands. As I stared at them intently, I suddenly realised how sleepy I was getting. Despite this, I urged myself to keep concentrating on my hands. I needed to be able to notice when they stopped looking like my actual hands… Despite my best efforts, my eyelids dropped and I felt myself drifting off. Too tired to resist sleep any longer, I relaxed my body and drifted off.

Birds sang in the trees as I stood in the middle of a small clearing. All around me were beautiful trees of gold, their leaves shimmering in the sunlight that cascaded down through the gaps in the foliage. The breeze drifted gently through the woods, rustling the emerald grass that tickled my feet. Despite the beauty of my surroundings, everything had taken on a hazy appearance, and it was hard for me to tell the difference between the different things that were around me. Suddenly, I looked down at my hands, and my brain kicked into high gear.

"I'm dreaming!" I said out loud, looking around in excitement as my surroundings slowly became clearer and more vivid right before my eyes. A huge grin was plastered on my face as I started to walk through the trees, taking it in. For some reason, I couldn't shake the feeling that the location was familiar to me. It wasn't like there were many forests with golden trees anywhere near where I lived, but I had definitely seen this place at some point.

Looking down at my feet, I noticed for the first time that I was still wearing my flannel pyjama bottoms and tank top. Pursing my lips, I giggled with excitement as my pyjamas were swapped with my jeans and t-shirt. This was way too cool!

"I wonder if I could fly…"I pondered aloud, but by the time the words had left my mouth, I was already being lifted up into the air, the grass quickly falling away from my bare feet. The articles that I had read had warned me against down anything too exciting during my first lucid dream, as it might wake me up, but where was the fun in walking around when I could fly?

Lifting my head up towards the tree tops, I caught my first glimpse of the blue sky above, and made myself float up faster. The wind was rushing past my face as I sped up, gaining speed as I climbed. Man these trees are tall. Their golden boughs whipped by me on every side. Opening my mouth, I laughed as I climbed ever higher. I was almost to the top of the trees when suddenly things started to feel off. I tried to slow my ascent, but found that I had lost control over my speed. Suddenly, I panicked, wondering what would happen if I broke through the trees and kept climbing forever. Slipping from the lucid dream, I lost control of my emotions. Before I had a chance to get too worried about flying all the way to outer space, my problems did a complete one-eighty, and I found myself falling at an alarming speed back down towards the ground. Just as I was about to hit the ground, I felt my stomach drop.

I sat straight up in my bed and opened my eyes wide as my heart pounded. It took me a few moments to catch my breath before I was able to grasp what had just happened. I had been able to have a lucid dream! I had blown it and completely turned it into the opposite of fun, but I had done it nonetheless! Satisfied with myself for the night, I went to lay back down up my back to get some more sleep. Instead of my pillow, my head hit the hard mattress that had been handed down to me by my grandparents. Sighing, I patted the bed around me, trying to find my missing pillow, when suddenly I realised that I was still laying in the grass in the forest. Sitting up again, I looked down at my hands, which looked just like they did in real life. Confused, I stood up slowly, looking around for any signs that I was having another lucid dream.

"I'm not sure if I'm dreaming," I said quietly to myself, unable to decide if I was dreaming or not. Surely I must be dreaming, right?

"Daro!"

I spun around as a voice shattered the stillness of the night air, my heart beating wildly in my chest. No further sounds came, so I stood still in the clearing, looking around myself, still trying to convince myself that I was dreaming. Remembering something that I had read online to help regain control, I stared into the darkness and shouted loudly.

"The sun will come up and I will be safe!"

Sure enough, the haze faded and the forest took on an orange hue as the sun rose quickly up into the sky. Still no noises came from the trees. Sighing, I smiled as I realised that I had regained control of my dream once again. Man, this isn't at all what I was expecting, but I'll take it. I inspected my surroundings curiously, searching for the voice that I had clearly heard. My sense of security didn't last long as the trees soon began to blur once again. Frustrated, I watched as several men emerged from the trees and surrounded me. I panicked, unable to see their faces. I felt like I was about to be attacked by at least 20 Slendermen at the same time.

"Wake up, wake up!" I yelled to myself at the top of my lungs, my eyes clamped tightly shut. This is what the wikiHow article had said to do if you didn't like how your dream was going, and I sure as Hell didn't like how this was going.

After a few moments of not being attacked by any of the figures, I decided to open my eyes. To my dismay, all of the men were still standing around me, and now had bows drawn on me from every direction. No longer were their faces blurred, I could make out every detail in alarming clarity. Trembling, I looked down once again at my hands, which looked too real to be dream hands.

"What do you want from me?" I asked in a shaky voice as I looked back up at the figure that stood directly in front of me. The figure did not reply immediately. Instead, he gave me a puzzled look and turned to the man who stood next to him. The man lowered his bow, but none of the others moved a muscle, their arrows still pointed directly at my face. For the first time since they had appeared, I got a good look at the men around me. Silver hair fell down past their shoulders, shimmering in the sunlight, and ageless grey eyes pierced mine. I furrowed my brow, feeling once again like I was having a major deja vue moment. Then I noticed their pointed ears.

"Oh my God," I whispered as the man in front of me turned to stare at me. Only they weren't men at all, they were elves. I knew now where I was. I was in the woods of Lothlórien. My eyes widened and I found myself smiling despite the situation. Okay, Christa, time to get this dream back under control.

"Take me to Caras Galadhon!" I commanded the elves around me. Instead of instantly turning and leading me off as was intended, they immediately stiffened at the mention of the city. Sensing now that something was very wrong, I began once again to panic.

"Pedil edhellen?" The same voice asked suddenly, startling me out of my panic long enough to focus on what had clearly been a question directed at me. I opened my mouth, but of course had no idea how to respond. I didn't speak Sindarin, or whatever language this guy was speaking!

The man, or elf, gave me a hard stare, seemingly unsure of what to do, before waving two of the elves at his side to go towards me. Holding my hands in the air, I took a step backwards, not wanting to be taken anywhere anymore. I just wanted to wake up in my own hard bed at home.

"Mellon!" I found myself saying suddenly as the word popped into my head. The two elves stopped and the one who I could now tell was acting as the leader gave me an even harder stare. I stood frozen in place, hoping that I had not just said something insulting. Mellon was the elvish word for friend, right? It had been far too long since I had thought about it.

"Pedil edhellen?" The elf asked again, coming forward himself, his eyes hard, testing me. Now that they were closer to me, I could tell that they were all easily 6 feet tall. Intimidated by his sudden proximity, I could only shake my head no, having no sweet clue what he wanted to hear from me. This seemed to piss him off, as he did not reply immediately, and instead I felt his eyes drilling into mine. I shivered.

"Common tongue?" he spoke, this time in halted English, still staring at me. I nodded my head with a bit more enthusiasm this time, relieved to finally be able to understand the words he was saying. He seemed more satisfied with my answer this time, and motioned for the two other elves in front of me to carry on. Unable to escape even if I had dared to try, I stood frozen in fear and confusion as they tied a blindfold over my eyes and bound my hands with a thin rope. Thankfully, they were pretty gentle and took care not to hurt me in the process. I guess whatever I had done had earned me at least a small amount of respect.

This is a dream, right? Might as well just go with it. Sooner or later I'm bound to wake up. I told myself to relax as the soft cloth was tied over my eyes and the world around me went dark. I was aware of the group of elves moving around me, and then I felt a gentle pressure on my back, urging me to take a step forward. It was slow going, since I couldn't tell ahead of time when I was going to stumble upon a root or a dip in the ground. For the most part, though, the elves on either side of me were able to steer me clear up anything that would have tripped me up.

We had been walking in silence for a long time, and I was beginning to doubt that I was even dreaming anymore. I couldn't remember the last time I had had a dream where anything was this prolonged. I felt as though I had been walking for hours already. With doubt gnawing slowly on my mind, I did the only thing I could think of in the situation. I pinched myself, as hard as I possibly could.

"Ow," I whispered harshly to myself as the pain seared down my arm. Opening my eyes, I realised that I was still blindfolded, walking along at the same steady pace, listening to nothing but my own breathing and the soft footfalls of my own bare feet. Though I could not hear them, I knew that the elves were still walking along beside me, behind me, and before me. My heart sank as I realised how much trouble I was actually in.

Though inside I was panicking, I continued to walk, for I was afraid now of what would happen to me if I stopped cooperating. As we progressed on through what I could only assume was still the forest, my legs quickly grew tired and I found myself getting breathless from the pace the elves were leading me at. Failing to move off to the side as quick as the elf on my left had intended, I tripped on a small root and tried to catch myself with my arms, which proved useless as they were still tied behind my back. I braced as best as I could for the impact, and was relieved to be caught quickly by two strong pairs of arms. Gently helping me back up, they asked me to carry on, and I shook my head, too tired to move my legs.

"I can't walk any further. I need a rest," I said, hoping at least one of them would understand, trying my best not to pant. When none of them attempted to get me walking again, I took the liberty of slowly lowering myself down onto the grass and sat cross-legged, catching my breath.

"Name?"

I jumped as a gentle voice to my right broke the silence. Turning my head in the direction of the sound, I blinked beneath my blindfold, wondering if this was the same elf as the one who had seemed to know a little bit of the "common tongue" earlier. The voice sounded pretty much the same, melodic, deep, and yet different in ways I couldn't describe.

"Christa," I replied nervously, unsure of what to make of the elf beside me. There was a silence for a moment, and I hoped that the only pleasant company I had had so far hadn't run away already.

"Rúmil," the voice spoke up in answer just as I began to think that the elf had left. I managed a small smile as the name rang a bell. The younger brother of the Marchwarden. I wonder if Haldir and Orophin are here as well... I shook my head in response to my thoughts. No. Haldir can speak the common tongue. Though it was strange to not be able to see the elf I was talking to, I had a mental picture in my mind as to what he could look like. Of course, I was going off of the few shots of the two brothers from movies. Maybe they would look the same?

"Rúmil," I repeated, the name feeling awkward on my tongue. I had never really tried to say many of the characters' names, as I had mostly just read or heard them. I heard him laugh quietly as I attempted to say his name, and I felt my cheeks go pink in embarrassment. I was going to be experiencing this a lot if I really did turn out to be stuck here…


Thanks for reading! I hope that you are enjoying it so far, I will try to update as soon as possible! I would have liked to continue this chapter a little longer but it was getting kind of drawn-out for one writing session. The plot will pick up in the next chapter.

Translations:

Daro: "halt"

Pedil edhellen?: "Do you speak Elvish?"

Please review and tell me what you think so far! Reviews make my day! No flames please, and don't review just to tell me that the plot has been done a million times, because trust me, I already know this. Thanks!

-Eru