A/N: I'm really sorry this has taken so impossibly long for me to update. Don't worry, I have absolutely no intention of abandoning this story, I am gunna see it through. I just had really, really bad writer's block. Just keep in mind that I am seriously gunna screw with Tolkien's timeline.

Anyway, I'm sure you don't want to hear my excuses, just on to the story right?

-

I had my eyes squeezed shut and my body tensed up. I think I had finally prepared myself for the bone-cracking and hopefully brain-numbing impact that was about to take place.

Yeah, pretty sure that never happened.

I could feel the once-whistling wind whipping by my ears become a dull roar, then a soft moan, then barely a whisper. I slowly opened my eyes and saw nothing but deep blue sky.

'What the f-'

I never got the chance to finish that oh-so-appropriate statement for at that moment Babes decided to make herself heard.

'Yeah, that's right. Start moaning about yourself there, bucko. Take a look at your faithful and very loving companion.'

I slowly moved my head to the left and damn near screamed.

Miraculously, (what else could you call it?), I was levitating about three feet from the ground and Babes was floating about six feet up, engulfed in a bright white light.

She gave me this look and said, 'Hey, I'm not gunna argue. My leg is working again.'

Okay, I did scream, but it was more of a statement/question. One that will never be reiterated again.

'My sentiments exactly.'

'So totally not helping there, dear. How the hell do we get down?'

'Last time I checked, my species, the frickin' horse, did not have any experience with flying!'

"Now, now," a gentle voice said. "Flying would involve movement. You are merely hovering."

'With style.'

I rolled my eyes.

"Babes, shut up. Gandalf, quite playing your freaky-deaky mind games and just get me the hell down."

-

After Gandalf finally finished chuckling enough to safely get us down again, Babes and I were led into Minas Tirith and what we thought would be some kick back and relax time. Or at least I thought it would be, Babes just couldn't keep her proverbial mouth shut.

She had been taken to the stables

'So, oh-wise-one, explain to me again why we are in the middle of a city when you wanted to get away from everyone?'

'Shut up,' I mind growled back to her. Still not sure how that is possible…

All I would get in return is a maniacal cackle and five minutes later the same question. Yes, Babes the talking horse was rubbing this moment in my face for all she was worth. As if my world could get even more topsy-turvy.

Finally I just told her to shove it where the sun don't shine and went to bed. Yes, it was only about one or two-ish in the afternoon, but after almost coming face-to-face with my maker earlier today, I was very ready for bed.

But not the dreams.

Every time I would feel myself begin to sink into the plush feather mattress and start drifting off into never-never land, I would be jerked awake with the thought of Sauron's possession. Talk about a definite sleep killer…

I tossed and turned in that bed until I thought I would quite successfully go mad. It must have been almost midnight, ten hours of restlessness later, that I figured screw it and got up again. Even though it was the middle of the night, I figured there must be at least something to occupy me until everyone else joined the world of the waking.

I slowly snuck out of the boarding house-type establishment and started to wander the streets. Yes, I know, really intelligent, a young woman roaming the streets in the middle of the night, alone. It would probably just be easier to tape a note to my head, "Yes, please rape me."

I decided to take my chances anyway. I had almost lost all nerve a couple of times when I thought I heard footsteps following me. I just blew it off as nothing more but my imagination.

I wandered those streets for what felt like forever, but was nothing more but an hour and maybe a half. That damn bell-ringer sure can get annoying. Yes, the really do yell out in the middle of the night, "Two o'clock and all is well." Some people…

Some how, by miraculous means is what I'm thinking, I managed to find myself at the very pinnacle of Minas Tirith. Yep, that bit ole chunk of rock at the very tip, I was right up there. But then again, it had taken forever.

After I got off the streets of the lower levels, I had to climb a butt-load of stairs. No wonder all these people are in such good shape. The medieval Stair-Master at your service. But, yes, anyway, I had managed to get up to that very pinnacle and was just standing there, letting the breeze and crisp night air roll over me.

It was an amazingly free feeling. It honestly felt like I could safely let all of my worries go sailing off with that breeze, never to be seen or heard from again. It finally felt like I wasn't the one in charge, I could blame someone else if it all didn't turn out right in the end.

It was right there I felt like giving up.

Think about it. I had not done a single damn thing. The only thing that I did that was even remotely memorable was when I was drawn to the Ring.

Then again, that possession by Sauron does rank pretty high on the list of creepy shit. Talk about a great party trick…

But in all honesty, I did not know what I had done for the whole, mission, quest, thing. I had been nothing more but a bump on a log. I had done nothing but tie other people down.

It was completely disheartening.

I leaned down on the ledge at the very tip of the rock and rested by head in my hands.

What was I supposed to do?

-

I sat like that, unmoving for what felt like an eternity. I slowly, methodically, went through every stage of my journey in this realm. Everything from being tied to that damn tree, to getting dropped thousands of feet by some nameless creature. Try as I might, none of it made any sense to me. Something was telling me that I had a higher purpose to being in Middle-Earth, but either I was too blind or too stupid to see it. I could not figure out why I had been sent here.

I slowly raised my head and looked to the dark shape looming on the horizon: Mount Doom.

"Be safe, Frodo, Sam. Even though you are so small, you carry the world upon you. Please, be safe," I offered up in a half-prayer.

I sighed and looked at the looming sun, how it stained everything it touched a deep rose color. Kinda like me in a way, everything I came into contact with was forever changed, tainted. It was not a happy thought.

I sighed deeply and I looked down into the streets below. Here and there shutters were being thrown open, doors cracked, chimneys began bellowing smoke, people began waking up.

A new day was upon me, and I still didn't know what to make of that last ones.

I quietly began humming. Then, glancing around to make sure no one was near, which they weren't, I began singing to myself. Ever so slowly, I began to gain volume until I was singing my heart out into that rising sun.

"Are these times contagious
I've never been this bored before
Is this the prize I've waited for?
Now as the hours passing
There's nothing left here to insure
I long to find the messenger.

Have I got a long way to run
Have I got a long way to run
Yeah, I run…"

Someone grabbed my hand as I was singing, damn near scared me to death. My voice wavered as I looked down to see non-other than a very serious Pippin at my side, hand in death grip, staring at the same sun I was.

"Please," he whispered during the short moment of silence. "Keep singing."

Not one for being a party-pooper, I plowed on with the strangely fitting song.

"Is there a cure among us?
From this processed sanity?
I weaken with each voice that sings
In this world of purchase
I'm gonna buy back memories
To awaken some old qualities

Have I got a long way to run
Have I got a long way to run
Yeah, I run.
Yeah, I run.

Have I got a long way?
Have I got a long way?
Have I got a long way to run?
Have I got a long way to run?

Yeah I run
Have I got a long way to run?
Yeah I run
Have I got a long way to run?
Yeah I run
Have I got a long way to run?
Yeah I run
Have I got a long way to run?"

Finally it drew to a close and I stared down at the small but wizened being beside me.

Without saying a word, he explained himself as best he could. He looked at me, then out again into the distance, out to Mount Doom. Then, as I watched, a lone tear trickled down his face, tracing a path down his cheek. He looked at me and gave me a soft, watery, and more adult smile than I have ever seen.

Peregrin Took had been forced to grow up more than he ever thought in this short time. He had been cruelly torn from his home and thrust into this quest from Hell. He had overcome all this fear and grief for his friends, and he could still smile.

Slowly I sank to my knees in front of him. I turned towards him and looked him straight in the eye.

"They will come back. I know it."

He sighed and said, as though speaking to a young and quite demented child, "Emily, you have no way of knowing these things."

In Pippin's own way, he was trying to console me. We both knew that the odds had stacked so high against us that it was a nearly impossible feat to overcome them.

"Pippin," I said. "I know this because I will personally kill them if they do not."

-

A/N: There, now you know that I have not forgotten you. Yes, I know its not terribly long, but it is a turning point. No longer is Emily thinking of the Hobbits as care-free children. She has seen that they have been forced to grow up, as has she. She has faced her demons and pushed most of them behind her.

Even if you don't agree with me, I think that this is the turning point.

Talk about exciting…

By the way, the song was "Run" by Collective Soul. Gotta love it.

A