Hey so here is chapter two, I'm trying to get an updating schedule going which will probably look like one chapter every two or three days. These first two kind of escaped from me so I wrote them very quickly. I may go back and edit this one, but for now enjoy!

*note! Gandalf and Aragorn are travelling back from Mirkwood where they left Gollum at this point. In my version of events, they go from Mirkwood, to Rivendell where they part ways and Gandalf goes to see Frodo about a ring.

Down the Rabbit Hole

While falling is how Lilly would later describe her descent through that dark plane of existence, the word could never fully capture the odd rush of wind that was not quite wind that hit her as she traveled nor could it describe the feeling of control that she felt, when she had been quite obviously completely out of control. Lilly had fallen through the air before; from a tree at age seven, from the roof of her house at age ten and so many other times as was normal of someone who lived in a small town with nothing but stupid things to do.

This fall was more like flying through the air, but without any sense of control or direction. She could still feel the weight of her bag across her chest and the fluttering of her skirt as it twisted around her legs. This must be like how the angels felt when they were cast out of heaven. That single thought she had startled her as she'd never been that religious before. Perhaps I am dead and this fall is my purgatory. That still made little sense.

The roaring of sound in her ears threatened to drive her mad. Lilly attempted to twist and turn in the air, trying to find some direction in pitch black. Upon opening her eyes to see where she was falling, Lilly found she could not see and upon opening her mouth to scream she found her voice would make no sound.

Lilly. A whisper that was not her own thought sounded through her head like bells in a cathedral; it surrounded her like thunder and passed by her quiet as a mouse and splintered her sanity and brought it back.

We have a task for you, our most precious traveler. The sound screamed in her head and Lilly tried to claw at her ears to put out the flames she felt, but found she could not move her arms. Lilly, Lilly, Lilly, you must change the path. We will tell you when and how. Lilly tried to scream again, only to be shocked when she let out a piercing scream. She felt a rush of wind all around her like she had truly begun to fall.

Lilly hit the ground hard on her back, forcing the air out of her lungs. Struggling to breathe, Lilly opened her eyes to see what had happened to her. The only things she could make out were green leaves and blue skies. Where in the hell am I? Confused, dazed, and nursing a pounding headache, Lilly sat up as slowly as she could, wincing at the throbbing pain in her skull.

No stranger to forests, Lilly tried to place where in Toronto she could possibly be that had this much foliage. The forest, crowded and overrun with fallen leaves and branches looked like it had never come into contact with a human being.

"Hello?" No answer came to the tentative call. Assessing the state of her clothing and bag, Lilly tried to recall any detail of what happened after she stepped off the subway and came up with nothing. The gaping hole in her memory stirred memories of one too many Criminal Minds episodes and Lilly began to wonder if she had been kidnapped.

Slowly standing, Lilly brushed dirt and leaves from her skirt only to shudder from a cold wind that reached deep down into her bones. Even in Canada, this cold of weather was almost unheard of this late into summer. Looking for a sweater she was well aware was not there, Lilly rummaged through her bag knowing her only option for warmth would be to put on her dress.

Wind rustled the trees, but there was no sign of any other living creature in the woods. No city sounds of traffic and air planes, construction or even people could be heard. For the very first time in a long while Lilly had a funny feeling that she was very much alone.

With her dress slipped over her head, Lilly laced up the sides of the gown while as she tried to keep the bottom out of the mud and leaves. I was supposed to have a good day today. With no sign of civilization and no idea where she was, Lilly beginning to think that perhaps she was being pranked. Some of her more enthusiastic Lord of the Rings friends would sometimes "kidnap" each other and bring them to wooded areas to act out scenes from the books together, but this was beyond that.

The number one rule of getting lost in the woods (as any child who had grown up in a forested area knew) was that no matter what you had to stay where you are. Lilly herself had only gotten lost once before on a hunting trip with her dad and her oldest brothers. She had slipped away from them to chase after a rabbit. Twenty minutes and no rabbit later, her dad had found her sitting beside a tree, crying. But this was different, Lilly did not know where she was, who she came there with, and there was definitely no chance of her dad finding her.

Scoffing at her own stupidity, Lilly remembered she had her phone with her and quickly pulled it out from a pocket on her bag. The small black device, fully charged that morning and not used once since, would not even turn on. No amount of button pressing, shaking, or taking out the battery several times got any sort of response from it. Putting it away to prevent herself from throwing it into the woods, Lilly found her iPod and quickly found it was going to give her the exact same amount of response her phone had.

I could have sworn the batteries in these damn things were fully charged. Seething, Lilly paced around the small cleared area she had fallen into. The trees were tall and very old, but Lilly could not imagine how she could have climbed one those trees if it was from one she had fallen. The lowest branches sturdy enough to hold her weight were nearly a foot out of her reach. Taking a deep breath that she tried very hard to turn into a scream of frustration, Lilly nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard a voice in the distance. Grabbing her bag, Lilly picked up the ends of her dress to run in the direction of the sound.

The voice, it turned out, belong to an old man wrapped in grey robes wearing a large pointed hat. The man looked as if he had stepped out of a renaissance faire and Lilly was almost certain he was a part of the reason she had been lost in these woods. Just as she was about to call out to the man, a blade pressed to her throat and Lilly felt her heart drop to her knees.

"What is a traveler such as yourself doing along these paths?" The owner of the blade had a deep, raspy voice that set Lilly's nerves on edge. The old man made his way over to where the altercation was taking place. Lilly could feel the knife on her neck and could tell it had a sharp blade and the thought that some half-crazed larper was running around a wooded area threatening people made her furious.

"Jesus Christ, man! Are you trying to kill someone?" Lilly backed away from the knife's edge, only to bump into the man who was holding it. She held up her arms trying to get him to pull the knife away. "I just got lost, I'm not a part your damn game!" The older man cocked a bushy eyebrow in her direction, presumably at the man who was standing behind her.

The knife dropped from her neck and the man moved away. He was swathed in dark clothing and had a hood pulled down over his eyes. If I didn't know any better, Lilly thought grimly passing her eyes over the pair of men, I would swear these two walked straight out Lord of the Rings.

"I do apologize, my dear. It's not often one sees other travelers upon this road." The old man had a distinctly English accent and a kind face covered with a thick beard the same shade of grey as his robes. "But if you do not mind me asking, how did you get here?" The 'ignorant of all things modern' act was slowly wearing down Lilly's patience.

"I think I hit my head," Lilly explained to the old man, avoiding meeting the eyes of the other younger man shrouded in darkness. "I can't remember anything after I got off the subway this morning except-," except for falling through darkness. "I mean, I just can't remember anything." Lilly shook her head, that fall had not been real she was sure.

"Subway?" The grey old man questioned causing Lilly's eyes to nearly roll back into her skull. "Look, I just need to get pointed in the right direction toward civilization and I'll be on my way." The two men looked at Lilly like she was insane. "Look, I know you guys can get really ingrained in your characters, but I really need help right now." They still made no move to point her in the right direction and continued staring at her.

"Where are you travelling from?" The younger man asked quietly, perplexed by all that had come from the mouth of the small women. "Oh, for fuck's sake!" Lilly had had enough of these two and turned on her heel back the way she came; getting eaten by a bear, in her opinion, would be more fun than this.

"My lady, wait!" The old man called hurrying after her. Suddenly, Lilly felt her body seize as if all her muscles had clenched at once. She could not move even to lift a finger and the old man quickly caught up to her. "I am quite sorry for this my lady, but you, I do believe, are not part of this world."

The minute she could move again, Lilly decided, she was going to punch this old man in the teeth.

The younger man bound her hands with a rope that chafed her wrists and looked as if it had been dragged through mud. "This is only a precaution," He told her in a low voice, nodding toward the rope and Lilly began to worry for her life. Finding she could move, Lilly dropped to the ground and sat on the small path that the two men had previously been walking on.

"You both are crazy, just where the hell do you think we are?" Lilly demanded of the old man who slowly knelt down to sit beside her. "We three, my dear, are all in Middle Earth," he said pulling a long wooden pipe from his robes. "Near Rivendell on the road towards the Hidden Valley to be exact." Lilly grew more concerned as the old man stuffed some odd-looking into his pipe and lit it with a flick of his finger.

"That's a nice thought, I guess," Lilly edged away from the man. "But seeing as that place doesn't exist, I'm going to we're somewhere near the Humber River."

The old man chuckled and began blowing smoke rings, a skill Lilly would not have guessed an old man to possess. As the rings began changing colour however, Lilly could only think of one book character that so perfectly matched this man's description.

"You're Gandalf." The statement startled Lilly even though she had been the one to make it. "Quite right," the old man replied as he tapped out his on the road. "I mean, you're pretending to be Gandalf, right?" Lilly corrected herself, the thought that she was in the presence of a wizard was absolutely crazy.

"Pretend?" The younger man stood in front of Lilly causing her to have to crane her neck to look at his face. "Just who are to question a wizard?"

"It is quite alright, Aragorn, my old friend." The old man rose slowly, heavily dependent on his walking stick. He offered a hand up to Lilly. "I do believe we are very close to Rivendell, where I may answer some of the questions our new friend may have." Lilly grudgingly accepted his hand up and with her hands still bound together, brightened at the thought of going back to civilization, even if she had to do so being led by crazy people.

Kind of not pleased with how this turned out. Next chapter will be better.