Disclaimers: All material from The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy belongs to J.R.R. Tolkien, New Line Cinema, Warner Brothers and Turbine. All other material from other works related to Middle-earth belong to J.R.R. Tolkien. I only own the OCs, including my main female lead Aaylie Winter, the plot and any other original material from this fanfiction story.

Yes, I know this very popular cliché, about the Girl falling into Middle-earth, has been done numerous times. Only I am not here to write an exact replica of J.R.R. Tolkien's works or the films, which I do enjoy watching and re-watching. Those are their own works. What I am saying is that if any tiny details get changed, odds are it will affect everything else in Middle-earth. So, we may end up with a similar ending, just not the exact same events. But I do know is if this is done right, and the story has a strong beginning, then the rest of the story will fall into place.

With that said, if you don't like this cliché, you don't have to read it. I'm not making you. This choice on whether or not you wish to read my work is up to you, readers. Okay, let's begin. :)

Inspiration for the story's title and the prologue came from the band Ruelle's song for MTV's television adaptation "The Shannara Chronicles" – which is good, by the way – "Until We Go Down". This song greatly helps set the mood for this story and where its heading.

Prologue:

Flight through the Woods

My heart beat frantically inside my chest.

I could not stop running. The deep recesses of my mind were playing tricks with me. But one thought was made clear: Face Frodo Baggins, Aaylie. It cried, as if hoping I would answer its request. Tell him you're sorry. Tell him you –

I ignored my thoughts, hoping I could find a way out of these woods alone. The trees, with their thick, crusted bark and branches that stood higher up the ground than I, looked the same. The brown pine needles stabbed at the tender parts of my feet. Oh, I wish I had worn shoes or boots. No one should walk in the woods without boots. In fact, what was I doing out here? There was no way –

Apologize to Frodo! NOW! My mind screamed. I had to shut it out. What I did was worse than anything I had done before, and I hadn't been on Middle-earth's soil for long.

Was it possible to face the hobbit I was beginning to know? It was only one night. One innocent night and I made a complete fool out of myself. And then there was Pearl Took, the one hobbitess I never expected would – no, I couldn't blame her. I couldn't blame Frodo. I could only blame myself and that was just…

Aaylie Winter, apologize to Frodo Baggins this instance. My mind could be such a pain.

Why don't you apologize to him? I couldn't bear admitting Frodo's name out loud.

Because I'm you. The thought answered inside my head. Well, it was right about that. But one thing wasn't clear: would Frodo ever forgive me?

I couldn't go back. And yet I looked back at the distant village. The Hill was visible. Maybe I could… no, I shouldn't. I mustn't. Surely there was a reason for my leaving Bag End unnoticed. No. My better plan was just moving on, going about searching for a way home. That was where I belonged.

And yet, even as the ground became harder to tread across, my mind keep pounding me with questions: what will I say to Frodo when I see him again? How big of an idiot had I been to him? What was the point of sticking around the Shire, when all I did was the wrong thing? These were questions I sorely hoped would be answered. But how could I know? How would I know they were real?

The loud flowing water captured my thoughts. It was water I needed. Yes, that was it. The water would wipe my tears and quench my thirst. I crashed through dead leaves in an effort to reach the water… only the ground fell. I slid down the hill, letting my body tumble down further until I was sore and numb. I shivered from the cold. I couldn't stop falling, but at last instinct picked up. I grabbed a loose root, holding onto it for dear life.

The drop was a few feet down. I was afraid of heights. Panic formed in my head. The last few hours of my accident didn't matter. What mattered was that I was about to fall to my death and no one was coming to save me. My heart beat faster inside my chest. Didn't anyone know I was down here?

My hands gripped the root, which was slipping from my grasp. I closed my eyes. Yes, I would climb out of the ditch on my own. I reached for a stone, but in vain, for the stone rolled to the bottom, right into the flowing river below. I tried again, only the effort made the root sink down. I held on. I couldn't escape and, from the looks of things, I was alone with only my thoughts.

Who would find me now?

Yeah, a traumatizing cliffhanger, but this is the Prologue. So, there will be more to come. Although I understand there will be readers thinking prologues need to be really long chapters, I've done my research and prologues can be really short, if need be. I just didn't know what else to write and I don't want to risk giving too much away before we've begun. Thanks for reading so far. :)