Angel is a Charmed One, sent back in time to Middle-Earth to ward the Fellowship against a demon who seeks to alter the past. But how long can she keep her powers a secret, especially when she cannot control them herself? (Not a Legomance)
Disclaimer: I don't own The Lord of the Rings. It belongs to J.R.R. Tolkien, whose literary skills are unmatched by any other writer. (Yes, I worship Tolkien.) Also, I do not own Charmed. It was created by Constance M. Burge, and the WB 20. However, I do own Angel, Kendall, and any other OC's that are mentioned here, as well as the basic plot in this story (excluding the LOTR theme).
A/N: Do not expect the first few chapters to be as well written as the later ones, but please stick with it. I promise that it'll get better.
Magic has long been the heritage of the world, older than the time of creation itself, when Eru, the One, forged the world. In an age long past, magic flowed strong through the veins of the earth, free and pure. It was the substance of life, it was what fueled dreams and kept hope alive.
But evil would not let it remain so.
Good and evil counteract each other in an endless struggle for power, amidst the vast workings of the universe, yin and yang, the light and the dark. Magic proved easily swayed to either force, and evil found ways to pervert it to their use.
There came creatures who indulged in dark power, shrouded themselves in blackness and deception. They shunned the light and indulged themselves in the misery of others. They found ways to twist magic for their foul purposes and focus its energy into powers.
Thus, the first demons came into being.
The first children of Eru were the Valar. Among them was one who rebelled, in his belief that true power lay in the Dark, not the Light. His name was Morgoth, and he was the first to taint the purity of magic. He underwent numerous supernatural transformations, stripped himself of all good and immersed in darkness. When he resurfaced, he was a thing no longer recognizable as a creation of Eru. Morgoth became the first Source of All Evil. He rallied the demons together under his rule and with his converted beings of the light to the dark side. He worked to destroy all that the Valar had created, and poisoned the Trees of Valinor.
In response, the Valar created witches, beings blessed with powers of true magic, as magic should have been before it was fouled with darkness. It became their destiny to hunt demons, to eradicate evil from the land. Many were lost in battles with demons, but they fought on doggedly. Some succumbed to evil as Morgoth had and became warlocks. Despite the heavy toll taken on their kind, the witches managed to endure through many generations.
Their children learned their craft in order to carry on the task given by the Valar so many ages ago, and their children, in turn, did the same until the memories of the olden days were little more than vague whispers of the past. The need to fight the Shadow and all that it stood for became part of their blood, and the line of witches survived many eons, though with each generation their powers became weaker and their numbers less.
The traitors of their kind, the warlocks, wreaked havoc across the land, and the connection with these evil-doers, combined with fear born out of the ignorance of those who did not understand magic, caused witches to became feared, hated, and mistrusted among other peoples. They were burned at the stake, hunted, and prosecuted, until finally, they were forced to hide their identities. Eventually, they were forgotten as the world changed. They protected the innocent and often gave their own lives to counter evil, but always in the shadows were these deeds done. Their acts went unnoticed, and soon the world forgot that demons and warlocks existed, and even magic became no more than whimsical tales out of bedtime stories.
But the witches fought on still.
Then a prophecy was made that three sister witches would be born, powerful enough to defeat all evil and put the world at peace. Piper, Phoebe, and Prue Halliwell were these witches, and became known as the Charmed Ones. They lived through many things that would have torn anyone else apart. All seemed lost when the oldest sister died, but the Power of Three was resurrected by another, their half-sister, Paige Mathews, and so the prophecy still lived. By a chance quirk of fate, however, the middle sister was killed, and the Power of Three was shattered once again, this time permanently. The prophecy had not been fulfilled. Now it was up to their children to carry on the legacy. This is their story. . .
She still remembered it clearly. She could picture every moment from the day it all started. The memories were undimmed, as distinct as the instant it happened and forever branded in her mind. She had buried it all such a long time ago, and now, as she brought them up back from the seemingly fathomless depths of time, they were still there, painful in the sudden remembrance and the clarity of the details, as it is painful for one who has shielded himself from the daylight for some time to step into the blinding light.
Sometimes she thought that if she had not followed him through the portal it might not have happened. Sometimes she thought that it might have been better if it hadn't.
For the pain of it would never leave her.
There had been good times, too, she reminded herself quickly, as if remembering them could dim out the bad ones. She had learned a lot – about herself, about so many other things. But now. . .now she would gladly trade all that for what she had lost in the process of learning those things.
She sat silently as she had done so many times before, swaying slowly back and forth in the creaky rocking armchair in a dusty attic. In her wrinkled hands, she grasped a small object so tightly that her bony fingers turned white. She kept with her through the years this bittersweet treasure. A grimy window was at her back, coated in layers of filth that obscured the sunlight. She could hear the laughing and shouts of children playing down in the streets, and she envied them so for they had what she had lost.
She did not move, but she closed her eyes, and in doing so, set her mind free to wander back to the days of her youth. The events that had taken place along the way grew clearer in her worn mind like pictures being fine tuned into focus. She flipped through the memories like a book, until she found what she was looking for.
A frosty autumn morning that should have been the start of a wonderful vacation. The day that started her out on a journey in which she had lost and gained so much.
She stopped at that point and allowed everything to replay themselves in her mind like a movie as she watched. The old attic faded into black and she was in another setting entirely. She was in a different time and place now. The years had rewinded themselves almost half a century and she was a girl again in her mind.
Ch. 1: More Than Meets the Eye
Angelyn Halliwell, soon to be 19 in a few short months, defied all definitions of the term 'normal.' Nothing had ever been normal for her, she hadn't ever gone for a whole month without killing off a 'bad guy,' as she would have said as a child. No, not 'bad guys' as in computer game aliens or monsters, but real ones that constantly threatened an all-too-ignorant world.
They were demons and warlocks, foul beings she, and others like her, relentlessly hunted, or sometimes the other way around. It had been so since the creation of humankind, and would no doubt continue until one side succumbed to the other in its entirety.
She was a Charmed One, along with her older brother and sister. It was a gift and honor, but sometimes a curse as well. It was not something they had asked for, nor was it even something fate had determined for them. Angelyn's mother, Phoebe, had been a Charmed One as well, though when she died, the role was passed on to her children. Phoebe's death was not something destined to happen, so nor was Angelyn destined to become a Charmed One in her mother's place. But her duty now was to protect the innocent and to maintain the balance of good and evil in the world.
Together, they fought whatever evil decided to throw their way, sometimes barely scraping through close shaves, cheating death on other occasions. But today, at least, would a vacation, a time out from the stress of being a witch. Today, she would be just like any other high school senior on Thanksgiving Break and take a break off from her demon-hunting. Her homework was finished and her books were in the closet for dust to accumulate on over the break. Nothing could go wrong – or so she thought.
Her sister, Kendall, and her brother Adrian were both home from college for the Thanksgiving Break. Adrian was the oldest at the age of twenty-two, and Kendall was twenty.
And it made her feel a little easier knowing that they were home, though she felt slightly ashamed of it. She had had several run-ins with demons who decided that the youngest Halliwell would prove easy prey in the absence of the older two Charmed Ones. Mostly, it was Wyatt who stepped in and saved her, and it humiliated her for being so dependent on her Whitelighter/cousin. Supposedly, she was one of the most powerful witches in the world, and she couldn't even handle a lower level demon without her Whitelighter coming to her rescue.
(A/N: A Whitelighter is a guardian angel that watch over and guide good people. Wyatt is not actually a true Whitelighter, because he is half Whitelighter and half witch, but because he acts as a guardian for Angel and her siblings, he is considered as one, at least in my story anyway. )
Adrian and Kendall knew nothing of those encounters. If they had, Angelyn doubted that either of them would go back to college. As much as she hated to admit it, Angel knew that she wasn't as experienced in magic as Adrian or Kendall, nor could she control her powers as easily. She had also been extremely late to come into her powers as a child as well. It was only when she was almost seven that her first powers began to show, unlike Wyatt, who showed his abilities before he had even been born, or Kendall, who learned use her first power, telekinesis, at two.
It was a crisp Saturday morning, chilly as well, Angel could see, from the frost forming on the windows. She planned on getting to the humane center where she worked early, for some time alone with the strays, and then the rest of the day hanging out with friends and having fun. She left a brief note on the counter, where it was sure to be found, stating where she was going and that she would be back for lunch, before stepping out into the frigid November morning.
Angel wasn't as tall as many other people her age, nor was she short enough for her height to be noticed or to be labeled a midget. She had straight black hair that reached down to the middle of her back and vivid royal blue eyes. . . her mom used to say that she looked just like Aunt Prue. No one would ever tell by looking at her that she was more than what met the eye.
Angel walked through the lawn onto the sidewalk, gazing up at a feeble sun peering out from behind a veil of clouds as she approached the woods. One of these days she was going to drag Kendall, Adrian, and Wyatt out of their spell books and force them to spend a little family time together.
The animal center where she worked part time was not far from the house. She laughed softly as she asked herself why she didn't quit the job. With the exception of her dog Comet, all animals seemed to instinctively hate her, but she held nothing against them. But she needed a job, and the Humane Center needed workers. . . and that was how it turned out.
She rounded a street corner and walked into the alley that she used for a shortcut. She paced through the dark abandoned alleyway for a moment before she began to feel a sickening sensation in the pit of her stomach. The feeling that she was not alone. And she couldn't shake it, no matter how many times she tried to tell herself that it was just a product of her imagination. The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end, and Angel found herself closing her fist over the handle of the switchblade in her pocket. A low growl reached her ears, barely audible. Angel whirled around and bit back a cry of shock at what stood before her – a demon. His face was blood red with black streaks on his forehead, cheeks, chin, and around his eyes, and his ears were pointed
He held up a fireball in his hand and grinned as he approached Angel. "A Charmed One, I can only presume."
"And what is it to you?" Angel asked cautiously, eyeing the dancing flames with apprehension.
"You know very well what I want."
And she did. It was the same with every demon she had encountered. He wanted her powers, and to break the Power of Three.
The demon threw the fireball at her. Angel barely had time to think before she dodged it. She flung her own fireball at him, but he held his hand out before it reached him and sent it back at her. This time, he caught her off guard and Angel was hurled to the ground roughly. 'Hit by my own attack', thought Angel miserably. She got up as the demon approached and flashed her hand out to unleash her exploding power. The demon growled in pain and fury, clutching his shoulder as dark reddish-black blood seeped out between his fingers.
"You'll pay for that, witch!" he hissed before turning to escape.
"Hey! I'm not done yet!" said Angel, rather foolishly, about to run after him. Strange, she thought, that a demon like this would retreat after such a minor injury. A circle of spiraling golden light appeared out of nowhere before the demon, suspended in mid-air.
'A portal? To where?'
The demon stepped through the portal and disappeared in the blinding light. Angel debated on whether she should follow. But the portal was starting to close, and Angel made a split second rash decision. She sprinted and vaulted in.
The next thing she knew, Angel was thrown to the ground. She groaned and lifted herself up. The portal had taken them to a forest of some kind. Angel looked up and saw the demon running in front of her. She forced herself into a sprint, trying to ignore the protest of her aching body. It wasn't long, however, before she lost him in the trees.
Angel knelt on the forest floor to catch her breath, cursing. The demon had escaped, and she had no idea where she was. For all she knew, she could have been taken to China. And worse, she could barely walk because of the pain in her stomach where her own fireball had hit her. 'Of all places he could have hit me . . . it had to be where I've already been bruised by the last demon.'Angel stroked her midriff, and by the sharp stings, she knew that it would be black and blue by tomorrow.
She had no clue where she was, she didn't know how to get back, and she had internal bleeding.
Kendall fought to keep down her rising panic. It was nearly nightfall, and Angel was nowhere to be found. She had left a note saying that she had gone to work at the humane center, but even so, she should have come home hours ago. Wyatt and Adrian were out looking for her, and Kendall was trying to locate her with a crystal and a map of New York City and scrying.
(A/N: Scrying is a method that witches can use to locate people or places. This involves having a map spread out before you, and dangling a quartz crystal over the map and concentrating on what you are searching. The crystal will pull towards its location. Sometimes it is helpful to hold a cherished possession to help with concentrating.)
She paused for a while and set down the crystal pendant, moaning in her frustration. Her arm was sore from dangling the crystal over the map. She looked down at the CD collection in her lap. Why was this not working? Was it because the CD collection was not important enough to Angel? If not, what else was important to Angel? Kendall searched through her mind. Angel's reports cards? Her photo album? Kendall gave a tired sigh and looked around the room. Her gaze rested on Angel's golden retriever, Comet, who was sitting at the doorway, whining. 'That's it! Angel absolutely adores that dog!'Kendall put aside the CD's and called, "Here, Comet. Come here."
Comet walked over to where Kendall was sitting, cocking her head to one side.
"OK, Comet, you're going to help me find Angel," said Kendall, hoisting the dog up onto her lap with great difficulty.
Comet barked at the mention of her master's name.
"Let's try this one more time." Kendall picked up the crystal again and suspended it over the map, careful not to overlook any part of the city. She swayed it back and forth slowly. Nothing was happening.
"OK, then she's not in New York." Kendall folded up the map and tossed it aside. She riffled through an atlas that was lying on the table and opened it to a map of North America. Kendall held up the pendent once more and swung it over the map. It still was not working. "And she's not on this continent either."
With a frustrated sigh, she turned the page to a map of the world. A few minutes later, Kendall felt that she was getting nowhere. She had searched through every continent and ocean without any luck. What the hell is going on?
Her panic flared sharply as she considered another possibility that she had been trying to ignore. Could Angel possibly be in another world? But what reason could there be for anyone to want to take Angel to another world?
There was a flash of brilliant blue and white light as Adrian orbed into the kitchen. Her brother was tall, with a strong build and handsome in a grim sort of way with his black hair that kicked up in the front, overshadowing his hazel eyes. With a rough smile that could charm a snake and his relaxed but vigilant stance,
"Any luck?" he asked anxiously as he walked towards Kendall.
Kendall turned around in her chair and looked up at her brother. He was pretty tall. Comet jumped off her lap and bounded off. "No. How 'bout you?"
Adrian shook his head.
"Adrian, I don't even think that Angel is in this plane," said Kendall.
"I don't think so either. I can't sense her."
"So what do we do?"
"Call Wyatt and ask him to talk to the Elders," suggested Adrian.
Kendall nodded once. "Good idea. Wyatt!"
Wyatt suddenly appeared out of a cloud of blue-white light. "Angel isn't on Earth," he said breathlessly.
"We know," sighed Kendall. "Go up to the Elders and tell them what happened. Maybe they can help us find her."
Wyatt orbed out of the kitchen and Kendall cupped her hands under her chin. "So now what do we do?"
"Wait."
They waited several minutes in tense silence, neither speaking to the other, though they shared the same worries. Adrian paced the room, a frown etched on his face. Finally, there was the blaze of light and Wyatt reappeared, looking troubled. Adrian stopped walking and looked at him expectantly. Wyatt did not look at him or Kendall. He stared at the floor.
"What did the Elders say?" demanded Adrian.
"They say that Angel has been taken to a different realm."
Kendall stood up abruptly, ignoring the maps that flew in all directions. "So she is in a different world?"
"No," replied Wyatt. "Angel is still on earth, but she is in a different time realm."
"So she has traveled to the past or the future?" asked Adrian.
"The past." Wyatt looked up at last and his face was clouded with worry. "The Elders told me that she in earth as it would have been a couple thousand years ago. When our world was called 'Middle-earth'."
"So how do we get her back?"
Wyatt did not answer Adrian's question.
"Wyatt?"
"We can't."
There was an uncomfortable silence.
"What?!" cried Adrian. He looked over at his sister. Kendall didn't say anything. She just looked disturbed. He didn't understand how his sister could stay so cool in situations like this.
"The Elders believe that it is best for her to stay."
"And why . . . ?"
Wyatt sighed and sank down into one of the chairs at the table. "Apparently, the demon Belthazor went back in time to Middle-earth so that he could change the past."
Kendall's face took on a look of disbelief. "But I thought Mom, Piper and Paige vanquished him."
"The Elders don't know how he came back, but he did, and with more power than before."
"Okay, but most demons want our powers, not to change what has already happened, so why is this one different?"
"His purpose is the same as all the others, but he's attacking you guys from a different angle." Wyatt ran a hand through his blonde hair and heaved a great sigh. "Apparently, he decided to go back to a time when there was some great war that would decide the fate of the world. Some Dark Lord named Sauron was trying to enslave the world or something like that."
Kendall raised an eyebrow. "Is this Belthazor demon powerful enough to change fate like that?"
"Believe me, he is," replied Wyatt.
"But how will that help him at getting our powers?"
"By allowing Sauron to enslave the world, Belthazor will turn our modern Earth into an enslaved realm."
"You still haven't answered my question."
"He wants to lure one of you there to prevent him from doing what he's trying to do. That would break the Power of Three and leave all of you vulnerable to attack by higher powers."
"Higher powers?"
"Belthazor serves the Source."
"If all three of us stay here, the Earth will be enslaved. If all three of us go to Middle-earth, we'll still have the Power of Three, but Earth will be left unprotected," said Adrian.
"And if we split up, the Power of Three will be broken and we'll get attacked by the Source and then the balance will shift to evil once he kills us and takes our powers," finished Kendall. "Whichever way we choose, we'll end up losing."
Wyatt looked over at her sympathetically and shook his head. "I know it seems that way, but you've always pulled through before."
Adrian suddenly disappeared in a collection of swirling blue and white light. Seconds later, he orbed back, carrying an old leather bound book in his arms – The Book of Shadows.
(A/N: The Book of Shadows is a book that has been in the family for generations. It contains descriptions of demons, warlocks, and other beings that witches know have existed. It also has potions and spells to vanquish them. The Book also has other miscellaneous stuff in it, so it's like a reference book to the Charmed Ones.)
The cover was green and timeworn, and on its cover was the triquetra symbol. He set it down on the table and flipped through yellowed pages of old script. Finally he stopped and pointed to the page. "This is it."
Belthazor
Both powerful and dangerous, this demonic Soldier of fortune has destroyed
countless witches, innocents and demons. As sinister as he is
intelligent, he is not to be trusted. Belthazor's known abilities include
throwing energy balls and shimmering place to place, but his powers are
probably not limited to these capabilities. Belthazor has a human form
and, unlike most demons, he has a soul, which makes him a more powerful enemy
because he understands humans better than most demons.
Kendall looked up from the page, trying to hide her panic. "This doesn't sound like an easy demon to vanquish."
"And the Book doesn't even have the full extent of his powers," added Adrian. "Wyatt, we have to get Angel out of Middle-earth. There is no way she can stop this demon without the Power of Three."
Wyatt shook his head resolutely. "We can't. Belthazor has already started his task in Middle-earth."
"And what good is it to keep Angel there if she can't fight him?" snapped Adrian in exasperation.
"Even if she can't fight Belthazor, at least she'll keep the balance from tilting to evil."
"But Middle-earth and our world are the same, just different time realms, so it wouldn't matter if Belthazor went back to the past, the balance would stay unchanged, wouldn't it?" asked Kendall.
"Do you have any idea what Belthazor is capable of?" replied Wyatt angrily. His patience had snapped and his voice was filled with frustration. "Belthazor was hand-picked by the Source himself to be in The Brotherhood of the Thorn. This is not some dim witted low-level demon we're dealing with here!"
"And do you just want us to leave our sister there so that he can kill her off?!" yelled Adrian in return. He was glaring at the Whitelighter with a look of pure rage.
"That's not what I'm saying! But how much of a chance do you think Middle-earth stands if Angel isn't there to counteract that demon?"
"But she can't fight him alone!"
"I would have thought that by now, you would have learned to stop babying her! You don't have to be so protective of her! She can take care of herself!"
There was a heavy silence following Wyatt's sudden outburst. Kendall could feel the tension in the air. And that wasn't all. She felt Adrian's anger at what Wyatt had said. She could feel the burning white-hot flames licking his insides. She looked back and forth between her brother and the Whitelighter, knowing that Adrian was restraining himself from tackling Wyatt. And for a while, she was consumed by the anger that her brother was feeling. She wanted to hurt Wyatt. But slowly, with a great effort, she mastered her feelings.
(A/N: Ok, if you haven't figured it out already, Kendall is an Empath, meaning that she can feel others' emotions and may even react to those feelings. And as you can see, Kendall does not yet have full control over her power.)
Wyatt knew that he had crossed the line. Slowly, he drew a shaky breath and said quietly, "I didn't mean that, Adrian."
"No, you're right," said Adrian. "She should be able to handle it." He walked over to where the Book lay on the table and orbed it back up to the attic. "I'm going to bed," he mumbled as he headed off towards the staircase without a backward glance.
After he was gone, Wyatt sighed and orbed out of the kitchen, leaving Kendall alone reeling from the combined emotions of Wyatt's guilt and sadness, and Adrian's anger and worry.
If you're willing to spare the time to drop off a review and tell me how you think I did, thank you. If not, well then, I hope you enjoyed the chapter!
Also, I am currently doing a rewrite, which this story really needs, and this chapter was revised, but not ch. 2. So if this chapter does not flow quite so smoothly into Ch. 2, that's why, and I am also aware of a plot hole in Ch. 2, resulted from the rewrite, which I will have fixed ASAP.