Not mine. Just sharing the toys in the sandpit.

(Fate Speech)

Welcome to my first ever story. Thank you for taking the time to read and if you feel like it, please leave CONSTRUCTIVE criticisms only. This is a Fem Harry / Alt universe story, but hopefully not like others.

This is a Harry Potter story told from another person's point of view in the first person and I hope you enjoy it.

And a shit load of bad language as well. You have been warned...

Im back. After an almost 18 month break my real life issues have sorted themselves out for now.

Sorry for making you wait for so long.

Also, the entire story has been re-edited. There have been some major and minor changes. I have also changed the paragraph structure and closed some of the plot holes that upon re-reading made me go "WTF did you write THAT for?"

Chapter 1...

With a gout of red that sprayed across what is left of the cave entrance, the last of my team mates died. Killed by a bullet from the Taliban forces that are trying to overrun our... well my position. I see a shadow in the dust haze and snap my modified F88 Styer rifle up, pulling the trigger at the same time. The scream of pain as the shadow drops is horribly loud next to the pfft of the suppressed weapon. I rub the stubble on my chin and have a quick look around and at what I have left to work with and decide that basically I am fucked.

My team and I had been HALO'd into this area to supposedly rescue four United Nations Aide workers that had been kidnapped by the Taliban and were been ransomed. Unfortunately, the hostages were already dead and the terrorists were waiting for us. As soon as we landed, everything went to shit. They opened up on us from three sides and took out two of my team before we even knew what the fuck was going on. We scrambled for cover and managed to get our asses into the cave where we are currently holed up.

Now as everyone knows, the main players in the developed world do not negotiate with hostage takers. This rule however does not stop the Secretary General of the UN sending my team and I into "liberate" any hostages before the deadline has past and they are killed.

This rule is especially true when the said Aide workers actually work for the UN and is even more valid when one of them happens to be his niece.

And that man happens to be my boss.

I work for an arm of the United Nations whose existence is only to known to very few people.

Thanks to movies like Team America and their friggin hilarious piss take of Hans Brix and Kim Jong-Il. Most people believe that the UN is a toothless tiger. This could not be further from the truth.

I work for the United Nations Critical Response and Tactical Team or UNICRATT. Like the UN, we are a multinational force and our job is to basically go in, rescue any hostages or any other tactical requirement and kill every mother fucker that gets in the way of that objective.

Once we have completed the rescue, we hand the released hostages over to be debriefed, and to sign an old growth forest worth of paper saying that they never saw us, never heard us and that they will never say anything about us.

We jokingly call it the Hear No, See No and Speak No debrief.

I am the boss of team 4 and we are based in Australia, more precisely Brisbane. More precisely... well you don't need to know that. UNICRATT has six teams based in different parts of the world to deal with any hostage taking and terrorism threat that arises. These teams also rotate through any current hostile areas (war zones) in which UN personnel are stationed or deployed.

I was serving as a Captain in the Australian SAS when I was approached by a recruiter, and after saying yes, the rest is lost in a haze of the most hardcore and painful training I had ever had.

Considering that I was SAS that is saying a shit load.

After three years of hell that would make the most enthusiastic practioners of BDSM cringe and become celibate, I was given my own team and promoted to Commander. After several highly successful operations, we devolped a reputation as one of the most successful and brutally efficient teams in the UN.

One of the first hostages that we rescued gave us our call sign, when during his de-brief, he said that our entering the building he was been held in sounded like an avenging angel was coming.

Hence, Archangel.

"Archangel, this is Linebacker. What is your status?" the voice of the controller for this mission into southern Afghanistan echoes into my headset from my satellite radio.

I push the button on my throat mic. "This is Archangel Six." - Six is the call sign given to a Team Leader.

"Situation is I'm humped. Team is KIA and I have at least 40 Tangos advancing on my position. I could really use some support right about now" I pull the pin, count to three, and toss a frag grenade out the entrance to the cave. The noise from the explosion adds a rather telling counter point to the conversation I believe.

"Six, no air support available. All we have is artillery."

"Fuck me." I breathe. I can't believe this shit. Using the flimsy cover that is between me and the Taliban, I manage to crawl my way to the mouth of the cave and sneak a peek around a rock that hadn't been blasted into pebbles during the last hour.

I can see at least thirty terrorists forming up to rush my position. I guestimate I have about five minutes before I will be joining my teammates. "Linebacker, this is Arc Six. I am about to be over-run. Drop every fucking thing you have on my GPS now."

"Six confirm" the slightly flustered voice of the controller asks.

"Everything on me right fucking now." I scream into the radio. "There are thirty of the fuckers about to rush me. I do not want to be captured and tortured by those assholes. Do it, do it now."

A different, much older and more mature voice comes over the radio. "Arc Six, this is Shotgun Six. Hunker down son. I am about to drop the entire world on top of you. Get to the back of the cave your hiding in, grab the body armour off you fallen men and cover yourself. You have incoming in two minutes."

I squeeze the trigger and empty the rest of the custom seventy round magazine out the mouth of the cave to keep the assholes heads down as l scramble backwards and move towards the first of the four bodies of my team.

Grabbing the body armour as fast as I can. I get three of them when I hear the sounds of the division's 105mm guns opening up. I have about sixty seconds before they land on me. I grab my pack (hey every little bit helps) and race to the back of the cave and find a hollow that hopefully (yeah right) protect me.

"Thirty seconds Archangel. Good luck" the voice of the artillery commander came over my radio.

"Thank you Sir." I replied. Not much else to say to that really. While I am waiting for the end of the world, I look around the niche that I am burrowed into. 30 seconds takes a shit load of time to pass. I notice some weird hieroglyph looking symbols arrayed in a diamond formation around what looks to be a lightning bolt.

I rub the grime and dust that is partially obscuring the symbols and discover that it is indeed a lightning bolt, and the symbols around it are actually representations of planets. I rub my forehead, not noticing as I did that it came away covered in blood that was leaking from a cut just below the rim of my helmet.

I put my blood covered hand onto the lightning bolt and tried to rub away more of the grime. As my hand leaves a trail of blood on the rock, I hear the sound of an approaching freight train and realising that my time is up, I close my eyes and wait for the end.

In the explosions that follow I do not notice as a blinding light surrounds me. I feel an intense heat from the artillery rounds, and then my stomach drops out from under me and I start to fall, as if I was on one of the rollercoaster's at Dreamworld on the Gold coast back home in Australia. Australia, god I am going to miss that place.

I opened my eyes and all I can see is a blackness that rivalled one of the coal mines that my team and I had trained in before deploying to this shithole of a sandpit. That was my last thought before something slammed into my body and I was ended.

...

I hear whispering voices and my training kicks in and I am instantly alert, but without the telltale change in breathing patterns or tensing up that could alert my captors to my altered state of awareness. I concentrate on the voices that I can here and hope to be able to gain some Intel on where I am and who they are and more importantly what the fuck happened.

Ok first things first. Check for breaks and body damage. As slowly as I can, I minutely flex all of my joints and muscles. I am stoked that there appears to be nothing broken, just the ache that comes with the bumps and bruises that you get in any combat situation.

Ok so I'm off to a good start.

Next, weapons.

I concentrate on my thighs and feel a tightness that signifies that at least the holsters for both my Glock 9's are still attached. This gives me some hope. I can feel a pressure on my chest, back and shoulders and a weight on my head and neck that hint that my body armour, pack and helmet are still with me.

Fuck yeah. I'm almost golden.

Now the hardest part. Intel. Where, who, what. This is more difficult. I am focused on the voices still and I can hear no change in the volume or intonation that tells me that my captors - or whoever the fuck they are- are even aware that I am conscious. I start to slowly crack open my right eye when a women's voice no more than three feet from me tells me that I'm busted.

"Good afternoon Commander." There is no emotion in the voice. It is plain, dry, with almost no humanity in it what so ever. "Please do not pretend. I know you are conscious and have been for the past four minutes and twenty seven seconds." The murmuring voices stopped instantly. And I am immediately on full alert.

"Fuck!" my mind moves at a warp speed that would put the Enterprise to shame, trying to come up with contingency plans and escape and evasion scenarios. I opened my eyes and looked towards the voice, only to have whoever was driving the Enterprise run it into a friggin wall.

I'm humped.

The person, if you could call it that, was about six feet tall and very slender. They were dressed in a gray robe that touched the ground and trailed behind them. The robe was belted with a thick black belt that gave the impression of sucking all the light into its surface.

I looked closer at the belt and realised that it was covered in the same celestial design as what was on the wall in the cave. It had no nose or mouth. Just a pair of the brightest blue eyes I had ever seen. There was no black of the pupil; no white of the sclera, just the entire eye was electric blue. And they were staring right into my soul.

"Do not be concerned Commander." The voice seemed to echo around my head. Telepathy I realise. "I and my associates do not intend to hurt or harm you in anyway. We actually need your help." She turns towards her companions and I take note that these were the people that whose murmuring conversation greeted me when I first regained conscious.

She gestures and a table that would have looked at home in any high end conference room and half a dozen comfortable chairs appeared out of thin air. "Please join us Commander. We have alot to discuss before you make your choice."

"Choice?" I think to myself. I am currently trying to get the image of Eric Cartman with a satellite growing out of his ass out of my head. I hear a snort in my mind that seems to be coming from the person? – being? – person? To my right.

"We are not going to probe you Commander." I take note of this person and notice that their appearance is exactly the same with the exception of their eyes. The one who snorted had bright green and the last one when I turned my head towards them had purple.

The three of them settle themselves into their seats and I realise with a start that I am still in a heap on the ground. I stumble to my feet and realise that I am indeed still fully kitted in everything that I had on me when the ass fell out of the world.

I shrug off my pack and unclip my Styer from the shoulder of my body armour and lay it next to my pack. As I walk towards a seat I push both my pistols down to get them back into a comfortable position. I also notice that my knee guards are off centre and take a second to fix them as well.

You may think that I am being a bit preoccupied with my appearance but while I was "fixing" my kit I was busy scoping out the room and looking for escape routes. There was nothing. Just a room that seemed to go into infinity. Crap.

I pulled out a chair and sank down into it, and made eye contact with each of the tree in turn. "You said you wanted to have a discussion with me" I said to get things started.

"Introductions first" Said the one with blue eyes. "I am Clotho. My Sister to my right with the green eyes is Lachesis and the Sister to my left is Atopos. Together we are."

"The Fates" I said in what I thought was a whisper. "Fuck me" I took my helmet off and started to feel over my shaven - absently noting that I was due to crank out the razor again- head to check for any bumps, dints or cuts that might signal a concussion. The silence since my little outburst was deafening, and the ladies seemed to be giving me a few minutes to finish my search for head trauma.

Nada. Shit.

I put my helmet on the table in front of me and pull off my gloves. To borrow a phrase from one of my favourite movies namely Bad Boys 2. "This shit just got real." I rub my eyes and look back at the three fates sitting serenely in front of me.

"Please let me get this straight." I almost beg. My training was hardcore and full on but nothing was coming up in the memory banks for info on how to deal with mystical shit that don't friggin exist except in movies, books and TV series. "You" I said pointing to the first person – bollocks – Fate. "Are Clotho, the Fate of Life. Your Sister here I point to the glowing green eyed one is Lachesis the Fate of Mortality, and..."

"Yes Commander" interrupts Atopos. Her purple eyes are trying to bore an extra hole in my head. "I am Atopos the Fate of the Knife. We bought you here to ask for your help." She paused and looked at her Sisters. They both nodded at her.

"Please continue Sister" said Clotho waving her hand in my direction.

"Thank you Sister" those Tunnel Boring Machine eyes cranked up the drill speed almost daring me to interrupt her.

I felt like I was back in the RSM's office getting my ass handed to me cause we got drunk on weekend leave after our graduation, commandeered the CO's Land rover and parked it in the base pool.

Actually scratch that.

This chick is WAY more friggin scarier than my old RSM. I gulp and try to give her my full attention. Even though my brain is screaming at me that this couldn't be happening that I must be unconscious in that cave and this is just my mind fucking with me.

"No Alexander" she said shocking me again. No one called my Alexander. Everyone calls me AJ. But I'm rambling again. "You are not still in that cave. If you were you would be dead. You called in for a strike on your GPS location and they dropped almost a ton of high explosives within three feet of your location. So yes I would say you would be dead." She paused, then turned to Lachesis who held up a thread that was a dull blue colour. It almost looked like the light was about to go...

"Bollocks" I whisper to myself as the implications become clear. My life literally hangs by a thread. I try and drag my eyes back to Atopos but the thread pulled tight between Lachesis hands is drawing me to it. I can feel the life force growing fainter. I feel myself starting to hyperventilate and my heart starts to race and I can't breathe.

"Sister" one lone voice. Not raised above normal conversation, but never the less, the voice of command. I swivel my head towards Clotho.

"Sorry Sister" Lachesis lowers my Thread and I feel my heart rate start to slow. "Are you ready to listen now Commander?" She asks and I try to swallow, my suddenly bone dry throat makes it impossible. Clotho waves her hand and a glass of water appears in front of me. I grab it and drain it in seconds. As soon as I put it back on the table it refills itself again.

"Yes Mam" I turn my head back towards Atopos and nod that I am ready to hear her story.

"Very Well Commander" she pauses. "As you have guessed, we are the Fates. Our job for want of a better term is to weave the fabric of life and death and when a person has fulfilled their purpose, it is our responsibility to cut their thread and allow them to move on. However." She paused to take a breath.

"It may come as a shock to you AJ." She paused again. "Actually," she continued. "It will come as a shock to you when I tell you that yours is not the only reality in existence."

I rock back in my chair at that revelation. Only my years of training allow me to ignore the part of my brain that is telling me to evac right the hell now.

"Every fantasy book, movie or television show that depicts something supernatural actually exists in another reality. Name a couple of your favourite fantasy movies or books."

"Serenity" I say without a seconds pause. The skin around Atopos eyes crinkle and I get the impression that she is smiling. "Harry Potter" This time she shares a knowing look with her fellow Fates. "Fuck me" I breathe as realisation strikes. "Does this mean that"

"Yes AJ" Lachesis voice echoes with laughter inside my head. "There are Jedi and Light Sabres do exist.

I can't help but look over my shoulder to my trusty F88 and feel that it isn't as cool as I once thought it was.

Atopos continues her tale. "In these worlds obviously the stories and movies of themselves do not exist. For example there isn't a TV series and Movie about Fire Fly and Serenity. Those people and version of their stories actually exist in their dimension. The reason why there are books and movies about these different worlds is the reason why we bought you here now."

She pauses and I can tell that I am allowed to ask one or two questions now. I pause for a few seconds to gather my thoughts.

"OK. If these different realities exist, then how do people like George Lucas and Joss Whedon come up with the ideas for these shows?"

"Simple" Clotho interrupts her Sister. "Muses place what is needed into the head of these people and they write a book or a movie about it. Simple"

"Simple" I scoff to myself, then I pause for a second and actually think about what I have just been told. It actually is pretty simple if you do not think about the scale of what the three Fates are telling me.

You may think that I am taking this rather calmly and being very excepting about what is being told to me. All I can say is that I actually saw and felt my very soul being held in Lachesis' hands before.

I know what that felt like.

Trust me when I say that I believe everything that these ladies are telling me. Also, flip the coin. They already told me that I would be dead if I was still in that cave so what harm can it do to listen to what they have to say.

I am also taking a shit load of comfort from the fact that they have already asked for my help. I turn back to Atopos and look back into her glowing purple eyes and nod for her to continue.

She smiles at me then I once again hear her voice in my head. "Another thing that you have to understand is that magic is real. In your world it does not exist. There are other worlds where everyone has magic." Here she pauses and looks at me to connect the dots.

"Harry Potter" I breathe. I make eye contact with all three of them in turn. "There are also worlds where both exist. You have a problem on one of these magic and non- magic worlds that you want me to fix?"

I can see the wrinkles around all three of the Fates eyes now that I hopefully am interpreting correctly as smiling. Otherwise I could be in it big time.

"Yes AJ. That is exactly what we need you to help us with." Clotho takes over the story. We are going to send you to help Imogen Potter."

"Imogen?" I ask leaning forward. "Isn't it supposed to be Harry Potter the boy with the massively hyphenated name meant to take out the bad dude with the other massively hyphenated name?"

"Quite" Clotho gives me a look and I sit back in my seat again. "While our Muses give the people who write the movies or books the necessary encouragement, it is up to the individual who actually writes them as to what names and genders are given to the characters that they portray."

"So while Ms Rowling's wrote the Harry Potter stories, the actual person is Imogen Potter and she has yet to do anything that has been written about." She stopes for a minute and looks to her Sisters as if asking permission to continue. Both Atropos and Lachesis nod sadly at her.

"Alex, if you do not agree to help her we will be cutting her thread within the week and that world will fall into a darkness that will consume that entire reality and billions of people will die in the most gruesome ways."

"Why now?" I ask into the silence following that pronouncement. "You have alluded to the fact that she has being in trouble for some time if not years. Why have you suddenly waited until she has a week left to live before you bring me here to help her? Aren't you cutting it bit close?"

Bugger, I can't believe what I just said. The sniggering in my head from one of the three Fates tells me that they at least one of them found it funny.

"The answer is simple AJ." Clotho continues. "Higher Beings are not allowed to directly interfere in any Dimension, so we cannot stop the treatment that Miss Potter is experiencing. If we could life would be a utopian society." She paused and Lachesis took over the explanation.

"As for why we bought you here this late in the game to help. It is simple. We did not plan on you per se, but we hoped for anyone who fit the criteria and activated the Runic Cluster that bought you here."

I nod my head as a mental image of the diamond formation around the lightning bolt that I had touched in the cave.

"Yes Commander" Atropos gave that crinkly eye thing that I am still hoping is a Fate version of a smile. "The Dimensional Cluster is activated by blood and it was that which allowed us to bring you here. It was us that influenced your enemy to leave a way for your team to evacuate to the cave."

"The Dimensional Clusters are hidden in four locations in each World. It is only when another Dimension is on the brink of a catastrophic event will a worthy champion be summons to us."

I get up and start to pace around the end of the table as I start to process what is being asked of me and what I would need to do and or obtain to accomplish the mission. You will note that I had already moved rather quickly onto accepting my Fate.

If you stop and think about it, what friggin choice did I really have? Say sod it, I die and so do billions of others. And then I have to spend eternity or whatever the hell it is knowing what I could have done. Or just say bugger it and move on and try and be the friggin hero. Pfft, some choice.

"Ok" I look towards the Fates to see them all looking at me with what could only be considered hope in their eyes. "Read me in."

Thanks for reading.