AN: This is an idea that has been festering in my head for awhile now, and I have been forced to pay attention. Gomen, forgive me, I really shouldn't be starting another LotR/SM fic. (If you need an idea for one, email me, I have a few ideas started that you could have). My two old ones (as well as those fics from other categories which I really need to get back to) will take preference when it comes time for updates, but I hope to start updating much more often. We shall see lol.

Without further ado, please read, review, and enjoy!

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"Come away, O human child!

To the waters and the wild

With a faery, hand in hand,

"For the world's more full of weeping

than you can understand."

-"The Stolen Child," William Butler Yeats

The night-light shone softly beside the cradle casting a tiny island of light into the darkness. The patch of hair upon the head of the sleeping infant gleamed softly in the half-darkness. Outside, rain pattered gently upon the pavement and thunder grumbled lazily in the distance.

A woman leaned silently on the doorframe, smiling down upon her sleeping child. Only two weeks ago this beautiful angel had entered their happy home. And it was during these hours of peaceful night that her mother could truly appreciate and simply adore her child. She reflected on her joy and exuberant thanks and prayed that this golden-haired child would be the first of many to bless their home.

The low rumble of the storm grew ominously closer. Ikuko heard her husband's footfalls echoing from downstairs. In her mind's eye, she affectionately imagined him striding across the rooms, switching off the lights, checking that the appliances were off, and finally locking the front door for the night.

A great bolt of lightning suddenly fell from the sky and shattered the peaceful night. Ikuko jumped in surprise with a slight yelp. She quickly clamped her hands over her mouth to avoid waking her sleeping baby. The thunder boomed through the night. She tried to compose herself once more, nervously laughing at her childishness. It was only a thunderstorm. Why was she scared witless as if she were a six-year-old?

The lightning cracked and the thunder boomed once more. Ikuko began to move away from the doorframe but was startled by a cry from the baby's crib.

She hurried back inside to comfort her daughter as she whimpered in her sleep. Crack! Boom! She smoothed the blankets and caressed her baby, and the child quieted. However, her sleep became restless as she began to toss and turn wildly. Ikuko looked on with worry.

Crack! Boom! BOOM! Something shuddered in the front of the house.

BOOM! Why was she so terrified? It was only a thunderstorm.

BOOM! CRACK! Kami, where was Kenji?!

The entire house shook once more. In a fit of terror and relying only on some unknown instinct, she shoved the pink-frosted door shut, bolted it, and secured a chair under the handle. With shaking hands, she lifted the whimpering child from the cradle and took her in her arms.

Crack! Boom! Lightning briefly illuminated the room and the terrified faces of its occupants. Several very heavy somethings were moving and banging and stamping downstairs. There was a loud pounding upon the steps, as if a herd of metal clad elephants were running up it, and the heavy footfalls drew ever closer...

Subconsciously, the mother squeezed her child closer and backed into the corner by the window, instinctively trying to keep her child hidden in the corner. The pounding reached the pink-frosted door...

BOOM! The wood visibly shuddered.

BOOM! Ikuko closed her eyes in terror.

BOOM! CRACK! The wood splintered completely, and Ikuko opened her eyes in shock, bending over her child and shielding her with her arm. Crack! Boom! A brief flash of lightning illuminated the terrors that stood in the doorway--beastly disgusting creatures from the realm of a child's nightmare, covered in blood and grime and armed to the tooth. The nearest let out a low inhuman growl as he advanced...

Ikuko screamed.

They were among her. They were upon her! Even as she tried to push her child completely behind her, she felt something cold enter her gut. She looked down to see a horrible piece of black metal sticking out from below her ribs. A redness was already spreading up her blouse. Then the pain hit her.

Kami.

With eyes watering in pain, she looked up to see her beautiful room crowded with these hideous creatures, all shoving forward to reach their victim. Something shoved Ikuko aside as it reached for the bundle behind her arms. Ikuko screamed at the thought of any harm coming to her beloved child and fought back, kicking, shoving, and biting with all her might. But the pain throbbed, and her strength was rapidly slipping away as the redness spread.

Something heavy cleaved her skull and she was shoved to the ground. The bundle was snatched from her arms. The monsters were chanting and yelling triumphantly. They had succeeded, they had taken the great power that Master had foreseen across the dimensions. The child was screaming. The pain was gone. The rain was pounding. The creatures were booming. The redness pooling. Light fading. Fire. Burning. Hiss. Darkness.

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AN: Well, what do you think? I don't want to spoil what will happen (but I guarantee that all the senshi and many others will be involved), so please review and keep an eye out for ch. 2! Thank you minna-chan! Namarie.

-Calli-chan

P.S. For any LotR fans, be warned that I follow the book. And the Silmarillion. Hard core. mwhahahahaha!