Duality
Chapter 1
By Risa
Summary: (A spin-off after The Three Faces of Phoebe) Cole's possession by the Source was not meant to happen – evil had been tampering with the balance between good and evil. Now, something has to be done to remedy the situation.
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters from Charmed. Also, the Night World and all related concepts are the creation of L.J. Smith. I'm just borrowing them for my own use.
Author's Note: A rather long note about some of the background information to this story that you should know in order to better understand what's going on.
This story is sort of a cross-over with the Nightworld series by L.J. Smith. Just some basic information about the books for those who have never read them – the Nightworld is like a secret organisation of witches, vampires, shapeshifters and werewolves. So far, all you have to know is that Darien is a vampire. There are two types of vampires – the lamia and the made vampires. All vampires have senses and reflexes superior to humans. They're also telepathic, although how strong that power is varies from vampire to vampire. The lamia however, are the type of vampires that can have children and age if they choose to. The made vampires don't have that option. There are two main rules of the Nightworld – 1. You can't tell humans that it exists. 2. You can't fall in love with humans.
Then there is the soulmate theory – basically that there is one person in the world that you're meant to be with, and when you meet them, you'll know. This also happens between Nightpeople and humans, which is not allowed under the rules. In recent years however, there has been more of such couples and most of them have joined Circle Daybreak. It used to be a witch circle, but now it is mainly a group of humans and Nightpeople who are against the present system of the Nightworld and want to change it.
So why do you have to know this? Basically, this story involves two characters I created in another fanfiction of mine called "Remember" – Fortuna and Darien. Darien, as said earlier is a lamia while Fortuna's human. 5 years ago, they met and fell in love. They were found out by Darien's family and Fortuna was tortured and her parents killed. Fortuna would have died if not for Darien who then wiped out all her memories that concerned him. Then, 3 years later, they met again. Fortuna eventually recovered her memories, although it was quite some time before Fortuna and Darien got back together. If you want to know more about them, then you can read the story "Remember" – which is still unfinished.
In this story, you'll also meet another one of my original characters – Ji Zimei. She's a ghost and Fortuna's grand-aunt. Basically, their family has been sworn to protect the balance between good and evil so as to protect freedom of choice for humans. When either side threatens to upset the balance, they will intervene. Each member usually has some kind of power to help them and one of their ancestors is also assigned to help and guide them. In this case, Zimei has been assigned to guide Fortuna. A brief note about Fortuna: She has the ability to serve as a power source to boost other people's powers. She also has extremely strong shields against telepathy – this is to prevent anyone from forcing her into becoming a power source. She is also slightly telepathic as a result and the reason why she can communicate easily with Darien telepathically is because they are soulmates.
Zimei and Cole have also met before, in 1920s. The background information about the two of them can be found in another of my stories, Destiny, which can be found on my website. But I'll just repeat everything here, so bear with me. Ji Zimei had met Cole in the 1920s in Shanghai. Cole had been there on a mission of the Brotherhood to get rid of an organisation that had succeeded in killing several high-level demons. Ji Zimei was also supposed to get rid of the organisation since if they grew too powerful, the balance would be disrupted. She sought the help of Cole then. Despite themselves, the two became friends. While Cole was working with Zimei, his human and demonic half had actually become more balanced out due to her neutral resonance. After the organisation was destroyed, the two parted ways and had never met again. Cole's demonic half regained domination and Zimei died not too long after.
As for the Halliwells – One of Melinda Warren's ancestors had been part of a small coven that had separated from the Nightworld, refusing all contact with them. By the time Melinda Warren was born, all their knowledge of the Nightworld had been lost.
That basically wraps up all the necessary information that you have to know at this point. Hope it hasn't been too boring for you!
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Fortuna was in heaven.
She was enjoying a luxurious bubble bath in a tub large enough to hold four people. Her eyes were closed and she raised her arm, just listening to the sound of water dripping back into the tub. She sighed. This was perfect bliss.
Of course, perfect bliss had a tendency of coming to a screeching halt.
"Expensive tastes I see. Guess you're not as much of a masochist as I thought," a voice said sardonically.
Fortuna opened one eye and saw a woman standing in front of her. That woman bore a striking resemblance to Fortuna and only looked slightly older. Her long black hair had been pulled back in a thick braid and she wore a simple, blue dress. Her eyes sparkled with amusement.
Fortuna shut her eyes again and sighed – so much for her bubble bath. It was too good to be true anyway. She had dimly suspected that she was dreaming but she happily neglected that thought. She was enjoying herself far too much. "What are you doing here?" she said in resignation.
"Aren't you happy to see me?" the woman said in mock hurt. "I just came to visit, that's all."
Fortuna opened her eyes and just stared at the woman.
"All right, all right," the woman said. "Something's come up."
"I guessed as much," Fortuna said, "So what is it now Zimei?"
"Evil," Zimei replied, sighing. "They're tampering with the Balance. Again."
"So soon?"
Zimei nodded. "You need to go to San Francisco to the Halliwell Manor. Bring Darien with you. This one's going to be pretty tough. You'll need all the help you can get."
Fortuna sat up in the tub. "All right, let me get out of this tub and then you can give me the details."
She got up and amazingly enough, clothes just appeared on her body. "Nice," she complimented Zimei.
Zimei grinned at her. She waved her hand and their surroundings changed to the garden that was the haven for the spirits of their family. "This has to do with a certain half-demon, half-human, Cole Turner. He has been possessed by the Source…"
A few minutes after Fortuna finally managed to get some actual sleep, a voice intruded. "Fortuna! Fortuna, wake up. We have a Circle Daybreak meeting remember?"
Fortuna stirred and sat up in her bed, yawning. She rubbed her eyes to clear them and saw a man sitting on the bed. She groaned. "Can't I just get a little more sleep, Darien?"
"Bad night?"
She nodded. "I had a visitation," she grumbled.
"Another assignment?" he asked.
"Yes," she replied, sighing. "I think you'll have to call and tell them that we aren't coming. We have to go to San Francisco."
"We?"
"We," she echoed. "Zimei's orders."
"What's in San Fran?"
"We have to go pay a visit to the Halliwells – the Charmed Ones of the prophecy, agents of good."
"Witches of the line that split from the Nightworld witches?"
"Yep, that's them."
"How are we supposed to 'pay a visit'? Just appear on their doorstep? They'll probably just throw us out."
Fortuna shook her head. "No, I've been in contact with one of the Halliwells for a long time now – the youngest one, Phoebe. We met in a witch channel on IRC. All I have to do is just drop her a line telling her I'm visiting and ask if I could drop by."
"Convenient," Darien said.
Fortuna scowled. "There wasn't any tampering. I was just checking out the major players of both sides. It saves me the trouble of research later."
"Get up then," Darien said, standing up and pulling Fortuna. "We've got a lot of stuff to do and you're in a hurry aren't you?"
"Yes mother," Fortuna said, grinning.