FIC: Darkness Waits (AB/LotR)

[mhalachai]

If you heard a three-octave squee an hour ago, it was me finally sending off my 40-page magazine to the printers. Done, baby!

So I celebrate with the wackiest crossover ever.

Darkness Waits
An Anita Blake/Lord of the Rings crossover

Disclaimer: Laurell K. Hamilton owns all things Anita Blake. Lord of the Rings belongs to JRR Tolkien. I'm only borrowing and will return them at the end of the fic.
Author's Note: todaygirl requested a crossover for Anita Blake and Lord of the Rings in the Ficlette Fiasco III. This story has vague spoilers for Danse Macabre, and rough ones for the Silmarillion.
Beta: Massive thanks to ithidrial and to windmiran for their help with the Silmarillion/LotR aspects of this story. Anything I get wrong is my own fault. We're working off book canon here, not so much the movies.
Word count:: 456
Summary/Introduction: Darkness may sleep, but she has seen all.

~~~

Darkness sleeps.

In the beginning, the Darkness was born from Melkor's shadow. She held no name amongst the Maia, holding shape and purpose and meaning in silent shadows. Darkness was feared as befitted the night; the eyes of men were blinded to truth and hope by the black of shadows.

Standing half in the circle of darkness, purpose can be warped from its path. In the darkness, Sauron took form, took purpose in the ambitions of Melkor, moved against the power of the Valar, moved against the balance and the purpose, and sought to cover the land with his own power. He stood tall, bound his power in the Rings, clothed in darkness, but did not stand with the Darkness, and was cut down in his arrogance.

The Darkness knew.

A broken, crippled creature, warped by power and necromancy, Sauron returned in his quest for unnatural power, but having seen his defeat and his weakness, Darkness would not aid him. Once again, Sauron was destroyed, victim of his own petty desires.

The Darkness watched, as the Valar drifted deeper into the mists, remembering all and forgetting everything. She watched as their influence left the lands of man, the passing of elves and dwarves like rain over the stone monuments of civilizations long dead.

For even Darkness cannot stop time, the relentless rising of the sun over the hills, the passing ages of mortals and gods.

In the darkness, once again, purpose and meanings grew. This time, Darkness held what she had learned from the first, and she stepped out into shape and name, into flesh and bone and blackest blood to make her mark upon the world.

Vampire was born from darkness, to a mother of flesh and bloody bones, and the purpose grew.

Ages passed, man's mortality like decay upon the wind, and the purpose held, the pressing dark and the fear of whispered death hovering in tales told by man around the tiny, futile fires.

Ages passed, and Darkness drifted. Soon, Darkness slept.

Now, necromancy again stirs the Darkness from her dreams. She feels the warping of her purpose, of another daring to usurp her power of darkness and death. She wonders if this new one knows the path upon which she has started, of names and shapes with purpose and meanings in death and the pressing black of night.

Darkness is curious, but knows that there are no longer Rings, no artifacts of power. All death and darkness is within, all bound to the kingdom of Darkness herself. All darkness and death will come to her, in the end, as it is her realm, her domain, just as life has always been the domain of the light.

In the end, Darkness will reign.

--the end

Comments

[houses7177.livejournal.com]

*shiver* That really packs a punch. I would never, ever have thought of combining them in this way, but it's beautiful in its originality. Fun, if dark. Nicely done.

[mhalachaiswords.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I've had this idea for a few months but was never really able to pull it together. Yesterday's lyricism wasn't wasted, I see. Plus, I love writing the MoD.

[ithildyn.livejournal.com]

It was my pleasure :) Glad my LotR geekiness could be of help.

And that was a wonderful piece of fic.

[mhalachaiswords.livejournal.com]

Hey, us geeks need to stick together :D

Thank so much for your help, and thanks for your kind words.

[jaydeyn-sitari.livejournal.com]

Beautifully done. Again with the making words into song.

And Go You! Hurrah! Printed! :D

:)
Jaydeyn

[mhalachaiswords.livejournal.com]

Beautifully done. Again with the making words into song.

Thank you. I was in a very lyrical mood. Sometimes it works, others... not so much. But yay for those good days.

And Go You! Hurrah! Printed! :D

Damned straight. Only took me forEVER.

[thekams.livejournal.com]

Wow. I think that is one of the most seamless LotR crossovers I've ever read. Quite powerful, very intriguing; I loved it =)

_{and yay for the magazine! wooh!}

[mhalachaiswords.livejournal.com]

Thank you. It's an idea I've had for a while, but could never get the lyrical flow that I wanted to portray the passage of time, and evoke the LotR feel.

Was that pompus enough? >_O

[thekams.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, sufficiantly pompus! You have just the right amount ;) hehe

[shadowartemis.livejournal.com]

Guh. Just... Guh. I'm awe-struck. When I saw it was AB/LotR, I admit, I hesitated. But then I read and it you totally blew my mind. o_o I love how you combined them so brilliantly. As someone who was very leerly when she saw the two fandoms were being put together, I applaud you. A standing ovation to you, Mhalachai.

[mhalachaiswords.livejournal.com]

I've always found that LotR crossovers are hard to carry; the world is so very different and separate from a lot of the stuff that we have now. Usually they involve portals and I am forced to roll my eyes. So I set about making a crossover that did not involve a single portal. MoD was really the only character who I felt could have existed back then in a non-annoying way.

One of the reasons it took me six months to write this was that I was wary of the very same things you were. If I start a crossover, it has to be able to work, ya know?

[deepfishy.livejournal.com]

Congratulations on finishing the magazine! Sounds like it's been a hard slog at times.

This is a beautiful crossover, a real blending of the worlds without bending either one out of shape. Anita's up against something even more out of her league - a child of Morgoth *shiver*.

[mhalachaiswords.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Anita's pretty much screwed. *ahem* But at least she's not thwarting Mother's plans (yet) and so Mother might not stomp Anita into jam (yet.)

[moiraines-dream.livejournal.com]

Yippee!

Mhal strikes again!

*ahem* I loved this. I usually blanch at LotR fanfics. They all seem to fall short of my expectations. But this one . . . seems entirely plausible, in both 'verses. *headdesk* Now you've got me trying to recall names from the Silmarillion . . . and i haven't read the book since I found it on my dad's bookshelf in fifth grade. (needless to say, I obsessed for about a year, to the point where I still vividly remember situations, if not names). Now you've got me trying to fit the two together. I'll never be able to write them down (since I haven't got a literary genious lurking around in my head), but dang! plot scenarios are racing round my head, along with "how would this work if this really happened at such and such a time" . . .

a.k.a. Great job!

And congrats on finishing the mag!

[mhalachaiswords.livejournal.com]

*wins*

Crossovers are crack. Insane crossovers that work are the best thing since EVER. Seriously, the best compliment I can get from you guys is "I never thought that would work but it works and it's wonderful!" IMO, a good crossover should invigorate its readers and get those ideas for other crossovers happening.

[dhark-charlotte.livejournal.com]

Completely brilliant! It's actually the first AB/LOTR cross I've seen.

[mhalachaiswords.livejournal.com]

Thanks :) It's the first AB/LotR crossover I've seen, too. Something about the idea of mixing Anita with... oh, say Aragorn, makes my head hurt. They're just not mixy fandoms. But I had this idea, and the rest is history.

[moiraines-dream.livejournal.com]

Ack! Bad imagery! Those two certainly don't mix!

[catherinecookmn.livejournal.com]

Nice origin fic! Now I'm imagining Richard having a racial memory of being a Warg in a past life. ;-)

[mhalachaiswords.livejournal.com]

Thanks :)

[todaygirl.livejournal.com]

I loved it. The way you worked in the history of middle earth and everything. It was much better than I thought it could be;)

[mhalachaiswords.livejournal.com]

I'll admit, when I first read your request, I was: O_o. But (and I recall this with scary clarity) a week after you posted, I was walking from the coffee shop in my old job to the elevators, and this idea just sprung at me. But for the longest time I was unable to make it work on paper. That's why it's rather late :D Thanks for your patience.

[kira-snugz.livejournal.com]

woah. excuse the keanu moment, but seriously, woah.

thats awesome and shivery!

[mhalachaiswords.livejournal.com]

Dude, thanks :D I loved writing it, and being creepy is like my hallmark these days.

[windmiran.livejournal.com]

Mhal - great end product! Someone mentioned Richard's racial memories, that he could remember the warg but he could also remember the werewolf/beast that ate a Silmaril, Carcharoth/Anfauglir. I like:
Now, necromancy again stirs the Darkness from her dreams. She feels the warping of her purpose, of another daring to usurp her power of darkness and death. She wonders if this new one knows the path upon which she has started, of names and shapes with purpose and meanings in death and the pressing black of night.
The sin of pride/power will be everyone's downfall, yes precious...

[mhalachaiswords.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Your help was invaluable. And in the end, with careful editing, I dind't have to change much at all. Which is always nice.

Having Mother Dearest make Richard remember that stuff would be awesome, and a perfect way to have her start to destroy Anita.

must... not.... plot... bunny.....

[goldenrat84.livejournal.com]

Wow. This fic is creepy, Never would have thought of such a crossover, but it really works.

[mhalachaiswords.livejournal.com]

Thank you. Yeah, this crossover is like impossible, but that's the best kind of crazy fic: Making the impossible possible.

[eiranea.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I like that.. it sounds very Tolkein-ish (if that's even a word), interesting way of combining the two as well, I'd never have thought of that.

[mhalachaiswords.livejournal.com]

Tolkein-ish
It's a word now, baby.

Glad you liked it. It was a fun idea I had a while ago, but wasn't able to get it working on paper. Getting it to work was fun, you know?

[ansku]

Good one :)

[page-r.livejournal.com]

wooowoooo

Very cool. Very creepy. Just how I would imagine it if those two cannons were smuushed together. *shivers* Looking forward to more.

Wow!

[(Anonymous)]

oh! How utterly, utterly cool. and beautiful, and brilliant, and....
Not only does it make sense (and this has to be the most unlikely crossover ever) but the flow of the language, the lyricism, even the syntax and pacing could have come directly from JRRT in the Silmarillion.
Brava