Title: Witchling

Rating: On Tv, PG for supernatural themes. *snort*
I know, stupid, but who knows how those ratings work. Seriously, (PG-
13) for any violence that occurs, to be safe.

Disclaimer: Those witchy witches belong to themselves (seriously,
Alyssa and Holly help produce the show), and Constance Burge, or the
people who made them, anyway. I own nothing but these dots: ... And
Leona. And her dog. But the Charmed ones are not mine. And Leo's not
mine. But the dots are mine.

Spoiler: Up to season 4. I have no Cole, but you can decide if he's
been vanquished or not. (Heck, I can't even decide if he's been
vanquished or not). Paige has full control of her powers, but Prue
hasn't been dead for that long.

Summary: Fate has given the Charmed Ones a new innocent to watch over,
one whose developing powers could give the side of Good a large
boost.or the side of Evil another way to kill the three sisters.

R&R-ing: This is my first fic. Not my first story, but my first fic.
Well, in some ways, not my first fic either. Please R&R, and not just
'that was good' or 'that was crap'. If I want 'that was good', I can
ask my friends to read it. Constructive flames appreciated!!

Distribution: if you want, but don't say it was yours, okay? Otherwise
I'll have to kill you, and that'll be pretty messy.

A/N: I only started watching Charmed at the start of season 4, so my
knowledge of what goes on may be a little off- I only figured out that
darklighters only go after whitelighters a few days ago. But on the
other hand, my story, my rules. Speaking of which, if you find my new
character boring or really annoying, tough, but I just find it a lot
easier to work with new characters.

* * *

The young girl sat on the red brick fence out the front of her red brick house, looking up at the clear night sky. Her chestnut hair almost reached her waist, like the hair of a medieval princess, and her clear blue eyes scanned the stars. She pointed out the constellations to a small white dog sitting in her lap.

"That's Orion. See the three stars in his sword? The middle one's not really a star, it's a galaxy. Now you'll be able to tell Felicia when you get back inside." Astronomy was one of many things she was interested in, another natural occurrence she thought was beautiful and special in its own right, just like every other thing of nature.

The snowy dog yawned. It closed its sea blue eyes and curled up, falling asleep peacefully in her lap. She'd had the Jack Russell for six months now, and she thought it was absolutely gorgeous. It had just followed her home from school one day, and her family hadn't found its owner. It didn't have a tag or anything, so she had kept it.

The girl scanned the sky for the one constellation she had been waiting to cross into the night sky. She smiled when it caught her eye.

"Aquarius," she breathed. "My sun sign."

The little dog moved its head, uncurling itself. Suddenly it jumped up and growled like another dog was walking up the street.

The girl quickly got to her feet. Danger was here. She didn't know how she knew, but she did.

"Brighty, what is it?"

The girl heard a metallic scraping sound, unnatural in the silent night. The dog started barking.

"Damn animal."

The crossbow bolt hit the girl before she knew what was happening. She doubled over, hearing the metallic noise again, and slipped to the ground. Her dog licked her face, letting her know she was there.

"Brighty," the girl said weakly. "Go get help."

Before the dog could leave, a woman appeared out of nowhere, from a cloud of shimmering light. The arrow embedded in the girl's chest pulled itself out.

The girl screamed in pain.

The woman placed her hands over the wound in the girl's chest. Gold light spilled over it.

"You're going to be trouble," the woman said. "I shouldn't have taken you on."

"Who are you?" the girl asked.

"I'm your whitelighter. Not that I'm doing a very good job," she said, looking down at the wound. "I can't heal this."

"Am I going to die?" the girl asked.

"Not if I can help it," the woman said stubbornly. "I just have to find someone who can heal this."

The woman held her hand and the world around them changed from a suburban street to behind a couch at a nightclub. The woman stood up.

"Stay there," she ordered.

"The dog, who had gone with them, licked the girl's face.

"Okay."