Angel Cake

[Ginny Weasly]

It was a beautiful day out, as far as spring time goes. Just warm enough to be outside, but just cold enough to need a sweatshirt to stay warm. At least in Ginny's case. Cody ran around in a t-shirt and jeans, the cold hardly bothering him.

Ginny sat on the ground, watching the skies with a blank face. Cody sat playing a few feet away. Suddenly he dropped his toys and walked over to her, sitting beside her and putting his head against her arm.

"Mom? When's Dad coming home?"

"Don't know." Don't care. Ginny thought the last to herself, then sighed. She cared, even as angry as she was. She cared more than she wanted to admit. Hadn't she just been searching the skies for his winged form?
She was just mad about the whole court thing.

"Why does he have to leave so much? Why can't he take us with him?" Cody looked up at her sadly.

"Well...angel, he's the king in his realm. He has to take care of his people, you know." Ginny wrapped one arm around Cody, hugging him to her and smiling slightly.

Cody sighed, "But...what about us, Mom? Aren't we his people? Why can't we go with him?"

Ginny smiled tightly, Cody was full of questions today. She looked down at his dark hair, his ice blue eyes, and wondered briefly why his wings weren't visible. Cody seemed to relax about them more when Xaver was home. She hugged him again, finally answering him, "Cause it's dangerous there. And some people there don't like Dad a whole lot."

She paused, "They'd try to use you to hurt him. And if something happened to you...well, remember how mad your dad was when his brother came after us?"

Cody nodded, his eyes growing wide as he remembered, 'Yeah! Boy, he was MAAAAD!"

Ginny chuckled, "Yes, he was. Well, that's why he doesn't take you with him."

Cody thought for a moment, fiddling with her fingers, "Why can't he take both of us then? I'd be safer with you around, wouldn't I?"

Ginny knew he wanted her to agree, but she couldn't. She was terrified of Xaver's family. She felt she was no match for them. She knew she wouldn't be able to protect Cody, and she told him as much, "Angel, I don't think that's a good idea."

"Well...I wanna go." Cody folded his arms, pouting. Ginny tweaked his nose, gently, making him frown at her, "Mom!"

Ginny shook her head, "Go play with your toys. We'll talk about this later angel cake."

[Xaver]

He had to go.
Everything ethical and rational in him told him he was making probably one of the stupidest mistakes of his life...
But there was nothing ethical or rational about any of things that were making sense enough for him to even think twice about what he was doing. And... By the time he'd done that, he'd already gone.


When the soles of his shoes touched down to the crunchy gravel, he heard the screams before he'd even completely folded his wings. Motions strained, but completely liquid, hard planes of muscle tensed beneath his navy blue shirt, and his dark jeans, the moody oceans of his eyes flickering about the abandoned, main pathway of Hogsmeade. There were a series of curses, and Xaver whirled on his heel, following the low tones. He came about the corner of the building at the same time the male raised the machine, and pulled the trigger, the loud, reverberating crack setting his teeth on edge, and rocking him onto his heels. Xaver blinked, and shook his head, adjusting his eyes as the male raised the gun again, and pointed.
This time, Xaver looked, following the man's line of sight - following the unsteady line of small footprints that had started to weave down the dirt road, through the muddy sludge left from the storm the night before. The led to a tiny figure, nearly engulfed in an enormous black jacket, feet naked and ghostly pale as they made a quick and impossibly path of getaway. Long, raven black hair draped down her back, in a messy tangle, and when she turned to glance at her persuers, the enormous, fear-filled blue eyes were so similar to his mothers, that Xaver stopped, and blinked.
The hard crack of another shot rang out, and snapped him out of it - and the girl jerked, and spun, her head rolling back, and she collapsed, hitting the road, and falling still.

It was a stillness Xaver recognized.
A stillness he feared.

Xaver threw himself into motion, eliminating the distance between them, and another shot rang out, clipping the mud at his heels. He dropped to an ungraceful stop beside her, gravel and mud tearing, and seeping into his clothes, though even as he heard footfalls, behind him, he gripped the girl's shoulder, and rolled her over. Blue eyes that were so like his own stared up at him, silvery tears lining them and staining the creases of her eyes. Blood trickled from the corners of the very small, delicate swell of her mouth, even as she jerked, trying to breath in. Trying for air. She wore a fuzzy, light pink tank top beneath the enormous black coat - though it was now drenched in warm, dark blood, bubbling up, and spilling from the gaping hole that had ripped through her chest.

"Kylie..!"

"Sir, you need to get away!"
"Get out of here!"

They had caught up to him.

Xaver wrapped his arms around the little girl, and drew her to him - and he heard the others gasp as, in finally getting close, they saw his wings.

"He's one of them!"
"Like HER!"
"ONE OF THEM!!"

Xaver's eyes widened and he planted a hand on the ground to push himself up - but another impossibly loud crack sent him spinning, and suddenly, pain exploded in his right wing. He fell over Kylie, screaming, even as they shot at him again, bullets ripping effortlessly through feathers and flesh and bone. He cried out, then gripped Kylie's tank top, and transported them to the only place that came to mind - his back yard.
It was not the easiest of things.
And, his concentration not nearly complete, not the most graceful. They landed with an unceremonious thud, and Kylie hiccuped, blood spilling from her chest, and mouth - and Xaver never stopped screaming, even as he rolled onto his back, twitching, and reaching back, trying to paw at his wing though he could barely move the injured limb enough to see it..


It had been her.
Not Xences.
Her.

But she was dead.

What the hell was going on?!

[Ginny Weasly]

As silent and calm as it had been before, the silence was now even thicker. The calm was gone, apparently very far. Ginny and Cody both jumped up, running over to Xaver.
And-it was impossible-Kylie.

Ginny glanced at Xaver, her eyes showing majorily concern for him, the children, and still the slightest hint of anger. It was only a second before she pulled off her thick sweatshirt, and pressed it to the wound on Kylie's chest. She looked into the girl's eyes, checking her breathing, checking all her vital signs.
She said nothing to Xaver, and pretty much ignored him. She looked to Cody, "Go get some covers and pillows. I need water, and lots of bandages."

Cody stood still, his eyes taking in the blood, his face paling a bit, until Ginny shouted, "Now Cody!" He nodded once and ran. Ginny smoothed Kylie's hair away from her face, frowning tightly.

"I don't know what's going on here Kylie, but you have to stay alive so you can explain it to me." Cody came back with what she had asked for, and Ginny set to work, mainly concentrating on stopping the bleeding.

[Xaver]

Kylie's eyes flickered to Ginny's face as she spoke to her, her head quirking to an odd angle, even in interest, her light blue orbs almost unhindered. Detached.
Blood spilled from her tiny creature, soaked into the sweatshirt, though she merely drew in a deep breath, and sighed.

Xaver's brutal scream of surprise had abruptly silenced when he'd tumbled to the ground, and as he'd rolled away from Kylie, as Ginny dropped down beside her, he'd began pawing at his wing like a madman. Fishing, digging his fingers into the flesh, for the lodged bullet. With a grunt, he closed his eyes, and pulled it out - then brought himself to his knees, bowing over Kylie.

"They were hunting her."

He said nothing more, though the gravity of his own words efficiently shook him.
Her eyes trailed to him, blinking, relaying nothing. Blood continued to pour, but she breathed with no trouble, sighed, with no faulty..

[Ginny Weasly]

Ginny didn't even look at him, and instead concentrated on Kylie. She was now just as covered in Kylie's blood as the child herself was. Still, Ginny was relieved that Kylie's breathing wasn't bothered. Miraculously, the bullets seemed to have missed anything of vital importance.

Cody stood beside his mom, looking down at Kylie, contemplating her slightly. He recalled the memories his father had shown them once. His mom had been angry about the memories, but Cody had learned at least once thing from them. Xaver had a sister. Cody's aunt. And this was her.

The blood began to slow, but only slightly. Ginny knew almost nothing about Fallen anatomy, thus she knew almost nothing about fixing their wounds. She knew she'd have to call in someone.