Harry Potter Fan

Xaver mopped his hands over his face, careful to avoid skimming over the open fresh, and still oddly unhealed gash that ran deep into his left cheek and up into his hairline, closing his eyes for a moment as he walked, soundlessly, down the dark and dreary cobblestone street toward the Hogs Head. Xaver had been having a fair few more scuffles than ever, recently - and he was no immortal. Xaver was just as suceptible to pain, to injuries, as the next.. Even if he wasn't human.

He dropped onto a barstool, unable to hide the sheer, uneasy exhaustion that stung every nerve, and ordered a drink, at about the same time another figure sat down, beside him.

When the tall, thankfully clean, glass of water was set before him, awkwardly, Xaver picked up the glass and drank, giving no inclination to if he'd even seen the other.
It wasn't until the man beside him spoke, that Xaver set the glass down with a dull clunk on the wood.

"They are going to kill you, Milord."

Xaver looked over at him. Calmly
Expressionless.

"They will try, I know."

The figure beside him pulled down the hood of the black cloak that had concealed all of him, his features young -younger than Xaver- and urgent. Stressed.
Concerned, and, badly-masked, scared.
"They are SERIOUS, my l-"

"Xaver," he cut in, tones low, but sharp.
The younger man swallowed, and shrinked away a little.
"It's Xaver. Not 'my lord', not 'my king'.. Just Xaver. Do me that little respect, please, whilst you sit in my presence upon the request that took me from my home.."

That wasn't exactly true - Xaver had been out for a little while before he heard the boy's summons, trying to clear his head.

The boy looked pained.
"That's exactly what they are on about! They feel threatened, and you are never around!.. These aren't like the others!"
His voice rose when Xaver stood up, and started away.
The boy jumped from his stool, after him, ignoring the stares.

"They know.. GOLD! That's it! They know about your-"
He faltered, upon Xaver's cold, unnerving stare, and then suddenly dropped to one knee.
"Please, Milord, take heed to me! You saved my baby sister her life and I would give my wings before see you lose yours - you've been a friend to me, despite everything! Listen to me!"

Xaver sighed, very quietly, looking at the boy for a moment, before he went to him, gripped his cloak, and drug him to his feet.
"I am listening to you," he said, quietly.

"OK," the boy nearly panted. "Now, what I brought you here to tell you, most importantly. Xences-"

He stopped, and his eyes widened, and Xaver could smell the blood before he saw it. Glancing down, he saw the tail end of a blade portruding through the boy's middle. Xaver wrapped his arms around the boy and brought him carefully to the floor, removing the blade and throwing it to the side, leaning over him, as the rest of the pub rushed around, and fled.
The boy was pale, though his skin was naturally a very soft browninsh hue, deep chocolate eyes, now wide with still silent terror, stared out from thick strands of his mop of chestnut hair. Xaver messed the boy's hair, distractingly, looking over the wound, and looking around at the same time.

WHERE had that..?

A foot connected squarely with Xaver's back, and he toppled foreword, over the boy, hearing the brown-haired boy's squeak of protest when he faded from view. Xaver rolled to his feet, and turned in the same movement, ducking beneath a fist and kicking out into the middle of the attacker.

It was all so odd..
Nothing felt right.
What was wrong..?

All of it.

Xaver screamed when the blade ripped through his lower back and up his shoulder, his knees buckling when a hand gripped his neck and pulled him back, driving the blade completely through until Xaver could feintly feel the hilt brush his shoulderblade.

Gold.
Of course it was gold.

Fate had never been kind to him, and he didn't expect her to have an epiphany any time soon.

The hand around his throat slid up the side of his face, and gripped his hair, jerking his head to the side. Xaver closed his eyes, his chest heaving, snarling against the pain that boiled from his shoulder, as he was tugged, the blade still an ominous presence within him. He looked around, almost frantically, when he heard the boy's screams. Silent even when he'd been stabbed, it was blood-curdling now to hear his cries. Xaver thrashed, despite being literally fishhooked by a blade he was fatally allergic to, kicking, and crying out - but by the time he'd ripped himself away from his captor (who lay in a series of pieces, behind him, amongst the gold sword) it was too late.
The rest of the group disappeared in their places, content, even as Xaver threw himself.. more like fell.. to the floor beside the boy, gathering his will and forcing it into him, though in vain.
The boy was dead.

His wings had been torn off, their soft white-brown entities lying still, beside his body.

Xaver gaped at him, panting, kneeling over the boy's ravaged body until it seemed just as much of his own blood stained the dirty floor. He fought it, and tried to stand..
But it was only a matter of moments before he, himself, slumped over, and fell still.

Ginny hadn't seen Xaver since earlier that afternoon, but that hadn't bothered her at all. Not even as it got late enough for her to start dinner for her and Cody. And dinner came, and still no Xaver.

But Ginny wasn't worried, until she suddenly felt a sharp pain in her heart, and the breath left her. She dropped the plates she was holding and they smashed into the floor. Cody jumped at the noise, looking at Ginny with worry.
"Momma?"

Ginny looked up, knowing something was wrong with Xaver. She grabbed Cody's arm, biting her lip for a moment, wondering if she should take him or not. He was safer with her at the moment than anyone else, but she didn't want to take him inot danger. She kissed his forhead, "You are going to Grandmum's for a bit." She told him, and he was gone, whisked away by her magic.

Then Ginny was beside Xaver, turning him on his back and touching his wrist. She scowled at his wound, not sure how to heal that big of one.

He felt hands on him, softer than he expected - and it took a moment for him to realize it was Ginny. He moaned, softly, when she rolled him over, his body screaming in protest, but he lacked suddenly the strength or wit to do anything about it. He felt her small, warm fingers against his wrist and was thankful he wasn't so much a beast that he had a heart that would beat, and tell her he was still there, still fighting.. even if he couldn't wrap his mind around what the heavy, suffocating feeling in his chest was.

It burned, like liquid fire.

Xaver could feel it, the gold excess, his poison, slowly moving through him, and it was all he could do, for the moment, to keep a cool head.
Slowly, though, his will waned, and a focused mind succombed to grit teeth, a clenched jaw to gasps of breath, panting, to low moans - and soon he was crying out in pain. Oblivious to his surroundings. Oblivious to anything but the searing intensity that scorched and burned him within, rubbing his sanity raw..

Ginny shuddered as he began to moan, and when he began to cry aloud, she bit her lip to keep from crying with him. She leaned down, holding him still as much as possible, whispering to him softly, "Hush, baby, hush."

She didn't know what had happened, but wasn't blind. She could see the dead pieces of what had once been a live being, and amongst them a golden sword. That chilled her. Xaver had gotten extreamlly sick once when he had been pricked by a golden fork. This was going to be a lot worse than that. The last time, he had gotten delusional, sick to his stomach, bled alot, and gotten feint.

What to do?

Ginny was unsure, knowing very little about extracting metal elements from a body. Too much could go wrong. She could pull all the iron from his blood instead of gold. She kept her hands on arms, looking down at him, biting her lip. If she didn't do something, he'd die.

She knew that.
But she was scared.

Xaver could hear her, feel her, blindly through the the thick haze of pain and disillusionment that threatened to push him over. He moaned, and thrashed against her hold. And screamed. Silvery liquid swam and leaked from the dark blue oceans of his eyes, wide, open, and wild, and there was nothing he could do to summon the strength to brush the streaks of pain-ravaged tears away.
He felt her touch him, but his certainty became less and less sure - it was as if he was alone in this.. abyss. Alone, and drowning, despite his attempts at clawing at the surface. He was being swallowed.'
Xaver screamed again, though this time, his low, ragged tones were cut off abruptly, and he gagged, blood in his mouth, and half coughed, half moaned.


There was a sharp crack in the doorway, though Xaver was completely oblivious to it, a tall, broad male figure standing where a moment ago, there had been nothing. His face was cool, and impassive, strongly boned, thick of eyelashes and eyebrows, his hair the color of luminescent gold, and his eyes a light, spring blue. A black cloak concealed the rest of him, shuffling slightly, when he started toward them...

Ginny pulled Xaver's body into a sitting position when he began to gag on his blood, forcing his face downwards to keep the blood from collecting in his mouth. She didn't notice the man walking towards them.

Xaver's breath hitched, when she pulled him up, the agony of moving blinding. Blood ran over his lips, and chin, in a stream down his neck and pooled at the collar of his navy blue shirt, seeping into the cloth, and his ashen, ghostly pale skin. His face pulled into a tight expression, he was soon coughing up as much blood, it seemed, as was pouring from his shoulder, from both front and back. Dark, and warm, it was all over him; everywhere, but where it was supposed to be.

The blond was suddenly kneeling beside Ginny, his light blue eyes intense, but still empty, white, blue-tinted wings folding neatly behind him as they appeared. He did not try to conceal the wonder, shock, almost, as he watched her hold him. Watching Xaver almost as if curious to where his reaction was. Glancing at Ginny, as if amazed she could hold him, and not be ripped to shreds..

"I know not what ..did go on," he said slowly, his voice heavily accented with Xaver's language. "But, if the blade, there, is the ..source.. then Milady, he needs help. Now."

"I know..." Ginny said, not looking at him, and her voice caught in her throat, "I know...I don't want him to die...he just came back to me...how do I help him?" She looked towards the man, tears in her eyes.

"You have to know! Tell me what to do!" She practically begged him. This was so unlike Ginny, she never begged for anything. But she begged now, she would, for Xaver, she'd do anything.

"Please...help him...help me help him..." She pulled Xaver's body closer to her's, ignorant of the blood and put her face against the top of his head, hiding her tears-now coursing down her cheeks-in his black hair.

"GI-" 
He hiccupped, amid a loud, ragged moan. 
"-NNY!"

Xaver clamped his teeth together, his eyes squeezed shut, both hands spread completely out, his entire form shaking with the shudders that raked through him, as he tried to control the pain.
Tried to control himself.


The blonde stared at them, his light blue eyes wide when she pulled Xaver close.
"He does not fight you..?"

He looked unnerved, almost frightened, by her tears - though he did nothing to contradict them. Or assure them.
They were well placed, her worries, and he knew it. If she was, who he thought she was...
The blonde, Zeil, sighed, very softly.

"I.. will try."

He placed a hand upon Xaver's chest, and Ginny's shoulder - and suddenly, they were in a rectangular, stone room, windows aligning one of the longer walls, and a handful of beds lining both, draped with clean, crisp, white bedsheets, and pillows. A small hospital wing. Outside the tall, thick-paned windows, were sloping, rolling hills. Meadows - covered in a blanket of crystalline, seemingly untouched snow.
Zeil released Ginny, and stood, then, despite Xaver's groans, and painful howls of protest, he levitated the dark haired lord, gently placing him on one of the beds, though even the slightest movement felt like it was tearing him to pieces. Xaver lay on his back, writhing, his movements jerky and stiff, his head pressed back into the pillow, blood slowly staining, and creating a dark pool in the white linen beneath him.

Zeil looked at Ginny, his lips pressed together uneasily.

"I don't know.. if you know the true extent of how ..unique.. Lord Xian is... But this kind of injury - I..."

Xaver gave a loud, ragged moan, and Zeil turned, walking to his side again. He hesitated for a moment, before waving his hand over Xaver's torso - the shirt disappearing revealing the ragged, seeping wound. Dark black, purplish vines of color ran from the injury like venom, discoloring his skin as it slowly spread.

"Bastards.." he muttered softly.

Ginny was beside him, her hand gently pushing Xaver's hair from his forhead while she watching the blond vanish Xaver's shirt. She made a small noise at the sight of the wound. It frightened her. She wasn't squeamish, she had seen people's insides often. But the sight of this on Xaver...

...her Xaver...

It was more than she bargained for, and she felt more tears fall down.

"Help him..." She half whispered.

Zeil clenched his teeth, grabbing a small, oval-shaped bottle out of the air as it hovered over to him, from a shelf on the far wall. He removed the cork, and dipped two fingers into it, coming out smeared in a purple paste. He set the bottle onto the table, and with his other hand, he gripped Xaver's shirt, leaning over him, and putting all his weight onto his chest, pinning him - with his other hand, he swept the paste over, and slightly into the wound. Xaver cried out, and thrashed, and Zeil forcefully tried to hold him down, though it was difficult. From where he pinned Xaver, the blond's arm slowly began to be covered in an ever-thickening sheet of ice, slithering up toward his body..

"XAVER, ENOUGH.."

The ice stopped, but did not lessen, until Zeil extended his arm slightly, breaking the ice. He pressed his hand over the top of the wound, and Xaver groaned, through clenched teeth his low tones scratchy. A soft, blue haze began, between the blond's hand, and Xaver's shoulder, the hues darkening, slowly, as Xaver's fighting became more profound.

Had Xaver been in a right state of mind, and truly angry, Zeil would have been very dead..
Even so, he swung a metaphysical blow, that had the blond reeling, shaky on his feet, and fighting to re-gather his will to keep Xaver suppressed while he tried to heal him.

"I have to keep him down," he said to Ginny, between pants, "physically.. and mentally. It's the only way I can force this stuff into him... It's killing him... And instinct is setting in. ..He's dangerous if it gets too far."

An understatement, obviously.

Xaver was far more than merely dangerous, even composed...

Ginny held Xaver's head, her hands stroking his hair now and she put her face next to his, kissing his cheeks, "Baby, calm, please..."She said softly, but her voice found it way to his ears and into his mind, "Darling, stay still, please..."

She glanced sideways at the blond, unable to conceal her own shaking.

Upon hearing Ginny's voice in his thoughts, his eyes shot open, the dark blue orbs blurred with tears of agony, and confusion - everything was spinning to him.. But he heard her. And he tried. With everything he could muster, and focus, he tried to fight his own writhing, and spasming in pain.. But it was like a balloon... More, and more pressure - he felt as if he was being ripped apart, in every piece and make-up of his creature.
Xaver groaned - and Zeil took advantage of the lessening tension, releasing his hold on Xaver's chest for a moment and gathering an orb, almost, of his will. Then, suddenly, he slammed it down into Xaver's middle, as the bluish haze beneath his other hand intensified into synchronized light.

In the after-effects, the blond released him, wavering unsteadily and leaning heavily upon the side of the bed. Xaver had made no exclamation - instead, he'd fallen oddly quiet, stiff for a moment, before the tension in his form was released, and, his eyes closed, he became still. His shoulder was still very injured, the wound still very open, and bleeding - though the unhealthy hues, and deathly tints to his skin, were gone.

"He taught me so much... But I hope I NEVER piss him off..."

Ashen, the blonde pressed his fingers to Xaver's throat, catching the pulse beneath the pads of his slightly quivering fingertips.

Ginny let go of Xaver long enough to throw her arms around Zeil, this stranger, hugging him and kissing his cheek, leaving her tears behind as she bent back over Xaver, kissing his forhead and softly, gently touching his face.

She ran her fingers through his hair, kissing his lips softly now and placing her forehead against his and closing her eyes.

"I truely thank you...you just saved my life..."She murmmered to Zeil.

Zeil gaped at her when she hugged him, remaining still, even after she'd let him go and had returned to Xaver, pressing kisses over his face.
He looked from her, to the unconscious Fallen lord, and blinked.

"Well.." Zeil said softly, "let us keep both of you alive, Milady.."

He smeared more of that paste over the top of the wound, on both his front, and back, and willed enough of his power into Xaver that the bleeding stopped, and the wound was slightly healed, before he dropped onto the bed beside them, completely spent.
He'd barely made any headway on the true wound, but he wasn't powerful enough to keep going. It was going to take a while to restore his energy, as it was.

"He'll have to heal himself... It'll take a lot longer than usual, with all the lifesource he has lost..."

Zeil rubbed his temples, exhausted.

"Now ...it's all up to his strength, my lady.."

Ginny keot her forhead on Xaver's, "I understand..." And without thinking twice, she transferred some of her energy into him. Almost all that she had, actually. She doubted it would even make a dent, but she knew that to repair oneself, they need energy and she was willing to give it all for Xaver.

"Please don't leave me again..." She whispered to Xaver, keeping her eyes closed.

Xaver's breath hitched in what could have been surprise when Ginny's power reached him. He was in no state to be able to reject it - and she helped him, undeniably. At her whisper, his dark eyelashes fluttered up, his shields restoring themselves and protecting him, them..
His eyes opened, though their colors were a mutinous, velvet red - until he shuddered, and in a blink, they were returned to his normal deep ocean blues.

-I'm.. trying,- he sent softly, with the undertone of almost a chuckle, his tones weary, and ragged, even in mentality.

He nuzzled his face close to her, though when he slightly moved his shoulder, pain spasmed through him, and a wince pulled at his handsome features. He sighed, and closed his eyes again, beyond tired.


When Xaver's eyes had opened, Zeil had immediately stood, his wings folding behind him in a sort of quick composure. Just as soon, though, he planted his backside back onto the bed, leaning heavily onto one of the bedposts - reassured, as well, by one of Xaver's thoughts.

Ginny kissed his face a few times, "I love you so much..." She told him, drawing her face backwards, but keeping on hand on his cheek, stroking it.

She looked at Zeil, her eyes soft, "I must thank you again...I...you see..he's.." She was at loss for the proper words, her gratitude overwhelming.

-Mmmm... Love you too, dearest..-

Xaver wasn't oblivious to the way his skin warmed, nicely, where she brushed her lips. Her kisses, it seemed were good for him. As was her presence. Xaver allowed himself to be comforted, through the still heavy haze of pain, and lingering confusion.

Zeil met Ginny's gaze, when she looked at him, slumped against the bedpost, his hands folded absently over his lap.
"You need not give any thanks," he said simply.
His light blue eyes flickered away from her, though, as he shook his head.
"He is lucky you were here. ...Last time.."
He shook his head again.

"You don't understand...Xaver and our son...they are everything to me...I would die without either..." She shook her head as well, "I must thank you...I owe you my world..."

She frowned slightly, "Last time...?"

A flicker of understanding passed over Zeil's light blue orbs.
"You must be Ginny Weasly, then.."
He bowed his head, and then settled back, a sort of understanding, and slightly contented air about him.
"I was certain you had to be.. Forgive me, but it has been a long while since I've seen anyone get that close to him... And not be ..well... Torn to pieces."
He looked around, in a random circle, before looking back to her.
"But I havn't seen him in a while, I suppose. Not since last year. We were good friends, years back when he lived here, and Lady Kylie was still tagging along at his heels, everywhere he went. He wasn't so hardened, then..."

At her frown, he looked at her, almost with interest, and nodded, thoughtful.

"Yes.. Last time. Last year. I found him with an injury ...almost similar to this. Just worse.. Much worse."

He looked sick, at the thought of it.

Ginny looked up, mouthing the words 'last year', then saying them aloud, "Last year?" She looked down at Xaver's face, touching his forehead softly.

"So...you saw him while he was away..." She said slowly, watching Zeil closely. "Tell me...what happened to him. You see, he was gone from me for three years. I know nothing of his life during that time."

Zeil looked pained, but nodded, watching her, watching Xaver.. Blinking, when she looked back up at him.
Curious as to why she was so curious.

And utterly unnerved.
Disturbed, at remembering.

"I.. I did see him,"  he said slowly.
He glanced at Xaver, noting that he was either unconscious again, or asleep, for his thought patterns, and sighed.

Three years..? Well.

"I helped him.. then.. too.."

The blond's face pulled, almost sickened.

"Do you really want to know ...that?"

"I want..I want to know not that..." Ginny rubbed her eyes with her free hand, "I just...I know nothing of those three years. I know not if he tried to contact me...if he missed me..."

She shivered slightly, chilled, "I almost killed myself waiting for some word from him...and I just want to know...if he thought of me...even once..."

She suddenly shook her head, laughing lowly, "Selfish...I know...you don't have to tell me."

Zeil's eyes widened, comprehension dawning.

"Milady, if you are under the impression he did not think of you, was not thinking of you... You are very, very wrong."
He shook his head.

"Not selfish.. Three years?... When I saw him he was delerious and.. well, the details.. But, that's how I knew your name."

Ginny shrugged slightly, not sure if he could actually understand how she felt. She didn't look at him, slightly frustrated with herself, "What did he say...do your remember?"

She looked down at Xaver's face, her own softening slightly. She felt so full of so many emotions at once, but the most overbearing one was love.

No, Zeil didn't truly understand.
It was impossible to understand the connection between Xaver and Ginny, unless you were either of them, really.

He was trying - he wanted to help. ..He felt like he owed her that.

"Most of the time I was with him, he wasn't ..right. Like this time, he grew delerious. Only, this time he was only injured through his shoulder..."
The blond watched her, remembering.
"Amidst the screams and curses, he was calling ..well, for you, Milady. Begging for you. He even asked please, I think... And then he became completely illegible... By the time I had gotten his allergic reaction sated, and stopped... He was dying. I had to keep him awake - I tried to keep him talking. ...He told me about you. At the time, I didn't know if they were stories, or not, to entertain me..."
He nodded to her.
"From what I have seen though, it was all memory..."

"Can I ask...what he told you?" Ginny asked, shyly. She looked towards him, but didn't look directly at him.

Still, she touched Xaver, his face, shoulders, hair. Unable to go for more than a moment without touching him. She frowned, "You don't have to tell me...anything, you know."

"I know I do not have to," he murmured, brushing away her concern. "But there is no reason for me to not to."

Zeil began to stand, but swiftly thought better of it, and slouched back, against the bedpost again, his white, bluish-tinted wings folded comfortably behind him.

"He went out on quite a tangent...  Xaver told me how he'd met you. In the forest, at that school he attended for a little while. Told me how nervous he had been, for the longest time, of letting out his wings in public. He was afraid, he said, not because he would be ostracized, but because he'd thought, back then, that revealing his true nature would prevent him from getting to know you better... He'd learned later, I guess, that you would accept him. For what he was."
Zeil's own wings twitched, almost in a subconscious nervousness.
"He said you'd scared him. ..But 'not because she was so terrifying, but.. the way I felt was terrifying..' I think that's the way he said it. I kept him going, you see... Then.."

The blond scratched his head.

"He went on and on about your hair. I think that moment was the medicine... But I've never seen him... laugh like that. Ever. ...And then he said, that the very last time he'd spoken to you, he'd gotten worked up, and very nearly asked of you everything he said he'd ever wanted. He almost proposed to you. But he'd stopped himself.. Because he couldn't do it without knowing for sure.."

He frowned, darkly.

"And then Xences was there, dragging him through the doorway by the wings. I swear..."

((Sorry it took so long to reply. Had to sing my sister to sleep))

Ginny smiled, first downward at Xaver, then at Zeil. But at the mention of Xaver's twins name, her smile darkened, turning to a frown, and her eyes betrayed the pure loathing she felt for Xences.

"Was that the last you saw of him till  now?"

(Awwes  :D ^^ cuute. My little sisters are at our aunts to play with the horses :P)

"Yes," he said, very quietly.
"It was very odd.. I had.. Found Xaver.. Then it was as if Xences had 'found' him.. Or come back for him..? I don't know."

"I'm afraid I can offer no insight to that...I can only tell you of the short time we spent together at Hogwarts...and theeven shorter time he's been back."

Ginny didn't realize she was shaking, but with Xaver [almost] out of harms way for the time being, she was begining to grow angry.

"Who attacked him?"

Zeil rose, and went to Xaver's side, across from Ginny, pressing his fingers to his throat, and checking his pulse, his expression remaining remote. He glanced at Ginny, frowning, as he applied more of the purple salve. Xaver flinched beneath him, but with his other hand, he held him still - the Fallen lord too weakened, in his physical state, to do much about it. He was still, more or less, unconscious, anyway. The pain, though - it jarred him like none other.
It was a good thing, that he wasn't conscious.

"When.. do you mean..?"

"This time...who attacked him...why did they attack him?" She shook her head, not pretending to understand. Yes, she was a ruler of a country, but her's was a peacable one, the only concern coming from the one who ruled with her there.

She didn't understand, "Why...?"

"I can only guess, Milady.."
The blond finished applying the salve on Xaver's back, and he corked the bottle, set it on the table, then looked over him, at her.
"The brunette boy.."
He shifted his train of thought. Frustrated.

"This realm has been in much turmoil, because of Xaver's father's rule, in his last few years. Finally, Xaver ascended, and he had been trying, and he was becoming most successful, you see, in bringing things under control... But he has been absent here, it seems, as much as he has been absent from you..."
Zeil looked at her.
"There are extremists. They say Xaver is much like his father. Ignorance.. ...There is a neighboring realm, that has been posing endless riots... And Xences. He is not alone in his forces, anymore, you see..."

The blond's expression softened.

"I arrived after you.. I am sorry. I can't tell you who.. Or why. Or how they knew about the gold."

He shook his head.

"I didn't know his allergy was a secret..." She shook her head, "I didn't tell anyone, but such a strange allergic reaction isn't so surprising to me. I had a friend allergic to copper, once, long ago."

Ginny affectionately played with Xaver's hair, frowning slightly "I understand Xences isn't alone. What are the chances of this happening again? Would it have been better if Xaver hadn't come back? Would it have been better if he had gone into hiding?"

Ginny couldn't help but feel this was partly her fault. The logical side of her said to stop being stupid, that this had nothing to do with. But her emotions were winning, as always, and she felt responsible.
Should she had prayed for his return?
Should she have allowed him to come back?
What if she had kept him home tonight?
What if she had asked him to stay with her and Cody that night?

She tried to shake them off, but wasn't exactly successful. She didn't voice her guilty feelings. Didn't want to, for fear they would be confirmed.

"Oh yes, a secret kept since the accident, I suppose. Traitors are always looking for a weakness, you see. This lot has found one of his worst."
He looked at her, thoughtfully.

"The chances? Random, of course... It..just depends on what he's mixed up in, Milady."
He frowned.
"Hiding? ...I don't think one could even force lord Xian into hiding.. Though the..."
Ziel blinked, curiously.
"Better if Xaver hadn't come back?..."

Ginny raked a hand through her own hair, frustrated, "If he hadn't come back to me...and our son. Would they have found him as easily...I doubt it." She shook her head, taking a step back from Xaver and the other.

She turned to one of the windows, hugging herself loosely, "Am I putting him in danger?"

((Gonna go within the hour))

(okies ;) )

Ziel watched her, quiet for a long moment weighing his words.

"I think, Milady.. That only his demise would have prevented him coming back to you. He would have found a way, otherwise.. And it seems he did, eventually. I don't even want to know the conditions of that."
The blond chuckled, though only finding slight humor.

"Milady, forgive me, but from my perspective, I think it is, and has been for a while, very much the other way around..."

Ginny smiled, but saw no humor, "I have many enemies of my own...and an ex husband." She shook her head, "Xaver is bringing no danger to me that didn't already exist."

She didn't explain why Conan was in a separate category. It dealt mainly with why she feared him, though he was a muggle and had no real powers. She turned, facing the blond haired Ziel, "How long until Xaver awakens?"

Zeil made to answer, but thought better of it.
At her question, he looked at Xaver, himself.

"He's either unconscious, or sleeping.. I don't know, Milady. You can wake him though, methinks.."

"No," She moved her hand and shook her head, "if he's asleep, then he needs it." She shivered again, rubbing her arms, "Is it always so cold here?"

It wasn't exactly cold, but the front of her shirt was covered with Xaver's blood, and it chilled her when it touched her skin. The blood on her hands and arms had dried in the air.

Zeil nodded.
"You know him better.."

Better than he did, anymore.

At her comment, he looked over at her.
"It is. Here, especially. We are at one of the farther reaches of the realm. As it's winter... Well. This is one of the coldest places. It's an old watchtower, actually... Anyway. Xaver and I bunked here for a couple of weeks, when we were younger - it's the first place I thought of.. He's bound to have some clothes that are small enough to fit you in his old room."
He glanced at the blood.
"Come on, then, I'll show you to it, so you can get something warmer on."

Zeil glanced at Xaver, then the windows, then seemed assured - he turned, and started toward the door.

Ginny nodded, also glancing around the room. As they left, she muttered under her breath, applying an alarm spell. If anyone but her or Ziel enetered the room from the outside, she would know instantly.

She followed Ziel closely, not wanting to get lost, hugging herself against the cold she felt.

Zeil led her out the door to a cylinder of a room, a spiral staircase. He descended it, gracefully, down a half turn or so, before he opened another large, wooden door in the wall of the spiral tower, entering another rectagular room, though smaller.
The far wall was one enormous window. Looking out over the snow-blanketed meadows, and hills, and eventually mountain ranges, the room was well lit, and open. Dust was a thin layer over everything - no recent footsteps of disturbances present, until their own. Disuse was a heavy, musky scent.
Yet, Xaver's own scent faintly still remained.
A single twin-sized bed was pushed flush against the wall, near to the window, the mess of blankets unkempt, from the last time Xaver had slipped beneath them, years, and years ago. At the floor, and not quite underneath it, was a pile of white, rust-color stained bandages, amidst a pile of clothing, and a pair of boots, knocked over, and covered in the same rust-colored stains. Across from the bed, against the other wall, were numerous bookshelves, filled, and stuffed, and stacked, by most every means possible. A few stray hard-covers lay on the floor, some half open, resting on bent, warped pages, some laying open, the pages worn, and doggy-eared, a few random pages scattered over the floor.

Immediately inside the door, to the right, was a large, wooden trunk. Ziel pressed the lock, and it clicked open - and he heaved the heavy top up, leaning it back against the stone wall so it wouldn't fall over.

Despite the hastily abandoned state the room was left in, within the trunk, the things were untouched by the passage of time, fresh, and smelling only of Xaver's brisk, masculine scent. Shirts were folded to the right, organized from odd armored shirts, to regular, lazy tee's, and pants in the same manner, old jeans stacked at the other side. In the middle, was a random assortment of socks, and gloves - and sheathed swords, and multi-shaped blades, all in their own covers, though obvious in what they were. A big, thick black coat sat behind them.
A small, pink mitten stuck out amidst all the dark colors, and leather blade-covers.
One of Kylie's old mittens.
Randomly misplaced, probably.

One of her puffy jackets was stuffed in a corner, too. And a small, stuffed dragon, neon orange, sat atop that...


"I'll leave you to it. Xaver's things are as good as your own, anyway, Milady - I doubt he even remembers this place.."

Zeil shrugged, and made a low bow to her, before exiting, closing the door behind him to give her privacy.

Ginny watched him leave, then bent down, intending to grab a t-shirt and change. But her hand disobayed her and went immediety to the small pink glove, touching it lightly before picking it up.

Kylie..

Ginny played with the glove, looking at it, but not really seeing it. Instead, she saw the girl it belonged to. She had loved Kylie like her own sister...

She replaced the glove, grabbing a simple black t-shirt and replacing her bloodied one. As she pulled the shirt over her head, she spotted the dragon in the cornor.

Orange..?
Xaver had said he didn't like orange...
Especially neon orange.

She stood, walking over to the toy feeling slightly quilty. As though she were snooping. She wasn't doing anything wrong, but she felt as though she were intruding on Xaver's personal space. The silence in the room was overwhelming when she hesitently reached out, touching the the stuffed toy.

The toy was magic, of course.
The dragon blinked at her touch, marble eyes becoming suddenly soft, and friendly beneath an array of orange eyelashes. Dark wings spread from its back - black feathers. Xaver's feathers, though they didn't shine nearly as much as those still connected to him. The dragon batted its wings, and made a little dance, despite its slightly confined spot, spinning now and then, mostly shuffling back and forth on fat feet.

"Hush, little Kylie,
Let me sing to you,
I may have sharp claws,
and an orange nose,
but what I say is true!
Big brother loves his baby sister,
And you know he misses you,
Next time he'll bring back candy,
and stay for longer, too!"

It was Xaver's voice. Younger, laughing softly.

The dragon rolled onto its back, wiggling playfully - realistically.

"So, with this locket, I--"

The dragon kept moving, though the words faded away. It danced a little more, then hopped up, and gently hugged Ginny's arm.

Ginny let it, then carefully replaced it ontop of the coat it had been sitting on, "Go back to sleep..." She told the toy, knowing it would once no one played with it.

She patted it on the head, thoughtfully, then turned away, heading towards the door. She raked a hand through her hair, sighing softly.
"Best get back to Xaver...heaven knows what he'll do when he awakens." She muttered, more to hear her own vice than to speak to anyone.

Set back into its original place, and when Ginny didn't touch it again, the dragon became still, its eyes glazing over again to that lifeless emptyness.

Zeil was waiting for her in the hallway, standing straight, and patient. When he saw her, he nodded, and led the way back to the room they had left Xaver in, opening the door. Though almost instantly he stopped, gaping.


Xaver stood, facing away from them, before one of the tall, frost bitten windows, cradling his injured arm with his other to ease the pain - but seemingly oblivious to it, as he was to the door opening. To them.
His dark, enormous wings were folded behind him, though when one twitched, absently, the entry wound just beneath his shoulder blade became visible - smeared with that purple stuff. Dried blood was a dark, and slightly foreboding presence, printed heavily over his naked back, and chest - and seeped heavily into the bed he had been laying in, before their departure.
His gaze was out the window. His thoughts, far enough away that he didn't notice Ginny or Zeil enter, immediately.

Ginny was slightly worried, but covered it by walking to Xaver and gently touching his arm, "You should be laying down, mister." She told him. But she was smiling slightly, "What are you doing up, hm?" She half scolded him.

After a moment, Xaver withdrew his heavy gaze, very slowly adverting his dark blue oceans, to her. There were heavy, unusual lines, and shadows of fatigue, and a certain underlying stress written beneath his eyes, and over his features. Her touch on his ice-cold skin warmed him slightly, though distantly.

"It has been a long time," he said, almost airily. "Since I've been here... And I'm tired of being tired.."

"Aren't we all, my love?" Ginny smiled, keep her hand on his arm.

She glanced back at Zeil, "You should thank him...he saved you."

Xaver looked at her, thoughtfully, before turning more completely.
It took a moment for recognation to set in - but when Xaver recognized the blond standing erect beside the doorway, he smiled, very slightly.

"Zeil!"
He allowed a soft chuckle, though the tremors through his shoulder had him wincing,
"It's good to see you, my friend.. Ginny is right - thank you."

"It was nothing, Milord.. No worse than last time, certainly."

Xaver blinked, staring at Zeil curiously, before he shook it off.
"I don't know what you did.. But this stuff seems to be working gre-"

Zeil was chuckling, as if Xaver was pulling some joke over him.
"It's the same stuff! YOU recommended it!"

Xaver stared at him. Confused.

Ginny watched the confusing sceane, her thumb rubbing Xaver's arm while she kept her hand there, "Zeil, he doesn't remember almost anything from the past three years.." She said, quietly.

"Anything..?"

Xaver frowned, without thinking about it.
"Mostly."

"Well, then let-"

"Zeil," Xaver cut in quietly, "let me just be with my wife-to-be, and be thankful to you, for now. Without my memories in a jumble, please.."
"Yes, Milord--"
At Xaver's stern frown, the blond looked almost sheepish.
"Xaver..."
He glanced at the window - and frowned to himself.
"I have to catch a coffee now, and then I've a meeting to attend - but I will be back later."
Zeil bowed to them, and disappeared - and Xaver shook his head.

"Coffee is his drug of choice," he explained, lightly, sighing softly after a moment.
The conversation alone had worn him out.
He swept a kiss across the corner of Ginny's mouth, and allowed a small smile to play his lips.
"You're mine."

"I am, am I?" Ginny smiled at him, softly. Her eyes were worried though, "Are you sure you're ok?" She asked, her smiled fading slightly.

"I... hurt," he admitted, his eyes grazing the floor. "And I feel sick... But I'm alive. And I am with you."

Xaver passed another kiss over her lips, before straightening, cradling his injured arm still, with his other.
He frowned, slightly.
"I.. Don't know if I want to remember more... Everything I've remembered.."
He pulled a face.
"Is horrible.."

"You don't have to remember any of it, darling." Ginny told him, looking out the window, "But when you do, you can tell me about it if it makes you feel any better."

She knew what she had gone through without him, during those three years. But what of him. She so despretly wanted to know more about the time he was gone.

"I don't think I have a choice, really," he murmured softly.

Some of the details... Xaver wished he could forget them again.
He wanted to know what had happened. He wanted to know, why. Why he had been gone, why.. Everything. Three years of his life were missing, besides a few scattered details. It was torture, not knowing. He wanted reasons. Wanted the truth. Wanted to know.
The details, though... some, were enough to make him shudder, and wonder how on earth he'd endured...

"I will, when I ..remember more.." he said quietly after a moment of absently watching her, her presence calming him slightly.
"Walk with me..? It's been awhile since I've been here.. And I feel like a caged animal in this room."

"Of course, love." She said, moving her hand from his elbow to his hand, grasping it tightly.

She smiled up at him, "Lead the way."

Xaver returned her smile, his own with what used to be a rare warmth, planting a kiss over her forehead, and squeezing her hand back, clutching his injured arm to his middle - and more or less ignoring it.
He led them out the door, and slowly down the staircase, his eyes flickering over the door of his old bedroom. One of them. He frowned slightly, only in slight interest, and continued downward, not stopping to enter.
That bedroom was probably empty, after all these years, right?..
He glanced at Ginny, and then blinked, almost missing the next step.

"My shirt?.."

He looked at her, in a sort of when did that happen?
That black, that size, that material..

"Yea, mine was covered in blood...it made me cold." Ginnyshrugged and smiled at him, half laughing.

"It looks better on me," She joked. And while she joked, she watched him. Watched the way he held his injured side, watched how he walked. She was careful to keep an eye open for any signs it was getting worse.

"MMmm, it does, too."
Xaver waggled his eyebrows playfully, and glanced back up at the door they had passed.
She had to have gotten it in there. It was the only rational idea.
He smiled slightly, and started down the steps again, gently tugging her hand. His gait was slower, now.

"Been a while, as well, since I've seen that shirt. Training years."
He shook his head.
"At least I washed my clothes. Poor you would have smelled the less attractive side of me."
Xaver glanced at her, winking.

"Darling, I smell that side every morning before you take a shower." She teased him gently, smiling brightly.

Xaver tried to scowl, as he glanced at her over his shoulder, but his expression quickly melted into a grin, a low chuckle rumbling within the confines of his chest, before he winced at the movement, and looked away.

"I meant," he said, his tones still light, "worse smells than that. Darrrling."
He cast another grin over his shoulder, before watching the steps before him, taking them carefully. Falling down them wouldn't nearly kill him, even in the worst of cases - but it'd hurt like hell, right then.

Ginny laughed at his attempt of a scowl, then grinned back.

"Baay-beee," She said, drawing out the word has he had drawn our 'darling', "you know the only smell I truley hate is blood."

And that was only because it turned her stomach.

"Baay-beee.."
Xaver grinned to himself, but then, as she finished, he didn't look at her.
Hating the way his thoughts darkened, and not wanting to ruin the mood.

"I know," he said softly.

Not saying, that those were the smells that had most commonly accompanied him at that time.
Kylie had hated the smell of blood, too, now that he thought about it. He could see her face, her nose wrinkling in dusgust.
" 'Aaaverr," she would say, annoyed. "I can smell them."

Them.
His stomach churned - and Xaver realized it was because he was falling. Caught in a daydream..

He stumbled, shaking the memory from his head, and releasing her hand, he pushed himself against the cold, stone wall, pressing his forehead to the uneven surface. He bit back a groan, turning, and sitting down, shaking his head again.

"Baby," This time seriously, "are you ok?" Ginny sat beside him, her stomach jumping with concern for him.

She put a hand on his knee, biting her lip slightly. Her eyes were wide, and slightly scared. She wasn't sure how to help him if he wasn't ok.

"...Yeah."

The hand of his uninjured arm running through his dark hair, he looked over at her, almost ashamedly.
"My memories.. Daydreams.. It's a jumble of reality and the past.."
Xaver shook his head, tiredly.
"I keep... seeing her. Sometimes it's real memories.. Sometimes I don't know."
He looked at her, uneasily, through a side-long glance.

His nightmare, not too long ago, had awoken both Ginny and Cody. Even brought in a worried friend..

Ginny was silent, understanding who he meant and how he felt without question. She nodded, "Maybe..your subconsious is trying to tell you something." She suggested, quietly.

"That's what I'm afraid of," he admitted.
There was guilt, regret, and everything in-between, but something was wrong.
"I just can't.. place it. And my thoughts were going back and forth, and I sort of.. missed a step."

He smiled, sheepishly, waving his good hand almost airily.
It didn't help he couldn't walk in a straight line at the moment, but he wouldn't say that..

Ginny nodded, but said nothing back. On one hand, if Kylie was still out there and alive, by all means, she wanted to find her. She wanted to find Kylie and love her just as she had before and just as she loved Xaver now, unconditionally.

But if Kylie was dead...then what was this? Some guilt associated with her death? Something he;d have to overcome sooner or later? Something he may never get over completly? She wasn't sure and it worried her.

Xaver sighed, finally, reached over and took her hand within his own (uninjured one), and grazed his lips across the top of it.
"I don't know.."

He shrugged his shoulders - and regretted it instantly. Xaver winced, paling slightly, before he got himself under control, and stood.
He shook his head and started, slower, down the stairs, glancing up after a moment to see if she was following.

Ginny sat for a moment, watching, then got up. She followed him slowly, deep in her own thinking, keeping her eyes on him closely.

The spiral staircase finally ended.
It opened into a long, well-lit hallway, doors on each side in various places, a pair of swords, crossed, on both sides. One pair made of gold, and the other of a black metal. Xaver walked past them both, without looking at them, his eyes flickering, almost absently, over a few of the doors. He was silent, looking around, lost in his own thoughts. Almost too much so to pay attention where he was going, again.

Ginny followed him, not really paying attention either. She kept her eyes on Xavers back thoughtfully.

Xaver moved about the hallway almost absently, touching things here, and there, running his fingers across the glossy covers of old, still photos. He hadn't been there in a long, long time... Thoughtful, and curious of the memories that had long been forgotten, of this place, he paused, now and then. Remembering.

Suddenly, he jumped back, grunting in both surprise, and pain, as he brought his hands up, defensively.
He dropped them, slowly, when small, child-like fingers wrapped around the doorframe of a door opened just enough to peek through. A giggle sounded, in the darkness behind the door - and then the fingers withdrew. Xaver blinked.

"What...was that?" Ginny asked, stepping up beside him and looking at the door curiously. She placed one hand on his back, a bit frightened. This wasn't her realm, and sometimes it scared her.

Her small hand warm against the cool, naked skin of his back, Xaver shivered slightly, at the contrast. He felt the warmth of her touch spread through him, and it was the most soothing of antidotes, for his strung nerves. He turned his head slightly, glancing at Ginny, before he looked back to the door, and pushed it open with the toe of his boot. Covered, he noticed absently, in his own blood. Light from the hallway spilled into the dark, cell-like room, like liquid. Illuminating a few sheet-covered, dust-ridden objects. His eyes adjusted slowly, flickering about the room, his shadow a large gash in the light, before him.
There were a few muffled cries of recognition, and a few whimpers, when he stepped foreword, only then remembering the presence of his wings, though he did nothing to hide them. Suddenly, a bold face peeked around the nearest white sheet covered object, small fingers grasping the fabric nervously, clenching it between whitened fists. The little girl looked at him, her blonde hair down to her elbows, of which were scratched and dirty, her face oval, and soft with youth, blue eyes wide, and round in what only could be digested as fear. Golden wings twitched nervously behind her, reflecting the light as the tatters of her dark clothes absorbed it.

"Strays," he said, very softly, to Ginny. "We aren't in my home realm. We are in a poorer, fiercer, neighboring one... This is an old lookout tower.. Most probably don't even know it exists anymore, really. Zeil and I had a few stake outs here, years ago, with some others..."

He trailed off, kneeling. Very slowly. Gentle, almost. Clutching his arm to his middle, and trying to play off the pain, though, given, he couldn't make it all go away...

The little girl, the bold one, stepped foreword, despite the various voices behind her whispering cries of surprise, and a few little hands even trying to tug her back by the wings. She shook them off, slowly, very cautiously, walking foreword, her eyes flickering from Xaver's face, to his wings, and fixing curiously on Ginny. Xaver remained completely still, on one knee when she reached him. Her wings were folded behind her, golden, and radient - opposites to the unwashed color of her pale skin, smeared with dirt in places, and the ratty-ness of her hair, the shirt she wore hanging below her knees, tattered, and worn thin, over her body - little, even for a child. Slowly still, she reached foreword, and pressed her hand to the side of Xaver's face. She winced, and held still - then, after a moment, her features softened again, and she blinked. As if expecting a blow, and surprised that none landed. She stared at him, as if he were an oddity, then looked to Ginny, keeping her little hand on his face.

"You are a human?"

Ginny smiled slowly, "Last time I checked." She said, almost dully. Well, what else was she supposed to say? There was no doubt, simply by looking at her, that she wasn't one of the majestic Fallen.

No wings.

Ginny watched the brave little girl for a moment, tilting her head to the side as a small smiled played with her lips. The girl was cute, and somewhat needful looking. Then she let her eyes travel to their girl's companions, or what she could see of them.

"You're funny," the girl said, unable to help a small smile as she dropped her arms to her sides.
Just as suddenly, she brought them up again, folding them over her chest, asserting her face into a scowl. "And you're not going to hurt us?"


(SOrrryyyy, short. >.> My post was lost. O_O)

"And why," Ginny tilted her head to the side slightly, raising her eyebrows, "would we hurt you?"

Ginny wasn't exactly an innocent, she had killed. And she had killed children. But only once without reason, and never since she had had her son.

"Because we're not supposed to be in here..." She looked at Xaver then, narrowing her eyes. "Neither are you. None of us belong here!"
"And why are you here then, mmm? It's freezing out."
"Because our momma kicked us out," she answered, frowning. "So we..."
"Lay-lay it's him!" came a shrill, boyish voice.

A boy came running from the cover of the sheet-laiden piece of furnature, worn boots that fit all of his legs until above his knobby knees thumping loudly on the floor, one of his little hands gripping his baggy shorts so they didn't join the boots, his shirt drooping almost over the pants, the sleeves past his elbows.
"He's Lord Xian! Kylie's brother!"
When the little girl flinched, the boy rolled his amber eyes, sighing.
"The good one, stupid. And that's her! Miss Ginny!"

The girl reflected Xaver's own expression, blinking, in both surprise, and a moment of rushed confusion. Realization dawning a moment later.

Ginny looked to Xaver, her eye brows still raised.
-How can these children know my name?-

She looked back to the boy and girl though, "What are your names?" She asked, stepping beside Xaver and kneeling as well to see them better. She smiled slightly, a warm, motherly smile.

-I..-
Xaver faltered, and glanced at her.
-How they even know mine, is bizarre.-

"MY name is Laylenn," the girl spoke up. She motioned to her brother, "He's Turk, like a turkey, and our littlest brother is asleep back there. We just call him Todd the Toad. Turk and I made that up."
The girl flushed, and almost bounced, marveling at the attention she was getting.

Xaver rose, and the two, miniature compared to his height, stared up at him, wide-eyed.
"It's alright," he said quietly. "I'm just going to check on Todd back there.."

He swept past them, padding deeper into the room, and around the bits of furniture.

Ginny watched Xaver for a moment before looking at the two children again, "Laylenn, Turk, why did your mom kick you out?" She looked at the curiously, and her voice was quiet and kind.

"Food," the two said in unison, the girl frowning, and the little boy hoisting up his pants, so they didn't fall to his knees.
"She couldn't 'fford us," he said, fidgeting with his pants while his sister stared at Ginny, still. "S'okay, though. Maw had daddy to take care uff."

Xaver frowned at their answers, even as he rounded the corner of the sheet-covered table. Immediately, he stopped, as soon as he did so.
The youngest brother, Todd the Toad, was there, as they had said he would be - but his condition hit Xaver like a swift kick in the stomach. He was laying on his side, his legs brought up to his chest, and his skinny arms around them, his face bowed into his knees. Wearing only a pair of faded, stained shorts, his pale, bruised, scratched limbs and torso were exposed - to both the harshness of the cold, and to Xaver's gaze, of which flickered over the boy in a steady alarm. He was a small child, both in young age, and physical size - so that did nothing to help his pitiful state. His wings were big, behind his bony creature, and a bright, shocking red, like his shoulder-length, ratty hair - like Ginny's magnificent hair, Xaver noted.

Xaver kneeled, forgetting his injured arm until the pain shot through him, ruthlessly - though he ignored it, reaching out with his good arm and pressing two fingers to the boy's throat. His pulse was slow, and very light against his touch. Weak. The boy stirred finally, turning his head only slightly - silver eyes turning from lazy confusion, to sheer fright in the same moment, his heartbeat beginning to race beneath Xaver's fingers. Xaver withdrew from the boy's neck, resting his hand on his head, messing the boy's red hair affectionately. The boy stared at him.

"Easy.." he said softly. "I'm not here to hurt you. Your brother and sister are just around this table, here.."

Todd made to speak, but his voice came out in a quiet sqeak, scratchy and weakened, his tones little more than a whisper.
Xaver shook his head, and the boy quieted, sighing.

"Can you stand?"

The boy began to uncurl himself, but only moved his limbs so far, before he sighed, closing his eyes briefly, before looking up at Xaver, the answer written over the exhausted, sickened lines of his boyish features. Xaver met Todd's silvery eyes with his own dark blues, and nodded his head, far more passing between them than could be put into words, especially then.
He leaned over, clenching his jaw against the pain that dotted his eyesight, and enveloped the little red-headed boy into the circle of his arms, and stood, his own frown darkening at both the molten, but dulling, pain spreading from his arm, and the light weight, and limpness of the boy, even as he curled against Xaver's chest, and sighed, closing his silver eyes again. One arm beneath the little boy's skinny knees, and the other wrapped around his folded bright golden wings, and back, Xaver held Todd like he carried Cody, when taking his own exhausted baby boy to bed.

He stepped around the corner, Todd snuggled against his chest, and asleep again, his own eyes unreadable, besides the concern that was already written so cleanly over them.


"See, that's Todd. Poor baby," said Laylenn. "We almost couldn't hide him during the last raid.."
Xaver stared at her, his gaze suddenly sharpening in understanding.
"Raid..?" he questioned.
The little girl nodded her head, looking between Xaver's face, and her littlest brother.
"Yup. Homenessness is an epuhdemey."
He blinked. "Homelessness is an epidemic?"
"Yessum. And peoples are fighting for stuff, you know?"

Xaver knew.
And that meant his neighboring realm was in far worse shape than he had feared.
"So you came here?"
"Yeah. Because everyone is afraid of this place. We're not!"

"And as you shouldn't be." Ginny said sofly. She smiled at the Laylenn and Turk, "Why don't we find something to get you guys to eat, ok?"

She winked lightly, hardly glancing at Todd. She noted his condition, but didn't let on her concern. The other two didn't need to know how close to death their little brother was.

-When children fear the world, it is a world we all must fear.-

-Indeed. They see the things adults have grown to put off. They fear of the monsters of their dreams.. Which have become reality, nowadays. They are the eyes to the world we have grown out of...-

"Let's get out of here. Are you two alright with that? See if maybe we can find a nicer place to-"
"Yes!"
"Really?! Yeah, I'm hungry! Junk food?"
The two bounced around Ginny's knees, Turk's pants wiggling down until he yanked them up, flushing, and then simply holding them as he continued to jump.

Xaver nodded, clenching his jaw against the sudden spell of dizziness that left his breathless and clammy. He shivered, and Todd opened his eyes, his silver orbs flickering slowly over Xaver's face. Then glancing at his shoulder, Xaver's torso being still bare, the wound unguarded - as if knowingly. The boy couldn't have been more than a few years old. But he knew.

"Grab a knee, guys."
The two flocked over to him, each wrapping their arms around one of his legs, and squeezing. He glanced at them briefly, before looking up at Ginny, offering one of his devastatingly charming smiles.

"You, too, my love."

"What?" Ginny stood, facing them with an eyebrow raised. She took a step closer though, gently touching Xaver's elbow and smiling. She looked down at the childen, painfully reminded of her baby. She wondered for a moment what he was doing.

Probably sleeing, or eating. He ate like his father.

As Ginny's thoughts took a more maternal route, Xaver noticed.
-They make me worry about him,- he thought to her, knowing she would understand.

When she touched his arm, he fought the urge to shiver again, at her warmth. He paused though.
-Where should we go?-

-Don't ask me, love.-

Ginny gently ruffled Turk's hair, smiling slightly.

He was opening up the options.
Upon her response, Xaver nodded, and closed his eyes. Suddenly, the old, dusty room about them blurred, much as the scenes did in Xaver's dreams, and then the five of them were standing in a long dining hall that greatly reflected Hogwart's great hall, though the room was more slender, and lacked festive banners, or any welcoming things of the sort, besides the many candles, and light fixtures about the walls, and high ceiling.

There was a gasp, behind them, and Xaver turned his head, just in time to see a woman, wide-eyed, drop the tray of mugs full of steaming liquid. The cups and tray clanged dully onto the floor, glass shattering, and the hot liquid spilling over the stone tile floor.
"Lord Xaver!"
Xaver blinked at her, feeling heavy and uneasy with his use of magic, still not recovered much from the attempted assassination on his life, not many hours ago..
"You frightened me!"

"We're in your realm?" Laylenn said, as all three children stared at him.
Xaver nodded, and the two clinging to his legs hugged him a little closer.

"It's alright," he said gently, his tones giving him away, worn, and tired - though undeniably soft. Reassuring. "You are welcome here. Don't be frightened - no one will dislike you."
He looked up, nodding to the woman, clad in a dark green dress over her wide self. She had a warm face, brown eyes flickering over the kids, and then Ginny, thoughtfully. Piecing things together.
"Don't worry about the mess - would you fetch a meal big enough for ten? We're ravished."
She blinked at him, then nodded, turning on her heals and hurrying off the way she had come, waving her hands to get the attention of a few others as she disappeared around the huge stone corner.

-Todd?-
The little boy only stirred slightly, too tired to open his eyes. -Mm?-
Xaver nodded, satisfied that the boy knew his own mindlinks, even in his young age.
-Can you reach Ginny? Mentally? Can you reach her, without physical touch?-
-Mayyyybe.-
The boy's voice was high, and light. Carrying a youthfulness that at the moment, escaped his physical form. He looked young, but aged.
-Try. I need to know how to make you better.-

Todd pinched his eyes closed tighter, and focused.
-Gi..-
He tried again.
-Ginny?-

Ginny had been watching the woman watch her, rather interesting in her reaction, when Todd spoke to her telepathically.

-Yes, Todd? How do you feel, sweetie?- She turned her eyes onto the small boy in Xaver's arms, watching him, absorbing the way he looked. She was already thinking of what could be wrong with him.

Malnurished? Most definietly.
But what else?

-Xaver told me to say 'ello,- he sent, quietly. -So hiyuh.-

Xaver almost smiled, easily catching the boy's unyeilding thoughts
The two gripping his legs suddenly abandoned him with an urgency that almost toppled him over - streaking to one of the long tables and clambering up. The woman had returned, her own wings hidden, and was almost lazily distributing the last of the many, many plates she had carried in. By magic, of course. The two kids beamed at her, though neither reached, despite their eagerness. Both sets of eyes were upon Ginny and Xaver, longingly.

"Go on, eat. You don't think it was brought out for you to drool over, do you?"

They shared a grin, and began piling their plates, as Xaver looked down at the boy in his arms, ignoring the pain in his arm - so effectively, that he nearly forgot about it. It was getting better, anyway. ..Slowly.
"Todd," me murmured, looking over at Ginny when the small boy opened his silver eyes, after a long moment.

"Bring him over here, he needs to eat something. But slowly, or he'll get an upset stomach." Ginny said, walking slowly towards the table. She looked at the other two carefully, "That goes for you guys as well, eat slowly."

Ginny looked at the woman who had brought in the food, "Thank you." She said, smiling slightly now.

Xaver nodded to Ginny, and, in his normal soundlessness, padded over to the table, draping one leg over the bench and bringing his other beneath him, sitting. Laylenn and Turk grinned at Ginny, and nodded to her, slowing down in their wolfing down the food, and teasing each other, between bites.

The woman opposite them looked up at Ginny, as she set one of the last plates hovering above her head, down. She nodded, both to Ginny, and Xaver, as he sent her his own thanks.
"Of course, dear." She returned Ginny's smile. "It's awful nice of you to be helping these children."
She nodded again, fiddling with a few trays.

Xaver looked down at Todd, meeting the boy's silver eyes.
Noting, for the first time, that their colors were clear as crystal.

-I already have an upset tummy,- the boy sent, reaching both Xaver, and Ginny.

"Couldn't let them starve, could we?" Ginny smiled slightly, then looked at Todd, slowly taking in his weak thoughts.

-Have you drank any water inthe past day or so?-

The woman looked up, and after a thoughtful pause, she smiled, seemingly satisfied with that answer.
"No... Lucky for them, we wouldn't let them starve."
She nodded her head, to Ginny, and then turned, shuffling off toward the hallway, waving her hand at a few that loitered in the hall entrance, shooing them away.

Todd stared at Ginny, his round, sharp silver eyes unblinking in his curiousness. Slowly, his gaze flickered from her, to Xaver, his head tipping to the side slightly as he battled a yawn.
-L'eau? No..-

"Tu as soif?"
"Savez-vous ma langue?"
The boy's voice came out scratchy, but surprised. Xaver smiled, slightly. He knew some French, yes. He knew many languages.. A mixture of said languages was what made up his realm - many of the Fallen having homes in both realms, just as he. However - Xaver's home wasn't in the realm. It was with Ginny, and Cody.
"Oui, je sais. ...Je sais un peu."
Xaver winked at the little boy, shifting, so that Todd's golden wings weren't being crushed as he lay, at ease, in the circle of his arms. And, so that he let off the strain of the boys weight, light even as it was, on his own arm, allowing the dull, throbbing pain, to ease.
"Tu veux du l'eau? Some water?"
"I don't feel good 'nuff...'Ess weird.."

Todd pressed his palm to his forehead, scratching his fingers absently over his red hair, offering a lopsided smile toward both Ginny, and Xaver, shrugging his own small shoulders.

"Then hush, don't speak. Try to drink something, ok?" Ginny picked up a glass and carried it to Todd and Xaver.

She glanced back at Laylenn and Turk with a bright smile, "You two, drink some water too."

Xaver slumped backward against the table, closing his eyes for a moment, allowing Todd to remain curled against his chest. Oblivious, almost, to the two kids at his side, one step below a foot fight.
" 'Cause it's good?" Laylenn said, beaming over her silver goblet, both hands clasped around the neck of it.

-That much?!-
Todd squeaked, even mentally, his eyes wide at the (small, even) cup in Ginny's hands.

"Why yes, water is so good." Ginny said with  smiled and a wink.

She looked to Todd, "See? It's good. And you get to drink this nice and slow, ok?"

Ginny looked at Xaver, frowning slightly, -And you. Don't overexert yourself.-

"Mmm. It is good.." Laylenn smiled at Ginny, though her expression soon turned into one of utter horror - and disgust. "OOOHHHH, Turk! You STINK!"
She chucked her empty goblet at him, though the silver cup clanking dully off his head, and onto the floor, did nothing to diffuse his proud, beaming grin - or his smell. Laylenn groaned, and jumped off the seat, running around Ginny, and plopping down onto the bench on the other side of Xaver.
Her eyes widened, fixing on his shoulder, then.
"You're hurt!"

Xaver cracked one eye open, peeking at her through a partially-opened lid, an almost lazy smile chancing over his lips.
"Was hurt. I'm getting better."
His eyes closed again.
"Promise," he murmured, lowly. Then, to Ginny, -I'm trying, Love. See?-
Xaver almost grinned again, remaining still.

Todd reached out and took the cup between his small hands, blinking down into it.
He sipped at it, closing his eyes and enjoying the taste, though he shivered slightly, even with the new heat of both Xaver's nearness, and the hall, his belly rumbling.

Ginny rolled her eyes as Laylenn ran around to get away from Turk, even giggled slightly.
She looked at Xaver though, watching him with a soft look in her eyes, -I know, baby. I know.-

"Laylenn, Turk, how old are you guys?"

-Mmmm... I love you.-
If you could smile in your thoughts, Xaver was smiling at Ginny, though physically his lips only tipped upward very slightly. Affectionately.
Todd sat up, his back against Xaver's chest, his legs folded beneath him over Xaver's thigh, his little hands clasped firmly over the cup, his silver orbs flickering over Ginny, and his siblings, almost with interest. There was a detached sort of exhaustion, there, but there was no doubt he was fighting it.

"We dunno," Laylenn said, her voice oddly pitched, her fingers pinched over her nose. Turk laughed, and she scowled over at him. "Shut up, you feathered doof."
Turk rolled his eyes, and shrugged his shoulders, though his hands quickly went back to his pants, pulling them up again for the nth time, to keep them from falling past his bottom.
"We never knew. And mother never kept track. We're ageless!" he said.
"Immortal!" Laylenn chimed in.
"Until we die!"

Todd hiccupped and Xaver's eyes opened, his head tipping to the side as he watched the boy, tilting his head so he could glance his face, around Todd's gold wings.
"You alright, buddy?"
The little boy began to nod, though the feverish shakes of his head slowed quickly, until his was bobbing his head almost drunkenly. He reminded Xaver so much of Cody, when he was drifting heavily off to sleep, that Xaver stared at him. Though his interest became utmost concern when the cup slid from the boys fingers, between his legs, dropping onto the floor and soaking Xaver's shoes - though Xaver could care less at the moment, for instantly, his arms went around Todd, as he slumped over, his eyes drooping, and then finally closing.

"Immortal until you die..." Ginny repeated with a small smile. She raised an eyebrow at the two, shaking her head slightly, "And have you two any idea how old Todd is?"

She glanced over, seeing Todd slump in Xaver's arms.
-He ok?-

-He is unconscious.-
Xaver's tones no longer held their soft, relaxed state. They were sharp, and fixed - the gears in his head turning quickly.

"That's how we live!" Laylenn said over her goblet, both unconcerned, used to her little brother's state, and ignorant.
Turk, though, slipped off the bench, wading through the tension he could easily feel radiating from Xaver's creature, and placed his hand on Todd's head, running his fingers through his brother's hair, a frown set on his mouth.

-Is he breathing?-

Ginny focused on Laylenn, "I see." She studied the little girl, then looked at the two boys, a frown setting upon her own face. A worried one.

-Slightly.-

Xaver cradled Todd to his chest, much as he held Cody when his son had long since nodded off to sleep, the skinny blond's head tucked into the cup of his palm, his arm running the length of the boy's back, soft, silky-feathered bright golden wings draped loosely over his arm. Xaver frowned down at the thin boy, then jumped slightly, looking up.
Surprised - though it was actually a moment before footfalls sounded in the hallway, and a figure rounded the corner, into the mess hall. Xaver had heard the man long before he'd neared the room.

Ginny had taken a step towards Xaver and Todd, but stopped as a man appeared in the doorway. She half turned, instictivly positioning herself to be able to protect the children.

"So for once, the rumors were true. You are back."
The man's voice even sounded like a sneer.

Turk gripped the loose fabric of Xaver's jeans, at his knee, and Laylenn, soundlessly, moved, ducking behind Ginny.
Xaver scowled, half annoyed at the others tone, and because of the impact he had on the children - though he remained stationary.

The man stopped, finally, when he was in close range of them all, his gait light, and smooth. He was tall - about Xaver's height, perhaps taller - though he was massive, bulked up and huge, where Xaver was lean. The other male was wide in comparison - though in no way was Xaver scrawny. Just more athletic - built compactly into a whipcord of strength.
He smiled at Ginny, brown eyes not hiding his interest, even as they moved from her, and over the three little ones, his expression souring..

Ginny's own eyes never left the man, showing nothing. She absently reached back and put a hand on Laylenn's head, rubbing it slightly.

She didn't smile back, "Rumors are rarely true." She said, softly.

"Neither are they ever really pleasant," he returned, eyes brown as dung fixing on Ginny. "But sometimes they are true."
His eyes flickered over to Xaver, who's expression darkened, considerably.
"And still unpleasant."
"Good to see you too, Belain. I see you've changed for the better."
The man scowled.
"I see you've changed for the worse, Milord." He nodded pointedly to Laylenn, who, beneath the protection of Ginny's hand, poked her tongue out at him.

"Laylenn, don't be like that." Ginny said, not able to keep a smile from her lips. The girl had done exactly what she herself wanted to do to this stuffy brat of a man. She pushed her hair behind her ears and smiling wanly.

"Yes - didn't the filthy breeders that bore you teach you not to test those who would so easily skin you? And enjoy it?"
At the little girl's expression, the man laughed, though the sound stopped, immediately, when Turk stomped his foot. "You shut up!"
"Turk-"
"But-"

"Don't talk to my sister like that."
It was Todd.
The little boy suddenly jerked away from Xaver, wiggling away from the hold of his arms, and coming to stand on the floor, beside Laylenn, his gold wings shimmering as they folded, naturally, behind him. He didn't waver, though his pallor was still oddly pale, and creamy, his silvery eyes burning with an anger that made Xaver stare..

"I suggest you listen to the boy. Children are dangerous." Ginny smiled slightly, starring at the man with utter dislike.

The man, Belain, laughed, outright, in their faces.
"A child? Give me a break, lady. Especially ones like them-"
"Have you a reason for your intrusion?" Xaver interrupted, scowling darkly.

"Of course. You are needed."
"I am not here on business."
He wasn't even there on purpose.
Xaver rose, then, uncurling from his position on the bench to his full height, the bunched muscles of the hard planes of his still naked torso lengthening and stretching as he straightened.

"It doesn't matter."

"It matters more than you do." Ginny muttered, not even intending to say it outloud as she turned her back on the man and gently shepered the children to the benches.

Xaver fought the smile that fiercely edged its way to his mouth, though, in the end, his lips tilted upward into a bemused, proud smile.
"Perhaps," Belain said darkly, scowling now. "Though more than your pretty face, and these brats, t-"
"I have declined. I will have none of your tongue, Belain. Do not push my patience."

The man shook his head, knowingly, and grinned, in a way that was both haughty and mocking.

Ginny smirked, her temper showing through, "You really should stop talking to these children like that." She said tensely, turning and giving Belain a look.

"Yeah, like-"
"Belain."

He 'hmphed', scowling slightly, even as he tried to hide the stiffness that settled in his spine at the sharpness of Xaver's gaze.
"Fine. Whatever. However, my lord - you must accompany me. Your uncle is waiting for you."
Xaver stiffened, and Turk looked up at him, from where he was, still gripping Xaver's pants at his knee.
"Bring him in then," he said, very quietly, and Belain blinked. "I will not go to him. I am an obediant prince no longer, Belain. Or have you forgotten that?"

Heavy muscles twitched, studdenly anxiously, and Belain, bowed his head, shaking it.
"No.."
"Then go. Fetch him."
"But-"
"Ah - you are right. We have forgotten something. Your apology."
"Xaver?"

Xaver rose, and was suddenly standing. Turk clung to him, his arms wrapped around Xaver's leg, his dirty hair coming to about midthigh, his face pressed into the side of Xaver's knee. Todd's golden wings twitched nervously, and he watched Xaver, his silver eyes wide. Belain glanced from them, to Xaver, to Ginny, and shook his head, muttering an apology before he left, quickly.
As soon as he was around the corner, Xaver sighed, his head dropping as he squeezed his eyes shut, pressing the tips of his fingers to the wound across his shoulder. It burned, and the skin around it was again an irrigtated shade of red, the wound itself an ashen grey. He hadn't donned another shirt - so the ripple through the muscles of his torso were in clear view, when he brushed his fingers to his shoulder.

"What a prick..." Ginny muttered, as Belain left the room. She watched Xaver touch his shoulder with concern, "Love?" She asked softly, worry in her eyes and voice.

"Mm?"

Slowly, Xaver looked up, his gaze focusing, and then settling upon Ginny.
He looked at Laylenn, though, when she looked quickly between them, her young eyes wide, taking Ginny's hand.
"Love?" she questioned, but Turk's voice overrode hers. "You won't let them kill us?"
Xaver looked down at the boy, blinking at him. Then he shook his head, his hand falling away from his shoulder, the goo that Zeil had pasted onto his shoulder smeared, dark, heavy lines of his lifesource trickling slowly down the finely honed, pale contours of his chest.
"No," he said firmly. "You are safe. I will let nothing happen to you. I promise."

Ginny glanced down at Laylenn and squeezed her hand gently, giveing her a slightly confused smile before looked at Turk with slight wonder.

"We'd never let them do that, Turk. Nothing will happen to you three as long as either of us live, ok?"

"But he's dying."

Todd was staring at him. Pointing at him. His golden wings twitching anxiously. Xaver's gaze slowly moved to the boy, and when their eyes met, he bit back his response.
His reassuring lie.

He looked away from the boy, in the beginnings of shaking his head when a door closed in the hallway, and multiple footsteps sounded, approaching. Turk, pressed his face into Xaver's leg again, and Laylenn squeezed Ginny's hand back, swallowing.

At Todds words, Ginny's eyes focused on Xaver's, until he looked away. She swallowed, but smiled at Laylenn softly, squeezing back.

-Is he telling the truth, love?-

His heartbeat sounding in his ears, Xaver looked at her.

-He might be,- he returned, very softly.


At that moment, the group in the hall rounded the corner. There were six or so, all tall, fit men, Fallen men, all with greyish, variously tinted wings except Belain, who stood near the back, his still hidden, and the man in the front of the group, of whos wings were as darkly shaded as Xaver's, though tinted with the same reds as Xences's wings. He stopped, and the men behind him stopped. The man, Xaver's uncle, stared at him, dark green eyes looking Xaver over from shoes, to topmost hair, his gaze lingering over the ever-worsening wound on his shoulder.

"My son, is dead."
His green eyes darted through the room, over the children, and pausing on Ginny for a moment.
"Your cousin, is dead. For warning you."
When Xaver stared at him, he grew angry, a blurring mist hovering about him as he stomped his foot, scowling, impressive in the choice of black pants, and shirt, and leather vest, the heavy maroon colored cloak enclosing his thick form billowing with his movements.
"Have you not seen him in so long, Xaver Xian?! Have you been so preoccupied with yourself that you have forgotten your own family?!"

Xaver scowled.
"You have long since disowned myself and my twin. Who are you now to claim family relations, Xaphan?"

Xaphan returned the set expression of his nephew.
"I DID disown you - but my son did not! And now he is dead, because of trying to forewarn you!"
"H-"
"We found him! Run right through the middle, his wings sheared off-"

Xaver reeled, almost taking a step back from the mental blow, though Turk, holding tight to his leg, kept him still.
"That was-"
"How dare you!"
Xaphan crossed the room in a few long, powerful strides, and in an instant a hand was gripping Xaver's jaw, his fingers digging into the handsome lines of his cheeks.
"How you dare forget, I-..."
Slowly, the taller, and slightly broader, man blinked, his gaze flickering again to Xaver's shoulder, even as Xaver jerked away from him, rubbing his fingers over his jaw.
"..What did they do to you?..."

"They tried to do the same thing to him, you idiot." Ginny said, never moving, not even as Xaver's uncle had grabbed him.

"Instead of being so preoccupied with the death of one, why don't you worry about healing another? Before there are two deaths." She glared at the man, her face blank, her voice cool, and gentel, but firm. Control showing through her tones,  a streak of stubbornness in her eyes.

She had avoided anything that had had to do with the Fallen when Xaver had been gone. It was men like this she had kept her son hidden from, although Xences had been the biggest fear.

"And while you are at it, you could help these children." She added, her gaze now going to Belain with a frown and obvious anger at him.

"Xaver can take care of himself," he said, offishly.
Not even believing it, with this situation, himself.
Xaphan blinked, and stared at Ginny, his green eyes flickering from her eyes, to her red hair, his head tipping to the side, curiously.
"Take care... of them?" He shook his head. "You're insane."

"Surprisingly, that isn't the first time someone has said that." Ginny smiled, her eyes smouldering with unleashed anger. "It would be in your best interest to help these children and Xaver. Immediately."

Or what? Ginny didn't know. She knew next to nothing about these people, but the fact that they kept trying to not help Xaver of the kids was making her angry. She was no innocent, she was hardly considered kind. But to not help someone so obviously in pain? To avoid helping starving children for who knows why?

It made her angry enough to accidentally squeeze Laylenns hand a bit too hard, causing the girl to make a small noise. Ginny focused on Xaver's uncle, still smiling, "I strongly suggest you at least get someone in here with medical training. And soon, you don't want more deaths than you can hide on your hands."

"My lady. He-.."
Xaphan sighed, shaking his head as he glanced from her, to Laylenn, over Turk still clinging tightly to Xaver's leg, and then finally resting on Todd, of whom still stood, his little fists clenched, returning the stare.
"This realm, is at war. Xaver's realm, is at war. I will NOT bring more turmoil to this land by bringing in enemy royalty!"

"We aren't anymore!"
Todd stomped his foot, his arms folding over his too-skinny creature, the golden wings behind him shimmering brightly, with his movements. A few in the hallway, behind Xaphan, murmured to each other.
"Momma and Pop haven't lived together in years!"


Suddenly, Xaver was laughing.
Deleriously so, and the low, gentle murmur of his tones was enough to bring goosebumps to any in the room, but laughing still.
He mopped his hands over his face, and when he dropped them, all traces of a smile were gone.
"Xaphan. Uncle. You know I would give my wings before letting them die."
Xaphan clenched his jaw, and another ripple went through the group behind him.

That, was why Xaver was king of their Fallen realm.
He was never by-the-book. Never predictable. And though he could easily destroy someone, literally, he tried to do things not to be honorable - but because they were the right things, to do. He sure as hell made many, many mistakes - but who didn't, when they had to make so many choices?


"I'd tell them to get Aaro, but it seems you already 'took care' of him."
Xaphan frowned, nastily, then jerked his head at a few behind him.
"Get a healer."

very good.

"Enemy royalty or not, they are still children." Ginny said quietly, frowning.
"If my son were captured by an enemy and allowed to die, I would view it as one more reason to stay at war. Not a reason to give in." She used her free hand to touch Laylenn's hair, a soft smile forming now.

"Nonetheless, I thank you for sending for a healer."


((Cody, PLEASE do not post in RPs that are out of your reach. Although we love compliments, you need to differ them from a regular posts by putting parenthesis around them. Like I have done.))

Xaphan stared at her, his green eyes shuttered, and confused. He nodded awkwardly.
It was all so odd, to him - Xaver hadn't even really fought back, really. The girl probably had no idea the extent of his, and Xaver's problems.. so she wouldn't understand how confusing it was that Xaver wasn't even firing back...


He had pushed it too far, and he knew it.
Xaver fought it - the ever imposing blanket of darkness that threatened to swallow him, if he let it. He pushed it away, had been fighting to keep it away..
But too much.
Todd turned, and stared at him, and Xaver swallowed, his mouth dry as the blood now thickly trickling down his chest, was abnormally cold. The little boy knew - but how?
It didn't matter, anymore, did it?
It couldn't, not as the concrete tile floor was rushing up to greet him.

Turk let out a yell of surprise, releasing Xaver's leg when he began to stumble, and falling back onto his rump when Xaver hit the floor, sprawled on his stomach, and still. Laylenn squeezed Ginny's hand, then released it, staring. Todd, however, went to Xaver, his silver eyes wide, running a hand through the thick mess of Xaver's hair, and frowning when he got no reaction.

Ginny made no sound, but went to Xaver, dropping to her knees beside him and Todd. She gently touched his face, then went to his wrist, looking for a pulse.

"Get that healer here NOW!" She half shouted to Xaphan and the group behind him.

Xaver made no reaction to her touch, his pulse a slow, and uneven beat beneath her fingers. His handsome face pressed into the floor, his long raven eyelashes pressed against his cheeks like the dark wings that were suddenly vanished upon his back, he could have been sleeping, if the oddly cool, dark blood pooling about his form wasn't a dead give-away.

"I don't think you understand, Miss."
Xaphan's tones were now an empowered, haughty low. A smirk, in sound.
"If he dies, his assassination will be complete, and the throne will be, hence, passed on.."
Xaphan grinned, and suddenly he, in synch with all of those behind him, drew weapon.
"Kylie, is dead. Xences, is not going to be eligible. I, am the only remaining heir."

He didn't know about Cody.

"My son made a foolish mistake, crossing me - and Xaver would have been very dead, if not for him.. So once again, I have to take things into my own hands... And finish things myself."
He nearly laughed.
"There will be, no healer."
The eyes of Xaver's uncle glowed an awful, penatrating sea-green, and he grinned.

((( i like it bump )))

"So you killed your own son and planned on killing own own nephew? Reminds me of Hamlet. Kinda." Ginny smiled wryly, leaning down and kissinf the top of Xaver's head before she stood slowly.

"But you wouldn't know about that, you ignorant excuse for a man." She tilted her head to the side slightly, "There is a problem with your plan, you know."

"I did not kill my son. He killed himself. Let it become. Like every other fool who admired.."
Xaphan glared at Ginny.
"Or loved, my nephew."

He blinked at her, when she mentioned this 'Hamlet', then his gaze hardened, the tip of his longsword touching the ground, though he held it still, with both hands.
"And what, may I ask, could this flaw be? Certainly not you."

"If not her than us!"
Laylenn stomped her foot when Xaphan rolled his eyes, and shook his head, and she ran to stand beside Turk, just behind Ginny.

"Wonderful. An outstanding force of a Human, and three.."  he eyed Laylenn and Turk, "soon to be looking like humans, Fallen children."
Xaphan choked out a laugh.
Laylenn wrapped her wings tightly about herself, but set her face.

Todd, though, whom had remained almost mute, wrapped his arms tightly around Xaver - then when he withdrew, his chest, and arms, were smeared with dark blood, his cheeks stained with tears. He shook the fallen, literally and figuratively, king, looking between Ginny, his siblings, and Xaphan and his servants.
"Stop it!" he screamed. "Stop!.."

Xaphan shook his head, mockingly, and started foreword.

"I'm not going to fight you guys." Ginny said, rather lightly. She smiled, a sweet uncaring smile and shook her head, "It wouldn't be much of a fight anyway."

"Todd, hush." She said, almost as she would to Cody.

When Xaphan started forward, she stopped smiling, but didn't frown. Instead, she looked curious.
"Anyway, the flaw is that you won't be the only heir to the throne."

"Like you have the choice," he muttered nastily.
He stopped, though, paused, and tipped his head to the side.
Much like Xaver did, though Xaphan made the action look maniacal, where Xaver's gazes were perhaps just simply sharp.
Calculated.

But not manipulative.

"And how, could that be?"

((Um, did Xaphan say that?))

Ginny smiled sarcasticly, "You mean to tell me you don't know how babies are born?"
Her eyes met his, but she didn't actually say it aloud. She didn't say Xaver had a child. She didn't say that Xaver's child was hers as well. But it was in her eyes as she looked at him.

"You sure you're related to Xaver? I doubt it...you seem kinda stupid."

(yesyes... Sorry. I was distracted.)


Xaphan put one and one together, and his eyes narrowed.
"Oh, sure,"  he hissed. "But your precious Xaver has far worse qualities than maybe a little ignorance of a situation. Kept. So. Nicely. Hidden."
He smirked, through his permanant scowl.
"And little hindrances.. Can be taken care of."


It had taken a while, and an ample amount of his strength, but Todd had then, finally managed to roll Xaver onto his back.
Xaver didn't stirr, and there was no flicker of life beneath his shut eyelids in response - and at this, Todd whimpered. He pressed his cheek to Xaver's bare, blood-stained chest, as if listening - but then Turk pulled him away, restraining him, the two engaged in a heated battle, that was completely mental..

"Such...um, 'hindrances' can prove to be more trouble then you'd like to bargin for." She told him, her voice low, "Especially when the hindrance is stronger by far then yourself."

Ginny glanced at the two boys, then at Xaver. Pain and sadness filled her eyes and she sighed, "I'm sorry, Xaphan, but I must attend to Xaver and these children."

"That won't be happening."
Xaphan lifted his longsword once more, and the men behind him fanned out - though he blinked, when a silver goblet bounced over the tiles, and rolled to a stop at his feet.
Laylenn huffed out a scream, and tossed a plate after the goblet, watching as it flew, and shattered at Xaphan's feet.

"You can't get away with any of this!" she screamed. "Just wait 'till OTHERS figure out what's goin' on here! I'll scream! I'll bring them, running!"

"Little girl," Xaphan hissed, jutting his chin her way. "Don't tempt me, your life."

Laylenn screamed, as she was jerked up, and dangled by one wing at such an awkward angle, that something within her delicate, golden-feathered extremity snapped. Her screams broke into wails of pain, and she twitched, flailing, like a hung bird.
Turk released Todd, but Todd knocked his brother down, beating him easily to Laylenn - and through one furious glance at Xaphan, he gathered his will into a large, dark orb that suddenly appeared between his hands, and he swung around, and threw it. The orb, in all its strength, was strong enough, effective enough, to rip through both Xaphan, and the men behind him, like a bowling ball through pins. It knocked them all over. Laylenn dropped, when Xaphan's spell was broken, her wing already on the mend, but not nearly close to being fixed. She whimpered, holding her wing close, bawling into Turk's chest, when he reached her. Todd, however - dropped like dead weight, unconscious from the overuse of his powers.

There was no power more cunning, than misjudgement.

(( Realy good .))

"Oh d**n..." Ginny said, quietly, shaking her head.
"Children are bothers sometimes..." She said, sounding very motherly. She didn't mean it angrily, just worridly. She went to Todd, picking him up easily, holding him close.

"Turk, Laylenn, come here, by Xaver." She told them, firmly, offering no room for srgument, "We're leaving."

Turk wrapped his arms around Laylenn, and drug her over to where Xaver lay, despite the little girl's whimpers. He set her down, and she curled up at Ginny's knee, petting her wing. Turk pulled a face, but planted a hand upon Xaver's back, growing ghostly pale at the sight of all the blood.

"You.."
Belain hissed a curse at them, scooting himself up to his knees, then to his feet, starting toward them.

Ginny frowned at him, clenching her fist, then pulling her arm up, facing her palm towards him. She used a trick someone she hated had taught her, and sent a blast of pure energy, hitting him in the chest and sending him backwards with the sheer power.

She reached down, planting one hand on Xaver, creating a string with all of them, then glanced at Belain and his father for a second before the five of them disappeared from the hall.

They reappeared in another hall, this one light, warm, colorful and for once, filled with people. Ginny let go of Xaver, and fell back onto her butt, still cradling Todd. Someone let out a scream as they appeared, but they were silenced within a moment.
"Ginny?" A males voice came through the crowd, pushing through the people as if they were nothing.

Ginny looked up, then looked at Turk and Laylenn, "Conan...I need help."

Though they had been transported, and the use of magic about them was impossible to miss, Xaver made no movements, or reaction, to show that he had felt the currents, let alone noticed them. His thought pattern was usually very high, very strong - but when he had collapsed, it seemed the walls within him, had, as well. The shell of his mental barriers was unnaturally low. Just as nearly unreachable, but very low, his thoughts and mental patterns hidden beneath thick, inpenetrable shields.
Turk shivered away from the Fallen lord, staring at him, almost with fright now. Staring, his mouth agape, his head tilting to the side slightly, oblivious of the situation about him.

While Todd remained as still as Xaver, in Ginny's arms, Laylenn stood, cradling her very broken wing to her chest, sniffing through her tears. She blinked at Conan.

"W-...Where a-are we..?"

"My kingdom..." Ginny said quietly, looking at Conan with worry. His eyes gave her nothing, but he turned, looking at the people around them.

"Help your queen." He said quietly, shoveing his hands in his pockets and walking out of the hall. People began to crowd around, picking the children up, taking Todd from Ginny. Several people reached out, picking Xaver up. Someone looked to Ginny, "Should we find a healer?"

She nodded, "Find someone who works with birds too...."

Laylenn openly stared at Ginny, and Turk did the same, after he tore his gaze from Xaver's blood-smeared back. Each of them squeaked slightly, when they were picked up, but neither fought it, trusting Ginny's choices. Laylenn wrapped her arms around her wing, bracing the break between her sniffles.

Xaver still did not stir, even when the many people crowded around him, the fierce power that was usually stirring beneath the surface of his creature oddly absent, and nonthreatening.


-Thank you, Miss Ginny.-
Todd's eyes slid open, the rare silvers of his eyes reflecting his honest, tired, thanks.

Ginny nodded at Todd, her lips forming a fake, cheerful smile, "No problem." She said softly, standing up slowly with the help of people. They waited for her orders, "Take them to some rooms....keep the children together. Put Xaver in my room, the kids in a room near mine, okay?"

It took three men to carry Xaver, and they were a bit unsteady. But they made it up the lare stairs, carrying them all to large expansive rooms. They took the children to a room, setting them down on a large bed together, smiling and being very kind. The men carrying Xaver took him through a door connected to the room the kids were in, laying him on a large purple covered bed.

Ginny followed, watching the men lay Xaver down and rubbing her face, unconsiously smearing some of Xaver's blood on her cheeks. She looked at Laylenn, "Let me see your wing, sweetie."

Todd didn't buy her smile. He stared at her, until the person holding him turned away, carrying him up the stairway.
Todd curled up into a ball on the bed, and Turk and Laylenn sat on either side of him, Turk with his arms around his knees, Laylenn with her arms around her wing. She blinked at Ginny, and glanced down at the feathered glory when she was addressed. She hopped off the bed, her lower lip trembling, and went to Ginny, offering her broken limb with teary eyes.

Ginny pulled up a chair, seemingly from nowhere, sitting down and pulling laylenn onto her lap. She hugged her gently, careful of the broken wing, the gently reach out, touching it.
"Has it started to heal on it's own?" She asked her softly, glancing at the girls eyes kindly before looking to the next room, where people were cleaning Xaver's wounds as best they could and preparing him for a healer.

Laylenn didn't fight Ginny - instead, she shifted, comfortably, upon her lap, flinching only slightly when Ginny touched her wing.
Her eyes widened, at her words.

"You.. know?" she stammered, blinking.


Hands.
Pressure.
Moving him.
Running over him.
Violating his personal space, against his will, and-

Hands.
Touching him.

Pain was a distant thing - as was feeling.
Sense of time.

Xaver drew a sudden, jerky breath when one of the people brushed their hands across the flesh over his heart, then became still again, beneath their work.

"Of course I know. I've seen Xaver and Cody do it millions of times. Though Cody's proccess is very slow compared to yours." Ginny answered, smiling slightly at the girls wonder, then looking up as a knock came on th open door.

Conan stood there, his hand on his neck, "Um...is there anything you guys need..?" He muttered, not looking at Ginny. She shook her head, not smiling at him.

"No, just...get Sam in here until they find a healer, please." He nodded and left. Ginny went back to looking at Laylenns wing.

"Oh."
Laylenn's mouth made a small 'o' as she blinked, looking down at her wing.
"Most h-..others don't like our sort of stuff, you know.."
She looked up at Ginny, then.
"Cody?"


Xaver's form remained unresponsive, beneath the analyzing hands of those around him - a strangely docile position for Xaver to ever be seen in, though most of those around his figure could only guess.
One of the men stilled, after a moment, blinking as he shrugged away any inhibitions, and dug his fingers into Xaver's pocket, withdrawing a small item. He stared down at it, rolling it around his palm, suddenly lost in thought.

"Yes, Cody. He's my son." Ginny said, her voice soft and soothing as she spoke to Laylenn. She patted the girls hair, giving her a small hug, careful of the hurt wing. She stood, gently moving Laylenn to the side as an older man came into the room, leaning heavily on a cane.

Ginny patted Laylenns head again, smiling at the children, "Stay here, ok?" She grasped Sam's arm, leading him into the room with Xaver, closing the door almost the whole way behind them. Almost.

She looked at the man lost in thought with a puzzled look, then looked to Sam, "Listen...he's hurt...he needs help...can you do anything? At least until we get someone else?"

Sam looked at Xaver, squinting his eyes, before he nodded, "Anything for you, Ginn."

Laylenn blinked at Ginny, lost in her own thoughts, and wordless as Ginny stepped away. She sat back, between her brothers, her gaze following Ginny's lush red hair.
Son?
Her and Xaver's son?
Laylenn glanced at Turk, and returned her look - of sheer, unabashed curiosity, and wonder.



It was a ring.
Just barely into adulthood, the male that had found the said item in Xaver's pocket, blinked down at the finely crested, heavy trinket. He turned it over in his hands, unable to decipher the alien-looking markings and scribbles engraved in what could have been glowing letters, though he played that off to be a trick of the light. He looked up, his eyes fixing on Ginny for a moment, and Laylenn screamed in the background, before he tossed away his doubts - and slipped the ring over his index finger.

Quicker than one could blink - the boy was sprawled out on the floor, writhing, his arm extended and the hand of which donned the massive ring, glowing. The lights about them dimmed, and began to flutter, and Xaver's figure suddenly jerked. He half groaned, half coughed - and then he was still, once more - though only in body. The boy shook, so rapidly that he blurred - then, within the next heartbeat, Xaver had him pinned against the wall, a hand digging into the soft contours of his throat, the same wicked, unaware loss in his eyes that echoed in the cackle rising from the other male's throat. Blood was a thick, ever-tempting presence that loomed and spread down the firm contours of his chest, and back, warm, and dark - though it was as if there was no feeling; no pain. Only the murderous wrath burning, eager, in his veins. Hungry.

Xaver's head tipped to the side, just slightly, his grip tightening about the others throat until a series of pops reverberated beneath his fingers. The boy's eyes were wild, unhinged, and unchanged, and he nearly hissed, dragging his nails over Xaver's chest in a quick swipe. Licking the blood off his fingertips as if were no bother his air passageway was severely restricted.

-You, are royally fu(ked.-

Xaver snarled, the uneven shade of his eyes a nasty, unusual grey, lacking their usual dark lustor...

"OY!" Ginny snatched up a small vase, full of flowers and water, and chucked it at Xaver, hitting him int the head and smashing the expensive artifact. She glowered angrily, as Sam and several of the guards in the room jumped to their feet. She didn't look away from Xaver's form though.

"If you don't drop him now, you'll be the one who's fu(ked." She told him, scowling slightly. She walked to them, her steps quick and firm, a tell-tale sign tat she was rattled. She reached out, touching Xaver's arm, the one that held the boy up, "Let him go. He's a child."

The smell of his own blood was a heavy, thick aroma, distasteful, though it in itself brought on a vampirish hunger. Not to taste, but to tear, to shred. The animal instinct in him wanted, lusted, of the carnage he could wring with his own hands, and that carnal instinct overthrew all rationality. All thought. There was nothing but the quick, warm pulse beneath skin so soft, untainted...

The collision at the back of his head was unexpected, and Xaver reeled, loosening his grip on the boy, blinking as the remenants of soil and cool water slid down the burning contours of his over-heated body.
The bloodlust dimmed slightly, as confusion washed over his senses, and he blinked at the boy - as if seeing him for the first time, blues intermingling with the thick greys swirling in the depths of his eyes. Though they were soon thrust away, his head tipping to the side, very slightly, when she touched him. He stilled.

"What be your intentions, of stopping me?"
His voice was only half his own, his low tones battling something that the physical world would never see.

Xaver's empty grey orbs flickered back to the boy.
"You pricked your finger, boy," he nearly hissed. "On that ring, you did bring to surface your own lifesource.."
His gaze hardened.

"I can smell it," he finished, his tones almost aching with that same dark, carnal hunger.

"Take him out of here." Ginny instructed someone, jerking her head at the boy. She kept her hand on his arm, tightening her grip when he spoke to her.

"Whatever intentions I need." She answered back, standing on her toes and gently kissing his cheek. She kept her voice even, the tension not audible as a guard grabbed the boy, helping him to stand.

Xaver slung the boy back into the wall, almost effortlessly, his hand skimming down his arm, and coming to grip the boy's finger. He jerked in surprise, and Xaver gave a low, emotionless chuckle, ripping the ring from him as he made to move away. He brought the ornament to his lips, inhaling deeply, as if the light colored blood that stained the steel were as intoxicating, drawing, as a fix to a junkie.

When Ginny's lips brushed his face, Xaver stilled, then after a moment, shuddered, his arms dropping, though the ring remained firmly clenched in the crease of his palm.

"Get me out of here.." he half begged, softly.
His eyes moved to hers, through an inhuman twitch, foamy, and unfeeling greys, though in a blink a knowing softness hinted at the corners of his mouth.

"Or I will tear one of them apart.."

The boy was staring at his own hands, as the guards shuffled him away, looking from the scratch the ring had made, to Xaver's blood, over his fingertips, in disbelief.
Confused, at why he'd done such a thing, though he hadn't known better.

"Hush, my love." Ginny said, her hand moving from his forearm to his hand and squeezing it gently. She slipped her other hand to his cheek, stroking it gently and soothingly.

"Clear the room, Sam." She ordered not looking away from Xaver's eyes. Sam did as he was told, and stayed near a door once everyone else had left. He knew Ginny wanted him to stay.

Xaver allowed her nearness, despite having to fight the urge to feed off it - allowed her to touch him, despite the beast being on a short leash, within him. A feat foes, and allies alike, that had ever really known Xaver like only Ginny had, in this realm, world - would have been gaping at. The sweet smell, and peach soft touch of her skin sent waves of goosebumps skittering across his pale flesh, his own blood racing at the sound of hers, singing so close.

It would have been so easy.
The remaining threads of his own personality fought the sheer carnal instinct, screaming against the thought.
Perhaps she didn't know, how easy. How first-nature, if he lost control, it would be to bring her down like prey. And perhaps not feed, but destroy. Ravish.

She spoke to him, and the words barely registered, the misty, chaotic greys of his eyes locked onto hers, his natural blues fading in and out, but mostly missing from his naturally dark orbs.
When the majority left the room, the suffocating novacaine of temptation waned, slightly, and needles pricked behind his eyes. Xaver clenched his jaw, beneath the warmth of her hand, his heartbeat an irregular, quick thud pulsing in his temple, and he sighed, a low, uneven mumble of sound...

Ginny slipped her hand down from his cheek, patting it slightly before stepping back. She tilted her head at him, knowing full well what he was capable of. But also wondering briefly if he really would be able to allow himself to strike at her, even in the state he was in now.

She wasn't going to test it.

"Why don't you sit down, love? Sam knows some healing magic and can at least help to make you comfortable until we get someone with knowledge of your anatomy." She nodded towards the bed, or towards the chairs near it. It was hard to tell since she refuse to look away from his eyes. She smiled slightly, "I'm afraid I'm most useless. Cody's never had anything more than a scratch..."

Would he have been able to, even in an uncontrolled state, attack Ginny?
Xaver disgusted himself on too many levels, in knowing that, simply - he didn't know. He didn't know how far he could go on rash, animal impulse.. How far he would go.

Avoiding the chance at all costs of hurting her, seemed the best way.

Best, when he could feel such instincts, and savage lust, burning, crawling, just beneath his skin.
Just beneath his sanity.

Xaver shuddered, and looked away from her, finally. Disgusted with himself, and what he was.

"He could do little."

He figured, anyway.

Hellfire.

"Oh, I don't know. Sam is from a time when our realms were interconnected." Ginny gently took his hand, pulling him towards the chairs and the bed, "He knows a bit. I'm sure he can do something to help your body."
Not his mind, though. Ginny felt a guilty pang as she thought that, knowing it wasn't his fault he was this way.

Sam stayed where he was, letting Ginny do what she needed to settle Xaver down. He said nothing, not wanting to aggravate the Fallen, nor Ginny.

Xaver's gaze shifted suddenly, to Sam, when Ginny mentioned he was from ages ago - and within the depths of his eyes, now a monotone, startling clear blue, there was a new, odd emotion sparking to life.
Something that could have been surprise..
...Or deeply ingrained worry.


He allowed himself to be pulled, though he moved more like the unnerved wild animal he partially was, within, almost unsure of his steps. Appreciative, on a different level, of Sam's knowledge of subtlety.
His wings materialized, enormous, thick, satiny and of sheer, ancient beauty, folding behind him in a most natural pose.

Xaver stopped, beside the chairs, but did not sit down. Did not allow himself to, his gaze flickering between Sam, and Ginny.

"My Love," he said, very softly, his tones more his own, now, than they had been in a while. "Above any others, you know who I am."
Through a reserved, shielded glance, he looked at her.
"But not so much... What I am."

"There is no what, love. You are you." Ginny's answer was one she often gave to Cody, whenever he felt vastly different, "Your species is the only thing I know nothing of." She smiled, tightly, but with a hidden meaning.
She meant that she knew he wasn't human. She had known for a long time. She meant that whatever he was made no difference to her, for she loved him, and always would.
"Sit, love. Tell if you feel the need, but sit down."

"I am me.."

He almost smiled, a little sadly, the unearthly taste in his mouth souring to a dull, uneasy tang.

"Perhaps that is why I worry."

Xaver slowly dropped onto the chair, the gravity of his injuries catching up with him, though he fought not to show it. To show at all.

"But that is what I meant," he said softly. "..My kind."

Sam slowly walked to them, but stayed a respectful distance from them. Still, he said nothing, simply waited for Ginny's instructions.

Ginny sat on a chair opposite Xaver, taking his hand and giving it a gentle squeeze to reassure him, "What of your kind, love?"

As Sam neared, then stopped, Xaver blinked as that ageless hunger came gnawing to life on his nerves. He looked between Ginny, and Sam, then to Ginny's hand. Clasping his own, without the hesitation or scare so many wore in the face of him.

And he understood, and was relieved, despite the fact he burned, within.
Ached, to attack, to hunt, though he gripped the hunger with an iron fist.

"You are my exception," he said, almost simply.
Xaver stared at her a moment.
"So obvious, I've been oblivious to it all these years."

He glanced at Sam, then fixed his gaze upon Ginny, sighing, slightly, and fidgeting unconsciously.
Xaver shook the thoughts away, then looked to the side.

"You are from what time?" he questioned, to Sam.

Sam thought for a moment, "From before Time was measured..." he was quiet, trying to recall an easy way to  pinpoint the time, "When I was a child, your people were a marvel, a mystery to which none of us knew the answer. I'm afraid it made some people react in a negative manner towards your kind..."

Ginny squeezed Xaver's hand slightly, still a bit confused as to what he had meant by her being his exception. Exception to what? She glanced at Sam, then back to Xaver, "Time is a confusing topic. The only light I can shed on it is he comes from a Time when humans were awakening as intelligent beings."

"It reminds me of the present," he said, somewhat thoughtfully.

Xaver slouched in his chair, still holding Ginny's hand, his wings loosely encircling his lean, toned form, a heavy contrast to his shady, pale skin, the dark, sticky rivers of blood that had coursed over the flat contours of his chest standing out mercilessly.

"Though, sometimes, I suppose we deserved our reputation. Like the way I nearly lost myself with that innocent, earlier.. It was so easy to lose control back then."

His creature was relaxing. It showed, in the lessening tension in his shoulders, and the ever deepening, ever mellowing oceans his eyes were returning to.

In the way Sam, sitting so patiently at his distance, smelled so less tempting.

"If it helps, I think it's doubtful that he will ever become a thief later in life, " Ginny interjected with a half smile. Xaver had scared the boy so much, he'd probably be wary of touching things that didn't belong to him for a long time.

She clasped his hand between both of her own, leaning forward slightly, "Love, it is always easy to lose control. Control takes energy, but I have no doubt you are capable of patience and love and kindness when you need to be."

Sam listened to Ginny's words, wondering if she realized the words she were speaking were probably more powerful than any spell that had ever left her lips.

"Mm.. Scared the pathway right out of him."
He could have smiled, had his heart not felt so heavy.

When she gathered his hand between her own, Xaver looked at her, and after her words he was quiet, for a long, poweful silence. Absorbing what she had said.

"I am capable," he said softly. "Of what once I did not even understand, I am now capable."

His gaze was heavy, if one could be so.

"But is it right... That I am capable of doing such things.. But it is simply instinct, to hunt. To strike. To ravage. To desire, to destroy. It is a Hunger. The Hunger."

"Well of course it is instinct. You are a man." Ginny's lips twitched slightly upward before she became serious again, "Really, if it weren't for that carnal instinct, would your ancestors have survived? Would mine? That hunger resides in everyone, love. It is strong in you because your upbringing was centered around it."

She tilted her head slightly, "Many have instincts they are ashamed of, but most are able to control those impulses for the larger part. When you can't, you really aren't to be blamed. A person is only evil when they make the decision to do something evil when they are in complete control." She winked lightly, "And you, are not evil."

A phantom of a smile haunted the contours of his mouth for a fleeting moment. Dissolving quickly, though the fact that it had been there, was well enough to bring life back into the features of his handsome face.

"It is not being the wrath. It is the wrath, within."

For a moment, he looked at her through those dark, glossy blue oceans, contemplating his thoughts.

"Lack of control over my own savage is a weakness," he said, harshly. "You tell me of another man who can smell the sweet scent of your blood beneath your creamy skin, and whose own heart soars when his thoughts become not his own - thirsty. But not to drink, but to spill your precious lifesource. To feast in your pain, and the blasphemy of your disfigurement, and taste your death."

His gaze had been forced away, and Xaver shuddered, visibly, then, a physical chill seeping through his skin. He shook his head.

"If I lose control, that is the hunger. Not to survive. To destroy."

Xaver blinked, his gaze sliding back to Ginny.

"You are my one exception. You smell the nicest, taste the sweetest - but there is nothing more.. than that. You are what I endlessly crave, but not in that same dark desire. Do you understand.. a little?"

"While it is true I know of no one else who has a hunger quite like yours, my love, I understand a bit." Ginny squeezed his hands again, "It's hard for me, because I never had a feeling like what you speak of. But you know...as scared as I should be...I'm not." She smiled, bringing his hand to her face, touching her cheek with the back of his hand.
Her eyes never looked away from him, "Love, I will tell you something. You are the last person I worry about harming me. You are not the first who has wanted to spill my blood. You are probably the first who wanted to for instinctive reasons, but not the first who wanted to harm me."

At those words, Sam shifted, remembering three years ago, just after Xaver had left. When Conan had been placed in Ginny's time and when things between her and him had become dangerous to the point that Sam had been worried for their lives. He looked away from Xaver then, recalling his guilty feelings for having placed Ginny in that last confrontation. When Conan had almost completely lost his sanity.

Ginny ignored Sam's shifting, knowing what he was thinking without even trying. She smiled at Xaver, a slow, sweet smile, "You know there is only one thing you could do that would make me never want to see you again, and yet I'd still love you then."

(G'night. Post and such, ok?)

When she brought his hand to her face, and the backs of his fingers brushed her soft skin, he sighed, inside, and grazed his fingers down the length of her cheek, and jaw, turning his hand, and cupping her jaw, tracing his thumb back and forth over her lower lip.

"..but not the first who wanted to harm me."


Xaver winced.

"I could never want to harm you. Ever."
His deep blues fixed on her.
"That is why you are my exception, you see? I crave for you. But in so many ways more. So many more, that are much more powerful.. And so, it is different with you. "

-You are what I want the most, in every sense. And so in no sense could I ever harm you, do you understand?... You are, what completes me.-

Ginny smiled, "And so you cannot harm me, because you would be going against stronger desires?" She thought about that, still not fully understanding him. She was begining to grasp his meaning, but it was still just beyond her reach.


She tilted her head against his hand, enjoying the small connection the contact gave them. But she hadn't forgotten he was hurt, and neither had Sam.

He made a small noise to catch Ginny's attention, and so Ginny looked to Xaver her expression asking if it was alright to see what Sam could do for him.

"Against odds."

Xaver inclined his head.

"You are much a part of me, and hence my instincts, as well."

Thank the stars, for that.

He didn't know what he would have done, if he'd ever lost it with her, like that, and something, anything...

Explaining such a complicated matter further would take for more effort than Xaver was fearing he had left at the moment, so he quieted on the the subject, leaning foreword, and brushing a feather-soft, reassuring kiss over her forehead.

He sat back slowly, his hand falling from her face, and he shifted, adjusting so his weight rested more comfortably back on the enormities of his wings. Then, he nodded, a slight, formal inclination of his head, though he wasn't particularly enthused about it. Nodded, to Sam, and Ginny's questioning eyes.

The day was a blurr, why not mix it up a little bit more?

((Last line sounds like a song.))

Sam nodded back, and stepped closer, just enough to touch Xaver's wounded shoulder. He inspected the wound, checking to see how deep it was, how far along it was healed and the like.

Ginny stayed where she was, her eyes still on Xaver's face, a small smile on her lips, "I suppose Cody will want to know all about your adventure, won't he?" She teased him gently, knowing their son hero-worshiped him.

Xaver frowned, instinctually, when Sam approached him, and grunted, when the other touched him, but he bit back the urge to push him away, turning his face to the side, and focusing on the wall.

He blinked, when Ginny mentioned Cody.
And smiled.

It was a small smile, one that only touched the corners of his mouth, but the warmth was unmistakable.
Some tough guy.

"We'll leave out some details.."

"I would hope so!" Ginny's voice was that of a normal conversation, no abnormally high or low pitches. She grinned at him, "He has enough bad dreams just thinking about the dark."

Sam looked up from where he was cleaning Xaver's wounds, "Could that be why you were terrified of the night when you were pregnant?" His voice was old, a tad shaky. Ginny shrugged, her face almost comical as she thought about it.

"Dunno. Whatever..." She grinned, a false one, " I'd perfer not to think of it." She thought about it alot. It hadn't been as though she were afraid of the night. It had been then, though, that the ache in her heart had been strongest, and she had cried and screamed for Xaver.

Xaver's gaze slid over to her.
He knew now, well, as much of Cody's fears, and faults, as his brilliant and honorly traits. Letting his son harbor more fright because of his own, was not something he was, ever, going to try to be quick to do.

He looked at Ginny then, though, curiously. Thoughtfully.
Seeing past the false-hood of her smile, easily, looking away only to look down at his own chest, where Sam was working over him. On him.
Working on the long, jagged slope, puncture, that had been torn completely through his shoulder. It had healed, but only slightly, and the numbness had faded mostly, but it still hurt. Of course it still hurt. A mortal man would have been writhing in pain, even without the upset of having it cleaned.
Though, Xaver wasn't even the type one would call normal.
He bit it all down. Kept it at bay.


He had missed all the good, and bad times, through which Ginny had been pregnant. Missed the moments of surprise, and pain. Of rubbing, and kissing the belly that had held their baby, within. The early mornings, and some long nights...

"You were terrified?" he questioned softly, the dark, moody oceans of his eyes looking back to her.

Ginny frowned, shooting a dark look at Sam that he missed altogether. She looked back at Xaver, smiling slightly, "Where I couldn't sleep before I found out I was pregnant, I couldn't not sleep afterwards. Night terrors and the like...being alone...my own fears and insecurities as a single soon-to-be mother." She winked, "The anxieties all women get when they are preparing to have a child."

Her cheeriness was nauseating to herself. She was downplaying the entire experience, and she felt that one day Xaver would want to know all about when he had been gone.

"..as a single soon-to-be mother."

Xaver wanted to know.
He wanted to know everything.

He had, since he'd come back.

He looked between Ginny, and Sam, however - and said nothing.

Not the time.
Not the place.

It never seemed to be. It was an annoyance - but it never deterred the want to know, to try to understand. There was an underlying guilt, that delivered a swift kick to his gut, as he watched her, fighting to pretend to be alright, with the memories, that wouldn't be deterred.

Ginny watched him watch her, reading the expressions in his eyes easily, though not knowing the thoughts behind them. She kept out of other's minds now, found it much easier to live her life if she could be ignorant of what people thought.

Sam finished cleaning the wound and was muttering a low spell under his breath to help the blood flow slow. He honestly doubted he could do much else than that for Xaver, but it was more than Ginny had been able to think of. He glanced at Ginny, his empathic powers kicking in without him wanting them to. He felt Ginny's fake cheeryness, Xaver's want to know. The guilt in the room was thick from both parties.

"I thank you," he murmured to Sam, appreciatively.
He nodded to the old man, his thanks only slightly censored. More free, than he ever usually gave to strangers.

Xaver looked at Ginny, then.

-I do believe our lack of communicating some things.. I don't like it,- he sent to her, in honesty.

-Nor do I.- She said nothing else, simply looked to Sam with n appreciative smile, "Thank you. I owe you alot."

Sam bowed his head slightly, "You know anything for you, Ginny." He paused, "While you are here though...suppose you could speak to Conan?"

At her exs name, Ginny's eyes grew slightly dark, but she showned nothing other than that in expression, "What for?"

"He's in need of help...about the kingdom...he needs your help."

Xaver sighed, very softly, both physically, and mentally, and slouched slightly, folding his hands over his toned abdomen.

-I love you, Ginny Weasly.-


Xaver's expression gave little away, though his mouth pressed into a firm line, at the mention of Conan. He looked between Sam, and Ginny, frowning very slightly.

"Why should I help him. He hates me, remember?" Ginny folded her arms over her chest, looking like a pouting child. Sam felt like he was dealing with one.

"I know...I recall vividly the last night you spent in this place..." Sam's voice went quiet as he remembered Conan getting violent, and Ginny unabvle to do a thing about it because of that d**ned power stone.

"What does he want? Need?"
The last word came out grudgingly bitter.

Xaver would have been standing, then, had the terrible ache in his shoulder subsided - but the pain was quick to return, heavy, and apt to staying a while.
So, he remained seated, lounging almost comfortably in the uncomfortable chair, his wings folded behind him, and around him.

Sam looked at Xaver with surprise, having almost forgotten he was there. He glanced at Ginny, then spoke to Xaver quietly, "He needs her to negotiate...he got himself into trouble with the country over..."

Ginny raised her eyebrows and frowned, "Figures..." she muttered, looking away from both of them as she crossed her arms. After a moment she sighed, "Tell him to negotiate himself!"

"He can't, Ginny!" Sam said, raising his voice slightly. Ginny scowled darkly at him then.

"Sam, thank you for your help. Leave us. That is an order."

Sam's face changed, a muscle in his jaw twitched as he clenched it shut. He stood looking at her for a long moment before bowing his head and turning to leave.

Xaver watched Sam begin to go, and he clenched his jaw, his thoughts churning sluggishly back to a quick pace.

"Ginny," he said quietly, "I know you detest Conan. I can feel it."
He could feel it like a warm, crisp breeze.
"But I have spent enough time with my own people, at war with a neighboring realm, to know that failure to communicate, failure to negotiate, is a factor that situates but only more bloodshed. More despair of the people, who more than likely had no say or imput in the dispute of the cause, to begin with."

Xaver rose, slowly, though his movements were more like his naturally smooth, liquid motions, standing, his wings folding behind him, and clenching his teeth slightly until the pain ebbed.

"You may hate him, but so much that you are not willing to help those beneath him?"

Ginny watched him, her arms still folded, "Sit down." She told him, frowning slightly.

She scowled then, not at him but at the wall, "I know...Xaver, I know. I don't want war...I don't want people being harmed." She ran a hand through her hair, tugging on the ends, "I'm going to help him. But on my own terms."

Her own terms...

She looked at him again, "Sit."

Defiantly, the wild animal in him refused to listen to an order of any kind.
He was too aware of how close that wildness was to the surface.
He remained standing.


"Not helping him. Them."
He nodded slowly, though, understanding what she meant.

She nodded, but kept looking at him, expecting him to sit. She frowned again when he didn't and slowly stood from her own seat. They were face to face, and she gently placed a hand on his bare shoulder, "You use too much energy standing. You need to sit and rest."

She looked him in the eyes, her own tired. She would never admit it, but it was getting harder and harder for her to do things anymore. That trip from his realm to this one had really worn on her.

When the warmth of her hand met his cool, yet feverishly burning beneath, skin, Xaver shivered, and swallowed, goosebumps skittering across his bare flesh.
She was a shock to his senses, no matter what way he put it.

"Hypocrite."

"I've been accused of worse." She stated, her voice dull and tired.  She glanced at the door leading into the other room suddenly mindful of it being partially open. She sighed, looking at him again, "Please sit down."

Xaver looked her in the eyes.

"Not an accusation," he said, his low tones firm. "A fact, on prior statement."

He followed her gaze to the door, breathing in deeply, even as he carefully dropped onto the nearest chair.

She watched him sit, and felt a wave of something rather like surprise. She hadn't realy expected him to do as she said, and was quiet after he did so. She watched him for a long moment before leaning over and gently kissing his forehead.

"I'm going to check on those kids." She said, still sounding tired.

"What about our kid?" he questioned, distaste heavily inverted to himself.
"Where has he been, while I nearly got myself killed?"

(AHH. My muse. >.< I need to find it! -digs-)

"My parent's house. Grandmum assured him she had plenty of good tasting foods for him to feast on." She chuckled, despite the heaviness that seemed to weigh her down. She looked at him for a moment,
"Should I send for him?"