Saving an Angel

Summary: A rooftop is not the safest place for Rese to be. Not even if she has wings... OneShot.

Warning: Fluff. Fluff. FLUFF! Please note that I am preparing you (or myself, rather) for my next project which will be a whole new definition of hurt/angst and... pairing... in my terms. Especially because it is multichaptered... I'm so excited!^^ ... Okay, you are hereby warned.

Set: Story-unrelated, pre- and post-story

Disclaimer: Standards apply.

Every seven-years-old harbors a healthy portion of curiosity and Cassidy isn't different.

So this is the place.

A few hours earlier, his mother kissed him goodbye and his father ruffled his hair. The tall man with the weirdly dark skin and the strange, long coat hasn't taken his hand, as his mother always did when they went somewhere they never had been before. He hasn't smiled at him, the way his father always smiled when he wanted to encourage him. Still, Cassidy felt something familiar radiating from the pair of dark, dark eyes as he followed the man that would be his teacher for the next years.

We'll see you soon, his parents had promised.

Cassidy was sure they'd visit him. Still, he felt incredibly alone.

The man who will be his teacher from now on opens the front-door, typing a code quickly and tracing his fingers across a pad almost invisibly.

"An eight-digit password, a personal code and finger print sensors?" Cass asks and is rewarded by a frown. Then, the man almost grins.

"You really are smart," he says as the heavy door opens. "Just like your father." He enters the house. Cassidy follows, senses alert.

"This will be the place we'll be staying for the time being," the man tells him. "Go and get acquainted with the rooms and the other inhabitants."

He disappears in the shadows beyond the staircase. Cassidy suddenly feels abandoned in this huge, dark house. He shrugs off the feeling, brushes away unshed tears and starts his own tour.

-v-

There aren't many people in the house. He meets one boy in the living-room. He has dark hair and dark skin, as has the man who will be his teacher, but they don't look alike at all. Cassidy has to endure a minute while he is just being accessed, then the boy nods at him.

"Hi. I'm Terrance. You are the boy Teacher talked about."

"My name's Cassidy," Cassidy says and tries to bury the memory of his mother's voice calling out for him softly. Cass.

"Welcome."

The boy has to be nine or ten. He seems so grown-up, so experienced, even though he probably only is two years older than him. Cassidy quickly escapes from the living room.

Upstairs, there is nobody. Doors, dark and intimidating, row the long hallway, some open, some closed. He peeks through the first one and finds a simple, small bed-room. The bed isn't made, so somebody has slept here. Maybe Terrance. There is no indication as to whom the room belongs. He continues his search and finds another inhabited room but no sign of its inhabitant. Shrugging, he returns to the ground floor and discovers a kitchen, a library and a well-equipped training hall. From the kitchen, a door leads outside.

A wild-grown garden stretches as far as he can see.

She's balancing on the roof of a small, dilapidated garden house in the far part of the wild jungle of trees and plants and grass. Neither of them seems to have seen a human hand in a while. Cass squints upwards, not able to see the person clearly. The sun is blinding and the only thing he sees is a wild mane of long, dark hair dancing in the summer sun. Her arms are stretched wide, both for balance and in pure joy. For a fleeting moment, the sun gives her a corona and she looks like she has wings.

Maybe she really does have wings.

From what he can see from down here it's a girl of roughly his age. Her hair is black and long, she's small and thin and her face is a mask of concentration. Her arms stretched wide, she continues balancing along the roof-top, trying to cross it. Her thin arms waver in the summer's warm air. She pauses, steadies herself and continues on. Cassidy watches her and holds his breath. The garden house isn't high but it's still a fall he wouldn't want to risk.

The girl doesn't notice him.

Setting one foot in front of another, she eases onward, her mind and eyes fixed on the thin path before her. A shingle cracks under her light weight and she freezes. The sound of the tile falling towards the ground is loud in Cassidy's ears. He doesn't move, fearing her concentration will break when she sees him. After a short while – it seems like years to him – the girl continues forward and finally reaches the edge of the small roof.

Standing at the edge, she lets out a small laugh, stretching both arms wide again and facing the warm sun. Her laughter is soft and clear. Again, the sun caresses her stature and Cassidy could swear he sees soft, light-feathered wings behind her.

An angel.

Unconsciously, he steps forward.

The girl turns in his direction abruptly. Brown eyes meet green. Clear features are clouded immediately; a sweet smile is exchanged for a dark scowl.

"Who are you?"

Before he can answer, she has taken another step. Forward. Into the air.

"DON'T-"

She does not fall.

She floats through the air as if carried by the wind. Gracefully, she lands in front of him, on both her feet, while her hair takes a bit longer and then settles back around her face. The first second, Cassidy really thinks an angel has landed in front of him. But the girl doesn't have wings.

Dark eyes muster him with unveiled hostility.

He doesn't need his high IQ to understand, during that first day of their acquaintance and the many following days, weeks, months and years they spent together, that Rese is nothing like an angel.

Still, when she sleeps, she looks like one.

There have been times when Rese wouldn't have slept that peacefully. Even now, watching her, he can't help but feel thankful. Her face is vulnerable and open, long lashes brush her cheeks. The corners of her mouth are slightly raised. She looks like she is smiling and he wonders what she is dreaming about.

The soft moonlight highlights the shadows on her face, cuts deep angles and makes it softer and more beautiful than if will ever be in broad daylight.

And that's fine with him because that means he will be the only one who will see her like that.

He shifts carefully so he lies in the crook of his right arm. On the left side of the bed, Rese is almost mirroring his position, lying on her left side. She always sleeps like that: on her left side, curled up like a cat. The fact that she is used to sleeping on her left side while he is accommodated to sleeping on his right side means he can watch her fall asleep every night. He can feel her soft breathing and see her eyelashes flutter. He can see her tiny smiles and frowns. He can see a Rese that belongs only to him, a Rese nobody else gets to see.

Love swells in his heart, so great it almost hurts.

Something in her breathing pattern changes and he knows she is waking up. He doesn't know what has alerted her. Maybe she felt the intensity of his stare. Her eyes flutter open and blink, then, slowly, focus on him.

She smiles.

Rese is a pretty woman. Prettymeaning average. Not a stunning beauty but pretty. But her smile can make the entire room light up and Cassidy feels a smile tug at his lips as well.

"Hey," he whispers quietly.

"Hey," she answers, sleep still coloring her voice and giving the usually melodic sound a husky note. "Why aren't you sleeping?"

He shrugs with his one shoulder.

"I was remembering things."

She stretches and her body settles into another curl, similar to the first, but closer to him.

"Things like what?"

"Things like when we first met."

"You mean when you almost made me fall from the roof of that little garden house?"

"You remember?" He asks; his smile widening as she snorts softly.

"You made me lose my balance. I almost broke my ankle."

"I thought you jumped on purpose. It looked quite impressive."

"Did it?" Rese frowns, trying to remember the day. "I had practiced that stunt for a while. I wanted… I don't even know what I wanted. Maybe I just wanted to scare Terrance."

Cass feels laughter bubble up in his chest.

"He almost suffered a heart attack when you tried to climb the roof of the house."

"There was no need to become all protective. My sense of balance always was excellent."

"I remember a time when that didn't seem to be the case."

She makes a soft noise of disgust.

"That time wasn't my fault. The demons surprised us all, not even Jaq heard them coming. The timing was bad, really."

He can remember the particular day, too.

They were hunting down some demons that were hiding in the attic of a house full of humans. They had to gain entrance through the roof windows, and Rese, as the one with the best sense of balance, was supposed to lead the way. She had just climbed the roof and was carefully making her way along the roof when three other pairs of demons attacked.

Cass is busy on the ground, but still, every now and then, he manages to throw a glance towards the roof. He can see Rese fighting, wielding her daggers and fending off demons with tightly pressed lips. She is a dark blur of motion, black hair dancing in the night's wind. Cassidy can still see her clearly because his hunter's eyes are accustomed to the darkness. The way she moves, the way she looks – again, he is reminded of an angel, like the first day he met her. A wild and beautiful angel. Her wings shine in the light of the moon.

And then, she slips.

"You caught me," she says and the beautiful smile lights her features again. "I didn't think it was possible. I mean, I might be lighter than you, but I still weight 65kg."

"I didn't notice," he answers and lifts his left hand to brush away some strands of hair. His fingers linger there, drawn in by her warmth and her soft skin.

"I guess that's what a gentleman has to say."

"I just remember that I thought that you were going to get hurt badly if you hit the ground."

"Which, thankfully, I didn't."

She sighs, leaning forward and burying her face in his chest.

"You always catch me," she murmurs softly as he wraps his arms around her. "Aren't you getting tired of it?"

"I'll never be," he promises her and closes his eyes. "I'll always be there."

"One day, I'll catch you," she whispers and her breathing already becomes slower as she sinks back into sleep. The words spark something deep within him.

"You've already done it," he tells her quietly. "You've done it many times."

Wings or not, Rese is his angel.