Let Me Fall

A.N.: The title belongs to a song by Josh Groban, on his self-titles debut album Josh Groban. It's a good cd and he's a great singer! So I suggest you all go out and buy his album and help this cutie-pie try to make a dent in the music world with his wonderful voice. ;)

'...' Indicates thought
"..." Indicates speech

Disclaimer: Don't own Josh Groban (see above), would like to, but don't. Don't own Harry Potter and Co. I own the Tenshi. They are based upon real people, please don't steal them or their personalities without asking (takes all the fun out of stealing). Thank you.

Dedication: To my love; to Matt: you're a great friend, can't wait to meet ya; K-chan: tĂș es mi mejor amiga (one of them anyways ;) :p), you're my Remus. Forever may I sleep on your couch. LOL; Hoshino-chan: Can't wait to see ya at Graduation. We made it! See ya in May!; to my newest fan Malathyne: Nice to have somebody to add to the list and thanks for helping to get me out of my writing rut. Like the name! Thank you for adding me to your favorites list.



The days were passing swiftly, not that they could tell any. The difference between days and nights were impossible to tell within their prison cave. They were fed and given water to drink, straw for a bed, and a bucket for a toilet, but nothing else. No liberties came their way and hope began to fade in their hearts. The hope that escape and rescue were possible, hope that defeat of the enemies who held them would come, and hope, the hope of the light and warmth of the sun and the breeze of fresh air would come their way.
They had no need of blankets, as it didn't get cold in the cavern. There also was no need for privacy as they were now left alone. Their sanity was waning and tempers were beginning to fray and so it was that Lord Voldemort came closer and closer to achieving his goal of slowly destroying the Tenshi and banishing all hope from the world that he, the greatest wizard in the world, better than Albus Dumbledore himself, could ever be defeated, and that death for the new form of Tom Marvello Riddle was ever possible.
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Sirius paced the room again. He looked up at the painting of a blue dragon fighting a phoenix. He released a sigh and continued his pacing. Left foot, right foot, left foot, right foot, repeat process for twenty steps on each foot, turn and resume. The room was forty steps long; not feet mind you, but steps. 'For feet,' he remembered, 'would not always be the same. Feet differ in size from person to person. My step is determined and long, and yet this room is always forty steps, no matter how I change my pace or size of my step. This room is not well suited to pacing.'
He sighed, turned around and continued his pacing. "Five days. It's been five days." He said to himself. He was so absorbed in his thoughts that he did not hear the door open and shut, nor did he notice his best friend watching his descent into madness.
"What's been five days?" Remus Lupin asked quietly.
Sirius Black jumped, his thoughts scattered upon the neurons in his mind, lost to oblivion (at least until he decided to pace the room again). "Sorry, you scared me, Remi. I was just thinking about the Tenshi and Ginny. I fear for them and their safety. How do we know that they aren't dead yet?"
Remus sighed and sat down in the only chair in the room. "We don't know. All we can do is hope that they are alive. If they were dead, Voldemort would have destroyed the entire Island of Britain by now and probably half the world as well. We can only hope."
"Why haven't we rescued them yet? Why haven't we followed Snape and grabbed the girls out of harm's way by now? How come?"
"Sirius, you know the reason as well as I do. If we followed Severus, we would expose him for the spy that he is and we would probably lose our reliable source of information. Even if we did know where they were at, how could we get them safely out of harm's way? You know as well as I do that Voldemort would rather kill those girls in any fight that might occur. We can't risk losing them. If they truely are the Tenshi, then we have to have them alive in order for them to protect us."
Sirius gave Remus a calculating look. "How can you doubt that they are the Tenshi? We worked with them how long before the Dementors attacked us? You saw what they could do and half of it is without wands. My God, Remus, wake up and smell the Puppy Crap all over the yard! They are the Tenshi without a shadow of a doubt!"
Remus stood up and went to the door. "I know who they Sirius and I don't doubt their ability. I just don't want you to be rash and impulsive. I'm sorry if my caution is the cause for your displeasure. I just want to be on the safe side." With those words, he left.
Sirius sighed and resumed his pacing. One step-right, one step left. Two steps-right, two steps-left. Finally thirty-eight steps later he reached the wall, turned, right foot, left foot, right foot, left foot. 'Left, left, left, right, left.' He smiled a little at the familiar army beat that was dancing through his mind. He shook his head to get rid of it and resumed his pacing. The fear and worry that raced through him, grew as he took each step. Fear that when a rescue effort was finally launched, it would be too late to save the girls.
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Ginny let out a sigh and tossed slightly on her makeshift bed. Nicole stroked her head and whispered nonsense words in her ears and smiled slightly as Ginny settled down. Nicole looked at Riley, also awake. They nodded and mouthed some words.
'Why aren't you sleeping, Riley?'
'I'm worried and I'm not tired enough to sleep. Doing nothing kinda makes me not want to sleep. You?'
"Same. But I was also trying to think of a way to try and escape. I think I found a plan, but it's risky and extremely dangerous.'
'What is it?'
'The Lone Ranger mixed with The Invisible Man.' Nicole replied.
'Oh. And may I ask who is going to be doing this solo mission?'
Nicole didn't answer, instead she looked at Ginny sleeping; she sighed. 'It has to be done sooner or later. We have to get Ginny out of here. I mean, this isn't her fight. She has a family and friends to go home to. Whom do we have? Sure, we have the rest of the Order, but do they really matter? We do most of the work and everybody depends on us. Thomas Oswald never does anything, neither does Karma Turner and Cale Hart. Amber is just hopeless and Alan, well, Alan is Alan. I hate to say it but Ben is turning out like him to. They just sit there when a call comes in and we have to rush out, no matter what, to defend the innocents.' Nicole broke off and sighed.
'Nicole, you act like it's hopeless and that the whole world doesn't depend on us to save it. We do these things because we have to. We have no choice. Yes I know that seems pretty hopeless, but what else can we do? The other members of the Order act the way they do, because they were told to act that way. Fudge was trying to be rid of us and it was his final act as Minister. Unfortunately we can't influence change over this. They do work, it just isn't seen.' Robin said, joining in the conversation.
'Nicole, you're always the one who is perky and hyper and energetic. Yes, I know that's just an act, but come on. Both of us look to you for hope. I don't know why, but we do. This depression isn't you. It's the cave. That's why you came up with the plan that you did. That's why it's you who is going to go get help and we're the ones who have to face the punishments for it. We believe in you to get this done. If we didn't we wouldn't say it was ok for you to get help.' Riley replied.
Nicole looked at both of them. 'I don't know if I have enough energy to do it though. The last time I went invisible I passed out. How do you guys know I'll even make it through to get help?'
'We'll know. Go. Go now and get help. If not for us or for the world-for Ginny. Do it for her.' Riley and Robin said (at slightly different times).
Nicole nodded, wrapped her cloak around her and cut off the spell. "Take care of yourselves. I'll bring help as soon as I can."
"Stay safe." The two Tenshi replied as they watched her run towards the cave wall and disappear through it. They felt her energy level increase as she became invisible. After she had been gone for an hour, they lay down on their pallets and fell asleep.

The night air blew at Nicole as she struggled to figure out where she was at and which direction to turn in. Finding the cave again wouldn't be a problem. She would be able to feel the energy of her best friends and her only family left in the world.
Nicole looked up in the sky and found the North Star. Sighing, she wrapped her cloak closer around her body and set off towards the north, hoping with all her heart that she would find help.
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Ron and Harry were also having a hard time sleeping. They were worried about Ginny. Well, in truth, Ron was worried about his sister, but his thoughts kept centering upon the three girls who had blocked the spells from Harry and himself. Nicole had jumped in front of the one meant for him. What did that mean? 'Why?' he wondered. 'Why would He be after me? What do I have to do with anything? And why did Nicole stop him?'
Harry was also thinking of the Tenshi, more specifically, Riley. He knew why Voldemort was after him, it didn't surprise him that he had already met with an attempt against his life. What did surprise him though, was that Riley had taken what had been meant for him. 'That spell, why? Why did she do that? Is she supposed to protect me?' He sighed, turned over in his bed and fell asleep.
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Remus was the first to answer the pounding on the front door. It had been seven days since the school had burned down, but at the moment he wasn't expecting company. He opened the door and caught the person who practically fainted across the threshold.
"SIRIUS!!! SIRIUS!! Get down here, now!" He yelled, as he began to drag the young woman into the house and onto the couch.
Sirius arrived to help him and together they got her on the couch and began to clean all the dirt and dried blood off her face. When her face was clean, Remus gave a startled gasp.
"My god. It's Nicole!"

Blood. Blood was everywhere. So was the pain. It was the white type of pain. The color of it hurt her eyes, her back, and her stomach. Her mouth was thick with the blood that was threatening to choke her.
She whimpered. 'The pain. Make the pain stop.' She begged. Her mind was filled with agony and her eyes were becoming swollen shut.
Nicole felt a soft hand on her temple and a soothing voice whisper in her ears. They were trying to make her drink something. She knew that voice and trusted it. She opened her mouth, only to start gagging. She was quickly turned over and the bile fell into a trashcan.
When she finished she was forced to sit up and drink the concoction. It didn't taste too bad, her numb mind registered. "I'm sorry." She said, speaking for the first time in three days. "How long have I been asleep? Where am I? Who are you?"
"You arrived here three days ago and have been asleep or unconscious since then. You are in London at my flat and if you opened your eyes you would see who I am."
Nicole tried to open eyes and discovered that she could. She quickly shut them again as pain flooded into her eyes at the overhead lights in the flat. The voice laughed and was quickly joined by another voice, urging the first to turn off the lights.
"It's all right, Nicole. You can open your eyes now." The second voice said. It was the kind voice, the one she recognized, full of sympathy and unshed tears. She slowly opened her eyes and looked around, trying to find the two speakers.
"Remus? Sirius?" She croaked, her voice somewhat hoarse from being inactive too long.
They smiled as Sirius replied. "The one and only."
"You gave us a scare, Little Friend." Remus said, using one of her nicknames.
It was just too much. Nicole couldn't help it, the tears just spilled out and wouldn't stop.
Sirius put his arm around her and handed her some tissues. He sat there with her, letting her cry while Remus went to answer the door.
When he came back he was leading two people, but Nicole didn't see them. She was too busy gasping from the pain that wrenched through her body.
"RILEY!! ROBIN!!" She cried, the tears escaping her eyes running faster. "Oh God. We have to save them. We have to. He's torturing them because of me!"
Ron, Harry, Remus, and Sirius stood there watching her. Helpless to do anything but watch and wait.
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Riley blocked Ginny from the whip that Lucius wielded. It had been five days since Nicole had disappeared and Robin and Riley gave no explanation, not even to Ginny. Food was now being withheld from them. They hadn't been fed any decent food in a day and Ginny was now sick. Despite the growing weakness and atmosphere of despair, Riley and Robin knew that Nicole had gotten away safely, but also knew that their pain was being felt by Nicole-the only empath in the group. Her bond and dependence on the others made it impossible for her to not feel their pain. They therefore tried to be strong, if only for Nicole and Ginny.
"Enough. We need them strong enough so we can perform the ceremony. I'll not have them hurt any more. Give them food, drink, and clean straw. Make sure that they bathe and have clean clothes. Give them a proper bed and at least change their bucket. The ceremony will be in three days. Until that time, no one is to touch them. Make sure that these orders are followed until the ceremony." Voldemort said.
Lucius sneered at the girls, turned on his heel and followed, with Snape behind Malfoy.
Robin and Riley looked at each other. 'Three days. Three days until our destruction.'
'Well at least Nicole is safely away and with Harry and Ron hopefully. She can protect them.'
Neither of them spoke about what would happen to Ginny or the knowledge that Nicole would feel the pain and was not strong enough to protect Ron and Harry without them.
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A.N. So what do you guys think? I was hoping to expand a little bit on the powers of the Tenshi, just a little. Sorry if it's descriptive-I have a tendency to add adjectives when I write. I'm going to explain the title now. This one is just slightly deeper than the rest of the titles. 'Let Me Fall' is in reference to the mental devastation (is that a word?) of the Tenshi. The slow loss of their sanity and the destruction of hope. Well gotta jet and start work on the next chapter. Enjoy. House points to those who can figure out the tie of the titles to the previous chapters and if you can get a friend to read and sign a review. E-mail me with your answers and house name, k!
Ja!