Warning: the following chapter contains mentions and implications of past, and near sexual assault.


Brandon entered the Byrne home infirmary in a rush, stopping at the sight of his mom and sister looking over a complete stranger lying unconscious with a thin hospital blanket preserving her modesty. Aside from the cast covering her leg the only thing she wore was a small strip of gold on a necklace string.

"What happened here?" Brandon inquired in a hushed tone, unsure if he had to worry about waking the mystery woman.

"Your sister went out to stretch her legs, and came back carrying a semi-conscious fallen angel." The mother explained, not bothering to lower her voice.

"That explains the feathers." Brandon commented. "But what happened to her?"

"Can we save the questioning for after she wakes up?" Azalea requested, an unusual level of agitation clear in her voice.

"Alright then." Brandon relented, raising his hands in surrender. Whatever happened, it obviously had quite an effect on Azalea. "Just tell me what I can do to help."

"You can keep an eye on her." The mother said. "Azalea and I need to moisten some towels, we'll be back in a minute. Just make sure she stays stable."

"Alright." Brandon complied.

As the mother and Azalea left, Brandon took a seat in the chair by the bed, and pulled out his book to pass the time, making sure to keep the mystery guest in his peripheral vision.


The woman's eyes began to open, everything was a haze. She started to recall what had happened to her.

As her vision cleared she realized she was in an entirely new location, and that she wasn't alone. Her eyes drifted to a boy in his late teens sitting on a chair, silently reading a book at her bedside. She only had enough energy left in her for one spear. She panicked.


Brandon reacted on reflex when he caught a golden light spear in his now Shattered Glass covered hand. The spear wasn't fully stable, and dissolved almost immediately.

"Oh, you're awake, that's good." Brandon stated, brushing off the attempt on his life as if it was nothing.

"Where am I, how did I get here, and what are you going to do to me?!" The woman demanded, sitting up.

"You're in the Byrne household infirmary, my sister carried you, and I'm just here to watch over you while she and my mom get more towels." Brandon explained, turning to get a brief glimpse at the woman's eyes, before quickly turning back around. "Please cover up."

The woman complied, pulling the blanket to her chest, but not without a snide remark. "Good job keeping watch."

"Listen, the last thing I want to see is you naked." Brandon bit back, facing her again. With her covered he could freely read her through those piercing yellow eyes, she was far more anxious than her voice betrayed.

"You know, I should feel insulted, but after tonight I'm just relieved." The woman sneered.

Before Brandon could question what she meant, the mother and Azalea returned with a couple moist towels.

"Sorry we took so long, Azalea- Oh." The mother interrupted herself, noticing her patient was now wide awake. "Hello, are you feeling well?"

"Peachy." The woman sarcastically spat, yet her panic and anxiety seemed to all but completely fade at the sight of Azalea.

"Sorry, stupid question. I guess we should introduce ourselves." The mother said. "My name is Aine, the little ray of sunshine that saved you here is my daughter, Azalea, and the huffy boy sitting by you is my son, Brandon. And your name is?"

"Kalawarner." The woman answered, brusquely.

"Okay, now that everyone's acquainted, can someone please tell me what the hell is going on?!" Brandon snappily implored. He absolutely hated being in the dark for this long.

"Brandon!" Azalea reprimanded. "She just woke up!"

"Whatever." Kalawarner exhaled. "Might as well get it out of the way now."

"Are you sure?" Azalea asked apprehensively.

Kalawarner shook her head in confirmation, and sighed. "I guess I'll start from the beginning."

"I'm with a small group of fallen angels that were assigned to keep track of a sacred gear wielder in this town." Kalawarner began. "Our group's leader, Raynare, decided he was too potentially dangerous to be left alive."

"So a simple observation mission, turned into an assassination mission." Aine summarised far too casually. "I don't see why that would require more than one fallen angel, or leave you ass naked with a broken leg."

At Aine's last comment Kalawarner shifted herself to see that her leg was wrapped in a cast. "Oh, that's just great." She spat.

"Anyway, Raynare requested a lot of backup. Three more fallen angels, and a couple dozen stray priests. I don't know why." Kalawarner continued, aggravated. "I just accepted it for the easy paycheck."

Brandon frowned at the thought of more freaks like Freed roaming about freely.

"So after Raynare killed her target, apparently we still weren't done. He was revived by the Gremorys, so I'm stuck here for even longer." Kalawarner griped. "Figured if I just wiped him out myself I'd get to go 'home' early, and that's what led to this situation."

"You've said a lot already, are you sure you don't want to rest first?" Azalea asked, clearly concerned for the woman in spite of the fact she openly admitted to trying to kill someone.

"Yes, I'm almost done. But thank-you." Kalawarner said, in an appreciative tone.

"When I went to off the guy, he'd awakened his sacred gear. It shredded my clothes away and I decided I wasn't paid enough to deal with that, so I flew off." Kalawarner explained. "On my way back to the base I ran into one of the stray priests, Freed Sellzen. He was pissed about something, and when he saw that I was already naked he tried to force himself on me."

Brandon went wide eyed and froze in place at the last bit of Kalawarner's story. He suddenly felt violently sick.

"I resisted so he stomped down on my leg. I heard it snap, and the last thing I remember before I passed out was Azalea's worried face." Kalawarner finished. "I don't know what happened next, but I think Azalea can fill us in."

"I was getting some fresh air when I heard a scream." Azalea began, facing Kalawarner. "I followed the noise and I saw a silver haired man fumbling to undo his robes over you. I sucker punched him, and he ran off, then I scooped you up and ran back home on instinct."

"After that Azalea was at the front door, panicking with a half conscious fallen angel in her arms." Aine cut in. "I had her set you on this hospital bed, and I got to work on your leg. And after that, Brandon got back, and I asked him to watch you for a bit."

Aine received an odd look from Kalawarner.

"In hindsight that could have gone very poorly." She added with an awkwardly forced laugh, scratching the back of her head.

"How did you deal with my wings?" Kalawarner questioned.

"Oh that?" Aine asked. "Azalea has a pressure point that makes her retract them. I tried it on you, and it worked."

"Huh, didn't know about that." Kalawarner muttered to herself. "So what now?"

"I'm going to make dinner soon, are you hungry?" Aine asked.

"What's the catch?" Kalawarner apprehensively replied.

"Oh, there's no catch." Aine said. "You'll need to eat if you want to recover."

"Alright, I'll have whatever you're making." Kalawarner accepted, seeing that she didn't have a lot of options.

"Good." Aine clapped her hands together once. "I'll have it ready in a half hour. Forty five minutes tops. Now come on, kids."

Aine and Azalea were about to leave when one of them realized Brandon wasn't moving. He just stared vacantly off into space and breathed slowly.

"Mom." Azalea spoke. "Brandon froze up."

"What? But that hasn't happened in years." Aine stated, stepping over to take a closer look at her son's face.

Brandon was completely still; His eyes remained unfocused. Aine knew she couldn't make contact with him when he was like this.

"Okay, slight change in plans." Aine said. "Kalawarner could you keep an eye on Brandon for the time being? You don't have to do anything, just call me if he starts hyperventilating."

"Sure. Not like I have anywhere to be." Kalawarner rolled her eyes.

"Sorry for the trouble." Aine apologised, escorting Azalea away.


Minutes passed and Brandon still hadn't made any movement. It was starting to unnerve Kalawarner.

"Hey kid, are you still alive?" She was prepared to throw something when he finally spoke.

"... I'm sorry." Brandon wouldn't look in her direction.

"What?"

"I'm so, so sorry about what happened to you." The teen's voice hitched. "I could've killed him. I should've killed him when I had the chance."

"Oh, so you're the reason he was so pissed." Kalawarner realised, before sighing. "Look kid, the man is a psychopath. He was bound to try something sooner or later."

"And he's still on the loose, because I was too slow." Brandon hollowly stated.

"Listen." Kalawarner said, getting mildly agitated. "I'm not blaming you. Your sister showed up before he could stick anything anywhere."

"No one should ever be put into that position." Brandon began rambling, no longer hearing Kalawarner's responses. Stray tears slowly leaked out of his unblinking eyes. "The fear, the feeling of powerlessness…" He trailed off.

The subject was clearly something highly distressing and personal to the teen.

"Were you-?" Kalawarner attempted to ask.

"It doesn't matter!" Brandon interrupted. "They're dead now. They've been dead for years!"

Seeing as her words weren't having any effect, Kalawarner sat up with one arm holding the blanket to keep herself covered.

"There, there." Kalawarner said, awkwardly patting the teen's head. She had no idea why she was trying to comfort a human, but the idea of letting him go catatonic didn't quite sit right with her.

Brandon stiffened his body at the contact, but began to ease up as he quietly sobbed. After a short while Brandon collected himself enough to speak again.

"Please don't tell Mom or Azalea." Brandon requested. "They don't need that burden."

"How long have you been keeping it a secret?" Kalawarner asked.

"Ten years." Brandon choked.

"Okay." Kalawarner complied. "I won't tell, as long as you don't blame yourself for what happened to me."

"I'll try not to." Brandon said.

"That's something, I guess." Kalawarner eased off.

"Do you mind if I use one of your towels?" Brandon asked.

"Knock yourself out."

Brandon grabbed one of the moist towels, and vigorously rubbed his face, erasing any evidence of his emotional collapse just moments ago. After he was done he took a deep inhale and exhale.

"I'm sorry you had to witness that." Brandon apologised, quickly returning to his standard tone of voice.

"Don't mention it." Kalawarner waved it off. "I'm two thousand years old, I've seen worse breakdowns."

"Thank-you." Brandon said, before getting up and walking out.


"Azalea, could you watch the pot for a moment? I need to go take care of something." Aine requested, turning to her daughter who had been drooling over the boiling soup just a meter away.

"Sure thing." Azalea said, with a salute.

"And if you try to eat from it while it's still on the stove you're grounded for a month." Aine added.

Azalea yelped, quickly pulling her hand away from the soup's ladle.

"Good girl." Aine patted Azalea on the head before walking away.

Aine went to her own room and began searching through her drawers, quickly fishing out a spare sundress. After grabbing what she needed she made her way to Kalawarner in the infirmary.

"Knock knock." She said before letting herself inside, finding Kalawarner on her own. "Oh, Brandon left. He didn't cause you any trouble, did he?"

"He just snapped out of it, apologised, and walked away." Kalawarner lied. "So what brings you here? Is the food done."

"Almost. I just thought I'd bring you something to wear, so you can eat at the table." Aine said, presenting a maroon sundress. "You might stretch it out a bit." Aine took a glance at Kalawarner's chest. "...a lot, but it's better than going out naked."

"And are you just going to carry me?" Kalawarner questioned.

"Oh, there's no need for that." Aine chuckled, shaking her head. "I have a wheelchair you can use."

Aine stepped by the side of the bed, and handed the dress over.

"Would you like some help slipping the dress on before I pull the chair out?" She asked.

"I think I can handle it." Kalawarner said, rolling her eyes.

"Suit yourself."

As Kalawarner began to slide the outfit on, with some difficulty, Aine retrieved and unfolded a basic hospital wheelchair that was hidden off to the side of the room.

"Now let's get you-" Aine turned from the wheelchair to see Kalawarner struggling to pull the dress down around her waist. "Are you sure you don't need any help?"

"A little." Kalawarner begrudgingly admitted.

After Aine helped the fallen angel properly fit into her old dress, she carefully lifted her into the wheelchair and rolled her off.


When Aine arrived at the kitchen, she set Kalawarner at an empty spot at the table and went to take over on the stove, immediately taking notice of her daughter's guilty expression.

"Azalea, you didn't sneak a taste, did you?" Aine chided, hands on her hips, already knowing the answer.

"… I don't know." Azalea responded, avoiding eye contact.

Aine smiled. "I'll let it slide. This time. Now go get your brother." She directed, feeling particularly merciful tonight.

"Okay." Azalea cheerfully obeyed, rushing out of the kitchen and to the stairs.

"No running!" Aine called.

"Sorry, Mum." Azalea apologised from the middle of the stairway, before quietly walking the rest of the way up.

After taking a moment to chuckle at her daughter's antics Aine grabbed four plates and bowls, and began setting the table.

"Ah, kids. Such little rascals, but you can't help but love 'em." Aine said, in an endeavor to make conversation, directing some attention over to Kalawarner before she returned to the stove. "Well in Azalea's case, kids at heart, but you get what I mean."

"Can't say I relate." Kalawarner curtly replied.

"Fair enough. They're definitely not for everyone." Aine granted, shutting off the stove. "Especially nephilim, you think Azalea's energetic now? You should have seen her when she was five."

"Sounds like a nightmare." Kalawarner commented, making sure to keep an eye on the food she was about to be served.

"Oh, it was." Aine freely admitted. "The life of a single mother is never easy, but I'd do it all again."

Aine slipped on a pair of oven mitts and lifted the soup pot over to the middle of the table.

"Those two are the world to me, and I'd make anyone who hurts them wish that Azalea was a lot more specific when she told me not to kill." Aine said, beginning to ladle out Kalawarner's portion.

It wasn't a threat directed towards Kalawarner, it was moreso a general statement. Kalawarner had no plans to test this woman's word, and as Aine got a glimpse at the fallen angel's eyes she knew that for a fact.


"Brandon." Azalea called as she lightly knocked at her brother's door.

"Come in." Brandon answered back in his neutral tone of voice.

Azalea twisted the knob, and stepped inside to find her brother looking completely normal, just about finishing up his book.

"Dinner's almost ready." Azalea informed.

"Oh." Brandon responded, closing his book and setting it aside as he got up.

"And I wanted to ask you something." Azalea said. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, Sis." Brandon claimed.

"You know if there's something on your mind you can talk to me." Azalea stated. "I'm your sister, and you've seen me at my worst."

"I appreciate the offer." Brandon said, as he stepped up to hug his sister. "But I really am fine right now."

"Alright bro, I trust you." Azalea sighed, hugging him back.

"Okay, now that that little bout of emotions is done, let's go get some food." Brandon switched topics, with a false smile.

Even with her brother, Azalea couldn't tell the difference. Still she found the sudden change from neutral to apparently cheerful somewhat suspicious.

"You worry me sometimes, bro." Azalea shared.

"You worry me all the time, Sis." Brandon countered, giving Azalea a light, brotherly punch to the shoulder.


In the kitchen Aine had just finished setting up everyone's meals, and now sat patiently waiting for her children. Kalawarner just stared at the table, she wasn't going to eat a bite before someone else tried it first.

Three of the plates contained a couple chunks of meat and a seasoned baked potato, and sat next to a bowl of nettle soup. The fourth plate was stacked to maximum capacity and sat next to a bowl twice the average size.

"So why does that one seat get so much more food?" Kalawarner asked.

"Nephilim have extremely high metabolisms." Aine casually explained. "Or at least Azalea does. She's almost like a shrew."

"We're back." Azalea announced, entering the kitchen with her brother.

"Right on time." Aine said, stretching the truth just a bit.

"Dinner looks great." Azalea complimented, getting a glimpse at the setup and salivating.

"Thanks Mom." Brandon casually said.

With the family all present and seated they began to dig in. Aine and Brandon dined politely, and even Azalea reigned back her messy eating habits out of courtesy for their guest. Kalawarner, seeing everyone eat to no ill effect, reluctantly picked up a spoon and tasted some of the pleasant smelling green soup in front of her.

As soon as the nettle soup touched her tongue Kalawarner had a realisation, this was the first thing she'd eaten today, and it was divine. The blue haired fallen began eating at a breakneck pace, quickly finishing the food provided for her.

"Oh my." Aine commented, stifling a giggle. "Looks like someone's a fan."

After having emptied both her plate and bowl Kalawarner just sat still for a moment, looking onward, and thinking of what to say next.

"Thank-you for the meal, but what now?" She asked apprehensively.

"We can keep you fed and housed for as long as you need to recover." Aine answered. "Not like I'll need that hospital bed for anything else."

"Why would you do that for me?" Kalawarner questioned, almost sounding offended.

"Why wouldn't we?" Azalea chimed in, also having finished her meal.

Kalawarner's wings shot out, and she placed a hand on her chest. "I'm a fallen angel! You're humans!" She shouted as if her point was just so obvious.

"And?" Brandon cut in. "Mom's a doctor, we're not going to just throw you out to fend for yourself. We're not that cruel."

"Besides, Azalea is half fallen." Aine added.

"Yes, but she's half human, and your daughter. You don't even know me!" Kalawarner exclaimed, before putting her head down in her hands. "It just doesn't make sense."

Aine wordlessly pushed her plate aside, got up, and placed a hand on Kalawarner's back, right between the wings. Kalawarner lifted her head to face her.

"Kalawarner, sweetheart." Aine began. "I don't need to know you. Your species doesn't matter. You're hurt, and I'm not turning away anyone Azalea brings for us to help."

Aine's hand unconsciously drifted over to one of Kalawarner's wings. "Damn these things are soft." She muttered.

"Okay, hands off the merchandise." Kalawarner snickered, pulling her wings back inside. "I believe you."

"And no killing while you're here." Azalea stipulated. Aine and Brandon both rolled their eyes.

"I can live with that." Kalawarner accepted.

"Now that we have that all settled, I bet you're tired." Aine cut back in. "It's been a long, emotional day for all of us, and we could use the rest."

"Good call." Brandon yawned out, before getting up to leave. "Good night. If anyone needs me, don't need me."

Brandon's plate had a few chunks of potato, and one piece of meat left over. Azalea looked to both of her sides, despite being in clear view of both her mother and Kalawarner, and quickly scarfed down Brandon's scraps before saying her goodbyes.

"Goodnight Mom." Azalea said, hugging Aine. "And goodnight Kalawarner. I hope you get better." She gave the older fallen a pat on the shoulder before making her exit.

"Guess it's just us now." Aine commented. "Let's get you back to your room for the time being."

"Alright." Kalawarner accepted.

Each member of the Byrne family slept like a rock, but Kalawarner, still unsure of what to make of her situation, laid awake for some time, just thinking about how this strange family turned her worldview on its head, before sleep finally overtook her late into the night.


Aine Byrne. Doctor, widow, and mother to Brandon and Azalea Byrne.

Finally got to give her name, it was getting so annoying always referring to her as "The Mother," when I had "Aine" planned from the very beginning, but there was no organic excuse to reveal her name until now.

There was a bit revealed about Brandon regarding a very sensitive subject for him, that's going to be touched upon further at a much later date.

While Kalawarner doesn't completely trust the Byrne family just yet, she knows she's not in a Misery scenario either, and she might as well accept the free food and bedding while she can. She's more receptive to Azalea, partially out of racial bias, but mostly because she's the one that saved her.

This chapter was originally part of the chapter coming up next, but I decided to cut them because they flowed better separately, so now it's more of a transitional mini chapter. Next chapter Azalea plays matchmaker and Aine takes Kalawarner clothes shopping. ADVENTURE HO!

Cover art by my sister, who also did me the favor of sensitivity reading for this chapter to make sure it was suitable for upload. You can find her on Facebook at Sara-Lynn Larkin/TheRealAkiNeko. She's been a major support ever since I began writing, please check her out.

In personal news, I got a tricolor dart frog that does Not shut up, and I survived a car crash.