Thanks for all the reviews; I noticed there was some advice as well as a question. The reason it seems fast is because Kitty doesn't really stay at the village long - at least in the story. She spends more time in the Fallen's village - and it'll get slower from here, cuz there is stuff that does need to happen, but I try to be detailed. So, plz keep reading and reviewing - it's nice to know there are at least a couple of you that like my story - although I don't know how many people have read it and not reviewed. Thanks anyways, guys!

-And the wording for the title's not in the center of the screen cuz my computer keeps messing up. Ignore it.

Disclaimer: Clearly I don't own XME.

Summary: Kurt is a Fallen, an indescribably beautiful race of demon–angels. Kitty is a fledgling priestess with a hidden power. Kitty knows that Kurt isn't her enemy, but can she prove it?

Fallen Angel

3. The Power of the Elements

Kitty stood by her door, still shaken from last night. Was she a Fallen? She certainly didn't have their grace or strength, but what had made her eligible to become a priestess and live at the temple were the powers she had—could they have come from a Fallen?

Her powers were not easy to awaken—she had to be in a grave, possibly life-threatening situation in order for her power to work; other than that, she had a very hard time even getting a spark of power to come to her.

And her powers were thus: dominion over the elements (water, fire, earth, air), as well as some other things—dark (shadow), light (sun), and lightning (energy).

She had been told that her powers were special—but now she wondered: Were they Fallen powers after all? Was that why everyone whispered?

She shrugged it off. Fira would come with another message, right?

And things would go back to almost-normal…right?

And yet she had no idea of what was to come…

Kurt teleported between the trees, watching the progress of some humans with pitchforks and blazing torches. "No… Kitty said later!" he whispered to himself, teleporting back to Treehaven, home of the Fallen.

"Shade!" he called, spotting the dark/light elemental trudging by.

"Kurt?" Her head whipped up. "What is it?"

"Some of them are coming! Already!"

As if on cue, towards the eastern edge of the Forest—where the humans lived—tendrils of smoke were drifting up from the treetops.

"No!" Shade stood frozen, her dark eyes following the smoke. Then her eyes grew impossibly larger. "Fira!" she said hoarsely.

"Huh?" Kurt's mind had gone blank with terror.

"Fira! She's gone to deliver your message to Kitty!" Shade's eyes blazed. "She doesn't know anything! But you know what she'll do!"

"I know…" Kurt's voice trailed off. "Come on! We've got to help her!" Shade grabbed his hand and they disappeared.

Kitty watched with growing horror at the procession going into the Forest—humans armed with pitchforks, rakes, even blunt daggers, as well as torches, burning dimly in the near-twilight.

"No…" she whispered, feeling tears well in her eyes. How could they do this?

There was a faint knock on the windowpane, and she ran over, spying Fira below the ledge.

"Fira?" she asked worriedly, throwing open the window and vaulting over the edge, landing beside the young Fallen girl.

Fira's clothes were smoke-stained, her face and hands covered with bruises. Her eyes were sooty where she'd tried to rub away the smoke, and glazed as she stared off into the distance.

"Fira?" Kitty shook her lightly. The Fallen's eyes snapped open. "They came…" she coughed in a thin voice. "Too many…tried to run…" She erupted into a fit of coughing.

Kitty picked up Fira gently, rage making her tremble. Had Fira done anything to warrant this unjust attack? Probably not; she knew that Fira wasn't a great fighter, though she had a certain amount of tricks up her sleeve. Angry tears streaked down her face as some of the smoke from the burning Forest drifted over the settlement. She ran blindly, stumbling over roots and burrows, but never faltering until Kurt and Shade appeared right in front of her.

She skidded to a stop just barely managing to not run into the two Fallen.

"Kitty?" Kurt began, but Shade cut him off. "No time! Grab her and go!"

"What about you?" he asked. She turned slightly, her mouth flattening into a grim line. "They've noticed us. You go now; take Kitty and Fira with you. Get them to Treehaven."

"But what about you?" he persisted.

Shade's eyes flickered. "I may not be here for you to come back for…you need to watch over them."

"I can't leave you!"

"Go!" she snarled, pushing him. He grabbed for Kitty, holding Fira with the other hand, and Kitty's world disappeared in a single moment.

Kitty's eyes hesitantly opened. Gone were the familiar houses of Girva—as well as the smoke in the air, the crackling of the fire, and the looming Forest trees, blackened from flame.

Now, she was somewhere else… She unclenched her fist, letting the small, soot-blackened paper flutter from her fist. She held up the picture. Yes, the scene before her looked much like the picture's: the Fallen haven.

Kurt scrambled to his feet beside her. "I have to go back for Shade!" Fira stirred in his arms, and he gave her to Kitty.

Kitty set down Fira gently. As Kurt prepared to teleport, without realizing it, Kitty reached out and touched his shoulder, and once again, the world vanished.

They reappeared in the burning Forest. Kurt looked down at her. "You shouldn't have followed me!"

"I'm sorry—" Kitty began, but she was cut off by the sight in front of them.

Flashes of black and white arched across the ground, shining in small bursts; Kurt's eyes widened.

Feeling utterly foolish, Kitty asked, "What is it?"

Without looking at her, he said quietly, so the people wouldn't notice them, "Shade's element is light/dark, though I know she can use lightning as well. She has never used her element before in battle… Things must be bad…"

Kitty watched as he disappeared, reappearing behind a tree; she could now see Shade, perched on a branch, orbs of shadows and light spinning from her hands. But even from this far away, Kitty could tell that Shade's grip on her element was weakening; she wouldn't last long at this rate.

Before she was aware of doing it, Kitty was rushing into the open; she was aware, vaguely, of shouts nearby; of Kurt's appearance next to Shade; she barely remembered crying out—the world seemed to disappear in flashes of light.

She heard rather than saw Kurt reappear next to her, Shade beside him. Fire was raining down onto them; Kitty heard herself shout, remembering burning power building within her, looking for a way out—until she could contain it no longer and a burst of brilliant white light exploded from her fingertips; then the world faded into a sea of blackness.

Light slowly trickled back into Kitty's vision—there was no smoke to obstruct it, no smell of burning—so she assumed that she was back where the Fallen lived.

A face leaned over her. It was Kurt. "You're awake!" he said happily.

"Yeah… What's going on?" She lifted her head hesitantly, seeing more Fallen gathered around—at least three or four besides Kurt. There was Shade and Fira; the woman she'd met in the Forest—whose name she had learned was Mystique and one other that she'd never met, but had seen next to Fira—maybe her sister?

Kurt glanced uneasily at the others. "They're here to talk to you," he said carefully, almost cautiously.

"Why?" It seemed like a good question at the time.

Shade stepped forwards, staggering slightly. "You don't remember what happened, do you?"

"Huh?" Kitty thought back to her time in the burning Forest. "Um…not really…" She felt she was missing something important, and that was why the Fallen were here.

Kurt spoke. "What do you last remember?"

"We were in the Forest…the humans were attacking, there was fire everywhere…" She paused to gather her thoughts. "I…I'm not sure what happened—I only remember feeling like my blood was on fire and that I would burst if I didn't release the power… What did I do?"

"What you did abandons all theories on being able to control only a few elements—although technically, you'd think that dark/light were two different elements…" Kurt blinked. "You released the power of all the elements together! Your power is to harness the elements' powers!"

"What?"

Kitty felt as though a chasm had opened up beneath her feet, and she was teetering on the edge, about to plunge into the depths below. How had her life gone from so normal to this?

"Kitty…" Kurt's voice distracted her from her internal musings.

"Yeah?"

"That's not all that happened…"

Kitty stood up slowly, feeling an uneven weight on her back. Her blood seemed to turn to ice with shock. "No…" she whispered, her eyes widening as she turned to look.

Where her tattoo had been, there now sprouted two brown wings, their uneven feathers clumping together in a ragged pile—in the exact pattern as her tattoo; Fallen's wings…

Kitty just stared at them, her mouth dropping open. How had that happened? Her mind reeled from the possibilities; it was only until Kurt stepped forwards and told her directly, did she believe the words, thoughts.

"Your Fallen blood is reacting to your release of the power—soon, I imagine, you'll become one of us."

She would become a Fallen?

Okay, that's the third chapter - it still seems kinda fast, I'm sure, but I'll make it slower, kay? Working on fourth chapter now. Please review - you know you want to!

~Shadey

P.S. I'm thinking about making the upgrades easier to do - I'll try and post a chapter every Saturday - I don't get much time on the weekdays, because my computer has 'Parental Controls' and I have time limits. So, from now on, the updates will be on Saturdays. I've done three chapters this week for starters, next week will be on Saturday - if it's not, it'll be because of powers beyond my control - namely, my parents. So review, and don't get mad at me because I'm not updating!