For all things considered, it had been a relatively normal day.  Akiva was busy, that was certain, and researching as well as helping with research was something she was undeniably good at, but it did take a toll, especially when Gabriel had not been feeling his best.

Akiva had bundled him up in layers, packed his day bag, including his blanket and favorite plush Pegasus, and brought him to his grandmum’s for the day.  Hestia could not be happier to function as childcare provider, and spending a day with her would certainly do Gabriel a world of good. 

It would be hard to find another person she trusted so much (outside of her own mother) with the ability to protect their son and make sure his sniffles weren’t getting the better of him at the same time.  So, off she went, having dropped him off and then to work, sending owls as breaks came up to check up on him.

Some might say she was a little… neurotic, but as a first time mother, she had some rights to anxiety.  And something didn’t feel right.  Maybe it was his unexpected cold or just the sheer amount of things she had to do. 

But, the day passed as quickly as a busy one can and before she knew it, Akiva was heading out to collect Gabriel and then go home.  Dree would follow later, wrapping things up, and it would give her time to start dinner and take care of Gabriel, who she could not wait to get her arms around again. 

When she gathered him, Hestia also gifted her several containers of soup (portioned out) that would help his sniffles, and Akiva embraced her mother-in-law, gathered Gabriel’s things, and trundled back to the house with everything in tow.  Gabriel was still fussy, but not nearly as much as he had been that morning, and Akiva wondered if tonight would be an early one, and beyond that, if it were, would it be a complete night? 

She hoped so, as unlikely as it was. 

Situating everything at home, Akiva was happy to put Gabriel in a sort of bounce chair contraption and start the evening routine.  Promptly following feeding the creatures, Akiva was gathering ingredients, bustling about with a record on, not jarring enough to disrupt Gabriel, but lively enough that the burbling baby playing with the hanging blocks and noisemakers above him didn’t fall asleep. 

Akiva hummed along, taking the vegetables she intended to cook to the sink basin.  She was about to start washing them, keeping an ear out for Gabriel, but instead heard an indistinct noise from outside.  Glancing downward, Lady was seated at her feet, and Gordon was an inside cat… maybe it was Tabitha coming back. 

The cat liked to come and go, so Akiva put the vegetables down, passed by Gabriel and kissed him on the head before she moved to the back door.  Glancing out the window, as she always did before even unlocking one bolt, Akiva noticed a shadow further off in the yard.  Pressing her face closer to the window, she reeled back once it registered that this shadow was not a cat.  It was much bigger than that, and whatever – whoever (it was human shaped), it was – they weren’t supposed to be there.

Rather than doing nothing, assuming  it was a misunderstanding, Akiva grabbed her mobile and Gabriel, and moved away from the windows.  Lady tagged along at her heels, looking concerned as Akiva hit the first contact on speed dial: Dree. 

Bouncing the fussy baby in one arm and cradling the ringing phone against her shoulder, trying to also pat Gabe on the back, Akiva breathed, “Please pick up,” repeatedly. 

Today was one of those days when Dreogan was determined not to break promises.  Work had been hectic--he'd even seen it frazzle Akiva, though they'd had little chance to talk, except over a hasty lunch.  Things had picked up due to a Catastrophes event in Whitecastle that had taken the better part of the morning with meetings, the afternoon with strategy planning, and the evening with correspondence.

In fact, Dreogan had practically needed to swat his administrative assistant away and pronounce that he was going home.  He had a sick son to attend to. 

A light cold might have been nothing, but this was his first son. And this was his very first cold. And as unfortunate as it was, no self-respecting father went absent at such a time as this.  So, snapping his briefcase up, he had left the office--a good 45 minutes later than promised, but a good hour before he felt he ought to have.

Kiva was ever-patient in these matters, but even she could not hold down a fort forever, and Dreogan had too often left her--a working mother--with the brundt of the housework, too.  If she was to help at MAO, it was only logical that he should do half of the housework, as well.

And so, when he felt the familiar buzz in his pocket shortly after Apparation, he began to fish for his mobile.  He was a mere matter of yards from the little wooden front gate, and could see the welcoming lights of his home. 

"Hi," Dreogan smiled, shouldering the phone against his ear as he prepped his keys, juggling the wand, bag, and all as he sidled through the front gate.  "How's he doing?"

The noise outside seemed to stop, but that did not make her less nervous.  Akiva shifted her weight from side to side, waiting for Dreogan to answer. 

She breathed a small sigh of relief when he answered.  She could almost hear the smile in his voice.  She wondered where he was  - usually the mobiles didn’t function in the office, so maybe he felt something, maybe he was already on his way home. 

“Oh, he’s doing better.  Sniffly and fussing, but quiet,” Gabriel burbled and whined as he stretched in her arms, kicking his little legs a bit too hard and getting Akiva in the side, enough that she had to grunt and shfit his weight, also trying to balance the phone and the baby.  “But, I wasn’t calling you about Gabe,” she admitted with a tired smile.

Glancing back into the kitchen, she sighed.  “Are you on your way home, by chance?” she asked, trying not to startle him, he didn’t need that – it was stressful as anything in the office, but she also didn’t want to be too lackadaisical about this, considering everything.  “I thought I saw something strange in the backyard while I was cooking,” she licked her lips, deciding that it wasn’t time to glaze over the issue. 

“It looked like a person, but it could have been something else.  I’m not sure…” she trailed off, looking at the back door again, somewhat afraid she heard something again.  “It might not be anything… but I don’t know.” 

Dreogan barely had time to register his relief before he saw from the corner of his eye, the approaching obscured shape that could only be a man.  There was no option to Apparate; the security measures around the Eleor-Katz household were absolute, including a No-Apparaition zone that extended the entire space of the property.

Pulling his wand out as he spun around, Dreogan took two hasty steps towards the safety of the sidewalk before a loud crack, and the appearance of a new figure made this impossible.  To the house. 

"Kiva..." Dreogan's eyes were fixed on her sihlouette, barely discernible through the curtains.  "'mso sorry..." he breathed quickly. He felt, rather than saw, the new presence of one or two more individuals behind him--to the right, and managed to deflect the first curse easily enough, managing to still keep the mobile, though his briefcase clattered to the walkway, springing open.  Several sheafs of parchment were picked up by a fast-growing breeze that could not be natural.  "I don't think I'm going to make it home tonight."  He'd said the words often enough--and now Dreogan was resenting, mourning those evenings he'd spent caught up in the office, or in meetings, or fixing something at his mother's, instead of being here, with this wife and child.
 
He owed it to them to fight for more of those evenings.  He knew the result of going quietly into the night--his father had left, complacent, and there had been lone, fatherless dinners and years' worth of widowhood for his family for years to come.  Fighting may very well bring the same result, but Dreogan's family would know that, given the choice, his would be to not leave his family.
 
He cast a preliminary ward; feeling the air around him crackle with energy and, for a moment, glimmer gold.  He could keep off five--four in the front, one in the back.  He could.  Long enough for help.  Wetting his lips, he braced himself, muscles tensing.  "Akiva--" his voice much more firm, "I love you. Call Jonas--owl the Aurors. Now."
 
 

The connection between them crackled and Akiva jumped from the sudden, shrill sound between them.  Something happened, she could tell – that kind of reaction only happened when magic was involved and her heart started to beat wildly in her chest.

Gabriel, as the small bundle in her arms, reacted instantly to her tense jump and started wailing.  He was already sensitive, sick and all, and she must have startled him with the quick movement.  Immediately, Akiva rushed into motherly action and tried not to jump again when something made a crashing sound.  “Dree?” she asked, her voice taking on a higher pitch, but still trying not to scare Gabriel who continued to wail.

One hand went behind his back and rubbed circles, trying to hear through the static and catch what he was saying.  It sounded like he was saying he wasn’t home – she couldn’t tell, for sure.  She hated the mobiles sometimes, so deeply affected by whatever was going on, and she pressed her ear even harder into the phone, also trying to hear about Gabriel’s cries. 

She clicked her tongue and cooed at Gabe, trying not to be too loud – trying not to drown out Dreogan, who she could hear breathing on the other end, in rare moments left static-free.  The mobile screeched at her again, and Akiva breathed again, “Dreogan?”  she felt frantic, her face was hot and she was scared – she was scared for him. 

Whatever was going on, Akiva did not like the sound, and his tone, his tone as the line became dreadfully still – free of offending interruption,  she heard perhaps the scariest phrase of all: "I love you. Call Jonas--owl the Aurors. Now."

It even seemed like she blocked out the sound of Gabriel’s crying when her stomach dropped and the blood rushed between her ears.  She was about to answer, “Dree, I…” about to say something, when the line clicked.  Something happened – and they were disconnected. 

There wasn’t time to panic though, if Raizel had taught her anything, and Akiva acted.  She rushed up the stairs, trying not to jostle Gabriel too much, but unable to avoid it, he was already so fussy… and she made her way to the desk where they kept the parchment, where she could send an owl.  Her hands trembled as she dialed Jonas’ number simultaneously, hoping again for another answer. 

Her writing was scrawling, hardly anything like her normal script, but she wasn’t about to be picky, when she scrambled out a quick message, to the point, that she – and Dreogan, needed help. 

The phone went dead in his hand.  Dreogan pressed it to his ear another moment to be sure--hoping for another word before letting it drop to the ground.  The wind had picked up; Dreogan was nearly flung back with a breath-stealing gust.  From a source in the shadows, there was a burst of blue, and then of purple that came hurtling towards him, only to shatter against his ward in a burst of gold light.  It was true that while his wards had reached skill  sufficient to guard against even the most powerful of direct hexes, there was little Dreogan could do to manage their secondary effects.  Dreogan could scarcely stop the air--and his secondary defense, the black stump of a candle he would normally utilize, to free his wand for other uses, was also dropped to the ground.

Dreogan's scattered parchment, picked up by the wind, came flying towards him. A minor inconvenience, which Dreogan didn't dare designate attention or energy towards to free himself from, even as the papers curled and clung to the legs of his trousers--the arms of his suit coat.  And it was good he hadn't: a blast of red engulfed him, making the air about him hot with its intensity, before dissipating.

However, through the flying sparks about him, Dreogan could see something dark, something heavy--a mass hurtling towards him, flung by the wind that seemed intent to crush him against his side fence.  Dreogan squinted to see through the darkness--trying to guess what it could be when he sensed, rather than saw, from the corner of his eye, the same figure his wife had called about moments before--a warning, now too late to act upon. 

Somehow, this figure filled him with more fear than the threat of the object hurtling towards him. Dreogan turned.  The man seemed to have lost interest in trying for the kitchen's back door, and instead began closing the distance between them  Dreogan felt that, like a timeline, the man's approach signified the End.

It did not take Dreogan long to realize what the object had been.  In a moment, Dreogan was pressed to the ground, face and neck scratched by the sharp twigs of a fallen branch, his ward--and quite possibly a few other things--shattered.

A moment was all it took.  Dreogan saw a blast of light from the backyard figure, felt a momentary and bright pain, With a jolt, Dreogan became aware of the fact that his body was wholly, utterly unresponsive.  He still lay beneath the heavy branch, unable to grasp his wand, a mere centimeter away.  Dreogan could not raise his voice to call out, could not even turn his head to see who the owner of the slow, approaching footsteps might be. 

But Dreogan was not in suspense long.  In short order, Dreogan heard the footsteps through the grass come to a halt.  The weight on his back was suddenly lifted, and he felt a sharp pain in his ribcage as the toe of the shoe rolled him over, onto his back.  Looking straight upward, Dreogan could well see the face against the dark sky: it was a familiar, but not friendly, one.  Godze himself looked him in the eye, a grim smirk on his face.