Resemblance in the Leaves

Disclaimer: Me no own Riviera…

His body shifted amongst the leaves, his back was in pain at the uncomfortable position he had set himself upon. The sound of crunching, dried leaves became an audible tune that echoed inside his ears with no sign of dissipating any time soon considering the amount of bodily movement he was performing. To add more to the noise, the wind had picked up - blowing many of the multi-colored leaves in a whirlwind of musical scritches and scratches as they collided with objects nearby such as trees and other leaves that were being blown by the recent gust; much similar to the sound of leaves being crushed yet so different at the same time.

But he had no time to worry about minor things as trivial as musical leaves! Something much more important had arisen and had to be dealt with; something that brought discomfort to the boy who had only tried to enjoy his time – no matter how short it was – of peace! No amount of shuffling around could eliminate the pain on his back, but he knew the position he was in normally didn't inflict the pain of something piecing into his spine. It was just about now that he had had enough!

His hand lunged for his back, brushing aside the colored pile of leaves that he had so decided to rest upon. It was immediately that he found it – it being the causing of his pain - and with a powerful yank the boy was able to remove –

"A rock…" Ein could only say to himself, his gaze meeting the sharp stone with a tasteless stare. All of that just from a rock…and it was such a tiny stone too…Though, he had to do something with it.

The wingless angel placed the rock in the pocket of his leggings, no hesitation present with the thought of the after-results if it was discovered he picked up another useless item.

Rock------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------500 pts.

(The author apologizes for adding this in…)

But now, with all that aside, the boy was finally to get the relaxing experience he had come to find in the first place by coming to this deep area of the woods. Fixing the bed of leaves, Ein piled up the scattered foliage present on the ground to make the bed of some sorts act more in common to a pillow to rest on his back. He didn't care about his sleeveless tunic or short leggings picking up traces of dirt; all-in-all he could just wipe it off anytime, so it wasn't that much of a bother anyways.

It was rare for him to be alone. Most of the time he would be literally tailed by one or more of the four girls that accompanied him; and even when he was able to escape the said girls, his familiar, who's shape resembled that of a cat, would find him easily and ruin the moment he would be seeking out to find. Never was there a moment he could find the time alone to just relax and sleep in the forest with its peacefulness surrounding him wherever he looked; an aura he was enjoying right about now. But that's not to say he didn't enjoy the company of other people though, and true, as hectic as things would get there was never really a dull moment to live up to. But sometimes peace and quiet was a needed remedy to escape into for a while.

The angel's eyes met with the sky, an orange hue present due to the setting sun signaling the twilight of dusk. The temperature was beginning to drop steadily, but it was nothing the grounded angel couldn't handle for now. He knew he wouldn't be able to stay out in the forest too late so for the time being, he'd have to make the best of what he could enjoy. His eyes may not have been on the sunset directly, but by the gods, the sky was a beautiful thing to gaze upon now. A sky like this would be nice to fly around in…

It was times like these when you could just let yourself go, basking away at the moment and closing your eyes in deep thought…which is exactly what the boy did.

With his eyes closed, the boy began to notice things he did not just seconds ago. The first noticeable of all was the air: fresh and clean; easily entering his nostrils and sending the pleasant smell signaling to his brain and sending the relaxing feeling across his body. This act helped loosen the boy's muscles and helped give him the lazy feeling of not wanting to stand up anytime soon.

The second noticeable thing that crossed the boy's mind…or rather, his ears, were certain sounds he couldn't hear moments ago. The wind, softly blowing in between the trees of the forest; he could hear the wind moving in the different directions as it hit a tree and split into more than one path of it's own, only to hit another tree in the process. It sounded more to a resemblance of a whistle or flute with each direction the wind was changed, a higher – or lower – pitch was cast to create a soft musical wave pleasant enough to woo someone into slumber.

His eyes were already shut, so the angel had to constantly move the toes of his feet to make sure he stayed awake, as well as keep them warm with the dropping temperature that was now looming over the atmosphere. But the temptation was a hard thing to resist as the mood for sleeping was just about perfect.

Just about perfect…

He had almost fallen asleep. His toes, although slight in movement, failed in an attempt to keep him awake as Ein nearly drifted into slumber. The only thing that ruined that moment was an item that had landed in the boy's face. It was cold and light and it easily shifted in the wind that expelled out of the angel's nostrils.

He quickly opened his eyes to catch sight of the now airborne item, viewing the leaf that had now landed on his abdomen of his tunic.

Yellow in color was the leaf but the boy dismissed the item as soon as the leaf had landed, closing his eyes and bringing his arms under his head in hopes to be hit by the spell the forest had cast on him to go to sleep. But something halted the boy to continue on with this wish. It annoyed him but he had the sudden urge to pick up the leaf; it was a feeling that told the boy he would not regret his action, yet the boy himself didn't believe it.

Wanting to get this urge out of his system, the angel did the only thing necessary and proceeded picking up the leaf up by its stem. He brought the leaf only a few inches away from his face, in line with his eyesight.

From a first glance, the leaf was nothing special. Its veins extended from the stem, creating several forked roads along the map of the leaf; a yellow color covered the leaf, the color that brought joy to people. A color full of energy and showed the brightness of the day ahead. A color that reminded him of one of the members that travels with him: Lina.

As with the leaf, Lina was also dressed in a color of yellow, making her quickly noticeable among a crowd thanks to her spunky and cheerful attitude. Surprisingly, she never acted her age, but it wasn't as if many people actually knew that secret.

"It just seems to me like everyone is too busy to have a good time. I can't stand the fact of people losing the child everyone has within themselves. Maybe it's just me, but I just want everyone to be living their life to the fullest."

Ein chuckled at his remembrance of the first - and only - time he had heard Lina speak so maturely. It was a time that had completely caught the angel off guard and he was almost to the question of asking, "Who are you?" Luckily, that never came.

Ein sighed. Even when he was away for a minute he couldn't stop thinking of his friends. He wanted to give a small laugh, but it just didn't come out the way he wanted it to.

With his recollection of the past aside, the boy could only take a last glance at the sky; the orange hue of dusk was beginning to fade and stars were becoming visible under the night sky. He didn't have much time left.

Sitting up from the self made bed of leaves Ein surveyed the area. Nothing…and no one suspicious in sight. Then the angel turned to the pile of leaves and began shuffling around until he found a green leaf and was holding it in his hand in the same manner as with the yellow leaf.

Green. A color of harmony, restfulness, and represented the color of nature; a color that fitted another on of his companions.

"Don't worry, Ein, I'm here with you. My healing powers should help but you must keep fighting to live. Just stay with us and we'll always be there for you."

A bad memory. Not from the moment, no, but the pain he remembered feeling that day; a fight that had gotten too close to snatching his life, but he remembered Fia's words - the words that had saved him along with the magic she had used to heal his injury. He had felt comfort in those words, and he would never forget them.

"Heh," Ein gave a chuckle. It was strange, why was he doing something like this. Finding leaves and remembering his friends through the meaning of its color. With the way he was thinking, it was as if he had been away from his friends for a very long time. He'd only been gone for a few minutes and already he was thinking so much about them.

Crickets had begun to play their songs at the signal of the evening, and he had to admit, that the sound was relaxing to hear. But just then his eyes caught sight of a leaf that stood out from the rest. It was black in color and was misshapen compared to the other leaves in on the ground; this leaf hadn't survived like the others. Ein picked the leaf up with care, brushing off some of the dirt it had picked up from being on the ground yet unhelpful due to the dirt he had already collected between his fingertips.

A saddened feeling was presented within the presence of the leaf. It was the only one of its color that he could see around, one of kind – the last of its kind…

"They're all gone. I'm kinda ashamed that I'm here talking to you about it while they're... Sorry, it's just that…it's just hard to think about them like this. They were always telling me to live my life to the fullest, ya know. But at least I'm not alone. At least I have you and the others with me."

"Serene," the angel breathed out of his mouth and taking noticed of his own breath under the cold, holding the leaf as if he was holding the said arc in comfort for her loss.

Serene, the last of a race of combat hardened arcs; a race that was a complete mystery to the boy, yet his time with Serene taught him that the arcs were more than just warriors to death. She would always risk her life to save her friends, and to this day, she would never be alone.

It was just at this moment that Ein realized the sun had completely set, marking that his time had come to start heading back to Elendia. It was for the best anyway, if he arrived home any later no doubt he'd be asked where he was and what he was doing, and then a fight would break out because someone would lose their temper…(not to name any names)…and all hell would be set loose. A shame, he was actually enjoying the moment. Maybe he could come back another day, yet when that day would be even he did not know.

There was no trail that could guide the angel back home, but his sense of direction was acute enough that he was sure the way he started heading in was the correct path.

But not before he spotted a red leaf nearby the sole of his shoes. One more couldn't hurt; besides, it would give him an excuse if anyone was ever to ask where he was and what he was doing. Bending over, the teenager picked the leaf up, his lips forming into a smile and his eyes slightly closing as he could easily see the red color of the leaf even in the lightless evening.

Red, the color of courage, strength and power, as well as love, passion, desire. Almost two different meanings to the color when he thought about it; enough to describe two different types of people he knew.

"Don't forget, if there's anything you need you can always come to me to talk about it. We may not be related, but let me be the big sister I always wanted to be and try my best to help out my little brother."

"Big sister, huh." He really didn't know what else to think of it. Never in his life had he felt such a feeling of a brother and sister relation. He was always a single child, but he was never really alone due to the accompany of so many people in his life. Cierra only gave him an emotion that completed the feeling that he was in a family, counting everyone one of the other girls he was with, a big family who would look out for each other.

"Never forget, we as Grim Angels…will fulfill our duties to the death. But that death would be meaningless…if we never accomplished our said goal in the first place. I'd say…that up until now, I've finally accomplished my mission…"

His memory was pained at his remembrance of what his old partner had said to him. The death of Ledah was something that would always pain his heart. The sacrifice of his friend's life had helped him accomplish the mission he had set out to do. And yet, he still lived; was there another mission that he had to accomplish? The answer would have to be yes. He trusted Ledah's words and believed in them, meaning that he still had something he had to live for, even if he didn't know what exactly that was.

Ein looked into his hands, now carrying all the leaves he had picked during his stay in this secluded part of the forest; each leaf representing his friends in more ways than one than just color and the meaning and resemblance of that color. His friends were a part of his life, having items that reminded him of his friends wasn't a bad thing to keep...

So this is where you've been, huh.

He was caught. And by Rose no less.

"Don't worry, I was just heading back," the boy replied to the voice he had heard in his head while his familiar jumped onto the angel's shoulder, her claws giving her a grip not to fall off, but not strong enough to bother her master.

What are you doing with those anyways? The boy's familiar asked, and Ein knew that the question was more directed to the leaves in his hands.

"Oh, it's nothing," Ein said, tossing aside the leaves onto the ground. "Let's just head home."

Sure thing. That familiar jumped off the boy's shoulder. When it was clear that her master didn't make an attempt to move, the familiar turned to around. Her eyes only saw the face of a teenager who was looking up at the evening sky. I'll go ahead. I trust you can get back home without any trouble. The angel nodded at his familiar's remark, and without looking back, Rose ran off and disappeared into the forest, not being there to witness the angel scooping up the leaves he had just so carelessly thrown on the ground, and carefully putting them in his pocket, tossing out the rock he had found not too long ago.

Well, it's been a while since I've written something. But man, was I glad I was finally able to get off my lazy a$$ from playing WoW so much.

Nothing special, this fic; wrote it for a contest and decided I'd share it here too. Anything you feel you need to say, good or bad, write a review so that I may use to better improve myself. Now, I'm pumped, so I'm gonna start working on the other stories I haven't touched in a while. Hopefully this Christmas break, I'll be able to update something.