A/N: Pointless fic is pointless. I couldn't sleep and I needed to vent and I love Gamma/Aria and Gamma/Yuni and and and that's enough excuses so I will shut up now.

30th January, 2012

It's not a matter of principle.

It never has been, with you.

It's not even about duty, although at first it was.

It is about family, and a woman with a smile that could outshine the sun who had picked Snotty-nosed Brat Gamma and his two equally pathetic brothers off the streets of Rome and given them a home.

The first time you see her.

The memory is still fresh in your mind.

You are lying on the streets, beaten up by the same bullies who had been threatening your little brothers before you charged at them and drew their attention to yourself instead.

Not in a good way. In fact, as a ( more or less ) devout Catholic, it was in one of the worst ways possible.

Living in the streets without even knowing your own parents ( that's a convenient lie, you knew them at some point but after your parents tried to sell your baby brother off for money, you ran away with your two brothers – barely eight yourself – and never look back again. And to be honest, you can't remember them all that well anyway, and even if you could, you would prefer to have forgotten them, so you have written them off as a bad dream. A nightmare you are awake from now and never want to think back to.) doesn't exactly provide the best opportunities to practice frivolous luxuries like religion. Whenever you as much as approach a church, you are shooed away. But you still manage to keep your faith. It is nothing short of a miracle according to most of the people who know you. Unfortunately, they also take this opportunity to remind you what happens to people who walk with their heads in the clouds. You don't really get the connection, always telling your younger brothers off for taking what doesn't belong to you – Thou shalt not steal – you remind them, and try to ignore the hunger pangs and the fact that it grows harder and harder to ignore them with every passing day.

Aria discovers you bleeding in an alleyway, mumbling incoherently about being dirty and unfit to live. Among the 'I am so sorry I can't forgive them am I a bad person' and desperate sobs, she manages to extract the whole story from you.

And then you suddenly wake up to a white, clean bed, with three worried faces peering down at you.

As you console Nosaru and Tozaru, you wish you could say that you have beaten the bullies up, but its really the other way, what they have taken from you is irreplaceable and you won't forgive them no matter what, and you don't believe in God anymore because how could he be so cruel?

Then she smiles down at you, and you suddenly want to start believing in Him again, because she is an Angel descended from Heaven.

.

Except she is not.

Her name is Aria. She has brought you to one of her many mansions, a place you would quickly learn to identify as 'home', and has a smile the likes of which you are quite sure you will never see. She belongs to the Giglio Nero Family – leads it, in fact – and she can't be an Angel because no matter how peaceful she is, she still has blood on her hands.

But its okay, because you don't believe in Hell anymore. Hell and Heaven are both on Earth, she tells you, and you know from your own experience that it is true.

Without her, it had been Hell.

Heaven is where she is.

And thus ten years pass, and you are twenty two, and Heaven is still wherever she is. You will follow her wherever she goes, go along with her numerous whims and pretend to be irritated and annoyed, but in truth you can never be annoyed at her. You will stand by and watch her love another man, and then you will deny the fact that her Time is up. To yourself, to the world.

She is still an Angel to you. A pure being much higher than scum like yourself. So you never try to reach out towards the Moon from your position as a Dwarf.

And then it is too late.

You sob, breaking down, face buried in the blankets covering her form, looking at her sleeping, peaceful face, except she won't wake up from this sleep and smile her bright smile at you ever again.

You knew it was too good to be true.

Because they are ruled by a cruel God, and Aria was too pure. You are so sure your love had tainted her, why else would she die? She of all people …

You ignore the fact that this was inevitable. She was living on borrowed time from the moment she became the Sky Arcobaleno.

The Sky Arcobaleno smile brighter than everyone else, yet they are torn from us so much quicker.

You haven't even said goodbye, and fresh sobs wrack your body as you remember, because you were an idiot and refused to believe it would be the last time you ever saw her.

A heartless God rules you, guiding you towards a blood stained destiny.

"Welcome home!"

And there's another Angel come forth, to save him once more. She has her smile, and puts it to good use.

"Princess!"

And you are saved.

"Yuni is not going to get a chance to grow up."

It all comes full circle, you think.

'Why?' You want to scream. 'Why again?'

But you already know.

"See her soul."

And your mind is made up.

"I won't let you do this alone."

You can hear Nosaru and Tozaru's screams In the background.

But you ignore them, this once.

You have let one slip through your fingers. You are not going to repeat the same mistake twice.

"Why are you crying when we are about to set out?"

There is not a tear in your eyes, as you drink in and mirror Yuni's smile.

The Angel's words echo in your mind.

"Smile from your heart when you are happy."