When Michael had heard that he was going to be allowed to go to earth, he'd been in delight.

His older brothers had often told him about what earth was like, how humans were, and he couldn't help but to wonder why they couldn't just all live on earth.

Angels and humans were not different at all.

They had the same feelings, the same language and almost the same anatomy, save for the wings. He heard that angels used to be humans to begin with.

And so Michael silently wished that one day, they'd all be able to live with the humans.

Heaven was a lonely place, after all, even more so ever since his father had disappeared without a trace. Now it was just Michael, Thomas and Christopher.

But for the next years onward, it would be Michael and the human whose guardian angel he was to be. He wondered what kind of person the human would be.

Whether it would be a child or an adult, how close the person would be to death... and why that human needed a guardian. Humans didn't get guardian angels without a good reason.

But he'd been told by the archangels that he would find out everything as soon as he reached earth.

Soon, it would be time to leave.

He was floating in front of his oldest brother Christopher when he finally managed to asked the question that had been on his mind for the last few minutes.

"Nii-sama, why did you call me here?" Michael asked, but Christopher avoided his gaze.

From the corner of his eye, he saw Chris' hands tremble.

It had been strange. Being called to a place where nobody could listen to their conversation, just for Chris to say nothing.

And moreover, Chris' wings - huge and majestic - had changed. They were... darker. Tainted.

A sign of betrayal. Of sin.

"Father has returned," Chris said in a toneless voice. "Tho- I mean, IV will explain the rest to you... III."

Micha- No, III had trouble getting used to his new name. He did not like it, he did not want it.

But he'd been given a choice.

Staying loyal to heaven and its authorities, or serving his family, even if they were to go for a path that would drag him down to hell along with them.

For him, the choice was obvious.

He had no actual loyalty for heaven. While III was a very loyal person, he was only loyal towards the ones he loved.

That was his family. Just them.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, Michael also felt like he wanted to protect the human that he was going to be bound to, soon.

But he'd have another mission while he was on earth.

'Eliminate archangel Astral. He has bonded with the human boy called Tsukumo Yuuma. You might have to kill the human as well.'

Or so his father had said. With a twisted smile on his lips, on top of that.

He'd heard the tale of Astral, the highest of all archangels who'd lost his memories in a fight against Hell's strongest demon, Don Thousand.

He had not heard that Astral was on earth with the mission of retrieving his memories.

Not until now, that was.

III's father - who preferred to be addressed with 'Tron' apparently - held a grudge against a human named Faker, a human who was apparently responsible for his death. Before he had become an angel. In another life.

That grudge was immense enough to sell his soul to the devil, apparently.

Michael was convinced that there was some magic responsible for his father's change of mind, but there was no way to do anything for him.

And so he sighed, looking at the green emblem on his hand.

It was proof of his sin.

Strangely, his wings refused to show that betrayal. There were methods of hiding it - methods that V and IV made use of, as their wings were turning darker day by day - but III was an exception. He did nothing and they stayed bright white.

'He's a good child', Tron had said. 'Something like this is not enough to taint his soul.'

Apparently, 'something like that' had been enough to taint Tron's soul, though. Black wings - III couldn't stand looking at them.

Soon, he'd know what human he was going to watch over. He just hoped that human was one to stay out of trouble, although the chance was slim.

As soon as III arrived on earth, he felt the absence of his wings. It felt strange to him, but it also meant that he was technically human right now.

Almost as if being driven by a magnetic force, his body moved, apparently knowing where he had to go.

He let himself be guided by his feet and quickly found himself in front of a school.

"It is here, huh...?" III muttered to himself, wondering if Tsukumo Yuuma was a student and if he was attending this school. And he wondered whether his protectee knew him. He hoped not, he wouldn't want that human to lose a friend.

"Are you lost?" A crimson-eyed boy stood in front of him, a grin on his face.

Immediately, III felt an intense shock, reverberating throughout his entire body, and he closed his eyes for a second.

This sensation... III was certain that the boy in front of him was his protectee.

"Hey, you," the boy nudged his shoulder a little and III's eyes snapped open.

"I..." III could not lie. He was bad at it. He knew it. And something within him told him that honesty would be better with that boy. "I'm sorry. I don't know where I am right now."

The boy looked at him from head to toe, seemingly thinking about something. "You're at Heartland Academy right now! Are you not a student?"

III shook his head. He expected the boy to ask more, but...

"If you are lost and you have nothing to do, come to class with me," the boy proposed, grinning. "Class is boring anyway, I can give you a spare uniform."

"Wait! What's your name?" III asked while the optimistic boy dragged him along.

"Tsukumo Yuuma!"

III curled up in Yuuma's bed, unable to deal with the situation.

This was Tsukumo Yuuma, the one he was supposed to annihilate.

Tsukumo Yuuma, the one he was supposed to protect even if it cost his own life.

III could see Astral. Yuuma and Astral were happy. They did not deserve this. Yuuma did not deserve this.

Of course, he'd hidden it. Pretended that nothing was wrong. Introduced himself as Michael Arclight.

But it was undeniable: right now, the best thing to do would be to kill Tsukumo Yuuma.

He could not.

Yuuma was full of honesty and kindness. And III tried so hard, tried so hard to hate Tsukumo Yuuma. Hate, loathe, despise this boy for his father's sake.

He could not.

There was no way he could kill this boy who called considered him his friend after knowing him for less than an hour.

There was no way he could watch as the light left this boy's eyes, this boy who was allowing him to crash at his place for an indefinite amount of time until he "found a way back home".

And III kept thinking.

Maybe he could get the key and give it to Chri- ...give it to V. Yuuma had said that Astral was bound to that key.

III remembered that Tron had said that, too.

Stealing it would solve everything, right?

Of course, Astral's disappearance would sadden Yuuma. Of course, Astral would suffer.

But Astral was an archangel, he had been involved from the beginning.

Yuuma was just a human. An innocent human.

III nodded to himself, trying to calm his conscience.

He would do this without making Yuuma suffer.

III considered Yuuma a friend. His only friend. And with that, trying to take away what's the most important to Yuuma became more difficult to think about every day.

It wasn't like he hadn't tried.

But whenever he had, Yuuma had looked at him, he had asked what he was doing, and III would find an excuse, unable to break the boy's heart.

IV and V had descended to earth because he had proven to be too ineffective. They were going to be his 'backup', or so they'd said.

And he'd lied. He'd said that he still had not located Tsukumo Yuuma.

Of course, they'd find out soon. And then he'd be in trouble.

He had seen what had become of Thomas.

If III didn't know better, he would call it insanity, the pleasure that IV took in making Kamishiro Ryouga suffer.

But III knew. He knew what true insanity was, because he'd seen his father.

"Kattobingu, Michael," Yuuma said, sitting next to III on the bed. He smiled at III, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Kattobingu...?" III repeated, still not quite sure what the term meant.

"Never give up, always bring it to them. No matter what." Yuuma provided as an explanation, but still III did not know why Yuuma would suddenly say that.

"Why...?" III asked, confused about Yuuma's behavior. It had been a month since he'd moved in at Yuuma's place.

He'd watched Yuuma try his best to collect Astral's memories. He'd watched Yuuma laugh, he'd watched Yuuma cry.

And somehow, they'd developed the habit of talking to each other in the evenings. About anything, really.

"Because you're sad, and I don't know why," Yuuma answered, looking at III with a worried gaze.

III hated himself.

"III, I am disappointed." Tron smiled as he said those dreadful words, words that were holding every information III needed to have - Tron had found out what he had been hiding.

It had been quite a while since he'd been addressed by that name... 'III'. He was used to the way Yuuma called him 'Michael' everyday, had grown to love his own name more than anything.

And now it pained him to be called by the lie of a name.

"I am sorry, father." III replied, ignoring Tron's wish to not be called that.

He was chained to a table, his wings tied up neatly.

They'd forced him back into his real form, using a magic that could only have come from hell itself.

IV and V looked away, they knew what was going to happen now.

III did not.

"I will have to amplify the power of your crest, so be a good child." Tron's voice sounded nothing like his father's.

Energy surged through his body, III winced and squirmed, trying to avoid the pain, but there was no escape.

His wings didn't darken at all, but Tron simply amplified the energy, making III scream.

"Kill Tsukumo Yuuma."

III kept screaming, but his screams were not answered.

Heterochromic eyes visible, III stood in front of Yuuma, the mark around his eye being proof of what had happened during the night before. III held the Emperor's Key in his hands - his mission was accomplished.

He did not hide his wings. His wings that had stayed white throughout the entire process of - there was no other word for it - torture.

"Michael, don't tell me you're...?" Yuuma didn't dare to say it.

He had known that there were angels who were trying to kill him - people like IV and V, for example.

He had not expected Michael to be one of them.

III nodded. "Tsukumo Yuuma. I am III, younger brother to IV and V."

"Then, everything until now was... so you could kill Astral?" Yuuma asked, completely devastated, on the brink of crying.

III shook his head. "Sometimes I wish so. No, I also happen to be your guardian angel."

Yuuma stared at him in disbelief.

"I betrayed heaven so I could aid my father - Tron - in his pursuit of revenge," III explained, looking at Yuuma with a weak smile.

"Michael, you can't..." Yuuma fell to his knees. His eyes reflected a desperate desire for III to tell him this was a joke. "This has to be a lie."

"It's not a lie." III dropped the Emperor's Key in Yuuma's hands. "But this isn't a lie either."

"What is this supposed to mean?" Yuuma asked, subconsciously cradling the key in his hands.

"Even if I kill Astral, I can't kill you. I don't want to kill you. You're my best friend. And what can I say..." He looked at his wings for a second, strangely satisfied with not having betrayed his own beliefs. There was no need for him to swear allegiance to either heaven or hell. All Michael needed was to be able to protect the ones he loved. And he'd realized that if Yuuma or Astral were to die, there'd be no one left to help his family. "Tron won't approve of this, so I suppose this is goodbye. Protect my family, will you?"

At that very moment, the crest vanished from his hand.

It took Michael less than a second to realize that Tron had tied his soul to the crest before.

Yuuma caught him before he could hit the ground, tears now pouring freely from the boy's crimson eyes.

"MICHAEL!"

When Michael opened his eyes again, he was lying in Yuuma's bed.

Had everything been a bad dream?

He looked to his right, seeing Thomas, Christopher and his father there.

"What has happened?" Michael weakly asked, feeling like he hadn't moved his body for his months.

Which actually was the case.

"Tsukumo Yuuma has saved us," his father explained. His wings were no longer black. They were light grey by now. III was okay with that.

"Where is Yuuma now?"

Before anyone could answer, the door opened and Yuuma stormed in.

"Michael! You're awake!" He shouted, sitting down next to the bed.

And so Michael listened to Yuuma's tales of what had happened, how everyone was safe now and how much he'd missed him.

It took Michael a full three hours to realize that he'd be able to live like a human from now on, and that his family would come and visit him every now and then.

And he vowed to guard Yuuma, no matter what would happen.

"Thank you, Yuuma."