A/N: Please read the note at the end of the chapter!

You can't save everyone.

Amell Aurum often remembered those words his grandfather had told the young man when he was younger, sometimes randomly—like when the two would go fishing, or hiking in the mountains of the northwest United States—and sometimes in the context of the man's days as an EMT or volunteer firefighter. Every time the older Aurum would say it, he'd get a distant looked in his eyes, as though remembering all of the people that he hadn't saved—that he couldn't save, for whatever reason.

Amell and his grandfather had been very close. The younger Aurum's real father had died when he was young in a car accident caused by a drunk driver, and Amell's mother had never remarried, instead opting to be a single mother. The life insurance payment had been enough to cover Amell's father's funeral and then some, but Amell and his mother had still moved in with grandpa and grandma Aurum, selling their house and many of their possessions. Amell's mother had become a waitress for a diner in the town, and—still not retired—the young man's grandmother and grandfather had gone back to working full-time to help support the larger household; Amell's grandmother as a manager at the local minimart, and his grandfather as an EMT—who still volunteered as a firefighter sometimes.

Amell placed his hand on the lid of the hardwood coffin in front of him. Joe Aurum, Amell's grandfather, had died from smoke inhalation in a recent wildfire, trying to save a woman who had gotten trapped by the blaze. The two had gotten stuck in a room in the woman's house without windows, and hadn't been able to escape. The woman—Mary Anne Dayden, Amell would never forget that name—had been buried earlier in the week, and Amell had attended her funeral as well. Now his grandfather's turn had come, and the young man was about to say goodbye to his grandfather for the last time.

The funeral had been held in the local Gospel church, where Joe and Hailey Aurum had been members since before Amell's mother Jada had been born. The weather outside was cloudy and cold. The church had been decorated in mourning colors, and the entire congregation of the church had shown up dressed in the same, as had many visitors from nearby counties and the town who owed their lives to Joseph Aurum. Amell's grandfather had saved so many people, and had been a huge force in the community, and so many people had come to pay their respects to the older man at his funeral that the church doors had been locked open, and the funeral itself spilled from the doors and onto the lawn of the church itself.

Amell had stepped out of the building during a eulogy given by his grandfather's best friend, on the verge of tears and needing a moment to collect himself. The young man had wandered over to the self-portrait of his grandfather, and was standing in front of it as people chatted and talked around him, or stood in silence and prayer. Amell's grandfather had spent months on the piece, and had used a three-way mirror to capture every angle of his face. The result had been an almost-lifelike portrait, cementing Joe Aurum in immortality at the ripe old age of fifty.

Amell could not help but remember how his grandfather had taught the younger man to paint. Instead of a landscape painting, or even painting fruit, Joseph Aurum had made asked Amell to paint a self-portrait. The portrait had been a difficult start, and had taken several attempts to get right using acrylic paint. Amell's dark African American skin had needed a dark brown, which had stained whenever another layer of paint had run over it, and making the portrait difficult to shadow. Acrylic paint, a rather large nose, high cheekbones, and a somewhat average physique had contributed to the problem, being difficult to accentuate and quickly becoming highlights of the painting instead of features if not done properly. The young man's jet-black hair and brown eyes had posed an entirely different problem, as the black acrylic paint had been flat and without any character, turning everything he applied it to dull and lifeless. Amell had been forced to mix his own, using opposite acrylic colors to create a suitable palette of paints. And then his mix had started running over his paintings. Though acrylic paint dried quickly, it ran easily if too much was applied to the painting, and it had taken several ruined portraits before Amell had learned the correct way to paint instead of leaving large globs that would run over the rest of the painting.

Amell did not know how long he stood looking at the painting and lost in his own thoughts. In what felt like moments- but could only have been fifteen minutes—the young man's mother was tapping on his shoulder, shaking him from his stupor. "It's time."

Together, they turned back to the church and headed inside, getting through the doors in time to see the coffin lid close for the final time on Joseph Aurum. The church was silent as the six men chosen to be pall-bearers made their way to the front of the building, and took up the long palls that supported the casket. The priest was standing in front of the coffin as they lifted it, and lead the group as they exited the church, the rest of the crowd falling in behind them as they marched on to the cemetery.

The walk to the cemetery wasn't actually long, but it felt like an eternity. The church had a cemetery dedicated to it, the entrance to which—a wrought iron 12-foot-high double-gate- the bars of which were tipped with sharp points, making them look like massive iron spears held together by iron bars—was set in an eight—foot—high brick wall. Both sides of the gate loomed over the procession, silent sentinels to the resting place of the dead. The procession was silent as everyone followed the coffin through the graves. An occasional sob would break through the pallor of the quiet, but it would be quickly swallowed by the cold silence.

The open grave was at the top of one of the only hills in the graveyard. The priest climbed it first, making it to the top well before the coffin bearers, who struggled slowly up the hill with their burden. The caretaker of the graveyard stood leaning against his shovel at the top of the hill, but even he dared not break the silence that had taken over the area, instead opting to watch as the coffin made its slow progress up the hill. The mourners trailed behind, tears on every face as they watched the uphill battle. No one offered their help, however—Joseph Aurum had been insistent that only his six chosen pallbearers touch his coffin.

"Any more than that would be bad luck," he'd once said," and the last thing a dead man needs is more bad luck."

When the coffin reached the top, the caretaker set to attaching it to the winch that would lower it into the ground. By the time the mechanical winch was set in place, the mourners had arrived, taking position in a ring around the grave. The coffin bearers released the coffin, and quickly took their places in the throng as the priest began to read.

Amell found it difficult to concentrate on the burial rights the priest recited, staring at the stained redwood coffin that now held his grandfather's body as it began to lower into the grave. The young man's grandfather had done his best to instill in Amell the importance of being a man, and especially the importance of not letting anyone see his tears. So Amell's face remained dry, though he was on the brink of breaking down.

During the reading of the burial rights, the weather turned. Mist crept across the graveyard, and rain began to fall, slowly at first, but in sheets by the end. People hurried up to the grave, throwing in their handfuls of dirt before scurrying out of the cemetery. Umbrellas popped open as people waited their turn to release their handfuls of dirt over Joseph's coffin. One by one, the crowd began to disappear, dispersing as each person ran back to their vehicles and drove away. Finally, only Amell, Amell's mother, the preacher, and the caretaker were left, Amell's grandmother having had to go back to their car as the funeral had already been too much for the older woman. Amell's mother walked over to the grave and whispered her goodbye to her father before heading for the car herself, leaving Amell with the priest and the caretaker.

Amell walked over to the grave and ran his free hand over the coffin lid. The dirt in his hands was already soaked from the rain, almost mud, and he squeezed it as he fought back tears. The preacher came over to the young man and put a wrinkled hand on the Amell's shoulder. "He's in a better place, son. No one will think less of you for shedding a tear for him."

With that, the floodgates burst. Amell fell to his knees, tears pouring from his eyes and sobs wracking his body. The preacher and caretaker looked on for a while in sympathy, before the preacher helped Amell to his feet. "It's time, son. Give the grave its dirt."

Still crying, Amell threw the ball of mud he'd been clenching in his hand into the hole, and the gravedigger set to filling in what was left. The preacher walked with Amell back to the church, speaking to the young man comfortingly as they walked.

The priest and Amell parted ways at the doors to the church, and Amell joined his mother in the car- a white Nissan that she'd gotten in 2002. The thirteen-year-old car had served her well, and still drove as though it were new, so the family used it as a 'family car', and took it whenever they needed to get the majority of the family anywhere in town. Amell had gotten the front passenger seat reserved for himself for the past few years, everyone citing that he'd gotten too big to ride in the back seat. Since Amell had gotten his driver's license, he'd started to drive the cars more often than he rode as a passenger, but he was still given the front passenger seat whenever he didn't drive.

The drive back to the Aurum household was made in silence, save for Hailey Aurum's sobbing. Tears stained all their cheeks, but neither Amell nor his mother gave voice to their sorrow, instead watching the world pass by outside the car and trying not to think. Thinking would only lead to memories of Joseph, and they had to begin moving on, so they tried to put him out of their thoughts as much as possible.

The Aurum household was located on the western outskirts of the town of Road's End, Idaho, just at the base of the Rocky Mountains—and on the completely opposite side of town from the Gospel church. That didn't mean very much—in a town of less than 2000 people, the 'other side of town' took ten minutes to reach, maybe—but it was still enough of a drive that Amell almost screamed in frustration halfway through the ride. The young man was still trying to hold back his sobs, and his tears, and it was beginning to take a toll on him, especially with nothing else to do in the car besides get lost in his thoughts and emotions.

Amell did not like being stuck with his thoughts and emotions on days like today.

As soon as they pulled into the driveway, Amell got out of the car. He held the umbrella for his grandmother and mother as they walked to the front door, keeping them all dry as they made their way to the front door. The Aurum house was a large two story wooden house, with the outsides painted white that contrasted with the tar-black roof. The door itself was a dark, brick red, and squeaked as it opened.

When everyone was inside, Amell took off his shoes and put the umbrella away, then rushed upstairs to the attic, where his grandfather's things were waiting to be sorted. The attic had been a sort of miscellaneous storage space for several years, with Amell's grandfather being the biggest offender. The space was stacked high with boxes, with scattered pieces of furniture mixed in, and only a slight path cleared so that someone could squeeze through the stacks to get to boxes or a small clearing beneath the circular attic window. Joseph had left everything to Hailey in the event of his death, and Amell's grandmother had insisted on going through his things to decide what could be kept and what they would get rid of, to clear up space in the attic. They three of them—Amell, Jada, and Hailey—had sat down to look through boxes several times, but had been forced to stop as Hailey had broken into tears and sobs and had needed to leave the room.

Now Amell was determined to get started on the project himself. The young man walked through the stacks of boxes to the clearing beneath the attic window, and pulled the pull-chain to turn on the naked single bulb that served to light the attic. Then, Amell pulled a box from the top of the nearest stack, unfolded the lid, and opened it.

The box Amell opened was filled with ties. The young man pulled the mass of ties from the box, looking at each one. Some were too ugly to keep—Amell particularly shuddered at the lime green one that had jolly Santa Clauses on it—and some had been eaten away at by moths, but some were decent enough to keep, and Amell happily sorted the ties into keep and throw away piles. He was about to move on and put the empty box out of the way when he noticed it wasn't quite empty yet. An ornate black box sat at the bottom of the box, right in the center.

Amell wondered how he'd missed such a thing as he pulled it out and opened it to see what was inside. The young man's eyes widened in shock as the box opened to reveal a bolo tie. The slide clip was solid gold, shaped like the head of an eagle with five jade feathers in a fan shape beneath. The bolo tips were also mad of gold, and the cord seemed to be made of silk. Amell stared at the bolo tie for a moment, running his hand over the intricately carved eagle in wonder.

The young man rushed downstairs, where his grandmother and mother were sitting on the couch. Both seemed to have stopped crying, though their eyes were red from the activity. Amell held up the tie, and they both looked at in, then him. "Grandma, can I have this? I found it in the attic…"

Hailey Aurum considered the young man for a moment, then nodded. "Your grandfather would have liked the idea of you having that." Amell smiled, and ran up to kiss his grandmother on the cheek. The young man then rushed to his bedroom, putting on the tie so he could admire himself in the mirror.

Just as Amell put on the tie, the sun cut through the clouds. The young man looked outside, smiling, glad there would be no more rain. Figuring it was time to change out of his funeral clothes, Amell walked to his closet, taking out a t-shirt and a pair of pants. He turned to put them on his bed—and gasped.

A beam of sunlight shown through his window, on the small humanoid with a beak shaped nose, sky blue piercing eyes, and what looked like feathers. "Greetings. I am Acesternia, but you may call me Ace."

Amell dropped his clothes, staring openmouthed at the small humanoid. He looked out the window, following the sunbeam, then back at Ace, flicking back and forth several times. Then, the young man walked toward Ace and his bed, a smile forming on his face.

No, he thought, you can't save everyone. Life can end at any time—sometimes even before you take your last breath. But sometimes, when one part of your life ends, you can find yourself a new beginning.

A/N: Oh my gosh! I'm sorry that this took so long! But, on the bright side, this is the last introduction chapter! We now have all seven of our new heroes, and they're all ready to go and save people! Let's just hope they're up to the task...

Amell was the most difficult out of all of the characters to write, because I didn't have any clue about who he was before this chapter! He was so fun to explore and flesh out, and I so enjoyed writing him! All of these characters were fun to introduce, really, and I can't wait to flesh them out with all of you!

Now then, for a few announcements. First, we now have a tumblr blog for this story now! From it, you can find out information about what's going on with the story, any announcements that we might need to make, fan art, and so much more! Here's the link: blog/miraculouseven ! Come join us! Now then, for the next announcement: We will only be updating once a week for a while! We regret to do this, but the twice a week schedule was putting a strain on us. So, until further notice, updates will only happen once a week.

As always, thank you so much to my wonderful editor and pre-reader! My editor has helped me so much with all of these character, and without him, I would not be able to do this. I can't thank him enough for all he does for us, so thank you so much Plaggerism! And thank you to my amazing pre-reader! Without her proof reading this and ensuring that its ready to be published, this story would definitely not be as wonderful as it is. Though she wishes to remain anonymous, I'd still like to thank her!

And thank you to all of you reading this! I hope that you'll stick with us as we continue to follow this story until it's end!

Thank you for reading!