Decades ago before the existence of Ruins threatened the world and before the alliance of all races came to, there lived a small young raven with feathers as white as snow and shined like gold. The raven, no matter how small or young it was, descended from a long line of powerful spirits, whose wings shifted the weather on a whim and whose beauty caused wars to break out. Since the beginning of time, their family was blessed by the two Gods of Creation.

The raven lived with his Maman in Makeita, a forest filled with other low-ranked spirits that had just gotten their enlightenment and were under their protection. He wished for things to never change, that his maman would always stay by his side, that they would remain safe from humanity's greedy children, and that their family the spirits in their forest would remain free until the end of their days.

Every night, he found himself praying to the Five Gods of Arikius. Protection from the God of Death, Kawahira, the one who ushers the soul from the waking world into the Garden of Salvere where pain nor despair exists. Power from Sepira, the Goddess of Life, the one who brings forth new beginnings and guides souls into a new tomorrow. A heart for forgiveness from Vongola, Deity of the Past whose warm hands give healing to weary and broken souls. Hope from Arcobaleno, Deity of the Future whose light shines the dark and brings on a new day. Acceptance from Mare, Deity of the Present whose songs of choices and options create a new way. He prayed to all Five and asked for their blessings.

However, despite their power and his prayers, the creatures of the forest were hunted down by the humans, leaving the raven all alone. Injured and frail and almost at death's doorstep, the raven was supposed to die at that time. The raven was found by a girl with eyes full of orange divinity accompanied by two lions and she saved the dying raven and nurtured him until he was able to fly again.

The raven didn't trust the girl at first even when the girl patched him up with careful hands. Not even when the girl didn't say anything but still adhere to his request to his home. Not even when the girl gave him precious medicine. The raven couldn't afford to trust anyone, not anymore now that he is the last of his kind. But despite all the times the raven told the girl to leave him alone, the girl just smiled and patted his head, never once leaving him alone.

He couldn't fly away, not when his wings were wrapped in bandages and the secret yearning inside of him to stay by the girl's side. He couldn't stay, he shouldn't not when there is still word of his kind existing, it will only bring the girl trouble even if the girl is surrounded by those two lions of hers and those she rescued.

On the day, he regained his wings, the girl said he can go now. To leave her and their family if that is what he wished but for some reason, the raven chose not to. He followed the girl and joined her little family and he thought to himself, why? He searched for the answer while watching the girl treat humans and spirits alike with kindness and love even when she gets betrayed over and over again. He watched the girl save spirits from being captured, saved villages peacefully, built relationships between kingdoms, healed humans without judgment all the while unconsciously charming everyone. He watched the girl amass friends, comrades, family letting anyone join their once small group.

And the raven wondered, since when did he start to see himself as part of her family, as part of their family? But seeing the girl, now a woman, play with the children, he learned that he didn't mind staying. Not when the woman would notice him and asked him to play with her as well.

The raven decided to stay and showed the woman his human form, reserved for those who will be his partner, and asked her for a name. The woman didn't look happy as he thought she would be and he asked why. He was curious, his kind is strong and well-known coupled with his face, the woman wouldn't reject him.

The woman told him that she does not believe in the contracts that humans used to enslave, she preferred if they were friends and the raven wanted to hit the woman. "Then create a new one," the raven told her and that time he finally realized why he stayed back then. It was her smile, warm and it felt like home. Home. She had become his Home, his Sky without him realizing it.

The raven watched as the woman adjusted and created a new contract under his requests and he and the woman under the midnight moon forged a new bond between them. He felt her flames, her warm flames connect to his own and suddenly he thought back to the time where his maman told him about contracts, how good it felt but it was never like this. This felt like coming back home after a long long time of being away. Maybe that is where everything went downhill. Or was it the moment he had instilled the idea of an equal contract in his human's mind.

Seeing the new bright glowing bond between them, the spirits around her wanted the same and he watched her create one after another, the bonds manifesting as cards and stones. He thought that maybe this way, she'll be protected even when he's gone.

The raven watched as his sky, his home went through cities and cities, proclaiming how she invented a new way where both spirits and humans can co-exist, followed her as she changed directions out of mere whims and intuition, fought for her when humans refused for a peaceful way where the spirits had a say, and stood by her side as the world changed for the better.

The raven let the woman hug him tightly and he realized how fast time flew for humans. It had just been years and yet after all this time, he still remained in his tiny form while the little girl who rescued him was already a woman. He knew why though, Spirit maturity is different from humans and it all depended on the spirit but he didn't know-how. He wanted to grow up and carry the woman in his arms, soar through the sky with her, and dance with her without anyone telling her that he was such a sweet little brother. But no matter what he did, he was still stuck in his little body.

And as they spent their days, traveling, teaching anyone willing to learn about the new contract and ask them to pass it forward, the raven found himself wishing again. To the Holy Trinisette, Vongola of the Past, Arcobaleno of the Future and Mare of the Present, to the Two Deities of the Beginning, Sepira of Creation and Checkerface of Destruction and prayed that these days will not end, prayed for his human to not go through the same thing as his maman.

He prayed but the raven's prayers were not answered. He saw the eyes of his human looked somber at hearing the news of another war. A war where some of the countries that did not agree to the woman's ideals had banded together and put aside their differences to fight them. But like the pacifist she is, his human, she decided to reason with them first, hurrying to travel to the kingdom that first started the alliance.

"Why are you not letting us come?" He asked, watching as his human say her good-byes. Why won't she let them protect her, why won't she let him protect her?

His human turned to him and kneeled, bag by her side. "Because it is me who they want," she said and fear and all of the worse situations started running in his head. As if knowing what was going through his mind, his human tapped his forehead twice. "Don't worry too much, it will be alright." And as he watched his human ride on her horse, he faintly remembers how his maman tapped his forehead before the moment she died.

It was not even a week when he felt it. The tensing of their bond before it snapping that made him took flight, transforming into the bird he really was. Hurrying towards the city of Sidyreal in the fastest speed possible, pushing his flames to aid his body, pushing his body to fly as fast as he can.

Seeing the large white walls of the city, he easily flew inside the barrier, following the faint traces of his human's flames and it was then he froze, flapping in the air as he saw what lays in the middle of the plaza. Falling down to his knees, the raven did not even realize he had transformed in front of so many humans nor did he realized the sounds of war bells ringing in the air.

Bloodied white dress, ripped out in places and dull orange eyes, blood dripped down from the stage she was hung from. A crazed man standing in the middle, all covered in blood. 'Her blood,' the raven noted, something painful and dark bubbling inside him. Something wet dripped down his cheeks and he couldn't breathe but he didn't care, not when in front of him was his human, his partner, his Sky.

He ignored the screaming humans as he walked forward, hands shaking and reaching up to the edge of the stage to hold the cheek of his Home and for some reason, he found it so, so cold. Why is she cold? Why is the bond between them gone? Why is her eyes like that? What is she taking so long? Didn't she know that everyone is worried? Why? Why? Why? Why isn't she breath-

The raven watched blankly as his human was kicked to the side and his gaze followed as the bod- his human tumbled down the stairs, landing with a sickening crack. He was about to run towards her side when he found a blade slightly piercing the skin of his neck, his blood, an alien black dripping down the cobblestone ground.

He eyed the blade then moved his sights toward the hand dripping with blood, her blood, and looked up to see the grinning face of a king, of the man that took everything from him. He reached out to the arm of the man and squeezed it.

He didn't realize what he was doing, the pain in his chest was too much, and water was falling down his eyes and they wouldn't stop. He couldn't breathe, everything was red and black for him. Something slimy was sliding down his hands and he watched as guts fell into a pile in front of him.

Everything seemed so different, the air seemed so stale and the sky wasn't as blue as he remembered and the area around him was covered with black feathers and his hands, oh his hands were such a disgusting red but like always, none of that matters now what matters now is his Sky.

He walked over bleeding bodies of insignificant humans to the place where his Sky was kicked too, kneeling down, ignoring how blood seeped into his clothes. 'When did my Sky become so small?' he thought to himself cradling the too cold body in his arms, holding her close to his chest.

Looking at her empty gaze, searching for something before water began to drip on his Sky's pale face, brushing away a droplet only for it to be replaced by more. He did it again and again and again and again until he realized where the water was coming from.

The raven was crying. "How odd," the raven mused aloud. His voice was deeper now, colder and emptier despite the cheery tune his words held. It was the first time he cried even when his maman died in front of him or when his home was burned to ashes, he didn't cry. He never cried, not until now.

"So-" he cried calling out to his Sky only for his voice to fail him, choking on air. "So-" he tried again and to no avail. Swallowing the huge ball in his throat, he pressed his forehead to hers. Singing softly as tears fell from his eyes, blurring his vision.

"God, god of death with a gaze of woe," he started, singing under his breath, "spoke to me and told me so." He tried singing the next verse of the lullaby his maman used to sing to him but no matter what he tries, he couldn't. The pain in his chest was too much, he couldn't bear it.

He opened his lips to sing but what came out was a scream. A scream of pain and hatred as his wings burst open from his back. The once beautiful angelic white wings with a stray of yellow were tainted a deep deep black as hatred enveloped his soul.

"Why?" He asked no one, voice hoarse as he looked at the bright blue sky. "Why her?" Maybe he was asking someone, the Gods perhaps. "Why do you have to do this to me?"

"Haven't you already tak-"

A man closed the book and slammed it down. It was a rare vision of the man showing such a blatant display of anger. Dressed in all black and snatching his fedora from where he put it down on the table, he stood up, eyes flashing a dangerous murky yellow. A hand already on the knob of the door when someone in the brightly lit room spoke, breaking the suffocation silence.

"I found her," a woman's voice rang out. Those words echoing in the man's head as he thought of shining orange eyes and a blinding kind smile.

He turned to glare at the woman sitting behind the desk. The woman felt like her when they first met, they both felt warm and they had the same look in their eyes filled with kindness and acceptance. But he learned how different they were, wherein she would have made sure that both sides won't suffer that much of a loss, the woman in front of him crushed her own opponents. Where in she had beautiful eyes that remind him of the sunsets he watched back then when he was a child, the woman had eyes as blue as the clear waters of Citalya. Where she felt like home, the woman felt like one of his own, his family that he lost after her death.

"Did you now?" His lips curling into a sneer before tipping his fedora to hide the turmoil in his eyes. He slammed the door on his way out, not noticing the way the woman looked at him with pity and sadness.

The woman sat alone in the room, the sun shining down on her as she caressed a picture of a boy, barely reaching his teens, pasted on an application form. The woman held her orange pacifier against her chest which was strung up on her neck by a white ribbon and hummed a tune, a somber and regretful smile lingering on her lips as she stared at the picture.

"Grieving bird gave his word," she started to sing, "took the pain, darkness and all vain."

It was a song her sister used to sing to her back then when they were kids. Her sweet little sister with the kindest orange orbs and fluffy orange hair.

"Through the clouds up he would fly," but now that sister of hers is gone and all that was left of her was the people she loved and built a family with, "birds in black where all over the sky."

"Now you shine like the gold on the sea," and none of that matters now that her beloved sister back. Even if he doesn't remember anymore, it's okay. What matters that she got her sister back even if she is now a he. She will always love him.

"Now you shine like the gold on the sea, all because you are Soleil."