Saudade

Prologue

Gladiolus bounced on her heels in excitement. She had been impatient and restless ever since Gloxinia told her that the Four Archangels were coming and that she could finally meet them. She had been waiting years to get the "okay" from Gloxinia to meet the representatives of the other races, and so far, she had met all of them except the Demon and Goddess Clans'. Given the tensions between the other Clans with the Demon Clan, she wasn't going to see a representative from them anytime soon. But the representatives of the Goddess Clan, the Four Archangels, were well due on a visit.

Her older brother had also told her that the leader of the Four Archangels, a man named Ludociel, had a younger brother around her age. She hoped to make friends with him, interested to see how they lived in contrast to the fairies and giants.

"Are you ready, Gladiolus?" Gloxinia asked her, pulling her from her thoughts. She gave him a big smile and nodded, which he barely reciprocated. "I must warn you," he started, "that goddesses are a bit... tricky. I wouldn't mention anything about demons to them. I would also like it if you didn't talk to any of the older ones unless it's a hello or they directly speak to you."

Gladiolus frowned a bit at that. Are they going to be mean to me? she wondered. "Okay," she replied, trying to keep his words from really getting to her. She found that overthinking things just made her nervous, and she didn't want to embarrass herself.

She followed him to the enclosure they usually have meetings in. There was no one there just yet, so they waited in silence for a few minutes. These minutes felt like hours to Gladiolus, her impatience making her fiddle with her dress. It was a plain green dress made from materials from the Forest, and was comfortable to move around in. It had slits in the back for her wings, which weren't as plain as a normal fairy's, but very plain in color arrangement. They were a simple blue, with an occasional line of black. She felt they didn't match her green eyes or red hair at all, but was glad they were at least nice and pretty.

A fluttering of feathers brought her attention back, four individuals now in front of her and her brother. Her eyes scanned over them curiously. The one that interested her the most was a muscular, three-headed man, who had three small wings carrying him. I wonder if those wings ache at the end of the day? she thought.

Another one looked childish, with four wings and blue hair styled in a bowl cut. The third man, who was indefinitely the leader just by his stance, had long, silky dark blue hair, and his eyes were kept closed. He also had four wings.

Then her eyes settled on the boy a little behind the others. He, too, had two sets of wings, but that wasn't what drawn her gaze to him. He had sad blue eyes -as blue as her wings- and unruly silver hair. She could already tell that this was the younger brother.

"It's a pleasure to finally meet with you," Gloxinia addressed them. "I hope you don't mind my younger sister, Gladiolus, being here. She is rather curious to meet you all."

Gladiolus gave them a smile and a small "hello" in response to her brother pointing her out. Ludociel gave her a smile that made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. It took her a lot not to squirm.

"My younger brother, Mael, will also be joining us, as a lesson on how to hold these meetings," Ludociel spoke to Gloxinia, turning back to him. She saw the boy, Mael, tense up at hearing his name. She felt bad for him, having to endure such a long talking session as a lesson.

"Has he saw the inside of the Forest?" Gladiolus piped up, despite her brother's warning.

Ludociel frowned. "This would be his first time seeing the Fairy King's Forest, so no," he replied.

"Can I show him around?" Gladiolus questioned. She looked at her brother, as if begging him to say yes.

"I don't see a problem with it," Gloxinia responded, giving her a "we're gonna talk about this later" look.

Ludociel pursed his lips. "I suppose it wouldn't hurt. If he agrees to it, that is," he shot a glance at the small boy.

"I-I'd love to," Mael stuttered, shrinking at everyone's eyes on him.

Gladiolus grinned and took his hand. "C'mon, I'll show you the best places in the Forest!" she exclaimed.

Mael gave her a small smile, and they set off into the Forest.

Gladiolus, at that time, didn't know how much she'd go through just to see that smile on his face. She didn't know that hell awaited her, and that she'd go charging through it for those sad eyes.

{First part of this book! I'm actually planning on finishing this one, but I know I'm gonna procrastinate on it since I'm working on an original book with this one. Like "Mael needs a hug", I'm mostly doing this for fun. Anyway, thanks to the people who gave me inspiration to get off my ass to write this! (I'm also gonna try to put fanart and songs I find and listen to that relate to this book into here).}