Beauty Within the Heart

Celia, a four-winged angel who lost her smile.
What little warmth could she find with a frozen heart?

Source: http://www.flight-plan.jp/bmoo/bs051.html

- Shell of Ice -

"I'm going to live by my own strength."

That was how she became cold-hearted.
She shut her heart away, and refused to feel anything.

The girl who had been known for her "smile" smiled no more.

That was all to protect herself.
Because that was the best method she knew.

At that time, she became truly empty.
No strength to fight, no reason to fight, and nothing to protect...

A memory weighted by a terrible daze. I remember, on that day, that the sky was filled with clouds the colour of lead, as if it were about to weep.

An empty coffin was being carried between the rows of people in attendance. There was no body in the coffin. That body, still in its original form of as an angel, had already been disposed of by the Church in secret.

"This house, too, has already met its end..."

Those whispers travelled through the crowd near the son of the deceased. Everyone's eyes were on the wings on his back, rather than on the man himself, whose handsome face resembled his late father.

"Six wings... one of the Abnormal."

One voice rose, breaking in pitch as if seeing something unclean, and shook the crowd like a leaf.

"Brother..."

The young girl, disturbing by the subtext of the murmurs, clung to her brother's arm.

"Celia..."

The young girl, who had never once let her hardened mask slip before, looked tender for the first time. The young man, who had never let his own mask slip before, smiled kindly for the first time. He put his hand on her shoulder and spread his six wings as if to shield her.

"It's all right."

Hiding his four-winged sister behind his own eyes, the young man stared at the empty coffin as it was lowered into the ground. Once the coffin was buried beyond their sight, and the funeral ended, they would have to say their goodbyes.

"I will come for yuo... we will meet again. Just wait..."

The young man hugged his sister, who was on the verge of tears streaming down her trembling face, and kissed her forehead.

Then, looking back at the coffin again and again, the two young siblings slowly departed.

The younger sister of the house, Celia, was sent to a boarding school fashioned after a convent of nuns, where angel girls learned how to behave.

To be continued…