A boy at the age of eight put a tooth beneath his pillow for the fairy to take and, unlike other children his age, rather than waiting for a coin to be left to him in replacement of his tooth by the fairy, the boy waited for hours on end in the middle of the night, wide awake, to witness her beauty, since a fairy had to be exceptionally beautiful, especially in comparison to humans.
The other children at the orphanage had all told him the same thing while laughing at him for believing in the existence of something that was known only to exist in fairytales. "How silly! To think someone at this age still would believe in something as ridiculous as fairies. Do you still believe in dragons as well?", a slightly older boy asked him mockingly with a grin.
Despite all this, the boy still chose to believe, but as some time passed by, doubt started to take root deep inside the back of his mind, and in the end, he decided that he would stay up the entire night, if necessary, all to witness the beauty as well as confirm the existence of the fairy he so believed in, with his very own eyes.
It was almost time for the sun to rise when a bright light suddenly enveloped his entire room.
When the light had considerably dimmed, the boy slowly opened his eyes to see a seemingly young man with eyes in a light shade of blue, shining brighter than any crystal, long silver hair flowing at his back, as well as a graceful pair of wings, white as snow with the same glistening look as when exposed to light, standing right before his, but a few steps away by the window.
A sole word appeared in the boy's mind and refused to leave.
"Beautiful", he said without realizing it.
A hint of surprise flashed before the eyes of the beautiful man as he heard the boy's words. Then a subtle smile revealed itself on his lips as he chuckled lightly.
"And who may you be?", the man asked the boy, sitting across him on the bed, mesmerized. It took a while before the boy answered the beautiful stranger.
"I-I am Elios", he said, stuttering a bit.
"Your parents must have loved you very much then... Do you have a surname, Elios?", he asked the boy.
"I d-do not have one y-yet", the boy answered.
"Yet? Do people here perhaps not receive their surnames when they are born? How strange...", the man muttered quietly.
"A-ah, I suppose other people d-do, b-but orphans such as I, m-may choose their own or ask t-to receive one on the d-day we are old enough to leave this p-place", the boy hurriedly explained.
"Is that so? Then what will you choose when you grow up?"
"M-me?", the boy asked in confusion.
"Yes, you", the man said with a light chuckle.
"..."
The boy did not answer, and the man seemed to have noticed the sadness hiding deep within the lonely eyes of the silent boy. Without knowing why, the man took a few steps forward and crouched down in front of the boy. Looking up into the boy's eyes, the man revealed a smile filled with more warmth than the boy had ever received from anyone during his entire existence so far. Without thinking, the boy leaned forward and embraced the man with his tiny arms, as if clinging onto a sole ray of light reaching all the way deep into the dark and lonely abyss with the sole resident being him.
The man, though surprised, did not push the boy away. Instead, he lifted his arms, enveloping the boy in a consoling embrace.
After a while, the boy finally returned to his senses. All red, he pushed the man away and apologized.
"A-ah, I am so s-sorry! I don't know w-what c-came over me, and-- S-sorry!", the boy yelled, flushing red.
The man, who had only smiled and chuckled lightly since his arrival, burst out laughing at the sight of the flustered boy's attempts of apologizing. After calming down, the man once again looked the boy in the eyes and smiled.
"Sorry, but are you alright now, Elios?", the man asked the boy without even trying to mask the concern revealed in his voice as he spoke.
"Y-yes, thank you!", the boy almost yelled in response.
"Mind opening up a bit?", the man asked.
"I-it wasn't anything serious r-really, it's just... E-everyone here has someone t-they want to give them their n-name when they g-grow up, b-be it a sibling, a-a friend or a b-benefactor, b-but I... I have n-no one...", the boy said with tears in his eyes.
"Though t-they say you m-may choose your own s-surname, t-the only people who d-do that are t-the few that d-does n-not have anyone to choose for t-them...", the boy continued explaining, while now crying.
The man, seeing the boy shedding tears for such a reason, could no longer help himself. "For a child to endure such loneliness", he thought to himself.
"Would it be fine if I chose yours then?", the man asked the boy with a serious expression, while wiping the tears off the boy's face with his hands. After a short moment of silence, the boy finally seemed to have processed what he had just heard.
"W-what?! W-why would you w-want t-to do such a thing? I-I mean you d-don't even know me, s-so why?", the boy asked in confusion.
He, who had never truly been cared for by anyone for as long as he could remember, simply could not believe it when a stranger told him things or did things implying that he or she cared as much as this man seemed to. Usually, he would have started doubting by now, but for some reason he did not. Even he himself was unaware of the reason.
He too, just like others, wanted attention and warmth, and yet he still found himself avoiding people that seemed to be willing to give him at least either of the two. Out of fear he always avoided the only people that ever seemed to be willing to give him the only things he had ever wanted, but for some reason it did not apply to this stranger crouching right in front of him, wiping his tears with his own bare hands as if he had not noticed how dirty the boy was from not having taken a bath in who knows how long.
Ever since this man's arrival, not once had he felt the need to back away or to avoid this man, and now that he thought about it, it was indeed strange. An unknown man with wings had showed up out of nowhere and was currently in his room, speaking with him as if everything were perfectly normal. It did not matter how long or hard he thought about it, he just could not seem to wrap his head around it. Why was he not afraid of this man despite knowing that he probably should be?
"Since we both are lonely, why not be lonely together?", the man answered him with a grin.
In that moment, the boy felt something strange. He did not know why, but for some reason he felt that he should not let this man leave. That he could not let this man leave. Despite how strange it would sound, and yes he knew that it would sound strange, he needed this man in his life. Though he could not explain why, he just knew. If there was anything that he needed in this world then it would be this man showing him more warmth than anyone had ever done before.
Perhaps that was the reason? Once he had tasted the incredible feeling there was no way in hell he could just sit back and let the source of said feeling leave right before his eyes. If he let this source of light and warmth go, would he ever come across another one or would he have to live his life missing the feeling he had once given up on?
As the question marks began to pile themselves in his mind, the man decided to be the one to first break the silence.
"Well, Elios. It sure was nice meeting you, but I have already been gone for far too long and I actually have quite a lot to deal with, so sadly I have to take my leave--"
"W-wait!", he loudly interrupted the man.
Quite surprised, the man looked at the boy in silence. The boy, taking the man's silence as a hint to continue talking, got out of bed, and continued.
"W-will I ever be able to see you again?", the boy asked the man while looking him in the eyes, dead serious.
"Would you like to?", the man asked the boy.
"Y-Yes!", the boy yelled without even taking a moment to consider.
"If you still want to see me, then exactly ten years from now, just break this, but be careful not to break it even a day too early or too late. If you do, then most likely you will die. If you think it is a risk worth taking, then I wish you luck... Elios", the man said right before handing him a pendant with a pair of transparent crystal wings.
Then a bright light swallowed him up entirely, and the boy having closed his eyes as he stood there before the bright, white light, opened his eyes after the light had subsided only to find the man gone.
It was as if he had not been there in the first place. The only evidence the boy had of the man's existence was the beautiful pendant resting in the palm of his left hand.
A beautiful pair of crystal wings.
'I didn't even get his name...', the boy thought to himself as he stood there, staring at the spot where the man had stood only a few moments prior to his disappearance.