• North yawned as she awoke from the cloud she was sleeping on. She spread her blue and silver wings, stretched her body, and smiled. Today was the day. The Gathering to Whisper under the Maika Tree. Angels, Gods, and Goddesses come from far to Yukion, a city of angels, which holds the Maika Tree. The ancient stories say that if you whisper a wish into a sky-blue-flamed candle and let it soar to the Maika Tree in the sky, your wish may be granted if it is chosen by the Goddess of the Maika Tree. Only one wish per year can be granted, but your wish would have to be “pure” to have it answered. North rose and fell off the cloud. She fell about fifty yards when she heard someone yell her name. Suddenly, A young male angel caught North in his arms. She blinked, looked up to see her savior, and smiled.
    “Zero, I’m alright! Can’t I just have a little fun?”
    “I’m sorry. I thought you were hurt.”
    “Me? Hurt? Not likely.” North said.
    “Not very convincing. Oh well, what I really want to ask is if your really strong enough to go to this ceremony today?”
    North stuck her tongue out at Zero.
    “No worries, I’m fine. It’s been a while since I have had a “sick attack”. Besides, I wouldn’t miss this for anything!”
    Zero frowned but did not argue with her.
    “Fine. I’ll be there for you if you need anything, okay?”
    “Okay.”
    Zero was not eased from his worries, though. Ever since North was a child, she has been ill. Many nights her father, mother, and sister would sit beside her bed as she grew sicker. When her sixteenth birthday came, she was tired of being confined to bed all her life, and so she got up and left her home when no one was watching. As she walked around our town, she realized that she forgot what most of it looked like, so it was easy for her to get lost. As she tried to find her way home in the dark, her body gave up on her in the middle of the street. The person in the vehicle didn’t have his headlights on, so he didn’t see that she was there. That is how North ended up living in the Skies, but the only way she was be able to live there is if her illness came with her, as punishment for her mistake of some sort, so she still has it.
    “So, Zero, what are you going to wish for today?
    “…”
    “Well, are you going to wish for anything?”
    Zero muttered, “Yes.”
    “Well, this will be my first time coming to the Gathering, since I wasn’t here before the last one. You know, I wonder what the Gathering is going to be like.”
    Zero smiled.
    “Look for yourself.”
    North looked up and saw the Maika Tree for the first time. It was massive, with huge purple flower buds and magical orbs all around it. Gods, Goddesses, and Angels flew around the tree, but they could not get close since the magic of the tree was too powerful. Many had candles already, since the event was about to start soon.
    “It’s so beautiful!” North said.
    Zero smiled at North. “Yeah. Come on, let’s get our candles.”
    They went up and got their candles, and then floated into the gigantic circle of people that was below the Maika Tree. The trees purple flower buds suddenly opened. The ceremony had begun. The magical orbs started to glow, and flames came to life on the end of each candle. North stared at the beautiful blue flame that flicked around, and she made her wish. After a person’s wish was stated, the flame would jump off the wick of the candle and would rise above them to sit in the flowers of the tree. As soon as the last flame was placed, the flames burned the flowers and they vanished. There was only one flower left on the tree, with the flame still resting inside of it. North stared at the tree with a confused look.
    “What happened, Zero?”
    “You see, a wish is sent through the flame to the flower, and the Goddess of the Maika Tree listens to the wishes. If she does not choose the wish, the flame will burn the flower so the tree can start to produce their buds for the next year. The one you see now is the wish that the Goddess has chosen to grant. She will speak anytime now.”
    The people waited for the voice of the Goddess, and after around 2 minutes, she spoke.
    “People of the skies, I have chosen the wish that I will grant. The Angel of Yukion, Zero Kira, shall have his wish granted. Zero, you’re wish is pure and full of love, but there is only one way I can grant such a wish. You understand what will happen, do you?”
    Zero looked softly up at the Maika Tree, and then at North, and up at the Maika Tree again.
    “Yes.”
    “Very well, then.”
    “Thank you, Goddess.”
    The flower of Zero’s wish withered and died, and the flame vanished into nothing. The Goddesses, Gods, and Angels looked around to see what the granted wish did, but they could not find any change in the area. Zero smiled at North and she looked at him with a confused look, and then a magical ring encircled her. Everyone looked over at her as she was lifted by the magic of the ring.
    “Zero, what’s happening?” North yelled as her angelic body started to vanish. Zero smiled, and from his lips, she could hear the faint words ‘North, I love you’, and then she vanished.
    ~*~
    North kept her eyes closed and her head down. She was afraid of what had just happened to her, and where she was sent. She longed to be able to open her eyes and look up to see Zero, but she knew that it was impossible. For some reason, Zero had used his wish on her, but what did he wish for! North could no stand it anymore.
    “I’ll have to open my eyes someday.” She thought, and she slowly opened them.
    She could see her pink converses she use to love, almost completely covered by her extra long blue jeans. She lifted her head a looked at her surroundings. She was in the middle of a street, in a town. She saw a car, and quickly ran over to look in the side mirrors. Her once blue and silver highlighted hair was now a regular shade of brown, and her wings was gone. She finally realized what had happen. She was alive! She was on Earth again, in her home town! She was standing on the road where she was killed that one night many weeks ago. North didn’t know what to do. Thoughts started racing threw her mind. She sat on the side off the road; she was still getting use to the absence of gravity, since when she lived in the Skies there was no gravity and everyone flew. The Skies! She had almost forgotten about it. She looked up at the vast blueness with white cotton-ball clouds, and she noticed a falling object. She fixed her eyes on it and realized it was a feather, and as it got closer she could distinguish the feather was red and gold. She gasped.
    “That’s one of Zero’s feathers from his wings!”
    She jumped up and eagerly waited for the feather to become reachable. When it finally got close enough, she caught it hastily. There was writing on the feather. As she read it, tears began to overflow as she realized that it was Zero’s wish.
    ~*~
    After a five hour discussion of how she was not a ghost with her mother, father, and sister, North crept up the stairs and to her room. All of her things were still there, since her mother couldn’t bare giving her things away or making the room into anything besides “North’s room”. She got in her bed and laid awake pondering things. She could not get to sleep, seeing as she has not needed sleep for the past couple of weeks. North started to cry thinking of how she could not see Zero anymore. She laid there thinking of how stupid she was. She loved him and did not even realize it until it was too late. After she cried herself to sleep, the only thing that she could dream of was Zero’s smiling face and the words, “I wish for North to be healthy again” That he whispered under the Maika Tree.