A girl with dark black hair and ruby red eyes was sitting below a huge tree. Snow was drifting down from the sky, slowly turning her fur lined cloak to white.

"If you ask them, they will stay." The crow with golden feathers sitting on the branch stated.

"I know. If I asked them to stay for a few years longer, they would. Because they loved me," the girl responded.

"Then why didn't you do that?" The crow asked again.

"Because this is life. There is an end to everything. You live, you grow old and then you die. It's what makes life precious and meaningful."

"I don't die, but I find my life meaningful."

Laughter rang out from the girl. "No, you don't. You lost meaning in life years ago. If you do, why would you stay here comforting a little girl like me now?"

The girl was faced with silence.

"All my father and mother's wish was to die after living a long and meaningful life. I honor their wish." The girl placed her palm on the trunk of the tree in front of her. The tree that was planted on the day of her parents' marriage. "Even if it saddens me." Tears she had been holding in finally streamed down her face.

The crow on the branch a few second ago disappeared. A hooded figure appeared behind the girl a few seconds later.

"Do you want me to tell you a secret?" After a long while, the hooded man asked.

"Will by telling the secret only entertain you?" She turned around and wiped the tears from her face.

The man beneath the hood tilted his head and after a while he said, "I think it'll entertain the both of us."

The girl eyed him with uncertainty and then finally she nodded. "Alright."

The man beneath the hood smiled and leaned forward to whisper something in the girl's ear.

The girl narrowed her eyes. She leaned down, grabbed a handful of snow and threw it at the hooded man.

"Liar!" she shouted. "I'll never trust you again!"

The man's laughter boomed through out the garden. The solid figure just now slowly dissolved into black mist. Before he disappeared, he said, "I am most certainly not comforting you. I am just here to make sure Yves' heir did not escape her duty."

"Whatever you said, my lord." The girl in eyes with rubies curtsied reverently. When the last trace of the god of darkness disappeared, she rolled her eyes and said, "As if, you liar."

The girl gave the tree one final look and muttered, "Farewell, my beloved parents."

The End