Mother was… dead.

Cold, unmoving, lifeless; my beloved mother now lay before me as a corpse, beside her my brother wailed loudly, uncaring about the unwanted attention he would attract. My father stood beside him, a look of palpable woe and regret visible on his features. I stood behind them, my glasses covering the eyes that held irate emotions. I was, naturally, filled with veritable rage, most of it directed at my father. It was his ineptitude that had led us here, in this trash heap, crouching over mother's dead form; it was his entire fault!

Father didn't want mother's body to simply rot away (it would have been too disgraceful), so he opted to cremate her. His decision wasn't met with any arguments or ripostes; 'she was dead, what did it matter what we did with her body?'

Her funeral had, fortunately, gone off without a hitch. The fire had not attracted any of the heathens, so it was, for the most part, a quiet affair – Roci's cries were present throughout the majority of the ordeal.

I often wondered what drove people to do these things. In hindsight I realize that I, too, had acted quite barbaric when I was a Celestial Dragon – it was funny though, how I had come to grips with the fact that I was now a fallen Celestial Dragon; it didn't faze me as much as I thought it would. The only thing that really protested to such thinking was a peculiar feeling that dawdled amidst the typhoon of emotions that spiraled in my head. It was only a nagging feeling in the back of my mind, a certain voice that admonished me to hold onto my heritage, my bloodline, and to never let it slip away. However, I digress.

I was also cruel, now that I realize, now that I've heard these people shouting at me, telling me of the suffering they had to endure, suffering caused by my 'family'. To us it was second nature, we had the power and the privilege to act as we did, but what drove these people? They were as blood thirsty and savage in their revenge as we had been in our daily 'excursions'. What separated us if we acted so similarly?

We had left the next day – our current safe haven was no longer secure – and plodded our way through the city, avoiding the humans with as much subtlety as was known to us. We moved with expedition, but, sadly (as had been the case the last few days), we had been discovered behind some crates that lay on the farther side of the town square. Immediately we had been attacked by the humans who wielded pitch forks and torches, as if they were out hunting wild beasts.

My father begged and groveled at their feet, imploring them to take his life rather than his children's. However, the crowd was unyielding and my father's pleas went unheard. Humans are not born cruel, they choose to be cruel.

We were tied and gagged (eyes blindfolded), dragged through the streets as the deafening sounds of the onlookers pierced our ears and dulled our senses. My arms were untied and I was hoisted up; the blindfold was never taken off. I whimpered when I realized that I now had been hung precariously outside a window sill (or at least I hoped that's where I currently hung), my arms outstretched; it was as if I had been crucified. To my right I could hear my brother crying loudly, my father still begging.

'Why, why, why, why…' These thoughts ran through my mind, and then another more unnerving thought came mind. 'Please, let me die.'

At this, the voice that had earlier beseeched me to hold onto my real self yelled at me. 'How dare you?! You would give these lowly creatures the satisfaction? You would let them take your life; reduce you to a disgusting carcass? You would want to end up like your mother?! Answer me!'

I was hesitant in my response. 'No.'

'Then don't say such erroneous things! We are superior, we are above them and no matter what, we will live!'

I could hear my brother begging for death, my father still entreating the people to spare them, but I… I wouldn't have that, I wouldn't lower myself down like the rest of my family had; I was still superior and I would not falter!

"You think this will kill me?!" my voice was loud and filled with conviction. It had earned me a moment of silence from this barbaric crowd. "I'll live and I'll kill each and every one of you!"I proclaimed my intentions and the crowd's apprehension was palpable.

'Yes, Doflamingo, now show them your power!' the voice commanded and so I did.

I do not know what happened afterwards but I felt as if a huge wave of power exuded from my body, a power so great that I was bemused by the fact that it resided within me, but I was then reassured by that voice. 'You are a Celestial Dragon, no feat is too small for you.'

Yes, I am Donquixote Doflamingo, a Celestial Dragon and I am superior to all these puny humans; and I will not die!