Disclaimer: I do not own Saint Beast in any way, shape, or form.

Pairings: LucaRei and YudaShin mostly with a little GohGai mixed in there. Enjoy.

~Prologue~

Throughout their lives, angels experience three growth stages: infancy, adolescence, and adulthood. As an infant, an angel will stumble about trying desperately to find their place in the strange world they find outside the comfort and safety of their cocoon they hatched from. They take in everything they can with wide eyed innocence and awe and are treated with the utmost care and love. During this stage, they learn how to speak, how to commune with the other creatures of their world, and how to start honing their skills in preparation for their coming adolescence.

Once their body has adapted itself fully to their surroundings to the point that they cast their first spell, they become adolescents. They fall into a deep sleep enveloped in soft, silken threads. A cocoon. The last embrace of their parent planet before they are left in their elders capable hands. This is a celebrated occasion and considered a huge step towards maturity. However, the road to adulthood is hardly over.

Throughout their adolescences, young angels work to master their newfound powers, sometimes to comically disastrous results. But over time, as their bodies grow they become more self-assured and calm. Well, the later is actually a choice that some angels chose not to accept.

Also during their adolescence, young angels begin to notice their peers and elders from a different perspective. Emotions and sensations are brought abruptly to the forefront as these younglings start take a more than casual interest in others. It is during this stage that partnerships and potential pairings are formed. Pheromones and scents unique to each young angel become stronger and much more attractive drawing in other angels. These scents are passably pleasant to some angels and incredibly, addictive to others. But no matter what, permanent steps are not taken towards finding a mate until the adolescent angel becomes an adult.

The process of changing stages varies greatly from angel to angel. For some it is a slow process in which the angel feels ill, weak, tired, a mix of these, or all of them simultaneously. For others it is an abrupt and painful change that can take a young angel completely by surprise. And for others still, it can be a combination of both of the previous methods.

No matter how it happens, one thing is always remains constant. Upon becoming adults, the angels experience a sudden intense drive to soar through the air and mate. Their logical minds flee for the first day or so leaving behind an emotion and sensation driven creature of intense beauty and sirenic attraction. All angels in the area will sense the change immediately and any potential or interested mates will seek out the new adult in hopes of taking them to mate.

But it isn't as easy as all that, oh no. Any angels already mated or bonded to another and therefore unaffected by the sensual newborns will try to keep them grounded. For if the new adult angel takes flight whether on fresh adult wings or by leaping and gliding, then the only way to bring them back from their wild minds is for a hopeful mate to catch the newborn.

Grounding a newborn is difficult. First the potential mate must fight the other hopefuls for the newborn's attention, overcome the newborn's instinct driven actions, and either fly them if the newborn has wings or ride them once they've landed relatively safely. A newborn adult will be crazed by the sheer amount and intensity of the emotions and sensations they will feel and will fight to stay free in the sky.

If they are not grounded before flight or mated in flight or after being grounded, then they will continue to fly free and unrestrained until they die. For while a newborn's instinctive prowess and sirenic beauty is enticing to angels, they are also attractive to predators who prey on them. For while the new adult angels are not in their right minds, they are utterly defenseless against their enemies.

Too few adolescents survive the change. So many were not caught in time or out flew their potential mates and soared off into the distance never to be heard from again, if they were lucky. Those unlucky ones, what was left of them, would be found later mangled and bloody and lifeless.

Reida knew this. He knew this, but how was he supposed to raise this as-yet-to-be-awakened adolescent into adulthood if the child was already too pretty for his own good? Perhaps the child would find someone to care for him enough to stop at nothing to ground him. The elder couldn't bring himself to imagine what would happen if he lost yet another newborn adult to the wilds of this world. The Goddess knew he had barely been able to catch Luca before he flew off to his destruction.

If he could not stop this youth, then what? How could he look at himself again?

The old angel raised his deep mahogany eyes to the silken cocoon before him as these thoughts raced through his head.

Oh Rei, you must live. I will see to it you live to find a mate and settle down. You must live, Rei. You must.