As I crawl up the last rock to the Black Church, the wind whistles in my ears and my long silky black hair beats my already cut face. I clutch the tattered blanket tight to my chest, so tight in fact, my knuckles turn white. Despite the blistering winds, I'm hardly cold. My body is sweating and my face is hot because of all the climbing I did, trying to escape the akuma chasing me.

The altitude that I'm now running at makes me dizzy; that and my fatigue. My knees and stomach are buzzing with anxiety as I scurry towards the building. I've only been in a near death situation with akuma once before, and that was only one of them. I'm terrified right now.

I fall to my knees in front of the strange gate with a long grotesque face. I let my hands drop to my side and shout as loud as I can over the ominous wind, "Hey!" I drag out the word as long as I can, then I breathe heavily. As soon as I gain enough breath to shout again, I plead, "Someone, help me!"

"Please wait to be examined by the gatekeeper," a voice instructs.

I wait patiently and stare at the strange long face on it.

It moves and I jump in surprise. Lights pour out from its eyes and it sets on me. "X-Ray examination, determining whether subject is Akuma or Human."

I inhale slowly, my breath shaking. I don't want to cause it trouble by moving too much.

Suddenly, several akuma jump up from the edge of the mountain-like structure I climbed previously. They seem to search for something, and then one sets its eyes on me.

"There she is!" It screeches. "Ke, ke, ke, let's get her!" It laughs.

The akuma charge towards me, and I have no energy to get off my legs.

I cross my arms in front of my face and scream, "No!"

The gatekeeper looks up and shouts, "Akuma! Intruders, intruders!"

Now, out of context, his mouth is so huge it surprises me. Now, in context, I don't really care because I'm freaking scared to death right now.

The image of the monsters' teeth gnashing, claws protruding, bodies shaking in excitement to kill me… it burns in my eyes as I break into a cold sweat and tears as I block what I can, covering my face to prepare for the worst.

Instead of pain and blood, I hear the screech of an akuma. I look up quickly, rubbing away the tears in my eyes and the snot on my face.

A long teenage Japanese boy is standing in front of me, wielding a katana. I can see his face well enough that I can tell he's handsome, and also I can see the cold stare in his eyes. His hatred of Akuma is so crystal clear.

The two remaining akuma cower in fear and turn to run away. "R-retreat!" They scream.

"You're not getting away!" The boy shouts. He leaps after the akuma, but they've already flown off the side of the edge.

I panic, seeing the boy still in the air, leaping. "Wait!" I cry, outstretching my hand. The crystal mark in my back glows and large angel-like wings protrude from my skin, blowing sharp gusts of wind off my shoulders and lower back.

My clothes would have been torn to shreds, like I learned from experience previously, but I'm wearing a slim-fitting black shirt that exposes my shoulders and lower back. The strings pulling together the cloth in the back are blown off though.

I leap off into the air as the power runs up my arms as well, making gloves on my forearms. I grab the boy's collar and then I fly as well as I can for my first time, back to the colossal building. I put him down gently, and then the wings disappear, dropping me to the ground, less gently from a higher distance.

Black fuzzy dots cloud my vision, and instead of the hard impact of rock that I expect, I feel someone catch me.

My eyes flutter open, and I'm under the bright light of a hospital room. "I shouldn't move," I think sensibly, "I might hurt myself, whatever injuries I may have." I turn my head carefully, in case any damage was done to my neck. "Nope, I'm good."

I'm all alone in this room.

It's pretty small and, for the most part, white. There's a white marble countertop atop white painted wood, holding all sorts of basic medical things. A curtain is hanging, concealing my sleeping area, and the bed's headrest is right against the wall, so my feet are facing outwards.

The door opens and someone walks in. A male voice asks me, "Miss, are you awake?"

I open my mouth and say clearly, "Yeah, sorry for causing you trouble."

The man chuckles and replies "Don't be sorry. You've gone through quite a bit, as well."

I smile wryly as he walks around so that I can see him.

He's got semi-long black hair that curls outwards just below cheeks. He's got rectangular glasses and he's wearing a white, French looking hat and a whole white outfit to match.

I watch as the man approaches me.

At a respectable distance away, he stops, clutching a clipboard to his chest.

I notice there's a white cross with a white rose on his uniform, making it noticeably different than anyone else's.

"Can I move without hurting myself?" I ask politely, truly curious if my injuries are bad.

He chuckles and nods his head. "Slowly though, you did get beat up pretty good."

I sit myself up, cringing at the slight stinging in my shoulders, back, and chest. I find a comfortable position to remain in, and I exhale. I stare straight at him. "You seem to want to tell me something. What is it?" I ask, noticing his bated breath.

He pulls up a chair and sits down on it, clasping his hands and resting his arms on his knees. "Yes well," he begins, "I'd like to know your name, first of all."

I tilt my head to the side and slowly slide my legs into a crossed position under my blanket. "Is that all he wants to know?" I plant my hands in the small space between my legs and answer, "My name is Saioji Rika." I furrow my eyebrows for a moment. "If I may ask, what is your name?" I inquire.

The man smiles and points to his face. "I'm Komui Li, the supervisor of this place." He sits up straight and continues to question me. "Well, Rika. Do you know what that mark on your back is?"

I crane my neck around to look at the cross shaped mass of crystals between my shoulder blades. "These?" I ask rhetorically, "I don't exactly know what they are, but the akuma chasing me called them, 'Innocence.'"

He nods and stands up. "Rika, if you can walk properly, I'd like to show you something."

I ease myself out of the bed and take a few steps around the room. I smile at him, showing Komui that I'm fine. I slip my feet into some black slippers and I put on a black jacket that Komui hands me.

All I'm wearing is my white, now ripped, jeans, the slippers… and that's practically it. I have white bandages wrapped around most of my upper torso and on my arms, so that's covered. I'm also wearing a black jacket, (I can't tell what it's made out of, something shiny and breathable I suppose) that has a silver cross on it.

I follow the supervisor (Komui) and observe a few of the people buzzing with work around me.

Things are mostly colored darkly and there are many cylindrical platforms where people are working, which I find particularly interesting.

A cute girl with black pigtails on the sides of her head looks at me. She smiles at me and waves slightly.

I'm surprised, but I return her smile and nod slightly. I head forwards, continuing to follow Komui.

"That girl, Lenalee," Komui explains, "Is my DAAAAARLING little sister!" I can see his eyes sparkling behind his glasses with love for this girl.

I laugh nervously as one drop of sweat beads down my forehead. "Sister Complex…" I think.

We enter a spacious room with a few shelves stacked with jars and medicines. I reach out to observe one of them when Komui finally speaks to me once again.

"Could you show me your innocence?"

I look at him curiously; obviously a little suspicious about why he wants to see it.

He smiles gently, "Don't worry. I just want to confirm what type of innocence you are. Also perhaps fix whatever damages may have been done to it."

"Oh, alright." I walk over and he placed a stool down in front of a table about one meter by two meters long, covered with sanitary paper.

I sit down on the stool, my back facing the table. Where the bottom of my wings would be is where my back touches the table, allowing me space to activate the innocence. I bite my lip in worry. I turn my head to look at Komui. "Um," I warn, "I think sharp wind bursts out of my back when I activate my innocence. Right before my wings come out."

He smiles and side-steps the table, looking me from a profile angle. He gestures his hands to tell me go ahead.

I take off the jacket, so as to not damage it. Then I close my eyes and breathe slowly. "Innocence, activate!" As I said, a blast of sharp wind blasts outwards from my back, making a five inch gash in the wall behind me.

Crimson red wings protrude from my back, feathering out and glistening like blood in the bright surgical light.

"Oooh, interesting," Komui announces, rubbing his chin. He walks around and touches the bone of the wing from my back and trails upwards. "Can you feel that?"

I giggle, feeling ticklish. "H-hey that kind of tickles!"

He smiles, finding my response amusing. "So you're a parasitic type."

I tilt my head, trying to look at him without moving my wings too much. "What's a parasitic type?"

The girl I saw earlier, Lenalee, walks in, having heard our conversation. "A parasitic type is a person whose innocence is mixed with their body," she explains.

I furrow my eyebrows, remembering vaguely my innocence. "Wait, it's only with the body right?"

Komui nods, "That's it."

I shake my head. "But I remember something… when I activated it previously it wasn't just wings." I feel a tingling sensation on my shoulder blades. Glowing red lines roll down my shoulder, making a diamond shape on my bicep then continuing in a line, all the way down until it completely covers my hands and forearms, making a glove like thing. I stare at my hands and extend my fingers. "Yes, this is what happened!"

I look up, excited to see what they'll say, but my eagerness is met with shock and concern. My smile fades as I ask, "Is there something wrong with my innocence?"

"No, there's nothing wrong with it, we just don't have a category for it," Komui explains, mumbling the last bit of his sentence. "This comes from a crystal on your back, correct?"

"Yes, at least I think so," I confirm. Twisting my head, I try and catch a glimpse of the crystal.

Komui rubs his chin for a bit then asks me a question, "Could you tell me when you first found you had this innocence?"

I think back, very far back, and remember the point where I received this "gift." I slump a bit, hiding my teary eyes and trying to ignore the pain in my throat. When I think I can speak, I tell my story. "It was on a winter day when I was eight, just after Christmas."