Per Frigus et Aestas

-Of Winter and Summer-

-

Pairing: OCxKanda

OC information:

Name: Tia Stadfeld

Age: Approximately 16

Height: 6"2'

Hair: Long, wavy, blonde

Eyes: Light blue

Nationality: Half-German, half Japanese.

Temperament: Fiery, impulsive

----

She remembered that night, vividly.

It had been twelve years ago, now; that cold winter night in Japan, Kyoto, where she had been born, and her mother, killed. The scent of blood, the pain from the protruding thorns, tearing out and up through the skin of her shoulders. They materialized only a few moments after the bands of intricate tattoos appeared on her skin, dark splotches of staining porcelain white. "Look, Papa," she remembered her young self saying, reaching her arms up to her father, and the horrified expression on his face when he saw them. And then it started. The vines were coal black, and glinted dully in the firelight, stained with her blood as their pointed ends slipped through the surface of her skin. Then the thorns came, sharp as knives, every little angular protrusion slicing through her flesh. She cried out, a high-pitched child's scream that cut through the black, frozen night.

The Akuma came.

Bloated creatures with distended bellies, the symbol of a star marking them. Halos above their big heads, a pair of fairy-like wings that sprouted from their backs. They resembled grossly distorted, nightmare caricatures of angels; that called out to one another in high-pitched children's voices that made Tia's head hurt. And the others were huge masses, small, pathetic faces painted with black streaks thatwould resemble tears; their gaping mouths and empty white pupils twisted into an expression that was very much like their last moments as humans, silent screams erupting from those mouths. And the smell. A stench that always accompanied their presence, the scent of something rotting; but worse, It was as if evil itself were decaying- it clogged her nose, choking her. She hadn't known the name for them then, only that they killed her mother, ripping her body open as if she were a mere doll. Warm blood splattered Tia's cheek as she tried to get away from the demons, sobbing from the pain of the vines that still grew. She crawled away on her hands and knees, dust from the now ruined house gathering under her fingers, gritty fragments of destruction.

A green glow spread throughout the entire site, calm compared to the earlier chaos, somehow, even though it blew up the distorted figures as it spread. Her father was at the centre of this light, arms spread wide and his face turned up to the frigid night sky. He could have been saying something, the words passing too fast over his lips for her to hear. As soon as it came, the light disappeared, leaving only a wreck, and her father walked over –a little unsteadily- to the corner in which she crouched. His face was shadowed by darkness, all emotion hidden.

"Everything's all right now. Let's go."

----

Tia found out, later.

Later, that everything was not all right. When they fled to Germany, that adults lied, in order to cover up their true intentions, the darkness in their hearts; like her father had, lying all the while about what he was, a pathetic attempt to mask their true selves. She found out, on a summer's day when she was on her way back from school, what it meant to be an exorcist. When the Black Order came for him.

She was young and naïve then, only twelve years old. Still happy and unknowing; when the scent of wildflowers on the wind could still make her smile. Her father had shouted at her to run, to get as far away as possible; before they silenced him, one stepping out from the other tan cloaks, the silver stripes on his uniform glinting in the sunlight, along with his long, blue-black hair. And her father's life ended with a thrust of the thin black sword the stranger held in his hand. The blood spilled, gushing onto the earth like no ordinary stab wound would have caused. The youth stepped back, pulling his blade out and cleaning it off on the freesias that Tia had grown, a look of distaste on his face.

She covered her mouth, emitting a small gasp that was still obvious enough for those cold gray eyes to turn and meet hers. He was young, maybe only a few years older than her, still in his teens. Still the cold, dead look in his gaze shocked her, enough for her to remember her father's last words. She fled; and for some reason, her let her.

Not knowing that they would come for her soon.

----

The finders pursued her now, their footsteps clattering noisily on the cobblestones.

They were obvious- so obvious. Finders. She sighed. Tia was on the way back from the restaurant that she worked part-time at, the job that had supported her for the past three years in England, Surrey, that helped her to maintain the small, cramped apartment which she had learnt to call home. She could control her innocence well now, well enough for her to hide it amongst normal people, and to destroy the Akuma that came her way occasionally, attracted by the smell of her innocence. The thorns vines always ripped right through the scars from the last activation of her innocence; but she had gotten used to the pain. Tia healed quickly now, the wounds closing up in a mere matter of seconds. She had never thought of calling herself "exorcist", the word that she disdained, that was connected in all ways to her past…

Now she ducked into a nearby alleyway, cloaking herself in the darkness, watching the finder's confusion with a tinge of amusement. When they drew near enough, she launched herself out from where she was hiding, easily dodging their clumsily-aimed attacks, and reciprocating with more well-timed ones of her own t their vital points, mainly the solar plexus, and the side of the neck. Her innocence would not be necessary. As she stood there, staring at the incapacitated bodies in distaste, a disbelieving british-accented voice spoke out from behind her.

"What? Out so soon?"

Tia spun around to behold a white-haired kid who was surely younger than her; but most importantly, she realized as her eyes dropped below neck level- he wore the uniform of a general, the gold stripes winking ominously up at her.

"I'm General Allen Walker, and I'm here to escort you to our base in Italy."