AN: Well here it is, my second, and, as I see it, way more successful rewrite of In Memoriam. Before we move on, I'd just like to say that all my characterxOC fics are basically developmental exercises that I use to hone my writing skills and develop the personality of my OC. Each version of this character generally has the same name and appearance, though each one is a different personality level for the actual OC I plan to use in an original fiction later on. Is this particular story, I'm developing a more rough, violent nature for the OC. For anyone else developing a character they plan to put in their own story, I find this method very helpful and highly recommend it.

Now that my long-winded explanation is over, let's move on and enjoy the story ^w^

~Stormy Horizons~

The merchant stepped off his ship, hood pulled low over his head to shield himself from the pouring rain. He looked up at the familiar buildings nostalgically, a triumphant smile on his lips.

Today, after seven long years, he was back. He would take them away from this place and they would happy and together again.

He approached the house, but before he could knock on the door, a passerby called out to him.

"You won't find anyone there," he said, "Man took his sons and abandoned that place, leaving his wife and poor little daughter behind. The two of them left around five years ago."

"How do you know this?" the merchant asked.

"I smuggled them to China," he said, "I work down in the port, the only one this place has opened to outsiders. The mother joined some European dance troop that was there at the time, then I heard she'd passed on and her daughter just sort of disappeared shortly after the funeral," he shrugged, "Guess the Kami just don't want us to leave this forsaken place. Wonder if it's Karma for something our ancestors did in the past."

The man fell to his knees, despair filling his heart.

Gone.

The sailor looked at him pitifully, "You didn't abandon them, did you?"

The merchant shook his head, "It just took so long," he said, "and I couldn't risk sending a letter."

The sailor nodded, holding out his hand, "Name's Yamane Kenta," he said, "I captain a nice ship. I'll take you on bored if you want to search for your little girl. After all, disappeared doesn't mean dead, now does it?"

"Mo-moyashi?" Kanda gasped, watching in horror as the boy pushed him away, his skin turning an ashen grey color. It was the hue that Kanda new a little too well from their first excursion into the ark.

He looked down at the blood on his blade and knew that this was his fault. Why did he have to get so upset? Why did he have to lose control?

Why did he have to remember?

Alma was getting up shakily, preparing to aim a blast at him that Kanda could sense would destroy them both.

It's alright, Alma. Just do it, I'm done. I've caused everyone enough pain.

Just…do it…

Kanda briefly wondered what it would be like to finally die. Was there really such a place as Heaven? Would he go there? What would it feel like? Would he see the people he'd lost from his life? Would he see Daisya? Would he see the others who had been killed?

Just who would greet him?

"What is it, Katrina?"

She jumped a little bit at the sudden sound of his voice. Looking away from the window, she shook her head, "It's nothing…I'm just a little…frustrated…" she said.

The young man looked at her nervously, "Do you not want to go through with this?" he asked, gently placing his hand over hers, "I-I'll understand if you don't."

The young woman shook her head, "It's just," she began, "By the time I got married, or even engaged, I'd thought things would be different."

"How so?" her companion asked.

"I thought I'd know who I was," she said painfully, "Where I came from, who I am, what I was doing right before the orphanage found me. I can't throw off this sensation of feeling that I am supposed to be doing something right now, something important."

"You are doing something important," the man said comfortingly, clasping both her hands now, "You're coming up to New York, to meet my parents and become my wife," he kissed her hands, "Katrina, I know amnesia is hard, but I'll help you get through this. You're sweet and compassionate and I love you for it. Please, just try to calm down. Maybe for our honeymoon we can go searching for your past."

His fiancée smiled gratefully, "The one thing I do know, Erik," she said, "Is that you are just as sweet and kind. You've accepted and all my flaws."

"Your eye, it was hurting you before, is it alright?" he asked anxiously.

She nodded, "It's fine now," she said. Her mottled, scarred mess for a left eye had been a subject of embarrassment for her. However, Erik never cared about things like that, it was another reason she liked him so much.

Wait…like?…don't I…love him?

The rumble of thunder echoed over head, "Looks like a storm," Erik said as the rain came down, "We'll have to be careful around the canyon."

His fiancée nodded. She was sad to be leaving Colorado, but she was sure New York would be just as fun. New York had the stage as well, where she could dance to her heart's content.

It was actually at the Denver Academy for the Arts that she met Erik. She had been taken in by the kind ballet director and had taken a natural talent to dancing. Erik was introduced to her after one of her shows and they began seeing each other shortly afterwards.

The one thing that had plagued her throughout her life in Colorado was the fact that she could not remember any part of her life before the day she was found on the shores of California four years ago. She had been told that she was half-dead when they found her and that they could find no form of identity on her. She couldn't remember her name, where she came from, or what she was doing when she was attacked.

Her damaged eye was assumed to be a souvenir from whatever attacked her.

Without a name or a history, the people at the orphanage gave her the name 'Katrina' and she stayed there for several months until, one day, the leader of The Denver Academy of the Arts came upon her and saw her dancing. Even so, this little clue meant nothing other than that she might have been raised by a wealthy family. It gave no hint as to where she had lived, or how she could have come to the Americas. She was, after all, unmistakably East Asian.

The thunder cracked loudly overhead and, though it really wasn't visible in the pouring rain, Erik's fiancée could sense that they were traveling along the Grand Canyon. She also felt that she could here explosions, unrelated to the storm, deep among the chasm walls.

Since when could I sense this?

"Do you hear that?" she asked Erik, who looked at her, confused.

"Hear what? The thunder?"

She shook her head, "No, there's something else," she said, "I don't know why you can't here it. It's getting louder."

Erik shook his head, "It's probably the canyon," he said, "thunder can act a little strange around the walls."

She nodded, though not really agreeing with him, and continued to look out the window, watching the lightening patterns with loving adoration.

"They've always fascinated you, haven't they?" Erik said, smiling warmly.

She smiled too. It was true, she was fascinated by storms, the water, the wind, and the lightening. The power they held was just stunning, not to mention beyond beautiful.

I wonder what it would be to wield even just a fraction of that power…

But you do…

"Did you say something?"

Erik shook his head, "No…"

She blinked, then mentally shook herself, "I suppose I'm just tired," she said, turning back to the storm.

Then it happened.

A bolt of lightening struck right over the carriage and the couple was blown what felt like several feet into the air. The young couple hit the ground hard, both losing sight of their surroundings.

Have you awoken?

I don't think so. I'm having this conversation in my head, aren't I?

Master, you have not regained yourself at all… it makes me sad.

Who are you?

You already, but I shall refresh your memory.

She was sitting in a room, the dining area of an inn of some sort it seemed. The room suddenly went dark as the lone candle was extinguished. She looked up sharply, her small, childish voice echoing through the darkness.

"Mama?"

"Sweetheart…" the gentle voice of her mother came out of the suffocating blackness, "Sweetheart, we're never going to see him again. I realize it now, he's never going to come back, he's moved on. For all we know, he's probably abandoned your brothers as well.

"Mama, where are you? Don't say that! Papa will come for us!"

"He won't find us, child, we already left that place without him, this must be revenge!"

"Mama! You're scaring me!"

"Do you want to go to a better place with mommy? A place where we'll never hurt again?"

"MAMA!"

STOP IT! I remember now.

Master… will you rise again? Will you prove your existence once again to the world?

No.

Master?

I will rise, but not to prove my existence. I will fight and protect my family, the ones unrelated by blood. I will fight for those who brought me out of that terrifying void, who taught me to live again, to display emotion while feeling it at the same time.

I will fight for them until I'm torn to pieces.

When he had regained his senses, Erik looked around frantically for his lover.

"KATRINA!" he cried, seeing the girl lying on the ground. He hurried over to her and cradled her in his arms, "Oh, Katrina," he murmured, "Katrina, Katrina."

"'s…ai…t," she groaned

"Katrina?" Erik said hopefully.

"I said IT'S KAI, you idiot!" she shouted, shoving him off of her, "And don't get so close to me, it's creepy."

"K-Kai…?" Erik said weakly, the name awkward and foreign on his tongue. Where had his sweet, gentle, tender, not to mention ELOQUENT, Katrina gone?

She looked at him, annoyance plain on her face, "Stop staring and get up," she said tersely, "I don't have time for this."

"You've…regained your memories?" Erik said, standing shakily, "H-how…?"

"Lightening strike," she said shortly, "Brought back everything. Makes sense, though." She turned to him, "Look," she raised her bangs, which she typically kept over her left eye to hide the scar, "What do you see?"

The fog that had clouded her iris had faded, meaning she was no longer half-blind. The mass of scars was also gone, replaced by an ornate silver cross that shimmered in the pouring rain. It looked vaguely like the nativity star and joined seamlessly to her skin, "A…a cross…" he said.

"Black?" she asked hopefully.

He shook his head, "Silver," he said, "like a star. It's like it's a part of your face…" he added.

She was pensive for a moment, then shrugged, "Well, no matter, everything should work the same," she said, more to herself than to him, "Anyway," she slid the garnet engagement off of her finger, "Sorry, Richards, I can't get married right now."

He gaped at her as she placed the ring in his hand, "Why? I can learn to love you, Katrina, I can learn to love the real you!"

"Say Katrina again and I will rip your fucking manhood off," In all his time of knowing her, Erik Richards had never once heard his now former lover curse. She shook her head, then sighed, "It's not you," she continued, "I've got to get back to my home, where I really belong."

"W-where is that?" Erik asked, "Why can't you stay?"

"Because," she said, grinning proudly as the lightening continued to flash overhead, "I'm an exorcist."

"Ka-excuse me, Kai!" Erik called as she began walking away from him, "Come back to the carriage. We can build a shelter and get out of the rain. I know you need to get back to The Black Order, but right now we need to wait out this storm!"

Kai ignored him, gazing up at the falling water and closing her eyes. She concentrated and felt each and every drop of rain as it fell as well as where and what it fell on. She reached out with her consciousness, trying to locate the explosions from earlier.

They came to her, more amplified than before now that her innocence had fully reawakened.

Akuma… but they aren't like ones I've fought before…they're stronger…more lethal than ever before.

She reached out further, making sure she was using her utmost concentration.

Two groups. The smaller one is mostly akuma, with a human I don't recognize…and someone else…not entirely human, yet not entirely…akuma? She seems to be struggling against something while her companion is trying to fend off the akuma…he's not an exorcist, though, but I can feel it…he's part of the order.

The other group is much larger, no, only by a bit…it's mostly ruins…there only seems to be one akuma…but it's as if it's human at the same time…and Reever, Johnny, Branch Chief Bak, Branch Chief Epstein, that old sword-smith Zhu, and some other scientists and a man I don't know, but he's got the air of someone high up in The Order…

Before moving on, it should be known to the reader that Kai cannot actually see these people. The rain falling down on them sends a signal that carries every detail of what it hits, including aura, emotions, and level of power. She was able to recognize people she'd met before as well as the common aura the scientists, as well as the other kind of aura that belonged to superior officers, often exuded.

There are others, strange people I don't recognize. The power and malice they exude is beyond even that of the strange akuma. One is not even in a human form, it's some sort of soft material, almost like a plush doll, but it's definitely dangerous all the same. One of them is combating Fou, an aura I know very well. Though I wonder why the spirit guardian is there. Another one of the strange people is crumpled on the ground, some sort of blade wound in his abdomen.

Then came the aura Kai knew better than any of the others. Her comrade in arms and fellow student was there as well. He didn't seem too bad off in the way of injuries, but he was certainly exhausted and, from his emotional levels, in some sort of shock. Emotions were running high with all of them, in fact, though Kai could understand why.

This sinister presence…

"Shit."

Kai didn't have to have met him to understand that the Millennium Earl was among them.

Review if you feel like it!

*Kami- as in the numerous gods that exist in the Shinto religion. They are often said to care for the island nation of Japan if I remember rightly.

**Karma- the Buddhist force that governs what happens in your life based on your actions. Bad actions bring you bad Karma, good actions bring good Karma.

Yes, I realize I sort of combined two religions at once...-shrugs-