Fia stood in a forgotten cemetery in one of the many woods of the Earth Kingdom. She looked down at one of the tombstones in disgust. Her eyes flickered briefly as she read the heading.

Falia Greylin Demuuria

Beloved daughter, healer and mother

Love for life was like no other

Healing hands will ease the pain

And take her up to heaven's reign

Guide us all from up above

Rememb'rd she will be with love

Fia spat down upon the old earth in contempt, a nauseated look masked her usually cruel face. Her dark eyes stared at the grey stone, the only thing left on earth to remind Fia of her past life, her mother's heartless body lying only a few feet below.

"Beloved mother… What lies… That damned woman never showed me an ounce of love and I certainly never loved her…."

"Mamma! Mamma, look at me Mamma! Look at what I-"

"Be quiet, Yatrofia. Just be quiet. Please. Just close your little mouth and go away."

Fia blinked. Her dark eyes that stared into her mother's pale listless ones were windows to the breaking heart of a child, a likeness to a human child of three. Her little eyes watered, but she turned and walked away, going outside so that she would not hinder her mother's forlorn sighs. Cast aside once again. She did not cry this time. She was getting better at this. Mamma couldn't just hurt her this way. She would not let it hurt her. She smoothed her little dress and walked out the door, holding a tattered doll in her arms, something her mother's midwife had given her when she was newly born.

She walked right into a pair of legs. Long, lean-muscled legs clothed in dark, pinstriped suit pants and dark shiny shoes. She looked up, following those long legs into the body of a man that Fia had never seen before. He was entirely dressed in this black pinstripe suit with a dark shirt and tie underneath, some of the buttons loosely undone to reveal his dark, grey-black skin and strange devilish markings. She peered up into his face. She did not recognize his features, then froze when she saw her own eyes staring back at her, cold and filled with malice.

"Hello child. My little one. My little Fia. Do you not recognize your daddy when you see him?"

Fia's eyes widened. She did not have a father. The man laughed, a deep booming laugh, one that seemed to chill her very soul. He shook his ebony hair out of his eyes and stared at her with interest. Suddenly, a slender hand reached out for her, and roughly took her arm. Fia screamed. His skin on hers was like hellfire. He threw his other hand tightly over her mouth, causing her small eyes to roll back in agonizing pain.

"Look at you! You're just like your mother!" He hissed cruelly, pressing his hands harder onto her skin. "Weak. Sensitive. Bridled by emotion."

He brought his face up to hers, grinning, taking her face in one hand, the other walking his fingers up her arm. He hissed to Fia as she held back her cries.

"My every touch on her fragile body a torrent of searing pain."

He shoved her towards the garden where she fell into the dirt crying, her precious doll at his feet.

"Oh, who's this now?" He picked up the doll by its tiny arm and with a single flick of his finger burned it to ash. Fia screeched. "NOOOO!!!"

He only laughed, then stopped abruptly, grabbing her by the arms and lifting her up to eye level as she cried out in pain.

"Don't be weak, Fia! You are weak now! Dependent! Don't you see that you need no one? Not even that foolish doll! I did you a favor!"

She kicked him fiercely in his legs and he threw her on the ground then reared his hand back and slapped her hard across the face. "Taste it, Fia. Taste the blood, the pain, the glory!" He struck her again, then showed her the blood oh his hand. "This is what you get for your weakness. It is what you earn by your failure."

He spat on the ground beside her, disgust clear in his dark eyes. "You disappoint me, Fia. You even disappoint your mother. You disappoint a whore." He pointed to the window where Falia stood, staring blankly at the two, with a far away hint of fear in her eyes. "Don't you see she's been watching this whole time?" He grinned at her mother who ran from the window but did not come outside for the whole evening. He looked back at Fia.

He lifted her under her arms and shoved her against the wall of the house, his thumbs pressing into her collar bone. As she wailed, he brought his mouth close to her ear. "Grow up, Fia. No one will ever love you." He dropped her to the ground with a thud and walked a few paces away, his back to her. Large, black wings that looked as if they were covered in tar burst through his jacket from his back and he soared into the air as the sun sank down below the earth's edge.

Fia's tiny form sat there in a crumpled heap. Her eyes began to water, wavering softly, then suddenly stopped. Her face hardened and she stared out into the distance.

He could not hurt her. He did not hurt her. She would not let him win. She would not cry.

Fia kicked aside some dead flowers that someone had placed on the grave long ago. Their blackened petals scattered across the soft earth, and then quickly fluttered away in the gentle breeze. Such fair weather did nothing to match Fia's mood. She peered down at the dirt then turned to walk away.

She stopped abruptly after a few feet and began to shake with fury. Her eyes flashed a brilliant green before quickly returning to their usual Cimmerian color as she turned sharply and ran back to the grave. A low howl began to rise in her throat as she rant, turning into a loud, ear shattering guttural scream, eyes glowing with anger and teeth bared. She threw herself upon the ground and began rapidly scratching and clawing at the tombstone, making deep gashes in its weathered surface.

"YOU!" she screeched into the fading light of the woods.

"WHY DIDN'T YOU PROTECT ME?! WHY DIDN'T YOU LOVE ME?! WHY?!"

Rarely seen tears began to form in her eyes, tears of pure anger and hatred, of never-ending ire. Such a display of emotion would never be seen again. She began to claw fervently at the ground, tossing about the dry soil that had so long lain undisturbed amongst the darkened forest. She dug in this way for what seemed like hours until at last her nails struck an aged cherry wood coffin. She thrust it open to stare at its contents, seemingly not taken aback by the putrid air of decay. She glared down at the cloth and skeletal fragments that remained, a wide-eyed blank look on her face, her eyes seething wrathful satisfaction. She spat down into the long wooden box, cursing. Fia then lifted her foot and deftly crushed the skull with a twist of her boot.

A few minutes later, she stepped out of the grave, roughly wiping her eyes. She straightened her posture, shook out her hair and walked away, never to return to this self-forbidden memory of her forsaken childhood.