Temptation

Introducing...

The redhead tossed and turned in her sleep, a thin sheen of cold sweat breaking out on her upper lip. In her head, however, she was not asleep. She wasn't even her normal age of sixteen. In her head she was eight years old again, clothed in black and kneeling by a freshly dug grave.

"Daddy..." The little girl whispered, crying. "Daddy, why did you have to die? I'm all alone now. Who's going to keep me safe from her?"

The dreaded her was none other than Sophronia's stepmother, a cruel and heartless woman who often hurt little Sophie.

Then she heard a voice above her. It was rough, deep, belonging to a huge man with purple skin and a perpetual grin, and it was kind.

"Hello, little girl. Do you want your father back?"

Eight years into the future, the girl sat up with a gasp.

Her emerald eyes flew open and she looked around as though expecting the Stepmonster to come flying at her, but that would never happen again.

Sophie had seen to that, hadn't she?

She stood and stretched, the curiously red soles of her feet hidden by the slippers she wore. Each had a long slit down the foot.

This was once a warehouse, abandoned a decade ago after being ravaged by a fire.

Truly a tragedy.

She saw that the sun was just beginning to set, and a smile crossed her pale pink lips.

Her day was just beginning.

She pulled out of the nightgown quickly, replacing it with a dark blue dress. Black boots, also slit down the foot, replaced the ragged slippers.

She headed outside to the small well she had found the previous night and began to draw buckets, singing softly to herself.

"Oh there's sunshine, blessed sunshine, when the peaceful happy moments roll... When Jesus shows his smiling face, there is sunshine in my soul..."

She didn't allow her mind to focus on her past, instead looking forward to the future. Always forward.

A bucket full of water in each hand, she headed back to the warehouse, still singing.

"When I am king dilly dilly, you shall be my queen dilly dilly..."

She set the buckets down carelessly, a little water slopping out and onto the hem of the threadbare dress.

"Whoops, clumsy me." She murmured, and headed back out to gather firewood.

The redhead gathered an armful and walked in the building slowly, her green eyes wide and innocent. Then Sophie knelt in front of the two water buckets and stacked her firewood carefully, her tongue sticking out slightly.

A matchbook was produced seemingly out of thin air( A hidden pocket in the girl's dress). There was a little scuffling noise and a brief flicker of flame being transferred.

No sooner than she had the fire going, however, than what she had been expecting all along happen.

There was a loud ringing of gunfire, and at the same time a sound like two blades being unsheathed. When the purple flare faded the redhead was balancing on her hands, a violet colored bullet held in between what looked like two glowing green iceskates.

"Sorry." The redhead said, casting the bullet aside and landing on her feet again. "You need to be faster to catch me off guard."

The balloon type creature let out an inhuman snarl, firing off another volley. This time, one of the bullets grazed Sophronia's side.

Pentacles appeared all over her skin. In a moment, they faded just as quickly.

"I'm not an ordinary human." The girl growled, a smirk playing across her face. "You shouldn't have picked on me, little akuma."

The akuma snarled, attacking once more. She dodged easily, then leaped for a rafter. Before they knew what was happening, she swung from the rafter and kicked out for the akuma, the blades on her feet extending and slicing through the skin of the akuma.

The girl then fell on the floor rather ungracefully, skinning her forearm and yelping. She sat up dazedly and dusted her palms off, looking around.

"Now, maybe I can eat?" She asked nothing in particular, but a voice actually answered.

"I don't think so~" Came the dark chuckle, and then there was a violent explosion. It sent Sophronia flying out of the warehouse. She landed, sputtering, in the bottom of the well she had drawn from earlier.

"Oh God, no." She muttered along with a steady stream of cursing. She wouldn't be able to use her anti- akuma weapon in this cramped space. Holding onto the rope, she wondered how far down the well went. She hesitantly let go of the rope-

and nearly drowned herself. The water went right over the top of her head and she sank rapidly, the immense pressure surrounding her.

Little Sophie is drowning in the well! She mocked herself. I won't die so ridiculously.

So she jetstreamed her feet and started moving her arms, cutting up through the water. It didn't help that she couldn't see a thing in this blasted darkness- maybe she should have changed from her nocturnal schedule after all.

She broke the water with a gasp and reached for the rope. When she looked up, however, there was the hideous machine-face of the akuma.

A volley of bullets rained down into the well, making Sophie dive under the water. Maybe she was immune to the virus in the bullets, but if one of them actually hit her she would probably be killed from the blood loss.

The hail of bullets finally stopped and hesitantly she allowed her head to pop back up above the water.

"There she is! A voice yelled, and Sophie winced. Far above in the sky, she saw a lantern light appear. A face of a girl appeared- Oriental looking with a worried expression.

"Kanda, she's been hit!" The girl called. Sophie looked down and flinched. The pentacles were slowly fading, but the spiked bullet was embedded in her shoulder.

A snort and a horribly sarcastic voice.

"Just great. Now we have to deal with a cripple."

The Asian girl shot a look over at the boy, then looked back down at Sophie.

"Miss, can you grab the rope with your good arm?"

The redhead sputtered, reached and grabbed the length of rope with her right hand, locked her left arm fast against her right side, and nodded. She saw blood dripping slowly out of her arm, and the sight of it made her sick. The rope began to ascend, and for the first time in her life Sophronia Wilton fainted.