La danza d'amore e morte Prologue and Chapter One, a kuroshitsuji fanfic

La danza d'amore e morte

I have seen kingdoms rise and fall, I have seen people be born and I have seen people die. Through it all one truth remains, there is a delicate balance between love and death. The line between love and death is as thin as a razors edge. I've seen so many kill in the name of what they call love. Who am I? I am the Roman Goddess Libitina; the goddess of corpses, funerals, and the dead. My mother is Morta, the Roman goddess of death and my father is Pluto, the Roman god of the underworld. Trust me I know what most mortals would think if I told them who I really am. What is a goddess doing in this modern time, in the year 2012 which in a few short months will be the year 2013. Well it's a long story. I normally train the death maidens that serve under my mother, but at the moment there are no women who have the talent for the job. So for the time being, I serve my mother as her one and only death maiden, a claimer of the souls she has marked for her halls. Some would call me a grim reaper, but the grim reapers have to claim the souls and the life records, sometimes called cinematic records, of the dead no matter what. A death maiden only claims the souls that are marked by their goddess or god, depending on who the death maiden serves. Morta lets me see what kind of life the soul that she has marked has led and depending on the evidence I bring the soul a beautiful death or a painful one. Since I am a goddess I am immortal so I cannot die. although there have been some moments that I have wished that I could. The first time I wanted to die was when I had to claim the soul of my husband. It was when Rome was still young and I made the mistake of falling in love with a mortal. Despite him knowing what I was, we married but we never had any children. We were very happy and when he died it broke a part of me. I refused to speak to my mother for a long time after she made me claim his soul. The other times I have wished for death were caused by people trying to use me or get to me because of my beauty. My looks have caused me all sorts of trouble. I'm 5'8", I have pale skin and lips that are a deep red. I have blue/green eyes that change color with my mood and thanks to my nearsightedness I have to wear glasses. I don't look a day over 29 but I have snow white hair that has two blue streaks in it that does all the way down to my ankles which is why I wear it in a net that I clip at the back of my head. My beauty is what coined the phrase "drop dead gorgeous" or so I've been told by another goddess. Apparently one silly mortal man saw my true form and dropped dead with a sigh of gorgeous on his lips. Seeing a goddess or a god in their true form is quite fatal for mortals, which is why we don't show our true forms often. While this mortal was quite flattering, it was also annoying. Mortals chase the gods and goddesses for a chance at immortality more than most others would realize. The mortals will never be able to understand what pain my beauty has brought me. Men chase me for it and of course the chance to become immortal. I have been hurt so badly that I have taken a razor to parts of my body that I normally do not show. I have left scars there to ward others off that are just after one thing. My pain is so deep that I don't trust any man and I don't think I ever will. Not until I meet a man who can see the outer and inner scars and still love me for who I really am. I am the goddess of the dead and I am waiting for the one who will bring me back to life.

Chapter One: Fate's First Crossing

My mother called me into her hall early one evening to talk. Tomorrow was Halloween and there was a rogue soul on the loose. The man was in his late 20s and a convicted child molester who had just killed his first victim after escaping from prison. Tonight due to his actions was his time to die. I was to give him the worst death possible and have it done before the mortal children went trick-or-treating. I kneeled at my mother's feet and thumped my chest with my fist, which was my way of showing her respect.

"As you wish my mother" I said. I left her halls and went home to get my gear. I changed into my death maiden clothes which included a black peasant top, black jeans, a skull belt, skull cameo, skull earrings and my other ear piercings, a long black hooded cloak, and black ankle boots. I was almost ready to go. I gathered my soul jars, these special jars contained the soul I claimed until I could give it to my mother. I picked up my sword, put it in it's sheath which I attached inside my cloak, and went towards my front door. As an after thought I grabbed a mask off my wall before I went out the door. I slipped the mask on my face and then went off to hunt the rogue. His name was Salvatore Roganti and he was headed towards the graveyard according to my goddess senses. I arrived at the graveyard and started hunting. I almost had Salvatore cornered when another man showed up. He was tall, at least 6'2", had long silver gray hair that went just a little past his ass and hid his eyes. There was one part of his hair that had a braid in it. He wore black pants, a long black shirt that had a little ring of white at the top, a long black hat that had a long piece of black fabric hanging from it. He also wore black boots that had all sorts of silver buckles on them. In his had he held a silver scythe that glinted in the light. At the top before the blade started there was a carved skeleton; spine, ribs, and a skull. Around the skull was a crown of thorns. Then the man's head moved and I saw that not only did he have a scar on the part of his face that I could see, but that his ears like mine also had several piercings in them. Around his neck hung two strands of beads and on one of his long fingers was a ring with a green stone. I frowned, thanks to this man, my quarry had gotten away for the moment.

"Who are you?" I asked from inside the hood of my cloak. I was grateful I had slipped the mask on, I didn't want just anybody seeing my face.

"I am the undertaker. I am a retired grim reaper" the man said.

"You don't look retired to me" I said as I pointed a long black fingernail at the scythe.

"Well I was called in for this case, despite the fact they didn't want to call me in. That soul that got away is extremely dangerous" he said.

"Yes, I know that. That particular soul though is marked for the worst death possible by the Goddess Morta. You have no claim to it reaper. Now you have kept me from my work and I must go" I said and then I vanished. The undertaker stood looking at the spot where the strange woman had been. The last time a goddess had stepped into his life was over a hundred years ago when he helped a love struck demonic couple leave their old lives behind. The goddess that helped him help Rose and Sebastian vanish from demon radar was the Roman Goddess Venus. For his help in the matter though he had received a note from the Roman Goddess Fortuna that had promised him that he would find what he most wanted in time. Now the Roman Goddess of death, Lady Morta, was here and had a cloaked female in her employ. Was the cloaked woman a reaper too? He would have to report this as soon as possible. While the undertaker wondered who I was, I was chasing down the soul again. I finally caught him, but it took me all night to do so. I spent hours carving up his flesh with my sword, reminding him of his crimes, telling him this was what he deserved before I took his life and his soul and returned to my mother's hall with the soul jar. As I gave the jar to my mother, I slipped off my mask and decided to tell her about what had happened earlier.

"I met someone interesting tonight" I told her as she put the jar on a shelf for later.

"Did you now?" she asked.

"Yes I did. He called himself the undertaker. He said he was a retired grim reaper who had been sent after that soul" I said as I pointed to the jar.

"Oh did he now? We goddesses know him well. Your aunts Fortuna and Venus met him over one hundred years ago" she said.

"They did?" I asked, a little surprised.

"Yes they did. And he isn't just a reaper dear. He's also a shinigami" she said. I raised an eyebrow, the one that had my newest piercing in it, in disbelief.

"He's a god of death?" I asked. I had heard of there being shinigami, but I had always thought that it was just a legend.

"Yes dear he is. He's one of the four shinigami that I know of. I need to have a word with the reapers and see if we can get this misunderstanding cleared up. There is nothing pressing for tomorrow so take the night and go sing at that club you like so much" she said as she escorted me home. I snickered to myself, if only she knew who owned the club that I had told her about.

"Alright then. Good night mother" I said as I entered my home. I hugged her good-bye and then she vanished. I slowly closed the door and went to change for bed. As I let down my hair I knew that I would not be sleeping this night. There was way too much on my mind. I climbed into bed and laid there, pondering all that had happened, until at last I drifted off to sleep.