Elanora P.O.V
"Ronald Knox!" I yelled, I was sat down stairs in Ronald's kitchen, my pocket watch held in my hand, glaring at the time the hands indicated. If he didn't bloody well hurry up we would be late for work...
"I can't find them anywhere!" Ronald yelled, his head appearing through the banister, which could be seen from the kitchen doorway.
"Well then where did you have them last?" I yelled back, taking a final sip of my tea, before standing up and putting the cup in the sink.
"My shoes were under the bed last time I checked, I took them out of there." He replied.
"Oh then they're by the lamp in the living room where you always put them." I folded my arms and smiled as his face went blank, before he ran into the living room.
A minute later, he walked out again, familiar white shoes on and a embarrassed smile on his face.
"Ha ha! I knew that!" He laughed.
"Oh sure you did." I nodded sarcastically, placing a soft kiss on his cheek as I fixed is tie, which was crooked, obviously from his frantic search.
"Oh shut up!" He laughed, deepening the kiss. We just stayed there for a few moments, until.
The clock rang with the stroke of the hour.
"Ah shit!" Ronald sighed, knowing my reaction.
"HOLY DEATH, DAMMIT RONALD! WE'RE GOING TO BE LATE! COME ON LETS GO!" I yelled, practically dragging him out the door down the road and down to dispatch.
It's been three months since what's now being called the battle for the Pastures. And finally things were starting to return to normal... Well mostly normal anyway... I mean sure the buildings were fixed, but the loss of Reapers was huge, over one hundred reapers died... many more were maimed...
Since we were so understaffed, new Reaper students that would normally have a three month incubation period before having a second creation, were created straight away, which only managed to slightly fill the numbers!
Sally came out of hospital about two weeks ago, she had suffered massive head injuries when Darina threw her head first vertically into the ground... She had lay in a coma for a month and woken up dazed and confused, luckily she remembered who we were and had most of her memories... except for how she got her injury. She was actually shocked when we told her... and even more shocked when I told her I was the Daughter of Grim! Which brings me to the next part... Since everyone saw that I am now a pretty hot topic in the offices. I even have all the women that bullied me, now crawling up my backside... But not Janice ,oh no! Instead she's been telling people I'm dangerous and that they should have nothing to do with me... Especially since I hit her and how it was my fault in the first place Darina died...
What Janice doesn't know is today I was pulling in a little favour from William for staying up to do all those extra accounts with him five days in a row... I mean Ronald was pissed, because he wanted to spend time with me and to keep himself busy took on extra shifts with Eric, but it's about to all be worth it...
We ran through the doors , into the elevator past the library and into dispatch... Where Janice stood at the door..
"Well look who it is, I feel sorry for you Ronald, being strung along..." Janice sneered.
"Death knows no one and I mean no one, has time for you and your crap. Take it somewhere else, because if I have to keep looking at the lines of heavy make up that definitely stand out from your skin tone making it look so uneven..." I retorted literally shoving past her...
"They'll all see! You're trouble!" She yelled.
"Sure! Just like your face!" I yelled back.
Ronald sniggered as we walked into dispatch, collecting out assignments for the day, which were logged into out death books.
Mine neat as always, where as Ronald was messy with bits of paper sticking out of pages..
Before we left, I knocked on Williams door.
"Enter." I heard a stiff reply and swiftly opened the door.
Walking in briskly.
"Ah Elanora. You wanted to ask a favour?" He asked, the mountain of paper work at his desk, wobbling slightly as he put his pen down.
"Yes... Well you know how I spent five nights helping to with accounts?" I said, sweetly.
William eyed me suspiciously.
"Yes, and as such I owe you a favour and because Janice has been annoying you, your going to ask me to put her on sewer duty." He responded, he never broke eye contact with me as he said that and my jaw dropped.
"I know you too well." He chuckled slightly.
"I know you too well as well Sempai."
"Alright, I'll do it. I actually don't know why I didn't do it sooner, she's been barging in here demanding you be stripped of you position in dispatch, it's all rather frustrating isn't it?" He sighed... It was pretty obvious he hadn't been sleeping well lately, being a department head in times like this was a rough and risky business.
"I know... She is a handful... I must be off Sempai. My collections are due in about six minutes and you know what happens if I'm late." I said.
"Yes. We have seen you drag in Dispatch Officer Knox many a time." He said.
"Yeah, well he should learn to be on time." I smiled as I waved a goodbye and walked out where Ronald was waiting for me.
Ronald P.O.V
"Okay that's two hundred and forty seven!" Elanora called from the alley way.
We had been reaping since we left dispatch this morning, and now it was almost ten o'clock...
We hadn't had any breaks and it was way past clocking in time normally. Over time is the worst, but considering where we were it was my best friend tonight...
"Yeah! I'm done here too, I think that's about it!" I called back.
She walked up next to me, stamping a complete in the page of her death book.
"Okay, that's it... Finally I'm absolutely exhausted. Thank the lord that this may be the last time we do this. With the new recruit training assignments for the next couple of weeks, we should be over time free!" Elanora sighed, yawning slightly.
At that moment we were five roofs away from a clock tower, in the darkness of the night the clock glowed green with it's light hazy and dim lit... It was perfect.
"Come on!" I said, grabbing her hand and leading her over.
"What are we doing here!?" She asked as we stepped onto the ledge. The clock glow leaving a black silhouette of the hands.
"Just enjoy this for a moment with me would ya?" I laughed, grabbing her by the waist and putting my head on her shoulder.
One thing that did bother me... After Elanora fully awakened her powers, all her scars vanished including her large shoulder scar... as if it wasn't there. It felt weird. I had finally gotten used to it being there and it was gone again.
We stood looking for a few moments, it was three minutes til ten... So it was basically now or never.
I let go of her slowly. She turned around in slight surprise.
"Elanora." I said.
"Yeah Ron?" She responded.
I felt the black velvet box in my pocket and smiled nervously... I never thought in a million years I would be doing this again!
I bent down on one knee and looked up at her... She looked shocked.
"Elanora Hawthorn. When I first met you I never thought you would be the one for me. Too smart and independent to consider going out with a player like me, but for some reason you saw past that. And I could never figure out how or why. But if you let me I want to spend the rest of my life finding out. Because you're the best thing that happened to me, and I said I'd never let you go. So... Elanora will you marry me?" I finished... Some parts of that sounded a lot better in my head then they did out loud. I pulled out the small box and opened it to reveal the ring, dark blue gems on delphinium flowers in silver, the ring shone in the glow of the clock tower, almost dazzling the blue gems green like her eyes.
She stood in wide eyed silence for a moment and I started to feel nervous... What if she said no? I mean she had every right too... Maybe it wasn't the right time!? Maybe she wasn't ready to settle down!?
"Yes."
"Wait, what!?"
"Yes! Yes Ronald! I'll marry you! Yes!" She yelled happily.
The clock struck ten and I stood up and took her in my arms and swung her around. Elanora was going to be my Wife!
"Then I guess you had better start wearing this!" I smiled. Putting the ring on her finger. I prayed it was the right size!
It thankfully slipped on with no trouble at all.
"We're getting married!" She cried happily.
I could not have been happier.
"So what does that make us no?" She asked, smiling happily, almost in a daze.
"Something amazing." I smiled back, kissing her lips softly.
Elanora P.O.V
Snuggled under the sheets tucked into Ronald's arms I sighed happily. I hadn't felt so happy since... Well I don't know when I felt so happy.
"Hey Ron?" I asked tiredly.
"Yeah Elanora?" He replied.
I shuffled slightly so I was facing him, our noses touching slightly. The room was slightly colder that evening and our breaths hung slightly in the air, so we put our head under the sheets completely and hugged closely for warmth. Making up for the regret of wearing a sleeveless night gown and Ronald being topless...
"If we're getting married we're going to have to live together... So who sells their house... Or do we get an entirely new house?" I asked hazily, my eye's drooping slightly, but I tried to stay awake for this important conversation.
"Well, both out houses are smaller than us living together, we barely fit in our houses, but we can get a bigger place..." He said...
"Yeah... Wait, um do you want..?""What?" He asked, eyes opening mores slightly in the darkness so he could see my facial expression.
"Do you want children?" I asked... not really knowing what answer I was expecting. I mean Grim reapers can have children.. it's been proven and they either live lives as humans or they live as Grim reapers some either go onto become Grim reapers... but must suffer a death experience and then death if they so choose or just have desk work. They do not have to suffer the sins of their parents.
Except if I have children... They would be Descendants of Grim and would probably suffer... Did I really want to do that to my child?
"Huh... I've never really thought about that before... I guess it would be nice to have a little one call me Papa or Daddy." He smiled.
"Wait really?" I asked in surprise.
"Yes! I want to spend the rest of my life with you, and I want to have a family with you." He kissed my forehead and I smiled.
"You know... we have to tell William-Sempai tomorrow, and Grell, Leon, Sally, Eric and Alan." I sighed softly.
Ronald sat up in bed, quickly and bolt upright in alarm.
"Oh shit!" He yelled.
The next day it was lunch break and in the canteen everyone sat at the table, now all we needed was for William to walk in and then we could tell them.
"Alright, why do you want us here?" Alan asked. He sat in the middle arms folded looking expectedly at his sandwich... He wanted to eat it, but he didn't want to look rude by not listening... But he was hungry...
He took a small, yet loud bite of the tuna salad sandwich and got a cold glare from Sally, he sadly put the sandwich.
"You were expecting me." William said from behind Ronald... His smile vanished from his face and he tensed. He was finding this the most daunting thing to do and we weren't even getting married yet...
"Yeah so sit down Sempai." He chuckled nervously, William eyed him suspiciously, but begrudgingly took the only available seat next to Grell who grabbed his arm delightedly.
"Okay so... we have some news.." I said, getting slightly nervous.
"My Death! You've Knoxed her up, haven't you Ronald!?" Eric said, literally standing up from his seat and pointing his finger at him.
William stood up, no words leaving his mouth as he summoned his death scythe and aimed it at Ronald.
"Ah! No!" He yelled throwing his hands up defensively.
"No! Wait I'm not pregnant!" I yelled stepping in front of Ronald.
"Oh..." Eric said, both him and William promptly sitting down.
"Well then a what is this a news?" Grell asked, laughing as Ronald jumped jack behind me.
I took off my white glove and Ronald held out my hand so everyone could see the ring.
"We're getting married." We both said in unison.
Everyone sat their in shocked silence for a moment, before everyone rushed as at once, being grabbed in hugs and hand shakes, Grell wanting to see the ring or countless questions like what date did we have in mind for the wedding? However Ronald was pulled aside by William.
Ronald P.O.V
A firm arm was on my shoulder his grip almost painful. His face stern and unmoving, until a small smile twitched at his lips... I must be dreaming I've never seen William smile!
"Same agreement as always treat her right... or I break you." He said. I nodded, not a word leaving my mouth.
"One other thing I would suggest. That you two go to see the Grim Reapers marriage counsellor at some point this week, so you have an idea of what you're getting into." He said.
"Wait they have those!?" I asked in surprise.
"Yes. Up past the library near the infirmary." Elanora said from behind me.
I jumped in fright, she was far too much like William at times. I turned around and her and the rest of the 'gang' were stood behind us...
What a good start this was.
"How did I not know this?" I asked... it also meant possibly a whole load of women that may not hate me, because I never got around to dating them once and then not calling again... Ha ha...
This is going to be awful!
"Cause you never needed to go up there." She chuckled.
"Fair enough, we'll go up after work." I laughed dryly...
Elanora P.O.V
"You ready to go?" I asked leaning on Ronald's desk as he finished his paper work, the ton of papers mounted messily in the pick up tray... again. It surprises me how he keeps his house almost spotless, yet his desk looks like something out of a war zone.
"Yeah..." He breathed a heavy sigh... I could tell he didn't want to go...
"Come on Ronald it's going to be fine and you promised me you would go." I said.
He grumbled something inaudible.
"What did you say?" I asked.
"I said, I'm only doing this because I love you." He replied.
"Isn't that the point of us getting married?" I laughed.
He deadpanned for a minute and a half, obviously not sure on how to retort before replying.
"Shut up!"
He finished his paper work, got up and proceeded to walk with me up to the counsellors office. When we got outside we knocked on the door and heard a feminine reply to enter...
Oh she was going to love our dysfunctional mess of a relationship.
Hmm lets see, what traits do you notice most about your partner.
Well she's shy at the worst times, has her boss pretty much act like a homicidally protective older brother... Oh yeah and she's the over powered, great times a lot granddaughter of the original Grim Reaper, making her pretty much death!
Yes... because this is going to be the best conversation of my life... Maybe this was a bad idea after all.
As we walked in sat in a chair was a women with mousy brown hair in a ballerina bun, thick, transparent square cut glasses and she wore a black suit jacket and a black pencil skirt to her ankles, nails polished and pristine, you could tell she was a desk worker.
"Miss Hawthorn, Mr Knox I've been expecting you, I'm Doctor Cotsgrove, Please take a seat." She said, her voice seemed pretty toneless when you hear it up close.
Me and Ronald both proceeded to take the two seat in front of her, holding hands as we sat next to each other...
"So I hear you are engaged to be married, congratulations, I imagine you are here to know what you are getting into?" She said, grabbing a pen and pad from her desk a yard behind her.
"Spears-Sempai told you about it before we came." I said blankly.
"You could tell?" Dr Cotsgrove asked.
"I know him too well and I never booked and appointment with you." I responded.
"Well. You are perceptive, just like Spears-Sempai. But we are not here to talk about him, maybe later, but you two should know that marriage is a sacred bond and should not be taken lightly, now before we continue do you know any couples or people who are married, within the dispatch society?" She asked.
"No not really, I mean we've seen a few of them, but not to talk to." Ronald said.
"Well then let me give you a basic run down. A marriage between two Grim Reapers is much more intimate than that of human marriage, instead of just being bound by law, parts of your soul will reside within one another, effectively making you one. As such you will be able to feel each others pain, whether it be mental and or physical. You will also be forever connected, almost like telepathy, being able to communicate with each other, even if far apart. Another common trait of this is that you will see all of their memories, so anything you wish to keep hidden will come out. In other words if there are any secrets between you, it would be wise to let them out before the wedding, lest we get any nasty surprises." Dr Cotsgrove finished.
We sat and thought for a moment... I've hidden things from Ronald about my training days, dark horrible things, that I never wanted him to know. Nothing I've done, just what's happened to me... Not only that, but I don't remember my life before being a Grim Reaper.
"Do you fully understand this?" She asked.
"Yes." We both said looking at each other...
"Alright then, now looking through your notes, I must ask do you both remember your lives as humans?" She asked.
Ronald just looked at me, with that knowing glance that just speaks. "Should you tell her or should I?" I just jerked my head at him as a response.
"I do, but Elanora doesn't." He said, grasping my hand a little tighter for comfort.
Dr Cotsgrove looked at me, a surprised look on her face. One which she could not hide, even if she tried. She did however compose herself afterwards.
"I see, are you aware that you can access your human death records in the Grim Reaper library?" She asked.
"Yes." I replied.
"Then why have you not done this?" She asked sternly.
A sense of her judging me lingered from her eyes.
"I was told that my memories would come back naturally. And the attending psychologist, told me that doing so would have a negative impact on my memory development." I replied.
"I see and who was your attending psychologist?"
"Dr Allister." I said, I remember that guy, he was kind of creepy, not the nicest thing to wake up to...
"Hmmm... Well then, according to your notes your last meeting with him was more than three years ago, so I would over turn this and have you go search in the library." Dr Cotsgrove said, shutting her notepad.
"That's it?" Ronald asked in shock, he smiled pleasantly, thinking this was like a slight walk in the park.
"No. After you have done this I can then run you through the rest, this is just a need to know first." She replied.
Before Ronald could even whine or moan about it, I squeezed his hand and stood up from my seat, him following.
"Thank you, I'll arrange for a meeting with you after this has happened." I smiled politely.
"Goodbye."
Ronald P.O.V
We had since walked to Elanora's house and were making dinner. One thing that did bother me was how small her kitchen was... Both of us could barely fit in there. She was being very quiet... Almost like she was thinking about something. I mean I don't blame her. We have a lot to think about... There won't be nothing that we don't know about each other...
Oh shit... If she she's about that one time with the bowl of pudding... She won't look at me the same way again.
WHY!? WHY DID I DO THAT!? CURIOUSITY YOU HAVE FORSAKEN ME!?
"We need a bigger kitchen." I blurted out suddenly.
"W-What?"
"I said we need a bigger kitchen. I want to cook stuff more often, but to do that we would need the room." I answered.
"Alright then, but if we get a bigger kitchen, then I would like a whole room filled with books." She said.
"A whole room!?" I gaped at her in shock.
"Yes... like a little library." She smiled.
"Are you insane!? Other than books it's like wasting an entire room, can't you just get a bookcase or something!?" I asked.
"I have more books that fit in boxes anymore, they could fill a whole room and we could put a Piano in it, and a sofa! Please Ron!" She begged, her eyes getting wider and her lips pouting... Ah Dammit I can't say no to that...
"Fine... But the first thing I get to do in the kitchen is make a massive sandwich with Leon and Eric like we talked about." I smirked.
"How big are we talking?" Elanora asked, slotting the chicken in the oven and taking a sip of water from a glass on the counter.
"Hmmm... About the size of William's extended scythe." I chuckled.
She suddenly spat out her drink.
"Are you insane!?"
"No! Grells helping too!" I said in defence.
We just looked at each other, for a second and then burst out laughing.
"Oh! Oh! Seriously!?" She laughed, barely able to keep herself stood up, having to lean on the counter to not fall on the floor.
"Yeah... Have him cut it with his chainsaw!" I laughed...
Elanora P.O.V
So this was the second day after work and we had just left the dispatch and went to the library.
The place in itself was huge, the walls lined with vast amounts of bookcases and the floor lined with a few tables in which to check them on.
The checked floor, shone in the dim lights, always kept remarkably clean by the caretakers.
At the front stood a lone desk, with one librarian, slightly hunched over desktop. No one really knows how long she's been there, but she's served as the librarian for longer than Pop's has been making glasses... And that's a long... long time!
"Okay so lets find yours, where do we start?" Ronald said.
He rubbed his hands together excitedly, he was obviously looking forward to this more than me... I was dreading this moment... I wanted my memories to come back within my own time... Not like this. In front of my fiancé.
"Last name is H and the second letter of my name is A, as well as the W it will be third from the end, probably near sections 9887 to 11002." I responded.
"How do you-"
"Again, worked here for a bit when I was confined to desk duty after Darina died the first time... You pick up things." I said.
I hated describing Darina's death in such a way, but I didn't know what else to call it.
"Lets get searching..." Ronald sighed..
Ronald P.O.V
"This is the eight time now! Where is it!?" I said, trying to hide my frustration. It had been three hours and what was supposed to be a thirty minute search was now a mess. Her book was no where to be found.
"I don't know it's weird." She replied, she though for a moment.
"Ronald. Go and get yours for me would you." She said.
"Why?" I asked, not wanting to go on another hunt.
"Just do it! R. O. N, hmm about 78999 to 7945." She said.
I sighed again and walked around the vast corners, finding the R section and running a finger along the spines of the books looking for my name. Until I found Ronald Knox.
"Gotcha, okay now lets have a look see." I whispered to myself.
I opened the page and watched the record unravel, everything looked normal... I killed myself... and I expected it to end, but instead...
I OPENED MY EYES AGAIN... AND I GOT UP AND WALKED AROUND... NEAR A BRIDGE!
Then it ended, with the word Fin...
I slowly closed the book, my hands felt sweaty and my heart raced, hammering against my chest... We needed to see William.
"Ron? Ron what's wrong?" Elanora asked, walking up to me. Her hand on my shoulder.
"It didn't end... When I died I got up again!" I could barely breathe.. My head started pounding and the room was spinning. I could barely breathe.
"Ron!" I tripped backwards and Elanora grabbed me, before I could fall.
Elanora P.O.V
I lead Ronald to William's office. With any luck he should still be in his office. Even if it is late I know he has over time.
I had Ronald's hand firmly in mine, making sure he was fully awake every two seconds. I don't know what happened in the library, but this was big!
I knocked on the door. And waited until William responded with an aggravated sigh.
"Elanora, Whatever's the matter!?" William stood up, my upset state being totally obvious, of course I wasn't hiding it either.
"I can't find my memories! They aren't there! And when we looked for Ronald's his didn't end, and now his head is throbbing and he almost passed out!" I explained, my breath coming out in short rasps.
William stood up slowly, his face stoic and expressionless.
"Ah... I thought this day might arrive, and I should have expected it, with your up coming marriage." He said.
"Sempai... What are you talking about?" I asked, starting to get very alarmed by the way he was speaking.
"You wanted this... Didn't you?" He said, reaching into his draw and unlocking a box, he then pulled out a black book, in gold letters it said a name.
Elanora Hawthorn.
"S-Sempai!?" My breath hitched in my throat...
Why did he have my memories!?