There is truly nothing that can be done. No matter the struggle I put, our paths would only fray and disintegrate..

With strong hands, the Shinigami held the old book open. The carefully written words lined the pages; pages that he had read many times over. His fingers trailed upon the fresh ink writing cruel verbs and sick adjectives. His sigh could be seen in hopeless green eyes.

So...

He placed the small slip of paper into the thick book. In an instant, the phantomesque words ceased. They were frozen in a time forever separate from any other. The last hanging words of the sentence disappeared as the man closed the book.

This melancholy Shinigami placed the book among the others on the shelf. He trailed sentimental fingers across the spine. Finally, he let go. The man turned his head, hoping to eventually forget the taboo he had just committed.

So... I will not struggle. Nor will I allow you.

Sleep.

Reckless steps sounded across the library floor. As always, a bounce was in this young Shinigami's feet.

"Don't forget about our date!" A woman's voice did not cease the worker's steps. He turned to a backward walk in order to better face the girl. Though she was in the distance, he found the need for a wink and smirk.

"I wouldn't dream of it, love! Even overtime wouldn't stop me!" Ronald Knox laughed heartily at his own words. He was well-known for his hatred of overtime work. He wasn't going to be the one staying late when a party could be starting.

He turned back towards the book shelf situated in the middle of the floor. With a quick scan of the many of hundreds of books, he let out an annoyed groan. His smirk left him.

"And Will wants me to find exactly what?"

Wasting no time, the Shinigami stretched his legs towards the top shelf. Even with his tipped-toes, he was feet away from his desired spot. His hand barely touched the shelf right below the book his superior had requested. He glared to it with a certain animosity and hatred.

An idea rather particular to the boy came to his mind. He reared his hand back to the Death Scythe left forgotten behind him. With quick steps, Ronald hopped to the handlebars of his lawnmower. The piece wobbled slightly with his weight, but for the moment, it seemed as though it would hold.

Ronald turned his sights back to the book in the distance. His clenched teeth and determined green eyes focused with the precision of a scope.

Finally, with the piece in sight, Ronald was able to latch a glove-covered hand around the spine. A slight smirk of achievement spread to his lips as he began to pull on the book. Oddly enough, the wad of paper was stuck in the middle of the wide array of lives. Even with a quick pull, it seemed quite stuck. The smile was erased from the Shinigami's face as he restarted his efforts. Another hand settled on the shelf to allow more leverage. With a slight sigh, Ronald pulled as hard as his body could allow him.

"AHH-" His recklessness and unbalance of his Death Scythe resulted in his body swaying back. Despite this, the air-borne man now held the desired book in his hand. Now it was time for his least favorite part-hitting the ground.

A thick slam to the smooth ground knocked all air out of the Shinigami's lungs, as well as his glasses off of his face. The device bounced several feet away, settling upside down and hopefully not cracked.

Ronald let go of the book he held to rub his now throbbing head. The blurriness of the world didn't hurt help his annoyance, either. He sat up with clenched teeth and a bumped skull.

"Damn.." Despite his words, he reached across to his frames. With a quick inspection, he realized no harm had come to them. Ronald was able to see the world once again in no time. His sights turned towards an even worse sight.

"Ughh.." He groaned at the fallen stack of books now sitting on his lawnmower. Various pages were opened and the writing ink smeared across the pages. He sure hoped that wasn't a bad sign. He approached the pile with a scowl.

No one'll know if I just put them back.

Ronald picked through the pieces of paper, stacking them neatly next to him. His frown was just about to deepen when a rather odd sight caught his eye. The young man bent down to a lone book, green eyes focused on the familiar piece of paper sticking out.

"A Death bookmark?" He had barely seen any of the slips of paper. Only once had they been shown, and that was just during his orientation. Not the most exciting day, so he didn't really recognize the bookmark until now. His fingers flipped the book open to the bookmarked page.

She sat alone in the basement, hands tied and mouth gagged. Noises of rats scurried by her and whiskers trailed along her almost naked flesh. Her shivers of the cold night were her only movement, as she was tired beyond belief. For the first time in her life, she was utterly and hopelessly alone.

Ronald closed the book back to it's cover.
Lottie Margaret Sinnet 1872-

Ronald's eyes widened slightly at the date on the cover and lack of death date.

Someone has bookmarked her for nearly one hundred years!

The young Shinigami felt a sense of responsibility, since he had indeed been the one to knock the book from it's position. There was also the matter with the bookmark. It seemed as though this soul had never been reaped, as the life had been paused. Showing Will would most likely put the man in a horrible mood. The guy was never a bucket full of sunshine in the first place, anyway. Ronald couldn't imagine him any worse than he usually was.

With a final sigh, the dark blonde boy swept his feet away from the bookcase. He dropped the unfinished book onto the death scythe he took hold of. It acted as a sort of library cart, the shinigami pushing it being the disgruntled worker.

"No way am I going to get overtime for this."

"Yo, Will!" A familiar voice alerted the senior Shinigami of a fast-approaching troublesome teen. William Spears let out a sigh before dropping his papers.

"Yes?" He asked with a rather annoyed tone. The young spirit never truly knew when to tone down his voice or overwhelming presence.

William turned to face Ronald with unimpressed eyes.

"Do you have the book I asked you to fetch?" He wished Ronald could at least be good to the word he had spoken so many minutes ago.

"Yeah, but I found something else when I was getting it." He tossed the bookmarked book to his boss. William's pin-point eyes looked to the pages of the book he snapped open. He scanned over the paused words, looking to the book mark and uttering a simple, "Oh."

"Yeah, it kinda fell off the shelf with a bunch of others. Shouldn't her soul have already been reaped? I mean, it's been nearly one hundred years since her scheduled death." Ronald stated plainly as his eyes glanced over the pristine walls of William's office. He didn't often come into the spacious room. The extreme cleanliness of everything was a little much to look at.

William's tough expression softened for just a moment. With a quick hand, he removed the bookmark from the page. The words resumed from their sentence with a quick pace that almost hinted they had never been stopped. He snapped the pages back out of view before handing the book to his subordinate.

"Yes, they should have. That's why you're going to go do it now. Find the girl and bring her soul back with you." With those words, Will turned back to his previous papers with a new bookmark in hand. He ignored the shocked expression appearing to Ronald's face.

"But I'm not due for any fieldwork this week! My paper's even all done-"

"Then you shouldn't have anything to get in your way. Get the soul, Ronald Knox." The cold eyes shot back to tell the Shinigami this was not a matter that they would be discussing. He let out a final sigh before turning towards the door. Ronald towed his Death Scythe out of the room, kicking it to his shoulder upon entering the hallway. His eyes looked to the book.

"Lottie Sinnet... No matter what you happen to look like, I won't let you get me get stuck in overtime."