Under usual circumstances, Grell would have complained about this punishment—but the fact was: He was just to exhausted to do so.
It had been three weeks since what most people had dubbed the "Jack the Ripper incident" (some even made further mockery of the situation, by calling it the "Jack the Reaper incident" as well). Two of said weeks, however, he had spent in "holding", which was basically a fancy word for "jail cell". He had only been allowed the "necessities" in those weeks, and therefore arrived at his trial looking rather...horrible (at least in his mind). Most of the members of the London Division had been there, which furthered his embarrassment (none of the other Reapers tried to hide their laughs at the situation, for most were not very fond of the red Reaper).
William, of course, did not laugh. But...neither did he give Grell a reassuring thumbs up as Ronald had. And maybe that hurt. Just a little.
But Grell smiled nonetheless, prancing about as much as the heavy shackles on his arms allowed. He batted his eyelashes, and made flirtatious comments at anyone he deemed worthy.
The trial had been mercifully quick, and Grell needn't make a sound. They knew he was guilty.
But they also knew that the London Division was short-handed, so they couldn't dole out too harsh a punishment on one of their most successful Reapers.
His punishment hadn't sounded bad at the time; his workload was to be doubled, and his paperwork had to be turned in on time, lest he get even more rights taken away. He wasn't to interact with any demons (unless one interfered with his work). He wasn't allowed time off, either. All of that, he believed he could deal with.
And then the High Councilman in charge of his hearing read the last line. That broke Grell.
His Scythe—the one he had had since he joined the Reapers, the one he had worked so hard modifying—had been destroyed. They had destroyed it. And he was to be given a standard-issue, short Death Scythe; one typical for those first entering the Academy.
He had collapsed then, and started crying. He looked up at Ronald and William and everyone, but they were just sighing and shaking their heads. All of them. They believed it was just another one of his fits of melodrama, not that this really cut him deep.
And maybe that hurt.
He was then escorted out, and back to his rooms; he was given a strict schedule, one he was to follow, "or else".
So he dressed as he normally did, and arrived at the office at 4:00 am. Sharp.
The disgrace of a Scythe was laid in his hands, and he couldn't help but stare at it in disgust.
Then a list with at least 20 souls on it was handed to Grell. And thus commenced the most exhausting day of Grell's afterlife.
Or maybe the most exhausting day had been the day after that, when a soul had taken nearly three hours to round up.
Or maybe the day after that, when he had had a run in with Sebastian, and had nearly fallen off a roof.
Or maybe the day after that, when he arrived home at 2:30 am, after a ridiculous pile of paperwork was completed, and he had to get up at 4:00 again.
Or maybe it was the day he had had to go and investigate how a person was to die, and he ended up getting beat up by some sort of gang in the process.
Or maybe it was today, as it had been so far. Grell knew he must look horrible, for the lack of sleep, combined with the bruises from the day before. His hair was starting to become greasy, and a total mess. He hated to do it...but he knew he would have to cut his hair, unless he wanted it to become totally disgusting.
The fact was, Grell simply hadn't had TIME to shower. He didn't have time for anything. He had even done away with a half-hour of his morning routine, in the hopes of gaining just a little more sleep.
His stomach grumbled, and Grell placed a hand upon it. He hadn't even had time to eat this morning, as he had woken up late. And William would report him immediately, should he arrive to work even a minute late—no matter the reason.
Grell knew William didn't care.
And maybe that hurt. A lot.
A/N Poor Grell...I always torture my favorite characters. *sighs*
Should I continue?
Anyway, please review!
