"Wait WHAT!?" Ronald asked in shock.
"You can stop with the hood now, we know it's you and you've had your fun Mother, but your freaking out your future son-in-law and it's not good first impressions. Is it now?" I called out.
Mother walked towards us so that we might see her better, despite the snow storm and lifted her hood. Long blond curls fell out, falling into a large part swept over her forehead and tucked behind her ear, with the rest combed back. Large white snow flakes caught in her now exposed hair. Once brown eye's now shone phosphorescent green and yellow. Her lips curved in a bright smile.
"Hello Elanora." She said kindly.
I was fighting back a lot of emotions.
"How do you feel about this?" She asked.
I breathed very calmly, but it wasn't helping.
"Oh I'm feeling a lot!" I announced.
"I know this must be hard to find out! I-"
"You left me! I was fourteen years old! You left me in a house with an abusive Drunk! Alone!" I yelled.
Ronald was definitely staying out of this. He only had to experience the aftermath when we were running for our lives, from two experienced Grim Reapers!
"I wouldn't have made it anyway. I was too sick and he refused to have me get a doctor or any type of medicine. I also knew how much it strained a fourteen year old to do all the housework and look after her dying mother. So yes I left you. I wasn't aware of what would happen after I was gone. But I wouldn't have done it unless I thought it would be better this way." She said.
"As much as I am angry I do understand that. But why not approach me, sometime before?" I asked.
She just laughed.
"Let's both look in a mirror and you tell me why. You're a descendant of Grim and I joined the Shadow League." She laughed.
"B-But why would you Join, mother you know-" She cut me off quickly.
"I knew they were interested in you. They talked of a Girl with bright blue eye's in life and now her reapers eye's freckled blue in death. At first I dismissed it. But when I was initiated in and I walked past the resurrection room. I saw you! Laid out in a white Dress, Doctors all around you. And I couldn't believe it! I heard them talk of violent things. So I worked my way quickly through the ranks to join the higher parts of the shadow league. Now with things escalating and you finally remembering. It is time you know that I am on your side and you can trust me if you need to." She said.
I could tell she was sincere. One thing that didn't change, was her ability for you to trust her. Especially if you were family. She's just a lot more battle handy then I remember.
"And that this young fellow is marrying my darling young daughter." She said to Ronald.
Ronald tensed. One thing he thought that he was going to avoid, was a parental meeting. That wasn't happening.
"Ugh. Yes ugh... Mrs Hawthorn. I'm Ronald Knox and I- I."
I was shocked I had never seen Ronald so lost for words, not even in front of William. Probably because Mother had just attacked him.
Mother opened her mouth and burst into laughter. She was practically rolling on the floor in fits of giggles. Ronald raised an eyebrow confused and a flustered look on his face. I just sighed. Something about this seemed incredibly normal.
"Oh! Sorry. Listen you don't have to be so formal with me. I was a servant for pities sake. And even though Elanora acts all prim and proper she was aswell! And you can call me either Lydia, or Mum, whichever you prefer." Mother laughed.
"Hey!" I responded slightly annoyed.
"Oh okay. Thank you Lydia, for now I guess." Ronald said, rubbing the back of his head.
"Oh Elanora. I see you have very good taste in men. I mean you've really landed yourself a catch there haven't you! So have you, ya know?" She asked. She winked at me and I chocked on air.
"NO! MOTHER WE HAVE NOT!" I yelled.
"AHAHAHAHHAHAH! I'm sorry I wanted to see your face." Mother laughed.
After she calmed down for a while, the hours were growing later and thick snow covered us and the ground. I looked at my mother and smiled. She returned that with an even brighter one.
"I also waited for the snow storm so not many people could spy if they tried. I'm so glad I found you again! Even if it's like this!" She said.
"I thought you might soon. You always said you wanted to see me married. So there's an engagement part on Saturday, seven in the evening and don't be late. My final fittings on the Friday at four with your dress there. A-And my wedding days on December 14 th, you make sure you turn up at the house!" I said... I was crying...
"I won't be late. I know how much you hate it... I promise." She said.
And she hugged me. And just cried.
By the time it was half seven, she turned and vanished into the falling snow.
"Elanora?" Ronald asked putting his arm around me.
"I-I found my Mum!" I cried and he held me close.
"I'm glad. I think you've needed this. Now it's bloody freezing and to anyone who passes we'll look like snow men. Lets go home." He pulled me along. Putting my coats hood up over my head.
Ronald P.O.V
The next day we came home early. Snow deaths had given Dispatch chaos, but our assignments were halved due to class. So we came home and decided to actually get a head start on the Library.
"Okay, so which compromise colour did you pick?" Elanora asked. We couldn't decide on a colour so we decided to compromise, but I chose the colour.
"Royal purple." I said holding up the two tins of paint.
She got up and peered inside the tin. She was wearing a white, but dirtied buy paint long rolled up shirt... Which was one of my old ones! Might I add and light blue, jeans.
was wearing pretty much the same thing.
"Oooooh I like the colour. Okay. Agreed, now lets paint!" She said.
We selected walls to paint and got started. For a while we just chatted about stupid stuff, like the what people might do for a laugh at the wedding. Then more stuff like the students Elanora had, we laughed at Grells attempts to talk to some and them shunning him.
However as we finished the walls we bumped at a corner, and I knocked her over as my shoulder hit her. She fell arse first into the paint tin.
She stood up and dripped Purple paint onto the sheet we had put down.
She glared at me, while I burst into fits of uncontrollable laughter.
"Ronald!" She yelled, though she was stifling giggles as well.
"Oh I'm sorry, but you have a purple ass." I laughed.
She just laughed and I turned to finish the wall, when suddenly. She rubbed her arse on my back...
"Hope you like my arse prints on your back Ronald." She said.
I was speechless as she giggled. And I thought for a moment, just about everything. In the space of almost two years. I had stopped being a player, been in a serious long term relationship, gotten engaged and now I was going to be a married man, and maybe, just maybe after that... a father?
It seemed so strange. After Constance cheating on me in life. I didn't think I would ever settle down. I had just decided it would be better if I partied till I dropped. And don't get me wrong. It still is. But it's also very fun having someone in your life to do it with. Especially if they're understanding of your situation.
"If you keep that up, I take your legs and use your ass to paint the wall." I warned jokingly.
Elanora P.O.V
It's actually very strange in a way. I used to think after Darina died I didn't deserve to be happy, so I sort of lost the feeling of happiness, knowing when to be happy. But when Ronald came into my life I just started to remember again. Though it took a while, because I was scared and I'm still getting used to it. But it is a two way streak and sometimes the things we dismiss affect people in massive ways.
It was about six in the evening when I came home from an extra lesson. It was December 20th last year, a few months after Ronald had proposed to me and we had first started organising the wedding. Coincidentally the same day a year before I had been almost killed by a demon and slipped into a four day coma, though I knew it had happened I passed it off as any other day. Yes, I did almost die that day and I knew that, but if I thought about it like that I could never go anywhere and move on.
I walked in the door having come back from the market, with a steaming bramley apple pie in the basket. I closed the door quietly, it being my house, the door had an unusual creaking sound, thanks to the winter and I really needed to oil it when I had time, as it frightened me if Ronald came in and I wasn't expecting it.
"Ronald I'm back and I have food are you upstairs!?" I called walking past the living room and into the kitchen he was nowhere to be seen. I looked around as I began to put tins and jars in the cupboard and fruit in the fridge I looked around. He was here. He had put his coat on the stand and on a chair in the dining room was his suit jacket. So where on earth was he?
I finished packing away and I called out again, only to be met with a muffled noise... Almost like a crying sort of noise. But strangled...
I took off my jacket and put it on the chair next to Ronald, rolled up my sleeves and then carefully made my way up the stairs.
As I got further up, the noise got louder. It was stifled crying and it sounded like Ronald. I'd heard the noise before.
It was painful and heart breaking.
"Ronald are you alright?" I asked. The replying sound was coming from my bedroom.
"Y-Yeah, I'm f-fine, d-do-don't come in!" He said.
"You sound like a teenage girl on her period and your in my house and my fiancé, whatever's wrong you can tell me!"I said.
For a few moments it was pure silence, then I decided to go in.
When I walked in, I was shocked. Ronald eye's were red and tear stained. He sat on the edge of the bed, head in his hands and almost like a puddle on the wooden floor.
I went over and knelt in front of him. I put one hand on his knee. A) To let him know I was there and B) To steady myself from falling over.
"Ron... Whatever's the matter?" I asked softly. He looked up at me slightly alarmed, but settled down.
"It just makes me feel so angry and so weak that I couldn't-"
"Couldn't what?" I asked, he had cut himself off mid sentence.
"You don't remember do you? What day it is? What happened last year."
And I finally understood. Did he still feel guilty about that?
"I remember, but it doesn't bother me. There was nothing you could have done differently that day that would have changed the possible outcome." I said.
I got up and sat next to him on the bed, my hands resting on the bed between my legs.
He suddenly turned around put a hand on my shoulder.
"How can you just say that, when it was all my fault! I was trained, I should have known better, but I was just, I don't know I knew I was beaten and maybe I was just cocky! You could have died Elanora! And what about your shoulder after your coma. You were left suffering in pain for months!" He said.
I just smiled, while he took an upset expression of shock.
"We've talked about this. I didn't die obviously. And yes you we're trained, but let's face it no amount of training prepares you for a demon, you and I both know that. And yes though my shoulder hurt all of that is gone now. You keep forgetting I made that decision to step in front of you. I took that knowing full well what would happen! Even if you told me what would have exactly happened... I still would have done it." I sighed.
"You shouldn't have had to do that! I shouldn't have been weak and it makes me feel-"
"Helpless. I know Ronald, it's almost like you're forgetting I've been in your situation, though not exactly the same. When Darina died and I was possessed she knew I was going to kill her, she was prepared for that. She still calmed me down long enough for me to at least take some control. That feeling you feel, drags you down Ronald. It ebbs away at the brightness of your soul and your positive nature. You forget how to feel anything else like happiness, all you feel is pain and guilt, it consumes your life and changes you. And if you count it as sin, then I have sinned too many times to count by now. Don't become like me Ronald. Being like that means your alone. Maybe not physically, but mentally." I explained.
He looked up at me in a mixture of shock and sadness. I took off my gloves and wiped away his tears with my thumb.
"Just this time of year, it's all I think about besides from Christmas. And I know it was partly fate trying to give us back our memories by replicating events, but still, the weather just, the feel of it reminds me of it all. I relive it in my head and think about what could have been. Thinking about you cold and dead in my arms. And then you being in the coma and It was touch and go for those long hours in the hospital, you hooked up to those machines. Every time I walk past the infirmary. Cross the street to come home and I'm in front of the Hospital. On a reap I have to walk on the bridge to get there. Walking to your house, I pass the corner we argued at, walk in here and it's all filled with you." He responds, looking all around the room.
"Then let's make this a happier occasion." I said.
"What do you have in mind?" He asked.
I looked at my engagement ring on my finger. I made sure to keep it clean and always took it off to wear around my neck on a chain while reaping to not damage it, but put it on in the office and at home. One thing I did find when I looked on the inside of the ring was two sentences.
One step closer.
and
Step by step.
"Let's be married by this time next year Ron!" I smiled.
"That was the plan to be married by Christmas." He said submissively.
I just laughed it off.
"No I mean let's get married in the winter. Like a few days before today this time next year. Almost have a winter wonderland wedding or an Autumn wedding or both! And fill this time with happy memories!" I said.
He looked up at me and from the tears, burst a smile.
"Yeah! And the Life's crystal bloom, blossoms next year on the 14th! We could have our wedding on that day, considering it blooms once every one hundred years expect for a millennium." He said.
Life's crystal blossom was a sacred flower that only grew in the Grim Reaper realm. It's was a rare flower that blooms amongst the cold unforgiving snow. Signifying life in death. It has blessed properties and if a spiritual act were to happen before the flower, such as a wedding or birth, it would be truly blessed with luck and prosperity for all eternity.
And suddenly talk of sadness turned to talk of joy, as we talked about all the things we could do for our wedding like the dress and the cake.
And so we set our wedding date...
December 14th...
Back to the present though. After we had finished painting the walls and closed the door to leave it to dry we went to change. Sitting down on the sofa. I held a book in my hand as per usual while Ronald was putting a few logs in the fireplace. It all seemed generally quiet in the house, though the faint whistling of the snow carrying wind seemed to come from the window. When suddenly a loud ominous sound could be heard from next door. Both me and Ronald stood straight to attention.
We knew exactly what it was, the dreaded sound of...
Bag pipes.
Loud Scottish music played through the walls! Almost like the person playing was stood right next to us.
I stood up, shutting my book and put my coat and shoes on. Ronald doing the same. We hopped over the fence into their front Garden and incredibly loudly knocked on the door.
I wasn't having this. I had a lot of crap to do tomorrow and I intended to get my sleep.
I heard the door click open and before I even looked up I started on my rant.
"What the Bloody hell do you think you're doing! We may both be semi detached houses, but that doesn't mean all the sound from your bag pipes are going to go out the other side. We have to put up with it as well. I was trying to read. I don't mind that you have a love for the bag pipes. But we have just moved in and it would be nice to have some consideration, as we have done for you, when we we're renovating our property." I stated"Uh Elanora?!" Ronald said, almost warningly.
"No! I'm not finished yet either, I mean it's what almost 9 o'clock! And-" I looked up when I heard a familiar grunt at the door.
To see Eric.
"Well hello there neighbour!" The Scotsman said.
I was in shock.
"Eric what's going on? I heard shouting after I took my ear plugs out." Alan said coming to the door.
He looked up in surprise.
"Oh Elanora, Ronald? What are you doing here?" He asked.
"Oh, Al say hello to our new neighbours." Eric smirked.
Me and Ronald just looked at each other. Great...
"So, I don't know this might have been relevant to say to us when we we're organising the wedding." Ronald said.
"Oh crap yeah! Well someone's going to have to vacate the street that day considering if you come out and you see Elanora that bad luck." Alan said.
I sighed, sally had at first offered to have the brides and maids over, so I suppose she wouldn't mind I mean Next week I guess I was going over so we have a weeks distance.
"I'll ask Sally if she's still open to it... Also about the bagpipes...""Oh sorry Elanora. He doesn't know what low volume means." Alan laughed.
Ronald Knox P.O.V
So it's Friday now. It's been four days since we met Elanora's mother. And today was the day Elanora was getting her final fitting and actually showing the dress to the rest of the brides maids. I wish I could see her in it, but I'm going to have to wait another week and a bit to. I couldn't lie I was excited!
The only thing was after next Friday, she would be spending the week at Sally's and It was going to be lonely in the house without her. So I decided to have a few mates like Leon stay over, Leon, Eric, Henry, Jacob, Matthew, Grell was coming over. And I'm sure Elanora was having Alan, William Katharine, Pricilla and such over and possibly her mother. I remember there was a phone call, something about her taking her holiday to spend the week with her and Christmas, where everyone was coming over to our house for!
And then tomorrow me and the boys were having our final fittings and then a few hours after we were having our very over due engagement party. And I mean over due! It's been over a year since we've been engaged.
I walked briskly around the Department halls looking for Leon. Since today he was my reaping partner as Elanora needed to help William with some stuff before they left for the bridal shop with the girls. I walked around only to bump into Janice.
"Heya Ron!" She smiled...
"Aint got time for you, got a wedding to plan! Piss off!" I said pushing passed her. A screech coming from behind her.
I just chuckled and turned the corner. Leon was his desk with a phone to his ear and a love struck, dumb grin on his face... He was talking to Sally over the phone...
"No a you hang up a first" He sighed... Sickeningly.
I heard the response of no you hang up first from Sally.
I just sighed in frustration. I didn't have time for love games. I needed to grab my groomsman reap some souls, then finish off party stuff.
"No a you-""Bye Sally!" I said picking up the phone and slamming it down to the receiver.
Leon looked at me with his jaw hanging to the floor.
"Ready to go mate!?" I laughed.
"No a actually I-"
"YOU HUNG UP ON ME!?" Sally yelled from across the hall, the sound of her Death scythe in Ruler form extending sent shivers up our spines.
"Actually yeah, let's a go reap a those souls!" Leon said grabbing his jacket and legging it out the door in a obviously hurried fashion.
We summoned a portal and started the reaps. It was unbelievably cold, I flipped over a roof top, still getting used to my regained flexibility after all these months. I was still faster than Leon though.
"Oi! Wait up! Idiota!" He yelled behind me.
I just laughed and paced through the snow blanketing the roofs, until I got to the dead body and summoned my death scythe. I revved up the engine and just as Leon landed next to me I jumped down, ploughing through the corpse with the three rotating blades. I had become accustomed to the sound it made as it reacted to the flesh underneath... It was normal now... A lot that I never thought I would get used to has become normal.
I looked through the record, nothing too substantial... He died of a heart attack... No memorable remarks... I had a feeling this was going to be a boring day... All the while Elanora would be stepping out in a gown for a few moments... I wanted to see it! Just to somehow solidify this for me even more for me.
Elanora P.O.V
"Okay so this is my mother Lydia. Mother, theses are my brides maids." I said gesturing to all the girls in front of me.
Mother made polite conversation, she was dressed in a brown work dress, almost like a dispatch reaper.
"So, is there another reason why she's here, besides what you told me... I'm sorry if I have a hard time believing your Mum is in the SL and has now shown up... So I'll ask one question... Can we trust her?" Sally asked with concern.
I might not know a lot, but I do know she is my mother, and I can read her like no one else could.
"Yes we can, she's fine, honestly now lets get to the dress." I said.
"Okay Miss Hawthorn, we're ready for you and your party now, please step this way." The attendant said and guided us through.
There was a private, lavishly furnished room, a champagne bottle in ice, champagne glasses, little sweets... it was like nothing I'd ever seen!
"Now then would you like to see the brides maids in their dresses first?" The attendant asked me.
I nodded and the ladies went off to try on their dresses, which had been custom made. I was praying Mother had stayed the same, as in life I knew her exact measurements to a T. I waited for a bit, slightly agitated by the silence and sudden shuffling noises before they stepped out.
The girls wore long Ice blue dresses, with an off the shoulder strap and, almost like a sweet heart bodice in the middle were three roses, blue, white and orange. The waist was lined with a pattern of theses flowers as well and skirt of the dress were covered in a white accent lace and the skirt flowed out slightly at the bottom and stopped at the ankles.
"Oh wow!" I said, incredibly surprised that A) No one had managed to rip it. B) It fitted. And C) How good it looked.
"Okay so at first I though it was too much... But I am in Love with this dress now." Sally said, running her hands over the skirt.
"Well it's a good thing they're already paid for then isn't it." I smirked, crossing my legs and leaning back.
I was incredibly pleased with my dress choice. The wedding had three themes, Winter, Autumn and Summer. Elements of the wedding was a compromise of the three, though most of it was either winter or Autumn, considering the time of year. The food and the groomsmen's clothes were Ronald's way of doing summer. Which is also an underlying part of our relationship.
Cause my Death day was in the Winter. And Ronald's was in the Summer.
When he said he had wondered for hours that wasn't really true. To him it felt like hours, but it was months. Only when he found someone to communicate with did his own death time stream slow down.
So if I was winter which he described as beautiful, delicate, yet cold at times and merciless. I described him as incredibly hot... I know not the best, fun, bubbly, but fire's not something to mess around with, and at times strangely calming.
Then in between us was Autumn, so when we were together, we're Autumn. A compromise of both seasons.
"Okay Ellie. Now it's time you try your dress on." She said.
I was nervous. What if I looked hideous in it!? What if it showed off my figure wrong!? What if it was too much!? What if-
Now I'm over thinking it...
Sally resumed chat with my mother whom she seemed to be growing warmer to on the sofa with the rest of the girls.
I went in...
I saw the dress layed out... Pristine white glowed in the slight darkness of the changing room...
By the time I put it on and opened the curtain I closed my eye's I didn't know what it looked like on me.
I heard gasps from the girls and opened my eye's, all of them stared in awe.
A mirror was pushed in front of me and I saw it. White lace that covered up to my collarbone and down to the white sweet heart bodice, that was more subtle than the brides maids gowns. Just above my elbows were a pair of sleeves or gloves with no hands that resembled sleeves, the tops were puffed and tied with light blue ribbon, as was the waist before it was covered in roses, that hugged my waist and top part of my legs before cascading out in a train of white silk and lace, with different patterns engraved in the lace. The dress was backless down the my lower back. The dress also came with a lace veil with matching patterns with a head piece that resembled a tiara. I didn't remember buying that, so I was shocked to see it.
"A gift from your fiancé, there's a card that comes with it." The attendant said before handing me a card written in gold pen.
'My Dearest Elanora,
Do not worry I haven't seen the dress, but I knew you were not sure about a veil so I bought you one with a headpiece on it, and yes before you ask It is a tiara. Because I want you to feel like a princess on our wedding day. You're my Princess.
Love Ronald...
Hopefully your Prince Charming.'
I looked up in shock. I was on the verge of happy tears.
I could see my mother starting to cry...
I was lost for words, my mouth opening. but no sounds coming out.
"You look so beautiful." My mother said, eventually breaking down and embracing me in a hug, the other did the same and I cried happy tears.
It felt official.
I was getting Married to Ronald Knox.
Ronald P.O.V
I sat on the roof top, watching the record whiz into my scythe... that had to be the last one by now.
I heard the faint crunch of footsteps on fresh snow and turned around to see Leon with a worried on his face.
"What's up?" I asked.
"We are a being watched." He said darkly.
I sat to attention and looked around, no one was there... that I could see, but that doesn't mean anything. The feeling of eye's wad defiantly there.
"How many?" I asked quietly, steadying my heavy breaths, being puffed out in chilled fog against my mouth.
"Hard to tell, possibly one to three." He said.
I stood up, brushing light snow off me and nodded to Leon. There was no time to run to the designated area. It was too much of a risk so instead we summoned a portal there and raced back through.
"You two are back early what's up?" Alan asked as he was walking past.
"We were being followed." I said.
He looked up from his death book in a wavering sense of calm, yet a present sense of alarm.
"By what?" He asked.
"We a didn't stick around to a find out." Leon said.
"I advise you two see William, this could be serious." Alan said.
We nodded and left in haste to the Boss's office.
We knocked and heard the familiar grunt to enter, which meant he had tons of paperwork.
We let ourselves in and sure enough paperwork was stacked in piles all over the room.
"Yes?" He asked.
"We were being followed." I said blatantly.
William snapped his head up and looked me dead in the eyes. I gave a half hearted nod and he put his pen down.
He stood quietly from his seat and pushed it under his desk.
"Close the door, and make sure no one can hear us." He said.
I did as he said and quietly shut the door. He went to the window, briskly picking up his jacket and pulling it on, pulling the windows closed and pulling down the blinds, he then went to a wall and drew a mark with his finger, which glowed green.
"Since the Pasture I've installed a number of temporal safe guards" He said.
He then dimmed the rooms lights, before they flashed green and then a normal yellow light.
"I was hoping to have Elanora here for this, but you may tell her in privacy later. I have recently learnt the Shadow League have recruited a new member." He sighed.
"Which student?" Leon asked.
"That's the thing, there's no record of a student or reaper being taken out of dispatch or the Academy. Which would imply they have recruited straight from Death." William responded.
I frowned. Why does shit always happen running up the important stuff!?
"But why do that? Death knows no person would have a clue what to do with their new powers or punishment when first waking up." I replied.
William gestured his head down to my watch... The one Elanora had bought for me.
"Elanora pretty much did." He stated blatantly.
I looked up in terror.
"Do you mean, that this is another Descendant of Grim?" I asked.
"At first possibly, but now no. This is not a case. When Elanora first entered this realm the Doctors felt an enormous presence of death, as did those that worked in the awakening department and higher level officers. We did not feel that this time. So it does beg the question. Why this person?" William asked.
I was so confused and terrified at the same time, what if it was someone with powers like Elanora's powers or worse stronger than her.
"Ronald. Do you know of a anyone prone to a suicidal thoughts or depression from Life?" Leon asked.
The thought never occurred to me...
It wouldn't apply to Elanora, her mother was already on this side and since her father was from what I gather sent to America on a boat and as far as her mother knows lynched for trying to escape. There was no one left for her.
I had a lot of people still in Life when I died. It couldn't be them... could it?
Not my father anyway... After me Mum died he became bitter and shut himself away. I had other relatives, but nothing I want to go into.
"Not that I can think of sir." I replied after some hard thought.
"Very well. I feel it would be best to act like nothing is going on at the moment and proceed like we would everyday as to not arouse suspicion of our knowledge as to these troubling events." William said coolly.
I nodded and he began to deactivate the various safe guards in the office. We were quickly sent away.
Elanora P.O.V
Once the last details for the day had been sorted. I rushed home. I knew Ronald would be home before me as the time we had finished was almost two hours after his shift had ended.
I trapesed through the door shaking off the snow that lay atop of my head like white icing sugar in my black hair and quickly walked in to the living room shedding my coat and jacket and I heard the familiar sound of wood burning it's florescent glow in the living rooms fireplace.
Ronald sat with on the sofa next to the fire, jacket on the coat rack waist coat unbuttoned and tie undone, his head lolled against the back of the chair, sound asleep.
He must have been exhausted from todays reaps.
I silently walked over, soft breaths coming from his mouth as he slept.
"Ronald..." I said softly, trying to startle him. In all fairness I would have left him sleeping if we didn't need to talk and I especially needed to thank him for my wedding present.
"Hmmmmmmm? Elanora"? He stirred getting up.
"You know it's dangerous to sleep with the fire on right?" I laughed.
He just blushed and nodded, knowing I didn't like it when he did that normally.
"Sorry It was really cold, but then the warmth made me drop off to sleep." He replied.
I carefully sat in his knee and leant back on him, he put his arms around me so my face was next to his as I leaned back.
"So have a nice time?" He smiled.
"Oh yes, especially my surprise!" I smiled.
"So you liked it?" He asked sceptically.
I beamed brightly.
"I loved it. Thank you." I replied with the utmost honesty.
He smiled and kissed my forehead softly.
"I'd do anything for you." He said.
"I would do anything for you a too." I responded carefully.
Yes that did mean even die. I've done it twice before now, it's just a careful subject around Ronald.
"Elanora... There's something we need to talk about." He suddenly said.
And he began to describe his days events. I almost chocked on the air around me when I heard someone was following him, even more so when I was told of the reaper that went straight into the shadow league. This would be anything but good.
"It feels like for every good thing we get, we get set one step back by something awful." I sighed, by now I really wasn't finding this amusing.
"I know... But William said we must act normally so we will." Ronald said.
I just nodded, by now I was too tired for another debate on it, no matter how important and Ronald had his fitting tomorrow before the party. So we both went to bed.
The next day went pretty easily. Ronald and the guys finished early for the fittings so it was a girls work place environment. It was peaceful enough a few hiccups with student reaps, but nothing major and nothing William- Sempai couldn't be told later on.
Me and Sally jumped down from the roofs atop of London's east end and into the broken window of a house. I hung from the wooden frame careful not to be seen as a grieving family sat around the bed of a young boy, who lay pale and lifeless cradled in his weeping mothers arms.
Very stealthily I sent in a rose and as quickly as it made contact pulled it out again for the record to unroll out of the window so we could view it. Given the child's age it was very short, he had also been a case of accidental death. He was sick so taking a nap when an angry workman of his fathers launched a brick through the window hoping to hit the father, but missed as he turned and it the boy square in the head. The brick's force so violent, the poor boy was killed in an instant upon impact and the note tied to it smeared in the still warm blood.
Messenger omens... A funny thing especially since it was an omen fate meant for me to see... I just didn't know it...
