Just hours before the train stopped, the border came into view. As I've only seen it in books and memories, the beauty was not wasted on my eyes. Across the border the Medium World shone like a bright newborn soul. I could tell that magic radiated from it's very ground. But I hastily reminded myself that it wasn't all fun and games in there. Somewhere, there lurked demons, trying to steal my souls from my list. I wanted to wring all their necks. But somewhere, among all those scavengers, there was an earl. My favorite demon. Ciel Phantomhive.

"Princess, would you like more tea?" Oh, yes. Ever since I've graduated, word has spread around the entire universe that I was the Shinigami Princess. Well, it suits me. Never has there ever been a shinigami girl who became highest rank shinigami.

"Ah, yes. By the way, is that the actual border?"

"Yes." He said as if I should know.

"I see. Now, is there any noise that can be heard from in the train as we merge?" I hoped I sounded factual. But my eagerness leaked through.

"N-no?" I giggled. I had made him nervous.

"Then, what about people who merge outside?"

He sighed in relief. This, at least, was in his range of understanding. "Oh, many say that people who get in from the outside are gifted with magical powers. They say it is the most wonderful experience since the sun rose." He used his best enchanting voice. But I was apprenticed to Undertaker who constantly spoke in marvelous tones and voices.

"Then, I'd like to go onto the roof, if you would please escort me to the roof's escape route."

"Uh, there isn't one, Princess." Nervousness again.

I sighed heavily, pulling myself up from the comfy chair. "I'll just have to make one, then. Ah," I walked calmly to the window, "I guess it can't be helped. See you at lunchtime, Richard." And with that, I opened the window and climbed out. There were two stories of the train, so there was a lot of climbing to do. But in one move, I ushered my shinigami jumping skills to skip along the trains outer ring and soon, I reached the roof. There was a rail and I sat beside it.

The wind was relaxing. The sky was light gray, no sun to disturb my eyes. A bird flitted to my side. I stroked it's feet (that type of bird like that very much). It purred, or squawked, whichever the sound sounded like.

The border crept up on me when I was singing a tune of boredom. My eyes flared open when I felt the border's layer caress my skin. It felt light and like a child's loving hand. I instantly relaxed and lay back down.

Suddenly, something inside me clicked. The world went black.

It seemed like just a few seconds later I was awake, on a poorly made cot, in front a large train crowd. I lifted myself up, moaning when my head lurched forward ahead of me.

"Oh, that hurts." I said lamely. I mean, who says that? Certainly not someone who's injured. Certainly not someone who just crossed the Medium World border. No, I should be jumping for joy that I witnessed such a memory, joyful that I attained such an experience. But all I felt was a dizzy sense of belonging, like I always had my head bashed into the roof of a working train. It was weird, something that even Will couldn't explain.

"Are you hurt, Princess?" The crowd echoed. So many voices, just rattling around my head. It ushered in a HUGE headache, and right when I was about to shush the people, a single voice rang out.

"Hey! Best friend coming through! Let me in! Hey, Marceline, what's wrong? Oh, god! What did you do to her? I'll kill you!" And Grell started strangling the nearest officer until I yanked him off.

"Ha, Grell. It's good to see you. I'm fine. Really. Perfectly fine. Just a little woozy. Let's go." I pulled myself to a full stand, letting Grell squeeze the stuffing out of me.

Grell dragged my unrelentingly tired body to the closest chair at a café. I laid my head against the table counter to mutter a relief enchantment. Yeah, shinigami can do magic. Cool, huh?

"So, Grell. What are you doing here?" I hoped Will didn't let Grell into the Medium World. I mean, how tragic would that be?

Grell snickered and grinned at me, flipping his hair towards the male waiter. The waiter backed away and slunk around the bend. Grell's grin widened.

I smiled back. Over the long period of time that I was training, learning, I had come to love and treasure Grell. I've never had such a deep, girl bond. The only friend I had before Grell was . . . . Anyway, I felt myself being absorbed in the great memories of our friendship. With those memories, I remembered all the times I had helped out the house of Phantomhive. Well, only Ciel. But if I was being truthful I would tell you that I had kind of gotten used to Sebastian's attitude and demonic cooking.

~~~ On the night Ciel became the true Low Life, a demon, scum on my boot, I had tried my hardest to keep him human. I strutted on the top of the possessed hedges. Dodging the not-so-mysterious sharp things wasn't hard. I meant to keep track of Grell, a promise to Will and myself. But everything got mixed up.

"Sebastian." I called to the failing butler. I looked down upon him with disgust. "Is this the best you can do? I thought Ciel trained you better." I landed on the ground next to an entangled Sebastian. He didn't smile; neither did I.

"The game is not fair." Was all he said. Sebastian was in real trouble. He doubted his win – I could tell – but that didn't interfere with his fierce craving to save his master. I detected a love for Ciel as well as for his soul in Sebastian. It moved me to compassion. That was when Grell exploded. I was going to have to do some serious girl talking/encouraging later.

"Neither is life," I sighed, "What do you want me to do, large failure." Suddenly, a vine shot out to grab me. With one neat and tidy stab, I injected my arrow's poison into the vine, which shrunk away like a scolded cat. It would not stay like that for long.

Sebastian's red eyes glittered with revenge, malice, and a deep, abysmal hatred. "Let Ciel's soul through long enough for me to get to him. Deter Claude from winning." Inside that, we felt a connection. I grinned, getting the hint from 'deter'. It meant to seriously injure and maim. Fun.

I bowed as he did, in the man's way, and lifted myself onto the nearest marble table/chair/bench/thing. "As you know best, Mister Sebastian. It was nice chatting to you, but I am afraid I have some somewhat urgent things to attend to. Good day and good luck getting out of the vine."

My knees are strong, strong enough to fling me up in the air. The air around me compressed me into a tight, bird-like structure. I kicked at the air behind me. Swiftly, I was speeding right into Ciel. One, two, three, four. Four seconds passed before I hit his forehead to release the soul. As I did so, the innocent Alois screamed, a usual for him.

~~~ As I remembered all this, my face darkened. I couldn't save him after all. I bet nothing I did helped him or Sebastian. Now Ciel was an unemotional robot that thirsted for death, and Sebastian was sentenced for the rest of his unnatural life. If I had played a bigger part . . . . If I was a full shinigami then. Well, I wouldn't be thinking about it.

"Hey, are you sure you're alright?" Grell asked like the coolest friend ever. And yes. He was.

I nodded. "Ah, you know. Just, well, you know." My thoughts had made me contemplative. "Hey, Grell, do you know where Sebastian and Ciel are?"

Unluckily, Grell shook his head, hair flying, smacking me lightly in the face. "Nope. But I bet I could find them. If I wanted to. Why?"

"I was thinking about checking up on the pair. Just to see if Sebastian isn't totally dying yet. Want to do it?" I gave this challenge to Grell, knowing he couldn't resist it. Anything to see Sebastian again. I knew that I was taking advantage of Grell. But to be fair, he liked be taken advantage of.

Grell hesitated then smiled. "Let's do it."

I reached across the table and grabbed his dainty pinky with mine. "Let's do it."

~~~ I don't know what I expected. A dark, haunted mansion. Tall, dark, demonic, trees that threaten all that dare to pass. I did NOT expect this. Not in the least.

A large, joyful mansion stood where Grell had sensed Sebastian was. Honestly, I didn't even know what to do when I got there. Nope, I don't plan ahead very well.

"Looks like they're having a ball." Grell said nonchalantly. I could see the excitement seething inside him at the prospect of seeing a love.

"Yeah." I gazed back at the mansion. A thought occurred to me, causing me to smirk. "I feel like crashing this thing. What about you, my little Grell?"

"Got my back?"

"If you have mine."

So by the end of the half hour, both Grell and I had found some personality dresses and prepped ourselves for an excellent ball and an even greater fight. I was excited and scared. Grell was, too.

We ushered ourselves in. A mask resided on my face. It was cream with pieces of rainbow dashed into it. The mask's lips were perfectly shaped, the eyes the greatest sliver imaginable. My hair was pinned up, curled at the tips, gold flecked on the top. As if it were snowing gold outside. As if I was an angel, come to dance with the devil. How poetic.

Just outside that door, I said, "You know, Grell, we might have to fight our way out. We might not make it out alive."

"I know, Marceline. I'm not stupid. I'm . . . so very excited. I know that Sebastian will never love me. Never. But it's fun when I'm around him. Life is thrilling."

I understood perfectly. "Yeah, I get that." I really did. My entire life I had searched for the thing that would make me smile. And many years ago, I had found it. Being a shinigami, becoming a shinigami, meeting Will, it all seemed magical. Not like witches or wizards or dark magic. But like how a child gazes through a toy shops window. That magic, that essence, that was what drew me to the cause. Being a shinigami was my Sebastian.

"Anyway, ready to kill, my dear Grell?" I asked, fully pumped and ready to use my scythe. The adrenaline pulsed through my veins, making me fierce, making me scary.

He held up a hand and I gratefully smacked it.