Simon walked at a brisk pace down the spotless hallway. He was determined to be on time for once in his life, especially since today was a very important occasion. It was the day that he would find out who his partner was for the final exam, and he wanted to make a good first impression. It was hard enough as it was for Simon to make friends; he didn't need anything else getting in the way as well.

The young reaper began breathing heavily as he approached the door. He would also find out what grades he got in the other exams. Simon prayed they were good, so that he could at least have a chance at becoming a full-fledged reaper despite the obvious handicap of being half demon. When Simon reached the door he stopped and took a deep breath. "Relax," his father had said to him that morning, "If you feel worried take a deep breath, and don't lose your cool. Take everything in your stride." Remembering those words, Simon shakily raised a hand to push the door, and entered the room.

Grell hummed blissfully to himself as he strolled down the hallway. William was off doing paperwork, and had sent Grell on an errand so he didn't distract him or cause problems. The errand was, unsurprisingly, to just take a walk and not cause trouble. The reaper thought this was fair enough, although he wished William hadn't put it so coldly.

As the reaper got close to a door at the end of the hallway, he stopped humming and paused for a moment to stare at the door. Grell wondered if this was the room where Simon was. He smiled at the thought, and continued walking leisurely past the door. But he only got a few steps past the door until he heard a shout from the room that made him stop dead in his heels.

"I'm not getting paired up with that creep!"

Grells eyes flashed, and he saw red for a split second as he stomped over to the doorway with the aim of storming in. But he came to his sense and froze, slowly removing his hands from the door and placing an ear on the door to listen in.

Simon could feel his breathing quickly getting out of control. He had gotten all Bs in his exams, which to be fair was a decent score. In fact he was happy he had gotten this far. But his chosen partner thought otherwise.

The examiners frowned at the reaper's insolence, as they tried their best to explain their decision to the hostile reaper.

"Getting straight Bs is still a good score. Since you have achieved an A average, Percival, you are to be paired with a B grade student to maximise his potential. "

Percival glared at Simon in disgust, making him wince and lower his gaze. His partner had a smugness that suggested he was superior to everyone, and had blonde, perfect hair that was cut short. Even though his face was fairly attractive, his fierce eyes and his mean smile made him appear ugly.

"I don't care about his potential, he's incompetent!"

Simon blushed at the blow to his pride, and tried to take deep breaths to calm himself. What did he know? He'd never seen what he could do, he was just being prejudice.

"It's not my fault he's half a reaper," Percival carried on spitefully, "What good is he to me? It's his mess, he can clean it up himself."

Grell felt his blood run cold at what he had heard. When he remembered the demon who had said the exact same thing to him, he could feel all the pain from that day rise to the surface and tears form in his eyes. Even though he had endured the sting those words had left behind, the thought that his son would be hurt like he did was too much to bare. He began to shake as his blood boiled, and his normally trouble-free eyes came alive with a fire that couldn't be contained. His sharp teeth spread into a ferocious snarl, his fists clenched with raw anger, and without thinking Grell burst through the door with such force that it hit the wall on the other side with a deafening crash.

The examiners didn't have time to react when a crimson blur burst into the room. All they saw for a brief second was his long red hair and fearsome scowl, as his crazed eyes locked on Percival. They could only watch in awe as the reaper stormed over to the startled boy and grabbed him violently by the neck, pinning him against the wall effortlessly whilst ignoring his screams. At this, the examiners immediately came to their senses and rose to stop the insane red reaper. Tears welled in Simon's eyes when he saw his father terrorising Percival, and found he was so scared that he had no voice to shout. All he could do was watch with blurred vision, and he felt the pain in his heart worsen when he saw tears running down his dad's face.

"I'll kill you! How dare you talk to my son like that?!" Grell cried, his hands shaking around the boys neck. But when the red mist had cleared from his vision and he realised what he was doing, Grell found he had caused too much trouble already. He dreaded to think what would happen when William found out about this.

"Get a hold of yourself, Sutcliff!" the examiners roared, as they grabbed him roughly by his arms and tried to pry the reaper away from the terrified boy. The reaper couldn't keep his grip as he shook uncontrollably, and he felt it slip when all his anger seeped out of him. He felt more tears of remorse escape as his hands were held behind his back and he was dragged roughly out of the room.

Simon was left alone in the room, feeling as though what had just happened was all a part of a nightmare. He had never seen his father act with such blind fury, and he didn't know whether he was touched or terrified by how protective he had become. He trembled as he silently cursed himself, his dad, and all the problems they both caused.