.:III:.

To say that life was currently moving painfully slow was a huge understatement. Alexis had so far spent the entirety of her morning at school trying to ignore the headache that had been building up behind her eyes ever since she'd gotten into the car. For some reason, she'd been unable to think up any other plausible reason for the slowly building pain except for Williams glasses. When her vision had changed when she'd put them on.

It was like she'd been looking through the eyes of someone else, someone…someone with the powers of a God. Of course, it would sound ridiculous if she were to say anything to anyone, and she honestly didn't believe in gossip, so she put it down to the fact that Will had simply had the heater up too high in the car. But she knew that she was only lying to herself and anyone else who asked if she was feeling all right.

Third period of class, and she was still no better. The teacher was conducting the class at a snails pace, with most of the students gazing out of the windows or just pretending to be listening. Alexis found herself twirling a pen around her fingers, her eyes fixated on the whiteboard in abstract boredom. Suddenly, there was a run of whispers spiraling the classroom. A paper plane soared passed her head, which she would have ignored if one of her classmates, a boy named Jonathon, hadn't nudged her.

'Hey,' he whispered. 'There's someone starin' at you.'

Alexis didn't register what he'd said at first – she was trying to recall the memory of what looking through Will's glasses was like; but the memory was fading fast.

'Huh?'

Jonathon gave a nod towards the door. 'That guy. He keeps lookin' at you.'

Alexis blinked numbly for a moment before looking where Jonathon had nodded, to the window next to the door, but the only thing she saw was the flash of what could have been the sleeve of a blazer.

'N'aww,' Jonathon sighed. 'He's gone. Weirdo.'

'Why was he so interesting if he was just a weirdo?' Alexis asked quietly, as to not catch the teachers attention. Jonathon shrugged.

'Anything's interesting if it gets rid of the boredom in this class. Third period always seems to go forevvveer.' He yawned, drawling out the last syllables. Alexis sighed and went back to staring at the whiteboard.

However she glanced around occasionally, not to hear what the teacher was saying and not even to look at her classmates. She tried to be as subtle as possible, moving only her eyes, back to the window that looked out of the classroom and into the hallway. And only once did she ever catch sight of the person everyone must have been whispering about. He was young-ish, but there was something more outstanding about him than any other feature.

He was wearing glasses.

The rest of the day trudged by, but Alexis hardly seemed to notice. None of her classes seemed to matter to her; all that was important was finding out more about the guy from the window.

By lunchtime, there was one thing that Alexis was sure about; he was following her. Sometimes she couldn't see him, but she could almost sense him, hiding around corners and staying just out of sight. No one else noticed him, although if anyone bumped into him, they'd smile, apologize and move on. He'd return the apologies, but as soon as they turned the other way, it was as if he'd never been there.

She didn't know if he knew that she had noticed him, but she tried to remain as inconspicuous as possible. She didn't know why he was following her, or if she was just paranoid. Her friends certainly noticed.

'Hey – oi! Alexis!' Shirley Bankford snapped her fingers impatiently in Alexis' face. 'Earth to Alexis! Come in, Alexis!'

'Huh?' Alexis blinked back to reality, realizing that she'd been staring straight past Shirley for the last five minutes. Shirley was less than impressed, her long auburn ringlets bouncing around her face.

'As I was saying – you're not looking too great today.' Shirley said, sitting back in her seat. There were four of them – Alexis, Shirley, and two others; Amanda Jenkins and Lucinda Schmidt, sitting around a table in the school cafeteria. 'You sure you're okay?'

'Y-yeah, I'm fine.' Alexis mumbled, dropping her eyes and trying to figure out what exactly Will had put into her sandwich. It looked like a concerning mix of peanut butter, jam and sliced banana.

'You've been saying that all day,' Lucinda said, unconvinced. 'What's on your mind, anyhow? You keep spacing out and that's worrying.'

'Uh…' Alexis cursed silently for not being blessed with the gift of the gab. If only she was more like Will, able to come up with answers at the snap of his fingers. 'It's nothing, really – I just had an argument with Will this morning.'

This seemed to get everyone's attention.

'Ooh,' Amanda cooed. 'How terrible! What happened, pumpkin?'

'N-nothing! It's just – we – ' Something had caught her eyes in the reflection of the glass window they were sitting next to. Alexis saw her own reflection, but beyond that, behind her, was the young man with the glasses. Even through the reflection, she knew he was staring at her – his pale green eyes calmly watching.

Alexis spun in her seat. He was gone, but she caught sight of his mop of light brown hair again – he was halfway across the cafeteria, making his way through a small crowd that seemed to part just enough for him to slip through unnoticed. How had he moved so fast? Alexis shot to her feet.

'Whoa, hey! Where're you going?' Shirley called after her, but Alexis was already gone, weaving her way through the crowd, trying not to lose sight of him. Her suspicions were confirmed – he was definitely following her. And she had to find out why.

The lunch bell rang just as Alexis managed to get through the suddenly massively crowded cafeteria and into the main hallway, and she almost convinced herself to just forget about him and go to class. But a deeper curiosity kept her going forward. She had to know who he was.

'Hey!' Alexis broke into a run now that there weren't so many people around, and the young man glanced back before bursting into a run himself. He pulled something from his pocket as he ran – a phone.

She couldn't hear was he was saying, but he only spoke briefly, never once faltering in his run, and she stretched her legs to try and keep up. It was undisputed fact that she was one of the fastest runners in the school – a natural talent along with being strong as well as agile. Alexis had never been more grateful for her long legs than now, but it seemed that the young man was still able to stay at quite a distance in front of her. He swerved off, up the stairs, taking them two at a time, sometimes three. Alexis was only starting to feel her lungs stretch to take in more air as she dashed after him.

'H-hey! Wait!' she called after him, but he didn't stop. He grabbed the banister of the stairwell and swung himself easily over it, continuing on his way up, but there was a tearing sound – his jacket had caught and tore. Alexis heard him gasp, but he didn't stop to pull the torn item of clothing off the banister. When Alexis reached the stairwell, she paused to grab the shred. It came off in her hands, and from the folds of dark fabric fell what looked like an ID badge.

Alan Humphries, it read. Reaper at the Shinigami Dispatch Society.

Alexis blinked at the piece of card in disbelief. A…Shinigami? What was-

'Hey!' The young man was standing at the top of the stairs, breathing hard. His torn blazer hung from his slender frame, and Alexis could see the worry on his face. 'Hey – I need that.'

'That is this? Some kind of joke?' Alexis asked incredulously, holding up the badge for him to see. 'A Death God – really?'

The young man swallowed back a breath. 'Listen, I just need you to give me back that card – I need it back. Please?'

Alexis examined it again before putting it into her pocket. 'You know what? No.'

A look of terror passed over his face. His already pale features seemed to sink in a paler shade – one she wasn't even aware that human features were capable of.

'No – you don't understand. That's…that's really important to me – I need it back.' He stumbled, and Alexis shrugged.

'So? I'll tell you what – you tell me why the hell you've been following me, and I give you this back.' She patted her pocket, and the young man looked like he was close to have a heart attack. Alexis readied herself to run again if he lunged down the stairs at her, but the look of defeat on his face told her that she probably wouldn't need to.

'Allright,' the young man sighed. 'Listen, I'll tell you. I-is there somewhere quiet we can go?'

Alexis looked around. 'Downstairs,' she said, and led the way back down. She caught sight of him reaching into his pocket, but she stopped and glared at him. 'Uh-uh. No phone.' She held out her hand, and, reluctantly, he handed it to her. She slipped it into her own pocket beside his ID badge.

'I'll need that back, too,' he said, and Alexis shrugged.

'I know.' She said. 'I'm not actually planning on keeping them – just until I know what you're doing here and who you are.'

The young man shrugged. 'If you want to know who I am, you've got my ID badge.'

'Like I'm going to believe that you're a god of death,' Alexis snorted. 'That's like saying my brother has a good-natured sense of humour.'

The young man blinked. 'Uh…I suppose that depends –' he cut himself off, and Alexis had a sneaking suspicion that he knew more than he was letting on. He had had a considerate look on his face – almost as if he knew Will. Alexis narrowed her eyes, and then led him down and into one of the unused classrooms. The hallways were empty now – everyone else was in class, and there was no one around to tell Alexis off for wandering around.

'If anyone asks, I'm your new private tutor,' the young man said, and Alexis scoffed.

'Really? That's the story you used to get in here?' she asked, and he nodded as he closed the empty classroom's door behind him. She gestured for him to take a seat, but he stood until she herself sat down.

'You're a real gentleman,' she muttered, and he shrugged.

'It's force of habit, I suppose,' he sighed, and she took the ID badge out her pocket, turning it over in her hands.

'Soooo,' she said, watching him carefully. 'You're Alan.'

He nodded. 'Alan Humphries, at your service, ma'am.'

Alexis wrinkled her nose. 'It's kind of…old fashioned, for a name, isn't it?'

Alan shrugged. 'Maybe. It makes it unique.'

'Okay…then.' Alexis nodded. 'So. What're you doing here, Alan?' she felt like she was interrogating him, but he didn't seem phased by it – if anything he seemed more nervous about the fact that she had his phone and badge.

'Uh…okay,' Alan took a deep breath. 'You're probably not going to understand a lot of this, but I'll explain it as well I as can.'

'Try me,' Alexis smiled.

'Okay. Well, first things first – that badge you've got there – my badge – it's not a fake. I'm a Death God, and I've been an active Grim Reaper in the London Branch of the Shinigami Dispatch Society for the past three hundred and forty-two years.' Alan said, and Alexis nearly burst out laughing. It sounded so ridiculous – so…so unreal, but he said it was a completely straight face. That was what didn't allow the laugh to escape her lips.

'Wait…you're for real?' she asked, and Alan nodded.

'I'm not lying. Everything I'm about to tell you is true – of course, I can't tell you everything, because a lot of it is classified. But if you have any questions, I'll do my best to answer them.'

'All right,' Alexis said. 'So answer my question from before. If you're a Grim Reaper, one of the guys that goes around with a massive scythe reaping the souls of the dead, then why are you here?' Suddenly, a chill went down her spine. 'Wait – you're not here for my soul, are you?'

Alan laughed in surprise. 'What? Oh no – nothing like that. It's…complicated, and I – ' he was cut off by the sudden insistent ringing in Alexis' pocket. Alan's phone.

'Is that for you?' Alexis asked with a smirk, and Alan swallowed hard, looking more nervous than ever.

'Um…yes…' he murmured as Alexis pulled out the phone, flipped it open and held it to her ear. She knew it wasn't incredibly polite to answer someone else's' phone, but she tired of the secrecy that was going around. And she wanted answers of her own.

'Humphries! I swear I'm going to kill you if you allow her to – Humphries?' the barking voice on the other end of the phone made Alexis jump nearly a foot in the air.

There was silence. Alan had overheard – he hung his head.

'…Humphries? Are you there?' the voice was quieter now, and unmistakably William.

'…Will?' Alexis said softly, only to have silence on the other end of the phone. Alexis stared at Alan, silently begging for answers. He just shook his head.

'Alexis?' William said very, very quietly. 'Why do you have this phone?'

'Because there's this guy sitting in front of me, claiming to be a god of death,' she replied, as calmly as she could. 'Why are you calling him?'

There was another moment of quiet, before she heard some murmured conversation on the other end, her brothers voice clearly defined but his words muffled by what must have been his hand on the receiver. Finally, he spoke again.

'Listen to me very carefully, Alexis – give this phone back to Alan Humphries immediately. And go with him. Let me speak to him, there's something he needs to be told.' William said, but Alexis pouted.

'I want answers, Will – what's going on? Today's just getting weirder and weirder.' She watched Alan carefully, and he gave her a pleading look. 'If I give him his phone back, will you promise to explain everything to me?'

Will sighed in irritation down the phone line. '…yes. I promise.'

Slowly, Alexis handed the phone over to Alan, who took and it held it to his ear. 'Senpai? I'm sorry, Senpai – I messed up.'

She couldn't hear what William was saying to Alan, but she was more concerned with why William was talking to Alan. And this whole business about being Grim Reaper – that only served to confuse her further. Finally, after a lot of 'yessir's and 'of course, sir,'s, Alan hung up and stowed the phone back into his pocket before turning to Alexis.

'We have to go.' He said simply, and Alexis refused to budge when he stood up and gestured for her to follow.

'Not until – '

'I'll explain on the way, all right? I promise.' Alan said, a hint of urgency tugging at his voice. Something in that urgency made Alexis move, and she followed him out and into the school's foyer. Alan paused.

'What is it?' Alexis asked, but he raised his hand for silence without looking back at her. There was a tense awareness about him, and Alexis felt a shift in the air that made her slightly uncomfortable. The air seemed thick, heavier than just the dustings of snow littering the ground outside.

'There's…' Alan said softly, looking around. 'Something…not right…'

Alexis stood as still as she possibly could, mimicking his movements, only daring to let her eyes wander around the foyer. The sun was shining through the window from between the clouds – there as the sound of birds singing outside for a moment; and then, it stopped. And everything truly was silent. Alan very carefully slid his phone from his pocket, pressed a single number, and very slowly held it to his ear.

'I need back-up,' he whispered, just before the entire building see to explode. Alan whirled and threw himself at Alexis, colliding with her and throwing her to the floor as the front wall of the school foyer crumbled, sending debris and stone and shattered glass flying everywhere. Alexis stifled a yelp as Alan was suddenly over her, grabbing her arm and hauling her upwards. A shadow loomed over them and her glanced up – something that could only be described as monstrous reared back and took another clawed swing at the building – it was twice the size as the main building as looked twice as nasty. Alexis felt her breath stop for the briefest of moments, before Alan tugged her forwards again, and they took off at a run. Whatever it was, it was mad, and it was after them.

The screams of other school students could be heard echoing down the halls, and students and teachers began pouring out of the classroom like sand from a broken hourglass to see what was going on. The creature simply waded through them, thrashing and tearing through everything in sight. Rubble from the floors above them started to rain down as Alexis and Alan took flying leaps over toppled lockers and desks that were scattered everywhere – Alan had lost his grip on her and but Alexis was still right behind him. Somehow, she was able to keep up, even though some of the jumps that Alan took seemed impossible for a normal human being. She didn't have time to contemplate if he really was a Death God or not – all she knew was that if she lost sight of him, she was as good as dead.

'This way!' she yelled to him as the creature brought one giant, darkly shadowed foot down in front of them, bringing them to a stumbling halt as it loomed it's hulking form right over the top over them. Alan nearly fell, but Alexis managed to catch him by the arm and she swerved away, pulling him down another corridor. She was hardly able to tell where she was anymore – the classrooms were already wrecked from the damage the monster had caused and the corridors were weirdly unfamiliar with rubble and debris scattered through them.

'We need to get out of here!' Alan yelled behind her, but Alexis didn't have the breath to reply. She saw the wall at the end of the hallway – it was untouched by the monster just yet, and there was an unshattered window – she knew it wasn't much, but it was worth a try. Any other way out seemed impossible.

'There!'

'I see it!' Alan called, and he was suddenly drawing alongside her, his arm around her waist and his legs stretching further than her own could, taking longer strides before thrusting his other arm forwards and taking a leap through the window. Glass shattered and flew all around them, Alan's elbow up and protecting both of their faces, and Alexis felt him sail them both through, landing and tumbling out into the grass of the school grounds outside.

They rolled to a stop, and Alexis found herself staring up at the sky in a daze. Funny, she thought, how she'd already ended up like this once already today. William's face flashed through her mind, but her daze was broken by the sudden shadow hovering over her again – the creature was staring right at them, looming over them. Alexis felt her head loll to the side – beside her, Alan was face down on the grass, not moving. Unconscious, she guessed. Suddenly, she felt like she no longer really cared if this monster above her killed her. It would be sad, she supposed, if she died before she could find out what was going on with William.

The creatures' foul breath washed over her like a wave of raw sewerage. The screams of the students and teachers were either gone or simply muted to her ears – she didn't doubt that most of them were dead. Somehow, that neither surprised no sickened her. Maybe imminent death was funny like that.

Suddenly, her daze was broken by the revving of what sounded like a very old engine. Something flew over her head and collided with the creature head on, sending the beast stumbling back with a victory whoop. Three more shapes came flying at the creature, attacking it from all sides like flies buzzing around an angered dogs head. The monster roared and pawed at the air, trying to swipe them away, but the figures – Alexis' confused mind vaguely recognized them as what looked like humans – simply ducked, swerved and danced around the creature, attacking again and again with what looked like gardening tools.

Good luck to them, then. She found herself smiling numbly at nothing, watching this display with some interest. Her limbs seemed uncooperative, not wanting to move, like they had lead weights attached to them, so she couldn't have moved to see if Alan was all right if she tried. So she just watched as, slowly, the figures slowly berated the creature until it was a whimpering mess, spewing dark, murky green goop that must have been blood from the wounds the figures were inflicting with their apparent weapons. The sound of the revving engine came again and again – until she identified the source. One of the figures had what looked to be a very old fashioned lawnmower, and was taking daring runs up and down the creatures bloody, raking at its black, shimmering flesh with the lawnmower.

It was disgusting but also fascinating to watch, Alexis found. The green goop was spilling like acid over the ground, and the creature eventually fell from its wounds, collapsing from exhaustion and its injuries. The flying figures began to land, one by one, but they continued their attacks until one of them – the tallest, a dark-haired man, Alexis was able to make out, leapt high into the air once more, before letting his weapon – a single handed long-reach pruner, shoot out at impossible lengths and plunge into straight into the creatures forehead. One last howling screech, and the downed monster died. A cheer rose from the gathered people and their strange weapons, before they began to break off and head in the general direction of the ruined school building, their weapons at the ready again.

'They're….they're here…' Alan's voice came from somewhere to Alexis' right, and she shifted her gaze away from the monstrous corpse to the fallen young man at her side. He was slowly dragging himself up, and he crawled to her side. 'Are you badly hurt?'

'Uh…' the soft moan was all the escaped Alexis' lips, and even if she'd wanted to say more she couldn't, because another yell cut her off as Alan collapsed back next to her. Alexis struggled to sit up to see where the voice was coming from.

'Alan!' Another male voice was calling desperately. 'Alaaaaan!'

Alan swallowed and took a deep breath before calling back in reply.

'Over here! Eric!' his voice trailed off into a coughing fit, but it had been enough to attract the attention of two of the figures who'd taken down the monster. They came over in huge leaps, covering the distance of grass between in two bounds alone.

'Alan!' an older man wielding a hacksaw was the first to arrive. Alexis saw that he and the other young man who'd come over both wore glasses – just like Alan. The other young man was blonde, looking about the same age as Alan, and the older man also had blonde hair, but it was a darker brown underneath, one side of his head dotted by neat cornrows of darker hair, a goatee framing his masculine chin.

'Alan!' he said again, this time in relief, as he came to a stumbling halt before dropping to his knees and throwing his arms around Alan. Alexis watched as Alan returned the embrace before pulling back.

'Ale-Alexis,' he panted, gripping the older mans blazer. 'She needs…I think she's hurt-'

'Mmm fine,' she mumbled, only to have the other blonde young man kneel next to her, taking her gently by the arm.

'Hey – hey there, take it easy,' he said, his voice a lot calmer than the older mans. 'It's gonna be okay now.' He flashed her a smile that she tried – and failed – to return. 'My names Ronald, miss, and we'll take care of you.'

'Th-thanks…I think…' Alexis murmured, and Alan sent her a tired smile.

'I'm sorry I didn't warn you,' he asked, now more relaxed in the older mans arms. 'I would have – but there was no way…no way to tell how you'd react.'

'React to what?' the older man asked, but Alan just shook his head.

'I'll –uh, I'll explain later, Eric,' he said, and the older man, Eric, shrugged. Alan turned back to Alexis. 'Are you hurt?'

'I don't think so – not badly, anyway,' Alexis said, trying to get her breath back. What came as a real surprise was how calm she felt. Like this wasn't as bad as it could have been. Like everything really was going to be okay, like this Ronald guy next to her said it would be. She felt her eyes droop, and she suddenly felt a wave of exhaustion wash over her.

'Hey – hey! Miss!' Ronald was shouting, but Alexis felt herself falling asleep. She must have passed out, because even she knew that no one could ever fall asleep that fast.

Unless, she almost found herself smiling. Unless, of course, you were dead.